The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.
“Fickle and changeable always is woman.”
Varium et mutabile semper
Femina.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 569–570
“From one learn all.”
Ab uno disce omnes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 65–66 (tr. Fairclough)
“They can because they think they can.”
Possunt, quia posse videntur.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 231 (tr. John Conington)
“What a woman can do in frenzy.”
Furens quid Femina possit.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 6 (tr. Fairclough)
“Roman, remember by your strength to rule
Earth's people—for your arts are to be these:
To pacify, to impose the rule of law,
To spare the conquered, battle down the proud.”
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
(Hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 851–853 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)
“Let someone arise from my bones as an Avenger.”
Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Line 625
“They who bettered life on earth by new-found mastery.”
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 663 (tr. William Morris); the blessed in Elysium. A paraphrase of this is inscribed on the Nobel prize medals for Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Literature: Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes ("inventions enhance life which is beautified through art").
“Do not trust the horse, Trojans.
Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
Equo ne credite, Teucri.
quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 48–49; Trojan priest of Apollo warning against the wooden horse left by the Greeks.
“Now, Aeneas, is the hour for courage, now for a dauntless heart!”
Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 261 (tr. Fairclough); Sibyl's words to Aeneas as they enter the underworld.
“How fortunate, both at once!
If my songs have any power, the day will never dawn
that wipes you from the memory of the ages, not while
the house of Aeneas stands by the Capitol's rock unshaken,
not while the Roman Father rules the world.”
Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Lines 446–449 (tr. Robert Fagles)
“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.”
Facilis descensus Averno<!--Averni?-->:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Variant translation:
: It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air—
There's the rub, the task.
Compare:
Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, line 432
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 126–129 (as translated by John Dryden)
“Sorrow too deep to tell, your majesty,
You order me to feel and tell once more.”
Infandum, regina, jubes<!--iubes?--> renovare dolorem.
Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 3 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald); these are the opening words of Aeneas's narrative about the fall of Troy, addressed to Queen Dido of Carthage.
“I sail for Italy not of my own free will.”
Italiam non sponte sequor.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Line 361 (tr. Fitzgerald); Aeneas to Dido.
“I cannot bear a mother's tears.”
Nequeam lacrimas perferre parentis.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Line 289
“No stranger to trouble myself I am learning to care for the unhappy.”
Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book I, Line 630, as translated in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999); spoken by Dido.
“I shall never deny what you deserve, my queen,
never regret my memories of Dido, not while I
can recall myself and draw the breath of life.”
Numquam, regina, negabo
Promeritam, nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae
Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 334–336 (tr. Fagles); Aeneas to Dido.
“Learn fortitude and toil from me, my son,
Ache of true toil. Good fortune learn from others.”
Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,
Fortunam ex aliis.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book XII, Lines 435–436 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)
“Be warned; learn ye to be just and not to slight the gods!”
Discite justitiam moniti et non temnere divos.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 620 (H. Rushton Fairclough)
