XX. "Thick woods and shades the middle space invest, And black Cocytus girds the drear abode. Yet, if such passion hath thy soul possessed, If so thou longest to indulge thy mood, And madly twice to cross the Stygian flood, And visit twice black Tartarus, mark the way Sacred to nether Juno, in a wood, With golden stem and foliage, lurks a spray, And trees and darksome dales surrounding shroud the day. XXI. "Yet none the shades can visit, till he tear That golden growth, the gift of Pluto's queen, And show the passport she decreed to bear. One plucked, another in its place is seen, As bright and burgeoning with golden green. Search then aloft, and when thou see'st the spray, Reach forth and pluck it; willingly, I ween, If Fate shall call thee, 'twill thy touch obey; Else steel nor strength of arm shall rend the prize away. XXII. "Mark yet--alas! thou know'st not--yonder lies Thy friend's dead body, and pollutes the shore. While thou the Fates art asking to advise, And lingering here, a suppliant, at our door. Nay, first thy comrade to his home restore, And build a tomb, and bring black cattle; they The stain shall expiate; so the Stygian shore Shalt thou behold, and tread the sunless way, Which living feet ne'er trod, and mounted to the day." XXIII. She ended. From the cave AEneas went, With down-dropt eyes and melancholy mien, Inly revolving many a dark event. Trusty Achates at his side is seen, Moody alike, each measured step between In musing converse framing phantasies, What lifeless comrade could the priestess mean? Whom to be buried? When before their eyes, Stretched on the barren beach the dead Misenus lies, XXIV. Dead with dishonour, in unseemly plight, Misenus, son of AEolus, whom beside None better knew with brazen blast to light The flames of war, and wake the warrior's pride. Once Hector's co-mate, proud at Hector's side To wind the clarion and the sword to wield. When, stricken by Achilles, Hector died, AEneas then he followed to the field, Loth to a meaner lord his fealty to yield. XXV. Now while a challenge to the gods he blew, And made the waves his hollow shell resound, Him Triton, jealous--if the tale be true-- Caught unaware, and in the surges drowned Among the rocks.--There now the corpse they found. Loud groaned AEneas, and a mournful cry Rose from the Trojans, as they gazed around. Then, filled with tears, the Sibyl's task they ply, And rear a wood-built pile and altar to the sky.