{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXII/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXII","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXII","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XXXII","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"XXXII. THE INFERNAL REGIONS \u2014 THE SIBYL\n\nTHE INFERNAL REGIONS\n\nAs at the commencement of our series we have given the pagan\naccount of the creation of the world, so as we approach its\nconclusion we present a view of the regions of the dead, depicted\nby one of their most enlightened poets, who drew his doctrines\nfrom their most esteemed philosophers. The region where Virgil\nlocates the entrance to this abode is perhaps the most strikingly\nadapted to excite ideas of the terrific and preternatural of any\non the face of the earth. It is the volcanic region near Vesuvius,\nwhere the whole country is cleft with chasms, from which\nsulphurous flames arise, while the ground is shaken with pent-up\nvapors, and mysterious sounds issue from the bowels of the earth.\nThe lake Avernus is supposed to fill the crater of an extinct\nvolcano. It is circular, half a mile wide, and very deep,\nsurrounded by high banks, which in Virgil's time were covered with\na gloomy forest. Mephitic vapors rise from its waters, so that no\nlife is found on its banks, and no birds fly over it. Here,\naccording to the poet, was the cave which afforded access to the\ninfernal regions, and here \u00c6neas offered sacrifices to the\ninfernal deities, Proserpine, Hecate, and the Furies. Then a\nroaring was heard in the earth, the woods on the hill-tops were\nshaken, and the howling of dogs announced the approach of the\ndeities. \"Now,\" said the Sibyl, \"summon up your courage, for you\nwill need it.\" She descended into the cave, and \u00c6neas followed.\nBefore the threshold of hell they passed through a group of beings\nwho are enumerated as Griefs and avenging Cares, pale Diseases and\nmelancholy Age, Fear and Hunger that tempt to crime, Toil,\nPoverty, and Death,\u2014forms horrible to view. The Furies spread\ntheir couches there, and Discord, whose hair was of vipers tied up\nwith a bloody fillet. Here also were the monsters, Briareus, with\nhis hundred arms, Hydras hissing, and Chim\u00e6ras breathing fire.\n\u00c6neas shuddered at the sight, drew his sword and would have\nstruck, but the Sibyl restrained him. They then came to the black\nriver Cocytus, where they found the ferryman, Charon, old and\nsqualid, but strong and vigorous, who was receiving passengers of\nall kinds into his boat, magnanimous heroes, boys and unmarried\ngirls, as numerous as the leaves that fall at autumn, or the\nflocks that fly southward at the approach of winter. They stood\npressing for a passage and longing to touch the opposite shore.\nBut the stern ferryman took in only such as he chose, driving the\nrest back. \u00c6neas, wondering at the sight, asked the Sibyl, \"Why\nthis discrimination?\" She answered, \"Those who are taken on board\nthe bark are the souls of those who have received due burial\nrites; the host of others who have remained unburied are not\npermitted to pass the flood, but wander a hundred years, and flit\nto and fro about the shore, till at last they are taken over.\"\n\u00c6neas grieved at recollecting some of his own companions who had\nperished in the storm. At that moment he beheld Palinurus, his\npilot, who fell overboard and was drowned. He addressed him and\nasked him the cause of his misfortune. Palinurus replied that the\nrudder was carried away, and he, clinging to it, was swept away\nwith it. He besought \u00c6neas most urgently to extend to him his\nhand and take him in company to the opposite shore. But the Sibyl\nrebuked him for the wish thus to transgress the laws of Pluto; but\nconsoled him by informing him that the people of the shore where\nhis body had been wafted by the waves should be stirred up by\nprodigies to give it due burial, and that the promontory should\nbear the name of Cape Palinurus, which it does to this day.