All 26 Uses of
wretched
in
The Aeneid
- Then on your name shall wretched mortals call, And offer'd victims at your altars fall."†
Book 1
- Ent'ring, with cries they fill'd the holy fane; Then thus, with lowly voice, Ilioneus began: "O queen! indulg'd by favor of the gods To found an empire in these new abodes, To build a town, with statutes to restrain The wild inhabitants beneath thy reign, We wretched Trojans, toss'd on ev'ry shore, From sea to sea, thy clemency implore.†
Book 1
- Fair majesty, the refuge and redress Of those whom fate pursues, and wants oppress, You, who your pious offices employ To save the relics of abandon'd Troy; Receive the shipwreck'd on your friendly shore, With hospitable rites relieve the poor; Associate in your town a wand'ring train, And strangers in your palace entertain: What thanks can wretched fugitives return, Who, scatter'd thro' the world, in exile mourn?†
Book 1
- O wretched countrymen!
Book 2 *wretched = unfortunate
- What fate a wretched fugitive attends, Scorn'd by my foes, abandon'd by my friends?'†
Book 2
- If any chance has hither brought the name Of Palamedes, not unknown to fame, Who suffer'd from the malice of the times, Accus'd and sentenc'd for pretended crimes, Because these fatal wars he would prevent; Whose death the wretched Greeks too late lamentMe, then a boy, my father, poor and bare Of other means, committed to his care, His kinsman and companion in the war.†
Book 2
- The wretched father, running to their aid With pious haste, but vain, they next invade; Twice round his waist their winding volumes roll'd; And twice about his gasping throat they fold.†
Book 2
- The youth, transfix'd, with lamentable cries, Expires before his wretched parent's eyes: Whom gasping at his feet when Priam saw, The fear of death gave place to nature's law; And, shaking more with anger than with age, 'The gods,' said he, 'requite thy brutal rage!†
Book 2
- Not he, whom thou and lying fame conspire To call thee his— not he, thy vaunted sire, Thus us'd my wretched age: the gods he fear'd, The laws of nature and of nations heard.†
Book 2
- We met: not one was wanting; only she Deceiv'd her friends, her son, and wretched me.†
Book 2
- A rank of wretched youths, with pinion'd hands, And captive matrons, in long order stands.†
Book 2
- "Thus having pass'd the night in fruitless pain, I to my longing friends return again, Amaz'd th' augmented number to behold, Of men and matrons mix'd, of young and old; A wretched exil'd crew together brought, With arms appointed, and with treasure fraught, Resolv'd, and willing, under my command, To run all hazards both of sea and land.†
Book 2
- No phantom; but I drag a wretched life, My fate resembling that of Hector's wife.†
Book 3
- The wretched queen, pursued by cruel fate, Begins at length the light of heav'n to hate, And loathes to live.†
Book 4
- Thus chang'd, amidst the crying crowd she ran, Mix'd with the matrons, and these words began: "O wretched we, whom not the Grecian pow'r, Nor flames, destroy'd, in Troy's unhappy hour!†
Book 5
- O wretched we, reserv'd by cruel fate, Beyond the ruins of the sinking state!†
Book 5
- The next, in place and punishment, are they Who prodigally throw their souls away; Fools, who, repining at their wretched state, And loathing anxious life, suborn'd their fate.†
Book 6
- Some roll a weighty stone; some, laid along, And bound with burning wires, on spokes of wheels are hung Unhappy Theseus, doom'd for ever there, Is fix'd by fate on his eternal chair; And wretched Phlegyas warns the world with cries (Could warning make the world more just or wise): 'Learn righteousness, and dread th' avenging deities.'†
Book 6
- Next, Lichas fell, who, not like others born, Was from his wretched mother ripp'd and torn; Sacred, O Phoebus, from his birth to thee; For his beginning life from biting steel was free.†
Book 10
- Then wretched Cydon had receiv'd his doom, Who courted Clytius in his beardless bloom, And sought with lust obscene polluted joys: The Trojan sword had curd his love of boys, Had not his sev'n bold brethren stopp'd the course Of the fierce champions, with united force.†
Book 10
- He said, and trampled down with all the force Of his left foot, and spurn'd the wretched corse; Then snatch'd the shining belt, with gold inlaid; The belt Eurytion's artful hands had made, Where fifty fatal brides, express'd to sight, All in the compass of one mournful night, Depriv'd their bridegrooms of returning light.†
Book 10
- He said, and seiz'd at once the loosen'd rein; For Liger lay already on the plain, By the same shock: then, stretching out his hands, The recreant thus his wretched life demands: "Now, by thyself, O more than mortal man!†
Book 10
- My Lausus lies extended on the plain: He's lost! thy conquest is already won; The wretched sire is murther'd in the son.†
Book 10
- The wretched father, ere his race is run, Shall view the fun'ral honors of his son.†
Book 11
- Outcasts, abandon'd by the care of Heav'n; So worn, so wretched, so despis'd a crew, As ev'n old Priam might with pity view.†
Book 11
- Ev'n in the sight of home, the wretched sire Looks on, and sees his helpless son expire.†
Book 11
Definition:
-
(wretched) very badin various senses, including:
- unfortunate or miserable -- as in "wretched prisoners sleeping on the cold floor"
- of poor quality -- as in "wretched roads"
- morally bad -- as in "The wretched woman stole his wallet."