745, 746. Repeated from G. 2. 481, 482. There is an artistic contrast between properent and tardis: the winter suns hasten to their bath in Ocean, while the nights are so slow that something seems to bar their progress. 747. ingeminant plausu] 'redouble with applause,' cf. 9. 811 ingeminant hastis. The phrase is a studied variation from the ordinary ingeminant plausum, which some MSS. give. 749. longumque...] ‘and drank in a lasting love,' i.e. as she listened to Aeneas. Longus is a strong adjective in Latin and might be rendered 'everlasting' or 'undying,' cf. 6. 715 longa oblivia; Hor. Od. 3. 11. 38 longus somnus 'the sleep of death'; 4. 9. 37 longa nocte 'eternal night.' 750. multa super...super...multa] Observe the emphatic repetition marking her growing excitement; so too nunc quibus...nunc quales...nunc quantus. 751. Aurorae filius] Memnon, cf. 489 n. were made by Vulcan, cf. 8. 384. His arms 752. Diomedis equi] The horses of Diomedes were famous (cf. Il. 23. 377), but they were the horses which he had taken from Aeneas himself in battle (Il. 5. 323). Hence various suggestions have been made that Dido asks Aeneas about some other horses of Diomedes, but her question must in any casc have been an awkward one. Virgil makes her ask indiscriminately about everything at Troy, and when ladies indulge in such enquiries they often make slips. quantus] Primarily no doubt of actual size (cf. 6. 413 n.), but also including the idea of greatness in other respects, cf. Hom. Il. 24. 629 Πρίαμος θαύμαζ ̓ ̓Αχιλῆα | ὅσσος ἔην οἷός τε. 753. immo age...] 'nay rather, come tell us...,' i.e. in preference to answering separate questions relate the whole story at length. This Aeneas does in the 2nd and 3rd books which contain one a history of the sack of Troy, the other of his wanderings. 754. insidias Danaum] The 'wiles' by which they induced the Trojans to receive the wooden horse within the walls. 755. nam te iam septima...] 'for by now the seventh summer carries thee a wanderer over every land and sea. Heyne (in an excursus on Book III.) considers that Aeneas spent the winter after the fall of Troy in preparing his fleet and set sail early (3. 8) in the next year, which is thus the second of his wanderings; he then passes the winter in Thrace and leaves in the third year; that year and the next are spent in Crete; it is toward the end of the fifth year that he reaches Actium; the sixth year he visits Epirus and Sicily, and reaches Carthage in the seventh. BOOK II 1-13. Amid deep silence Aeneas begins thus: 'Although to tell such a tale is to renew sorrow, yet, Ö queen, I will obey thy wish.' Aeneas relates his adventures to Dido in this and the next book just as Ulysses relates his wanderings to Alcinous in books 9-12 of the Odyssey. 1. conticuere...tenebant] The perf. describes a single completed act-'silence fell on all': the imperf. expresses duration-'turning their faces (towards Aeneas) they were keeping them (turned towards him).' Ora is partly dependent on intenti and partly on tenebant; intenti ora='having their faces turned to ' is very good Latin, see Appendix. 2. orsus] sc. est. The omission of est or sunt is very common, e.g. 165 adgressi, 168 ausi, 172 positum, 196 credita, capti. In the first and second persons however the substantive verb is rarely so omitted, but cf. 1. 558 advecti (sumus); 2. 25 rati (sumus), 651; 5. 414 suetus (eram); 1. 202 experti (estis); 5. 192; 1. 237 pollicitus (es)?; 5. 687 exosus (es). This omission is specially common with deponent verbs. 3. infandum] emphatic by position, and used with reference to its derivation (cf. fando 6), too grievous to tell is the sorrow thou biddest me renew.' Ut how' (in 4) is dependent on the general sense of 'telling' contained in the words infandum renovare dolorem, which are really narrare, and the substantival clauses quae...vidi and quorum...fui describe more particularly what events the 'tale' will relate, 'to tell how...the Greeks overthrew, both the things which... and those of which....' 5. quaeque...] He will describe only the things he 'saw and shared' himself. que...et TE...Kal. 6. fando] 'in telling,' 'while he tells.' 8. temperet...] 'could refrain from tears'; cf. Caes. B. G. 1. 7 temperare ab iniuria. caelo praecipitat: 'hurries downwards in heaven,' i.e. the night is far spent: night is said to 'rise' and 'sink' or 'set' just as the 'sun' and the 'day' are said to do so, cf. 250 n. 10. amor...cognoscere] 'love to learn.' The inf. after nouns which signify desire or eagerness is not uncommon in poetry, cf. 3. 298 amore compellare; 2. 575 ira ulcisci; 5. 183 spes superare; 6. 133 cupido innare, 655 cura pascere, and similarly 3. 670 adfectare potestas. For this inf. after verbs cf. 64 n. 11. supremum...] 'to hear of Troy's last agony': supremus is used as in the well-known phrase dies supremus (cf. 324 summa dies)=' day of death.' 12. refugit] Observe the quantity. The difference in tense between horret and refugit is remarkable: horret describes his present state-'he shudders to recall'; refugit refers to the sudden starting back (cf. 380) which was the feeling he instinctively experienced when the request was first made to him (cf. Gk. use of ἀπέπτυσα, ἐπῄνεσα, ἥσθην, etc.). A very similar change of tense occurs in the first verse of the Magnificat St. Luke i. 47 μεγαλύνει...ἠγαλλίασε. 