\nLeaving Palinurus consoled by these words, they approached the\nboat. Charon, fixing his eyes sternly upon the advancing warrior,\ndemanded by what right he, living and armed, approached that\nshore. To which the Sibyl replied that they would commit no\nviolence, that \u00c6neas's only object was to see his father, and\nfinally exhibited the golden branch, at sight of which Charon's\nwrath relaxed, and he made haste to turn his bark to the shore,\nand receive them on board. The boat, adapted only to the light\nfreight of bodiless spirits, groaned under the weight of the hero.\nThey were soon conveyed to the opposite shore. There they were\nencountered by the three-headed dog, Cerberus, with his necks\nbristling with snakes. He barked with all his three throats till\nthe Sibyl threw him a medicated cake which he eagerly devoured,\nand then stretched himself out in his den and fell asleep. \u00c6neas\nand the Sibyl sprang to land. The first sound that struck their\nears was the wailing of young children, who had died on the\nthreshold of life, and near to these were they who had perished\nunder false charges. Minos presides over them as judge, and\nexamines the deeds of each. The next class was of those who had\ndied by their own hand, hating life and seeking refuge in death. O\nhow willingly would they now endure poverty, labor, and any other\ninfliction, if they might but return to life! Next were situated\nthe regions of sadness, divided off into retired paths, leading\nthrough groves of myrtle. Here roamed those who had fallen victims\nto unrequited love, not freed from pain even by death itself.\nAmong these, \u00c6neas thought he descried the form of Dido, with a\nwound still recent. In the dim light he was for a moment\nuncertain, but approaching, perceived it was indeed herself. Tears\nfell from his eyes, and he addressed her in the accents of love.\n\"Unhappy Dido! was then the rumor true that you had perished? and\nwas I, alas! the cause? I call the gods to witness that my\ndeparture from you was reluctant, and in obedience to the commands\nof Jove; nor could I believe that my absence would cost you so\ndear. Stop, I beseech you, and refuse me not a last farewell.\" She\nstood for a moment with averted countenance, and eyes fixed on the\nground, and then silently passed on, as insensible to his\npleadings as a rock. \u00c6neas followed for some distance; then, with\na heavy heart, rejoined his companion and resumed his route.\n\nThey next entered the fields where roam the heroes who have fallen\nin battle. Here they saw many shades of Grecian and Trojan\nwarriors. The Trojans thronged around him, and could not be\nsatisfied with the sight. They asked the cause of his coming, and\nplied him with innumerable questions. But the Greeks, at the sight\nof his armor glittering through the murky atmosphere, recognized\nthe hero, and filled with terror turned their backs and fled, as\nthey used to do on the plains of Troy.\n\n\u00c6neas would have lingered long with his Trojan friends, but the\nSibyl hurried him away. They next came to a place where the road\ndivided, the one leading to Elysium, the other to the regions of\nthe condemned. \u00c6neas beheld on one side the walls of a mighty\ncity, around which Phlegethon rolled its fiery waters. Before him\nwas the gate of adamant that neither gods nor men can break\nthrough. An iron tower stood by the gate, on which Tisiphone, the\navenging Fury, kept guard. From the city were heard groans, and\nthe sound of the scourge, the creaking of iron, and the clanking\nof chains. \u00c6neas, horror-struck, inquired of his guide what\ncrimes were those whose punishments produced the sounds he heard?\nThe Sibyl answered, \"Here is the judgment hall of Rhadamanthus,\nwho brings to light crimes done in life, which the perpetrator\nvainly thought impenetrably hid. Tisiphone applies her whip of\nscorpions, and delivers the offender over to her sister Furies.\"\nAt this moment with horrid clang the brazen gates unfolded, and\n\u00c6neas saw within a Hydra with fifty heads guarding the entrance.\nThe Sibyl told him that the gulf of Tartarus descended deep, so\nthat its recesses were as far beneath their feet as heaven was\nhigh above their heads. In the bottom of this pit, the Titan race,\nwho warred against the gods, lie prostrate; Salmoneus, also, who\npresumed to vie with Jupiter, and built a bridge of brass over\nwhich he drove his chariot that the sound might resemble thunder,\nlaunching flaming brands at his people in imitation of lightning,\ntill Jupiter struck him with a real thunderbolt, and taught him\nthe difference between mortal weapons and divine. Here, also, is\nTityus, the giant, whose form is so immense that as he lies he\nstretches over nine acres, while a vulture preys upon his liver,\nwhich as fast as it is devoured grows again, so that his\npunishment will have no end.