dismisses the banquet without much particularizing, the only two allusions being to the libation and the golden service. Heyne thinks that paterasque tenebant is a frigid addition, but Wagner makes libabant paterasque tenebant equivalent to libabant pateras tenentes. there is an awkward pleonasm in pocula.-Aulaï. Old form of the genitive for aula.-Paterasque. As regards the form of the ancient patera, consult note on i. 729.

Still

"The

356. Alterque dies. "And a second day."-358. Vatem. prophet," i. e. Helenus, who is also called by Homer olwvoróλwv öx' aporos, "by far the best of diviners." (Il. vi. 76.)–359. Qui Numina Phoebi, &c. "Who understandest the will of Phoebus, the tripods, the bays of the Clarian god, the stars," i. e. whose breast is filled with the same prophetic spirit that actuates the Pythoness at Delphi, or the priests of the Clarian god, and who art able to read the stars, and draw from them sure omens of the future.-360. Tripodas. The sacred tripod at Delphi, on which the Pythoness sat. (Consult note on line 92.)-Clarii lauros. With Clarii supply dei. Apollo had a famous seat of divination at Claros, near Colophon, in Asia Minor. The oracle was in a cave, surrounded by a sacred

grove.

361. Et voluorum linguas, &c. "And the notes of birds, and the omens of the rapid wing," i. e. afforded by the rapid wing. We have here the two great classes of omens accustomed to be drawn from birds, namely, those from their singing or cry, and those from their flight. Birds belonging to the former class were called Oscines; to the latter, Præpetes.

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362. Namque omnem cursum, &c. "(And well may I ask thee this), since favouring responses and omens have declared thy whole course to me." Observe the force of namque, equivalent to kai yáo -363. Religio. The term properly applies to religious rites and ceremonies, and then to all things connected with or flowing from them, such as responses, omens, auguries, &c.-Numine. By an expression of their divine will."-364. Et terras tentare repostas. "And to make trial of far-distant lands." i. e. to search there for a new home.-366. Tristes iras, &c. Gloomy vengeance and loathsome famine," i. e. famine so severe as to compel us to eat the most revolting food.

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370. Exorat pacem divúm. "Entreats the favour of the gods." -Vittasque resolvit, &c. "And unbinds the fillets of his consecrated head." Helenus, while performing the sacrifice, had his brow, as was customary, encircled with fillets. Now, however, that he is going to prophesy, he removes the fillets, and assumes more of that air of wild enthusiasm which the ancients ascribed to divine inspiration. Compare what is said of the Sibyl in vi. 48: "Non comptœ mansere comæ."–371. Ad tua limina, Phoebe. There appears to have been a temple of Apollo in this new Troy, after the example of the one which had stood in the Pergamus at home.-372. Multo suspensum numine. "Awestruck at the abundant presence of the god," i. e. struck with awe at the many indications around me of the presence of the god.

374. Nam te majoribus, &c. "For sure is my faith that thou art going through the deep, under higher auspices (than ordinary),” i. e. strong is my belief that thou art the peculiar favourite of heaven, and art traversing the ocean under loftier auspices, and with a higher destiny, than fall to the lot of ordinary men. Nam may be referred ·

either to nate dea, which goes before, or to pauca tibi e multis, that follows after. If we refer it to the former, the latent idea will be this: for, that thou art really the offspring of a goddess, appears plainly from the higher auspices that are thine. If, on the other hand, we make nam relate to pauca, &c. then the meaning will be, I tell thee only a few things out of many. The remainder are of too exalted a character for a mere mortal prophet to understand or declare to thee. This last is far preferable to the other interpretation; and the broken order of the sentence, by which nam is made to precede pauca, accords well with the agitated state of the prophet's mind while making this disclosure. Hence, too, there is no need for the words from nam to ordo being included in a parenthesis.-375. Sic fata deum rex, &c. "The king of the gods so parcels out the decrees of fate, and regulates the succession of events; this (settled) order of things is now undergoing its accomplishment." Literally, " is now being made to revolve," i. e. this revolution of events is now in operation.

