The Aeneid, Analysis

THE AENEID – ANALYSIS

from Virgil’s Aeneid, Translated Literally, Line by Line, into English Dactylic Hexameter (1888)

by Rev. Oliver Crane, D.D.

BOOK I.

AENEAS STRANDED AT CARTHAGE.

The poem opens in the seventh year after the fall of Ilium, with the hero, Aeneas, a wanderer, exiled by fate, and under the ban of Juno’s wrath: the Muse invoked to reveal its causes: 1-11. These briefly stated; 12-32. Then, with a glance at Carthage, Juno’s pet-city and the scene of an important episode, the Trojan fleet of twenty ships is seen at sea off the coast of Sicily, bound for Italy, and Juno soliloquizing over it: 34-49. Her plan formed, she hastens to Aeolia, and cajolingly invokes Aeolus the king of the winds, to destroy the hated fleet, who complaisantly responds: 50-80. He lets loose the winds from their cave, raising a terrible storm at sea, which sinks one vessel and scatters the rest: 81-123. Neptune interposes, rebukes the winds, and calms the sea: 124-156. The hero, with seven of his ships and their weary crews, takes refuge in a land-locked harbor on the Libyan coast: 157-179. Landing, he, with his faithful attendant, Achates, ascends, a hill in hope of discovering the missing twelve ships; none seen, but instead, a herd of deer: he shoots seven stags, and returning, distributes them, one to each ship, and cheers his comrades as they feast on the venison: 180-222. Venus meanwhile appeals to Jupiter in behalf of the Trojan wanderers: 223-253. Jupiter consoles her, by unrolling the scroll of fate, and revealing events consequent on a war to be waged by Aeneas in Italy, and the future grandeur of Rome: 254—296. Mercury, at Jupiter’s command, is sent to Carthage to predispose queen Dido to a favorable reception of the stranded Trojans: 297-304. Venus, in the meantime, disguised as a huntress, meets her son, Aeneas, in a forest, whither he and Achates had gone to reconnoitre: 305-334. She informs him where he is, and relates in brief the sad tale of Dido’s early history and settlement in Carthage: 335-371. Aeneas, in return, describes his circumstances and sufferings, and appeals to her for friendly aid; when she, predicting the safety of his lost companions, urges him to go to the city, and, screening the two in a mist, manifests her divinity, and departs sublimely to Paphos: 272-417. He, following her directions, enters the city unobserved; and making his way to the temple of Juno, is cheered to find on its walls pictures of Trojan battle scenes: 418-493. The queen appears with her retinue: his surprise, while observing her, to see delegates from the missing vessels come appealing to her for redress from an outrage in being forbidden to land: 494-560. Dido’s cheering response, and her desire to see their king: 561-573. The mist suddenly vanishes, and Aeneas presents himself to the queen, thanks her, and greets his recognized comrades: 579-612. Dido’s welcome and preparation for a banquet: 613-642. Aeneas sends Achates back to the harbor for his son, lulus, and for special presents to Dido: 643-656. Venus, full of anxiety, persuades Cupid to personate lalus: 657-697. He appears in the impersonation, amid the splendors of the banquet, anil captivates the queen, who falls in love with Aeneas: 697-722. The libation, the song of the minstrel Opas, and the queen’s request to Aeneas to entertain them with an account of the downfall of Ilium, and his subsequent adventures, thus preparing the way for the vivid narration in the next Book: 723-756.

BOOK II.

THE FALL AND SACK OF ILIUM.

Aeneas, in compliance with Dido’s request, though loath to revive its sad memories, proceeds to relate the scenes attendant on the fall of Ilium: 1-12. In the tenth year of the siege, the Greeks, despairing of success otherwise, have recourse to a stratagem — the building of an immense wooden HORSE filled with soldiers, which being left on the plain in front of the city, the fleet withdraws to the rear of Tenedos: 13-24. The Trojans, supposing the enemy gone home, joyously emerge from the city-gates, and view the battle-fields and the huge horse: 25-30. The populace being in doubt concerning it, Laocoon, chiding them, thrusts his spear into its side: 31-56. Meanwhile, Sinon, a pretended deserter from the Greeks, surrenders himself, and is brought before king Priam in mock agitation: 57-74. Encouraged by Priam, he proceeds to retail a tissue of lies; the story of his escape from death, to which he had been doomed by envy of Ulysses and his appeal to their pity: 75-144. Priam, overcome by his tears, orders him unbound, and asks an explanation of the design of the horse: 145-162. Sinon, with attestations of veracity, states that it was left as a peace-offering to Minerva for her stolen image, the Palladium; and ends by warning the Trojans against desecrating it, and forecasting the results of its being received into the city: 153-194. At this juncture a strange omen intervenes. Two enormous sea-serpents are seen skimming over the sea from Tenedos; and, on reaching the Ilian shore, they seek the altars where Laocoon is engaged in sacrificing to Neptune; and, after attacking and strangling his two sons and himself, gliding away to the shrine of Minerva, and hiding under the feet of her image; 195-227. Aghast, the populace pronounce it a just punishment for his temerity in desecrating the horse, and insist on its being drawn into the city and installed in Minerva’s temple, which is done, and the city gives itself up to hilarity: 234-249. Meanwhile by moon-light the Grecian fleet returns; and Sinon, alert, at a signal from the flag-ship opens the wooden horse and releases the imprisoned soldiers, who, emerging armed, slay the sentinels, and open the outer gates, and the sack of the city begins: 250-267. Hector’s ghost appears in a dream to Aeneas, and tells him all is over; and warns him to flee: 268-297. Aroused from slumber, and hearing a great commotion, he ascends to the root of his house, and with consternation and horror sees the city in a blaze and tumult: 298-317. Panthus, a priest of Apollo, comes running to his door, and apprises him of the crisis: 318-335. Aeneas sallies forth, with a hastily mustered squad, into the city; their adventures and successes; Androgeos, mistaking them tor allies, is slain: 336-385. They, at the suggestion of Coroebus, don Grecian armor, and incur its consequences: 386-401. The fight for the rescue of Cassandra, in which her suitor, Coroebus, is slain: 402-437. The desperate struggle at the palace: 438-468. Its fall and the consternation ensuing: 469-515. The fate of Polites, and his father Priam, at the hands of Pyrrhus: 506-538. The dismay of Aeneas; his frenzied resolve to slay Helen, the cause of the war, whom he discovered crouching at the altar of Vesta, and his restraint therefrom by his mother, Venus, who bids him go rather and rescue his own household: 559-621. Appalled, he hastens home, and proposes an immediate flight to the mountains; but his father, Anchises, stoutly refuses: 622-649. Their entreaties are unavailing, until two omens occur; a luminous flame on the head of Iulus, and a brilliant meteor, decide the matter, and Anchises yields: 650-704, The arrangement to meet outside of the city at the ruins of the ancient temple of Ceres: 705-720. With saddened heart, yet firm in purpose, he takes at length his aged father, who had long been crippled by a stroke of lightning, on his shoulders, and leading his little son by one hand, who toddles with unequal steps along, and with his wife Creusa following close behind him, he gropes his way through by -streets, to the place of meeting: 721-750. On reaching the spot, lo ‘. his wife is missing; and he returns in search of her into the city, and is met by her ghost, by which he is warned to flee; then sadly he retraces his steps, and departs to Mount Ida, bearing his aged father on his shoulders: 751-834.

