with many heads, that infested Lerna, a small lake in Argolis; it was slain by Hercules. 'Chimæra'; see note to Book V. 118.Harpyiæ'; see Book III. forma - umbræ '; Geryon, a monster formed of three human bodies united above, but divided below the loins; he also was slain by Hercules.

291-2. strictam-offert,' and opposes the drawn blade to them coming against him. comes,' the Sibyl: "tenues vitas,' mere spectres with

out substance.

296-7. This pool, thick with mud and of almost bottomless depth, overflows, and throws all its slime into Cocytus. The Stygian lake is meant, though called Acheron in the preceding line, these names being used indifferently.

293-300. horrendus Portitor Charon servat has aquas,' the dreadful ferryman Charon guards these waters. He was represented as an old man with an oar in his hand. His business was to ferry the ghosts over the Styx. plurima Canities,' a long, white beard: stant- flammâ,' his eyes are of flame.

304. 'sed senectus,' but the vigorous and green old age of a god. 3068. Repeated froin Geor. IV. 475 -7.

309-12. Quàm folia,' as many as the leaves that fall in the woods, on the first frost of autumn: ab gurgite,' from the sea: ubi fugat,' when the cold season drives them over the sea. Migratory birds usually depart together in a large flock.

313. They stand there entreating to be the first to cross the river.

315-6. tristis, stern, inflexible: 'longè — arenâ,' he repels, driving them far back from the strand.

318-20. quid - amnem,' what means this crowd near the river? 'vel - verrunt,' or from what ground of distinction do some retire from the bank, and others, with oars, sweep over the dark-colored waters?

324-6. The divine power of which the gods fear to swear by and then break their oath. An oath confirmed by the Styx was the most solemn and irrevocable adjuration among the gods It was a humane point in the religious creed of the ancients, that the souls of unburied persons were held to wander about for a hundred years, before they were permitted to cross to their destination. The duty of performing the rites of sepulture was thus magnified and enforced. inops,' forlorn, helpless, because unburied: 'hisepulti,' these, whom the current bears across, have received the rites of burial.

327-8.datur,' is it permitted: sedibus,' in their tombs.

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330. Admissi,' received into Charon's boat: stagna exoptata,' the waters which they long to cross: revisunt'; referring to the doctrine explained in lines 748-50, of this book.

332-5. Reflecting much, and pitying in his mind their hard lot. 'mortis honore'; of burial; the ship, in which Orontes was, foundered in the storm on the African coast, and all the crew were lost; see Book I. 113-9. Leucaspis was one of the crew.

337-8. gubernator,' the steersman: sese agebat,' came forward: 'Libyco cursu,' in the voyage from Africa, though Palinurus was not lost till after they left Sicily.servat,' watched, observed.

340. vix-umbrâ,' hardly recognised him in the thick gloom. 343. fallax repertus,' never found untrue deceitful - before. 345-7. Who prophesied that you should be saved from the dangers of the sea, and should reach the borders of Italy. Is this the fulfilment of the oracle? 'cortina'; for the oracle itself; see note to Book III. 92.

6

349-51. Namque mecum,' for, falling by accident, I carried with me the helm, which was torn off with great violence, while I was clinging to it as its appointed guardian, and was directing the ship's course.· 352-4. Non cepisse,' that I did not entertain: pro me,' for my own sake: Quàm ne tua navis Deficeret,' as I did, lest your ship should be wrecked: spoliata-magistro', having lost its helm, and its pilot having fallen overboard.

355-6. Tres hibernas noctes,' three stormy nights, - a long time for a man to swim; but we may suppose that he was buoyed up by a fragment of the helm. lumine,' for 'die.'

358. 'jam putâsset,' already, I had safe hold of the land; if the cruel people, when I was weighed down with my wet garments, and was catching hold of the sharp points of the rock with clasped hands, had not attacked me with the sword, ignorantly supposing that I was a rich prize. 363. Quòd,' wherefore, I entreat you to bury me.

365-6. Eripe — malis,' deliver me from this dreadful fate, O invincible leader. portus-Velinos,' seek out the harbour of Velia, a city on the southwestern coast of Italy, near which Palinurus was cast ashore, and where a promontory was afterwards called by his name.

·

367-8. 'si-Ostendit,' if your goddess mother has shown you any means of doing this: quam' for aliquam,'' viam' understood. 370-1.misero,' 'mihi' understood. 'Sedibus,' in the habitation allotted to the dead, on the other side of the Styx.

