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Notes Display Latin text | translated by Theodore C. Williams Book X Chapter 25: Juno speaks to Jupiter | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
Now Jupiter to Juno thus began: O ever-cherished spouse and sister dear, surely t is Venus -- as thy mind misgave -- whose favor props -- O, what discernment thine! Yon Trojan power; not swift heroic hands, or souls of fury facing perilous war! Juno made meek reply: O noblest spouse! Why vex one sick at heart, who humbly fears thy stern command? If I could claim to-day what once I had, my proper right and due, love's induence, I should not plead in vain to thee, omnipotent, to give me power to lead off Turnus from the fight unscathed, and save him at his father Daunus' prayer. Aye, let him die! And with his loyal blood the Teucrians' vengeance feed! Yet he derives from our Saturnian stem, by fourth remove sprung from Pilumnus. Oft his liberal hands have heaped unstinted offering at thy shrine. Thus in few words th' Olympian King replied: If for the fated youth thy prayer implores delay and respite of impending doom, if but so far thou bidst me interpose, -- go -- favor Turnus' flight, and keep him safe in this imperilled hour; I may concede such boon. But if thy pleading words intend some larger grace, and fain would touch or change the issue of the war, then art thou fed on expectation vain. With weeping eyes Juno made answer: Can it be thy mind gives what thy words refuse, and Turnus' life, if rescued, may endure? Yet afterward some cruel close his guiltless day shall see -- or far from truth I stray! O, that I were the dupe of empty fears! and O, that thou wouldst but refashion to some happier end the things by thee begun -- for thou hast power! |
606-632 Iunonem interea compellat Iuppiter ultro: 'o germana mihi atque eadem gratissima coniunx, ut rebare, Venus (nec te sententia fallit) Troianas sustentat opes, non uiuida bello dextra uiris animusque ferox patiensque pericli.' cui Iuno summissa: 'quid, o pulcherrime coniunx, sollicitas aegram et tua tristia dicta timentem? si mihi, quae quondam fuerat quamque esse decebat, uis in amore foret, non hoc mihi namque negares, omnipotens, quin et pugnae subducere Turnum et Dauno possem incolumem seruare parenti. nunc pereat Teucrisque pio det sanguine poenas. ille tamen nostra deducit origine nomen Pilumnusque illi quartus pater, et tua larga saepe manu multisque onerauit limina donis.' cui rex aetherii breuiter sic fatur Olympi: 'si mora praesentis leti tempusque caduco oratur iuueni meque hoc ita ponere sentis, tolle fuga Turnum atque instantibus eripe fatis: hactenus indulsisse uacat. sin altior istis sub precibus uenia ulla latet totumque moueri mutariue putas bellum, spes pascis inanis.' et Iuno adlacrimans: 'quid si, quae uoce grauaris, mente dares atque haec Turno rata uita maneret? nunc manet insontem grauis exitus, aut ego ueri uana feror. quod ut o potius formidine falsa ludar, et in melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas!' |