Tartarus as described by Vergil in the sixth book of The Æneid is in some respects more indebted to the Poet's Roman poetic forebearer Lucretius, than the epic's ostensible model, Homer. Though Homerisms abound in Vergil's text1, this is because of the former poet's primacy on the subject and the simple fact that he is highly emulated by all subsequent writers -- the devil lies in the differences between the authorships, as these differences highlight the individual touches each author has added to Graeco-Roman afterlife lore. In respect to this essay, it is shown that Vergil's depictions of the great Graeco- Roman sinners and their punishments are more in line with the moralizing admonishments which exemplify Lucretius' Epicurean masterpiece, De Rerum Natura, than Homer's Odyssey; further, by a textual comparison of these works, we may further speculate with greater evidence Vergil's method and scope in writing book six of The Æneid and his reasons for adapting a didactic angle in writing this episode.
Firstly, we must point out the similarities between Vergil and Homer, the epic poet who established the blueprint of the Graeco-Roman Underworld myth. In book eleven of his Odyssey, the wandering hero Odysseus travels to the Land of the Dead via a "gust of a North Wind" in order to gain the information to return home after his near-twenty year absence from Ithaka. Once beached on the shore, Odysseus and his men travel a ways to the juncture of the Pyriphelegethon and Kokytos rivers where he is to make a propitiatory blood sacrifice for the dead to speak their peace. After obtaining the knowledge which he desires (this part of the episode is moved to the end of book six of The Æneid and forms the centerpiece of that book), Odysseus sees the shades of many, some of whom, like "Phaidra, Pokyris, and Aridane", Vergil also names; and then either man encounters the shade of someone hostile to them (Odysseus is shunned by Aias and Æneas by Dido); and finally, after both of them encounter the judge Minos, the heroes respectively see the wicked dead being punished in the bowels of Tartarus.
It is within these descriptions of the great Tartarean sinners where most of our attention must focus:
ἔνθ᾽ ἦ τοι Μίνωα ἴδον, Διὸς ἀγλαὸν υἱόν,
Here yea I did Minos see, Zeus' shining son
χρύσεον σκῆπτρον ἔχοντα, θεμιστεύοντα νέκυσσιν,
A gold scepter he bore, giving out laws for the dead
ἥμενον, οἱ δέ μιν ἀμφὶ δίκας εἴροντο ἄνακτα, 570
As he sat there, and around him they asked for judgments of their lord
ἥμενοι ἑσταότες τε κατ᾽ εὐρυπυλὲς Ἄϊδος δῶ.
As they sat or stood about the wide-gated house of Aïdēs.
τὸν δὲ μετ᾽ Ὠρίωνα πελώριον εἰσενόησα
And after him Orion the mighty I caught sight,
θῆρας ὁμοῦ εἰλεῦντα κατ᾽ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα,
Who together his beasts he corralled around the Asphodel Meadows,
τοὺς αὐτὸς κατέπεφνεν ἐν οἰοπόλοισιν ὄρεσσι
Those which he slew in the lonely mountains,
χερσὶν ἔχων ῥόπαλον παγχάλκεον, αἰὲν ἀαγές. 575
In his hands he held a bronze-shod war-mace, ever unbroken.
καὶ Τιτυὸν εἶδον, Γαίης ἐρικυδέος υἱόν
And Tityos I saw, Gaia's so renowned son
κείμενον ἐν δαπέδῳ: ὁ δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐννέα κεῖτο πέλεθρα,
Lying on the plain. He upon nine plethra lay,
γῦπε δέ μιν ἑκάτερθε παρημένω ἧπαρ ἔκειρον,
And twin vultures on either side his liver greedily devoured.
δέρτρον ἔσω δύνοντες, ὁ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀπαμύνετο χερσί:
Deep into his bowels they plunged, but not did he ward them off with his hands.
Λητὼ γὰρ ἕλκησε, Διὸς κυδρὴν παράκοιτιν, 580
For Lētō he had raped, Zeus' lust-inspiring wife,
Πυθώδ᾽ ἐρχομένην διὰ καλλιχόρου Πανοπῆος.
As Pytho-ward she went through lovely-lawned Panopēus.
καὶ μὴν Τάνταλον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα
And then Tantalos I saw nursing mighty pains
ἑστεῶτ᾽ ἐν λίμνῃ: ἡ δὲ προσέπλαζε γενείῳ:
As he stood in a pool of water, which came up to his chin.
στεῦτο δὲ διψάων, πιέειν δ᾽ οὐκ εἶχεν ἑλέσθαι:
He seemed to thirst, but to drink he was not able,
ὁσσάκι γὰρ κύψει᾽ ὁ γέρων πιέειν μενεαίνων, 585
For as often as stooped the old man desiring earnestly to drink,
τοσσάχ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀπολέσκετ᾽ ἀναβροχέν, ἀμφὶ δὲ ποσσὶ
That the water was dried up, gulped away, and about his feet
γαῖα μέλαινα φάνεσκε, καταζήνασκε δὲ δαίμων.
The black earth appeared, which some god then made dry.
δένδρεα δ᾽ ὑψιπέτηλα κατὰ κρῆθεν χέε καρπόν,
And trees with high foliage above his head poured out fruit:
ὄγχναι καὶ ῥοιαὶ καὶ μηλέαι ἀγλαόκαρποι
Pears and mulberry and apples, beauty borne fruit,
συκέαι τε γλυκεραὶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι τηλεθόωσαι: 590
And sweet figs and olives fine-flourishing.
τῶν ὁπότ᾽ ἰθύσει᾽ ὁ γέρων ἐπὶ χερσὶ μάσασθαι,
Whenever these the old man pressed to grasp in his hands,
τὰς δ᾽ ἄνεμος ῥίπτασκε ποτὶ νέφεα σκιόεντα.
Then these the wind hurled to the dark clouds.
καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα
And then Sisyphos I saw nursing might pains
λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν.
A stone he was raising -- mighty indeed! -- in his two hands.
ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε 595
And yea, supporting with both hands and feet
λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον: ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε μέλλοι
The stone, up he thrust it to the crest of the hill -- but whenever he was about
ἄκρον ὑπερβαλέειν, τότ᾽ ἀποστρέψασκε κραταιίς:
To throw it high o'er the top, its mighty weighty turned about,
αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδής.
And again plain-ward rolled the ruthless stone.
αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ἂψ ὤσασκε τιταινόμενος, κατὰ δ᾽ ἱδρὼς
But the man yet upwards pushes, and down him the sweat
ἔρρεεν ἐκ μελέων, κονίη δ᾽ ἐκ κρατὸς ὀρώρει. 600
Ran from his limbs, and the dust from his head arose.
-Homer, The Odyssey Λ; 568-600
First of all, Homer's Land of the Dead is a navigable island upon which a sailor with the right direction may find himself beached. Furthermore, this island feels rather boundless and has a freer range for the Homeric dead to wander -- the poet has little of the cut-and-dry compartmentalization in which Vergil seems to delight where each sinner occupies a zone or region of the dread pit according to the great sins they did while alive. Apart from Homer's mention of a home of Aïdēs (which only vaguely refers to a "wide-gated" [εὐρυπυλὲς] physical structure in which shades may sit or stand about), few -- if any -- buildings stand. The dead spend their time wandering about a gloomy landscape, while the truly great sinners (Tityos, Tantalos, and Sisyphos) are punished for their crimes in deeper darkness. Interestingly, apart from Tityos, Homer is quiet on the crimes of the other two criminals -- in regards to Tantalos and Sisyphos, their punishments are the emphatic element upon which Homer centers his attention.
Vergil's sinners also lie deep in the pit of Tartarus. Before reaching this region, Vergil's hero Æneas and the Cumaean Sibyl, his guide, have passed "through the empty homes of Dis and the empty kingdoms there". It is here we must credit Vergil with attempting to lay out a planned urban space for the afterlife, where structures stand as homes for monsters and stables for beasts, and zones are made and kept for the proper categorizing of the dead and damned based upon their actions in life:
Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra
With fifty black hissing mouths enormous stands a Hydra,
saevior intus habet sedem. Tum Tartarus ipse
A far savage beast holding his lair within. Then Tartarus itself came into view,
bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras,
Twice as much doth it lie open downlong and stretcheth it to the shades below,
quantus ad aetherium caeli suspectus Olympum.
Than as one may look upwards to heaven, up to airy Olympus.
Hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes, 580
Down here be that ancient race of the Earth, the Titanic children,
fulmine deiecti fundo volvuntur in imo.
By lightning cast down and and fell to groveling in the deepest depths.
“Hic et Aloidas geminos immania vidi
"And here the sons of Aloeüs, the twins, their enormous bodies I saw
corpora, qui manibus magnum rescindere caelum
Who with their hands to tear asunder great heaven
adgressi, superisque Iovem detrudere regnis.
They did vie, and from the realms above to cast down Jove.
Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas, 585
And I saw him receiving cruel torments, yea Salmoneus,
dum flammas Iovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi.
Who the fire of Jove and the thunderbolt of Olympus did counterfeit.
Quattuor hic invectus equis et lampada quassans
Carried was he by four steeds, and torches he brandished,
per Graium populos mediaeque per Elidis urbem
For throughout the peoples of Greece, and through the midst of the city Elis
ibat ovans, divomque sibi poscebat honorem,—
He went in triumph, and for himself he demanded a god's honor --
demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen 590
O madman! For the stormclouds and the fire which is unable to be tamed by men
aere et cornipedum pulsu simularet equorum.
He did pretend to wield with brazen wheel and thunder of hoof-sounding horses.
At pater omnipotens densa inter nubila telum
But the Father Almighty from betwixt the thick clouds he his weapon
contorsit, non ille faces nec fumea taedis
Hurled -- no torch that, nor smoky light given off by mere burning pine --
lumina, praecipitemque immani turbine adegit.
And the pretender headfirst into an enormous whirlwind of fire the god drove.
Nec non et Tityon, Terrae omniparentis alumnum, 595
And how was it possible to not see Tityos, son of Earth, the parent of all,
cernere erat, per tota novem cui iubera corpus
Who across an entire nine acres is his body
porrigitur, rostroque immanis voltur obunco
Stretched out, and with a hooked beak an enormous vulture
immortale iecur tondens fecundaque poenis
Doth his everlasting liver shear and as a punishment peck at his fertile
viscera, rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto
Guts, and tear them as a feast; and nests the bird deep within
pectore, nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis. 600
His breast, so no respite is given to the regenerated flesh.
Quid memorem Lapithas, Ixiona Pirithoumque?
Oh, why should I recall the Lapiths, Ixion and Pirithoüs,
quos super atra silex iam iam lapsura cadentique
Whom above each a hard flint rock is close, oh so close to slipping,
imminet adsimilis; lucent genialibus altis
And hangs o'erhead as if falling. Shining below the high jovial couches
aurea fulcra toris, epulaeque ante ora paratae
Are the golden chair legs, and feasts before their eyes are prepared
regifico luxu; Furiarum maxima iuxta 605
In royal opulence -- but the eldest of the Furies together
accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas,
With them sits, and their reaching hands she keeps from touching dishes,
exsurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore.
And up she rises, brandishing a torch, and screams she from her mouth.
