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P. VERGILI MARONIS

AENEIDOS

LIBER SEPTIMUS.

THE Seventh Book of the Aeneid introduces us to the second half of the poem, the Iliad of war which succeeds the Odyssey of travel. Its subject is the landing of the Trojans in Latium, and the causes of the native rising which threatened to exterminate the new settlers.

As in other cases, we know that there were other versions of the story, substantially agreeing with Virgil's while circumstantially differing from it: as in other cases, we have no means of judging how far the differences in Virgil's account are attributable to his own fancy, how far to his having followed yet other accounts, now lost. The first event after the landing, the casual fulfilment of the prophecy that the Trojans should eat their tables, seems in one form or other to have been a prominent part of the legend. Ancient authors related it variously, even Virgil's own account of the prophecy as given here being inconsistent with that given in the Third Book: modern critics have seen a philosophical meaning in it, of which Virgil may safely be pronounced never to have dreamed, and with which therefore a commentator on Virgil has no occasion to trouble himself. The interview of Ilioneus with Latinus perhaps reminds us too much of his interview with Dido in the First Book: but the effect on Latinus' own mind, prepared as it had been by omens and predictions, is well and forcibly portrayed. The interposition of Juno and the introduction of Allecto are apparently original, and quite in the style of epic poetry. It is not impossible that Virgil's whole account of the relations between Aeneas and Latinus may be the result of his desire to harmonize the stories which he found current into a consistent poetical narrative. As we learn from Livy and others, one version spoke of the settlement of the Trojans as effected by conquest, another as brought about by agreement: Virgil may have imagined that the conception of an old king, swayed one way by the voice of oracles and by hospitable feeling, another by regard for his wife and his kinsman, and his subjects, presented a solution of the discrepancy.

No attempt has been made to estimate the historical value of the catalogue with which Virgil, in imitation of Homer, introduces the story of the war, An annotator on a poet is not obliged to be an historical critic: an annotator on the Aeneid may be pardoned for suspecting that when Virgil invokes the Muses to supplement the defects of human tradition, he simply asserts a poet's licence to deal with his materials in the way which he judges to be most poetically effective.

VOL. III.

B

Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Aeneia nutrix,
Aeternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti;
Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen
Hesperia in magna, si qua est ea gloria, signat.
At pius exsequiis Aeneas rite solutis,
Aggere conposito tumuli, postquam alta quierunt
Aequora, tendit iter velis, portumque relinquit.
Adspirant aurae in noctem, nec candida cursus
Luna negat, splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus.

1-24.] 'Aeneas' nurse too dies and is buried in a place called after her Caieta. Aeneas sails thence, coasting along the land of Circe.'

1.] Tu quoque,' i. e. besides Misenus and Palinurus. Cerda comp. the opening of G. 3, "Te quoque, magna Pales." Heyne (Excursus 1) remarks that the nurse was a personage of great consequence in an ancient family, as appears in the tragedians. Comp. 5. 645. The town and promontory of Caieta were on the confines of Latium and Campania, near Formiae; and at Formiae, according to Livy 40. 2, there was a temple of Apollo and Caieta. For the legend and etymology of the name see Heyne, Exc. 1, Lewis vol. 1. pp. 326 foll. 'Litoribus nostris is a vague or exaggerated expression. Caieta may be said to have conferred fame on a single spot on the Italian coast: the coast itself rather conferred fame on her. The poet speaks in his own person, as in 9. 446, though the feeling here is more national than personal. Aeneia nutrix' like "Aeneia puppis" 10. 156, "Aeneia hospitia" ib. 494. So the Homeric βίη Ηρακληείη.

3.] And thy renown still broods over thy resting-place.' 'Sedem' like "sedibus" 6. 328. Servat' seems to include the notions of haunting (G. 4. 459), guarding (6. 575), observing and preserving in memory. Perhaps the last is the most prominent in the parallel 6. 507, "Nomen et arma locum servant." Ov. M. 14. 443 gives Caieta's epitaph.

4.] Med., Pal., and Gud. a. m. p. have 'signant,' which Heins. preferred and Wagn. now adopts. But though 'signare nomen' might possibly mean to impress a name, 'signat,' the reading of Rom. and most MSS., is far more natural, and the confusion of sing, and pl, by transcribers is common enough, 'Signare' then will mean to commemorate, as in 3. 287. Tac, Germ. 28 has "nomen signat loci memo

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riam." Wagn. seems right in his former explanation of the words 'the name of a city and promontory in Italy is your epitaph,' Hesperia in magna' going rather closely with nomen.' Comp. 6. 776, "Haec tum nomina erunt." "Hesperia in magna 1. 569. Si qua est ea gloria' as equivalent to "quae magna est gloria," just as we might say if the glory of sepulture in a great country be more than a dream.' Serv. and Don. think there is a reference to the insensibility of the dead, which is not improbable, on comparison of 10. 828.

