Aeneid Book 2 — The Fall of Troy

The Wooden Horse, Laocoon, the sack of Troy, and Aeneas' escape.

Latin

Translation

Prīmus ibi ante omnēs magnā comitante catervā

“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?

Lāocoōn ardēns summā dēcurrit ab arce,

Do you believe the foe has sailed away?

et procul: “Ō miserī, quae tanta insānia, cīvēs?

Do you think that any gifts of the Greeks are free from treachery?

Crēditis āvectōs hostēs? Aut ūlla putātis

Is Ulysses known to be this sort of man?

dōna carēre dolīs Danaum? Sīc nōtus Ulixēs?

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.

Aut hōc inclūsī lignō occultantur Achīvī,

Men of Troy, trust not the horse.

aut haec in nostrōs fabricāta est māchina mūrōs,

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 an the arched frame of the belly.

inspectūra domōs ventūraque dēsuper urbī,

The spear stood quivering and with the cavity’s reverberation the vaults rang hollow, sending forth a moan.

aut aliquis latet error; equō nē crēdite, Teucrī.

And had the gods’

Quidquid id est, timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs.”

decrees, had

Sīc fātus validīs ingentem vīribus hastam

our mind not

in latus inque ferī curvam compāgibus alvum

been perverse, he would have

contorsit. Stetit illa tremēns, uterōque recussō

driven us to violate with

insonuēre cavae gemitumque dedēre cavernae.

steel the Argive den,

Et, sī fāta deum, sī mēns nōn laeva fuisset,

and Troy would now be

impulerat ferrō Argolicās foedāre latebrās,

standing, and you, lofty citadel

Troiaque nunc stāret, Priamīque arx alta manērēs.

of Priam, would still abide!

Lāocoōn, ductus Neptūnō sorte sacerdōs,

“Hereupon another portent, more fell and more frightful by far, is thrust upon us, unhappy ones, and confounds our unforeseeing souls.

sollemnēs taurum ingentem mactābat ad ārās.

Laocoön, priest of Neptue, as drawn by lot, was slaying a great bull at the wonted altars; and lo! from Tenedos, over the peaceful depths – I shudder as I speak – a pair of serpents with endless coils are breasting he sea and side by side making for the shore.

Ecce autem geminī ā Tenedō tranquilla per alta

Their bosoms rise amid he surge, and their crests, blood-red, overtop the waves; the rest of them skims the main behind and their huge backs curve in many a fold; we hear the noise as the water foams.

(horrēscō referēns) immēnsīs orbibus anguēs

And now they were gaining the fields and, with blazing eyes suffused with blood and fire, were licking with quivering tongues their hissing mouths.

incumbunt pelagō pariterque ad lītora tendunt;

Pale at the sight, we scatter.

pectora quōrum inter flūctūs arrēcta iubaeque

They in unswerving course make for Laocoön; and first each serpent enfolds in its embrace the small bodies of his two sons and with its fangs feeds upon the hapless limbs.

sanguineae superant undās; pars cētera pontum

Then himself too, as he comes to their aid, weapons in hand, they seize and bind in mighty folds; and now, twice encircling his waist, twice winding their scaly backs around his throat, they tower above with head and lofty necks.

pōne legit sinuatque immēnsa volūmine terga.

He the while strains his hands to burst the knots, his fillets steeped in gore and black venom; the while he lifts to heaven hideous cries, like the bellowings of a wounded bull that has bled from the altar and shaken from its neck the ill-aimed axe.

Fit sonitus spūmante salō; iamque arva tenēbant

But, gliding away, the dragon pair escape to the lofty shrines, and seek fierce Tritonia’s citadel, there to nestle under the goddess’s feet and the circle of her shield.

ardentēs oculōs suffectī sanguine et ignī

Then indeed a strange terror steals through the shuddering hearts of all, and they say that Laocoön has rightly paid the penalty of crime, who with his lance profaned the sacred oak and hurled into its body the accursed spear. ‘Draw the image to her house,’ all cry, ‘and supplicate her godhead.’ . . .

sībila lambēbant linguīs vibrantibus ōra.

We part the walls and lay bare the city’s battlements.

Diffugimus vīsū exsanguēs. Illī agmine certō

All gird themselves for the work; under the feet they place gliding wheels, and about the neck stretch hemp bands.

Lāocoönta petunt; et prīmum parva duōrum

The fateful engine climbs our walls, big with arms.

corpora nātōrum serpēns amplexus uterque

Around it boys and unwedded girls chant holy songs and delight to touch the cable with their hands.

implicat et miserōs morsū dēpascitur artūs;

Up it moves, and glides threatening into the city’s midst.

post ipsum auxiliō subeuntem ac tēla ferentem

O my country!

corripiunt spīrīsque ligant ingentibus; et iam

O Ilium, home of gods, and you Dardan battlements, famed in war!

bis medium amplexī, bis collō squāmea circum

Four times at the gates’ very threshold it halted, and four times from its belly the armour clashed; yet we press on, heedless and blind with rage, and set the ill-omened monster on our hallowed citadel.

terga datī superant capite et cervīcibus altīs.