“Hic, quibus invisi fratres, dum vita manebat,
Here are those who hated their brothers while they remained alive,
pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa clienti,
Or who struck their parent, or wove deceit into a beholden man,
aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis, 610
Or who miserly laid down upon hoarded wealth,
nec partem posuere suis (quae maxima turba est),
And never set apart a part for kin -- for this is the greatest lot of them --
quique ob adulterium caesi, quique arma secuti
And those who on account of adultery were slain, and those who took up
impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras,
Arms unlawful and those who n'er feared to deceive their masters' hands --
inclusi poenam exspectant. Ne quaere doceri
All hemmed in, their punishment they await. Oh, seek not to be taught
quam poenam, aut quae forma viros fortunave mersit. 615
What punishment, either what shape or lot hath whelmed these men.
Saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum
Huge rocks some roll, and others on the spokes of wheels
districti pendent; sedet, aeternumque sedebit,
Drawn taut they hang. There he sits, and for all time shall sit,
infelix Theseus; Phlegyasque miserrimus omnis
Unhappy Thēseus, and Phlegyas, a most utterly wretched man
admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras:
Cries to pay heed, and in a loud voice he bears witness before the shades:
“Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere divos.” 620
"Learn ye justice -- ye are warned! And scorn ye not the gods!"
Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem
This man here hath sold for gold his father's land and set a powerful lord
imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit;
Thereon; he passed laws for a price, and also tore them down.
hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos;
This man here broke into the bed of his daughter and made a forbidden marriage.
ausi omnes immane nefas, ausoque potiti.
Dare did them all to commit grave blasphemy, and so have all payed the dare.
Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, 625
Not if in me there were tongues a hundred, and mouths a hundred,
ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas,
And an iron voice, would I be able to all the shapes of wickedness remember,
omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.”
And touch on all the names of all their punishments."
-Vergil, The Æneid VI; 568-600
Firstly, look at the size of the selection! How much more expanded and detailed is Vergil's catalogue of sinner than Homer's; yet, apart from the main "stars" of the Tartarus scene, Vergil suggests details rather than describes. Homer's punishments are vivid and striking: see the vultures plunge into Tityos' side; see Tantalos grasping for drying water and withering fruit; see Sisphyos struggling, the sweat and dust on his forehead. Salmoneus, a character mentioned in passing in Homer, makes a much more impressive and expanded appearance in The Æneid. In Vergil, the Tityos selection is decidedly more ghastly than in The Odyssey's -- Vergil has the offending bird make a nest in the giant's pecked-out breast while ripping out his ever-renewing guts2! Vergil has no Tantalos here, but Ixion and Perithoüs instead, who have been given Tantalos' punishment, albeit from a version different than Homer's; additionally, Vergil has added the Fury guardian to his story. The Sisyphos punishment (along with Ixion's more common torture) is relegated to an exemplar of deeds so bad, the poet bids you not ask further concerning what consequences they merit. And beyond these, the punishments are vague, mere suggestions -- the poet even goes so far as to invoke every parent's tried-and-true warning to the unruly child, "you don't even want to know how I'll punish you, but it'll be bad!" Despite the effort put into telling Salmoneus' tale, Vergil does not even tell the reader what torment awaits him; and if the Fury is watching over Ixion, Perithoüs, and the others at the sinners' feast, then what use are the overhanging rocks? Or, vice versa, what is the use of the Fury if the rocks are hanging over the sinners' heads? The celebrated and memorable contraposto of Dante's L'Inferno is not yet entirely fleshed out in The Æneid. In sum, Vergil is vivid on details of the punishments when emulating threads of Homer's narrative, as this is the aspect of the sinners' on which Homer centers his attention; otherwise, the Poet alters his style and scope of his verse -- Vergil is no longer merely telling a story. For whereas Homer uses the sinners' tales and torments to tell stories and weave a good tale, Vergil not only adopts the Greek poet's writings -- albeit expanded and modified for his Roman audience -- but he also uses different narrative threads to moralize and teach his audience what is considered wicked and punishable behavior. It's effective too: the horrors Vergil describes center on the crime committed or wrong done and less on the punishment; we know enough, however, to know what awaits a wicked person in the afterlife is bad. "Learn ye justice -- ye are warned! And scorn ye not the gods!" yells Phlegyas to the unwary; whoever does not heed his advice could end up just like him.
What reason is there for the shift in the narrative's treatment and the changes in the sinners' descriptions as Vergil adapted the story from Homer's Odyssey? Betwixt the two authors stand another Roman writer, an Epicurean philosopher-poet named T. Lucretius Carus (c. 99 - c. 55 B.C.), the author of De Rerum Natura. In this immensely important work of Epicurean philosophy composed in dactylic hexameter, Lucretius outlines the tenets of Epicurus' thinkings and teachings in epic poem format. His verses inspired many phrases and descriptions in Vergil who clearly read his poetry and liked it enough to emulate some Lucretian phrases. In the third book of De Rerum Natura, Lucretius takes a look at the afterlife and Tartarus, and then offers an atheistic and pointed disassembling of some of the dark place's more fanciful stories:
Nec quisquam in baratrum nec Tartara deditur atra;
And not is anyone into the abyss consigned, nor into Tartarus the black.
materies opus est, ut crescant postera saecla;
Matter must needs exist, so that grow may the following ages.
quae tamen omnia te vita perfuncta sequentur;
Nevertheless, all such things shall from thee flow, when once thy life is snuffed.
nec minus ergo ante haec quam tu cecidere cadentque.
No less so has everything existing before thee likewise fallen and shall fall.
sic alid ex alio numquam desistet oriri
And thus shall one thing from another never cease to rise,
vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.
And life is granted as property to none, but for all to use.
respice item quam nil ad nos ante acta vetustas
Look back again how nothing it was that before us old was already the age
temporis aeterni fuerit, quam nascimur ante.
Of everlasting time, how old an age which hath before our birth existed.
hoc igitur speculum nobis natura futuri
Therefore, a reflection of this shall to us Nature show, an image
temporis exponit post mortem denique nostram.
Of future time, a time after the death, finally, of us.
numquid ibi horribile apparet, num triste videtur
Nothing there horrible appears -- surely not sad can it seem
quicquam, non omni somno securius exstat?
