Vergil Aeneid 6.384-425

[6.384-425]
384 Ergō iter inceptum peragunt fluviōque propinquant.
385 Nāvita quōs iam inde ut Stygiā prōspexit ab undā
386 per tacitum nemus īre pedemque advertere rīpae,
387 sīc prior adgreditur dictīs atque increpat ultrō:

Therefore they accomplished the journey having been begun and approach the river.
As the sailor saw that which ones already went from there from the Stygian wave[s]
through the secret grove and turned their foot to the riverbank,
thus he first approaches with words and further chides them:

388 “Quisquis es, armātus quī nostra ad flūmina tendis,
389 fāre age, quid veniās, iam istinc et comprime gressum.
390 Umbrārum hic locus est, somnī noctisque sopōrae:

“Whoever you are, who, armed, hastens to our rivers,
do speak, why you come, now from there repress your course.
This place is of the shadows, of sleep and of sleepy night:

391 corpora vīva nefās Stygiā vectāre carīnā.
392 Nec vērō Alcīdēn mē sum laetātus euntem
393 accēpisse lacū, nec Thēsea Pīrithoűmque,
394 dīs quamquam genitī atque invictī vīribus essent.

It is not right to carry the living bodies with a Stygian boat.
I had neither rejoiced that I had received Hercules going
in the lake nor Theseus and Pirithous,
although they had been born from the gods and were unconquered in respect to strength.

395 Tartareum ille manū custōdem in vincla petīvit
396 ipsius ā soliō rēgis trāxitque trementem;
397 hī dominam Dītis thalamō dēdūcere adortī.”

That one sought [to capture] the Tartarean guardian into chains with the hand
and dragged him trembling down from the throne of the king himself;
these ones attempted to abduct the mistress of Dis from the bedroom.”

398 Quae contrā breviter fāta est Amphrÿsia vātēs:
399 “Nūllae hīc insidiae tālēs (absiste movērī),
400 nec vim tēla ferunt; licet ingēns iānitor antrō
401 aeternum lātrāns exsanguēs terreat umbrās,
402 casta licet patruī servet Prōserpina limen.

Which things the Amphyrsian prophet spoke shortly in reply:
“Here [there is] not any so great treachery (cease to be moved),
and spears bear no power; it is permitted [that] the large doorkeeper howling in the cave
eternally scares the lifeless shadows,
it is permitted [that] chaste Proserpina guards the threshold of the paternal uncle.

403 Trōius Aenēās, pietāte īnsignis et armīs,
404 ad genitōrem īmās Erebī dēscendit ad umbrās.
405 Sī tē nūlla movet tantae pietātis imāgō,
406 at rāmum hunc” (aperit rāmum quī veste latēbat)
407 “agnōscās.” Tumida ex īrā tum corda resīdunt;

Trojan Aeneas, distinguished in devotion and arms
descends to the begetter to the lowest shadows of the Underworld.
If no image of such devotion moves you,
but you should recognize this branch” (she reveals the branch which was lying hiding with clothing).
Then his heart[s] swollen from anger subsides and

408 nec plūra hīs. Ille admīrāns venerābile dōnum
409 fātālis virgae longō post tempore vīsum
410 caeruleam advertit puppim rīpaeque propinquat.

[he does not say] more things than these. That one wondering at the venerable gift
of a fated branch having been seen a long time afterwards
turns the cerulean stern and approaches the riverbank.

411 Inde aliās animās, quae per iuga longa sedēbant,
412 dēturbat laxatque forōs; simul accipit alveō
413 ingentem Aenēān. Gemuit sub pondere cumba
414 sūtilis et multam accēpit rīmōsa palūdem.

From there he dislodges the other spirits, who were sitting on the long ridges,
and release the gangways, at the same time he takes
huge Aeneas on the boat. A boat with seams groans under the burden
and leaky it receives much swamp.

415 Tandem trāns fluvium incolumēs vātemque virumque
416 īnformī līmō glaucāque expōnit in ulvā.
417 Cerberus haec ingēns lātrātū rēgna trifaucī
418 personat adversō recubāns immānis in antrō.

Finally he disembarks both the prophet and the man unharmed
across the river onto shapeless mud and in the grey marsh grass.
Immense Cerberus makes these kingdoms resound with a three throated howl
reclining immense in his opposite cave.

419 Cui vātēs horrēre vidēns iam colla colubrīs
420 melle sopōrātam et medicātīs frūgibus offam
421 obicit. Ille famē rabidā tria guttura pandēns
422 corripit obiectam, atque immānia terga resolvit
423 fūsus humī tōtōque ingēns extenditur antrō.

To whom the prophet seeing already that the necks tremble with snakes
presents a cake having been drugged with honey and medicated grain.
That one loosening the three throats, because of raving hunger, seizes [it] having been presented
and he unravels the large backs, having been poured out on the ground and huge,
he is stretched out in the whole cave.

424 Occupat Aenēās aditum custōde sepultō
425 ēvāditque celer rīpam inremeābilis undae.

Aeneas occupies the entrance, with the guardian having been buried,
and, swift, passes over the bank of the wave from which there is no return.