13-39. Foiled in all their efforts to capture Troy the Greeks build a huge wooden horse, in which are concealed certain chosen heroes. They then circulate a rumour that this is intended as a votive offering to Minerva to ensure their safe return home, and set sail. At Tenedos however they stop, while meantime the Trojans visit their deserted camp and debate what is to be done with the horse. 14. Danaum] For the contracted gen. cf. 3. 53 n. Troy was taken in the tenth year of the siege. tot: 15. instar montis equum] With one exception (6. 865) instar is always used with a gen. (e.g. 3. 637 Phoebeae lampadis instar, 7. 707 magni agminis instar), and it is only found in nom. and acc. It is probably to be connected with STA, στaupós and instaurare, and is='something set up,' and then ‘an image of,' thing resembling': here it is in apposition to equum, horse the image of a mountain,' i.e. huge as a mountain. а divina Palladis arte: cf. Od. 8. 492 iππоν кóσμоν delσov | δουρατέου, τὸν Ἐπειὸς ἐποίησεν σὺν ̓Αθήνῃ. Pallas not only favoured the Greeks, but was also the patroness of all handicrafts. 16. secta abiete] 'with planks of pine.' intexunt : 'interweave'; the process of placing the planks horizontally across the ribs is compared to the passing of the horizontal threads of the woof across the vertical threads of the warp in weaving. Cf. 112 contextus; 186 textis. abiete: scanned as a dactyl, cf. 5. 589 n. 17. ea fama vagatur] 'that rumour (i.e. of its being a votive offering) is spread abroad.' 18. delecta virum corpora] A periphrasis for 'chosen heroes,' but also suggesting that they were stout and stalwart. sortiti is used loosely = 'having selected.' 19. caeco lateri] Explaining huc, and in caecum latus, a use of the dat. of which Virgil is fond, cf. 36 pelago = in pelagus, 47 urbi, 85 demisere neci, 186 caelo educere heavenwards,' 276 iaculatus puppibus, also 398, 553, 688; 1. 180 prospectum pelago seawards,' 226; 4. 392 referunt thalamo, 600 undis spargere; 5. 233 ponto, 451 caelo, 691 morti demitte; 6. 126 descensus Averno, 297 Cocyto. 21. in conspectu] Tenedos is about 4 miles from the coast of the Troad. 22. dives opum] 'rich in wealth': for the gen. cf. 1. 14 n. 25. vento] abl. of instrument: by the aid of the wind,' ' with a favouring breeze.' 26. The sound of the spondaic line is effective, as of the lifting of a heavy weight,' Sidgwick. 27. panduntur portae] The well-known sign of peace, cf. Hor. Od. 3. 5. 25 portasque non clausas, A. P. 199 apertis otia portis. 29. hic...solebant] These words represent what the Trojans said to one another as they visited the various spots. 31. pars stupet...et mirantur] Note the change of construction. Minervae is the objective gen. after donum-'gift to Minerva.' innuptae: 'ever maiden.' 33. duci...hortatur] 'urges that it be drawn.' arce: the citadel of Troy was called Pergama, and like the Acropolis at Athens would contain the temples of the gods and other sacred objects. 34. dolo] Thymoetes was a Trojan, who had a grudge against Priam for putting his wife's son to death to satisfy an oracle. iam: 'by now,' 'at last.' sic ferebant: fero is often thus used without an object after words like ut, ita, sic to indicate VOL. I P the 'set' or 'tendency' of events, wishes, etc., e.g. ita tempora rei publicae ferre, ut opinio nostra fert, si fert ita corde voluntas: cf. 94 n. 37. subiectisque] Three courses are suggested: (1) to hurl the horse into the sea, (2) to burn it, (3) to examine it. Of these the first two are similar, both involving the horse's destruction : hence Virgil couples them with que, the real alternative between either (1) or (2) and (3) being marked by aut...aut. 39. scinditur...] The opposite sides' are the opposite views of Thymoetes and Capys. 40-56. Laocoon warns us that it is some treacherous device of the Greeks, and would have driven us to examine it had not our evil destiny prevailed. 42. et procul] and from afar (he cries).' For the omission of the verb cf. 287 ille nihil, 547 cui Pyrrhus. 44. sic notus Ulixes?] 'is this your knowledge of Ulysses?' Ulysses is mentioned as the accepted type of Greek cunningπολύμητις Οδυσσεύς. 47. inspectura...] Laocoon regards the horse as an 'engine of war' (machina) which was intended, like the Roman turris (see Dict. Ant.), to 'spy out their dwellings and fall upon the city from above,' i.e. to be used as a post of observation and for the discharge of missiles on the defenders of the walls. 49. et] 'even.' The gifts of foes were proverbially fatal, cf. Soph. Aj. 664 ἀλλ ̓ ἐστ ̓ ἀληθὴς ἡ βροτῶν παροιμία, ἐχθρῶν ἄδωρα δῶρα κοὐκ ὀνήσιμα. So Hector was lashed to the chariot of Achilles by the girdle which Ajax gave him, while Ajax slew himself with Hector's sword: Dido kills herself with the sword given her by Aeneas 4. 647. 51. in latus inque...] 'against the flank and against the belly of the beast with its curving timbers.' Observe the nervous force of the repeated pronoun. When it is thus repeated a copula is not needed (cf. 358 per tela per hostes) and is unusual: the addition of it may be partly for metrical convenience, but it also adds a certain vehemence to the style, cf. 337 in flammas et in arma feror; 1. 537; 2. 364 perque domos...perque vias; 4. 671 n.; 5. 859 cum puppis parte...cumque gubernaclo. 52. stetit...] 'it (the spear) stuck quivering.' recusso needs explanation. Editors slur it over as practically repercusso. This is wrong for two reasons. (1) The |