\n\n\u00c6neas saw groups seated at tables loaded with dainties, while\nnear by stood a Fury who snatched away the viands from their lips\nas fast as they prepared to taste them. Others beheld suspended\nover their heads huge rocks, threatening to fall, keeping them in\na state of constant alarm. These were they who had hated their\nbrothers, or struck their parents, or defrauded the friends who\ntrusted them, or who, having grown rich, kept their money to\nthemselves, and gave no share to others; the last being the most\nnumerous class. Here also were those who had violated the marriage\nvow, or fought in a bad cause, or failed in fidelity to their\nemployers. Here was one who had sold his country for gold, another\nwho perverted the laws, making them say one thing to-day and\nanother to-morrow.\n\nIxion was there, fastened to the circumference of a wheel\nceaselessly revolving; and Sisyphus, whose task was to roll a huge\nstone up to a hill-top, but when the steep was well-nigh gained,\nthe rock, repulsed by some sudden force, rushed again headlong\ndown to the plain. Again he toiled at it, while the sweat bathed\nall his weary limbs, but all to no effect. There was Tantalus, who\nstood in a pool, his chin level with the water, yet he was parched\nwith thirst, and found nothing to assuage it; for when he bowed\nhis hoary head, eager to quaff, the water fled away, leaving the\nground at his feet all dry. Tall trees laden with fruit stooped\ntheir heads to him, pears, pomegranates, apples, and luscious\nfigs; but when with a sudden grasp he tried to seize them winds\nwhirled them high above his reach.\n\nThe Sibyl now warned \u00c6neas that it was time to turn from these\nmelancholy regions and seek the city of the blessed. They passed\nthrough a middle tract of darkness, and came upon the Elysian\nfields, the groves where the happy reside. They breathed a freer\nair, and saw all objects clothed in a purple light. The region has\na sun and stars of its own. The inhabitants were enjoying\nthemselves in various ways, some in sports on the grassy turf, in\ngames of strength or skill. others dancing or singing. Orpheus\nstruck the chords of his lyre, and called forth ravishing sounds.\nHere \u00c6neas saw the founders of the Trojan state, magnanimous\nheroes who lived in happier times. He gazed with admiration on the\nwar chariots and glittering arms now reposing in disuse. Spears\nstood fixed in the ground, and the horses, unharnessed, roamed\nover the plain. The same pride in splendid armor and generous\nsteeds which the old heroes felt in life, accompanied them here.\nHe saw another group feasting and listening to the strains of\nmusic. They were in a laurel grove, whence the great river Po has\nits origin, and flows out among men. Here dwelt those who fell by\nwounds received in their country's cause, holy priests also, and\npoets who have uttered thoughts worthy of Apollo, and others who\nhave contributed to cheer and adorn life by their discoveries in\nthe useful arts, and have made their memory blessed by rendering\nservice to mankind. They wore snow-white fillets about their\nbrows. The Sibyl addressed a group of these, and inquired where\nAnchises was to be found. They were directed where to seek him,\nand soon found him in a verdant valley, where he was contemplating\nthe ranks of his posterity, their destinies and worthy deeds to be\nachieved in coming times. When he recognized \u00c6neas approaching,\nhe stretched out both hands to him, while tears flowed freely.\n\"Have you come at last,\" said he, \"long expected, and do I behold\nyou after such perils past? O my son, how have I trembled for you\nas I have watched your career!\" To which \u00c6neas replied, \"O\nfather! your image was always before me to guide and guard me.\"\nThen he endeavored to enfold his father in his embrace, but his\narms enclosed only an unsubstantial image.