[416] As usual, Virg. tells us indirectly that Dido has Anna with her, and addresses her. It is not easy to say whether Wagn. is right in placing a question after ‘litore;’ but perhaps the categorical proposition is slightly preferable. Nor again is there much to choose between the old punctuation which connected ‘circum’ with the preceding words, and Markland's (on Stat. Silv. 2. 5. 12, “clausis circum undique portis”), which joins it with ‘undique.’ The latter however seems to be unanimously adopted by the later editors.
[417] See on 3. 356.
[418] Repeated from G. 1. 304. Serv. says “Probus sane sic adnotavit: Si hunc versum omitteret, melius fecisset.” Germ. illustrates the custom of wreathing the vessel on departing, from Ovid and Q. Smyrnaeus, and refers to the crowning of the theoric vessel which the Athenians sent to Delos. After this line Ribbeck inserts vv. 548, 549, without any external warrant. His reasons for the change are given in a tract, “Emendationes Vergilianae” (Berne, 1858), where he complains of the lines in their original position as unconnected with the context, while admitting that this very incoherence will probably be admired by “elegantiores interpretes,” and says of the present context, “hic quidem, quo facilius beneficium illud, unicam spem suam, impetraret, criminari quamvis leviter sororem poterat, quod suis verborum inlecebris tantis turbis se obiecisset.” Perhaps it will be thought a sufficient refutation of this conjecture that its author, in receiving it into the text, now says, “Sed quoniam vel sic hiat oratio, non absolvisse locum putandus est poeta.”
[419] The meaning must be, If I have been able (as I have) to look forward to so crushing a blow, I shall be able to bear it. Whether she had really looked forward to it, we do not know: v. 298 above, to which Henry refers, at least according to its natural interpretation, does not show it; but Dido evidently wishes it to be thought that she had.
[420] It may be almost said that ‘tamen’ is explained by ‘miserae.’ ‘Though I shall conquer my grief, it will be a sore struggle: help me then by doing me this one favour.’
[422] The inf. expresses custom, as in 11. 852, “Quicum partiri curas.” ‘Sensus’ seems here to include thought as well as feeling. Cic. couples it with “opinio,” “cogitatio,” “mens,” “animus:” see Forc.
[423] Viri aditus et tempora seems to be a kind of hendiadys for “tempora viri adeundi.” “Mollia” is doubtless meant to be supplied from ‘mollis,’ though ‘tempus’ alone may be used for ‘opportunity.’ Comp. v. 293 above, where the expressions are nearly the same. The approach is called ‘mollis,’ because it is then that the man is ‘mollis:’ but there is also a notion of ease and delicacy in the process of approaching. So it is used of a slope E. 9. 8 (note), G. 3. 293.
[424] The older commentators thought ‘hostis’ might = “hospes.” Dido however evidently means it in its strict sense, though it is quite possible that she may revert in thought to her former language (v. 323), feeling now that she cannot even call him “hospes,” ‘guest’ having passed into ‘stranger,’ and ‘stranger’ into ‘enemy.’ ‘Superbus’ refers to his obduracy, which she ascribes to haughty disdain.
[425] ‘What have I done to be treated thus? He could not treat his sworn foes worse; and I am none of them.’
[426] Aulis was the rendezvous. Ὅτ᾽ ἐς Αὐλίδα νῆες Ἀχαιῶν Ἠγερέθοντο, κακὰ Πριάμῳ καὶ Τρωσὶ φέρουσαι, Il. 2. 303. Heyne comp. Achemenides' confession 3. 602.
[427] Serv. says there was a story, told apparently by Varro, that Diomed actually took up Anchises' bones, which he afterwards restored to Aeneas under the pressure of calamity. This may have suggested the thought to Virg., though he had not adopted the tale. The feeling against the violation of tombs, generally strong in antiquity, was especially so at Rome: see Dict. A. ‘Funus.’ The removal of the ashes would disquiet the spirit, so that ‘Manis’ is naturally joined with ‘revelli’ as well as ‘cinerem.’ The two things are used almost convertibly by Pers. 1. 38, “Nunc non e manibus illis, Nunc non e tumulo fortunataque favilla Nascentur violae?” Comp. also v. 34 above (note). ‘Cinerem’ was restored by Heins. from Med. and others, for the common reading, ‘cineres,’ found in Pal. and Gud., and recalled by Ribbeck. One MS. has ‘revulsi,’ which Serv. mentions to condemn.
[428] So Livy 34. 50, “Ut eas voces, velut oraculo missas, in pectora animosque demitterent” (quoted by Forc.). With Ribbeck I have restored ‘neget,’ the first reading of Pal. and second of Med. for ‘negat,’ so as to connect this line with the preceding sentence; a punctuation mentioned by Serv., and likely to have been altered by those who did not see the construction.
[429] She tells him in effect that the last request she will ask him is that he will abandon an intention fraught with danger to himself—an artful way of pleading for her own interest. Thus there may be a special force in ‘amanti.’ In vv. 309 foll. she regards his voyage in a stormy season rather as cruelty to her, as showing his resolution to leave her at all hazards.
[430] Ventos ferentis: see on G. 2. 311.
[431] Non iam seems to mean ‘no longer,’ as Forb. remarks, comp. 5. 194, “Non iam prima peto.” ‘Antiquum’ seems to mean little more than former, as in v. 458 below. ‘Prodidit,’ has played false, as in 10. 503. So προδίδωμι is used: see Lidd. and Scott.
[432] Pulchro of course conveys a sneer. Serv. opportunely reminds us of “sordida rura” E. 2. 28, where the epithet similarly expresses the feeling not of the speaker but of the person spoken to.
