The Aeneid Part 18

Inur'd to suffer, and resolv'd to dare, The Fates, without my pow'r, shall be without my care.

This let me crave, since near your grove the road To h.e.l.l lies open, and the dark abode Which Acheron surrounds, th' innavigable flood; Conduct me thro' the regions void of light, And lead me longing to my father's sight.

For him, a thousand dangers I have sought, And, rus.h.i.+ng where the thickest Grecians fought, Safe on my back the sacred burthen brought.

He, for my sake, the raging ocean tried, And wrath of Heav'n, my still auspicious guide, And bore beyond the strength decrepid age supplied.

Oft, since he breath'd his last, in dead of night His reverend image stood before my sight; Enjoin'd to seek, below, his holy shade; Conducted there by your unerring aid.

But you, if pious minds by pray'rs are won, Oblige the father, and protect the son.

Yours is the pow'r; nor Proserpine in vain Has made you priestess of her nightly reign.

If Orpheus, arm'd with his enchanting lyre, The ruthless king with pity could inspire, And from the shades below redeem his wife; If Pollux, off'ring his alternate life, Could free his brother, and can daily go By turns aloft, by turns descend below- Why name I Theseus, or his greater friend, Who trod the downward path, and upward could ascend?

Not less than theirs from Jove my lineage came; My mother greater, my descent the same."

So pray'd the Trojan prince, and, while he pray'd, His hand upon the holy altar laid.

Then thus replied the prophetess divine: "O G.o.ddess-born of great Anchises' line, The gates of h.e.l.l are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies.

To few great Jupiter imparts this grace, And those of s.h.i.+ning worth and heav'nly race.

Betwixt those regions and our upper light, Deep forests and impenetrable night Possess the middle s.p.a.ce: th' infernal bounds Cocytus, with his sable waves, surrounds.

But if so dire a love your soul invades, As twice below to view the trembling shades; If you so hard a toil will undertake, As twice to pa.s.s th' innavigable lake; Receive my counsel. In the neighb'ring grove There stands a tree; the queen of Stygian Jove Claims it her own; thick woods and gloomy night Conceal the happy plant from human sight.

One bough it bears; but (wondrous to behold!) The ductile rind and leaves of radiant gold: This from the vulgar branches must be torn, And to fair Proserpine the present borne, Ere leave be giv'n to tempt the nether skies.

The first thus rent a second will arise, And the same metal the same room supplies.

Look round the wood, with lifted eyes, to see The lurking gold upon the fatal tree: Then rend it off, as holy rites command; The willing metal will obey thy hand, Following with ease, if favor'd by thy fate, Thou art foredoom'd to view the Stygian state: If not, no labor can the tree constrain; And strength of stubborn arms and steel are vain.

Besides, you know not, while you here attend, Th' unworthy fate of your unhappy friend: Breathless he lies; and his unburied ghost, Depriv'd of fun'ral rites, pollutes your host.

Pay first his pious dues; and, for the dead, Two sable sheep around his hea.r.s.e be led; Then, living turfs upon his body lay: This done, securely take the destin'd way, To find the regions dest.i.tute of day."

She said, and held her peace. Aeneas went Sad from the cave, and full of discontent, Unknowing whom the sacred Sibyl meant.

Achates, the companion of his breast, Goes grieving by his side, with equal cares oppress'd.

Walking, they talk'd, and fruitlessly divin'd What friend the priestess by those words design'd.

But soon they found an object to deplore: Misenus lay extended on the sh.o.r.e; Son of the G.o.d of Winds: none so renown'd The warrior trumpet in the field to sound; With breathing bra.s.s to kindle fierce alarms, And rouse to dare their fate in honorable arms.

He serv'd great Hector, and was ever near, Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.

But by Pelides' arms when Hector fell, He chose Aeneas; and he chose as well.

Swoln with applause, and aiming still at more, He now provokes the sea G.o.ds from the sh.o.r.e; With envy Triton heard the martial sound, And the bold champion, for his challenge, drown'd; Then cast his mangled carca.s.s on the strand: The gazing crowd around the body stand.

All weep; but most Aeneas mourns his fate, And hastens to perform the funeral state.

In altar-wise, a stately pile they rear; The basis broad below, and top advanc'd in air.

An ancient wood, fit for the work design'd, (The shady covert of the salvage kind,) The Trojans found: the sounding ax is plied; Firs, pines, and pitch trees, and the tow'ring pride Of forest ashes, feel the fatal stroke, And piercing wedges cleave the stubborn oak.

Huge trunks of trees, fell'd from the steepy crown Of the bare mountains, roll with ruin down.

Arm'd like the rest the Trojan prince appears, And by his pious labor urges theirs.

