Aeneid

Virgil

Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.

  1. Deep in the face of that Euboean crag
  2. A cavern vast is hollowed out amain,
  3. With hundred openings, a hundred mouths,
  4. Whence voices flow, the Sibyl's answering songs.
  5. While at the door they paused, the virgin cried :
  6. “Ask now thy doom!—the god! the god is nigh!”
  7. So saying, from her face its color flew,
  8. Her twisted locks flowed free, the heaving breast
  9. Swelled with her heart's wild blood; her stature seemed
  10. Vaster, her accent more than mortal man,
  11. As all th' oncoming god around her breathed :
  12. “On with thy vows and prayers, 0 Trojan, on!
  13. For only unto prayer this haunted cave
  14. May its vast lips unclose.” She spake no more.
  15. An icy shudder through the marrow ran
  16. Of the bold Trojans; while their sacred King
  17. Poured from his inmost soul this plaint and prayer :
  18. “Phoebus, who ever for the woes of Troy
  19. Hadst pitying eyes! who gavest deadly aim
  20. To Paris when his Dardan shaft he hurled
  21. On great Achilles! Thou hast guided me
  22. Through many an unknown water, where the seas
  23. Break upon kingdoms vast, and to the tribes
  24. Of the remote Massyli, whose wild land
  25. To Syrtes spreads. But now; because at last
  26. I touch Hesperia's ever-fleeting bound,
  27. May Troy's ill fate forsake me from this day!
  28. 0 gods and goddesses, beneath whose wrath
  29. Dardania's glory and great Ilium stood,
  30. Spare, for ye may, the remnant of my race!
  31. And thou, most holy prophetess, whose soul
  32. Foreknows events to come, grant to my prayer
  33. (Which asks no kingdom save what Fate decrees)
  34. That I may stablish in the Latin land
  35. My Trojans, my far-wandering household-gods,
  36. And storm-tossed deities of fallen Troy.
  37. Then unto Phoebus and his sister pale
  38. A temple all of marble shall be given,
  39. And festal days to Phoebus evermore.
  40. Thee also in my realms a spacious shrine
  41. Shall honor; thy dark books and holy songs
  42. I there will keep, to be my people's law;
  43. And thee, benignant Sibyl for all time
  44. A company of chosen priests shall serve.
  45. O, not on leaves, light leaves, inscribe thy songs!
  46. Lest, playthings of each breeze, they fly afar
  47. In swift confusion! Sing thyself, I pray.”
  48. So ceased his voice;the virgin through the cave,
  49. Scarce bridled yet by Phoebus' hand divine,
  50. Ecstatic swept along, and vainly stove
  51. To fing its potent master from her breast;
  52. But he more strongly plied his rein and curb
  53. Upon her frenzied lips, and soon subdued
  54. Her spirit fierce, and swayed her at his will.
  55. Free and self-moved the cavern's hundred adoors
  56. Swung open wide, and uttered to the air
  57. The oracles the virgin-priestess sung :
  58. “Thy long sea-perils thou hast safely passed;
  59. But heavier woes await thee on the land.
  60. Truly thy Trojans to Lavinian shore
  61. Shall come—vex not thyself thereon—but, oh!
  62. Shall rue their coming thither! war, red war!
  63. And Tiber stained with bloody foam I see.
  64. Simois, Xanthus, and the Dorian horde
  65. Thou shalt behold; a new Achilles now
  66. In Latium breathes,—he, too, of goddess born;
  67. And Juno, burden of the sons of Troy,
  68. Will vex them ever; while thyself shalt sue
  69. In dire distress to many a town and tribe
  70. Through Italy; the cause of so much ill
  71. Again shall be a hostess-queen, again
  72. A marriage-chamber for an alien bride.
  73. Oh! yield not to thy woe, but front it ever,
  74. And follow boldly whither Fortune calls.
  75. Thy way of safety, as thou least couldst dream,
  76. Lies through a city of the Greeks, thy foes.”