Aeneid 6.617–627

Aen. 6.617districtī pendent;

… hang stretched out on the spokes of wheels.

Note. The passage opens in the middle of the Sibyl's account of Tartarus, the prison of the wicked, which Aeneas sees only from outside. districtī: 'stretched apart', from distringō; the subject (some sinners) and the phrase radiīsque rotārum, 'on the spokes of wheels', come in the line before this chunk. The wheel recalls Ixion.

Aen. 6.617sedet, aeternumque sedēbit,
īnfēlīx Thēseus;

Unhappy Theseus sits, and will sit for ever;

Note. sedet … sedēbit: present and future side by side make the punishment endless. aeternum: neuter accusative used as an adverb, 'for ever'. Theseus went down to carry off Proserpina with his friend Pirithous and was held fast there; other versions have Hercules rescue him, but Vergil keeps him for ever.

Aen. 6.618Phlegyāsque miserrimus omnīs
admonet, et magnā testātur vōce per umbrās:
620Discite iūstitiam monitī, et nōn temnere dīvōs.

and Phlegyas, most wretched of all, warns everyone and bears witness with a loud voice through the shades: 'Be warned: learn justice, and do not scorn the gods.'

Note. Phlegyas burned Apollo's temple at Delphi after the god seduced his daughter. testātur: deponent, 'bears witness'. Discite … monitī: 'learn, now you have been warned'; monitī is a perfect passive participle agreeing with the understood 'you'. nōn temnere: the infinitive depends on discite, as iūstitiam does. The single line of moral warning is the climax of the Sibyl's list.

Aen. 6.621Vēndidit hic aurō patriam, dominumque potentem
imposuit;

This one sold his country for gold and set a powerful master over it;

Note. hic … hic (3, 5): 'this one … that one', pointing to sinners in turn; hic here is the pronoun. aurō: ablative of price, 'for gold'. Ancient readers thought of traitors who sold their cities to tyrants; Vergil keeps the figures anonymous.

Aen. 6.622fīxit lēgēs pretiō atque refīxit;

he made laws and unmade them for a price.

Note. fīxit … refīxit: laws were engraved on bronze tablets and fixed up in public; refīgere is to take them down, i.e. repeal. pretiō: ablative of price, 'for a bribe'. The rhyme of fīxit and refīxit mirrors the corrupt making and unmaking of law.

Aen. 6.623hic thalamum invāsit nātae vetitōsque hymenaeōs;

This one broke into his daughter's bedroom and a forbidden marriage.

Note. thalamum … hymenaeōs: two objects of invāsit, the second slightly stretched: 'invaded … a forbidden union'. Incest of a father with his daughter, as in the myths of Cinyras or Thyestes. hymenaeōs, a Greek word, is a 'wedding song' and so a 'marriage'.

Aen. 6.624ausī omnēs immāne nefās, ausōque potītī.

All of them dared a monstrous wickedness, and achieved what they dared.

Note. ausī … ausō … potītī: perfect participles of the deponents audeō (semi-deponent) and potior; supply sunt. potior takes the ablative: ausō … potītī, 'having gained what they had dared'. immāne nefās: an accusative of the thing dared.

Aen. 6.625Nōn, mihi sī linguae centum sint ōraque centum,
ferrea vōx, omnīs scelerum comprendere fōrmās,
omnia poenārum percurrere nōmina possim.

Not if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths and a voice of iron could I take in all the forms of their crimes or run through all the names of their punishments.

Note. A contrary-to-fact condition in the present: sī … sint … possim, 'if I had … I could not'. The hundred tongues come from Homer (Iliad 2.489). comprendere = comprehendere, a contracted form, needed for the metre. ferrea vōx: 'a voice of iron', tireless.