Aeneid III: A Translation in Alliterative Verse

Aeneid III: 506-547

We sail on the seas, close to the Ceraunian cliffs,

Whence our way on the ways and the shortest sail to Sicily

Meanwhile the sun sinks and the shady crags are clouded

The sea scatters us on the shore of the longed-for land,

Having shared the sculls, on the barren beach our bodies

Set, and slumber floods our flagging forms.
Not yet night, by hours spread, has swept the central sphere,

Palinurus, not passive, bounds from his berth

Weighs the winds and catches the currents,

Studies all the stars, slipping through the silent sky,

Arcturus and torrential Taurus, and both the Bears,

And heeds the Hunter, girded in gold.

After he sees all things settled in the fair firmament,

He calls a clear clarion from the boat, and we bestir our billets,

We pursue our passage, and spread the sheets of our sails.

Now Dawn dyes rosy the scattering stars

When we discern the distant dark domes and low-lying Latin lands

"Italy!" initially Achates announces

The sailors salute Italy in cheerful clamour.

Then ancient Anchises a big bowl bedecks

With flowers, and fills with fine wine, and summons the saints

Standing in the high stern:

"Lords of the land and sea, sway of the storms

Carry us on a clear course and blow a beneficial breeze!"

The wanted winds whip up and a landing lies open

Now closer, and on a cliff appears a monument to Minerva

The shipmates spread the sails and point the prow to the landing place

The boat-harbour bends in a bow from the Eastern expanse

The facing reef foams with salty spray, the seaport is screened,

Colossal cliffs cast their arms with paired parapets

And Pallas' pantheon shrinks from the shore.

Here the first forewarning: in a field four stallions I saw

As white as winter, widely grazing on the grass.

My father cries: "O friendly field, you bring battle:

These four are fitted for fighting, these thoroughbreds threaten turmoil.

But the same steeds were once accustomed to convey the chariot,

And bear the bridle, yoked and yielding.

There is hope of harmony." Then we pray to the pious power,

Of armed Athena, who first received us rejoicing,

And before her shrine we shroud our faces with Phrygian folds,

And as the oracle ordained, which he claimed most critical,

We duly offer the ordered honours to the Grecian Goddess.