318. De more. "According to custom," i. e. the custom of a huntress.-Habilem arcum. "A light, convenient bow," i. e. light to carry, and easy to bend.-319. Dederatque comam diffundere centis. "And had given her locks to the winds to scatter." The more usual construction would have been, diffundendam rentis, "and had given her locks to be scattered by the winds." The infinitive, however, is employed instead of diffundendam, by a Greek idiom: ïdwкev àvéμog φέρειν, i. e. ὥστε φέρειν.

320. Nuda yenu. Genu is the accusative, by a Greek idiom. Literally, "naked as to the knee." The allusion is to the short tunic, that was drawn up above the knee, leaving this bare, by means of the girdle. Diana is so represented on ancient coins, and such, too, was the attire of the Spartan virgins.-Nodoque sinus collecta fluentes. 66 And having the flowing folds of her robe girded up into a knot.” Literally, "gathered up as to her flowing folds in a knot." The term sinus commonly means the bosom formed by a part of the toga thrown over the left arm across the breast; here, however, it refers to the folds or gatherings of the tunic, lying loosely upon the breast, and secured in their places by a knot in the girdle.

66

321. Ac prior, &c. "And, Ho! warriors,' she is the first to exclaim, tell me if haply you have seen any one of my sisters walldering here.'"-Juvenes. The term jucenis, among the Romans, was applied to a person up to forty-five, and even fifty years of age. It is commonly rendered here" young men," or youths," with very little good taste.-322. Quam. For aliquam.-323. Succinctam pharetra, &c. "Girt with a quiver, and with the hide of a spotted lynx,” i. e. and wearing a lynx's skin secured around the waist by a belt. 325. Contra sic orsus. "Thus began in reply." So the Greek expression, avríov núda.-326. Mihi. "By me.' The dative, by a Greek construction, for a me.-327. O, quam te memorem, &c. “O, who shall I say thou art, maiden?" i. e. O, how shall I address thee?" For quam memorem te esse ?-328. Nec vox hominem sonat. "Nor does thy voice sound like that of a human being."-O! dea certe, &c. "O! assuredly a goddess, be thou propitious, and whatever divinity thou mayest be, alleviate our suffering." With Quơcumque supply dea.-329. Phoebi soror. From her costume as a huntress he thinks she may, perhaps, be Diana. - Nympharum. The Dryads, or nymphs of the woods.

331. Et quo sub coelo, &c. Construe, et doceas sub quo cœlo, &c.— 332. Jactemur. "We are still the sport of misfortune."-Locorumque. The final syllable que is added to the commencement of the next line by synapheia, qu' erramus.-334. Multa tibi, &c. Construe, multa hostia cadet tibi nostrá dextrâ ante (tuas) aras.-335. Tali honore. Referring to the offer of sacrifice.-337. Cothurno. The cothurnus, or buskin, rose above the middle of the leg, so as to surround the calf (sura), and sometimes reached as high as the knees. It was laced in front, and the object in so doing was to make it fit the leg as closely as possible. The skin or leather of which it was made was dyed purple, or of other splendid colours. It was worn principally by horsemen, hunters, and men of rank and authority.

338. Tyrios et Agenoris urbem. "Tyrians and the city of Agenor," i. e. colonists from Tyre, and the city founded by these. Agenor was an early king of Phoenicia (according to the Greek legends), father of Cadmus, and an ancestor of Dido's. Hence Carthage, founded by one of his descendants, is figuratively called after his name, as if the

poet had styled it the city of the Agenorida.-Vides. As Æneas was still in the midst of the forest, and could, of course, see neither people nor city, the words of the text are equivalent, in fact, to “ubi sunt Tyrii et Agenoris urbs."

339. Sed fines Libyci, &c. "But the region itself is Libyan," i. e. the country of which these realms form part is Libya. The term Libya is here used, according to Greek and poetic usage, to signify Africa generally. See 1. 22.-Genus intractabile bello. "A race unconquerable in war." Genus here refers to Libyes, as implied in Libyci. Wagner, however, places a semicolon after Libyci, and refers genus to the Carthaginians, in prospective allusion to their conflicts with the Romans.

