Aeneid, Book 6: The World Below

1Sic fatur lacrimans, classique immittit habenas,

et tandem Euboïcis Cumarum adlabitur oris.

Obvertunt pelago proras; tum dente tenaci

ancora fundabat naves, et litora curvae

5praetexunt puppes. Iuvenum manus emicat ardens

litus in Hesperium; quaerit pars semina flammae

abstrusa in venis silicis, pars densa ferarum

tecta rapit silvas, inventaque flumina monstrat.

At pius Aeneas arces, quibus altus Apollo

10praesidet, horrendaeque procul secreta Sibyllae

antrum immane petit, magnum cui mentem animumque

Delius inspirat vates, aperitque futura.

Iam subeunt Triviae lucos atque aurea tecta.

Daedalus, ut fama est, fugiens Minoïa regna,

15praepetibus pennis ausus se credere caelo,

insuetum per iter gelidas enavit ad Arctos,

Chalcidicaque levis tandem super adstitit arce.

Redditus his primum terris, tibi, Phoebe, sacravit

remigium alarum, posuitque immania templa.

20In foribus letum Androgeo: tum pendere poenas

Cecropidae iussi—miserum!—septena quotannis

corpora natorum; stat ductis sortibus urna.

Contra elata mari respondet Gnosia tellus:

hic crudelis amor tauri, suppostaque furto

25Pasiphaë, mixtumque genus prolesque biformis

Minotaurus inest, Veneris monumenta nefandae;

hic labor ille domus et inextricabilis error;

magnum reginae sed enim miseratus amorem

Daedalus ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit,

30caeca regens filo vestigia. Tu quoque magnam

partem opere in tanto, sineret dolor, Icare, haberes.

Bis conatus erat casus effingere in auro;

bis patriae cecidere manus. Quin protinus omnia

perlegerent oculis, ni iam praemissus Achates

35adforet, atque una Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos,

Deiphobe Glauci, fatur quae talia regi:

Non hoc ista sibi tempus spectacula poscit;

nunc grege de intacto septem mactare iuvencos

praestiterit, totidem lectas de more bidentes.

40Talibus adfata Aenean (nec sacra morantur

iussa viri), Teucros vocat alta in templa sacerdos.

1So he says, weeping, and lets the fleet's reins run,

and at last glides to the Euboean shores of Cumae.

They turn their prows seaward; then with its gripping tooth

the anchor made the ships fast, and the curved sterns

5fringe the shore. An eager band of young men bursts out

onto the Hesperian beach; some seek the seeds of fire

hidden in the flint's veins; others make for

the woods—dense shelters of beasts—and point out streams they find.

But dutiful Aeneas seeks the heights where high Apollo

10presides, and, far off, the awful Sibyl's secret place,

the enormous cave; into her the Delian seer breathes

a mighty mind and spirit, and opens the future.

Now they enter Trivia's groves and golden temple-roofs.

Daedalus, as the story goes, fleeing Minos' kingdom,

15dared trust himself to the sky on swift wings,

and swam an untried path toward the cold Bears,

until he came lightly to rest above the Chalcidian citadel.

On first returning to earth here, to you, Phoebus Apollo, he consecrated

the oarage of his wings, and founded a massive temple.

20On the doors: Androgeos' death; then, ordered to pay

the penalty, the Cecropidae—what misery!—must each year give seven

of their children's bodies; the urn stands after the lots are drawn.

Opposite, raised from the sea, the Cnossian land replies:

here is the cruel passion for the bull, and, set beneath by stealth,

25Pasiphae, the mixed breed, and the two-formed offspring,

the Minotaur, are there: memorials of unspeakable lust;

here is that famed labor of the house, the inextricable maze;

but Daedalus himself, pitying Ariadne's great love,

unwound the building's tricks and winding ways,

30guiding blind steps with a thread. You too, Icarus,

would have held a great part in so great a work, if grief allowed it.

Twice he had tried to shape your fall in gold;

twice the father's hands fell. They would have gone on

scanning it all with their eyes, had not Achates, sent ahead,

35arrived just then, and with him the priestess of Phoebus and Trivia,

Deiphobe, daughter of Glaucus, who spoke these words to the king:

"This moment does not call for such sights;

now better to sacrifice seven young bulls from an untouched herd,

and as many chosen two-year ewes, as custom requires."

40Having addressed Aeneas in these words (and the men do not delay

the commanded sacrifices), the priestess calls the Trojans into the high temple.

42Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum,

quo lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum;

unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibyllae.

45Ventum erat ad limen, cum virgo. Poscere fata

tempus ait; deus, ecce, deus! Cui talia fanti

ante fores subito non voltus, non color unus,

non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum,

et rabie fera corda tument; maiorque videri,

50nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando

iam propiore dei. Cessas in vota precesque,

Tros ait Aenea? Cessas? Neque enim ante dehiscent

attonitae magna ora domus. Et talia fata

conticuit. Gelidus Teucris per dura cucurrit

55ossa tremor, funditque preces rex pectore ab imo:

Phoebe, graves Troiae semper miserate labores,

Dardana qui Paridis direxti tela manusque

corpus in Aeacidae, magnas obeuntia terras

tot maria intravi duce te, penitusque repostas

60Massylum gentes praetentaque Syrtibus arva,

iam tandem Italiae fugientis prendimus oras;

hac Troiana tenus fuerit Fortuna secuta.

Vos quoque Pergameae iam fas est parcere genti,

dique deaeque omnes quibus obstitit Ilium et ingens

65gloria Dardaniae. Tuque, O sanctissima vates,

praescia venturi, da, non indebita posco

regna meis fatis, Latio considere Teucros

errantisque deos agitataque numina Troiae.

Tum Phoebo et Triviae solido de marmore templum

70instituam, festosque dies de nomine Phoebi.

Te quoque magna manent regnis penetralia nostris:

hic ego namque tuas sortes arcanaque fata,

dicta meae genti, ponam, lectosque sacrabo,

alma, viros. Foliis tantum ne carmina manda,

75ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis;

ipsa canas oro. Finem dedit ore loquendi.

42The immense flank of the Euboean cliff was hollowed into a cave,

where a hundred broad approaches lead, a hundred mouths;

from there as many voices rush out, the Sibyl's replies.

45They had reached the threshold, when the Sibyl said, "Now is the time to ask the fates;

the god, look, the god!" As she spoke these words,

before the doors, suddenly neither face nor color remained the same,

nor did her hair stay arranged; her chest heaved,

and her fierce heart swelled with frenzy; she seemed larger,

50and she sounded no longer mortal, breathed upon by the power

of the god, now nearer. "Do you delay over vows and prayers,

Trojan Aeneas?" she said. "Do you delay? For not until then

will the great mouths of the awe-struck house gape." Having spoken so,

she fell silent. An icy shudder ran through the Trojans'

55hard bones, and the king pours out prayers from deep in his heart:

"Phoebus, you who have always pitied Troy's grievous sufferings,

you who directed the Dardan shafts and Paris' hands

against the Aeacid's body; so many seas that circle vast lands

have I crossed with you as guide, and reached the far-withdrawn

60Massylian peoples and fields that fringe the Syrtes;

now at last we grasp the shores of Italy that kept fleeing;

let Trojan Fortune have followed us only this far.

You too, now it is right to spare the people of Pergamum,

all gods and goddesses for whom Ilium and the great

65glory of Dardania stood in the way. And you, O most holy prophetess,

foreknowing what will come, grant this; I ask no realms

not owed to my fates: let the Teucrians settle in Latium,

with Troy's wandering gods and battered divine powers.

Then for Phoebus and Trivia I will establish a temple

70of solid marble, and festival days in Phoebus' name.

For you too great inner shrines await in our realm:

for here I shall place your lots and secret fates,

spoken for my people; and I shall consecrate chosen

men, gracious one. Only do not entrust your songs to leaves,

75lest they fly scattered, playthings for rushing winds;

sing them yourself, I pray." He ended his speech.

77At, Phoebi nondum patiens, immanis in antro

bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit

excussisse deum; tanto magis ille fatigat

80os rabidum, fera corda domans, fingitque premendo.

Ostia iamque domus patuere ingentia centum

sponte sua, vatisque ferunt responsa per auras:

O tandem magnis pelagi defuncte periclis!

Sed terrae graviora manent. In regna Lavini

85Dardanidae venient; mitte hanc de pectore curam;

sed non et venisse volent. Bella, horrida bella,

et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno.

Non Simois tibi, nec Xanthus, nec Dorica castra

defuerint; alius Latio iam partus Achilles,

90natus et ipse dea; nec Teucris addita Iuno

usquam aberit; cum tu supplex in rebus egenis

quas gentes Italum aut quas non oraveris urbes!

Causa mali tanti coniunx iterum hospita Teucris

externique iterum thalami.

95Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito,

qua tua te Fortuna sinet. Via prima salutis,

quod minime reris, Graia pandetur ab urbe.

Talibus ex adyto dictis Cumaea Sibylla

horrendas canit ambages antroque remugit,

100obscuris vera involvens: ea frena furenti

concutit, et stimulos sub pectore vertit Apollo.

Ut primum cessit furor et rabida ora quierunt,

incipit Aeneas heros: Non ulla laborum,

O virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit;

105omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi.

Unum oro: quando hic inferni ianua regis

dicitur, et tenebrosa palus Acheronte refuso,

ire ad conspectum cari genitoris et ora

contingat; doceas iter et sacra ostia pandas.

110Illum ego per flammas et mille sequentia tela

eripui his umeris, medioque ex hoste recepi;

ille meum comitatus iter, maria omnia mecum

atque omnes pelagique minas caelique ferebat,

invalidus, vires ultra sortemque senectae.

115Quin, ut te supplex peterem et tua limina adirem,

idem orans mandata dabat. Gnatique patrisque,

alma, precor, miserere;—potes namque omnia, nec te

nequiquam lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis;—

si potuit Manes arcessere coniugis Orpheus,

120Threïcia fretus cithara fidibusque canoris,

si fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit,

itque reditque viam totiens. Quid Thesea, magnum

quid memorem Alciden? Et mi genus ab Iove summo.

77But, not yet yielding to Phoebus, the prophetess rages

like a Bacchant through the vast cave, trying to shake the great god

from her breast; all the more fiercely he wears down

80her frenzied mouth, masters her wild heart, and shapes her by pressure.