377. Quo tutior hospita, &c. "In order that thou mayest traverse in greater safety friendly seas." Tutior, equivalent to tutius. The allusion is to the Mare Tyrrhenum, or lower sea, along the shores of which the Ausones were settled, from whom the Trojans had nothing to fear. The Adriatic, on the other hand, was full of dangers for them, since its coasts were filled with Grecian colonies.-379. Prohibent nam cetera, &c. We have removed the comma after scire, so as to make both this verb and fari refer to Helenus, in accordance with the explanation given of nam in line 374.

381. Italiam. Governed by dividit.-382. Vicinosque, ignare, paras, &c. "And whose harbours, ignorant of their true position, thou art preparing to enter as if they were neighbouring ones," i. e. as if they were in thy immediate vicinity. Eneas was now in Epirus, and imagined that all he had to do in order to reach Italy was to cross over the intervening Adriatic to the opposite shores. Helenus informs him of his error, and states that the part of Italy where he is destined to settle is still far away; that if he cross over at once, he will still find a long tract of country to be travelled over; and that his course by sea will be equally long, since he will have, if he wishes to reach its coasts, to sail around Italy and Sicily.

383. Longa procul longis, &c. "A long route, difficult to be travelled, keeps far off from thee, by intervening lands of long extent, that Italy," &c. Many think that this means a route by sea. Not so, however. The meaning of Helenus is merely this, that if one should cross over at once from Epirus to Italy, he would still have to travel along a tedious and difficult route by land, on account of the "longæ terræ intervening, before reaching Latium, the spot where Æneas was destined to settle. The "longæ terra" would be, in other words, the whole intervening tract of Italy, from the eastern shore to the Latin frontier. Heyne thinks that a play on words is intended in longa, longis; ria, invia.

384. Trinacria. Sicily was called Trinacria (scil. insula), "the Trinacrian island," from its three promontories or capes (rpeig äroai). -385. Salis Ausonii. The Lower or Tuscan Sea (Mare Tyrrhenum), along a large part of whose shores the Ausones and other kindred nations were settled.

386. Infernique lacus. Lake Avernus, &c.-Eœæque insula Circæ.

"And the island of Eæan Circe." Circe was so called from her native city Æa, in Colchis. Her island was on the western coast of Italy, and became afterward a promontory of Latium, by the name of Circeii.-387. Antequam tuta, &c. "Before thou canst erect a

city in a land of safety."

389. Cum tibi sollicito, &c. "When a huge sow, having brought forth a litter of thirty young, shall lie beneath the holm-trees on the shore, having been found by thee while musing by the stream of a retired river, white (herself), reclining on the ground, her young ones white around her dugs." This circumstance of the white sow with her thirty white offspring, which to many may appear beneath the dignity of epic song, is related by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, on the authority, as would appear, of antecedent writers; and we may conclude that it was the subject of some ancient tradition. Our poet, therefore, very properly seized on it for the purpose of authenticating his poem with the semblance of historic veracity. What may tend, therefore, to lower it in our eyes, was calculated to give it credit in those of the Romans.

393. Is locus urbis erit. Alba was built at a later day, by Ascanius, on this very spot, and received its name, according to tradition, from the white sow and her white young ones.-By the retired river the poet merely means a part of the Tiber, at a distance from the haunts of men.

397. Proxima quæ nostri, &c. "Which, nearest, is washed by the tide of our sea," i. e. which, lying in our immediate vicinity, is laved by the tide of the Ionian Sea, where it flows between Epirus and Italy. The Ionian Sea is here the same with the Adriatic.-388. Cuncta mœnia. "All the cities."

