335 340 345 Enumerare vales, numquam, Regina, negabo Talia dicentem jamdudum aversa tuetur, 350 355 360 'Nec tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, 365 - 335. Elissa was the original name of Dido.-338. Speravi abscon dere. See at 306.- ·340. Si paterentur. See 327.-343. Colerem, would (at this moment) be cherishing, because I should (before) have founded (posuissem).—344. Victis, the dativus commodi. See Zumpt, § 405.345. Gryneus. See at Ecl. vi. 72.-346. Sortes, the responses of an oracle, as often. For the counsels of Apollo (here called Lyciae sortes, see 143), with special reference to Italy, see iii. 154, &c. -347. Hic, in Italia. 349. Ausonia. See p. 180, line 5. 355. Fatalibus, predestined by fate. See at ii. 165. Hesperiae. See at i. 530.-356. Interpres divom, Mercurius. -357. Utrumque caput are generally taken to refer either to Aeneas and Ascanius, or to Dido and Aeneas; but they may refer to Jupiter and Mercury. -363. Her face was turned away, but she surveyed him from head to foot with eyes askance, and for a while said nothing (tacitis), then her indignation burst forth.-365. She denies his descent from Ve Perfide; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens 375 Num lacrimas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est? 370 Omnibus umbra locis adero. Dabis, improbe, poenas. 380 385 Linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem 390 At pius Aeneas, quamquam lenire dolentem Multa gemens magnoque animum labefactus amore, 395 nus and Dardanus. See at i. 25.366. Construe horrens with cautibus.-367. Caucasus, the mountain range between the Black and Caspian Seas. See Ecl. vi. 42. Hyrcanae. Hyrcania lay to the south-east of the Caspian Sea.-369. Num asks questions to which it is known that a negative answer will be returned.—372. Saturnius. Jupiter, the son of Saturn. See i. 23.374. Excepi implies freedom from hesitation. See 297. For Dido's reception of the Trojans, see i. 561, &c.-376. She breaks out into the incredulous language of bitter indignation, as if all his excuses were a mere fiction. -382. Spero te hausurum, is a bolder instance of the poetical usage referred to in the notes to 306, 338, and should not be imitated in prose.-383. Dido, the accusative. 384. As the Furies pursued the guilty with avenging torches, Dido, alive (absens) or dead (umbra), like a Fury, was to haunt Aeneas similarly armed.--387. Manis, here the region of departed souls.-395. See 281, 333. Tum vero Teucri incumbunt et litore celsas Migrantis cernas, totaque ex urbe ruentis. Quis tibi tum, Dido, cernenti talia sensus! 400 405 410 415 Et perferre, soror, potero. Miserae hoc tamen unum 420 I, soror, atque hostem supplex adfare superbum: 425 398. Deducunt. See at iii. 71. Uncta pice.-399. The preparations of the Trojans for their departure are so hasty, that they bring from the woods branches with the leaves still on them, and unshaped trunks to serve as oars, and planks.-402. Compare with this picture, Proverbs vi. 6-9.-403. Hiemis memores. It is certain that the ants of our country do not provide against the winter; but how far this applies to the ants of more southern climes, is not known; and certainly the belief implied in these words of Virgil, and probably in the passage of the Proverbs, was universal with the ancients. 404. It, &c. The comparison is implied, as in ii. 626; that is, in the language of the grammarians, the protasis infers the apodosis. 407. Fervet. Compare with fervère, 409.-412. Improbe. See at ii. 356. Cogis. See at iii. 56. - 415. Construe frustra with moritura.-418. A mode of expressing joy at their departure, and therefore agonising to Dido. The line occurs, Georg. i 304.421. The force of this passage seems to be 'since (si) I have been able to look forward to (sperare, see Ecl. viii. 26) this dreadful grief, I shall also be able to endure it to the end' (perferre). -424. Hostem. She now recognises in Aeneas a public enemy. 430 Aulide juravi, classemve ad Pergama misi, Fertque refertque soror. Sed nullis ille movetur Fletibus, aut voces ullas tractabilis audit; Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit auris. 435 440 Ac, velut annoso validam cum robore quercum 445 450 Quo magis inceptum peragat lucemque relinquat, Vidit, turicremis cum dona imponeret aris- 455 426. Aulide. The allusion is to the agreement to extirpate Troy, formed by the Greeks assembled at Aulis in Boeotia, before they sailed against that city.-429. Hoc, referring to the request made in the next line.-433. Inane, of no value to Aeneas. 436. The meaning of this line is very uncertain. The following of the received interpretations seems the best: -When you shall have conferred on me this favour, I shall, in the hour of death, requite you with more than adequate return of gratitude.' Cumulatam. Compare Luke vi. 38 — μέτρον καλὸν, πεπιεσμένον καὶ σεσαλευμένον και REрEKXVVÓμεVOV. The following conjecture may be hazarded-Quam mihi cum dederis cumulatam morte, remittam-'When you have granted me this favour-a favour which I implore, even if death be its crowning work-I shall leave you in peace.'-438. As in resignat (244) re has the notion of 'again.'-440. Alioquin placidas.445. Quantum-tendit, occurs Georg. ii. 291.-449. Lacrimae, probably of Dido and her sister, though some could wish to understand it of Aeneas.-454. Latices. See i. 686. Hoc visum nulli, non ipsi effata sorori. Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus, 460 465 Et solem geminum et duplicis se ostendere Thebas; 470 Decrevitque mori, tempus secum ipsa modumque 475 'Inveni, germana, viam-gratare sorori Quae mihi reddat eum, vel eo me solvat amantem. Ultimus Aethiopum locus est, ubi maximus Atlas 480 456. A sure sign of despair. -457. Templum, a small chapel dedicated to the manes of Sychaeus. - 460. Exaudiri, and the other infinitives that follow, may be under the influence of visa, but it seems preferable to regard them as historical infinitives (see Zumpt, 599), voces and verba being the nominatives to exaudiri (visa voces et verba) vocantis viri. —462. Virgil alone uses a feminine adjective 'sola) with bubo, well known as a bird of ill omen. - 468. Ire viam. For the government of accusatives, generally accompanied with an adjective (longam), by intransitive verbs of a cognate meaning, see Zumpt, 384. 469, &c. Virgil compares the fury of Dido to that of Pentheus, king of Thebes, whom the Furies (Eumenides, Dirae) persecuted for his opposition to the worship of Bacchus. For Orestes (whose fate was a favourite dramatic subject), see at iii. 331. 477. Spem serenat, spem serenam ostendit. 481. Aethiopum, properly the southern Africans, but here put for Africans generally. Atlas. See at 247.483. Massylae. See at 132. It would seem that this priestess was originally a Massylian, then a keeper of the dragon that guarded the golden fruit of the Hesperides, thus placed by Virgil in the far west, and now in Carthage. |