The Descent to the Underworld & the Subjunctive

You’ll be able to

Translate subjunctive verbs in cum-clauses (circumstantial, causal, concessive)
Recognize indirect questions and their subjunctive verbs
Analyze the Golden Bough episode and the theme of the difficult return

Facilis descensus Averno

The Sibyl warns Aeneas that reaching the dead is easy but returning is the true labor: facilis dēscēnsus Avernō: / noctēs atque diēs patet ātrī iānua Dītis; / sed revocāre gradum superāsque ēvādere ad aurās, / hoc opus, hic labor est (“easy is the descent to Avernus: night and day the door of dark Dis stands open; but to recall your step and escape to the upper air — this is the task, this is the toil”). The chiasmus and emphatic hoc opus, hic labor est crystallize the book’s theme: death is universal, but return demands extraordinary virtue.

The subjunctive in cum-clauses

Latin’s subjunctive mood appears in many subordinate clauses. A cum-clause (“when/since/although”) with a subjunctive verb can be circumstantial (“when,” setting the scene), causal (“since/because”), or concessive (“although”). Cum haec dīxisset, tacuit = “When/After he had said these things, he fell silent” (circumstantial, pluperfect subjunctive). Context tells you which meaning fits: a concessive cum often pairs with tamen (“nevertheless”) in the main clause. By contrast, cum + indicative is usually purely temporal (“at the time when”).

Indirect questions

An indirect question reports a question inside another sentence; its verb is subjunctive, and it is introduced by a question word — quis (“who”), quid (“what”), cūr (“why”), quōmodo (“how”), num/an (“whether”). Rogat quid Aenēās videat = “He asks what Aeneas sees.” Compare the direct question Quid videt? (“What does he see?”), which uses the indicative. The subjunctive and the introductory interrogative are your two signals. Sequence of tenses governs whether the subjunctive is present/perfect (after a primary verb) or imperfect/pluperfect (after a secondary verb).

Worked example

Identify the construction and translate: “Aenēās, cum umbram Anchīsae vīdisset, rogāvit quid pater sibi dīceret.”

1.Take the cum-clause: “cum umbram Anchīsae vīdisset” — “cum” + pluperfect subjunctive “vīdisset,” a circumstantial cum-clause: “when he had seen the shade of Anchises.”
2.Identify the main verb: “rogāvit” (“he asked”), a verb of asking that can introduce an indirect question.
3.Take the indirect question: “quid pater sibi dīceret” — introduced by “quid,” with the imperfect subjunctive “dīceret” (secondary sequence).
4.Translate the whole: combine the temporal cum-clause, the main verb, and the reported question.

Answer: “When Aeneas had seen the shade of Anchises, he asked what his father was saying to him.” The cum-clause with pluperfect subjunctive “vīdisset” sets the circumstance, and “quid … dīceret” is an indirect question with imperfect subjunctive after the past main verb “rogāvit.”

Watch out

Distinguish cum + subjunctive (circumstantial/causal/concessive, translated “when/since/although”) from cum + indicative (strictly temporal, “at the time when”) and from the preposition cum + ablative (“with”). The mood of the verb — or the absence of a verb — tells you which “cum” you have.

Checkpoint

What verb mood appears in an indirect question, and how is the clause introduced?

On the exam

Whenever you see a subjunctive verb, ask what makes it subjunctive: a cum-clause, an indirect question, a purpose/result clause, or an indirect command. Naming the construction is half of translating it correctly, and the AP short-answer questions frequently ask you to do exactly that.

Checkpoint

The lines “sed revocāre gradum superāsque ēvādere ad aurās, / hoc opus, hic labor est” emphasize which idea?

Answer the 2 checkpoints as you read.