The 3rd Book of Vergil's Aeneis,
"The Aeneid"
"After the o'erthrow of our Asian kingdom, and with it Priamus' people --
Though we deserved it not, the gods saw fit to ruin us -- and fell lofty
Ilium and all of Neptunian Troy's foundations lay smoking and level with the dirt,
Forced to seek were we different paths of exile, abandoned lands,
All at the behest of the auguries divine, and a fleet under the very shade 5
Of Antander's walls at the foot of Phrygian Ida's peaks we are set to fashion.
We are unaware whither the fates may drive us and where may be granted a place to stay,
And so we collect our people. Scarcely had early summer started
When father Anchises bid us ope the sails wide to our fates.
My eyes shedding tears I bid farewell to the shores of my father's land, her inlets, 10
And her fields where once Troy stood. I am driven on, a refugee upon the deepsea,
With my crew for company, along with my son, the Penates, and great gods.
"There is a land far off where Mavortian warriors are bred in vast plains,
Where Thracians till, which once was ruled by harsh Lycurgus,
An ally old of Troy whose gods stand in alliance with our own, 15
While our Fortune lasted. I am driven onwards hither, and on a crescent shore
I set my first city's walls; and though our approach was met with opposing orlays,
Aeneadae from mine own name a name I fashion for my people.
"Sacred rites to Dione's daughter, my mother, and all the other gods I then conducted,
For the favorable omens accompanying our a-started toils, and a spotless bull 20
For the high king of the heaven-dwelling gods I slew alongside the shore.
"By chance hard by was a mound, on the height of which grew a cornel-wood copse
And, covered in dense, spear-like shafts on every side, a prickly myrtle.
I approached, and the green shoots from the ground I made an attempt to wrench,
So that with their leafy fronds I might dress my sacred altars. 25
When a terrible omen -- even now I am dumbfounded telling you -- appears a'fore my eyes:
For first branch's roots are thus ripped away and from the ground the whole thing
Is torn, when drops of dark blood ran from the end,
And the ground they stain with gore. An icy terror seizes me,
My limbs are a-quiver and my chill cold blood runs sluggish with dread. 30
And again, another pliant switch I followed up to wrench free,
And to try to pry the causes of such a thing which lay deep within.
Lo! Dark blood follows from the bark of the other branch!
Much I pondered at heart, and made I a prayer to the woodland nymphs.
And to father Gravidus, who presideth o'er the Getic plains, 35
So with all divine duties duly honored, they might find favor and lift the curse.
But after the third spear-like shoot I approach and with greater strain
I struggle on my knees against the grasping dirt, when --
O should I tell, or should keep my tongue? -- a pitiable groan from the depths
Of the mound is heard, and a voice speaking back and is borne to mine ears: 40
"'Why dost thou wound me, Aeneas, wretch that I am? Spare now my tomb!
Spare thy pious hands from sacrilege! For Troy once gave me birth,
No foreigner I! Nor does this gore drip from any branch of tree!
Alas, flee these savage lands, take flight from this shore of greed!
For I am Polydorus, and here I lie pierced, an iron hedge covers me, 45
A forest of spears, all grown to the number of these keen javelins.'
"But thereupon, my mind whelmed by the twin-fold fearful portents,
I was struck dumb, stood upright all my hairs, and my voice clung to my throat.
This Polydorus with a great weight of shining gold had once
Unhappy Priamus entrusted by secret wiles to buy the support 50
Of the Thracian king, at a time when the Trojan king mistrusted the strength
Of Dardanian arms whilst he beheld his city ringed with siege-works.
The other king, once broken was might of the Teucri and Fortune left us,
Followed Agamemnon's decrees and his victorious arms
By breaking every law divine. Polydorus he cuts down, and the gold 55
He gains by force -- what dost thou not drive the hearts of mortals to commit,
O accursed hunger for gold! After the fear quit my bones,
To men chosen from the people to the rank of chieftain, and foremost to my sire,
I put to discussion this omen of the gods, and I ask what thinks each man.
The mind of everyone is the same, to withdraw from this accursed land, 60
To quit its profaned hospitality and to give our fleet to the Southerlies.
And so we raise a barrow for Polydorus, and an enormous
Heap of earth is heaped for the mound. Built are altars for the Shades,
Sad monuments clothed in sky-blue fillets and shady cypresses,
And around them were placed the tresses of Trojan women shorn according to custom. 65
We bear bowls foaming full with fresh milk,
And libations of sacred blood. And so his ghost we lay within a tomb,
And a loud cry we raise up in conclusion of the rites.
"Thence, when at last we had regained our faith in the sea, and the winds
Granted us becalmed waters and the lightly rustling Auster called us to the deep-sea, 70
Our allies push their ships off from the shore and crowd the shallows.
Carried are we from our harbor; land and cities recede from our sight.
In the middle of the sea is found a holy spot of land,
A most welcome place to the Nereids' mother and to Aegean Neptune,
Which was wandering from coast to shore 'til the Archer-god, with a son's devotion, 75
Bound it to sea-floor at lofty Myconus and Gyarus,
Making it unmoving for habitation, and a place to scorn the sea-storms --
Hither I am borne, and this most peaceful place receives our wearied bodies
In her safe haven. Disembarking, we pay our respects to Apollo's city.
