VevgiI's EIsiun and lIe OvpIic-FlIagovean Ideas oJ AJlev-LiJe
AulIov|s) Uvania MoIviali-Toplsis
Bevieved vovI|s) Souvce Mnenosne, FouvlI Sevies, VoI. 47, Fasc. 1 |FeI., 1994), pp. 33-46 FuIIisIed I BRILL SlaIIe UBL http://www.jstor.org/stable/4432316 . Accessed 13/04/2012 0547 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Mnemosyne. http://www.jstor.org Mnemosyne, Vol. XLVII, Fase. 1 (1994), ? E. J. Brill, Leiden VERGIL'S ELYSIUM AND THE ORPHIC-PYTHAGOREAN IDEAS OF AFTER-LIFE BY URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS In book five, the apparition of Anchises bids Aeneas to visit the underworld to meet his father in Elysium, in the concilia piorum (5.731-35): Ditis tarnen ante infermas accede domos et Auerna per alta congressus pete, nate, meos. non me impia namque Tartara habent, tristes umbrae, sed amoena piorum concilia Elysiumque colo. Following the apparition's instructions, Aeneas with the Sibyl as his guide tours the different regions of the underworld, to arrive finally at Elysium. The first station of Aeneas and the Sibyl is the sedes beatae (6.639), the place where the souls of Orpheus, Musaeus, the heroes of the golden age, the pious priests, prophets/poets l) and individuals distinguished for their services to their country and humanity abide (645, 660-64, 667). From the sedes beatae they are directed to the nitentes campi (677), where Aeneas meets his father, Anchises. Strikingly, what the reader learns about the souls that dwell in these areas comes neither from the mouth of the Sibyl nor from Aeneas, but from the poet/narrator who in the beginning of the catabasis asked for divine permission to proceed to his revelation about after-life (264-67): Di, quibus Imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes et Chaos et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late, sit mihi fas audita loqui, sit numine uestro pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas. 1) See M. M. Winkler, Tuque Optime Vates: Musaeus in book six of the Aeneid, AJP 10 (1987), 655-60, esp. 658. 34 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS The account of Elysium, therefore, bears the authority of an hieros logos, which, on the one hand, describes what Aeneas and the Sibyl eye-witness, and, on the other, imparts information regarding the souls that dwell there accessible only to the reader. To date little attention has been paid to the topographical details (6.637-715), and the concilia piorum (5.734-35) of Elysium. Scholars who have discussed the underworld and the classification of the souls have suggested that Elysium is the permanent abode of the blessed spirits2). As early as A. Dieterich's Nekyia3) and E. Norden's commentary on the sixth book of the Aeneid, Elysium was equated with the sedes beatae (639)4). Nevertheless, the poet takes pains to emphasize that Anchises lives in a separate area from the sedes beatae, the nitentes campi5); there, he appears to review a group of souls which, the poet tells us, are destined to be reborn (inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras 680); there is no mention that either Anchises or the new group of souls wear the same white fillets that crown the heads of the inhabitants of the sedes beatae (omnibus his niuea cinguntur tempora uitta 665). What is the purpose of such a distinction? Who are the inclusae animate Who are the souls of the concilia piorum* 2) This assumption was accepted by C. Murley, F. Solmsen, R.D. Williams and most recently E. Henry and Th. Habinek. See: C. Murley, The Classification of Souls in the Sixth Aeneid, Vergilius 37 (1938-40), 17-27: He claims that Anchises is among the eternally blessed (23); F. Solmsen, Greek Ideas of the Hereafter in Vergil's Roman Epic, PAPhS 112 (1968), 8-14, and The World of the Dead in Book 6 of the Aeneid, CPh 67 (1972), 31-41; G. Stegen, Virgile et la Metempsychose (Aen. VI, 724- 51), AC 36 (1967), 144-158: He suggests that Anchises is found by the river of Lethe (156); RJ. Clark, The "Wheel" and Vergil's Eschatology in Aeneid 6, SO 50 (1975), 121-41: Clark distinguishes between Elysium and Lethe and suggests that Elysium is Anchises' permanent home; J. Sheehan, Catholic Ideas of Death as Found in Aeneid VI, Classical Folia 15-16 (1961-62), 87-109; R.D. Williams, The Sixth Book of the Aeneid G&R n.s. 11 (1964), 48-63; B. Otis, Three Problems of Aeneid 6, HSCPh 90 (1959), 165-79; P.F. Burke, Jr., Roman Rites for the dead and Aeneid 6, CJ 74 (1978-79), 220-28; FJ. Miller, The Philosophic Vergil, Vergilian Society 37 (1938), 9-26; E. Henry, The Vigour of Prophecy. A Study of Vergil's Aeneid (Illinois 1989), 135 ff.; Th.N. Habinek, Science and tradition in Aeneid 6, HSCPh 92 (1989), 223-54, esp. 230-31 ff. 3) Nekyia (Leipzig 1913), 154-60. 