But now his destined way he must be gone;Now the last regions round the travellers lie,Where famous warriors in the darkness dwell:Here Tydeus comes in view, with far-renownedParthenopaeus and Adrastus pale;Here mourned in upper air with many a moan,In battle fallen, the Dardanidae,Whose long defile Aeneas groans to see:Glaucus and Medon and Thersilochus,Antenor's children three, and Ceres' priest,That Polypoetes, and Idaeus still.Keeping the kingly chariot and spear.Around him left and right the crowding shadesNot only once would see, but clutch and clingObstructive, asking on what quest he goes.Soon as the princes of Argolic blood,With line on line of Agamemnon's men,Beheld the hero and his glittering armsFlash through the dark, they trembled with amaze,Or turned in flight, as if once more they fledTo shelter of the ships; some raised aloftA feeble shout, or vainly opened wideTheir gaping lips in mockery of sound.
Inde datum molitur iter. Iamque arva tenebantultima, quae bello clari secreta frequentant.Hic illi occurrit Tydeus, hic inclutus armisParthenopaeus et Adrasti pallentis imago;hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduciDardanidae, quos ille omnes longo ordine cernensingemuit, Glaucumque Medontaque Thersilochumque,tris Antenoridas, Cererique sacrum Polyphoeten,Idaeumque, 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 phalangesut videre virum fulgentiaque arma per umbras,ingenti trepidare metu; pars vertere terga,ceu quondam petiere rates; pars tollere vocemexiguam, inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes.
Here Priam's son, with body rent and torn,Deïphobus is seen,—his mangled face,His face and bloody hands, his wounded headOf ears and nostrils infamously shorn.Scarce could Aeneas know the shuddering shadeThat strove to hide its face and shameful scar;But, speaking first, he said, in their own tongue:“Deiphobus, strong warrior, nobly bornOf Teucer's royal stem, what ruthless foeCould wish to wreak on thee this dire revenge?Who ventured, unopposed, so vast a wrong?The rumor reached me how, that deadly night,Wearied with slaying Greeks, thyself didst fallProne on a mingled heap of friends and foes.Then my own hands did for thy honor buildAn empty tomb upon the Trojan shore,And thrice with echoing voice I called thy shade.Thy name and arms are there. But, 0 my friend,Thee could I nowhere find, but launched away,Nor o'er thy bones their native earth could fling.”To him the son of Priam thus replied:“Nay, friend, no hallowed rite was left undone,But every debt to death and pity dueThe shades of thy Deiphobus received.My fate it was, and Helen's murderous wrong,Wrought me this woe; of her these tokens tell.For how that last night in false hope we passed,Thou knowest,—ah, too well we both recall!When up the steep of Troy the fateful horseCame climbing, pregnant with fierce men-at-arms,'t was she, accurst, who led the Phrygian damesIn choric dance and false bacchantic song,And, waving from the midst a lofty brand,Signalled the Greeks from Ilium's central towerIn that same hour on my sad couch I lay,Exhausted by long care and sunk in sleep,That sweet, deep sleep, so close to tranquil death.But my illustrious bride from all the houseHad stolen all arms; from 'neath my pillowed headShe stealthily bore off my trusty sword;Then loud on Menelaus did she call,And with her own false hand unbarred the door;Such gift to her fond lord she fain would sendTo blot the memory of his ancient wrong!Why tell the tale, how on my couch they broke,While their accomplice, vile Aeolides,Counselled to many a crime. 0 heavenly Powers!Reward these Greeks their deeds of wickedness,If with clean lips upon your wrath I call!But, friend, what fortunes have thy life befallen?Tell point by point. Did waves of wandering seasDrive thee this way, or some divine command?What chastisement of fortune thrusts thee onToward this forlorn abode of night and cloud?”
