Tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector Vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignes! 270 275 268. Vergil excels in his night pieces, | From him, who, in the happy realms of light, Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine Myriads though bright! 275-6. Hector had slain Patroclus, the friend of Achilles, to whom Achilles had lent his own armor. These scenes are narrated at length in the latter part of the sixteenth and the first part of the seventeenth book of the Iliad. For the description of Hector's heroic deeds, see the twelfth and fifteenth books of the Iliad. These two lines (275-6) picture Hector in the height of his success, as those just preceding (272-3) picture him in his fall. how changed HECTOR IN BATTLE. 270. Hector, 67. 273. Lora, 114. 274. Mihi. 102. - 275. Exuvius, 126. Squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crines, 281 seq. Aeneas, in his vision, seems to be ignorant of the fate of Hector. 293. Commendat Troia Penates. Cf. I. 68, note. In commending her Penates to Aeneas, Troy entrusted to him her most essential part, her soul,the Penates representing all that was peculiar and vital to the city and nation. Aeneas is thereby commissioned to found another Troy, and perpetuate the Trojan race. These images were easily carried, as will appear in II. 717. 296-7. Vestam aeternumque ig nem. Vesta was a deity presiding over the public and private hearth. A sacred fire, tended by Vestal Virgins, always burned upon her altar. The worship of Vesta represented the most ancient, as well as the purest part of Rome's religion. Says Lanciani: "The origin of the worship of Vesta is very simple. In prehistoric times, when fire could be ob tained only from the friction of two sticks of dry wood, or from sparks of flint, every village kept a public fire burning day and 292. Si possent, 199. Diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu, Et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentis night, in a central hut, at the disposition of each family. The care of watching the precious element was intrusted to young girls, because girls, as a rule, did not follow their parents and brothers to the far-away pasture-grounds, and did not share with them the fatigue of hunting or fishing expeditions. In course of time, however, this simple practice became a kind of sacred institution, especially at Alba Longa, the mother country of Rome; and when a large party of Alban shepherds fled from the volcanic eruptions of the Alban craters into the plain below, and settled on the marshy banks of the Tiber, they followed, naturally, the institutions of the mother country; and the worship of Vesta- --represented by the public fire and the girls attending to it was duly organized at the foot of the Palatine hill, on the borders of the market place (forum)." Propertius (V. IV. 69) seems to imply with Vergil that this fire was brought intact from Troy : Nam Vesta, Iliacae felix tutela favillae. 300 305 298. Luctu, 143.-300. Recessit, 202, 1). — 302. Somno, 130. Tum vero manifesta fides, Danaûmque patescunt Dardaniae. Fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens 186 310 315 320 325 314. Nec armis. Cf. Catullus, LXIV. Nulla fugae ratio, nulla spes. 317. Horace has the same thought (Odes, III. II. 13): Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Note this and the many other fine proverbial lines of Vergil. 322. Quo loco. Render these words literally. 324 seq. The despairing cry of falling Troy 325. Fuimus, fuit. The perfect is here the strongest and most impressive form that could have been used. In "we have been Trojans," the suggestion is certainly stronger than the direct asser 311. Vulcano, 245, 5). -- 312. Ucalegon, 245, 2). — 314. Rationis, 84. 315. Bello, 103. -317. Mori, 159.320. Deos - nepotem trahit, 221.325. Fuimus, fuit, 224. Gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Juppiter Argos Fundit equus, victorque Sinon incendia miscet Quos ubi confertos audere in proelia vidi, 330 335 340 345 My race is run, my rule is at an end, more; For all that now is left me, O my friend, Is to exclaim, We were!' - all, all is o'er! Our final hour's at hand; pale Death is at the door! 326. Argos, 120. 331. Mycenis, 128. 342. Illis diebus, 154. - 334. Neci, 103.- 335 Marte. 245. 5). 346. Qui audierit, 176. |