And now the hundred huge doors of the house opened

of their own accord, and carried the prophetess's answers through the air:

"O you who at last have passed through the sea's great dangers!

But heavier trials await on land. Into Lavinian realms

85the Dardans will come; put that anxiety from your heart;

but they will wish they had not come. Wars, horrid wars,

and the Tiber foaming with so much blood, I see.

Neither Simois, nor Xanthus, nor Doric camps

will be missing for you; another Achilles is already born in Latium,

90he too goddess-born; nor will Juno, clinging to the Teucrians,

be absent anywhere; in your need, as a suppliant,

what peoples of Italy, what cities will you not plead with!

The cause of so much evil will again be a foreign bride for the Teucrians,

and again an alien bridal chamber.

95Do not yield to evils, but go against them all the more boldly,

wherever your Fortune lets you. The first path to safety,

as you least expect, will open from a Greek city."

With such words from the inner shrine the Cumaean Sibyl

sings fearsome riddling turns and bellows from the cave,

100wrapping truth in darkness; as she rages, those reins

Apollo shakes, and he turns the spurs beneath her breast.

As soon as the frenzy withdrew and her frenzied mouth grew quiet,

hero Aeneas begins: "No shape of hardship,

maiden, rises before me as new or unforeseen;

105I have foreseen them all and lived them through beforehand in my mind.

One thing I ask: since this is said to be the gate

of the infernal king, and the dark marsh from Acheron's flood,

let it be granted me to go to my dear father's presence

and face; teach me the way and open the sacred doors.

110Through flames and a thousand pursuing spears,

I tore him away on these shoulders and recovered him from the enemy's midst;

he accompanied my journey, and with me all seas

and every threat of sea and sky he bore,

frail, beyond the strength and lot of old age.

115More than that, that I should seek you as a suppliant and come to your threshold,

he too, with prayers, gave me this charge. On son and father,

gracious one, I beg, have pity; for you can do all things, and Hecate

did not set you over the Avernian groves in vain;

if Orpheus could call up his wife's shade,

120relying on Thracian lyre and singing strings,

if Pollux redeemed his brother by death in turn,

and so often goes and returns along the road. Why mention Theseus, why great

Alcides? My lineage too is from highest Jove."

124Talibus orabat dictis, arasque tenebat,

125cum sic orsa loqui vates: Sate sanguine divom,

Tros Anchisiade, facilis descensus Averno;

noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;

sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,

hoc opus, hic labor est. Pauci, quos aequus amavit

130Iuppiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,

dis geniti potuere. Tenent media omnia silvae,

Cocytusque sinu labens circumvenit atro.

Quod si tantus amor menti, si tanta cupido est,

bis Stygios innare lacus, bis nigra videre

135Tartara, et insano iuvat indulgere labori,

accipe, quae peragenda prius. Latet arbore opaca

aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus,

Iunoni infernae dictus sacer; hunc tegit omnis

lucus, et obscuris claudunt convallibus umbrae.

140Sed non ante datur telluris operta subire,

auricomos quam quis decerpserit arbore fetus.

Hoc sibi pulchra suum ferri Proserpina munus

instituit. Primo avulso non deficit alter

aureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo.

145Ergo alte vestiga oculis, et rite repertum

carpe manu; namque ipse volens facilisque sequetur,

si te fata vocant; aliter non viribus ullis

vincere, nec duro poteris convellere ferro.

Praeterea iacet exanimum tibi corpus amici—

150heu nescis—totamque incestat funere classem,

dum consulta petis nostroque in limine pendes.

Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulchro.

Duc nigras pecudes; ea prima piacula sunto:

sic demum lucos Stygis et regna invia vivis

155aspicies. Dixit, pressoque obmutuit ore.

124With such words he prayed, and held the altars,

125when the prophetess began to speak: "Sprung from the blood of gods,

Trojan son of Anchises, the descent to Avernus is easy;

night and day the gate of black Dis stands open;

but to retrace your steps and escape to the upper air,

this is the task, this is the toil. A few whom gracious

130Jupiter loved, or whom blazing virtue lifted to heaven,

or who were born of gods, have had the power. Woods hold all the space between,

and Cocytus, gliding in a black curve, surrounds it.

But if such love is in your mind, if such desire,

to swim the Stygian lakes twice, twice to see black

135Tartarus, and you choose to indulge a mad ordeal,

hear what must first be done. Hidden in a shadowed tree

is a bough golden in leaves and pliant stem,

said to be sacred to underworld Juno; the whole

grove hides it, and shadows enclose it in dark valleys.

140But no one is allowed to enter earth's hidden places

before one has plucked from the tree its gold-haired growth.

Fair Proserpina has ordained that this be carried

to her as her own gift. When the first is torn away, another

golden bough does not fail; the shoot leafs with like metal.

145So look for it with lifted eyes, and when it is duly found,

pluck it with your hand; for of itself, willing and easy, it will follow

if the fates call you; otherwise with no strength

will you conquer it or tear it away with hard iron.

Besides, your friend's body lies lifeless—

150alas, you do not know—and its death defiles the whole fleet,

while you seek counsel and linger on our threshold.

First carry him to his own resting place and lay him in a tomb.

Lead black livestock; let these be the first atonements:

only then at last will you look on the groves of Styx and realms forbidden

155to the living." She spoke, and with lips pressed shut fell silent.

156Aeneas maesto defixus lumina voltu

ingreditur, linquens antrum, caecosque volutat

eventus animo secum. Cui fidus Achates

it comes, et paribus curis vestigia figit.

160Multa inter sese vario sermone serebant,

quem socium exanimem vates, quod corpus humandum

diceret. Atque illi Misenum in litore sicco,

ut venere, vident indigna morte peremptum,

Misenum Aeoliden, quo non praestantior alter

165aere ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu.

Hectoris hic magni fuerat comes, Hectora circum

et lituo pugnas insignis obibat et hasta:

postquam illum vita victor spoliavit Achilles,

Dardanio Aeneae sese fortissimus heros

170addiderat socium, non inferiora secutus.

Sed tum, forte cava dum personat aequora concha,

demens, et cantu vocat in certamina divos,

aemulus exceptum Triton, si credere dignum est,

inter saxa virum spumosa inmerserat unda.

175Ergo omnes magno circum clamore fremebant,

praecipue pius Aeneas. Tum iussa Sibyllae,

haud mora, festinant flentes, aramque sepulchri

congerere arboribus caeloque educere certant.

Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum;

180procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex,

fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur

scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos.

Nec non Aeneas opera inter talia primus

hortatur socios, paribusque accingitur armis.

185Atque haec ipse suo tristi cum corde volutat,

aspectans silvam inmensam, et sic voce precatur:

Si nunc se nobis ille aureus arbore ramus

ostendat nemore in tanto, quando omnia vere

heu nimium de te vates, Misene, locuta est.

190Vix ea fatus erat, geminae cum forte columbae

ipsa sub ora viri caelo venere volantes,

et viridi sedere solo. Tum maximus heros

maternas agnoscit aves, laetusque precatur:

Este duces, O, si qua via est, cursumque per auras

195dirigite in lucos, ubi pinguem dives opacat

ramus humum. Tuque, O, dubiis ne defice rebus,

diva parens. Sic effatus vestigia pressit,

observans quae signa ferant, quo tendere pergant.

Pascentes illae tantum prodire volando,

200quantum acie possent oculi servare sequentum.

Inde ubi venere ad fauces grave olentis Averni,

tollunt se celeres, liquidumque per aëra lapsae

sedibus optatis geminae super arbore sidunt,

discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit.

205Quale solet silvis brumali frigore viscum

fronde virere nova, quod non sua seminat arbos,

et croceo fetu teretis circumdare truncos,

talis erat species auri frondentis opaca

ilice, sic leni crepitabat brattea vento.

210Corripit Aeneas extemplo avidusque refringit

cunctantem, et vatis portat sub tecta Sibyllae.

156Aeneas, eyes downcast in his grieving face,

walks on, leaving the cave, and turns over in his heart

the dark outcome. Beside him faithful Achates

paces beside him, burdened by the same care.

160They exchanged many thoughts in their shifting conversation:

which lifeless comrade the prophetess meant, what body

she said must be buried. And when they arrived, they saw

Misenus on the dry shore, cut down by an undeserved death,

Misenus, son of Aeolus; no one surpassed him

165at rousing men with bronze and kindling Mars with song.

He had been companion to great Hector; around Hector,

renowned with bugle and spear, he moved through battles:

after victorious Achilles stripped Hector of life,

this bravest hero attached himself as companion

170to Dardanian Aeneas, following no inferior cause.

But then, while by chance with hollow conch he made

the seas resound, madly calling gods to contest with his song,

Triton, his rival, caught him—if the tale deserves belief—

and plunged the man among rocks beneath a foaming wave.

175So all around him raised a great clamor of grief,

especially dutiful Aeneas. Then the Sibyl's commands,

without delay, weeping, they hasten to fulfill, competing

to heap up trees for the funeral altar and raise it to the sky.

They enter the ancient forest, the deep lairs of wild beasts;

180pitch-pines fall; the holm-oak rings, struck by axes;

ash beams and cleavable oak are split

with wedges; they roll huge ash trees down from the mountains.

Aeneas too, foremost amid such labors,

urges his comrades and girds himself with matching tools.

185And he turns these thoughts over in his own sorrowful heart,

gazing at the immense forest, and prays with these words:

"If now that golden bough would show itself to us

on its tree in so vast a grove, since all too truly,

alas, the prophetess spoke of you, Misenus."

190Scarcely had he spoken this when, by chance, twin doves

came flying from the sky before the man's very face

and settled on the green ground. Then the greatest hero

recognizes his mother's birds and gladly prays:

"Be my guides, if there is any path, and through the air

195direct your course into the groves, where the rich bough shades

the fertile ground. And you, O divine mother, do not fail me

in this uncertainty." So he spoke, and checked his steps,

watching what signs they bring, where they keep moving.

Feeding as they went, those birds advanced in flight

200only as far as the followers' eyes could keep them in view.

Then, when they came to the jaws of reeking Avernus,

they lift themselves swiftly and, gliding through the clear air,

the pair settle at the wished-for place upon a tree,

from which gold's contrasting glow flashed through the branches.

