Aeneid first reading

From Vergil’s epic poem the Aeneid, nearly complete when he died in 19.

Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris …

WARFARE and him, our founding father I praise, a refugee by fate,
He came to Lavinian shores, thrown all over the seas and harassed on land
By the power of the gods on account of the mindful anger of Juno;
He suffered much also in war until he founded the city
And brought the gods to Latium, from which come the Latin race,
The Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome.

(8) Muse, recount to me the causes, what divine mind was spurned, and grieving at what did the queen of the gods force a man famed for his sense of duty to undergo so many hardships and endure so many labors? Is there really such wrath among divine minds?
(12) There was an ancient city, Tyrian colonists founded it: Carthage, across from Italy and the mouth of the Tiber, rich in resources and very aggressive in the pursuit of war; a city which Juno us said to have loved more than all other lands, even more than Samos. Here she kept her arms and her chariot; this kingdom the goddess wished to be foremost among men, if in any way the fates would allow it. Already then she treasured and cherished it. But she had heard that a race descended from Trojan blood one day would come to Africa and would topple the Tyrian towers; a proud people who would lay waste to the realm. Thus the Fates decreed.
(23) Fearing this and mindful of the ancient war that she Saturnia had waged on Troy on behalf of her dear Argives (and nor had the causes of her anger and her fierce pain fallen away from her soul; the Judgment of Paris remained stored deep in her mind: that insult to her scorned beauty not to mention the hated race and the honors given to kidnapped Ganymede ) – burning from these three causes, she kept those storm-tossed Trojans who had survived the Danaan Greeks and merciless Achilles far away from Latium, and for many years they kept on wandered all the seas circling the Earth driven by the Fates. So great was the task to found the Roman nation.
(34) The happy Trojans were giving their sails to the winds on the wine dark sea just out of sight of the land of Sicily and they were plowing the salty waves with their bronze prows, when Juno, keeping her eternal pain deep in her heart spoke to herself : “Am I vanquished and unable to finish what I started, to keep the leader of the Trojans from Italy? Nay I am forbidden by the Fates. Was not Pallas able to burn a Greek fleet and sink their ships in the deep on account of the crime of one man, that is the madness of Oileian Ajax? She hurled the swift fire of Jove (lightning bolts) from the clouds, and she both scattered the ships and overturned the waves with the winds, and because he escaped the lightning bolt, she scooped up that crook with a storm wind while he was panting and impaled him on a sharp rock. But I, who am queen of the gods and both sister and wife of Jove, wage war with this one people for oh so many years. And will anyone venerate the cult of Juno or as a suppliant burn sacrifices on my alter meanwhile?”
(50) The goddess in mulling over such thoughts to herself, while her heart was burning, came to the land of storm clouds, a place teeming with raging Southeasters, Aeolia. There, king Aeolus in a vast cavern controlled the struggling winds and howling storms with his might and with chains and confined them in a cell. (55) They, chafing with a great roar, crash against the bolts of their mountain cell, while Aeolus sits on his high throne holding his scepter and soothes their angry spirits and eases their wrath. If he did not, without doubt, they would sweep all before them -- the air the seas and lands and even high heaven - in their madness. But the all-powerful father (Jupiter) restrained them in the dark caves, dreading this prospect and placed tall mountains above them, and he assigned king Aeolus in a solemn agreement since he would know how to rein them in and let them loose when ordered. To him then Juno as a suppliant used these words:
(65) “Aeolus, since the father of gods and king of men has granted to you to calm and soothe the waves with the winds, a people hostile to me sails the Tyrrhenian Sea, carrying Troy to Italy and their defeated household gods: strike them with the power of the winds and overturn their prows submerged, or break them up and throw their bodies into the sea! I have twice seven nymphs of very pleasing figure of whom Deiopea is the most beautiful. Her I will give to you in lawful wedlock as your very own for performing such kind acts for me. She will pass for all time with you and make you the father of handsome children.”
In response Aeolus said “Your task, oh queen, is to say what you want; mine is to perform your will. Whatever kingdom it is I rule, you persuaded Jove to give it to me. You grant me the privilege to sit on the couches of the gods, and you gave me the power to rule the clouds and storms.”
When he had spoken these words, he struck the mountainside with his bident upside down, and the winds, much like a battle formation, as soon as the entry was given, rushed out and blew throughout the seas in a whirlwind. They fell upon the sea from their dark lair as one, the teeming East wind Eurus and the South wind Notus and the Southwest wind Africus rushed like blasts and threw mighty waves against the shore. The cry of men followed and so did the sound of their cables snapping. The winds suddenly snatched the sight of the sky and of day from the eyes of the Trojans; dark night covered the sea. The heavens rumbled and the air mixed frequent lightning bolts, all of which threatened the men with impending doom. At once the very limbs of Aeneas shuddered with cold, he groaned and holding both his hands up to the stars he spoke such words, “Oh thrice and four times blessed, those who fell to their deaths before the walls of high Troy and the eyes of their parents, oh most valiant of the Danaan race, Diomedes! Could I not have fallen, pouring out this life by your right hand on the plains of Troy where fierce Hector lies, felled by the spear of Achilles? Where mighty Sarpedon died, where the river Simois flows so many men’s shields and helmets and brave bodies under its waves!”
(102) While he was saying this, a blast from the North wind Aquilo hit the mast and creaking, it fell, and the waves rose up to the stars. The oars break, then the storm upends the prows and the waves pour over the sides, and a towering mountain of water rises out of the blue. The men hang on to tackle amid the waves, the briefly water parts and the bottom of the sea lies exposed, while the surging tide crashes onto the shore. Notus whirls three ships against treacherous reefs (the Italians call these reefs whose huge tops lie just over the surface of the sea in the middle of the waves ‘the Altars’), Eurus drives three ships from the deep up onto sandbars - miserable to see – he dashes one onto the shoals and surrounds it with a wall of sand. The sea strikes another ship, which was carrying faithful Orontes and the Lycians, on its stern from high above and before the eyes of Aeneas himself, the helmsman is thrown and rolls headlong; but three waves hit the ship in the same place and spinning it around, a rapid whirlpool devours the ship. The oars float on the waves in the churning abyss, along with the arms of men, ship planks, and the treasures of Troy. Now the storm overwhelms the ship of hardy Ilioneus, now that of brave Achates and that in which Abas was sailing, and that carrying aged Aletes; the fittings of the ships began to loosen and then cracks split open; all received the unfriendly water.
(124) Meanwhile, Neptune heard the storm newly unleashed and the loud crashing of the waves from his quiet seat in the depths of the sea; he was greatly disturbed. From the deep he lifted his calm head above the waves. He saw the fleet of Aeneas and the waterlogged Trojans scattered all over the sea by the waves and the heavens crashing down. Nor did the angry scheme of Juno escape the notice of her brother. He called Eurus and Zephyr to him and said this:
(132) Is this the good faith of you and your kind? Now, against my will, winds, you soaked the Earth and sky and dare to raise such waves? Why I ought to -! But it is better that I settle the disturbed waves. Afterwards you will pay for your crimes at my hands in no small way. Hasten now back to your king and tell him these words, power over the waves and the mighty trident are not allotted to him, but to me. He rules the huge rocks, your homes. Aeolus should vaunt himself in those halls alone, and he should rule there in the closed prison of the winds.”
(142) Thus he spoke and faster than words he calms the swollen seas. He drives off the assembled clouds and restores the sunlight. At the same time Cymothoe and Triton dislodge the ships from the sharp rocks; Neptune himself lifts them with his trident and dissipates the sandbank and calms the sea, and he glides over the top of the waves in his light chariot. And just as when often among a great many people an uproar arises and the angry crowd grows ugly, men throw torches and rocks, madness supplies arms to all. Then if by chance they see a man famed for his devotion and excellence, they fall silent and stand with their ears pricked, he rules their souls and calms their hearts; thus Neptune calms the crashing of the sea, when he the father by looking at the waters, riding in the open car under the sky, guides his horses and gives rein to the happy chariot.
Waterlogged, Aeneas lands in Africa near Carthage and consoles his crew. Meanwhile Venus complains to Jupiter that Juno is again trying to derail fate and prevent the founding of the Roman race. Jupiter assures her that the future will go as planned:

