Eimmart: Aeneas and the Sibyl in the underworld | Dickinson College Commentaries

Annotations

This engraving shows Aeneas and the Sibyl in the forecourt of the Underworld.

Aeneas mit der Sibylle im Vorhof der Unterwelt. (Suerbaum)

Engraving from a German children’s picture-book version of the Aeneid by G. J. Lang and G. C. Eimmart, “A tapestry of Roman virtues as seen in Vergil’s Aeneas and his brave deeds, rendered in sparkling engravings, as illustrations of the remarkable deeds of antiquity, for the common benefit of noble youth,” (Peplus virtutum Romanarum in Aenea Virgiliano eiusque rebus fortiter gestis, ad maiorem antiquitatis et rerum lucem, communi iuventutis sacratae bono, aere renitens) (Nuremburg: J.L. Buggel, 1688), pl. 24.

Comments

At the entrance to the underworld in lines 275 through 281 Aeneas encounters “pale Disease,” “sad Old Age,” “Fear,” “seductive Fame,” “filthy Need,” “Death,” “Pain,” “Sleep,” “evil Pleasure of the mind,” “death-dealing War,” and “insane Discord, her hair of vipers tied up with bloody bands.” This last one is seen in the right foreground of the engraving clutching three snakes in one hand. Aeneas and the Sibyl are illuminated by an unknown source of light, while the figures she gestures to are invariably in the dark. (Lucy McInerney)

Online Resources

Image Source

Associated Passages

Vergil, Aeneid VI 268-281

Subjects

Vergil

Aeneid

Eimmart