205As mistletoe, in forests under winter cold, often

grows green with fresh leaf, though the tree does not produce it,

and circles smooth trunks with saffron fruit,

such was the look of leafy gold on the dark

holm-oak; so the gold leaf crackled in a gentle wind.

210At once Aeneas seizes it and eagerly snaps off

the reluctant bough, and carries it beneath the Sibyl's roof.

212Nec minus interea Misenum in litore Teucri

flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.

Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto

215ingentem struxere pyram, cui frondibus atris

intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos

constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis.

Pars calidos latices et aëna undantia flammis

expediunt, corpusque lavant frigentis et unguunt.

220Fit gemitus. Tum membra toro defleta reponunt,

purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota,

coniciunt. Pars ingenti subiere feretro,

triste ministerium, et subiectam more parentum

aversi tenuere facem. Congesta cremantur

225turea dona, dapes, fuso crateres olivo.

Postquam conlapsi cineres et flamma quievit

reliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam,

ossaque lecta cado texit Corynaeus aëno.

Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda,

230spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae,

lustravitque viros, dixitque novissima verba.

At pius Aeneas ingenti mole sepulcrum

imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque tubamque,

monte sub aërio, qui nunc Misenus ab illo

235dicitur, aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen.

His actis, propere exsequitur praecepta Sibyllae.

Spelunca alta fuit vastoque immanis hiatu,

scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris,

quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantes

240tendere iter pennis—talis sese halitus atris

faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat:

unde locum Grai dixerunt nomine Aornon.

quattuor hic primum nigrantis terga iuvencos

constituit, frontique invergit vina sacerdos;

245et summas carpens media inter cornua saetas

ignibus imponit sacris, libamina prima,

voce vocans Hecaten, Caeloque Ereboque potentem.

Supponunt alii cultros, tepidumque cruorem

suscipiunt pateris. Ipse atri velleris agnam

250Aeneas matri Eumenidum magnaeque sorori

ense ferit, sterilemque tibi. Proserpina, vaccam.

Tum Stygio regi nocturnas inchoat aras,

et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis,

pingue superque oleum infundens ardentibus extis.

255Ecce autem, primi sub lumina solis et ortus,

sub pedibus mugire solum, et iuga coepta moveri

silvarum, visaeque canes ululare per umbram,

adventante dea. Procul O procul este, profani,

conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco;

260tuque invade viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum:

nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.

Tantum effata, furens antro se immisit aperto;

ille ducem haud timidis vadentem passibus aequat.

212Meanwhile, no less, the Trojans on the shore wept

for Misenus and brought final rites to the unanswering ash.

First, from pitch-pine and cut oak, they built

215a huge resin-rich pyre; with dark leaves

they wove its sides, and set funeral cypresses before it,

adorning the top with gleaming arms.

Some made ready warm water and bronze cauldrons seething over flames,

and washed the chill body and anointed it.

220A groan rises. Then they lay the wept-over limbs on a bier

and throw over them purple robes, familiar coverings.

Some take their place beneath the great bier,

a sorrowful service, and, in the custom of their fathers, turned away,

they held the torch beneath. Heaped offerings burn:

225gifts of incense, food, and bowls of poured olive oil.

After the ashes had sunk down and the flame fell quiet,

they washed the remains and the thirsty ash with wine,

and Corynaeus enclosed the gathered bones in a bronze urn.

The same man passed three times around his comrades with pure water,

230sprinkling a light dew from a branch of fruitful olive;

he purified the men and spoke the final words.

But dutiful Aeneas raised over him a tomb

of massive bulk, adding the man's own arms, his oar and trumpet,

beneath a lofty mountain, which now from him

235is called Misenus and holds that name forever through the ages.

With these rites done, he swiftly carries out the Sibyl's commands.

There was a deep cave, monstrous with its vast gaping mouth,

stony, enclosed by a black lake and the darkness of woods,

over which no winged creatures could safely

240steer their course on wings—such a breath, pouring from black

jaws, rose to the upper vault:

from this the Greeks called the place by the name Aornon.

Here first the priestess stationed four black-backed bullocks,

and poured wine upon their brows;

245then, plucking the top hairs between the horns,

she laid them on the sacred fires as first offerings,

calling aloud on Hecate, powerful in Heaven and Erebus.

Others set knives beneath, and the warm blood

receive in bowls. Aeneas himself takes a black-fleeced ewe lamb

250for the mother of the Eumenides and her great sister

strikes with the sword, and for you, Proserpina, a barren cow.

Then he sets up night altars for the Stygian king,

and lays the whole bodies of bulls upon the flames,

pouring rich oil over the burning entrails.

255But look: at the first light of sunrise,

the ground began to bellow beneath their feet, and the ridges

of the woods began to move, and dogs seemed to howl through shadow

as the goddess came near. "Far, O far away, all you uninitiated,"

the prophetess cries, "withdraw from the whole grove;

260and you, take the path and tear your sword from its sheath:

now courage is needed, Aeneas, now a steadfast heart."

Having said only this, in frenzy, she plunged into the open cave;

he keeps pace with his guide, advancing on fearless steps.

264Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes,

265et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late,

sit mihi fas audita loqui; sit numine vestro

pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas!

Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram,

perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna:

270quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna

est iter in silvis, ubi caelum condidit umbra

Iuppiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem.

Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci

Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

275pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,

et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas,

terribiles visu formae: Letumque, Labosque;

tum consanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis

Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum,

280ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens,

vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.

In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit

ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia volgo

vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent.

285Multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum:

Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllaeque biformes,

et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernae

horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera,

Gorgones Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae.

290Corripit hic subita trepidus formidine ferrum

Aeneas, strictamque aciem venientibus offert,

et, ni docta comes tenues sine corpore vitas

admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae,

inruat, et frustra ferro diverberet umbras.

264Gods, who hold command over souls, and silent shades,

265and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places silent far and wide in night,

let it be lawful for me to speak what I have heard; by your divine will

let me unfold things sunk in deep earth and darkness!

They moved as dim shapes through shadow under lonely night,

and through Dis' empty halls and vacant realms:

270as when a path through woods lies under an uncertain moon,

beneath grudging light, when Jupiter has hidden the sky in shadow

and black night has taken color from things.

Before the very vestibule, in the first jaws of Orcus,

Grief and avenging Cares have made their beds;

275pale Diseases dwell there, and sorrowing Old Age,

and Fear, evil-counseling Hunger, and foul Need,

forms terrible to see: Death and Toil;

then Sleep, blood-kin of Death, and the mind's evil

Joys, and death-bringing War on the opposite threshold,

280and the iron chambers of the Eumenides, and mad Discord,

her viper hair bound with bloody fillets.

At the center a dark, huge elm spreads its boughs

and ancient arms; there, common report says, false Dreams

hold their seat and cling under every leaf.

285Many monsters besides are there, of beasts of many kinds:

Centaurs have their stalls at the doors, and double-formed Scyllas,

and hundredfold Briareus, and the Lernaean beast, the Hydra,

hissing horribly, and the Chimaera armed with flames,

Gorgons, Harpies, and the shape of Geryon's three-bodied shade.

290Here, trembling with sudden fear, Aeneas snatches up

his sword and presents the drawn edge to those coming on,

and, unless his learned companion warns him that insubstantial lives

without bodies flit beneath the hollow likeness of form,

he would rush in and vainly slash the shadows apart with steel.

295Hinc via, Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas.

Turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges

aestuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam.

Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat

terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento

300canities inculta iacet; stant lumina flamma,

sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.

Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat,

et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba,

iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.

305Huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat,

matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita

magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,

impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum:

quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo

310lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto

quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus

trans pontum fugat, et terris immittit apricis.

Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum,

tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

315Navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos,

ast alios longe submotos arcet harena.

Aeneas, miratus enim motusque tumultu,

Dic ait O virgo, quid volt concursus ad amnem?

Quidve petunt animae, vel quo discrimine ripas

320hae linquunt, illae remis vada livida verrunt?

Olli sic breviter fata est longaeva sacerdos:

Anchisa generate, deum certissima proles,

Cocyti stagna alta vides Stygiamque paludem,

di cuius iurare timent et fallere numen.

325Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est;

portitor ille Charon; hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti.

Nec ripas datur horrendas et rauca fluenta

transportare prius quam sedibus ossa quierunt.

Centum errant annos volitantque haec litora circum;

330tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt.

Constitit Anchisa satus et vestigia pressit,

multa putans, sortemque animo miseratus iniquam.

Cernit ibi maestos et mortis honore carentes

Leucaspim et Lyciae ductorem classis Oronten,

335quos, simul ab Troia ventosa per aequora vectos,

obruit Auster, aqua involvens navemque virosque.

295From here the road leads to the waters of Tartarean Acheron.

Here the whirlpool, muddy in a vast gulf,

seethes and belches all its sand into Cocytus.

The dreadful ferryman guards these waters and streams,

Charon, grim with terrible filth; on his chin

300lies an unkempt mass of white beard; his eyes stand fixed in flame,

and a filthy cloak hangs knotted from his shoulders.

He himself drives the raft with his pole, tends the sails,

and ferries the bodies in his rust-dark boat,

old already, but a god's old age stays hale and green.

305Here the whole crowd, pouring toward the banks, rushed:

mothers and men, the bodies drained of life

of great-hearted heroes, boys, and unwed girls,

and young men laid on pyres before their parents' faces:

as many as leaves in the forests, at autumn's first cold,

310fall drifting down, or as many birds from the deep sea

cluster toward land, when the cold season

drives them across the sea and casts them on sun-warmed lands.

They stood pleading to be first admitted across,

and stretched their hands in longing for the farther bank.

315But the grim boatman takes now these, now those,

while others he drives far back and bars from the shore.

Aeneas, wondering and moved by the tumult,

said, "Tell me, maiden, what does this rush to the river mean?

What do the souls seek? Or by what distinction do these

320leave the banks, while those sweep the livid shallows with oars?"

To him the long-lived priestess briefly answered:

"Son of Anchises, most surely offspring of the gods,

you see the deep pools of Cocytus and the Stygian marsh,

by whose divine power the gods fear to swear falsely.

325All this crowd you see is helpless and unburied;

that ferryman is Charon; those whom the wave carries are buried.

Nor may the ferryman carry anyone across the dreadful banks

and hoarse waters before their bones have rested in their places.

