Return to visit our terrestrial clime, And that the generous mind, released by death, Can covet lazy limbs, and mortal breath?" Anchises then, in order, thus begun To clear those wonders to his godlike son:-- "Know, first, that heaven, and earth's compacted frame, And flowing waters, and the starry flame, And both the radiant lights,[110] one common soul Inspires and feeds, and animates the whole. This active mind, infused through all the space, Unites and mingles with the mighty mass. Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain, And birds of air, and monsters of the main. The etherial vigour is in all the same, And every soul is filled with equal flame-- As much as earthy limbs, and gross allay } Of mortal members subject to decay, } Blunt not the beams of heaven and edge of day. } From this coarse mixture of terrestrial parts, Desire and fear by turns possess their hearts, And grief, and joy; nor can the grovelling mind, } In the dark dungeon of the limbs confined, } Assert the native skies, or own its heavenly kind: } Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains; But long-contracted filth even in the soul remains. The reliques of inveterate vice they wear, And spots of sin obscene in every face appear. For this are various penances enjoined; And some are hung to bleach upon the wind, Some plunged in waters, others purged in fires, Till all the dregs are drained, and all the rust expires. All have their manes, and those manes bear: } The few, so cleansed, to these abodes repair, } And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air. } Then are they happy, when by length of time The scurf is worn away, of each committed crime; No speck is left of their habitual stains, But the pure æther of the soul remains. But, when a thousand rolling years are past, (So long their punishments and penance last,) Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god, Compelled to drink the deep Lethæan flood, In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares Of their past labours, and their irksome years, That, unremembering of its former pain, The soul may suffer mortal flesh again." Thus having said, the father spirit leads The priestess and his son through swarms of shades, And takes a rising ground, from thence to see The long procession of his progeny.-- "Survey (pursued the sire) this airy throng, As, offered to thy view, they pass along. These are the Italian names, which Fate will join With ours, and graff upon the Trojan line. Observe the youth who first appears in sight, And holds the nearest station to the light, Already seems to snuff the vital air, And leans just forward on a shining spear: Silvius is he, thy last-begotten race, But first in order sent, to fill thy place--