The 6th Book of Vergil's Aeneis,
"The Aeneid"
And so, along the path begun they travel and to the river they draw near.
And when them the Boatman did espy from the Stygian swell, 385
How through the wordless wood they went and turned their feet to the river's edge,
He first accosts them with these words and upbraids from afar:
"Whoever thou art that so armed to our rivers come'st,
Speak up! Why art thou come? Stay there now and stop thy step!
This is the Shades' place, a place of Dream and sleepy Night, 390
And bodies yet alive it be against law divine to carry in this Stygian keel.
Yea, not was I happy that Alceus' grandson when he came hither
Did I receive upon this water, likewise in the case of Thēseus and Pirithoüs,
Even though from gods they were born and were unmatched in might.
Tartarus' guard did the first of them by his own hand fetter in chains, 395
And from the throne of our king himself dragged the beast trembling away;
And the other two did our lady from Dis' bedchamber come to steal!"
To such things in reply did briefly speak the Amphrysian priestess:
"No such plottings are these of ours. Begone and move aside!
And not do his weapons bear any harm. As for yon enormous doorkeep in his cave, 400
Let him forever howling put fear into the bloodless Shades;
Let chaste remain Proserpina to keep her uncle's threshold!
This is Trojan Æneas, marked out by piety and by arms,
Who hath to his father climbed down, hither to Erebus' deepest shades.
If no appearance of such piety moves thee, 405
Then this branch --"
here showed she the branch which in her gown was hiding--
"Pray acknowledge."
Swollen out of anger, his heart now settled,
And no further spoke to them. Gazing in wonder at the awe-inspiring gift
Of that fateful wand, seen now after so long an age,
His gloomy green boat he turned aside, and to the riverbank he draws near. 410
Once there, other souls, which along the long bench were sitting,
He spreads apart, and cleared he the gangways -- then receiveth in an empty space
Great Æneas. Groan under the weight does the light skiff;
Sown-together, so much of the swamp doth it take on at the cracks and seams.
At last across the water, unharmed it both priestess and man 415
Among the formless mire and gray sedge let off.
With fifty black hissing mouths enormous stands a Hydra,
A far savage beast holding his lair within. Then Tartarus itself came into view,
Twice as much doth it lie open downlong and stretcheth it to the shades below
Than as one may look upwards to heaven, up to airy Olympus.
Down here be that ancient race of the Earth, the Titanic children, 580
By lightning cast down and fell to groveling in the deepest depths.
"And here the sons of Aloeüs, the twins, their enormous bodies I saw
Who with their hands to tear asunder great heaven
They did vie, and from the realms above to cast down Jove.
And I saw him receiving cruel torments, yea Salmoneus,
Who the fire of Jove and the thunderbolt of Olympus did counterfeit.
Carried was he by four steeds, and torches he brandished,
For throughout the peoples of Greece, and through the midst of the city Elis
He went in triumph, and for himself he demanded a god's honor --
O madman! For the stormclouds and the fire which is unable to be tamed by men
He did pretend to wield with brazen wheel and thunder of hoof-sounding horses.
But the Father Almighty from betwixt the thick clouds he his weapon
Hurled -- no torch that, nor smoky light given off by mere burning pine --
And the pretender headfirst into an enormous whirlwind of fire the god drove.
And how was it possible to not see Tityos, son of Earth, the parent of all,
Who across an entire nine acres is his body
Stretched out, and with a hooked beak an enormous vulture
Doth his everlasting liver shear and as a punishment peck at his fertile
Guts, and tear them as a feast; and nests the bird deep within
His breast, so no respite is given to the regenerated flesh.
Oh, why should I recall the Lapiths, Ixion and Pirithoüs,
Whom above each a hard flint rock is close, oh so close to slipping,
And hangs o'erhead as if falling. Shining below the high jovial couches
Are the golden chair legs, and feasts before their eyes are prepared
In royal opulence -- but the eldest of the Furies together
With them sits, and their reaching hands she keeps from touching dishes,
And up she rises, brandishing a torch, and screams she from her mouth.
Here are those who hated their brothers while they remained alive,
Or who struck their parent, or wove deceit into a beholden man,
Or who miserly laid down upon hoarded wealth,
And never set apart a part for kin -- for this is the greatest lot of them --
And those who on account of adultery were slain, and those who took up
Arms unlawful and those who n'er feared to deceive their masters' hands --
All hemmed in, their punishment they await. Oh, seek not to be taught
What punishment, either what shape or lot hath whelmed these men.
Huge rocks some roll, and others on the spokes of wheels
Drawn taut they hang. There he sits, and for all time shall sit,
Unhappy Thēseus, and Phlegyas, a most utterly wretched man
Cries to pay heed, and in a loud voice he bears witness before the shades:
"Learn ye justice -- ye are warned! And scorn ye not the gods!"