BOOK III.

AENEAS JOURNEYS IN SEARCH OF A HOME.

After the overthrow of Ilium, Aeneas, retiring to Antandros, at the southwestern foot of Mount Ida, spends the ensuing winter in fitting out a fleet of twenty vessels; and, early in the spring, sets sail lor Thrace; where landing, he is occupied the remainder of the year in founding a new city — Aenos — and designates its citizens Aeneans: 1-18. Early the following spring, while one day collecting boughs to screen an altar for sacrifice in honor of their new enterprise, he is startled by a sepulchral sound from the ground, which proves to be that of Polydorus, son of Priam, who warns him to quit at once the murderous shore: 19-48. The story and tragic death of Polydorus: 49-56. Reporting the prodigy to his father and the chiefs, it is resolved to abandon the region; and, after awarding sepulture to Polydorus, they embark for Ortygia: 57-72. Arriving at Delos, in Ortygia, they are cordially welcomed by king Anius, the priest of Apollo, who consults for them the oracles: 73-89. They are directed to seek their ancestral home, which Anchises interprets to be Crete, the home of their progenitor, Teucer; and so they sail with buoyant hopes to Crete: 90-129, Landing, they commence a city, which they name Pergamea, and settle down; but, at the end of two years, famine and pestilence determine them to return to Ortygia to reconsult the oracles of Apollo: ijo-146. But at night his household gods appear in vision to Aeneas, and dissuade him from returning: to Delos, urging him to sail direct for Italy, the cradle of their race: 147-171. Anchises, on hearing the report of his son’s vision, confesses his mistake in assuming Teucer to be the sole progenitor of their race, and acknowledges the honor shared by Dardanus; and, recalling Cassandra’s prophesies, coincides with the plan of sailing for Italy: 172-191. They accordingly set sail, but a storm drives them out of their course, and lands them on an island of the Strophades, where they encounter the harpies; and Celreno, their chief, from a crag, utters fearful maledictions, which alarm them, and they depart at the command of Anchises; 192-269. Coasting along by numerous islands they reach Actium, where they celebrate Trojan games, and Aeneas deposits trophies in the temple of Apollo: 270-288. Thence, in the sixth year of their wanderings, they come to Epirus; and, on entering the city of Buthrotus, they are surprised to find Andromache and her then husband, Helenus, son of Priam, ruling the country: 289-300. The pathetic meeting of Aeneas and Andromache at a cenotaph of Hector in front of the city: 301-343. Helenus welcomes them, recognizing his old townsman and friend, Anchises, and orders a feast: 334-355. As priest of Apollo, Helenus, at the request of Aeneas, gives them oracular directions respecting their voyage to Italy, and indicates a sign — a white sow and pigs discovered on the bank of a stream — as the signal of the end of their journeyings; but he especially warns them of Scylla and Charybdis on the way: 344-432. He refers also to the Sibyl of Cumae and her peculiar habits, and urges Aeneas to visit her cave, and, under her guidance, to descend into the under-world on a visit to his father, then to be there: 433-462. Loaded with presents, they bid adieu and sail for Italy: 463-505. A calm night at sea ensues; Italy sighted at dawn; the exhilaration and Anchises’ Prayer: 506-536. They enter a port, and descry a temple of Minerva on the heights; but Anchises, observing some white horses grazing, pronounces it an ill-omen; and, after adoring Juno, as specially directed by Helenus, they again set sail: 537-550. Aetna is sighted in the distance, at the foot of which they moor at nightfall, and during the night witness its eruption: 551-587. At day -break a strange-looking human being appears, begging aid and protection: 588-606. He tells the story of his adventures with Ulysses in the cave of the Cyclops; 607-654. The sudden appearance of Polyphemus, his description, and their escape from the monster and his mustering horde: 655-685. They take in the fugitive, and coast along the southern shore of Sicily, till they reach Drepanum, where Anchises dies and is awarded sepulture; whence sailing, a storm drives them to Carthage: thus ends the recital, when the assembly disperse; 684-718.

BOOK IV.

