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
“And now the next day was breaking in early dawn,
and Aurora had drawn off the dewy shadow from the
sky, when suddenly from the woods comes forth the
strange figure of a man unknown, in piteous trim—a
picture completed by Famine’s master-stroke, and 10
stretches his hands in supplication to the shore. We
look back: there was filth to make us shudder, a length
of beard, a covering fastened with thorns; yet the rest
betokened a Greek, who had once been sent to Troy in
the army of his nation. As for him, when he saw from 15
afar the dress of Dardan land and the arms of Troy, for
a moment he faltered, scared by the sight, and checked
his steps; soon he ran headlong to the shore, crying and
praying: ‘By the stars I adjure you, by the powers
above, by this blessed light of heaven we breathe, take 20
me with you, Teucrians; carry me off to any land you
will; this will be enough. I know I am one of the Danaan
crews; I own that I carried war into your Trojan homes;
for which, if the guilt of my crime is so black, fling me
piecemeal to the waves, drown me deep in the great sea. 25
If I am to die, there will be pleasure in dying by the hands
of men.’ His speech was over, and he was clinging about
us, clasping our knees, and writhing round them. We
encourage him to tell us who he is, of what race sprung,
to reveal what fortune has since made him its sport. My 30
father, Anchises, after no long pause, himself gives his
hand to the youth, and reassures him by the powerful
pledge. He at length lays aside his fear, and speaks as
follows:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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