Hæc ait et partes animum versabat in omnes, Invisam quærens quàm primùm abrumpere lucem. 632. Affata est Barcen Tum breviter Barcen nutricem affata Sichæi, Namque suam patriâ antiquâ cinis ater habebat : 634. O chara nutrix, Annam, chara, mihi, nutrix, huc siste sororem: Annam Dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lymphâ, huc mihi : dic ut prope- Et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat. Sic veniat tuque ipsa piâ tege tempora vittâ. Sacra Jovi Stygio quæ ritè incepta paravi, siste sororem ret 639. Animus est mihi Perficere est animus, finemque imponere curis ; Conscendit furibunda rogos, ensemque recludit NOTES. 635. Spargere fluriali lymphâ : to sprinkle her body with river water. It was a custom of the Greeks and Romans to wash their bodies before they performed sacrifice. See En. ii. 719. But this was only observed in regard to the superior gods. They sprinkled themselves only, when they were to offer sacrifice to the infernal gods, as in the present case. 636. Pecudes: in the sense of victimas. Monstrata in the sense of jussa, vel desig nata. 638. Slygio Jovi: Pluto. He was the brother of Jupiter, and in the division of the world, the infernal regions fell to him by lot. The epithet Stygius is added, from Styx, a well known fabulous river of hell. 640. Permittere: to commit the funeral pile of the Trojan (Eneas) to the flames. Capilis: by synec. for the body, or whole man-here, the Trojan, to wit, Æneas. 641. Studio: zeal-officiousness. 642. Immanibus: awful-horrid. Effra: in the sense of efferaia. 644. Interfusa: spotted-streaked. 645. Irrumpit: she rushed into the inner apartment of the palace. It is plain that limen signifies any part of the house, as well as the threshold. The funeral pile was erected in penetrali side, in the inner apartment. See 504, supra. 646. Rogos. The funeral pile was called rogus, before it was set on fire: while burn 630 635 640 645 650 ing, it was called pyra; and after it was consumed, bustum : all of which are derived from the Greek. 647. Munus non quæsitum: a present not designed, or gotten for such a use- -for being the instrument of her death. From this, some infer that Eneas had made Dido this present of a Trojan sword-Dardanium ensem. But it is more probable that it was a present from Dido to Eneas; and that in his hurry to be gone, he had left it with some other things, in her bedchamber. Quæsitum. Ruæus says, comparatum.— Heyne, paratum, acceptum, datum. 652. Curis: troubles-sorrows. 654. El nunc and now my ghost (imago) shall descend illustrious to the shades below. Mei: in the sense of mca, agreeing with imago. Turnebus thinks the epithet magna is used, because ghosts make their appearance at night, when to the affrighted imagination of the spectators, the object appears larger than life. But this is a very singular opinion. Dido is speaking in the language of majesty, and setting forth her illustrious deeds. She had built a flourishing city, and laid the foundation of a powerful kingdom-she had punished her brother for the death of her husband-she had reigned in glory-in a word, she had been happy in every instance, till the Trojan fleet visited her coast. In this situation of mind, nothing Urbem præclaram statui: mea mœnia vidi : NOTES. can be more natural than for her to conceive her ghost to be of great and illustrious rank, and distinguished even in the other world above others, as she had been herself distinguished in this. 656. Recepi pœnas. She had recovered from her brother her own wealth, and the treasure for which he murdered her husband. It is with great propriety, therefore, she uses the word recepi, when speaking of the revenge she had taken of Pygmalion. 659. Moriemur inultæ: shall I die unrevenged? but let me die. Thus, thus, it delights me to descend to the shades below. Inulta: unrevenged of Æneas and the Trojans. The fatal moment having arrived, the poet represents her to us in the very act of stabbing herself, by the turn of his verse. The repetition of the sic sets her before us, plunging the instrument in her breast, and thrusting it home with a kind of desperate complacency. Impressa os toro: having kissed the bed, she said, &c. 666. Bacchatur: in the sense of discurrit. Concussam: in the sense of commotam, vel allonitam. 668. Fremunt: in the sense of resonant. 669. Ruat: falls. Ruæus says, subvertatur. 670. Furentes: the furious flames were rolling through the houses of men, and the (temples) of the gods. Culmen is properly the ridge of the house; by synec. put for the whole house. 675. Hoc illud fuit: O sister, was this your design-was this the object you had in view, in erecting this funeral pile? : 677. Deserta being thus abandoned, of what shall I first complain? 678. Fata: in the sense of mortem. 679. Dolor: pain-ache-anguish. Heyne says, vulnus. 