For a hundred years they wander and hover about these shores;

330only then, admitted at last, do they see again the pools they long for."

Anchises' son stopped and checked his steps,

pondering much, and pitying in his heart their unjust fate.

There he sees the sorrowful, deprived of death's honor:

Leucaspis and Orontes, leader of the Lycian fleet,

335whom, carried together from Troy over windy seas,

the South Wind overwhelmed, engulfing ship and men alike in water.

337Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat,

qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat,

exciderat puppi mediis effusus in undis.

340Hunc ubi vix multa maestum cognovit in umbra,

sic prior adloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, deorum

eripuit nobis, medioque sub aequore mersit?

Dic age. Namque mihi, fallax haud ante repertus,

hoc uno responso animum delusit Apollo,

345qui fore te ponto incolumem, finesque canebat

venturum Ausonios. En haec promissa fides est?

Ille autem: Neque te Phoebi cortina fefellit,

dux Anchisiade, nec me deus aequore mersit.

Namque gubernaclum multa vi forte revolsum,

350cui datus haerebam custos cursusque regebam,

praecipitans traxi mecum. Maria aspera iuro

non ullum pro me tantum cepisse timorem,

quam tua ne, spoliata armis, excussa magistro,

deficeret tantis navis surgentibus undis.

355Tris Notus hibernas immensa per aequora noctes

vexit me violentus aqua; vix lumine quarto

prospexi Italiam summa sublimis ab unda.

Paulatim adnabam terrae; iam tuta tenebam,

ni gens crudelis madida cum veste gravatum

360prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis

ferro invasisset, praedamque ignara putasset.

Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque in litore venti.

Quod te per caeli iucundum lumen et auras,

per genitorem oro, per spes surgentis Iuli,

365eripe me his, invicte, malis: aut tu mihi terram

inice, namque potes, portusque require Velinos;

aut tu, si qua via est, si quam tibi diva creatrix

ostendit—neque enim, credo, sine numine divom

flumina tanta paras Stygiamque innare paludem—

370da dextram misero, et tecum me tolle per undas,

sedibus ut saltem placidis in morte quiescam.

Talia fatus erat, coepit cum talia vates:

Unde haec, o Palinure, tibi tam dira cupido?

Tu Stygias inhumatus aquas amnemque severum

375Eumenidum aspicies, ripamve iniussus adibis?

Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Sed cape dicta memor, duri solatia casus.

Nam tua finitimi, longe lateque per urbes

prodigiis acti caelestibus, ossa piabunt,

380et statuent tumulum, et tumulo sollemnia mittent,

aeternumque locus Palinuri nomen habebit.

His dictis curae emotae, pulsusque parumper

corde dolor tristi: gaudet cognomine terrae.

337Then the helmsman Palinurus was making his way toward them,

who lately, on the Libyan passage, while he watched the stars,

had fallen from the stern and been cast into the midst of the waves.

340When Aeneas barely made out the sorrowing man in the deep shadow,

he spoke to him first: "Which of the gods, Palinurus,

snatched you from us and sank you under the open sea?

Come, tell me. For Apollo, never found false before,

misled my heart by this one oracle,

345when he prophesied that you would be safe at sea

and would reach Ausonian borders. Is this how that promise is kept?"

But he answered: "Phoebus' oracle did not deceive you,

leader, son of Anchises, nor did any god sink me in the sea.

For the rudder, as it happened, torn away with great force,

350to which I clung as its appointed keeper and by which I steered the course,

I dragged down with me as I plunged. By the rough seas I swear

that I took on no fear so great for myself

as that your ship, stripped of her gear and bereft of her helmsman,

might give way amid such rising waves.

355For three wintry nights the violent South Wind

drove me on the water over measureless seas; barely in the fourth day's light

did I sight Italy, lifted high on the crest of a wave.

Little by little I swam toward land; now I all but held safety,

had not a cruel people, while I was weighed down by soaked clothing

360and clutching with hooked hands at the mountain's rough headlands,

attacked me with steel and, in ignorance, took me for booty.

Now the surf has me, and the winds roll me along the shore.

So by the sweet light of heaven and its air,

by your father, by the hopes of young Iulus, I beg you,

365rescue me, unconquered one, from these evils: either throw earth

over me, for you can, and seek the harbor of Velia;

or, if there is any way, if your divine mother

has shown you one (for surely you are not preparing without divine sanction

to swim such great rivers and the Stygian marsh),

370give your right hand to a wretched man, and take me with you over the waters,

so that at least in death I may rest in peaceful abodes."

He had said this much, when the Sibyl began in turn:

"Where did this dreadful desire come from, Palinurus?

Will you, unburied, look on the Stygian waters and the stern stream

375of the Eumenides, or approach the bank unbidden?

Stop hoping the gods' decrees can be bent by prayer.

But take my words to heart, a solace for your hard misfortune.

For neighboring peoples, through cities far and wide,

driven by heavenly portents, will perform rites for your bones,

380and raise a mound, and bring solemn offerings to the mound,

and the place will forever bear the name of Palinurus."

At these words his cares fell away, and for a little while

grief left his sorrowing heart; he rejoices that the land will bear his name.

384Ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant.

385Navita quos iam inde ut Stygia prospexit ab unda

per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae,

sic prior adgreditur dictis, atque increpat ultro:

Quisquis es, armatus qui nostra ad flumina tendis,

fare age, quid venias, iam istinc, et comprime gressum.

390Umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae;

corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina.

Nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntem

accepisse lacu, nec Thesea Pirithoumque,

dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent.

395Tartareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit,

ipsius a solio regis, traxitque trementem;

hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti.

Quae contra breviter fata est Amphrysia vates:

Nullae hic insidiae tales; absiste moveri;

400nec vim tela ferunt; licet ingens ianitor antro

aeternum latrans exsanguis terreat umbras,

casta licet patrui servet Proserpina limen.

Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis,

ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras.

405Si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago,

at ramum hunc (aperit ramum, qui veste latebat)

adgnoscas. Tumida ex ira tum corda residunt.

Nec plura his. Ille admirans venerabile donum

fatalis virgae, longo post tempore visum,

410caeruleam advertit puppim, ripaeque propinquat.

Inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant,

deturbat, laxatque foros; simul accipit alveo

ingentem Aenean. Gemuit sub pondere cymba

sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem.

415Tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque

informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.

Cerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauci

personat, adverso recubans immanis in antro.

Cui vates, horrere videns iam colla colubris,

420melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam

obicit. Ille fame rabida tria guttura pandens

corripit obiectam, atque immania terga resolvit

fusus humi, totoque ingens extenditur antro.

Occupat Aeneas aditum custode sepulto,

425evaditque celer ripam inremeabilis undae.

384So they continue the journey they had begun and draw near Acheron's river.

385When Charon the boatman, from the Stygian wave, saw them

going through the silent grove and turning their steps toward the bank,

he confronts them first and rebukes them outright:

"Whoever you are, armed man, making for our rivers,

speak now, right where you stand: why do you come? Check your step.

390This is the place of shades, of Sleep and drowsy Night;

it is sacrilege to ferry living bodies in the Stygian bark.

Nor was I truly glad to receive Alcides

as he crossed the lake, nor Theseus and Pirithous,

though they were born of gods and unconquered in strength.

395He laid hands on the Tartarean guardian to chain him,

from the king's own throne, and dragged him trembling away;

those two attempted to carry off Dis' queen from her chamber."

In answer the Amphrysian Sibyl spoke briefly:

"No such ambushes are here; cease your alarm;

400these weapons carry no violence, though in his cave the great doorkeeper

may bark forever and terrify the bloodless shades,

and chaste Proserpina may keep her uncle's threshold.

Trojan Aeneas, distinguished in devotion and arms,

descends to his father Anchises, down among Erebus' deepest shades.

405If the sight of such great devotion does not move you,

then at least this golden bough (she reveals the bough hidden in her robe)—

recognize it." Then his anger-swollen heart subsides.

No more at this. Charon, marveling at the venerable gift

of the fated bough, seen after so long a time,

410turns his blue-dark stern and brings it to the bank.

Then he drives off the other souls seated along the long benches,

makes room on the planks, and at once receives into the hull

massive Aeneas. The sewn boat groaned beneath the weight

and, leaky through its cracks, took in much marsh-water.

415At last he brings the Sibyl and the man unharmed across the river

and sets them down in formless mud and grey-green sedge.

Huge Cerberus makes these realms resound with triple-throated barking,

monstrous, lying in the cave opposite.

To him the Sibyl, seeing his necks already bristle with snakes,

420a honeyed morsel of sleep-drugged grain

throws before him. He, opening his three throats in ravenous hunger,

snatches what was thrown, and his monstrous frame relaxes,

sprawled on the ground; huge, he stretches through the whole cave.

Aeneas seizes the entrance while the guard is buried in sleep,

425and swiftly gets clear of the bank of the unreturning wave.

426Continuo auditae voces, vagitus et ingens,

infantumque animae flentes in limine primo,

quos dulcis vitae exsortes et ab ubere raptos

abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo;

430hos iuxta falso damnati crimine mortis.

Nec vero hae sine sorte datae, sine iudice, sedes:

quaesitor Minos urnam movet; ille silentum

conciliumque vocat vitasque et crimina discit.

Proxuma deinde tenent maesti loca, qui sibi letum

435insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi

proiecere animas. Quam vellent aethere in alto

nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores!

Fas obstat, tristisque palus inamabilis undae

alligat, et noviens Styx interfusa coërcet.

440Nec procul hinc partem fusi monstrantur in omnem

lugentes campi: sic illos nomine dicunt.

Hic, quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit,

secreti celant calles et myrtea circum

silva tegit; curae non ipsa in morte relinquunt.

445His Phaedram Procrimque locis, maestamque Eriphylen

crudelis nati monstrantem volnera, cernit,

Evadnenque et Pasiphaën; his Laodamia

it comes, et iuvenis quondam, nunc femina, Caeneus,

rursus et in veterem fato revoluta figuram.

450Inter quas Phoenissa recens a volnere Dido

errabat silva in magna; quam Troius heros

ut primum iuxta stetit adgnovitque per umbras

obscuram, qualem primo qui surgere mense

aut videt, aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam,

455demisit lacrimas, dulcique adfatus amore est:

Infelix Dido, verus mihi nuntius ergo

venerat exstinctam, ferroque extrema secutam?

