Reunion with Anchises and the Doctrine of Reincarnation — Virgil, Aeneid Book 6 (lines 676–750), Latin & English

676

hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam.

”Cross this ridge; and I will soon set you on an easy path.”

Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentis

He spoke, and stepped forward, and the shining plains

desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt.

he points out from above; then they leave the highest summits.

At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti

But father Anchises, deep within a green valley,

680

inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras

was surveying the souls shut up there and destined to go to the light above,

lustrabat¹ studio recolens, omnemque suorum

studying them with earnest thought, and he happened to be reviewing the whole number

forte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes,

of his descendants, and his dear grandsons,

fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.

and the fates and fortunes of the men, their customs and deeds.

Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videt

And when he saw Aeneas coming toward him

685

Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit,

across the grass, he eagerly stretched out both hands,

effusaeque genis lacrimae, et vox excidit ore:

and tears poured down his cheeks, and a cry escaped his lips:

Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti

”Have you come at last, and has your piety, expected by your father,

vicit iter durum pietas? Datur ora tueri,

conquered the harsh journey? Is it granted to look upon your face,

nate, tua, et notas audire et reddere voces?

my son, and to hear and return familiar voices?

690

Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum,

Thus indeed I was casting in my mind and thinking it would be,

tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit.

counting the times, nor has my anxiety deceived me.

Quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum

Through what lands and over what wide seas have you traveled

accipio! quantis iactatum, nate, periclis!

for me to receive you! By what great dangers, my son, have you been tossed!

Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent!

How I feared lest the kingdoms of Libya might do you some harm!”

695

Ille autem: Tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago,

But he replied: “Your image, father, your sad image,

saepius occurrens, haec limina tendere adegit:

appearing to me so often, forced me to make my way to these thresholds;

stant sale Tyrrheno classes. Da iungere dextram,

my fleets ride on the Tyrrhenian sea. Grant me to clasp your right hand,

da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro.

grant it, father, and do not withdraw yourself from our embrace.”

Sic memorans, largo fletu simul ora rigabat.

Thus speaking, at the same time he washed his face with plenteous tears.

700

Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum,

Thrice he essayed there to throw his arms about his neck;

ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,²

thrice the phantom, clasped in vain, escaped his hands,

Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta

Meanwhile Aeneas sees in a retired valley

seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis,

a secluded grove and brakes rustling in the woods,

705

Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem.

and the river Lethe, which flows past those peaceful homes.

Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant;

About this, countless tribes and peoples were flitting;

ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena

and—just as in meadows when, in serene summer,

floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum

bees settle on various flowers, and about the white

lilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus.

lilies pour—the whole plain hums with their murmuring.

710

Horrescit visu subito, causasque requirit

Aeneas shudders at the sudden sight, and, unknowing,

inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro,

inquires the causes: what those rivers are yonder,

quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas.

or what men have filled the banks in such a dense throng.

Tum pater Anchises: Animae, quibus altera fato

Then father Anchises said: “The souls, to whom other bodies

corpora debentur, Lethaei ad fluminis undam

are owed by fate, at the wave of the river Lethe

715

securos latices et longa oblivia potant.

drink care-free drafts and long oblivion.

iampridem hanc prolem cupio enumerare meorum,

Long since I have desired to enumerate this offspring of my people,

quo magis Italia mecum laetere reperta.

so that you might rejoice the more with me at Italy being found.”

O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est

”O father, is it to be thought that any souls go hence on high to heaven,

720

sublimis animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti

and return again to sluggish

corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?

bodies? What so dire a longing for the light possesses these unhappy ones?”

Dicam equidem, nec te suspensum, nate, tenebo

”Indeed I will tell you, nor will I hold you in suspense, my son,”

suscipit Anchises, atque ordine singula pandit.

Anchises replies, and explains each thing in order.

Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis

”First, the heaven and earth and the liquid plains,

725

lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra

and the shining globe of the Moon and the Titanian stars,

spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus

an inward spirit nurtures, and, infused through the limbs,

mens agitat molem³ et magno se corpore miscet.

a mind moves the entire mass and mixes itself with the great body.

Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum,

Hence comes the race of men and beasts, and the lives of flying things,

et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus.

and the monsters that the sea bears beneath its marble surface.

730

Igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo

Those seeds have a fiery vigor and a heavenly origin,

seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant,

so far as harmful bodies do not clog them,

terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra.

and earthly limbs and dying members do not dull them.

Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras

Hence they fear and desire, they grieve and rejoice, nor do they look back

dispiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco.

to the breezes, shut up in darkness and a blind prison.

735

Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit,

Nay, even when life has left them with its last light,

non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes

yet not all evil nor utterly all

corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est

bodily plagues depart from the wretched souls; and it must needs be

multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris.

that many things, long engrained, should in wondrous ways grow deep within.

Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum

Therefore they are disciplined by punishments, and for ancient evils

740

supplicia expendunt: aliae panduntur inanes

they pay penalties: some are hung stretched out

suspensae ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto

to the empty winds; from others, under the vast gulf,

infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni;

the deep-dyed guilt is washed away, or is burnt out with fire;

quisque suos patimur Manes;⁴ exinde per amplum

each of us suffers his own ghost; then through the spacious

mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus;

Elysium we are sent, and we, a few, possess the happy fields;

745

donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe,

until a long day, when the cycle of time is complete,

concretam exemit labem, purumque relinquit

has removed the engrained stain, and leaves pure

aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem.

the etherial sense and the fire of simple air.

Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos,

All these, when they have rolled the wheel for a thousand years,

Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno,

the god calls in a great throng to the river Lethe,

750

scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,

so that indeed, without memory, they may revisit the vaulted sky above,

Syntax notes4 items

6.680inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras lustrabat
The participles inclusas and ituras both modify animas. The former means "shut up in the valley," while the latter is a future participle meaning "about to go to the light above."
6.700Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum, ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago
This description of Aeneas trying and failing to embrace his father echoes the scene in Homer's Odyssey Book 11, where Odysseus attempts to embrace his mother Anticleia, as well as the disappearance of Creusa's phantom in Book 2 of this work.
6.726spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem
This reflects Stoic cosmology (the soul of the world, anima mundi). The subjects spiritus and mens refer to a universal intellect that animates and pervades the entire material universe (molem) from within.
6.743quisque suos patimur Manes
A highly debated and famous passage. Manes is generally understood here as one's personal underworld destiny or the individual punishment assigned to each shade, meaning "each of us suffers our own underworld destiny (or the purgatorial punishment due to our own spirit)."

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.humanitext-lat2:6.676-6.750