Pergama: vos celsis nunc primùm à navibus itis? NOTES. late detains you. Rapiunt: in the sense of vastant. Ferunt: in the sense of evertunt. 376. Extemplò sensit: he instantly perceived that he had fallen into the midst of enemies. Delapsus: in the sense of delapsum esse. A Grecism. 377. Fida: in the sense of amica. Neque in the sense of non. 378. Repressit pedem: he retreated back with his words. As soon as he perceived his mistake, he retreated back. 379. Aspris: by syncope for asperis. This simile is taken from Homer, Iliad iii. verse 33. But Virgil is very happy in the application, and has improved upon the original, by the addition of several circumstances that heighten the comparison, and give it more force and likeness. 386. Animis: courage-boldness. 389. Insignia Danaûm: the armour of the Greeks. This seems to allude to the figures, or images, engraven upon their bucklers-those of the Greeks having the figure of Neptune, and those of the Trojans the figure of Minerva. Putting on the Grecian figures, was the same thing as putting on their armour. Zenobius tells us, that Corabus was noted for stupidity: as an instance, he mentions that he used to amuse himself on the sea shore by counting the waves as they dashed against it. He came to the assistance of Priam just before the city was taken; and now he shows his stupidity and want of 380. Nitens humi: walking on the ground, foresight in suggesting a plan, rash in its steps upon a snake unseen, &c. 382. Haud secùs: no otherwise-just so. 383. Circumfundimur: this verb here has an active signification: we encompass them with our weapons close joined. Or, it may have the sense of miscemur, as Ruæus interprets it. 384. Captos formidine. Mr. Davidson observes: by this we are to understand that they were so under the power of fear, as not to be able to exert themselves-enchained, arrested, or nonplussed by fear; and so enslaved to it, that they could obey nothing but its impulse. Rusus interprets it by percitos metu. 385. Aspirat: in the sense of favet. Labori: in the sense of conatui. nature, and which in the event proved fatal to him and his associates. 390. Requirat: ask-demand. 393. Induitur comantem: he puts on the waving helmet of Androgeos. Induitur is plainly to be taken actively, in the sense of induit. Comantem: waving with a hairy crest. The crests of their helmets were made of the hair of beasts. Decorum insigne clypei: the beautiful, or comely figure of his shield; i. e. his beautiful shield-his shield richly ornamented. 396. Haud nostro numine: not with our god. This is an allusion to their having put off their own armour, on which was engraven the figure of Minerva, their guar dian goddess and protectress, and put on th Conserimus, multos Danaûm demittimus Orco. 400. Pars præ turpi Fida petunt : pars ingentem formidine turpi formidine 403. Ecce Cassandra crinibus 400 Scandunt rursus equum, et notâ conduntur in alvo. Priameïa Virgo passis Crinibus à templo Cassandra adytisque Minervæ, nam, rum armorum 413. Danai commoti Non tulit hanc speciem furiatâ mente Chorobus, 412. Ex facie nostro- Armorum facie, et Graiarum errore jubarum. bus 416. Ceu adversi ven- Confligunt, Zephyrusque, Notusque, et lætus Eois ti, Zephyrusque, NotusEurus equis: stridunt sylvæ, sævitque tridenti que, et Eurus lætus Eoïs equis, quondam confli- Spumeus atque imo Nereus ciet æquora fundo. • gunt, turbine rupto Illi etiam, si quos obscurâ nocte per umbram NOTES. Grecian armour, with the figure of Neptune, the inveterate enemy of the Trojans. Immixti Danais. It is one characteristic of the valiant, that they mingle with the ranks of the enemy. Homer says of Diomede, that he so mingled with the Trojans, that a spectator would have, sometimes, been at a loss to know whether he belonged to the Trojans, or to the Greeks. 393. Conserimus multa prælia: we wage many a fight. Orco: in the sense of ad inferos. 