AENEID. LIB. V. cultu Consiliis pare, quae nunc pulcherrima Nautes 731.] Pal. has est Latio,' which Ribbeck adopts. Helenus had told Aeneas that he would see the Sibyl at Cumae, and learn his destiny from her (3. 441 foll.), but had said nothing about going down to the shades. Assuming that it was necessary to bring him thither, we need not complain of the mode of effecting it here as inartificial still, it looks almost like an after-thought, as Aeneas in effect learns his destiny not from the Sibyl but from Anchises, and the very words in which her assistance is promised (3. 458, 459) are transferred to what is actually done by Anchises (6. 890—892). 732.] Averna per alta' seems to be used generally of the shades (7. 91), perhaps with a special reference not so much to the lake and valley of Avernus as to the whole of the region before they reach Elysium. 730 735 complexus.' But either word would be ill chosen here, being inconsistent with 6. 698 foll. For the position of 'namque' see on E. 1. 14. 734.] The MSS. are divided between 'tristes umbrae' (Med. a m. pr., Rom., Pal., Gud.), 'tristesve umbrae' (Med. a m. sec., and according to Heyne, 'plures,' including Balliol MS.), and tristesque umbrae' (one of Ribbeck's cursives a m. s). The first, though adopted by Heins., Heyne, and Ribbeck, is weak. The third might stand very well, as all that is required by the sense is that a distinction should be made between Tartarus and Elysium: but when a reading well supported in itself affords the means of observing Virg.'s own division into Tartarus, Elysium, and the intermediate state, where the sorrows of life are continued after death, it seems a pity not to adopt it. There is no force in Jahn's objection that 'tristesque' is required to sustain the balance between Tartara umbraeque' and 'piorum concilia Elysiumque,' as it is a mere assumption that any such balance exists. 735.] Concilia' here simply means a meeting, perhaps with an additional notion of a place of meeting. 6. 673 foll. will show that no formal assembly is intended. 736.] Comp. 6. 153, 243 foll. Sanguine' abl. instrum. Multo'implies that the sacrifice is to be large, as is the case 6. 243 foll. 737.] The first part of the promise is fulfilled at length 6. 756 foll.; the second is perhaps meant to be included in the general words of 6. 890 foll. Dentur moenia' 3. 85, 255 notes. 733.] Amplexus' was found by Pierius in most of his MSS. Some others have felt. VOL. II. 738.] Night is just at its full, and the first faint breath of morning is making itself D d Et me saevus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis. Extemplo socios primumque arcessit Acesten, 739.] Comp. G. 1. 250 note. Saevus,' as excluding Anchises from the upper air, and breaking in on the intercourse of father and son. The belief in the exclusive connexion between ghosts and night is natural enough. An English reader need hardly be referred to the Ghost in Hamlet. Gossrau has quoted his words from Tieck's translation, "ich wittre Morgenluft." 740.] Comp. G. 4. 499, 500. Pal. has 'ad auras.' 741.] Serv. says "Ordo est, Aeneas deinde, Quo ruis?" an inversion which here at any rate is of course quite impossible. The words seem to answer exactly to our 'Whither are you hurrying now?' conveying a reproach for not remaining longer. 'Proripis' E. 3. 19, where the full reflexive form is used. 742.] "Quem fugis?" 6. 466, E. 2. 60. Comp. Aeneas' words 6. 698. 743.] Aeneas offers sacrifices after supernatural appearances 3. 176 foll., 8. 542 foll. The latter passage is closely parallel to this. The words cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignis' recur 8. 410 in a simile. They must be explained here from the next line, as Aeneas is in his own house, and so would only have household deities about him otherwise we might have supposed that he revived the sacrificial fire, which had doubtless been burning for his father the day before. 744.] Pergameumque Larem' is probably the same as "Assaraci Larem," mentioned by Ascanius along with the Penates, and Vesta 9. 259, where "canae penetralia Vestae" is repeated. So perhaps 8. 543. 'Canae' points to the old religion, of which the worship of Vesta formed part, like cana Fides et Vesta" 1. 292 note. Serv. gives an alternative, "aut antiquae, aut propter ignis favillas." The last notion shows ingenuity, but is hardly likely to 740 745 have occurred to Virg., even with his love for combining allusions, though it might have suited the less chastened taste of Ovid. 745.] "Farre pio" Hor. 3 Od. 23. 20, where as here offerings to the Penates are spoken of. Comp. ib. 9 where the Lares are propitiated "ture" (Virgil's 'acerra') "et horna fruge" (the far pium') "avidaque porca." 748-761.] He tells the vision to his comrades and Acestes, and they agree to act on it. The ships are repaired-the new city begun, and honours paid to Venus and Anchises.' 746.] Comp. 3. 