Aeneid 4.362-392

Dido rejects his answer with fury and contempt. She collapses.

Talia dicentem iamdudum aversa tuetur,

For the whole time she is watching him out of the corner of her eyes as he is saying this,

huc illuc volvens oculos, totumque pererrat

luminibus tacitis, et sic accensa profatur:

scanning her eyes this way and that and looking him all over with silent eyes and thus inflamed she speaks out:

Nec tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, perfide;

You have neither a divine parent nor is Dardanus founder of your family, you traitor,

sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens

Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

but Caucasus bristling with hard rocks begot you and Hyrcanian tigers offered you their breasts.

Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo?

For why do I pretend or for what greater wrongs do I reserve myself?

Num fletu ingemuit nostro? Num lumina flexit?

He didn’t groan with my weeping, did he? He didn’t turn his eyes, did he?

Num lacrimas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est?

He didn’t shed tears in defeat or have pity on his lover, did he?

Quae quibus anteferam? Iam iam nec maxuma Iuno,

nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis.

What words shall I put before what? Now, now, neither greatest Juno nor Saturnian Jupiter the father regard these things with just eyes.

Nusquam tuta fides. Eiectum litore, egentem

excepi, et regni demens in parte locavi;

Nowhere is trust safe. Cast up on the shore, destitute, I received him and senselessly I gave him a role in my kingdom.

amissam classem, socios a morte reduxi.

A lost fleet, companions I brought back from death

Heu furiis incensa feror!

Alas, I am driven aflame by madness!

Nunc augur Apollo,

nunc Lyciae sortes, nunc et Iove missus ab ipso

interpres divom fert horrida iussa per auras.

now augur Apollo, now the oracles of Lycia, now even sent from Jupiter himself the mediator of the gods is bringing frightful orders though the winds.

Scilicet is Superis labor est, ea cura quietos sollicitat.

Obviously that is the task of the gods above, that concern disturbs their peace.

Neque te teneo, neque dicta refello:

I am not holding onto you and I am not refuting your words:

i, sequere Italiam ventis, pete regna per undas.

go, seek Italy with the winds, make for your kingdom through the waves.

Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt,

supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido

saepe vocaturum.

I certainly hope, if the spirits of piety have any power, that you will drink punishment amidst the reefs and will call Dido’s name continually.

Sequar atris ignibus absens, et, cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus, omnibus umbra locis adero.

Though not with you I will pursue you with dark fires; and when cold death has severed limbs from soul, I will be a shade, present in all places.

Dabis, improbe, poenas.

You will, you reprobate, pay the penalty

Audiam et haec Manis veniet mihi fama sub imos.

I will hear of this and report will come to me deep in the underworld.

His medium dictis sermonem abrumpit,

With these words she broke off mid-speech

et auras aegra fugit, seque ex oculis avertit et aufert, linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem dicere.

And ill, she fled the open air, turned from his eyes and took herself away, leaving him hesitating much through fear and preparing to say much.

Suscipiunt famulae, conlapsaque membra

marmoreo referunt thalamo stratisque reponunt.

Her attendants take her up and bring her collapsed limbs back to her marble chamber and place her on the couch.