Sibyl informed him that they were no real beings but merely phantoms.
Then they came to the Styx--the river of Hades, over which the
ferryman Cha'ron, grim and long-bearded, conveyed the departed
spirits, in his iron-colored boat, using a pole to steer with.
The watery passage Charon keeps
Sole warden of these murky deeps.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
No living being was permitted to enter Charon's boat, or to cross the
Stygian river without the passport of the golden bough. This could be
obtained only by special favor of some powerful god, and few had been
so favored. Even the dead, if their bodies had not received burial
rites, were refused admission to the boat, until they had wandered on
the shore for a hundred years. So the Sibyl told AEneas when he
inquired why some were ferried over, while others were driven back,
lamenting that they were not allowed to pass to their destined abode.
"The ghosts rejected are the unhappy crew
Deprived of sepulchres and funeral due;
The boatman, Charon; those, the buried host,
He ferries over to the further coast;
Nor dares his transport vessel cross the waves
With such whose bones are not composed in graves.
A hundred years they wander on the shore;
At length, their penance done, are wafted o'er."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
One of these unhappy spirits AEneas recognised as that of his pilot
Palinurus, who told the hero that he had not been drowned, or plunged
into the sea by a god, for he did not know of the treachery of Somnus.
He had fallen overboard, he said, and kept afloat for three days,
clinging to the helm, which he had dragged away with him. On the
fourth day he had swam ashore on the Italian coast, and would have
been out of danger, had not the cruel natives there fallen upon him
with their swords. His body he said was now tossing about in the
waters of the harbor of Ve'li-a, and he begged AEneas to seek it out
and give it burial, or, if this was impossible, to devise some means
of helping him across the Stygian river. This latter proposal the
Sibyl forbade as impious, saying that the decrees of the gods could
not be thus altered. But she consoled Palinurus by predicting that the
people of Velia should be punished by plagues from heaven until they
erected a tomb to his memory, and that the place should forever bear
his name. The modern name of the place is _Capo di Palinuro_--Cape of
Palinurus.
[Illustration with caption: AENEAS CROSSING THE STYX. (Drawn by
Varian.)]
AEneas and his guide now approached the river. Charon at once seeing
that they were mortal beings, roughly ordered them to advance no
further.
"Mortal, whate'er, who this forbidden path
In arms presum'st to tread! I charge thee, stand,
And tell thy name, and business in the land!
Know, this the realm of night--the Stygian shore;
My boat conveys no living bodies o'er."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
The Sibyl answered that her companion was the Trojan AEneas,
illustrious for piety and valor, who desired to go down to the shades
to see and converse with his father Anchises. Then from underneath
her robe she produced the golden bough.
No more was needful; for the gloomy god
Stood mute with awe, to see the golden rod;
Admired the destined offering to his queen--
A venerable gift, so rarely seen.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
The two mortals were now received into the boat and soon ferried
safely to the other side. There they saw the three-headed watchdog
Cer'be-rus, who made the dreary region resound with his frightful
barking. The Sibyl flung him a cake composed of honey and drugged
grain, which he greedily swallowed. Then the monster fell into a deep
sleep. The passage being thus free, they proceeded on their way. Soon
they came to the place where the judge Mi'nos sat, examining into the
lives and crimes of departed mortals.
Minos, the strict inquisitor, appears;
And lives and crimes, with his assessors, hears.
Round, in his urn, the blended balls he rolls,
Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
In one of the outer regions of the shadowy world he had now entered, a
region which the poet calls the "Mourning Fields," AEneas beheld the
shade of the unhappy Carthaginian queen.
Whom when the Trojan hero hardly knew,
Obscure in shades, and with a doubtful view,
With tears he first approached the sullen shade;
And as his love inspired him, thus he said:
"Unhappy queen! then is the common breath
Of rumor true, in your reported death,
And I, alas! the cause?--By Heaven, I vow,
And all the powers that rule the realms below,
Unwilling I forsook your friendly state,
Commanded by the gods, and forced by Fate."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
But the mournful shade made no answer to the Trojan hero's vows and
regrets.
