Latin Passages Flashcards
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam fato profugus Lavinaque venit litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram, multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romae. Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso quidve dolens regina deum tot vulvere casus insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
Arms and the man I sing, who first from the coasts of Troy, exiled by fate, came to Italy and Lavine shores; much buffeted on sea and land by violence from above, through cruel Juno’s unforgiving wrath, and much enduring in war also, till he should build a city and bring his gods to Latium; whence came the Latin race, the lords of Alba, 1 and the lofty walls of Rome. Tell me, O Muse, the cause; wherein thwarted in will or wherefore angered, did the Queen of heaven drive a man, of goodness so wondrous, to traverse so many perils, to face so many toils. Can heavenly spirits cherish resentment so dire?
Primus ibi ante omnes magna comitanta caterva Laocoon ardens summa decurrit ab arce, et procul “o miseri, quae tanta insania, cives? Creditis avectos hostes? aut ulla putatis dona carere dolis Danaum? Sic notus Ulixes? Aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi, aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros, inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi, aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.” Sic fatus validis ingentem viribus hastam in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum contorsit. Stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae. Et, if fata deum, if mens non laeva fuisset, impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras, Troiaque nunc staret, Priamique arx alta maneres.
“Then, foremost of all and with a great throng following, Laocoön in hot haste runs down from the citadel’s height, and cries from afar: ‘My poor countrymen, what monstrous madness is this? Do you believe the foe has sailed away? Do you think that any gifts of the Greeks are free from treachery? Is Ulysses known to be this sort of man? Either enclosed in this frame there lurk Achaeans, or this has been built as an engine of war against our walls, to spy into our homes and come down upon the city from above; or some trickery lurks inside. Men of Troy, trust not the horse. Whatever it be, I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts.’ So saying, with mighty force he hurled his great spear at the beast’s side and the arched frame of the belly. The spear stood quivering and with the cavity’s reverberation the vaults rang hollow, sending forth a moan. And had the gods’ decrees, had our mind not been perverse, he would have driven us to violate with steel the Argive den, and Troy would now be standing, and you, lofty citadel of Priam, would still abide!
Vix ea fatus erat summo cum monte videmus ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventum pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem, monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lemen ademptem. Trunca manum pinus regit et vestigia firmat.
“Scarce had he spoken when on the mountaintop we saw the giant himself, the shepherd Polyphemus, moving his mighty bulk among his flocks and seeking the well-known shore—a monster awful, hideous, huge, and eyeless. In his hand a lopped pine guides and steadies his steps
Speluncam Dido dux ex Troianus eandem deventiunt. Prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno dant signum; fulsere ignes et conscius aether conubiis, summoque ulularunt vertice Nymphae. Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum causa fuit; neque enim specie famave moventur nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem: coniugium vocat, hoc praetexit nomine culpam.
To the same cave come Dido and the Trojan chief. Primal Earth and nuptial Juno give the sign; fires flashed in Heaven, the witness to their bridal, and on the mountaintop screamed the Nymphs. That day the first of death, the first of calamity was cause. For no more is Dido swayed by fair show or fair fame, no more does she dream of a secret love: she calls it marriage and with that name veils her sin.
Ut primum alatiss tetigit magalia plantis, aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantum conspicit, atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva ensis erat Tyrioque ardebat murice laena demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro. Continuo invadit: “tu nunc Carthaginis altae fundamenta locas pulchramque uxorius urbem exstruis, heu regni rerummque oblite tuarum? Ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo regnator, caelum et terras qui numine torquet; Ipse haec ferre iubet celeres mandata per auras: quid struis? Aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris? Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum, Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli respice, cui regnem Italiae Romanaque tellus debetur.” Tali Cyllenius ore locutus mortales visus medio sermone reliquit et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.
So soon as with winged feet he reached the huts, he sees Aeneas founding towers and building new houses. And his sword was starred with yellow jasper, and a cloak hung from his shoulders ablaze with Tyrian purple—a gift that wealthy Dido had wrought, interweaving the web with thread of gold. At once he assails him: “Are you now laying the foundations of lofty Carthage, and building up a fair city, and all for a woman’s whim? Alas! With never a thought of your own realm and fate! The ruler of the gods himself, who sways heaven and earth with his power, sends me down to you from bright Olympus. He himself bids me bring this charge through the swift breezes: What are you planning? In what hope do you waste idle hours in Libyan lands? If the glory of such a fortune does not stir you, and for your own fame’s sake you do not shoulder the burden, have regard for growing Ascanius, the promise of Iulus your heir, to whom the kingdom of Italy and the Roman land are due.” Such words the Cyllenian spoke, and while yet speaking left the sight of men and far away from their eyes vanished into thin air.
