Charon the Ferryman and Unburied Palinurus — Virgil, Aeneid Book 6 (lines 301–373), Latin & English

301

sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.

a dirty cloak hangs down from his shoulders with a knot.

Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat,

He himself pushes the boat with a pole, and attends to the sails,

et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba,

and carries the bodies across in his iron-colored skiff,

iam senior, sed cruda deo¹ viridisque senectus.

now an old man, but old age for a god is raw and green.

305

Huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat,

Hither all the crowd was rushing, poured forth to the banks,

matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita

mothers and men, and bodies of great-souled heroes

magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,

deprived of life, boys and unwedded girls,

impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum:

and youths placed upon funeral pyres before the faces of their parents:

quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo

as many as the leaves that slip and fall in the forests

310

lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto

at the first chill of autumn, or as many as the birds that gather

quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus

toward the land from the deep abyss, when the cold season

trans pontum fugat, et terris immittit apricis.

drives them across the sea, and sends them into sunny lands.

Stabant orantes primi transmittere² cursum,

They stood praying to cross the course first,

tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

and stretched out their hands with love for the further shore.

315

Navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos,

But the gloomy boatman accepts now these, now those,

ast alios longe submotos arcet harena.

while others he keeps far away, removed from the sand.

Aeneas, miratus enim motusque tumultu,

Aeneas, indeed marveling and moved by the tumult,

Dic ait O virgo, quid volt concursus ad amnem?

said: “Tell me, O virgin, what does this crowding to the river mean?

Quidve petunt animae, vel quo discrimine ripas

Or what do the souls seek, or by what distinction do these

320

hae linquunt, illae remis vada livida verrunt?

leave the banks, while those sweep the bluish-gray shallows with oars?”

Olli sic breviter fata est longaeva sacerdos:

To him the aged priestess spoke thus briefly:

Anchisa generate, deum certissima proles,

”Son of Anchises, most certain offspring of the gods,

Cocyti stagna alta vides Stygiamque paludem,

you see the deep pools of Cocytus and the Stygian marsh,

di cuius iurare timent et fallere numen.³

whose divinity the gods fear to swear by and deceive.

325

Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est;

All this crowd, which you discern, is helpless and unburied;

portitor ille Charon; hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti.

that boatman is Charon; these, whom the wave carries, are the buried.

Nec ripas datur horrendas et rauca fluenta

Nor is it allowed to transport them across the dreadful shores and hoarse streams

transportare prius quam sedibus ossa quierunt.

before their bones have rested in their dwellings.

Centum errant annos volitantque haec litora circum;

They wander for a hundred years and flit around these shores;

330

tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt.

then at last admitted they revisit the longed-for pools.”

Constitit Anchisa satus et vestigia pressit,

The offspring of Anchises stopped and stayed his steps,

multa putans, sortemque animo miseratus iniquam.

thinking many things, and pitying their unfair lot in his mind.

Cernit ibi maestos et mortis honore carentes

He discerns there, sorrowful and lacking the honor of death,

Leucaspim et Lyciae ductorem classis Oronten,

Leucaspis and Orontes, the leader of the Lycian fleet,

335

quos, simul ab Troia ventosa per aequora vectos,

whom, carried together from Troy through the windy seas,

obruit Auster, aqua involvens navemque virosque.

the South Wind overwhelmed, wrapping both ship and men in the water.

Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat,

Behold, the helmsman Palinurus was making his way,

qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat,

who recently on the Libyan course, while he was watching the stars,

exciderat puppi mediis effusus in undis.

had fallen from the stern, cast out in the midst of the waves.

340

Hunc ubi vix multa maestum cognovit in umbra,

When Aeneas scarcely recognized him, sad in the deep shadow,

sic prior adloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, deorum

he addresses him first: “Which of the gods, Palinurus,

eripuit nobis, medioque sub aequore mersit?

snatched you from us, and drowned you in the midst of the sea?

Dic age. Namque mihi, fallax haud ante repertus,

Come, tell me. For to me Apollo, never before found deceptive,

hoc uno responso animum delusit Apollo,

deluded my mind with this single oracle,

345

qui fore te ponto incolumem, finesque canebat

who sang that you would be safe on the sea, and would reach

venturum Ausonios. En haec promissa fides est?

the Ausonian borders. Lo, is this the promised faith?”

