In the Absence of Aeneas 233 BOOK X Arms and the Man 263 BOOK XI The Despair of the Latins 299 BOOK XII The Final Combat 335 Appendix 371 THE AENEID OF VIRGIL BOOK I THE LANDING NEAR CARTHAGE Arms and the man I sing, the first who came, Compelled by fate, an exile out of Troy, To Italy and the Lavinian coast, Much buffeted on land and on the deep By violence of the gods, through that long rage, That lasting hate, of Juno’s. And he suffered Much, also, in war, till he should build his town And bring his gods to Latium, whence, in time, The Latin race, the Alban fathers, rose And the great walls of everlasting Rome. Help me, O Muse, recall the reasons: why, Why did the queen of heaven drive a man So known for goodness, for devotion, through So many toils and perils? Was there slight, Affront, or outrage? Is vindictiveness An attribute of the celestial mind? There was an ancient city, Carthage, once Founded by Tyrians, facing Italy And Tiber’s mouth, far-off, a wealthy town, War-loving, and aggressive; and Juno held Even her precious Samos in less regard. Here were her arms, her chariot, and here, Should fate at all permit, the goddess burned To found the empire of the world forever. But, she had heard, a Trojan race would come, Some day, to overthrow the Tyrian towers, A race would come, imperious people, proud In war, with wide dominion, bringing doom For Libya. Fate willed it so. And Juno Feared, and remembered: there was the old war She fought at Troy for her dear Greeks; her mind Still fed on hurt and anger; deep in her heart Paris’ decision rankled, and the wrong Offered her slighted beauty; and the hatred Of the whole race; and Ganymede’s honors-- All that was fuel to fire; she tossed and harried All over the seas, wherever she could, those Trojans Who had survived the Greeks and fierce Achilles, And so they wandered over many an ocean, Through many a year, fate-hounded. Such a struggle It was to found the race of Rome!