374-5. amnem 6

Eumenidum,' and the fearful river of the Furies, - who are here put for the infernal gods.

377-80. But hear and remember my words, as consolation for your hard fate. For the neighbouring people, throughout their cities, compelled by portents from heaven, shall make expiation to your bones. The Lucanians were punished for their cruel treatment of Palinurus by a pestilence, that raged until, instructed by the oracle, they erected a cenotaph to his memory. et-mittent,' and shall bring offerings to the tomb. 383.gaudet terrâ,' is pleased with the appellation given to the land; cognomine'; Gr. § 205. Rem. 11.

385. When the mariner (Charon) now perceived them from the river Styx; 'inde' is expletive.

391-3. nefas vectare,' it is a crime for me to carry over. Nec lacu,' truly, I had no reason to rejoice at having received Hercules in his passage over the lake; see note to line 123. Charon was punished by a year's imprisonment for transporting Hercules over the Styx.

394 – 8. ' Dis — geniti,' although they were sons of the gods. 'ille,' Hercules: in vincla petivit,' sought to carry off in chains: Tartareum custodem,' the dog Cerberus, who acted as sentinel in Hades. 'Ipsius -regis,' from the throne of the king himself; Pluto, to whose feet Cerberus fled for refuge. Hi,' these Theseus and Pirithous: dominam'; Proserpina, the wife of Pluto: adorti,'' sunt' understood; attempted. Amphrysia vates'; the prophetess of Apollo; see note to Geor. III. 2.

400-2. vim ferunt,' portend violence: licet,' ' per nos' understood; that is, we will not hinder: 'ingens limen,' the great doorkeeper, barking for ever in his cave, from terrifying the bloodless ghosts. The chaste Proserpina may still abide in her uncle's house; as Jupiter was her father, Proserpina was the niece, as well as wife, of Pluto.

405-8. imago,' the thought, consideration: 'te- movet,' has no effect upon you:aperit,' she shows him the golden branch: '' Agnoscas, you should recognise. 'residunt,' was softened down: 'plura his,' 'dixit' understood.

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409. Fatalis'; appointed by fate as a passport to Tartarus. 412. Deturbat,' he drives out: laxat foros,' and empties the gangways, to make room for Eneas and the Sibyl. alveo'; Gr. § 306. 413-4. Ingentem'; the great stature of chieftains in the heroic age is frequently mentioned by the poets. Charon's boat, in which crowds of imponderable ghosts were wont to pass, is weighed down to the water's edge by two living persons. Sutilis'; it was made of bark or hides sewed together. 'paludem,' for 'aquam'; it leaked badly. 416. And lets them disembark on the foul mud and green sedge of the farther bank.

418-21. adverso in antro,' in the cave over against the point where

they landed. The monster's neck was covered with snakes, instead of hair, and these bristled up with rage. 'Cui vates Objicit soporatam offam,' to whom the prophetess threw a cake of soporific power. 422-4. objectam,' offam' understood: atque humi,' and, stretched on the ground, unbends his huge back. Occupat aditum,' goes in: 'sepulto, being put to sleep.

426. Having passed the Styx, Æneas enters the first district of the infernal regions. The description of the objects and persons seen in this region extends to the 540th line. The place answers in some measure to the purgatory of Dante. It was tenanted by those who had perished from a premature or violent death; such as infants, suicides, women who had died from love, and heroes slain in battle. The place occupied by the two latter classes was called the 'campi lugentes, or "field of the mourners." The appalling sights and sounds of this place are described with wonderful power. vagitus,' the screaming of infants. 428. 'exsortes'; cut off before their allotted time.

430-2. Next to these come the persons condemned to death under false accusations. 'sine sorte'; without a judicial investigation, the assistant judges for which were chosen by lot. Quæsitor,' the presiding judge. 'urnam movet'; as the ballots were drawn from an urn, movere urnam became the phrase for presiding at the tribunal. 'silentûm,' of the silent ones, the spectral judges.

434-5. qui-manu,' who had laid violent hands upon themselves, though innocent of any other crime; who committed suicide from mere weariness of life, 'perosi lucem.'

436. Quàm vellent,' how they wish to return to life, though at the expense of all the sufferings, from which death formerly seemed a happy refuge! Such was the Pagan view of a future life. Not only the souls who suffered the light inflictions of purgatory, but even those who were admitted to the Elysian fields, are often described by the poets as mourning over their fate, and anxious to return to the upper world. 439-43. et - coërcet,' and Styx, nine times intervening, confines them; with so many windings was this river supposed to encircle the abodes of the dead. fusi omnem in partem,' extending in every direc tion. In this order; Hic, Secreti calles celant quos, &c.