681. Sic positâ: thus lying dead. 682. Extinxsti: thou hast destroyed me and thyself, &c. Some copies have exstinxi, in the first person. By this Anna turns the reproach from Dido to herself. But most commentators prefer the second person. Sidonios patres. By these we are to understand probably the Carthaginian senators, or the legislative branch of the government. It is plain that they are distinguished from the body of the people. Extinxsti: by syn. for extinxisti. Date: in the sense of ferte. Lymphis: in the sense of This was a rite performed towards the bodies of the dead by their nearest relations. Hence the mother of Euryalus regrets that aquâ. abluam vulnera 683. Date aquam ut Sidonios, urbemque tuam. Date, vulnera lymphis 692. Ingemuitque, ea Quæsivit cœlo lucem, ingemuitque repertâ. flavum crinem vertice, damnaveratque caput Stygio Orco, quia T'um Juno omnipotens longum miserata dolorem, Difficilesque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo, Quæ luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus. 696. Nam Proserpina Nam, quia nec fato, meritâ nec morte peribat, nondum abstulerat illi Sed misera ante diem, subitoque accensa furore ; Nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem Abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco. Ergò Iris croceis per cœlum roscida pennis, 702. Ego jussa fero Mille trahens varios adverso Sole colores, hunc crinem sacrum Devolat, et supra caput adstitit: hunc ego Diti Diti; solvoque te ab isto Sacrum jussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo. Sic ait: et dextrâ crinem secat. Omnis et unà Dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit. corpore. 705. Omnis calor dilapsus est. NOTES. she had not shut his eyes, nor washed his wounds. En. ix. 485. 684. Siquis extremus: if any last breath remain, that I may catch it with my mouth. Virgil is here thought to allude to a ceremony among the Greeks and Romans: when a person was just expiring, the nearest relation put his mouth to his that he might catch the last breath. Ruæus interprets super by adhuc. Super-errat is evidently used in the sense of superesset. The substitution of esset for errat makes the reading easy. Some copies have esset. 688. Conara: agreeing with Dido. 689. Vulnus stridet: the wound hisses, occasioned by the gushing out of the blood. Infixum: made. 693. Dolorem: pain. Obitus: departure -death. 695. Resolveret animam: might separate her soul and body. Nexos artus: compacted or united limbs. 696. Quia nec fato. The ancients divided death into three kinds: natural, merited or deserved, and accidental. The natural death was when a person accomplished the ordinary term of human life, or that space alotted to him in the councils of the gods. The merited or deserved death was, when a person was deprived of life by the immediate interposition of the gods for the pu 685 690 695 700 705 The casu nishment of atrocious conduct. al, or accidental, was, when a person took away his own life in some way or other: such an one was said to die before his time. This was the case with Dido. 697. Furore: passion. Diem: in the sense of tempus. 698. Nondum illi: Proserpine had not yet plucked for her the yellow lock, &c. The ancients had a notion that none could die till Proserpine, either in person, or by Atropos, had cut a lock of hair from the crown of their head. This was considered a kind of first-fruits to Pluto. This custom took its rise from sacrifices: when they used to pluck some of the hairs from the front of the victim, and cast them into the fire. 699. Orco: dat. of Orcus, a name of Pluto. 700. Iris ergò: dewy Iris flies through heaven. Iris was the messenger of the goddesses, especially of Juno. She is said to be the daughter of Thaumas and Electra. Servius observes that Iris is, for the most part, employed in matters of mischief, and contention. See En. v. 606. and ix. 803. Iris: the rainbow. This interesting appearance is occasioned by the rays of the sun, reflected by the vapors or drops of rain. It can only take place, or be seen, when the sun and cloud are opposite to each other, in regard to the spectator. What is the subject of this book? What is its nature, and character? How does it commence? QUESTIONS. What plan did Juno propose to effect her purpose of averting the Trojans from Italy? Did she effect a union between Dido and Eneas? Was that union dissolved? By whom was it dissolved? By whom was Eneas commanded to leave Carthage? How did Dido receive the information that he was ordered to leave her? What effect had it upon her? What course did she pursue in order to divert him from his purpose? As soon as the match was concluded between Dido and Eneas, was the news of that event spread abroad? By whom was it spread? Whom does Virgil imitate in the description of Fame? Who was Iarbas? What had he previously proposed to Dido? How was that proposition received? What effect had the news of Dido's marriage upon that prince? How was he occupied at that time? Who was said to be his father? Who was Jupiter Ammon? Had he any celebrated temple? Did many of her countrymen accompany her? What appears to have been her original purpose in leaving Tyre? Had a colony of Tyrians previously set tled in Africa? Who were the leaders of that colony? What did they call their settlement? How was Dido received by her countrymen? What did they desire her to do? What is the meaning of that word in the Phoenician language? But do not some give a different account? What did she call the town or citadel? What is the meaning of Byrsa in the Greek language? To what mistake did that lead? How have some attempted to explain that story? What does Rollin say of it in his history of Carthage? Did Dido purchase any tract of country for her city? What was the nature of the contract? What was the consequence of their refusal? Is it supposed by some