Aeneid 4.1–30

Aen. 4.1At rēgīna gravī iamdūdum saucia cūrā
volnus alit vēnīs, et caecō carpitur ignī.

But the queen, long since wounded by a heavy care, feeds the wound with her veins and is consumed by a hidden fire.

Note. At regīna: Book 4 opens with Dido, not Aeneas. gravī … cūrā is ablative with saucia ('wounded by a heavy care'); the two words frame the line. volnus alit vēnīs: 'feeds the wound with her veins (her life-blood)'. caecō … ignī is the 'hidden fire' of love: the wound and fire images run through the whole book.

Aen. 4.3Multa virī virtūs animō, multusque recursat
gentis honōs: haerent īnfīxī pectore voltūs
5verbaque, nec placidam membrīs dat cūra quiētem.

The man's great courage keeps running back into her mind, and the great glory of his race; his face and his words stay fixed in her heart, and care gives her limbs no gentle rest.

Note. Multa … virtūs: multa agrees with virtūs, 'the man's great courage' (literally 'much courage'). recursat is frequentative: it keeps running back. voltus (= vultus) and verba are both subjects of haerent; īnfīxī agrees with the nearer voltus. honōs is the older form of honor.

Aen. 4.6Postera Phoebēā lūstrābat lampade terrās,
ūmentemque Aurōra polō dīmōverat umbram,
cum sīc ūnanimam adloquitur male sāna sorōrem:
Anna soror, quae mē suspēnsam īnsomnia terrent!

The next Dawn was lighting the earth with the lamp of Phoebus and had driven the damp shadow from the sky, when, scarcely in her right mind, she speaks to the sister who shares her heart: 'Anna, my sister, what dreams terrify me and hold me in suspense!

Note. Postera … Aurōra: the adjective opens the line and its noun waits until the next line, a typical hyperbaton. Phoebēā lampade is ablative of means: the sun's 'lamp'. ūmentem … umbram: the damp shadow of night. male sāna: 'scarcely sane'; male turns sāna almost into its opposite. ūnanimam sorōrem: Anna is 'of one mind' with her. quae … īnsomnia: exclamatory, 'what dreams!' (īnsomnia, neuter plural of īnsomnium).

Aen. 4.10Quis novus hic nostrīs successit sēdibus hospes,
quem sēsē ōre ferēns, quam fortī pectore et armīs!

Who is this new guest who has come into our home? How he carries himself, how brave in heart and arms!

Note. quem sēsē ōre ferēns: supply 'is': 'how he bears himself in his face'. quem and quam are exclamatory. forti pectore et armīs: ablatives of description.

Aen. 4.12Crēdō equidem, nec vāna fidēs, genus esse deōrum.

I truly believe — and it is no empty belief — that he is of the race of the gods.

Note. genus esse deōrum: accusative and infinitive after crēdō; supply eum. Aeneas is in fact the son of Venus. nec vāna fidēs: a parenthesis, 'nor is my belief empty'.

Aen. 4.13Dēgenerēs animōs timor arguit: heu, quibus ille
iactātus fātīs!

Fear shows up souls that are low-born. Alas, by what fates he has been tossed!

Note. Dēgenerēs animōs timor arguit: 'fear proves souls low-born', i.e. Aeneas showed no fear, so he must be noble. quibus … fātīs: exclamatory ablative with iactātus.

Aen. 4.14Quae bella exhausta canēbat!

What wars, fought to the end, he was telling of!

Note. exhausta: 'drained to the dregs', i.e. fought to the end. Dido has listened to Aeneas' story of Troy (Books 2–3).

Aen. 4.15Sī mihi nōn animō fīxum immōtumque sedēret,
nē cui mē vinclō vellem sociāre iugālī,
postquam prīmus amor dēceptam morte fefellit;

If it were not fixed and unshakeable in my mind that I would not wish to join myself to anyone in the bond of marriage, since my first love cheated me and left me deceived by death;

Note. A contrary-to-fact condition: sī … sedēret … potuī (8). animō is locative ablative, 'in my mind'. nē … vellem: the content of what was fixed, 'that I would not wish'. vinclō … iugālī: 'the bond of marriage', ablative. vinclum is the poetic syncopated form of vinculum.

Aen. 4.18sī nōn pertaesum thalamī taedaeque fuisset,
huic ūnī forsan potuī succumbere culpae.

if I had not been weary of the bridal chamber and the wedding torch, to this one fault, perhaps, I could have given way.

Note. pertaesum … fuisset: impersonal pertaedet, 'if I had not been weary of' + genitive thalamī taedaeque. potuī succumbere: Latin often uses the indicative of possum in the apodosis of an unreal condition, where English says 'I could have'. huic ūnī … culpae: the dative after succumbere.

Aen. 4.20Anna, fatēbor enim, miserī post fāta Sychaeī
coniugis et sparsōs frāternā caede Penātīs,
sōlus hic īnflexit sēnsūs, animumque labantem
impulit: adgnōscō veteris vestīgia flammae.

Anna — for I will confess it — since the death of my poor husband Sychaeus, since the household gods were spattered by my brother's murder, this man alone has bent my feelings and shaken my wavering mind: I recognise the traces of the old flame.

Note. Penātīs: accusative plural in -īs. frāternā caede: Dido's brother Pygmalion murdered her husband Sychaeus (Book 1). adgnōscō veteris vestīgia flammae: one of the most quoted lines in Latin; Dante translates it at Purgatorio 30.48 ('conosco i segni dell'antica fiamma') when Beatrice appears.

Aen. 4.24Sed mihi vel tellūs optem prius īma dēhiscat,
25vel Pater omnipotēns adigat mē fulmine ad umbrās,
pallentīs umbrās Erebī noctemque profundam,
ante, Pudor, quam tē violō, aut tua iūra resolvō.

But I would rather the depths of the earth gaped open for me, or the almighty Father drove me with his thunderbolt to the shades, the pale shades of Erebus and deep night, before I violate you, Modesty, or undo your laws.

Note. mihi … optem … dehiscat: optem is potential subjunctive ('I would wish'), and dehiscat … adigat are jussive subjunctives depending on it without ut. ante … quam is split (tmesis): 'before … I violate you'. Pudor, 'Modesty', is addressed as a person. Notice the doubled umbrās … umbrās.

Aen. 4.28Ille meōs, prīmus quī mē sibi iūnxit, amōrēs
abstulit;

He who first joined me to himself took my love away;

Note. Ille is Sychaeus. amōrēs: plural for singular, as often in poetry.

Aen. 4.29ille habeat sēcum servetque sepulchrō.

let him keep it with him and guard it in the tomb.'

Note. habeat … servet: jussive subjunctives. sēcum: 'with him (in the tomb)'.

Aen. 4.30Sīc effāta sinum lacrimīs implēvit obortīs.

So she spoke, and filled her lap with the tears that welled up.

Note. effāta: perfect participle of the deponent effor, 'having spoken'. lacrimīs … obortīs: ablative absolute or means, 'with the tears that rose'.