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Virgil · Aeneid §4.551-4.627

Aeneas's Departure and Dido's Final Curse

Passage 37 of 127 · Latin

Summary

Dido laments her fate and regrets breaking her oath to Sychaeus. Meanwhile, Aeneas, warned by Mercury in a dream, orders immediate departure. Seeing the fleet leave, Dido is enraged and utters a curse, predicting a future avenger and eternal hostility between Carthage and Rome.

§4.551degere, more ferae, tales nec tangere curas!
To lead a life, in the manner of a wild beast, and not to touch such cares!
§4.552Non servata fides cineri promissa Sychaeo!
The faith promised to the ashes of Sychaeus was not kept!
§4.553Tantos illa suo rumpebat pectore questus.
Such great laments she was bursting forth from her breast.
§4.554Aeneas celsa in puppi, iam certus eundi, §4.555carpebat somnos, rebus iam rite paratis.
Aeneas, on his lofty stern, already resolved on going, was enjoying sleep, with everything now properly prepared.
§4.556Huic se forma dei voltu redeuntis eodem §4.557obtulit in somnis, rursusque ita visa monere est— §4.558omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque §4.559et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventa: §4.560Nate dea, potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos, §4.561nec, quae te circum stent deinde pericula, cernis, §4.562demens, nec Zephyros audis spirare secundos?
To him, the shape of the god returning with the same countenance presented itself in his sleep, and seemed again to warn him thus— in all things like Mercury, both in voice and color, and in golden hair and limbs beautiful with youth: "Son of a goddess, can you prolong your sleep under this danger, nor do you perceive what dangers then stand around you, madman, nor do you hear the favorable Zephyrs blowing?
§4.563Illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat, §4.564certa mori, varioque irarum fluctuat aestu.
She revolves treachery and dreadful wickedness in her breast, resolved to die, and fluctuates with a shifting tide of wrath.
§4.565Non fugis hinc praeceps, dum praecipitare potestas?
Do you not flee hence headlong, while there is power to hasten away?
§4.566Iam mare turbari trabibus, saevasque videbis §4.567conlucere faces, iam fervere litora flammis, §4.568si te his attigerit terris Aurora morantem.
Soon you will see the sea disturbed with ships, and fierce torches blaze, and soon the shores glow with flames, if Aurora shall find you lingering in these lands.
§4.569Heia age, rumpe moras.
Come, action! break off delays.
Varium et mutabile semper §4.570femina. Sic fatus, nocti se immiscuit atrae.
A fickle and changeable thing always is woman." Thus having spoken, he mixed himself with the black night.
§4.571Tum vero Aeneas, subitis exterritus umbris, §4.572corripit e somno corpus, sociosque fatigat: §4.573Praecipites vigilate, viri, et considite transtris;
Then indeed Aeneas, terrified by the sudden shadows, snatches his body from sleep, and rouses his companions: "Awake headlong, men, and take your seats on the benches; loosen the sails quickly.
§4.574solvite vela citi. Deus aethere missus ab alto §4.575festinare fugam tortosque incidere funes §4.576ecce iterum stimulat.
A god sent from high heaven, to hasten our flight and cut the twisted ropes, lo, again incites us.
Sequimur te, sancte deorum, §4.577quisquis es, imperioque iterum paremus ovantes.
We follow you, holy one of the gods, whoever you are, and again joyfully obey your command.
§4.578Adsis o placidusque iuves, et sidera caelo §4.579dextra feras. Dixit, vaginaque eripit ensem §4.580fulmineum, strictoque ferit retinacula ferro.
May you be present and propitiously help, and bring favorable stars in the heaven." He spoke, and snatches from its scabbard his sword flashing like lightning, and strikes the cables with the drawn steel.
§4.581Idem omnes simul ardor habet, rapiuntque ruuntque; §4.582litora deseruere; latet sub classibus aequor; §4.583adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt.
The same ardor possesses all at once; they snatch and rush; they have deserted the shores; the sea lies hidden under the fleets; straining, they churn the foam and sweep the azure waters.
§4.584Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras §4.585Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile.
And now the early Aurora was sprinkling the lands with new light, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus.
§4.586Regina e speculis ut primum albescere lucem §4.587vidit, et aequatis classem procedere velis, §4.588litoraque et vacuos sensit sine remige portus, §4.589terque quaterque manu pectus percussa decorum, §4.590flaventesque abscissa comas, Pro Iuppiter, ibit §4.591hic ait et nostris inluserit advena regnis?
The queen, as soon as she saw from her watchtower the light grow white, and the fleet proceed with even sails, and perceived the shores and harbors vacant without oarsmen, and her beautiful breast struck three and four times with her hand, and having torn her golden hair, cried: "Pro Jupiter! Shall this man go, and shall this stranger have mocked our realms?
§4.592Non arma expedient, totaque ex urbe sequentur, §4.593deripientque rates alii navalibus? Ite,
Will they not bring forth arms, and pursue from the whole city, and others tear down the vessels from the docks?
§4.594ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos!— §4.595Quid loquor, aut ubi sum? Quae mentem insania mutat?
Go, bring flames quickly, give sails, impel the oars!— What am I saying, or where am I? What madness changes my mind?
§4.596Infelix Dido, nunc te facta impia tangunt.
Unhappy Dido, now do your impious deeds touch you?
§4.597Tum decuit, cum sceptra dabas. —En dextra fidesque, §4.598quem secum patrios aiunt portare Penates, §4.599quem subiisse umeris confectum aetate parentem!
Then it was fitting, when you were giving him your sceptre.—Lo, the right hand and faith of him, whom they say carries his ancestral Penates with him, who they say bore on his shoulders his parent worn out with age!
§4.600Non potui abreptum divellere corpus, et undis
Could I not have torn his seized body apart, and scattered it on the waves?
§4.601spargere? Non socios, non ipsum absumere ferro §4.602Ascanium, patriisque epulandum ponere mensis?— §4.603Verum anceps pugnae fuerat fortuna:—fuisset.
Could I not have destroyed his companions, and Ascanius himself with the sword, and serve him to be feasted upon at his father's tables?— But the fortune of battle would have been doubtful:—let it have been so.
§4.604Quem metui moritura? Faces in castra tulissem,
Whom did I, about to die, fear?
§4.605implessemque foros flammis, natumque patremque §4.606cum genere extinxem, memet super ipsa dedissem.
I should have carried torches into his camp, and filled the decks with flames, and extinguished both son and father with their whole race, and then thrown myself on top of them.
§4.607Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras, §4.608tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Iuno, §4.609nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes, §4.610et Dirae ultrices, et di morientis Elissae, §4.611accipite haec, meritumque malis advertite numen, §4.612et nostras audite preces.
O Sun, who with your flames traverse all the works of the earth, and you, Juno, the mediator and witness of these cares, and Hecate, wailed at night-time crossroads throughout the cities, and avenging Furies, and gods of dying Elissa, receive these words, and turn your deserved power against the wicked, and hear our prayers.
Si tangere portus §4.613infandum caput ac terris adnare necesse est, §4.614et sic fata Iovis poscunt, hic terminus haeret: §4.615at bello audacis populi vexatus et armis, §4.616finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli, §4.617auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum §4.618funera; nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquae §4.619tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur, §4.620sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus harena.
If it is necessary for that unspeakable head to touch harbors and float to land, and so the fates of Jupiter require, and this boundary remains fixed: yet, harassed in war and by the arms of a bold people, exiled from his borders, torn from the embrace of Iulus, let him implore help, and see the shameful deaths of his people; nor, when he has submitted himself under the laws of an unjust peace, may he enjoy his kingdom or the desired light, but let him fall before his day, and lie unburied in the midst of the sand.
§4.621Haec precor, hanc vocem extremam cum sanguine fundo.
These things I pray, this last voice I pour out with my blood.
§4.622Tum vos, o Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum §4.623exercete odiis, cinerique haec mittite nostro §4.624munera.
Then you, O Tyrians, pursue his stock and all future race with hatreds, and send these offerings to our ashes.
Nullus amor populis, nec foedera sunto.
Let there be no love between the peoples, nor any treaties.
§4.625Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor, §4.626qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos, §4.627nunc, olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore vires.
May some avenger arise from our bones, who may pursue the Dardanian colonists with torch and sword, now, hereafter, at whatever time strength shall present itself."

