654 THE HADES OF HOMER. 



gether vaster and more elaborate than that of Homer. There is in 

 the conception of the Latin poet a much nearer approximation to 

 earthly and material ideas. As soon as ^neas and his guide passed 

 Cerberus, they speedily wended their way onward, -^neas addressed 

 the souls of the dead and received an immediate answer : 



" Circumstant animse dextra laevaque frequentes, 

 Nee vidisse semel satis est : juvat usque morari, 

 Et conferre gradum, et veniendi discere causas." 



^neas and the Sibyl came to a place where the path hitlierto pur- 

 sued by them divided itself into two ways. " The right is what 

 leads beneath great Pluto's walls. By this our way to Elysium lies. 

 But the left carries on the punishment of the wicked, and conveys 

 to Tartarus." They reached the gates where they are to deposit the 

 golden bough — an offering peculiar to Proserpine. "Aurumque 

 adverso in limine figit." They afterwards entered Elysium. When- 

 the form of Anchises appeared to -,:Eneas in Sicily, he thus alluded 

 to his own place in Hades : 



" Non me impia namque 

 Tartara habent ; tristesve umbrae, sed amoena piorum 

 Concilia Elysiumque colo." 



As well in the case of Ulysses as in the case of -^neas, it was found 

 that the souls of the dead remembered the varied occurrences of their 

 lives on the earth. Nor were the animosities of the past forgotten; 

 Ajax, the son of Telamon, refused to heed the kindly words of Ulysses, 

 because he still retained the anger which he felt when the arms of 

 Achilles were gained in the contest by Ulysses. Dido disdained the 

 passionate entreaty of -iEneas. The souls of the Grecian chiefs 

 whom he was wont to terrify in the strife of arms, hurried away as 

 soon as they recognized who he was. The souls of the dead still felt 

 a deep interest in the welfare of relatives who were alive. The soul 

 of Achilles made minute inquiries about the fortunes of his son and 

 of his father, and was delighted when favourable intelligence was • 

 given to him. 



5. From the conversation which Ulysses had with the souls of the 

 dead, the inference is easy that they regarded their existence in 

 Hades as gloomy and cheerless in the extreme. Tiresias spoke of 

 Hades as a joyless region. Anticlea informed her son "that the 



