Lustrabat studio recolens: omnemque suorum Fortè recensebat numerum, charosque nepotes, Fataque, fortunasque virûm, moresque, manusque. 684. Vidit Ænean ten- Isque ubi tendentem adversùm per gramina vidit dentem cursum adver- Ænean; alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, Effusæque genis lachrymæ, et vox excidit ore: Venisti tandem, tuaque spectata parenti sum ei per gramina 686. Lachrymæ effusæ sunt genis 688. Tuaque pietas Vicit iter durum pietas! datur ora tueri, spectata mihi parenti Nate, tua; et notas audire et reddere voces! vicit durum Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum, 692. Per quas terras, Quos ego te terras, et quanta per æquora vectum, 685 690 700. Collo patris Quàm metui, ne quid Libyæ tibi regna nocerent! 695 700 Seclusum nemus, et virgulta sonantia sylvis, Lethæumque, domos placidas qui prænatat, amnem. 705 NOTES. the doctrine of transmigration, maintained by Pythagoras and his followers. 683. Manus: achievements-noble deeds. Tendentem: in the sense of venientem ad se. 687. Spectata. This is the reading of Heync, and is easier than expectata, which is the common reading. Ruæus seems to approve of it, although he has expectata. Doctissimi legunt spectata, id est, cognita, perspecta, probata, says he. 688. Datur: in the sense of permittitur. Mihi is understood. 690. Sic equidem ducebam: indeed I was concluding in my mind, and thinking it would be so; computing and reckoning the time for you to arrive. The ghost of Anchises had directed Eneas to repair to the regions below. See lib. v. 731. 693. Accipio: in the sense of audio. 697. Tyrrheno sale. That part of the Mediterranean lying to the south of Italy, and having Sicily on the east and Sardinia and Corsica on the west, was called the 710 Tuscan sea. Sale: in the sense of mari, by meton. 699. Largo fletu: in the sense of multis lachrymis. 700. Circumdare: they are separated by tmesis for the sake of the verse. Conatus sum, &c. 704. Seclusum: in the sense of separatum. Virgulla sonantia sylvis. Heyne takes these words in the sense of virgulla sylvarum so: nantia; and this again for sylva sonantes. Sonantia: sounding-rustling with the wind. 705. Prænatat: in the sense of præterfluit. 709. Funduntur: in the sense of volant. 713. Anima quibus: the souls, for which other bodies are destined by fate, drink, &c. There were some who were exempt from transmigration. Such were those, who, for their exalted virtue, had been admitted into the society of the gods. Among this number was Anchises. What Æneas here converses with under the appearance of his Corpora debentur, Lethæi ad fluminis undam 715 716. Equidem jampridem cupio memorare tibi, atque ostendere has animas coràm, et enumerare hanc prolem meo720 rum; quò O pater, anne aliquas ad cœlum hinc ire putandum est Principio cœlum, ac terras, camposque liquentes, 725 728. Unde oritur ge nus hominum 730 729. Et monstra, quæ pontus fert 732. Terrenique artus, Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque: neque au- moribundaque membra Respiciunt, clausæ tenebris et carcere cæco. NOTES. father, was only his image, his Idolum or Simulacrum, which the poets feigned to reside in the infernal regions, while the soul was in heaven among the gods. Latices securos: draughts expelling care-producing a peaceful and quiet mind. 719. Cœlum: this means here the upper world-the regions of light: ad superas auras-ad vitam. 720. Sublimes: in the sense of illustres. Lucis: in the sense of vita. 724. Principio spiritus: in the first place a spirit within supports the heaven, &c. Here Anchises explains to Æneas the system or economy of the world, on the principles of the Pythagorean, and Platonic philosophy. The same is explained in other words, Geor. iv. 221, et seq. The doctrine here inculcated is, that God is intimately united with every part of the universe, and that his spirit sustains the whole, the heavens, the earth, and the starry lamps; that a mind, or intelligence, diffused through every part of matter, actuates and gives life and motion to the whole. And from this active principle sprang the various kinds of animals. Liquentes campos: elegantly put for the sea, or watery element. 