(267) “And the boy Ascanius, for whom another name, Iulus, will be added (He was Trojan as long as the Trojan state stood), will rule for thirty years, and he will transfer the seat of power from Lavinium, and he will found Alba Longa of much power. This city will be ruled for 300 years under the race of Hector’s kin, until a royal priestess impregnated by Mars shall give birth to twins, her named Ilia. Then Romulus happy at the tawny back of his wolf wet-nurse, shall inherit the nation and he will found the walls of Mars and call the people Romans from his name. I give to them no boundaries of time or place: I have given Empire without limit. Nay, harsh Juno who tires the sea and now the lands and sky with fear, will take counsel for the better, and she will come to adore the Romans, the toga’d race and masters of the world. It is thus decreed. An age will come as the decades pass when the house of Assaracus will crush Phthia and famous Mycenae in submission and conquered Argos will be mastered. And a Trojan Caesar of lofty origin, will stretch his power to the Ocean and his fame to the stars – Julius, his name passed down from great Iulus. One day carefree you will receive him, laden with the spoils of the East, among the stars, and he also will be prayed to by mortals. Then the bitter ages will soften after the wars are resolved. White Fides and Vesta, Quirinus with his brother Remus will make laws; the Gates of War will be closed and sealed with close-fitting bolts and dire iron. Impious Madness sits within on her weapons, her hands tied behind her back, bound with 100 bronze chains, and she rages, bristling with bloody gore.”
(297) Thus he spoke and he sent down the son of Maia from the sky …