402. Nihil fas: it is not right that any one should have confidence, (trust in any thing) the gods being against him. Nihil and nil are often used simply in the sense of The verb est is understood. non. 404. Crinibus passis: with loose or dishevelled hair. Passis, from the verb pandor, to be loose or spread open. 405. Tendens: raising her glaring eyes to heaven in vain. Frusta: in vain, either because the gods were inexorable, or because she could not move the compassion of the Greeks. This is a most moving representation of the beautiful prophetess and princess in distress. No wonder that it roused the indignation of this valiant band, and brought them to her rescue. They avenged the horrid deed upon their enemies. 407. Speciem: sight-spectacle. This sight Chorobus could not bear. 409. Incurrimus: we rush upon them to the rescue of Cassandra. Densis armis : with close weapons-in close array. Heyne 405 410 415 420 understands it of their rushing upon the close or compacted body of the Greeks. Irruimus in densum agmen hostium, says he. 412. Facie armorum: from the appearance of their armour, the Trojans took them to be Greeks. Jubarum: crests or plumes. 413. Gemitu: in the sense of dolore. The Greeks (moved) with grief and resentment, on account of the virgin rescued from their hands, being collected together from all quarters, attack us. Gemitus here is plainly used in a wider sense than usual. Both Ruæus and Heyne take it in the sense of dolor. 414. Ajax. He was the son of Oïleus. He ravished Cassandra in the temple of Minerva, for which he was afterward severely punished by that goddess. See Æn. i. 41. Ajax, the son of Telanon, had some time before killed himself, for his failure in the contest for the armour of Achilles. 415. Gemini Atrida: the two sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus. 416. Ceu adversi venti: as when opposite winds, &c. This simile is in imitation of Homer, Iliad 9. In comparing the two, Scaliger found the preference so much due to Virgil, that he reckons him the master, and Homer the scholar. Confligunt: in the sense of certant. 419. Nereus: a marine god. The trident was assigned to him by the poets, as well as to Neptune. See Ecl. vi. 35. 420. Si quos fudimus: if we have routed any by stratagem through the shades in the Fudimus insidiis, totâque agitavimus urbe, Protinùs ad sedes Priami clamore vocati. 425 430 435 Sic Martem indomitum, Danaosque ad tecta ruentes 440 NOTES. 425. Armipotentis Dive: the warlike goddess-Pallas. See Geor. i. 18. Peneleï: Peneleus was one of the five generals of the Beotians who came to the Trojan war. 428. Visum aliler Dis. Having mention ed that his friend was the most just, and most observant of justice among the Trojans, Æneas certainly could not mean that it seemed otherwise to the gods. Something it is evident must be understood. Now, the mention of this excellent man, would naturally suggest the reflection that he deserved a better end: he ought not to have fallen with the rest; but he checks himself: Dis aliter visum: it seemed otherwise to the gods. Commentators have been much divided in opinion upon these words. But in this view they are plain and intelligible. The verb est is understood. 422. Illi etiam appa rent; primique 427. Qui fuit unus justissimus, et 432. Testor vos, me vitavisse nec tela, nec ullas vices Danaûm 438. Hic verò cernimus ingentem pugnam, ceu 429. Nec tua plurima pietas: nor did thy great piety, nor the fillets of Apollo, protect thee from falling. 431. Iliaci cineres: ye Trojan ashes, and the last flames of my country, I call you to witness, that, &c. Vices. By this Servius understands pugnæ, fights; because they fought by courses. Scaliger takes it to mean wounds and deadly blows, vulnera et cædes; because wounds in fighting are mutually given and received. Donatus considers it an allusion to the gladiators; the verb vito, joined with it, being a term used in fencing to parry off a thrust, in opposition to peto, to aim one. For vices, Ruæus says pericula. Heyne says casus pugnæ. 433. Fuissent: in the sense of sinuissentthis right hand, i. e. by fighting. There is 434. Meruisse manu: that I merited it by something noble in this sentiment. It considers death as a prize or reward, which the valiant win by their merit or valor. This agrees with his former reflection: pulchrum que mori succurrit in armis. Divellimur inde Iphitus, et: we are torn away from thence.. He speaks of it as a great affliction; and, as it were, accuses his fate that aenied him the honor of so glorious a death. 