725. Titania astra. By these we are to understand the sun and stars, since they all equally shine by their own light. Titania: [ras 735 non hebetant illum vigo rem 733. Hinc animæ me tuunt 738. Multa vitia diu concreta penitùs inolescere iis an adj. from Titan, a name given to the sun, of Greek origin. Also, the son of Cœlus and Vesta, and the father of the Titans. These were all distinguished astronomers, as we are told by Diodorus and Pausanias, especially Hyperion. This might lead the poets to feign them transformed into the bodies of the sun and stars after their death. 726. Agilat: in the sense of movet. Artus: in the sense of omnes partes. 728. Volantum: in the sense of avium. 730. Ollis: for illis, by antithesis. 731. Non tardant: do not clog it. 733. Hinc metuunt. The passions are generally ranked under these four heads: fear and grief; joy and desire. The two first have for their object present or future evil; the two last, present or future good. Auras: in the sense of cœlum. 735. Quin et cum: but when life hath left them, even in the last glimmering light, &c. 737. Pestes: stains-pollutions. 738. Diu concreta: a long time habitual. Ruæus says, conglutinata. Mala is understood in the sense of pestes, as above. Inolescere in the sense of adhærescere. 739. Ergò exercentur pænis. These punishments were of three kinds, according to the nature of the stains with which the soul was infected. Those, whose stains or pol Supplicia expendunt. Aliæ panduntur inancs 740 Quisque suos patimur Manes. Exinde per amplum 748. Deus evocat om- Ethereum sensum, atque auraï simplicis ignem. Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvêre per annos, nes has animas NOTES. lutions were the slightest, were suspended and exposed to the winds; others were washed away; others again, whose pollutions were of the deepest dye, were burnt in the fire. The elements, air, water, and fire, are of a purifying nature, and have been figuratively used by all writers as emblems of moral purification. 740. Expendunt: suffer-undergo. Inanes in the sense of leves. 743. Quisque patimur: we all suffer every one his own Manes. This passage hath very much perplexed commentators. It is not certain in what sense we are to take Manes. The ghosts, or Manes of the dead, were supposed to haunt and disturb the living, from whom they had received any great injury. Hence the word Manes may signify the fiends, furies, or tormenting demons of the lower world. According to Plato, every person at his birth hath assigned him a genium or demon, that guards him through life, and after death accompanies him to the shades below, and becomes a minister of purification. By Manes we may understand these Platonic demons. Some understand by Manes the stings and fierce upbraidings of a guilty conscience. These every offender carries about with him, and by these means becomes his own tormentor. Patimur Manes is the same with patimur supplicium per Manes. The above is the usual acceptation of the words. In the present instance Heyne differs from the current of interpreters. He confesses it a perplexed and intricate passage, and conjectures it was left in an unfinished state by the poet. That part of the dead which the ancients called Manes they placed in the infernal regions, while the umbra remained upon earth and the soul ascended to heaven. He takes Quisque suos patimur Manes, in the sense of nostrum omnium Manes patiuntur: vel, ista supplicia patienda omnibus Manibus. His ordo of construction is: nos Manes patimur quisque quoad suos. According to the notion of Plato and others, all must undergo purification before they could be admitted to Elysium, to the lata arva. Now as the Manes alone descended to the shades below, they alone could suffer: Hi sunt, qui purgantur: qui patiuntur: qui subeunt illas 745 purgationes, pro sua cujusque parte. This is the substance of his reasoning. 745. Donec longa dies, &c. It is the general opinion of commentators that the ordo is here inverted, and that this line should immediately follow Quisque suos patimur Manes; and that exinde, &c. should follow after auraï simplicis ignem. This is the only way in which the common meaning of donec can be retained: we suffer every one his own Manes, till length of time, the period of time being completed, hath taken away the inherent stains, and left the ethereal sense pure, &c. then, after that, we are sent: exinde millimur, &c. Ruæus takes donec in the sense of quando, and it is the only sense it will bear in the present ordo of construction. Exinde, &c.: then we are sentwhen length of time, &c. 746. Labem. The poet hath found no less than five different words to express the stains or pollutions of sin: malum, corporea pestes, vetera mala, infectum seclus, and labes. Concretam: inherent-contracted-habitual. 