The Aeneid, Book 8, lines 26 - 67

Help for Father Aeneas from Father Tiber

by Virgil

In his dreams Aeneas, troubled at the prospect of war now that his enemy, Juno, has intervened to turn an initially peaceful relationship with the Latins sour, is visited and advised by Father Tiber. We have heard the river’s prophecy of the white sow before here in Book 3 of the Aeneid from Helenus, the Trojan prince who has won himself a new kingdom among Greeks.

The river says that Aeneas is bringing Troy and its gods “back” to Italy because in Virgil’s mythology Dardanus, the founder of Troy, was originally an Italian.

See the illustrated blog post here.

To follow the story of Aeneas in sequence, use this link to the full Pantheon Poets selection of extracts from the Aeneid. See the next episode here.

To listen, press play:

To scroll the original and English translation of the poem at the same time - tap inside one box to select it and then scroll.

nox erat et terras animalia fessa per omnis
alituum pecudumque genus sopor altus habebat,
cum pater in ripa gelidique sub aetheris axe
Aeneas, tristi turbatus pectora bello,
procubuit seramque dedit per membra quietem.
huic deus ipse loci fluvio Tiberinus amoeno
populeas inter senior se attollere frondes
visus (eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu
carbasus, et crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo),
tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis:
‘O sate gente deum, Troianam ex hostibus urbem
qui revehis nobis aeternaque Pergama servas,
exspectate solo Laurenti arvisque Latinis,
hic tibi certa domus, certi (ne absiste) penates.
neu belli terrere minis; tumor omnis et irae
concessere deum.
iamque tibi, ne vana putes haec fingere somnum,
litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus
triginta capitum fetus enixa iacebit,
alba solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati.
hic locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum,
ex quo ter denis urbem redeuntibus annis
Ascanius clari condet cognominis Albam.
haud incerta cano. nunc qua ratione quod instat
expedias victor, paucis (adverte) docebo.
Arcades his oris, genus a Pallante profectum,
qui regem Euandrum comites, qui signa secuti,
delegere locum et posuere in montibus urbem
Pallantis proavi de nomine Pallanteum.
hi bellum adsidue ducunt cum gente Latina;
hos castris adhibe socios et foedera iunge.
ipse ego te ripis et recto flumine ducam,
adversum remis superes subvectus ut amnem.
surge age, nate dea, primisque cadentibus astris
Iunoni fer rite preces, iramque minasque
supplicibus supera votis. mihi victor honorem
persolves. ego sum pleno quem flumine cernis
stringentem ripas et pinguia culta secantem,
caeruleus Thybris, caelo gratissimus amnis.
hic mihi magna domus, celsis caput urbibus exit.’
Dixit, deinde lacu fluvius se condidit alto
ima petens; nox Aenean somnusque reliquit.

It was night, and over all the land a deep sleep held
all tired living things and the tribes of beasts and birds
as Father Aeneas, troubled at heart by cruel war,
lay down by the shore under the chilly vault of the sky
and finally gave over his limbs to rest. The venerable
Tiberinus, the God of the place, seemed to him to rise
from the pleasant river among the poplar leaves, wisps
of flax covering him with a grey cloak and shady reeds
hiding his hair, and to address him and solace his cares
with these words: “Aeneas, sprung from the race of Gods,
you who bring Troy back to us from its enemies
and preserve Pergamum immortal, persevere and do not
give up: here on Laurentine soil and in the fields of
Latium, hope for a home for you and your household gods
is certain. Do not be daunted by threats of war: all
the anger and resentment of the Gods have ceased.
Lest you should think this an illusion, caused by sleep,
you shall find a huge white sow, just farrowed of thirty
young, lying under the ilexes by the shore, and her
offspring, white like her, lying at her teats. Here will be
the site of your city, and certain rest from your trouble,
where, after three times ten returning years roll by,
Ascanius will found it under the famous name of Alba.
My prophecy is sure. Now listen, and I will tell plainly
why you will overcome the threats that face you now.
Arcadians, descended from Pallas, have come to these
shores as companions of Evander their King, and, guided
by omens, chosen a site and built a city in the hills,
calling it Pallanteum after their ancestor Pallas. They wage
ceaseless war with the Latin people: bring them into
your forces as allies, and bind them to you by treaty.
I myself will take you there upstream within my banks,
so that you can overcome the river’s flow under oars. Rise,
Goddess-born, and as the first stars set, make prayers
with due rites to Juno, and overcome her threats and anger
with vows. When you triumph, pay me due honours.
I am he that you see gliding by my banks and cutting
in my deep stream through the fertile fields, the blue
Tiber, most pleasing of rivers to heaven. There is my great
home, and my source rises among lofty cities.”
The river finished and vanished into the deeps of the pool:
night and dream loosed Aeneas from their hold.

