ENEIDOS. LIBER IV. ARGUMENT. DIDO becomes deeply enamoured of Æneas, and discloses the state of her mind to her sister Anna. By her she is encouraged to prosecute her intention of marrying the Trojan prince. Juno perceiving her passion, conceives the design of forming an alliance between them, and consults with Venus upon the subject. Juno obtains from Venus her consent to the union, so eagerly desired by the Queen of Carthage; and that this may be done as speedily as possible, a fitting opportunity is promised for its consummation. The queen proposes to Æneas a hunting excursion, which accordingly takes place on the following day. Upon that occasion, while all the party are intent upon the pursuit of the game, suddenly a violent storm is sent forth, which causes the queen's attendants to fly for protection in different directions. Through a device of Juno, Æneas and Dido rush into the same cave, where the goddess consecrates their nuptials under the most unpropitious omens. Whilst Æneas lingers at Carthage through the intensity of his love for the queen, Jarbas, King of the Getuli, the reputed son of Jupiter Ammon, and a rejected lover of Queen Dido, hears that she is married to a stranger, and is greatly enraged. Jupiter, importuned by the prayers of Jarbas, sends Mercury to Æneas to dissolve the match, and to order him to prepare to leave Carthage for Italy. In obedience to the commands of Jove, Æneas privately orders his companions to make the necessary preparations for setting sail. But Dido, when she perceives that his fleet is being fitted out for sea, immediately suspects his intention, and earnestly expostulates with him. By tears and entreaties she endeavours to dissuade him from his purpose; and through the intercession of her sister Anna, she tries in the tenderest and most affectionate strain to prevail upon him at least to delay his departure for a season; but it is all in vain: he sets out in the following night. The queen, weighed down with sorrow, and unable to endure her affliction, resolves to die by her own hand. Concealing the purpose of her mind from her sister, she erects a huge wood pile in the inner court of her palace, and pretends that it has been prepared for the purpose of celebrating certain magic rites for releasing her mind from all further affection for Æneas. She is then driven mad by her misery. Meanwhile, Æneas goes on board, and being warned a second time in a dream by Mercury, he weighs anchor in haste in the dead of night. In the morning dawn, the love-sick queen beholds him leaving her coast, and utters most severe reproofs and bitter imprecations against him. Having enjoined upon her subjects to revenge the insult and injury done to her dignity, and to pursue the descendants of Æneas with implacable hatred, Dido ascends the funeral pile, and stabs herself with the sword of Æneas. This book is rendered peculiarly attractive by the interesting nature of the subject, and it is deservedly deemed one of the grandest in the Æneid. ENEIDOS. LIBER V. ARGUMENT. THIS book opens up with the departure of Æneas from Carthage. He sets sail for Italy, but had not been long at sea before a violent storm arose which compelled him a second time to turn his course to the coast of Sicily. He enters the port of Drepanum, where he is received with great distinction and cordiality by King Acestes. Here, after offering sacrifice at the tomb of his father Anchises, and celebrating the anniversary of his death, Æneas institutes four kinds of games in honour of him, and awards the prizes to the victors. Cloanthus gets the prize in the naval contest. Euryalus, by the device of Nisus, is first in the race. In the fighting with the cestus Entellus overcomes the boasting Dares. Eurytion evinces the highest skill in bowshooting. Ascanius, in honour of his grandsire Anchises, along with youths of the first quality, celebrates an equestrian game and sham fight. In the meantime, the Trojan women, at the instigation of Iris, who was sent by Juno for that purpose, set fire to the fleet, and burn four of the ships, in the hope of putting an end to the fatigues of so long a voyage. At the entreaty of Æneas, the rest of the ships are saved by Jupiter interposing, and sending down a shower from heaven, which extinguished the flames. Upon this Nantes advises Æneas, as he had lost part of his fleet, to leave in Sicily the women, the aged, the helpless, and all those who were weary of the voyage. This advice was confirmed the following night, by Anchises appearing in a dream to his son Æneas, and warning him by the counsels of Jove to follow the directions of Nantes. He is told to sail himself to Italy with the youths and those in the prime of life; to go to the cave of the Sibyl, and that by her guidance he should descend into the infernal regions, where he should behold the line of his illustrious race or progeny, and should learn the issue of all the wars he should have to encounter after his arrival in Italy. Æneas follows the advice, and founds a city, which he calls Acesta, after his venerable friend. There, with the women, the aged, and all who were unable to endure the hardships and vicissitudes of war, he establishes a colony-he himself sets sail for Italy with the strength of his forces. In the meantime Neptune, importuned by the entreaties