445. Phædra, the wife of Theseus, conceived an incestuous passion for her step-son Hippolytus, and when he refused to gratify it, she caused him to be destroyed, and then killed herself. Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, married Cephalus. Suspecting her husband of infidelity, she came upon him suddenly one day in the chase, and he threw a dart unwittingly, and killed her. Eriphyle, the wife of Amphiaraus, persuaded him to go to the war against Thebes, though he feared that the expedition would prove fatal to him. Therefore, he charged their son Alcmeon to put his mother to death, if his father should be slain. Amphiaraus was killed, and Alcmaon murdered Eriphyle.

447. Euadne married Capaneus, one of the seven chiefs who went against Thebes. She burned herself on the funeral pile of her husband. 'Pasiphae; see note to Ecl. VI. 46. Laodamia, when she heard of the death of her husband Protesilaus, in the Trojan war, caused an image of him to be formed, which she would never allow to be out of her sight. Her father, thinking to wean her thoughts from her loss, caused the image to be burned; but she threw herself into the flames and perished along with it.

she

448-9. juvenis-figuram,' and Canis, formerly a young man, now a woman, brought back again by fate into her former shape. She was one of the Lapithe, and obtained from Neptune, as the price of her favors, that she should be transformed into a man. In this shape, became distinguished in war, but after death she regained her sex. 453-4. qualem - Lunam,' like the moon, which one sees, or thinks he sees, through the clouds, as it rises early in the month. A pleasing

44*

NNN

simile; the figure of Dido, indistinctly seen in the gloom, is compared to the crescent of the new inoon, faintly seen through the clouds.

456-7. verus nuntius'; referring to the flames of Dido's funeral pile, the light from which Æneas had seen when leaving Carthage, and which caused him to suspect her death. extinctam,'te esse' understood: ferrosecutam,' and had perished by the sword.

460-4. Invitus cessi,' I came away unwillingly. quæ nunc egêre me suis Imperiis,' which now compel me by their authority: 'senta situ,' rugged by neglect, or want of cultivation: 'me-ferre, that by my departure I should cause.

466-8. 'extremum,' the last time torva,' used adverbially; angrily. 'Lenibat,' by syncope, for 'leniebat'; sought to pacify: lacrymas'; shed by Eneas, not by Dido.

470-3. incepto sermone,' by the commencement of his speech: 'vultum,' Gr. § 234. II. 'stet' for fuisset': Marpesia cautes'; put for any rock whatever; Marpesus is a mountain on the island of Paros. 'corripuit sese,' hurried away: 'conjux pristinus,' her former husband Sychæus. Heyne wickedly remarks, that it is doubtful whether she told him the whole truth about Æneas.

477-8. Indeiter,' then he prosecutes his appointed journey : ' tenebant,' they arrived at: 'secreta'; apart from the others.

479-81. Here Tydeus meets him, here Parthenopaus, renowned in war, here the spectre of the pale Adrastus. Tydeus was the father of Diomed. The two others were respectively king of the Arcadians, and of the Argives. All three were distinguished in the war against Thebes, the most noted military event before the siege of Troy. multùmsuperos, much mourned among the living.

483-5. These names are taken almost literally from Homer, and, as the men were not very conspicuous in the war, it is useless to give their history. Polyphotes was a priest of Ceres. Idæus was the charioteer of Príam, and is here represented accordingly.

487-8. juvat gradum,' they are delighted to tarry some time, and to walk by his side, &c.

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491-3. The poet gives a fine idea of the honorable part, which Eneas had borne in the war, by representing the ghosts of the Greeks as terrified by his appearance. trepidare'; Gr. § 209. Rem. 5. • Ceu -rates,' as formerly, when they fled to their ships: vocem Exiguam,' a faint cry: inceptus -hiantes,' but the shout, when begun, dies away on their lips, fear impeding their utterance. 494-7.laniatum,' mangled: lacerum

- ora,' cruelly mutilated in his countenance; 'Ora '; Gr. § 324. 17: populata - Auribus,' and the temples laid bare, the ears being cut off: inhonesto,' unseemly, frightful. This is a graphic, but shocking description.