Funeris heu tibi causa fui? Per sidera iuro,

per superos, et si qua fides tellure sub ima est,

460invitus, regina, tuo de litore cessi.

Sed me iussa deum, quae nunc has ire per umbras,

per loca senta situ cogunt noctemque profundam,

imperiis egere suis; nec credere quivi

hunc tantum tibi me discessu ferre dolorem.

465Siste gradum, teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro.

Quem fugis? Extremum fato, quod te adloquor, hoc est.

Talibus Aeneas ardentem et torva tuentem

lenibat dictis animum, lacrimasque ciebat.

Illa solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat,

470nec magis incepto voltum sermone movetur,

quam si dura silex aut stet Marpesia cautes.

tandem corripuit sese, atque inimica refugit

in nemus umbriferum, coniunx ubi pristinus illi

respondet curis aequatque Sychaeus amorem.

475Nec minus Aeneas, casu concussus iniquo,

prosequitur lacrimis longe, et miseratur euntem.

426At once voices were heard, a vast wailing,

the souls of infants weeping on the first threshold,

robbed of any share in sweet life and snatched from the breast,

whom the black day carried off and sank in bitter death;

430near them are those condemned to death on a false charge.

Nor, indeed, were these dwellings assigned without lot or judge:

Minos the examiner shakes the urn; he summons the assembly

of the silent, and learns their lives and charges.

Next come the grieving, those who brought death

435upon themselves by their own hand, though guiltless, and, hating the light,

threw away their lives. How they would wish now, in the upper air,

to endure both poverty and hard labors!

Divine law blocks them, and the grim marsh of hateful water

binds them, and Styx, poured nine times between, holds them fast.

440Not far from here, spread out on every side, lie

the Mourning Fields; by that name they call them.

Here those whom hard love has eaten away with cruel wasting

are hidden by secret paths, and round them a myrtle grove

covers them; their cares do not leave them even in death.

445In these places he sees Phaedra and Procris, and grieving Eriphyle

showing the wounds dealt by her cruel son,

and Evadne and Pasiphae; Laodamia goes

as their companion, and Caeneus, once a youth, now a woman,

turned back by fate into the former shape.

450Among them Phoenician Dido, her wound still fresh,

was wandering in the great wood. As soon as the Trojan hero

stood close and recognized her, dim through the shadows,

like one who, as the month begins, sees the moon rising,

or thinks he has seen it through the clouds,

455he shed tears and addressed her with tender love:

"Unhappy Dido, then the report that came to me was true,

that you had died and sought your end with the sword?

Alas, was I the cause of your death? By the stars I swear,

by the gods above, and by whatever faith there is beneath the deep earth,

460unwillingly, queen, I left your shore.

But the gods' commands, which now force me through these shadows,

through places overgrown with decay and through deepest night,

drove me by their decrees; nor could I believe

that my departure would bring you such great grief.

465Stay your step, and do not withdraw yourself from my sight.

Whom are you fleeing? By fate, this is the last time I may speak to you."

With such words Aeneas tried to soothe her burning spirit,

her grim glare fixed on him, while his tears rose.

She, turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground,

470and her face was no more moved by the speech he began

than if hard flint or a Marpesian cliff stood there.

At last she tore herself away and fled, hostile,

into the shadowed grove, where her husband of old

Sychaeus answers her sorrows and matches her love.

475Still Aeneas, no less shaken by her cruel fate,

follows her far with tears, and pities her as she goes.

477Inde datum molitur iter. Iamque arva tenebant

ultima, quae bello clari secreta frequentant.

Hic illi occurrit Tydeus, hic inclutus armis

480Parthenopaeus et Adrasti pallentis imago;

hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduci

Dardanidae, quos ille omnes longo ordine cernens

ingemuit, Glaucumque Medontaque Thersilochumque,

tris Antenoridas, Cererique sacrum Polyphoeten,

485Idaeumque, etiam currus, etiam arma tenentem.

circumstant animae dextra laevaque frequentes;

nec vidisse semel satis est; iuvat usque morari,

et conferre gradum, et veniendi discere causas.

At Danaum proceres Agamemnoniaeque phalanges

490ut videre virum fulgentiaque arma per umbras,

ingenti trepidare metu; pars vertere terga,

ceu quondam petiere rates; pars tollere vocem

exiguam, inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes.

Atque hic Priamiden laniatum corpore toto

495Deiphobum videt et lacerum crudeliter ora,

ora manusque ambas, populataque tempora raptis

auribus, et truncas inhonesto volnere nares.

Vix adeo adgnovit pavitantem et dira tegentem

supplicia, et notis compellat vocibus ultro:

500Deiphobe armipotens, genus alto a sanguine Teucri

quis tam crudeles optavit sumere poenas?

Cui tantum de te licuit? Mihi fama suprema

nocte tulit fessum vasta te caede Pelasgum

procubuisse super confusae stragis acervum.

505Tunc egomet tumulum Rhoeteo litore inanem

constitui, et magna Manes ter voce vocavi.

Nomen et arma locum servant; te, amice, nequivi

conspicere, et patria decedens ponere terra.

Ad quae Priamides: Nihil O tibi amice relictum;

510omnia Deiphobo solvisti et funeris umbris.

Sed me fata mea et scelus exitiale Lacaenae

his mersere malis; illa haec monumenta reliquit.

Namque ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem

egerimus, nosti; et nimium meminisse necesse est.

515Cum fatalis equus saltu super ardua venit

Pergama, et armatum peditem gravis attulit alvo,

illa, chorum simulans, evantes orgia circum

ducebat Phrygias; flammam media ipsa tenebat

ingentem, et summa Danaos ex arce vocabat.

520Tum me, confectum curis somnoque gravatum,

infelix habuit thalamus, pressitque iacentem

dulcis et alta quies placidaeque simillima morti.

Egregia interea coniunx arma omnia tectis

amovet, et fidum capiti subduxerat ensem;

525intra tecta vocat Menelaum, et limina pandit,

scilicet id magnum sperans fore munus amanti,

et famam exstingui veterum sic posse malorum.

Quid moror? Inrumpunt thalamo; comes additur una

hortator scelerum Aeolides. Di, talia Grais

530instaurate, pio si poenas ore reposco!

Sed te qui vivum casus, age, fare vicissim,

attulerint. Pelagine venis erroribus actus,

an monitu divom? An quae te Fortuna fatigat,

ut tristes sine sole domos, loca turbida, adires?

535Hac vice sermonum roseïs Aurora quadrigis

iam medium aetherio cursu traiecerat axem;

et fors omne datum traherent per talia tempus;

sed comes admonuit, breviterque adfata Sibylla est:

Nox ruit, Aenea; nos flendo ducimus horas.

540Hic locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas:

dextera quae Ditis magni sub moenia tendit,

hac iter Elysium nobis; at laeva malorum

exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit.

Deiphobus contra: Ne saevi, magna sacerdos;

545discedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris.

I decus, i, nostrum; melioribus utere fatis!

Tantum effatus, et in verbo vestigia torsit.

477From there he labors on along the allotted path. Now they reach

the farthest fields, set apart, where the war-renowned gather.

There Tydeus met him; there, famous in arms,

480Parthenopaeus and the pale image of Adrastus;

there the Dardanians, long mourned in the world above and fallen in war,

whom he saw all in a long line,

and groaned over: Glaucus, Medon, and Thersilochus,

the three sons of Antenor, and Polyphoetes, sacred to Ceres,

485and Idaeus, still holding his chariot, still holding his arms.

The souls crowd around him on right and left;

one sight of him is not enough; they delight to linger on,

to walk beside him and learn the reasons for his coming.

But when the chiefs of the Danaans and Agamemnon's ranks

490saw the man and his gleaming arms through the shades,

they trembled with enormous fear; some turned their backs,

as once they made for the ships; some tried to raise

a thin voice, but the cry they began failed as their mouths gaped.

And here he sees Priam's son, mangled over his whole body,

495Deiphobus, and cruelly torn about the face,

his face and both hands, his temples ravaged where ears

had been torn away, and his nose lopped by a dishonoring wound.

Only with difficulty did he recognize him, shrinking and trying to cover

those dreadful torments; unprompted, he addresses him with familiar words:

500"Deiphobus, mighty in arms, born from Teucer's high blood,

who desired to exact such cruel punishment?

Who was given such power against you? In that last

night the report reached me that, weary from the vast slaughter of Pelasgians,

you had fallen upon a heap of mingled dead.

505Then with my own hands I raised an empty mound on the Rhoetean shore,

and three times called your Manes with a great voice.

Your name and arms mark the place; but you, my friend, I could not

see, or lay in your native earth as I departed."

To this Priam's son replied: "No duty, my friend, was left undone by you;

510you paid every due to Deiphobus and his shade in death.

But my own fates and the death-dealing crime of Spartan Helen

plunged me into these evils; she left these memorials.

For how we spent that last night amid false joys

you know, and only too well must we remember it.

515When the fatal horse came with a bound over lofty

Pergama, and, heavy, brought armed foot soldiers in its belly,

she, feigning a choral dance, led the Phrygian women with Bacchic cries

around the revels; in their midst she herself held a huge flame,

and from the height of the citadel called the Danaans.

520Then, worn out by cares and weighed down with sleep,

the ill-starred bridal chamber held me; as I lay there,

sweet, deep rest pressed me down, most like quiet death.

Meanwhile my peerless wife removes every weapon from the house,

and had slipped the faithful sword from beneath my head;

525she calls Menelaus inside the house and opens the doors,

hoping, of course, that this would be a great gift to her lover,

and that the fame of old wrongs could be blotted out this way.

Why linger? They burst into the chamber; with them comes one companion,

Ulysses, Aeolus' descendant, instigator of crimes. Gods, renew such things for the Greeks,

530if with a righteous mouth I demand their punishment!

But come, tell in turn what chances have brought you here alive.

Do you come driven by wanderings over the sea,

or at the gods' warning? Or what Fortune harasses you,

so that you should come to these sad sunless homes, these troubled places?"

535During this exchange, Aurora in her rosy four-horse chariot

had already crossed mid-heaven in her airy course;

and perhaps they would have drawn out all the time granted in such talk;

but his companion warned him, and the Sibyl addressed him briefly:

"Night is rushing on, Aeneas; we spend the hours in weeping.

