Aen. 6.264Dī, quibus imperium est animārum, umbraeque silentēs,
265et Chaos, et Phlegethōn, loca nocte tacentia lātē,
sit mihi fās audīta loquī;Gods who rule over souls, and silent shades, and Chaos and Phlegethon, places silent far and wide in the night, let it be right for me to tell what I have heard;Note. Dī, quibus imperium est animārum: Vergil makes a new invocation before the descent, as if the subject called for fresh help. umbraeque silentēs: the silent shades of the dead. Chaos: the primeval void, here a power of the underworld. Phlegethon: the river of fire. sit mihi fās audīta loquī: 'let it be right for me to tell what I have heard' (perhaps referring to the mysteries, which were not to be revealed). Aen. 6.266sit nūmine vestrō
pandere rēs altā terrā et cālīgine mersās!by your will let me reveal things buried deep in the earth and the dark.Note. sit nūmine vestrō / pandere rēs altā terrā et cālīgine mersās: 'by your will may I reveal things sunk deep in the earth and in darkness'.
Lectitō › Vergil › Aeneid, Book 6 › Aeneid 6.264–267
Vergil · Aeneid VI
Aeneid 6.264–267
The poet's prayer
In brief. Pausing in the story, the poet asks the gods of the dead, the silent shades, Chaos and Phlegethon for permission to tell what he has heard and reveal things hidden deep in the earth.
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Read in LectitōLatin vocabulary for this passage (26 words)
| deus, -ī, m. | god |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| imperium, -ī, n. | command; sway, rule |
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| anima, -ae, f. | breath, soul, life |
| umbra, -ae, f. | shadow, shade |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| silēns, -entis | silent, still |
| et, conj. | and; et ... et, both ... and |
| chaos n. (acc. chaos, abl. chaō) | the formless void; the empty dark of the underworld |
| locus, -ī, m., plur. loca, -orum, n. | place, situation |
| nox, noctis, f. | night |
| taceō, -ēre, -uī, -itus | be silent |
| lātē | widely |
| ego, meī, pers. pron. | I |
| fās (indecl.) n. | what is right by divine law (fās est: it is allowed) |
| audiō, -īre, -īvī, -ītus | hear; listen or attend to |
| loquor, loquī, locūtus | speak |
| nūmen, -inis n. | divine power, divinity |
| vester, -tra, -trum | your |
| pandō, -ere, pandī, passum | spread out (passīs manibus: with hands outstretched) |
| rēs, reī, f. | thing, matter, affair, circumstance, situation; rē vērā, in truth, in fact, really |
| altus, -a, -um | high, deep; altum, -ī, n., the deep |
| terra, -ae, f. | land, earth |
| cālīgō, -inis f. | mist, fog; darkness, gloom |
| mergō, mergere, mersī, mersus | dip, plunge, sink |
Vergil, Aeneid VI. Latin text: J. B. Greenough (Boston, 1881), public domain; digital text from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA. Word analysis: LatinCy, then every word checked and corrected by hand. Vocabulary: F. Ritchie (1903, public domain) and entries written for this app. English translation, notes and grammar hints: written for this app.