Virgil, Aeneid 1.588–610, read in Latin by Wendell Clausen

Citation:

1997. “Virgil, Aeneid 1.588–610, read in Latin by Wendell Clausen.” Cambridge, MA: Department of the Classics, Harvard University.

Full Text

Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfusa repente

scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum.

Restitit Aeneas claraque in luce refulsit,

os umerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram

caesariem nato genetrix lumenque iuventae

purpureum et laetos oculis adflarat honores:

quale manus addunt ebori decus, aut ubi flavo

argentum Pariusve lapis circumdatur auro.

Tum sic reginam adloquitur, cunctisque repente

improvisus ait: "Coram, quem quaeritis, adsum,

Troius Aeneas, Lybicis ereptus ab undis.

O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores,

quae nos, reliquias Danaum, terraeque marisque

omnibus exhaustos iam casibus, omnium egenos,

urbe, domo, socias, grates persolvere dignas

non opis est nostrae, Dido, nec quicquid ubique est

gentis Dardaniae, magnum quae sparsa per orbem.

Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid

usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti,

praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt

saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?

In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae

lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet,

semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt,

quae me cumque vocant terrae."

Summary by Thomas Jenkins

Book One introduces the enigmatic and tragic figure of Dido [also known as Elissa], a woman so ripe for artistic recreation that portraits, paintings, and poems celebrating her doomed loved comprise a rich European tradition. (Compare Purcell's sympathetic portrayal in his opera Dido and Aeneas, in which the first-billed Dido is definitely the protagonist!) Having infiltrated Carthage in a magical cloud, Aeneas and his companion Achates finally break out of their mist to address the queen of Carthage, and to thank her for her earlier promise to spare the Trojan ships from fire. As Aeneas speaks to Dido, Virgil notes how extraordinarily handsome Venus had made him through her charms—or is it that Virgil is giving us a vision of Aeneas focalized through Dido's love-struck eyes? Aeneas's last utterance is eerily prophetic of his eventual desertion of Dido: Aeneas is perfectly content to link together his name with Dido's, even if promise of a new land summons him away …

Related content

Virgil, Aeneid 1.586–610 (Dryden's translation), read by Kathleen M. Coleman

See also: Latin poetry
Last updated on 09/09/2015