non sua' being joined as in G. 2. 82: but it more probably alludes to the opinion of the ancients that it was really an animal product, the excrement of birds (Pliny 16. 247., 24. 11), not, as later research has proved it to be, a parasitic plant, the seeds of which are deposited by birds on other trees. Sua' then refers to natural production, as "sopor 'suus G. 4. 190 seems to mean natural or kindly sleep. Seminat' seems to be used vaguely in the sense of producing. Comp. the use of semina' for plants in G. 2. 268, 356 &c. The word is prosaic rather than poetical: see Forc. 207.] Croceo fetu:' Pliny 24. 11 says of the mistletoe 66 Optimum est extra fulvum, intus porraccum." The colour is of course a prominent feature in the comparison. Truncos' the trunks, as in G. 3. 233: see Fore. Some MSS. mentioned by Pierius have ⚫ramos.'

208.] Auri frondentis: comp. v. 144 above. Opaca' v. 136. The dark shade of course gives the contrast.

209.] Ilice' the particular kind of tree has not hitherto been specified by Virg., a proof that he attaches no importance to the specification. Leni vento' 3. 70. 'Crepitabat' is not strictly speaking a point in the comparison. Virg. only means the leaf looked thus as it rustled tinkling in the wind.' 'Brattea' is thin foil, thinner than "lammina," a metallic plate. It is classed with cobweb for its thinness by Lucr. 4. 727. The leaf is called brattea' here, as the ⚫ brattea' is called "folium" in Latin, iu Greek Téraλov, and in English foil or leaf. Some MSS. (including Gud. originally) have crepitabant.' which Heins. adopted, strangely regarding brattea' as a noun of multitude, whereas the fact would seem to be, as Heyne remarks, that brattea' was mistaken for a neuter plural.

210.] "Corripit:' ne prolixior esset narratio, non dixit quomodo ad ipsam

210

arborem Aeneas venerit," Ti. Donatus. The old reading before Heins. was extemplo Aeneas." Rom. has exemplo.'

211.] 'Cunctantem' is not to be pressed, as we know from vv. 147 foll. that it cannot really have offered any resistance, so that it must be taken as a correlative to avidus,' Aeneas' eagerness being too great even for the willingness of the branch. Even thus however the choice of the word seems a little unfortunate. Heyne comp. "lento vimine" above v. 137. For the application of the word to things inanimate comp. G. 2. 236, "glaebas cunctantis." Tecta Sibyllae' seems to be the temple.

212-235.] Meantime the Trojans were conducting Misenus' funeral through all its details. Acneas raises a tomb over his remains.'

212.] Nec minus interea' 1. 633 &c., a common form of transition in Virg. Hom. generally draws the contrast between two contemporaneous actions by repeating the first in a summary form before proceeding to the second-ws ó μèv auráp: and so does Virg. sometimes, as in 1. 656 foll. The meaning here is that while Aeneas is plucking the bough and carrying it to the temple, the Trojans, having finished hewing wood, are constructing the pile, &c.

...

213.] Flebant' of funeral lamentation E. 5. 21. "Ingrato:' tristi, ut gratum lactum aliquid dicimus. Alii 'ingrato' dicunt gratiam non sentienti," Serv. Heyne, after Taubm., rightly prefers the latter.

So in the Copa (attributed to Virg.) v. 35, "Quid cineri ingrato servas bene olentia serta ?" Heyne comp.

wohv yaîav of the body of Hector, Il. 24.54. The dead body is called 'cinis' by anticipation, as Ti. Donatus remarks. Fore. quotes no instance of suprema' for obsequies earlier than Virg., after whose time it is frequent. "Supremis muneribus" 11. 25, "supremum honorem" ib. 61. 'Ferre' of offerings 3. 19 &c.

manner 11. 72 foll. Velamina nota,' as Heyne remarks, can hardly be understood except of the garments Misenus had worn when alive. The other alternative would be to refer 'nota' to the customariness of thus covering the dead. There is the same sort of doubt about "munera nota" 11. 195.

222.] 'Subire' in the sense of supporting generally takes an acc., sometimes, though rarely, the dat. or abl. It is not easy to distinguish these two last cases: in sense they would appear to differ, the one being equivalent to the acc. (move towards a thing, place one's self under), the other denoting motion when placed under. In the few instances where the construction occurs the reading is not always certain, the acc. being generally found as a variety. Forc. quotes among others Cic. Div. Verr. 14, " Poterisne eius orationis subire invidiae?" the reading of Asconius, who comments on it, "Quasi Latine dixit, ut magno ponderi subire." But the MSS. of Cic. give invidiam.' To carry the bier was esteemed an honour to the deceased among the Romans, as to bear the pall with us: Taubm. comp. Tac. A. 1. 8,“ Conclamant patres, corpus (Augusti) ad rogum umeris senatorum ferendum."