of Venus, grants to Æneas calm seas and tranquil winds. In the midst of this tranquillity Æneas has the misfortune to lose Palinurus, the pilot of his ship, who is lulled to rest, and is tumbled headlong into the deep. Æneas takes upon himself the duty and business of pilot. This book very properly succeeds the tragical narration of the melancholy end of the unhappy Queen Dido, and is altogether of a cheerful character. ENEIDOS. LIBER VI. ARGUMENT. THE subject of this book is the descent of Æneas to the infernal regions. The poet read the contents of it in the presence of Augustus and Octavia. After his arrival at Cumæ, Æneas repairs to the grotto of the Sibyl, where he learns the dangers that await him before his final settlement. He then consults the oracle of Phoebus about his intended descent. He is informed of the danger of the enterprise, and that he must as a necessity obtain a golden branch from a tree sacred to Hecate. The Sibyl next informs him that one of his followers, Misenus, had been drowned. Finding his corpse on the shore, he performs funeral rites, and buries it at the foot of a neighbouring mountain, which from him received the name of Misenus. Having found the golden branch, he returns to the Sibyl, who conducts him to the lower world. He there finds the shades of Palinurus still wandering on the hither side of Styx, because his body had been deprived of the rites of sepulture. The Sibyl describes to him the various scenes of those regions as they roam along, and shows him the several apartments; in one of which he beholds Queen Dido, who haughtily shuns his presence, and declines an interview. Moving onward, he beholds Deïphobus Iocated in the abodes of those illustrious for their noble deeds in arms, patriotism, and philanthropy. He sees him lacerated and disfigured with many wounds, and learns from him the cruel death he suffered on the night of the capture of Troy. He then proceeds till he comes to the abodes of the blessed, and is brought to the presence of his father. Anchises there explains to his son the nature of transmigration: he exhibits to his view the Alban and Roman kings, and recounts the names and exploits of some noble Romans, dilating especially on the praises of Julius and Augustus Cæsar. He extols in unmeasured strains Marcellus, the son of Octavia, who had been wrenched away by an untimely death. Then making his departure to the upper regions through the ivory gate, Eneas revisits his followers, and leaving Cuma he proceeds to the fleet moored at Caieta. Sic fatur lacrimans, classique immittit habenas, Prætexunt puppes; juvenum manus emicat ardens 10 5 1. Derive habena. Account for the figure of speech. 2. What should Euboicis strictly qualify? Where was Cumo? and why was Euboice applied to it? 4. Name the several parts of the alveus of a ship and its armamenta. Derive Hesperium. Who gave Italy the name of Hesperia? 6. Tecta rapit, silvas; inventaque flumina monstrat. Præsidet, horrenda que procul secreta Sibyllæ, 10 Antrum immane, petit: magnam cui mentem, animumque, Delius inspirat vates, aperitque futura. Jam subeunt Trivia lucos, atque aurea tecta. Bis patriæ cecidere manus. Quin protenus omnia 8. Distinguish invenire and reperire; monstrare, ostendere, and declarare. Give the figures of speech in this line. 9. Give the sense of arces here. Why is altus applied to Apollo? 13. What other names had Trivia? Distinguish nemus and lucus. 14. How may fugiens Minoia regna be varied? 20. Why do fores and valvæ generally occur in the plural? Distinguish them. Give equivalent expressions to pendere pœnas. 21. Why is septena used here? 23. From what city does Crete get the name of Gnosia tellus? 26. Distinguish nefarius and nefandus. Give the figure of speech in this line. 27. What is the force of ille here? 28. What sentence is introduced by sed, and what by enim? 30. Analyse the sentence Tu quoque . haberes. 33. Analyse the sentence Quin protenus regi. Supply the words omitted in the first of these sentences. What is the principal clause of a conditional sentence called? and what the subordinate? Of what nature is the condition when the imperfect subjunctive is in both clauses ? Non hoc ista sibi tempus spectacula poscit. Talibus affata Ænean, (nec sacra morantur 40 45 50 Conticuit. Gelidus Teucris per dura cucurrit Ossa tremor, funditque preces rex pectore ab imo: 55 60 Vos quoque Pergameæ jam fas est parcere genti, 65 Regna meis fatis, Latio considere Teucros, 38. Give the root of macto, and trace the meaning it has in this passage from its radical signification. 39. Parse and derive Præstiterit. Explain the use of the tense. Give the connection between the derivation and meaning of bidens. 45. Parse Ventum erat. Derive limen, ostium, fatum, anhelum, and numen. 52. Give the sense of neque here. Supply the principal clause in the sentence beginning Neque enim, &c. 56. What divinities were favourable to the Trojans? 57. For what is direxti contracted? and by what grammatical figure? Give other examples in the first sixty lines of this book. 59. Explain the construction of te duce. Give derivatives from the same root as penitus. 60. Distinguish ager, arvum, campus, and rus. 62. Give the figure of speech in this line. (See Examples in I. 412; VI. 738.) 64. Why is obstitit singular? Distinguish fas, jus, and lex. |