Atque hic Priamiden laniatum corpore totoDeiphobum videt et lacerum crudeliter ora,ora manusque ambas, populataque tempora raptisauribus, et truncas inhonesto volnere nares.Vix adeo adgnovit pavitantem et dira tegentemsupplicia, et notis compellat vocibus ultro:“Deiphobe 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.”“Tunc 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;”“omnia 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.”“Cum 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.”“Tum 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;”“intra 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”“instaurate, 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?”
While thus they talked, the crimsoned car of MornHad wheeled beyond the midmost point of heaven,On her ethereal road. The princely pairHad wasted thus the whole brief gift of hours;But Sibyl spoke the warning: “Night speeds by,And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting.Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain.Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes,And leads us to Elysium. But the leftSpeeds sinful souls to doom, and is their pathTo Tartarus th' accurst.” DeïphobusCried out: “0 priestess, be not wroth with us!Back to the ranks with yonder ghosts I go.0 glory of my race, pass on! Thy lotBe happier than mine!” He spoke, and fled.
Hac vice sermonum roseïs Aurora quadrigisiam 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.”“Hic 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;”“discedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris.”“I decus, i, nostrum; melioribus utere fatis!”Tantum effatus, et in verbo vestigia torsit.
Aeneas straightway by the leftward cliffBeheld a spreading rampart, high begirtWith triple wall, and circling round it ranA raging river of swift floods of flame,Infernal Phlegethon, which whirls alongLoud-thundering rocks. A mighty gate is thereColumned in adamant; no human power,Nor even the gods, against this gate prevail.Tall tower of steel it has; and seated thereTisiphone, in blood-flecked pall arrayed,Sleepless forever, guards the entering way.Hence groans are heard, fierce cracks of lash and scourge,Loud-clanking iron links and trailing chains.Aeneas motionless with horror stoodo'erwhelmed at such uproar. “0 virgin, sayWhat shapes of guilt are these? What penal woeHarries them thus? What wailing smites the air?”To whom the Sibyl, “Far-famed prince of Troy,The feet of innocence may never passInto this house of sin. But Hecate,When o'er th' Avernian groves she gave me power,Taught me what penalties the gods decree,And showed me all. There Cretan RhadamanthHis kingdom keeps, and from unpitying throneChastises and lays bare the secret sinsOf mortals who, exulting in vain guile,Elude till death, their expiation due.There, armed forever with her vengeful scourge,Tisiphone, with menace and affront,The guilty swarm pursues; in her left handShe lifts her angered serpents, while she callsA troop of sister-furies fierce as she.Then, grating loud on hinge of sickening sound,Hell's portals open wide. 0, dost thou seeWhat sentinel upon that threshold sits,What shapes of fear keep guard upon that gloom?
Respicit Aeneas subito, et sub rupe sinistramoenia lata videt, triplici circumdata muro,quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis,Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa.Porta adversa ingens, solidoque adamante columnae,vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bellocaelicolae valeant; stat ferrea turris ad auras,Tisiphoneque sedens, palla succincta cruenta,vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesque.Hinc exaudiri gemitus, et saeva sonareverbera; tum stridor ferri, tractaeque catenae.Constitit Aeneas, strepitumque exterritus hausit.“Quae 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,”“ipsa 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.”“Continuo 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”“vestibulo sedeat, facies quae limina servet?”
