Exim se cuncti divinis rebus ad urbem

perfectis referunt. Ibat rex obsitus aevo

et comitem Aenean iuxta natumque tenebat

ingrediens varioque viam sermone levabat.

miratur facilisque oculos fert omnia circum

Aeneas capiturque locis et singula laetus

exquiritque auditque virum monimenta priorum.

Tum rex Euandrus, Romanae conditor arcis:

"Haec nemora indigenae fauni nymphaeque tenebant

gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata,

quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros

aut componere opes norant aut parcere parto,

sed rami atque asper victu venatus alebat.

Primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo,

arma Iovis fugiens et regnis exsul ademptis.

Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis

composuit legesque dedit Latiumque vocari

maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutis in oris.

Aurea quae perhibent illo sub rege fuere

saecula. Sic placida populos in pace regebat,

deterior donec paulatim ac decolor aetas

et belli rabies et amor successit habendi.

Tum manus Ausonia et gentes venere Sicanae,

saepius et nomen posuit Saturnia tellus;

tum reges asperque immani corpore Thybris,

a quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim

diximus, amisit verum vetus Albula nomen;

me pulsum patria pelagique extrema sequentem

Fortuna omnipotens et ineluctabile fatum

his posuere locis matrisque egere tremenda

Carmentis nymphae monita et deus auctor Apollo.

Theodore C. Williams, 1910

Such worship o'er, all take the homeward way

back to the town. The hospitable King,

though bowed with weight of years, kept at his side

Aeneas and his son, and as they fared,

with various discourse beguiled the way.

Aeneas scanned with quick-admiring eyes

the region wide, and lingered with delight

now here, now there, inquiring eagerly

of each proud monument of heroes gone.

Then King Evander, he who builded first

On Palatine, spoke thus: "These groves erewhile

their native nymphs and fauns enjoyed, with men

from trees engendered and stout heart of oak.

Nor laws nor arts they knew; nor how to tame

burls to the yoke, nor fill great barns with store

and hoard the gathered grain; but rudely fared

on wild fruits and such food as hunters find.

Then Saturn from Olympian realms came down,

in flight from Jove's dread arms, his sceptre lost,

and he an exiled King. That savage race

he gathered from the mountain slopes; and gave

wise laws and statutes; so that latent land

was Latium, 'hid land', where he hid so long.

The golden centuries by legends told

were under that good King, whose equal sway

untroubled peace to all his peoples gave.

But after slow decline arrived an age

degenerate and of a darker hue,

prone to insensate war and greed of gain.

Then came Sicanian and Ausonian tribes,

and oft the land of Saturn lost its name.

New chieftains rose, and Thybris, giant King

and violent, from whom th' Italians named

the flooding Tiber, which was called no more

the Albula, its true and ancient style.

Myself, in exile from my fatherland

sailing uncharted seas, was guided here

by all-disposing Chance and iron laws

of Destiny. With prophecy severe

Carmentis, my nymph-mother, thrust me on,

warned by Apollo's word."

John Dryden

The rites perform'd, the cheerful train retire.

Betwixt young Pallas and his aged sire,

The Trojan pass'd, the city to survey,

And pleasing talk beguil'd the tedious way.

The stranger cast around his curious eyes,

New objects viewing still, with new surprise;

With greedy joy enquires of various things,

And acts and monuments of ancient kings.

Then thus the founder of the Roman tow'rs:

"These woods were first the seat of sylvan pow'rs,

Of Nymphs and Fauns, and salvage men, who took

Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn oak.

Nor laws they knew, nor manners, nor the care

Of lab'ring oxen, or the shining share,

Nor arts of gain, nor what they gain'd to spare.

Their exercise the chase; the running flood

Supplied their thirst, the trees supplied their food.

Then Saturn came, who fled the pow'r of Jove,

Robb'd of his realms, and banish'd from above.

The men, dispers'd on hills, to towns he brought,

And laws ordain'd, and civil customs taught,

And Latium call'd the land where safe he lay

From his unduteous son, and his usurping sway.

With his mild empire, peace and plenty came;

And hence the golden times deriv'd their name.

A more degenerate and discolor'd age

Succeeded this, with avarice and rage.

Th' Ausonians then, and bold Sicanians came;

And Saturn's empire often chang'd the name.

Then kings, gigantic Tybris, and the rest,

With arbitrary sway the land oppress'd:

For Tiber's flood was Albula before,

Till, from the tyrant's fate, his name it bore.

I last arriv'd, driv'n from my native home

By fortune's pow'r, and fate's resistless doom.

Long toss'd on seas, I sought this happy land,

Warn'd by my mother nymph, and call'd by Heav'n's command."