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668. arma...arma] The repetition is dramatic, cf. Rich. III. act 5. sc. 4 'a horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!'; Hor. Od. 1. 35. 15 ad arma...ad arma.

669. sinite revisam] 'permit me to seek again'; for the omission of ut in the dependent clause of Petitio obliqua cf. the common phrases fac abeas; velim facias; licet venias, and also Ter. And. 5. 3. 30 sine te hoc exorem; Livy 33. 45 permissum est ipsi faceret. instaurata is used proleptically-he will 'renew' the battle by reseeking it.

670. numquam hodie] Cf. Ecl. 3. 49 numquam hodie effugies. Numquam loses its sense of time and becomes an emphatic negative, cf. use of nusquam 5. 853.

671-678. I am putting on my armour when my wife begs me either to take her and my son to die with me or to stay and guard them.

671. clipeoque...] and was passing my left arm into (the handle of) my shield, fitting it on: the arm was passed through a strap or handle in the centre of the shield inside.

673. complexa pedes] Usually the suppliant clasps the knees, the substitution of the feet here marks her as at once deprecating and hindering his departure.

674. patri] Emphatic; not to me' but 'to his father,' because it is to the paternal affection of Aeneas that she appeals by her act.

675. si periturus...] 'if to die thou art going forth, us too take thou to all things at thy side.' Tecum is emphatic by position, and in omnia is 'to death or aught that may befall.' 676. expertus] 'having (already) tried them,' i.c. arms.

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678. et coniunx...] and (to whom) am I, once called thy wife, being abandoned?' Creusa says 'once called thy wife' because Aeneas was about to leave her, and the meaning of coniugium is union between man and wife 'till death them do part.

679-691. Now a marvel occurred: a tongue of fire was seen to play harmlessly around the head of Iulus. We were terrified, but Anchises joyfully prayed the gods to confirm the happy omen.

681. manus inter...] Creusa is on her knees holding up Iulus to Aeneas and, as he holds out his hands to receive him, the boy is 'between the hands and faces of his sad parents.' Virgil wishes to depict the exact position of the group.

682. ecce...] 'lo! a flickering point of flame seemed....' Apex is strictly used of the point in which the cap of a Flamen

ended (something like the spike on the top of a modern helmet), but it is here used for a sort of 'tongue (cf. lambere) of fire.' The sign was held to portend the presence and favour of deity, cf. Ov. Fast. 6. 635, and see Acts ii. 3.

The explanations of apex as a 'tuft' or 'lock of his hair,' or a pointed cap' worn by the boy, seem unnatural.

683. tactu innoxia] might be 'harmless to be touched'; cf. 680 dictu mirabile, but seems more fittingly to be 'harmless with its touch': the flame touches the hair but does not burn it.

molles some MSS. have molli, but the great majority have mollis (=molles).

684. pasci] 'pasture,' Conington. The word does not so much express 'feeding,' for the flame consumes nothing, as gentle peaceful movement as of sheep when feeding.

685. nos pavidi...] 'we in startled fear make trembling haste' trepido exactly describes nervous haste combining as it does the two ideas of trembling and eagerness, cf. Hor. Od. 2. 3. 11 obliquo laborat | lympha fugax trepidare rivo. For the infinitives cf. 98 n.

690. aspice nos-hoc tantum-et...] 'regard us—'tis my only prayer-and....' Wagner's punctuation is less simple but very tempting-aspice nos hoc tantum, et... he explains hoc tantum as a cognate acc. after aspice, this only (regard) regard us,' 'in this one thing have regard to us,' TOUTO μovov ἡμᾶς ἐπίβλεψον.

691. deinde] This word emphasises the idea that there is a natural sequence, first due reverence from man and then due reward from Heaven. 'If we deserve it by our reverence (i.e. if we have first done our part) do thou thereafter grant us aid.'

omina firma: i.e. confirm the first omen by a second, and thus show that the first sign was not an accidental event but the sure indication of thy will.

692-725. Immediately he had ended his prayer we heard thunder on the left hand and saw a shooting star. My father at once accepts the augury and declares his readiness to go with ՊԱՏ. I take him on my shoulders and lead Iulus by the hand, while Creusa follows at a distance, and I name a lonely temple of Ceres outside the walls to my attendants as our rendezvous.

693. intonuit laevum] Thunder on the left was a good omen in Roman augury: laevum is cognate acc. after intonuit, 'it thundered (a thundering) on the left,' cf. 6. 50 n.; 9. 630

genitor...intonuit laevum; 11. 700 horrendumque intonat armis (Aeneas).

694. facem...luce] lit. 'trailing a torch accompanied with much light'; Conington well renders 'with a torch-like train and a blaze of light.

697. signantemque vias] and marking its path (in heaven)'; the words are to be joined with claram; it is by its brightness' that it 'marks its path.'

tum: i.e. after its departure: the path (limes) it had taken seemed, even after it had disappeared, like a glistening furrow (sulcus) which had been ploughed in the sky.

699. se tollit ad auras] Hitherto he had been seated (654) and almost prostrate on a couch (644); at the first omen he lifted his eyes and hands to heaven' (687), but now 'he raises himself erect to heaven,' his attitude being not only the ordinary attitude of prayer, but also expressive of his readiness to depart.

The change in his conduct is strongly emphasised by hic vero 'hereupon indeed,' 'then truly,' and it is only misplaced ingenuity which has suggested that vero victus go together.