`

More Poems by Virgil

  1. Aeneas saves his son and father, but at a cost
  2. Laocoon and the snakes
  3. Turnus at bay
  4. The battle for Priam’s palace
  5. Juno is reconciled
  6. Helen in the darkness
  7. Dido’s release
  8. The infant Camilla
  9. The boxers
  10. Mourning for Pallas
  11. Sea-nymphs
  12. The portals of sleep
  13. Aeneas arrives in Italy
  14. Aeneas sees Marcellus, Augustus’s tragic heir
  15. Into battle
  16. Virgil predicts a forthcoming birth and a new golden age
  17. Storm at sea!
  18. Aeneas finds Dido among the shades
  19. How Aeneas will know the site of his city
  20. The death of Priam
  21. Turnus the wolf
  22. Laocoon warns against the Trojan horse
  23. The Fury Allecto blows the alarm
  24. Charon, the ferryman
  25. Aeneas comes to the Hell of Tartarus
  26. Aeneas tours the site of Rome
  27. Jupiter’s prophecy
  28. Dido and Aeneas: royal hunt and royal affair
  29. Cassandra is taken
  30. Anchises’s ghost invites Aeneas to visit the underworld
  31. The Syrian hostess
  32. The death of Euryalus and Nisus
  33. Palinurus the helmsman is lost
  34. Omens for Princess Lavinia
  35. In King Latinus’s hall
  36. Aeneas rescues his Father Anchises
  37. Hector visits Aeneas in a dream
  38. Catastrophe for Rome?
  39. The death of Pallas
  40. The Trojan horse opens
  41. Turnus is lured away from battle
  42. King Latinus grants the Trojans’ request
  43. More from Virgil’s farming Utopia
  44. The death of Dido
  45. Vulcan’s forge
  46. Mercury’s journey to Carthage
  47. Aeneas prepares to tell Dido his story
  48. The Trojans reach Carthage
  49. Aeneas joins the fray
  50. Virgil’s poetic temple to Caesar
  51. Virgil begins the Georgics
  52. Virgil’s perils on the sea
  53. Dido falls in love
  54. Aeneas’s ships are transformed
  55. New allies for Aeneas
  56. Love is the same for all
  57. The death of Priam
  58. Venus speaks
  59. A Fury rouses Turnus to war
  60. The farmer’s starry calendar
  61. Signs of bad weather
  62. The journey to Hades begins
  63. Dido’s story
  64. Aeneas reaches the Elysian Fields
  65. The natural history of bees
  66. The Trojans prepare to set sail from Carthage
  67. What is this wooden horse?
  68. Aristaeus’s bees
  69. Aeneas learns the way to the underworld
  70. Aeneas and Dido meet
  71. Rumour
  72. Fire strikes Aeneas’s fleet
  73. Aeneas’s vision of Augustus
  74. Juno throws open the gates of war
  75. Aeneas’s oath
  76. The Harpy’s prophecy
  77. The Aeneid begins
  78. King Mezentius meets his match
  79. Rites for the allies’ dead
  80. Aeneas prepares for a hopeless fight
  81. Aeneas is wounded
  82. Juno’s anger
  83. Souls awaiting punishment in Tartarus, and the crimes that brought them there.
  84. The farmer’s happy lot
  85. The Trojan Horse enters the city
  86. Dido and Aeneas: Hell hath no fury …
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.