Aeneid 1.223–253

Aen. 1.223Et iam fīnis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summō
dēspiciēns mare vēlivolum terrāsque iacentīs
225lītoraque et lātōs populōs, sīc vertice caelī
cōnstitit, et Libyae dēfīxit lūmina regnīs.

And now there was an end, when Jupiter, looking down from the height of the sky on the sea winged with sails, on the lands lying below, the shores and the broad peoples, stood thus at the summit of heaven and fixed his eyes on the kingdoms of Libya.

Note. A long sentence built on one main pair: Iuppiter … cōnstitit et … dēfīxit. dēspiciēns governs four objects (mare, terrās, lītora, populōs). iacentīs is an accusative plural in -īs, the usual Vergilian form for third-declension adjectives and participles: it agrees with terrās. Libyae … regnīs: dative with dēfīxit, 'fixed his eyes on'.

Aen. 1.227Atque illum tālīs iactantem pectore cūrās
trīstior et lacrimīs oculōs suffūsa nitentīs
adloquitur Venus: Ō quī rēs hominumque deumque
230aeternīs regis imperiīs, et fulmine terrēs,
quid meus Aenēās in tē committere tantum,
quid Trōēs potuēre, quibus, tot fūnera passīs,
cūnctus ob Ītaliam terrārum clauditur orbis?

And as he turned such cares over in his heart, Venus, sadder than usual, her shining eyes brimming with tears, addresses him: 'You who rule the affairs of men and of gods with everlasting power and terrify them with your thunderbolt, what wrong so great could my Aeneas, what could the Trojans have done against you, that after suffering so many deaths they find the whole world closed to them for the sake of Italy?

Note. tālīs … cūrās and oculōs … nitentīs again show the -īs accusative plural. oculōs suffūsa is a Greek-style construction: a perfect passive participle with an accusative of the part affected, 'suffused as to her eyes'. Ō quī … regis: a relative clause addressed to Jupiter, a formal hymn-like way of opening a prayer. deum = deōrum (old genitive plural). potuēre = potuērunt.

Aen. 1.234Certē hinc Rōmānōs ōlim, volventibus annīs,
235hinc fore ductōrēs, revocātō ā sanguine Teucrī,
quī mare, quī terrās omnī diciōne tenērent,
pollicitus, quae tē, genitor, sententia vertit?

Surely you promised that from them, as the years rolled on, the Romans would one day arise, from them leaders, from the restored blood of Teucer, who would hold the sea and all lands under their rule: what thought, father, has turned you?

Note. pollicitus [es] governs the indirect statement Rōmānōs … ductōrēs fore. fore = futūrōs esse. volventibus annīs is an ablative absolute: 'as the years rolled'. Teucer was an early king of Troy, so Teucrī stands for the Trojans' ancestry. The question at the end, quae tē, genitor, sententia vertit, turns the whole promise into a reproach.

Aen. 1.238Hōc equidem occāsum Troiae trīstīsque ruīnās
sōlābar, fātīs contrāria fāta rependēns;

With this, indeed, I used to console myself for the fall of Troy and its sad ruin, weighing fate against opposing fate;

Note. hōc (ablative, 'with this') looks back to the promise. sōlābar: imperfect of repeated action, 'I used to comfort myself'. fātīs contrāria fāta rependēns: weighing one fate against another, as if on scales: the fall of Troy is to be balanced by the rise of Rome.

Aen. 1.240nunc eadem fortūna virōs tot cāsibus āctōs
īnsequitur.

now the same fortune pursues men driven by so many disasters.

Aen. 1.241Quem dās fīnem, rēx magne, labōrum?

What end of their labours do you grant, great king?

Note. Quem … fīnem: interrogative adjective separated from its noun, a common poetic word order. rēx magne: vocative.

Aen. 1.242Antēnor potuit, mediīs ēlāpsus Achīvīs,
Illyricōs penetrāre sinūs, atque intima tūtus
regna Liburnōrum, et fontem superāre Timāvī,
245unde per ōra novem vāstō cum murmure montis
it mare prōruptum et pelagō premit arva sonantī.

Antenor, slipping out from the midst of the Greeks, was able to make his way safely into the Illyrian gulfs and the inmost kingdoms of the Liburnians, and to pass the spring of Timavus, where through nine mouths, with a vast roar from the mountain, it goes out as a bursting sea and floods the fields with roaring water.

Note. Venus contrasts Aeneas with Antenor, another Trojan who escaped and was allowed to settle in Italy. Antēnor potuit governs three infinitives: penetrāre, superāre (and, understood, 'reach'). The Timavus (near modern Trieste) rises from many springs and floods the plain; Vergil's description is half river, half sea. sonantī is a present participle, ablative with pelagō.

Aen. 1.247Hīc tamen ille urbem Patavī sēdēsque locāvit
Teucrōrum, et gentī nōmen dedit, armaque fīxit
Troia;

Yet here he founded the city of Patavium and a home for the Teucrians, gave his people a name, and hung up the arms of Troy;

Note. Patavium is Padua, Livy's home town; Antenor was its legendary founder. arma fīxit: hanging up one's arms in a temple was the sign that a warrior's fighting days were over. Troia is the adjective Trōius ('Trojan'), neuter plural with arma.

Aen. 1.249nunc placidā compostus pāce quiēscit:
250nōs, tua prōgeniēs, caelī quibus adnuis arcem,
nāvibus (īnfandum!) āmissīs, ūnīus ob īram
prōdimur atque Ītalīs longē disiungimur ōrīs.

now, settled in quiet peace, he rests: but we, your own offspring, to whom you promise the citadel of heaven, our ships lost (unspeakable!), are betrayed because of the anger of one goddess and kept far away from the shores of Italy.

Note. compostus is a shortened (syncopated) form of compositus, here 'laid to rest' — ironically, as the word also describes the dead. nāvibus … āmissīs: ablative absolute. īnfandum!: an exclamatory accusative, 'unspeakable!'. ūnīus: Juno, never named here.

Aen. 1.253Hic pietātis honōs?

Is this the reward for piety?

Aen. 1.253Sīc nōs in scēptra repōnis?

Is this how you restore us to power?'