Ille autem: Neque te Phoebi cortina fefellit,

But he replied: “Neither did the tripod of Phoebus deceive you,

dux Anchisiade, nec me deus aequore mersit.

leader, son of Anchises, nor did a god drown me in the sea.

Namque gubernaclum multa vi forte revolsum,

For the rudder, torn away by chance with great force,

350

cui datus haerebam custos cursusque regebam,

to which I was clinging as appointed guardian and directing our course,

praecipitans traxi mecum. Maria aspera iuro

I dragged down with me as I fell headlong. I swear by the rough seas

non ullum pro me tantum cepisse timorem,

that I did not conceive any such great fear for myself,

quam tua ne,⁴ spoliata armis, excussa magistro,

as that your ship, despoiled of its equipment and shaken from its master,

deficeret tantis navis surgentibus undis.

might fail amidst such great rising waves.

355

Tris Notus hibernas immensa per aequora noctes

Three stormy winter nights the violent South Wind carried me

vexit me violentus aqua; vix lumine quarto

through the immense waters; scarcely on the fourth day

prospexi Italiam summa sublimis ab unda.

did I look out at Italy, high up from the top of a wave.

Paulatim adnabam terrae; iam tuta tenebam,

Gradually I swam to the land; I was already holding safe places,

ni gens crudelis madida cum veste gravatum

if a cruel people had not attacked me with the sword, weighed down with wet garments

360

prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis

and clutching with hooked hands the rough projections of the mountain,

ferro invasisset,⁵ praedamque ignara putasset.

and in their ignorance deemed me a prize.

Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque in litore venti.

Now the wave holds me, and the winds roll me on the shore.

Quod⁶ te per caeli iucundum lumen et auras,

Therefore by the pleasant light of heaven and the breezes,

per genitorem oro, per spes surgentis Iuli,

by your father, by the hope of rising Iulus, I pray you,

365

eripe me his, invicte, malis: aut tu mihi terram

snatch me from these evils, unconquered one: either cast earth

inice, namque potes, portusque require Velinos;

upon me, for you are able, and seek the harbors of Velia;

aut tu, si qua via est, si quam tibi diva creatrix

or, if there is any way, if your divine mother

ostendit—neque enim, credo, sine numine divom

shows you one—for indeed, I believe, not without the will of the gods

flumina tanta paras Stygiamque innare paludem—

do you prepare to swim across such great rivers and the Stygian marsh—

370

da dextram misero, et tecum me tolle per undas,

give your right hand to the wretched one, and lift me with you through the waves,

sedibus ut saltem placidis in morte quiescam.

so that at least in death I may rest in peaceful dwellings.”

Talia fatus erat, coepit cum talia vates:

He had spoken such things, when the prophetess began thus:

Unde haec, o Palinure, tibi tam dira cupido?

”Whence, O Palinurus, comes to you so dreadful a desire?

Syntax notes6 items

6.304deo
Dative of reference or judgment (dativus iudicantis). It indicates that from the perspective of the god (Charon), his old age is 'raw and green' (cruda viridisque).
6.313transmittere
A Greek-style infinitive depending on the adjective 'primi', expressing purpose or specification. It means 'praying to be the first to cross over'.
6.324iurare timent et fallere numen
The noun 'numen' serves as the object of both 'iurare' (to swear by the divinity) and 'fallere' (to deceive/break the oath), a compressed poetic construction.
6.353ne
A fear clause introduced by 'ne' with the imperfect subjunctive 'deficeret', dependent on the noun 'timorem' in the preceding line, meaning 'fear lest...'.
6.358iam tuta tenebam, ni... invasisset
A vivid mixed conditional sentence. The indicative imperfect 'tenebam' in the apodosis emphasizes that the action was on the point of being realized as an actual fact, which was then prevented by the condition in the protasis ('ni... invasisset').
6.363Quod
An adverbial accusative ('wherefore' or 'as to which') used in solemn entreaties to introduce the following verb of begging ('oro').

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.humanitext-lat2:6.301-6.373