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
my Turnus, can your sister avail? what more remains for 5
an obdurate wretch like me? by what expedient can I
lengthen your span? can I face a portent like this? At
last, at last I quit the field. Cease to appal my fluttering
soul, ye birds of ill omen: I know the flapping of your
wings and its deathful noise; nor fail I to read great 10
Jove’s tyrannic will. Is this his recompense for lost virginity?
why gave he me life to last for ever? why was
the law of death annulled? else might I end this moment
the tale of my sorrows, and travel to the shades hand in
hand with my poor brother. Can immortality, can aught 15
that I have to boast give me joy without him? Oh, that
earth would but yawn deep enough, and send me down,
goddess though I be, to the powers of the grave!” So
saying, she shrouded her head in her azure robe, with many
a groan, and vanished beneath the river of her deity. 20
Æneas presses on, front to front, shaking his massy,
tree-like spear, and thus speaks in the fierceness of his
spirit: “What is to be the next delay? why does Turnus
still hang back? ours is no contest of speed, but of stern
soldiership, hand to hand. Take all disguises you can; 25
muster all your powers of courage or of skill: mount on
wing, if you list, to the stars aloft, or hide in the cavernous
depth of earth.” Shaking his head, he replied: “I quail
not at your fiery words, insulting foe: it is Heaven that
makes me quail, and Jove my enemy.” No more he 30
spoke: but, sweeping his eyes round, espies a huge stone,
a stone ancient and huge, which chanced to be lying on
the plain, set as some field’s boundary, to forefend disputes
of ownership: scarce could twelve picked men lift
it on their shoulders, such puny frames as earth produces 35
now-a-days: he caught it up with hurried grasp and
flung it at his foe, rising as he threw, and running rapidly,
as hero might. And yet all the while he knows not that
he is running or moving, lifting up or stirring the enormous
stone: his knees totter under him, and his blood
chills and freezes: and so the mass from the warrior’s
hand, whirled through the empty void, passed not through
all the space between nor carried home the blow. Even 5
as in dreams, at night, when heavy slumber has weighed
down the eyes, we seem vainly wishing to make eager
progress forward and midway in the effort fail helplessly;
our tongue has no power, our wonted strength stands not
our frames in stead, nor do words or utterance come at 10
our call: so it is with Turnus: whatever means his valour
tries, the fell fiend bars them of their issue. And now
confused images whirl through his brain: he looks to his
Rutulians and to the city, and falters with dread, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account