- Source
- Vergil. The Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics Of Virgil. Greenough, J.B., editor. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1881.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.humanitext-lat2:7.325-7.406
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Juno summons the Fury Allecto from the underworld to disrupt the peace in Latium; Allecto infects Queen Amata with a poisonous snake, driving her into a frenzy. Driven mad, Amata pleads in vain with Latinus to break off the alliance with the Trojans, then flees into the woods with her daughter and incites the Latin mothers to join her in Bacchic revelry.
infernisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella
And she rouses from the infernal darkness one to whose heart sad wars,
iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi.1
angers, intrigues, and harmful crimes are dear.
Odit et ipse pater Pluton, odere sorores
Father Pluto himself hates her, and her Tartarean sisters hate
Tartareae monstrum: tot sese vertit in ora,
the monster: into so many faces does she turn herself,
tam saevae facies, tot pullulat atra colubris.
so savage are her shapes, and so black does she swarm with serpents.
Quam Iuno his acuit verbis ac talia fatur:
Juno whetted her with these words and spoke thus:
Hunc mihi da proprium, virgo sata Nocte, laborem,
’Grant me this peculiar labor, virgin born of Night,
hanc operam, ne noster honos infractave cedat
this task, lest our honor or shattered fame yield its place,
fama loco, neu conubiis ambire Latinum
nor let the sons of Aeneas be able to win over Latinus with marriages
Aeneadae possint Italosve obsidere finis.
or besiege the Italian borders.
Tu potes unanimos armare in proelia fratres
You are able to arm brothers of one mind for battle
atque odiis versare domos, tu verbera tectis
and overturn houses with hatred; you can bring whips into homes
funereasque inferre faces, tibi nomina mille,
and deadly torches; you have a thousand names,
mille nocendi artes. Fecundum concute pectus,
a thousand arts of doing harm. Shake your fertile breast,
disice compositam pacem, sere crimina belli:
shatter the settled peace, sow the seeds of war:
arma velit poscatque simul rapiatque inventus.
let the youth wish for, demand, and seize arms at once.’
Exin Gorgoneis Allecto infecta venenis
Thereupon Allecto, infected with Gorgonian poisons,
principio Latium et Laurentis tecta tyranni
first seeks Latium and the lofty palace of the Laurentine tyrant
celsa petit tacitumque obsedit limen Amatae,
and beset the silent threshold of Amata,
quam super adventu Teucrum Turnique hymenaeis
whom, burning with womanly cares and angers,
femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant.
the arrival of the Trojans and the marriage of Turnus were troubling.
Huic dea caeruleis unum de crinibus anguem
Upon her the goddess casts a single snake from her dark-blue locks
conicit inque sinum praecordia ad intuma subdit,
and thrusts it into her bosom to her innermost heart,
quo furibunda domum monstro permisceat omnem.2
that, driven mad by the monster, she might throw the whole house into confusion.
Ille inter vestes et levia pectora lapsus
It, gliding between her garments and smooth breast,
volvitur attactu nullo fallitque furentem,
rolls with no touch and deceives the raging woman,
vipeream inspirans animam: fit tortile collo
breathing its viperish breath: the huge serpent becomes the twisted
aurum ingens coluber, fit longae taenia vittae
gold about her neck, becomes the band of her long fillet,
innectitque comas, et membris lubricus errat.
and entwines her hair, and wanders slippery over her limbs.
Ac dum prima lues udo sublapsa veneno
And while the first plague, gliding in with liquid venom,
pertemptat sensus atque ossibus implicat ignem
pervades her senses and wraps fire around her bones,
necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam,
and before her mind has felt the flame throughout her breast,
mollius et solito matrum de more locuta est,
she spoke more softly and after the usual manner of mothers,
multa super nata lacrimans Phrygiisque hymenaeis:
weeping much over her daughter and the Phrygian marriage:
Exsulibusne datur ducenda Lavinia Teucris,
’Is Lavinia to be given to be led away by exiled Trojans,
O genitor, nec te miseret gnataeque tuique?
O father, and have you no pity for your daughter and yourself?
Nec matris miseret, quam primo aquilone relinquet
And have you no pity for her mother, whom with the first north wind
perfidus alta petens abducta virgine praedo?
the treacherous pirate will leave, seeking the deep, having carried off the virgin?
An non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor
Did not the Phrygian shepherd thus penetrate Lacedaemon
Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes?
and carry off Leda’s Helen to the Trojan cities?
Quid tua sancta fides, quid cura antiqua tuorum
What of your sacred faith? What of your ancient care for your own,
et consanguineo totiens data dextera Turno?
and your right hand so often given to Turnus, your kinsman?
