Aeneid (Williams)

by Virgil

For other English-language translations of this work, see Aeneid.

V. C. W.

Nec Tyriae Didonis amor nec forma fefellit,
Nec fluvios Erebi monstravit diva Sibylla:
Sed profugam fato Saturnia regna secutum
Me dilecta comes ad caelos alma vocasti.

G. H. P.

I hear thy accent when I read
The change-and-time-defying creed
Of Shakespeare’s youth; or when divine
Odysseus pleads in words of thine;
Through thee our England’s laurelled choir
Breathed o’er my youth their generous fire:
And now these strains of Virgil’s song
Not less to thee than him belong.

Contents

• Book I. The Hero’s destiny. Juno’s wrath. The wind-god; storm and shipwreck. Æneas lands near Carthage. Venus and Jove. Jove unfolds the destiny of Rome. Venus tells Æneas the story of Dido’s exile. Feast in Dido’s palace. Cupid betrays her. She asks to hear Æneas’ story.
• Book II. Æneas tells the fall of Troy. The Wooden Horse. Sinon’s lying story. Laocoön and the serpents. The Horse enters the citadel. Death of Priam. Æneas’ vision of the gods destroying Troy. The Rescue of Anchises. Loss of Creüsa. Fight to the hills.
• Book III. The Trojan wanderings. Thrace. Polydorus and the Curse of Gold. Delos, its oracle. Crete, the pestilence. Æneas’ dream. The Island of the Harpies and their curse. Actium. Epirus. Helenus and Andromache. Helenus foretells Scylla, Charybdis, and the Sibyl. Sicily and Ætna. Polyphemus. Sicilian shores. Anchises’ death.
• Book IV. Dido discloses to Anna her passion for Æneas. Juno and Venus plot her fall. The hunt. The cavern in the rain. Rumor, the monster of many tongues and eyes. Iarbas, the scorned suitor. Jupiter send Mercury to Æneas. Æneas prepares his flight. Dido entreats in vain. The curse of Carthage. Dido builds her funeral pyre, pretending sorcery. Her death by Æneas’ sword. Iris is sent from heaven to set her free.
• Book V. Æneas storm-driven to Sicily. The serpent at Anchises’ tomb. The Funeral Games. The Ship-race. The Foot-race, Nisus and Euryalus. The Boxing Bout, Dares and Entellus. The Archers. Ascanius leads the youthful cavalry. Juno sends Iris to the Trojan women, who fire the ships. Æneas obtains rain of Jove. Anchises’ ghost. The City Acesta. Venus sues to Neptune. The God of Sleep and Palinurus.
• Book VI. The cave of the Cumæan Sibyl. Her prophecy. The Burial of Misenus. Æneas finds the golden bough. The descent into Hades. The horrors at its door. The Rivers of Death. The unburied ghosts. Palinurus. Charon and his Stygian boat. Cerberus. The Fields of Sorrow. The Shade of Dido. The dead warriors. Deiphobus. The punishments of Tartarus. Elysium. The spirits of the blest. Æneas finds his father. Anchises shows the host of spirits yet unborn. Æneas sees the line of Roman conquerors from Romulus to Cæsar. The young Marcellus. The Gates of Sleep.
• Book VII. Æneas lands at Tiber’s mouth. King Latinus warned by omens to give Lavinia to a foreign husband. Æneas sends envoys to Latinus’ palace. Latinus promises his daughter. Juno calls Alecto from Hades. The Fury rouses Queen Amata and Turnus. Ascanius wounds Sylvia’s fawn. The rustics arm themselves for war. Juno opens the Gates of Janus. The neighboring warriors muster in Turnus’ cause; Camilla ends the line.
• Book VIII. Turnus sends envoys to Diomed. Father Tiber speaks to Æneas in a dream. The white sow and her thirty young. Æneas visits King Evander on the Palatine. The tale of Hercules and Cacus. Evander shows Æneas the sacred site of Rome. Venus asks Vulcan’s aid. The Cyclops of Ætna forge Æneas’ arms. Evander sends his son Pallas to the war. Venus gives Æneas his shield on which is pictured the glories of Rome, the Battle of Actium, the Triumph of Augustus.
• Book IX. Turnus fires the Trojan ships. They are changed to sea-nymphs. The siege. Nisus and Euryalus. The exploits of Turnus. Ascanius’ arrow. Two giants, Pandarus, and Bitias, defend the gates. Turnus strikes them down and enters. He meets the Trojans single-handed. Driven back to the Tiber, he leaps in full-armed and escapes.
• Book X. Council of the Gods. Venus and Juno contend. Jove commands the Gods to be impartial. Æneas returns with his fleet. The ships described. Æneas and Turnus take the field. The tale of the slain. The death of Pallas. Turnus by Juno’s stratagem withdrawn from the field. Mezentius after much slaughter is wounded by Æneas. Lausus is killed defending his father. Mezentius and his horse. Death of Mezentius.
• Book XI. Æneas sends home the dead Pallas. The funeral array. The Latins ask a truce. Latinus calls a council. Drances and Turnus contend. The burial of the slain. Diomed refuses aid. Latinus proposes terms of peace. Drances demands that Turnus meet Æneas in single combat. The war proceeds. Diana tells the story of Camilla. The exploits of Camilla and her death. The Latins are routed.
• Book XII. Turnus challenges Æneas. Juno and Juturna. Æneas and Latinus swear the Truce; Tolumnius breaks it. Æneas struck by an arrow. Turnus slays man after man. Venus brings balm for her son’s wound. He returns to the field. Juturna, guiding her brother’s chariot, removes him from Æneas. Amata hangs herself. The champions meet. Turnus loses his sword; Æneas, his lance. Venus and Juturna interfere. Juno appeals to Jove. Jove establishes the Latin name. The final struggle. Turnus’ death.