540This is the place where the road forks in two:

the right-hand way, which runs beneath the walls of great Dis,

by this lies our path to Elysium; but the left-hand way exacts the punishments

of the wicked and sends them to impious Tartarus."

Deiphobus answered in turn: "Do not be harsh, great priestess;

545I will go, fill out the number, and be given back to darkness.

Go, our glory, go; enjoy better fates!"

He said only this, and at the word turned his steps.

548Respicit Aeneas subito, et sub rupe sinistra

moenia lata videt, triplici circumdata muro,

550quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis,

Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa.

Porta adversa ingens, solidoque adamante columnae,

vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bello

caelicolae valeant; stat ferrea turris ad auras,

555Tisiphoneque sedens, palla succincta cruenta,

vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesque.

Hinc exaudiri gemitus, et saeva sonare

verbera; tum stridor ferri, tractaeque catenae.

Constitit Aeneas, strepitumque exterritus hausit.

560Quae scelerum facies, O virgo, effare; quibusve

urguentur poenis? Quis tantus plangor ad auras?

Tum vates sic orsa loqui: Dux inclute Teucrum,

nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere limen;

sed me cum lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis,

565ipsa deum poenas docuit, perque omnia duxit.

Gnosius haec Rhadamanthus habet, durissima regna,

castigatque auditque dolos, subigitque fateri,

quae quis apud superos, furto laetatus inani,

distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem.

570Continuo sontes ultrix accincta flagello

Tisiphone quatit insultans, torvosque sinistra

intentans angues vocat agmina saeva sororum.

Tum demum horrisono stridentes cardine sacrae

panduntur portae. Cernis custodia qualis

575vestibulo sedeat, facies quae limina servet?

Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra

saevior intus habet sedem. Tum Tartarus ipse

bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras,

quantus ad aetherium caeli suspectus Olympum.

580Hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes,

fulmine deiecti fundo volvuntur in imo.

Hic et Aloidas geminos immania vidi

corpora, qui manibus magnum rescindere caelum

adgressi, superisque Iovem detrudere regnis.

585Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas,

dum flammas Iovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi.

Quattuor hic invectus equis et lampada quassans

per Graium populos mediaeque per Elidis urbem

ibat ovans, divomque sibi poscebat honorem,—

590demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen

aere et cornipedum pulsu simularet equorum.

At pater omnipotens densa inter nubila telum

contorsit, non ille faces nec fumea taedis

lumina, praecipitemque immani turbine adegit.

595Nec non et Tityon, Terrae omniparentis alumnum,

cernere erat, per tota novem cui iugera corpus

porrigitur, rostroque immanis voltur obunco

immortale iecur tondens fecundaque poenis

viscera, rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto

600pectore, nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis.

Quid memorem Lapithas, Ixiona Pirithoumque?

quos super atra silex iam iam lapsura cadentique

imminet adsimilis; lucent genialibus altis

aurea fulcra toris, epulaeque ante ora paratae

605regifico luxu; Furiarum maxima iuxta

accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas,

exsurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore.

Hic, quibus invisi fratres, dum vita manebat,

pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa clienti,

610aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis,

nec partem posuere suis (quae maxima turba est),

quique ob adulterium caesi, quique arma secuti

impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras,

inclusi poenam exspectant. Ne quaere doceri

615quam poenam, aut quae forma viros fortunave mersit.

Saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum

districti pendent; sedet, aeternumque sedebit,

infelix Theseus; Phlegyasque miserrimus omnis

admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras:

620Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere divos.

Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem

imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit;

hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos;

ausi omnes immane nefas, ausoque potiti.

625Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum,

ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas,

omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.

Haec ubi dicta dedit Phoebi longaeva sacerdos:

Sed iam age, carpe viam et susceptum perfice munus;

630adceleremus ait; Cyclopum educta caminis

moenia conspicio atque adverso fornice portas,

haec ubi nos praecepta iubent deponere dona.

Dixerat, et pariter, gressi per opaca viarum,

corripiunt spatium medium, foribusque propinquant.

635Occupat Aeneas aditum, corpusque recenti

spargit aqua, ramumque adverso in limine figit.

548Aeneas suddenly looks back, and beneath the cliff on the left

sees broad walls, ringed by a triple wall,

550which a swift river girds with torrents of flame,

Tartarean Phlegethon, rolling thunderous rocks along.

Facing them stands a huge gate, with columns of solid adamant,

so that no force of men, not even heaven's dwellers in war,

could tear it down; an iron tower rises toward the air,

555and Tisiphone sits there, girt in a bloody mantle,

sleepless, guarding the vestibule by night and day.

From here groans are heard, and cruel lashes

resound, then the shriek of iron and chains dragged along.

Aeneas stopped and listened, terrified, to the uproar.

560"What scene of crimes is this, O maiden? Tell me: by what

punishments are they pressed? What great wailing rises to the air?"

Then the seer began to speak thus: "Renowned leader of the Trojans,

no one pure may set foot on the guilty threshold;

but when Hecate put me in charge of the groves of Avernus,

565she herself taught me the gods' punishments and led me through the whole realm.

Gnossian Rhadamanthus rules these realms, most pitiless,

punishes, hears their deceits, and forces each to confess

what each committed among the living, exulting in vain concealment,

and deferred atonement until death came late.

570At once Tisiphone the avenger, armed with a whip,

strikes the guilty, taunting them, and with her left hand

threatens grim snakes and calls her sisters' savage bands.

Then at last the sacred gates, shrieking on their terrible hinge,

are flung open. Do you see what kind of guard sits

575in the vestibule, what shape keeps the threshold?

A Hydra, monstrous with fifty black gaping mouths,

fiercer within, holds her seat. Then Tartarus itself

gapes straight down and stretches under the shades twice as far

as the upward gaze reaches to heavenly Olympus.

580Here Earth's ancient race, the brood of Titans,

struck down by the thunderbolt, roll in the bottommost depth.

Here too I saw the twin Aloidae, huge

bodies, who with their hands tried to tear down great heaven

and drive Jupiter from the realms above.

585I saw Salmoneus too, paying cruel penalties

while he mimics Jupiter's flames and Olympus' thunder.

Here, drawn by four horses and shaking a torch,

through the Greek peoples and through the city in mid-Elis,

he went exultant and claimed divine honors for himself,

590madman, who simulated storm clouds and the inimitable thunderbolt

with bronze and the hoofbeat of his horses.

But the almighty Father, among dense clouds, hurled his weapon,

not torches or smoky light from pitch-pine brands,

and drove him headlong in a monstrous whirlwind.

595Tityos too, foster-child of all-bearing Earth,

could be seen, his body stretched across a whole nine acres,

while a monstrous vulture with hooked beak,

gnawing his immortal liver and entrails fertile for punishment,

rummages for a feast and lodges beneath his deep

600breast; no rest is given to the tissues as they grow again.

Why should I recall the Lapiths, Ixion, and Pirithous?

Above them a black flint, always on the point of slipping,

hangs, seeming already to fall; golden frames gleam

on high banquet couches, and feasts lie ready before their faces

605with royal luxury; beside them the greatest of the Furies

reclines and bars them with her hands from touching the tables,

then rises, lifting her torch, and thunders with her voice.

Here are those to whom brothers were hateful while life remained,

who struck a parent, or wove fraud around a client,

610or those who brooded alone over wealth they had gained

and set aside no share for their kin—the largest crowd—

and those slain for adultery, and those who followed impious

arms and did not fear to betray their masters' pledged hands,

shut in, await their punishment. Do not ask to be taught

615what punishment, what form of suffering, or what lot engulfed the men.

Some roll a huge stone; others, stretched tight on the spokes

of wheels, hang; unhappy Theseus sits, and will sit forever;

and most miserable Phlegyas warns them all

and bears witness with a great voice through the shadows:

620'Learn justice from this warning, and do not scorn the gods.'

This one sold his country for gold and imposed a powerful

master over it; for a price he made laws and unmade them;

this one violated his daughter's chamber and forbidden marriage rites;

all dared monstrous wrong and achieved what they dared.

625Not if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths,

an iron voice, could I encompass every shape of crime

or run through all the names of punishments."

When the long-lived priestess of Phoebus had delivered these words:

"But now, come, take the road and complete the task undertaken;

630let us hurry," she said. "I see walls raised from the Cyclopes' furnaces

and gates beneath the arch ahead,

where the command bids us set down these gifts."

She had spoken, and together, passing through the dark ways,

they quickly cross the space between and approach the doors.

635Aeneas takes the entrance and with fresh

water sprinkles his body, and fixes the bough on the facing threshold.

637His demum exactis, perfecto munere divae,

devenere locos laetos et amoena virecta

fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas.

640Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit

purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.

Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,

contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena;

pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt.

645Nec non Threïcius longa cum veste sacerdos

obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum,

iamque eadem digitis, iam pectine pulsat eburno.

Hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles,

magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis,

650Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor.

Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes.

Stant terra defixae hastae, passimque soluti

per campum pascuntur equi. Quae gratia currum

armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentis

655pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.

Conspicit, ecce, alios dextra laevaque per herbam

vescentis, laetumque choro paeana canentis

inter odoratum lauri nemus, unde superne

plurimus Eridani per silvam volvitur amnis.

660Hic manus ob patriam pugnando volnera passi,

quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat,

quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti,

inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,

quique sui memores alios fecere merendo,

665omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta.

Quos circumfusos sic est adfata Sybilla,

Musaeum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba

hunc habet, atque umeris exstantem suspicit altis:

Dicite, felices animae, tuque, optime vates,

670quae regio Anchisen, quis habet locus? Illius ergo

venimus, et magnos Erebi transnavimus amnes.

Atque huic responsum paucis ita reddidit heros:

Nulli certa domus; lucis habitamus opacis,

riparumque toros et prata recentia rivis

675incolimus. Sed vos, si fert ita corde voluntas,

hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam.

Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentis

desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt.

637Only when these things were finished and the goddess's rite fulfilled

did they arrive at joyful places and the pleasant green lawns

of the fortunate groves, the blessed dwellings.

640Here a freer sky clothes the plains

in purple light; they know their own sun, their own stars.

Some exercise their limbs on grassy wrestling grounds,

compete in sport and wrestle on the tawny sand;

others beat out dances with their feet and sing songs.