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223.] Triste ministerium' is not, as Heyne thought, an interjection, but a cognate acc., or acc. in apposition to the action of the verb. The construction is infinitely rarer in Latin than in Greek (see on G. 3. 41): Forb. however comp. 9. 53., 10. 311., 11. 383, to which add 8. 487. But the words may conceivably be a nom.; comp. 1. 168., 8. 422. Subiectam' &c. subiecere et tenuere.' 'Subicere' of setting fire to a thing 2. 37., 11. 186. Cerda comp. Lucr. 6. 1285, "subdebantque faces," of burning the dead during the plague of Athens. It would seem from 11. 185, “huc corpora quisque suorum More tulere patrum," that more parentum' here refers to the whole action, probably indeed to the whole process of the funeral. If it has any special reference, it would probably be to aversi,' as Lersch understands it Antiqq. 9. § 86. Serv. however says

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225

Quam tenuere facem."

But the sense of more parentum' is fixed by "more patrum" 11, 1. c. Virg. perhaps means that the same who carried the bier afterwards applied the torch : but his words need not be pressed. Comp. G. 4. 167 note. Pal. seems to have had another reading, subiectas faces.'

225.1 Lersch, § 86, comp. Arnob. 7. 51, "Pulticulae, tura cum carnibus, rapacium alimenta sunt ignium et parentalibus coniunctissima mortuorum," Tac. A. 3. 2, "Pro opibus loci vestem, odores, aliaque funerum sollemnia cremabant." The first passage explains dapes,' which doubtless refers to the victims, not, as some have thought, to the spices and oil. So perhaps 3. 301, where see note. In 5. 92 the reference is doubtful. For the application of 'dapes' to sacrifices see Forc. Victims are also mentioned 11. 197 foll., after Il. 23. 166, Od. 24. 65, none of which passages however speak of spices or oil. Libations of oil were made in the subsequent offerings to the grave (E. 5. 68 note: see other passages quoted by Lersch, § 68, "De Libationibus "), which seem to have had much in common with the actual funeral solemnities. also Od. 24. 73, referred to on v. 227 below. Fuso crateres olivo' is doubtless the abl. of description, cups of poured out oil. Really of course it is not the cup that is burnt, but its contents, so that crateres' is used somewhat like "pocula" E. 8. 28. [For dapes' Pal. has 'ferunt'; a reminiscence apparently of 1. 679, 5. 101 "dona ferens, ferunt."-H. N.]

See

230

226.] The line, as Heyne remarks, is modelled on Il. 9. 212, avràр éлel Kатà Tūp ékáŋ kai pλdę éμapávon, compared with Ι. 23. 228, τῆμος πυρκαἴη ἐμαραίνετο, παύTaтo de pλó. Coulapsi cineres' is from 11. 23. 251, Babeîa de KάTTEσe Téopη. ['Conlabsi' fragm. Vat.-H. N.]

227.] In II. 23. 250., 21. 791 the flame is quenched with wine and then the bones are collected: but in Od. 24. 72, the bones are collected after the body is consumed and are placed in (a vessel containing?) wine and oil. In Il. 23. 253 a double layer of fat is spread over the bones. Virg. seems to follow the Od., probably understanding λέγομεν ἐν oivo kal àλeípart of something which took place before the bones were placed in the vessel. In the three passages of Hom. the fire is allowed to burn all night and is quenched or quenches itself the next morning and Virg.'s account in Book 11 (vv. 201, 210) is somewhat similar. [Relliquias' fragm. Vat.-H. N.]

228.] Lecta,' collected from the pile, λέγειν οι λέγεσθαι in Hom. 11. ee. The process was called oσroxoyía: Aesch. wrote a play named 'Orтoλóyo. Cadus' is doubtless an urn, as kádos is used for a balloting urn. In Hom. the vessels differ: Patroclus' bones are placed in a golden φιάλη, Hector's in a golden λάρναξ, Achilles' in a golden audiopeus, the work of Hephaestus and gift of Dionysus. Brazen urns are common among Italian remains. Corynaeus is specified, as Heyne remarks, merely for specification's sake. The name occurs again 9. 571., 12. 298. This man may be identified with either, as both are probably Trojans. The name is variously spelt in the MSS.; but Heyne remarks that it must be Kopuvalos from Kopúvŋ. ['Coryneus' fragm. Vat.-H. N.]

229.] Corynaeus also performs the lustration, that the crews might be purified from the pollution contracted by the dead body, v. 150 above. It does not appear whether lustration formed a regular part of a Roman funeral, as of course we can not argue from this passage that it did:

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but there was a lustration in the month of February, the month of special solemnities in honour of the Di Manes. Macrob. Sat. 1. 13 says " lustrari co mense civitatem necesse erat, quo statuit ut iusta dis Manibus solverentur." Ter:' comp. E. 8. 73, 75 notes. Serv. says "Circumtulit:' purgavit. Antiquum verbum est. Plautus: Pro larvato te circumferam," i. e. purgabo." This passage is not in the extant works of Plautus: but there is a similar one in Amph. 2. 2. 143, “quin tu istanc iubes Pro cerrita circumferri?" It is to be explained on the analogy of the double structure of ‘circumdare'&e. aliquam rem alicui' and 'aliquem aliqua re,' circumtulit socios pura unda being a variety for 'circumtulit socios puram undam. See on G. 4. 337. If not originally Virg.'s own expression, it is at any rate precisely such a one as we should expect him to affect, so that we need not be tempted by varieties like 'puram undam,' the reading of one MS., circumvenit,' found in another, or circumluit,' which is found in the margin of a MS. of Macrob. Sat. 3. 1. Sophocles, whose inversions of language are very like Virg.'s. has a similar expression El. 709, őe αὐτοὺς οἱ τεταγμένοι βραβῆς Κλήροις ἔπης Aar, which has been similarly altered by reading κλήρους.

