1-56, 199-297, 469-565
1 All became silent and, eager, they held (their) speech;
2 thereupon the father Aeneas, from the tall couch, began thus:
3 “Queen, you order (me) to renew unspeakable pain,
4 (to renew) how the Greeks overthrew Trojan wealth and
5 the lamentable kingdom, and (to renew) the miserable events which (I) myself saw,
6 and of which I was a large part by speaking these things
7 who of the Myrmidones or of the Dolopes or what soldier of stern Ulixes (Odysseus)
8 would restrain from tears? And now the dewy night
9 falls from the sky and the falling stars urge dreams.
10 But if (you have) such a great love to know our misfortunes
11 and briefly hear the final agony of Troy,
12 although my soul trembles to recall and flees from sorrow,
13 I will begin. Broken by war and repulsed by fates,
14 the leaders of the Greeks, with the years slipping by,
15 build a horse, an image of a mountain, with the divine art of Pallas (Minerva)
16 they weave ribs with cut pine;
17 they simulate a prayer for a return; that fame is spread.
18 They stealthily enclose chosen bodies of men selected by lot here,
19 within the dark side, and they fill
20 the huge caverns and the belly with armed soldiers.
21 There is in sight Tenedos, and island well-known by fame
22 while the kingdom(s) of Priam remained rich in resources
23 now (the island is) only a nay and an unsafe anchorage for ships:
24 having conveyed themselves to this place into the deserted shore, they hid;
25 we thought that the Greeks had gone away and sought Mycenea with the wind.
26 Therefore all Troy frees itself from the long sorrow;
27 The gates are opened, it pleases us to go (out of the city) and to see
28 The Greek camp and deserted places and relinquished shore:
29 Here (was) the troop of Dolopes, here fierce Achilles remaines;
30 here (was) the place of the fleet, here the army was accustomed to fight.
31 A part gapes at the deadly gift of unwed Minerva
32 and they admire the mass of the horse, and first Thymoetes
33 urges that (the horse) be led into the walls and placed on the hill,
34 whether by tricks, of the fates were now tending for Troy in this way.
35 But Capys, and those whose mind had a better counsel,
36 either ordered the treachery of the Greeks and the suspect gift
37 to fall into the sea or to burn with flames having been placed under,
38 or to poerce and explore the hollow caverns of the belly.
39 The uncertain crowd is divided into opposing factions.
40 Then, with a large crowd following, before all,
41 Laocoon first, eager, ran from the highest citadel,
42 And from afar (said) “O miserable citizens, what such madness is this?
43 Do you believe (that) the enemy have been carried away?
Or do you think (that) a gift of the Greeks is free from deceit?
44 Is Ulixes (Odysseus) known (to you) in this way?
45 Either Acheans (Greeks) are hidden in this wood, enclosed,
46 or this machine was made against our walls,
47 going to look into houses and going to enter into the city from above,
48 or some trick lies hidden; do not trust the horse, Tecurians (Trojans).
49 Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts.”
50 Having spoken in this way, with a mighty force he hurled
51 a huge spear into the side, and into the belly of the horse, crooked with joints.
52 That (spear) stood trembling, and with the belly having been stricken,
53 hollow cavities echoed and gave a groan.
54 And if the fates of the gods, if (their) intentions had not been unfavorable,
55 (Laocoon) would have driven (us) to mangle the Argive (Greek) lair with iron,
56 and now Troy would stand, and you, high citadel of Priam, would remain.
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…still need to type 199-249
250 Meanwhile the skies are turned and the night rushed from the ocean
251 wrapping both the earth and the heavens and the treacheries of Myrmidones (Greeks)
252 in a huge shadow; the Trojans, scattered through the walls,
253 became silent, a sleep embraces (their) tired limbs.
254 And now the Argive (Greek) Phalanx with drawn-up ships was going
255 from Tenedos through the friendly silence of the quiet moon,
256 seeking the familiar shores, when the regal ship lifted flames,
257 and protected by the hostile fates of the gods, Sinon stealthily frees the Greeks,
258 enclosed in the belly, and (opens) the doors of pine.
