aeneid book vi

hinc via, Tartartei quae fert Acherontis ad undas.

turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges

aestuat atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam

portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat

terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento

canities inculta iacet, stant umina flamma,

sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.

hence lies the path which leads to Tartarean Acheron. here, thick with mud and of unfathomed abyss, a whirlpool seethes and belches all its silt into Cocytus. a grim ferryman guards these waters and streams - Charon, terrible in his squalor; on his chin lies a mass of tangled white hair, his eyes are set in a blazing stare, and a sordid cloak hangs by a knot from his shoulders.

ipse ratem conto subigit velisque ministrat

et ferruginea subvectat corpora cumba,

iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.

huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat,

matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita

magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,

impositque rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum:

by himself he drives the boat with a pole and tends to the sails and ferries the dead in his rust-coloured craft, old now - but a god’s age is tough and green. hither were rushing all the crwod, streaming to the banks, mothers and husnads and the souls of great-hearted heroes done with life, boys and unmarried girls, and young men placed on the pyre before the gaze of their parents:

quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo

lapsa cadunt folia aut ad terram gurgite ab alta

quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidys annus

trans pontum fugat et terris immittit apricis.

stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum

tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos,

ast alios longe summotos arcet harena.

they were as many as the leaves which drop and fall in the woods at autumn’s first chill, or as many as the birds which flock to land from the seething deep, when the cold time of year puts them to flight across the sea and drives them to sunny lands. they were standing there, pleading to be the first to make the crossing, and were stretching out their hands in yearning for the farther shore. but the grim boatman took now these, now those, while others he thrust far away, and kept them back on the sand.

ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant.

navita quos iam inde ut Stygia prospexit ab unda

per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae,

sic prior adgreditur dictis atque increpat ultro:

‘quisquis es, armatus qui nostra ad fulmina tendis,

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

umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae;

corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina.’

so they continued the journey they had begun, and approached the river. but when, even from where he was, from the waters of the Styx, the boatman saw them passing through the silent wood and turning their steps towards the bank, thus first he challenged them with words and rebuked them unprovoked: ‘whoever you are who come to our river in arms, tell me, now, why you come, from where you are, and check your step. this is the land of shadows, of sleep and drowsy night; it is forbidden to carry living bodies in the Stygian boat.’

‘nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntem

accepisse lacu, nec Thesea Pirithoumque,

dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent.

Tatareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit

ipsius a solio regis traxitque trementem;

hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti.’

‘nor indeed did I rejoice at having accepted Hercules on his journey over the lake, nor Theseus and Pirithous, though they were sons of gods and invincible in their strength. He sought by force to bind the guardian of Tartarus and dragged him trembling from the throne of the king himself; they tried to carry off our mistress from the chamber of Dis.’

quae contra breviter fata est Amphrysia vates:

‘nullae hic insidiae tales (absiste moveri),

nec vim tela ferunt; licet ingens ianitor antro

aeternum latrans exsanguis terreat umbras,

casta licet patrui servet Proserpina limen.’

in answer to this the Amphrysian soothsayer spoke briefly: ‘there is no such treachery here (cease to be troubled), nor do our weapons offer force; the huge doorkeeper can terrify the bloodless shades, barking for eternity in his cave; Proserpina can in chastity keep her uncle’s home.’

Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis,

ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras.

si te nulla movet tantawe pietatis imago,

at ramum hunc’ (aperit ramum qui veste latebat

‘adgnoscas.’ tumida ex ira tum corda residunt;

nex plura his. ille admirans venerabile donum

fatalis virgae longo post tempore visum

caeruleam advertit puppim ripaeque propinquat.

