The Æneid of Virgil translated into English prose

by Virgil

—Milton, Lycidas.

“Sad Clotho held the rocke [distaff], the whiles the thrid

By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine,

That cruell Atropos eftsoones undid,

With cursed knife cutting the twist in twaine.”

—Spenser, Faerie Queene.

[2:1.] Saturn. An ancient Italian god of agriculture, identified later with the Greek god Cronos.

[2:3.] Argos. A city of Argolis in the Peloponnesus. One of Juno’s favorite cities. Juno’s love for Argos played the same part in the Trojan war as her regard for Carthage plays in the Æneid. It is used here poetically for the name of the people, i.e. = Greeks.

[2:6.] Paris. A son of Priam, king of Troy, who eloped with Helen and caused the Trojan war. The judgment was the award of the golden apple, prize of beauty, to Venus as against Juno and Minerva.