435. Gravior avo: Iphitus was now oppressed or enfeebled with age; and Pelias disabled by a wound which he had received from Ulysses. Avo: for annis. 437. Protinus: immediately-in haste. Vocali: sumus is understood. 438. Ceu in the sense of quasi. It is understood before nulli. Bella: in the sense of pugnæ. 440. Martem indomitum: Mars, furious, ungoverned. Mars, the god of war, put for Cernimus, obsessumque actâ testudine limen. 443. Danai nituntur Nituntur gradibus; clypeosque ad tela sinistris Protecti objiciunt, prensant fastigia dextris. 446. His telis parant Culmina convellunt: his se, quando ultima cernunt, defendere se Extremâ jam in morte parant defendere telis ; Auratasque trabes, veterum decora alta parentum, 451. Nostri animi sunt Instaurati animi, regis succurrere tectis, instaurati Auxilioque levare viros, vimque addere victis. ami : NOTES. 445 450 455 war, or fighting in general. Ad tecta: to the palace. 441. Testudine actâ: the testudo being formed. The testudo was a figure into which the soldiers formed themselves in attacking towns and other fortified places. The first rank stood upright, the next behind them stooped lower and lower by degrees, till the last rank kneeled down: all holding their targets or shields over their heads in their left hands. By these means they were secure from the missive weapons of the enemy from the walls and towers. To carry on an attack in this way was called, agere testudinem: to form the testudo, or target defence. Limen: the passage which led up to the palace-the place before the door. 442. Parietibus. Puries is properly the wall of a house-murus, the wall of a city. 443. Nituntur gradibus sub, &c. By gradibus, here, we may either understand the steps that led up to the palace, or the steps of the scaling ladders by which they mounted up, or pressed to get up, to the roof, the foot of these ladders being placed at the very door-posts. Mr. Davidson understands the passage in this last sense. The former, however, is the easier: which is the sense of Ruæus. Ad ipsas portas, says he. The Greeks ascend (nituntur) by the steps up to the very doors. Postes, properly the frame of the door, put, frequently, for the door itself, by meton. 444. Protecti sinistris: protected by their left hands, (by the shields which they supported on their left arm,) they oppose their shields, &c. Fastigia: the roof, or the eaves or edge of the roof. 445. Tecta culmina domorum; the covered tops of their houses. Here tecta is a participial adjective, from the verb tego. Its neuter, tectum, properly signifies the roof or covering of any building. Hence by synec. the building itself-a house, a palace. 447. In extrema morte: in the last catastrophe. Suprema ruinâ, says Ruæus. 448. Devolvunt auratas trabes: they tumble down upon their enemies the gilded rafters, the stately decorations of their ancestors. In this passage, the poet has drawn a lively picture of men in despair. Some copies have decora illa parentum; which has a peculiar emphasis. 449. Alii obsedère. These I take to be Trojan guards, who had taken possession of the lower doors, to prevent the entrance of the Greeks. Others understand the Greeks themselves, who had besieged the doors. Mucronibus. Mucro is properly the point of the sword; by synec. put for the whole sword. 450. Denso agmine: in a close, or compact body. Animi: courage. 452. Levare: in the sense of juvare. Victis: to those despairing-fighting without any hope of victory. Vim: force-vigor. In the sing. it is a triptot; in the plu. regular. 453. Pervius usus tectorum: lit. a thoroughfare (free communication) between the palaces of Priam with each other, and a gate left free (unobserved by the enemy) from behind, where unhappy Andromache, &c. It appears that Priam had two palaces near each other, with a communication between them; in one of which Hector and Andromache resided, while he and Hecuba resided in the other. Limen: an entrance. Caca: private-secret. Through this private, or back door, Eneas entered the palace, and ascended by the usual passage up to the watch-tower. 