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THE AENEID OF VIRGIL

Translated into English

by

J. W. MACKAIL, M. A.
Fellow Of Balliol College, Oxford







London
MacMillan and Co.
1885

Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh.




PREFACE


There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of a
poet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased to
provoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is language
in fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and an
attempt to copy the one material in the other must always count on
failure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential things
in poetry,--its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more,
perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any other
poet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such a
translation can only have the value of a copy of some great painting
executed in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closer
analogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will be
in Virgil's own words, _Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt. _

In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Conington
and Nettleship.
The more important deviations from this text are
mentioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary to give a
complete list of various readings, or to mention any change except where
it might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by me
throughout.

Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentary
going under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, as
it is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanation
given in it has sometimes been followed against those of the modern
editors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made.
The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger as
one studies him more.

My thanks are due to Mr. EVELYN ABBOTT, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, and
to the Rev. H. C. BEECHING, for much valuable suggestion and criticism.




THE AENEID




BOOK FIRST

THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE


I sing of arms and the man who of old from the coasts of Troy came, an
exile of fate, to Italy and the shore of Lavinium; hard driven on land
and on the deep by the violence of heaven, for cruel Juno's unforgetful
anger, and hard bestead in war also, ere he might found a city and carry
his gods into Latium; from whom is the Latin race, the lords of Alba,
and the stately city Rome.

Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation,
did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle
through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce
in celestial spirits?

* * * * *

There was a city of ancient days that Tyrian settlers dwelt in,
Carthage, over against Italy and the Tiber mouths afar; rich of store,
and mighty in war's fierce pursuits; wherein, they say, alone beyond all
other lands had Juno her seat, and held Samos itself less dear. Here was
her armour, here her chariot; even now, if fate permit, the goddess
strives to nurture it for queen of the nations.