4) E. Norden, P. Vergilius Maro Aeneis Buch VI (Stuttgart 1976). 5) F. Solmsen observes that Anchises "has his place somewhat apart from the other heroes", but he dismisses it by observing that "we have not passed outside the confines of Elysium": see Solmsen (1972), 36-37. vergil's elysium 35 In this paper, I suggest that, first, Vergil has divided Elysium into different locations as he has done with other regions of the underworld, such as Orcus, or the Styx and even Tartarus; and, secondly and most interestingly, Vergil, using the Homeric Elysium as a base of his account, develops it according to the more sophisticated and systematic Orphic-Pythagorean ideas of after- life6). He presents it as a larger region containing two different abodes of reward for morally pure souls: the sedes beatae (639) populated by semi-divine souls which have escaped the cycle of rebirth; and the nitentes campi (677) containing the souls destined to transmigrate to new bodies (inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras 680). The Lethaean valley (domi placidae 705) is the final destination of these souls which drink from the waters of forgetfulness (713-15) and are reborn. Vergil's account shares common traits with descriptions of the abodes of reward found in such texts as Pindar's Olympian 2.61-72, Aristophanes' Frogs, Plato's myths of after-life and the Gold Leaves Al-A4, which stem from the Orphic- Pythagorean milieu. At the beginning of the catabasis Vergil states that Aeneas and the Sibyl will journey through the empty domi and regna of Dis (268-69). Accordingly, the reader is presented with a geography of Dis which contains different regions for different categories of souls. Each region is divided into smaller areas populated by different sub- categories of souls. Thus, Orcus (273), Styx (417) and Tartarus (566) appear to be larger areas of Dis: regna1). Orcus is the abode of the evil personifications which are found to occupy specific loca- tions in it. In the vestibulum abide Luctus, Morbi, Senectus, Metus, Fames, Egestas, Sopor and the mala Gaudia (273-79); in the opposite side of the vestibule dwell Bellum and Discordia (279-80); in the mid- dle of the vestibule is the tree of the vain dreams (in medio ramos annosaque bracchia panditl ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia uulgol uana tenere ferunt ... 282-84); by the doors (in foribus 286), which 6) In other, also, sections of the underworld Vergil follows Orphic-Pythagorean ideas; see for Tartarus James E.G. Zetzel, ROMANE, MEMENTO: Justice and Judgment in Aeneid 6, TAPhA 119 (1989), 263-84. 7) Minos is in charge of Styx and Rhadamanthys of Tartarus. 36 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS separate Orcus from the banks of Acheron, abide the Centaurs, Scyllae, Briareus, the Lernean beast, Chimaera, the Gorgans, the Harpies and Cerberus (286-90). Styx is the abode of the a?roi; it is divided into smaller sections, which are designated by the terms sedes (431) or loca (434), campi (441) and arua (477). These locations are inhabited by different groups o? a?roi such as the infants by the banks (427-28) of Cocytus, next those condemned for false reasons (430), then the maesti (434), the Lugentes (441) and the arua which frequent those clan bello (477- 78)8). Even in Tartarus a rudimentary division into different loca- tions seems to be in effect for different categories of sinners (scelerati 563)?the Titans, for example, occupy the very bottom of Tartarus (fundo uoluuntur in imo 580-81); and