\n\n\u00c6neas perceived before him a spacious valley, with trees gently\nwaving to the wind, a tranquil landscape, through which the river\nLethe flowed. Along the banks of the stream wandered a countless\nmultitude, numerous as insects in the summer air. \u00c6neas, with\nsurprise, inquired who were these. Anchises answered, \"They are\nsouls to which bodies are to be given in due time. Meanwhile they\ndwell on Lethe's bank, and drink oblivion of their former lives.\"\n\"O father!\" said \u00c6neas, \"is it possible that any can be so in\nlove with life as to wish to leave these tranquil seats for the\nupper world?\" Anchises replied by explaining the plan of creation.\nThe Creator, he told him, originally made the material of which\nsouls are composed of the four elements, fire, air, earth, and\nwater, all which when united took the form of the most excellent\npart, fire, and became flame. This material was scattered like\nseed among the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars. Of this\nseed the inferior gods created man and all other animals, mingling\nit with various proportions of earth, by which its purity was\nalloyed and reduced. Thus, the more earth predominates in the\ncomposition the less pure is the individual; and we see men and\nwomen with their full-grown bodies have not the purity of\nchildhood. So in proportion to the time which the union of body\nand soul has lasted is the impurity contracted by the spiritual\npart. This impurity must be purged away after death, which is done\nby ventilating the souls in the current of winds, or merging them\nin water, or burning out their impurities by fire. Some few, of\nwhom Anchises intimates that he is one, are admitted at once to\nElysium, there to remain. But the rest, after the impurities of\nearth are purged away, are sent back to life endowed with new\nbodies, having had the remembrance of their former lives\neffectually washed away by the waters of Lethe. Some, however,\nthere still are, so thoroughly corrupted, that they are not fit to\nbe intrusted with human bodies, and these are made into brute\nanimals, lions, tigers, cats, dogs, monkeys, etc. This is what the\nancients called Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls; a\ndoctrine which is still held by the natives of India, who scruple\nto destroy the life even of the most insignificant animal, not\nknowing but it may be one of their relations in an altered form.\n\nAnchises, having explained so much, proceeded to point out to\n\u00c6neas individuals of his race, who were hereafter to be born, and\nto relate to him the exploits they should perform in the world.\nAfter this he reverted to the present, and told his son of the\nevents that remained to him to be accomplished before the complete\nestablishment of himself and his followers in Italy. Wars were to\nbe waged, battles fought, a bride to be won, and in the result a\nTrojan state founded, from which should rise the Roman power, to\nbe in time the sovereign of the world.\n\n\u00c6neas and the Sibyl then took leave of Anchises, and returned by\nsome short cut, which the poet does not explain, to the upper\nworld.\n\nELYSIUM\n\nVirgil, we have seen, places his Elysium under the earth, and\nassigns it for a residence to the spirits of the blessed. But in\nHomer Elysium forms no part of the realms of the dead. He places\nit on the west of the earth, near Ocean, and describes it as a\nhappy land, where there is neither snow, nor cold, nor rain, and\nalways fanned by the delightful breezes of Zephyrus. Hither\nfavored heroes pass without dying and live happy under the rule of\nRhadamanthus. The Elysium of Hesiod and Pindar is in the Isles of\nthe Blessed, or Fortunate Islands, in the Western Ocean. From\nthese sprang the legend of the happy island Atlantis. This\nblissful region may have been wholly imaginary, but possibly may\nhave sprung from the reports of some storm-driven mariners who had\ncaught a glimpse of the coast of America.\n\nJ. R. Lowell, in one of his shorter poems, claims for the present\nage some of the privileges of that happy realm. Addressing the\nPast, he says:\n\n\"Whatever of true life there was in thee,\n\nLeaps in our age's veins.\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022Here, 'mid the bleak waves of our strife and care,\n\nFloat the green 'Fortunate Isles,'\n\nWhere all thy hero-spirits dwell and share\n\nOur martyrdoms and toils.\n\nThe present moves attended\n\nWith all of brave and excellent and fair\n\nThat made the old time splendid.