ullæ volantes. Imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque, tubamque, Dicitur, æternumque tenet per sæcula nomen. His actis, properè exsequitur præcepta Sibyllæ. Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu, Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris ; 239. Super quam haud Quam super haud ullæ poterant impunè volantes Tendere iter pennis: talis sese halitus atris Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat; Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Avernum. 243. Hic sacerdos Quatuor hic primùm nigrantes terga juvencos constituit quatuor ju- Constituit, frontique invergit vina sacerdos ; vencos nigrantes quoad Et summas carpens media inter cornua setas, Ignibus imponit sacris libamina prima, terga 246. Imponit quasi prima libamina eas, Voce vocans Hecaten, cœloque Ereboque potentem. 250. Æneas ipse ferit Æneas matri Eumenidum magnæque sorori ense agnam atri velle- Ense ferit; sterilemque tibi, Proserpina, vaccam. ris matri Tum Stygio regi nocturnas inchoat aras, 254. Superfundens Et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis, que pingue Pingue supèrque fundens ardentibus extis. 256. Solum cœpit Ecce autem, primi sub lumina Solis et ortus, mugire sub pedibus, et Sub pedibus mugire solum, et juga cœpta moveri juga sylvarum cœpta sunt moveri, canesque Sylvarum; visæque canes ululare per umbram, visæ sunt Adventante Deâ. Procul, ô, procul este, profani. NOTES. 233. Imponit, &c. The poet here uses the verb imponit with two nouns, when, in strict propriety it can agree with one of them only. He builds a tomb, and places upon it (imponit) his arms, &c. He orders to be carved upon it his arms, to denote that he was a warrior-an oar, to show that he perished in a naval expedition-and a trumpet, to denote his office. 234. Monte sub aërio, qui. The mountain here meant is the promontory Misenus, which forms the western shore of the Sinus Puteolanus, or Neapotilanus. Hodie, Capo Miseno. Not far from was the Portus Misenus, where Augustus kept a part of his fleet. 238. Tuta in the sense of defensa. Volantes: in the sense of aves. 240. Halitus: vapor-stench. Supera convera: the high canopy of heaven. Effundens in the sense of erumpens. 242. Avernum. Sec Geor. iv. 493. 243. Hic primùm, &c. The lake Avernus appears to have been chosen as the place of this sacrifice, because, by it, it was thought an easier access was had to the infernal deities, particularly Hecate. Having prepared her victims, the Sibyl poured wine between their horns; afterward cut a lock of the topmost hair, and cast it upon the fire as the first offering, to show that the sacri 235 240 245 250 255 fice was then begun, and that the victims were then devoted to the gods. 247. Vocans Hecaten. Servius informs us, that Hecate was usually invoked not by words, but by certain mystic and inarticulate sounds. 248. Alii supponunt: others apply the knives (i. e. slay the victims) and catch, &c. Suscipiunt in the sense of excipiunt. 250. Matri Eumenidum: to the mother of the furies, that is, Nox. See Geor. i. 278. Night is said to have brought forth the furies to Acheron; which, in the language of poetry, signifies that night or darkness is the mother of horrid shapes, visionary forms, and apparitions. Magna sorori: to her great sister, that is, to the earth, Tellus: for night is only the shadow of the earth, or the absence of light. 252. Aras: by meton. for the sacrifices offered upon them. They were offered in the night: hence the epithet nocturna. For aras, Ruæus says sacrificia. 253. Solida viscera. By these we are to understand the whole or entire carcases of the victims; so that this sacrifice was properly what was called a holocaust, or whole burnt-offering. Totam victimam, says Heyno. 256. Solum: in the sense of terra. 258. Procul! O procul! be at a distance at a distance, O ye profane! This was Conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco. 260 265 270 261. Nunc opus est animis, O Ænea, 263. Ille æquat ducem vadentem, haud -ti 624. Vosque silentes umbræ, ct 266. Fas sit mihi vestro numine, pandere res mersas 270. Tale quale est iter in sylvis per incertam Lunam Dî, quibus imperium est animarum, umbræque silentes, midis NOTES. 259. Absistile: in the sense of recedite. 