quando ultima

446. his telis: i.e. with these poor weapons. cernunt: i.e. since they see that their final doom is near. 449. alii viz. Trojani. imas fores: i.e. the doors below. 451. animi: i.e. the spirits of Aeneas and his comrades. currere, etc. the infinitives depend upon the idea of desire involved in animi; cf. line 10, amor cognoscere.

suc

452. vim addere victis: i.e. to infuse fresh daring into the vanquished.

453. et pervius usus tectorum inter se Priami: and a passage connecting the apartments of Priam with each other; literally, a use affording passage through the apartments, etc. postesque relicti a tergo: an abandoned postern gate; a tergo limits postes.

455. infelix: alluding to the loss of her husband and child.

456. incomitata: the secret gate enabled her to dispense with her usual attendant.

457. soceros: parents (literally, parents-in-law), viz. Priam and Hecuba. avo viz. Priam.

460. turrim: object of aggressi in line 463. in praecipiti: on the verge (of the roof).

461. tectis: Ablative of Separation.

463. aggressi: the participle.

i.e. on all sides.

ferro: with iron bars.

circum:

qua summa labantis, etc.: where the topmost floors

offered yielding joints.

465. ruinam trahit: i.e. drags ruin in its train.

467. alii: i.e. other besiegers.

470. luce coruscus aëna: i.e. the light reflected from his brazen

armor.

471. qualis ubi coluber: just as when a snake; literally, such as a snake, when it. in lucem: toward the light; limiting convolvit in line 474, and further explained by ad solem. The phrase is introduced thus early in the sentence in order to emphasize the parallel between luce (line 470) and in lucem. mala gramina pastus: having fed on poisonous herbs. The venom of the serpent is intended to suggest the malignity of Pyrrhus.

473. positis novus exuviis: fresh, having sloughed off its old skin; positis exuviis is an Ablative Absolute, giving the cause of novus. The logical relationship is emphasized by placing novus between the two members of the phrase.

475. arduus ad solem: somewhat redundant after sublato pectore. linguis micat ore trisulcis: i.e. darts its forked tongue in and out of its mouth; literally, darts in its mouth with its tongue.

476. una, una: i.e. along with Pyrrhus.

477. Scyria pubes: Pyrrhus had not participated in the war until the death of his father Achilles. After that event he was brought with his followers by Ulysses from Scyros, where he had been educated by his mother.

478. tecto: the palace.

479. ipse: Pyrrhus.

flammas: fire-brands.

480. limina: door. -que vellit jamque cavavit et iedit: not adding new facts, but explaining the statement already made in limina perrumpit. postis a cardine: the ancient door was like a gate swung on a post. At the upper and lower ends of the post were pivots working in sockets; cardo may denote either 'pivot' or 'socket'; here the latter.

481. excisa trabe having hewn out a panel. Pyrrhus had already wrenched the doorposts from their sockets, but cross-bars, claustra (see line 491) still prevented the door from falling. Therefore he hews an opening in the panel.

482. lato ore: wide-mouthed, gaping; Ablative of Quality.

dedit: i.e. has made.

485. vident as subject understand the Greeks.

487. cavae aedes: i.e. the vaulted halls.

488. ululant: literally, shriek; applicable strictly only to persons, but here poetically transferred to the halls of the palace.

491. vi patria: with his father's fury.

492. ariete crebro: under the thick-falling blows of the batteringram; Ablative of Means; ariete is to be read arjete.

494. rumpunt aditus: force an entrance; aditus is Accusative of Result Produced (Internal Object). primos: i.e. the first persons whom they meet.

495. milite with collective force, as in line 20.

496. non sic: i.e. not so furiously; the words limit fertur and trahit. aggeribus: its barriers.

497. exit: perfect; contracted for exiit.

498. fertur: sweeps. cumulo: as in i. 105.

499. stabulis: the flood lifts the stalls from their foundations and carries them floating down the stream.

501. nurus: including also daughters. Priam had but fifty sons. per aras: amid the altars.

502. sanguine foedantem: alluding to the murder of Priam by Pyrrhus, as described in lines 550 ff.

ignis the sacrificial fires of

the altar are here put for the altars themselves.

:

503. quinquaginta thalami: i.e. the chambers of Priam's fifty sons. spes tanta nepotum: i.e. affording such rich

illi: those famous.

promise of descendants.

504. barbarico: foreign; i.e. taken in foreign conquest.

506-558. The death of Priam.

506. forsitan et requiras: perhaps also you may ask; the subjunctive with forsitan is by origin really an indirect question, forsitan being for fors sit an, — there may be a question whether, etc. Priami: put at the beginning of its clause for emphasis.

508. medium in penetralibus: in the heart of his private chambers. 509. diu: with desueta. senior poetic variation for senex, but stronger. Knapp suggests, "an old, old man.

511. cingitur: middle, — girds on. densos in hostis: into the thick of the enemy. fertur: i.e. starts to go.

515. nequiquam: i.e. as shown by subsequent events.

516. praecipites: driven headlong.

518. sumptis . armis: Ablative Absolute, but translate: arrayed in the arms of his youth.

520. cingi: here passive or reflexive; contrast the use of cingitur, line 511.