Far, far within the dragon Hydra broodsWith half a hundred mouths, gaping and black;And Tartarus slopes downward to the darkTwice the whole space that in the realms of lightTh' Olympian heaven above our earth aspires. —Here Earth's first offspring, the Titanic brood,Roll lightning-blasted in the gulf profound;The twin Aloïdae, colossal shades,Came on my view; their hands made stroke at HeavenAnd strove to thrust Jove from his seat on high.I saw Salmoneus his dread stripes endure,Who dared to counterfeit Olympian thunderAnd Jove's own fire. In chariot of four steeds,Brandishing torches, he triumphant rodeThrough throngs of Greeks, o'er Elis' sacred way,Demanding worship as a god. 0 fool!To mock the storm's inimitable flash—With crash of hoofs and roll of brazen wheel!But mightiest Jove from rampart of thick cloudHurled his own shaft, no flickering, mortal flame,And in vast whirl of tempest laid him low.Next unto these, on Tityos I looked,Child of old Earth, whose womb all creatures bears:Stretched o'er nine roods he lies; a vulture hugeTears with hooked beak at his immortal side,Or deep in entrails ever rife with painGropes for a feast, making his haunt and homeIn the great Titan bosom; nor will giveTo ever new-born flesh surcease of woe.Why name Ixion and Pirithous,The Lapithae, above whose impious browsA crag of flint hangs quaking to its fall,As if just toppling down, while couches proud,Propped upon golden pillars, bid them feastIn royal glory: but beside them liesThe eldest of the Furies, whose dread handsThrust from the feast away, and wave aloftA flashing firebrand, with shrieks of woe.Here in a prison-house awaiting doomAre men who hated, long as life endured,Their brothers, or maltreated their gray sires,Or tricked a humble friend; the men who graspedAt hoarded riches, with their kith and kinNot sharing ever—an unnumbered throng;Here slain adulterers be; and men who daredTo fight in unjust cause, and break all faithWith their own lawful lords. Seek not to knowWhat forms of woe they feel, what fateful shapeOf retribution hath o'erwhelmed them there.Some roll huge boulders up; some hang on wheels,Lashed to the whirling spokes; in his sad seatTheseus is sitting, nevermore to rise;Unhappy Phlegyas uplifts his voiceIn warning through the darkness, calling loud,‘0, ere too late, learn justice and fear God!’Yon traitor sold his country, and for goldEnchained her to a tyrant, traffickingIn laws, for bribes enacted or made void;Another did incestuously takeHis daughter for a wife in lawless bonds.All ventured some unclean, prodigious crime;And what they dared, achieved. I could not tell,Not with a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,Or iron voice, their divers shapes of sin,Nor call by name the myriad pangs they bear.”
“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.”“Hic 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.”“Vidi 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,—”“demens, 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.”“Nec 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”“pectore, 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”“regifico 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,”“aut 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”“quam 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:”“‘Discite 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.”“Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum,”“ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas,”“omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.”
So spake Apollo's aged prophetess.“Now up and on!” she cried. “Thy task fulfil!We must make speed. Behold yon arching doorsYon walls in furnace of the Cyclops forged!'T is there we are commanded to lay downTh' appointed offering.” So, side by side,Swift through the intervening dark they strode,And, drawing near the portal-arch, made pause.Aeneas, taking station at the door,Pure, lustral waters o'er his body threw,And hung for garland there the Golden Bough.
Haec ubi dicta dedit Phoebi longaeva sacerdos:“Sed iam age, carpe viam et susceptum perfice munus;”“adceleremus” 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.Occupat Aeneas aditum, corpusque recentispargit aqua, ramumque adverso in limine figit.
Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute duePaid to the sovereign power of Proserpine,At last within a land delectableTheir journey lay, through pleasurable bowersOf groves where all is joy,—a blest abode!An ampler sky its roseate light bestowsOn that bright land, which sees the cloudless beamOf suns and planets to our earth unknown.On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb,Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand;With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song,Some thread the dance divine: among them movesThe bard of Thrace, in flowing vesture clad,Discoursing seven-noted melody,Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand,Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre.Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race,Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times,Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus,Illustrious builders of the Trojan town.Their arms and shadowy chariots he views,And lances fixed in earth, while through the fieldsTheir steeds without a bridle graze at will.For if in life their darling passion ranTo chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds,The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel.Lo! on the left and right at feast reclinedAre other blessed souls, whose chorus singsVictorious paeans on the fragrant airOf laurel groves; and hence to earth outpoursEridanus, through forests rolling free.Here dwell the brave who for their native landFell wounded on the field; here holy priestsWho kept them undefiled their mortal day;And poets, of whom the true-inspired songDeserved Apollo's name; and all who foundNew arts, to make man's life more blest or fair;Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeathDeserved and grateful memory to their kind.And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears.Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailedMusaeus, midmost of a numerous throng,Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher:“0 spirits blest! 0 venerable bard!Declare what dwelling or what region holdsAnchises, for whose sake we twain essayedYon passage over the wide streams of hell.”And briefly thus the hero made reply:“No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy grovesWe make our home, or meadows fresh and fair,With streams whose flowery banks our couches be.But you, if thitherward your wishes turn,Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show.”So saying, he strode forth and led them on,Till from that vantage they had prospect fairOf a wide, shining land; thence wending down,They left the height they trod;
His demum exactis, perfecto munere divae,devenere locos laetos et amoena virectafortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas.Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestitpurpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena;pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt.Nec non Threïcius longa cum veste sacerdosobloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum,iamque eadem digitis, iam pectine pulsat eburno.Hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles,magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis,Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor.Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes.Stant terra defixae hastae, passimque solutiper campum pascuntur equi. Quae gratia currumarmorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentispascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.Conspicit, ecce, alios dextra laevaque per herbamvescentis, laetumque choro paeana canentisinter odoratum lauri nemus, unde superneplurimus Eridani per silvam volvitur amnis.Hic 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,omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta.Quos circumfusos sic est adfata Sybilla,Musaeum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turbahunc habet, atque umeris exstantem suspicit altis:“Dicite, felices animae, tuque, optime vates,”“quae 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”“incolimus. Sed vos, si fert ita corde voluntas,”“hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam.”Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentisdesuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt.
for far belowFather Anchises in a pleasant valeStood pondering, while his eyes and thought surveyedA host of prisoned spirits, who there abodeAwaiting entrance to terrestrial air.And musing he reviewed the legions brightOf his own progeny and offspring proud—Their fates and fortunes, virtues and great deeds.Soon he discerned Aeneas drawing nigho'er the green slope, and, lifting both his handsIn eager welcome, spread them swiftly forth.Tears from his eyelids rained, and thus he spoke:“Art here at last? Hath thy well-proven loveOf me thy sire achieved yon arduous way?Will Heaven, beloved son, once more allowThat eye to eye we look? and shall I hearThy kindred accent mingling with my own?I cherished long this hope. My prophet-soulNumbered the lapse of days, nor did my thoughtDeceive. 0, o'er what lands and seas wast drivenTo this embrace! What perils manifoldAssailed thee, 0 my son, on every side!How long I trembled, lest that Libyan throneShould work thee woe!”Aeneas thus replied:“Thine image, sire, thy melancholy shade,Came oft upon my vision, and impelledMy journey hitherward. Our fleet of shipsLies safe at anchor in the Tuscan seas.Come, clasp my hand! Come, father, I implore,And heart to heart this fond embrace receive!”So speaking, all his eyes suffused with tears;Thrice would his arms in vain that shape enfold.Thrice from the touch of hand the vision fled,Like wafted winds or likest hovering dreams.
At pater Anchises penitus convalle virentiinclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituraslustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorumforte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes,fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videtAenean, 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?”“Sic 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!”Ille 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.Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum,ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,[par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.]
After these things Aeneas was awareOf solemn groves in one deep, distant vale,Where trees were whispering, and forever flowedThe river Lethe, through its land of calm.Nations unnumbered roved and haunted there:As when, upon a windless summer morn,The bees afield among the rainbow flowersAlight and sip, or round the lilies purePour forth in busy swarm, while far diffusedTheir murmured songs from all the meadows rise.Aeneas in amaze the wonder views,And fearfully inquires of whence and why;What yonder rivers be; what people press,Line after line, on those dim shores along.Said Sire Anchises: “Yonder thronging soulsTo reincarnate shape predestined move.Here, at the river Lethe's wave, they quaffCare-quelling floods, and long oblivion.Of these I shall discourse, and to thy soulMake visible the number and arrayOf my posterity; so shall thy heartIn Italy, thy new-found home, rejoice.”“0 father,” said Aeneas, “must I deemThat from this region souls exalted riseTo upper air, and shall once more returnTo cumbering flesh? 0, wherefore do they feel,Unhappy ones, such fatal lust to live?”“I speak, my son, nor make thee longer doubt,”Anchises said, and thus the truth set forth,In ordered words from point to point unfolding:
Interea videt Aeneas in valle reductaseclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis,Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem.Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant;ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serenafloribus insidunt variis, et candida circumlilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus.Horrescit visu subito, causasque requiritinscius 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”“securos 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”“sublimis 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.