Notes

  1. §4.551degere — Used as an 'exclamatory infinitive' (infinitivus exclamativus) with an omitted subject accusative (first-person 'me'), expressing strong regret or an unfulfilled wish regarding a past or present state ('To think that I could have led...!').
  2. §4.558omnia — An accusative of specification (or 'Greek accusative') modifying the adjective `similis`, meaning 'in all respects (similar to Mercury)'.
  3. §4.590abscissa — The participle `abscissa` operates in a Greek middle-voice sense, taking the accusative `comas` directly as its object ('having torn her hair for herself'), or it can be analyzed as a passive participle with an accusative of specification ('torn with respect to her hair').
  4. §4.603fuerat — `fuerat` is an indicative pluperfect used to express a past counterfactual condition ('the fortune of battle would have been doubtful'). In contrast, `fuisset` is a jussive or concessive subjunctive in the pluperfect, meaning 'let it have been so' or 'even if it had been so'.
  5. §4.625Exoriare — The verb `Exoriare` is a second-person singular present subjunctive (with the ending `-re` instead of `-ris`, acting as a prayer or command for the future), yet it is coupled with the third-person singular indefinite pronoun `aliquis` ('someone') as its subject, creating a powerful apostrophe that directly addresses the unknown future avenger.

Cite this passage

Virgil, Aeneid §4.551-4.627. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.humanitext-lat2:4.551-4.627

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