different punishments are allot- ted to different groups of sinners (608-17). Similarly, at the end of book six, Elysium is described as a regio (886)9): the poet remarks, in indirect speech, that Aeneas and the Sibyl were given a tour through the wide fields of the whole region (886-887): sic tota passim regione uagantur aeris in campis latis atque omnia lustrant. According to Ernout and Meillet, regio designates a 'limited part' or 'region' within a larger space10). When the Sibyl asks Musaeus about the regio and locus in which Anchises abides (670), she asks information about the specific region of Dis which Anchises inhabits, and the specific location within that region. For, locus, according to Ernout and Meillet, denotes the specific place in which one dwells. Servius commenting on the line 670 observes that regio is a general term, whereas locus is specific, and adds that a locus 8) For the five categories of ????? see: E. Norden (1976), 11-16, 244 ff. 9) When Aeneas nails the golden bough on the threshold in front of the doors of the house which is at the entrance to Elysium, the implication is that the house belongs to Persephone. For, the golden bough is a gift for her (hoc sibi pulchra suum ferri Proserpina munusl instituit 6.142) who lives with Pluto (casta licet patrui seruet Pro- serpina limen 6.402). Persephone is in charge of Elysium, as Minos is of Styx and Radamanthys of Tartarus. 10) A. Ernout and A. Meillet, Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Latine (Paris 1959). VERGUES ELYSIUM 37 belongs to a regio. Therefore, the valleys of the sedes beatae or laeti loci (638-39), the nitentes campi (677) and the domi placidae (705) repre- sent different locations of the Elysian region11). In these locations dwell the concilia piorum which the apparition of Anchises mentioned to Aeneas earlier in book 5.731-35. Both the elaborate geography of Elysium and the classification of the souls of the pii, it will be argued, owe much to Orphic-Pythagorean ideas of after-life. Elysium is mentioned for the first time in the Odyssey 4.561-69 in the prophecy of Proteus who foretells to Menelaus that he, as the spouse of Helen and son-in-law of Zeus, will be translated into the Elysion pedion, a place at the bounds of the earth (pe??ata ?a??? 563)12) without snow, rain or storms, where only breezes of zephyr blow to cool the people who lead there a toilless life. It is clear that Homer regards Elysium as the abode of those blest who have divine links (564-65). Although Vergil, as we noted above, uses the Homeric Elysium as a framework for his own account13) by main- taining the name and placing Anchises, the spouse of Venus, within it, he reconstructs Elysium from a moral point of view: Elysium is the place of reward of morally pure souls. A first indication that Vergil conceived of Elysium in a more complex way than his predecessor is his choice of the location. When Aeneas and the Sibyl arrive at a fork in the road through the Dis proper (540), the Sibyl explains that on the right is the path to Elysium (6.541-42): dextera quae Ditis magni sub moenia tendit, hac iter Elysium nobis; In eschatological accounts stemming from Orphic-Pythagorean sources, it is, frequently, attested that the places of reward of the morally superior souls are on the right. Plato, for example, in the myth of Er, places on the right the abodes of the righteous (Rep. 11) It is worth noting that Vergil's taste for divisions was taken over and exag- gerated by Dante. 12) It is not clear whether the p??ata ?a(?? (563) were on the surface or underground. 13) See: G.N. Knauer, Die Aeneis und Homer, Hypomnemata 7 (1964), 107-47. 38 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS 614c-e): t??? ??? d??a???? ?e?e?e?? p??e?es?a? t?? e?? de???? .... In the Gold Leaf ? lines 5-614), on the right is placed the abode of the deified souls15): '???' ?p?ta? ???? p????p?? f??? ?e?????, de???? + ?S???S???? + <??>?a? pef??a?????? e? ???a p??ta. ?a??e pa??? t? p????a t? d' ??p? p??s?e ?pep???e??? ?e?? ?????? ?? ?????p?? e??f?? ?? ???a epete?. ?a??<e> ?a??e? de???? ?d??p??<e?