701. nulla mora] Not 'there is no time for delay,' but 'there is no delay on my part,' as the next words show. The promptness of his obedience is strongly marked by the present sequor (I follow,' not sequar 'I will follow'), and by the still more vigorous adsum 'Here am I.' Alter the line to sequar et, qua ducitis, ibo and its force appears by contrast. Adsum is the word used by any one who is asked for, e.g. a servant, and replies that he is 'Here.'

Editors who place a full stop after adsum mar the sense, which clearly is that Anchises is obeying the guidance of the gods.

702. domum] 'house' in the sense of 'race': the fiery tongue had marked his 'grandchild' and by implication his descendants as under divine protection.

703. vestroque in numine Troia est] Clearly these words do not refer to the actual city of Troy, which was deserted by the gods and all but destroyed. The phrase is highly rhetorical and dramatic: as he utters it the speaker's gaze rests on the son and grandson who are now in themselves Troy, and are starting in obedience to a divine augury' (cf. vestrum augurium) and 'relying on divine will' to found the second Troy.

For in numine cf. Soph. O. C. 1443 таûтa d' év tŵ daiμovi, Ο. Τ. 314 ἐν σοὶ γάρ ἐσμεν.

705. clarior] Not with auditur, for can clarior ignis auditur mean the fire is heard more clearly'? Surely, when applied to ignis, clarus must mean 'bright (to sight).' Render and now we hear the flames that burn ever brighter through the town' the emphasis is on auditur; you only hear a fire when it is very near.

706. aestus incendia volvunt] 'the conflagration rolls a fiery flood.'

707. inponere] 'place thyself on,' cf. 383 n.

709. quo res cumque cadent] 'howe'er (lit. whithersoever) things shall fall': the metaphor in cado is from dice, cf. the common use of πίπτω.

711. longe] Virgil puts in this word to prepare us for the account of Creusa's loss in 735; we must suppose that the object of Creusa's following 'at a distance' is to avoid attracting attention to the party by their numbers.

712. quae dicam] A substantival clause forming the direct object of advertite; dicam is future indicative 'what I shall say,' 'my words.'

animis advertite vestris: advertere is usually active, and the phrase animum advertere 'to turn the attention to' followed by the dat. or ad with acc. is common, or the two words may be blended into one animadvertere and followed by a simple accusative here however advertite is used intransitively turn towards (i.e. regard) my words with your minds.'

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713. est urbe egressis] lit. 'there is to you having quitted the city'; as you quit the city there is....'

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714. desertae Cereris] 'of lonely Ceres': temples of Ceres were usually built outside the walls in unfrequented spots; see Henry 2. 333.

715. religione...] Trees of venerable antiquity are naturally regarded with a certain 'religious awe'; see Stanley's description of the oak of Mamre,' 'the oak of Bethel,' etc. (Sinai and Palestine, Index, s. v. Oaks) which he describes as 'invested with a kind of religious sanctity.'

716. ex diverso] 'from different directions.'.

718. me...] 'for me, who am come fresh from all yon war and carnage, 'tis sacrilege to touch them, until...': digressum e caede recenti is literally 'coming from fresh bloodshed,' but 'coming fresh from bloodshed' gives the true emphasis in English.

719. flumine vivo] i.e. a running stream. Cf. The Teaching

of the Twelve Apostles c. 7, where it is enjoined that baptism shall take place ev udari Švтi 'in running water.'

721. latos umeros] Acc. after insternor used in a middle sense, 'I cover my broad shoulders,' cf. 383 n. latos umeros is the common Homeric evpéas &μovs, but the adjective also suggests that they afforded a roomy seat. Cf. Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur, 'Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight.' subiecta: 'stooping,' so as to be ready to receive Anchises.

723. dextrae se inplicuit] 'entwined his hand in mine.'

725---751. We make our way through the darkness, and every sound startles me in my anxious fear for those I guard. Just as I come near to the gate we seem to hear footsteps, and my father warns me that he sees the gleam of arms. A sudden infatuation deprives me of my judgment and I quit the path, and it is only on reaching the temple of Ceres that we discover Creusa to be missing. In a frenzy of anxiety I make my way back into the town to search for her.

725. per opaca locorum] Cf. 332 n. They pick those spots that are 'in shadow' and not illuminated by the flames.

727. adverso...] 'the Greeks massed in opposing ranks': ex is used, like ek in Greek, in a pregnant sense; the Greeks were not merely massed in opposing ranks, but hurling weapons from those ranks.

729. suspensum] A pictorial word representing the attitude of a man advancing cautiously, and who 'hangs hesitating' before each step. The idea of 'anxiety' is also suggested, cf. 3. 372 n.

731. evasisse viam] 'to have passed the road in safety': viam is the direct acc. after evasisse, and evadere is used in two senses, partly (1) 'to come to the end of,' partly (2) 'escape,' the road being regarded as something perilous.

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cum creber...: 'when thick upon my ear seemed to come the tramp of feet.'

735. hic mihi...] 'here in my alarm some unfriendly power-I know not what-perplexed and robbed me of my wits.' Nescio quod numen is inadequately rendered 'some power': Aeneas cannot explain what it was which drove him to act as he did; he can only describe it as 'some mysterious power'; 'some power he knows not what.'

male amicum: i.e. unfriendly. When male qualifies an adj. which has a good sense, it negatives that good sense, cf. 23 male fida infida; 4. 8 male sana; when however it qualifies

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