Disdainfully she looked; then turning round,
She fixed her eyes unmoved upon the ground;
And, what he says and swears, regards no more
Than the deaf rocks, when the loud billows roar:
But whirled away, to shun his hateful sight,
Hid in the forest, and the shades of night:
Then sought Sichaeus through the shady grove,
Who answered all her cares, and equalled all her love.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
They next came to the Field of Heroes, where AEneas saw the shades of
many of his brave comrades of the Trojan war. The ghosts crowded round
him, standing on the right hand and on the left. Nor were they
satisfied with seeing him once. They wished to detain him a long time,
to talk with him and learn the cause of his strange visit. But the
Sibyl warned him that they must hasten forward, and presently they
came to a place where the path divided itself into two. The right led
by the walls of Pluto's palace to the happy Field of E-lys'ium, the
land of the blessed. The left path led to Tar'ta-rus, the abode of the
wicked. At this place AEneas saw a vast prison, inclosed by a triple
wall, around which flowed the Phleg'e-thon, a river of fire. In front
of it was a huge gate of solid adamant.
There rolls swift Plegethon, with thund'ring sound,
His broken rocks, and whirls his surges round.
On mighty columns rais'd sublime are hung
The massy gates impenetrably strong.
In vain would men, in vain would gods essay,
To hew the beams of adamant away.
PITT, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
Deep groans and the grating of iron and the clanking of chains were
heard from out these walls. None except the lost souls the Sibyl said,
were allowed to pass the threshold of Tartarus, and the punishments
there, and the crimes for which the wicked suffered, were such that
she could not tell them though she had a hundred tongues.
"Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
And throats of brass, inspired with iron lungs,
I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
Nor half the punishment those crimes have met."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
Some were punished by being tied to perpetually revolving wheels of
fire. This was the fate of a king named Ix-i'on. Others, like the
robber Sis'y-phus, were condemned to roll huge stones up a hill, and
just on reaching the summit, the stones would slip from their grasp
and roll to the foot of the hill, and the unhappy beings had to roll
them up again, and so on forever. Others were tortured like
Pi-rith'o-us, who stood under a great hanging rock, which threatened
every moment to tumble down upon him, keeping him in constant terror.
The Sibyl told AEneas of these and many other punishments appointed by
the gods for bad men. Then they hastened to Pluto's palace, and the
hero fixed the golden bough on the door, after which, proceeding on
their way, they soon came to the Elysian Fields--the abode of those
who while on earth had led good and useful lives. Here were delightful
green fields and shady groves; the sky was bright, the air pure and
balmy. The happy spirits were engaged in sports, such as had been
their pleasure when in the world above. Some were wrestling on the
grassy plain, others exercising with spear and bow, others singing and
dancing.
Their airy limbs in sports they exercise,
And, on the green, contend the wrestler's prize.
Some, in heroic verse, divinely sing;
Others in artful measures lead the ring.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
On the bank of a beautiful river--the E-rid'a-nus--flowing over sands
of gold, was a band of spirits whose heads were crowned with white
garlands. These were the spirits of patriots who had fought for
their country, poets who had sung the praises of the gods, and men who
had improved life by the invention of useful arts. In this band was
Mu-sae'us, the most ancient of poets. Approaching him the Sibyl
inquired where Anchises might be found. "None of us here," answered
Musaeus, "has a fixed abode. We dwell in shady groves, or lie on the
banks of crystal streams. But come over this eminence and I will
direct you to him you seek."
Musaeus then led them to a spot from which they could view the bright
Elysian fields around, and pointed to a green dale where at last they
beheld Anchises. The hero hastened to approach his father, eager to
embrace him, and thrice did he attempt to throw his arms about his
neck, but thrice did the form escape his hold, for it was nothing but
thin air.
Thrice, around his neck, his arms he threw
And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away,
Like winds, or empty dreams, that fly the day.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
Anchises told his son much about the dwellers in Elysium. On the banks
of the river Lethe--the river of forgetfulness--was a countless
multitude of spirits which, he said, were yet to live in earthly
bodies. They were the souls of unborn generations of men. Amongst
them, he pointed out to AEneas, the spirits of many of those who were
to be his own descendants in the kingdom he was to establish in Italy.
