Classics: Classics collection contents
About the Classics collection
Greek Hist. Overview
Art & Arch. Catalogs
Other Tools & Lexica
Plot: sites on this page sites in this book sites in this document
Display text chunked by: book card (default)
Contents: Book 1Book 2Book 3Book 4Book 5Book 6Book 7Book 8Book 9Book 10Book 11Book 12 |
P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid (ed. John Dryden)
Editions and translations: English (ed. John Dryden) | English (ed. Theodore C. Williams) | Latin (ed. J. B. Greenough)
Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position.
A spacious cave, within its farmost part,
Was hew'd and fashion'd by laborious art
Thro' the hill's hollow sides: before the place,
A hundred doors a hundred entries grace;
As many voices issue, and the sound
Of Sybil's words as many times rebound.
Now to the mouth they come. Aloud she cries:
“This is the time; enquire your destinies.
He comes; behold the god!” Thus while she said,
(And shiv'ring at the sacred entry stay'd,)
Her color chang'd; her face was not the same,
And hollow groans from her deep spirit came.
Her hair stood up; convulsive rage possess'd
Her trembling limbs, and heav'd her lab'ring breast.
Greater than humankind she seem'd to look,
And with an accent more than mortal spoke.
Her staring eyes with sparkling fury roll;
When all the god came rushing on her soul.
Swiftly she turn'd, and, foaming as she spoke:
“Why this delay?” she cried, “the pow'rs invoke!
Thy pray'rs alone can open this abode;
Else vain are my demands, and dumb the god.”
She said no more. The trembling Trojans hear,
O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear.
The prince himself, with awful dread possess'd,
His vows to great Apollo thus address'd:
“Indulgent god, propitious pow'r to Troy,
Swift to relieve, unwilling to destroy,
Directed by whose hand the Dardan dart
Pierc'd the proud Grecian's only mortal part:
Thus far, by fate's decrees and thy commands,
Thro' ambient seas and thro' devouring sands,
Our exil'd crew has sought th' Ausonian ground;
And now, at length, the flying coast is found.
Thus far the fate of Troy, from place to place,
With fury has pursued her wand'ring race.
Here cease, ye pow'rs, and let your vengeance end:
Troy is no more, and can no more offend.
And thou, O sacred maid, inspir'd to see
Th' event of things in dark futurity;
Give me what Heav'n has promis'd to my fate,
To conquer and command the Latian state;
To fix my wand'ring gods, and find a place
For the long exiles of the Trojan race.
Then shall my grateful hands a temple rear
To the twin gods, with vows and solemn pray'r;
And annual rites, and festivals, and games,
Shall be perform'd to their auspicious names.
Nor shalt thou want thy honors in my land;
For there thy faithful oracles shall stand,
Preserv'd in shrines; and ev'ry sacred lay,
Which, by thy mouth, Apollo shall convey:
All shall be treasur'd by a chosen train
Of holy priests, and ever shall remain.
But O! commit not thy prophetic mind
To flitting leaves, the sport of ev'ry wind,
Lest they disperse in air our empty fate;
Write not, but, what the pow'rs ordain, relate.”
There are a total of 2 comments on and cross references to this page.
Cross references from W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886):
4, 426 [Book 4 (d)]
Cross references from Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898):
troiae-ludus [Troiae Ludus]
Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Verg.+A.+6.42
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This text is based on the following book(s): Vergil. Aeneid. John Dryden. trans. XXX. XXX. XXX.
|