Aeneid Book 2, lines 286-313

Hector visits Aeneas in a dream

by Virgil

Sinon, a Greek agent who has infiltrated the Trojans, has released the warriors hidden in the wooden horse. The sack of Troy is starting, and what an electrifying piece of writing it will be. But Virgil has a problem to solve. Epic heroes stand and fight: how can Aeneas flee without forfeiting his honour and mystique? Here, the dead Hector, Troy’s supreme fighting hero, begins the groundwork. He comes to Aeneas in a dream and tells him that the city must fall. Aeneas’s duty is not to die vainly, but to take responsibility for Troy’s sacred relics and bring them safely to a new home. Aeneas wakes and finds himself confronted by a terrible reality.

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.

ille nihil, nec me quaerentem vana moratur,
sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens,
“heu fuge, nate dea, teque his”, ait, “eripe flammis.
hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia.
sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra
defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.
sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penates:
hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere
magna, pererrato statues quae denique ponto.”
sic ait et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem
aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.
diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu,
et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentis
Anchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit,
clarescunt sonitus armorumque ingruit horror.
excutior somno et summi fastigia tecti
ascensu supero atque arrectis auribus asto:
in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus Austris
incidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrens
sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores,
praecipitesque trahit silvas: stupet inscius alto
accipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor.
Tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescunt
insidiae. iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam,
Vulcano superante domus; iam proximus ardet
Ucalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent:
exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum.

He says nothing and ignores my empty questions,
but drawing deep and heavy groans, says “Ah, flee,
Goddess-born, snatch yourself from these flames.
the enemy has the walls; Troy crashes from its zenith.
Enough has been given for Troy and Priam: if the citadel
were defensible by deeds, mine would have defended it.
Her sacred relics and her Gods, Troy entrusts to you:
take them to share your fate, seek them a stronghold, one
you will found when long journeys on the sea are done.”
Next, in his hands he brings great Vesta, her priests’
bands and the eternal flame from the holy of holies.
Meanwhile, in the city cries of grief and confusion reign,
and more and more, though my Father Anchises’ house
is secluded and screened by trees, the noise grows
louder, and the grim sound of battle intensifies.
Torn from sleep, I climb to the very top of the roof
and stand listening intently: it is as though flame
were tearing into cornfields as south winds rage, swift
torrents from a mountain river laying flat the fields,
the thriving crops and the fruits of the oxen’s labour,
smashing the woodlands down: confused and dumbstruck,
the shepherd faces the din from the top of his rock.
Now the Greeks’ honour is clear, their betrayals laid
bare. Deiphobus’ mansion, Vulcan’s fire towering above,
has fallen in ruin: by it burns the house of Ucalegon;
the broad Sigean strait blazes with reflected light:
up go the shouts of men and the blare of trumpets.

`

More Poems by Virgil

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