Aeneid 2.624–633

Aen. 2.624Tum vērō omne mihi vīsum cōnsīdere in ignīs
625Īlium et ex īmō vertī Neptūnia Troia;

Then indeed all Ilium seemed to me to sink into the fires, and Neptune's Troy to be overturned from its foundations;

Note. mihi vīsum (est): 'it seemed to me', with a personal construction: omne Īlium (nominative) vīsum est cōnsīdere. ex īmō: 'from its lowest part', i.e. from its foundations. Neptūnia Troia: Troy, whose walls Neptune built.

Aen. 2.626ac velutī summīs antīquam in montibus ornum
cum ferrō accīsam crēbrīsque bipennibus īnstant
ēruere agricolae certātim,— illa usque minātur
et tremefacta comam concussō vertice nūtat,
630volneribus dōnec paulātim ēvicta, suprēmum
congemuit, trāxitque iugīs āvolsa ruīnam.

just as when, high in the mountains, farmers strive with one another to bring down an ancient ash, hacked with iron and with blow after blow of the axe: it keeps threatening to fall and, shaken in its foliage, nods with its shaken crown, until little by little, overcome by its wounds, it groans its last and, torn from the ridge, crashes down in ruin.

Note. An extended simile: Troy falls like an old mountain ash attacked by farmers. veluti … cum … īnstant: 'just as when … they strive'. ēruere: infinitive with īnstant, 'press on to uproot'. usque minātur: 'keeps threatening (to fall)'. comam: accusative of respect with tremefacta, 'shaken in its foliage'. suprēmum congemuit: 'gave a last groan'; suprēmum is adverbial. trāxit … ruīnam: 'drew down ruin', i.e. crashed. Notice how the long sentence and the heavy spondees (cōngemu-) imitate the slow fall.

Aen. 2.632Dēscendō, ac dūcente deō flammam inter et hostīs
expedior;

I come down, and with the god leading me I make my way through flame and foes;

Note. dūcente deō: ablative absolute. The masculine deus is used of Venus here, as a general word for 'divinity'. flammam inter et hostīs: inter is placed between its two objects. hostīs: accusative plural.

Aen. 2.633dant tēla locum, flammaeque recēdunt.

the weapons give way, and the flames draw back.

Note. dant tēla locum: 'the weapons give way', literally 'give room'.