Vicit iter durum pietas? datur ora tueri, Par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno. Seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis, 690 695 700 Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem. 705 Floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum Lilia funduntur, strepit omnis murmure campus. 710 Inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro, Quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas. Tum pater Anchises: 'Animae, quibus altera fato 715 690, and 695. See v. 731, &c.-692. Terras, governed by per, borrowed from per acquora.-694. Libyae. See at iv. 320. The allusion here is to the residence of Aeneas in Carthage, detailed in the first, and especially the fourth book.-697. Sale, mari. Tyrrhenum (from the Tyrrheni, a Pelasgian race, whom the early Greeks considered as the inhabitants of the whole west coast of Italy, afterwards confined to Etruria, north of the Tiber) was also called Etruscum, and Inferum mare.-698. Amplexu; dative. See at Ecl. v. 29.-702. See ii. 794.704. Silvis seems to give the cause of the rustling sound. The bushes were so plentiful, that as in woods, the wind sighed audibly through them. See iii. 442, xii. 522.-705. Lethaeum. See at 295.-706. In a gens there may be many populi.-709. Murmure, with the buzz of the shades.-711. Rogans (involved in requirit) porro quae. Or porro may refer to the extended course of the river.-714. Ad undam refers to their position on the bank of the river.-715. Latices. See at i. 686. Securos, a well-known figure for securos reddentes. Has equidem memorare tibi atque ostendere coram, 'O pater, anne aliquas ad coelum hinc ire putandum est Corpora? quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?' Seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant 720 725 730 Terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit, 735 Non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes Corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est Multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris. 740 717. Jampridem cupio influences both lines, and the repetition, hanc, is equivalent to et.-719. Ire sublimis, ascendere. Coelum means simply the upper world.-724, &c. See at 679. The spiritus, principle of life (uxǹ), and mens of intelligence (vous), together constituting the anima mundi, are the source of life and activity.725. Titania astra, the sun and other heavenly bodies. See at iv. 119. -728. Inde, &c. From the spiritus and mens proceed the principles of life and activity of animals; 730. Ollis (see at i. 254) seminibus, referring to these principles.-731. These principles manifest their heavenly source, so far as they are not impeded by corporeal bodies injuring their efficacy (noxia).-733. Hinc. From their connection with body. Neque dispiciunt, their clear view is impeded, because clausae in the prison-house of the body.-734. Clausae animae.-735. Even after death, the soul is not wholly freed from the base passions which the contact of earthly bodies produces.-739. As in the rites of purification preparatory to admission into the sacred mysteries, so souls are represented as undergoing various modes of purification by air, water, and fire. Quisque suos patimur Manis; exinde per amplum 745 750 Dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllam 755 'Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur Gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes, Illustris animas nostrumque in nomen ituras, Expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo. 760 765 743, &c. As these lines stand, the meaning seems to be, that even after this purification, a long residence in Elysium is required wholly to cleanse the soul. Quisque Manis. A difficult expression. 'We suffer each his own Manes.' Probably suos Manis means the peculiar mode of purification which each one required, from his peculiar impurities, when he descended to the Manes.-747. Auraï. See at iii. 354.-748. Has omnis, as contrasted with pauci, &c., seems to mean that a few, among whom was Anchises, are permitted to remain in the enjoyment (tenere) of Elysium, which the rest ascend. Rotam volvere, 'to roll round the wheel of time.'-752. Dixerat. See at ii. 621.-753. Sonantem. See 709.-756. A passage admirably conceived to gratify the Romans, and especially Augustus. Deinde, post te.