"High in his hall the undaunted monarch stands, DRYDEN. Eolus is not represented sitting with his sceptre in his hand, on the top or on a peak of the mountain within which the winds are confined, because such a picture were little short of ridiculous. Neither is he represented sitting on a throne inside, and in the midst of the winds, both because arx cannot well bear such meaning, and because the actual carcer, ill-adapted as it was to be the throne-hall of the king, was still less adapted to be the scene of the interview between the king and Juno. Let us see, if, taking the several words of the passage less literally, and therefore (as I think) less prosaically, we do not obtain a meaning free from all difficulty. SCEPTRA TENENS. Not actually holding his sceptre in his hand, but invested with regal power, in possession of the supreme authority, as (STAT. Theb. I. 140): "ut sceptra tenentem "Fœdere præcipiti semper novus angeret hæres." also (OVID. Ex Ponto III. 2. 59.) Regna Thoas habuit, Mæotide clarus in ora: Nec fuit Euxinis notior alter aquis. Sceptra tenente illo, liquidas fecisse per auras, Nescio quam dicunt Iphigenian iter." And separately, SCEPTRA (as in En. I. 82, 257; IV. 597; VII. 252; and innumerable passages, both of Virgil and other writers), not, literally sceptre, but, supreme dominion; and TENENS (as in verse 143; II. 505, &c.), not, literally holding in the hand, but, possessing. SEDET. Not, literally sits, but, has his residence, or seat, (the ordinary "Sedem habet') as En. IX. 4, where see Servius. ARCE. Neither the mountain containing the dungeon of the winds, nor an elevated throne in the dungeon, but, according to the most common use of the word (compare "Fundantem arces," En. IV. 260: "Arcem attollere tectis," En. III. 134: "Quas condidit arces," Ecl. II. 61; "Cum laceras aries ballistave concutit arces," OVID, Met. XI. 509), strong place, stronghold, burg, keep, schloss, castle, royal palace; viz. in the immediate vicinity of the mountain and dungeon. MOLLIT ANIMOS ET TEMPERAT IRAS. These words, like SEDET and TENENS, do not refer particularly to any present act of Eolus, to his soothing the winds with his sceptre, or from his throne, but to the general mollifying effect produced on them by their confinement and restraint, under the command of a governor. The words are connected in the sense with the preceding IMPERIO PREMIT AC VINCLIS ET CARCERE FRÆNAT, as if Virgil had said, Premens imperio suo, et frænans vinclis et carcere, mollit animos, &c. And accordingly we are told (verse 62), NI FACIAT, unless they were thus mollified, not by that special and personal conciliation generally supposed to be expressed by the words, SCEPTRA TENENS SEDET MOLLITQUE, but, by being kept in prison, and under government, they would, in their untamed violence, sweep the whole world before them; to prevent which consummation, HOC METUENS, the provident Father of all placed them under the mollifying influence of confinement and a governor. Mollio (to soften) is to be carefully distinguished from mulceo and lenio (to soothe); the latter being to produce a softening effect by soft measures; mollio, to produce the softening effect by any measures, no matter how severe or rigorous; in the passage before us, VINCLIS ET CARCERE. Compare "Dentibus mollitur cibus" (CICERO, De Nat. Deor. II. 134.) "Usque laborantes dum ferrum molliat ignis" HOR. Sat. I. IV. 20. FRE The whole passage may be resolved into five parts or clauses: the first of which, HIC VASTO NAT, informs us that king Eolus kept the winds confined in a strong cave. The second, ILLI INDIGNANTES .... FREMUNT, more particular, presents us with the prisoners impatient to get out, and roaring about the fastenings .... or enclosing barriers of their prison. The third clause, CELSA . . . . . IRAS, as particular with respect to the governor as the second with respect to the governed, informs us, that he dwells in a strong burg or castle, and that the object and result of his government is the softening or mollifying of the unruly spirits over which he is placed. The fourth clause, NI FACIAT . . . . AURAS, explains the necessity for these precautionary measures of the Eternal Father. And, finally, in the fifth clause, SED PATER . . . . DEDIT, there is a resumé of the measures, followed by the important corollary, qui . . . HABENAS (serving as a connecting link between the whole previous description, and the request made by Juno), that the governor had authority to let out his prisoners as occasion required. In the opinion, that the arx of Eolus was separate and distinct from the cavern of the winds, I am supported by the authority of Quintus Calaber, who describes Eolus as going out of his house to the cavern: Ικετο δ' Αιολιην, ανεμων οθι λάβρον αέντων Αντρα πελει, στυγερησιν αρηραμεν αμφι πετρηση, συν τ' αλόχω, και παισι διωκαιδεκα. και οι εειπεν, Αυταρ όγ' ουκ απιθησε, μολων δ' έκτοσθε μελάθρων, χερσιν υπ' ακαμάτοισιν όρος μέγα τυψε τριαινη, ενθ' ανέμοι κελαδεινοι δυσηχεες ηυλίζοντο, * βια διέρρηξε κολώνην. QUINT. CALAB. XIV. 473. and by that of Ovid, whose palace of Eolus (Heroid. XI. 65), has no one character even in the most remote degree indicating an identity with the prison of the winds. I beg to submit the above, I believe entirely new, explanation of the whole passage, in place not only of the explanations given by previous Virgilian commentators, but in place of that proposed by myself in the 19th No. of the Classical Museum & quoted from that Periodical with conditional approbation by Forbiger in his 3rd Edition. CLAUSTRA. - Neither, with Caro, the inclosed place, or prison itself (chiostri); nor, with Heyne and Forbiger, the vents or openings (spiracula); but, primarily and literally, the locks or other fastenings, and therefore, secondarily, the doors or other barriers by which the passage out was closed (clausum), and made fast. I do not find an instance of claustra used in any other sense. The Italians, indeed, designate a place kept locked, or secured by claustra, chiostri (cloisters); but such application of the term seems to have been unknown to the classic writers. Therefore, CIRCUM CLAUSTRA, about the fastenings, i. e. about the fast-closed barriers or gates, in momentary expectation of their being opened. Compare: "Non aliter, moto quam si pater Æolus antro STAT. Theb. X. 246. "Subtexit nox atra polos; jam claustra rigentis STAT. Theb. I. 346. "Sex reserata diebus -- Carceris Eolii janua laxa patet." OVID. Fasti II. 455. ABDIDIT. "Verbarg." Voss. No; but, stowed away, put away in a place apart, or by themselves: first, because the idea of hiding is, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of the lexicographers, foreign from this word, which always means simply putting away, apart, (ab-do); compare "abde domo" (Georg III. 96); "lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem" (En. II. 553), &c. &c.; and secondly, because it was plainly Jupiter's intention to put the winds, not, in a place where they could not be readily seen or found, but, merely in a safe place apart. 73. INCUTE VIM VENTIS SUBMERSASQUE OBRUE PUPPES Servius having left his successors their choice between two interpretations of this passage, either to understand VIM to mean strength, and VENTIS the object to which the strength was to be given (“I venti innaspra." ALFIERI.), or to understand VIM to mean violence, and VENTIS to be the instrument by means of which the violence was to be inflicted, viz. on the Trojan fleet, Ruæus, Heyne, Voss and most other commentators have made choice of the former interpretation; I very much prefer the latter; first, because I think incutio generally expresses something of aggression or hostility, and therefore although perfectly correct to say incute metum, terrorem, iram, into a person or thing, it were less correct to say INCUTE VIM, where no violence or harm of any kind is intended towards the recipient of the vim. Secondly, because even if the expression were perfectly unobjectionable, yet the two successive attacks, first on the winds in order to drive or as we might say knock (incutere) power into them, and then, with the winds so strengthened, on Eneas's fleet in order to sink it, were, as it seems to me at least, if not absolutely awkward, certainly not very elegant; thirdly, it is not probable that Juno having taken the utmost pains in the two immediately preceding lines to rivet the attention of Eolus upon his prey, would in the words INCUTE VIM VENTIS, abruptly call off his attention from it in order to fix it upon the winds, in order to inform him what he had first to do with them, before he could be in a fit condition to spring |