58, "Delectos populi ad proceres primumque parentem Monstra deum refero," though there the reference seems to be more formal: see note there. Accersit,' the old reading before Heins., is supported here by Med., Rom., Gud. a m. s. &c. The question is of course one to be decided on grounds far wider than can be supplied by the MSS. of a single author in a single passage. The result seems to be that 'arcesso is apparently the correct form according to analogy, but that 'accerso has everywhere such respectable support from the MSS. that it is probably to be admitted as a co-ordinate form in use in the best ages of Latinity. A mistaken spelling founded on a mistaken analogy may easily come into vogue in the purest period of a language. Which form Virg. preferred we cannot of course tell, nor is the point of any importance. Med. is inconsistent, giving accerso' here and in 6. 119, arcesso' in 10. 11, G. 4. 224. 748.] Nunc' and 'constet' both point to previous indecision. "Quae nune animo sententia surgat" 9. 191. 749.] Haud mora consiliis' seems to mean the plan does not take long to ap prove itself to them,' or 'to put in action?' al Transcribunt urbi matres, populumque volentem comp. v. 639 above. But it might possibly be the debate is not delayed,' i. e. it is short, or they do not debate at all. "Iussa,' voluntatem - aut certe quae Iuppiter iusserat," Serv. The first interpretation seems the right one: comp. 4. 503. In each case perhaps the choice of the word may have been regulated by the fact that the request has something of the authority of a command, embodying here the injunction of a deity, there that of a priestess. 750.] Serv. says of transcribunt ' "Romani moris verbum est: transcripti enim in colonias deducebantur." No other instance is however quoted of this use of the word, which is perhaps only adapted by Virg. from adscribi,' the regular word for entering a colony already formed. 66 6 751.] 'Deponunt,' quasi de navibus " Serv., rightly. "Caesar deponit legiones, equitesque a navibus egressos iubet de languore reficere," Hirt. Bell. Alex. 1. 34. They had of course been already landed: but the word expresses with some vividness the fact of their subtraction from the ships' crews. It is perhaps hardly worth while to combine with this Heyne's explanation, "ut inutile onus." Serv. mentions another interpretation, according to which a stop is placed at volentem,' and deponunt' taken with 'animos quae lectio et sententia Nascimbaeno castior visa est," says Taubmann. 'Animos forms an apposition like corda' above v. 729. Egentis' expresses not the absence of the thing, but the sense of its absence—a change of meaning equally observable in our word want,' as Henry remarks. Thus the expression is exactly contrasted with "laudum cupido" v. 138 above, 6. 823. With the construction Henry comp. G. 2. 28, "Nil radicis egent aliae." One or two MSS. have agentis,' which has met with some approbation in later times. 752.] Ipsi' contrasts those who go with those who stay. They provide for the weaker sort, and then prepare vigorously for their own departure.' Transtra no 750 755 vant,' either make new benches or repair the old. Comp. "tecta novantem "" 4. 260. Reponere' of repairing, i. e. setting up again, in a new form. Forc. quotes Tac. A. 1.63, "ruptos vetustate pontis reponeret." 753.] Navigiis' not "in navigia," like "vina reponite mensis" 7. 134, but in the same sense as "ponere alicui," to give a thing to a person. There was a doubt about the pointing even in Serv.'s time, some putting the stop after 'robora,' as Heins. has done, with the approbation of Heyne but the old commentator rightly prefers punctuating after navigiis.' 'Aptare' is used elsewhere of getting a ship into order, 4. 289. As applied to oars, it refers more particularly to shaping them (comp. 1. 552), as applied to ropes, to attaching them to the vessel (comp. 3. 472). : 754.] Virtus' forms rather a bold apposition to 'exigui numero;' but there is a similar one in 11. 338, "Largus opum, et lingua melior, sed frigida bello Dextera (comp. also by Forb.). "Vivida virtus " 11.386. It matters little whether bello' be dative, ad bellum,' or abl. 755.] With the passage generally comp. the description of the building of Carthage 1. 423 foll. Designat aratro :' the custom is thus explained by Serv., "Quem Cato in Originibus dicit morem fuisse, Conditores enim civitatis taurum in dextram, vaccam intrinsecus iungebant, et incincti ritu Gabino, id est, togae parte caput velati, parte succincti, tenebant stivam incurvam, ut glebae omnes intrinsecus caderent, et ita sulco ducto loca murorum designabant aratra suspendentes circa loca portarum." The same account is given more briefly by Varro L. L. 5. 143 Müller. The passage of Cato is given by Isidorus 15. 2, 3, "Qui urbem novam condet, tauro et vacca aret, ubi araverit, murum faciat, ubi portam vult esse, aratrum sustollat et portet et portam vocet." So when Aeneas first lands in Latium, "humili designat moenia fossa" 7. 157. 756.] Sortitus' is found in a few MSS., and was adopted by Burm. and Heyne, Esse iubet. Gaudet regno Troianus Acestes, 760 perhaps under a mistaken notion that its external authority was greater. The participle would clearly be out of place, as the clause hoc Ilium' &c. has nothing to do with what precedes. The meaning is, he assigns the sites for private dwellings by lot, and gives names to the different quarters of the city. With sortitur domos' comp. 3. 137, "Iura domosque dabam:" with the remainder, v. 633 above, 3. 349 foll. Wagn. explains Ilium' of the city, Troiam' of the region: but the city was called Acesta, and Troia' in Helenus' city can scarcely have been the region, which Helenus had called Chaonia (3. 