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5.] Med. (originally) and Rom. have Aeneas exsequiis,' just as in v. 2 Pal. and Gud. originally had "famam moriens."

6.] "Aggere tumuli" 5. 44. Comp. 3. 63 "Aggeritur tumulo tellus." For 'quierunt' Serv. mentions a variant 'quierant,' supported by a grammarian whose name is variously given as Hebrus and Acron Helenus. 66 Quierant aequora " 4. 523. The reference perhaps is, as Wagn. suggests, to the gales mentioned by Palinurus 6. 354 foll.

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7.] 'Tendit iter velis' as "tendere iter pennis" 6. 240. Comp. 5. 28, Flecte viam velis." Probably Virg. also meant his readers to think of "tendere vela." Pal. and Gud. have portus,' which is perhaps the more usual expression in Virg., being found in various places where only a single harbour seems to be meant (below v. 22., 5. 813., 6. 366; besides many others where the reference is uncertain); but we have had "Caietae portum" 6.900.

8.] A fair wind blows steadily into the night (i. e. it does not fall at sunset and at other times, 3. 568), and the moon rising bright enables them to hold on their course. At other times they put in for the night, 3. 508 foll. 'In noctem' like "Nilus in aestatem crescit" Lucr. 6. 712, "humor in lucem tremulo rarescit ab aestu" ib, 875, where it seems better to interpret the words as summer comes on,' 'as day comes on,' than with Mr. Munro "aestate,"

Proxuma Circaeae raduntur litora terrae,
Dives inaccessos ubi Solis filia lucos
Adsiduo resonat cantu, tectisque superbis
Urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum,
Arguto tenuis percurrens pectine telas.
Hinc exaudiri gemitus iraeque leonum
Vincla recusantum et sera sub nocte rudentum,
Saetigerique sues atque in praesepibus ursi
Saevire, ac formae magnorum ululare luporum,

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"luce." Nec cursus negat' "et sinit currere." 'Candida' and 'tremulo' seem to be from Enn. Melan. fr. 4. Vahlen, "Lumine sic tremulo terra et cava caerula candent," as Macrob. Sat. 6. 4 remarks.

10.] Proxuma' after leaving Caieta. 'Raduntur' by the ships in passing, 3. 700. Circaeae terrae,' Circeii; which, being on the mainland, is identified with Homer's island of Circe (Od. 10. 135 foll.) by supposing that the island had become joined to the mainland, by alluvial deposits or, as Varro ap. Serv. says, by the draining of marshes. Comp. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. 5. 9, Pliny 3. 5. 9 (quoted by Heyne). Virg. himself calls it "Aeaeae insula Circae," 3. 386, where Helenus predicts that Aeneas should visit it. Westphal (Die Römische Kampagne p. 59) says that the promontory was certainly no island even long before Homer's time, but that it looks like an island from the sea at a moderate distance from the shore, where the flat land of the marshes sinks below the horizon. For the legends which connected Ulysses with this part of Italy see Lewis pp. 327 foll. Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe, is the mythical founder of Tusculum. The very name Caieta was said by some to have been originally Ainτn (comp. Caulon, Aulon, note on 3. 553), a name associated by Lycophron, v. 1273, with the mooring of the Argo there, but more probably having to do with the Aeaean Circe, the sister of Aeetes of Colchis.

11.] 'Dives' refers to the splendour of her palace ('tectis superbis'). Comp. Od. 10. 211, 348 foll. Lucos.' The palace of Circe in Homer is in a wood (Od. 10. 210), which may be called 'lucus,' as the abode of a goddess. 'Inaccessos,' unapproachable, because dangerous on account of her sorceries. Circe is heard by the companions of Ulysses singing at her loom as they approach her palace, Od. 10. 221. The same lines occur in Od. 5. 61 on Calypso, and it is her cave that is full of the scent of burning cedar, an incident which Virg. has

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transferred to Circe. Circe is the daughter of Helios and Perse, Od. 10. 138.

12.] Resonat,' makes them ring; a use of resonare' for which no parallel is quoted, though it is imitated by Sil. 14. 30. Hom. says of Circe's song dáπedov d'äñav aupμéμvkev. Adsiduo' expresses that she is always plying her loom, so that the Trojans see the light in her palace as they pass it in the night.

13.] 'Nocturna in lumina': see on G. 1. 291., 2. 432. The parallel in Od. 5 is in favour of supposing fire-light to be meant here. "Nocturna ad lumina" occurs Lucr. 6. 900, where again the reference is doubtful. Med. has "nocturno in lumine."

