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THE AENEID AND THE EPIC CYCLE.

[From "Suggestions Introductory to a Study of the Aeneid," Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1875.]

As far as we can make out from the very scanty materials now existing, Virgil seems to have followed Arctinus more than any other of the Cyclic poets. The Aethiopis of that poet contained the story of the Amazon Penthesileia's arrival, which doubtless suggested to Virgil the introduction of Camilla. See the analysis of Proclus (ap. Welcker, Epischer Cyclus 2 p. 521), ̓Αμαζών Πενθεσίλεια παραγίνεται Τρωσὶ συμμαχήσουσα, ̓́Αρεως μὲν θυγατὴρ Θρᾷσσα δὲ τὸ γένος. . . . Μέμνων δὲ ὁ Ἠοὺς υἱὸς ἔχων ἡφαιστότευκτον πανοπλίαν παραγίνεται τοῖς Τρωσί Bononov. The last lines (Aen. 1. 489 foll.) of the description of the picture seen by Aeneas in the temple at Carthage, seem to be a condensed representation of the subjects treated in the Acthiopis:

Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma.

Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis

Penthesilea furens, mediisque in milibus ardet, &c.

Dido's question (Aen. 1. 751), "quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis," doubtless refers to the ἡφαιστότευκτος πανοπλία of Memnon; “Vulcaniis armis usus fuisse narratur," says Servius on the passage.

The 'IAíov époris of Arctinus, so far as we can judge from the bare analysis of Proclus, must have been followed pretty closely in its main outline by Virgil in the second Aeneid. In his account of the debate about the wooden horse, Virgil keeps nearer to Arctinus than to the Odyssey. Τοῖς μὲν δοκεῖ κατακρημνίσαι αὐτόν, τοῖς δὲ καταφλέγειν, τοῖς δὲ ἱερὸν αὐτὸν ἀνατεθῆναι. The order in which the proposals are mentioned, is the same as that given in the second Aeneid (v. 36), and the idea, mentioned both by Arctinus and Virgil, of burning the horse, is an addition to the account given in Homer. The story of Laocoon, as we have it in the second Aeneid, that of Sinon, and that of the murder of Priam by Pyrrhus, at the altar of Zevs "EpKELOS, were all contained in the 'IXíov répois of Arctinus; and so was that of the death of Deiphobus at the hand of Menelaus, which would well agree with the account supposed to be given by the shade of Deiphobus to

Aeneas in Aen. 6. 525. If Welcker is right (Ep. Cycl. 2 p. 235) in saying that the works of Arctinus appear to have been the most considerable among the poems of the Trojan cycle, after the Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil may be supposed to have followed him from poetical preference.

From the story of the capture of Troy, and the 'Iliàs pikpá of Lesches, Virgil does not seem to have borrowed much. Indeed, in details, as far as our evidence goes, he seems to have followed an altogether different tradition from that which Lesches adopted. Lesches represented the murder of Priam as occurring not at the altar of Zevs precos, but at the door of his palace; he made Aeneas' wife not Creusa, but Eurydice, and he gave Aeneas himself as a captive to Neoptolemus (Welcker 1. c. p. 538). Pausanias (10. 25 foll.) describes some pictures of the night-battle in Troy, painted at Delphi by Polygnotus, who, he thinks, followed the account given by Lesches. The details of these pictures cannot be brought into harmony with Virgil's account of the night-battle in the second Aeneid, nor do the names of the combatants, as a rule, occur in them. The love of Coroebus for Cassandra, is however mentioned (10.27. 1).

Whether, when writing the sixth Aeneid, Virgil was at all influenced by the account of Hades and its terrors, which, according to Pausanias (10. 28. 4), was contained in the Mivvás and the NóσTol, cannot be ascertained.-[H. N.]

VOL. II.

EVIDENCE FROM ANCIENT WRITERS AS TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE AENEID.

Suetonius, "Vita Vergilii."

21. Novissime Aeneidem incohavit, argumentum varium ac multiplex et quasi amborum Homeri carminum instar, praeterea nominibus ac rebus Graecis Latinisque commune, et in quo, quod maxime studebat, Romanae simul urbis et Augusti origo contineretur.

23. Aeneida prosa prius oratione formatam digestamque in XII. libros particulatim componere instituit, prout liberet quidque et nihil in ordinem arripiens. 24. Ac ne quid impetum moraretur, quaedam imperfecta transmisit, alia levissimis versibus veluti fulsit, quos per iocum pro tibicinibus interponi aiebat ad sustinendum opus, donec solidae columnae advenirent. 25. Bucolica triennio, Georgica VII., Aeneida XI. perfecit annis.

30. Aeneidos vixdum coeptae tanta extitit fama ut Sextus Propertius non dubitaverit sic praedicare

Cedite, Romani scriptores, cedite, Grai;
Nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade.