that Virgil is guilty of an anachronism in making Dido and Whom does Sir Isaac Newton make this Æneas cotemporary? Ammon to have been? Does Justin the historian give a different account of this matter? What does he say of it? What was the issue of it as related by him? In what character was Dido considered afterward by her countrymen ? Who was Dido? What is the meaning of that word? By what other name was she sometimes called? What was the name of her father, ac cording to Josephus? What does Virgil call him? What does Marollius call him? Is Belus, probably, an abbreviation of Ithobalus? To whom was she married at Tyre? What office did he hold? What was the character of Pygmalion, her brother? What atrocious deed did he perform? How was Dido informed of the cruel deed? What advice did the ghost of her husband give her? What did she do in consequence of that? What does Bochart say of it? Upon what does he found his conclusions? Does Sir Isaac Newton make a different calculation? How much later has he brought down the destruction of Troy? Is it a fair conclusion that it was a general received opinion, they were cotemporary? Was this sufficient ground for the poet to assume it as a fact? Does the introduction of Dido into the Eneid add much to its embellishment? How long did Carthage continue? What was the character of its inhabitants? Were the Carthaginians a powerful nation? Who was the most distinguished commander and general among them? By whom was Carthage finally destroyed? In what year of Rome was that effected? Finding she could not prevail upon Æneas to remain at Carthage, what desperate resolution did Dido make? Under what pretence did she order the altar to be erected? What effect had the departure of the Trojans from her coast upon her? Did she make any imprecation against Eneas and the Trojans? Was it realized with regard to Æneas, if we may believe history? Was it realized in regard to the Romans, his descendants? Was there always a jealousy subsisting between the two nations? How many celebrated wars were waged between them? How does the book conclude? How did Dido put an end to her life? LIBER QUINTUS. THIS book opens with the departure of Eneas from Carthage. He had not been long at sea before a violent storm arose, which forced him to turn his course to Sicily. He entered the port of Drepanum. Here he is received with great cordiality and affection by king Acestes. After offering sacrifice, and celebrating the anniversary of his father's death, Æneas institutes four kinds of games in honor of him. These occupy from verse 114 to 602. In the mean time, the Trojan women, at the instigation of Iris, who was sent by Juno for that purpose, set fire to the ships, in the hope, by these means, to put an end to the voyage of which they were weary. At the intreaty of Æneas, Jupiter sent a heavy shower of rain, which extinguished the flames. Four of the fleet, however, were lost. Upon this Nautes advises Æneas, since he had lost part of his fleet, to leave in Sicily the aged, and all who were weary of the voyage. This advice was confirmed the following night by the ghost of Anchises, which appeared to him in a vision. It also directed him to go to the Sibyl of Cuma, who would conduct him to the infernal regions, where he should receive a fuller account of his own fortune, and of that of his race. The hero followed the advice; and having founded a city, which he called Acestes, after his venerable friend, he set sail for Italy. He had not long been at sea, before he lost Palinurus, the pilot of his ship, who fell overboard in sleep; after which Æneas took upon himself the duty and business of pilot. This book is of a gay and lively nature, and very properly comes after the tragical account of Dido's unhappy end. The games are imitated from the 23d book of the Iliad, where Achilles is represented as instituting games in honor of his friend Patroclus. INTEREA medium Æneas jam classe tenebat Collucent flammis: u : quæ tantum accenderit ignem, 5. Sed duri labores Causa latet: duri magno sed amore dolores ex magno amore pol- Polluto, notumque, furens quid fœmina possit, luto, noli; quidque fu rens fœmina possit fa- Triste per augurium Teucrorum pectora ducunt. Ut pelagus tenuere rates, nec jam ampliùs ulla cere, notum, ducunt 5 10 9. Sed undique co- Occurrit tellus, cœlum undique, et undique pontus, lum, et undique pontus Olli cœruleus supra caput adstitit imber, apparet Noctem hyememque ferens: et inhorruit unda tenebris. NOTES. 1. Medium iter. This is literally the middle of his course. But this, strictly speaking, cannot be; for he beheld the flames of Dido's funeral pile. Ruæus and Davidson take medium in the sense of profundum; and understand the phrase to mean, that Æneas had gotten into the full or deep sea. could read mare instead of iter, then there would be no difficulty in this interpretation. 2. Certus: determined on going. Fluctus atros Aquilone: he cut the waves blackened If we by the wind; or he cut the blackened waves before the wind. Aquilo: the north wind, put for wind in general; the species for the genus. Mania: in the sense of urbem. 6. Polluto: in the sense of leso, vel violato. 7. Per triste augurium: through gloomy presages or conjectures. 8. Ut in the sense of quando. 10. Imber: in the sense of nubes vel nimOlli: for illi, by antithesis. bus. |