Section A: Lines 295-316

hinc via Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas

From here is the route which leads to the waves of infernal Acheron

turbidus hic caeno

Here, thick with mud

vastaque voragine

and with an enormous chasm

gurges aestuat

a whirlpool boils up

atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam

and spews forth all the sand into Cocytus

portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat

The dreaded ferryman guards these waters and rivers

terribili squalore Charon

Charon, of dreadful filth

cui plurima mento canities inculta iacet

on whose chin very many grey hairs lie unkempt

stant lumina flamma

His eyes stare with fire

sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus

and a dirty cloak hangs from his shoulders in a knot

ipse ratem conto subigit

Charon himself drives the boat with a pole

velisque ministrat

attends to the sails

et ferruginea subvectat corpora cumba

and carries the bodies in his dusky boat

iam senior

now rather old

sed cruda deo viridisque senectus

but the god’s age is fresh and vigorous

huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat

The whole crowd, spread far and wide, was rushing to the riverbanks

matres atque viri

mothers and husbands

defunctaque corpora vita magnanimum heroum

bodies of high-souled heroes who have completed their lifespan

pueri innuptaeque puellae

boys and unmarried girls

impositique rogis iuvenes

and men in their prime placed on funeral pyres

ante ora parentum

before the faces of their parents

quam multa in silvis…folia

As many as the leaves in the woods which,

autumni frigore primo lapsa cadunt

slipping down, fall in the first frost of autumn,

aut ... quam multae glomerantur aves

or as many as the birds which gather together

ad terram gurgite ab alto

from the deep sea to the land

ubi frigidus annus

when the cold season

trans pontum fugat

makes them flee across the sea

et terris immittit apricis

and sends them to sunny lands

stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum

They stood there, begging to be the first to go across the passage

tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore

and stretched out their hands in their desire for the furthest riverbank

navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos

But the gloomy sailor takes on board, now these, now those,

ast alios longe summotos arcet harena

but others, driven away, he keeps far from the sand