31. Augustus vero, nam forte expeditione Cantabrica aberat, supplicibus atque etiam minacibus per iocum litteris efflagitabat ut sibi "de Aeneide," ut ipsius verba sunt, "vel prima carminis voypaþý vel quodlibet colon mitteretur." Cui tamen multo post perfectaque demum materia tres omnino libros recitavit, secundum, quartum, et sextum ; 32. sed hunc notabili Octaviae adfectione, quae cum recitationi interesset, ad illos de filio suo versus "Tu Marcellus eris" defecisse fertur atque aegre focilata est. 34. Erotem librarium eius exactae iam senectutis tradunt referre solitum quondam eum in recitando duos dimidiatos versus complesse ex tempore. Nam cum hactenus haberet "Misenum Aeoliden," adiccisse "quo non praestantior alter," item huic "Aere ciere viros," simili calore iactatum subiunxisse "Martemque accendere cantu," statimque sibi imperasse ut utrumque volumini adscriberet. 35. Anno aetatis quinquagesimo secundo impositurus Aeneidi summam manum statuit in Graeciam et in Asiam secedere,

triennioque continuo nihil amplius quam emendare, ut reliqua vita tantum philosophiae vacaret. Sed cum ingressus iter Athenis occurrisset Augusto ab Oriente Romam revertenti, destinaretque non absistere atque etiam una redire, dum Megara vicinum oppidum ferventissimo sole cognoscit, languorem nactus est, eumque non intermissa navigatione auxit ita ut gravior aliquando Brundisium appelleret, ubi diebus paucis obiit XI. Kal. Oct. C. Sentio Q. Lucretio consulibus.

39. Egerat cum Vario priusquam Italia decederet ut si quid sibi accidisset Aeneida combureret; at is facturum se pernegarat. Igitur in extrema valetudine adsidue scrinia desideravit crematurus ipse; verum nemine offerente nihil quidem nominatim de ea cavit, 40. ceterum eidem Vario et Tuccae scripta sua sub ea condicione legavit ne quid ederent quod non a se editum esset. 41. Edidit autem auctore Augusto Varius, sed summatim emendata, ut qui versus etiam imperfectos sicuti erant reliquerit ; quos multi mox supplere conati non perinde valuerunt ob difficultatem, quod omnia apud eum hemistichia absoluto perfectoque sunt sensu praeter illud "quem tibi iam Troia."

42. Nisus grammaticus audisse se ex senioribus aiebat Varium duorum librorum ordinem commutasse, et qui tunc secundus erat in tertium locum transtulisse, etiam primi libri correxisse principium his versibus demptis

Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
Carmen, et egressus silvis vicina coegi

Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,

Gratum opus agricolis; at nunc horrentia Martis
Arma virumque cano.

Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1. 24. 10-11.

Audi, quid de operis sui multiplici doctrina ipse pronuntiet. Ipsius enim Maronis epistula, qua compellat Augustum, ita incipit; "Ego vero frequentes a te litteras accipio," et infra "De Aenea quidem meo, si mehercle iam dignum auribus haberem tuis, libenter mitterem; sed tanta incohata res est, ut paene vitio mentis tantum opus ingressus mihi videar, cum praesertim, ut scis, alia quoque studia ad id opus multoque potiora impertiar."

From the Memoir prefixed to the Commentary of Servius on the Aeneid. Et in secundo hos versus constat esse detractos

aut ignibus aegra dedere.

Iamque adeo super unus eram, cum limina Vestae
Servantem et tacitam secreta in sede latentem

Tyndarida aspicio; dant clara incendia lacem
Erranti passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti.
Illa sibi infestos eversa ob Pergama Teucros
Et Danaum poenam et deserti coniugis iras
Praemetuens, Troiae et patriae communis Erinys,
Abdiderat sese atque aris invisa sedebat.
Exarsere ignes animo; subit ira cadentem
Ulcisci patriam et sceleratas sumere poenas.
Scilicet haec Spartam incolumis patriasque Mycenas
Aspiciet, partoque ibit regina triumpho,

Coniugiumque domumque, patres natosque videbit,
Iliadum turba et Phrygiis comitata ministris ?
Occiderit ferro Priamus? Troia arserit igni ?
Dardanium totiens sudarit sanguine litus ?

Non ita. Namque etsi nullum memorabile nomen
Feminea in poena est, nec habet victoria laudem,
Extinxisse nefas tamen et sumpsisse merentis
Laudabor poenas, animumque explesse iuvabit
Ultricis famam et cineres satiasse meorum.
Talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar.

Servius on Aeneid 3. 204.

Hic Pelopis gentes Maleaeque sonantia saxa
Circumstant, pariterque undae terraeque minantur.
Pulsamur, saevis et circumsistimur undis.

Hi versus circumducti dicuntur et extra paginam in mundo

Servius on Aeneid 6. 289.

Sane quidam dicunt versus alios hos a poeta hoc loco relictos, qui ab eius emendatoribus sublati sunt:

Gorgonis in medio portentum inmane Medusae ;
Vipereae circum ora comae, cui sibila torquent,
Infamesque rigent oculi, mentoque sub imo
Serpentum extremis nodantur vincula caudis.

For a discussion of the questions raised by the above passages I may refer the reader to my edition of the memoirs quoted (Ancient Lives of Vergil, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1879).-[H. N.]

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