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⚫ornum in summis monti

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625. Ac veluti cùm Ilium, et ex imo verti Neptunia Troja. agricole certatim in- Ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum stant eruere antiquam Cùm ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant bus, accisam ferro Eruere agricolæ certatim; illa usque minatur, 628. Illa usque mina- Et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat: tur ruinam, et tremefac- Vulneribus donec paulatim evicta, supremùm ta quoad comam Congemuit, traxitque jugis avulsa ruinam. Descendo, ac, ducente Deo, flammam inter et hostes 636. Quemque primùm Expedior: dant tela locum, flammæque recedunt. petebam, abnegat Ast ubi jam patriæ perventum ad limina sedis, posse producere vitam, Antiquasque domos genitor, quem tollere in altos 635 Trojâ excisâ Optabam primùm montes, primùmque petebam, 638. Ait: O vos, qui- Abnegat excisâ vitam producere Trojâ, bus est sanguis integer

se

ævi; quibusque vires Exiliumque pati. Vos ô, quibus integer ævi stant solidæ suo robore Sanguis, ait, solidæque suo stant robore vires; 642. Est satis supèr- Vos agitate fugam.

dia, et

que vidimus una exci- Me si coelicolæ voluissent ducere vitam,
Has mihi servâssent sedes: satìs una supèrque
Vidimus excidia, et captæ superavimus urbi.
Sic, ô, sic positum affati discedite corpus.

644. O vos, affati meum corpus, sic, sic positum, discedite.

NOTES.

626. Ac veluti, &c. This simile is taken from Homer, Iliad xvi. 481, who applies it to the death of Sarpedon; but the copy exceeds the original.

627. Bipennibus. The axe is here used for the stroke, or blow of the axe, by meton. Accisam in the sense of circumcisam. 628. Usque: in the sense of diu.

629. Nutal comam. It is usual with Virgil to consider a tree in analogy to a human body, and to call the extended limbs, or branches, brachia, arms; and the leaves, comam, hair, or locks. This diversifies his style, and renders it pleasant.

630. Vulneribus: in the sense of ictibus. This is beautifully figurative. The allusion to the human body is still kept up.

631. Avuisa jugis: torn from the sides of the mountains.

632. Deo ducente. Deus is either a god or goddess. Here it means Venus. Under her conduct, Eneas made his way through the dangers that beset him, to the house of his father.

633. Expedior. Habeo liberum iter, says Heyne.

634. Ast ubi perventum. The imp. verb perventum est is used for the personal verb perveni. This mode of expression is very common among the poets. Our language will not admit of it, and we are under the necessity of rendering such impersonals by the personals of the correspondent verb, as in the present case: perventum est: I came, or had come.

637. Abnegat: refuses to prolong his life. We learn from Varro that the Greeks having given permission to Eneas to carry off what was dearest to him, he took his father

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upon his shoulders. The Greeks, struck with this eminent example of filial tenderness and affection, gave him a second option, when he carried off his gods. Upon this, they were induced to grant him full liberty to take along with him his whole family and all his effects.

638. Integer ævi: unimpaired, or entire, on account of age. Causâ, or some word of the like import, is probably to be understood, to govern the gen. O ye, whose blood is not chilled and wasted by age, and who are yet in the full vigor of youth, do ye attempt your flight. The repetition of the vos is emphatical. For robore, Ruæus says firmitate.

642. Satis supèrque: it is enough, and more, that I have seen one destruction of my country, and survived the captured city. This is an allusion to the siege and capture of Troy by Hercules, in the reign of Laomedon, a fact mentioned by historians as well as by poets. And Virgil says of Anchises, that he had been twice saved from the ruins of Troy. Æn. iii. 476.

