Hermes: A Journal in Occasional Issues

. . . . Hidden in a dark tree
Is a bough, golden in both its leaves and its pliant stem,
Held sacred to the Juno of the Underworld: the entire grove
Covers it, and shadows enclose it within dark valleys.
original: "Latet arbore opaca / Aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus, / Junoni infernae dictus sacer: hunc tegit omnis / Lucus, et obscuris claudunt convallibus umbrae." This famous passage describes the Golden Bough. In the Aeneid, the hero Aeneas must find this bough to safely enter and return from the land of the dead. The "Juno of the Underworld" is a poetic title for Proserpina, the queen of the realm of the dead.