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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 adistinction? 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 deasof theHereafter n Vergil'sRoman Epic, PAPhS 112 (1968), 8-14, and The Worldof the Dead in Book 6 of the
Aeneid, CPh 67 (1972), 31-41; G. Stegen, Virgileet 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 n 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 Problemsof Aeneid 6,HSCPh 90 (1959), 165-79; P.F. Burke, Jr., Roman Ritesfor thedead and Aeneid 6,
CJ 74 (1978-79), 220-28; FJ. Miller, The Philosophic Vergil, Vergilian Society 37
(1938), 9-26; E. Henry, The Vigourof Prophecy.A Study of Vergil'sAeneid (Illinois
4) E. Norden, P. VergiliusMaro Aeneis Buch VI (Stuttgart 1976).
5) F. Solmsen observes that Anchises has his place somewhat apart from theother heroes , but he dismisses it by observing that we have not passed outside
the confines of Elysium : see Solmsen (1972), 36-37.
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 definitumlocum, 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 includesOrpheus 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 centuryB.C. Lucretius, for instance, refers and pays special tribute to Empedocles in theDe 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 philosophicalcreeds.
20) This group seems to be included in Vergil's general category of memores.
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 Worksof 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 godsand by persons and things dedicated to them'*. They cite as an example the
Georgics3.487 in which a victim ready to be sacrified to the gods is wreathed withwhite 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, AeneidosLiber VI (Oxford 1977). In these cases the fillets are worn by priests and poetsrespectively marking their holy office.
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 ofthose
who havenot 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 pathto 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
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 Thresholdof 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 ofAeneas' reunion with Anchises, and fear, because he cannot touch his father
(156). Generally, he regards the threshold as a threatening place. My interpreta-
33) He cannot be even regarded as one of those who will be remembered bythe people, because Vergil in Aeneid 5 makes clear that the tomb of Anchises andhis memory preserved through the sacerdosassigned to his tomb and the annualsacrifices performed there are destined to disappear along with the impotent
population of the Sicilian Troy. Vergil describes this city to which Anchises' tombis attached as preserving the name and divinities (hoc Ilium et haec loca Troiam/ esseiubet... sedes I fundatur VeneriIdaliae 5. 755-60) of old Troy, and inhabited by the
elder, physical impotent population of the original city (longaeuossenes oc fessasaequoremaireset quidquid... inualidum5. 715-17). This city, now, preserves the Tro-
jan moreset 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 thereas a symbolic representation of the impending physical and cultural death, and a
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 (Phaedo66c-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 quantumas qualitative explaining the difference in moresamongthe 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. Tracyand Professor Michael Herren for their valuable comments and time they spentfor this paper.