454. Postes in the sense of porta. 455. Quà infelix Andromache. The mention of her using this secret passage of the palace, gives a dignity to the circumstance, which in itself is low. Sæpiùs Andromache ferre incomitata solebat Tela manu miseri jactabant irrita Teucri. 460 Sedibus, impulimusque. Ea lapsa repentè ruinam 465 Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus Qualis ubi in lucem coluber, mala gramina pastus, NOTES. 457. Soceros: her parents-in-law-Priam and Hecuba. Astyanacta: a Greek acc. of Astyanax. Some say he was carried off by Ulysses, others say by Menelaus, in the absence of Pyrrhus, and thrown over a precipice, to evade the prophecy, which imported that, if he lived, he would avenge his parents and country. The name is of Greek origin, and signifies, a king of a city. 458. Evado ad fustigia: I ascend to the top of the highest roof. The word evado marks the danger of the enterprise, and the hazard he ran of being intercepted by the enemy. It is probable that by fastigia here, we are to understand the battlements, or watchtower, which had been built upon the highest part of the palace. We may suppose the palace to have been of different heights, or to have consisted of several buildings, differing in height, and connected together so as to form one mass, each of them with its respective roof; hence the propriety of the expressions: summi tecti-summi culminis, &c. 460. In præcipiți: in a dangerous place -in a projecting situation. 461. Summis tectis: with its highest roof, or simply, with its top. It is plain that tectum here means the roof, or ridge of the tower. 463. Ferro. Ferrum properly signifies iron. Hence any instrument made of iron -any edged tool; such as swords, axes, &c. With these instruments they cut the tower loose, where the topmost story gave weak joints. Mr. Davidson observes, it is somewhat difficult to determine the meaning of summa in this place; because the poet speaks as if the whole tower had been torn from its place, and not one story of it only. He therefore thinks we may understand by the summa tabulata, the highest story of the 470 458. Hac via evado 460. Nos circum aggressi ferro turrim 461. Unde omnis Troja solita est videri, et naves Danaûm solitæ sunt videri 468. Cessat jactari a Danais 471. Talis, qualis coluber est, ubi serpit in lucem, pastus mala gramina, quem tumidum frigida bruma tegebat sub terra; nunc, palace, on which the tower stood, and to which it was fastened: or perhaps the highest story, or part of the tower only, was overthrown. Labantes: in the sense of infirmas. 464. Dabant: in the sense of habebant. 469. Ante ipsum: before the very entrance, or vestibule. The vestibulum properly was the court yard or space before the door of the house. By primo limine, we may understand the outer gate; perhaps the one that gave admittance into the vestibulum. 470. Coruscus ahenâ luce: gleaming in arms, and brazen light; the brass of his armour reflected the light. Pyrrhus. He was the son of Achilles and Deïdamia, so called from the color of his skin, which was red. He was sometimes called Neoptolemus, from two Greek words, which together signify a new war. He inherited much of the spirit and temper of his father. He slew Priam while holding the altar, to which he had fled for refuge; and sacrificed his daughter Polyxena at the tomb of his father. After the destruction of Troy, he carried off Andromache, whom he married; at least he had a son by her, named Molossus. He afterwards married her to Helenus, the son of Friam, upon his falling in love with Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Pyrrhus was slain in the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, by Orestes, to whom Hermione had been promised. He was also called Pelides, from Peleus, his grandfather. 471. Pastus mala: having fed upon poisonous herbs. It is said that serpents, when they lie in wait for either man or beast, eat poisonous herbs and roots, to make their bite more fatal. 472. Bruma: properly the shortest day of winter the winter solstice; hence by |