DIDO’S LOVE AND TRAGIC DEATH

The next morning after the banquet, and the narration of Aeneas. Dido discloses to her sister, Anna, her passionate love for their new guest, and her scruples in regard to a second marriage, and is encouraged by Anna to cherish the emotion, in view of the glory to accrue from an alliance with the Trojan prince: I -50. Dido sacrifices to Juno and other deities, to propitiate their favor in her yielding to the impulses of the new attachment; when ensues her consequent absorbing love for Aeneas, leading her to neglect her plans for aggrandizing her new city: 54-89. Juno intriguingly meanwhile approaches Venus, and proposes a truce to their strifes by an alliance of the two kingdoms of Italy and Carthage, in the union of Aeneas and Dido: Venus, having already been apprised by Jupiter of the fates concerning Italy, complaisantly connives at the plan: 90-128. A hunting excursion is accordingly arranged, in the midst of which Juno, as intimated to Venus, sends a violent thunder-storm, in which the hunters scatter, leaving Aeneas and Dido to take shelter alone in a cave, where, by Juno’s aid, a quasi-marriage is accomplished, and its sad consequences are foreshadowed: 129-172. A graphic description of Rumor, personified as gossip, is given: and the report of the clandestine love spreads abroad: 173-195. It reaches the ears of larbus, a Libyan suitor of Dido, who is greatly exasperated, and frantically implores of Jupiter vengeance on his rival: 196-219. Jupiter, in compliance with his entreaty, sends Mercury down to warn Aeneas to quit Carthage, and sail at once for Italy, his future home: 220-237. Mercury departs, and arriving at the outskirts of Carthage, finds Aeneas contentedly engaged in super-intending building operations to beautify the city. He delivers his peremptory message from Jupiter; receiving which, Aeneas, though reluctant, prepares to obey, and secretly makes ready his fleet: 238-295. Dido, suspecting his design, entreats him to abandon it; her touching appeal, and his inflexible purpose: 296-361. She, finding all entreaty vain, bursts out in a tirade of scathing reproaches for his perfidy, and imprecates eternal vengeance on him. She swoons, and is carried to her chamber by attendants: 362-392. Aeneas, still unmoved, persists in his preparations, in accordance with the mandate of Jupiter: Dido appeals to her sister, Anna, to aid in her efforts to change his mind and detain him; but, though Anna seeks frequent interviews, and uses her utmost persuasion, he remains inexorable: 393-449. Dido now becomes desperate, and prays for death, and secretly determines on it: her forebodings and frenzy depicted: 450-473. She disguises her designs, and by plausible pretexts induces her sister to prepare a funeral pyre, on which to burn, as she alleges, the relics of the hated Dardan. Anna unsuspectingly complies with her request: 474-503. Dido decks herself and the altars, and prays for success in her tragic purpose: 504-521. Her sleepless excitement, and soliloquy at night: 522-553. In the meantime Aeneas, being again warned in a dream to be gone, at early dawn arouses his comrades and sets sail: 554-583. Dido at daybreak from her palace descries the fleet in the offing, and gives vent to a violent outburst of frenzy, praying for condign retribution on the perfidious Dardan, and for an avenger of her wrongs to arise: 584-629. She then calls her old nurse, Barce, and sends her with a fictitious message to her sister, Anna; whilst she ascends the pyre, and, at the sight of the Dardan relics, utters her last words, and then falls upon the sword left by Aeneas: 630-665. Consternation at the act ensues: her sister hastens to her side, and, with affectionate expostulations, sustains her drooping form as Dido expires in her arms: 676-692. . Juno dispatches Iris from Olympus to receive her departing spirit: 693-705. Thus ends the saddest tragedy of the poem.

BOOK V.

ANNIVERSARY GAMES AT DREPANUM.

Aeneas at sea looks back with sad surmises on the flames of Dido’s suicidal pyre: 1-7. A storm arises, and the fleet is compelled to put into the port of Drepanum, on the westerly coast of Sicily; 8-34. Their former host, Acestes, decries them from a height, and hastens to extend a welcome: 35-41. As it was now about a year since he there buried his father Anchises, Aeneas announces his intention of celebrating the anniversary by suitable games, and invites all to join him in preparatory solemnities at the tomb: 42-71. Accordingly, all wreathe their temples with myrtle, and proceed together to the tomb; where, in the midst of the ceremonies, a serpent glides from the mound to the altar, and tastes of the sacrifices; which he greets either as his father’s spirit embodied in it, or the genius of the place: 72-103. At the appointed day, the ninth following, crowds assemble to witness the games: the prizes are displayed, and the signal for commencement is given: 104-113. First. The Boat-race. The four contesting yachts, with their captains and crews, are described: 1 14-123. The goal set, a rock in the offing; the places assigned by lot, and the race begins. A graphic description of the start, the applause, the struggle: 124-158. As the contestants near the goal, Gyas, commander of the Chimera, in a gust of anger, pitches his helmsman overboard, and takes himself the helm: the amusing plight of the half-drowned helmsman crawling, wet and dazed, upon a rock: 159-185. Sergestus, the commander of the Centaur, in his eagerness, staves his galley on a shelving ledge; then follows a spirited struggle between Mnestheus of the Pristis, and Cloanthus of the Scylta, in which the latter wins: 186-243. The prizes distributed; the return of Sergestus in his crippled vessel, and his prize: 244-285. Second Game. The Foot-race. The contestants; the mutual affection of Nisus and Euryalus, two of them; the slip and fall of the former, and his quick shift in turning it to the advantage of his friend, and the generosity of Aeneas in awarding the prizes: 286-361. Third. The Boxing-Match. The swagger of Dares, and his defiant challenge accepted, at the instigation of king Acestes, by the Sicilian champion Entellus. Stiffened by age, the latter steps forth, displays the terrible gauntlets of his trainer Eryx, recounts in brief their history, and waives their use in favor of the Trojan gauntlets: 362-425. In the encounter Entellus, by a false thrust, falls heavily, but is quickly helped up, and renewing the fight severely punishes Dares, and then drives his gauntlet through the skull of the prize bull as a substitute for Dares: 426-484. Fourth. The Trial of Archery. A pigeon is suspended from an erected mast-head as the mark; Hippocoon, the first archer, hits the mast-head; Mnestheus, the second, cleaves the string, setting the bird free; Eurytion, the third, shoots the pigeon on the wing; and lastly the fourth, Acestes, discharges his arrow in the air, and it takes fire, which being variously interpreted, Aeneas embraces his host and loads him with presents: then the prizes are awarded satisfactorily to all: 485-544. Fifth. The Game oF Troy. Participated in by Ascanius and his squad of youthful associates, a marvel of intricate cavalry maneuvres, with which the anniversary games end: 595-603. Meanwhile Juno sends Iris down to foment discontent among the Trojan women, who in their frenzy set fire to the ships in the harbor: the alarm given, and the fire discovered by the crowd at the games, and all rush to the scene, Ascanius in advance, who indignantly chides the silly women: Aeneas prays, and Jupiter sends a timely shower and quenches the flames, tour vessels only being burned: 604-699. The perplexity at the disaster, in which the aged Nautes advises that the cowardly and infirm be left with king Acestes, and the rest to sail for Italy: Anchises appears to Aeneas in a dream and sanctions the advice of Nautes, and tells him to land at Cumse, go to the Sibyl’s cave, and, guided by her, visit him in Elysium: 700-745. The advice taken; the town of Acesta founded, where the malcontents are left, and Aeneas, with the rest, sails for Italy: 746-778. Venus entreats Neptune to prosper the voyage, and in compliance Neptune escorts them with his retinue: 779-826. A quiet night at sea, in which the pilot, Palinurus, beguiled by Sleep, falls overboard, and is lost; Aeneas takes the helm, and guides the vessel, bemoaning the loss of his faithful pilot; 827-871.