For King Anius, yea, he was king of men and priest alike of Phoebus Apollo, 80
Garlanded about his holy temples with fillets and a crown of laurel,
Received us; for he recognized Anchises as a friend of old
We clasp our right hands with oaths of hospitality, and enter under his roof.
"When at the temples of the gods I prayed, structures built out of aged stone,
I spake:
'Grant us, Thymbrian Apollo, a home of our own! Grant the weary a safe haven -- 85
Give us both a people and a lasting city! Protect the second coming of Troy's citadel, the remnants of the Danai and pitiless Achilles!
Whom do we follow? Whither dost thou bid us go? Where ought we build our homes?
Give us, father, a sign and mayest thou write it in our hearts.'
"Scarcely had I finished speaking when everything seemed to a-sudden tremble, 90
Both the doorways and the laurel crown of the god, the whole hill about us
Seemed to move, and the god's tripod groaned from the cauldron's deepest recesses.
Falling down, we keep to the ground and a voice is borne upon the winds:
"'Hardy sons of Dardanus, the very land which first bore ye,
Your firstborn parentage, the selfsame land shall to her happy breast, 95
Hold ye yet again. Your ancient mother of old -- seek her out!
Here shall the house of Aeneas rule all of the shores of the sea,
Down through his children's children, and those born hereafter.'
"Thus spake Phoebus. Burst forth from the confused tumult was happiness,
Supreme joy, and all began to ask what city walls were these 100
Whither Phoebus calls us from wandering and bids us return home.
Then my forebearer turned o'er and again in his mind the memories of our old sires.
"'Harken unto me, O princes,' saieth he, 'and learn ye this hope:
Great Jove's island home of Crete lies upon the middle of the sea,
Where riseth Mount Ida and the very cradle of our people. 105
A hundred great cities the Cretans inhabit there, most prosperous kingdoms,
Whence came our greatest father -- if rightly I recall what I have heard --
Teucrus, when he was first borne to the Rhoetean shores
And longed for a place for a kingdom. Not yet stood Ilium, not yet
Stood the citadel of Pergamum -- people dwelt within deepest vales. 110
For hence came the Mother worshiped on Mt. Cybelus, hence the Corybantic cymbals,
The groves about Ida's peaks -- hence came the secret adherence to her rites,
And came hence lions yoked to draw their lady's car.
And so now come! Let us follow the gods' bidding whither it leads us,
And so calm the winds and seek we the kingdoms of Cnossus. 115
Not do such lands lie far off -- if Jove the Father be with us,
Then the dawn's third rise shall see our fleet on Cretan shores.'
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| Mt Ida, Crete, where Zeus was born to the Mother, Ῥέα/Ops, also known as Cybele |
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| The Mother, Cybele |
"Thus spake he, and made then worthy sacrifices upon the altars --
A bull for Neptune, and one for thee as well, fair Apollo,
A black ewe for the Storm-god, a white one for favor with Zephyrus. 120
"Rumor had made her way to us and said that defeated was Lord Idomeneus,
And had withdrawn from his father's throne -- so now deserted were the Cretan shores,
A home empty of foes, where their houses stood there empty for us.
We leave Ortygia's port and fly upon the wide open sea,
Past Naxos' Bacchic peaks, and verdant green Donusa, 125
Olearos, and snowy-white Paros, through all the Cyclades scattered about the sea,
We thread the watery straits crowded with frequent isles.
The sailors' cries are lifted up as they complete their various tasks,
And our allies shout on:
'Let us seek Crete and our forebearers of old!'
A wind sends us on our way as it rises from our ships' sterns, 130
And at last we reach the ancient shores of the Curetes.
And so, in my desire for safe walls, I begin construction of our longed-for city,
And call it Pergamea. Our people took happy stock in the name,
And onward I urge them to love their new hearths and raise up a lofty citadel.
And so, barely dry are our shipsterns which we drew upon the shore, 135
Our youths occupied with weddings and new tilled fields,
While I set down laws and homes, when a-sudden a corruption
From some tainted stretch of air came, woe-begotten, upon our limbs,
And our trees and crops as well -- a pestilence, and season of death.
Men gave up their sweet breath or dragged about their bodies 140
Wracked with plague. Then the barren Dog-star scorched our crops,
Our tillage burned and our sickened greens refused to yield any food.
Urging us to go again to the oracle of Ortygia and to Phoebus,
My father compelled us to sail the same seas and pray for mercy there,
Ask what end might there be for our weary fate, whence biddeth us 145
To ask for aid from our toils, and whither he wants us to turn our course.
"One night, while throughout all creatures of the land did Sleep hold his sway,
The holy images of the gods, the Phrygian Penates,
Which I had with me from Troy, born out of the midst of the blazing city,
Appeared before mine eyes as I lay in sleep, and they stood there 150
Perfectly clear in the ample light which came from the full moon
Pouring in through the unshuttered windows of my room.