> ?e????a? te ?e???? ?a? a?sea Fe?sef??e?a?. The choice of the particular location suggests in the background Orphic-Pythagorean influence. Once at Elysium, Aeneas and the Sibyl pass through the sedes beatae (637-38), which occupy the summa cacumina, the highest plain of Elysium (dehinc summa cacumina linquunt 678). Vergil describes them as valleys (uirecta 638) covered with forests and laurel-trees (639, 658), watered by the river Eridanus (659) and surrounded by aether with their own sun and stars (638-41): largior hie campos aether et lumine uestit purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt. In the sedes beatae the souls are involved in such activities as gym- nastics, dances and banquets (642-657), or attend to the same duties they had when alive (645-47, 653-55). Such a description resembles the accounts of the abodes of reward of the ultimately blest found in Pindar, Aristophanes, Plato. In Pindar, for example, the island of the blest is a plain (leimon [frg. 114 Bowra]) in the walled city (t??s??) of Cronus (0. 2.68-71) which is located by Oceanus16): ds?? d'?t???asa? ?st??? ??at????? ?e??a?te? ?p? p??pa? ad???? e?e?? 14) All the quotations of the Gold Leaves are taken from G. Zuntz's edition. See: G. Zuntz, Persephone. Three Essays on Religion and Thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford 1971), 337-38. 15) Zuntz (above n. 14) believes that the doctrine expounded here is Pythagorean, not Orphic. 16) See: G. Kirkwood, Selections from Pindar (APA 1982), 74; M.L. West, Hesiod Works and Days (Oxford 1978), 195-96. vergil's elysium 39 ?????, ete??a? ???? ?d?? pa?? ???- ??? t??s?? It is surrounded by trees, watered by a river and a golden light shines perpetually over the blest (0. 2.68-72): ???a ?a????? ??s?? ??ea??de? a??a? pe??p????s?? d??e?a d? ???s?? f???e?, ta ?e? ?e?s??e? ?p' ???a?? de?d????, ?d?? d' ???a f???e?, There, the souls of the blest appear to pursue horsemanship, athletics, draughts and music, or perform sacrifices to the gods (frg. 129 Kirkwood, 114 Bowra): ?a? t?? ?e? ?pp??? ????as???s? <te ?> t?? d? pess??? t?? d? f??????ess?, t??p??ta? pa?? d? sf?s?? e?a???? ?pa? t??a?e? d????? In the Frogs of Aristophanes the place of the initiates in the under- world is described as the flowery field (p??????d?? ?e????e?)17) of Persephone, where the sun and the moon shine (447-55). The initiates there dance and sing (319-20). According to Plato, the abode of the philosophers is located at the top of the heaven, the ?pe????????? t?p?? (Phaedrus 248a) and is of immeasurable beauty (Phaedo 114c). And Cicero in the Somnium Scipionis identifies this Platonic place with the milky way which surrounds the zodiac (16-17). Characteristic of the above texts is that the abodes which they describe are reserved for the souls which are absolutely pure and, therefore, have escaped reincarnation. In Olympian 2.68-72, for example, the island of the blest is the permanent abode of the souls which have completed three cycles of life and death abstaining from any sort of injustice. In the frg. 133 (Kirkwood) these souls are identified with those reborn as kings, athletes or poets/prophets 17) In the Frogs Persephone is placed immediately after the valley of the blessed initiates (431-36). 40 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS who, when dead, will be called heroes by the men (?? d? t?? ???p?? ?????? ???e? ?-/???? p??? a????p?? ?a????ta?)18). Empedocles, also, in frg. 146 (DK) states that the prophets, bards, doctors, and princes when dead become gods19): 'when the prophets and the singers and the physicians (i?troi) and the political and military leaders die, they become divine and honoured like the gods'. Aristophanes in the Frogs states that the initiates in the field of Persephone are pure (?????? ?a?a?e?e? 355), and, while alive, led a pious life (e?se?? te d?????e? t??p?? pe?? t??? ?????? ?a? t??? ?d??ta? 456-59). Plato, also, states that those who are absolutely pure and led their lives wisely (Phaedo 82c) after 3,000 years of reincarnations are deified (Phaedrus 249a): ??? d? ?e ?e?? ????? ?? f???s?f?sa?t? ?a? pa?te??? ?a?a?? ?p???t? ?? ????? ?f???e?s?a? ???' ? t? f????a?e?. Cicero in