This man here hath sold for gold his father's land and set a powerful lord
Thereon; he passed laws for a price, and also tore them down.
This man here broke into the bed of his daughter and made a forbidden marriage.
Dare did them all to commit grave blasphemy, and so have all paid the dare.
Not if in me there were tongues a hundred, and mouths a hundred, 625
And an iron voice, would I be able to all the shapes of wickedness remember,
And touch on all the names of all their punishments.
-----
Into the midst of the throng he drew and into the crying crowd,
And a mound he mounts whence in long file he might all
Their upturned faces read and divulge the on-comers' appearances: 755
"Come now -- of the Dardanian race to which hereafter attendeth
Glory, and of those who shall live, descended from Italian race, their grandsons,
And of their noble hearts and of our name yet to come --
All these I shall unveil with mine utterings, and thee thy orlay I shall teach:
"Yon man there -- thou see'st him! -- who leans upon his spear,
Taketh he the nearest place by lot, for first into the breath
Of heaven shall he rise, he mingled with Italian blood,
Yea, that is Silvius -- an Alban name, they thy descended people, he a son
Whom to thee -- though old-aged -- too late Lavinia thy bride
Shall bear -- he shall be a king in the woods, a forebearer of kings,
Whence our people shall rule o'er Alba Longa.
Next yon is Procas, the glory of the Trojan race,
And Capys and Numitor and he who shall to thee return in name:
Silvius Æneas, equally in piety and arms he would
Outstanding be, whenever he will take the rule of Alba for himself.
What youths! What strength they show off! Behold them,
As they bear brows shaded by oaken crowns of civic valor!
Here for thee do they Nomentus and the Gabii and the city of Fidena,
Here the Collatine citadels atop their mounts they build,
As well as Pometii and Castrus Inui and Bola and Cora --
These shall in time to come be their names, yet now nameless lands they be.
Yea, and to his grandfather he shall be an ally, he Mavortian
Romulus, whom an Ilian mother of Assaracus' blood
Shall bear. Lo, how his twin crests stand tall at the tip,
And his own father now marks him as more honored than himself!
Lo, by his blessings, son, yon renowned Rome
Shall equal her empire to the lands and her people's hearts to Olympus.
And her seven -- altogether-- citadels shall she enclose within a wall,
O city, happy in thy heroic offspring -- just as the Berecyntian Mother
Rideth in her chariot through the Phrygian cities, tower-crowned she,
Happy in her birthing of the gods, a hundred grandchildren she embraceth,
All heaven-dwellers, all they the upper-heights of heaven hold.
Higher now thy twin sharp-eyes bend and upon this people look,
Upon thine own Romans! Here Caesar and all Iulus'
Children will under the great vault of heaven come.
This man, this man here, whom promised to thee thou hast often heard:
Augustus Caesar, born of a god, a golden age he shall build,
Another age of gold where through the fields in Latium
Once Saturn reigned, and beyond to the Garamantae and the Indi
Shall he bear his empire. Yea, lieth beyond the stars are his domains,
Beyond the pathways of year and sun, where Heaven-Bearing Atlas
Turns the horizon on his shoulder, the heav'ns with blazing stars set affixed.
At his coming shall then both the Caspian kingdoms
With prophecies divine tremble, and Maetian climes as well,
And even the seven-mouthed Nile churns up his crashing mouths.
Nor truly did Alceus' grandson go to travail as much of the earth,
Though to pierce the airy-footed hind he was allowed, or Erymanthus'
Groves he made peaceful, and Lerna he made a-tremble with his bow;
Nor as the champion who in ivy-bound reins bends his yoked team,
Liber, driving from the lofty heights of Nysa his tigers.
And yet do we still doubt that valor can extend so far by our deeds,
Or doth fear keep us off from settling in Ausonian land?
Who is he from afar who with branches marked by olives makes
Holy offerings? I know the hair and the hoary whiskers
Of the Roman king who laid with laws anew the foundations
Of the city, he who was from meager Cures and so poor in land
Led to so great a reign. After him hence shall he arise,
Who shall whittle to ruin the idle hours of his land, yea Tullus
Shall move his countrymen to arms and their battle-trains, long
Unaccustomed to triumphs. And him followeth overly vainglorious Ancus,
Here now and also in time to come too much delighting in the people's breath.
Willst thou upon the Tarquinian kings, the haughty spirit
Of the avenging Brutus, and his bestowed fasces lay thine eyes?
The Consul's imperium and its cruel ax-heads shall this man first
Receive, and this father shall his own sons, striving to renew wars,
Pass guilty sentence on behalf of beautiful freedom --
O, unhappy he! Whatever they, our descendants, tell of him as tales,
Prevail shall his love of country and his vast desire for praise!