747. Ignem simplicis auraï. By this we are to understand the soul. The Platonists supposed the soul to be of a fiery quality This may have led the poet to call it emphatically the fire, or flame of simple brightness. Simplicis: simple-uncorrupted-uncompounded. Auraï: for auræ. Nouns of this declension sometimes formed the gen. sing. in aï. 748. Has omnes. The meaning is, that after these animæ, or souls, had passed a thousand years in Elysium, the god calls them to the river Lethe, where, by drinking copiously of its water, they might forget the happiness of those peaceful abodes, and be prepared and willing to return again to life, and to visit this upper world. This notion of the transmigration of souls, as little as it is founded in truth, was generally received among the ancients. There were some exceptions to this transmigration. Those who had been admitted into the society of the gods, such as deified heroes, were exempted. Their anima or soul resided in heaven, while their Idolum, vel simulachrum, always remained in Elysium, to enjoy its pleasures and delights. of Anchises. So we are to understand His Idolum conversed with Lethæum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno: Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quæ deinde sequatur NOTES. Eneas, while his anima enjoyed the converse of the gods. Rotam volvêre: in the sense of traduxerunt tempus. It is a metaphor taken from the rolling or turning of a wheel. 749. Deus. Some take the god here mentioned to be Mercury. But Heyne thinks deus is here used indefinitely for any damon or genium, in allusion to the notions of Plato, which the poet here hath in his view. Perhaps it is better to suppose that each shade is called by its own special damon to the waters of Lethe, to prepare for a return to life. This makes the sense easier, and is in perfect accordance with the principles of that philosophy, here inculcated and explained. 750. Supera convexa: in the sense of superas auras; or simply, vitam. 753. Sonantem: in the sense of strepentem 755. Legere: in the sense of recensere, vel cognoscere. 763. Sylvius. Dionysius Halicarnassus informs us that Lavinia, at the death of Eneas, was pregnant, and for fear of Ascanius fled into the woods to a Tuscan shepherd, where she was delivered of a son, whom, from that circumstance, she called Sylvius. But Ascanius, moved with compassion toward her, named him his succesNor in the kingdom of Alba Longa. From him, the kings of Alba took the common name of Sylvii. Livy, however, makes him 750 755 756. Nunc age, expediam dictis, quæ gloria deinde sequatur Dardaniam prolem, qui nepotes maneant te de 760 Itala gente 760. Ille juvenis, qui nititur 763. Dictus Sylvius. 764. Quem serum con 765 jux Lavinia in sylvis educet tibi longævo futurum regem 767. Ille proximus est 768. Deinde sunt et Capys, et Numitor; et 770 Sylvius Eneas, qui the son of Ascanius. In order to make the historian and the poet agree, some would understand by longævo, in the following line, advanced to the gods, immortal, relying upon Eschylus, who calls the gods longævi. Postuma proles. The meaning of postuma here will, in a good degree, depend upon the sense given to longavo. If it be taken as abovementioned, to denote one advanced to the life of the gods, then postuma proles will mean posthumous child, one born after the death of the father. But if we take longavo in its ordinary acceptation, to denote an old man, or one advanced in age, then postuma must be taken in the sense of postrema: last -your last child, whom late your wife Lavinia brought to you advanced in age. 765. Educet: in the sense of pariet. succeed Sylvius in the throne of Alba, for Procas was the thirteenth king; but the one who stood next to him in the Elysian fields. 