Aeneas goes hunting with his friend Achates and meets his own mother, Venus, in disguise as a Carthaginian maiden. She tells them Dido has settled the land after escaping from Tyre, tells Aeneas how to befriend here, and then vanishes. Aeneas follows her instructions and they come to Carthage unaware that Venus put a cloud of invisibility around them.
The cloud falls away and Dido welcomes Aeneas, feasting him often and hears the story of Troy’s fall (book 2) and Aeneas’ adventures on the sea (book 3). Juno attempts to derail fate by keeping Aeneas in Africa as Dido’s husband and asks Venus to join her plan. Venus coyly agrees – so long as Jupiter endorses Juno’s scheme, fully knowing Jupiter will not assent. As per Juno’s plan, Aeneas and Dido are caught in a storm while hunting and take cover in a cave where they have sex. Afterwards, Dido tells all they are married, but their union is doomed. Jupiter forces Aeneas to leave Carthage and continue to Italy (book 4). Aeneas sails back to Sicily where he celebrates his father’s funeral games (book 5) and then continues to Italy. He lands near Cape Misenum and asks the Sibyl of Cumae to take him to the Underworld so he can talk to his father, Anchises. They overcome several perils and find Anchises down below. Anchises tells him of Rome’s future, 6.752-901.

(756) Anchises spoke and led his son and the Sibyl together through a surging crowd up to a hill from which they could see everyone facing them in a long line and consider each face as it came towards them.
(758) “Now come, the glory which follows my Dardanian descendents, the grandsons who wait to be born unto the people of Italy, and I will tell you their fates. He, you see him, who shines with the spear of honor, stands in closest proximity to us, he will be the first to rise to the worldly air, mixed with Italian blood, Silvius, an Alban name, your second son, to whom your future wife Lavinia will give birth late in your life in the forest, a king and father of kings, from whom your line will rule Alba Longa. Next after him is Procas, glory of the Trojan race, and Capys and Numitor, and he who will bear your name, Aeneas Silvius, equally renown for his arms and his piety, if ever he received Alba to rule. What youths! Look how they display their strength and how they wear oak crowns of honor on their temples! They will found Nomentum and Gabii and Fidena, and they will found strongholds on the mountaintops, Collatina, Pometii, Castrum Inui, Bola, and Cora. These places will be famous, now they are lands without names.
(777) “Indeed, Romulus son of Mars will link himself as a comrade to his grandfather, born as he will be from Numitor’s daughter Ilia of the blood of Assaracus. Do you see how two crests stand on his helmet and how his father already marks him as a god with honor? And behold, son, how by his auspices Rome shall be famous, extending her power over the Earth and equaling her spirits to Olympus, she will surround seven citadels with a single wall, happy in her race of men: just as the Berecyntian mother is carried wearing a crown in a chariot through the Phrygian cities, happy in her divine offspring, embracing 100 grandchildren, all of them divine, all living up high in immortal homes. Now turn your twin gaze this way, see this race, your Romans. There is Caesar and all the line of the Julii to come under the great wheel of the sky.
(791) “This man, he is the one about whom you have heard very often promised, Caesar Augustus, son of the deified one, who will found a new Golden Age for Latium, where once Saturn ruled. He will extend Roman rule to the Garamantes in Africa and to the Indians; beyond the lands the stars shine upon, beyond the annual path of the sun, where sky-bearing Atlas turns the axle studded with burning stars. Already now the kingdoms of both the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea cringe at prophecies of his divine arrival, and the seven-tongued Nile shudders in its anxious outlets. Not even Hercules passed over so much land when he pierced the bronze-footed stag, or when he pacified the Erymanthian Boar, or made Lernia tremble with his bow; nor did Bacchus when he drove tigers from the lofty top of Nysa yoked to his chariot with vine reins in victory. And can we now hesitate to extend our excellence by our deeds, or can any fear prevent our stand on Ausonian land?
(808) “Who is that far off, bearing marked wreaths of olive as sacred objects? I recognize him by the white hairs of his chin as the king of Rome who will bring laws to the city from little Cures and a poor land, send to great heights of power. After him then will come Tullus, the one who will break the sluggish peace of his homeland and will stir men to arms and battle lines no longer accustomed to triumphs. Ancus the boastful follows him closely, already now rejoicing too much in popular favor. You wish also to see the Tarquin kings and the haughty soul of Brutus the avenger, and the received fasces? He will be the first to accept consular authority and the brutal axes, a father will call his sons to pay the punishment for civil war to preserve sweet liberty. Oh unhappy one! However our descendents regard it, love of the nation and great desire for praise will trump paternal affection. Now behold far off the Decii and the Drusi, and fierce Torquatus with his axe, and Camillus bringing home the standards.