BOOK VI.

THE DESCENT OF AENEAS INTO THE UNDER-WORLD.

Landing at Cumae, Aeneas, as enjoined by Helenus and Anchises, repairs to the shrine of Apollo, the awe-inspiring cave of the Sibyl, the Delian prophetess; and, while viewing the sculptures on the door, the Sibyl arrives: 1-41. Her cave described, with the attendants of her inspirational ecstasy, and utterances of her ominous oracles: 42-97. He entreats her to conduct him on a visit to his father in Elysium, citing the cases of Orpheus, Pollux, Theseus, and Hercules in attaining a like privilege: 98-123. She warns him of the difficulties, but directs him to search for and find in the forests a GOLDEN BOUGH sacred to Proserpina, which will serve him as a talisman: apprising him of the death of a comrade during his absence, she enjoins on him first to attend his funeral: 124-155. Returning to the fleet in the harbor, he finds his trumpeter, Misenus, dead; the story of his death, and the mourning over him: 156-178. While engaged in the forest, cutting wood for the funeral pyre of his friend, his attention is attracted to a pair of doves, who conduct him haply to the coveted BOUGH: 179-211. The obsequies of Misenus ended, he repairs again to the Sibyl’s cave: 212-235. Preparatory sacrifices offered; then, amid solemn signals and warnings, the Sibyl bids him draw his sword and follow her: 236-263. Invocation of the poet for permission and inspiration to depict what they saw and heard: 264-267. In the vestibule they meet personifications of human woes — Grief, Remorse, Old Age, Fear, Hunger, Want, Toil, Death and its brother Sleep, Sordid Pleasures, War, Furies, Discord; and nearby a great Elm-tree, wherein lurk Delusive Dreams: Then come monsters of imagination — Centaurs, Scyllas, the hundred-armed Briarius, the Hydra of Lerna, Chimeras, Harpies, Geryons: Aeneas, startled at their horrid aspects, draws his sword and is about to rush upon them, but is warned by the Sibyl that they are mere phantoms; 270-294. The river Styx, and the ferryman, Charon, is descried with a crowd of ghosts waiting on the bank to cross over: 295-313. The Sibyl explains the scene by stating that the unburied wander thus a hundred years on the gloomy bank: Aeneas recognizes several lost comrades, among them his pilot, Palinurus, who tells the story of his sufferings and death, and entreats to be extricated, but is comforted by the Sibyl: 337-383. Charoui challenges them, but is awed by a sight of the talismanic bough, and submissively ferries them over the Styx in his patched wherry: 384-416. The Sibyl drugs the snarling watch-dog, Cerberus, and they climb the slimy bank unharmed: 417-426. Suddenly cries of wailing infants assail their ears; they have reached the precincts of the untimely dead, or those wrongly condemned to death: the Judge, with his silent court, is passed, and they reach the abode of suicides — the Fields of Mourning — where he descries unhappy Dido, whom he essays to address, but she spurns him: 427-476. Next they come to the resort of heroes, where the early Trojan heroes greet him, and the Greeks are alarmed: 477-493. The story of Deiphobus, the son of Priam, slain on the night of Ilium’s fall: 494-534. Here the Sibyl chides Aeneas for lingering, and they pass on: 535-547- Pluto’s dismal realm looms with its lurid battlements on the left, from which issue sounds of clanking chains and the din of tortures, which the Sibyl explains as they pass: 548-627. Elysium at length is reached, and on its door-post Aeneas hangs the mystic bough: 628-636. The delectations of its inhabitants described: 637-659. They are there met by Museus, who directs them to Anchises, whom they find in a secluded vale, contemplating the future glories of his descendants: 660-702. Anchises, after the greeting, proceeds to unfold the mysteries seen— the river Lethe, the spirits thronging it, and explains transmigration and the philosophic theory of the origin of life: 703-723- Purgatory explained: 724-751. Anchises then conducts them to a mound, where pass in review before them the heroes prior to the foundation of Rome: 752-787. Then follow their successors, the Caesars in the golden age, the Republic, the Empire— Anchises becomes enraptured at the view: 788-823. Marcellus the elder and younger, with the poet’s tribute to the latter (for which the mother, Octavia, richly rewarded him): 854-88b. Then Anchises conducts them through Elysium, depicts the wars to come in Italy, and then dismisses them through the ivory gate of Sleep; when Aeneas returns to his comrades and moors his fleet at the beach of Cajeta: 887-901. Thus closes the most remarkable Book of the Aeneid, whose imagery has so largely influenced subsequent literature.