645And the Thracian priest, in his long robe,

accompanies the measure with the seven intervals of sound,

striking them now with his fingers, now with an ivory plectrum.

Here is the ancient race of Teucer, fairest progeny,

great-souled heroes, born in better years,

650Ilus and Assaracus and Dardanus, founder of Troy.

From afar he marvels at the empty weapons and chariots of men.

Spears stand fixed in the earth, and everywhere, unyoked,

horses graze over the field. The pleasure they had in chariots

and weapons while alive, and their care in feeding sleek

655horses: the same pleasure follows them, though laid away in earth.

Look: he sees others to right and left across the grass,

feasting and singing a joyful paean in chorus

amid a fragrant laurel grove, where from above

the brimming river Eridanus rolls through the wood.

660Here is the band who suffered wounds fighting for their fatherland,

and pure priests while life remained,

and holy poets who spoke words worthy of Phoebus,

or those who enriched life through arts they discovered,

and those whose merits made others remember them,

665all these have their brows bound with a snow-white fillet.

The Sibyl addressed them this way as they gathered around,

Musaeus before all, for the largest crowd

holds him at its center and looks up to him, towering by his high shoulders:

"Tell us, blessed souls, and you, best of poets,

670what region holds Anchises, what place has him? For his sake

we have come and crossed the great rivers of Erebus."

And to her the hero returned his answer in few words:

"No one has a fixed home; we dwell in shadowed groves,

and inhabit riverbank couches and meadows fresh with streams.

675But you, if the purpose in your heart so directs,

pass over this ridge; soon I will set you on an easy path."

He spoke and went before them; the shining fields

he points out from above; then they leave the ridge's crest.

679At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti

680inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras

lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum

forte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes,

fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.

Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videt

685Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit,

effusaeque genis lacrimae, et vox excidit ore:

Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti

vicit iter durum pietas? Datur ora tueri,

nate, tua, et notas audire et reddere voces?

690Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum,

tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit.

Quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum

accipio! quantis iactatum, nate, periclis!

Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent!

695Ille autem: Tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago,

saepius occurrens, haec limina tendere adegit:

stant sale Tyrrheno classes. Da iungere dextram,

da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro.

Sic memorans, largo fletu simul ora rigabat.

700Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum,

ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,

par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.

Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta

seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis,

705Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem.

Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant;

ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena

floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum

lilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus.

710Horrescit visu subito, causasque requirit

inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro,

quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas.

Tum pater Anchises: Animae, quibus altera fato

corpora debentur, Lethaei ad fluminis undam

715securos latices et longa oblivia potant.

Has equidem memorare tibi atque ostendere coram,

iampridem hanc prolem cupio enumerare meorum,

quo magis Italia mecum laetere reperta.

O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est

720sublimis animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti

corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?

Dicam equidem, nec te suspensum, nate, tenebo

suscipit Anchises, atque ordine singula pandit.

Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis

725lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra

spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus

mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet.

Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum,

et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus.

730Igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo

seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant,

terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra.

Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras

dispiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco.

735Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit,

non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes

corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est

multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris.

Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum

740supplicia expendunt: aliae panduntur inanes

suspensae ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto

infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni;

quisque suos patimur Manes; exinde per amplum

mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus;

745donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe,

concretam exemit labem, purumque relinquit

aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem.

Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos,

Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno,

750scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,

rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti.

679But father Anchises, deep in a green valley,

680was surveying the souls enclosed there and bound for the light above,

eagerly reviewing them; by chance he was numbering

the whole host of his people and his dear descendants,

the men's fates and fortunes, their characters and deeds.

When he saw Aeneas coming toward him across the grass,

685he eagerly stretched out both hands,

tears streamed down his cheeks, and these words broke from his lips:

"You have come at last. Has your devotion, so long awaited by your father,

mastered the hard road? Am I granted to look on your face,

my son, and to hear and answer your familiar voice?

690This is what I held in my mind, and thought would happen,

counting the days; my care has not deceived me.

What lands, what vast seas have borne you back to me,

tossed by such dangers, my son!

How I feared Libya's kingdoms might harm you somehow!"

695But Aeneas answered: "Your image, father, your sorrowful image,

meeting me again and again, drove me to seek these thresholds:

my ships stand on the Tyrrhenian sea. Let me clasp your right hand,

let me, father; do not draw yourself away from my embrace."

As he spoke, a flood of tears was drenching his face.

700Three times he tried there to throw his arms around his father's neck,

three times the image, caught in vain, slipped from his hands,

light as the wind, most like a fleeting dream.

Meanwhile Aeneas sees, in a remote valley,

a secluded grove and thickets rustling with woodland,

705and Lethe's river, flowing before the peaceful homes.

Around it countless tribes and peoples hovered;

and as, in meadows under clear summer weather,

bees settle on many-colored flowers and stream

around white lilies, the whole field hums with their murmur.

710Aeneas suddenly shudders at the sight and asks its cause,

not knowing what that river is beyond him,

or what men have filled its banks in so great a host.

Then father Anchises said: "These are the souls for whom, by fate,

second bodies are owed; beside Lethe's river,

715they drink care-dispelling waters and long oblivion.

These I have long wished to recount to you and show face to face,

to number this offspring of mine,

so that, now Italy is found, you may rejoice with me all the more."

"O father, are we to think that some souls rise from here to heaven,

720borne high aloft, and return again to sluggish

bodies? What dread longing for the light grips these poor souls?"

"I will tell you, and I will not keep you in suspense, my son,"

Anchises takes up the question and unfolds each point in order.

"First, heaven and earth and the flowing plains,

725the Moon's shining sphere and Titan's sun,

a spirit within sustains; and mind, poured through all their limbs,

sets the whole mass in motion and mingles with the great body.

From this come the race of humans and beasts, the lives of birds,

and the monsters the sea bears beneath its marble surface.

730Those seeds have fiery force and a heavenly origin,

so far as harmful bodies do not slow them,

and earthly frames and death-bound limbs do not blunt them.

From this they fear and desire, grieve and rejoice; they cannot gaze

out upon the upper air, shut in darkness and a blind prison.

735Even when life leaves them with the last light,

not every evil, nor all the body's taints,

pass utterly from the wretched souls; deep within, of necessity,

much that has long congealed grows rooted in strange ways.

Therefore they are schooled by punishments, and pay penalties

740for old evils: some hang stretched and exposed

to empty winds; for others, beneath a vast flood,

the stained guilt is washed away or burned out by fire;

each of us suffers his own ghostly lot; from there through broad

Elysium we are sent, though few possess the joyful fields;

745until length of days, when the cycle of time is complete,

removes the hardened stain and leaves behind

pure ethereal sense and the fire of unmixed air.

All these, when they have rolled the wheel through a thousand years,

the god summons in a mighty host to Lethe's river,

750so that, stripped of memory, they may revisit the vault above,

and once again begin to desire a return into bodies."

752Dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllam

conventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem,

et tumulum capit, unde omnes longo ordine possit

755adversos legere, et venientum discere vultus.

Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur

gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes,

inlustris animas nostrumque in nomen ituras,

expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo.

760Ille, vides, pura iuvenis qui nititur hasta,

proxuma sorte tenet lucis loca, primus ad auras

aetherias Italo commixtus sanguine surget,

silvius, Albanum nomen, tua postuma proles,

quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx

765educet silvis regem regumque parentem,

unde genus Longa nostrum dominabitur Alba.

Proxumus ille Procas, Troianae gloria gentis,

et Capys, et Numitor, et qui te nomine reddet

Silvius Aeneas, pariter pietate vel armis

770egregius, si umquam regnandam acceperit Albam.

Qui iuvenes! Quantas ostentant, aspice, vires,

atque umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu!

Hi tibi Nomentum et Gabios urbemque Fidenam,

hi Collatinas imponent montibus arces,

775Pometios Castrumque Inui Bolamque Coramque.

Haec tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terrae.

Quin et avo comitem sese Mavortius addet

Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia mater

educet. Viden, ut geminae stant vertice cristae,

780et pater ipse suo superum iam signat honore?

En, huius, nate, auspiciis illa incluta Roma

imperium terris, animos aequabit Olympo,

septemque una sibi muro circumdabit arces,

felix prole virum: qualis Berecyntia mater

785invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes,

laeta deum partu, centum complexa nepotes,

omnes caelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes.

752Anchises had spoken; he draws his son and the Sibyl together

into the midst of the gathering, into the murmuring crowd,

and takes his place on a mound, from which he can scan them all

755face to face in long order and learn the features of those approaching.

"Now come: what glory will hereafter follow the Dardan line,

what descendants from the Italian race await you,

illustrious souls destined to inherit our name,

I will set out in words, and teach you your fates.

760That youth there, you see, who leans on a headless spear,

holds by lot the place nearest the light; first to the air

of heaven he will rise, his blood mingled with Italy's:

Silvius—an Alban name—your posthumous child,

whom your wife Lavinia, late in your old age,

765will rear in the woods, a king and father of kings;

from him our race will rule in Alba Longa.

Next comes Procas, glory of the Trojan race,

and Capys, and Numitor, and the one who will revive your name,

Silvius Aeneas, equally distinguished in devotion and arms,

770if ever he comes to rule Alba.

What young men! See what strength they show,

and they wear their brows shaded by the civic oak!

These will establish for you Nomentum, Gabii, and Fidenae;

these will set Collatia's citadel on the hills,

775Pometia, Castrum Inui, Bola, and Cora.

These will be names then; now the lands are nameless.

Moreover, as companion to his grandsire, Mars-born

Romulus will join him; Ilia his mother, of Assaracus' blood,

will bear him. Do you see how twin crests stand on his head,

780and how Mars, his father, already marks him with his own honor among the gods?

See, my son: under his auspices that renowned Rome

will match her imperium to the world, her spirit to Olympus,

and will encircle seven hills together within a single wall,

fruitful in her progeny of men: as Cybele, the Berecyntian mother,

785rides tower-crowned in her chariot through Phrygian cities,

glad in the gods she bore, embracing a hundred grandchildren,

all heaven-dwellers, all holding the heights above.

788Huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hanc aspice gentem

Romanosque tuos. Hic Caesar et omnis Iuli

790progenies magnum caeli ventura sub axem.