At all to be, for is death not more safe than any other sleep?
Atque ea ni mirum quae cumque Acherunte profundo
And so, let us not wonder about each of these torments in Acheron the deep,
prodita sunt esse, in vita sunt omnia nobis.
Tales which have been told -- they are now in our life here with us:
nec miser inpendens magnum timet aëre saxum
And not is there a wretch afraid of a great stone in the air o'erhanging his head --
Tantalus, ut famast, cassa formidine torpens;
No Tantalus, as it has been put around, suffering empty terror!
sed magis in vita divom metus urget inanis
But rather in our life the fear of the gods drives us -- an empty fear.
mortalis casumque timent quem cuique ferat fors.
Each mortal fears his fall which to him Fate shall bear.
nec Tityon volucres ineunt Acherunte iacentem
And not do vultures on Tityos feast as he lies in Acheron,
nec quod sub magno scrutentur pectore quicquam
Nor shall anything at all they find while probing his great breast,
perpetuam aetatem possunt reperire profecto.
Nor for an endless age are they able to find anything, anything at all.
quam libet immani proiectu corporis exstet,
However vast be his body lying spread out on the ground,
qui non sola novem dispessis iugera membris
If not just nine acres under his outstretched limbs
optineat, sed qui terrai totius orbem,
He hath, but the whole of the globe of the earth,
non tamen aeternum poterit perferre dolorem
Then yet, not shall he be able to bear the everlasting pain,
nec praebere cibum proprio de corpore semper.
Nor to supply food from his own body forever.
sed Tityos nobis hic est, in amore iacentem
But the real Tityos is here with us, in the throes of love he lies,
quem volucres lacerant atque exest anxius angor
Whom the winged loves tear apart and anxious suffocation devours,
aut alia quavis scindunt cuppedine curae.
Or with some other desire -- whatever pleaseth thee -- do his worries rip apart.
Sisyphus in vita quoque nobis ante oculos est,
Sisyphus is also in our life and before our very eyes,
qui petere a populo fasces saevasque secures
Who to seek from the people the rods and cruel axe heads
imbibit et semper victus tristisque recedit.
He plots, and, when always beaten, a sad man he withdraws.
nam petere imperium, quod inanest nec datur umquam,
For to go after power, which is worthless and never is given,
atque in eo semper durum sufferre laborem,
And in such a quest is it to ever suffer harsh toil --
hoc est adverso nixantem trudere monte
Just so is it for him who struggles to shove up the hill
saxum, quod tamen [e] summo iam vertice rusum
A rock, which nevertheless from the highest height again
volvitur et plani raptim petit aequora campi.
Rolls and hastily seeks the level plane's level plain.
deinde animi ingratam naturam pascere semper
What then of mind’s ungrateful nature which shall thou feed ever,
atque explere bonis rebus satiareque numquam,
And fill up with good deeds and to sate them never --
quod faciunt nobis annorum tempora, circum
This for us do all the seasons of the year do, all year-round
cum redeunt fetusque ferunt variosque lepores,
When they return and bring their offspring and their manifold charms,
nec tamen explemur vitai fructibus umquam,
And nevertheless we are full of the fruits of life never --
hoc, ut opinor, id est, aevo florente puellas
This, methinks, is like unto those girls of unending beauty
quod memorant laticem pertusum congerere in vas,
Which
quod tamen expleri nulla ratione potestur.
**
Cerberus et Furiae iam vero et lucis egestas,
Cerberus and the Furies --and for the now -- and the want of light,
**
Tartarus horriferos eructans faucibus aestus!
Tartarus doth belch out dreadful heat from its throat,
qui neque sunt usquam nec possunt esse profecto;
Which neither are ever in existence, nor are able to ever exist.
sed metus in vita poenarum pro male factis
But there is fear in life of the punishments done for wickedly done deeds,
est insignibus insignis scelerisque luela,
There exists for the marks of markéd and wicked crime an expiation:
carcer et horribilis de saxo iactus deorsum,
The prison, and the terrible leap from The Rock -- headfirst --
verbera carnifices robur pix lammina taedae;
The beatings, torturers, oaken staves, bitumen, hotplates, and torches:
quae tamen etsi absunt, at mens sibi conscia factis
Even if these are not here, yet the mind, conscious of its deeds,
praemetuens adhibet stimulos torretque flagellis,
In its fear doth apply the spurs and torments itself with whips.
nec videt interea qui terminus esse malorum
Nor in the meantime doth it see what end of wickedness
possit nec quae sit poenarum denique finis,
Can there be, nor what can be -- at last -- the end of punishments.
atque eadem metuit magis haec ne in morte gravescant.
And these same torments it fears more lest in death they grow more grave.
hic Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.
Here may Acheron be found at last -- in the life of dullards.
-Lucretius, De Rerum Natura III; 966-1023
Lucretius' obvious model is Homer3, as he addresses Homer's famous sinners (slightly differently than Homer), while adding one of his own: the Danaids, who became a popular addition to the Tartarus episode after Homer. Note as well that the Tantalus punishment in Lucretius is different than that of Homer's; and note especially that Vergil follows Lucretius' lead, taking his version with the stone hanging in midair (granted, Vergil has given that penalty to another, Ixion and Perithous, et al, but the story relatively stays the same) from Pindar:
εἰ δὲ δή τιν᾽ ἄνδρα θνατὸν Ὀλύμπου σκοποὶ
And if ever yea a single mortal man the watchers of Olympos
ἐτίμασαν, ἦν Τάνταλος οὗτος: ἀλλὰ γὰρ καταπέψαι 55
Honored, that man was Tantalos. But he was unable to digest
μέγαν ὄλβον οὐκ ἐδυνάσθη, κόρῳ δ᾽ ἕλεν
His great happiness, and because of his insolence, he received
ἄταν ὑπέροπλον, ἅν οἱ πατὴρ ὑπερκρέμασε καρτερὸν αὐτῷ λίθον,
An overwhelming ruin, which o’er him the Father hung: a mighty stone,
τὸν αἰεὶ μενοινῶν κεφαλᾶς βαλεῖν εὐφροσύνας ἀλᾶται.
