The greater poems of Virgil

840. tristia, fatal; insonti: as it was against his will. 842. Phorbanti: one of the companions.

845. furare, steal away (like "stealing a nap ").- labori: a poetical extension of the dat. of separation; § 381, cf. 368, a (229, cf. c); B. 188, 2, d; G. 345, R.; H. 427 (385, 2); H.-B. 371, b.

847. Cf. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 614:

Even Palinurus nodded at the helm.

849. monstro (dat., see note on v. 800): i.e. the terrible deep. 850. credam deliberative subjunctive.

852. dabat, amittebat, tenebat: observe the force of these imperfects. Palinurus speaks without once losing his grasp of the helm, or letting his eyes wander from the stars.

854. Lethaeo: the river of the world below that gave forgetfulness (see vi. 714). - With 854-856 cf. Denham, Song:

Come, I say, thou powerful god,
And thy leaden charming-rod,
Dipped in the Lethæan lake,

O'er his wakeful temples shake.

So Spenser speaks of "sweet slumbering dew" (Faery Queen, i. 1. 36), Shakspere of "the honey-heavy dew of slumber" (Julius Cæsar, ii. 230), Milton of "the dewy-feather'd sleep" (Il Penseroso, v. 146) and of "the timely dew of sleep" (Paradise Lost, iv. 614). 856. solvit, relaxes, in contrast to tenebat, above.

859. cum gubernaclo: cf. vi. 349.

862. iter: see v. 217.

864. Sirenum: see Figs. 31 (p. 297) and 50.

See Spenser's beautiful stanzas, Faery Queen,

ii. 12. 30-38.

FIG. 50.

865. quondam: after they were foiled by the craft of Ulysses (Od. xii. 178-200), the Sirens are said to have cast themselves into the sea and perished.

866. tum, etc. i.e. the song of Sirens is now replaced by the roar of the surf.

867. fluitantem, drifting at random: Æneas is roused by the irregular movement and the chafing surge against the cliff.

BOOK VI.

The main action of this book, the visit to the world of Shades, is expanded from the narratives of Ulysses in the eleventh book of the Odyssey. But there are striking differences in the main conception. Ulysses, in a region vaguely indicated as at the ends of the earth, beyond the Ocean stream, simply offers sacrifice and digs a trench about which the ghosts crowd eager for the victims' blood, and so hold converse with him. In Virgil the locality is no longer vague. The shades inhabit a vast underground realm of which the entrance is marked by the sulphur springs and caverns near the Bay of Naples. This under-world has welldefined regions of the tormented and the blessed, according to the more developed though philosophic and skeptic opinion of the Augustan age. The whole does not represent a consistent general conception of the under-world, but seems to be made up of ideas drawn from many quarters. The passage from v. 637 on bears marks of a conception of the underworld drawn from the Mysteries, and Virgil, like many educated Romans, had probably been initiated into the Mysteries of Eleusis. Much of the philosophy is Platonism or Stoic pantheism; and the theory of the vision appears to include the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis. Cf. Ovid, Met. xv. 1-487.

In imitation of Virgil the episode of a visit to the under-world has been a favorite device of modern poetry, and, in such cases, many features of Virgil's description have usually been borrowed. The most famous modern instance is Dante's Inferno, in which Virgil himself is brought in as the poet's guide through Hell. For examples from English literature see Spenser, Faery Queen, i. 5. 31-44 (Descent of Night and Duessa), ii. 7. 20–66 (Cave of Mammon), Pope, Dunciad, iii. 13 ff. One of the most remarkable English imitations of the descent to Hades is Thomas Sackville's Induction (1563) to The Mirror for Magistrates. The plan of the Mirror is to introduce one after another the ghosts of unfortunate "princes and magistrates” who shall in person give an account of their crimes or misfortunes. The Induction represents the author as conducted to Hades by the goddess Sorrow, as Æneas by the priestess. The ghosts swarm about them, and Henry, Duke of Buckingham, begins the series of tragic tales,

1-2. These lines, in some editions, are added to book v.

2. Cumarum: Cuma was the oldest Greek settlement in Italy. It was situated on the coast, a few miles west of Naples, where its remains are still to be seen. In its foundation Chalcis of Euboea was united with Cyme in Asia Minor, hence the name Cumæ: the assigned date

is B.C. 1050; compare with the succeeding description that in iii. 441-460.

3. obvertunt proras: contrary to our custom, the vessels were brought up to land stern on; hence praetexunt: of the line of sterns along the shore.

4. litora: § 370, b (228, a); cf. B. 175, 2, a; G. 331; H.-B. 391, 2. 6. semina: i.e. as the fire is struck with flint and steel, the elements of fire seem to be in the flint.

8. rapit, scour for fuel or game.-inventa, etc., find and show: § 496, N.2 (292, r.); G. 664, R.1; H. 639 (549, 5); H.-B. 604, 1.

9. arces: i.e. the temple of Apollo is on a hill, its secret shrine (adytum) being the cave of the Sibyl.

10. horrendae: she is an object of awe as being inspired by Apollo. -procul, at a distance: not very far, but merely out of the way.— Sibyllae: see Gayley, Classic Myths, p. 486; cf. Ecl. iv. 4.

12. Delius: Apollo is often so called from his favorite abode at Delos.

13. Triviae: an epithet of Diana in her threefold form (iv. 511, 609). 14. Daedalus: his escape by flying is told by Ovid, Met. viii. 183–259; see Gayley, Classic Myths, pp. 255-257.

20. Androgei: Androgeos, son of Minos, on account of the envy of the Athenians, was sent by Ægeus to encounter the Marathonian bull, by which he was slain. His death was avenged, and the Athenians were compelled to send yearly seven boys and seven girls to be devoured by the Minotaur. (See Gayley, Classic Myths, pp. 260-265, where there is a translation of part of Catullus, lxiv, giving an account of the victory of Thesus over the Minotaur.) The sculptures on the temple gates represent first two scenes at Athens: (1) the death of Androgeos and (2) the drawing of lots to determine the victims to be sent to Crete; then two scenes in Crete: (3) Pasiphaë, (4) the Labyrinth, with Theseus and Ariadne. Cf. Spenser's description of the gate of the Bower of Bliss (Faery Queen, ii. 12. 44):

Yt framed was of precious yvory,

That seemd a worke of admirable witt;
And therein all the famous history

Of Jason and Medea was ywritt;

Her mighty charmes, her furious loving fitt;

His goodly conquest of the golden fleece,

His falsed fayth, and love too lightly flitt;

The wondred Argo, which in venturous peece

First through the Euxine seas bare all the flowr of Greece.

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The greater poems of Virgil, Bind 1