Hic vir, hic est, tibi quem promitti saepius audis,

Augustus Caesar, Divi genus, aurea condet

saecula qui rursus Latio regnata per arva

Saturno quondam, super et Garamantas et Indos

795proferet imperium: iacet extra sidera tellus,

extra anni solisque vias, ubi caelifer Atlas

axem umero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum.

Huius in adventum iam nunc et Caspia regna

responsis horrent divom et Maeotia tellus,

800et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili.

Nec vero Alcides tantum telluris obivit,

fixerit aeripedem cervam licet, aut Erymanthi

pacarit nemora, et Lernam tremefecerit arcu;

nec, qui pampineis victor iuga flectit habenis,

805Liber, agens celso Nysae de vertice tigres.

Et dubitamus adhuc virtute extendere vires,

aut metus Ausonia prohibet consistere terra?

Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae

sacra ferens? Nosco crines incanaque menta

810regis Romani, primus qui legibus urbem

fundabit, Curibus parvis et paupere terra

missus in imperium magnum. Cui deinde subibit,

otia qui rumpet patriae residesque movebit

Tullus in arma viros et iam desueta triumphis

815agmina. Quem iuxta sequitur iactantior Ancus,

nunc quoque iam nimium gaudens popularibus auris.

Vis et Tarquinios reges, animamque superbam

ultoris Bruti, fascesque videre receptos?

Consulis imperium hic primus saevasque secures

820accipiet, natosque pater nova bella moventes

ad poenam pulchra pro libertate vocabit.

Infelix, utcumque ferent ea facta minores,

vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido.

Quin Decios Drusosque procul saevumque securi

825aspice Torquatum et referentem signa Camillum.

Illae autem, paribus quas fulgere cernis in armis,

concordes animae nunc et dum nocte premuntur,

heu quantum inter se bellum, si lumina vitae

attigerint, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt!

830Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monoeci

descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois.

Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis adsuescite bella,

neu patriae validas in viscera vertite vires;

tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui ducis Olympo,

835proice tela manu, sanguis meus!—

Ille triumphata Capitolia ad alta Corintho

victor aget currum, caesis insignis Achivis.

Eruet ille Argos Agamemnoniasque Mycenas,

ipsumque Aeaciden, genus armipotentis Achilli,

840ultus avos Troiae, templa et temerata Minervae.

Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat?

Quis Gracchi genus, aut geminos, duo fulmina belli,

Scipiadas, cladem Libyae, parvoque potentem

Fabricium vel te sulco Serrane, serentem?

845quo fessum rapitis, Fabii? Tu Maxumus ille es,

unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem.

Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,

credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus,

orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus

850describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:

tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;

hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,

parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.

788Now turn both eyes this way; behold this people,

your own Romans. Here is Caesar, and all the offspring

790of Iulus, destined to come beneath heaven's great vault.

This is the man, this is he whom you so often hear promised,

Augustus Caesar, son of the deified one, who will found

a golden age again in Latium, across fields once ruled

by Saturn; beyond the Garamantes and Indians

795he will extend imperium: a land lies beyond the stars,

beyond the paths of year and sun, where sky-bearing Atlas

turns on his shoulder the axis studded with blazing stars.

At his coming, even now the Caspian kingdoms

shudder at the gods' replies, and the Maeotic land;

800the sevenfold mouths of the Nile tremble in fear.

Not even Alcides ranged over so much of the earth,

though he pierced the bronze-footed hind, or brought peace

to Erymanthus' woods, and made Lerna tremble with his bow;

nor Bacchus, Liber, who as victor steers his team

805with vine-wreathed reins, driving tigers down from Nysa's high summit.

And do we still hesitate to extend our power by valor,

or does fear keep us from taking our stand on Ausonian land?

But who is that man far off, marked by olive branches,

bearing sacred things? I recognize the gray hair and beard

810of the Roman king, who first will found the city through laws,

sent from little Cures and a poor land

into mighty imperium. After him will rise the man

who will break his country's ease and rouse idle

men, Tullus, to arms, and ranks long unused to triumphs.

815Beside him follows boastful Ancus,

even now too pleased by popular favor.

Do you wish to see the Tarquin kings as well, and the proud soul

of avenging Brutus, and the fasces recovered?

He will be the first to receive the consul's imperium

820and the ruthless axes; as father, he will call his sons,

who stir new wars, to punishment for splendid liberty.

Unhappy man, however later generations judge those deeds:

love of country and boundless thirst for praise will prevail.

Look farther: the Decii and Drusi, and Torquatus,

825stern with the axe, and Camillus bringing back the standards.

But those souls you see gleaming in matched arms,

now harmonious, while night still weighs them down,

alas, what war between them, if they reach the lights of life,

what battle lines and slaughter they will call up!

830Caesar, the father-in-law, descends from Alpine ramparts

and Monoecus' citadel; Pompey, the son-in-law, stands arrayed against him with Eastern hosts.

No, my sons, do not school your spirits in such wars,

nor turn your country's mighty strength against her own vitals;

and you, who draw your line from Olympus, you be first to spare him;

835cast the weapons from your hand, blood of mine!

Mummius, with Corinth conquered, will drive his chariot

in triumph to the high Capitol, renowned for Achaeans slain.

Another will overthrow Argos and Agamemnon's Mycenae,

and the Aeacid himself, descendant of war-mighty Achilles,

840avenging Troy's forebears and Minerva's desecrated temples.

Who would leave you unspoken, great Cato, or you, Cossus?

Who the Gracchi line, or the twin Scipios, two thunderbolts of war,

Libya's ruin, or Fabricius, powerful though poor,

or you, Serranus, sowing in the furrow?

845Where are you hurrying me, weary as I am, Fabii? You are that Maximus,

the one man who restores our state for us by delaying.

Others will forge breathing bronze more delicately,

I grant it, and draw living features from marble;

they will plead cases better and trace the courses of heaven

850with a rod, and name the rising stars:

you, Roman, remember to rule peoples with imperium;

these will be your arts: to impose the order of peace,

to spare the conquered, and subdue the proud."

854Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:

855Aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis

ingreditur, victorque viros supereminet omnes!

Hic rem Romanam, magno turbante tumultu,

sistet, eques sternet Poenos Gallumque rebellem,

tertiaque arma patri suspendet capta Quirino.

860Atque hic Aeneas; una namque ire videbat

egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis,

sed frons laeta parum, et deiecto lumina voltu:

Quis, pater, ille, virum qui sic comitatur euntem?

Filius, anne aliquis magna de stirpe nepotum?

865Quis strepitus circa comitum! Quantum instar in ipso!

Sed nox atra caput tristi circumvolat umbra.

Tum pater Anchises, lacrimis ingressus obortis:

O gnate, ingentem luctum ne quaere tuorum;

ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra

870esse sinent. Nimium vobis Romana propago

visa potens, Superi, propria haec si dona fuissent.

Quantos ille virum magnam Mavortis ad urbem

campus aget gemitus, vel quae, Tiberine, videbis

funera, cum tumulum praeterlabere recentem!

875Nec puer Iliaca quisquam de gente Latinos

in tantum spe tollet avos, nec Romula quondam

ullo se tantum tellus iactabit alumno.

Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello

dextera! Non illi se quisquam impune tulisset

880obvius armato, seu cum pedes iret in hostem,

seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos.

Heu, miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas,

tu Marcellus eris. Manibus date lilia plenis,

purpureos spargam flores, animamque nepotis

885his saltem adcumulem donis, et fungar inani

munere—Sic tota passim regione vagantur

aëris in campis latis, atque omnia lustrant.

Quae postquam Anchises natum per singula duxit,

incenditque animum famae venientis amore,

890exin bella viro memorat quae deinde gerenda,

Laurentisque docet populos urbemque Latini,

et quo quemque modo fugiatque feratque laborem.

854So father Anchises speaks, and, as they marvel, adds this:

855"Look how Marcellus, distinguished by the spolia opima,

advances, and as victor towers above all men!

This man, when great upheaval shakes it, will set the Roman state firm,

and as a horseman will lay low Carthaginians and rebellious Gaul,

and will hang the third captured arms for Father Quirinus."

860Then Aeneas spoke; for he saw beside him

a youth outstanding in beauty and gleaming armor,

but his brow was joyless, and his eyes downcast:

"Who is he, father, who so attends that man as he goes?

A son, or someone from the great stock of descendants?

865What a throng of companions around him! What stature in the man himself!

But black night circles his head with sorrowful shadow."

Then father Anchises began, tears welling up:

"O son, do not ask after your people's immense grief;

the fates will only show this man to earth, and no longer

870will they let him remain. The Roman stock would have seemed too powerful to you,

gods above, if these gifts had been made its own.

What groans of men the Field of Mars will send toward mighty Rome,

or what funerals you will see, Tiber,

when you glide past the fresh tomb!

875No other boy of Ilium's race will lift his Latin

forefathers so high with hope, nor will Romulus' land ever

boast so greatly of any nursling.

Alas for devotion, alas for ancient faith, and for that right hand

unconquered in war! No one could have faced him armed

880and gone unpunished, whether he marched on foot against the enemy,

or drove his spurs into the flanks of a foaming horse.

Alas, pitiable boy, if by any means you could break the harsh fates,

you will be Marcellus. Give lilies by the handful;

let me scatter purple flowers and heap these gifts

885at least around my descendant's shade, performing this fruitless

rite." So they wander everywhere through the whole region

across the broad fields of air, surveying everything.

After Anchises had led his son through each sight,

and kindled his spirit with love of the fame to come,

890then he tells the man of the wars that next must be waged,

and teaches him the Laurentine peoples and Latinus' city,

and how he should avoid or endure each trial.

893Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur

cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris;

895altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto,

sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.

His ubi tum natum Anchises unaque Sibyllam

prosequitur dictis, portaque emittit eburna,

ille viam secat ad naves sociosque revisit:

900tum se ad Caietae recto fert litore portum.

Ancora de prora iacitur, stant litore puppes.

893There are twin Gates of Sleep: one of them, they say,

is of horn, and through it true shades are given easy exit;

895the other gleams, fashioned from bright ivory,

yet through it the Manes send false dreams up to the sky.

With these words Anchises then escorts his son and, with him, the Sibyl,

and sends them out through the ivory gate.

Aeneas makes his way to the ships and sees his companions again;

900then straight along the shore he makes for Caieta's harbor.

The anchor is cast from the prow; the ships stand along the shore.