Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi,
maximus Ilioneus placido sic pectore coepit:
'O Regina, novam cui condere Iuppiter urbem
iustitiaque dedit gentis frenare superbas,
Troes te miseri, ventis maria omnia vecti,
oramus, prohibe infandos a navibus ignis,
parce pio generi, et propius res aspice nostras.
Non nos aut ferro Libycos populare Penatis
venimus, aut raptas ad litora vertere praedas;
non ea vis animo, nec tanta superbia victis.
Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt,
terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;
Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores
Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem.
Hic cursus fuit:
cum subito adsurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion
in vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris
perque undas, superante salo, perque invia saxa
dispulit; huc pauci vestris adnavimus oris.
Quod genus hoc hominum? Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem
permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae;
bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.
Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma
at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi.

'Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter,
nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis.
Quem si fata virum servant, si vescitur aura
aetheria, neque adhuc crudelibus occubat umbris,
non metus; officio nec te certasse priorem
poeniteat. Sunt et Siculis regionibus urbes
armaque, Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes.
Quassatam ventis liceat subducere classem,
et silvis aptare trabes et stringere remos:
si datur Italiam, sociis et rege recepto,
tendere, ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus;
sin absumpta salus, et te, pater optime Teucrum,
pontus habet Libyae, nec spes iam restat Iuli,
at freta Sicaniae saltem sedesque paratas,
unde huc advecti, regemque petamus Acesten.'

Talibus Ilioneus; cuncti simul ore fremebant
Dardanidae.

After they have entered and an opportunity has been given for speaking face-to-face,

eldest Ilioneus thus began with a calm heart:

Oh queen, to whom Jupiter granted [the power] to build a new city

and to restrain the haughty races with equity,

we miserable Trojans, h/b carried by the winds through all seas,

beseech you, keep off the accursed fires from the ships,

spare a pious race, and look more closely at our affairs.

We have not come either to ravage the Libyan Penates by sword,

or to drive away h/b seized booty to the shores;

this violence [is] not of [our] spirit, nor so much haughtiness of [those] h/b conquered.

There is a place, Greeks call [it] Hesperia by name,

an ancient land, powerful in arms and in fertility of the soil;

Oenotrian men inhabited [it]; now [there is] a rumor that the descendants

have called the race Italy from the name of [their] leader.

Here was [our] course:

when suddenly stormy Orion, rising on the wave,

carried [us] into hidden shallows, and by the boisterous winds he wholly

dispersed [us] both through the waves, with the sea overpowering [us], and through impenetrable rocks; here we few have floated to your shores.

What is this race of men? Or what so very savage country allows this custom?

We are prohibited from the refuge of the beach;

they excite wars, and they forbid [us] to stand on the first land.

If you scorn the human race and mortal arms,

yet expect that the gods [are] mindful of right and of wrong.

"There was the king to us, Aeneas, than whom neither has been another more just

in duty, nor greater in war and in arms.

If the fates protect that man, if he breathes ethereal air,

and he still does not lie dead in the cruel shadows,

[there is] no fear; nor should you regret to have rivaled first in service.

There are also, in the Sicilian regions, cities

and arms, and illustrious Acestes from Trojan blood.

Let it be permitted to draw up the fleet, h/b shaken by the winds,

and to fit beams in the woods and to strip oars:

if it is given to strive for Italy, with comrades and king h/b recovered,

so that we, happy, might seek Italy and Latium;

but if safety has been destroyed, and the sea of Libya holds you,

noblest father of the Trojans, nor hope of Julus now remains,

but at least let us seek the straits of Sicily and h/b prepared abodes,

whence we have been conveyed here, and king Acestes.”

Ilioneus [spoke] with such [words]; all Trojans were murmuring together

with a face.

1.520-560