Virgil Flashcards
TRANSLATE
urbs antiqua fuit, (Tyrii tenuere coloni),
Karthago, Italiam contra Tibernique longe
ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli;
quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
posthabita coluisse Samo; hic ilius arma,
hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse,
si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.
There was an ancient city, Carthage, (the Tyrians held it as colonists) opposite Italy and the mouth of the river Tiber, at a distance; rich in resources and very fierce in the eagerness of war; Juno is said to have nurtured this one place more than all the other lands, with Samos having been neglected; here were her arms, here were her chariots; already at that time the goddess was intending and supporting this kingdom to be for all peoples, if in any way the fates allowed it.
ANALYSE
urbs antiqua fuit, (Tyrii tenuere coloni),
Karthago, Italiam contra Tibernique longe
ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli;
quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
posthabita coluisse Samo; hic ilius arma,
hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse,
si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.
- ‘belli’ - emphatic placement on final word
- ‘Samo; hic’ - pause after ‘Samos’ to show suprise
- ‘hic […] hic […] hoc’ - anaphoric tricolon of ‘hic’ to emphasise how special Carthage is, contrasts with Samos directly before
- ‘si qua fate sinant’ - shows the power of the fates (more powerful than the gods), present subjunctive shows the unlikelyhood, foreshadowing
- ‘tenditque fovetque’ - both the verbs at the end to emphasise how Juno is actively supporting her city.
TRANSLATE
progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci
audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;
hinc populum late regem belloque superbum
venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas.
id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,
prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis-
necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores
exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum
iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,
et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.
But in fact she had heard that a race of men was being born from Trojan blood, who, one day, would overturn the Tyrian citadels; that from here, a people, ruling far and wide and proud in war, would come to ruin Libya; that, in this way, the fates were spinning this into motion. The daughter of Saturn, fearing this and mindful of the old war, which, leading the way, she had waged on Troy for her dear Argos - and also the reasons for her anger and cruel griefs had not yet left her heart. The judgement of Paris remained stored up deep in her mind and the injustice of her rejected beauty and the hatred race and the honours of the stolen Ganymede.
ANALYSE
progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci
audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;
hinc populum late regem belloque superbum
venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas.
id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,
prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis-
necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores
exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum
iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,
et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.
- ‘progeniem’ - emphatic placement - August descended from Jupiter
- ‘duci’ - vivid present, in the process of happening
- ‘audierat’ - enjambement shows the disruption of Juno’s plans from what she’s heard
- ‘Tyrias […] arces;’ - ‘Tyrian citadel’ torn apart physically to emphasise destruction
- ‘volvere’ - vivid present shows the fates are constantly spinning, glory is Rome’s destiny
- ‘metuens’ - Goddess fearing shows how emotionally affected Juno is
- ‘irarum saevique dolores’ - triad of negative emotions
- ‘animo: manet alta mente repostum’ - shows the depth and extent of her resentment - it affects both her ‘mind’ and ‘heart’, manet is promoted to emphasise that her pain will ‘remain’
- ‘spretaeque […] et […] et’ - polysyndeton emphasises Juno’s sheer number of reasons for her anger
TRANSLATE
his accensa super, iactatos aequore toto
Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,
arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos
errabant acti fatis maria omnia circum.
tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!
Enraged by these things, she was keeping the Trojans far away from Latium, who had been thrown about over the whole sea, and who were remnants of the Greeks and of the merciless Achilles; they were wandering for many years, driven by the fates around all the seas. To found the Roman race was such a mighty task!
ANALYSE
his accensa super, iactatos aequore toto
Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,
arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos
errabant acti fatis maria omnia circum.
tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!
- ‘iactatos’ - perfect pasive participle shows the lack of Trojan control
- ‘toto’, ‘longe’, ‘multos’, ‘omnia’, and ‘tantae’ - intensifiers show the extent of woes both spatially and temporally
- ‘immitis Achilli’ - alliteration of Is emphasises Achilles’s harshness
- ‘longe Latio’ - alliteration slows the reader, emphasising the distance between the Trojans and Latium
- ‘tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!’ - spondaic line slows the reader, emphasising the great burden of founding Rome, last word is ‘race’ which sets up the the aim of the rest of the Aeneid (to found the Roman race)
TRANSLATE
vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum
vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,
cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore vulnus,
haec secum: “mene incepto desistere victam,
nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?
quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem
Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,
unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?
Barely out of sight of the land of Sicily, they were happily unfurling their sails to the deep sea, and they were churning the foam of the salty sea with the bronze prow, when Juno, storing her eternal wound deep in her heart, thought these things to herself: “who could believe that I, defeated, am stopping what I started and that I am not able to divert the king of the Trojans away from Italy? Of course, I am forbidden by the fates. Was Pallas able to burn up the fleet of the Argives and submerge their very selves under the sea because of the harm and madness of one man, Ajax, son of Oileus?
ANALYSE
vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum
vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,
cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore vulnus,
haec secum: “mene incepto desistere victam,
nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?
quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem
Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,
unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?
