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Rh imperial audience might know it well, for Augustus was very nearly himself becoming a sacrifice on that very spot to the manes of the ancient pilot, many of his ships having been cast away on that very headland.

Charon is by no means gracious to the intruders. At first he warns them off. He has no pleasant recollections of former visitors from upper air, who, without the proper qualification of being previously dead and duly burnt or buried, had made their way against all rule into this abode of shadows. Hercules had come there, and carried off their watchful guardian Cerberus: Theseus and his friend Pirithous had even tried to do the same by Proserpine.

My laws forbid me to convey

Substantial forms of breathing clay.

'Twas no good hour that made me take

Alcides o'er the nether lake,

Nor found I more auspicious freight

In Theseus and his daring mate;

Yet all were Heaven's undoubted heirs,

And prowess more than man's was theirs.

That from our monarch's footstool dragged

The infernal watch-dog, bound and gagged;

These strove to force from Pluto's side

Our mistress, his imperial bride."

The Sibyl bids Charon have no fears of this kind now—Cerberus and Proserpine are safe from all designs on the part of her companion. This is Æneas of Troy, known for his "piety" as widely as for his deeds of arms. He does but seek an interview with his sire Anchises. But, if Charon be deaf to all such