Latin set text - Virgil: Aenid

Hinc via Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas.

From here is the route that leads to the waters of the infernal river of Acheron.

turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges aestuat atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam.

Here a whirlpool thick with mud and with an enormous chasm boils up and belches forth all its sand into the river Cocytus.

portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento canities inculta iacet, stant lumina flamma, sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.

The dreaded ferryman, Charon, [a creature] of dreadful filth, guards these waters and rivers. On whose chin very many grey hairs lie unkempt, his eyes blaze forth with fire, [and] a filthy cloak hangs in a knot from his shoulders.

ipse ratem conto subigit velisque ministrat et ferruginea subvectat corpora cumba, iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.

Charon himself drives the boat with a pole and attends to the sails and conveys the bodies in his rust-coloured craft; [he is] already rather old, but the god's old age is fresh and vigorous.

huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat, matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae, impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum: quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus trans pontum fugat et terris immittit apricis.

The whole crowd spread far and wide was rushing hither to the banks, mothers and husbands and the bodies of great-hearted heroes who have completed their life spans, boys and unmarried girls, and young men placed on the funeral pyres before the faces of their parents: as many as the leaves in the woods which fluttering down fall in the first frost of the autumn or as many as the birds which flock together from the deep sea to the land when the cold season puts them to flight across the sea and sends them to sunny lands.

stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

They were standing \[there\] begging to be the first to go across on the passage and they were stretching out their hands in their desire for the further shore.

navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos, ast alios longe summotos arcet harena.

But the gloomy sailor takes on board now these, now those, but others, driven away, he keeps far from the sand.

Ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant.

Therefore they completed (HP) the journey which they had begun and approached (HP) the river.

navito quos iam inde ut Stygia prospexit ab unda per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae, sic prior adgreditur dictis atque increpat ultro: ‘quisquis es, armatus qui nostra ad flumina tendis, fare age, quid venias, iam istinc et comprime gressum.

When the sailor, right from where he was, from the Stygian water saw them ahead going through the silent grove and turning their feet towards the bank, he accosted (HP) them first with his words in the following way and rebuked (HP) them as well: "Whoever you are, who, bearing arms, make your way to our rivers, come, say this instant from there, why you are coming, and halt your step.

umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae: corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina.

This is the region of the shades, of sleep and drowsy night: it is forbidden to carry live bodies in the Stygian boat.

nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntem accepisse lacu, nec Thesea Pirithoumque, dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent.

And indeed I was not happy that I received Hercules going on the lake, nor Theseus and Pirithous although they were descended from the gods and unconquered in their strength.

Tartareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit ipsius a solio regis traxitque trementem; hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti.'

The former \[Hercules\] forcibly sought \[to put\] the guard of the Underworld in chains and dragged him quivering from the throne of the king himself; the latter \[Theseus and Pirithous\] tried to take the wife of Pluto from her bed chamber."

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 liment.

In reply to these words, the Amphrysian prophetess spoke briefly: "\[There is\] No such treachery here (stop being alarmed) nor do our weapons bring violence; the immense doorkeeper barking everlastingly in the cave is permitted to terrify the bloodless shades, \[and\] undefiled, Proserpina may keep safe the threshold of her uncle.

Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis, ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras.

Trojan Aeneas, outstanding for his devotion to duty and feats of arms, is coming down to the lowest shades of Erebus to \[see\] his father.

si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago, at ramum hunc' (aperit ramum qui veste latebat) agnoscas.'

If the sight of such great devotion moves you not at all, still, you should recognise this branch "(she reveals the bough which lay hidden in her garment)."

tumida ex ira tum corda residunt; nec plura his.

Then his swelling heart settled down after his anger; and no more \[words\] than these \[were said\].

ille admirans venerabile donum fatalis virgae longo post tempore visum caeruleam advertit puppim ripaeque propinquat.

Charon wondering at the venerable gift of the fateful branch, seen after a long time, turned his dark-blue boat and approached the bank.

inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant, deturbat laxatque foros; simul accipit alveo ingentem Aenean.

Then he drove out the other spirits, who were sitting all along the long benches and he opened the gangways; at the same time he received into his boat huge Aeneas.

gemuit sub pondere cumba sutilis et multam accepit rimosa paludem.

The boat groaned beneath the weight sewn together as it was and, full of cracks, took in a lot of marshy water.

tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.

