Verse texts

• Hinc via Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas.


  From here is the route which leads to the waves of the infernal Acheron.
• turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges

  aestuat atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam.


  Here, a whirlpool, thick with mud and with an enormous chasm, boils up and spews forth all the sand into the Cocytus.
• portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento canities inculta iacet,


  The dreaded Ferryman, Charon, a creature of dreadful filth, guards these waters and rivers, on whose chin very many grey hairs lie unkempt
• stant lumina flamma, sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.


  his eyes stare with fire and a dirty cloak hangs in a knot from his shoulders.
• Ipse ratem conto subigit velisque ministrat et ferruginea subvectat corpora cumba, iam senior,


  (Charon) himself drives the boat with a pole, attends to the sails and carries the bodies in his dusky boat; (he is) now rather old,
• sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.


  But the gods age is fresh and vigerous.
• huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat,


  The whole crowd spread far and wide was rushing hither to the banks,
• matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita magnanimum heroum,

  mothers and husbands, bodies of high-souled heroes who have completed their lifespan
• pueri innuptiaque puellae impositisque rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum:

  boys and unmarried girls and men in their prime placed on funeral pyres before the faces of their parents:
• quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo lapsa cadunt folia,

  as many as the leaves in the woods which, slipping down, fall in the first frost of autumn,
• aut ad terram gurgite ab alto quam multae glomerantur aves,


  or as many as the birds which gather together from the deep sea to the land,
• ubi frigidus annus trans pontum fugat et terris immittit apricis.


  when the cold season makes them flee across the sea and sends them to sunny lands
• stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum

  tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.


  They stood (there), begging to be the first to go across on the passage and stretched out their hands in their desire for the further shore.
• Navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos, ast alios longe summotos arcet harena.

  But the gloomy sailor takes on board now these, now those, but others, driven away, he keeps far from the sand.
• Ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant.


  Therefore, they completed the journey which they had begun and approached the river.
• Navita quos iam inde ur Stygia prospexit ab unda per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae.

  When the sailor, right from where has was, from the Stygian water, caught sight of thrm going through the silent grove and turning their feet towards the bank.
• sic prior adgreditur dictis atque increpat ultro: 'quisquis es, armatus qui Nostradamus ad flumina tendis


  He accosted them first with his words and thus rebuked them as well: 'whoever you are, who, armed, make your way to our rivers
• fare age, quid venias, iam istinc et comprime gressum. Umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae:

  Come, say this instant, from there, why are you coming, and check your steps. This is the region of shades, of sleep and drowsy night;
• corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina. Nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntum accepisse lacu,


  It is a sun to carry live bodies in the Stygian boat. Indeed, i was not happy that i accepted either Hercules going to the lake,
• nec Thesea Pirithoumque, dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent.

  or Theseus and Pirithous, although they were descended from gods and unconquered in strength.
• Tartareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit ipsius a solio regis traxitque trementem;


  The former sought forcibly (to put) the guard of the Underworld in chains and dragged him quivering from the throne of the king himself;
• hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti.' Quae contra breviter fata est Amphrysia vates:


  the latter attempted to take away the wife of Pluto from her bedchamber'. In reply to these words the Amphrysian prophetess spoke briefly:
• nullae hic insidae tales (absiste moveri), nec vim tela ferunt;


  'There is no such treachery here (stop being alarmed), nor do the weapons bring violence.
• licet ingens ianitor antro aeternum latrans exsanguis terreat umbras, casta licet patrui servet Prosperina limen.

  The huge doorkeeper barking eternally in the cave is allowed to terrify the bloodless shades, and Proserpina may keep safe the threshold of her uncle undefiled .
• Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis,

  ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras.


  The Trojan Aeneas, outstanding for his devotion to duty and feats of arms, is coming down to the lowest shades of Erebus to see his father
• si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago, at ramum hunc'(aperit ramum qui veste latebat) 'agnoscas'


  If no thought of such great devotion moves you, well, you should recognise this bough'(she reveals the bough which lay hidden in her garment).
• tumida ex ira tum corda residunt; nec plura his.


  Then his swelling heart settled down after his anger; no more words were said than these.
• ille admirans venerabile donum fatalis virgae longo post tempore visum caeruleam advertit puppim ripaeque propinquant.

  Charon, wondering at the venerable gift of the fateful branch, seen after a long time, turned his dark blue boat and approached the bank.
• inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant,

  deturbat laxatque foros;


  Then he drove out the other spirits, which were sitting throughout the long benches, and opened the gangways;
• simul accipit alveo ingentem Aenean.


  at the same time, he took huge Aeneas in the small boat.
• gemuit sub pondere cumba sutilis et multam accepit rimosa paludem.


  The boat, sewn together, groaned under the weight and, full of cracks, took in a lot of marshy water.
• tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque

  informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulua.


  Finally across the river, Charon landed both the priestess and the hero unharmed in the shapeless slime and the grey sludge.
• At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti inclusas animas superumque ad lumen iratus lustrabat studio recolens,


  But father Anchises, deep within a green valley, surveying them zealously, was reviewing the souls who were confined there and about to go to the light of the world above,
• Omnemque suorum forte recensebat numerum, carosque nepotes fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.

  And by chance was counting the whole number of his (family), his beloved descendants, the destinies and fortunes of the men, their customers and works.
• Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina vidit Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, effusaeque genis lacrimae et vox excidit ore:

  When he saw Aeneas opposite him making his way through the grass, he eagerly stretched out both palms, tears poured forth from him eyelids and a cry slipped out of his mouth:
• Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti vicit iter durum pietas? Datur ora tueri, nate, tua et notas audire et reddere voces?'


  'Have you come at last, and has your devotion, awaited by your parent, overcome the hard journey? Is it allowed to behold your face, son, and to hear and answer your well-known tones?
• sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit.


  Thus I for my part kept reckoning in my mind and kept thinking it would be, counting the seasons, nor did my anxiety fail me.
• quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum accipio!

  I welcome you; over what lands and what great seas you have travelled!
• quantis iactatum, nate, periclis!

  quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent!


  By what great dangers you have been tossed about, son! How I feared lest the kingdoms of Libya would harm you in some way!
• ille autem: 'tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago saepius occurrens haec limina tendere adegit;


  But Aneas replied: 'It was your image, your sad image, father, so often springing to my mind, which drove me to make my way to these thresholds;