340. Imperium Dido, &c. "Dido, having come from the city of Tyre, sways the sovereignty."—Imperium regit. Equivalent to imperium regendo exercet.-341. Germanum. "Her brother."-Longa est injuria, &c, "Long is the narrative of her injuries; the details are long and intricate. I will therefore merely enumerate the most important particulars."–343. Sychaus. The more correct form of the name. The common text has Sichæus. Observe the first syllable long here in Sychæus, but short in line 348, and everywhere else. The ancient poets allowed themselves great license in the prosodiacal use of foreign words, especially proper names, thus: Sicănus, Sicānus, Sīcănus, Sīcāniă, Sīcăniă; Apūlus, Apulia, &c.

Ditissimus agri. As the wealth of the Phoenicians did not consist in lands, but arose from commerce, Huet suggests auri here for agri. But Virgil was thinking of his own times and country, and therefore applies what suited those to another land and earlier age.— 344. Misera. "On the part of his unhappy spouse." Misera is here the genitive. There is no need of making it the dative, by a Hellenism, for a miserá.—345. Intactam. “Previously unwedded." Equivalent to virginem.-Primisque jugárat ominibus. "And had joined her in her first nuptials." Literally, "with the first omens," i. e. auspices. A part for the whole, the auspices forming so important a feature in the nuptial rites.

346. Regna. "The sovereignty."-347. Scelere ante alios, &c. "More atrocious in wickedness than all other men.' Literally, "before all other men." Instead of the ablative, aliis omnibus, we have the accusative with ante by a Greek construction. This is done when a much wider range than ordinary is intended to be expressed.— 348. Quos inter medius, &c. "Between these two there arose fierce enmity."-Ille Sychæum impius, &c. Construe, Ille impius, atque cæcus amore auri, securus amorum germanæ, clam superat ferro Sychæum incautum ante aras.-349. Aras. Altars were either square or round. Cocus. "Blinded."-350. Securus amorum germanæ. "Regardless of the deep love of his sister (for her husband)." Amorum. Observe the force of the plural here.-351. Et ægram multa, &c. "And, wickedly inventing many a tale, deceived with empty hope, the heart-sick, loving queen." Literally, "and, bad man, feigning many things," &c. With deliberate wickedness he invented many tales by which to account for the absence of Sychæus, and thus inspired Dido with the vain hope of again beholding her husband.

353. Ipsa sed, &c. Construe, sed ipsa imago inhumati conjugis venit (illi, sc. Didoni) in somnis, &c.-In somnis." "As she slept.”—Inhumati. The corpse of Sychæus had been conveyed away by the assassin immediately after the deed, and left unburied in some secret

spot. This denial of the rites of sepulture increased, according to the ideas of the ancients, the atrocity of the affair; hence, too, the appearance of the ghost of Sychæus to Dido, it being the common belief that the spirits of the departed were unquiet, and wandered about, until they obtained the rites of interment.

354. Ora modis attollens, &c. "Lifting up a visage wondrous pale." Literally, "lifting up features pale in wonderful ways." Attollens, as here employed, denotes the apparition's slowly rising up on the view of the dreaming Dido.-355. Crudeles aras, &c. "Disclosed to her the cruel altars, and his bosom pierced by the sword," i. e. showed her in her dreams the altars before which he had been cruelly murdered, &c.-356. Cœcumque domus, &c. "And unfolded to her view all the hidden wickedness of the family." Domus here stands for cognati, i. e. fratris.

358. Auxiliumque viæ, &c. " And, as aid for her journey, discovers to her ancient treasures in the earth."-Recludit. When the apparition points out to her where the treasures lie hid, it is said itself, in the language of poetry, to bring them out from the bosom of the earth.-359. Ignotum argenti, &c. "An unknown sum of silver and gold." Literally, "an unknown weight," according to the early way of speaking, when the precious metals were weighed, and a regular coinage had not as yet been introduced. Dido knew nothing of these treasures until they were revealed to her. Sychæus had concealed them, not through avarice, but in order to keep them from the rapacity of Pygmalion.