260. Eripe ferrum: draw the sword from the sheath. This indicated danger, and the hazard of the enterprise. 262. Tantum: so much-this only. 263. Vadentem: in the sense of euntem, vel ingredientem. 265. Chaos: properly, a confused and indigested mass of matter, out of which it is supposed all things were made.-One of the most ancient gods of the Heathens; or rather the parent of them all. Phlegethon: the name of one of the infernal rivers, of Greek derivation. According to the poets, there were five rivers of hell, Acheron, Cocytus, Styx, Phlegethon, and Lethe, all of Greek derivation. Silentia: this is the common reading; but Heyne, on the authority of Heinsius, has tacentia. 267. Mersas: in the sense of tectas vel occultas. 275 275. Hic quoque pallentesque morbi 278. Tum in adverso limine sunt Sopor mering light. Others, the moon occasionally hid and obscured by clouds. Maligna luce: envious light-that which shines so faintly, as if it grudged one the happiness of enjoying it. Condidit: hath hid, or covered. 273. Vestibulum. This was the space or area contained between the house and highway. In this vestibulum of hell, the poet describes the various calamities of human life, as having their residence: all of which he clothes with a kind of airy body. 274. Cura: in the sense of conscientia, says Heyne. 276. Fames malesuada: hunger persuading to evil. Quæ suadet rapinas sceleraque, says Heyne. Non tantùm inopia victûs; sed etiam avaritia, et auri sacra fames, says Ruæus. That avarice and thirst for gold, which persuades and hurries men to the perpetration of crimes, and is the fruitful source of evils. 278. Sopor: sleep, the brother of death. The poets tell us that Somnus and Mors were children of Nox. Or, in the language of poetry, sleep and death may be called brothers, on account of their resemblance. Mila gaudia mentis: the criminal joys of the mind. Tum: then-in the next place. 280. Ferrei thalami, &c. By the iron beds of the furies, we are to understand the racking torments of a guilty conscience, the 268. Obscuri solâ nocte: by hypallage, for consequence of a course of vice and sensuasoli obscura nocte. 270. Per incertam lunam. By this, some understand the new moon soon after its change, when it shines with a feeble or glim lity: and, by frantic discord, bound as to its viperous locks with bloody fillets, we are to understand all those base and turbulent passions, which unhinge the mind, and over Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis. In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit 285. Multa monstra Multaque prætereà variarum monstra ferarum, variarum ferarum sta- Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllæque biformes, bulant in foribus Orci, Et centum geminus Briareus, ac bellua Lernæ nempe, Centauri Horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimæra ; Gorgones, Harpyiæque; et forma tricorporis umbræ. Corripit hic subitâ trepidus formidine ferrum Æreas, strictamque aciem venientibus offert. 292. Et irruat, et frus- Et, ni docta comes tenues sinè corpore vitas trà diverberat umbras Admoneat volitare cavâ sub imagine formæ, ferro, ni docta comes admoneat eum illas te- Irruat, et frustrà ferro diverberet umbras. nues vitas volitare sinè corpore 281 285 290 Hinc via, Tartarei quæ fert Acherontis ad undas. 295 Turbidus hic cœno vastâque voragine gurges 295. Hinc est via, quæ Estuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat arenam. 296. Hic gurges tur Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat 298. Portitor Charon Terribili squalore Charon: cui plurima mento horrendus terribili squa- Canities inculta jacet: stant lumina flamma: bidus cœno lore servat Sordidus ex humeris nodo dependet amictus. lastom how NOTES turn the peace of society. These, with great propriety, are placed in the opposite threshold, confronting the criminal joys of the mind. Thalami: not the marriage bed; for the furies were never married; but rather the place where they were begotten, or where they resided. 284. Hærent. Dreams are here represented as only perching upon the leaves, perhaps on account of their light wandering nature. Ferunt: they report-say. Tenere: in the sense of occupare. 285. Multa monstra: many forms or spectres of savage beasts. 