Tum lateri atque humeris Tegeæum subligat ensem, Procedunt, gressumque canes comitantur herilem. Sermonum memor et promissi muneris, heros. 460 460. Retorquens in destram terga pantheræ Nec minùs Æneas se matutinus agebat. 465 Rex prior hæc : Maxime Teucrorum ductor, quo sospite, nunquam Res equidem Troja victas aut regna fatebor. NOTES. broad, and fastened to the feet with gilded thongs. The poet here makes a very happy transition from the smoke, fire, and noise of Vulcan's cavern, to the sweet air of the morning, and the charming music of birds. 459. Tegeœum: an adj. from Tegea, a city of Arcadia, where Pan was especially worshipped: Arcadian. 460. Retorquens terga, &c. This panther's skin was cast or thrown back over the right shoulder, passed around, and hung down over the left. Terga: in the sense of pel lem. 461. Gemini canes, &c. These two dogs, that are all the guard Evander has, gives us a lively image of the poverty and simplicity of that good monarch. 463. Secreta: private apartments, which Eneas occupied. 464. Muneris: aid-assistance. 465. Agebat: in the sense of movebat. 468. Licito: free-unrestrained. 471. Res Troja: the power of Troy. 472. Pro tanto nomine: for, or in proportion to, the greatness of the Trojan name; or the greatness of the cause in which he was about to engage. 473. Exigua vires: small ability, or means to support, &c. Tusco amni: the Tiber, 470 475 480 484. Dî reservent talia 485 capiti ipsius, generique. 482. Mezentius tenuit, &c. This story is of importance to the subject, and very properly introduced in this place. For, without the auxiliary forces of the Tuscans, Æneas could not have carried on the war. The tyranny of Mezentius gives an air of probability to the whole. 485. Quin etiam jungebat: moreover he joined dead bodies to the living, putting, &c. The invention of this cruel kind of punishment, is ascribed, by Cicero and others, to the Tuscans. Virgil takes occasion hence to form a character of uncommon barbarity in one of his personages. 487. Genus tormenti! Tormenti genus! et sanie taboque fluentes, et sic necabat homines Complexu in misero, longâ sic morte necabat. fluentes sanie taboque, At fessi tandem cives infandà furentem in hoc misero Armati circumsistunt, ipsumque, domumque : 491. Jactant ignem Obtruncant socios, ignem ad fastigia jactant. ad fastigia ejus regiæ. Ille inter cædes Rutulorum elapsus in agros Confugere, et Turni defendier hospitis armis. Ergò omnis furiis surrexit Etruria justis, 493. Cupit confugere et defendier armis cens, 490 495 499 Regem ad supplicium præsenti Marte reposcunt. His ego te, Ænea, ductorem millibus addam. Toto namque fremunt condensæ litore puppes, sa 498. Retinet eos: di- Signaque ferre jubent. Retinet longavus aruspex, O delecta juventus, Fata canens: O Mæoniæ delecta juventus, Flos veterum virtusque virûm ; quos justus in hostem 501. Et quos Mezen- Fert dolor, et meritâ accendit Mezentius irâ he has merit tius accendit merita irâ; Nulli fas Italo tantam subjungere gentem: est fas nulli Italo 1 Externos optate duces. A Tum Etrusca resedit 505. Tarchon ipse mi- Ipse oratores ad me regnique coronam sit oratores cedam 509. Viresque jam ni- Sed mihi tarda gelu, sæclisque effœta, senectus mis seræ ad fortia facta Invidet imperium, seræque ad fortia vires. invident mihi. Exhor- Natum exhortarer, ni, mixtus matre Sabellâ tarer meum natum fucere Hinc partem patriæ traheret. Tu, cujus et annis id, ni Et generi fatum indulget, quem numina poscunt, Ingredere, ô Teucrûm atque Italûm fortissime ductor. Hunc tibi prætereà, spes et solatia nostrî, Pallanta adjungam. Sub te tolerare magistro Militiam, et grave Martis opus, tua cernere facta 515. Adjungam hunc meum filium Pallanta tibi, spes, et solatia nostri; ut sub te magistro NOTES. 487. Genus tormenti: O horrid kind of torture! This is the sense of Ruæus and Valpy. But Heyne and Davidson take them not as an exclamation. Fluentes: wasting -pining away. 489. Infandà: an adj. neu. plu. taken as an adverb, in imitation of the Greeks: in the sense of immaniter.. 490. Circumsistunt: in the sense of obsident. 491. Socios: his friends-those who adhered to the king. Their houses were covered with straw, even the palaces of kings; which was the reason of their throwing fire on the roof of Mezentius's palace. 493. Defendier: by paragoge, for defendi. 497. Puppes: the ships, by meton. for the troops in them. Fremunt: impatient for the war. 498. Ferre signa: to bear forward the standards-to march. A military phrase. 