Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas. Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, account? 'Numine,' as in 1. 133., 2. 777 &c., seems to have its etymological sense of consent or permission,' though it might also mean 'aid' or 'influence.' 267.] 'To disclose the secrets of the world below.' 268.] Obscurus' of persons concealed 2. 135, G. 4. 424. For 'solus' applied to things where persons are really thought of, comp. G. 3. 249; though in each case there is of course a certain propriety in the epithet as applied to the thing. 269.] Vacuas' and 'inania' both give the notion of empty space, indicating that the mansions of the dead are capable of receiving all comers, and that their present inmates are unsubstantial, so that earthly travellers there would feel a sense of desolation, the same which has been already expressed by 'sola sub nocte.' 270 275 mite pellit." This passage may have suggested the beginning of Dante's Divina Commedia, "Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura." 272.] iuppiter,' as the god of the sky, E. 7. 60. 273.]"Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine" 2. 469, where see note on the meaning of ' vestibulum.' It would seem most simple to understand the two expressions as poetically equivalent. Fauces,' properly the throat,' often used of a narrow entrance: comp. G. 4. 467, "Taenarias fauces, alta ostia Ditis." Orcus, the god of the dead, is here as elsewhere used for the place, like Audns. 274.] Luctus' is half personified 2. 369. Ultrices Curae' probably the stings of conscience. The commentators refer to the well-known passage in Juv. 13. 192 foll. 275.] "Subeunt morbi tristisque senectus, Et labor et durae rapit inclementia mortis" G. 3. 67. 276.] 'Malesuadus' occurs in Plaut.: see Forc. The sense is not unlike that which is sometimes borne by "inprobus" in Virg., e. g. 2. 80, 356. Comp. Hom's language about the stomach Od. 17. 286 foll. "Turpis' seems to refer to physical unsightliness. 277.] Horribili visu portenta" 11. 271. Letum' appears as if strictly speaking it ought not to have been placed before the gates of Orcus: but it is regarded as one of the many human ills. 278.] 'Mala mentis gaudia' i. q. "malae mentis gaudia." Sen. Ep. 59 thinks the epithet an improper one, Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum, Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens, 280 Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis. In medio ramos annosaque bracchia pandit Ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia volgo Vana tenere, ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent. Multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum Centauri in foribus stabulant Scyllaeque biformes Et centumgeminus Briareus ac belua Lernae, as joy is always a good thing, since none but the wise can feel it. Virg. doubtless means to include evil pleasures of all kinds, as real evils, the end of which is death. 279.]" Adverso in limine" confronting those who approach on the threshold, below v. 636. 280.] But the Furies are said to carry on their work within vv. 570 foll. To this we may answer either that these are only their sleeping chambers, or that Virgil is inconsistent, having perhaps followed two distinct legends. There is something similar about the Hydra vv. 287, 576. The thalami' are chambers, perhaps resembling the cells of the porters in some Roman houses (Dict. A. Domus,' 'Ianua'). "Discordia' had been already personified by Ennius, whose words are quoted by Hor. 1 S. 4. 60. 281.] Virg. represents Discord as a Fury, with snakes for hair. 'Vipereum crinem' like "anguino capillo" Catull. 62 (64). 193. 'Vipereus' occurs again 7. 351, 753. Innexa crinem vittis, with her hair bound with fillets: 'crinem' being governed by 'innexa,' as if it had been "cui aliquis crinem innexuerat." Comp. delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum" 3. 285 284.] Vana' seems to mean fallacious as well as unsubstantial. Comp. the distinction between "verae umbrae" and "falsa insomnia" below vv. 894 foll. "Ne vana putes haec fingere somnum" 8. 42. Haerent,' understand 'somnia.' For the change of construction comp., as somewhat similar, 9. 593, "Cui Remulo cognomen erat, Turnique minorem Germanam nuper thalamo sociatus habebat." 285.]Praeterea' may be beside the dream-laded elm, which we must then suppose to be in the middle of the vestibule, or besides the shapes mentioned vv. 274 foll. 'Monstra ferarum' = "monstruosae ferae," as "monstra deum" 8. 698 = monstruosi Di." 66 286.] Stabulant' neuter, G. 3. 224. The word is appropriate to the Centaurs. Scyllae' may be meant to include the two Scyllas, as the daughter of Nisus was turned into a monster according to one legend (see on E. 6. 74), or the plural may be rhetorical, like Milton's" Hydras and Chimaeras dire." 66 287.] Centumgeminus': = centuplex," as "tergeminus" 4. 