(826) “Moreover look at those whom you see shining in equal arms, now calm souls and while they are pressed by darkness, alas what war there will be between them if ever they see the light of day! How they will contend in battle line, a father-in-law descending from Alpine mountains and the city of North Italy against his son-in-law fortified by the forces of the East! Alas, children, do not accustom your souls to such wars nor turn the strength of your country against its own innards; You, the former, spare your hand, you who hail from the line of Olympus, throw away your weapons my offspring!
(836) “That one there, as a victor in triumph will drive his chariot to the high Capitoline Hill, famous for laying low the Argives. And that man will sack Argos and Agamemnon’s Mycenae, and king Perseus of Macedon, offshoot of powerful Achilles, an avenger of his ancestors from Troy and their violated temple to Minerva. Who could forget you, Cato, taciturn as you will be, or you Cossus? Who would forget the family of the Gracchi, or the twin thunderbolts of war, the Scipios, destroyers of Libya, or Fabricius, powerful from his lack, or you Serranus, sowing your furrow? To where do you rush me, Fabius, tired though I am? You are that Maximus, oh greatest one, who alone salvaged our Roman state from destruction by your delay. Some will fashion bronze statues breathing softly, I scarcely believe it, they will fashion living faces out of marble, others will plead cases in court more skillfully, others will chart the courses of the heavens, and describe the rising stars. (851) But you, Roman, let it be known, shall rule nations with your Empire (for these things will be your skill), to impose the laws of peace and to spare the conquered and to war down the haughty.”
(853) Thus spoke father Anchises and then he added these things to those still admiring his words, “Look, as famous Marcellus walks along with the spolia opima, a conqueror who towers over all other men. He will support the Roman state during a time of great trouble, though of the merchant class, he will strew low the Carthaginians after the Gallic rebellion, and for the third time will hang the captured arms up to father Quirinus.” And here Aeneas (for he was watching a young man of extraordinary beauty in shining armor walking beside Marcellus, but whose face was not so happy, and who held his eyes downcast) asked, “Who is that man, father, who accompanies Marcellus? Is it his son or some descendent of his great line? What a great crowd of admirers hovers around them! But dark night surrounds his head with a sad shadow.”
(867) Then father Anchises began to speak as tears welled in his eyes, “My son, ask not about the great grief of your people; the Fates will only show him to the world, they will not permit further. The Roman race will seem too powerful to you, gods, if these gifts of yours remained. How many groans of mourning the famed Field of Mars will utter to the great city of Rome! And what funeral games will you see, Tiber River, as you flow past the newly raised tomb! Nor will any boy of our Trojan line raise so high the hopes of his ancestors, and nor ever shall the land of Romulus boast more about any other favorite son. Oh righteousness, oh ancient faith, and a right hand unbeatable in war! Nor would anyone have faced him in war with impunity whether he advanced against the enemy on foot or came on horse putting spurs to the flanks of the sweating horse. Alas, wretched boy, if in anyway you might break through what the harsh fates set for you, you will be Marcellus. Give lilies with full hands, I will strew the purple flowers and heap up these gifts at least to the soul of my grandson, and I shall fulfill this empty duty.”
(886) Thus they wandered throughout the whole region across the bright, wide plains and surveyed all. When Anchises led his son through each place and kindled his spirit with love of the future to come, next he recited the wars which would soon be waged, and he taught him about the Laurentine people and the city of Latinus, and how he might escape or overcome each labor before him.
(893) There are double gates of Sleep, of which one is made of horn by which easy passage is given to true shadows, the other shining with gleaming ivory, perfect, but by it the souls of the dead send false visions to the upper world. With these words Anchises then escorted his son and the Sibyl together and sent them out through the ivory gate, he cuts his path to the ships and rejoins his friends. Then he took the fleet directly along the coast to the port of Caieta. He cast the anchor from the prow, and the ships docked at the shore.