644. Sic, O, sic affati: O ye, having addressed my body, thus, thus laid out, depart. There is a peculiar emphasis in the repetition of the word sic. Anchises considers himself as already dead, and his body laid out in burial: corpus positum, placed on the funeral pile: at which time it was usual for the friends of the deceased to take a solemn farewell, by repeating the word vale three times. The repetition of the sic shows his determined purpose of dying, and his earnest desire of being left to pursue his resolution. It is used in the same way in the fourth book, where Dido, bent

645

647. Inutilis homini

Ipse manu mortem inveniam: miserebitur hostis,
Exuviasque petet: facilis jactura sepulchri est.
Jampridem invisus Divis et inutilis annos
Demoror, ex quo me Divûm pater atque hominum rex
Fulminis afflavit ventis, et contigit igni.

Talia perstabat memorans, fixusque manebat.
Nos contrà effusi lachrymis, conjuxque Creüsa,
Ascaniusque, omnisque domus, ne vertere secum
Cuncta pater, fatoque urgenti incumbere vellet.
Abnegat, inceptoque et sedibus hæret in îsdem.

Rursus in arma feror, mortemque miserrimus opto.
Nam quod consilium, aut quæ jam fortuna dabatur ?
Mene efferre pedem, genitor, te posse relicto
Sperâsti? tantumque nefas patrio excidit ore?
Si nihil ex tantâ Superis placet urbe relinqui;
Et sedet hoc animo, perituræque addere Trojæ
Teque tuosque juvat: patet isti janua leto.

NOTES.

on death, is just going to plunge the dagger into her bosom. She breaks forth into this abrupt exclamation: Sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras.

645. Manu. Servius understands by manu, the hand of the enemy; but it is easier to understand it of his own hand. Rumus says, propria manu. Hostis: the enemy will take pity on me. This strongly marks the anguish of his soul. He was so weary of life, that he would consider it a favor in the enemy to put an end to it.

646. Jactura: the loss of burial is easythe deprivation of burial rites is a matter of

no concern to me.

643. Demoror annos: I linger out my years. Traho vitam, says Ruæus.

649. Aflavit me: blasted me with the winds of his thunder, and struck me with his lightning. The ancients supposed the winds were the efficient cause of thunder.

It is said that this calamity was inflicted upon Anchises for divulging his amour with Venus. Some say he was struck blind: others, with more propriety, say that he was blasted in his limbs. Memorans: in the sense of dicens.

651. Nos effusi: on the other hand, we, bathed in tears, (beseech) my father that he would not destroy all with himself, and press upon the calamity (fato) already weighing us down-that he would not, by the afflicting circumstance of his own death, increase the calamity already pressing us down with its own weight. Ne vellet accelerare perniciem instantem, says Heyne.

Dr. Trapp would read occumbere, or rather succumbere, if there were authority for it. As it is, he thinks it a metaphor taken from the falling on a sword. Mr. Davidson takes it to be a metaphor drawn from one's leaning or lying with all his weight upon a

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656. Nam quod aliud consilium, aut quæ alia fortuna jam

657. O genitor, sperâsti-ne me posse efferro 660 pedem, te relicto

load, which presses another down, so as to add to the pressure, and to render it more insupportable. Eneas and his family were already grievously oppressed and weighed down by the public calamity, (falo urgenti, the fate that lay so heavy upon them,) and therefore pray Anchises not to increase the burden, by the additional weight of his personal sufferings and death. Ruæus interprets incumbere urgenti falo, by: addere vim fato prementi nos.

654. Sedibus: in the sense of loco. 655. Miserrimus: most miserable-distracted-in despair.

656. Nam quod, &c. The meaning of this line appears to be: for what other course could I take, what else could I do, than arm myself, and seek to renew the conflict? Anchises had positively refused to survive the fall of his country: Eneas could not leave him behind: nothing remained for him to do, but to sell his life as dear as possible. For dabatur, Ruæus says offerebatur.

657. Efferre pedem: to depart. Sperâstine: didst thou expect that I could "depart, O father, without thee?

658. Nefas: impiety.

659. Superis. Superi are properly the gods above, as distinguished from those below.

660. Et hoc sedet: and this be fixed in thy mind, and it pleases thee to add thyself, &c. Rumus understands this of the gods just mentioned; but Davidson and others refer it to Anchises. This appears the more correct and natural; for Anchises is left perfectly free to act, either to stay behind, cr to depart, and to form his plans deliberately. Si hoc fixum est in eorum mente, et delectat eos, &c. says Ruæus.