510 = "triplex," "septemgeminus" v. 801 below ="septemplex." The latter part of the compound has no very precise force, as is frequently the case in compounds in Greek, though the notion probably is that as 'geminus' indicates repetition, 'tergeminus,' &c. may indicate a thing repeated three, &c. times. Tergeminus' is applied by Lucr. 5. 28 to Gorgon, who had three bodies. Briareus had not a hundred bodies, but a hundred hands (II. 1. 402 foll.), so that the expression is far from exact. 'Belua Lernae,' the Hydra, called "Lernaeus anguis" 8. 300," Lernaea pestis" Lucr. 5. 26. Horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera, 290 Hinc via, Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas. 295 Turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges Aestuat atque omnem Cocyto eructat arenam. Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat Terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento 288.] 'Stridens' of the Hydra, as elsewhere of serpents. The Chimaera is called 'flammis armata, as the Parthian arrow is called armata felle veneni" 12. 857. 66 289.] The 'forma tricorporis umbrae is Geryon, mentioned again 7. 662., 8. 202. Aesch. Ag. 870 calls him тρlowμαтos, and Lucr. 5. 28 talks of "tripectora tergemini vis Geryonai." The words 'forma umbrae' indicate the spectral and unsubstantial nature of the appearances, pointed out by the Sibyl in the following lines. 290.] Hic' of time, 2. 122 &c. 291.] 'Strictam aciem' 2. 333. To offer a weapon at a person is a common expression in our own older writers. 292.] Docta' instructed, perhaps by Hecate, v. 565 below. But the word often means little more than wise or skilful: see Forc. Tenuis vitas' G. 4. 224. 'Sine corpore:' see on G. 4. 475, where, as in v. 303 below, Virg. is not quite consistent with his language here. “ 293.] Cava imagine' means more than "nube cava" 1. 516, "cava umbra" 2. 360 note, expressing not merely that the spirits are enclosed by the visible shape, but that the shape is essentially hollow, yuxǹ kai εἴδωλον, ἀτὰρ φρένες οὐκ ἔνι πάμπαν (II. 23. 105: comp. Od. 10. 493). moneat-inruat?' see on 5. 325. Ad 294.] In Hom. Ulysses' sword operates as a real terror to the ghosts (see on v. 260 above). The legend was that Hercules drew his sword on the Gorgon when he went down to the shades, and was reassured by Hermes as Aeneas here is by the Sibyl. Diverberet' 5. 503 note. Frustra diverberet,' he would try in vain to strike aside: comp.“nequíquam fallis" 12. 634. 295.] Hinc' seems to mean that it is only after passing the gate of Orcus that they see the way to Acheron. Acheron is called 'Tartareus' from its dismal associations, though it is not, like Phlegethon v. 551, a river specially surrounding Tartarus, but apparently encompasses the whole of the lower world. Virgil, however, has a very confused conception of these four rivers. Homer's account is brief, Od. 10. 513 foll., and he says nothing about them when describing Ulysses actual journey. 296.] Acheron has here the characteristics of a marshy slough, combined with those of a rapid river. Comp. Plato, Phaedo pp. 112, 113. 'Caenum' and 'arena' are doubtless the same. 297.] Disgorges into Cocytus,' into which Virg. evidently supposed Acheron to empty itself. Hom. makes Cocytus an anoppoέ or arm of Styx. 298.] Portitor,' properly a person who collects the portoria, duties on exports and imports, or tolls (Dict. A. Portorium '); hence a person who receives toll for carrying passengers or goods, and so, as here, a ferryman, a sense which it bears Sen. De Benef. 6. 18, and in various passages of the poets, where, as here, it is applied to Charon. In later Latin it came to be used for a porter: see Forc. We have had the word used of Charon, G. 4. 502. 299.] 'Terribili squalore' is not to Canities inculta iacet, stant lumina flamma, be taken with 'horrendus,' but forms in fact a second epithet. Charon is later than Hom., who employs only the agency of Hermes for transporting the dead to the shades (Od. 24), while the living cross the Ocean river in ships: he appears, however, in Eur. Alc. 252 &c., and Aristoph. Frogs 180 &c., and was represented by Polygnotus in his paintings in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi. 300.] Canities for 'cani,' grey hairs, as in 9. 612., 10. 844., 12. 611. 'Stant lumina flamma' like "pulvere caelum Stare vident" 12. 407. Stant' expresses the fixedness of the eyes, and the mass of the flame. "His eyes are fixed orbs of fire." 301.] Charon apparently wears a scarf or chlamys, which is twisted round the shoulders (Dict. Ant. "Chlamys,' 'Nodus'). This was a pilot's costume from Plaut. Mil. 4. 4. 41 foll. 'Nodus' is to be taken strictly, not as implying a "fibula " or brooch, which would hardly be in keeping with the rest of Charon's trim. 302.] 