The father-spirit leads
The priestess and his son through swarms of shades,
And takes a rising ground, from thence to see
The long procession of his progeny.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
From this rising ground AEneas saw the shadowy forms of future heroes
of Rome--of Rom'u-lus, who was to found the city--of Brutus, Ca-mil'lus,
Fa'bi-us, and of the mighty Caesars.
"Lo! Caesar there and all his seed,
Iulus' progeny decreed
To pass 'neath heaven's high dome.
This, this is he, so oft the theme
Of your prophetic fancy's dream,
Augustus Caesar, Jove's own strain."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
Anchises next told AEneas of the wars he should have to wage, and
instructed him how to avoid or overcome every difficulty. Then he
conducted his visitors to the gates of Sleep, through which the gods
of Hades sent dreams to the upper world--true dreams through the gate
of horn, and false dreams through the gate of ivory. Here Anchises
left them. Then departing by the ivory gate from the kingdom of the
dead, they returned to the Cumaean cave, and AEneas forthwith
proceeded to his ships.
Sleep gives his name to portals twain;
One all of horn, they say,
Through which authentic spectres gain
Quick exit into day,
And one which bright with ivory gleams,
Whence Pluto sends delusive dreams.
Conversing still, the sire attends
The travellers on their road,
And through the ivory portal sends
From forth the unseen abode.
The chief betakes him to the fleet,
Well pleased again his crew to meet.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VI.
VI. AENEAS ARRIVES IN LATIUM--WELCOMED BY KING LATINUS.
The object of his visit to the Sibyl being accomplished, the Trojan
chief set sail and steered along the coast in the direction of the
promised land. But soon again he had occasion to put ashore. His
nurse, Ca-i-e'ta, having died shortly after the departure of the fleet
from Cumae, he desired to give funeral honors to her remains. This
duty performed, he named the place (modern Gaeta) in memory of his
faithful and attached old servant.
And thou, O matron of immortal fame!
Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name;
Gaieta still the place is called from thee,
The nurse of great AEneas' infancy.
Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperia's plains;
Thy name ('tis all a ghost can have) remains.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
Again resuming their voyage they came near an island where dwelt the
sorceress, Cir'ce, who by her enchantments changed men into beasts. As
they passed the island the Trojans heard with horror the roaring of
lions and the howling of wolves, once human beings, but transformed by
the cruel goddess into the shape of those savage animals. Aided,
however, by favorable winds sent by the friendly Neptune, they sped
away from this dangerous spot, and soon they were near the end of
their wanderings. At the dawn of next morning they beheld a spacious
grove, through which a pleasant river, tinted with the hue of the
yellow sand, burst forth into the sea. This was the Tiber on whose
banks in the distant future was to be founded the city in which the
descendants of the Trojan prince should hold imperial sway. AEneas,
though not aware that he was so close to the destined spot, commanded
his pilots to turn the ships towards the land, and joyfully they
entered the river. All around, the Trojan chief, as he gazed upon
the scene, could hear the sweet music of the groves.
Embowered amid the silvan scene
Old Tiber winds his banks between,
Around, gay birds of diverse wing,
Accustomed there to fly or sing,
Were fluttering on from spray to spray
And soothing ether with their lay.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
The country in which the Trojans had now landed was called Latium, and
La-ti'nus was its king. Like most great kings of ancient times, he was
descended from a god. His father, Faunus, was the grandson of Saturn,
the predecessor and father of Jupiter.
Latinus was advanced in years, and he had no male heir, but he had an
only daughter, young and beautiful, whose name was La-vin'i-a. Many of
the princes of the neighboring states eagerly sought Lavinia's hand in
marriage. Chief amongst them was Turnus, king of the Ru'tu-li, a brave
and handsome youth. Lavinia's mother, Queen A-ma'ta, favored the suit
of Turnus, and desired to have him as her son-in-law.
But the gods had not willed it so, and they sent signs from heaven--
signs of their disapproval of the proposed union. In the inner court
of the palace of Latinus stood a laurel tree which had been preserved
for many years with great reverence. From this tree, it was said,
Latinus had given the name Lau-ren'tines to the inhabitants of the
country. Just about the time the Trojan fleet was entering the Tiber
an immense number of bees were seen to cluster on the top of the
laurel tree, and soon linking together, feet to feet, they swung in a
strange manner from one of the boughs. The king's soothsayer explained
this to mean that a foreign hero was then coming into the country, and
that he would one day be its ruler.