At last across the river Charon disembarked both the priestess and the hero safe and sound on the shapeless slime and the blue-grey marsh.

At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum forte recensebat numerum, carosque nepotes fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.

But father Anchises, deep within a green valley,

was reviewing the souls confined there and about to go to the light of the world above,

surveying them with eagerness, and by chance was counting the entire number of his family,

and his beloved descendants,

and the destinies and fortunes of the men, and their characters and achievements.

isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina vidit Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, effusaeque genis lacrimae et vox excidit ore:

And when he saw opposite him making his way through the grass Aeneas, eagerly he stretched out both palms, and tears poured forth over his cheeks and a cry fell from his lips:

‘venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti vicit iter durum pietas?

“Have you come at last, and has your devotion, eagerly awaited by your father, overcome the hard journey?

datur ora tueri, nate, tua et notas audire et reddere voces?

Is it allowed to behold your face, son, and both to hear and to answer your well-known tones?

sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit.

Thus I for my part kept reckoning in my mind and kept thinking it would be, counting the seasons, nor did my anxiety deceive me.

quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum accipio!

Over what lands and what great seas you have travelled,

I welcome you!

quantis iactatum, nate, periclis!

By what great dangers you have been tossed about, my son!

quam metui ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent!

How I feared lest the kingdoms of Libya should harm you in some way!”

ille autem: ‘tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago saepius occurrens heac limina tendere adegit; stant sale Tyrrheno classes.

But Aeneas \[replied\]: “It was your image, your sad image, father, so often springing to my mind, which drove me to make my way to these thresholds; my ships ride at anchor on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

da iungere dextram, da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro.’

Grant, father, grant \[me\] to join our right hands, and do not withdraw yourself from my embrace.”.

sic memorans largo fletu simul ora rigabat.

Speaking thus, he moistoned his face at the same time with copious weeping.

ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum; ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.

Three times he tried there to put his arms around the neck \[of Anchises\]; three times the image, grasped in vain, slipped through his hands, like light winds and most similar to winged sleep.

Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvae, Lethaeumque domos placidas qui praenatat amnem.

And now, in a valley deeply set back Aeneas saw (HP) a secluded grove and the rustling thickets of a wood, and the Lethean River which glides past peaceful dwellings.

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hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant:

Around this, countless races and peoples were flitting:

ac velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena floribus insidunt variis et candida circum lilia funduntur, strepit omnis murmure campus.

and just as when in the meadows bees in the bright summertime settle upon different flowers and swarm around dazzling white lilies, the whole plain buzzes with the humming.

horrescit visu subito causasque requirit inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro, quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas.

Aeneas shuddered (HP) at the sudden sight and asked (HP) the reasons in his ignorance, what those rivers were (HP) in the distance, or what men have filled the banks with such a great band.

dixerat Anchises natumque unaque Sibyllam conventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem, et tumulum capit unde omnis longo ordine posset adverso legere et venientum discere vultus.

Anchises had finished speaking and led (HP) his son and the Sibyl along with him into the middle of the throngs and the noisy crowd and selected (HP) a mound from which he could survey everyone face-to-face in a long row and become acquainted with the features of those coming along.

“Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes, inlustris animas nostrumque in nomen ituras, expediam dictis, et tua fata docebo.

“Come now, the glory which is to accompany the Trojan offspring in the future, the grandchildren from the Italian race who are waiting, the illustrious souls and those going to come in our name, I will set forth in words, and I will teach you your fates.\[“\]

huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hunc aspice gentem Romanosque tuos.

Now turn your two eyes hither, look at this race and your Romans.

hic Caesar et omnis Iuli progenies magnum caeli ventura sub axem.

Here \[is\] Caesar and the whole race of Iulus which is destined to come beneath the great vault of the sky.

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.

This man, this is the one, whom you hear so often promised to you, Augustus Caesar, offspring of a god, who will found the golden centuries again in Latium throughout the fields ruled formerly by Saturn, and will extend his power beyond both the Garamantes and the Indians; the land lies beyond constellations, beyond the paths of the year and the sun, where heaven-bearing Atlas turns on his shoulder the axis fitted with burning stars.

huius in adventum iam nunc et Caspia regna responsis horrent divum et Maeotia tellus, et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili.

In anticipation of this man’s arrival, already now both the Caspian kingdoms and the Maeotian land shudder because of the orcales of the gods, and the mouths of the sevenfold Nile are in fearful confusion.”