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Corripit Aeneas extemplo avidusque refringit
Cunctantem, et vatis portat sub tecta Sibyllae.

Nec minus interea Misenum in litore Teucri
Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.
Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto
Ingentem struxere pyram, cui frondibus atris
Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos
Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis.
Pars calidos latices et aëna undantia flammis
Expediunt, corpusque lavant frigentis et unguunt.
Fit gemitus. Tum membra toro defleta reponunt,
Purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota,
Coniciunt. Pars ingenti subiere feretro,
Triste ministerium, et subiectam more parentum
Aversi tenuere facem. Congesta cremantur
Turea dona, dapes, fuso crateres olivo.

Postquam collapsi cineres et

211. Cunctantem. Cf. 1. 146. To Aeneas' eager grasp the branch seemed to resist him, and thus to indicate that the fates were against him.

212-35. Vergil here describes at some length the funeral rites. Cf. also IV. 505; III. 63. The corpse was placed upon a pile of wood called pyra or rogus (IV. 646). This pyre was built in the form of an altar with four equal sides, hence the ara sepulcri (VI. 177). The sides of the pile were frequently covered with dark leaves (215), and cypress-trees were sometimes placed before it (216). The corpse immediately after death was bathed in water and anointed with oil and perfumes (219); it was then placed on a couch or bier (feretrum, 222) on which it was carried to the pyre. The

flamma quievit,

210

215

220

225

corpse was placed on the top of the pyre, together with the couch on which it had been carried, and the nearest relative then set fire to the pyre with his face turned away (224). When the flames began to rise, various perfumes were thrown into the fire (224-5); and when the pile was burned down the embers were soaked with wine (226-7), and the bones and ashes of the deceased were gathered by the nearest relatives (228), who placed them in a funeral urn. Then the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel for the purpose of purification (229-30). On their departure they bade farewell to the dead by pronouncing the word Vale (231).

On novissima verba cf. I. 219 and note.

Reliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam,
Ossaque lecta cado texit Corynaeus aëno.
Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda,
Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae,
Lustravitque viros, dixitque novissima verba.
At pius Aeneas ingenti mole sepulcrum
Imponit, suaque arma viro remumque tubamque,
Monte sub aërio, qui nunc Misenus ab illo
Dicitur, aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen.

His actis propere exsequitur praecepta Sibyllae.
Spelunca alta fuit vastoque immanis hiatu,
Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris,
Quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantes
Tendere iter pennis: talis sese halitus atris
Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat;
[Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Aornon.]
Quattuor hic primum nigrantes terga iuvencos
Constituit, frontique invergit vina sacerdos,
Et summas carpens media inter cornua saetas
Ignibus imponit sacris, libamina prima,
Voce vocans Hecaten, Caeloque Ereboque potentem.
Supponunt alii cultros, tepidumque cruorem
Suscipiunt pateris. Ipse atri velleris agnam

237-42. Spenser (F. Q. I. V. 31) thus describes the "yawning gulfe of deepe Avernus hole :

By that same hole an entraunce, darke and bace [low],

With smoake and sulphur hiding all the place,

Descends to hell: there creature never

past,

230

235

240

245

That backe retourned without heavenly grace.

244. Cf. IV. 61.

245. Cf. IV. 698 and note. The victim was then consigned to the sacrifice by a sort of preliminary consecration.

247. Cf. IV. 511.

249. Velleris, 86.

Aeneas matri Eumenidum magnaeque sorori
Ense ferit, sterilemque tibi, Proserpina, vaccam.
Tum Stygio regi nocturnas incohat aras,
Et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis,
Pingue super oleum infundens ardentibus extis.
Ecce autem, primi sub lumina solis et ortus

Sub pedibus mugire solum, et iuga coepta moveri
Silvarum, visaeque canes úlulare per umbram,
Adventante dea. Procul o, procul este, profani,
Conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco;
Tuque invade viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum;
Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
Tantum effata, furens antro se immisit aperto;
Ille ducem haud timidis vadentem passibus aequat.

Dî, quibus imperium est animarum, Umbraeque silentes,
Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late,

255. The above preparations and sacrifices had been made at night, and now they enter the infernal regions with the first rays of the sun.

258. Adventante dea, i. e., Hecate, who comes to open the way, as invoked in 1. 247, accompanied by her Stygian dogs, whose barking is now heard.

Procul profani, addressed to Aeneas' companions. Cf. III. 405-7 and note.

In Roman religious ceremonies this was the stock command to all uninitiated (profani) to take their presence from the holy rites. So Horace, to whom poetry was sacred, thus introduces his third book of Odes:

Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
Favete linguis; carmina non prius
Audita Musarum sacerdos

Virginibus puerisque canto.
So Gray (Ode for Music):

Hence, avaunt, 't is holy ground!
And Young (N. Th. II. 636):

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261. Animis, 131.

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