399. Narycii Locri. The Epizephyrian Locri, who settled in Bruttium, in Lower Italy, and who are here called "Narycian,” from Naryx, or Narycium, one of their cities at home, opposite Euboea.-400. Et Sallentinos, &c. "And the Cretan Idomeneus hath occupied, with his soldiery, the plains of the Sallentini." The Sallentini were a people of Italy, in the territory of Messapia.—401. Lyctius. From Lyctus, a city of Crete. Hence equivalent to "Cretan."-Hic illa ducis, &c. "Here, too, is that little Petilia, relying for defence on the wall of Philoctetes, the Meliboan leader," i. e. defended by the wall, &c. Petilia was a small place in Bruttium, built and fortified by Philoctetes, after the Trojan war. He is called the Melibean, from his native city, Meliboa, in Thessaly. 403. Quin. "Moreover." For quinetiam.-Transmissæ steterint, &c. "Having been carried across the seas, shall have come to a station."-405. Purpureo velare, &c. "Covered with a purple covering, be thou veiled as to thy locks." Velare is the present imperative passive, like imponere, in ii. 707. Virgil alludes here to what was properly a Roman custom, namely, to cover the head during a sacrifice, in order that the priest who officiated might observe nothing ill-omened. Afterwards, a veil was merely thrown from behind over the head and face, which, although one could see through it, still satisfied the form required.-406. Qua, for aliqua.—407. Omina. Taken before the sacrifice commenced.

Servius tells a curious story, that Diomede, suffering under various calamities, was directed by an oracle to restore to the Trojans the Palladium which he had in his possession. That he came, accord

ingly, with this intention to the spot where Eneas was sacrificing with muffled head, and that the Trojan warrior, not stopping the sacrifice to receive the image, Nantes, one of his followers, took it. 409. Hác casti maneant, &c. "Let thy pious descendants steadfastly adhere to this ceremony." 411. Et angusti rarescent, &c. "And the straits of the narrow Pelorus shall begin to open on the view." The straits here meant are those between Italy and Sicily, now the Straits of Messina. The name given them in the text is from Pelorus, the easternmost promontory of Sicily, and the point on the Sicilian shore where the straits are narrowest. Helenus directs Eneas not to pass through these, on account of the dangers which threaten from Scylla and Charybdis, but to keep to the left, and sail around Sicily.-Rarescent. To a vessel sailing down along the coast of Italy, this country and Sicily must appear at some distance as one land, until the mariners come in a direct line with the straits; and then the claustra must gradually open and discover the narrow passage.

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412. Læva tellus. Sicily.-413. Dextrum littus. Italy. 414. Hæc loca, vi quondam, &c. Construe as follows: Ferunt hæc loca, convulsa quondam vi et vastâ ruinâ dissiluisse.--Vastâ ruinâ. "With vast desolation." Heyne explains ruinâ by terræ motu, a meaning which is implied rather in vi.-416. Ferunt. "They say." Alluding to the tradition that Sicily, after having formed part of it, was torn away from Italy by some violent convulsion of nature, and became an island.—Cum protenus, &c. "When each land was joined and formed but one." Protenus equivalent, literally, to continuè, or the Greek din vεKws.-417. Venit medio vi pontus. "The sea came violently between."-418. Arvaque et urbes, &c. "And with a narrow (and tumultuous) tide, now flows between fields and cities separated by a shore," i. e. separated by the sea, forming a shore on either side.-419. Angusto cestu, i. e. the tide, as being strongly agitated in a narrow strait.

420. Dextrum Scylla latus, &c. Helenus is now describing the straits between Italy and Sicily. Scylla is on the Italian, Charybdis on the Sicilian side.-421. Obsidet. "Guards." Literally, "blocks up." A military term, that here denotes, figuratively, her holding the place like a foe, bent on the destruction of all passers by. The same remark will apply to Charybdis.-Implacata. "Implacable," i. e. unsated.-Atque imo barathri, &c. " And thrice, with the deepest whirlpool of its abyss, it sucks vast waves headlong in, and spouts them forth again in succession unto the upper air, and lashes the stars with the spray," i. e. and thrice, where the abyss is deepest, its eddying waters suck in, &c.-422. In abruptum. Heyne: Profundum, adeoque præceps."