Thus while he wrought, revolving in his mind The ways to compa.s.s what his wish design'd, He cast his eyes upon the gloomy grove, And then with vows implor'd the Queen of Love: "O may thy pow'r, propitious still to me, Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree, In this deep forest; since the Sibyl's breath Foretold, alas! too true, Misenus' death."

Scarce had he said, when, full before his sight, Two doves, descending from their airy flight, Secure upon the gra.s.sy plain alight.

He knew his mother's birds; and thus he pray'd: "Be you my guides, with your auspicious aid, And lead my footsteps, till the branch be found, Whose glitt'ring shadow gilds the sacred ground.

And thou, great parent, with celestial care, In this distress be present to my pray'r!"

Thus having said, he stopp'd with watchful sight, Observing still the motions of their flight, What course they took, what happy signs they shew.

They fed, and, flutt'ring, by degrees withdrew Still farther from the place, but still in view: Hopping and flying, thus they led him on To the slow lake, whose baleful stench to shun They wing'd their flight aloft; then, stooping low, Perch'd on the double tree that bears the golden bough.

Thro' the green leafs the glitt'ring shadows glow; As, on the sacred oak, the wintry mistletoe, Where the proud mother views her precious brood, And happier branches, which she never sow'd.

Such was the glitt'ring; such the ruddy rind, And dancing leaves, that wanton'd in the wind.

He seiz'd the s.h.i.+ning bough with griping hold, And rent away, with ease, the ling'ring gold; Then to the Sibyl's palace bore the prize.

Meantime the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes, To dead Misenus pay his obsequies.

First, from the ground a lofty pile they rear, Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir: The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew, And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.

The topmost part his glitt'ring arms adorn; Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne, Are pour'd to wash his body, joint by joint, And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint.

With groans and cries Misenus they deplore: Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er, The breathless body, thus bewail'd, they lay, And fire the pile, their faces turn'd away- Such reverend rites their fathers us'd to pay.

Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw, And fat of victims, which his friends bestow.

These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour; Then on the living coals red wine they pour; And, last, the relics by themselves dispose, Which in a brazen urn the priests inclose.

Old Corynaeus compa.s.s'd thrice the crew, And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew; Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud Invok'd the dead, and then dismissed the crowd.

But good Aeneas order'd on the sh.o.r.e A stately tomb, whose top a trumpet bore, A soldier's fauchion, and a seaman's oar.

Thus was his friend interr'd; and deathless fame Still to the lofty cape consigns his name.

These rites perform'd, the prince, without delay, Hastes to the nether world his destin'd way.

Deep was the cave; and, downward as it went From the wide mouth, a rocky rough descent; And here th' access a gloomy grove defends, And there th' unnavigable lake extends, O'er whose unhappy waters, void of light, No bird presumes to steer his airy flight; Such deadly stenches from the depths arise, And steaming sulphur, that infects the skies.

From hence the Grecian bards their legends make, And give the name Avernus to the lake.

Four sable bullocks, in the yoke untaught, For sacrifice the pious hero brought.

The priestess pours the wine betwixt their horns; Then cuts the curling hair; that first oblation burns, Invoking Hecate hither to repair: A pow'rful name in h.e.l.l and upper air.

The sacred priests with ready knives bereave The beasts of life, and in full bowls receive The streaming blood: a lamb to h.e.l.l and Night (The sable wool without a streak of white) Aeneas offers; and, by fate's decree, A barren heifer, Proserpine, to thee, With holocausts he Pluto's altar fills; Sev'n brawny bulls with his own hand he kills; Then on the broiling entrails oil he pours; Which, ointed thus, the raging flame devours.

Late the nocturnal sacrifice begun, Nor ended till the next returning sun.

Then earth began to bellow, trees to dance, And howling dogs in glimm'ring light advance, Ere Hecate came. "Far hence be souls profane!"

The Sibyl cried, "and from the grove abstain!

Now, Trojan, take the way thy fates afford; a.s.sume thy courage, and unsheathe thy sword."

She said, and pa.s.s'd along the gloomy s.p.a.ce; The prince pursued her steps with equal pace.

Ye realms, yet unreveal'd to human sight, Ye G.o.ds who rule the regions of the night, Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate The mystic wonders of your silent state!

Obscure they went thro' dreary shades, that led Along the waste dominions of the dead.

Thus wander travelers in woods by night, By the moon's doubtful and malignant light, When Jove in dusky clouds involves the skies, And the faint crescent shoots by fits before their eyes.

Just in the gate and in the jaws of h.e.l.l, Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age, Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage; Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep, Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep; With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind, Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind; The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes Her hissing tresses and unfolds her snakes.

