Aeneid Translation VI.1-101

For reference only; please do not copy verbatim.

NOTE:


 * Brackets [ ] indicate a word that is supplied.

At the beginning of the poem, Aeneas is "crying" because Palinurus has just died from falling off the ship and drowning.

1. Crying, he speaks thus, and he sends reins into the ship* (*ship = classī = dative with special verb "immittit." See "Dative with a compound" under "Special verb" on the Uses of the dative page for more information.)

2. and he finally approaches the Euboean shores* of Cumae. (*Euboean shores = Euboicīs orīs = dative with special verb "adlabitur".)

3. They turn the prows to the sea*; then, an anchor (*to the sea = pelagō = dative of direction.)

4. was making ships fast with a gripping hook, and rounded ships

5. cloak the shores. A burning band of young men

6. darts out onto the Italian shore; part searches for hidden elements

7. of flame in the veins of a rock; part seizes the crowded homes of wild beasts,

8. the forests, and points out found rivers.

9. But loyal Aeneas seeks the citadel*, which** high Apollo (*citadel = arcēs = poetic plural. **which = quibus = dative with special verb "praesidet".)

10. rules, and the secret place*, the huge cave, of the revered Sibyl, (*secret place = secreta = poetic plural.)

11. for whom* the Delian prophet inspires the great mind and soul (*for whom = cui = dative of reference)

12. and reveals future [things].

13. Now, they approach the groves of Hecate and the golden home*, (*tecta = poetic plural)

14. Daedalus, as the story is, fleeing the Minoan kingdom* (*regna = poetic plural)

15. with swift wings, having dared to trust himself to the sky,

16. through an unused journey, flew forth to the icy Bear;

17. and swift, he stood above the Chalcidian citadel at last.

18. First returned* to these lands, he dedicated the rowing of wings (*remember that this is a passive participle, not a deponent one.)

19. to you, Apollo, and he established huge temples.

20. On the gates was the death of Androgeos*; then, the descendants of Cecrops (*Androgeō is a Greek genitive.)

21. [have been] ordered (miserable) to pay the punishments, the

22. bodies of their sons by sevens, yearly; a vase stands after lots have been drawn.

23. Opposite, the Gnossan land, lifted from the sea, corresponds:

24. here, the cruel love of a bull and Pasiphae placed under with stealth

25. and a mixed race and a two-formed offspring,

26. the Minotaur, is present, reminders of unspeakable Venus*; (*metonymy for love)

27. here, that labor of a house and an insoluble* maze [are present]; (*i.e. "unsolvable".)

28. but indeed, Daedalus himself, having pitied the great love of the queen*, (*referring to Ariadne)

29. unraveled the tricks and windings of the house,

30. directing blind footsteps with thread. You, too, Icarus,

31. would have* a big part in such a great work, [if] grief were allowing* [it]. (*would have = haberes; *were allowing = sineret; both conditional contrary to fact.)

32. Twice he had tried to portray the misfortunes on gold,

33. twice paternal hands fell. *If Achates, now sent forward, (*Virgil abruptly switches focus from Daedalus back to the Trojans.)

34. were not present*, they would nay even survey* all [things] at once with their eyes (*were present = adforet, an alternate form of "adesset"; would survey = perlegerent; both are conditional contrary to fact)

35. and the priestess of Apollo and Hecate together,

36. Deiphobe of Glaucus, speaks what [words] of such sort to the king*: (*Aeneas.)

37. "This time does not demand those sights for itself;

38. now, it would have been better* to slaughter seven oxen (*would have been better = praestiterit = potential subjunctive. See "Potential" on the page Uses of the subjunctive for more information.)

39. from the broken group, [and] as many chosen sheep, according to custom."

40. Having addressed Aeneas with such words (and the men to not delay

41. the ordered sacrifices), the priestess calls the Trojans into the high temples.

42. The huge side of a Euboean rock [has been] cut into a cave,

43. to where a hundred wide entrances lead, a hundred mouths,

44. from where* so many voices, the responses of the Sibyl, rush. (*from where = unde. "Whence", the translation the book gives, means "from where".)

45. They had come* to the threshold, when the maiden says, (*"ventum erat" is a passive verb of traveling, so it is translated as an active verb with "they" understood as the subject. See Passive verbs of traveling for more information.)

46. "It is time to demand the oracles; the god, look, the god!" To whom saying such things,

47. suddenly, before the doors, not her countenance, not one color,

48. not her arranged hair stayed*; but her chest [is] panting, (*meaning that her expression keeps changing, she keeps changing color, and her hair becomes disheveled.)

49. and her wild heart swells* with fury, and she seemed** larger (*heart swells = corda tument = poetic plural. **videri = historical infinitive.)