the Somnium Scipionis grants to the statesmen who have served their country the reward of eternal life (13)20): omnibus qui patriam conseruauerint adiuuerint auxerint certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aeuo sempiterno fruantur. Finally, in the Gold Leaves Al, A4 the souls which are absolutely pure, katharai, and have escaped reincarnation go to the fields of Persephone to become gods. In these texts it seems that absolute purity is the necessary condition for deification, and is usually achieved through a series of re- incarnations. Vergil has placed in the sedes beatae two groups of souls which were regarded as divine by tradition or by Orphic-Pythagorean standards: the first group is the mythological which includes Orpheus and Musaeus and the heroes of the golden age. Tradi- tionally Orpheus and Musaeus were regarded as demi-gods leading an immortal life in the underworld (Plato, Apology 41a-b). As for the 18) G. Kirkwood (above ?. 16) suggests that the heroes correspond to those ultimately blest of 0. 2.68-75. 19) Probably, the Empedoclean doctrines were well known in the first century B.C. Lucretius, for instance, refers and pays special tribute to Empedocles in the De Rerum Natura 1.715 f?. Since Vergil was a student of the Epicurean and Stoic schools, it was part of his training to become familiar with the known philosophical creeds. 20) This group seems to be included in Vergil's general category of memores. VERGIL'S ELYSIUM 41 golden race, it was believed that they became holy spirits, protec- tors of the humans (Hesiod, Works and Days 110-127)21). The second group includes souls which according to Orphic- Pythagorean ideas merit deification, because they are pure. The idea of purity is reinforced by the epithets castus (661) and pius (662). The term pius, according to Conington, means castus22). Castus, according to the Sibyl, is every person who has not commit- ted a nefas (624) such as the social or religious crimes which burden those confined to Tartarus: nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere limen (563). A?, then, are the persons who were just in socio-political and religious matters while alive. These blessed are classified in five major groups: a) people killed in battle fields for their country, b) priests, c) prophets/poets of the gods, d) people who benefited humanity through their arts and e) those who are remembered by the people, because of their merit (Aen. 6.648-49, 660-64). Vergil employs the term heros for* such souls as the race of Teucrus (magnanimi heroes 649) or the poet/prophet Musaeus (heros 672) stressing, thus, their semi-divine state of being. In addition, he presents all the souls having their temples wreathed with white fillets (665). According to Conington, the fillets suggest that these souls are consecrated to the gods (648-49, 660-64), because of their personal merit23). The sense that the souls of the sedes beatae abide there permanently is further supported by Anchises' explanation that some of the souls by fate transmigrate into new bodies (713-14), implying, thus, that others do not. Aeneas picks on this idea in the question anne aliquas ...? (719-20). Servius commenting on 6.719 states that Vergil here blends philosophic truth and poetic fiction. According to Anchises in his speech about the anima in lines 743-51, all the souls from the 21) See M.L. West (?978), 181-83. 22) See J. Conington & H. Nettleship, The Works of Vergil (Hildesheim 1963). 23) J. Conington-H. Nettleship in the commentary on the Aeneid 6.665 (1963) observe that the white fillets are "a mark of consecration, being worn by the gods and by persons and things dedicated to them'*. They cite as an example the Georgics 3.487 in which a victim ready to be sacrified to the gods is wreathed with white fillets. R.G. Austin in his commentary on the Aeneid 6.665 cites more sources such as Val. Flaccus 1.840 and Statius Achilleis 1.11; see R.G. Austin, Aeneidos Liber VI (Oxford 1977). In these cases the fillets are worn by priests and poets respectively marking their holy office. 