14.] Nearly repeated from G. 1. 294, which is itself from Od. 5. 62, iordy ἐποιχομένη χρυσείῃ κερκίδ ̓ ὕφαινεν.

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15.] Exaudiri,' reached the ears of the Trojans. In Hom. the lions and wolves are tamed by Circe's sorceries, so that they fawn upon comers, and are suffered to run loose. The swine are men metamorphosed, and are kept in sties. There are no wild boars or bears. "Hinc exaudiri gemitus 6.557. 'Gemere' is used by the Roman poets of the roaring of wild beasts, as by Hor. Epod. 16. 51 of bears. Lucr. 3. 297 has "leonum Pectora qui fremitu rumpunt plerumque gementes Nec capere irarum fluctus in pectore possunt, which Virg. probably had in his mind, as he cer tainly had when writing v. 466 below. 'Gemitus iraeque' is thus ev dià dvoîv, as Serv. takes it, though Gossrau wishes to distinguish between the tones of grief and those of indignation.

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Quos hominum ex facie dea saeva potentibus herbis
Induerat Circe in voltus ac terga ferarum.
Quae ne monstra pii paterentur talia Troes
Delati in portus, neu litora dira subirent,
Neptunus ventis implevit vela secundis,

Atque fugam dedit, et praeter vada fervida vexit.
Iamque rubescebat radiis mare, et aethere ab alto.
Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis:
Cum venti posuere, omnisque repente resedit
Flatus, et in lento luctantur marmore tonsae.
Atque hic Aeneas ingentem ex aequore lucum

ap. Wagn. to take 'saevire' as a special expression for the roaring of bears. It implies, like 'gemitus iraeque,' that the animals were confined. Ribbeck rather ingeniously suggests that 'saevire' may have been corrupted by 'saetigeri,' having been originally 'mugire.' Price on Appuleius Met. 4. p. 76, approved by Wagn., understands formae' as denoting the size of the creatures: but it is more probably to be explained by what follows. They were men in the form of wolves. Comp. the use of the word to denote unreal shapes 6. 289, 293. Saevire' and 'ululare' are equivalent to "saevientes" and "ululantes exaudiri."

19.] "Hominis facies" 3. 426. "Potentibus herbis" 12. 402 (comp. ib. 396); here with induerat,' not with 'saeva.' It is a translation of èτel κaкà páрμак' ἔδωκεν, Od. 10. 213.

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20.] "Indue voltus" has occurred 1. 684. "Induit in florem" G. 1. 188. The construction with 'ex' may remind us of " exuere. Voltus ac terga' expresses briefly Hom.'s oi dè ovŵv pèv exov κεφαλὰς φωνήν τε τρίχας τε καὶ δέμας, Od. 10. 240.

21.] That the Trojans might not undergo this dire transformation.' So "monstra perferimus" 3. 884 of suffering from preternatural sounds. 'Pii' gives the reason of Neptune's solicitude. So Anchises 3.265 prays "Di talem avertite casum Et placidi servate pios," and Ilioneus, 1. 526, calls the Trojans "pio generi." Venus had however engaged the favour of Neptune for the Trojans, 5. 779 foll. 'Quae' is followed by 'talia' here and 10. 298 as "haec" G. 4. 86 by "tanta." 22.] Delati in portus' 3.219. 'Subire' of entering a haven 1. 400., 3. 292.

23.] τοῖσιν δ ̓ ἴκμενον οὖρον ἵει ἑκάεργος Απόλλων ΙΙ. 1. 479.

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24.] Fugam' need only mean a swift passage: but in the present context it may be taken strictly. With fugam dare' comp. "cursus negare" above v. 8. Vada fervida,' as Heyne remarks, is the breakers on the headland of Circeii. "Fervetque fretis spirantibus aequor" G. 1. 327.

25-36.] In the morning they come to a river, sail up it, and land.'

25.] The poet of course purposely times the voyage of Aeneas so as to bring him to the promised land at dawn and amidst the pomp of sunrise.

26.] Lutea,' крокÓжEπλOS II. 8. 1. "Roseis quadrigis" 6. 535. There is of course no difficulty in the juxtaposition of the two colours: Ribbeck however reads 'variis' from 'vaseis,' the first reading of one of his cursives, and Schrader and Bentleу wished to read 'croceis' from Ausonius' Periocha of Il. 8, where this line is repeated. Comp. Ov. F. 4. 714 " Memnonis in roseis lutea mater equis." Serv. says "Multi iungunt 'inroseis,' i. e. non rubicundis."

27.] Posuere,' sc. "se," 'fell.' Comp. 10. 103, "tum Zephyri posuere." It is possible that the expression may be nautical. Lucan 3. 523 has "posito Borea."