286. Centauri: these were fabled to have been monsters, half man and half horse. They may, therefore, properly be said to be stabled. The truth is, they were a people of Thessaly, who first broke horses, and made use of them in war Scylle biformes. See Ecl. vi. 74. 287. Briareus: one of the giants, said to have had a hundred hands. Bellua Lernæ: the beast of Lerna-the snake which was bred in the lake of Lerna, and destroyed by Hercules. It had seven heads, and some say fifty; and as soon as any one of them was cut off, another sprang up in its place. Stridens: hissing horribly. 238. Chimara: a monster said to vomit flames. Its head was that of a lion, its breast and middle parts resembled a goat, and its tail a serpent. He was slain by Bellerophon on the horse Pegasus. The truth of the fable is this: Chimara was the name of a mountain in Lycia, in Asia Minor, L review 300 whose top was infested with lions, and its bottom with serpents, while its iniddle parts and sides abounded with goats. Bellerophon rendered it habitable, and was therefore said to have slain the monster. 289. Forma tricorporis umbræ : the form of the three-bodied ghost Geryon. He was fabled to have had three bodies, because he reigned over three islands, Minorca, Majorca, and Urica. He was a king of Spain. 291. Offert presents. Vitas: in the sense of umbras. 293. Forme: in the sense of figuræ vel corporis. 296. Gurges: the river Styx or Acheron. Eructat in the sense of immittit. Cocyto. in the sense of in Cocytum. 298. Horrendus terribili squalore: frightful with horrid filthiness. 299. Cui plurima mento: on whose chin a very large hoary beard lies neglected and undressed. Cui: in the sense of cujus. ma. 300. Lumina: in the sense of oculi. Flam This is the common reading, but the Roman, Medicean, and some other copies, have flamme in the plu. Davidson reads flamma. Heyne reads flamma, but takes it in the sense of flammea, and stant, in the sense of sunt: Lumina sunt flammea. Some copies have lumine slant flamme, taking lumine for oculis, which makes the reading easy. Ruæus says. oculi sunt pleni igne. Valpy reads, flammâ, in the abl. 303. Corpora: in the sense of umbras, vel inania corpora. Ferrugineâ: dark-colored of an iron hue. Jam senior: sed cruda Deo viridisque senectus. 304. Cruda viridisque 305 senectus est illi utpote Deo 309. Tam multi, quàm 310 multa folia lapsa cadunt in sylvis primo frigore autumni; aut quàin multæ aves glomerantur 315 320 326 oarse Hæc omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est : NOTES. 306. Defuncta: in the sense of privata. 310. Gurgite in the sense of mari. Glomerantur: in the sense of congregant. Frigidus annus: the cold season of the yearthe approach of winter. 315. Tristis: inexorable. Ruæus says, asper. 316. Ast arcet alios: but drives others removed far from the shore. Those that were unburied were not permitted to pass over, until such time as they had received the rites of burial. 313. Quid vult: what means this concourse, &c. 319. Quo discrimine: by what distinction; or by what reason. 320. Vada: in the sense of aquas, vel amnem. 321. Longæva sacerdos. Servius tells us that Apollo, out of affection for the Sibyl, promised her whatever she should ask; upon which she took up a handful of sand, and desired to have her life prolonged to a length of years equal to the number of the sands the mass contained. Her request was granted, on condition she should remove from Erythra to Cume, and there spend the remainder of her days. She lived so long 330 327. Nec datur ei transportare eos horrendas ripas, nec rauca that she was so completely emaciated that she retained nothing but her voice. 323. Alla slagna: the deep waters. 324. Cujus numen Di: by whose divinity the gods fear to swear and to deceive. The river Styx was held in such veneration by the gods that they used to swear by it, and if they violated their oath they were deprived of their divinity, and were excluded from nectar and ambrosia for nine years; some say for a hundred years. The reason assigned for their conferring this honor upon Styx is, that her offspring, Victory and Strength, had given the gods such signal assistance in the war against the Tilans. Per cujus numen Dii, &c. 325. Inops: poor--unable to pay their fare, which was an obolus. Or, unable to pay the expenses of burial, and so remained inhumata, unburied. 