259 Having lay open, the horse returned those (Greeks) to the air,
260 and happy, Thesandrus and Sthenelus and dreadful Ulixes (Odysseus), the leaders
261 bring themselves from the hollow oak
262 having descended by means of a dropped rope, and Acamas and Thoas
263 and Pleides and Neoptolemus and noble Machaon,
264 and Menelaus and Epeos, the maker of the treachery himself.
265 They invade the city, buried by sleep and wine;
266 the watchmen are killed, and by means of opened gates,
267 they receive all (their) allies and unite a conscious army.
268 It was time when first the most welcome sleep begins for weary mortals
269 and crawls with the gift of the gods.
270 Behold, most mournful Hector seemed to appear to me
271 in sleep, before my eyes, and to pour large tears out,
272 having been dragged by the chariot(s) as formerly, and black with cruel dust,
273 through which his swollen feet pierced with thongs (were dragged).
274 Alas! such as he was to me, how greatly he (had been) altered by him,
275 Hector, who returned clothed in the spoils of Achilles,
276 Even having thrown Phrygian (Trojan) fires at the ships of the Greeks;
277 wearing a filthy beard and hair matted with blood and those wounds
278 of which he received many around the paternal walls.
279 further, weeping, I seemed to address
280 the man and to express mournful voices:
281 “O light of Dardania (Troy), o most faithful hope of the Trojans,
282 What such great hindrances hold you? Awaited Hector, from what shores do you come?
283 How (gladly) we tired (people) see you, after your many disasters,
284 after various hardships pf your men and of the city!
285 What unworthy cause defiled (your) serene face(s)?
286 Or why do I discern these wounds?”
287 He (said) nothing, neither does he heed me, inquiring in vain,
288 but gravely, leading a lament from his deepest heart, spoke:
289 “Alas, born from a goddess, flee, and rescue you(rself) from these flames.
290 The enemy has these walls, Troy sinks from the highest summit.
291 Enough of the fatherland has been given to Priam by you:
292 If Pergama (Troy) were able to be defended by (your) right hand,
it would yet have been defended by this (right hand).
293 Troy entrusts its holy objects and the household gods to you;
294 seize these comrades of fate, with these (household gods) seek great walls,
295 which, with the sea having been traversed, you will establish at last.”
296 He spoke in this way and with his hands he carries forth
297 the garlands and Vesta and the mighty eternal flame from the innermost sanctuary.
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469 Pyrrhus first leaps forth into the vestibule itself, before the
470 threshold, flashing with weapons and bronze light
471 just as a serpent when, having fed on bad herbs,
472 which swollen serpent the cold midwinter protected under the earth,
473 now new, with (its) skin shed, ?
474 ?
475 ?
476 Together huge Periphas and the driver of the horses of Achilles,
477 (and) the armor bearer Automedon, together all the Scyrian young men
478 approach the roof (of Priam) and toss flames on top.
479 (Pyrrhus) himself, among the first, breaks through the hard doors
480 With a snatched up double axe, and tears the bronze gates
481 from (their) hinge; and now, with the timber destroyed,
482 he hollowed out firm oak and gave a huge window with a wide mouth.
483 The inner house appears and long halls are revealed,
484 The chambers of Priam and the aged king appear,
485 and they (the Greeks or the Trojans?) see armed (men) standing
with (their) leader on the threshold.
486 But the inner house mixes with a miserable lament and uproar,
487 and inside, the vaulted home(s) howled with women’s wailing;
488 the shouting strikes golden stars.
489 Then frightened mothers wander in (their) homes and
490 hold embraced gates, print kisses (on them).
491 Pyrrhus presses on with his father’s might; neither the barriers
492 nor the sentinels are able to endure; the gate wavers with the frequent
493 battering ram, and the gates fall, moved from (their) hinge.
494 A way is made by force; they break the entrance and the Greeks,
495 having been let in, slaughter the first (men) and fill the places with soldiers far and wide.
496 Not so (furiously), with the dams having been broken, does a foaming torrent
497 go forth and overcome opposing structures with (its) whirlpool,
498 is it brought into a field, raging with a mass, and pulls the cattle
499 through all the fields with the stables. I myself saw Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus)
500 raging with murder and twin Atrides (Agamemnon and Menelaus) on the threshold.
