280. Ferrei: the last two vowels here form a diphthong. The Eumenides are conceived to have seats at the entrance of Hades, as well as in Tartarus, and even on the threshold of Jupiter's palace. See XII, 849.

281. Vipereum : the hair of Discord, like that of the Furies, and of the Gorgons, was entwined with snakes.

282. In medio: 'in the midst' of the vestibule; or, perhaps, of the court beyond.

283. vulgo: 'in common.' Cf. III, 643.

284. haerent: a change of construction, instead of the infinitive, dependent on ferunt.

286. Scyllae: 'Scyllas' such monsters as Scylla.

287. centumgeminus: 'the hundred-handed'; an indefinite use of the term. belua: the Lernaean hydra killed by Hercules.

289. tricorporis umbrae: the giant Geryon, slain by Hercules, who was said to have had three bodies.

292. tenues, etc.: 'thin ghosts without a body.' Admoneat, Inruat: the present subjunctive for vividness instead of the imperfect (contrary to fact condition). Cf. I, 58, and note.

295-336. Aeneas comes to the border of Acheron, and among the throng of shades waiting to cross the river in the boat of Charon discovers Orontes. 295. Acherontis: three rivers surround the abodes of the dead. Virgil places the Acheron first; this flows into the second, called Cocytus; the third is the Styx. The Phlegethon and Lethe are separate from the others. See 11. 550 sqq., and 705.

296, 297. 'This eddy, mingled with slime, and of unfathomable depth, seethes,' etc.

299. Terribili squalore: ablative of description with Charon.

300. stant-flamma: 'his eyes stand fixed with balls of flame.'

301. nodo: 'by a knot.' His chlamys was not fastened with the usual clasp. 302. velis ministrat: 'manages (the boat) with the sails.' Others regard velis as dative. Cf. X, 218.

304. sed cruda, etc.: 'but the old age of a god is green.'

305. Huc ad ripas: 'hither to the bank.' Cf. Huc caeco lateri, II, 18, and Hic in vasto antro, III, 616.

306. corpora: = formae.

307. Magnanimum: see note on 1. 59.

309, 310. Quam multa, etc.: 'as many as the leaves in the forests, that descending fall with the first frost of autumn.' Lapsa: serves as an inceptive of cadunt.

313. Stabant, etc.: 'they (the ghosts) stood beseeching to make the passage first.' For the infinitive, see note on III, 134.

316. submotos arcet: 'removes and drives away.'

See note on I, 69.

317. miratus-tumultu: parenthetical. Cf. IV, 105. 321. Olli: cf. I, 254.

324. cuius numen: 'by whose divinity.' After iurare the poets sometimes use the accusative without per, in imitation of the Greek idiom. The violation of an oath which called the Styx to witness, subjected the god thus perjured to the power of death.

325. Haec opposed to hi, in the following line.

327. Nec datur: 'nor is it permitted'; i.e. to Charon.

329. errant: 'they (the unburied) wander.'

332. The reading animo is retained here, as well as in X, 686, though animi (old locative, ‘in mind') is the reading of the Codex Mediceus, one of the best Mss. (see Introd. p. 25).

333. mortis-carentes: 'deprived of the honor due to death'; i.e. of burial. 334. Leucaspim: one of the friends of Orontes. See I, 113.

335. simul vectos: 'sailing in company'; i.e. with Aeneas.

337-383. Aeneas meets the shade of the pilot Palinurus, who gives an account of his fate after having been cast into the sea by Somnus, and begs that his body may be found and buried, or that he may now accompany Aeneas to Elysium. The Sibyl consoles him with the promise that his remains shall be honored, and that his name shall be given to the land where his body lies, though it is impossible to grant his second request.

338. Libyco cursu: 'on the Libyan voyage'; on the voyage from Africa to Italy; for they had started from Libya, or Africa, though the voyage was interrupted by the landing in Sicily. servat: see note on I, 494.

339. mediis in undis: 'in mid-ocean.'

The event is,

343. Namque mihi, etc.: Aeneas speaks here of some revelation of Apollo which has not been introduced into the foregoing narrative. however, foretold in V, 814, 815, but by Neptune to Venus.

348. nec, etc. it was not a god, but the drowsiness of the pilot, so far as he himself is aware, which caused him to fall from the ship. 350. Before regebam supply quo as the instrument.

351. Praecipitans: intransitive, as in II, 9; 'falling headlong.' Maria: for the accusative, see note on l. 324.

ex.

353. spoliata armis: 'deprived of its equipment'; i.e. of its rudder. cussa magistro: 'robbed of its pilot'; the regular form would have been excusso magistro. Cf. I, 115.

356. aqua: with violentus.

354. undis: ablative absolute.

357. ab unda: join with Prospexi. V, 858.

He had floated on the rudder.

See

358. tuta tenebam: see H. 525, 4; A. 308, b; B. 304, 3, N.; G. 597, R. 2; (H. 476, 2).

360. capita-montis: 'the sharp points of a cliff.'

361. praedam: 'booty.' In their ignorance they took me to be a shipwrecked voyager loaded with all the valuables I could save.

362. versant: the body is dashed to and fro by the advancing and receding

waves.

363. Quod: see note on II, 141.

365. malis: the 'woes' he suffers in consequence of being unburied. 365, 366. terram Inice: as on the remains of Polydorus, III, 63, and Misenus, above, 1. 232.

366. potes: you can do it by sailing back to Velia.

367. diva creatrix: 'thy goddess mother.'

374. Tu: the pronoun expressed here denotes surprise.

377. cape dicta memor: i.e. take my words into your memory.

