Aeneid 1.305–324

Aen. 1.305At pius Aenēās, per noctem plūrima volvēns,
ut prīmum lūx alma data est, exīre locōsque
explōrāre novōs, quās ventō accesserit ōrās,
quī teneant, nam inculta videt, hominēsne feraene,
quaerere cōnstituit, sociīsque exācta referre
310Classem in convexō nemorum sub rūpe cavātā
arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbrīs
occulit;

But dutiful Aeneas, turning very many things over through the night, decided, as soon as the kindly light was given, to go out and explore the new places, to find out what shores he has reached with the wind and who holds them, men or wild beasts (for he sees they are untilled), and to report back what he found to his companions. The fleet, in a hollow of the woods under an arching rock, closed in all around by trees and bristling shadows, he hides;

Note. ut prīmum: 'as soon as'. The indirect questions quās … accesserit ōrās and quī teneant depend on quaerere. hominēsne feraene: '(whether) men or beasts', -ne … -ne in a double question. There is no full stop in this edition before Classem; the second half is really a new sentence ('The fleet … he hides').

Aen. 1.312ipse ūnō graditur comitātus Achātē,
bīna manū lātō crispāns hastīlia ferrō.

he himself walks out accompanied by Achates alone, brandishing in his hand two spears with broad iron heads.

Note. ūnō … comitātus Achātē: comitātus here is passive in sense, 'accompanied by Achates alone'. bīna … hastīlia: distributive numeral, 'two spears' (one in each hand or a pair).

Aen. 1.314Cui māter mediā sēsē tulit obvia silvā,
315virginis ōs habitumque gerēns, et virginis arma
Spartānae, vel quālis equōs Thrēissa fatīgat
Harpalycē, volucremque fugā praevertitur Hebrum.

His mother came to meet him in the middle of the wood, with the face and dress of a maiden and a maiden's weapons, a Spartan girl, or like Thracian Harpalyce when she tires out horses and outstrips the swift Hebrus in her running.

Note. Venus meets her son disguised as a Spartan huntress, a scene modelled on Odysseus' meeting with Athena in the Odyssey. virginis ōs habitumque gerēns: 'wearing the face and dress of a maiden'. quālis … Harpalycē: a simile: 'such as Harpalyce when she tires out horses'.

Aen. 1.318Namque umerīs dē mōre habilem suspenderat arcum
vēnātrīx, dederatque comam diffundere ventīs,
320nūda genū, nōdōque sinūs collēcta fluentīs.

For she had hung a handy bow from her shoulders, as huntresses do, and had let her hair stream loose to the winds, her knee bare, the flowing folds of her dress gathered up in a knot.

Note. suspenderat … dederat: pluperfects describing how she was dressed. dederat comam diffundere ventīs: dare + infinitive, 'had given her hair to the winds to scatter'. nūda genū and sinūs collēcta: Greek accusatives of respect, 'bare as to the knee', 'having gathered up her folds'.

Aen. 1.321Ac prior, Heus inquit iuvenēs, mōnstrāte meārum
vīdistis sī quam hīc errantem forte sorōrum,
succīnctam pharetrā et maculōsae tegmine lyncis,
aut spūmantis aprī cursum clāmōre prementem.

And she spoke first: 'Hello, young men, tell me if by chance you have seen one of my sisters wandering here, girded with a quiver and the hide of a spotted lynx, or pressing hard with a shout on the track of a foaming boar.'

Note. mōnstrāte … vīdistis sī quam: the order is mōnstrāte, sī quam meārum sorōrum vīdistis. quam after sī is the indefinite ('any'). spūmantis aprī: genitive; prementem agrees with quam (the sister).