“Know first that heaven and earth and ocean's plain,The moon's bright orb, and stars of Titan birthAre nourished by one Life; one primal Mind,Immingled with the vast and general frame,Fills every part and stirs the mighty whole.Thence man and beast, thence creatures of the air,And all the swarming monsters that be foundBeneath the level of the marbled sea;A fiery virtue, a celestial power,Their native seeds retain; but bodies vile,With limbs of clay and members born to die,Encumber and o'ercloud; whence also springTerrors and passions, suffering and joy;For from deep darkness and captivityAll gaze but blindly on the radiant world.Nor when to life's last beam they bid farewellMay sufferers cease from pain, nor quite be freedFrom all their fleshly plagues; but by fixed law,The strange, inveterate taint works deeply in.For this, the chastisement of evils pastIs suffered here, and full requital paid.Some hang on high, outstretched to viewless winds;For some their sin's contagion must be purgedIn vast ablution of deep-rolling seas,Or burned away in fire. Each man receivesHis ghostly portion in the world of dark;But thence to realms Elysian we go free,Where for a few these seats of bliss abide,Till time's long lapse a perfect orb fulfils,And takes all taint away, restoring soThe pure, ethereal soul's first virgin fire.At last, when the millennial aeon strikes,God calls them forth to yon Lethaean stream,In numerous host, that thence, oblivious all,They may behold once more the vaulted sky,And willingly to shapes of flesh return.”
“Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis”“lucentemque 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.”“Igneus 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.”“Quin 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”“supplicia 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;”“donec 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,”“scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,”“rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti.”
So spoke Anchises; then led forth his son,The Sibyl with him, to the assembled shades(A voiceful throng), and on a lofty moundHis station took, whence plainly could be seenThe long procession, and each face descried.
Dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllamconventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem,et tumulum capit, unde omnes longo ordine possitadversos legere, et venientum discere vultus.
“Hark now! for of the glories I will tellThat wait our Dardan blood; of our sons' sonsBegot upon the old Italian breed,Who shall be mighty spirits, and prolongOur names, their heritage. I will unfoldThe story, and reveal the destined years.Yon princeling, thou beholdest leaning thereUpon a royal lance, shall next emergeInto the realms of day. He is the firstOf half-Italian strain, the last-born heirTo thine old age by fair Lavinia given,Called Silvius, a royal Alban name(Of sylvan birth and sylvan nurture he),A king himself and sire of kings to come,By whom our race in Alba Longa reign.Next Procas stands, our Trojan people's boast;Capys and Numitor, and, named like thee,Aeneas Sylvius, like thee renownedFor faithful honor and for deeds of war,When he ascends at last his Alban throne.Behold what warrior youth they be! How strongTheir goodly limbs! Above their shaded browsThe civic oak they wear! For thee they buildNomentum, and the walls of Gabii,Fidena too, and on the mountains pileCollatia's citadels, Pometii,Bola and Cora, Castrum-Inui—Such be the names the nameless lands shall bear.See, in that line of sires the son of Mars,Great Romulus, of Ilian mother born,From far-descended line of Trojan kings!See from his helm the double crest uprear,While his celestial father in his mienShows forth his birth divine! Of him, my son,Great Rome shall rise, and, favored of his star,Have power world-wide, and men of godlike mind.She clasps her seven hills in single wall,Proud mother of the brave! So Cybele,The Berecynthian goddess, castle-crowned,On through the Phrygian kingdoms speeds her car,Exulting in her hundred sons divine,All numbered with the gods, all throned on high.“Let now thy visionary glance look longOn this thy race, these Romans that be thine.Here Caesar, of Iulus' glorious seed,Behold ascending to the world of light!Behold, at last, that man, for this is he,So oft unto thy listening ears foretold,Augustus Caesar, kindred unto Jove.He brings a golden age; he shall restoreOld Saturn's sceptre to our Latin land,And o'er remotest Garamant and IndHis sway extend; the fair dominionoutruns th' horizon planets, yea, beyondThe sun's bright path, where Atlas' shoulder bearsYon dome of heaven set thick with burning stars.Against his coming the far Caspian shoresBreak forth in oracles; the Maeotian landTrembles, and all the seven-fold mouths of Nile.
