The Aeneid

From LSWiki

Description

a leather-bound parchment book.

The writing is in Anglic, and reads:
   The Aeneid

An ancient-looking volume of ragged-edged parchment in a cracked leather binding upon which is engraved the image of
two twining snakes and a title in angular letters.  It is closed.  It is closed.  You appraise it at ninety-eight gold.  
It looks about a quarter of a dimin long, one and seventeen twentieths dimins wide, and two and nine twentieths dimins
tall.  It weighs about one hundred forty-three two-hundredths of a dekan.

The commands 'open <item>', 'close <item>', and 'turn page [in <item>] [to <number>]' may be used with it.  Keeping the
leather-bound parchment book costs seven keep points.  The leather-bound parchment book was created by Lost Souls; the
source code was last updated Tue Mar 15 02:15:36 2016.  The material leather was created by Lost Souls; the source code
was last updated Tue Mar 15 02:18:23 2016.  The material parchment was created by Lost Souls; the source code was last
updated Tue Mar 15 02:18:43 2016.

Text

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE AENEIS
THE ARGUMENT.-- The Trojans, after a seven years' voyage, set
sail for Italy, but are overtaken by a dreadful storm, which AEolus
raises at Juno's request. The tempest sinks one, and scatters the
rest. Neptune drives off the Winds, and calms the sea. AEneas,
with his own ship, and six more, arrives safe at an African port.
Venus complains to Jupiter of her son's misfortunes. Jupiter com-
forts her, and sends Mercury to procure him a kind reception among
the Carthaginians. AEneas, going out to discover the country, meets
his mother in the shape of an huntress, who conveys him in a cloud
to Carthage, where he sees his friends whom he thought lost, and
receives a kind entertainment from the queen. Dido, by a device
of Venus, begins to have a passion for him, and, after some dis-
course with him, desires the history of his adventures since the
siege of Troy, which is the subject of the two following books.
ARMS, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate, 
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate, 
Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore. 
Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore, 
And in the doubtful war, before he won

The Latian realm, and built the destin'd town; 
His banish'd gods restor'd to rites divine, 
And settled sure succession in his line, 
From whence the race of Alban fathers come, 
And the long glories of majestic Rome. 
  O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate; 
What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate; 
For what offense the Queen of Heav'n began 
To persecute so brave, so just a man; 
Involv'd his anxious life in endless cares, 
Expos'd to wants, and hurried into wars! 
Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show, 
Or exercise their spite in human woe? 
  Against the Tiber's mouth, but far away, 
An ancient town was seated on the sea; 
A Tyrian colony; the people made 
Stout for the war, and studious of their trade: 
Carthage the name; belov'd by Juno more 
Than her own Argos, or the Samian shore. 
Here stood her chariot; here, if Heav'n were kind, 
The seat of awful empire she design'd. 
Yet she had heard an ancient rumor fly,

(Long cited by the people of the sky,) 
That times to come should see the Trojan race 
Her Carthage ruin, and her tow'rs deface; 
Nor thus confin'd, the yoke of sov'reign sway 
Should on the necks of all the nations lay. 
She ponder'd this, and fear'd it was in fate; 
Nor could forget the war she wag'd of late 
For conqu'ring Greece against the Trojan state. 
Besides, long causes working in her mind, 
And secret seeds of envy, lay behind; 
Deep graven in her heart the doom remain'd 
Of partial Paris, and her form disdain'd; 
The grace bestow'd on ravish'd Ganymed, 
Electra's glories, and her injur'd bed. 
Each was a cause alone; and all combin'd 
To kindle vengeance in her haughty mind. 
For this, far distant from the Latian coast 
She drove the remnants of the Trojan host; 
And sev'n long years th' unhappy wand'ring train 
Were toss'd by storms, and scatter'd thro' the main. 
Such time, such toil, requir'd the Roman name, 
Such length of labor for so vast a frame.

Now scarce the Trojan fleet, with sails and oars, 
Had left behind the fair Sicilian shores, 
Ent'ring with cheerful shouts the wat'ry reign, 
And plowing frothy furrows in the main; 
When, lab'ring still with endless discontent, 
The Queen of Heav'n did thus her fury vent: 
  "Then am I vanquish'd? must I yield?" said she, 
"And must the Trojans reign in Italy? 
So Fate will have it, and Jove adds his force; 
Nor can my pow'r divert their happy course. 
Could angry Pallas, with revengeful spleen, 
The Grecian navy burn, and drown the men? 
She, for the fault of one offending foe, 
The bolts of Jove himself presum'd to throw: 
With whirlwinds from beneath she toss'd the ship, 
And bare expos'd the bosom of the deep; 
Then, as an eagle gripes the trembling game, 
The wretch, yet hissing with her father's flame, 
S he strongly seiz'd, and with a burning wound 
Transfix'd, and naked, on a rock she bound. 
But I, who walk in awful state above, 
The majesty of heav'n, the sister wife of Jove,

For length of years my fruitless force employ 
Against the thin remains of ruin'd Troy! 
What nations now to Juno's pow'r will pray, 
Or off'rings on my slighted altars lay?" 
  Thus rag'd the goddess; and, with fury fraught, 
The restless regions of the storms she sought, 
Where, in a spacious cave of living stone, 
The tyrant AEolus, from his airy throne, 
With pow'r imperial curbs the struggling winds, 
And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds. 
This way and that th' impatient captives tend, 
And, pressing for release, the mountains rend. 
High in his hall th' undaunted monarch stands, 
And shakes his scepter, and their rage commands; 
Which did he not, their unresisted sway 
Would sweep the world before them in their way; 
Earth, air, and seas thro' empty space would roll, 
And heav'n would fly before the driving soul. 
In fear of this, the Father of the Gods 
Confin'd their fury to those dark abodes, 
And lock'd 'em safe within, oppress'd with mountain loads; 
Impos'd a king, with arbitrary sway,

Total pages 631.

Relevant Skills

You feel that reading this material has broadened your perspective and increased your knowledge of history and legend lore.