-760. Virgil, following the traditions that ascribe the race of Alban kings to the descendants of Aeneas by Lavinia, (see p. 129, line 8), enumerates a few of them. Ille. See at 326. Vides, parenthetical. Pura hasta, a spear without the iron head, either a reward for prowess in war, or simply a sceptre.-761. The ordinary construction would require luci. -763. Silvius, a child of Aeneas by Lavinia, and born in the woods, Aeneas having first died, an old man, was to be the first of the race of shades that was to ascend to the upper world, and to reign in Alba, his name being common to all the subsequent kings of Alba (Albanum nomen), Liv. i. 3.-766. For the construction Longa Alba, the adjective Proximus ille Procas, Trojanae gloria gentis, Egregius, si umquam regnandam acceperit Albam. 770 Laude pudicitia celebris, addentque superbos 775 Pometios, Castrumque Inui, Bolamque, Coramque. Haec tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terrae. Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia mater Educet. Viden,' ut geminae stant vertice cristae, 780 785 790 in prose being accompanied with the preposition in, see Zumpt, § 399. Unless, indeed, it mean, from Alba Longa.-767. Reckoning Ascanius as the first king of Alba Longa (i. 271), and following the order of Livy, Procas is the thirteenth, Capys the seventh, Numitor (grandfather of Romulus) the fourteenth, and Aeneas the third. Proximus, then, means simply, standing next Silvius.'-768. Numitor by the arsis.-770. Si, &c. According to Servius, he with difficulty escaped the treacherous designs of his guardian. Regnandam. See at iii. 14. -772. The corona civilis (or, more commonly, civica) of oak leaves was given to him who had saved the life of a citizen.-773. Of these towns, which Virgil represents as colonised from Alba, Nomentum and Fidenae (Virgil uses the rarer singular form) were, in after-times, in the territories of the Sabines, the rest in Latium in its widest sense.775. This line is probably spurious.-776. Pometios, Suessa Pometia. Inui, identified with the Greek Pan.-778. Romulus, son of Mavors, Mars (Mavortius), is associated with Numitor, father of his mother Ilia.-779. Assaraci. See at 648.-780. Viden'. See at iii. 319.-785. Rome, with its numerous heroes, is compared to Cybele (Berecyntia, from Berecyntos, a mountain in Phrygia, where she was worshipped), who is identified here with Rhea or Terra, the mother of the gods. Cybele is generally represented as crowned with towers (turrita).-790. Julius Caesar. Iuli. See at i. 267. Progenies, magnum coeli ventura sub axem. 795 800 805 792. A splendid compliment to Octavianus Caesar, who received the cognomen of Augustus, B. C. 27, eight years before Virgil's death. -793. Genus. See at iv. 12.-795. Saturno. See viii. 319, &c. Garamantas. See at Ecl. viii. 44. Indos. These words are not to be construed in their strict meaning. Here Indos probably alludes generally to Eastern nations, as the Parthians.-796. Virgil, by a strong exaggeration, extends the Roman arms, under Augustus, beyond the northern hemisphere (extra sidera), and south of the zodiac (extra anni, &c.).—797. Atlas. See at i. 741, iv. 247.-798. See iv. 482.-799. Virgil represents as even then trembling at the prospect of the advent of Augustus, the inhabitants of the shores of the Caspian sea-the Hyrcanians and Bactrians; the inhabitants of the shores of the Palus Maeotis, the sea of Asoph-the Scythians; and the Egyptians on the banks of the Nile with its seven mouths.-801. Observe turbant, used intransitively. See at v. 234.-802. Virgil prefers the expeditions of Augustus to those of Hercules (Alcides, see at 392), and Bacchus (Liber, compare with Lyaeus, i. 686).-803. The journeys and exploits of Hercules are well known. Traditions of him are found connected with all countries, from India to the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Germans and Celts had their Hercules. Cervam. The third labour of Hercules was to catch the brazen-footed stag of Ceryneia in Arcadia. He wounded it with an arrow (fixerit), and brought it alive to Mycenae. Erymanthi. See at v. 448. To bring alive to Mycenae the boar of Erymanthus, was his fourth labour.-804. Lernam. See at 286.-806. The later traditions ascribed to Bacchus a wide extent of conquest, from India to Spain. Persecuted by Juno, he was sheltered in the cave of Mount Nisa in Thrace. He is often represented as drawn by tigers. See Ecl. v. 29.808. Ausonia. See p. 188, line 28.-809. Quis ferens, either a question put by Aeneas, or an exclamation of doubt from Anchises himself. |