Illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx
Parta tibi. Lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae :
Non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumve superbas
Aspiciam, aut Graiis servitum matribus ibo,
Dardanis, et divae Veneris nurus;

Sed me magna deûm Genetrix his detinet oris.
Iamque vale, et nati serva communis amorem.
Haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa volentem
Dicere deseruit, tenuesque recessit in auras.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum;
Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,

785. She rejoices in having escaped the fate of the other Trojan women, and bids Aeneas dry his tears, and be comforted with that reflection.

788. Genetrix. Cybele. Cf. III. 111. 792-4. This passage is repeated verbatim in VI. 700-2. It has been variously imitated. Vergil himself no doubt has in mind Homer (I. XXIII. 116):

He said, and stretched

His longing arms to clasp the shade. In vain;

Away like smoke it went, with gibbering cry,

Down to the earth.

Or perhaps Vergil is thinking of the pas sage in the Odyssey (XI. 253):

Thrice I tried,

Moved by a strong desire, and thrice the form

Passed through them like a shadow or a dream.

Cf. also Tasso (Ger. Lib. XIV. 6) : Thrice with a fond affectionate embrace Around his neck his loving arms he twines;

785

790

And thrice th' encircled form and radiant face

Fly like a summer cloud, or shade the sunbeams chase.

Dante (Purg. II. 80):

O empty shadows, save in aspect only!
Three times behind it did I clasp my

hands,

As oft returned with them to my own
breast.

Young (N. Th. I. 199) :
Bliss! sublunary bliss!

and vain!

proud words,

Implicit treason to Divine decree!
A bold invasion of the rights of Heaven!
I clasped the phantoms, and I found them
air.

786. Servitum, 212.-Matribus, 99. —792, 793. Ter-Ter, 224.-792. Dare — circum, 233.

Par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
Sic demum socios consumpta nocte revisc.
Atque hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse novorum
Invenio admirans numerum, matresque, virosque,
Collectam exsilio pubem, miserabile vulgus.
Undique convenere, animis opibusque parati,
In quascumque velim pelago deducere terras.
Hamque iugis summae surgebat Lucifer Idae
Ducebatque diem, Danaique obsessa tenebant
Limina portarum, nec spes opis ulla dabatur ;
Cessi et sublato montes genitore petivi.

801. Lucifer. Catullus, LXII. 7, has | Cowper: "I cannot take my leave of Noctifer. Cf. Shelley (Ode to Liberty,

XVIII.):

this noble poem (Iliad) without expressing how much I am struck with this

Come thou, but lead out of the inmost plain conclusion of it. It is like the

cave

Of man's deep spirit, as the morning-star
Beckons the sun from the Eoan wave,
Wisdom.

804. Thus simply ends the thrilling story of the Trojan war told by one who was an active participant in those mighty deeds (II. 5, 6). It is like the tired sobbing of a child, which has cried itself to sleep, or like the quiet ripple left by the thundering wave breaking upon the seashore.

A similar plain conclusion may be found in many of the other books of the Aeneid, as also in Homer. Owen thus quotes

exit of a great man out of company, whom he has entertained magnificently: neither pompous nor familiar, yet without much ceremony."

The close of Paradise Lost exhibits the same "elegant simplicity:" Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:

They hand in hand, with wandering steps

and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.

800. In quascumque velim, 180.

HEYNE'S CHRONOLOGY OF AENEAS' SEVEN YEARS' WANDERINGS.

1. Troy, according to all accounts, was taken in the summer.

2. Aeneas spent the winter of this year in preparing for his voyage (III. 5 seq.).

3. He sails in the spring or summer of the second year (8), and spends the winter in Thrace, where he builds a city (13-18).

4. He leaves Thrace in the spring of the third year (69), and goes to Delos, and thence to Crete.

5. Two years are supposed to be consumed here in an attempt at colonization.

6. His stay at Actium brings him to the end of the fifth year (284-289). 7. The sixth year is spent partly in Epirus, partly in Sicily.

8. In the summer of the seventh year he arrives at Carthage (I. 755). 9. He probably leaves as the winter is drawing on (IV. 309-10).

POSTQUAM res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem Immeritam visum Superis, ceciditque superbum Ilium et omnis humo fumat Neptunia Troia, Diversa exsilia et desertas quaerere terras Auguriis agimur divûm, classemque sub ipsa