499. Maonia. Mæonia is a country of Lydia, in Asia Minor, where a colony removed to Tuscany, and scctled. They built the city Agylla. Lydia and Maonia are used, however, somtimes indiscriminately for the same country. 505 510 515 501. Dolor: in the sense of indignatio Fert: in the sense of impellit. 502. Subjungere: to subduc. 503. Resedit: sat down. Acies: troops in general. Optate: choose ye. 504. Monitis: admonitions-prophetic declarations. Rumus says, oraculo. The same with fata, verse 499. 506. Mandatque: and commits the enThese signs (or badges) of royalty to me. were the crown and sceptre just mentioned. 508. Tarda gelu: benumbed by the frost of age. This is highly metaphorical. Sœclis. Sæculum properly signifies the space of thirty years; in which the old actors are already gone off the stage, and new ones have arisen in their room. Thus Nestor is said to have lived three ages, or ninety years, as Plutarch explains it. Saclis: by syn. for sæculis: here used in the sense of annis. Effeta: worn out-enfeebled. 510. Sabellâ matre: his Sabine mother By her, he became heir to a part of her na. tive country. It was therefore inconsistent with his duty to his people, to accept of the Tuscan crown. 520 Assuescat; primis et te miretur ab annis. Tum memorat: Ne verò, hospes, ne quære profectò 525 530 535 540 Heu quantæ miseris cædes Laurentibus instant! NOTES. 517. Primis annis: from his first and earliest years for bearing arms; which, among the Romans, was about the age of seventeen. 522. Putabant: they were just entering into a train of perplexing thoughts, as to the present crisis of affairs: and would have pursued them, had not Venus interposed. They were revolving in their minds many difficulties that might arise, &c. 524. Fulgor ribrutus: a flash of lightning darting across the sky, &c. 526. Tyrrhenus clangor: a Tuscan sound of the trumpet began, &c. The sound of the trumpet is called Tuscan, because it is said they were the inventors of that instrument. It was understood to indicate that Æneas was invited to the throne of the Tuscans. 529. Pulsa tonare. This seems to imply that the thunder was the effect of the clashing of the arms that appeared in the air. Being struck (pulsa) they seemed to thunder. Rutilare: to flash-shine through the clear air or sky. Visa sunt is understood. 532. Ne verò, hospes, ne: do not indeed, do not indeed, inquire what event these prodigies portend. This repetition is very emphatical. Some copies repeat the quare thus: ne quære verò, ne quære profectò. 534. Cecinit: in the sense of prædixit. Missuram: that she would send, &c. 525. Et omnia visa sunt ruere repentè 533. Ego poscor Olympo ad bellum. 535. Seque laturam Vulcania arma per auras pro auxilio mihi 537. Instant: in the sense of imminent. 540. Poscant acies: let them demand war let them break their treaties. This is spoken ironically. Ruæus says, petant bellum. Latinus had proposed Æneas for a sonin-law; and entered into an alliance or treaty of friendship with him. To that circumstance this is an allusion. 542. Sopitas aras, &c. Most commentators take this for, sopitos ignes in Herculeis aris, by hypallage: the dormant fires on the altar of Hercules. But it does not appear that Æneas returned to the grove, where the sacred rites had been performed the day before to Hercules. The altar here mentioned may have been Evander's domestic altar, to which the remains of the hallowed fire, from the altar of Hercules, might have been conveyed. If we suppose this, there will be no need of an hypallage. Excitat: he kindles up the dormant altars with the Herculean fire-the fire taken from the altar of Hercules as supposed. This seems to be the opinion of Ruæus and Davidson. 543. Hesternum Larem. By this some understand the hallowed hearth, on which the sacrifices have been offered the day before. But it may be Evander's Lar, or guardian god, to whom Eneas had sacrificed the day before; and with whom he had then become acquainted. Parvos Penates. The 547. De numero quorum legit eos præstantes 552. Ducunt unum exsortem equum Æneæ Lætus adit: mactant lectas de more bidentes Fama volat parvam subitò vulgata per urbem, Ocyus ire equites Tyrrheni ad limina regis. Vota metu duplicant matres; propiùsque perîclo It timor, et major Martis jam apparet imago. 