Vergil Aeneid 4.659-705

[4.659-705]
659 Dīxit, et ōs impressa torō “Moriēmur inultae,
660 sed moriāmur” ait. “Sīc, sīc iuvat īre sub umbrās.
661 Hauriat hunc oculīs ignem crūdēlis ab altō
662 Dardanus, et nostrae sēcum ferat ōmina mortis.”

She spoke, and having pressed her mouth on the bed, she said, “We will die unavenged,
but let us die. Thus, thus, it pleases [me] going under the shadows.
Let the cruel Trojan drain this fire from the deep sea with eyes,
and let him bring omens of our death with himself.”

663 Dīxerat, atque illam media inter tālia ferrō
664 conlāpsam aspiciunt comitēs, ēnsemque cruōre
665 spūmantem sparsāsque manūs. It clāmor ad alta
666 ātria: concussam bacchātur Fāma per urbem.

She had said [this], and the companions saw that one having collapsed among
the middle of such things on a sword, both the sword spraying with blood and
the hands having been sprinkled [with blood]. A shout goes towards the high halls:
Rumor rushes wildly through the shattered city.

667 Lāmentīs gemitūque et fēmineō ululātū
668 tēcta fremunt, resonat magnīs plangōribus aethēr,
669 nōn aliter quam sī immissīs ruat hostibus omnis
670 Karthāgō aut antīqua Tyros, flammaeque furentēs
671 culmina perque hominum voluantur perque deōrum.

The houses shout with lamentations and a roar and a feminine wail,
the aether resounds with great beatings,
Not differently than if, with the enemies having been let in, all Carthage
or ancient Tyrus should fall, and raging flames
would be rolled both through the roofs of men and through [the roofs] of gods.

672 Audiit exanimis trepidōque exterrita cursū
673 unguibus ōra soror foedāns et pectora pugnīs
674 per mediōs ruit, ac morientem nōmine clāmat:
675 “Hoc illud, germāna, fuit? Mē fraude petēbās?

The sister, breathless, heard and having been terrified, with a trembling course,
and disfiguring her face with her nails and her chest[s] with her fists
rushes through the middle [of the men], and calls the dying one by name:
“Sister, was this that? Were you seeking me because of deceit?

676 Hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignēs āraeque parābant?
677 Quid prīmum dēserta querar? Comitemne sorōrem
678 sprēvistī moriēns? Eadem mē ad fāta vocāssēs:

Was that funeral pyre of yours preparing this for me? Were the fires and altars preparing this?
What should I, having been deserted, complain first? Did you, dying, reject
your sister as comrade? If only you had called me to the same fates:

679 īdem ambās ferrō dolor atque eadem hōra tulisset.
680 Hīs etiam strūxī manibus patriōsque vocāvī
681 vōce deōs, sīc tē ut positā, crūdēlis, abessem?

If only the same pain and the same time had brought forth [us] both with a sword.
Even by these hands did I build this and with my voice did I call
the paternal gods, in order that I might be away, with you having been placed thus, cruel one?

682 Exstīnxtī tē mēque, soror, populumque patrēsque
683 Sīdoniōs urbemque tuam. Date, vulnera lymphīs
684 abluam et, extrēmus si quis super hālitus errat,
685 ōre legam.” Sīc fāta gradūs ēvāserat altōs,
686 sēmianimemque sinū germānam amplexa fovēbat
687 cum gemitū atque ātrōs siccābat veste cruōrēs.

You destroyed yourself and me, sister, and the people and the
Sidonian fathers and your city. Give her to me, so I may wash the wounds
with water and if any final breath still wanders,
[that I may] catch in the mouth.” Having spoken thus, she had passed over the high steps,
and having embraced the dying sister in her bosom she was cherishing [her]
with a groan and was drying the dark blood with a garment.

688 Illa gravēs oculōs cōnāta attollere rūrsus
689 dēficit; īnfixum strīdit sub pectore vulnus.

That woman [Dido] having attempted to raise her heavy eyes
faints again; her wound hissed, fixed beneath her chest.

690 Ter sēsē attollēns cubitōque adnixa levāvit,
691 ter revolūta torō est oculīsque errantibus altō
692 quaesīvit caelō lūcem ingemuitque repertā.

Three times raising herself and having leaned on her elbow she lifted [herself],
three times she was rolled over on the funeral couch and sought the light
in the high sky with her wandering eyes and with [the light] having been found she lamented.

693 Tum Iūnō omnipotēns longum miserāta dolōrem
694 difficlēsque obitūs Īrim dēmīsit Olympō
695 quae luctantem animam nexōsque resolveret artūs.

Then all powerful Juno, having pitied the long pain
and difficult downfall, sent down Iris from Olympus,
who loosened the struggling spirit and the bound limbs.

696 Nam quia nec fātō meritā nec morte perībat,
697 sed misera ante diem subitōque accēnsa furōre,
698 nōndum illī flavum Prōserpina vertice crīnem
699 abstulerat Stygiōque caput damnāverat Orcō.

For because she was perishing, neither with the fate having been deserved, nor with the death [having been deserved],
but miserable before the day and having been inflamed with sudden frenzy,
not yet had Proserpina taken the yellow hair from the head to that one
and had condemned her head to Stygian Pluto.

700 Ergō Īris croceīs per caelum rōscida pennīs
701 mīlle trahēns variōs adversō sōle colōrēs
702 dēvolat et suprā caput astitit. “Hunc ego Dītī
703 sacrum iussa ferō tēque istō corpore solvō”:
704 Sīc ait et dextrā crīnem secat, omnis et ūnā
705 dīlāpsus calor atque in ventōs vīta recessit.

Therefore Iris, dewy with ruddy wings dragging a thousand different colors through the sky,
with the sun being opposite,
flies down, and she stood above the head.
“I having been ordered carry this hair to Pluto and I free you from that body”:
Thus she spoke and cuts the hair with her right hand, and at the same time
all warmth slipped away and her life withdrew into the winds.