“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.”“Ille, 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”“educet 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”“egregius, 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,”“Pometios 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,”“et 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”“invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes,”“laeta deum partu, centum complexa nepotes,”“omnes caelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes.”“Huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hanc aspice gentem”“Romanosque tuos. Hic Caesar et omnis Iuli”“progenies 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”“proferet 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,”“et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili.”
Not o'er domain so wide Alcides passed,Although the brazen-footed doe he slewAnd stilled the groves of Erymanth, and badeThe beast of Lerna at his arrows quail.Nor half so far triumphant Baechus drove,With vine-entwisted reins, his frolic teamOf tigers from the tall-topped Indian hill.“Still do we doubt if heroes' deeds can fillA realm so wide? Shall craven fear constrainThee or thy people from Ausonia's shore?Look, who is he I may discern from farBy olive-branch and holy emblems known?His flowing locks and hoary beard, behold!Fit for a Roman king! By hallowed lawsHe shall found Rome anew—from mean estateIn lowly Cures led to mightier sway.But after him arises one whose reignShall wake the land from slumber: Tullus thenShall stir slack chiefs to battle, rallyingHis hosts which had forgot what triumphs be.Him boastful Ancus follows hard upon,o'erflushed with his light people's windy praise.Wilt thou see Tarquins now? And haughty handOf vengeful Brutus seize the signs of power?He first the consul's name shall take; he firstTh' inexorable fasces sternly bear.When his own sons in rash rebellion join,The father and the judge shall sentence giveIn beauteous freedom's cause—unhappy he!Howe'er the age to come the story tell,'t will bless such love of honor and of Rome.See Decius, sire and son, the Drusi, see!Behold Torquatus with his axe! Look whereCamillus brings the Gallic standards home!“But who are these in glorious armor cladAnd equal power? In this dark world of cloudTheir souls in concord move;—but woe is me!What duel 'twixt them breaks, when by and byThe light of life is theirs, and forth they callTheir long-embattled lines to carnage dire!Allied by nuptial truce, the sire descendsFrom Alpine rampart and that castled cliff,Monoecus by the sea; the son arraysHis hostile legions in the lands of morn.Forbear, my children! School not your great soulsIn such vast wars, nor turn your giant strengthAgainst the bowels of your native land!But be thou first, 0 first in mercy! thouWho art of birth Olympian! Fling awayThy glorious sword, mine offspring and mine heir!“Yonder is one whose chariot shall ascendThe laurelled Capitolian steep; he ridesIn glory o'er Achaea's hosts laid low,And Corinth overthrown. There, too, is heWho shall uproot proud Argos and the towersOf Agamemnon; vanquishing the heirEven of Aeacus, the warrior seedOf Peleus' son; such vengeance shall be wroughtFor Troy's slain sires, and violated shrines!“Or who could fail great Cato's name to tell?Or, Cossus, thine? or in oblivion leaveThe sons of Gracchus? or the Scipios,Twin thunderbolts of war, and Libya's bane?Or, more than kingly in his mean abode,Fabricius? or Serranus at the plough?Ye Fabii, how far would ye prolongMy weary praise? But see! 'T is Maximus,Who by wise waiting saves his native land.“Let others melt and mould the breathing bronzeTo forms more fair,—aye! out of marble bringFeatures that live; let them plead causes well;Or trace with pointed wand the cycled heaven,And hail the constellations as they rise;But thou, 0 Roman, learn with sovereign swayTo rule the nations. Thy great art shall beTo keep the world in lasting peace, to sparehumbled foe, and crush to earth the proud.”