About the same time, while the princess Lavinia was bringing fire to
an altar where her father stood preparing to offer sacrifice, the
flame seemed to catch her flowing hair, and to envelop her whole body
in its glowing light, without, however, inflicting the slightest
injury. The soothsayer declared that this was a sign that Lavinia
would be great and famous, but that through her war should come on the
people.
"The nymph who scatters flaming fires around,
Shall shine with honor, shall herself be crowned;
But, caused by her irrevocable fate,
War shall the country waste, and change the state."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
The king was much troubled by these events and so he went into the
wood, to the tomb of his father, Faunus, by whom answers were given in
dreams to those who, having offered sacrifices, lay down and slept
under the trees. Latinus, after performing the necessary ceremonies,
soon heard the voice of his father warning him not to give his
daughter in marriage to any prince of his own country. "A foreigner,"
said he, "is coming who shall be your son-in-law, and his descendants
shall exalt our name to the stars. From his race, united with ours,
shall spring mighty men, who shall conquer and rule the world to its
farthest limits."
King Latinus did not conceal his dream. On the contrary he proclaimed
it aloud to his people. And so the news of the arrival of the
strangers with their ships came not as a surprise to the inhabitants
of Latium.
Meanwhile the Trojans having landed upon the Latian coast, Aeneas and
several of his chiefs, accompanied by his son Iulus, sat down under a
tall tree to refresh themselves with food and drink. They had cakes of
wheat, the last of their store, spread upon the grass, and upon these
cakes they placed wild fruits which they had gathered in the woods.
When they had eaten the fruit, they proceeded to eat the cakes, upon
which Iulus exclaimed, "What, are we eating our tables too?" The boy
had no thought of the meaning of what they had been doing. But Aeneas
joyfully recognized it as the fulfillment of the threatening prophecy
of the Harpy Celaena. The cakes were the tables, and the Trojans had
now eaten them without harm.
Then Aeneas spoke encouraging words to his companions. "Hail, O land,
destined to us by the Fates! This is our home; this is our country.
For my father too (as I now remember), told me in Elysium these same
secrets, saying: 'When hunger shall compel you, my son, wafted to an
unknown shore, to eat up your tables, your provisions having failed,
then you may hope for a settlement after your toils, and in that place
you may found your first city.' Here was that famine of which he
spoke. Our calamities are now at an end. Let us, then, with the first
light of to-morrow's sun, explore this country, ascertain who are its
inhabitants, and where their cities are."
Next day, when Aeneas learned what country he was in, and the name of
its king, he sent ambassadors--a hundred of his chiefs--to wait on
Latinus and beg his friendship and assistance, furnishing them with
costly gifts for the king. The chiefs hastened on their mission to
Latinus, and Aeneas meanwhile began to mark out the boundaries of a
new city.
When the Trojan ambassadors reached Lau-ren-tum, the capital of
Latium, they were admitted to the royal palace and brought into the
presence of the king, who was seated on his throne--a magnificent
structure raised aloft on a hundred columns, around which were
numerous statues of the king's ancestors, carved in cedar wood.
Latinus, after civilly greeting the strangers, bade them say for
what purpose they had come to Italy; whether they had landed in his
country because of having missed their course at sea, or through
stress of weather. He added that whatever was the object of their
coming, they should receive kind treatment from him and his people.
To these friendly words Ilioneus, speaking for the Trojans, replied
that it was no storm that sent them to Italy. "Willingly and with
design," said he, "have we come to your shores, O king, after having
been expelled from a kingdom once the most powerful under the sun. Our
race is derived from Jupiter himself, and our chief, Aeneas, descended
from the gods, has sent us to your court. All the world has heard of
the destruction of our city, Troy. Driven by misfortunes over many
seas, we beg for a settlement in your country. Dardanus, our ancestor,
was born in this land, and now his descendants, directed by the gods,
come to the home of their father." They then presented to the king the
costly gifts which Aeneas had sent.
