P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid 6.403-425

 

Tier 2

[Sacerdos dicit…] ‘Trōïus Aenēās, pietāte īnsignis et armīs, dēscendit ad umbrās Erebī ad genitōrem. sī nūlla imāgō tantae pietātis movet tē, Charon, sed agnōsce hunc rāmum.’ (Sacerdos aperit rāmum quī latēbat veste). tum corda Charonis, tumida ex īrā, resīdunt; nec plūra verba dicta sunt hīs.

 

ille Charon, admīrāns dōnum virgae fātālis, vīsum post tempore longō, advertit caeruleam navem et propinquat rīpae. inde deponit aliās animās, quae sedēbant in sellis longis, et laxat forōs; simul accipit ingentem Aenēān nave.

 

nauta gemuit sub pondere et, rīmōsa, accēpit aquam multam. tandem expōnit vātemque virumque trāns fluvium incolumēs, in humo sordida et in palude glaucā. ingēns Cerberus resonat haec rēgna lātrātū trifaucī, recubāns immānis in antrō adversō.

 

cuī vātēs, vidēns colubrīs horrēre colla, obicit offam sopōrātam melle et medicātīs frūgibus; ille, aperiens tria ora famē rabidā, corripit cibum, atque resolvit terga immānia, fūsus humī, et extenditur ingēns in tōtō antrō. Aenēās occupat limen, sepultō custōde, ēvāditque celer rīpam undae.