“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,”“Liber, 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”“regis 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”“agmina. 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”“accipiet, 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”“aspice 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!”“Aggeribus 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,”“proice 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,”“ultus 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?”“quo 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”“describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:”“tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;”“hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,”“parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.”
So did Anchises speak, then, after pause,Thus to their wondering ears his word prolonged:“Behold Marcellus, bright with glorious spoil,In lifted triumph through his warriors move!The Roman power in tumultuous daysHe shall establish; he rides forth to quellAfric and rebel Gaul; and to the shrineOf Romulus the third-won trophy brings.”Then spoke Aeneas, for he now could seeA beauteous youth in glittering dress of war,Though of sad forehead and down-dropping eyes:“Say, father, who attends the prince? a son?Or of his greatness some remoter heir?How his friends praise him, and how matchless he!But mournful night Tests darkly o'er his brow.”With brimming eyes Anchises answer gave:“Ask not, 0 son, what heavy weight of woeThy race shall bear, when fate shall just revealThis vision to the world, then yield no more.0 gods above, too glorious did ye deemThe seed of Rome, had this one gift been sure?The lamentation of a multitudeArises from the field of Mars, and strikesThe city's heart. 0 Father Tiber, seeWhat pomp of sorrow near the new-made tombBeside thy fleeting stream! What Ilian youthShall e'er his Latin kindred so advanceIn hope of glory? When shall the proud landOf Romulus of such a nursling boast?Ah, woe' is me! 0 loyal heart and true!0 brave, right arm invincible! What foeHad 'scaped his onset in the shock of arms,Whether on foot he strode, or if he spurredThe hot flanks of his war-horse flecked with foam?0 lost, lamented child! If thou evadeThy evil star, Marcellus thou shalt be.0 bring me lilies! Bring with liberal hand!Sad purple blossoms let me throw—the shadeOf my own kin to honor, heaping highMy gifts upon his grave! So let me payAn unavailing vow!”Then, far and wideThrough spacious fields of air, they wander free,Witnessing all; Anchises guides his sonFrom point to point, and quickens in his mindHunger for future fame. Of wars he tellsSoon imminent; of fair Laurentum's tribes;Of King Latinus' town; and shows what wayEach task and hardship to prevent, or bear.
Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:“Aspice, 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.”Atque hic Aeneas; una namque ire videbategregium 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?”“Quis 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”“esse 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!”“Nec 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”“obvius 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”“his saltem adcumulem donis, et fungar inani”“munere”—Sic tota passim regione vaganturaëris in campis latis, atque omnia lustrant.Quae postquam Anchises natum per singula duxit,incenditque animum famae venientis amore,exin bella viro memorat quae deinde gerenda,Laurentisque docet populos urbemque Latini,et quo quemque modo fugiatque feratque laborem.
Now Sleep has portals twain, whereof the oneIs horn, they say, and easy exit givesTo visions true; the other, gleaming whiteWith polished ivory, the.dead employTo people night with unsubstantial dreams.Here now Anchises bids his son farewell;And with Sibylla, his companion sage,Up through that ivory portal lets him rise.Back to his fleet and his dear comrades allAeneas hastes. Then hold they their straight courseInto Caieta's bay. An anchor holdsEach lofty prow; the sterns stand firm on shore.
Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera ferturcornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris;altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto,sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.His ubi tum natum Anchises unaque Sibyllamprosequitur dictis, portaque emittit eburna,ille viam secat ad naves sociosque revisit:tum se ad Caietae recto fert litore portum.[Ancora de prora iacitur, stant litore puppes.]