The Aeneid by Virgil Translated by Tony Kline
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The Aeneid By Virgil Translated by Tony Kline Lines 1-56 The Trojan Horse: Laocoön’s Warning They were all silent, and turned their faces towards him intently. Then from his high couch our forefather Aeneas began: “O queen, you command me to renew unspeakable grief, Nathaniel Dance-Holland - The how the Greeks destroyed the riches of Troy, Meeting of Dido and Aeneas and the sorrowful kingdom, miseries I saw myself, and in which I played a great part. What Myrmidon, or Dolopian, or warrior of fierce Ulysses, could keep from tears in telling such a story? Now the dew-filled night is dropping from the sky, and the setting stars urge sleep. 10But if you have such desire to learn of our misfortunes, and briefly hear of Troy’s last agonies, though my mind shudders at the memory, and recoils in sorrow, I’ll begin. ‘After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks, opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war, build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallas’s divine art, and weave planks of fir over its ribs: they pretend it’s a votive offering: this rumor spreads. They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot, there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge 20cavernous insides with armed warriors. Tenedos is within sight, an island known to fame, rich in wealth when Priam’s kingdom remained, now just a bay and an unsafe anchorage for boats: they sail there, and hide themselves, on the lonely shore. We thought they had gone, and were seeking Mycenae 1 Copyright © 2015 by Greenville Area School District All rights reserved. These materials or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. with the wind. So all the Trojan land was free of its long sorrow. The gates were opened: it was a joy to go and see the Greek camp, the deserted site and the abandoned shore. Here the Dolopians stayed, here cruel Achilles, 30here lay the fleet, here they used to meet us in battle. Some were amazed at virgin Minerva’s fatal gift, and marvel at the horse’s size: and at first Thymoetes, whether through treachery, or because Troy’s fate was certain, urged that it be dragged inside the walls and placed on the citadel. But Capys, and those of wiser judgment, commanded us to either hurl this deceit of the Greeks, this suspect gift, into the sea, or set fire to it from beneath, or pierce its hollow belly, and probe for hiding places. The crowd, uncertain, was split by opposing opinions. 40Then Laocoön rushes down eagerly from the heights of the citadel, to confront them all, a large crowd with him, and shouts from far off: ‘O unhappy citizens, what madness? Do you think the enemy’s sailed away? Or do you think any Greek gift’s free of treachery? Is that Ulysses’ reputation? Either there are Greeks in hiding, concealed by the wood, or it’s been built as a machine to use against our walls, or spy on our homes, or fall on the city from above, or it hides some other trick: Trojans, don’t trust this horse. Whatever it is, I’m afraid of Greeks even those bearing gifts.’ 50So saying he hurled his great spear, with extreme force, at the creature’s side, and into the frame of the curved belly. The spear stuck quivering, and at the womb’s reverberation the cavity rang hollow and gave out a groan. And if the gods’ fate, if our minds, had not been ill-omened, he’d have incited us to mar the Greeks hiding-place with steel: 2 Copyright © 2015 by Greenville Area School District All rights reserved. These materials or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. Troy would still stand: and you, high tower of Priam would remain. Lines: 57-144 Sinon’s Tale See, meanwhile, some Trojan shepherds, shouting loudly, dragging a youth, his hands tied behind his back, to the king. In order to contrive this, and lay Troy open to the Greeks, 60he had placed himself in their path, calm in mind, and ready for either course: to engage in deception, or find certain death. The Trojan youth run, crowding round, from all sides, to see him, and compete in mocking the captive. Listen now to Greek treachery, and learn of all their crimes from just this one. The spy Sinon puts on a convincing performance to persuade the Trojans that he has escaped from the Greeks after being betrayed and condemned to death. His story is so moving that he made the Trojans cry and moved Priam to great pity releasing Sinon from his bonds imploring him to forget the Greeks. Having gained the Trojan’s confidence, Sinon easily makes them believe that the Greeks have abandoned the siege of the city, leaving the strange wooden horse behind to appease the angry gods. Lines 195-227 Laocoön and the Serpents Through these tricks and the skill of perjured Sinon, the thing was credited, and we were trapped, by his wiliness, and false tears, we, who were not conquered by Diomede, or Larissan Achilles, nor by the ten years of war, nor those thousand ships. Then something greater and more terrible befalls 200us wretches, and stirs our unsuspecting souls. Laocoön, chosen by lot as priest of Neptune, was sacrificing a huge bull at the customary altar. See, a pair of serpents with huge coils, snaking over the sea from Tenedos through the tranquil deep (I shudder to tell it), and heading for the shore side by side: their fronts lift high over the tide, and their blood-red crests top the waves, the rest of their body slides through the ocean behind, 3 Copyright © 2015 by Greenville Area School District All rights reserved. These materials or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. and their huge backs arch in voluminous folds. There’s a roar from the foaming sea: now they reach the shore, Francesco Hayez: Laocoön 210 and with burning eyes suffused with blood and fire, lick at their hissing jaws with flickering tongues. Blanching at the sight we scatter. They move on a set course towards Laocoön: and first each serpent entwines the slender bodies of his two sons, and biting at them, devours their wretched limbs: then as he comes to their aid, weapons in hand, they seize him too, and wreathe him in massive coils: now encircling his waist twice, twice winding their scaly folds around his throat, their high necks and heads tower above him. 220He strains to burst the knots with his hands, his sacred headband drenched in blood and dark venom, while he sends terrible shouts up to the heavens, like the bellowing of a bull that has fled wounded, from the altar, shaking the useless axe from its neck. But the serpent pair escape, slithering away to the high temple, and seek the stronghold of fierce Pallas, to hide there under the goddess’s feet, and the circle of her shield. Lines 228-253 The Horse Enters Troy Then in truth a strange terror steals through each shuddering heart, and they say that Laocoön has justly suffered for his crime 230in wounding the sacred oak-tree with his spear, by hurling its wicked shaft into the trunk. “Pull the statue to her house”, they shout, “and offer prayers to the goddess’s divinity.” We breached the wall, and opened up the defenses of the city. 4 Copyright © 2015 by Greenville Area School District All rights reserved. These materials or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. All prepare themselves for the work and they set up wheels allowing movement under its feet, and stretch hemp ropes round its neck. That engine of fate mounts our walls pregnant with armed men. Around it boys, and virgin girls, sing sacred songs, and delight in touching their hands to the ropes: 240Up it glides and rolls threateningly into the midst of the city. O my country, O Ilium house of the gods, and you, Trojan walls famous in war! Four times it sticks at the threshold of the gates, and four times the weapons clash in its belly: yet we press on regardless, blind with frenzy, and site the accursed creature on top of our sacred citadel. Even then Cassandra, who, by the god’s decree, is never to be believed by Trojans, reveals our future fate with her lips. We unfortunate ones, for whom that day is our last, clothe the gods’ temples, throughout the city, with festive branches. 250Meanwhile the heavens turn, and night rushes from the Ocean, wrapping the earth, and sky, and the Myrmidons’ tricks, in its vast shadow: through the city the Trojans fall silent: sleep enfolds their weary limbs. Lines 254-297 The Greeks Take the City And now the Greek phalanx of battle-ready ships sailed from Tenedos, in the benign stillness of the silent moon, seeking the known shore, when the royal galley raised a torch, and Sinon, protected by the gods’ unjust doom, sets free the Greeks imprisoned by planks of pine, in the horses’ belly. Opened, it releases them to the air, 260and sliding down a lowered rope, Thessandrus, and Sthenelus, the leaders, and fatal Ulysses, emerge joyfully 5 Copyright © 2015 by Greenville Area School District All rights reserved.