857. He shall stablish the fortune of Rome when a great upheaving shakes it; he shall trample beneath his steed....'

Tumultus is specially used of a war in Italy or a rising of the Gauls. Cicero derives the word from timor multus and explains it as perturbatio tanta ut maior (quam in bello) timor oriatur (Phil. 8. 1. 2).

858. sistet, sternet] Antithesis, heightened by assonance. 860-887. See Introduction p. viii.

861. iuvenem] The young Marcellus was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, and C. Marcellus. Augustus adopted him as his son in 25 B. C. and gave him his only child Julia in marriage. He was marked out as the emperor's successor, but died in the 20th year of his age B.C. 23.

The construction is 'And hereupon Aeneas (said), for he saw a youth walking at his side..., but his (the youth's) brow (was) very sad....'

865. instar] The word is only here used without a genitive. For its use by Virgil cf. 2. 15 instar montis equum; 3. 637 Phoebeae lampadis instar; 7. 707 magni agminis instar; 12. 923 volat atri turbinis instar: in all these cases the person or thing to which it is applied is described as worthy to be compared with something else, which is always something great and grand. So too Cicero writes unus ille dies inmortalitatis instar fuit, and Plato unus mihi instar est omnium, and it is generally so used of comparison with what is great, though once we find instar puncti. Considering these passages and the probable connection of instar with STA, σтauрós and instaurare = 'something set up,' it would seem originally to mean 'an image' or 'model,' and here, when used absolutely, to describe that which is the ideal of shape, the standard of beauty. The rare and peculiar use of the word is no doubt intentional.

866. sed nox...] Cf. Od. 20. 351 νυκτὶ μὲν ὑμῶν | εἰλύαται κεφαλαί τε πρόσωπά τε νέρθε τε γοῦνα. The line describes Night as hovering round him on ghostly pinions and already casting over his bright and youthful form the shadow of the grave. To many the words quantum instar...umbra will unconsciously recall another figure stamped with no earthly loveliness and with no earthly sorrow, to portray which has been for centuries the ambition, and the despair, of art.

96

869. tantum] Adverbial; 'merely,' only.' Fate will 'only allow a glimpse of him, nothing more.

870. 'Too great, O gods, ye deemed the Roman race would

be, had such a gift been abiding.' The construction is visa (est) nimium potens (futura).

872. ille Campus]

In connection with 'the city of Mavors,' 'that Field' is obviously the Campus Martius, in which five years before Augustus had erected a mausoleum for his family (tumulum recentem).

873. aget]'shall bear,' 'send.'

876. Nor shall any youth raise so high with hope the grandsires of Rome.' Conington says that avos Latinos refers to the dead heroes who are supposed still to watch with interest the fortunes of the race: but surely they are the men who when Marcellus was alive were alive too and 'grandsires.' Such men know that their own active career is over and watch with eager hope the early promise of the young.

878. prisca fides] 'ancient honour'; priscus is always used of that which belongs to the 'good old time.'

invicta: as often, rather 'invincible' than 'unconquered.' 879. tulisset] "Anchises speaks as if Marcellus were already dead, sorrowfully forecasting the centuries and realising the sad event to be": Sidgwick.

882. heu, miserande puer...] Nearly all editors with one consent place a comma after rumpas: Alas, unhappy youth, if by any means thou mayest break the barrier of cruel fate, thou shalt be Marcellus.'

This is wrong for many reasons:

(1) The form of conditional sentence is remarkable-si rumpas...eris. The editors render if any way thou mayest break,' 'if ever thou canst break,' but where is the 'can' or 'may' in rumpas? The words ought to be rendered in case you are breaking...you will be,' which is nonsense. Si ruperis ...eris is needed if the words are to mean if you succeed in breaking...you will be': cf. 828 si...attigerint...ciebunt.

(2) Virgil has given a list of heroic souls 'destined to bear the Roman name' (758, cf. has omnes 748): for the crown and consummation of this list he reserves the name of Marcellus. Nowhere, if the vague possibility si lumina vitae attigerint 828 be excepted, is any hint given that any 'barriers of cruel fate' hindered the passage of any soul to the world above. Why should such a barrier be so emphatically referred to in the case of Marcellus? The soul which Anchises contemplates was fated to become Marcellus: fate does not oppose, but has irrevocably determined its birth.

(3) The phrase si qua...rumpas expresses great doubt and almost despair of the result (cf. 1. 18 si qua fata sinant, where

a hope is referred to which Juno, as she utters it, feels to be vain, and which Virgil, as he wrote, knew to have been so): it could not have been used by a writer who knew that Marcellus had been born, much less recited in the very presence of the

mother that bare him.

Conington partly sees this, and suggests that the words tu Marcellus eris mean 'you shall be a true Marcellus,' but this not only does violence to the Latin but affords a terrible instance of bathos. The Marcellus whom Virgil describes in this passage does not borrow lustre from the Marcelli but adds an undying lustre to their name. Imagine Virgil reciting this passage to Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus and his sister Octavia, and telling them that the lost heir of the empire was a true Marcellus!'

(4) To Virgil's hearers the 'cruelty of fate' could have but one meaning: it was the cruelty which had cut short in its early promise so dear a life. The barrier which had been in- . terposed was the one barrier which cannot be broken-death. Cf. Liv. 1. 42. 2 nec rupit fati necessitatem.