"Our prince presents with his request,
Some small remains of what his sire possessed;
This golden charger, snatched from burning Troy,
Anchises did in sacrifice employ;
This royal robe and this tiara wore
Old Priam, and this golden sceptre bore
In full assemblies, and in solemn games;
These purple vests were weaved by Dardan dames."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
After Ilioneus had ceased speaking, the king was silent for some time,
pondering on the words of his father which he had heard in the dream.
Aeneas, he thought, must be the foreigner, destined to be his son-in-
law, whose descendants should rule the world. Then he addressed the
Trojans, saying that what they asked should gladly be given, and
requesting them to tell their chief, Aeneas, to visit him. "Bear this
message too," said he, "from me to your king. I have a daughter whom
the gods do not permit me to give in marriage to any of our own
nation. There is a prediction that my son-in-law shall be a stranger,
and that his race shall exalt our name to the stars. I judge that your
chief is the man thus destined by the fates, and this too is my own
wish."
Then Latinus gave valuable presents to the Trojans--to each a steed
from the royal stables, with rich purple trappings. To Aeneas himself
he sent a chariot and a pair of horses of the breed which the
sorceress, Circe, had obtained from the sun-god, her father. With
these presents, the Trojan ambassadors, mounted on their splendid
steeds, returned to their chief, and joyfully informed him of the
king's message and invitation.
But this friendship shown to the Trojans by King Latinus was not at
all agreeable to Juno. On the contrary that unforgiving goddess was
filled with grief and anger when she saw Aeneas and his people
engaged in building their city and settling themselves in their new
home, and so she resolved to stir up strife between the Trojans and
Latinus. With this object she called to her aid A-lec'to, one of the
three terrible sisters called Furies. These were evil deities whose
usual occupation was to scourge and torment condemned souls in the
kingdom of Pluto, and drive them to the gates of Tartarus. They
sometimes also caused trouble in the upper world, by exciting
dissensions and bringing about wars. This was the service which
Juno now required, and so, addressing Alecto she requested her to stir
up discord between the people of Latium and the followers of Aeneas.
"'Tis thine to ruin realms, o'erturn a state,
Betwixt the dearest friends to raise debate,
And kindle kindred blood to mutual hate.
Thy hand o'er towns the funeral torch displays,
And forms a thousand ills ten thousand ways.
Now, shake from out thy frightful breast, the seeds
Of envy, discord, and of cruel deeds;
Confound the peace established, and prepare
Their souls to hatred, and their hands to war."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
Alecto, glad to be thus employed, hastened to the palace of Latinus,
and sought out Queen Amata, who, as has already been said, desired to
have Turnus for her son-in-law. The Furies were hideous beings in
appearance, for instead of hair they had serpents coiled around their
heads. Alecto unseen by Amata, shook her terrible locks, upon which
one of the reptiles darted into the dress of the queen; and, gliding
unfelt around her body, infused into her heart a violent hatred of the
Trojans.
Unseen, unfelt, the fiery serpent skims,
His baneful breath inspiring as he glides;
Now like a chain around her neck he rides;
Now like a fillet to her head repairs,
And with his circling volumes folds her hairs.
At first the silent venom slid with ease,
And seized her cooler senses by degrees.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
Amata now endeavored to turn the mind of Latinus against the proposed
marriage, but he was not to be moved from his purpose of forming an
alliance with the Trojans. Then the queen filled with anger rushed out
of the palace, as if in a frenzy, and hastening through the city
called upon the women of Latium to espouse her cause and the cause of
their country. She also carried off her daughter, and concealed her in
the mountains, to prevent her marriage with the hated Trojan.
Having thus kindled discord in the family of Latinus, Alecto next
proceeded to Ar'de-a the Rutulian capital. Here she assumed the form
of Cal'y-be, an aged priestess of Juno's temple, and appearing to King
Turnus in a dream as he lay asleep in his palace, urged him to take up
arms against Latinus and the strangers. Turnus was not yet disposed to
take this course, and so he replied to the seeming priestess, that her
duty was to guard the statues and temples of the gods, and he advised
her to leave to men the management of affairs of peace and war.
Enraged by the words of Turnus Alecto now resumed her Fury's form.