425. Ora exsertantem, &c. Stretching forth her jaws from time to time."-426. Prima hominis facies. "The upper part of her body is that of a human being." Prima opposed to postrema. Literally, "the uppermost appearance (or look) is that of a human being."

427. Pistrix. "A sea-monster." Some commentators think that a species of basking shark (squalus maximus) is here meant, and they are probably correct. According to the poet, the lower parts of Scylla consisted of an immense sea-monster, terminating in numerous dolphin-tails, each tail being connected with the womb of a sea-wolf, and these wombs formed the under part of the pistrix. By the sea

wolf is meant a rapacious kind of fish.-428. Delphinum caudas, &c. "Having the tails of dolphins joined to the womb of wolves." Literally, "joined as to the tails of dolphins with," &c.

429. Præstat Trinacrii, &c. "It is better for thee, delaying in thy course, to pass around the limits of the Sicilian Pachynus, and to fetch a long compass, than once to have beheld the misshapen Scylla," &c., i. e. it is better for thee to take more time in navigating, and, lengthening thy route, to pass around Sicily, doubling Cape Pachynus, its southern extremity, than to expose thyself to the dangers arising from a single view of Scylla.-432. Et cæruleis canibus resonantia saxa. "And the rocks that re-echo with the howlings of the dark blue hounds of the sea.' These "hounds" are the canes marina, or sea-dogs. Heyne makes them the same with the lupi just mentioned, but not, in our opinion, very correctly. They seem, rather, to have been quite distinct from Scylla, and to have occupied the caverns in the neighbouring rocks, whence they issued to destroy shipwrecked mariners. Homer represents Scylla as often catching these sea-dogs for her own prey. (Od. xii. 97.—Schol. in Apoll. Rhod. iv. 825.)

433. Si qua est Heleno prudentia, &c. "If Helenus possesses any wisdom (as a man), if any credit is due to him as a prophet." Some remove the comma after prudentia, and place it after vati. According to this, prudentia will signify a knowledge of the future. This, however, is far inferior to the ordinary pointing, as we have given it in the text.-436. Prædicam. "I will tell thee plainly," i. e. I will here openly charge upon thee. Helenus now begins to allude to the dan'gers which Juno will throw in the way of Æneas. As he cannot, however, particularize these dangers (compare line 380), he contents himself with giving the hero a general warning. He enjoins one thing, nevertheless, in plain and direct terms, namely, to propitiate Juno's favour.

437. Primum, i. e. before doing any thing else.-438. Junoni cane, &c. "With willing bosom offer up vows unto Juno, and strive to overcome," &c.-Libens, i. e. neither sparingly nor remissly. It answers to the Greek poluμws.-439. Supera. A strong term. Compel her, as it were, to become propitious by dint of entreaty. Heyne explains it very well by expugna. "Take by storm."-440. Mittere. "Thou shalt be sent (on thy way)," i. e. thou shalt be allowed to reach.

441. Cumæam urbem. "The Cumæan city," i. e. the city of Cumæ, in Italy, on the shore of Campania. It was famed as the residence of the Sibyl.-442. Divinosque lacus, &c., i. e. the Lucrine and Avernian lakes, but especially the latter. They are called sacred, either from their general character, or, more probably, because the Sibyl resided in their immediate vicinity.-Et Averna sonantia silvis. Alluding to the low moaning of the wind among the thick forests that encircled this gloomy and stagnant lake.

443. Insanam ratem. "A wild-raving prophetess." Alluding to the appearance and demeanour of the Sibyl, when under the influence of divine inspiration.-444. Fata canit, &c. "Reveals the secrets of the fates, and consigns characters and words unto leaves," i. e. writes down her oracles on leaves. The verb cano must not be taken in its strict and literal sense, but merely implies that the responses of the Sibyl were in verse, that is, verse not pronounced, but merely written. The usual custom of the Sibyl was not to deliver