Arms and the man I sing, who first, from the coasts of Troy,

cast out by fate, came to Italy and the Lavinian

shores, much was that man tossed on lands and sea
by the power of the gods on account of the memorious anger of savage Juno;
having endured much, in war too, until he founded the city,
and brought the gods into Latium, whence the race of the Latins,
the Alban fathers, and the walls of high Rome.
Muse, recall to me the reasons, how was her divinity offended,
or how was she in pain, that the queen of the gods would drive a man
famous for his piety, to turn over so many happenings, to take on so many labors.
Are there such angers in the heavenly spirits?
An ancient city there was, Tyrian colonists held it,
Carthage, opposite Italy and across from the mouths of the Tiber,
rich in accomplishments and most keen in the studies of war;
which Juno held alone, more than all other lands,
Samos having been placed aside; here were her arms,
here was her chariot; for this to be the kingdom of all peoples the goddess
even now did stretch and cherish. But she had heard that a descendant led from Trojan blood
would one day overturn these Tyrian towers;
that this people, ruling far and wide and proud in war,
would come for the destruction of Libya: thus roll out the fates.
Fearing this, and the Saturnian mindful of the old war,
which she had waged before against Troy on behalf of her dear Greeks nor had the causes of her anger
and savage pains
left her spirit: there remained deep in her mind
the judgment of Paris and the injuries to her rejected beauty,
and the hated people, and the snatched honors of Ganymede.
Angered more by these things, she kept them at a distance from Latium,
the Greeks and cruel Achilles having left, tossed the Trojans on the whole ocean,
and for many years they would wander, driven by the fates, around all the seas.
Such a heap was it to found the Roman people!

Scarcely out of sight of the Sicilian shores, the glad men were giving their keels
to the deep, and they were cutting the foam of salt with the bronze,
when Juno, nurturing the eternal wound beneath her breast,
thought these things to herself: Am I, conquered, to cease from what I have begun?
Surely the fates forbid me. But wasnt Pallas able to burn the Greek fleet
and submerge beneath the water those same men,
on account of the crime and furies of one Ajax Oileus?
She herself, having tossed Joves swift fire out of the clouds,
scattered the ships and overturned the waves with the winds,
and with a whirlwind snatched up that man, breathing fire from his pierced chest,
and impaled him on a sharp cliff.
But I, who strut as queen of the gods,
and both wife and sister to Jove, wage war with one people
for so many years! Will anyone at all cherish the divinity of Juno
afterwards, or a supplicant place honor upon her altars?

Having said such things, heart on fire, the goddess came to Aeolia,
into the kingdom of the clouds, a place full of raging winds.
Here king Aeolus in a vast cave wields his power
over the struggling winds and shrieking tempests
and curbs them with chains and prison.
With the great roar of a mountain these indignant winds
howl around the doors; in his high castle Aeolus sits
holding his scepter, softening their spirits and tempering their angers.
Unless he does so, the swift winds would surely lift the seas and lands and high heaven
and carry them through the air.
But the all-powerful father banished them to the dark caves,
fearing this, and placed upon them a mound and high mountains,
and gave them a king, who, by sure agreement, would know how to give orders
to tighten or ease the reins.

To this king Juno, as a supplicant, used these words:
Aoelus, for it is to you that the father of gods and king of men
gave it to alleviate the waves and raise the winds:
a people hostile to me sails the Tyrrhenian sea,
carrying into Italy the conquered Penates of Ilium.
Strike against them with the force of the winds and overcome their submerged ships,
or drive them scattered and cut their bodies on the sea.
There are in my possession fourteen nymphs outsanding in beauty,
from whom Deipoea, whose form is most beautiful,
I will declare joined to you in stable, everlasting marriage,
in exchange for all of these deeds, that she will pass the years with you
and she will make you father of a beautiful lineage.

Aeolus thus in reply: It is your labor, o queen, to decide what you desire;
to me it is fitting to take up your commands.
Whatever of a kingdom this is, this scepter I have and the favor of Joe,
you give to me, you let me recline at the feasts of the gods, you make me potentate
of the clouds and storms.

These things having been said, he struck the hollow mountain
in the side with the upturned point: the winds, as if a front had been made,
burst forth from the given gate and blow across the lands in a whirlwind.
They fall on the sea, and together, from their high seats, the Eurus and Notus rush,
and the Africus, thick with storms, and turn a vast wave towards the shores.
The shouts of men and creaking of ropes follow.
Suddenly clouds snatch the sky and the day
from the eyes of the Teucrans; black night falls on the sea.
The poles thundered, and the air trembles with frequent fires,
everything suggests impending death for the men.

Suddenly the limbs of Aeneas slacken with a chill:
he groans, and lifting two palms to the stars
he bears such things with his voice: O three and four times blessed,
who came to fall before the faces of their fathers at the foot of the high walls of Troy!
O Tydides, most brave of the clan of the Greeks!
Was it not possible for me to fall on the Ilian fields, to pour out my spirit by your right hand,
where lies Hector by the spear of Aecides, where Sarpedon the Great,
where the Simois turns so many shields, helmets, and brave bodies of men?