-

498-500. 'et Supplicia,' and trying to conceal the frightful wounds : 'notis,' familiar, since they were old acquaintances. genus - Teucri,' descended from the noble race of Teucer.

5013. optavit sumere,' was willing to inflict. Cui- licuit,' who has been permitted to mangle thee thus ? Mihi-tulit,' report informed me, that on the last night: Pelasgùm,' of the Greeks.

505. inanem tumulum,' a cenotaph: Rhoteo'; see Book III. 108. 507-11. servant,' mark out: ponere,' 'te' understood; to bury you. 'relictum,' omitted: tibi'; Gr. § 225. II. funeris,' dead body. Lacene'; Helen, who was of Lacedæmonian origin.

513-5. ut- nôsti,' you know how we passed the last night in mis

taken rejoicings: 'saltu venit,' mounted.

517-8. Making a pretence of festive rites to Bacchus, she led round the Trojan women, celebrating with shouts the orgies; she herself in the midst raised a torch, as a signal to the Greeks without.

·

521-3. jacentem,' 'me' understood: 'quies,' slumber. Egregia conjux,' my excellent wife; said ironically.

526-7. Hoping, that is, that this would be a great service to her loving husband, and thus the recollection of her former crimes might be destroyed. 529. Æolides,' Ulysses, whose father was Sisyphus, the son of olus, Laertes being only his step-parent.

530-2.Instaurate,' requite: 'pio ore,' with just cause. 'SedAttulerint,' but tell me, in turn, what chance has brought you here alive? 535-7. Hâc sermonum,' in this interchange of words, conversation. Aurora precedes the sun in his diurnal journey through the heavens, and had now passed-'medium axem,' the zenith. No mortal was allowed to remain in the infernal regions more than one day, and as they had entered at early dawn-see line 255-the Sibyl reminds Eneas, that it is already past noon, and he has no time to lose. 'fors' for fortè traherent,' they would have spent.

540.partes-ambas'; having now arrived at the end of the 'campi lugentes,' the road separates into two branches; the one to the right leading past the palace of Pluto to Elysium; the other conducting to Tartarus, where the wicked are punished. Eneas does not enter the latter place, but the Sibyl describes to him what is to be seen there. 542-5. Hâc,' parte' understood: 'at-poenas,' but the left path serves for the punishment of the wicked: mittit,' conducts to. sævi,' be not angry: explebo numerum,' I will stay out the appointed term of years; see lines 749-51.

6

Ne

546. Go, thou ornament of our family; may you meet with happier fates than I have encountered.

549. Monia lata,' broad space enclosed within walls.

553-5. Visvaleant,' so that no power of men, not even the gods themselves, could cut it down. Compare "Paradise Lost," Book II. 643-8. 'Stat,' rises: Tisiphone'; see note to Geor. III. 551.

558-60. Verbera,' scourges: stridor ferri,' the clank of fetters. This brief, but forcible sketch of the sights and sounds of Tartarus, as perceived from without, excites the imagination to picture forth the terrible scene within. hausit,' eagerly listened to; as we say, drank in the sounds. facies,' sort, or kind, as in line 104.

563-6. No pure person is permitted to cross the accursed threshold. 'Hecate'; see line 118. deûm poenas,' punishments appointed by the gods. 'Gnosius Rhadamanthus,' the Cretan Rhadamanthus; he was the brother of Minos, and while on earth exercised the duties of a judge with such inflexible severity, that after death he was appointed to the same office in hell.

567. Scant justice, indeed, first to punish, then investigate the crime, and then compel a confession; Gr. § 323. 4. (2.)

568-9. apud superos,' among the living: furto inani,' in the vain concealment of his guilt: 'commissa piacula,' expiation of his crimes. 571-2.torvos angues,' brandishing in her left hand the frightful snakes: sororum,' the two other Furies.

573.

Hydra';

575-6. 'facies-servet,' what shape guards the entrance? see note to line 287. The one that Hercules killed being at the entrance to the infernal regions, this must be another of the same species. 578-80. Opens downwards, and extends to the darkness beneath twice as far as suspectus cœli,' the view is through the air, from earth up to lofty Olympus. Hic Terræ, here the ancient progeny of Earth; see note to Book IV. 178.

582. Aloïdas'; Otus and Ephialtes, twin giants, sons of Aloeus in name, but really the offspring of Neptune; see note to Geor. I. 280.

585. I saw Salmoneus also suffering cruel punishment. He was king of Elis, and aspiring to be called a god, imitated thunder by driving his