42 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS underworld return to earth; according to philosophers, only the impure souls transmigrate into new bodies: ... miscet philosophiae figmenta poetica et ostendit tarn quod est uulgare, quam quod continet ueritas et ratio naturalis. nam secundum poetas hoc dicit: credendum est animas ab infer?s reuerti posse ad corpora? ... secundum philosophos uero hoc dicit: credendum est animas corporis contagione pollutas ad caelum reuerti? The reader, therefore, is meant to understand that the sedes beatae have been allotted to the souls who merit deification because they were absolutely pure while alive (661). Having not found Anchises among the souls of the sedes beatae, the Sibyl and Aeneas are directed to the nitentes campi (676). This area is described as an enclosed valley (conualle 679) which is separated from the blessed fields by a hill (676-78): ...et ante tulit gressum camposque nitentisl desuper ostentat. According to A. van Gennep's The Rites of Passage, the mountain in primitive societies represents the boundary of a place and its crossing requires a verbal rite, usually an invocation to the spirit of the place24). As such an invocation could be regarded the Sibyl's inquiries from the felices animae and particularly Musaeus, the optimus uates (6.669)25), who seems to have a leading role among the souls (667-69), about the dwelling places of Anchises (669-671). Musaeus points from the height the nitentes campi and puts Aeneas and the Sibyl on an easy path (676). In the Vergilian underworld the road serves as a passage from one location to another within the same region or different regions of the Dis proper (477, 540-43). Both the hill and the road suggest that the nitentes campi is another area of Elysium. Musaeus does not accompany the Sibyl and Aeneas to the dwelling places of Anchises (676)26). It is a law of the 24) See A. van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (Chicago 1960), 3, transi, by M.B. Vizedom and G.L. Canee. 25) Musaeus, according to Plato, had composed a song on the rewards of the righteous people in the underworld. In the song Musaeus and his son conducted these people to the underworld and prepared a symposium for them (Rep. 363c-d). Vergil apparently was familiar with this tradition and thus presents the Sibyl to ask for guidance from Musaeus. See, also, M. Desport, L'Incantation Virgilienne: Virgile et Orph?e (Bordeaux 1952), 156-59; also, L. Herrmann, Mus?e et l'En?ide in Hommages ? W. Deonna, Coll. Latomus 28 (1957), 263-68. 26) J. Conington-H. Nettleship (above ?. 22) noticed that Musaeus leaves Aeneas and the Sibyl when they have mounted the slope and see the way on the vergil's elysium 43 underworld that the souls cannot cross the boundaries (373-76), unless they fulfill the necessary conditions (327-28)27). The nitentes campi occupy a lower place than the sedes beatae. In texts stemming from Orphic-Pythagorean sources the abodes of the souls destined to be reborn are located below the abodes of the ultimately blest. Thus in Olympian 2.62-67 the esloi live in the underworld in an area shining with sun: ?sa?? d? ???tess?? a?e?, ?sa?? ????a?? a???? ????te?, ?p???ste??? ?s??? d????ta? ???t?? ?? ????a ta- ??ss??te? ?? ?e??? ???a ??d? p??t??? ?'d?? ?e?e?? pa?? d?a?ta?, a??? pa?? ??? t?????? ?e?? ??t??e? e?a???? e?????a?? ada???? ?????ta? a???a, t?? d' ?p??s??at?? ??????t? p????. As esloi Pindar considers the souls of those who have not committed a grave crime on the land or in the sea but are not absolutely pure and, therefore, will be reincarnated (O. 2.61-67). Plato claims that those who have lived a holy life go upwards (Phaedo 114b-c) and dwell on earth, in the 'bright abodes' (katharan oik?sin), which are located below the abode of the philosophers, destined to be reincarnated (Rep. 614c-e). These are the eudaimones. In Phaedo 82a-b, Plato defines the eudaimones in terms of social justice: ' "Then", said he, "the happiest of those, and those who go to the best place are those who have practised by habit and other side, but they do not explain why; R.G. Austin (above n. 23) makes no com- ment on Musaeus' activities after he has shown to Aeneas and the Sibyl the path to be followed; Servius also observes that only Aeneas and the Sibyl descend the slope and reach the valley of Anchises. 