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| The Penates speak to Aeneas, from a 4th century manuscript of The Aeneid |
Then they spoke to me and took away the cares of my mind with these words:
'If thou wert to leave here for Ortygia, Apollo himself would tell thee this,
For this is his song! Lo! Sendeth he us as messengers to thy door! 155
It was us who followed thee and thine arms from Dardania's smoldering ashes,
It was us who followed thee as thou fearfully faced the deepsea with thy fleet,
And with the same eyes on thy grandchildren, we shall raise them to the stars,
And an empire and a city we shall grant them. Ready thou great city-walls for the mighty, and cease not from the long toil of thy flight. 160
Thine home must be changed. These are not the shores thou wert urged to sail towards
By the Delian, nor did Apollo bid thee settle on Crete.
There is a place, Hesperia, a nickname the Grai have given it,
An ancient land, powerful in war and rich in fertile lands.
The Oenotri had a colony there, but the tale goes round that his descendants, 165
These Itali, now call their race after their leader's name.
These are the lands which are given o'er to thee, hence was where Dardanus came,
And father Iasius, the founding forebearer of our race.
Arise! Come! Happily bear thou these words to thy long-lived father
Without hesitation at all! Let him look for Corythus and the 170
Ausonian lands! Jove the Father says harvests around Mt. Dicte are not for thee!"
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| A Roman Lar, an idol of a household god, which is often equated with the Penates. A Lar is a tutelary deity bound to a certain locale, whereas the Penates were portable deities, able to be transported across the sea. |
Astonished by such sights as these and by the holy voice of the gods,
(For not was that an empty dream, but I seemed to recognize their faces before me,
Their veiled heads and the very selfsame faces speaking to me)
A icy sweat then began to run down my whole body 175
As I bolted out of bed and lifted up my flattened palms
To the heavens, called out the prayers, and made unblemished off'rings
Upon the hearthfire. This sacrifice performed with happy hands,
I then inform Anchises and lay out the whole portent step-by-step.
He learns of our uncertain origins and our two-fold parentage, 180
And that he had been misled by a new mistake concerning these old places.
He then recalls:
'Son, thou art hard-tested by these Ilian prohecies!
Only did Cassandra sing such disasters to me
Which now I do remember: she foretold such trials for our race,
And oft Hesperia, yea, oft Italian kingdoms she would cry out. 185
But who would believe that we Teucri would come to the shores
Of Hesperia? Who would have then been moved by the wyrd outbursts of Cassandra?
Let us obey to Phoebus and, warned by him, follow these better commands.'
"Thus spake he, and the rest of us stood happy to obey his word.
So this home as well we forsake, and, after leaving some behind, 190
We give our sails to the winds and run the titanic sea in our hollow ships.
After our ships reached the high seas and no longer could any land
Be seen, naught but the heavens algates and algates the sea,
Then a dark storm-cloud appeared above mine head,
Bringing both night and hail, and the waves grew rough under its shadow. 195
"All of a sudden the squalls scream and the sea and great swells surge,
And we are cast asunder amidst a whirlpool of enormous size.
The day is tak'n by the clouds and a dank night hath stol'n the sky from our sight,
Until heaven's fire rends apart the scud with ever-renewed fury.
We are driven off course and sail aimlessly amidst the blind waves. 200
Palinurus himself says that the cannot discern day from night in the sky,
Nor can he keep a straight course in the swells.
For three unsure days about this unseeing squall we toss without bearings
Upon the sea, and likewise throughout the night though without stars as guides.
On the fourth day, a spot of land lifted itself up at last 205
To our sight, mountains opening up at a distance as well as rolling smoke.
We dowse canvas and rise to take an oar. No delay, our sailing men
Straining churn the salt-foam and sweep the dark-blue sea.
I had been preserved from the waves, now the shores of the Strophades
Received me. The Strophades (called by their Greek name) stand 210
As islands in the great Ionian Sea, specks of land which dread Celaeno
And her other Harpyiae Snatchers now call home, after Phineus'
House had been closed off to them, and fear had robbed them of their earlier meals.
"Scarcely was any monster more grim than those, nor was any more savage pest
Born out of the wrath of the gods from the hissing Stygian swell. 215
Birds they were, but with maid'ns' faces, bellies fouled by
Reeking filth, hooked hands, and pale, ever-famished mouths.
Brought hither, we put to port, and lo! Behold!
By and by we see sleek and strong cattle scattered throughout the plains, 220
And horn-wearing herds in the grass, with nary a herdsman in sight.
We fall on them with iron and call on the gods, particularly Jove himself,
To take part and share of our spoil and plunder. Then, upon the curved bay,
We both lay out benches and then feast on these choicest meats.
But all of a sudden, swooping down in a terrifying wave from the mountaintops, 225
Are the Harpyiae, shaking their wings with a deafening drumbeat;
They snatch away our feast and with their filthy touch befoul all Before them. Then, an awful shriek rises from the disgusting stench.
"Withdrawing some distance off, under a hollowed cliff-face we try again,
Encircled as we were by trees and the shivering shadows cast by their leaves, 230
We set up the tables and rekindle the flames upon the altars.
And from a different corner of the sky, from some unseen lair,
The shrieking Hellish crowd circles their prey in flight, talons flexing,
And again defile our meal. It was then I ordered our allies take up their arms,
So that we might wage war 'gainst this dreadful race. 235
Doing as they were bid, under roofs and throughout the grass
Our men scatter swords and hide away concealed shields.
And so, when the monsters swoop down, screaming as they do, down upon
The curved bay, Misenus, from his high look-out place, gives the signal
On his hollow bronze; our allies charge and try new tactics 240
To wound with our iron swords these abominable sea-birds.