Lo, to the Decii and Drusi, both far off, and to him, cruel with axe,
Turn thy gaze to Torquatus, and to him, bearing stol'n standards back, Camillus!
Besides there yon, dost thou make out how they blaze in their equal arms,
Harmonious hearts both, now and as long as under night they stand?
Oh alas, how much war shall between each other, should the light of life
They reach! Oh, how many battle arrayed armies and carnage shall they raise!
From his Alpine earthen-works doth the father-in-law descend, and then down
From Monoecus' cliff, while his son-in-law hath drawn up armies in hostile Eoa.
Nay, boys, nay! Do not accustom such wars to thy hearts,
Nor turn thy homeland's own might against her own innards.
And thou first, thou spare him, thou who art family to the lord on Olympus,
Cast down afore thee thy weapons from thy hand, O blood of mine!
Yon man to the high Capitoline with Corinth o'erthrown in triumphal pomp,
Shall as a champion drive his chariot, and with famous Achivi slain.
That man there shall uproot Argos, and Agamemnōn's Mycenae,
And even the grandchildren of Aeacus, the family of weapon-mighty Achilles --
Yea, having avenged the grandsires of Troy, her temples, and sullied Minerva.
Who could thee, great Cato, so silent leave behind, or thee, Cossus?
What of the clan of Gracchus, or those twins, the two lightning-strikes of war,
Yon sons of Scipio, one the bane of Libya? And there! mighty in his want,
Fabricius, or thee in plow-carved furrow sowing, thou Serranus?
How long do ye tire me by your exploits, O Fabii? Thou art that Maximus,
Thou art that singular man who by delaying restore to us our salvation.
Let others beat out the breathing bronze more subtlety --
Yea, for this I believe -- let others draw living expressions from marble,
Others shall plead cases better, let others the heaven's movements
Record with measuring rod and let them of the rising constellations tell;
As for thou: rule with thy governance the peoples, Roman -- remember!
These shall be thy skills, to both peace and manners set in place,
To spare the downcast and to make war upon the haughty."
Thus spake father Anchises, and the following to them gaping in wonder he adds:
"Set thy sight, so that with markéd and rich spoils Marcellus
Steps, this conqueror who so o'erpowers all men.
He shall Roman might amidst great crowding uproar
Establish, this knight who shall scatter Poeni and the Gallic revolt,
And thrice shall he captured arms hang for father Quirinus."
And then here saieth Æneas, for together he did see going with the man
A youth outstanding in beauty and in blazing arms,
But his brow too little happy and with eyes downcast from his face:
"Who is, father, yon lad, who accompanied that man now walking?
Be it his son? Or some other from the great offspring of our grandsons?
What murmur of friends all-round encircles him, what an appearance he hath!
But dark night hangs about his head, casting a grim pall."
Then father Anchises stepped forth and with tears arisen spake:
"O son, such great mourning of thine own kin seek not.
Let the fates to all the lands show such a man as he, and then no further living
May they allow him to be -- to ye hath Roman progeny
Seemed too powerful, O gods above, if these be your gifts?
So many groans of men shall yon field at Mavors' city
Raise upward! What funerary rites shalt thou see, Tiburinus,
As you past the new made tomb glide slowly by!
And not shall a boy, any boy of Ilian race his Latin
Grandsires exalt with so much hope, nor ever will Romulus'
Land boast in any of her children as much as he.
Alas, what piety! Alas, what old faith within him, and unvanquished in war
Was his right hand! Not any one to him could have compared himself
When meeting him enarmored, or when on foot he went against his foe,
Or as he digs at his foaming mount's shoulders with his spurs!
Alas, o wretched boy, if any harsh fate thou couldst avert,
Then thou shalt be Marcellus. Give me lilies in thy full hands,
Purple flowers I shall scatter, and for the soul of my grandson
I should at least heap honor with these gifts, and busy myself in worthless
Funeral rites."
Thus in the entire realm they bit by bit wander,
In the wide, shadowy plains and all things they explore,
These things which Anchises led his son to each one at a time,
And burned his heart with love of fame to come,
Thereafter of wars he reminded the man, which after this must be waged,
And he tells him of the Laurentian tribes and the city of Latinus,
And how he might from each toil flee or how might he bear it.
There are twin Gates of Sleep, of which one -- it is told --
Be of horn, by which an easy escape is given for true shades;
The other made of white ivory, all a-shining,
But false dreams to heaven send the Shades of the Dead.
And when to these gates then his son Anchises did together with Sibyl
Accompany with his talking, and by the ivory gate he sent them,
Æneas then cut a path to the ships and to his allies returned.
Then their course they keep by the straightest shore to Caieta's port.
Each anchor from the prow is cast and stand on the shore the sterns.
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