What is the subject of this book? What is its nature, and character ? How does it commence? QUESTIONS. What plan did Juno propose to effect her Purpose of averting the Trojans from Italy? Did she effect a union between Dido and Eneas? Was that union dissolved? By whom was it dissolved? By whom was Eneas commanded to leave Carthage? How did Dido receive the information that he was ordered to leave her? What effect had it upon her? What course did she pursue in order to divert him from his purpose? As soon as the match was concluded between Dido and Eneas, was the news of that event spread abroad? By whom was it spread? Whom does Virgil imitate in the description of Fame ? Who was Iarbas? What had he previously proposed to Dido? How was that proposition received? What effect had the news of Dido's mar riage upon that prince? How was he occupied at that time? Who was said to be his father? Who was Jupiter Ammon? Had he any celebrated temple? Did many of her countrymen accompany her? What appears to have been her original purpose in leaving Tyre? Had a colony of Tyrians previously settled in Africa? Who were the leaders of that colony? 1 What did they call their settlement? How was Dido received by her countrymen? What did they desire her to do? What is the meaning of that word in the Phoenician language? But do not some give a different account? What did she call the town or citadel? What is the meaning of Byrsa in the Greck language? To what mistake did that lead? How have some attempted to explain that story? What does Rollin say of it in his history of Carthage? Did Dido purchase any tract of country for her city? What was the nature of the contract? Did the Carthaginians perform it? What was the consequence of their refusal? Is it supposed by some that Virgil is guilty of an anachronism in making Dido and Whom does Sir Isaac Newton make this Eneas cotemporary? Ammon to have been? Does Justin the historian give a different account of this matter? What does he say of it? What was the issue of it as related by him? In what character was Dido considered afterward by her countrymen? Who was Dido? What is the meaning of that word? By what other name was she sometimes called? What was the name of her father, according to Josephus ? What does Virgil call him? What does Marollius call him? Is Belus, probably, an abbreviation of Ithobalus? To whom was she married at Tyre? What office did he hold? What was the character of Pygmalion, her brother? What atrocious deed did he perform? What was his conduct afterward? How was Dido informed of the cruel deed? What advice did the ghost of her husband give her? What did she do in consequence of that? What does Bochart say of it? Upon what does he found his conclusions? Does Sir Isaac Newton make a different calculation? How much later has he brought down the destruction of Troy? Is it a fair conclusion that it was a general received opinion, they were cotemporary? Was this sufficient ground for the poet to assume it as a fact? Does the introduction of Dido into the Eneid add much to its embellishment? How long did Carthage continue? What was the character of its inhabitants? Were the Carthaginians a powerful nation? Who was the most distinguished commander and general among them? By whom was Carthage finally destroyed? In what year of Rome was that effected? Finding she could not prevail upon Æneas to remain at Carthage, what desperate resolution did Dido make? Under what pretence did she order the altar to be erected? What effect had the departure of the Trojans from her coast upon her? Did she make any imprecation against Eneas and the Trojans? THIS book opens with the departure of Æneas from Carthage. He had not been long at sea before a violent storm arose, which forced him to turn his course to Sicily. He entered the port of Drepanum. Here he is received with great cordiality and affection by king Acestes. After offering sacrifice, and celebrating the anniversary of his father's death, Eneas institutes four kinds of games in honor of him. These occupy from verse 114 to 602. In the mean time, the Trojan women, at the instigation of Iris, who was sent by Juno for that purpose, set fire to the ships, in the hope, by these means, to put an end to the voyage of which they were weary. At the intreaty of Eneas, Jupiter sent a heavy shower of rain, which extinguished the flames. Four of the fleet, however, were lost. Upon this Nautes advises Æneas, since he had lost part of his fleet, to leave in Sicily the aged, and all who were weary of the voyage. This advice was confirmed the following night by the ghost of Anchises, which appeared to him in a vision. It also directed him to go to the Sibyl of Cuma, who would conduct him to the infernal regions, where he should receive a fuller account of his own fortune, and of that of his race. The hero followed the advice; and having founded a city, which he called Acestes, after his venerable friend, he set sail for Italy. He had not long been at sea, before he lost Palinurus, the pilot of his ship, who fell overboard in sleep; after which Æneas took upon himself the duty and business of pilot. This book is of a gay and lively nature, and very properly comes after the tragical account of Dido's unhappy end. The games are imitated from the 23d book of the Iliad, where Achilles is represented as instituting games in honor of his friend Patroclus. INTEREA medium Æneas jam classe tenebat 5. Sed duri labores Causa latet: duri magno sed amore dolores ex magno amore pol- Polluto, notumque, furens quid fœmina possit, luto, noli; quidque fu rens fœmina possit fa- Triste per augurium Teucrorum pectora ducunt. 