661. Janua isti leto: the door to that death is open. The isti refers to what An

664. Erat-ne ob hoc 665. Ut cernam hostem in mediis penetralibus, utque cernam Ascaniumque

Jamque aderit multo Priami de sanguine Pyrrhus, Natum ante ora patris, patrem qui obtruncat ad aras Hoc erat, alma parens, quòd me, per tela, per ignes, Eripis? ut mediis hostem in penetralibus, utque Ascaniumque, patremque meum, juxtàque Creüsam, Alterum in alterius mactatos sanguine cernam? Arma, viri, ferte arma: vocat lux ultima victos. 669. Sinite ut revisam Reddite me Danais, sinite instaurata revisam Prælia: nunquam omnes hodie moriemur inulti. Hic ferro accingor rursus: clypeoque sinistram Insertabam aptans, meque extra tecta ferebam. 673. Conjux Creusa Ecce autem complexa pedes in limine conjux complexa meos pedes in Hærebat, parvumque patri tendebat Iülum. 675. In omnia pericula Si periturus abis, et nos rape in omnia tecum: Sin aliquam expertus sumptis spem ponis in armis, 677. Cui parvus Iülus Hanc primùm tutare domum. Cui parvus Lülus, relinquitur; cui tuus pa- Cui pater, et conjux quondam tua dicta, relinquor ? ter; et cui ego relinquor, Talia vociferans, gemitu tectum omne replebat: quondam dicta tua conjux? Cùm subitum dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum. Namque manus inter mæstorumque ora parentum,

limine domûs

NOTES.

chises had said, verse 645, supra, of his finding death by his own hand, or that the enemy would take pity on him, and kill him. Eneas here tells him the door to that death is open, and easy to come at; for he immediately adds: Jamque Pyrrhus: Pyrrhus will soon be here from the slaughter of Priam. Servius takes isti for istic, but without sufficient reason. Iste, properly, is that of yours, hic, this of mine."

663. Qui obtruncat: who butchers the son, &c. This alludes to his killing Polites in the presence of his father, and after that atrocious deed, killing the aged monarch, dragged to the altars.

664. Hoc erat: was it for this, dear parent, that, &c. Rumus says: Hæc-cine erat causa, cùr.

665. Eripis: in the sense of servavisti. Penetralibus: in the sense of domo, vel tecto. See 484, supra.

667. Mactatos: butchered the one in the blood of the other. This part. refers to the three preceding nouns.

668. Lux: in the sense of dies. 670. Prælia instaurata: the fight renewed. Nunquam: in the sense of non.

672. Insertabam: I put my left hand to my shield, fitting it-I fixed my shield upon my left arm. The clypeus was a shield of an oval form, not so large as the scutum. It was usually made of the skins of beasts, and interwoven in such a manner, as to be impenetrable to the missive weapons of the enemy. They carried it upon the left arm. 674. Tendebatque parvum, &c. The poet here appears to have had in his view that affecting scene between Hector and Andro

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mache, in the sixth book of the Iliad, where the circumstances are nearly the same. Andromache expostulates with Hector, as Creusa does with Eneas, and in like manner pleads her future forlorn condition, and that of her child, in case he should abandon them: and to add force to her entreaties, she puts Astyanax into his arms, as Creüsa here does Iülus into the arms of Æneas.

675. Et in the sense of quoque. Rape · in the sense of cape, vel trahe.

676. Expertus: having experience in the art of war-being skilled in war. Ponis you place any, &c.

677. Tutare: in the sense of defende. 678. Quondam: once called your wife. This is a very tender expostulation.

680. Subitum monstrum. This unexpected prodigy, or miracle, is extremely well timed. Had Anchises finally persisted in his resolution, it must have put an end to the poem, by involving Eneas and all his family in one common ruin. He had been urged' by all human arguments in the strongest manner, without any avail; what then remained for the poet, but to have recourse to the interposition of the gods, to save his hero in this extremity. This was completely successful. Anchises is convinced of his duty to yield to the present necessity, and to save his life by flight. Oritur: in the ser.se of apparet.