But neither do they take any damage to their feathers, nor are they wounded
On their backs, and, wheeling and diving in the heavens, they make good their escape,
Leaving half-eaten food and stinking squalor behind them.
"Alone on an exceedingly high outcropping, Celaeno took roost, 245
Prophetess of doom, and lets rip this cry from her breast:
'Is it also war ye are ready to bring, war for the slaughter of our cattle,
For the young bollocks ye laid low, ye sons of Laomedon?
Will ye also now drive us innocent Snatchers from our fathers' kingdom?
So harken unto me, and into your hearts etch these words of mine, 250
These commands the All-Father told to Phoebus and Phoebus Apollo to me,
And to ye I, the greatest of the Furies, now lay them bare!
So ye shall seek out Italy in your course after invoking the winds,
And to Italy ye shall go and gain any easy landing there.
But not shall ye gird the city which is owed to ye with walls 255
Before dread hunger and the wrong of trying to slaughter us
Compel ye to gnaw with your jaws the tables upon which ye eat.'
"She spake, and back into the woods she fled, borne aloft on her wings.
But my allies' blood ran chill together, curdled by fear,
And their courage fell so that no longer with arms 260
But with off'rings and prayer they bid me sue for peace,
Whether or not these be goddesses or dread and vile birds.
And Father Anchises with outstretched palms upon the shore
Doth call upon the great powers above and proclaims due sacrifices:
'Ye gods! Prevent these threats! Ye gods! Turn aside such disaster, 265
And be at peace! Guard thy faithful servants!'
He then bid us take
From the shore the mooring line and let loose the slackened sheets.
Notus' blasts then fill our sails, and so we fly on foaming waves,
Where'er wind and captain call our course.
In the midst of the deepsea appears woody Zacynthos 270
As well as Dulichium and Same and Neritos of the steep rocks.
We fled from the rocky shore of Ithaca, the kingdoms of Laertes' house,
Yea, we curse that land, accursed wetnurse of savage Ulixes.
Shortly the cloud-tipped mountaintops of Leucatae came into view,
A promontory fearful to sailors, where Apollo has a temple. 275
This we a-wearied seek and come to a small city;
Anchors are cast from prows and decks stand upon the shore.
And so, at last, an unexpected land here we gained,
And there we purify ourselves for Jove, and with off'rings kindle his altars,
And Actium's shores we fill with Ilian games. 280
Our companions wrestle in our fathers' fashion with flowing oil,
All naked they. It was pleasing to be done scraping by so many cities
Of the Argives, and keeping to our flight amidst our foes.
Meantime, for a long year is the sun ever encircling,
And icy winter with Aquilo's gusts doth harshen the waves. 285
A round shield of hollow bronze, the arms of great Abas,
I set upon the front of the doorposts and its account I carve with this line:
'ÆNEAS THESE ARMS DID FROM DANAÏAN VICTORS TAKE'
"Then to leave the harbors I bid them, and to settle back upon the thwarts.
In contest our companions strike the sea and the smooth surface they sweep. 290
Farther on, the cloud-capped citadels of the Phaeaci we put out of sight,
And the shores of Epirus we sailed by, and unto a harbor came we
At Chaonium, and to the high city of Buthrotum we approached.
Here, an unbelievable rumor of things takes hold of our ears,
That Priamus' son Helenus ruled throughout these Graian cities, 295
When he the bride of Æacus' grandson Pyrrhus and his scepters he won,
And that to a lord of her homeland had Andromache again yielded to take a husband.
I stood dumbfounded and inflamed was my breast with wondrous love
To seek out the man and of their disasters discover, such as they are.
So I go forth from the harbor, my fleet and shores I leave behind, 300
'Til I find them. Before their city-walls were somber funeral off'rings and grim gifts,
And sitting in a grove beside a pretended Simoïs' waves,
Was Andromache pouring out off'rings for ashes and for the dead she was calling
At a Hectorean barrow, an empty tomb she had raised with green grass,
And twin altars she had consecrated, the focus of her tears. 305
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| Colin Morison, Andromache Offering Sacrifice to Hector's Shade c.1760 |
"When me she espied walking towards her, she looked around like a mad thing
At the Trojans wearing Trojan trappings now encircling her,
So terrified was she by these omens, her gaze froze as the color left her face,
And she swoons, and after so long a time she still can scarcely speak:
'Is it really thy face? Dost thou really come to me now, bearing news, 310
O goddess-born? Dost thou live? Or, if thy nourishing light hath left thee,
Then where is my Hector?'
So spake she, and shed forth tears,
And the whole place she filled with sobs. Only this meager reply can I speak
To the frantic woman, for in my distress I only murmur a few words:
'Yea, I live, and still live my life pushed to the every brink. 315
Doubt it not, for what you see before thee is real.
Alas! What disaster followed thee after thou had lost so great a husband?
Has fortune returned to thee, worthy enough for thee,
Has fortune returned to thee, worthy enough for thee,
For Hector's Andromache? Or art thou still Pyrrhus' wife?'
