Aeneid 1.387–401

Aen. 1.387Quisquis es, haud, crēdō, invīsus caelestibus aurās
vītālīs carpis, Tyriam quī advēnerīs urbem.

'Whoever you are, you are not, I think, hated by the gods as you breathe the air of life, since you have reached the Tyrian city.

Note. Quisquis es: 'whoever you are' (Venus keeps up the pretence). quī advēnerīs: causal relative clause with the subjunctive, 'since you have come'. aurās vītālīs carpis: 'you breathe the air of life'.

Aen. 1.389Perge modo, atque hinc tē rēgīnae ad līmina perfer,
390Namque tibi reducēs sociōs classemque relātam
nūntiō, et in tūtum versīs aquilōnibus āctam,
nī frūstrā augurium vānī docuēre parentēs.

Just go on, and take yourself from here to the queen's door. For I tell you that your comrades are returned and your fleet brought back, driven to safety by a shift of the north winds, unless my parents taught me augury in vain.

Note. reducēs sociōs … classemque relātam: accusatives with nūntiō in indirect statement, esse understood. versīs aquilōnibus: ablative absolute. nī … docuēre: 'unless my parents taught me augury in vain'.

Aen. 1.393Aspice bis sēnōs laetantīs agmine cycnōs,
aetheriā quōs lāpsa plagā Iovis āles apertō
395turbābat caelō;

Look at the twelve swans rejoicing in a column, whom the bird of Jupiter, swooping from the region of the upper air, was scattering through the open sky;

Note. bis sēnōs … cycnōs: 'twelve swans', matching Aeneas' twelve missing ships. Swans are sacred to Venus; the eagle (Iovis āles) is Jupiter's bird. laetantīs: -īs accusative plural.

Aen. 1.395nunc terrās ōrdine longō
aut capere, aut captās iam dēspectāre videntur:
ut reducēs illī lūdunt strīdentibus ālīs,
et coetū cinxēre polum, cantūsque dedēre,
haud aliter puppēsque tuae pūbēsque tuōrum
400aut portum tenet aut plēnō subit ōstia vēlō.

now in a long line they seem either to be settling on the ground or already looking down on the ground they have chosen: as they, come back, play with whirring wings, and have circled the sky in a flock and given their songs, just so your ships and your young men are either holding the harbour or entering its mouth under full sail.

Note. ut … haud aliter: a correlative comparison, 'as … just so'. cinxēre … dedēre = cinxērunt, dedērunt. pūbēs tuōrum: 'the youth of your people'. The verb tenet / subit is singular with two subjects, agreeing with the nearer.

Aen. 1.401Perge modo, et, quā tē dūcit via, dīrige gressum.

Just go on, and direct your steps where the road leads you.'

Note. quā: 'where', relative adverb.