361. Conveniunt quibus, &c. "There assemble (all) unto whom there was either violent hatred, or keen fear, of the tyrant." Supply omnes before quibus. Odium crudele, like the Greek μῖσος ἀπηνές, properly means the hatred felt by a cruel mind. Here, however, crudele, like sævus, atrox, and similar terms, is poetically used for magnus or ingens. So, again, metus acer is here the same as metus vehemens, and refers to a spirit not only influenced by fear, but also, in some degree, exasperated by harsh treatment.

362. Naves, quæ forte paratæ, corripiunt. "They seize on some ships that happened to be ready."-364. Pygmalionis opes, not treasures belonging to him, but which he had so deeply and wickedly coveted.-Dux femina facti. "A woman (is) leader in the deed."

365. Ubi nunc cernes. "Where thou wilt presently perceive." Burmann and Heyne read it thus. Wagner, on the other hand, gives cernis, which he makes equivalent to cernere licet, or cernere potes. He insists that nunc cernes is not correct Latinity for "thou wilt presently perceive."

367. Mercatique solum, &c. "And purchased as much ground (called Byrsa by them from the name of the deed) as they could enclose with the hide of a bull." According to the common story, Dido, when she came to Africa, purchased of the natives as much ground as could be encompassed by a bull's hide. After making this agreement, she cut the hide into small strips, and enclosed in this way a large extent of territory. Here she built a citadel, which she called Byrsa, from ẞúpoa, "a hide," in allusion to the transaction. This whole story, however, is a mere fable of the Greeks. The name of the Carthaginian citadel was derived from, or, rather, was the same with, the Punic term Barsa, meaning "a fortification,” or “a citadel." The Greeks would seem to have softened down Basra or Bosra into Búpoa.-368. Tergo. Put for tergore.

369. Sed vos qui tandem? " But who, pray, are ye ?"—370. Talibus. Supply verbis.-Ille. Agreeing with respondit understood.

372. 0 Dea! si primâ, &c. "O goddess, if, retracing events from their earliest origin, I proceed (to unfold them to thee), and if there be leisure for thee to listen to the annals of our sufferings, the star of eve will lay the day to rest, the heavens being closed, before I reach the end of my narrative."-Pergam. Supply exponere, or narrare.— 373. Vacet. Supply tibi.-374. Ante diem clauso, &c. A beautiful image. According to the popular belief, the sun-god, when his daily course was ended, retired to repose. In the language of poetry, Vesper leads him to his rest, and the gates of heaven are closed until the return of another day.-Ante. "Sooner," or "first."

375. Nos Troja antiquâ, &c. Construe, tempestas, forte suâ, appulit nos, vectos antiquâ Troja (si forte nomen Troja iit per vestras aures, i. e. "has reached your ears,") per diversa æquora Libycis oris.-377. Forte sua. "By its own chance," i. e. the chance that usually accompanies a storm. More freely, "in its wonted manner.”

378. Raptos ex hoste Penates. By the Penates are meant the secret, tutelary divinities of Troy.

380. Italiam quæro patriam, &c. "I seek Italy, my (true) native country, and the early home of my race that sprang from supreme Jove." Genus is here equivalent to proavorum sedes, and the whole passage alludes to an early legend, which makes Dardanus, who was the son of Jupiter and Electra, and the founder of the Trojan line, to have come originally from Italy. According to the tradition here referred to, Dardanus came first from Corythus in Etruria to Samothrace, and passed thence into Asia Minor, where he settled, and became the stem-father of the Trojan race. The descent of Æneas from this early monarch was as follows: "1. Dardanus (son of Jove); 2. Ericthonius; 3. Tros; 4. Assaracus ; 5. Capys; 6. Anchises; 7. Æneas. Hence the hero speaks of Italy as his true native land, and of his lineage as sprung from Jove. We have adopted in the text the punctuation of Wagner, who removes the semicolon which the common editions have after patriam, and inserts et before genus. If we follow the old pointing, the meaning will be, "my lineage is from supreme Jove ;" an allusion to his origin, which is brought in very abruptly and awkwardly.

