Aen. 8.370At Venus haud animō nēquīquam exterrita māter
Laurentumque minīs et dūrō mōta tumultū
Volcānum adloquitur thalamōque haec coniugis aureō
incipit et dictīs dīvīnum adspīrat amōrem:
Dum bellō Argolicī vāstābant Pergama rēgēs
375dēbita cāsūrāsque inimīcīs ignibus arcēs,
nōn ūllum auxilium miserīs, nōn arma rogāvī
artis opisque tuae nec tē, cārissime coniūnx,
incassumvē tuōs voluī exercēre labōrēs,
quamvīs et Priamī dēbērem plūrima nātīs
380et dūrum Aenēae flēvissem saepe labōrem.But Venus, a mother frightened in her heart and not without reason, troubled by the threats of the Laurentines and the harsh uproar, addresses Vulcan, and begins thus in the golden bedchamber of her husband, breathing divine love into her words: 'While the Argive kings were laying waste in war Pergamum, which was doomed, and its towers fated to fall to hostile fire, I asked no help for the wretched, no arms of your skill and power, nor did I wish, dearest husband, to make you or your labours work in vain, though I owed much to the sons of Priam and had often wept for the hard toil of Aeneas.
Aen. 8.381Nunc Iovis imperiīs Rutulōrum cōnstitit ōrīs:
ergō eadem supplex veniō et sānctum mihi nūmen
arma rogō genetrīx nātō.Now by Jupiter's commands he has taken his stand on the shores of the Rutulians: so I, the same, come as a suppliant and ask arms of your power, holy to me, a mother for her son. Aen. 8.383Tē fīlia Nēreī,
tē potuit lacrimīs Tīthōnia flectere coniūnx.The daughter of Nereus could move you with her tears, so could the wife of Tithonus. Aen. 8.385Aspice quī coeant populī, quae moenia clausīs
ferrum acuant portīs in mē exscidiumque meōrum.See what peoples are gathering, what walls are sharpening the sword behind closed gates against me and for the destruction of my own.' Aen. 8.387Dīxerat et niveīs hinc atque hinc dīva lacertīs
cūnctantem amplexū mollī fovet.She had spoken, and with her snowy arms on this side and that the goddess warms him in a soft embrace as he hesitates. Aen. 8.388Ille repente
accēpit solitam flammam, notusque medullās
390intrāvit calor et labefacta per ossa cucurrit:
nōn secus atque ōlim tonitrū cum rupta coruscō
ignea rīma micāns percurrit lūmine nimbōs.He suddenly caught the familiar flame, and the known heat entered his marrow and ran through his melting bones: just as when at times a fiery rift, bursting forth with flashing thunder, runs gleaming with its light through the clouds.
Aen. 8.393Sēnsit laeta dolīs et fōrmae cōnscia coniūnx.His wife, pleased with her wiles and conscious of her beauty, felt it. Aen. 8.394Tum pater aeternō fātur dēvīnctus amōre:
395Quid causās petis ex altō?Then the father, bound by everlasting love, speaks: 'Why do you seek reasons from so far? Aen. 8.395Fīdūcia cessit
quō tibi, dīva, meī?Where, goddess, has your trust in me gone? Aen. 8.396Similis sī cūra fuisset,
tum quoque fās nōbīs Teucrōs armāre fuisset:
nec pater omnipotēns Troiam nec fāta vetābant
stāre decemque aliōs Priamum superesse per annōs.If you had felt a like concern, then too it would have been right for us to arm the Teucrians: neither the almighty father nor the fates forbade Troy to stand and Priam to survive for ten more years. Aen. 8.400Et nunc, sī bellāre parās atque haec tibi mēns est,
quidquid in arte meā possum prōmittere cūrae,
quod fierī ferrō liquidōve potest ēlectrō,
quantum ignēs animaeque valent, absiste precandō
vīribus indubitāre tuīs.And now, if you are preparing to make war and this is your mind, whatever care I can promise in my art, whatever can be made from iron or molten electrum, whatever fires and blasts of air can do, cease by your entreaties to doubt your own power.' Aen. 8.404Ea verba locūtus
405optātōs dedit amplexūs placidumque petīvit
coniugis īnfūsus gremiō per membra sopōrem.Having spoken these words he gave her the embraces she longed for, and, sinking into his wife's lap, sought calm sleep through his limbs.