Which doth he ever eagerly desire to from his head cast off; so to merriment he roams,
ἔχει δ᾽ ἀπάλαμον βίον τοῦτον ἐμπεδόμοχθον,
And he hath a helpless life as this, ever full of pain,
μετὰ τριῶν τέταρτον πόνον, ἀθανάτων ὅτι κλέψαις 60
After three others, a fourth toil arises, for he stole from the deathless gods
ἁλίκεσσι συμπόταις
And gave to his drinking companions
νέκταρ ἀμβροσίαν τε
Nektar and ambrosia,
δῶκεν, οἷσιν ἄφθιτον
Which deathless
θῆκαν. εἰ δὲ θεὸν ἀνήρ τις ἔλπεταί τι λαθέμεν ἔρδων, ἁμαρτάνει.
They made him. And if any man should hope to escape the notice of god, he errs.
-Pindar, Olympian Ode 1; 54-64
What many readers find to be constantly impressive about Vergil is his way of modifying the verses he is emulating and taking the imagery or the theme of the scene just one step further: for example, Lucretius' line "nec quod sub magno scrutentur pectore quicquam" has been more reworked into the more graphic Vergilian "rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto / pectore" -- whereas the buzzard in Lucretius cannot find nourishment in pecking out the giant's breast (for neither bird nor giant exist), Vergil has likewise made Tityos' breast empty, only it has been re-purposed to be a habitation for the bird. The punishment of Tantalos and his ever-disappearing nourishment of water and fruit in Homer has been given in a different version by Lucretius (now including the hanging rock à la Pindar), which in turn has been modified by Vergil to include multiple sinners sitting at Dante-esque banquet with both the hanging rocks and a watchful Fury.
For Lucretius, the divine's involvement in human affairs, the fears these gods are meant to invoke, and the punishments they threaten to inflict on the wicked for all eternity are nonexistent. No Tartaros exists, no real Acheron, no place for sufferers to suffer and no eternal suffering beyond death. Lucretius poetically rationalizes that we already experience the Homeric punishments of Tartaros throughout our real lives. These tortures are being inflicted on all of us, yet in the form of anxieties and worries due to unrequited love (Tityos), greed (Tantalos), or some fault -- these are whippings of the conscience, the scourgings of the knowledge of crimes we have committed. The racking guilt of acknowledging the evil of such crimes leads to psychological punishment besides typical physical torments. In this way, we are all Tantalos, awaiting the deadly stone hanging in midair over us to fall on our heads just as we await the punishments which will be inflicted on us by constantly watching vengeful deities. It would seem to be a good thing that these beings do not exist, right? asks the poet. Lucretius' aim in his writing, the scope of his verse, is didactic, for the purpose of instruction -- and it is exactly this sort of scope which Homer lacks and Vergil adapts.
In conclusion, Vergil expands upon his Homeric model by turning his hero's quest to the Underworld into a morality teaching tool, instructing Augustan Romans that terrible torments in Tartarus await those who fight with their kin, those who hoard wealth, the unfaithful, and those who take up "[a]rms unlawful (arma [...] impia)" -- it seems to be quite clear as to Vergil's goal in this moralizing above and besides chiding the average Roman adulterer: as a man who lived most of his life either on the brink of or in the midst of civil wars and fraternal bloodshed, he is very much against Roman armies tearing each other (and innocent citizens) apart. These are the arma [...] impia to which he is referring: "weapons made sacrilegious" by the spilling of Roman blood. Additionally, besides the three great sinner scenes in Vergil -- Tityos, Salmoneus, and the Ixion-Perithoüs dinner -- the rest of the offenders are unnamed. These unknown lost souls could be you or me, or (most of all) they are the Romans contemporary with Vergil who bled their country by slaughtering their own fellows in civil war and committing other wrongs besides. Civil wars and the evil they inflict form strong themes and motifs underlying the entirety of The Æneid, and, here in Book VI (arguably the most "Roman" book of the twelve), Vergil makes his most pointed and poignant moralizing message to the readers of his own time -- and he does so using the epic Epicurean verses of Lucretius as a vehicle for that message. By adopting Lucretian phrasing in the above selection (not to mention throughout the whole of the poem), following Lucretius' versions of the myths of the Tartarean punished, and, like Lucretius, centering on the crimes of the wicked rather than their punishments in order to convey a strong moral message to his contemporary Roman audience, Vergil somewhat breaks away and expands upon the ancient Homeric model of the Underworld journey, and as a result creates some of would become some of the most common literary tropes of afterlife compartmentalization, punishment, and moralizing.
1. Vergil, after all, is writing a narrative and has narrative touches which are mirrored after Homer, while Lucretius's goal is not to tell an epic narrative in the same vein; therefore, in many respects Vergil (obviously) emulates Homer: the Elpenor-Palinurus link jumps to mind (as does the Aias-Dido link) as an example of something unique to only Homer and Vergil because such an episode has no place in Lucretius' writings.
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2. By cribbing off the Prometheus myth, Vergil easily solves the problem posed by Homer and pointed out by Lucretius: will not Tityos' eternal punishment end when those two vultures finish ripping him apart? In response, Vergil makes Tityos body and innards ever-renewing, as Prometheus' liver was renewed each night after being daily destroyed by an eagle.