BOOK VII.

HOSTILITIES IN ITALY BEGUN.

At Cajeta the nurse of Aeneas dies, and is awarded an honorable sepulture and her name given to the site; after which they skirt the shores of the island of the sorceress Circe by moon-light; but the kindly aid of Neptune enables them to avoid it: 1-24. They at length enter the long-sought Tiber amid the singing of birds, and moor their ships to its shady banks: 25-36. The previous state of Latium described: Latinus, the king, and his only, and now marriageable, daughter, Lavinia; her suitors, among them TURNUS, the antagonistic rival of Aeneas; the oracles of Faunus forbidding native and enjoining a foreign nuptial alliance; the news of the arrival of the Trojans in the Tiber spreads: 46-106. Meanwhile the Trojans partake of a frugal repast under a lofty tree on the river’s bank; and, while eating the quadrated cakes, on which their food in rustic style had been placed, the fearful prophecy of the harpy Celsno (Book III, 255) was explained, and the dread of it dispelled: 107-147. The exploration of the country is begun, and Aeneas dispatches a hundred nobles with presents to the court of king Latinus, while he himself lays out a town and fortifications: 148-159. The envoys reach Laurentum, which is described, and are welcomed by the king: 160-210. The object of their mission stated and their presents to Latinus displayed: 211-248. Latinus is at once impressed with the coincidence of previous oracles, and accedes to their overtures, ratifies an alliance, and offers his daughter in marriage to Aeneas; and, as a token of sincerity, sends him a magnificent span and a chariot; whereupon the ambassadors return: 249-285. Thus far all seems, favorable; but suddenly Juno espies the Trojan camp in Italy, and vows vengeance and bitter war: 286-322. She summons Alecto, a Fury, and bids her do her worst to scatter the seeds of rancor and strife: 323-340. Alecto accordingly hies to the palace of Latinus, and crouching at the door of queen Amata, flings a serpent stealthily into her bosom, which sets the queen in a frenzy, whirling like a top: 346-403. Having set things in train for war at Laurentum, the fiend repairs to Ardea, the home of Turnus, the future hostile rival of Aeneas, and hurls a snake at him, after she had vainly tried other means, and goads him on to break the treaty recently formed: 404-474. She then hastens to the Trojans, and finds a ready occasion for a feud. A pet deer of Sylvia, the daughter of Latinus’ herdsman, is wounded by Ascanius on a hunting excursion, and, fleeing to its mistress for refuge, sets the whole clan of peasants on fire to avenge the outrage: 475-504. They rally with rude weapons, and the fiend from a house-top sounds the shepherds’ alarm, and a desperate fight between the Trojan hunters and peasants ensues, wherein the brother of Sylvia and others are slain: 505-536. Alecto, exulting in her successes, reports to Juno, who, lauding, warns her to begone from earth: 537-571. Meanwhile the slain are brought in, and Latinus is implored by the excited populace to avenge their death: Turnus intensifies their grievance, and Latinus, finding remonstrance vain, retreats to his palace and abandons the rems of government: 572-600. Juno, descending from heaven, with her own hand unbars the gates of war in the temple of Janus, and all Ausonia at once springs to arms: five great cities— Laurentum, Atina, Tibur, Ardga, and Crustumeri — prepare for war: 601-640. The Muses are once more invoked to open Helicon, and recall these events of dim antiquity: 641-646. The leaders of the mustering hosts presented — Mezentius and his son, Lausus, marshal the forces of Agylla: 647-654. Aventinus, the son of Hercules, and his troops and their equipment given: 655-659. Catillus and Coras, the Tiburtian brothers, like Centaurs come: 670-677. Coeclus, the son of Vulcan and founder of Praeneste, with his anomalous horde: ‘678-690. Messapus, the son of Neptune, bearing a charmed life, with his singing band: 691-705. Clausus and his Sabmes, with clashing shields and thundering tread: 706-722. Halaesus, with his clan in nondescript armor; Cebulus, Ufens, Umbro the priest, and Virbius, with his fiery steeds: 723-782. Turnus the champion of the confederate hosts, in his splendid armor and chariot; and lastly Camilla, the Amazoi of marvelous fleetness, with her squadrons of cavalry, at whom the crowds gaze with admiration, as she appears decked in purple and gold, with badge of pastoral myrtle: 783-817.

BOOK VIII.

AENEAS’ VISIT TO EVANDER IN ARCADIA.

