Here Aeneas descried Dido dimly through the clouds,
and wept to see her fresh wound. Many were his protestations of his
faithfulness, and strong his declaration that he left her only at the
command of the gods. But without raising her eyes, Dido turned coldly away
to where her former husband returned her love for love. Past the chamber
of torture, beyond Phlegethon, guarded by Tisiphone and Tartarus, in whose
depths the wicked were punished, they went, and entered the beautiful
fields of Elysium, where Aeneas found his father.
To his son, Anchises explained that the souls that visited the underworld
were punished according to their deserts, and then sent into Elysium.
Cleansed there of all impurities, and with the memories of the past washed
from them by Lethe, they again visited the world in another form. Pointing
out a crowd that passed them, he indicated to Aeneas the illustrious men
who would make his race famous in Italy. First his son Silvius, born of
Lavinia, his Italian wife to be; Numitor, Romulus, the founder of Rome,
Caesar, and greatest of all, Augustus Caesar, who would usher in the
golden age.
Comforted by the prophecies of Anchises, Aeneas sought the upper world, and
collecting his companions, set sail for the mouth of the Tiber.
Latinus the king welcomed Aeneas, and received his proposals for his
daughter Lavinia's hand with favor, remembering an ancient prophecy that
Lavinia was to wed a foreign prince.
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