Chinmay Deshpande

Dr. Esposito

Latin 11

December 3, 2018

Aeneid I.227-241 Artful Translation

And while1 he2 was tossing around such worries in his heart,

Despondent3, and stained in her gleaming eyes with tears,

Venus addressed him: “O, you –4 for you rule the affairs of both men and gods;

You command them eternally5 and terrify them with your thunderbolt –

What has6 my Aeneas committed against you, a thing7 so great,

What could the Trojans have done8, who have endured so many funerals,9

For the whole world to be closed off to them, just10 because of Italy?

1
Vergil has “he” as the subject of “addressed.” I restructure this sentence in order to preserve the word order of the
Latin to a greater extent. The meaning, while different, is close enough that I thought it worth it to compromise in
that regard in exchange for a gain in word order.
2
Vergil gives “illum”; in English using the personal pronoun in such a construction is far more idiomatic.
3
Literally, “rather sorrowful.” In contemporary usage the adverb “rather” carries a somewhat sarcastic connotation;
it is most often used to damn with faint praise. I do not believe Vergil had that intent here, so I omit “rather”
entirely. I use the English “despondent” in an attempt to convey the intensifying sense of “rather” within a single
word.
4
The following clause (that which is surrounded by dashes) is originally subordinated in a relative clause whose
antecedent is “you.” Conventional English is far more hypotactic than conventional Latin, and as such I attempted
to render the sentence more idiomatically by expressing the relative clause as several independent clauses in
English. Yet I felt the need to subordinate it somehow to the rest of the sentence, a task I accomplished through my
use of dashes.
5
A literal translation reads “rule the affairs of both men and gods with eternal commands.” To render it more
paratactically in English (for why see above) I gave this translation. While the English syntax is utterly different
from the Latin, my translation manages to preserve Vergil’s word order to some degree.
6
Literally this would read “what could … have committed”; however, Vergil does not introduce the verb “could”
until the next line. To convey this, I insert the generic English auxiliary verb “has” to make the clause
grammatically correct in English.
7
I add this in order to render the emphasis created by the hyperbaton in the original Latin.
8
Vergil ellipses “committed”; I show this through omitting it in the clause, replacing it with the generic English
verb “do.”
9
This relative clause has as its antecedent the “them” in the following line. I render it separately to create more
idiomatic English.
10
The addition of “just” follows the translation of Allen Mandelbaum.
Surely, you said,11 the Romans from here, eventually,12 as the years unroll,

That the ones from right13 here would be leaders, from the restored bloodline of Teucer;

That they would hold the sea, that they’d hold lands with all kinds of power.14

You promised! What, father, what15 opinion has changed your mind?

With this, indeed, for the destruction of Troy and its grim ruins

I used to console myself.16 With fates I would pay17 opposing fates in kind.

Now the very same fortune, for men driven by so many calamities—

It pursues them.18 Great king,19 what limit do you give to their toils?

11
In the Latin the following is an indirect statement off of “promised.” Such a construction is impossible in English
without radically moving the “promised” to the beginning of the sentence. Hence, I use the English “said’ to
maintain Vergil’s word order.
12
Literally, “at some time.” “Eventually” conveys Vergil’s meaning better in English.
13
The use of “right” emphasizes the dramatic nature of the repetition of “hinc” in the Latin.
14
Literally, “all sway.” The given translation is more idiomatic.
15
The repetition of “what” creates a more idiomatic English phrase and also conveys the drama of the question.
16
The Latin literally translates to “take consolation.” The phrase “console myself” is more natural in modern
English.
17
This verb is originally a participle in Vergil’s text. My translation is more paratactic, and thus more idiomatic in
English.
18
I desired to preserve Vergil’s original enjambment in this line and the prior. This preservation necessitates some
awkward English: The prior line is syntactically incomplete and linked to the next only by a dash.
19
This vocative is originally in the middle of the sentence. Such a construction is extremely unusual in English, so I
move it to the beginning to create a more natural expression.