Unhappy Ghosts Crossing the Styx: In Base-relief
Not on view
This satire uses a passage from Virgil's Aeneid (VI.126) to comment on contemporary politics. William IV is cast as Charon ferrying former ministers over the Styx and taking their seals of office as tolls. Lord Melbourne has landed and walks away, Lord Duncannon hands his seal to the ferryman, followed by Lord Palmerson and Thomas Spring Rice. The Duke of Wellington at the stern, as Mercury, prevents Lord Brougham from escaping. Quoting Virgil, the Duke reminds the ex-Chancellor how much easier it is to fall than to rise again: "facilis descensus Averni," a reference to the Chancellor's recent speaking tour that lost him the king's favor. In response the Chancellor exclaims "Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo," which can be freely translated as - if I cannot subdue the House of Lords, I will stir up a commotion in the Birmingham Political Union.
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