Turnus hoists the signal of war on the castle of Laurentum, and the confederate chieftains rally their forces round it; while Venulus is sent as a special envoy, to solicit alliance, to the court of Diomede, who, after the Trojan war, had settled in Apulia, and built the city of Argyripa: 1-17. Meanwhile Aeneas, troubled at the turn of events, is visited in a dream by the river-god, Tiberinus, who advises him to seek alliance with Evander, the king of Arcadia, residing in Pallanteum on the Aventine hill, afterwards a part of the city of Rome, promising him a pleasant voyage, and hints at the grand cities to arise on the Tiber: 18-65. On awaking, Aeneas prays to the Laurentine nymphs, and to father Tiberinus; and selecting a couple of galleys, he prepares to embark for Arcadia, when unexpectedly he discovers, under the hollies fringing the Tiber, a white sow and pigs — the omen mentioned by Helenus (Book III. 389-392), as designating the site of his future city; and forthwith he sacrifices them to Juno (as enjoined by Helenus, B. III. 437-9), and embarks for Arcadia: 66-80. A delightful sail up the smooth Tiber brings them at noon in sight of the castle and city of Pallanteum: 81-101. On that day, it happened that Evander and his people were engaged in an anniversary festival in honor of Hercules, their deliverer; and in the midst of their feast they are startled by the sight of approaching vessels: Pallas, the son of Evander, rushing to a mound in front, challenges the strangers; but their friendly signals allay his fears, and, learning who they are, and their errand, he invites them ashore: 102-125. Aeneas, being admitted to the presence of the king, addresses him, referring to their common ancestry, and states this as a reason for his coming in person, instead of sending ambassadors, and proposes a mutual alliance against their common foes, the Rutulians: 126-141. Evander complaisantly replies, recalling the fact of his once having met Anchises in Arcadia when he was on a visit to his sister in Salamis, who gave him a keep-sake, which his son, Pallas, still retained; and so, acceding to the alliance, he invites Aeneas and his comrades to join in the festivities of the day, and orders the feast renewed: 142-183. The feast over, Evander explains the origin of the day’s celebration, by relating the story of Cacus, a noted robber, son of Vulcan, the terror of the region, whose den was in the Aventine mount, but whom Hercules, when returning from the slaughter of the Geryon, slew for stealing some of his Iberian cattle, and so delivered them from the terrible pest: at the close of the recital, all join in the celebration: 184-279. In the evening they are entertained by a torch-light procession, ending in a rustic dance and song in praise of the hero of the day: 280-305. Evander returns to the city, leaning on the arm of his guest and his son, and wiles the time by sketching the history of the early settlers of Italy from Saturn, their founder, on, and points out to his guest the various places of interest, which in after times became celebrities in Rome; until, arriving at his humble abode, when, with an apology for its humbleness, invites his guest in, spreads a couch of leaves with a bear-skin, and leaves him to repose for the night: 306-368. In the meantime Venus, alarmed at the aspect of events, .entreats Vulcan to forge her son a suit of invincible armor, which he cheerfully engages to do: 369-406. A graphic description of Vulcan’s Aetaen furnaces, and of the Cyclops’ workshop is given: 407-453. At early dawn Evander visits his guest, and proposes an alliance also with the Etruscan prince, Tarchon, who had just revolted from Mezentius in Agylla, and agrees to send his son, Pallas, to the war under Aeneas: 454-519. In the midst of the interview Venus gives a signal of the impending conflict — the clang of glittering armor in the sky — which Aeneas explains: 520-540. They ratify their mutual treaty; when Aeneas revisits his comrades on the beach, and sends a delegation to report his success to Ascanius: the rest of the Trojans are furnished with steeds by Evander: 541-552. With the benison of their host, they depart on horse-back, escorted by the Arcadian troops, to the camp of Tarchon near the river Caere: 553-607. Venus in a vale meets and presents her son with the armor just forged by Vulcan, at sight of which he is enraptured. Taking up each piece, he tests its weight, and on the shield sees delineated, in elaborate design, Rome’s history, which, unaware of its full import, he admires, and then lifts to his shoulders the fates of his posterity — the shield of his destiny: 608-731.

BOOK IX.

THE EPISODE Of NISUS AND EURYALUS.

Juno sends Iris down to incite Turnus to attack the Trojans in camp during the absence of Aeneas: 1-24. Accordingly, the confederate hosts threaten the garrison; but the Trojans, having been strictly charged by Aeneas not to venture outside the gates, await the onset: 25-45. Turnus, on his Thracian charger, rides up and insultingly tosses a javelin over the walls; but, being unable to dislodge them, he in chagrin orders his troops to fire the fleet: 46-75- The Muses again invoked to recall from the dim past the legend to account for the fleet’s rescue— His mother, Cybele, once obtained from Jupiter the solemn promise of immunity for her sacred pines on Mount Ida, from which the ships were built; and, at the critical moment, the vessels are transformed into sea-nymphs, and float away unharmed: 76-122. Rutulians are amazed; but Turnus interprets it as an ill omen for the Trojans: both armies set guards and await the morrow: 123-135. Nisus and Euryalus, boon companions, while on sentry duty together guarding the gate, concoct a plan of apprising Aeneas of the state of affairs, and report it to the chiefs, who applaud its heroism, and cheer them on by presents and promises: Ascanius gives special assurances to Euryalus respecting his mother, without whose knowledge the venture is risked; and so, when duly equipped, they are escorted to the gate, and sent forth with benisons: 176-313. They proceed in the darkness to the Rutulian camp, ere starting on their hazardous journey to Pallanteum, and there make fearful havoc, but escape loaded with spoils: 314-336. Meanwhile a squad of cavalry under Volscens, on their way from Laurentum, intercepts them: Euryalus, betrayed by his new-donned helmet gleaming in the midnight, is taken: Nisus, having meanwhile reached a place of safety, missing his friend, returns to his rescue, but in vain; for, ere he is able to reach him, he is slain by Volscens: his death avenged by Nisus slaying the slayer, who then falls on the body of his friend pierced by many wounds: 337-445. The poet pays a beautiful tribute to the heroic pair: 446-449. The squad take up the body of their dead chief slain by Nisus, and, cutting off the heads of Nisus and Euryalus, proceed to the camp, where they find mourning and consternation over the slaughter done by the two heroes; and fixing their two heads on spears, they display them to the view of the dismayed Trojans: 450-472. Rumor thereof reaches the ears of Euryalus’ mother, who, leaving her loom, gives vent to depressing lamentations; but, to prevent its effect on the soldiers, she is tenderly conveyed to her home: 473-502. The trumpet sounds, and the exasperated Rutulians assault the Trojan entrenchments and attempt to scale the breast- works: 503-524. The poet invokes Calliope to inspire him in depicting the havoc ensuing: 525-529. Turnus hurls a brand, and sets fire to a tower in the Trojan garrison, which is precipitated, burying many in its ruins: a desperate struggle by two survivors, who, however, are killed by Turnus: 530-568. Mighty deeds of valor are performed on both sides: 569-589. The vain boaster, Numanus, is shot with an arrow by Ascanius, who is applauded for the exploit by Apollo, but warned to abstain from further like ventures: 570-671. Pandarus and Bitias, giant brothers, incautiously open the gate and attempt a repulse: 672-690. Turnus, hurling a ponderous falaric, prostrates Bitias: 691-716. Mars now sides with the Latins, and the Trojans fall back in disorder: Pandarus, enraged at his brother’s death, by a powerful effort, shuts the gates, excluding many comrades, but includes Turnus, who spreads havoc and consternation among the Trojans: 717-777. Mnestheus and Sergestus at length force him step by step, like a lion at bay, to the wall, when he suddenly leaps from the battlement into the Tiber, and swimming away, rejoins his comrades: 778-818.

