Tum decuit, cum sceptra dabas.-En dextra fidesque,
Quem secum patrios aiunt portare Penatis,
Quem subiisse umeris confectum aetate parentem !
Non potui abreptum divellere corpus et undis
Spargere? non socios, non ipsum absumere ferro
Ascanium, patriisque epulandum ponere mensis?—
Verum anceps pugnae fuerat fortuna.-Fuisset ;
Quem metui moritura? Faces in castra tulissem,
Inplessemque foros flammis, natumque patremque
Cum genere exstinxem, memet super ipsa dedissem.-
Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras,

with 'num.' Some of the editors have
put a period after 'tangunt,' but the in-
terrogation is better.

597.] Tum' Med., tunc' Pal., Gud. See on v. 408. "Tum decuit metuisse tuis" 10. 94. En dextra fidesque:' comp. v. 314 above.

598.] We may either supply' eius' beforequem,' or say that dextra fidesque' is virtually equivalent to 'vir fidelis.' Aeneas describes himself similarly 1. 378, where fama super aethera notus' may be called the grandiloquent equivalent to the sarcastic aiunt' here. 'Portasse' is the reading of Med. and another MS., but it is apparently an alteration by some one who did not appreciate the sarcasm of the presentwho is said always to carry about with him'-or remember Aeneas' words just referred to.

599.] Subiisse umeris ' 2. 708. 'Umero' is the first reading of Pal. The accusative is similarly used after 'subire' 12. 899. "Confecto aetate parenti" Catull. 68. 18. 1

600.] Dido asks whether she had not the power, inquiring by implication why she did not use it. She says she might have acted like Agave, or like Procne (v. 602). But non potui' may be taken like "non licuit " v. 550. 5. 82, not as a question but as an ejaculation, that I should not have had the heart,' 'why had I not the heart?' 'potui' being understood as in 7. 309 &c. 'Undis spargere: comp. 3. 605. [Devellere' Pal.-H. N.]

=

603, 604.] [Fuerat,' 'fuisset,' 'metui.' Conington said that 'fuerat' stands for "fuisset," 'metui' for "metuissem." The passage, however, requires a closer analysis. Fuerat' no doubt = "fuis

600

605

set," as "impulerat" in 2. 55 stands for "impulisset." The reason, however, why Virg. here wrote 'fuerat' is probably that it was in this way only that he could bring out the contrast with 'fuisset': 'It would have been: supposing that it had been.' 'Fuisset '-'fuisset' would have been weak and uncertain in such a clause. Metui,' on the other hand, does not stand for "metuissem," but expresses the actual state of the case-whom did I fear, as I was going to certain death?' In other words, there was no one for me to fear.'-H. N.] Castra:' the military term is transferred to naval matters, as in 3. 519. [Tulissem' "debui ferre."-H. N.] 605.] Possibly the contracted forms inplessem,'' extinxem,' are meant to be in keeping with Dido's excitement. [Implessem' Med.-H. N.]

606.] Cum genere,' with the whole race of Trojans. Memet dedissem :' comp. 2. 566, "corpora... ignibus aegra dedere." Dido would have flung herself on the funeral pile, like Eriphyle. Virg. was thinking of Apoll. R. 4. 391, ἵετο δ' ἥγε Νῆα καταφλέξαι, διά τ' ἔμπεδα πάντα κεάσσαι, Ἐν δὲ πεσεῖν αὐτὴ μαλερῷ Tupi.

607.] Ηέλιός θ', ὃς πάντ ̓ ἐφορᾶς καὶ πάντ' makoveis, Il. 3. 277. Virg. does not say as much as Homer, but he implies no less. The sun is invoked as throwing his light on everything, and consequently as knowing all that is done. Opera omnia terrarum,' all that is done on earth, not, as Heyne appears to think, of the cultivated parts of the earth (his note is "terrarum opera ut ἔργα, proprie de cultis locis"). With this halflocal use of 'terrarum' comp. Aesch. Ag. 1. 579, 0eoùs áνwbev yûs èĦORTEVELY ǎxn.

Tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Iuno,
Nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes,
Et Dirae ultrices, et di morientis Elissae,
Accipite haec, meritumque malis advertite numen,
Et nostras audite preces. Si tangere portus
Infandum caput ac terris adnare necesse est,
Et sic fata Iovis poscunt, hic terminus haeret:
At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis,

608.] [Interpres seems here to mean, as Serv. says, "curarum coniugalium media et conciliatrix." "Veteres enim," he continues, "interpretem conscium et auctorem dicebant: Plautus in Milite (4. 1.5) 'quae mihi condicio nova et luculenta offertur per me interpretem.' Idem in Curculione (3. 64) 'quod te praesente hic egit teque interprete.'" He also quotes from Cicero (Verr. Act. 1. 12) "inter'pretes corrumpendi iudicii."-H. N.] Juno had presided over the union of hearts, and so could do justice to the feelings of each, and in fact judge between them. Conscia' nearly as in v. 167 above.

609.] Ululata,' celebrated with the bλoxuyubs. The word is similarly used by Stat. Theb. 3. 158. Hecate was called Trivia as being invoked in the crossways. The word however may have reference to the howling of Hecate's dogs: see on 6. 257.

610.] Dirae ultrices' 4. 473 above. 'Di morientis Elissae' seems to refer to the Roman notion that each person had a presiding deity, who was called Genius in the case of a man, Juno in that of a woman. One belief seems to have been that this deity was twofold, which would account for Di,' and for the habitual use of Manes' for the spirit of a single per son. The custom of erecting two altars to a dead person (3. 63 note) points the same way. What precise notion of twofold personality may have been at the bottom of this seems hard to say: but we may compare the Etruscan conception of the gods as both male and female, or as existing in pairs. ['Dii' Pal.-H. N.] 611.]"Accipite haec animis laetasque advertite mentis" 5. 305, so that accipite haec' here virtually : ='nostras audite preces.' 'Meritum' seems to be passive, numen 'containing implicitly the notion of wrathful regard, for which we are prepared also by the position of 'meritum' before malis.' [Hor. Epod. 5. 54 “nunc in hostiles domos Iram atque

6

610

615

numen vertite."-H. N.] 'Malis,' evil things (Wagn.), not evil persons (Heyne). Let your power stoop to the ills that call it down.'

612.] Tangere portus' G. 1. 303. The wish is modelled on Polyphemus' prayer Od. 9. 532 foll.

613.] The circumlocution 'caput' may be used because the head was the object commonly devoted in an imprecation, which is what Dido is virtually uttering. "Terris adnare' seems to imply difficulty of landing: comp. 1. 538., 6. 358 ['Necessest' Med.-H. N.]

For 'sic'

614.] Fata Iovis: see on 3. 251, 376, and comp. "fata deum" 2. 54. It is the Homeric Aids alσa, Il. 17. 321. 'Hic' is emphatic, ourws pioral. Comp. 3. 376, "is vertitur ordo." Terminus haeret' is from Lucr. 1. 77, terminus' having here its sense extended like that of opos, so as to mean a decree. Attius talked of "fatorum terminus," and Hor. Carm. Saec. 26 uses "stabilis rerum terminus" in connexion with the fates. some have 'si,' which is obviously inferior. 615.] Virg. has doubtless framed Dido's imprecations so that, while intended by her to be all that is dreadful, they should be susceptible of a much more endurable fulfilment. The imprecation of Polyphemus in Homer is something of the same kind: there however the relief is found in the fact that the curse only extends to Ulysses' arrival at home, and so is not incompatible with his subsequent triumph over his enemies. Dido is more unrelenting: she prays that he may have to fight, to leave his settlement and his son, implore foreign aid, submit to a disgraceful peace, die prematurely, and be deprived of burial. Aeneas does meet with opposition (Book 7): he has to leave Ascanius in the camp and entreat aid from Evander (Books 8 and 9): the final peace involves concessions to the Latins and the extinction of the Trojan name (Book 12): while his death, according to one legend, which Virg. probably followed