Full in the midst of this infernal road, An elm displays her dusky arms abroad: The G.o.d of Sleep there hides his heavy head, And empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread.

Of various forms unnumber'd specters more, Centaurs, and double shapes, besiege the door.

Before the pa.s.sage, horrid Hydra stands, And Briareus with all his hundred hands; Gorgons, Geryon with his triple frame; And vain Chimaera vomits empty flame.

The chief unsheath'd his s.h.i.+ning steel, prepar'd, Tho' seiz'd with sudden fear, to force the guard, Off'ring his brandish'd weapon at their face; Had not the Sibyl stopp'd his eager pace, And told him what those empty phantoms were: Forms without bodies, and impa.s.sive air.

Hence to deep Acheron they take their way, Whose troubled eddies, thick with ooze and clay, Are whirl'd aloft, and in Cocytus lost.

There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast- A sordid G.o.d: down from his h.o.a.ry chin A length of beard descends, uncomb'd, unclean; His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire; A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.

He spreads his canvas; with his pole he steers; The freights of flitting ghosts in his thin bottom bears.

He look'd in years; yet in his years were seen A youthful vigor and autumnal green.

An airy crowd came rus.h.i.+ng where he stood, Which fill'd the margin of the fatal flood: Husbands and wives, boys and unmarried maids, And mighty heroes' more majestic shades, And youths, intomb'd before their fathers' eyes, With hollow groans, and shrieks, and feeble cries.

Thick as the leaves in autumn strow the woods, Or fowls, by winter forc'd, forsake the floods, And wing their hasty flight to happier lands; Such, and so thick, the s.h.i.+v'ring army stands, And press for pa.s.sage with extended hands.

Now these, now those, the surly boatman bore: The rest he drove to distance from the sh.o.r.e.

The hero, who beheld with wond'ring eyes The tumult mix'd with shrieks, laments, and cries, Ask'd of his guide, what the rude concourse meant; Why to the sh.o.r.e the thronging people bent; What forms of law among the ghosts were us'd; Why some were ferried o'er, and some refus'd.

"Son of Anchises, offspring of the G.o.ds,"

The Sibyl said, "you see the Stygian floods, The sacred stream which heav'n's imperial state Attests in oaths, and fears to violate.

The ghosts rejected are th' unhappy crew Depriv'd of sepulchers and fun'ral due: The boatman, Charon; those, the buried host, He ferries over to the farther coast; Nor dares his transport vessel cross the waves With such whose bones are not compos'd in graves.

A hundred years they wander on the sh.o.r.e; At length, their penance done, are wafted o'er."

The Trojan chief his forward pace repress'd, Revolving anxious thoughts within his breast, He saw his friends, who, whelm'd beneath the waves, Their fun'ral honors claim'd, and ask'd their quiet graves.

The lost Leucaspis in the crowd he knew, And the brave leader of the Lycian crew, Whom, on the Tyrrhene seas, the tempests met; The sailors master'd, and the s.h.i.+p o'erset.

Amidst the spirits, Palinurus press'd, Yet fresh from life, a new-admitted guest, Who, while he steering view'd the stars, and bore His course from Afric to the Latian sh.o.r.e, Fell headlong down. The Trojan fix'd his view, And scarcely thro' the gloom the sullen shadow knew.

Then thus the prince: "What envious pow'r, O friend, Brought your lov'd life to this disastrous end?

For Phoebus, ever true in all he said, Has in your fate alone my faith betray'd.

The G.o.d foretold you should not die, before You reach'd, secure from seas, th' Italian sh.o.r.e.

Is this th' unerring pow'r?" The ghost replied; "Nor Phoebus flatter'd, nor his answers lied; Nor envious G.o.ds have sent me to the deep: But, while the stars and course of heav'n I keep, My wearied eyes were seiz'd with fatal sleep.

I fell; and, with my weight, the helm constrain'd Was drawn along, which yet my gripe retain'd.

Now by the winds and raging waves I swear, Your safety, more than mine, was then my care; Lest, of the guide bereft, the rudder lost, Your s.h.i.+p should run against the rocky coast.

Three bl.u.s.t'ring nights, borne by the southern blast, I floated, and discover'd land at last: High on a mounting wave my head I bore, Forcing my strength, and gath'ring to the sh.o.r.e.

Panting, but past the danger, now I seiz'd The craggy cliffs, and my tir'd members eas'd.

While, c.u.mber'd with my dropping clothes, I lay, The cruel nation, covetous of prey, Stain'd with my blood th' unhospitable coast; And now, by winds and waves, my lifeless limbs are toss'd: Which O avert, by yon ethereal light, Which I have lost for this eternal night!