681. Inter manus craque: between the hands and face of his mournful parentswhile they were holding him in their arms, behold, &c.

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iüli

Fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia molli
Lambere flamma comas, et circum tempora pasci.
Nos pavidi trepidare metu, crinemque flagrantem
Excutere, et sanctos restinguere fontibus ignes.
At pater Anchises oculos ad sidera lætus
Extulit, et cœlo palmas cum voce tetendit :
Jupiter omnipotens, precibus si flecteris ullis,
Aspice nos: hoc tantùm: et, si pietate meremur,
Da deinde auxilium, pater, atque hæc omina firma.
Vix ea fatus erat senior, subitoque fragore
Intonuit lævum, et de cœlo lapsa per umbras
Stella facem ducens multâ cum luce cucurrit.
Illam, summa super labentem culmina tecti,
Cernimus Idæâ claram se condere sylvâ,
Signantemque vias: tum longo limite sulcus
Dat lucem, et latè circùm loca sulfure fumant.

NOTES.

682. Levis apex: the waving tuft, or plume. Apex properly signifies the top, or eminence of any thing. Hence it may mean the top of one's hat, cap, or bonnet, as in Æn. viii. 664. Vertice: in the sense of capite.

683. Fundere: in the sense of emittere. Innoxia: inoffensive-not hurting him. Tactu. This is the reading of Heyne and Davidson. But Rumus and Valpy read tractu. Molli: gentle-easy. Heyne has mollis, agreeing with flamma. Most copies have molli.

684. Lambere: to glide along his hairgently touch it.

685. Nos pavidi: we, trembling for fear, (begin) to bustle about, to shake his flaming hair, and to extinguish the sacred fire with water. Fontibus in the sense of aqua.

689. Si flecteris: if thou art moved.

691. Firma hæc omina: confirm this omen. The Romans deemed one omen not sufficient, unless it were followed or confirmed by a second. Hence secundus and secundo came to signify prosperous, and to

prosper.

693. Lærum intonuit: the left thundered, with a sudden peal.

Both the Greeks and Romans considered those omens, that were presented in the eastern part of heaven, to be prosperous or lucky. But the former, in observing the omens, turned their faces to the north, which brought the east on their right hand. The Romans, on the contrary, turned their faces to the south, which brought the east on their left hand. This was therefore a lucky It seconded, or confirmed the former, that is, the lambent flame on the head of Iülus. See Ecl. i. 18. Lævum: an adj.

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of the neu. gender, used as a sub. the same with lava pars cœli.

694. Stella lapsa, &c. Servius applies the several parts of this prodigy as figurative of the events that were to happen to Æneas and his followers. The star is said, condere se Idæa sylva, to fall or hide itself upon mount Ida, to indicate that the Trojans were to resort to that mountain: cum multa luce, with much light, to figure their future glory and dignity: signantem vias, the sparkles of fire left behind, intimate the dispersion of his followers, and that they should fix their residence in various parts: longo limite sulcus, marks Eneas' many wanderings, and the length of his voyage: lastly, by the smoke and sulphur, he understands the death of Anchises. The stars do not move from their stations; they are fixed, and remain in the same part of the heavens. Meteors are of common occurrence, and are supposed to consist of electric matter, which in passing from one part of the atmosphere to another, becomes visible. In the language of the vulgar and ignorant, such an appearance is called the shooting of a star. Virgil conforms to this mode of expression. He calls the meteor a star. Facem: a train.

695. Labentem. Rumus takes this in the sense of cadentem: falling behind the roof of the house. But it may be taken in its usual acceptation, gliding, or passing over the roof: for it appears that the meteor was near, since it filled the air about them with its sulphurous smell.

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697. Sulcus: a trail-indented track.The meteor drew after it a trail of light as it passed through the heavens. It appeared to mark its way or path, which it left luyminous behind it.