Si gener externa petitur de gente Latinis
If a son-in-law is sought for the Latins from a foreign nation,
idque sedet Faunique premunt te iussa parentis,
and that is resolved, and the commands of your father Faunus press upon you,
omnem equidem sceptris terram quae libera nostris
I indeed regard every land which, free, is separate from our sceptres
dissidet, externam reor et sic dicere divos.
as foreign, and that the gods speak thus.
Et Turno, si prima domus repetatur origo,
And for Turnus, if the first origin of his house be traced back,
Inachus Acrisiusque patres mediaeque Mycenae.
Inachus and Acrisius are his ancestors, and the heart of Mycenae is his home.’
His ubi nequiquam dictis experta3 Latinum
When with these words she sees that she has tried in vain
contra stare videt penitusque in viscera lapsum
and that Latinus stands opposed, and when the serpent’s maddening evil,
serpentis furiale malum totamque pererrat,
having glided deep into her vitals, pervades her entire being,
tum vero infelix, ingentibus excita monstris,
then indeed, unhappy, excited by the monstrous horrors,
immensam sine more furit lymphata per urbem.
she rages boundless and frantic through the city without restraint.
Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere turbo,
As sometimes a top, flying under the twisted whip,
quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum
which boys in a great circle around the empty courtyards
intenti ludo exercent; ille actus habena
drive, intent on the game; driven by the lash,
curvatis fertur spatiis; stupet inscia supra
it is carried in curving courses; the ignorant and youthful crowd
inpubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum;
stands amazed above, marveling at the spinning boxwood;
dant animos plagae: non cursu segnior illo
the blows give it life: no slower than that course
per medias urbes agitur populosque feroces.
is she driven through the midst of cities and fierce peoples.
Quin etiam in silvas, simulato numine Bacchi,
Nay, even into the woods, feigning the inspiration of Bacchus,
maius adorta nefas maioremque orsa furorem
having attempted a greater crime and begun a greater madness,
evolat et natam frondosis montibus abdit,
she flies out and hides her daughter in the leafy mountains,
quo thalamum eripiat Teucris taedasque moretur,
that she might snatch the marriage from the Trojans and delay the torches,
Euhoe Bacche, fremens, solum te virgine dignum
shouting ‘Evoe Bacchus!’, crying out that ‘you alone are worthy
vociferans, etenim mollis tibi sumere thyrsos,
of the virgin, since for you she takes up the soft thyrsus,
te lustrare choro, sacrum tibi pascere crinem.
to you she dances in the chorus, and for you she nurtures her sacred hair.’
Fama volat, furiisque accensas pectore matres
The rumor flies, and the same ardor drives all the mothers at once,
idem omnis simul ardor agit nova quaerere tecta:
inflamed in their breasts with madness, to seek new dwellings:
deseruere domos, ventis dant colla comasque,
they abandoned their homes, they gave their necks and hair to the winds;
ast aliae tremulis ululatibus aethera complent,
but others fill the air with trembling wailings,
pampineasque gerunt incinctae pellibus hastas;
and, clad in skins, they carry vine-wreathed spears;
ipsa inter medias flagrantem fervida pinum
she herself, burning in the midst, holds aloft a blazing pine
sustinet ac natae Turnique canit hymenaeos,
and sings the marriage of her daughter and Turnus,
sanguineam torquens aciem, torvumque repente
rolling her bloodshot eyes, and suddenly she fiercely
clamat: Io matres, audite, ubi quaeque, Latinae:
cries: ‘Hear, O Latin mothers, wherever you are:
Siqua piis animis manet infelicis Amatae
if any regard for unhappy Amata remains in your pious souls,
gratia, si iuris materni cura remordet,
if any care for a mother’s right stings you,
solvite crinalis vittas, capite orgia mecum.
untie the headbands from your hair, begin the mysteries with me.’
Talem inter silvas, inter deserta ferarum,
Such was the queen whom Allecto, among the woods, among the deserts of wild beasts,
reginam Allecto stimulis agit undique Bacchi.
drives on every side with the goads of Bacchus.
Postquam visa satis primos acuisse furores
After she seemed to have sufficiently sharpened the first madness,
- 7.325cui tristia bella / iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi
The dative of the relative pronoun 'cui' is paired with the predicative dative 'cordi' (from 'cor', literally 'for a heart', meaning 'dear to the heart' or 'pleasing'), with an implied verb 'to be' (est/sunt), constructing 'to whose heart sad wars... are dear'.
- 7.348quo furibunda domum monstro permisceat omnem
The relative 'quo' functions as 'ut eo' introducing a clause of purpose with the subjunctive 'permisceat' ('in order that by this she might...'). 'monstro' (the monster, referring to the snake) is an ablative of instrument modifying 'permisceat'.
- 7.373experta
The perfect participle of the deponent verb 'experior' (to try, experience) in the nominative feminine singular, agreeing with the subject Amata. Although past in form, it has an active meaning ('having tried'), functioning as a circumstantial participle indicating that her attempts to persuade Latinus have been in vain.