‘Trojan Aeneas, famous for piety and arms, descends to his father, to the lowest shades of Erebus. If the vision of such piety moves you not at all, yet recognise this bough’ (she showed the bough, which was hidden in her robe.) then his heart settled from the anger that swelled within; no more than this [was said]. but he, marvelling at the awesome gift of the fateful branch, turned his dark-blue boat and neared the shore.

inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant,

deturbat laxatque foros; simul accipit alveo

ingentem Aenean. gemuit sub pondere cumba

sutilis et multam accepit rimosa paludem.

tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque

informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.

then the other souls that were sitting on the long benches he ousted, and cleared the gangways; at the same time he accepted in his hollow boat the huge Aeneas. the stitched coracle groaned under the weight and, being leaky, took in a flood of marsh-water. at last he landed seer and hero safely across the marsh on the ugly mire and grey sedge.

at pater Anchises penitus covalle virenti

inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras

lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum

forte recensebat numerum, carosque nepotes

fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.

isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina vidit

Aenean alacris palmas utrasque tetendit,

effusaeque genis lacrimae et vox excidit ore:

but deep in a green valley his father Anchises was reviewing, thinking carefully, the spirits enclosed there, destined for the light above, and was reviewing as it chanced the total number of his own folk and his dear grandsons, and the fates and fortunes of the men, and their ways and works. and when he saw Aeneas heading towards him over the grass, he stretched out both his hands eagerly, his tears streaming over his cheeks, and a cry issued from his lips:

‘venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti

vicit iter durum pietas? datur ora tueri,

nate, tua et notas audire et reddere voces?

sic equidam 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!’

‘have you come at last, and has your loyalty, expected by your father, conquered the harsh road? is it granted me to behold your face, my son, and hear and reply in familiar tones? indeed, I was working it out in my mind and thought it would come to pass, counting off the hours, nor has my trouble failed me. borne over what lands and seas, do I welcome you! hurled about by what dangers, my son? how I feared the realms of Libya might somehow harm you!’

ille autem: ‘tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago

saepius occurens 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.

tua conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum;

ter frustra comprensa manus effigies imago,

par levibus vent is volucrique simillima somno.

he [Aeneas], however answered: ‘father, your image, your sombre image, appearing onto me so often, drove me to reach this threshold: my ships stand on the Etruscan waves. father, grant that I may clasp your hand, grant it, and do not draw away from my embrace.’ so speaking, at the same time, his face was also drowned in a flood of tears. three times he tried to throw his arms around his neck there, three times, clasped in vain, that semblance slips through his hands, like the light breezes, most of all like a winged dream.

interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta

seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvae,

Lethaeumque domos placidas qui praenatat amnem.

hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant:

ac veluti in pratis ubi apes aestate serena

floribus insidunt variis et candida circum

lilia funduntur, strepit omnis murmure campus.

meanwhile, in a quiet valley, Aeneas saw a secluded grove and rustling thickets in the woods, and the river of Lethe, which flows past those peaceful abodes. about it hovered countless tribes and peoples; just as when, in the meadow, in cloudless summertime, bees settle on different coloured flowers and stream around white lilies, and the plain murmurs with their humming.

horrescit visu subito causaque requirit

inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro,

quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas.

dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllam

conventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem,

et tumulum capit unde omnis longo ordine osset

adversos legere et venientum discere vultus.

Aeneas was startled by the sudden sight and unknowing, asked for explanations, what were those streams over there, and who were the men filling the banks in such a great line. Anchises had spoken, and he drew the Sibyl and his son, both together, into the middle of the gathering and the murmuring crowd and chose a hill from which he could pick out everyone in a long line opposite, and learn their faces as they came by him.

‘nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur

gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes,

inlustris animas nostrumque inm nomen ituras

expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo.’

‘come, I will now explain what glory will then follow the children of Dardanus, what descendants await you from the Italian race, the illustrious spirits yet to go onwards in our name, and I will teach you your destiny.’

‘huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hanc aspice gentem

Romanosque tuos. hic Caesar et omnis Ilui

progenies magnum caeli venturasub 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

profet imperium;

‘now direct both of your eyes here, gaze at this people, your own Romans. here is Caesar, and all the offspring of Iulus destined to live under the axis of great heaven. this is the man, this is he whom you so often hear promised to you, Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will again establish a golden age in Latium, throughout fields once ruled by Saturn, and will extend his empire beyond both the Garamantians and Indians;

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 divum et Maeotia tellus,

et septemgimini turbant trepida ostia Nili’

his lands lie beyond our stars, beyond the paths of year and sun, where sky-bearing Atlas twists on his shoulders the heavens, studded with blazing stars. at his coming even now, both Caspian kingdoms and the Maeotian land shudder at the oracles of the gods, and the mouths of seven-fold Nile quiver in alarm.