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Hìc verò victus genitor se tollit ad auras,
Affaturque Deos, et sanctum sidus adorat:

700

Jam jam nulla mora est: sequor, et, quâ ducitis, adsum.
Dî patrii, servate domum, servate nepotem.

Vestrum hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troja est.

Cedo equidem, nec, nate, tibi comes ire recuso.
Dixerat ille et jam per mœnia clarior ignis
Auditur, propiùsque æstus incendia volvunt.
Ergò age, chare pater, cervici imponere nostræ :
Ipse subibo humeris: nec me labor iste gravabit.

709. Quocunque res Quò res cunque cadent, unum et commune periclum, cadent, periclum erit Una salus ambobus erit: mihi parvus Iülus unum, et commune no- Sit comes, et longè servet vestigia conjux. bis ambobus, salus erit una et eadem nobis

Vos, famuli, quæ dicam, animis advertite vestris. 712. Tumulus est iis Est urbe egressis tumulus, templumque vetustum egressis urbe Desertæ Cereris; juxtàque antiqua cupressus, 716. Nos omnes venie- Relligione patrum multos servata per annos. Hanc ex diverso sedem veniemus in unam.

mus ex diverso

705

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713

NOTES.

699. Ad auras: upright-or towards heaven.

702. Patrii Dii. By these we are to understand the guardian gods of Anchises' family; those that his ancestors worshipped; who presided over parental and filial affection. Domum: in the sense of familiam.

703. Hoc augurium est: this omen is, yours: Troy is under your protection. This is plainly the meaning of numine in this place. Ruæus says, potestate.

706. Incendia: in the sense of flammæ. Estus: heat.

707. Imponere: 2d person of the imp. be thou placed, i. e. place yourself upon my neck: I will bear you upon my shoulders. Subibo humeris: portabo te humeris, says Ruæus. Labor in the sense of pondus.

710. Mihi parvus lulus. Donatus reads, mihi solus Iülus: let Iülus only be a companion to me. This avoids the too frequent repetition of parvus Iülus, and at the same time shows the prudent caution of Eneas, to secure their flight; since the fewer went together, they would be the less liable to be discovered. Pierius approves this reading 711. Conjux servet: let my wife observe my steps at a distance-let her stay behind, yet so as to have me in view, that she may not lose her way. The reason for his giving this direction was perhaps to prevent discovery, and to diminish the danger of escape by being divided into parties. This reason justifies Eneas. It was proper for the poet to mention this circumstance, to give probability to the account of her being, lost. Servius takes longe in the sense of vald. The meaning then will be: let my wife carefully observe my steps. The usual ptation of longè is the better. The loss

acce

fe

of Creüsa is a fine device of the poet. It gave him an opportunity of finishing the catastrophe of Troy from the mouth of Eneas. As soon as he found his wife was missing, he resolves to return in search of her. He carefully retraces his footsteps, visits his own house, which was now in flames, and searches for her in the most frequented parts of the city. In the course of his search, he sees the spoils collected together in the temple of Juno, and the Grecian guards standing around. Unable to find her in any of these places, he calls her by name, and makes the streets resound with Creusa. Her ghost met him, solaced his mind, unfolded to him the purposes of the gods, and encouraged him to look for more prosperous times. She tells him that in the land destined him by fate, a royal bride awaited him.

712. Advertite: turn with your minds to those things which I shall say. This is equivalent to, advertite vestros animos ad ea, quæ dicam.

deserted, is added to Ceres, on account of her 714. Deserta Cereris. This epithet of by Pluto; or on account of the state of her Being deprived of her daughter Proserpine worship, which was then neglected, her stands it as referring to her temple: an anpriest having been slain. Rumus undercient temple of Ceres deserted. He interprets deserte by, desertum, agreeing with templum. See Ecl. v. 79.

715. Relligione: by the religious veneration of our ancestors. Servala agrees with antiqua cupressus. Juxtà: near-near by.

716. Ex diverso: the same as ex diversis viis. Sedem: in the sense of locum.

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