Aeneas, Welcome to Hades

First of all, everyone did a great job on Tuesday, when Schuler journeyed through Hades, good impromptu.

In Book VI, Aeneas journeys through the underworld to see his father one last time. I can relate to his journey, at least when he enters the gate. At the gate there are many beings present, and these represent emotions that he must get past.

"Before the entrance, in the jaws of Orcus,
Grief and the avenging Cares have made their beds,
And pale Diseases and sad Age are there,
And Dread, and Hunger that sways men to crime,
And sordid Want-in shapes to affright the eyes-
And Death and Toil and Death's own brother, Sleep,
And the mind's evil joys; on the door still
Death-bringing War, and iron cubicles
Of the Eumenides, and raving Discord,
Viperish hair bound up in gory bands." (Lines 376-385)

He has to physically face these in order to just get through the gate to the underworld. This is a great challenge, even for a man of his stature. I, myself, have had to face these many times, and it's a challenge every single time; it doesn't get any easier. But when I overcome these challenges, it makes me a better person.

After he gets past the ferryman, and Cerberus (Pluto/Hades's three-headed guard dog), who watches the riverbank where the ferry stops, he goes through an area where lost souls wander. There he see's Dido's shade. He feels great sadness inside of him, because this confirms the rumors of her death. He desperately tries to talk to her, but she wouldn't speak to him, she glared back at him with passionate hatred, and then looked away as he tried to talk to her.

"Aeneas with such pleas tried to placate
The burning soul, savagely glaring back,
And tears came to his eyes. But she had turned
With a gaze fixed on the ground as he spoke on,
Her face no more affected than if she were
Immobile granite or Marpesian stone.
At length she flung away from him and fled,
His enemy still, into a shadowy grove
Where he whose bride she had once been, Sychaeus,
Joined in her sorrows and returned her love.
Aeneas still gazed after her in tears,
Shaken by her fate and pitying her." (lines 628-639)

This was another hardship that he had to endure in the underworld, utter rejection from Dido, whom he cared about very much. This caused him great sorrow, and it hurt him. He continues on though to meet Deiphobus (Paris), his old comrade, who tells him how he died. But the Sibyl keeps him moving on, before Night arrives. He eventually comes to his father Anchises, who tells him about his lineage and the empire that he will eventually build. This is a happy meeting, but when Aeneas tries to hug his father, he can't, because Anchises is a shade now. Three times he tried, three times he failed. But after the reunion he goes back up through the entrance and is reunited with his crew.

This whole journey is a challenge for Aeneas, and in our lives we face similar challenges. But we can learn from him, he overcame the challenges and he did not lose courage or give up, which is exactly what we must do when we face challenges in our own lives, Aeneas is a good example to follow, in this case.

I commented on Will's "Closure"