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| Sebastian Brant, Meeting of Aeneas And Andromache c.1502 |
She cast down her face and spoke in a voice subdued: 320
'O happy was the maid'n daughter of Priamus before all others,
Commanded to die o'er a the barrow of a foe 'neath the high
Walls of Troy, for not did she endure any lottery,
Nor as a slave did she lay eyes on some conquering lord's bed.
But I saw my homeland set ablaze and across the distant seas was I carried, 325
As I endured the arrogance, the haughty youth of Achilles' son,
And by him bore a child into slavery. But then he pursued
Ledan Helen's Hermione; a Lacedaemon marriage for him,
While me he sent to Helenus, a slave to look after a slave.
But then, enflamed by the great love he had for his stol'n bride, 330
Orestes, driven into madness by the Furies for his crime,
Caught up with the fool unawares and butchered him at Achilles' altar.
At Neoptolemus' death, part of his kingdoms duly passed and were bequeathed
To Helenus, who gave the Chaonian fields their name,
All of Chaonia, named after the Trojan Chaon, and built 335
Here our Pergama, our own Ilian citadels upon the summit!
But what winds, O what fates hath brought thee hither?
What god above drove thee to our shores, for thou knew not of us before?
What of thy son Ascanius? Doth he yet live and breathes the air?
And [her who bore him] to thee [in] Troy now [lost, we heard she was gone] -- 340
Ah, doth any memory of his lost mother stay with thy son?
Doth his father Aeneas and uncle Hector rouse
His young man's heart to follow their ancient valor?'
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| Lord Leighton, Captive Andromache |
"Such things she poured forth a-weeping all the while,
And long lamentations she renewed, when from the city 345
Lord Helenus, Priamus' son, approaches with attendants manifold;
Now recognizes he his family and leads them happily to his home,
While letting fall tears amidst each his every word.
I follow, and soon see a tiny Troy, a citadel counterfeited like the great Pergama,
As well as a dried-up stream named after the river Xanthus -- 350
All this I recognize. Around the gateposts of the copied Scaean I wrap my arms,
And likewise do the Teucri enjoy the fruits of their allies' city.
The king received them within his large colonnade,
And in the middle of the courtyard they tipped out cups of Bacchus,
Whil gold'n trays were weighed down with feasts as they held paterae aloft. 355
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| Patera from Roman Hispania 2nd - 1st century B.C. The indentation (ὀμφαλός - omphalos "bellybutton") on the underside is used to help hold the vessel, and, due to its necessity, became a decorative part of the artwork itself. |
And so, day after day went by, and the airy breezes
Call our sails and the canvas fills up with a blustering Southerly.
I approach Helenus, a priest, with these words and ask him such things:
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| The Aeneid Master, Aeneas and Helenus Sacrificing, c. 1530 |
'Troy-born, seer of divine will, thou see'st the power of Apollo,
Thou know'st the tripods of Clarion and the laurel, the heavenly bodies, 360
How to traffic with birds and see the omens borne on flying wing,
Come, speak to me, for every fortunate sign spoke my course to me,
And the rest of the gods have urged me on by their will divine
To seek Italy and to try to rebuild our homeland there.
Only there has been a new song sung, the Harpyia, Celaeno -- 365
Ah me, a horror to speak of -- she threatens bitter wrath
And curses us with famine; so, what dangers must I first avoid?
Taking what course shall I be able to o'ercome such toils a'fore me?'
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| Roman bust of a priest wearing a fillet, c. 2nd century A.D. |
Here, as tradition demanded, Helenus slew the young bullocks,
And wins his link to the divine; so he unloosed the fillets about 370
His holy head and he leads me to thy threshold, Phoebus Apollo.
While I was filled with awe at the divine power surrounding me,
The seer then lets out these words in song from his holy lips:
'Goddess-born, for it is clearly true that thou art to tread the deepsea
By blessing of higher revelations, for thusly hath the king of the gods 375
Cast the lots of fate and desireth this outcome: the order of things so turns.
A few things out of many shall I tell thee, that more safely thou traverse
The strange seas ahead and come to beach at an Ausonian port;
But the rest the Parcae keep from Helenus, and forbid him to know,
And Saturnian Juno keeps him from speaking more. 380
Now, Italy first: thou think'st now that it lies nearby,
So thou readies to settle upon harbors lying close to thee,
But thou know'st not that a long pathless path, so long,
Keeps thee from thy far-off lands, lands so far off.
Thou art to dip thine oars and ply them in Trinacrian waves 385
And light upon the saltsea coastlines of Ausonia in thy ships,
Past the Infernal Lakes and Aeaea, island of Circe the witch,
All of this before thou canst safely set thy city upon dry land.
The signs I shall thee, but thou: keep them stored in thy mind:
When in thy distress thou find'st near a bank of a remote river by a 390
Remote shore an enormous white sow will be lying on the ground,
Beneath the bankside oaks, having birthed a litter of thirty young piglets,
A white sow lying there surrounded by thirty white young at her teats --
That is the place for thy city, that is the sure rest of thy labors.
Fear not thou the eating of thy tables yet to come,
For the Fates will find a way and Apollo shall be there when called. 395
However, these lands and this nearby shoreline of Italy
Which is washed by the nearby waves of our sea,
Keep far from thy prow, for all their city-walls are held by wicked Greeks.
