Aeneid 6.208-211

Vergil Aeneid 6.208-211

talis erat species auri frondentis opaca

ilice, sic leni crepitabat brattea vento.

corripit Aeneas extemplo avidusque refringit

cunctantem...

"So looked the bough of gold leaves upon that ilex dark,

And in a gentle breeze the gold-foil foliage rustled.

Aeneas at once took hold of the bough, and eagerly breaking

It off with one pull....

(Lewis in C&F p. 230, lines 208-211)

"So bright amid the dark green ilex shone

The golden leafage, rustling in light wind.

Aeneas at once briskly took hold of it

And, though it clung, greedily broke it off"

(Fitzgerald)

"...just so

the gold leaves seemed against the dark-green ilex;

so, in the gentle wind, the thin gold leaf

was crackling. And at once Aeneas plucks it

and, eager, breaks the hesitating bough..."

(Mandelbaum)

"...so rustled the golden foil in the gentle breeze. Aeneas seized the branch instantly. It resisted, but he broke it off impatiently..."

(prose trans. by West)

Bonus for whoever looked at this page:

Aeneas and Dido sacrifice to the gods in the underworld. (Illustration from Vat. lat. 3225, a 4th century manuscript housed in the Vatican Library)