Aeneid 2.235-249, 268-297 Translation

Accingunt omnes operi pedibusque rotarum

subiciunt lapsus, et stuppea vincula collo

intendunt: scandit fatalis machina muros

feta armis. Pueri circum innuptaeque puellae

sacra canunt funemque manu contingere gaudent;

illa subit mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi.

Everyone equips [themselves] for the work and they place glidings of wheels under its feet, and they stretch flax chains from its neck: the fated machine, teeming with weapons, climbs the walls. Boys and unmarried girls sing sacred things around [it], and they rejoice to touch the rope with their hand; that [machine] goes up, and it, threatening, glides into the middle of the city.

O patria, O divum domus Ilium et incluta bello

moenia Dardanidum! Quater ipso in limine portae

substitit atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere;

instamus tamen immemores caecique furore

et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce.

Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris

ora dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris.

Nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset

ille dies, festa velamus fronde per urbem.

O fatherland, O Ilium, home of the gods and walls of the Dardanians, famous in war! Four times it stopped on the threshold itself of the gate and four times the weapons gave a sound from its belly; nevertheless we, unmindful and blind with madness, press on and we stand the unlucky omen in the consecrated citadel. Then also Cassandra, not ever having been believed by the Teucrians by order of the god, reveals mouths for future fates. We miserable people, for whom that day would be the last, deck the shrines of the gods with festive foliage through the city.

Tempus erat quo prima quies mortalibus aegris

incipit et dono divum gratissima serpit.

In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector

visus adesse mihi largosque effundere fletus,

raptatus bigis ut quondam, aterque cruento

pulvere perque pedes traiectus lora tumentes.

It was the time, in which first rest begins for weary mortals, and it, most pleasing, creeps as the gift of the gods. Behold, in my dreams most mournful Hector seemed to me to be present before my eyes and to pour out abundant tears, as formerly having been dragged by a two-horse chariot, and black with bloody dust and, having been pierced through his swelling feet with respect to the reins.

Ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo

Hectore qui redit exuvias indutus Achilli

vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis;

squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinis

vulneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima muros

accepit patrios. Ultro flens ipse videbar

compellare virum et maestas expromere voces:

Alas to me, of what sort he was, how much having been changed from that Hector, who returns, having been clothed with respect to the spoils of Achilles or having hurled Phrygian fires at the sterns of the Danaans; bearing a filthy beard and hairs matted with blood and those wounds, most of which he received around his paternal walls. I myself, weeping voluntarily, seemed to address the man and to express sad voices:

'O lux Dardaniae, spes O fidissima Teucrum,

quae tantae tenuere morae? Quibus Hector ab oris

exspectate venis? Ut te post multa tuorum

funera, post varios hominumque urbisque labores

defessi aspicimus! Quae causa indigna serenos

foedavit vultus? Aut cur haec vulnera cerno?'

"O light of Dardania, O most faithful hope of the Teucrians, what such great delays have held [you]? From which shores do you, Hector, having been awaited, come? How (gladly) we, tired, look at you, after many deaths of your [people], after various labors of both men and the city! What unworthy cause has defiled your calm expressions? Or why do I discern these wounds?"

Ille nihil, nec me quaerentem uana moratur,

sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens,

'Heu fuge, nate dea, teque his' ait 'eripe flammis.

Hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia.

Sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra

defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.

He [said] nothing, nor does he heed me, asking useless things, but, leading groans heavily from his deepest chest, he says "Alas, flee [you], having been born from a goddess, and snatch yourself from these flames. The enemy has the walls; Troy rushes down from its high summit. Enough has been given to your fatherland and to Priam: if Pergama were able to be defended by a right [hand], it would have been defended indeed by this [right hand].

Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis;

hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere

magna, pererrato statues quae denique ponto.'

Sic ait et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem

aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.

Troy entrusts sacred things and its own household gods to you; take these as comrades of the fates, seek great walls for these, which you will finally establish, with the sea having been thoroughly wandered." Thus he says, and he brings out the fillets and powerful Vesta and eternal fire from the innermost sanctuaries with his hands.