BOOK X.

THE BATTLE RENEWED; PALLAS SLAIN BY TURNUS.

JUPITER calls a council of the gods in Olympus, and deprecates the war: the speeches of Venus and Juno: 1-90. Jupiter solemnly declares that both parties shall be treated impartially, but the fates must decide their respective lots, and ratifies his decision by a nod and an oath, making all Olympus quake: 96-117. The Rutulians renew the attack on the Trojan camp, which is bravely resisted, Ascanius appearing bareheaded amid the chiefs in the defense: 118-145. Meanwhile Aeneas, having met Tarchon and concluded a treaty of alliance with him, embarks the Arcadian and Etruscan infantry for the scene of war, and sails by night gently down the river Tiber, Pallas at his side asking questions: 146-162. Renewed invocation of the Muses to open Helicon, and tell the chiefs and forces of the allies: 163-165. These enumerated and described as they sail by night on the Tiber in their thirty transports: 166-214. At dawn the sea-nymphs— his lately transformed ships— greet and escort the hero, their chief, Cymodoce, explaining who and what they were and what the state of affairs in the camp; and apprising him that the Arcadian and Etruscan cavalry had already reached their appointed posts, and that Turnus was about to attack them in force, bids him to hasten on: he, with a prayer to Cybele, presses on toward the camp: 215-257. The fleet heaves in sight of the Trojan camp: Aeneas signals his approach by lifting aloft his invincible, glittering shield, which is hailed from the ramparts with shouts, which startle the Rutulians: 258-275. Turnus, at once rallies his troops to intercept them, as they attempt to land: Tarchon, in his haste to reach the shore, wrecks his galley, throwing his troops into the surf: 276-307. The attack and its repulse, in which a terrible conflict ensues, with fearful carnage on both sides, which brings on a general engagement: 208-361. Pallas, seeing his Arcadian cavalry dismounting to engage as infantry takes command and rallies them, and charges with fearful havoc on the Rutulian lines: he encounters Laiisus, but they are not permitted a mortal combat with each other, being each reserved for a different antagonist: 362-438. Turnus challenges Pallas to single combat, which is accepted; and, after a desperate struggle, the latter is slain, and Turnus takes from the prostrate form the fatal baldric, which he is yet to rue (Book xii, 940), but he yields the body insultingly to Evander: 439-509. Aeneas, learning of the death of his youthful friend, sweeps a wide swath, slaying many, in search of Turnus, spreading confusion in the Rutulian ranks; seeing which the Dardan chiefs, with Ascanius, sally from the entrenchments to support him: 510-605. Meanwhile Jupiter, in bitter irony, jeers Juno at the issues, who sullenly deprecates the doom foreboded, and entreats for at least a temporary respite for Turnus, which, while forbidding further interference, Jupiter grants: 606-632. She prepares a Wraith, personating Aeneas, by which Turnus, thinking it real, is deceived and led off of the field, and unawares entrapped on board a ship, which snaps its hawser, and sails away with him to the city of Daunus, his father, despite his frantic deprecations: 633-688. Meanwhile Mezentius, warned by Jupiter, takes the field, arid rages like a wild boar, slaying many brave Trojans and Arcadians — foe meets foe, and many a hero falls: 689-754. Mars poises the issues; the gods look down with pity: Venus and Juno, with various emotions, look on while Tisiphone raves: 755-761. Mezentius marches on, grand as Orion, making havoc, till wounded by Aeneas, but shielded from death by his brave son, Lausus, who is cut down by Aeneas, who in pity relents and offers him his hand in dying; 762-823, Mezentius, having by reason of his wound been disabled, retires to the shade of a tree on the bank of the Tiber, where he learns of the death of his son, and, rallying all his strength, he, in desperate determination to avenge the death of his son, or die in the attempt, mounts his war-horse, Rhoebus, whom he addresses, and furiously rushes after Aeneas, showering on him darts, which are dexterously caught on the charmed shield, till at length Aeneas stabs his horse, and slays Mezentius: 824-908.

BOOK XI.

FUNERAL OF PALLAS, AND DEATH OF CAMILLA.

