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Name: Vergil Date: 70 – 19 BCE Region: Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation: Aeneid 8.154 - 171 |
"How happily I welcome you, bravest of Trojans!
How happily I see your father Anchises’ words and mannerisms in you!
For I remember Priam visited me in Arcadia
When he went to visit his sister Hesione in Salamis.
At that time I was still young—just entering my teens—
And I was amazed by the Trojan leaders, even Priam himself;
But Anchises was the best of all.
I had a giant crush on him [mihi mens iuvenali ardebat amore]
And I was dying to have him talk to me, or to give me a handshake,
I went up to him and took him on a tour of the city of Pheneum.
When he went back to Troy, he gave me
a wonderful quiver full of Lycian arrows
a beautiful cloak embroidered with golden thread
and the two horse bits and bridles
that I’ve given to my son Pallas to use.
So I will gladly join hands in treaty with you,
And at daybreak, I will happily give you troops and supplies.”
accipio agnoscoque libens! ut verba parentis
et vocem Anchisae magni vultumque recordor!
nam memini Hesionae visentem regna sororis
Laomedontiaden Priamum Salamina petentem
protinus Arcadiae gelidos invisere finis.
tum mihi prima genas vestibat flore iuventas,
mirabarque duces Teucros, mirabar et ipsum
Laomedontiaden; sed cunctis altior ibat
Anchises. mihi mens iuvenali ardebat amore
compellare virum et dextrae coniungere dextram;
accessi et cupidus Phenei sub moenia duxi.
ille mihi insignem pharetram Lyciasque sagittas
discedens chlamydemque auro dedit intertextam,
frenaque bina meus quae nunc habet aurea Pallas.
ergo et quam petitis iuncta est mihi foedere dextra,
et lux cum primum terris se crastina reddet,
auxilio laetos dimittam opibusque iuvabo.
Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70
– 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during
the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His
writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under
Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period,
including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most
influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love
for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid,
tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for
centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.