'Ipse,' without assistance, old as he was. Subigit' G. 1. 202, apparently expressing the motion of the pole or oar, pushing up from beneath. Conto' 5. 208. Comp. Eur. Alc. 253, ἔχων χέρ ̓ ἐπὶ κοντῷ Χάρων μ ̓ ἤδη καλεῖ. Velisque ministrat' 10. 218. 'Velis may either be dat., 'he attends to the sails,' or abl., 'he manages the boat with sails.' 303.] Ferruginea' seems to denote the murky hue of the infernal boat. It may, however, merely indicate the ordinary colour of ships (comp. veòs 300 305 310 κvavотрúроιo Il. 15. 693). At any rate it is evidently the same with “ caeruleam puppim" v. 410 below. 'Subvectat' used like "subvectus" 8. 58, perhaps to express the difficulty of the exertion. 'Corpora:' see G. 4. 475, and comp. v. 391 below. 304.] 'Senior' with Virg. is not the same as 'senex.' In its technical sense among the Romans it was applied to those who were between forty-five and sixty, Gell. 10. 28. Cruda senectus' is a translation of ὠμόν γῆρας, which occurs Od. 15. 357, Hes. Works 705, though apparently in a different sense of untimely (or perhaps cruel) old age. There is, however, a compound ὠμογέρων applied to Ulysses Il. 23. 791, and this is doubtless what Virg. meant to represent here, crudus meaning fresh, with the blood still in the veins, opposed to dried up and withered. 305.] Huc' may be explained by 'ad ripas' (see on E. 1. 54), or it may refer to the boat. 306.] This and the two next lines are repeated from G. 4. 475-477, where see notes. 309.] Quam multa' G. 4. 473, where the símile resembles the second of the two now before us. "Prima auctumni sub frigora" G. 2. 321. 310.] Ad terram gurgite ab alto:' the birds are apparently supposed to have accomplished their voyage over the sea, and to be just alighting in a mass in the warmer clime that is to receive them. We are more familiar with the flocking together of the birds before departure. 311.] Frigidus annus,' the cold Trans pontum fugat et terris inmittit apricis. 66 part of the year, as "pomifer annus" Hor. 3 Od. 23. 8 is the fruit-bearing part of the year, annus hibernus Id. Epod. 2. 29 the wintry part of the year. So "formosissimus annus E. 3. 57. 313.] Primi transmittere' = "ut primi transmitterent." "Transmittere' takes an acc. of the thing sent across ("transmissae classes 3. 403), and so here of the passage, though in Greek we should distinguish them as the acc. of the object and the cognate. In 4. 154 (“transmittunt cursu campos ") the acc. is of the space passed over, the passage being put into the instrumental abĺ. 315.] Accipit' v. 412. Nunc hos, nunc illos: each longs to be first, but he takes some early, some late, some not at all. · 316.] Submotos arcet' like "submersas obrue" 1. 69. Arena,' the earth at the water's edge, as in 1. 540, 541 it is synonymous with "prima terra.' 317.] Enim' may either have its ordinary sense for,' 'miratus' and 'motus being taken as principal verbs, and the clause made parenthetical (comp. 4. 105, "Olli (sensit enim simulata mente locutam). Sic contra est ingressa Venus;" Ov. F. 1. 659, "Cum mihi (sensit enim), Lux haec indicitur, inquit Musa"), or be understood as a strengthening particle, as in 10. 874, "Aeneas adgnovit enim laetusque precatur." Perhaps the latter is better; but it is very doubtful. "Mota tumultu" 8.371. 319.] Quo discrimine:' what constitutes the distinction, according to which some are rejected, others ad mitted. 315 320 320.] Remis verrunt' 3. 668. Here they are said to do what Charon does for them. 'Livida' of turbid water Catull. 17. 11. 321.] Comp. v. 398. Longaeva :' the legend was that the Sibyl obtained from Apollo the boon of as many years of life as the grains of sand she happened to be holding in her hand. 322.] Deum certissima proles' like cara deum suboles" E. 4. 49, where 'deum' appears to be used generally, as we should say "offspring of hea ven." So Soph. Ant. 986 has beŵr mais of Cleopatra the daughter of Boreas. The point seems to be that Aeneas is one of the class of "Dis geniti" vv. 131, 394 (comp. v. 123). Aeneas was in fact sprung from more gods than one, from Venus, and hence from Jupiter, not to mention Saturn and Caelus. Certissima,' because there were pretenders to the honour, as even mythology itself admitted, doubts about parentage forming the staple of some of the mythological stories, such as that of Phaethon. So Aristaeus in the passage referred to above, G. 4. 322, affects to doubt his own descent when in trouble. Thus Hercules 8. 301 is called "vera Iovis proles," having justified himself by his actions. 323.] This that you see is the pool of Cocytus.' So 1. 338, "Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem." Cocytus and Styx are mentioned almost as if they were the same river: see v. 296 above. The infernal rivers were supposed to form or flow into lakes or marshes (v. 107, |