Virgil, Aeneid 1.1–11, read in Latin by Wendell Clausen

Citation:

1997. “Virgil, Aeneid 1.1–11, read in Latin by Wendell Clausen.” Cambridge, MA: Department of the Classics, Harvard University.

Full Text

Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris

Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit

litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto

vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;

multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,    5

inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,

Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso,

quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus

insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores                          10

impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

Notes by Thomas Jenkins

Summary: The famous and oft-quoted prologue to Vergil's Roman epic. The first two words, arma (meaning "weapons") and virum (meaning "man"), indicate the overall structure of the epic, though (in terms of broad sweep) one encounters the two themes in reverse. The first 6 books, roughly, of the Aeneid relate Aeneas's—"the man's"—wanderings after the fall of Troy, just as Homer's Odyssey narrates Odysseus's various peregrinations on his return voyage home. The last six books, concern the bloodshed and battle—"weapons"—which greet Aeneas in his quest to found a new city on the coast of Italy. The battle scenes are particularly resonant of the mighty clashes in the Iliad of Homer.

Line 8: The invocation of the Muse is a traditional but powerful trope, as Vergil enlists the muse of Epic, Calliope, as a companion in the enterprise of recalling Aeneas' story. Vergil singles out Juno, queen of the gods, as the impetus for the events leading to both Aeneas' fantastic voyage and subsequent warfare; it is her wounded numen, her injured sense of self as a goddess and supernatural being, that spurs her vendetta against the mortal Aeneas, and which turns the wheels of the divine machinery omnipresent in the epic.

The final line: "can immortal souls indeed harbor such terrible wrath?" is a novel twist to a prologue, a sudden anxious query on the part of the narrator about the ramifications of the story which he causing to be told. It is true enough that the story of Aeneas may be seen as a triumphant tale: Aeneas founds the city that shall, in time, become the most powerful in the western world. But throughout his journey Aeneas encounters so much wrath, ira, both from mortals (Dido, Turnus, Mezentius) and immortals (Juno, Aeolus' winds, Allecto) that this violent, intemperate force threatens to color darkly our view of the poem.

Related content

Virgil, Aeneid 1.1–11 (Dryden's translation), read by Kathleen M. Coleman

Recorded: July 14, 1997. Boylston Hall, Harvard University.
Audio engineer: Jeff Martini
See also: Latin poetry
Last updated on 09/09/2015