The Aeneid

by Virgil

These are the holy things And the household gods, committed to you by Troy. [440]They must go with you to share what happens to you.

It was the very beginning of summer when My father Anchises bid us set sail to go To wherever it was to which we were fated to go, And so I departed, weeping, leaving my own Familiar havens and shores, and the plain where Troy Had been, and was now no more, and I set forth From there upon the seas, an exile, with [20]My cohort, and my son, and carrying with me The Penates of my country and my household.

Romans, never forget that this will be Your appointed task: to use your arts to be The governor of the world, to bring to it peace, Serenely maintained with order and with justice, To spare the defeated and to bring an end [1160]To war by vanquishing the proud.”

High up in the topmost branches, wonderful, Loud humming carried across the liquid air, And, pendant from the leafy laurel boughs, [90]Hanging with feet entwined, a swarm of bees! A prophet, seeing them, cried out at once, “There is a stranger coming, and with him many Others swarming from where it is he comes from, Seeking the place he comes to, and will reign High up among the towers of this town.”

There are many lands which have sought To be allied with us. But the gods have willed That these your lands are the place that we must come to.

How to keep identity that is tied to places and configurations of power that no longer exist? Boldly, I guess.