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3. It is worth noting without being exhaustive who Lucretius' models were: Homer of course, but the other is most likely Plato, as it is partially his philosophy which Lucretius is answering throughout much of his poem, particularly concerning Plato's transmigration of souls, which the poet finds ridiculous and mocks in this same third book of De Rerum Natura. Plato describes the means by which the dead are judged and divided up in the afterlife:
"Now in the time of Kronos (Cronus) there was a law concerning mankind, and it holds to this very day amongst the gods, that every man who has passed a just and holy life departs after his decease to the Isles of the Blest (Nesoi Makaron), and dwells in all happiness apart from ill; but whoever has lived unjustly and impiously goes to the dungeon of requital and penance which, you know, they call Tartaros (Tartarus). Of these men there were judges in Kronos' time, and still of late in the reign of Zeus--living men to judge the living upon the day when each was to breathe his last; and thus the cases were being decided amiss. So Plouton (Pluton) [Haides] and the overseers from the Isles of the Blest came before Zeus with the report that they found men passing over to either abode undeserving. Then spake Zeus : ‘Nay,’ said he, ‘I will put a stop to these proceedings. The cases are now indeed judged ill and it is because they who are on trial are tried in their clothing, for they are tried alive. Now many,’ said he, ‘who have wicked souls are clad in fair bodies and ancestry and wealth, and at their judgement appear many witnesses to testify that their lives have been just. Now, the judges are confounded not only by their evidence but at the same time by being clothed themselves while they sit in judgement, having their own soul muffled in the veil of eyes and ears and the whole body. Thus all these are a hindrance to them, their own habiliments no less than those of the judged.’‘Well, first of all,’ he said, ‘we must put a stop to their foreknowledge of their death; for this they at present foreknow. However, Prometheus has already been given the word to stop this in them. Next they must be stripped bare of all those things before they are tried; for they must stand their trial dead. Their judge also must be naked, dead, beholding with very soul the very soul of each immediately upon his death, bereft of all his kin and having left behind on earth all that fine array, to the end that the judgement may be just. Now I, knowing all this before you, have appointed sons of my own to be judges; two from Asia, Minos and Rhadamanthys, and one from Europe, Aiakos (Aeacus). These, when their life is ended, shall give judgement in the meadow at the dividing of the road, whence are the two ways leading, one to the Isles of the Blest (Nesoi Makaron), and the other to Tartaros. And those who come from Asia shall Rhadamanthys try, and those from Europe, Aiakos; and to Minos I will give the privilege of the final decision, if the other two be in any doubt; that the judgement upon this journey of mankind may be supremely just . . .’When they [the souls] have arrived in presence of their judge, they of Asia before Rhadamanthys, these Rhadamanthys sets before him and surveys the soul of each, not knowing whose it is; nay, often when he has laid hold of the Great King or some other prince or potentate, he perceives the utter unhealthiness of his soul, striped all over with the scourge, and a mass of wounds, the work of perjuries and injustice; where every act has left its smirch upon his soul, where all is awry through falsehood and imposture, and nothing straight because of a nurture that knew not truth: or, as the result of an unbridled course of fastidiousness, insolence, and incontinence, he finds the soul full fraught with disproportion and ugliness. Beholding this he sends it away in dishonor straight to the place of custody, where on its arrival it is to endure the sufferings that are fitting. And it is fitting that every one under punishment rightly inflicted on him by another should either be made better and profit thereby, or serve as an example to the rest, that others seeing the sufferings he endures may in fear amend themselves. Those who are benefited by the punishment they get from gods and men are they who have committed remediable offences; but still it is through bitter throes of pain that they receive their benefit both here and in Haides (the nether world); for in no other way can there be riddance of iniquity. But of those who have done extreme wrong and, as a result of such crimes, have become incurable, of those are the examples made; no longer are they profited at all themselves, since they are incurable, but others are profited who behold them undergoing for their transgressions the greatest, sharpest, and most fearful sufferings evermore, actually hung up as examples there in the infernal dungeon, a spectacle and a lesson to such of the wrongdoers as arrive from time to time . . . And I think, moreover, that most of these examples have come from despots and kings and potentates and public administrators; for these, since they have a free hand, commit the greatest and most impious offences. Homer also testifies to this; for he has represented kings and potentates that we find the specially wicked men . . . So, as I was saying, whenever the judge Rhadamanthys has to deal with such a one, he knows nothing else of him at all, neither who he is nor of what descent, but only that he is a wicked person and on perceiving this he sends him away to Tartaros, first setting a mark on him to show whether he deems it a curable or an incurable case; and when the man arrives there he suffers what is fitting."
Plato has a long description of a more nature-based cosmology of the Earth and its chthonic features in the Phaedo, a dialogue which takes place at the end of Sokratēs' life; Tartarus plays a part as the dungeon of the damned, but acts in essence as an endlessly churning water pump:
"And in regards to the Earth as a whole it hath been created thus, as well hath been created all the things which surround the Earth. And the places within the Earth are many, all the way down into its hollow caverns throughout the whole of its circle. And there are many of these caverns deeper and wider than the one in which we live, and some deeper doth a smaller chasm than the others have than the one we have, and yet some are not smaller in depth than the one here and broader too."And all of these parts under the Earth hath been connected by borings into one another and in many places have either narrower and others wider openings, where much water flows from some and into others just as into wine-kratērs, and there are enormous numbers of these ever-flowing rivers under the earth composed both of hot water and of cold, and there is much fire, great rivers of fire, and much wet clay, both clean and filthy, just as in Sicily where before the lava-stream doth run rivers of mud, and then runneth the lava itself. So yea, by these rivers are all of these places filled, as it happens in the case of each one at whatever time during its running course about the Earth."And all of these are set into motion up and down, just as if it were a sort of swing within the Earth. And this swing is of the following sort of nature: one of the chasms of the Earth happens to be of all the others the greatest, and through it are bored the channels throughout the whole of the Earth, just as Homer said, speaking thus:
'So far off, where lieth deepest under the earth, lo The Abyss.' -Homer, Iliad Θ.14
And elsewhere have he and other poets called Tartarus. For into this chasm flow all the rivers, and out from it do they flow back out. And each of these waterways are what they are because through such things of the Earth they have run. And the reason for their flowing out thence and their flowing in is that all this liquid matter hath no bottom nor hath the clay a foundation. And it swings and swells up and down, and the air and wind causes it to swirl around itself.
