Aeneid 4.219–236

Aen. 4.219Tālibus ōrantem dictīs ārāsque tenentem
220audiit omnipotēns, oculōsque ad moenia torsit
rēgia et oblītōs fāmae meliōris amantēs.

As he prayed with such words and held the altars, the Almighty heard him, and turned his eyes to the royal city and to the lovers who had forgotten their better name.

Note. ārās … tenentem: suppliants held the altar. omnipotēns: Jupiter.

Aen. 4.222Tum sīc Mercurium adloquitur ac tālia mandat:
Vāde age, nāte, vocā Zephyrōs et lābere pennīs,
Dardaniumque ducem, Tyriā Karthāgine quī nunc
225exspectat, fātīsque datās nōn respicit urbēs,
adloquere, et celerīs dēfer mea dicta per aurās.

Then he speaks to Mercury and gives him these orders: 'Go, come, my son, call the West Winds and glide on your wings, and speak to the Dardan leader who now lingers in Tyrian Carthage and does not look to the cities granted him by fate, and take my words down through the swift air.

Note. Vāde age: 'go, come on'. Zephyrōs: the West Winds. lābere: present imperative of the deponent lābor, 'glide'. adloquere: imperative of the deponent alloquor. celerīs: accusative plural with aurās.

Aen. 4.227Nōn illum nōbīs genetrīx pulcherrima tālem
prōmīsit, Grāiumque ideō bis vindicat armīs;

It was not such a man his most beautiful mother promised us, and not for this does she twice rescue him from the arms of the Greeks;

Note. genetrīx pulcherrima: Venus. Grāium (= Grāiōrum) … armīs: from the weapons of the Greeks; Venus saved him from Diomedes in the Iliad and from the burning of Troy in Book 2.

Aen. 4.229sed fore, quī gravidam imperiīs bellōque frementem
230Ītaliam regeret, genus altō ā sanguine Teucrī
prōderet, ac tōtum sub lēgēs mitteret orbem.

but he was to be the one who would rule Italy, pregnant with empire and roaring with war, hand down a race from the high blood of Teucer, and bring the whole world under its laws.

Note. fore quī … regeret: 'but (she promised) that he would be the one who would rule'. gravidam imperiīs: 'pregnant with empires'. Teucrī: Teucer, ancestor of the Trojans.

Aen. 4.232Sī nūlla accendit tantārum glōria rērum,
nec super ipse suā mōlītur laude labōrem,
Ascaniōne pater Rōmānās invidet arcēs?

If no glory of such great deeds fires him, and he does not take up the labour for his own fame, does the father begrudge Ascanius the citadels of Rome?

Note. super … suā … laude: 'for his own glory'. Ascaniōne: Ascaniō + -ne; invideō takes the dative of the person, 'does he grudge Ascanius the citadels of Rome?'

Aen. 4.235Quid struit, aut quā spē inimīcā in gente morātur,
nec prōlem Ausoniam et Lāvīnia respicit arva?

What is he building, or with what hope does he linger among a hostile people, and not look to his Ausonian descendants and the fields of Lavinium?

Note. Quid struit: 'what is he planning?' Ausoniam: Ausonia is a poetic name for Italy. Lāvīnia arva: the fields of Lavinium, where Aeneas is destined to found his city.