830. aggeribus socer Alpinis, etc.: Caesar gave his daughter Julia to Pompey as wife. When the Civil War began, Caesar was proconsul of Gaul; hence he is represented as 'descending from the ramparts of the Alps.' arce Monoeci: used with poetic freedom for the North. Caesar did not pass near Monoecus, the modern Monaco, upon his return to Italy at the outbreak of the Civil War. 831. gener: Pompey; socer and gener are in partitive apposition with the subject of ciebunt. adversis instructus Eois: drawn up against him with eastern troops. Pompey's army was largely recruited in and from the eastern provinces. 832. pueri: my children. ne tanta animis assuescite bella: by Hypallage for ne tantis animos assuescite bellis. 834. tuque prior, etc.: and do thou first refrain, thou that, etc.; tu refers to Caesar. genus qui ducis Olympo: viz. through Aeneas and Venus. 836. ille: viz. Mummius who captured and destroyed Corinth in 146 B.C. triumphata Corintho having triumphed over Corinth; triumpho is poetically used as transitive, like regno in lines 770 and 793. Capitolia ad alta: the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol was the goal of triumphal processions. Here were deposited the chief trophies of victory. 838. ille: Lucius Aemilius Paulus, who defeated King Perseus at Pydna. But Virgil indulges in poetic exaggeration when he attributes to Paulus the overthrow of Argos and Mycenae. These places are singled out because of their connection with the destruction of Troy. 839. Aeaciden: Perseus. The Macedonian kings traced their de scent back to Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus. 840. templa et, etc.: and the violation of Minerva's shrine; alluding to the violence done to Cassandra (see ii. 403 ff.), and to the theft of the Palladium (ii. 165 ff.). 841. magne Cato: Marcus Porcius Cato, the famous censor and champion of the old Roman simplicity. tacitum: unmentioned. The word here serves as a genuine perfect passive participle of taceo. Cosse Aulus Cornelius Cossus slew Tolumnius, king of the Veientines, in battle, 436 B.C., and dedicated his arms as trophies to Jupiter. Such personal trophies, taken by a Roman general from the hostile leader, were known as spolia opima. In Roman history they had been taken only once before Cossus's day, viz. by Romulus. 842. Gracchi genus: especially Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, the famous champions of popular rights. Their father (Tiberius Gracchus) was also famous. geminos Scipiadas: viz. Africanus the Elder and Africanus the Younger, the heroes of the Second and Third Punic wars. Scipiadas is poetic for Scīpiōnes, which refuses to fit the dactylic hexameter. 843. cladem Libyae: cladem here has active force, the scourge of Libya. parvo potentem: i.e. contented with a little. Fabricius, one of the heroes of the age of Pyrrhus, was a familiar type of sturdy old Roman simplicity and integrity. The story of his refusal of Pyrrhus's bribes is familiar. 844. Serrane: Gaius Atilius Regulus Serranus, a distinguished general of the First Punic War, who is said to have been found sowing on his farm when the messengers came to inform him of his election to the consulship; hence his name, from sero, 'sow.' But this is probably a popular etymology. The name was originally Saranus. 845. quo fessum (me) rapitis: i.e. to the recital of what achievements do you call me, weary, as I already am, with reciting the future glories of Rome? Fabii: a famous family. The most noted was Quintus Fabius Maximus, surnamed Cunctator, because of his policy of avoiding a pitched battle in the struggle with Hannibal. 846. unus qui nobis, etc.: closely modelled on a line in Ennius's Annals, unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem; rem is used in the sense of rem publicam, the state.' 847 ff. These lines are printed in capitals in this edition because of their striking literary beauty and their supreme importance as indicating the key-note of the Aeneid. The poem as a whole is intended to glorify Augustus and his work as the organizer of the Empire. What Virgil here says of the spirit and mission of Rome is most profoundly true, while the language in which the thought is clothed is of striking force and beauty. alii: i.e. other nations. Virgil is thinking of the Greeks. spirantia aera: i.e. the work is so lifelike mollius with softer grace. that it seems to breathe. 848. credo equidem: I doubt not. ducent: the living looks' are conceived of as hidden in the marble; the sculptor draws them out. 849. caeli meatus: i.e. the movements of the heavenly bodies. 