ὅταν τε οὖν ὑποχωρήσῃ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν δὴ κάτω καλούμενον, τοῖς κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνα τὰ ῥεύματα [διὰ] τῆς γῆς εἰσρεῖ τε καὶ πληροῖ αὐτὰ ὥσπερ οἱ ἐπαντλοῦντες· ὅταν τε αὖ ἐκεῖθεν μὲν ἀπολίπῃ, δεῦρο δὲ ὁρμήσῃ, τὰ ἐνθάδε πληροῖ αὖθις, τὰ δὲ πληρωθέντα ῥεῖ διὰ τῶν ὀχετῶν καὶ διὰ τῆς γῆς, καὶ εἰς τοὺς τόπους ἕκαστα ἀφικνούμενα, εἰς οὓς ἑκάστοις ὡδοποίηται, θαλάττας τε καὶ λίμνας καὶ ποταμοὺς καὶ κρήνας ποιεῖ· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ πάλιν δυόμενα [112d] κατὰ τῆς γῆς, τὰ μὲν μακροτέρους τόπους περιελθόντα καὶ πλείους, τὰ δὲ ἐλάττους καὶ βραχυτέρους, πάλιν εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐμβάλλει, τὰ μὲν πολὺ κατωτέρω <ἢ> ᾗ ἐπηντλεῖτο, τὰ δὲ ὀλίγον· πάντα δὲ ὑποκάτω εἰσρεῖ τῆς ἐκροῆς, καὶ ἔνια μὲν καταντικρὺ <ἢ> ᾗ [εἰσρεῖ] ἐξέπεσεν, ἔνια δὲ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ μέρος· ἔστι δὲ ἃ παντάπασιν κύκλῳ περιελθόντα, ἢ ἅπαξ ἢ καὶ πλεονάκις περιελιχθέντα περὶ τὴν γῆν ὥσπερ οἱ ὄφεις, εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν κάτω καθέντα πάλιν ἐμβάλλει. [112e] δυνατὸν δέ ἐστιν ἑκατέρωσε μέχρι τοῦ μέσου καθιέναι, πέρα δ᾽ οὔ· ἄναντες γὰρ ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς ῥεύμασι τὸ ἑκατέρωθεν γίγνεται μέρος.
τὰ μὲν οὖν δὴ ἄλλα πολλά τε καὶ μεγάλα καὶ παντοδαπὰ ῥεύματά ἐστι· τυγχάνει δ᾽ ἄρα ὄντα ἐν τούτοις τοῖς πολλοῖς τέτταρ᾽ ἄττα ῥεύματα, ὧν τὸ μὲν μέγιστον καὶ ἐξωτάτω ῥέον περὶ κύκλῳ ὁ καλούμενος Ὠκεανός ἐστιν, τούτου δὲ καταντικρὺ καὶ ἐναντίως ῥέων Ἀχέρων, ὃς δι᾽ ἐρήμων τε τόπων [113a] ῥεῖ ἄλλων καὶ δὴ καὶ ὑπὸ γῆν ῥέων εἰς τὴν λίμνην ἀφικνεῖται τὴν Ἀχερουσιάδα, οὗ αἱ τῶν τετελευτηκότων ψυχαὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἀφικνοῦνται καί τινας εἱμαρμένους χρόνους μείνασαι, αἱ μὲν μακροτέρους, αἱ δὲ βραχυτέρους, πάλιν ἐκπέμπονται εἰς τὰς τῶν ζῴων γενέσεις. τρίτος δὲ ποταμὸς τούτων κατὰ μέσον ἐκβάλλει, καὶ ἐγγὺς τῆς ἐκβολῆς ἐκπίπτει εἰς τόπον μέγαν πυρὶ πολλῷ καόμενον, καὶ λίμνην ποιεῖ μείζω τῆς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν θαλάττης, ζέουσαν ὕδατος καὶ πηλοῦ· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ [113b] χωρεῖ κύκλῳ θολερὸς καὶ πηλώδης, περιελιττόμενος δὲ τῇ γῇ ἄλλοσέ τε ἀφικνεῖται καὶ παρ᾽ ἔσχατα τῆς Ἀχερουσιάδος λίμνης, οὐ συμμειγνύμενος τῷ ὕδατι· περιελιχθεὶς δὲ πολλάκις ὑπὸ γῆς ἐμβάλλει κατωτέρω τοῦ Ταρτάρου· οὗτος δ᾽ ἐστὶν ὃν ἐπονομάζουσιν Πυριφλεγέθοντα, οὗ καὶ οἱ ῥύακες ἀποσπάσματα ἀναφυσῶσιν ὅπῃ ἂν τύχωσι τῆς γῆς. τούτου δὲ αὖ καταντικρὺ ὁ τέταρτος ἐκπίπτει εἰς τόπον πρῶτον δεινόν τε καὶ ἄγριον, ὡς λέγεται, χρῶμα δ᾽ ἔχοντα ὅλον οἷον ὁ [113c] κυανός, ὃν δὴ ἐπονομάζουσι Στύγιον, καὶ τὴν λίμνην ἣν ποιεῖ ὁ ποταμὸς ἐμβάλλων, Στύγα· ὁ δ᾽ ἐμπεσὼν ἐνταῦθα καὶ δεινὰς δυνάμεις λαβὼν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι, δὺς κατὰ τῆς γῆς, περιελιττόμενος χωρεῖ ἐναντίος τῷ Πυριφλεγέθοντι καὶ ἀπαντᾷ ἐν τῇ Ἀχερουσιάδι λίμνῃ ἐξ ἐναντίας· καὶ οὐδὲ τὸ τούτου ὕδωρ οὐδενὶ μείγνυται, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτος κύκλῳ περιελθὼν ἐμβάλλει εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐναντίος τῷ Πυριφλεγέθοντι· ὄνομα δὲ τούτῳ ἐστίν, ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσιν, κωκυτός.