Until gradually a worse and discolored age succeeded, and the madness of war, and the love of possessing.
§8.328Tum manus Ausonia et gentes venere Sicanae, §8.329saepius et nomen posuit Saturnia tellus; §8.330tum reges asperque immani corpore Thybris, §8.331a quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim §8.332diximus, amisit verum vetus Albula nomen;
Then the Ausonian band and the Sicanian nations came, and more than once the Saturnian land laid aside its name; then kings, and harsh Thybris of monstrous frame, from whom we Italians afterwards called the river by the name of Thybris, and ancient Albula lost its true name.
§8.333me pulsum patria pelagique extrema sequentem §8.334Fortuna omnipotens et ineluctabile fatum §8.335his posuere locis matrisque egere tremenda §8.336Carmentis nymphae monita et deus auctor Apollo.
Me, driven from my country and seeking the extremes of the sea, almighty Fortune and inevitable fate placed in these spots, and the dreadful warnings of my mother, the nymph Carmentis, and the god Apollo, my author, drove me here.
§8.337Vix ea dicta: dehinc progressus monstrat et aram §8.338et Carmentalem Romani nomine portam §8.339quam memorant, nymphae priscum Carmentis honorem, §8.340vatis fatidicae, cecinit quae prima futuros §8.341Aeneadas magnos et nobile Pallanteum.
Scarcely had these words been spoken, when advancing he points out the altar and the gate which the Romans call Carmentalis by name, as they record, an ancient honor of the nymph Carmentis, the prophetic seer, who first sang that the future descendants of Aeneas would be great, and Pallanteum noble.
§8.342Hinc lucum ingentem quem Romulus acer Asylum §8.343rettulit et gelida monstrat sub rupe Lupercal, §8.344Parrhasio dictum Panos de more Lycaei.
From here he points out a huge grove which active Romulus restored as an Asylum, and under a cold rock the Lupercal, named after the Parrhasian custom of Lycaean Pan.
§8.345Nec non et sacri monstrat nemus Argileti §8.346testaturque locum et letum docet hospitis Argi.
And no less does he point out the grove of sacred Argiletum, and calls the place to witness and teaches the death of his guest Argus.
Hence he leads them to the Tarpeian seat and the Capitol, now golden, once bristling with wild briars.
Even then the dreadful religion of the place terrified the trembling rustics, even then they shuddered at the wood and the rock.
§8.351Hoc nemus, hunc,
inquit,
frondoso vertice collem §8.352(quis deus incertum est) habitat deus: Arcades ipsum §8.353credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem §8.354aegida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret.
"This grove, this hill with leafy crest," he says, "a god inhabits (which god is uncertain); the Arcadians believe they have seen Jove himself, when often with his right hand he shook his darkening aegis and summoned the storm-clouds.
§8.355Haec duo praeterea disiectis oppida muris, §8.356reliquias veterumque vides monimenta virorum.
Moreover, these two towns with demolished walls, you see the remains and monuments of ancient men.
§8.357Hanc Ianus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem: §8.358Ianiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen. §8.359Talibus inter se dictis ad tecta subibant §8.360pauperis Euandri passimque armenta videbant §8.361Romanoque foro et lautis mugire Carinis.
This citadel father Janus founded, that one Saturn: Janiculum was the name of this, Saturnia of that." With such words between them they were approaching the house of poor Evander, and saw herds here and there lowing in the Roman forum and the luxurious Carinae.
When they came to the dwelling: "These thresholds," he says, "the victorious Alcides entered; this palace received him.
§8.364Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum §8.365finge deo rebusque veni non asper egenis. §8.366dixit et angusti subter fastigia tecti §8.367ingentem Aenean duxit stratisque locavit §8.368effultum foliis et pelle Libystidis ursae.
Dare, my guest, to despise wealth, and make yourself also worthy of a god, and come not harsh to our poor estate." He spoke, and beneath the roof of his narrow dwelling led the giant Aeneas, and placed him on a bed supported by leaves and the skin of a Libyan bear.
