Nox erat et terris animalia somnus habebat; effigies sacrae divum Phrygiique Penates, quos mecum a Troia mediisque ex ignibus urbis extuleram, visi ante oculos astare iacentis in somnis, multo manifesti lumine, qua se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras; tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis: quod tibi delato Ortygiam dicturus Apollo est, hic canit et tua nos en ultro ad limina mittit.
It was night and on earth sleep held the living world. The sacred images of the gods, the Phrygian Penates, whom I had borne with me from Troy out of the midst of the burning city, seemed as I lay in slumber to stand before my eyes, clear in the flood of light, where the full moon streamed through the inset windows. Then thus they spoke to me and with these words dispelled my cares. What Apollo is going to tell you when you reach Ortygia, he here utters, and he sends us unbidden to your threshold.