Here both the Narycii at Locri have laid foundations for their own city,
And the plains of the Sallentini hath by armed men been besieged 400
By Idomeneus of Lyctus. Here as well lies little Petelia,
By Idomeneus of Lyctus. Here as well lies little Petelia,
Supported by the walls of the leader of the Meliboei, Philoctetes.
For when thy fleet hath crossed the seas and found thy beachhead,
Set up then thou the altars and make thine off'rings on the shore.
Adorned in a purple veil, cover thou thy head, 405
Lest in view of the sacred flames lit in honor of the gods,
Any antagonistic face be shown and upset the portents.
Let thine allies keep this manner of sacrifice, and thou thyself as well.
And let thy own offspring stay pure in this way of ritual.
But when thou hast left here and a wind drives thee on to Sicilian shores, 410
The haven of narrow Pelorus will now open ahead.
And seek out the land and the seas on thy portside,
Go a long round-about way; so keep thou from the starboard shore and waters.
For this place was once one land and torn apart in violence and ruin,
For in the long-passing span of long-passed time, great change doth occur, 415
And the one broke into two, they say, where one is forthwith on one side,
The other the other, and cometh the sea betwixt them with surging waves,
As Hesperia splinters from Sicily's side, the fields and cities
Were by coastline divided, as a narrow channel flowed betwixt them.
On the right side lieth Scylla, on the left Charybdis, ne'er satisfied, 420
Which to the fathoms-reaching depths she draws down a whirlpool thrice daily,
Before a-suddenly vomiting back up the waters all again to the airy sky,
And strikes the heavenly constellations with her spew.
A cave is Scylla's home -- within its blind recesses
She shoots out her heads and drags ships upon the rocks. 425
At first she seemeth to have a human's form with lovely breasts,
A girl to her sex, but then an enormous-bodied sea monster
Joining the tails of dolphins to the bellies of wolves.
It is better to light the rounding tips of Trinacria, yielding at Pachynus,
Keeping to a long and roundabout way and course, 430
Before laying sight even once on that misshapen thing in that wide cave,
Scylla, the rocks resounding with the barking of her sea-colored dogs.
Beyond this, if there be any foresight in this seer Helenus,
If there be any trust in him, if Apollo fills his mind with truth,
Then this one thing, goddess-born, this one thing before all else, 435
I shall tell thee and saying it again and again I shall advise thee:
Above all else, it is great Juno's power thou must honor with prayer,
Freely chant thy vows to Juno and win o'er that powerful lady
With appeasing gifts. Finally, thou will be victorious
And be led from Trinacria for the bounds of Italy. 440
When hither thou hast arrived, and thou hast sought out the city of Cumae,
The lakes of the gods there, and Avernus amongst the whispering trees,
Thou shall lay eyes on a lunatic priestess, who within a deep cave
Sings songs of Fate and writes the notes and names of prophecy on leaves.
Whate'er songs that maid'n hath written upon these leaves, 445
She arranged in order and keeps them safe in place in her cave;
There they stay unmoving in place and not do they fall from their order,
But whene'er swings her cave's door on its hinge, a thin wind doth flutter inside,
Both scattering and mixing up these leafy fronds of fate;
N'er doth she think to gather them up as they fly about the rocky vault, 450
N'er doth she restore them to their proper place nor join again the songs.
Those who have consulted her leave hating the Sibyline throne.
But think thou not that this be a delay, a loss of so much time,
No matter how thine allies beg and shout and thy course doth call
Thy sails to the deepsea and thou art able to catch a favorable wind -- 455
Let them not keep thee from seeking out the priestess and asking her prophecies by prayers,
From hearing the seer herself sing her songs and willingly loosing her lips.
She will sing to thee of Italy, of thy people and wars yet to come,
And how thou may'st avoid each toil -- or, yea, endure them.
All this she shall lay bare, and, if properly revered, a favorable course she lay give. 460
These are the things which thou are permitted to be warned of with mine own voice,
Go now! Bear and raise to the stars by thy deeds a great and worthy Troy!'
 |
| Elihu Vedder, The Sibyl of Cumae |
"After the priest spoke such words from his friendly lips,
He thereupon commands that gifts laden with gold and carved iv'ry
Be borne to our ships, and he crams into our keels 465
A huge weight of silver and kettles from Dodona's sacred grove,
And a mail coat interwoven with chains and thrice-plied with gold,
And a helm, plumed with a crest of shaggy hair,
The arms of Neoptolemus; for these are gifts for my sire.
He adds horses, and guides he adds to lead the way, 470
A body of oarsmen he gives us, and equips the crew with arms.
In the meantime, Anchises ordered us to outfit the fleet with sails,
So there would not be any delay before a favorable wind,
Phoebus' seer calls upon him with great respect:
'Thou, Anchises, art worthy of thy lofty marriage to Venus, 475
Cared for by the gods, twice-snatched from Pergamum's ruins,
Lo! The land of Ausonia lies open for thee! Reach it with thy sails!
But yet, you must slip past it upon the sea for awhile:
That part of Ausonia which Apollo laid out for thee lies far off.
Go!'
saieth he,
'O man who art blessed by the son's devotion. 480
Why should my speaking delay thee further from the blowing Austerlies?'