767. Proximus. Not the one who should 772. At, qui gerunt: but who bear their temples shaded with the civic crown. This was made of oak, because the fruit of that tree supported man at the first. It was conferred upon the man who had saved the life of a Roman citizen in battle. Quercu: the oak; by meton. the crown made of it. 773. Hi Nomentum: these shall found Nomentum, &c. This was a town of the Sabines, situated upon the river Allia, about 386 P. VIRGILII MARONIS Hi Collatinas imponent montibus arces, 780 Pometios, Castrumque Inuï, Bolamque, Coramque. 775 Hæc tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sinè nomine terræ. Quin et avo comitem sese Mavortius addet Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia mater Educet. Viden' ut geminæ stant vertice cristæ, Et pater ipse suo Superûm jam signat honore? En hujus, nate, auspiciis illa inclyta Roma Imperium terris, animos æquabit Olympo, Septemque una sibi muro circumdabit arces, Felix prole virûm: qualis Berecynthia mater Invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes, Læta Deûm partu, centum complexa nepotes, Omnes cœlicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes. Huc geminas huc flecte acies: hanc aspice gentem, 789. Hic est Cæsar, et Romanosque tuos. Hic Cæsar, et omnis lüli Progenies, magnum cœli ventura sub axem. 791. Quem sæpius Hic vir, hic est, tibi quem promitti sæpiùs audis, audis promitti tibi,nempe Augustus Cæsar, Divi genus; aurea condet 787. Omnes terentes supera et alta loca omnis Sæcula qui rursùs Latio, regnata per arva NOTES. twelve miles from Rome, on the east. Gabii: a town about ten miles from Rome, also toward the east. Fidena: a town situated on the Tyber, about five miles north of Rome. Collatie: a town not far from Fidena, to the east. Pometia, or Pometii: a town of the Volsci, situate to the north of the Pomptine paludes. Castrum Inuï: a maritime town of the Rutuli. It was dedicated to that god whom the Greeks called Pan, but the Latins called Inuus or Incubus. Bola vel Bola: a town of the Equi near Præneste, to the east. Cora: a town of the Volsci not far from Pometia, to the north. These towns were not all in Latium, properly so called, as the poet would insinuate. They were built after their respective people were incorporated among the Romans, and their lands made a part of the Roman state. 774. Imponent: in the sense of condent. Collatinas arces: the town or city Collatia. 777. Comitem avo. Comes here is an as sistant or helper. Numitor, the son of Procas, was driven from his throne by his brother Amulius. Romulus being informed of this, collected a company of men, joined the party of Numitor, and restored him to his throne. Romulus was the reputed son of Mars and Ilia, the daughter of Numitor, who was therefore his grandfather. Mavortius: an adj. from Mavors, a name of Mars, agreeing with Romulus, who is said to have been the son of that god. 779. Educet: in the sense of pariet. 780. Pater Superûm: Jupiter, who is styled the father of the gods, and king of men. Some understand Mars, the father of Romulus. 785 790 781. Auspiciis: conduct-government. 782. Animos: courage-valor. 783. Unaque circumdabit: and it alone shall surround for itself seven hills. 784. Berecynthia mater: as the Berecynthian mother, crowned with turrets, is wafted in her car, &c. Cybele is hete meant, who was said to be the mother of most of the gods. Hence lata Deûm partu: rejoicing in a race or progeny of gods. The epithet Berecynthia is added to her from Berecynthium, a castle of Phrygia, on the river Sagaris, or from a mountain of that name, where she was worshipped in a distinguished manner. Cybele is often put, by meton. for the earth; for which reason she is represented as wearing a turreted crown. virum in a race of heroes. : 788. Gentem: race-progeny. Prole 792. Genus Divi: the offspring of a god. This the poet says to flatter the vanity of Augustus, who, from the time that he deified Julius Caesar, his father by adoption, assumed the title of the son of a god, filius Or his divine descent might be traced from Divi, as appears from ancient inscriptions. the reputed son of Jove. Some copies have Dardanus, the founder of the Trojan race, Divum. Heyne reads Divi. Aurea sæcula condet: who again shall establish the golden age in Latium, through the country, &c. See Ecl. iv. 6. 793. Augustus. This is the first time that Virgil called his prince Augustus. This title was decreed to him by the senate, in the year of Rome 727. |