28.] Lento,' sluggish. Pliny 36. 26, "lentus amnis." The water, being quiet, seems to oppose a greater resistance, though in 8. 89 the thought is just the contrary. 'Luctantur tonsae.' It is of course implied that the sails had been struck. Tonsa' for an oar is as old as Ennius, in three of whose fragments it occurs, A. 7. frr. 6, 7, 8.

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29.] "Atque hic Aeneas" 6. 680. For 'atque' comp. 6. 162., 10. 219, for hic' 1. 728. 'Prospiceres arce ex summa 4. 410. Lucum:' there is still a wood in the Isola Sacra, and a great forest, Selva di Ostia, extends south along the coast from the Stagno di Ostia.

Prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno
Verticibus rapidis et multa flavus arena

In mare prorumpit. Variae circumque supraque
Adsuetae ripis volucres et fluminis alveo
Aethera mulcebant cantu, lucoque volabant.
Flectere iter sociis terraeque advertere proras
Inperat, et laetus fluvio succedit opaco.

Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora rerum, Quis Latio antiquo fuerit status, advena classem Cum primum Ausoniis exercitus adpulit oris,

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31.] Multa flavus arena' is a specific description of the Tiber, which is constantly called 'flavus,' Hor. 1 Od. 2. 13., 8. 8., 2. 3. 18. Comp. 9. 816. Gossrau remarks that Ov. F. 6. 502 mentions the 'vertices' at the mouth of the Tiber. 'Verticibus rapidis' may be either modal abl. or constructed with flavus.' In any case the line seems to qualify prorumpit.' 32.] Ov. M. 14. 447, in his brief narrative of Aeneas' landing, nearly repeats Virg., "lucosque petunt ubi nubilus umbra In mare cum flava prorumpit Thybris arena." Lucr. 6. 436 has "prorumpitur in mare" of the wind. Variae volucres' G. 1. 383. Comp. Lucr. 2. 344 foll, Id. 1. 589 and Munro's note. 'Supra' is long else where in Virg. Stat. Theb. 9. 114 ends a line similarly, "circumque supraque," though he also elsewhere, as Markland observes, makes the first syll. long. Ribbeck fancies the original reading may have been "circum superaque in both passages, an opinion in which few writers of hexameters will agree with him.

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34.] Aera mulcentes motu" Lucr. 4. 136. Wakef. would read 'aera' here; and so Ov. F. 1. 155, "et tepidum volucres concentibus aera mulcent." But in Virg. winged creatures fly in the aether, and the aether is said to be filled with sound, vv. 65, 395 below. Luco,' about the grove. 35.] Aeneas had been warned by Creusa (2.781) that his destination was Italy, "ubi Lydius arva Inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Thybris:" and he says himself 3. 500, "Si quando Thybrim vicinaque Thybridos arva Intrarim gentique meae

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data moenia cernam ;" 5. 83, "Ausonium quicunque est, quaerere Thybrim." "Flecte viam " 5. 28, said by Aeneas to the pilot. "Terris advertere proram " G. 4. 117.

37-45.] A new part of my subject commences, the war in Latium and its antecedent circumstances.'

37.] This invocation marks a great epoch in the poem, and the commencement of a new class of characters and legends. The first words are from Apoll. R. 3. 1, Εἰ δ ̓ ἄγε νῦν, Ερατώ, παρά θ ̓ ἵστασο, καί poi viσTE. But Erato, as the Muse of Love, is more appropriately invoked to rehearse the loves of Jason and Medea than the present theme, though Germ. thinks that the war in Italy may be said to have been kindled by the love of Lavinia's suitors, "tanquam flabello." Virg., by the help of the Muse, will describe the posture of affairs (tempora rerum') and the condition of Latium (quis Latio antiquo fuerit status') when Aeneas arrived, and will trace the origin of the war between Aeneas and the Latins (primae revocabo exordia pugnae'). Qui reges' seems to be said generally, including Latinus and his ancestors, Turnus, and perhaps the other Italian princes. With tempora rerum' comp. the expression reipublicae tempus," which occurs more than once in Cic. (Off. 3. 24 &c.), though 'tempora' here means 'times' rather than 'emergencies.' Virg. has said the times of affairs' where we should rather talk of 'the circumstances of the time.' Serv. explains the words philosophically, “quia, secundum Lucretium, tempora nisi ex rebus colligantur, per se nulla sunt." Peerlkamp connects rerum ' with 'status,' very improbably.

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38.] Advena' adjectively, like "advena possessor" E. 9. 2.

39.] "Adpulit oris" 1. 377., 3. 338, 715.

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