230.] The manner of the lustration is described,_ sprinkling with a wetted branch. Bay was used as well as olive, Juv. 2. 158. Serv. quotes Aelius Donatus as saying that Virg. substituted the olive for the bay out of compliment to Augustus, whose birthday was marked by the springing up of a bay on the Palatine, and that it was not thought well that the triumphal associations of the tree should be mixed up with funeral reminiscences. Lersch shows that the olive was connected with funerals from Pliny 35. 160, "Quin et defunctos sese multi fictilibus soliis condi maluere, sicut M. Varro, Pythagorico modo, in myrti et oleae et populi nigrae foliis." Cerda shows the same connexion from Demosth. and Artemidorus. 'Rore et ramo' is a

good instance of ἓν διὰ δυοῖν: see on G. 2. 192. “Felici comptus oliva" 7. 751, distinguished from the oleaster.

231.] For viros' Rom., Pal. a m. p., and others give 'domos,' apparently introduced by some one who thought of the lustration of houses of Rome. Pierius thought it might be explained of the camp. Another MS. has choros,' which Heins. preferred, but Heyne rightly rejects. Dixitque novissima verba' 4. 650. The reference seems to be to the "vale" with which they took leave of the dead, not to the "ilicet," with which the assembly was dismissed. Serv. objects to the former view that the "vale" was not said till after the burial: but 11. 97 seems to show that it might come even before the burning. In v. 506 below, 3. 68 we may remember that the erection of the tomb stood in place of a proper burial.

232.] The mention of Aeneas may be intended to intimate that it was at this point that he returned (see v. 212 above); but such things cannot be pressed in Virg. The setting up of a tomb in Hom. follows similarly at once upon the burning and the collecting of the bones, Il. 23. 255 foll., 24. 797 foll., Od. 12. 14., 21. SO foll. The first and last of these passages will illustrate ingenti mole,' the size of the barrow, of earth and stones, being greater according to the honour intended. So Aesch. Cho. 351, Toλúxwoτον ἂν εἶχες Τάφον διαποντίου γᾶς, Δώμασιν Evpúpnτov. [Sepulcrum' Pal.-H. N.]

233.] Arma' seems to refer to remumque tubamque,' like "Cerealia arma 1. 177 &c., as his arms in the strict sense appear to have been burnt with him, v. 217. Serv., who felt the difficulty, took the meaning to be that the arms were sculptured on the tomb. Viro' explains sua,' which would naturally refer to Aeneas himself. The oar Misenus has in common with Elpenor, Od. 11. 77., 12. 15, who has his fixed

235

ἀκροτάτῳ τύμβῳ: the trumpet is his own. ['Inponit' Pal. fragm. Vat.-H. N.]

234.] The aerial promontory' still bears the name 'Punta di Miseno.' 235.] Comp. the promise to Palinurus below v. 381. "Et nunc magnum tenet Ardea nomen" 7. 412. Virg. perhaps thought of Apoll. R. 2. 841 foll. [• Exequitur' Med.-H. N.]

236-263.] Aeneas then begins the preliminaries of his descent. Black cattle are sacrificed to the infernal powers at the mouth of a mephitic cave As the day dawns, the approach of Hecate is perceived, and Aeneas and his guide descend.'

236.] His actis' 12. 843.

237.] This grotto is not the same as that mentioned v. 11 above. Heyne identifies it with one now called Baian, as looking towards Baiae. With the latter part of the line comp. Lucr. 5.376, "sed patet inmani (inmane' Wakef.) et vasto respectat hiatu." The description seems partially taken from that of the σnéos 'Ãtdao (in the [Asiatic] Acherusian promontory) in Apoll. R. 2. 735 foll., though the vapour there is not mephitic, but icy. ['Immanis' Med. and Rom.H. N.]

238.] ["Serupea saxa' aspera: " Isid. Orig. 16. 3. 5, and so several glossaries.

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Scrupea' lapillosa; nam scrupus proprie est lapillus brevis, qui incedentibus impedimento est et pressus sollicitudinem creat" Serv. So Aelius Donatus on Ter. And. 5. 4. 37: all probably from Verrius Flaccus: see Festus p. 333 Müller.

Scrupeus' then means, properly, abounding in small stones, so rough, jagged. Ennius Tr. v. 100 (Ribbeck) has "scrupea saxa," Pacuvius 309 scrupea saxea Bacchi templa," Id. 252 scruposam specum."-H. N.] Tuta' participle, sheltered, as in 1. 571 &c. The meaning seems to be that the darkness appears to afford it a protection.