558. Complexus dex- Tum pater Evandrus, dextram complexus euntis tram filii euntis hæret Hæret, inexpletum lachrymans, ac talia fatur: illi O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos! 545 550 TAS 561. Et fuciat me ta- Qualis eram, cùm primam aciem Præpeste sub ipsâ lem, qualis eram, cùm Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos : stravi primam aciem 567. Et exuit eum totidem armis. Nunc ego non divellerer usquam Et regem hâc Herilum dextrâ sub Tartara misi: 555 560 Horrendum dictu! dederat; terna arma movenda; 565 Abstulit hæc animas dextra, et totidem exuit armis. NOTES. Penates were tutelary deities, either for families, or for cities and provinces. The former were the Parvi Penates, sometimes called Lares: the latter, the Magni Penates. 544. Bidentes: properly sheep of two years old, of bis and dens. 549. Fertur pronâ aqua: borne down the descending stream. Segnis defluit. without labor, float down the current at their ease, float, &c. Ruæus says, lenta descendit. 550. Ventura nuntia: to be messengers to Ascanius, of his father, and of the state of his affairs-to bear tidings to Ascanius, &c. 551. Petentibus Tyrrhena: to the Trojans going to the Tuscan territory. 552. Exsortem: in the sense of insignem : a distinguished horse. 553. Aureis unguibus. The claws of the skin were overlaid with gold, for the sake of ornament. Obit: in the sense of legit. 557. Timor it propiùs, &c. This passage, has puzzled commentators very much. Davidson supposes the word major, is to be supplied with timor: their fear grows greater, the nearer they are to danger. Rumus takes propius in the sense of prope: near-approaching to. He makes the meaning to be: their fear comes near to danger. They are so much impressed with the idea of danger, that it becomes to them almost a reality. It: in the sense of est vel fit. Most copies have am immediately after Martis. But Pierius informs us, that in most of the ancient MSS. which he consulted, it was wanting. Heyne reads jam. 559. Inexpletum: an adj. neu. gen. used as an adverb: immoderately-beyond mea sure. 560. O mihi, &c. This is one of the finest parts of the Æneid. We see an aged father, delivering his farewell address to nis only son, the hope and solace of his old age, while he holds him close in his embrace, and is full of anxious apprehension of never seeing him again. The relation of those exploits, which he performed when he was in the vigor of manhood, is very natural, and the conclusion is extremely pathetic. He 561. Præneste. The founder of this city was Cæculus, who took part with Turnus. See Æn. vii. 678. How then could Herilus have been its king so long before? might have laid its foundations, and Cæculus added its fortifications, &c. Hence he might be called its founder. 562. Scutorumque, &c. It was a custom among the Romans, to gather up the armor that lay scattered on the field of battle, and burn it as an offering to one of their deities. 564. Feronia mater: to whom, at his birth his mother had given three lives, and three sets of armor to be wielded. See En. vii. 800. 568. Non ego nune: I would not now be torn from thy sweet embrace. This is a Nate, tuo neque finitimus Mezentius unquam, 570 Jamque adeò exierat portis equitatus apertis : NOTES. most tender line, and paints the paternal affections in the deepest colors. 571. Viduâsset: in the sense of privâsset. 574. Numina: power-will. 576. Venturus in unum: to meet him again. 577. Patiar: I will consent-agree to. 578. Sin Fortuna minaris: but if, O Fortune, thou threatenest any dire calamity to him. Infandum: properly is that which may not be spoken, or expressed-which I dare not name. 579. Nunc, ô, nunc, &c. This is much of the nature of Æn. ii. 644. Sic, O sic, &c. There is so much force and emphasis in the repetition of the sic, that if we remove it, we destroy the chief beauty and energy of the line. So also with the nunc, in the present instance. 580. Dum cura: while my sorrows be doubtful, &c. While it be yet uncertain, whether I shall see my dear son again. 583. Supremo digressu: at his final departure. 588. Conspectus: conspicuous-distinguished. 589. Qualis ubi, &c. This is a beautiful 575 576. Et venturus in unum locum cum illo, oro 580 580. Dum meæ curæ sunt ambiguæ, dum spes futuri est incerta 585 590 595 595. Agmine. Agmen properly signifies a moving body or multitude-an army of men on the march. Tendunt: in the sense of incedunt, vel progrediuntur. It in the sense of surgil. 596. Quadrupedante sonitu: with a prancing sound. Every ear perceives, that the numbers of the verse imitate the prancing of the horses. There are no less than five dactyls in it, which give it a quick and galloping motion. Qualil: strikes. 597. Cæritis prope gelidum: near the cold river of Cæris. Caris: a town of Tuscany, whose inhabitants were called Cærites. In the neighborhood was a small river with a grove. Hence the epithet, gelidus. 598. Relligione: religious venerationregard. 1 |