27) Note for example what the Sibyl tells Palinurus: 'unde haec, o Palinure, tibi tarn dira cupido? tu Stygias inhumatus aquas amnemque seuerum Eumenidum aspicies, ripamue iniussus adibis? desine fata deum flecti sperare precando, (6.373-76). And earlier the Sibyl remarks that the souls cannot cross Cocytus unless they have obtained a proper burial (327-28). 44 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS study, without philosophy or divine inspiration, the social and civil virtues which are called prudence and justice'' ,28). In the Gold Leaves A2-3 lines 6-7 the souls who are pure (katharai) and have paid amends for some shortcoming while alive hope to go to the place of euageis, the abode of those destined to return to life29): "?????a? ?? ?a?a??? ?a?a??, ??????? ?as??e?a/ .../ ?a? ?a? ???? ???? ????? e????a? ?????? e??a?. / p???a? d' ??tap?te?s' ????? ??e?a ??t? d??a???./ .../ ??? d' ???t?? ??? pa?' ????? Fe?sef??e?a?/ ?? ?e p??f??? p???? ?'d?a? ?? e?a????. According to Zuntz, the adjective katharos in these texts denotes "purity in some particular respect and form and from some par- ticular pollution" such as murder, adultery, political injustice30). In all of the above texts the difference between those destined to transmigrate into new bodies and those who have escaped reincar- nation is the degree of purity which is achieved gradually through a series of lives. Anchises is found in the nitentes campi to review a new group of souls which are introduced with the words: inclusas animas superum- que ad lumen ituras (679-80). They are the souls which are destined to return to earth. The close connection of the participle inclusas (680) with the ablative conualle uirenti (679) suggests that this new group of souls dwell in the nitentes campi. Servius observes that Vergil, by the participle inclusas and the ablative conualle, inten- tionally emphasizes the isolation of these souls from the other population of Elysium; they are different and separate from the multitude at the banks of the Lethaean river (non re vera inclusas, sed a multitudine separatas 6.680); they are not yet ready for reincarna- tion. Limina (696) Aeneas accidentally and Vergil intentionally call the place31). The word limen signifies the 'entrance', the 'passage* 28) ?????? e?da?????stat??, ef?, ?a? t??t?? ??s? ?a? e?? ???t?st?? t?p?? ???te? ?? t?? d???t???? ?a? p???t???? ??et?? ?p?tet?de???te?, ?? d? ?a???s? s?f??s???? te ?a? d??a??s????, ?? ????? te ?a? ?e??t?? ?e?????a? ??e? f???s?f?a? te ?a? ???; 29) Zuntz (above n. 14) believes that the doctrine expounded here is Pythagorean, not Orphic. 30) See Zuntz (1971), 307. 31) RJ. Edgeworth, The Ivory Gate and the Threshold of Apollo, CM 37 (1986), 145-60, discusses the meaning of limina as a transition to misfortune and death. On Aeneid 6. 696 he suggests that limina is associated with both joy, because of Aeneas' reunion with Anchises, and fear, because he cannot touch his father (156). Generally, he regards the threshold as a threatening place. My interpreta- vergil's elysium 45 to something else and synecdochically the 'house' (Ernout-Meillet, OLD). The nitentes campi, therefore, is both the 'house' of the souls who have not escaped rebirth and their passage to their final destination, the Lethaean valley, for rebirth. Since Anchises is found among the inclusae animae, they are part of the concilia piorum which the apparition of Anchises mentioned to Aeneas in book 5.734-35. Why, then, are the souls of the nitentes campi destined to be reincarnated? They are pii /casti, but not in the same degree as the souls in the sedes beatae. The pii who dwell in the nitentes campi seem to correspond to the Pindaric esloi, the euageis of the Gold Leaves and, finally, the Platonic eudaimones (Phaedo 82a-b). The presence of Anchises among these pii supports the idea of degree of purity. Anchises, while alive, was not absolutely pure. Although he displayed iustitia and pietas by his actions, he constantly misinterpreted the will of the gods ultimately