"Likewise Andromache wore a woeful face at this final parting,
But also bore clothing embroidered with a gold'n interlay,
And a Phrygian mantle for Ascanius, for not did she fail in honoring him,
And still weighed him down with gifts of clothing and thus spake: 485
'Take these, and these, monuments made of my hands for thee,
Child, let them bear witness to the long-lasting love of Andromache,
Yea, the wife of Hector. Take these final gifts of thy kin.
Oh! thou art the only likeness left to me of my Astyanax.
The same eyes he had, and the same hands, and same face as well! 490
For now he would now be growing up of like age with thee.'
"As I took my leave, these words I spoke with tears welling up:
'Live long and happy, ye with whom Fortune has already finished.
However, we still are called from one destiny to another.
For ye, your rest is earned -- no wide expanse of the sea for ye to plow, 495
Nor do Ausonia's ever-retreating fields do ye need to seek out.
This likeness of Xanthus and this Troy ye see before ye,
Which ye have made with your own hands, I pray fall under
Better auspices, and that it be less exposed to the Greeks.
If ever to Thyber river and the surrounding fields of Thyber I come, 500
And eyes I lay upon the city-walls bestowed to my people there,
Then one day kindred cities and peoples bound by blood
In Epirus and in Hesperia, with Dardanus as our same founder
And having the same history, one land we shall make together,
A Troy in spirit. Let this be the care of our descendants.' 505
"A harbor is there, huge and unmoved against the blowing of 570
Winds. But joined to it is Aetna, a-roaring in dreadful destruction,
Here and there a black cloud the mountain bursts forth to the upper air
In a column, smoking with pitch-black and shining cinders.
The mountain sends upward balls of flames which lick the heavenly bodies.
Oft rocks it retches up and the very innards of the mountain 575
Are cast up, and vomiting them out, the mountain heaps the molten rubble
Under the sky with a roar and from its deepest roots it burns forth.
The tale told-round is that Enceladus' body, singed by a lightning bolt,
Is weighed down by this mound, and that huge Aetna above him
Was set, breathing out blazing fire from its riven forges, 580
And as many times as his wearied side he shifts, shakes the whole
Trinacria with a rumble, and the heavens he weaves with smoke.
 |
| Enceladus Fountain, Versailles |
"All that night we spend sheltered by trees, the monstrous sounds
We endure, but the cause of the terrible din we ne'er see.
Neither was starlight discernable, nor did the heavens glow 585
With any radiance -- instead the sky was darkened by clouds which fill'd it,
And the dead of night kept the moon lost in a timeless haze.
 |
| "Flames and smoke billowing from a crater, as seen from the southern side of the Mt Etna volcano, tower over the city of Pedara, Sicily, Wednesday night, Feb. 24, 2021. Europe's most active volcano has been steadily erupting since last week, belching smoke, ash, and fountains of red-hot lava. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)" |
"The next morn, as the day was arising with the Eastern sun,
And Aurora had scattered the dewy damp from her seat overhead,
When a-sudden from the woods came a strange form by utmost hunger 590
Driven to the brink, a man-shape unrecognizable and wretched in the way
He stumbled towards us, his hands open in utter supplication.
We look back at him: his squalor was dreadful, his beard unkempt,
His garments held together with briars -- in all other ways he was Greek,
And once under arms left his father's land for Troy's walls. 595
When he beheld our Dardanian dress and saw our Trojan arms
At some steps away, his face with fear was filled and he stops --
But then continues his step and soon headlong he rushes to the shore
With much weeping and pleading he shouts:
'By heaven I beg ye,
By the gods above and this light of life which we breathe, 600
Take me with ye, Teucri! To whatever lands ye go, take me!
'Twill serve well enough! I know that I am one of the Danaan fleet,
And I confess that I attacked the Ilian penates in war.
For doing such, if so great is the wrong of my crime,
Then scatter my limbs upon the waves and drown me in the endless sea:
If I die, then it will be blessing to die by human hands.'
"Thus he spoke, and grasping at our knees, at our knees wallowing,
He clung to us. Who he is and from which family he hails
We urge him to tell, and then confess what fortune drove him hither.
Mine own father Anchises gave scarce delay in off'ring his right hand
To the youth and affirming the young man's heart with prompt pledge.
"Putting aside his fear, he spake the following words:
'My father's land is Ithaca; I am a companion of unlucky Ulixes,
Who is named Achaemenides, who went Troywards because of the poverty
Of my poor father Admastus -- oh! Would that our good luck had lasted!
Here my fearful comrades in their haste to quit the cruel threshhold
Of the enormous cave of the Cyclops forgot about me!
Here they left me, within his home darkened by blood and gory feastings,
Huge, the beast himself is towering, and the lofty-set stars
He strikes with his fists -- oh gods, remove such a plague from the Earth!
He's not easy to look upon, nor would any utter anything unto him,
For he feedeth on the entrails and blood of his poor victims there in his cave.
I saw it -- yea, with mine own eyes I did! -- two of our number
Their bodies he grabbed in his great hands and sat mid-cave
And broke them upon a rock, and then the threshold in spattered gore
Was swimming -- I saw when their limbs flowing with dark gore
He chewed and the still-warm parts wetly flopped from his teeth.
Yet he hardly went unpunished, for Ulixes suffered not such things,
Nor did the Ithacan forget his wits in such a deciding trial.
