Vergil Aeneid 6.295-332

[6.295-332]
295 Hinc via Tartareī quae fert Acherontis ad undās.
296 Turbidus hīc caenō vastāque vorāgine gurges
297 aestuat atque omnem Cōÿtō ērūctat harēnam.

From here the path which carries [them] to the waves of the Tartarean Acheron.
Here the abyss turbid with filth and a vast whirlpool
boils and vomits all the sand to Cocytus.

298 Portitor hās horrendus aquās et flūmina servat
299 terribilī squālōre Charōn, cui plūrima mentō
300 cānitiēs inculta iacet, stant lūmina flammā,
301 sordidus ex umerīs nōdō dependet amictus.

The ferryman Charon horrifying with respect to terrible filth
protects these waters and rivers, to whom lies the most unkempt
gray white hairs on the chin, and his eyes stare with flame,
a dirty robe hangs from his shoulders with a knot.

302 Ipse ratem contō subigit vēlīsque ministrat
303 et ferrūgineā subvectat corpora cumbā,
304 iam senior, sed crūda deō viridisque senectūs.

He himself one pushes the raft with a pole and he regulates [it] with sails
and he conveys the corpses with a dusty skiff,
now the old man, but the god has fresh and vigorous old age.

305 Hūc omnis turba ad rīpās effūsa ruēbat,
306 mātrēs atque virī dēfūnctaque corpora vītā
307 magnanimum hērōum, puerī innūptaeque puellae,
308 impositīque rogīs iuvenēs ante ōra parentum:

Here all the crowd having been poured out to the shores was rushing,
mothers and husbands, the bodies of great souled heroes
having finished life, boys and unmarried girls,
and the youths having been placed upon the funeral pyres before the faces of the parents:

309 quam multa in silvīs autumnī frīgore prīmō
310 lāpsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab altō
311 quam multae glomerantur avēs, ubi frīgidus annus
312 trāns pontum fugat et terrīs immittit aprīcīs.

As many leaves as having slipped down, fall in the forests
at first chill of autumn, or as many birds are gathered to the earth
from a deep whirlpool, when the cold year puts them to flight
across the river and sends them into the sunny lands.

313 Stābant ōrantēs prīmī trānsmittere cursum
314 tendēbantque manūs rīpae ulteriōris amōre.
315 Nāvita sed trīstis nunc hōs nunc accipit illōs,
316 ast aliōs longē summōtōs arcet harēnā.

The first ones begging to cross the course were standing
and were stretching their hands because of love of the further bank.
But the sad sailor now receives these ones now [receives] those ones,
but he restrains the others having been removed far from the shore.

317 Aenēās mīrātus enim mōtusque tumultū
318 “Dīc,” ait, “ō virgō, quid vult concursus ad amnem?
319 Quidve petunt animae? Vel quō discrīmine rīpās
320 hae linquunt, illae rēmīs vada līvida verrunt?”

For Aeneas having wondered at and having been moved by the uprising
said “Speak, o maiden, what does the crowd at the stream want?
Or what do the souls seek? Or by which distinction
do these ones leave the shores, those ones sweep the dark shallows with oars?”

321 Ollī sīc breviter fāta est longaeva sacerdōs:
322 “Anchīsā generāte, deum certissima prōlēs,
323 Cōcÿtī stāgna alta vidēs Stygiamque palūdem,
324 dī cuius iūrāre timent et fallere nūmen.

The aged priestess thus spoke to that one briefly:
“With [you] having been born from Anchises, very reliable offspring of the gods,
you see the deep still waters of the Cocytus and the Stygian swamp,
whose divine power the gods fear to take an oath [on] and to deceive [it].

325 Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumātaque turba est;
326 portitor ille Charōn; hī, quōs vehit unda, sepultī.
327 Nec rīpās datur horrendās et rauca fluenta
328 trānsportāre prius quam sēdibus ossa quiērunt.

This whole crowd, which you perceive, is needy and unburied,
that is the ferryman Charon, these whom the wave carries have been buried.
And it is not given to carry [them] across the horrifying banks and sounding streams
earlier than the bones have rested in the seats.

329 Centum errant annōs volitantque haec lītora circum;
330 tum dēmum admissī stāgna exoptāta revīsunt.”
331 Cōnstitit Anchīsā satus et vestīgia pressit
332 multa putāns sortemque animō miserātus inīquam.

They wander and fly around these shores for a hundred years;
Then finally having been admitted they revisit the desired still waters.”
The one born from Anchises stood and repressed his steps
considering many things and having pitied this unfair lot in his mind.