Finibus extorris, complexu avolsus Iuli,
Auxilium inploret, videatque indigna suorum
Funera; nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquae
Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur;

620

Sed cadat ante diem mediaque inhumatus harena.
Haec precor, hanc vocem extremam cum sanguine fundo.
Tum vos, o Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum
Exercete odiis, cinerique haec mittite nostro
Munera. Nullus amor populis, nec foedera sunto.
Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor,
Qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos,
Nunc, olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore vires.

(see 1. 265), happened when he had
reigned only three years, when his body,
if not left media harena,' did not meet
with burial, being swallowed up in the
Numicius, or, according to another ac-
count, not being found after a battle.
Yet Aeneas' career after reaching Italy
would have been felt to be a prosperous
one, just as the Romans of Virg.'s day
would feel that the eternal feud between
Troy and Carthage, and the actual ap-
pearance of the threatened avenger, were
not painful but glorious recollections.
The Sibyl, however (6. 83 foll.), takes a
similar, though less gloomy view of
Aeneas' future in Italy. These lines, as
is well known, had a more terrible fulfil-
ment in our own history in the case of
Charles the First, who opened upon them
when he consulted the Sortes Vergilianae
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 'At'
after 'si,' G. 4. 241. The epithet au-
dax' is given four times to Turnus in the
later books (7. 409., 9. 3, 126., 10. 276),
once to the Rutulians generally (9. 519).
'Bello et armis' 1. 515.

616.] Finibus extorris' may be compared with such expressions as aλvos arns in Greek poetry: but we have "extorris agro," "patria" &c., in prose. [Conplexu' Pal.-H. N.]

617.] Indigna funera" like "indigna morte 6. 163. [Imploret' Med.-H. N.] 618.] "Pacis dicere leges" 12. 112. ['Pax iniqua' is a peace whose terms are humiliating: just as in the case of "civitates foederatae" a "foedus iniquum" was a compact which contained clauses humiliating to the "civitas foederata." Reid on Cic. pro. Balbo, p. 17.—H. N.]

619.] Optata' seems to be a general epithet, like "caeli iucundum lumen" 6.

625

363. On the apparent contradiction in 6. 761 to the fulfilment of this part of the prayer see note there.

620.] Ante diem' below v. 697. It is coupled with inhumatus,' both expressing the circumstances attending death, though of course inhumatus,' if pressed, would involve a ὕστερον πρότερον.

6

622.] Tum,' in the next place.

623.] Heyne is doubtless right in suspecting that in using the expression exercete odiis' Virg. was thinking of the more common phrase "exercere odia in aliquem," at the same time that he meant the words to bear their natural meaning. Wund. comp. G. 4. 453, "Non te nullius exercent numinis irae."

624.] Be such the funeral offerings you send down to my dust below.' See on G. 4. 520. Mittite' 6. 380, G. 4. 515. Dido means that she hopes the news will reach her in her grave, as Forb. explains it. Comp. v. 387 above.

625.] Forb. remarks that exoriare aliquis' is more vivid and forcible than exoriatur aliquis' would have been. Huschke on Tibull. 1. 6. 39 comp. passages from the comedians where an imperative plural is followed by "aliquis," as Ter. Adelph. 4. 4. 25, "aperite aliquis actutum ostium." The reference to Hannibal need hardly be pointed out. 'Nostris ex ossibus' merely means that her death is to produce an avenger, as it has been said that Marius sprung from the blood of the Gracchi.

Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas
Inprecor, arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotesque.