850. radio: the wand of the mathematician, used for tracing figures on sand spread upon a table. dicent: with the force of praedicent. 851. regere dependent upon memento. populos: the nations. Romane: the singular has collective force. 852. tibi artes: thy arts. pacis imponere morem: to impose the custom (the institution) of peace. 854-886. Marcellus. 854. mirantibus: limiting eis understood, referring to Aeneas and the Sibyl. 855. ut ingreditur: cf. line 779, viden ut stant. Marcellus: Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of the heroes of the Second Punic War and called The Sword of Rome.' In his first consulship (222 B.C.) he won the spolia opima, the third instance of this distinction. ་ 857. rem Romanam sistet: shall uphold the Roman state. magno turbante tumultu: when a great upheaval shall disturb it. The reference is to the Gallic revolt and the Second Punic War. 858. Gallum rebellem: the Insubrian Gauls, whose capital was Mediolanum, the modern Milan. Marcellus defeated these at Clastidium in 222 B.C., the occasion on which he won the spolia opima. 859. tertia for the third time. : arma capta: the spolia opima. Quirino: Romulus and Cossus had dedicated their spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius. Marcellus dedicates his to Quirinus, the deified Romulus. 860. una namque, etc.: for he saw advancing by his side a youth, etc. The reference is to Marcellus, son of Augustus's sister, Octavia, a youth of high character and great promise, intended by Augustus as his successor. He died in 23 B.C. Note that Virgil skilfully paves the way for his tribute to the young Marcellus by first introducing his famous ancestor, one of the heroes of the Second Punic War. 862. laeta parum: i.e. sad. dejecto lumina voltu: his eyes are downcast. The sad look and downcast eyes are meant to foreshadow Marcellus's early death; dejecto voltu is Ablative of Quality. 863. virum: the elder Marcellus. 865. strepitus comitum : i.e. already in the underworld the shade of Marcellus is surrounded by troops of admiring and devoted friends. instar: freely, majesty. The word first means 'equality,' then 'model,' 'ideal'; literally, what an ideal (we behold) in him himself! 869. tantum: only. ultra esse to live longer. Marcellus was nineteen years of age when he died. 871. visa: understand esset. Anchises in imagination transports himself to the time of Marcellus's death. propria: lasting. dona viz. Marcellus, who is conceived of as a gift to the state. haec 872. ille campus: the Campus Martius, the scene of Marcellus's funeral obsequies. magnam Mavortis urbem: Rome, founded by Romulus, the son of Mars. 873. aget: shall send forth. quae funera: the entire city participated in the funeral honors of Marcellus. 874. tumulum recentem: Marcellus's ashes were deposited in the magnificent Mausoleum erected by Augustus in 27 B.C. on the banks of the Tiber. 875. Latinos . . . avos: shall raise such hopes among the Roman elders; literally, shall raise so much with hope. 876. quondam : = umquam. 878. heu pietas, fides, etc.: i.e. alas that we have lost these qualities in Marcellus ! prisca i.e. worthy of the good old days. se 879. illi: emphatic. For the construction, cf. cui, i. 314. tulisset obvius: would have encountered; obvius is attracted into the nominative, like obvia in i. 314. 880. pedes: as a foot-soldier (pedes, peditis). 882. si qua, etc.: if in some way thou couldst but break, etc. As in line 187, the si-clause is equivalent to a wish,-mayst thou break. 883. manibus date lilia plenis: i.e. give me my hands full of lilies to scatter on the tomb. 884. spargam, accumulem, fungar: let me strew, let me honor, etc.; Jussive Subjunctives; the speaker directs the command to himself. animam accumulem donis : poetic for animae accumulem dona, 'heap gifts upon the shade.' 885. inani munere: the vain tribute; i.e. the flowers cannot recall the dead to life. 886-892. The coming wars in Italy. 886. sic: i.e. engaging in such conversation. 887. aeris campis: fields of mist, or shadowy plains (Papillon and Haigh). 890. deinde: hereafter. gerenda understand sint. : 891. Laurentis populos: the inhabitants of Laurentum, the capital of King Latinus. 892: practically identical with iii. 459. 893-901. Aeneas returns to the upper world and rejoins his comrades. 893. fertur cornea: is said to be of horn. 895. candenti perfecta nitens elephanto: gleaming with the polish of dazzling ivory (C.); literally, wrought gleaming, etc. |