\"\n\nMilton also alludes to the same fable in \"Paradise Lost,\" Book\nIII, 1. 568:\n\n\"Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,\n\nFortunate fields and groves and flowery vales,\n\nThrice happy isles.\"\n\nAnd in Book II. he characterizes the rivers of Erebus according to\nthe meaning of their names in the Greek language:\n\n\"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate,\n\nSad Acheron of sorrow black and deep;\n\nCocytus named of lamentation loud\n\nHeard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon\n\nWhose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.\n\nFar off from these a slow and silent stream,\n\nLethe, the river of oblivion, rolls\n\nHer watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks\n\nForthwith his former state and being forgets,\n\nForgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.\"\n\nTHE SIBYL\n\nAs \u00c6neas and the Sibyl pursued their way back to earth, he said\nto her, \"Whether thou be a goddess or a mortal beloved of the\ngods, by me thou shalt always be held in reverence. When I reach\nthe upper air I will cause a temple to be built to thy honor, and\nwill myself bring offerings.\" \"I am no goddess,\" said the Sibyl;\n\"I have no claim to sacrifice or offering. I am mortal; yet if I\ncould have accepted the love of Apollo I might have been immortal.\nHe promised me the fulfilment of my wish, if I would consent to be\nhis. I took a handful of sand, and holding it forth, said, 'Grant\nme to see as many birthdays as there are sand grains in my hand.'\nUnluckily I forgot to ask for enduring youth. This also he would\nhave granted, could I have accepted his love, but offended at my\nrefusal, he allowed me to grow old. My youth and youthful strength\nfled long ago. I have lived seven hundred years, and to equal the\nnumber of the sand grains I have still to see three hundred\nsprings and three hundred harvests. My body shrinks up as years\nincrease, and in time, I shall be lost to sight, but my voice will\nremain, and future ages will respect my sayings.\"\n\nThese concluding words of the Sibyl alluded to her prophetic\npower. In her cave she was accustomed to inscribe on leaves\ngathered from the trees the names and fates of individuals. The\nleaves thus inscribed were arranged in order within the cave, and\nmight be consulted by her votaries. But if perchance at the\nopening of the door the wind rushed in and dispersed the leaves\nthe Sibyl gave no aid to restoring them again, and the oracle was\nirreparably lost.\n\nThe following legend of the Sibyl is fixed at a later date. In the\nreign of one of the Tarquins there appeared before the king a\nwoman who offered him nine books for sale. The king refused to\npurchase them, whereupon the woman went away and burned three of\nthe books, and returning offered the remaining books for the same\nprice she had asked for the nine. The king again rejected them;\nbut when the woman, after burning three books more, returned and\nasked for the three remaining the same price which she had before\nasked for the nine, his curiosity was excited, and he purchased\nthe books. They were found to contain the destinies of the Roman\nstate. They were kept in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,\npreserved in a stone chest, and allowed to be inspected only by\nespecial officers appointed for that duty, who, on great\noccasions, consulted them and interpreted their oracles to the\npeople.\n\nThere were various Sibyls; but the Cum\u00e6an Sibyl, of whom Ovid and\nVirgil write, is the most celebrated of them. Ovid's story of her\nlife protracted to one thousand years may be intended to represent\nthe various Sibyls as being only reappearances of one and the same\nindividual.\n\n\u00a0\n\nYoung, in the \"Night Thoughts,\" alludes to the Sibyl. Speaking of\nWorldly Wisdom, he says:\n\n\"If future fate she plans 'tis all in leaves,\n\nLike Sibyl, unsubstantial, fleeting bliss;\n\nAt the first blast it vanishes in air.\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022As worldly schemes resemble Sibyl's leaves,\n\nThe good man's days to Sibyl's books compare,\n\nThe price still rising as in number less.\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XXXII","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3637}