For as a soon as the giant had his fill of flesh and with wine was buried,
He set his lolling head down and laid across the cave's length
His enormous size as he belched blood and gory parts
Stained with wine in his slumber. We prayed to the great
Gods and drew lots. Then as one we algates surround
The beast and his eye we bore out with a stake -- a sharp one --
For a huge and single eye he hid under his stern brow,
Resembling in appearance an Argolic shield or sun disc of Phoebus;
And so then we happily avenged the shades of our fall'n companions.
But fly, o wretches! Fly from this shore! Cut your mooring lines!
For such and so great the giant Polyphemus in that cavernous dwelling
Keeps shut away his woolbearing flocks and milks their udders.
One hundred others live within this curved bay all in common,
These unspeakable Cyclopes who also wander among the lofty hills.
For now three sets of the moon's horns have filled out with light
While I have eked out a life in these woods and in the haunts and lairs
Of wild beasts, while the huge Cyclopes I can from the cliff
Espy, trembling all the while at the sound of their feet and voice!
An unhappy existence these branches provide, just berries and hard cherries
Do they offer, and herbs by the roots torn up nourish me.
I've kept an eye on everything and saw for the first time your fleet
Coming to this shore. And to myself I said, whatever it may be,
It must be enough to have 'scaped this accursed giants' race.
Take ye this my soul for yourselves rather than I meet some other grisly end!'
Hardly had he uttered these words when on the hillside we espy,
The very giant himself moving as a roving mountainside among his flocks,
The shepherd Polyphemus now seeks the familiar shoreline,
A ghastly monstrosity, misshapen, who had been robbed of the light.
A pinetree's trunk guided his hand and make sure his steps were steady,
As his woolbearing sheep accompany him -- these alone were his delight
And the solace of his ills.
After he toucheth the deep waves and came he to deep water,
The bloody pus flowing from his gouged out eye he washes out,
All the while gnashing his teeth and groaning, and though he steps through
The middle of the deepsea, not does the water wetten his steep sides.
Though far off, fearfully do we hasten to depart with aboard
The deserved suppliant stowed, and silently sliced the mooring line.
We then turn and put our backs into churning the sea with our oars.
He hears us -- and to the sound of our splashing he turns his bulk.
But when no power was giv'n his right hand to do to us aught,
And able he was not to match the crush of the Ionian Sea in his pursuit,
He lifts up an immeasurable cry, which causeth the sea and all
The waves to tremble, and deep within shakes the earth
Of Italy in terror and groans throughout the arched caverns of Aetna resound.
And then the race of Cyclopes from the high mountains burst forth,
And rush they to the bay and crowd the shoreline with their huge bodies.
We see them standing there in vain with their singular eyes all a-wild,
The Aetnaean brood, their high heads grazing the sky,
A terrible gathering they were, standing there like how on a lofty summit
Stand airy oaks or cone-bearing cypress trees
Rooted in the tall forest of Jupiter or the grove of Diana.
Headlong doth stabbing fear drive us to cast off the line
And stretch out the sails to whatever favorable wind would take us.
The bidding of Helenus warned us 'gainst taking a midway course
'Twixt Scylla and Charybdis, a path where either way is a hairsbreadth from death,
So I should not keep my course there -- for we're certain to retreat back.
But lo! a Boreal Northerly arrived, sent from the narrow seat
Of the Pelorus. I sailed past by the the natural rock formation
Of the Pantagias, and the bay of Megara, and Thapsus lying hard by.
Of the Pantagias, and the bay of Megara, and Thapsus lying hard by.
Such sights Achaemenides showed me, recalling his previous wanderings
In reverse, for he travailed them as a companion of unlucky Ulixes.
Stretched out opposite a Sicilian bay lieth an island,
Facing wave-beaten Plemyrium -- men of old said its name
Ortygia. The story told round is that Alpheus the stream connects hither
From Elis, for carved he hidden paths under the sea and now
By way of your font Arethusa mingles he with Sicilian waters.
As we were bid, we revere and offer thanks to the great powers of that place,
And then I pass the exceedingly fertile ground of the marshy Helorus.
Hence the lofty crags and the jutting rocks of Pachynus
We skirt, and that marsh divinely deemed never to be moved
Doth appear Camerina at a distance and the Geloan plains,
And Gela, a name taken from the terrible torrent of that selfsame river.
Thence steep Acragas peeks out from far off, boasting its great
City-walls, a place which once bred great-hearted horses.
Once the winds changed, I left thee behind, Selinus, known for thy victor's fronds,
And scrape past the shoals of Lilybaeum, a place dreadful for its blind reefs.
Hence the harbor of Drepanum and its unhappy shore
Receiveth me, for here I was driven by so many storms on the sea,
And here, alas, here my father, the relief of ev'ry anxiety and disaster,
I lost him -- I lost Anchises. Here thou, O best father, thou left me --
Thou left me in my weariness! Thou were snatched from such perils in vain!
Not did the seer Helenus, although of many horrors he warned us,
Not did he prophecy this grief to me, nor did dread Celaeno.
This was the most difficult toil, this was rounding the final bend of all our long roads,
Leaving from there, the god then hither drove me to your shores."
Recount at length his orlays the gods wove and his roads he long detailed.
All held their voices at length and stayed still even when here he finished.
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