AENEAS the next day erects a trophy of spoils taken from Mezentius, and, cheering his comrades, arranges for the burial of the dead, and for sending the body of Pallas home: 1-28. The lamentation in the camp over Pallas, and the tribute to him by Aeneas: 29-58. A wicker bier is then wrought, festooned with garlands, and on it placed the body, which is followed by his weeping war-horse, Aethon, and his inconsolable body-servant, Accetes, and attendants of honor, bearing his spear and helmet, and an escort of Trojans and Arcadians; amid sad farewells the cavalcade starts for Pallanteum: 59-99. A delegation from Laurentum arrives, asking a cessation of hostilities for the burial of the dead, which is received, and an armistice granted by Aeneas, and mutual preparations are arranged accordingly: 100-138. The cavalcade reaches Pallanteum at evening, and is met by a torch-light procession: the pathetic grief and lament of aged Evander over the bier of his son: 139-181. The unique funerals of Trojans and Etruscans described: 182-202. The Latin funerals and rival pyres and burials: 203-212. Mourning in Laurentum is intensified by Drances in exciting rancor against Turnus: 213-224. The return of the envoys from the city of Diomede: a council of state is called by Latinus to hear their report; the report, and Diomede’s advice to abstain from war with the Trojans; 225-295. The commotion it produces; the address of Latinus deprecating war and counselling peace: he suggests the plan of ceding to the Trojans a tract of land along the upper waters of the Tiber; or, if they prefer it, furnishing them materials for vessels for emigration, and advises sending special ambassadors to effect reconciliation: 296-335. Drances seconds the king’s plan, with bitter invectives against Turnus, urging him to accept the challenge of Aeneas to single combat: 336-375. Turnus retorts, and agrees to the test of valor: 376-444. Meanwhile news of Aeneas advancing on the city is announced; the consequent alarm; the council prorogued; Latinus retires in dismay, and Turnus prepares for battle: 445.472. The city is at once thrown into commotion; the queen and her attendants repair to the temple to pray for Turnus, and invoke vengeance on Aeneas: 473-485. The splendid equipment of Turnus described as he goes forth from the city; he is met at the gate by Camilla and her well-mounted cavalry, and the plans for the battle are concerted: Camilla is to take command at the city, while Turnus intercepts Aeneas in a defile of the mountains: 486-531. Juno relates to Opis the early history of Camilla, indicates her impending death, and bids Opis go and avenge it: 532-596. The sanguinary engagement between the Trojan and Etruscan cavalry on the one side, and Camilla and her regiments on the other: 597-647- The daring exploits of Camilla; her eager pursuit of a boasting Ligurian, and his fate: 648-724. Tarchon’s rally and charge, and his feat in capturing Venulus: 725-759. Arruns stealthily follows Camilla while she is pursuing the gaily dressed Chlorus; and, watching his chance, fatally wounds her; her hasty message by her adjutant, Acca, to Turnus, to come at once to the rescue and assume command; her death: 760-835. Opis finds Arruns skulking, chides him, and sends an arrow of vengeance through his heart: 836-867. The rout of the Rutulians at the fall of Camilla; they rush to the city in a panic; the desperate fight of the Latin women on the walls: 868-885. Meanwhile Acca reaches, and apprises Turnus of Camilla’s death and the rout of the Rutulians. In consternation he leaves his ambush, and wrathfully hastens bade to the city, while Aeneas unobstructedly passes the defile and gains the open plain. The two, with their squads, gallop over the plains in sight of each other towards the city, but halt and camp apart outside, awaiting the morrow: 896-915.

BOOK XII.

THE FINAL ISSUE— THE DEATH 0F TURNUS.

The Latins, having been beaten in two battles, demand that Turnus fulfill his promise and meet Aeneas in single combat, who sullenly agrees: 1-17. Latinus urges Turnus to seek a bride elsewhere, and yield to manifest destiny: 18-44. Turnus responds in conciliatory tone to the king, but in defiance of Aeneas: 45-53. Queen Amata entreats him not to venture, and the blushing Lavinia confuses him, rendering him frantic: 54-80. He inspects his steeds and his armor: S1-106. Aeneas receives the challenge of Turnus, and accepts, sending back his terms: 107-112. The monarchs on both sides appear at the ratification, each graphically described; Aeneas first stepping forth, solemnly attests his acceptance, stating the conditions: 161-194. Latinus responds, and with equal solemnity ratifies his approval: 195-215. Turnus in turn states sullenly his acceptance, when a murmur runs through the attendant ranks, and Juturna, the deified sister of Turnus, taking advantage of the opportunity, precipitates a renewal of hostilities by a rupture of the truce: 216-276. One of the nine sons of the Arcadian Gylippus is slain by the tilted spear of the augur Tolumnius, when instantly the battle begins: Latinus in dismay flees, and shuts himself in his palace, while the conflict spreads: 277-288. Messapus charges, while Aeneas, in solemn utterance, demands cessation and the fulfilments of the ratified but now violated compact: 289-323. Turnus takes command in person, and spreads havoc through the Trojan ranks; 324-383. Aeneas, seeing the trend of matters, flies to arms, and in the encounter is shot by a stray arrow in his foot, and limps away bleeding to the rear, where the bustling leach, Iaspis, endeavors in vain to extract the steel, until Venus secretly drugs the lotion used, and heals him, and he again rushes to the fight: 384-445. Turnus quails, as he sees him advancing with his column, and Juturna, perceiving her brother’s peril, pitches his charioteer, Metiscus, off, and assuming herself the reins, drives the chariot away, eluding Aeneas: 446-487. The surge of battle on both sides deepens: 488-554. The determination of Aeneas to fire the town; his impetuous charge, and the consternation ensuing within the wills: 555-592. In the midst of it, queen Amata in desperation hangs herself: 593-603. The dismay and mourning it occasions: 604-613. Turnus catches the distant sounds of wailing in the town, while chasing a few straggling deserters on the outskirts of the plain, whither his sister had driven his chariot, and rebukes her sternly; a messenger, bespattered with blood, apprises him of the crisis, and he returns full of defiant wrath: 614-695. Aeneas rejoices at seeing him, advances to meet him, clanging his armor in defiance: all stand aghast as the champions close in fight: 696-724. Jupiter poises the issue in his scales: in the onset the sword of Turnus snaps at the hilt, being that of his charioteer and not his own. He flees, begging loudly for his own sword, hotly pursued by Aeneas: 725-765. The spear of Aeneas, hurled at his antagonist, gliding by, sticks fast in the root of a tree, which is wrenched out by Venus, while Juturna restores to Turnus his own sword; and once more the champions stand face to face in the final death-struggle: 766-790. Jupiter meanwhile chides Juno, who now, having received the concession that the Latins may retain their name and language, retires: 791-842. Jupiter accordingly withdraws Juturna from her brother’s side by a death-omen, and she in inconsolable grief departs from the scene: 842-886. The champions now, freed from all impediments, meet. Turnus hurls an enormous stone, which falls short of its mark, and Aeneas sends a spear crashing through shield and armor, and pierces the groin of Turnus, who falls and surrenders, but entreats that his body be restored to his friends: Aeneas is on the point of relenting and sparing him, when he espies the fatal baldric of Pallas on his prostrate foe, and with exasperated wrath, in vengeance plunges his sword in him, and Turnus dies: 887-952.