Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni, 5. Dum conderet. till he Conderet seems to have a potential force: was able to.'-8. Quo numine laeso. As no other deity than Juno (regina deum) is mentioned by Virgil as aggrieved by the enterprise of Aeneas, it is difficult to understand the precise force of these words. Virgil, in a subsequent passage, refers the resentment of Juno to two causes-the destined triumph of Rome over Carthage, and the insults to which she had been exposed from the Trojan race. Perhaps the easiest mode of interpretation is to conceive quo numine (divino consilio) laeso to refer to the first, and quidve dolens to the latter cause: both being conjoined with regina deum.-12. Antiqua. In reference to Virgil's own time.-15. Unam. Alone in respect to the degree in which Juno favoured it.-16. Samo. The final ō not elided. Virgil represents Juno as preferring Carthage even to Samos, an island off the coast of Ionia, where Juno was worshipped with great observance.-19. Sed enim. In such expressions, sed infers an objection to a previous statement, enim introduces the reason of the objection. Here, Sed metuebat de regno Carthaginis, audierat enim, &c.-21. Regem, regnantem.-23. Saturnia. Juno was the daughter of Saturn.-24. Prima, olim; or, foremost in the ranks of the hostile deities. Argis. The capital of Argolis, where Juno was worshipped with special honour, is put for all Greece.-25. This, and the four following lines to super, are thrown in parenthetically. They state additional causes of Juno's resentment: the golden apple, the prize of beauty, assigned to Venus; the descent Judicium Paridis spretaeque injuria formae, Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans, of Aeneas from Dardanus, hated as the son of Jupiter and Electra; the office of cupbearer transferred from Hebe, her daughter, to the Trojan Ganymede.-31. Arcebat. This term finely marks the continued action, at the time the poem opens.-35. Aere; that is, Navibus aeratis. Ruebant. Used transitively for ruere faciebant.-37. Mene desistere; an abrupt form of interrogation, indicating strong emotion. See v. 97. -41. Ajax, son of Oileus, is to be distinguished from the greater Ajax, the son of Telamon. The former offered violence to Cassandra in the temple of Minerva.-48. Gero. See a similar passage, vii. 304-310.49. Praeterea, posthac.-52. Aeoliam. One of the Aeolian islands, volcanic rocks, to the north of Sicily-probably Lipara, Aen. viii. 417; small islands are, like towns, construed without prepositions. 60 Ni faciat, maria ac terras coelumque profundum Gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor, Aut age Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore Nymphae, Connubio jungam stabili propriamque dicabo, 70 Exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.' 75 Aeolus haec contra: Tuus, o regina, quid optes, Explorare labor; mihi jussa capessere fas est. Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Jovemque Nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.' Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem 80 Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis 85 61. Molem et montes; equivalent to molem montium. Insuper; nearly equivalent to super.-67. Navigat; used transitively; a poetical licence, which occurs also in rhetorical prose, common also in English 'She sails the aërial space.'-Pope. The -68. Victos, because unable to defend Troy.-73. Connubio. second syllable seems always long. Pronounce here connubyo as three syllables. Virgil displays throughout great knowledge and observance of Roman forms and usages, besides much antiquarian research. Of the former, we have here an instance in connubio, which was the technical term for a marriage legal in all its conditions.-78. Observe the emphasis derived from the repetition of tu.-82. In latus, on its side,' or over on its side.'-83. Contrast ruunt intrausit. with ruunt transit., v. 85. See also v. 35. Compare this description of a storm at sea with another, Aen. iii. 194. 6 Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum. Non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra? Saevus ubi Aeacidae telo jacet Hector, ubi ingens Dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons. 105 110 90. The extremities of the supposed aris, on which the heavens were believed to revolve, were called poli; which hence comes to signify the heavens from pole to pole.-92. Aeneae; rather the dative governed by solvuntur, than the genitive. The excessive emotion of Aeneas must not be judged of according to our standard. First, the ancients, from religious feelings, regarded death by shipwreck differently from us. And secondly, southern nations express their feelings more vividly than we do.-95. Quis. See Ecl. i. 73.-97. Tydide. Tydeus' son, Diomedes, with whom, according to Homer (Il. v. 239), Aeneas engaged in single combat, and would have been slain, but for the intervention of Venus and Apollo. Mene. See v. 37.-99. Saevus implies no reproach; it indicates what in war was esteemed honourable, 'dreadful in his fury.' Aeacidae. Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus.100. Sarpedon, king of Lycia, killed by Patroclus.-102, &c. The wind, right ahead, splits the sail, and sweeps away the oars; the vessel becomes unmanageable, and the prow jawing round, ships sea after sea, and the desolation is completed by one mountain wave with foaming crest. -109. Either an etymological remark-Itali vocant saxa, quae (jacent) in mediis fluctibus, Aras; or exegetical of saxa latentia Saxa quae (jacentia) mediis in fluctibus Itali vocant Aras. The former, though singularly placed, is the more natural construction. In brevia et syrtis urguet, miserabile visu, In puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister 115 Torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex. Arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troïa gaza per undas. Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur: Jam coelum terramque meo sine numine, Venti, 120 125 130 Quos ego-! Sed motos praestat componere fluctus. 135 Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro : 111. Brevia and syrtis seem to have nearly the same meaning, the latter not being the African Syrtis, properly so called, but shallows further west.-113, &c. A huge sea strikes from the stern one of the ships, and rising high above it, in its descent dashes head foremost into the ocean the pilot (magister, Aen. v. 176) Leucaspis (Aen. vi. 334); then an eddying wave whirls the ship forcibly round, and forming a whirlpool, sucks it beneath the flood.-118. The struggling swimmers are few (rari) when seen on the boundless (vasto) gulf. The spondees indicate effort.-122. Hiems, tempestas.-123. Imbrem, aquam marinam.—124. Misceri. Mark this imperfect, as contrasted with the following pluperfects: the sea was in confusion, in consequence of the storm that had been sent forth.-127. Though graviter commotus, his consciousness of power exhibited in Neptune placidum caput.-129. Ruina, quasi coelum rueret-the crash of elements.-131. Dehinc, the e elided.135. Quos ego. Neptune abruptly breaks off, calming himself, that he may instantly quell the tumult. See a similar instance, Exodus, xxxii. 32. See also, Aen. ii. 100, v. 195. Grammarians call this mode of speaking Aposiopesis. |