501 I saw Hecuba and a hundred daughter-in-laws and Priam through
502 defiling flames which he himself had consecrated with blood.
503 They (were) in bedrooms, such great hope of descendants,
504 the gates, haughty in spoils and barbarian gold, fell (forward);
505 the Greeks held where the fire failed.
506 And perhaps you (may) ask what the fates of Priam were
507 when he saw the misfortune of the captured city and the shattered
508 threshold of the abode and the enemy in the middle (of) the inner rooms.
509 In vain the aged man surrounded (his) trembling arms with weapons
510 unused for a long time, and useless, girded (on) a sword,
511 but he is carried into the crowded enemies (and) going to be killed.
512 In the middle (of the) house and under the open height of the sky
513 there was a huge altar and close at hand (there was) the oldest laurel (tree)
514 leaning over the altar and it embraced the household gods with its shadow.
515 Here Hecuba and (her) daughters were sitting around altars in vain,
516 just as doves (are carried) headlong by a dark storm,
517 crowded and embracing the images of the gods.
518 However, when she saw Priam himself, with youthful arms taken up,
519 she said, “What so dire mind, most miserable husband,
520 drives (you) to be gilded with weapons? Or where are you rushing?
521 Time requires neither such help nor those defenses of yours;
522 not (even) if my Hector himself was now to be (here, could we be saved).
523 Then come here, this altar will protect all (of us),
524 or you will die together (with us).” Having spoken this with (her) speech,
525 she received the aged (Priam) to herself and placed (him) in the sacred shrine.
526 Look however at Polites, having escaped from murder by Pyrrhus,
527 one of the sons of Priam, he fled the enemy through the long corrodors,
528 and travels empty halls, having been wounded.
529 Pyrrhus follows, eager for a threatening wound.
530 and now he holds (him) in (his) hand, and now he pierces (him) with a spear.
531 At last, when he came forth before the eyes and faces of the parents,
532 he fell and poured out his life with much blood.
533 Here Priam, although he is already held in the middle (of) death,
534 he nevertheless neither restrains nor spares his voice and anger:
535 “But to you for crime” he exclaims, “for such daring deeds,
536 if there is some justice in the sky, which may care for such things,
537 may the gods pay thanks and return owed rewards.
538 You, who made me see the death of my son before my face,
539 and defiled fatherly face(s) with death.
540 But not even that Achilles, from whom you falsely say that you are begotten,
541 Was such against his enemy Priam; but blushed before
542 justice and fidelity and returned the lifeless body of Hector for burial
543 and sent me back into my (own) kingdom.”
544 Having spoken thus, the aged man hurled an unwarlike eweapon without a wound,
545 which was repelled immediately by bronze with a clanging,
546 and hung in the top (of the) shield uselessly.
547 To him Pyrrhus (said) “Therefore you will recall these (things) and
548 (as) a messenger, you will go to my father Pelidaus (Achilles).
549 Remember to tell him (about) my sad deeds and (about) ignoble Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus)
550 Now die.” Saying this, he dragged (him) trembling to the altar itself,
551 And slipping in much blood of his son,
552 he entwined his hair with his left hand, and with his right,
553 he pulled out a flashing sword and buried (it) up to its hilt in (his) side.
554 This was the end of the fated of Priam; this exit from life,
555 carried him off, by fate, seeing burned Troy and perished Pergama,
556 formerly the ruler if Asia, haughty with so many,
557 people and lands. The mighty body lies on the shore and the head (is)
558 torn from the shoulders and the body (is) without a name.
559 But then a fierce horror surrounded me (at) first.
560 I stood dazed, an image of my beloved father arose,
561 when I saw the king of equal age exhaling his life on account of a cruel wound.
562 Forsaken Creusa and the plundered house,
563 and the misfortune of little Iulus arose.
564 I look back and syrvey what forces there are around me. Weary, all deserted (me),
565 and sent (their bodies) to the ground with a leap, or gave (theire) weary (bodies) to the
flames.
I still need to type some lines around 700