(5) If a comma is placed after rumpas, then the words si... rumpas cease to have any necessary force: they are a purely meaningless parenthesis introduced into the very climax of this splendid peroration. Those who so take them must have a strange opinion of the rhetorical skill of Virgil.

Wagner rightly places a mark of exclamation after rumpas. Anchises has been dwelling in imagination on what might have been under the influence of so bright a vision the prophecy on his lips passes suddenly into prayer-a prayer which the speaker, even as he utters it, knows to be uttered in vain. The change of tone, the burst of impassioned feeling, is marked emphatically by the change to the second person singular: this change editors fail to notice, but its effect is unmistakable directly the passage is recited.

scene.

By this punctuation only do the words tu Marcellus eris obtain their full force. They form the climax of this splendid It is easy to point out the skill with which the mention of the name of Marcellus is reserved to the last; it is not so easy to make clear the effect of these three simple words in the position in which Virgil has placed them. Before the vision of Anchises, and before Virgil's spell-bound audience, have passed in review the heroes of the Roman race. Upon the last figure the poet has concentrated all the resources of his skill; by every art the minds of his hearers have been wrought to the highest pitch of expectancy, and when, after the passionate outburst of

prayer

heu, miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas !

there fell from Virgil's lips, in slow, measured, and almost ghostly accents, the final words tu Marcellus eris, then it is not hard to believe that, as tradition relates, the mother of Marcellus swooned.

I have characterised the words tu Marcellus eris as 'final words' and 'a climax,' for such in reality they are. The end has been reached. The words which follow are directly intended to calm and soothe. They fall upon the ear like the peaceful accents of the Benediction after some great preacher has stirred our feelings to their depths. So too Horace loves to let an excited ode die tranquilly away in words of simple and unimpassioned melody, e.g. Od. 3. 5.

883. Kennedy rightly says that the construction is this: date spargam manibus plenis lilia, purpureos flores, et adcumulem; date being followed by a subj. like many verbs of permitting, granting, allowing. I admit,' he adds, 'that the verb dare is preferred to sinere because lilies must be given to Anchises for his purpose. The flowers are conceived as objects of date, but constructed otherwise: viz. lilia as nearer (accus.) object of spargam.' He renders: Grant me to strew by handfuls purple lily flowers, and with such gifts at least to endow....'

The rendering 'give me lilies..., let me scatter purple flowers,' assigns a meaning to the subjunctive spargam which it will not bear.

887. aëris in campis] An imitation of nepoeɩs 'cloudy,' 'murky,' applied to Táprapos Il. 8. 13; cf. Od. 20. 64 ǹepóevтa Kéλevla 'the dark road of death.'

892. quo...modo fugiat] The oblique form of the question quomodo fugiam? 'how am I to avoid?"

893. sunt geminae...] Cf. Od. 19. 562

δοιαὶ γάρ τε πύλαι ἀμενηνῶν εἰσὶν ὀνείρων·

αἱ μὲν γὰρ κεράεσσι τετεύχαται, αἱ δ ̓ ἐλέφαντι,

where Homer goes on fancifully to connect képaos with кpalve 'to accomplish,' because dreams which pass through the gate of horn come true, and ἐλέφας with ελεφαίρεσθαι • to become light, because dreams through the ivory gate come to nothing.

897. his ibi tum...] "There then with such words (as those referred to 890) does Anchises escort his son...and sends him forth by the ivory gate.' Why Virgil makes him depart by the ivory gate is a puzzle. Possibly he wishes to mark the time as before midnight (Aeneas enters at dawn 235, and is half-way at noon 535), at which time he may suppose the ivory gate to be closed, and the gate of horn opened to send forth true dreams which come after midnight, cf. Hor. Sat. 1. 10. 33 post mediam noctem visus cum somnia vera. See W. Everett in Class. Rev. April 1900.

APPENDIX

ON PASSIVE PARTICIPLES USED WITH AN ACCUSATIVE

THESE cases are numerous in Virgil, and the accusative used to be explained as an accusative of respect. Thus in 1. 320 nuda genu nodoque sinus collecta fluentes, the construction of nuda genu ('bare as to her knee') seems exactly parallel with sinus collecta ('gathered as to the folds of her robe'), which may also be compared with 2. 381 colla tumentem and 5. 97 nigrantes terga, where colla and terga seem undoubtedly accusatives of respect.

On the other hand, traces of a use of the Latin passive, almost like a Greek middle, with a certain active force and an accusative directly dependent on it, are fairly clear (cf. 2. 510 cingitur ferrum he girds on his sword, περιβάλλεται τὸ ξίφος ; 4. 493 accingier artes; 1. 713 expleri mentem nequit; 3. 405 velare comas 'cover thy hair'); so that it would seem that, in the frequent cases where an accusative is closely joined with the passive participle, the participle is really used as a middle form and directly governs the accusative. At any rate the following instances will enable any one to form a fair judgment :

1. 228. lacrimis oculos suffusa, 'having her eyes suffused with tears.'

481. tristes et tunsae pectora palmis, 'beating* their breasts.' 561. vultum demissa, 'having her face cast down.'

579. his animum arrecti dictis.

658. faciem mutatus et ora.

2. 57. manus revinctum, 'having his arms bound.' 210. ardentes oculos suffecti sanguine.

*

218. bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circum | terga dati, 'twice flinging their backs round his neck.' 221. perfusus sanie vittas, 'having his fillets soaked with

gore.'