The Æneid of Virgil translated into English proseVirgil
General
The Æneid of Virgil translated into English prose
Virgil
Aeneas (Legendary character); Epic poetry, Latin -- Translations into English; Legends -- Rome
flowing rein, assuming all that Metiscus had, voice and
person and armour. Like a black swallow that flies
through the house of some wealthy man and traverses
the lofty hail, in quest of scraps of food for her twittering
nestlings; now she is heard in the empty cloisters, now
about the watertanks; so drives Juturna through the 5
thick of the foe, and flies on rapid wheel from spot to
spot, now here, now there she gives a glimpse of her victorious
brother, yet never lets him stop and fight, but
whirls far away in the distance. Æneas for his part
winds through sinuous paths in hope to meet him, tracks 10
his steps, and shouts to him aloud across the weltering
ranks. Oft as he spies out the foe and tries by running
to match the horses’ winged speed, each time Juturna
wheels the car aside. What can he do? he tosses in aimless
ebb and flow, thoughts distracting his mind this 15
way and that:—when lo! Messapus, with sudden movement,
happening to carry two limber spear-shafts tipped
with steel, levels one at him and flings it true to its mark.
Æneas stopped and gathered his arms about him, sinking
on his knee; yet the fierce spear took the top of the 20
helmet and struck the crest from the cone. Then at last
his wrath mounts high; and under the duresse of treachery,
as he sees the steeds and chariot whirling away from him,
after many an appeal to Jove and the altars of the violated
league, he falls on the ranks before him, and fanned 25
to dreadful vengeance by the War-god’s breath, lets loose
a carnage cruel and unsparing, and flings the reins on the
neck of his passion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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