The little cumba, however, is elevated into a dark, supernatural vessel in Virgil’s Aeneid (Book 6, Lines 298–304) being used to refer to the boat of Charon that transported the dead. The excerpt shows a range of poetic devices.
[298] portitor hās horrendus aquās et flūmina servat
[299] terribilī squālōre Charōn, cui plūrima mentō
[300] cānitiēs inculta iacet, stant lūmina flammā,
[301] sordidus ex umerīs nōdō dēpendet amictus.
[302] ipse ratem contō subigit vēlīsque ministrat
[303] et ferrūgineā subvectat corpora cumbā,
[304] iam senior, sed crūda deō viridisque senectūs.
[i]
amictus, -ūs [4/m]: cloak, mantle
cānitiēs, -ēī [5/f]: greyness, grey hair
contus, -ī [2/m]: pole, barge-pole; punt-pole
cumba, -ae [1/f]: skiff, small boat
mentum, -ī [2/n]: chin
portitor, -ōris [3/m]: ferryman; boatman
ratis, -is [3/f]: raft; (poetic) boat, ship, vessel
squālor, -ōris [3/m]: dirtiness, foulness, filth
[ii]
subigō, subigere, subēgī, subāctus [3]: push, force, propel from beneath
subvectō, -āre [1]: to carry across
[iii]
crūdus, -a, -um: raw, fresh, unripened
incultus, -a, -um: unkempt, uncultivated, wild
ferrūgineus, -a, -um: rust-colored, dusky, iron-grey
[298] portitor hās horrendus aquās et flūmina servat
- a dreadful ferryman guards these waters and rivers
[299] terribilī squālōre Charōn, cui plūrima mentō / [300] cānitiēs inculta iacet, stant lūmina flammā
- Charon, in terrifying filth, and on his chin lies a mass of unkempt grey hair, his eyes stare fixed in flame [literally: his eyes stand in flame]
[301] sordidus ex umerīs nōdō dēpendet amictus.
- a dirty cloak hangs down from his shoulders by a knot.
[302] ipse ratem contō subigit vēlīsque ministrat
- He himself pushes the raft with a pole, tends to the sails,
[303] et ferrūgineā subvectat corpora cumbā,
- and carries bodies across in his rust-colored skiff
[304] iam senior, sed crūda deō viridisque senectūs.
- now rather old, but old age for a god is fresh and green.
Notes:
Metre: dactylic hexameter
Pōr-tĭ-tŭr | hās hōr-| rēn-dŭs ă- | quās ēt | flū-mĭ-nă | sēr-văt [- x]
Tēr-rĭ-bĭ- | lī squā- | lō-rĕ Chă- | rōn, cūi | plū-rĭ-mă | mēn-tō [- x]
- The final syllable of the final foot may be short or long; this is known as an anceps:
- /ui/ in cui is a diphthong and scanned as a single long syllable
[298] portitor hās horrendus aquās et flūmina servat / [299] terribilī squālōre Charōn, …
- Virgil delays naming Charon until the subsquent line by first referring to his maritime role and his fearful appearance.
[A] portitor [B] hās [A] horrendus [B] aquās et flūmina servat
- The terrifying guard and his dark environment are visually inseparable. Virgil achieves this by the use of hyperbaton, the separation of two grammatically connected words. Here, we specifically have two interlocking phrases A-B-A-B which, under the general heading of hyperbaton is known as synchysis.
- Owing to the flexibility of Latin word order, hyperbaton is common in poetry and, in this excerpt, there are further examples discussed below.
[299] terribilī squālōre Charōn, cui plūrima mentō / [300] cānitiēs inculta iacet, stant lūmina flammā
- squālor: dirtiness; foulness
- plūrima … cānitiēs inculta iacet: grey hair is, of course, symbolic of old age, but the hair is neglected and sprawls over his chin i.e. this is not the image of a ‘respectable’ grey-haired old man, but of one who simply does not care.
- Although the literal translation of plūrimus is very many, it can – as it does here – describe a singular noun (cānitiēs) and so is best rendered as a mass of grey hair
- hyperbaton: plūrima mentō / cānitiēs inculta; the two adjectives ‘surround’ the noun phrase
- lūmina: literally ‘lights’ (lūmen, -inis [3/n]) but here used poetically to refer to eyes
- stant: Charon’s eyes are not flashing with fire as you might expect but ‘standing’ in a fixed stare
[301] sordidus ex umerīs nōdō dēpendet amictus
- hyperbaton: the adjective sordidus sits at the beginning of the line, its matching noun amictus placed at the end. The grammatical structure physically wraps around the line, imitating the knotted, filthy cloak wrapped around the old god's body.
[302] ipse ratem contō subigit vēlīsque ministrat
- ipse: the intensive pronoun creates a striking narrative contrast. Despite being old, filthy, and entirely neglected, Charon manages the operation of the Underworld ferry completely alone.
- contō: contus, -ī [2/m]: long pole; here it refers to a type of barge pole or punt pole
- subigit: subigō, -ere [3]: the verb has multiple meanings including ‘turn up from beneath’ e.g. when ploughing; it can also refer to kneading (dough) i.e. the pushing of the boat involves considerable physical effort.
[303] et ferrūgineā subvectat corpora cumbā
- hyperbaton: here, the bodies of the dead are ‘enclosed’ within the boat.
- Although the adjective ferrūgineus, -a, -um refers to the colour of rust, the image presented is not of orange or dark red but rather of a somber metallic grey heralding the murky underworld. The image below of an actual rusted hull suggests a ‘dead’ ship.
[304] iam senior, sed crūda deō viridisque senectūs.
- The concept of old age (senior; senectūs) surrounds two adjectives that are associated with youth (crūda; viridis). This creates an oxymoron that refers to the juxtaposition of two opposing ideas e.g. ‘bitter sweet’. While Charon may physically appear old, he is immortal.
Gustave Doré; Dante
Charon, illustration by Gustave Doré for an 1861 edition of Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy).