381. Denis. By poetic usage for decem.-Conscendi. "I embarked on."-Phrygium æquor. The sea that washes the immediate shores of Troas, in allusion to Phrygia Minor.-382. Data fata secutus. "Having followed the destinies vouchsafed me," i. e. from on high, through the medium of oracles, &c. The proper expression is oraculum dare, or oracula data. Here, however, fata stands, in reality, for oracula. Compare the expression fata Sibyllina, "Sibylline oracles" or "predictions."-383. Convulsa. "Shattered."

385. Nec plura querentem, &c. "Venus, having suffered him to complain no further, interrupted him as follows, in the midst of his grief."-Querentem. The more usual construction would be the infinitive queri.-387. Quisquis es, haud credo, &c. "Whoever thou art, thou dost not, I am sure, breathe the vital air, hated by the inhabitants of the skies," i. e. thou must certainly be a favourite of heaven, since thou hast been allowed to come to the fair city of Carthage, and behold its grandeur and beauty.-Auras vitales. Virgil always uses aura in the plural, to denote the atmosphere or air which we breathe.

-388. Qui adveneris. Observe the force of the relative with the subjunctive. Equivalent to cum adveneris, “since thou hast come."

390. Namque tibi, &c. "For I announce unto thee the safe return to harbour of those companions who were separated from thee by the storm."-392. Ni frustra augurium, &c. "Unless my selfdeceiving parents taught me augury in vain." Vani, i. e. deceiving themselves into the belief that they were versed in the art of divination, and could impart it to their child.

393. Aspice bis senos, &c. She shows him a flock of twelve swans, from whose movements she foretels unto him that the twelve missing ships have come, or are now coming, in safety to land. -Lætantes agmine. "Exulting in a moving line."-Cycnos. Venus causes swans to appear to her son, because this bird was sacred to her, and was also of good omen for those who traversed the sea, from its never dipping under water. Hence, an old poet says:

"Cycnus in auguriis nautis gratissimus ales.

Hunc optant semper, quia nunquam mergitur aquâ."

394. Etheriâ quos lapsa, &c. "Whom the bird of Jove, having glided from the ethereal region, was (a moment ago) driving in confusion through the open sky."-Jovis ales. The eagle.-Aperto. Because extending widely for the flights of the feathered race.

395. Nunc terras ordine longo, &c. "Now, in a long train, they seem either to be occupying the ground, or to look down upon it already occupied. Even as they, returning, sport with loud-flapping pinions, and have (now) encompassed the ground with their band, and given forth notes (of joy), so thy vessels, and the youth of thy people," &c. The meaning of this passage has been much contested. Some make captas equivalent to capiendas; others explain reduces by "returning to the skies." All, however, without exception, read polum instead of solum. This last is a conjecture of Burmann's, which we have ventured to adopt on account of its singular neatness. The key to the whole explanation of the omen is to be found in the application that is made of it to the missing ships of Æneas; and attention to this circumstance would have saved many of the commentators much trouble. The omen, moreover, it must be remembered, does not appear to Æneas under one aspect, but in three different points of view. Venus first points to the twelve swans moving along in a straight line (agmine). A moment after, and while she is still speaking, they begin to sink slowly to earth; and when the goddess utters the words nunc terras ordine longo, &c., a part of them have already alighted (capere terras videntur); the remainder are looking down at those who have alighted (captas jam terras despectare videntur), and are preparing to follow their example. The next moment all are seated on the ground, clustering together (cætu cinxere solum), and expressing by their notes the joy they feel at their escape (cantus dedere). So with the twelve ships of Æneas. The storm that scattered them is the eagle from on high: having escaped from this, and shaped their course slowly towards the land, some of them are, at the very moment that Venus is speaking, already safe in harbour; the others are entering under full sail, looking at their companions now riding at anchor before their view. The next moment all are in, mutual greetings take place, and cries of joy are heard.