While thus, in talk, the flying hours they pass, 720 The sun had finish'd more than half his race; And they, perhaps, in words and tears had spent The little time of stay which heav'n had lent: But thus the Sibyl chides their long delay: 'Night rushes down, and headlong drives the day: 725 'Tis here, in diff'rent paths, the way divides : The right to Pluto's golden palace guides : The left to that unhappy region tends Which to the depth of Tartarus descendsThe seat of night profound, and punish'd fiends.' 730 Then thus Deïphobus: ‘O sacred maid! Forbear to chide; and be your will obey'd. Lo! to the secret shadows I retire, 735 The hero, looking on the left, espied A lofty tow'r and strong on ev'ry side 740 resounds. Wide is the fronting gate, and, raised on high 745 750 The Trojan stood astonish'd at their cries, And ask'd his guide from whence those yells arise; And what the crimes, and what the tortures were, 756 And loud laments that rent the liquid air. She thus replied: 'The chaste and holy race Are all forbidden this polluted place. But Hecate, when she gave to rule the woods, 760 765 770 775 More formidable Hydra stands within, Whose jaws with iron teeth severely grin. 780 The gaping gulf low to the centre lies, Here, singed with lightning, roll within th' unfathom'd space. Here lie th' Aloëan twins, (I saw them both,) Enormous bodies, of gigantic growth, 785 Affect his heav'n, and force him from the sky. Salmoneus, suff'ring cruel pains, I found, 790 795 But he, the king of heav'n, obscure on high, 800 There Tityus was to see, who took his birth Th' immortal hunger lasts, th' immortal food re mains. Ixion and Pirithoüs I could name, And more Thessalian chiefs of mighty fame. 815 High o'er their heads a mould'ring rock is placed, That promises a fall, and shakes at ev'ry blast. They lie below on golden beds display'd; And genial feasts with regal pomp are made. The queen of furies by their sides is set, 820 And snatches from their mouths th' untasted meat, Which if they touch, her hissing snakes she rears, 825 830 Of lustful youths, for foul adult'ry slain- Despairing pardon, and expecting pain. 835 Ask not what pains; nor farther seek to know Their process, or the forms of law below. Some roll a mighty stone; some, laid along, And bound with burning wires, on spokes of wheels are hung. Unhappy Theseus, doom'd for ever there, 840 Is fix'd by Fate on his eternal chair: And wretched Phlegyas warns the world with cries, (Could warning make the world more just or wise,) 'Learn righteousness, and dread th' avenging deities.' To tyrants others have their country sold, 845 Imposing foreign lords for foreign gold: Some have old laws repeal'd, new statutes made, With incest some their daughters' bed profaned. tain'd. 850 Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, And throats of brass, inspired with iron lungs, I could not half those horrid crimes repeat, Nor half the punishments those crimes have met. But let us haste our voyage to pursue: 855 Here must we fix on high the golden bough.' 860 And chose the middle path.-Arrived at last, The prince, with living water, sprinkled o'er Possess'd the porch, and on the front above 865 He fix'd the fatal bough, required by Pluto's love. The verdant fields with those of heav'n may vie, With ether vested, and a purple sky 870 The blissful seats of happy souls below : Stars of their own, and their own suns, they know. Their airy limbs in sports they exercise, And, on the green, contend the wrestler's prize. Strike sev'n distinguish'd notes, and sev'n at once they fill. 880 Here found they Teucer's old heroic race, Assaracus and Ilus here enjoy Perpetual fame, with him who founded Troy. 885 |