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Quote of the day: At last, after well-merited commendation
Notes
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The Aeneid by Virgil
translated by Theodore C. Williams
Book VII Chapter 12: Ilioneus explains
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He [Note 1] spoke; Ilioneus this answer made:
“O King, great heir of Faunus! No dark storm
impelled us o'er the flood thy realm to find.
Nor star deceived, nor strange, bewildering shore
threw out of our true course; but we are come
by our free choice and with deliberate aim
to this thy town, though exiled forth of realms
once mightiest of all the sun-god sees
when moving from his utmost eastern bound.
From Jove our line began; the sons of Troy
boast Jove to be their sire, and our true King
is of Olympian seed. To thine abode
Trojan Aeneas sent us. How there burst
o'er Ida's vales from dread Mycenae's kings
a tempest vast, and by what stroke of doom
all Asia's world with Europe clashed in war,
that lone wight hears whom earth's remotest isle
has banished to the Ocean's rim, or he
whose dwelling is the ample zone that burns
betwixt the changeful sun-god's milder realms,
far severed from the world. We are the men
from war's destroying deluge safely borne
over the waters wide. We only ask
some low-roofed dwelling for our fathers' gods,
some friendly shore, and, what to all is free,
water and air. We bring no evil name
upon thy people; thy renown will be
but wider spread; nor of a deed so fair
can grateful memory die. Ye ne'er will rue
that to Ausonia's breast ye gathered Troy.
I swear thee by the favored destinies
of great Aeneas, by his strength of arm
in friendship or in war, that many a tribe
(O, scorn us not, that, bearing olive green,
with suppliant words we come), that many a throne
has sued us to be friends. But Fate's decree
to this thy realm did guide. Here Dardanus
was born; and with reiterate command
this way Apollo pointed to the stream
of Tiber and Numicius' haunted spring.
Lo, these poor tributes from his greatness gone
Aeneas sends, these relics snatched away
from Ilium burning: with this golden bowl
Anchises poured libation when he prayed;
and these were Priam's splendor, when he gave
laws to his gathered states; this sceptre his,
this diadem revered, and beauteous pall,
handwork of Asia's queens.”

Note 1: He = Latinus

Event: Aeneas comes to Latium

212-248
Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic uoce secutus:
'rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos
atra subegit hiems uestris succedere terris,
nec sidus regione uiae litusue fefellit:
consilio hanc omnes animisque uolentibus urbem
adferimur pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam
extremo ueniens sol aspiciebat Olympo.
ab Ioue principium generis, Ioue Dardana pubes
gaudet auo, rex ipse Iouis de gente suprema:
Troius Aeneas tua nos ad limina misit.
quanta per Idaeos saeuis effusa Mycenis
tempestas ierit campos, quibus actus uterque
Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrerit orbis,
audiit et si quem tellus extrema refuso
summouet Oceano et si quem extenta plagarum
quattuor in medio dirimit plaga solis iniqui.
diluuio ex illo tot uasta per aequora uecti
dis sedem exiguam patriis litusque rogamus
innocuum et cunctis undamque auramque patentem.
non erimus regno indecores, nec uestra feretur
fama leuis tantique abolescet gratia facti,
nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit.
fata per Aeneae iuro dextramque potentem,
siue fide seu quis bello est expertus et armis:
multi nos populi, multae (ne temne, quod ultro
praeferimus manibus uittas ac uerba precantia)
et petiere sibi et uoluere adiungere gentes;
sed nos fata deum uestras exquirere terras
imperiis egere suis. hinc Dardanus ortus,
huc repetit iussisque ingentibus urget Apollo
Tyrrhenum ad Thybrim et fontis uada sacra Numici.
dat tibi praeterea fortunae parua prioris
munera, reliquias Troia ex ardente receptas.
hoc pater Anchises auro libabat ad aras,
hoc Priami gestamen erat cum iura uocatis
more daret populis, sceptrumque sacerque tiaras
Iliadumque labor uestes.'