acting against the fata32). He closely resembles the description of the Platonic eudaimon (Phaedo 82a-b): ' "Then", said he, "the happiest of those, and those who go to the best place are those who have practised, by nature and habit, with- out philosophy or divine inspiration, the social and civil virtues which are called prudence and justice" '. This is the reason, it seems to me, that Anchises is not one of those consecrated to the gods33). His death before arriving at Italy may tion includes RJ. Edgeworth's suggestion, since the limina here are the dwelling places of those who have not obtained a semi-divine state and are bound to return to upper world. 32) For pius in the sense of 'faithful in social obligations' see: Cato, Agr. 4, Cicero, Sest. 4, Vergil, Aen. 5. 296, Ovid, Met. 4. 551. 33) He cannot be even regarded as one of those who will be remembered by the people, because Vergil in Aeneid 5 makes clear that the tomb of Anchises and his memory preserved through the sacerdos assigned to his tomb and the annual sacrifices performed there are destined to disappear along with the impotent population of the Sicilian Troy. Vergil describes this city to which Anchises' tomb is attached as preserving the name and divinities (hoc Ilium et haec loca Troiam/ esse iubet... sedes I fundatur Veneri Idaliae 5. 755-60) of old Troy, and inhabited by the elder, physical impotent population of the original city (longaeuos senes oc fessas aequore maires et quidquid ... inualidum 5. 715-17). This city, now, preserves the Tro- jan mores et cultus (5. 757-58), but is destined to die along with its old population, prevented from physical and cultural renewal. The tomb of Anchises stands there as a symbolic representation of the impending physical and cultural death, and a 46 URANIA MOLYVIATI-TOPTSIS be seen as a punishment for his shortcoming. Note in book 3 that Helenus hails Anchises for the piety of his son, but not his, and stops abruptly the prophecy avoiding to mention his death before arriving at the Italian coast (478-81). Furthermore, the idea of degrees of purity is reinforced by Anchises' philosophical speech on the soul in lines 731-32 where it is stated that all the souls are not in the same degree contaminated by their contact with the body: igneus est ollis uigor et caelestis origo seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. By the quantum non (731) clause Vergil seems to allude to the tradi- tional theory of separation of the soul from the body, according to which, the wise man's soul as much as possible abstains from pleasures and desires, distress and fear; whereas the souls which are overwhelmed by corporeal pleasures or pains are incapable of exerting reason and, therefore, do not maintain their purity (Phaedo 66c-d, 83b, Timaeus 86b-c)34). Pius y therefore, in 5.734 is used in a generic sense to include adi the souls that dwell in Elysium, in contrast to the impure state of the tristes umbrae in Tartarus. Elysium contains two different abodes of reward and two different classes of pii: the sedes beatae with the deified souls who have escaped the cycle of rebirth, and the nitentes campi with those righteous who are destined to transmigrate into new bodies35). Toronto, York University token of the fulfillment of his personal desire to die along with his sedes, Troy. He is thus destined to be forgotten. 34) Heyne takes quantum as qualitative explaining the difference in mores among the men, according to the degree of change and separation of the anima from the body (731-32); see CG. Heyne, P. Virgilii Maronis Opera Omnia (London 1819). Austin (1977) observes in this line a "compression of thought'' and, following Conington, suggests that the souls cannot function properly, because of the weakness of the body. 35) I would like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Stephen V. Tracy and Professor Michael Herren for their valuable comments and time they spent for this paper.
THBT Religious Organization Should Deny Religious Services (Confession, Last Rites, Marriage Service, Remove Access From Places of Worship) To Current Members of Criminal Organizations