5 10 Noctem hyememque ferens: et inhorruit unda tenebris. NOTES. 1. Medium iter. This is literally the middle of his course. But this, strictly speaking, cannot be; for he beheld the flames of Dido's funeral pile. Ruæus and Davidson take medium in the sense of profundum; and understand the phrase to mean, that Eneas had gotten into the full or deep sea. If we could read mare instead of iter, then there would be no difficulty in this interpretation. 2. Certus: determined on going. Fluctus atros Aquilone: he cut the waves blackened by the wind; or he cut the blackened waves before the wind. Aquilo: the north wind, put for wind in general; the species for the genus. Mania: in the sense of urbem. 6. Polluto: in the sense of laso, vel violato. 7. Per triste augurium: through gloomy presages or conjectures. 8. Ut: in the sense of quando. 10. Imber: in the sense of nubes vel nimbus. Olli: for illi, by antithesis. Ipse gubernator puppi Palinurus ab altâ: 13. Quianam: in the sense of cur. 15. Arma: properly signifies any kind of instruments whatever-here the tackling of the ship the sails, spars and rigging of every description. Davidson confines it to the sails. But this is not necessary. It was proper that all things should be stowed away, as well as the sails reefed, that the ship might the better weather the storm. 16. Obliqual sinus: he turns the sail into the wind-he brings the vessel more into the wind-he lies, in nautical language, nearer the wind. 17. Auctor: the founder of our race. 18. Calo in this weather. Vespere: in the sense of occidente. 19. Transversà: an adj. neu. plu. taken as an adverb in imitation of the Greeks. 21. Nec nos sufficimus: nor are we able to proceed against it, nor so much as to hold our own to bear up against the storm -to contend against it. 24. Reor fida: I think the faithful fraternal shores of Eryx, &c. Eryx was the son of Butes and Venus, according to common report. Some say, his mother was Lycaste, a Sicilian courtezan, who, on account of her extraordinary beauty, was called Venus. Virgil, following tradition, calls him the brother of Eneas, both being reputed to be the sons of Venus. His grandfather was Amycus, who was slain by Pollux in a contest with the gauntlet: upon which Butes fled into Sicily, and founded a city. Eryr, in like manner, was slain by Hercules. He gave his name to a mountain and city not far from the Promontorium Lilybæum. 25. Si modò ritè: if now, remembering rightly, I measure over again the stars ob 28. Viam: in the sense of cursum. Turn your course before the wind. The southwest wind was favorable for them to go to Sicily. 29. Demillere: in the sense of dirigere. 30. Acesten. What is said of the origin of Acestes, is so incorporated with fable, that little dependence can be placed upon it. The account, which Dionysius Halicarnassus gives, is probably the most correct. It appears that Laomedon, king of Troy, being offended at some Trojan nobleman, caused him and his sons to be put to death. Lycophron calls him Phænodamus: but Servius and Pomponius call him Hippotes. But thinking his daughters, who were three in number, less deserving his displeasure, the king sold them to some Sicilian merchants, on condition that they should transport them to some foreign country. A person of some distinction being on board, by the name of Crinisus, Crimisus, or Crimissus, fell in love with one of them, whose name was Egesta, and marded her. Soon after she bore a son, whom Virgil calls Acestes, but others Egestes, or Egestes. Upon the death of Laomedon, he obtained permission of Priam to return to Trey; where he was during the siege and destruction of that city, when he contracted a friendship with Eneas. He afterward returned to Sicily. The river Crinisus being afterward called by his name, gave rise to the fabulous account of his birth. sunt Et patris Anchisæ gremio complectitur ossa? 32. Ubi hæc dicta Hæc ubi dicta, petunt portus, et vela secundi Intendunt Zephyri: fertur cita gurgite classis: Et tandem læti notæ advertuntur arenæ. 35. At Acestes ex ex celso vertice montis procul miratus adventum, sociasque rates, occurrit nobis, horridus At procul excelso miratus vertice montis 39. Quem Troïa ma- Quem genuit. Veterum non immemor ille parentum, ter genuit conceptum Gratatur reduces, et gazâ lætus agresti Excipit, ac fessos opibus solatur amicis. Crimiso flumine. 42. Cùm postera clara dies fugârat stellas pri'mo oriente, Æneas 50. O Dî, vos, sic voluistis. Postera cùm primo stellas oriente fugârat 45. Quorum genus est Dardanidæ magni, genus alto à sanguine Divûm, Annuus exactis completur mensibus orbis ; Ex quo reliquias divinique ossa parentis Condidimus terrâ, mostasque sacravimus aras. 51. Ego agerem Jamque dies, ni fallor, adest; quem semper acerbum, diem, si essem exul in Semper honoratum, sic Dî voluistis, habebo. Gætulis syrtibus, de- Hunc ego Gætulis agerem'si syrtibus exul, Argolicove mari deprensus, et urbe Mycena: 55. Nunc ultrò adsu- Annua vota tamen, solemnesque ordine prensus-ve hunc mus ad cineres et ossa pompas ipsius parentis, equidem Exsequerer; strueremque suis altaria donis. reor haud sine numine Nunc ultrò ad cineres ipsius et ossa parentis, Haud equidem sinè mente, reor, sinè numine Divûm, Divûm NOTES. 