Continuing his underworld journey after his sad meeting with the shade of Dido, Aeneas comes to the home of the shades of warriors. Many Trojan heroes alongside whom he fought at Troy throng around him in welcome; the ghosts of their Greek adversaries run away in fear. Among the Trojans he meets Deiphobus, who became Helen of Troy’s new husband after the death of Paris: he is horribly disfigured. Deiphobus tells of the treachery of Helen, who on the night that Troy fell hid every weapon in the house, flung open the doors and called on Menelaus, whose men found him defenceless and were able to maim and slaughter him at leisure. The Sibyl, Aeneas’s guide, interrupts, pointing out that time is passing, and the two of them leave Deiphobus and come to the vast and terrible prison of Tartarus.
You can see the illustrated blog post here.
To follow the story of Aeneas in sequence, use this link to the full Pantheon Poets selection of extracts from the Aeneid. See the next episode here.
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