Aeneid 1.1–7

Aen. 1.1Arma virumque canō, Troiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs
Ītaliam, fātō profugus, Lāvīniaque vēnit
lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō
vī superum saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram;

I sing of arms and of the man who first came from the shores of Troy, a fugitive by fate, to Italy and the Lavinian coast, a man much tossed about on land and on the deep by the power of the gods above, because of cruel Juno's unforgetting anger;

Note. The opening line is a dactylic hexameter: Ārma vi|rūmque ca|nō, Trō|iae quī | prīmus ab | ōrīs. Arma virumque: 'arms and the man', the themes of the Iliad (war) and the Odyssey (a man's wanderings). Troiae … ab ōrīs: genitive with the noun. Ītaliam … Lāvīniaque … lītora: accusatives of motion towards without a preposition, common in poetry. fātō: ablative of cause, 'by fate'. multum … iactātus: 'much tossed'. superum = superōrum, the shortened genitive plural. memorem: 'mindful', i.e. unforgetting, transferred from Juno to her anger.

Aen. 1.5multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem,
īnferretque deōs Latiō, genus unde Latīnum,
Albānīque patrēs, atque altae moenia Rōmae.

much too he suffered in war, until he could found a city and bring his gods into Latium; from him came the Latin race, the Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome.

Note. multa … passus: 'having suffered many things', the deponent patior. dum conderet … īnferret: dum + subjunctive, 'until he could found', expressing purpose. Latiō: dative of direction, 'into Latium'. genus unde Latīnum: supply 'came' (est ortum); the sentence ends by moving from Aeneas to Alba Longa and Rome, the goal of the whole poem.