33. Gurgile: in the sense of mari. 34. Læti: socii is understood: my joyous companions. 35. Miratus: observing-wondering at. Our arrival was unexpected, and a matter of wonder to him.. 37. Jorridus in jaculis: rough with javelins, and the hide of an African bear. The word horridus is very applicable to the dress and equipage of a hunter, bearing his darts and javelins in his hands, and guarded against the savages of the mountains. In which character Acestes is here represented. Libystidis: an adj. from Libystis, and that from the noun Libys. Pliny says there were no bears in Africa, on account of its great heat. But there are many good authorities against him. Solinus says the Numidian bears excel all others in beauty and form: which is probably the reason that Virgil dresses Acestes in one of their skins. 39. Genuit: in the sense of peperit. 40. Agresti gazâ: with his homely fare. Gaza is a word of Persian origin, and signifies any kind of sumptuous expense, either in provision or furniture. Nos is to be connected with reduces. 41. Aggere: summitate, says Ruæus. 46. Annuus orbis: the annual circle (to wit, a year) is completed. 49. Acerbum: afflictive-sorrowful. 35 40 45 50 55 50. Habebo: I shall consider. Agerem: I would observe, or keep. 53. Solemnes pompas. This is peculiarly proper in this place. Pompa properly signifies a funeral or other procession; and, exsequerer: I would perform the exsequia, or funeral obsequies; the principal of which was the following of the corpse to the grave, or funeral pile. Hence exsequiæ came to signify the whole funeral rites: from sequor, I follow. altars with his own proper gifts. These were milk, wine, honey, and blood, poured the Umbra, or shade of the deceased, fed, upon the tomb. Upon these it was thought and especially upon the blood. Valpy says, fit offerings. 54. Struerem altaria: I would cover the 56. Haud sinè mente. Æneas here attributes their arrival in Sicily to the interposition of the gods, as if they designed it to afford him an opportunity of paying divine honors to his father. Mente: design. Ruæus says, consilio. 58. Lætum honorem: the joyous festival. Ruæus interprets honorem by sacrificium. But it is plain that honorem includes every part of the rites and ceremonies which wero performed upon that occasion, as well as tho offerings or sacrifices. Adsumus; et portus delati intramus amicos. Ad tumulum, magnâ medius comitante Capervâ. NOTES. 60. Posità urbe: a city being built-that is, after they had founded a city and erected temples in it dedicated to him. 61. Acestes generatus. Acestes sprung from Troy, gives, &c. Bina capita boum: simply, two oxen. 62. Adhibete Penates, &c. Servius is of opinion that the poet here alludes to the Roman custom called Lectisternia, or sacred banquets, prepared at the solemn games for the gods, whose images were placed on couches, and set down at the most honorable part of the table, as principal guests. 64. Si in the sense of cùm. 66. Ponam: in the sense of instituam. Eneas here institutes four kinds of games or sports-a rowing match-a foot race-a shooting match, and a gauntlet fight; and proposes suitable rewards for the victors in each. 67. Valet: in the sense of præstat. Incedit: in the sense of est. 69. Fidit: in the sense of audet. 70. Præmia merita palma rewards of meritorious victory-or rewards worthy of victory. Palma in the sense of victoria: by meton. : 71. Favele omnes ore: favete ore, vel favele linguis, was the phrase made use of by the public criers before the celebration of solemn games or sacrifices. The import seems to be: Favor us with your religious attention -pronounce no words of bad omen that may profane the sacred ceremonics: or, let us have the concurrence of your prayers to render the gods favorable to us: or, lastly, aid us by your applause and joyful acclamations. 72. Velat tempora. The poet here alludes to a practice among the Romans, of persons of every age and condition, who appeared at these solemn games, to wear a garland upon their heads. The myrtle was sacred to Venus; hence the propriety of the expression, materna myrto. 73. Maturus ævi: a Grecism. In the sense of provectus ætate, vel annis. 77. Hic duo ritè: here in due form offering, he pours on the ground, &c. Carchesia: large bowls without handles: plu. of carchesium. Libans: pouring out-offering. Baccho: for vino. Mero: pure-unmixed. 80. Iterum salvete: Ye ashes revisited in vain, and soul and shade of my father, again hail. Cineres recepti nequicquam. By these words Servius understands Anchises himself, whom Eneas rescued from the flames of Troy in vain; since he lost him before nis arrival in Italy. But the sense given above is easier. Æneas lost his father a year before on his way to Italy; but, meeting with a storm, he was obliged to go to Africa. Now on his return he visits his tomb, and in a manner receives him again, but in vain ; since it was not permitted that he should take him with him to Italy. Animæque um |