521. non tali auxilio: the emphasis rests on non tali, — not such is the help which the occasion calls for. Hecuba's thought is that the altar is their only hope of safety; auxilio is an Ablative of Separation. defensoribus istis : referring to telis. As the demonstrative pronoun of the second person, istis means those of yours,' such as you bring.' 522. non, si, etc.: no, not if, etc. afforet poetic for adesset. 523. tandem: pray! omnis: i.e. thee, as well as us.

524. simul: i.e. along with us.

526. Pyrrhi caede: i.e. murder at the hands of Pyrrhus.

528. porticibus longis: through the long porticoes; Ablative of the Way by Which.

529. saucius: made emphatic by its position at the end of its clause and the beginning of a line. volnere by a bold use, for telo.

530. jam jamque: ¿.e. again and again he almost seizes him. premit: i.e. presses him close.

533. in media jam morte tenetur: i.e. is threatened with death. 534. abstinuit: restrain himself.

536. pietas: here in the sense of 'justice.' quae talia curet: i.e which concerns itself with such crimes and punishes them.

538. qui . . . fecisti: the clause has causal force, - since thou hast compelled me. The antecedent of qui is tibi. The infinitive with facio is rare. coram me before my own eyes.

539. funere by the death (of his son).

:

540. satum quo te mentiris : from whom thou falsely sayest thou art sprung; quo is Ablative of Source.

541. talis.. Priamo: : was such (i.e. so ruthless) toward his enemy Priam. sed jura fidemque, etc.: but he respected a suppliant's right to protection, literally, rights and protection (Hendiadys). After the death of Hector, Priam had himself gone as suppliant to Achilles, to ransom his son's body. Suppliants were regarded as standing under the especial protection of Jupiter, and as entitled to the rights of a safe conduct and respectful hearing; erubesco, properly intransitive, blush,' is here "sed transitively.

542. sepulcro reddidit: i.e. gave up for burial.

544. sine ictu: without inflicting a wound.

546. summo clipei umbone; from the top of the boss of the shield. The umbo was a kind of knob in the centre of the shield, intended to cause the spear to glance. pependit: the spear evidently caught in

the leather covering of the shield.

547. referes et ibis: the future indicative, as often, here has imperative force, report and go; another instance of Hysteron Proteron. 548. genitori: viz. Achilles. mea tristia facta: sarcastic.

550. altaria ad ipsa : thus increasing the impiety of the deed. 553. lateri : = in latus.

554. haec finis: finis, regularly masculine, is occasionally used in the singular as feminine by the poets. As verb, understand fuit. For the attraction of gender in haec, see B. 246, 5; A. 296, a ; G. 211, R. 5; H. 396, 2.

555. tulit:= abstulit. incensam in flames.

556. tot populis terrisque superbum regnatorem: proud ruler over so many tribes and lands; populis and terris are datives. See note on i. 17, regnum gentibus.

557. litore: this implies that the Greeks flung Priam's dead body upon the sand of the beach.

559-623. Left alone on the palace roof, Aeneas recalls the peril of his own household, when suddenly he beholds Helen. He is about to slay her, but is checked by the appearance of Venus.

559. me: emphatic, marking the return to Aeneas, and contrasting him sharply with Priam.

560. subiit: there came to my mind; understand mentem.

561. aequaevum i.e. of the same age as Anchises.

563. direpta: i.e. in Aeneas's imagination. He later finds it unharmed. domūs: the u is irregularly lengthened.

564. quae copia: i.e. what strength in the way of followers.

565. deseruere, misere, dedere: picturesque present perfects, — have deserted (me), have dropped, have yielded up.

566. aegra: exhausted.

567-587. These lines are lacking in the best manuscripts and by some editors are thought to be an interpolation.

567. adeo: in fact.

super unus eram: I alone was left; Tmesis. limina servantem: stationed at the entrance; literally, keeping the entrance. cum aspicio: cum-inversum; B. 288, 2; A. 546, a; G. 581; H. 600, 1.

568. tacitam secreta latentem: the excessive redundancy emphasizes Helen's anxiety to avoid detection.

570. erranti, ferenti: agreeing with mihi understood.

. . ferenti: i.e. noting everything.

...

571. sibi: with infestos.

572. Danaum: at the hands of the Greeks.

Menelaus.

573. communis Erinys: the common curse.

oculos

deserti conjugis:

574. invisa sedebat: sat crouching, the hated creature. ́ 575. ignes: fury.

purpose.

subit: as above in line 560. ira: the angry

576. ulcisci, sumere: the infinitives depend upon the idea of wishing involved in ira; a poetical construction. sceleratas poenas:

vengeance for her wickedness; literally, accursed vengeance.

577. scilicet haec aspiciet: so she is to see? (C.). Mycenas: loosely used for Graeciam, as often.

578. parto ibit regina triumpho: ¿.e. shall ride as queen in a triumphal procession; literally, shall go a queen, having won a triumph. Virgil attributes to the Heroic Age the peculiarly Roman custom of a triumph.

579. conjugium: = conjugem; the abstract for the concrete. patres: her parents.

580. turba, ministris: Ablatives of Accompaniment without cum; cf. i. 312, uno comitatus Achate. comitata: with passive force, as in i. 312.

581. occiderit, etc.: is Priam to have perished, Troy to have been consumed, etc.? i.e. are these things to have occurred without