The opening of the Aeneid: Arma virumque cano
Virgil died in 19 BC with the Aeneid unfinished, and it became Rome's national epic. It tells how Aeneas, a survivor of Troy, reached Italy, and these eleven lines set out the whole poem: the man, the war, the anger of Juno and the walls of Rome.
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The text and translation
Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs Ītaliam, fātō profugus, Lāvīniaque vēnit lītora,
I sing of arms and the man who first, an exile by fate, came from the shores of Troy to Italy and the Lavinian shores,
Word by word
- Arma
- arms
- virumque
- and the man
- canō
- I sing
- Trōiae
- of Troy
- quī
- who
- prīmus
- first
- ab
- from
- ōrīs
- the shores
- Ītaliam
- to Italy
- fātō
- by fate
- profugus
- an exile
- Lāvīniaque
- and Lavinian
- vēnit
- came
- lītora
- shores
multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō, vī superum saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram;
much tossed on land and sea by the power of the gods, because of the unforgetting anger of cruel Juno;
Word by word
- multum
- much
- ille
- he
- et
- both
- terrīs
- on lands
- iactātus
- tossed
- et
- and
- altō
- on the deep sea
- vī
- by the force
- superum
- of the gods above
- saevae
- of cruel
- memorem
- unforgetting
- Iūnōnis
- Juno's
- ob
- because of
- īram
- anger
multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem, īnferretque deōs Latiō, genus unde Latīnum, Albānīque patrēs, atque altae moenia Rōmae.
having suffered much in war too, until he could found a city and bring his gods to Latium; whence the Latin race, the Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome.
Word by word
- multa
- many things
- quoque
- also
- et
- and
- bellō
- in war
- passus
- having suffered
- dum
- until
- conderet
- he could found
- urbem
- a city
- īnferretque
- and bring in
- deōs
- gods
- Latiō
- to Latium
- genus
- race
- unde
- from where
- Latīnum
- Latin
- Albānīque
- and Alban
- patrēs
- fathers
- atque
- and
- altae
- of lofty
- moenia
- walls
- Rōmae
- of Rome
Mūsa, mihī causās memorā, quō nūmine laesō, quidve dolēns, rēgīna deum tot volvere cāsūs īnsignem pietāte virum, tot adīre labōrēs impulerit. Tantaene animīs caelestibus īrae?
Muse, tell me the causes: through what wounded divine will, or grieving at what, the queen of the gods drove a man famous for his devotion to pass through so many misfortunes, to face so many labours. Is there such anger in heavenly hearts?
Word by word
- Mūsa
- Muse
- mihī
- to me
- causās
- the causes
- memorā
- tell
- quō
- by what
- nūmine
- divine will
- laesō
- wounded
- quidve
- or at what
- dolēns
- grieving
- rēgīna
- the queen
- deum
- of the gods
- tot
- so many
- volvere
- to pass through
- cāsūs
- misfortunes
- īnsignem
- famous
- pietāte
- for devotion
- virum
- a man
- tot
- so many
- adīre
- to face
- labōrēs
- labours
- impulerit
- drove
- Tantaene
- such?
- animīs
- in hearts
- caelestibus
- heavenly
- īrae
- angers
What to notice
- Arma virumque canō. The ending -que means “and”, attached to the word it joins. Arms suggest Homer's Iliad and the man suggests his Odyssey, so Virgil takes on both in three words.
- Mūsa opens the appeal to the Muse, which Greek epic also used. Homer asks the Muse straight away, and Virgil waits until line eight.
- Tantaene animīs caelestibus īrae? “Is there such anger in heavenly hearts?” The opening ends on a question the rest of the poem has to live with.
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Sources
Virgil, Aeneid 1.1–11, Latin Wikisource; English: literal translation by Claude (AI)
Text licence: Public domain.
Language pack licence: Texts public domain; annotation and translations CC BY-SA 4.0.
Texts: Latin Wikisource (public domain; Catullus ed. Merrill, with long-vowel marks; the Vulgate passages in the Clementine text). English: Douay-Rheims (public domain) for the Vulgate passages; other sentence translations and all tagging by Claude (AI), checked against Wiktionary; not yet reviewed by a person.
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.