378. finitimi: 'the inhabitants around'; i.e. the Lucanians. longe lateque join with acti.

379. Prodigiis — caelestibus: there was a tradition that the Lucanians, being visited by a pestilence, made expiatory offerings for the murder of Palinurus.

380. tumulo mittent: 'will bring to the tomb.'

381. Aeternum: the cape is still called Punta di Palinuro. 382. parumper: 'for a little while'; then to return again.

384-425. On the approach of Aeneas, Charon warns him to keep aloof from the bank, but at length, appeased by the words of the Sibyl, and by the sight of the golden branch, conveys them over the Styx. On landing, they immediately come. to the portal where Cerberus keeps watch.

384. Ergo: like igitur, resumes the thread of a narrative.

385. iam inde: perhaps best joined with prospexit; 'even from that moment.' It may also be local. 'Even from that place' where he (Charon) was.

Fig. 53. Charon receiving a Soul to ferry over the River Styx (from a Roman lamp)

387. ultro: lit. 'of his own accord'; i.e. 'unprovoked,' without being first spoken to.

388. armatus: Charon is alarmed at the appearance of an armed man, remembering the disturbance formerly occasioned in Hades by the visits of Hercules, Theseus, and Pirithoüs.

389. Fare iam istinc: 'speak even from there' where you are.

392. Nec sum laetatus: when Hercules went into the lower world to bring up Cerberus, Charon, being terrified, carried him at once over the Styx, and, as a punishment, was imprisoned a year by the command of Pluto. euntem: for advenientem.

393. Accepisse lacu: 'that I received him on the water.'

394. Dis geniti: Theseus was a son of Neptune; Pirithoüs, of Jupiter. 395. custodem: the dog, Cerberus.

396. a solio regis: when Hercules appeared, Cerberus fled for refuge to the throne of Pluto.

397. dominam: 'the queen'; Proserpine. Ditis: join with thalamo.

398. Amphrysia: the Sibyl is so called as the servant of Apollo, who had himself received the designation Amphrysius for keeping the oxen of King Admetus near the river Amphrysus.

400. licet: it is permitted' so far as we are concerned. Aeneas has no such violent purpose as the heroes you have mentioned.

401. With terreat sc. ut.

402. patrui: 'of her uncle'; for Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter, brother of Pluto, her husband. servet limen: 'may keep within the threshold.'

405. imago: 'the vision'; the representation, view, or exhibition of such piety as that which is seen in Aeneas.

residunt: his swollen breast subsides from anger.' Ex

expresses the transition from one state of feeling to another.

408. Nec plura his: 'no more than this (she says).'

409. Fatalis virgae: the branch of fate'; because the branch served as the token that he had been called by the fates to Hades.

post tempore: '(now) after a long time.'

See 1. 147. longo

411. alias animas: a contracted form of expression for alios, quae ani

mae erant.

412. laxat foros: clears the hatches'; i.e. here, the boat.

413. Ingentem: the form of the hero is great and ponderous, in contrast with the frail structure of the boat, and its ordinary passengers.

414. Sutilis: the boat was made either of reeds sewed together, or of a frame covered over with hides which were sewed together. rimosa: not bearing the weight and strain of a body of flesh and blood, the seams start open in cracks (rimis fatiscunt) like those of the ships strained by the waves, I, 122. paludem: for paludis aquam.

416. in: see note on II, 654.

417. regna: accusative with personat. Cf. 1. 17' .

418. adverso: opposite to them as they land.

420. Melle soporatam - offam: a cake made stupefying with honey and drugged meal.' Soporatam cannot strictly apply to melle, and must be regarded here as joined with it by a kind of zeugma. In strictness the language would be melle imbutam et frugibus medicatis soporatam.

421. fame: H. 145, 3; A. 59, 2, b; G. 68, 8; (H. 137, 2).

424. Occupat: ‘gains'; seizing the time before the dog shall recover from the opiate. sepulto: i.e. in somno. Cf. II, 265.

425. Evaditque ripam: 'escaping from the bank.' Evadit is used with reference to the threatened hindrance interposed by the watchdog. verb with -que appended, as frequently, may be rendered by a participle.

The

426-439. Aeneas first comes to the abode of those who have died in infancy, and of those who have been put to death under false accusations, or who have been impelled by the hardships of life to commit suicide.

427. in limine primo: at the very threshold.' Having passed by the cave where the watchdog lies, he now enters by a gateway the dwelling place of the shades.

430. mortis: for the case, see note on voti, V, 237.

431. Nec sine sorte, etc.: the customs of the Romans are here alluded to. The description is purposely vague, since here, as in other passages of description, the poet is not bound to definiteness of detail, but such descriptions everywhere must be judged rather from artistic considerations. Minos as quaesitor, praetor, or presiding officer of the court, assigns judges, or jurors (iudices), to decide on the case of each individual. These jurors he appoints by drawing lots from an urn (movet urnam). Conington supposes sedes to refer to the abodes of the shades in general, and not alone to those of the class just mentioned.

432, 433. ille

discit: 'he both summons the assembly of the silent (shades) and investigates their lives and their transgressions'; i.e. it is his prerogative to summon them before the court, and to investigate and decide each case according to the method of procedure above explained.

436. aethere in alto: see note on l. 128.

440-476. Aeneas next arrives at the fields of mourning (lugentes campi), where dwell the shades of such as have in any way come to an untimely end on account of love. Here he meets Dido, and in vain tries to obtain her forgiveness.

440. partem fusi in omnem: 'extending in every direction.' 442. quos: the masculine, because both sexes are included.