- ‘vix’ - promoted to emphasise how soon it was
- ‘altum’, ‘salis’, and ‘aere’ - metonymy enhances vivid, visual nature of the narrative
- ‘laeti’ - dramatic irony
- ‘spumas salis’ - onamatapoiea, sibilance aurally reflects the meaning of the words (salt spray)
- ‘aeternum servans sub pectore’ - three things in a row accumulating, emphasises the depth of Juno’s resentment
- ‘vulnus’ and ‘victam’ - words with connotations of war, suggests that Juno feels as if she’s in a battle
- ‘haec secum […] submerge ponto’ - first two lines describing Juno follow the same structure (ending in an infinitive and then noun, each four syllables and then two) as the last two lines, showing how Juno believes her and Minerva should be treated as equals
- ‘mene’ - promoted to show how Juno is prioritising herself
- ‘quippe’ - sarcasm to further emphasise Juno’s resentful tone
- ‘exurere’ - prefix emphasises Minerva’s destruction (ex = out)
- ‘Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto’ - contains a double eliision (between Argivum atque and between atque ipsos) which speeds up the line to show the haste at which Minerva acts
- two rhetorical questions show how Juno is trying to persuade herself out of her rage
TRANSLATE
ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem,
disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis,
illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas
turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.
ast ego, quae divum incedo regina, Iovisque
et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos
bella gero! et quisquam numen Iunonis adorat
praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem?”
She, herself, having hurled from the clouds the consuming fire of Jupiter, scattered ships and upturned the seas with winds. She siezed that man, breathing out flames from his stabbed chest with a whirlwind and she impaled him on a sharp rock. But I, who goes forth as the queen of the gods and as both the sister and wife of Jupiter, I have been waging war against one race for so many years! And moreover, does anyone worship the divine power of Juno, or will anyone, as a suppliant, place a sacrifice on my altar?
ANALYSE
ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem,
disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis,
illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas
turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.
ast ego, quae divum incedo regina, Iovisque
et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos
bella gero! et quisquam numen Iunonis adorat
praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem?”
- ‘ipsa, Iovis’ - emphatic pronoun describing Minerva next to Jupiter reflects Juno’s jealousy of the closeness between the two, shown by the physical proximity of the words
- ‘rapidum […] ignem’ - fire is personified, emphasises its power
- ‘disiecitque […] evertitque’ - polysyndeton emphasises Minerva’s destruction
- ‘illum expirantem transfixo’ - spondaic, slows the reader, mimicks the man struggling
- ‘turbine corripui scopuloque’ - dactylic, speeds up the reader, mimicks Minerva’s quick, decisive actions
- ‘regina, Iovisque’ - showing her importance by referring to her power as well as her closeness to Jupiter
- ‘et soror et coniunx’ - polysyndeton emphasises how close she is to Jupiter by listing her relations to him, showing her importance
- ‘tot annos’ - emphasises the length of time shes been waging war and the effort she’s had to put in
- ‘bella gero! et quisquam’ - pause after ‘gero’ for reflection, marks a change in tone from rage and jealousy to sadness, builds sympathy for Juno
- rhetorical question also builds sympathy as Juno is calling out to the listener
TRANSLATE
talia flammato secum dea corde volutans
nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus Austris,
Aeoliam venit. hic vasto rex Aeolus antro
luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras
imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat.
illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis
circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce
sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras.
The goddess, pondering such things to herself in her burning heart, came into Aeolia, the homeland of the clouds, a region full of the raging Southern winds, Here, King Aeolus, in his vast cave, controls and reins them in with his chains of imprisonment. Those frustrated winds roar with a great rumble around the barriers of the mountains; Aeolus sits in his lofty citadel, holding his sceptre and he softens their hearts and restrains their anger.
ANALYSE
talia flammato secum dea corde volutans
nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus Austris,
Aeoliam venit. hic vasto rex Aeolus antro
luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras
imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat.
illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis
circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce
sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras.
- ‘talia flammato secum dea corde volutans’ - word order is unconventional/mixed up, reflecting Juno’s emotional disorder
- ‘feta furentibus’ - onomatopoeia, fricative alliteration reflects the sounds of wind
- ‘lucantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras’ - spondaic (four spondees at start) to reflect the struggling winds
- ‘imperio premit ac’ - two quick dactyls contrast with previous spondaic line, showing the contrast between slow struggling winds and Aeolus’s quick power
- ‘illi indignantes’ - the allitertion of Is reflect the bitter feelings of the wind
- ‘magno cum murmure montis’ - onomatopoeia, alliteration of Ms reflect the rumbling thunder
- ‘circum claustra’ - onomatopoeia, cacophony reflects the clinking of chains as the winds struggle
- ‘celsa’ promoted to the start of the sentence and ‘sceptra’ promoted to the start of the line to emphasise Aeolus’s royal authority and power
- ‘mollit’ - onomatopoeic, soft sounding Ms and Ls reflect the meaning of the word (‘soften’)
TRANSLATE
ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum
quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras.
sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,
hoc metuens, molemque et montes insuper altos
imposuit, regemque dedit, qui fodere certo
et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas.
If he weren’t to do this, indeed they would violently carry with them the seas and lands and the deep sky and they would sweep them up through the air. But the all powerful, fearing this, hid them away in a pitch black cave. And he put on top of them massive, high mountains. And he gave them a king, who under orders with fixed rules, would know how to both tighten the reins and to make them loose.
ANALYSE
ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum
quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras.
sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,
hoc metuens, molemque et montes insuper altos
imposuit, regemque dedit, qui fodere certo
et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas.
- ‘maria ac terras caelumque’ - polysyndetic tricolon of parts of the world, emphasises extent of power of the winds (they affect all parts of the world)
- ‘ferrant […] verrantque’ - pleonism of personified actions emphasise winds’ power
- ‘pater omnipotens […] hoc metuens’ - Jupiter is described anonomously which emphasises his power (he doesnt need a name) which contrasts with ‘fearing this’, emphasising the danger as even the ‘all powerful father’ is fearing it
- ‘imposuit regemque dedit, qui foedere certo’ - regular rhythmic meter of an alternating two dactyls and three spondees reflects the order that is imposed on the winds
- ‘imposuit’, ‘dedit’, ‘certo’, and ‘iussus’ - words with connotations of order and power
- ‘laxas […] habenas’ - words spread out to reflect the loosening reins
