Classical Mythology

VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE: THE REALM OF HADES 343

Evadne, Pasiphaë, and with them Laodamia and Caeneus, who had been

changed into a boy and now once again was a woman.

Here Aeneas meets Dido, queen of Carthage, who has recently committed

suicide because of her love for Aeneas and his betrayal. He addresses her in sad,

piteous, and uncomprehending tones; but she refuses to answer and turns away

to join the shade of her former husband, Sychaeus.

From here Aeneas and his guide move on to the last group and farthest

fields, reserved for those renowned in war, who had been doomed to die in

battle and were much lamented by those on earth. Tydeus, Parthenopaeus,

Adrastus, and many, many others come to meet Aeneas. Trojan heroes crowd

around him, but the Greek warriors from Troy flee in terror. Aeneas converses

with Dei'phobus, the son of Priam who married Helen after the death of Paris.

Dei'phobus tells the story of his death at the hands of Menelaus and Odysseus

through the treachery of Helen. Their talk is interrupted by the Sibyl, who com-

plains that they are wasting what brief time they have; it is now already past

midday on earth and night is coming on (540-543):

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This is the place where the road divides and leads in two directions: our way is

to the right and extends under the ramparts of Dis to Elysium, but the left path

leads to the evil realms of Tartarus, where penalties for sin are exacted.

We must look at Vergil's comprehensive and profound conception of Hell,

Tartarus, and Paradise, Elysium or the Elysian Fields (548-579):

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Suddenly Aeneas looked back to the left and saw under a cliff lofty fortifica-

tions enclosed by a triple wall around which flowed Phlegethon, the swift

stream of Tartarus, seething with flames and rolling clashing rocks in its tor-

rent. He saw in front of him a huge door, with columns of solid adamant that

no human force nor even the gods who dwell in the sky would have the power

to attack and break through. Its tower of iron stood high against the winds; and

one of the Furies, Tisiphone, clothed in a bloody robe, sat guarding the en-

trance, sleepless day and night. From within he heard groans and the sound of

savage lashes, then the grating of iron and the dragging of chains. Aeneas stood

in terror, absorbed by the din. "Tell me, virgin prophetess, what is the nature

of their crimes? What penalties are imposed? What is this great wail rising up-

ward on the air?"

Then she began to speak: "Renowned leader of the Trojans, it is not per-

mitted for anyone who is pure to cross the threshold of the wicked. But when

Hecate put me in charge of the groves of Avernus, she herself taught me the

penalties exacted by the gods and went through them all. Cretan Rhadaman-

thus presides over this pitiless kingdom; he punishes crimes and recognizes

treachery, forcing each to confess the sins committed in the world above, atone-

ment for which each had postponed too long, happy in his futile stealth, until

death. At once the avenging fury, Tisiphone, armed with a whip, leaps on the

guilty and drives them with blows; as she threatens with her fierce serpents

in her left hand, she summons the phalanx, her savage sisters. Then at last the