[113d] τούτων δὲ οὕτως πεφυκότων, ἐπειδὰν ἀφίκωνται οἱ τετελευτηκότες εἰς τὸν τόπον οἷ ὁ δαίμων ἕκαστον κομίζει, πρῶτον μὲν διεδικάσαντο οἵ τε καλῶς καὶ ὁσίως βιώσαντες καὶ οἱ μή. καὶ οἳ μὲν ἂν δόξωσι μέσως βεβιωκέναι, πορευθέντες ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀχέροντα, ἀναβάντες ἃ δὴ αὐτοῖς ὀχήματά ἐστιν, ἐπὶ τούτων ἀφικνοῦνται εἰς τὴν λίμνην, καὶ ἐκεῖ οἰκοῦσί τε καὶ καθαιρόμενοι τῶν τε ἀδικημάτων διδόντες δίκας ἀπολύονται, εἴ τίς τι ἠδίκηκεν, τῶν τε εὐεργεσιῶν [113e] τιμὰς φέρονται κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστος· οἳ δ᾽ ἂν δόξωσιν ἀνιάτως ἔχειν διὰ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἢ ἱεροσυλίας πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἢ φόνους ἀδίκους καὶ παρανόμους πολλοὺς ἐξειργασμένοι ἢ ἄλλα ὅσα τοιαῦτα τυγχάνει ὄντα, τούτους δὲ ἡ προσήκουσα μοῖρα ῥίπτει εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον, ὅθεν οὔποτε ἐκβαίνουσιν. οἳ δ᾽ ἂν ἰάσιμα μὲν μεγάλα δὲ δόξωσιν ἡμαρτηκέναι ἁμαρτήματα, οἷον πρὸς πατέρα ἢ μητέρα [114a] ὑπ᾽ ὀργῆς βίαιόν τι πράξαντες, καὶ μεταμέλον αὐτοῖς τὸν ἄλλον βίον βιῶσιν, ἢ ἀνδροφόνοι τοιούτῳ τινὶ ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ γένωνται, τούτους δὲ ἐμπεσεῖν μὲν εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἀνάγκη, ἐμπεσόντας δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκεῖ γενομένους ἐκβάλλει τὸ κῦμα, τοὺς μὲν ἀνδροφόνους κατὰ τὸν Κωκυτόν, τοὺς δὲ πατραλοίας καὶ μητραλοίας κατὰ τὸν Πυριφλεγέθοντα· ἐπειδὰν δὲ φερόμενοι γένωνται κατὰ τὴν λίμνην τὴν Ἀχερουσιάδα, ἐνταῦθα βοῶσί τε καὶ καλοῦσιν, οἱ μὲν οὓς ἀπέκτειναν, οἱ δὲ οὓς ὕβρισαν, καλέσαντες δ᾽ ἱκετεύουσι [114b] καὶ δέονται ἐᾶσαι σφᾶς ἐκβῆναι εἰς τὴν λίμνην καὶ δέξασθαι, καὶ ἐὰν μὲν πείσωσιν, ἐκβαίνουσί τε καὶ λήγουσι τῶν κακῶν, εἰ δὲ μή, φέρονται αὖθις εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον καὶ ἐκεῖθεν πάλιν εἰς τοὺς ποταμούς, καὶ ταῦτα πάσχοντες οὐ πρότερον παύονται πρὶν ἂν πείσωσιν οὓς ἠδίκησαν· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ δίκη ὑπὸ τῶν δικαστῶν αὐτοῖς ἐτάχθη. οἳ δὲ δὴ ἂν δόξωσι διαφερόντως πρὸς τὸ ὁσίως βιῶναι, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶνδε μὲν τῶν τόπων τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐλευθερούμενοί τε καὶ ἀπαλλαττόμενοι [114c] ὥσπερ δεσμωτηρίων, ἄνω δὲ εἰς τὴν καθαρὰν οἴκησιν ἀφικνούμενοι καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς οἰκιζόμενοι. τούτων δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ φιλοσοφίᾳ ἱκανῶς καθηράμενοι ἄνευ τε σωμάτων ζῶσι τὸ παράπαν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον, καὶ εἰς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τούτων καλλίους ἀφικνοῦνται, ἃς οὔτε ῥᾴδιον δηλῶσαι οὔτε ὁ χρόνος ἱκανὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι. ἀλλὰ τούτων δὴ ἕνεκα χρὴ ὧν διεληλύθαμεν, ὦ Σιμμία, πᾶν ποιεῖν ὥστε ἀρετῆς καὶ φρονήσεως ἐν τῷ βίῳ μετασχεῖν· καλὸν γὰρ τὸ ἆθλον καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς μεγάλη.
Here is some early compartmentalization of the dead according to certain kinds of sin committed in life: homicides are conveyed from Tartaros via the Kokytos to the Akherusian lake, and those who abuse their parents via the Periphylegethon. The punishment of those who have been thrown into Tartaros are not necessarily eternal, but contingent upon the forgiveness of others -- but by this metric, some might be there awhile. Lucretius' is quite explicitly answering Plato's cosmology by saying that the soul dies at the point of death and so there is no punishment to suffer, no torment in an underground waterslide-esque world of cold swamp water and/or magma and lava. How could any torment in the afterlife (which does not exist, Lucretius asserts) be worse than the punishments and torment we either physically or psychologically suffer while we are still alive? "hic Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita (Here may Acheron be found at last -- in the lives of dullards.)" writes Lucretius as he finishes naming the tormented in Tartarus; by stultorum, the poet means those who are "philosophically unsound", and who have not heeded Epicurus' call to free oneself from the irrationality and superstition which cause real horrors in life.
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