327. Datur: in the sense of permittitur. 328. Sedibus: in their graves. 330. Admissi: in the sense of recepti. Revisunt: in the sense of transeunt. 331. Pressil vestigia: in the sense of continuit gressum vel pedem; a phrase. 333. Honore mortis: burial. Privatos honore sepulturæ, says Ruæus. 343. Namque Apollo, haud antè repertus mihi fallax, delusit animum hoc uno responso; qui canebat 335 340 345 Leucaspim, et Lyciæ ductorem classis Orontem : Quos simul à Trojâ ventosa per æquora vectos Obruit Auster, aquâ involvens navemque virosque Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat: Qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat, Exciderat puppi, mediis effusus in undis. Hunc ubi vix multâ mæstum cognovit in umbrâ, Sic prior alloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, Deorum Eripuit nobis, medioque sub æquore mersit? Dic, age. Namque mihi fallax baud antè repertus, Hoc uno responso animum delusit Apollo; Qui fore te ponto incolumem, finesque canebat Venturum Ausonios: en! hæc promissa fides est ? Ille autem: Neque te Phœbi cortina fefellit, Dux Anchisiade; nec me Deus æquore mersit. 349. Namque præci- Namque gubernâclum multâ vi fortè revulsum, pitans traxi mecum gu- Cui datus hærebam custos, cursusque regebam, Præcipitans traxi mecum. Maria aspera juro, 351. Juro per aspera Non ullum pro me tantum cepisse timorem ; maria me non cepisse ul- Quàm tua ne, spoliata armis, excussa magistro, Deficeret tantis navis surgentibus undis. Tres Notus hybernas immensa per æquora noctes Vexit me violentus aquâ vix lumine quarto Prospexi Italiam, summâ sublimis ab undâ. Paulatim adnabam terræ, et jam tuta tenebam ; Ni gens crudelis madidâ cum veste gravatum, Prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis, 360 Ferro invasisset, prædamque ignara putâsset. Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque in litore venti bernâclum fortè revul sum lum ceast 358. Tuta loca, ni crudelis gens ferro invasis set me NOTES. 336. Obruit: urowned-sunk. 337. Agebat sese: in the sense of ferebat sese. 338. Libyco cursu. Palinurus was not drowned in the Libyan, but in the Tuscan sea, after he set sail from Sicily. The voyage was commenced from Africa, or Libya, which is the reason of its being called a Libyan course, or voyage. Effusus: in the sense of lapsus vel præcipitatus. 347. Cortina: the table or tripod on which the statue of Apollo was placed, whence responses were given; by meton. the oracle itself. Neque te. In this and the following line some imagine a difficulty; to remove which, they make a point after the pronoun me, reading it thus: Nor hath the oracle of Apollo deceived you, nor me; a god plunged me into the sea. For the poet had informed us, Lib. v. 841, that Palinurus was actually thrown overboard by the god Somnus. Others connect the me with mersit, and say, though it was a god, yet Palinurus believed it to be Phorbas, one of the sons of Priam. But there is no need of this refinement. 348. Nec mersit: nor hath a god drowned me in the sea. Although Palinurus was thrown overboard by Somnus, he was not drowned. He arrived safe to the shores of Italy, and therefore the promise of Apollo : was not false and deceptive. 350 355 Mersit: in 350. Cui hærebam: to which I clung, being the appointed helmsman. With the part of the ship which he carried with him, Palinurus kept himself above the water, and was enabled to swin to the land. 353. Ne tua navis, spoliata: lest your ship being deprived of its rudder and destitute of a pilot, &c. Arma signifies, when applied to navigation, the whole tackling or equipments of a ship, whether for use, steerage, ornament, or defence. Excussa: in the sense of privata. Armis: for gubernaculo. 357. Sublimis: raised high on the top of a wave, I saw Italy. Lumine: in the senso of die. 358. Paulatim : at my ease-r.cwly. There are several instances in Virgil where the indicative appears to be used instead of the subjunctive, or where the sense evidently requires the sub. Jam tula tenebam: I should have now been safe on land, had not, &c. 359. Ni in the sense of sed, vel autem. 361. Putâssel: by syn. for putavisset. They ignorant thought me a prize. 362. Versant: toss my dead body on the shore. |