§8.369Nox ruit et fuscis tellurem amplectitur alis.
Night rushes down and embraces the earth with dusky wings.
§8.370At Venus haud animo nequiquam exterrita mater §8.371Laurentumque minis et duro mota tumultu §8.372Volcanum adloquitur thalamoque haec coniugis aureo §8.373incipit et dictis divinum adspirat amorem: §8.374Dum bello Argolici vastabant Pergama reges §8.375debita casurasque inimicis ignibus arces, §8.376non ullum auxilium miseris, non arma rogavi §8.377artis opisque tuae nec te, carissime coniunx, §8.378incassumve tuos volui exercere labores, §8.379quamvis et Priami deberem plurima natis §8.380et durum Aeneae flevissem saepe laborem.
But Venus, a mother terrified in mind not without reason, and moved by the threats of the Laurentines and the harsh tumult, addresses Vulcan, and in the golden bedchamber of her husband begins, and with her words breathes divine love: "While the Argolic kings in war were laying waste to Troy, doomed to fall, and the citadels destined to sink in hostile fires, I asked no help for the wretched, no arms of your art and power, nor did I wish, dearest husband, to employ your labors in vain, although I owed much to the sons of Priam, and had often wept for the hard labor of Aeneas.
§8.381Nunc Iovis imperiis Rutulorum constitit oris: §8.382ergo eadem supplex venio et sanctum mihi numen §8.383arma rogo genetrix nato.
Now by the commands of Jove he has settled on the shores of the Rutulians: therefore I, the same, come as a suppliant and ask arms of a deity sacred to me, a mother for her son.
Te filia Nerei, §8.384te potuit lacrimis Tithonia flectere coniunx.
The daughter of Nereus, the wife of Tithonus, could bend you with tears.
§8.385Aspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clausis §8.386ferrum acuant portis in me exscidiumque meorum. §8.387Dixerat et niveis hinc atque hinc diva lacertis §8.388cunctantem amplexu molli fovet.
See what nations are combining, what cities with closed gates are sharpening the sword against me and the destruction of my people." She had spoken, and the goddess on this side and that with snowy arms cherishes him hesitating in her soft embrace.
Ille repente §8.389accepit solitam flammam, notusque medullas §8.390intravit calor et labefacta per ossa cucurrit: §8.391non secus atque olim tonitru cum rupta corusco §8.392ignea rima micans percurrit lumine nimbos.
He suddenly received the accustomed flame, and the well-known warmth entered his marrow and ran through his loosened bones: not otherwise than when sometimes a fiery chink, shattered by gleaming thunder, runs flashing with light through the storm-clouds.
§8.393Sensit laeta dolis et formae conscia coniunx.
His wife, glad of her wiles and conscious of her beauty, felt it.
Then the father, bound by eternal love, speaks: "Why do you seek causes from afar?
§8.396quo tibi, diva, mei? Similis si cura fuisset,
Whither has departed your trust in me, goddess?
§8.397tum quoque fas nobis Teucros armare fuisset: §8.398nec pater omnipotens Troiam nec fata vetabant §8.399stare decemque alios Priamum superesse per annos.
If there had been a similar care, then also it would have been lawful for us to arm the Teucrians; neither the almighty father nor the fates were forbidding Troy to stand, and Priam to survive for ten other years.
§8.400Et nunc, si bellare paras atque haec tibi mens est, §8.401quidquid in arte mea possum promittere curae, §8.402quod fieri ferro liquidove potest electro, §8.403quantum ignes animaeque valent, absiste precando §8.404viribus indubitare tuis. Ea verba locutus
And now, if you prepare to wage war and this is your mind, whatever care I can promise in my art, whatever can be made with iron or liquid electrum, as much as fires and breath can avail, cease by entreating to doubt your own power." Having spoken these words,