Haec ait, et partis animum versabat in omnis,
Invisam quaerens quam primum abrumpere lucem.
Tum breviter Barcen nutricem adfata Sychaei;
Namque suam patria antiqua cinis ater habebat:
Annam cara mihi nutrix huc siste sororem ;
Dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha,
Et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat;

Virg. is thinking, as Serv. remarks, of
the three Punic wars, as if Carthage
broke out into war as often as it had
gained strength.

628.] Dido concludes her imprecation by praying that the enmity of the two countries may be as thorough as it is lasting. Perhaps we may say that she expresses herself as if she wished their opposition in situation (1. 13.) to symbolize their inward hostility. To suppose with Serv. that there is a reference to the terms of treaty between the two nations, forbidding them to approach each other's coasts, &c., would only weaken the force of a grand peroration.

629.] Nepotesque' Med., 'nepotes' Gud. In Pal. que' is nearly erased. The change was evidently made to avoid the hypermeter. 'Ipsique nepotesque'the present generation of Tyrians and Trojans and all that follow them. The prayer is that hostility may begin at once and never cease; another way of putting 'stirpem et genus omne futurum Exercete odiis.' Wagn., Forb., and Gossrau refer the words exclusively to the Trojans and their Roman descendants, supposing Dido to wish that the nation may be cursed with perpetual war. But a thought so weighty would not have been included in a single hemistich, nor can 'pugnent' well stand, apart from the context, for "bello aeterno exerceantur: while Gossrau's attempt to give the sense to the previous sentence, which he would commence with v. 627-Whenever the Romans shall gain strength, let them find themselves with the whole world in arms against them'-though ingenious, is by no means natural.

630-641.] Wishing to put an end to life at once, she sends away Sychaeus' nurse, who was with her, telling her to fetch her sister, who is to bring with her all that remains for the completion of the magic ceremony.'

630

635

630.] Comp. vv. 285, 286 above.

631.] Abrumpere vitam" occurs 8. 579., 9. 497, perhaps with a reference to the thread of life. Αποῤῥῆξαι βίον, vevμa &c. are found in Greek (Eur. Or. 864 &c.).

632.] Serv. reminds us that Barca was the name of Hannibal's family. [Sychaei est' Med.-H. N.]

633.] Heyne and others have suspected this line without reason. 'Suam' is peculiar, but not unexampled (see Madvig, § 490. b.) and was doubtless used partly for the sake of emphasis, partly as the only pronoun of the third person. Patria antiqua' is like "coniugis antiqui" v. 458 above. Cinis ater habebat' is a confusion between 'tellus habebat' and 'ea cinis erat' the natural identification of the human dust with the dust of earth. So the Greek óvis, doubtless the same word as 'cinis,' is used of both, though such expressions as de KéкevoE KÓVIS (Thuc. 6. 59) in epitaphs do not prove, as Wagn. and Forb. appear to think, that the Greeks talked of a man as interred in his ashes. The line is a touch of circumstantial detail, which may very well have been invented by Virg. to give verisimilitude to his narrative, though it is possible that the legend may have mentioned the death of Dido's nurse.

634.] Mihi' doubtless with 'siste,' as Wakef. takes it. To connect it with 'cara' would have a long-drawn effect: nor is it likely that any emphasis should be intended, as Forb. thinks, as if Dido meant to say, 'I love you as well as Sychaeus did, though you are not my own nurse.'

66

635.] Corpusque recenti Spargit aqua" 6. 635. The necessity of cleansing before approaching the gods is well known: comp. 2. 719 &c. Here spargere' seems to show that sprinkling with a lustral branch is intended, not bathing.

6

636.] "Monstratas excitat aras" G. 4.

Sic veniat; tuque ipsa pia tege tempora vitta.
Sacra Iovi Stygio, quae rite incepta paravi,
Perficere est animus, finemque inponere curis,
Dardaniique rogum capitis permittere flammae.
Sic ait. Illa gradum studio celerabat anili.
At trepida, et coeptis immanibus effera Dido,
Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementis
Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura,
Interiora domus inrumpit limina, et altos