§6.676hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam. §6.677Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentis §6.678desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt.
"Cross this ridge; and I will soon set you on an easy path." He spoke, and stepped forward, and the shining plains he points out from above; then they leave the highest summits.
§6.679At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti §6.680inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras §6.681lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum §6.682forte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes, §6.683fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque.
But father Anchises, deep within a green valley, was surveying the souls shut up there and destined to go to the light above, studying them with earnest thought, and he happened to be reviewing the whole number of his descendants, and his dear grandsons, and the fates and fortunes of the men, their customs and deeds.
§6.684Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videt §6.685Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, §6.686effusaeque genis lacrimae, et vox excidit ore: §6.687Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti
And when he saw Aeneas coming toward him across the grass, he eagerly stretched out both hands, and tears poured down his cheeks, and a cry escaped his lips: "Have you come at last, and has your piety, expected by your father, conquered the harsh journey?
Is it granted to look upon your face, my son, and to hear and return familiar voices?
§6.690Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum, §6.691tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit.
Thus indeed I was casting in my mind and thinking it would be, counting the times, nor has my anxiety deceived me.
§6.692Quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum
Through what lands and over what wide seas have you traveled for me to receive you!
§6.693accipio! quantis iactatum, nate, periclis!
By what great dangers, my son, have you been tossed!
§6.694Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent! §6.695Ille autem:
Tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago, §6.696saepius occurrens, haec limina tendere adegit: §6.697stant sale Tyrrheno classes.
How I feared lest the kingdoms of Libya might do you some harm!" But he replied: "Your image, father, your sad image, appearing to me so often, forced me to make my way to these thresholds; my fleets ride on the Tyrrhenian sea.
Da iungere dextram, §6.698da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro. §6.699Sic memorans, largo fletu simul ora rigabat.
Grant me to clasp your right hand, grant it, father, and do not withdraw yourself from our embrace." Thus speaking, at the same time he washed his face with plenteous tears.
§6.700Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum, §6.701ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, §6.703Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta §6.704seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis, §6.705Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem.
Thrice he essayed there to throw his arms about his neck; thrice the phantom, clasped in vain, escaped his hands, Meanwhile Aeneas sees in a retired valley a secluded grove and brakes rustling in the woods, and the river Lethe, which flows past those peaceful homes.
§6.706Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant; §6.707ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena §6.708floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum §6.709lilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus.
About this, countless tribes and peoples were flitting; and—just as in meadows when, in serene summer, bees settle on various flowers, and about the white lilies pour—the whole plain hums with their murmuring.
§6.710Horrescit visu subito, causasque requirit §6.711inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro, §6.712quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas.
Aeneas shudders at the sudden sight, and, unknowing, inquires the causes: what those rivers are yonder, or what men have filled the banks in such a dense throng.
§6.713Tum pater Anchises:
Animae, quibus altera fato §6.714corpora debentur, Lethaei ad fluminis undam §6.715securos latices et longa oblivia potant.
Then father Anchises said: "The souls, to whom other bodies are owed by fate, at the wave of the river Lethe drink care-free drafts and long oblivion.
§6.717iampridem hanc prolem cupio enumerare meorum, §6.718quo magis Italia mecum laetere reperta. §6.719O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est §6.720sublimis animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti §6.721corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?
Long since I have desired to enumerate this offspring of my people, so that you might rejoice the more with me at Italy being found." "O father, is it to be thought that any souls go hence on high to heaven, and return again to sluggish bodies?
§6.722Dicam equidem, nec te suspensum, nate, tenebo §6.723suscipit Anchises, atque ordine singula pandit.
What so dire a longing for the light possesses these unhappy ones?" "Indeed I will tell you, nor will I hold you in suspense, my son," Anchises replies, and explains each thing in order.
§6.724Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis §6.725lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra §6.726spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus §6.727mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet.
"First, the heaven and earth and the liquid plains, and the shining globe of the Moon and the Titanian stars, an inward spirit nurtures, and, infused through the limbs, a mind moves the entire mass and mixes itself with the great body.
§6.728Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum, §6.729et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus.
Hence comes the race of men and beasts, and the lives of flying things, and the monsters that the sea bears beneath its marble surface.
§6.730Igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo §6.731seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant, §6.732terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra.
Those seeds have a fiery vigor and a heavenly origin, so far as harmful bodies do not clog them, and earthly limbs and dying members do not dull them.
§6.733Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras §6.734dispiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco.
Hence they fear and desire, they grieve and rejoice, nor do they look back to the breezes, shut up in darkness and a blind prison.
§6.735Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit, §6.736non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes §6.737corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est §6.738multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris.
Nay, even when life has left them with its last light, yet not all evil nor utterly all bodily plagues depart from the wretched souls; and it must needs be that many things, long engrained, should in wondrous ways grow deep within.
§6.739Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum §6.740supplicia expendunt: aliae panduntur inanes §6.741suspensae ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto §6.742infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni; §6.743quisque suos patimur Manes; exinde per amplum §6.744mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus; §6.745donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, §6.746concretam exemit labem, purumque relinquit §6.747aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem.
Therefore they are disciplined by punishments, and for ancient evils they pay penalties: some are hung stretched out to the empty winds; from others, under the vast gulf, the deep-dyed guilt is washed away, or is burnt out with fire; each of us suffers his own ghost; then through the spacious Elysium we are sent, and we, a few, possess the happy fields; until a long day, when the cycle of time is complete, has removed the engrained stain, and leaves pure the etherial sense and the fire of simple air.
§6.748Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, §6.749Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno, §6.750scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,
All these, when they have rolled the wheel for a thousand years, the god calls in a great throng to the river Lethe, so that indeed, without memory, they may revisit the vaulted sky above,