Avernus
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
- Without birds: loca, where no birds can live, on account of the pestiferous exhalations, Lucr. 6, 738 sq.; 6, 818: aestus, the vapor of Avernus, id. 6, 830.—But esp. Avernus lacus or absol. Avernus, Lake Avernus, near Cumae, Puteoli, and Baiae, almost entirely enclosed by steep and wooded hills (now Lago Averno), whose deadly exhalations killed the birds flying over it; therefore the myth placed near it the entrance to the lower world, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 61; Cic. Tusc. 1, 16, 37; Lucr. 6, 746; Verg. A. 6, 201 al.; cf. Mann. Ital. I. p. 718 sq.; Heyne, Excurs. II. ad Verg. A. 6.—The renowned Cumaean Sibyl also dwelt in a grotto near it.—Poet., the lower world, the infernal regions, Ov. Am. 3, 9, 27; Luc. 6, 636; Mart. 7, 46 al.—Also = Acheron: pigri sulcator Averni, Stat. Th. 11, 588.—Personified as a deity, acc. to Serv. ad Verg. G. 2, 164.—Hence,
- II Another adj.: Ăvernus, a, um.
- A Belonging to Lake Avernus: luci, Verg. A. 6, 118; 6, 564: valles, Ov. M. 10, 51: freta, Lake Avernus, Verg. G. 2, 164.—Also absol.: Ăverna, ōrum, n. (sc. loca), Verg. A. 3, 442; 7, 91; Ov. M. 14, 105.—
- B Of or belonging to the infernal regions: stagna, Verg. G. 4, 493: tenebrae, Sil. 15, 76: Juno, i.e. Proserpina, Ov. M. 14, 114; Sil. 13, 601 (cf.: Juno inferna, Verg. A. 6, 138).
~i cruciamenta sine fine luiturus
hos quoque quos dudum male captivarat Avernus
querebant animam Dagoberti regis Averni / precones
hec ~us,helle
- 1. het meer v. Avernus, kratermeer in Campanië bij Cumae (veronderstelde toegang tot de onderwereld), nu Lago di Averno.
- 2. (meton.) onderwereld; II. adj. a, um en Avernālis, e van Avernus, van de onderwereld; / subst. Averna, ōrum n (vul aan: loca) (a) streek aan het meer v. Avernus; (b) (ima) onderwereld.
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properly speaking, the name of a lake in Campania, which the Latin poets describe as the entrance to the lower world, or as the lower world itself. Here we have only to mention, that Avernus was also regarded as a divine being; for Servius (ad Virg. Georg. 2.161) speaks of a statue of Avernus, which perspired during the storm after the union of the Avernian and Lucrinian lakes, and to which expiatory sacrifices were offered. [L.S]
- , ἄορνος(prop., birdless, because its exhalations destroyed life). — Hence (with or without lacus): Avernus, a lake near Cumae, the fabled entrance to the lower world, C., V., L.—Of Lake Avernus: freta, portus, V.—Of the lower world, infernal: stagna, V.: Iuno, i. e. Proserpina, O.—Plurn., the region about Avernus, V., O.—The lower world, V.
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…Pascentes illae tantum prodire volando, quantum acie possent oculi servare sequentum. Inde ubi venere ad fauces grave olentis Averni, tollunt se celeres, liquidumque per aëra lapsae sedibus optatis gemina super arbore sidunt, discolor unde auri per…
Vergil, Aeneid
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…. Gnatique patrisque, alma, precor, miserere ; potes namque omnia, nec te nequiquam lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis ; si potuit Manes arcessere coniugis Orpheus, Threïcia fretus cithara fidibusque canoris, si fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit…
Vergil, Aeneid
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…orabat dictis, arasque tenebat, cum sic orsa loqui vates Sate sanguine divom, Tros Anchisiade, facilis descensus Averno ; noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis ; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, hoc opus ,…
Vergil, Aeneid
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…quaerebant. inde Homeri tota νέκυια, inde ea quae meus amicus Appius νεκυομαντεῖα faciebat, inde in vicinia nostra Averni lacus, u nde animae excita ntur obscura u mbra opertae, ima gines mo rtuorum, alto o stio…
M. Tullius Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes
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….. Atilius Regulus, M. cos. . Atlans Atreus Attici oratores Romani Aufidius, Cn. Aulis Averni lacus Babylonius Diogenes Bellerophon Bion Bito Boeotia Brutus v. Iunius Cadmus CaeciliusMetellus Macedonicus, Q. cos. .…
M. Tullius Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes
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…Dignum memoratu, villa est ab Averno lacu Puteolos tendentibus imposita litori, celebrata porticu ac nemore, quam vocabat M. Cicero Academiam ab exemplo Athenarum…
M. Tullius Cicero, Academica
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…tumulum et, loca feta palustribus undis, litora Cumarum vivacisque antra Sibyllae intrat, et ut manes veniat per Averna paternos, orat. At illa diu vultum tellure moratum erexit tandemque deo furibunda recepto magna petis dixit, vir…
Ovid, Metamorphoses
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…adfatur namque una hic armiger ira flammabat Martem atque omnis comes ibat in actus Suppedita mihi tela. uadis liuentis Auerni demitti globus ille cupit, qui nostra lacessit tegmina iam stultae fructus pietatis habebit. haec fatus iaculo Lucam ,…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…canendo heroum mentes et magni pectora Achillis, Centauro dilecta chelys, compesceret iras percussa fide uel pelagi uel tristis Auerni. namque chaos, caecam quondam sine sidere molem non surgente die, ac mundum sine luce canebat. tum…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…patrem scelerum, sed novimus ipsum haudquaquam tamen esse Deum, quin immo gehennae mancipium, Stygio qui sit damnandus Averno, Marcionita Deus, tristis, ferus, insidiator, vertice sublimis, cinctum cui nubibus atris anguiferum caput et…
Prudentius, Hamartigenia
See Lucrinus Lacus.