Book 6.450-475

English Translation

Inter quas Phoenissa recens a vulnere Dido errabat silva in magna;

Among these shades was wandering the Phoenician Dido fresh from her wound in the great forest,

quam Troius heros ut primum iuxta stetit adgnovitque per umbra obscura

whom the Trojan hero as soon as he stood next to and recognized her dimly through the shadows;

qualem primo qui surgere mense aut videt, aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam,

just like someone either sees or thinks they have seen the moon rising through the clouds at the beginning of the month,

demisit lacrimas, dulcique adfatus amore est:

He sent forth tears and he addressed her with sweet love:

“Infelix Dido, verus mihi nuntius ergo venerat exstinctam, ferroque extrema secutam? Funeris heu tibi causa fui?

Unlucky Dido, true then was the message which had come to me, that you had been destroyed and had followed the final things with the sword. Alas, was I the cause of your death?

Per sidera iuro, per superos, et si qua fides tellure sub ima est, invitius, regina, tuo de litore cessi.

I swear by the stars and by the ones above and if there is any faith beneath the lowest earth, unwillingly, O queen, departed from your shores.

Sed me iussa deum, quae nunc has ire per umbras, per loca senta situ cogunt noctemque profundam, imperiis egere suis; nec credere quivi hunc tantum tibi me discessu ferre dolorem.

But, the orders of the gods which now compel me to go through these shades and through these places rough with neglect, and through the profound night, sent by their orders; nor was I able to believe that I could bring this so great a pain to you by my departure.

Siste gradum, teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro. Quem fugis? Extremum fato, quod te adloquor, hoc est.”

Hold your step, and don’t withdrawal yourself from our sight. Whom do you flee? This is the final time which I address you by fate.”

Talibus Aeneas ardentem et torva tuentem lenibat dictis animum. lacrimasque ciebat.

Aeneas was trying to soothe her mind that is burning and watching him grimly, attempting to sooth with such words, and stirring up tears.

Illa solo fuxos oculos aversa tenebat.

She (that one) having turned away, was holding her eyes fixed on the ground.

quam si dura silex aut stet Marpesia cautes.

Nor is she moved in respect to her face by the begun speech, no more than if hard flint or Marpesian rock stood there.

tandem corripuit sese, atque inimica refugit in nemus umbriferum, coniunx ubi pristinus illi respondet curis aequatque Sychaeus amorem.

At last, she snatched herself away from the hostile one and fled back into the shade bearing grove where her former husband, Sychaeus responds to her with cares and returns her love.