Yet one more Latin translation request

[Martin J. Luz]

I'm trying to get a translation of the latin part oft he following
quote. It is from the opening lines of Edgar Allen Poe's short story
"Eleanora."

The quote has stumped two classics majors that I know -- one of them
with a graduate degree..... Please halp if you can:

"They penetrate, however, ruderless or compasless, into the vast ocean
of the 'light ineffible' and again, like the adventurers of the nubian
geographer, 'agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset
exploraturi.'"

Martin Luz

[John Burwell]

'agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset
exploraturi.'

Assuming that the first word should be spelled "aggressi":

"They have embarked upon a sea of shadows, intending to spy out what
might be in it."

I regret "two classics majors that I know -- one of them
with a graduate degree....." found this so difficult.

--John T. Burwell
<john_b...@st-marks.pvt.k12.ma.us>
Classics Dept.
St. Mark's School
Southborough, MA 01772

[Mark Turner]

In article <352691...@st-marks.pvt.k12.ma.us>, John Burwell
<John_B...@st-marks.pvt.k12.ma.us> writes

>'agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset
>exploraturi.'
>
>Assuming that the first word should be spelled "aggressi":
>
>"They have embarked upon a sea of shadows, intending to spy out what
>might be in it."

Perhaps just 'they reached', or 'journeyed to' or even 'towards', rather
than actually embarked. The rest I like.
--
Mark Turner