334 foll.). Strabo 13, p. 608 C. comp. by Wagn. says that the rivers about Aegesta had the names of Scamander and Simois. 757.] Troianus' gives the reason of Acestes' joy at seeing the old names revived. 758.] The constitution of the state proceeds pari passu with the building of the town, as in 1. 426., 3. 137. See note on the former passage. 'Indicit forum' is apparently explained on the analogy of 'forum agere,' to hold a court, 'indicere' being used as in 'indicere iustitium' &c. Iura dare,' to make laws, was part of the kingly office as conceived by Virg. See on 1. 293. Lersch. § 2, "de iure condendo," quotes from Livy 1. 8, Rebus divinis rite perpetratis vocataque ad concilium multitudine, quae coalescere in populi unius corpus nulla re praeterquam legibus poterat, iura dedit," a passage exactly appropriate to the present. So 7.246, "Hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis More daret populis." On a comparison of the passage in Livy with two others in Virg., "Iura dabat legesque viris" 1. 507, "Secretosque pios: his dantem iura Catonem " 8. 670, it may be doubted whether 'patribus vocatis' here and "vocatis populis" 7, 1. c. are abl. abs. or dat. In any case the sense is the same. A council, large or small, is summoned, and the laws given by the king. Gossrau remarks that this was not only the old Roman practice, but that established or revived by Augustus, who consulted the senate but was not bound by it. Wagn.'s explanation 'establishes rules for senatorial procedure,' teaches the senators their duties, is less likely, though it might receive some sup port from 1. 731, "Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur." 759.] The temple of Venus on Mount Eryx was famous. Dionys. 1. 53 (cited by Heyne, Excursus 2) instances the altar Ts Aiveládos 'Appodirns as one of the proofs that Aeneas visited Sicily, and Tac. A. 4. 43 says that the Segestans sent an embassy to Rome, begging that the temple might be restored, "nota memorantes de origine eius et laeta Tiberio," doubtless its foundation by Aeneas. "Turrim... sub astra Eductam" 2. 460. 760.] Idaliae' seems an ordinary epithet, as Venus is not likely to have been specially worshipped on Mount Eryx as Idalia, though Venus Erycina was wor shipped at Rome, Livy 22. 10. We might have expected "matri Idaliae:" but the only variation in the MSS. is that one gives' Iliadae.' 761.] Anchises, as a hero, has a réuevos bestowed on him. Comp. 3. 302 foll., where we read of a similar honour to Hector. Anchiseo' suggests the Greek way of indicating a temple by a neuter adjective, rò 'Ayxiσelov. Ac' was restored by Heins. for et.' Late sacer' occurs again of a grove 8. 598. Forc. seems to explain it rightly (s. v. 'late'), "lucus amplus et totus sacer;" though it would be possible to explain 'late' as indicating an extraordinary and more than local sanctity-just as e. g. the words in this sense might be applied to Delphi. Pal. has 'additus.' 762-778.] After nine days of festivities they prepare to embark. Those who are left behind grieve at parting, especially the women. All is ready, and the fleet sails.' 762.] We have already had the 'novemdiale' (see on v. 64): but Virg. may be thinking of the solemnities of which that formed the close, and perhaps also of a Factus honos: placidi straverunt aequora venti, the other 'novemdiale,' which actually aurae. 765.] τῶν δὲ στοναχὴ κατὰ δώματ' ὀρώρει ΙΙ. 24. 512. 66 con 766.] Forb. comp. Livy 7. 42, 767.] For ipsi a few MSS. repeat 'ipsae, which, though plausible at first sight, 765 770 passage somewhat similar to this: but such an analogy does not help us much. Admitting then that if the notion involved in 'numen' would be satisfactorily supported, the word would be appropriate and poetical, I think this passage is one of the innumerable exceptions to the critical rule that the more difficult reading is to be preferred. Virg. may have thought of the Homeric oùк ovoμaoτós, Od. 19. 260, 597., 23. 19. But it would be more satisfactory if a parallel could be adduced from his own works, though the expression may seem to be one which does not stand in need of any such support. The confusion is of course common: see 4. 94 note. 769.] Comp. v. 619 above, 3. 160. 771. Consanguineo,' his and their kinsmen, as being half Trojan. It shows the ground on which Aeneas commits them to Acestes' protection. 772.] Eryx is worshipped as a hero. agna Tempestatibus' Hor. Epod. 10. 24. Comp. above 3. 120. Med. has agnos.' "Inmolabitur. . . . 768.] With Ribbeck I have recalled followed by solvi:" Ex ordine' I in 773.] Caedere' comp. 3. 61, E. 6. 85. cline to take as i. q. 'rite,' like 'ordine ' above, v. 53, the reference here being to the previous sacrifices. And so I see Serv. explains it, "rite peragi sacrificium, et sic solvi funem,'ut in septimo [v. 139], 'Phrygiamque ex ordine Matrem Invocat." As an alternative he adds, "Vel, quo naves ad terram ligantur," an interpretation which would almost require 'funis,' the reading before Heins., and would be less Virgilian. Some of the earlier commentators strangely understood solvi funem by a ὕστερον πρότερον of cutting the rope with which the victims were tied : see Emmenessius' note. |