50. and she [is] not sounding mortal, since she has been inspired

51. by the divinity, now closer, of the god. She says, "Do you hesitate [to go] into offerings and prayers,

52. Trojan Aeneas? Do you hesitate? And indeed, before*, (*as in, "before you go into offerings")

53. the great mouths of the thunderstruck home will not open." And having spoken

54. such things, she hushed. An icy trembling ran through hard bones

55. for the Trojans*, and the king** pours prayers from the bottom of his heart: (*for the Trojans = Teucrīs = dative of reference. **king = rex = Aeneas.)

56. "Apollo, having always pitied the heavy hardships of Troy

57. who has directed the Trojan weapons and hands of Paris into

58. the body of Achilles, with you [as] the leader*, I have entered great lands, (*with you [as] the leader = te duce = ablative absolute.)

59. so many approaching seas and the peoples

60. of the Massylians secluded within and the fields stretched before Syrtis*: (*Syrtis = Syrtibus = dative with special verb "praetenta".)

61. now, we finally grasp the shores of fleeing Italy,

62. let Trojan fortune have followed* thus far**. (*let...have followed = secuta fuerit. Virgil uses "secuta fuerit" instead of "secuta sit" as a perfect subjunctive form. **thus far = hac...tenus.)

63. Now, it is divine will that you, too, spare the Trojan race,

64. both all gods and goddesses*, whom* Troy and the huge (*dī deaeque omnēs = vocative. **whom = quibus = dative with special verb "obstitit")

65. glory of Troy has opposed. And you, O most sacred prophet,

66. foreknowing of the future, allow (I do not demand

67. undue kingdoms for my fates) that the Trojans

68. and the wandering gods* and the tossed divinities of Troy settle in Latium. (*the household gods, called "wandering" because they have traveled from place to place along with the Trojans.)

69. Then, I will set up a temple from firm marble* for Apollo and for Hecate (*marble = marmore = ablative of material)

70. and festival days from the name of Apollo. (that is, Aeneas will establish holidays and name them after Apollo)

71. A great sanctuary awaits* you, too, in our kingdom: (*awaits = manet.)

72. for here, I will place your oracles and hidden, spoken fates

73. for my people, and I will dedicate chosen men,

74. nourishing [one]. Do not order songs from the leaves so much,

75. so that [their] confused mockery may not fly* to the swift winds: (*mockery may...fly = ludibria volent = poetic plural. volent = [negative] purpose clause.)

76. I pray [that] you yourself should sing*." He gave and end of the speaking with his mouth. (*you should sing = canas = indirect command.)

77. But the huge prophet, not yet tolerating of Apollo,

78. raves in the cave, if she could have shaken off

79. the great god from her heart*; with such great pressing**, that [god] (*from her heart = pectore = ablative of separation. **with pressing = premendō = gerund. ablative of means.)

80. the god wearies her raving mouth more, subduing* her wild heart, and molds [her]. (*that is, making her heart submit to his control. She isn't calming down just yet.)

81. And now the hundred huge mouths of the home lay open

82. by his desire and they carry the responses of the prophet through the airs:

83. "O, [you] having finished the great dangers* of the sea (*great dangers = magnīs periculīs = ablative with special verb "defungor")

84. (but heavier [ones] of land remain), the Trojans will finally

85. come into the kingdom* of Lavinium (send this care from your heart**) (*kingdom = regna = poetic plural. **from your heart = pectore = ablative of separation)

86. but they will not want even* to have come. I see wars, terrible wars, (*et = etiam.)

87. and the Tiber foaming with much blood.

88. Not the Simois nor the Xanthus nor the Doric camp

89. will have been lacking to you; another Achilles [has been] born* already in Latium, (*the book only gives "produce" or "gain" as definitions of "pario, -ere", but "give birth to" is another definition.)

90. and he himself [has been] born from a goddess*; and added Juno (*from a goddess = deā = ablative of separation.)

91. will not be absent to the Trojans anywhere, when you, suppliant, in needy affairs,

92. what peoples of the Italians or what cities you will not have beseeched!

93. The cause of misfortune so great [will be] again a wife foreign to the Trojans

94. an again of a foreign marriage chamber.

95. You, do not yield to misfortunes, but facing [them], you shall go*, bolder, (*you shall go = ito = future imperative.)

96. in any way your fortune will allow you. The first way of

97. safety, which* you do not think at all, will be opened from a Greek city". (*which = quod; "quod" is neuter and therefore cannot refer to "via" or "salutis", which are both feminine. Rather, it refers to the idea that Aeneas would get help from a city established by a Greek.

98. After such [words] were said, the Sibyl of Cumae sings dreadful

99. mysteries from the shrine and roars from the cave,

100. wrapping truths with dark [words]: Apollo shakes those

101. reins for her raging and turns the spurs beneath her heart. (this is a metaphor, comparing the Sibyl to a horse, with Apollo as the chariot-driver.)