[433] Inane need express no more than Dido's disparagement of the boon she seeks, as a thing which it is perhaps foolish to ask, and which Aeneas would find no difficulty in granting: but Val. Fl. 3. 657 has “inania tempora” in connexion with “moras,” for a season of inaction, and there is also a technical use of “inania tempora” in Quinct. 9. 4, the employment of a short for a long syllable, the Greek κενὸς χρόνος. Accepting this view, which Serv. supports, I should understand the inaction to refer not, as he thinks, to the relations between Dido and Aeneas, as if she were content that he should no longer regard her as his wife during the rest of his stay, but to Aeneas' journey; a time when he will do nothing, and when she may consequently breathe. Comp. the use of “vacuus.” ‘Requiem spatiumque’ is a combination like “aditus et tempora,” the notion being “spatium ad requiescendum.”
[434] ‘A space wherein my fortune may teach my baffled love how to grieve.’ ‘Fortuna’ is the fortune of being baffled, and the lesson to be taught is how to bear defeat; or we may take ‘victam’ conquered by Fortune, which teaches its victims to comport themselves as victims should, to grieve and bear their grief. Many MSS., including Med. a m. pr., give ‘dolore,’ which could scarcely be reduced to sense.
[435, 436] These two lines must be taken together, as the sense of ‘extremam veniam’ depends on that which we attribute to v. 436. The latter is well known as the most difficult in Virg. The reading is not quite certain. Not to mention the obvious errors of unimportant MSS., a considerable number of copies give ‘relinquam’ for ‘remittam,’ while Med., Pal., and Gud. a m. pr. have ‘dederit’ for ‘dederis,’ and Med. ‘cumulata’ for ‘cumulatam.’ These varieties are all mentioned by Serv., who says that ‘dederis’ was the reading of Tucca and Varius. ‘Relinquam’ may be dismissed as probably an interpretation of ‘remittam,’ fixing it to the particular sense of returning a favour at death as a bequest left by the dying. There is the same variety in the MSS. in Pers. Prol. 5. ‘Dederit’ is more plausible, as the ‘extrema venia’ may be well said with Henry to answer to ‘extremum munus,’ v. 429, the grace of a brief delay. But Henry has forgotten that it may answer equally well to ‘miserae hoc tamen unum exsequere,’ v. 420, the favour which Dido begs of her sister, of carrying this message to Aeneas: and it cannot be denied that ‘miserere sororis’ is strongly in favour of so interpreting it, though the words might mean—‘pity me and tell him so.’ There is then no overpowering prima facie reason for adopting ‘dederit:’ nor do the interpretations proposed by its supporters supply any additional argument in its favour. If indeed we might read with the Delphin editor ‘cumulatum,’ we should obtain a clear and intelligible sense—‘when he has granted me this, I will send him away with my death to crown and reward him.’ I do not know why Wagn. calls this “pessimum:” the objection which occurs at first sight, that Dido would thus speak too plainly of a resolution which she afterwards takes such pains to conceal from her sister, is, as we shall see, not convincing: the expression would, I think, strike any one as sufficiently natural and unforced, if the reading were undoubted; and the strongest improbability in the case is the general one founded on the almost invariable trustworthiness of one or other of Virg.'s MSS. Henry's interpretation adopts not only ‘dederit’ but ‘cumulata,’ understanding Dido to say that if Aeneas grants her the favour of a little delay, she, though brought lower than the grave (‘morte cumulata’ = in aggravated death, in a state worse than death), will abate her passion. The intransitive sense of ‘remitto’ is possible enough: but the interpretation of ‘cumulata morte’ is absolutely impossible, and not justified by a less forced expression in a more forced writer, Statius, who in Theb. 11. 582 speaks of Oedipus' blindness as “mors imperfecta.” On the whole, the chief value of ‘cumulata’ seems to be that it has given occasion for a very ingenious conjecture of Schrader, ‘cumulata sorte,’ which would suit ‘remittam,’ the sense produced being ‘I will repay it with interest.’ Accepting the ordinary reading as having the authority of Serv., we shall not find much difficulty in giving ‘remittam’ the sense of “reddam,” though it does not seem to have been generally used as its conventional equivalent (comp. Hor. A. P. 349, “Poscentique gravem persaepe remittit acutum”), while ‘cumulatum’ will naturally mean ‘with interest,’ as in Livy 2. 23, “aes alienum cumulatum usuris.” ‘Morte’ may be either the abl. instr. with ‘cumulatam,’ or used as in v. 502 below, ‘at the time of death.’ Here again the difficulty is in the general sense. Roughly considered, the meaning seems to be that Dido's death will bring to Anna a return for her kindness; but it is not easy to see what the return can be, and so to determine whether the death is to be the cause of its being made or merely the occasion. Wagn.'s notion that Dido hints that she will bequeath her kingdom to Anna is unworthy of the occasion, and not supported by any thing else in this book, while it has not even the justification of consistency with the legend, which makes Anna after her sister's death migrate into Italy. Perhaps we may say, borrowing a hint from Serv., that Dido's language is intentionally obscure, her meaning being that her return for Anna's kindness will be that she will kill herself, and so rid her sister of the burden. Anna would take the words as a mere expression of desperation, their very obscurity preventing her from attaching too much meaning to them. So her language in v. 419 is worded in a manner which might have led any one already on the watch to infer the worst, while an unsuspecting person like Anna would take it in a good sense, knowing moreover, as Virg. reminds us v. 502, that Dido had once before endured successfully what seemed even a worse sorrow. Generally we may say that while Dido's purpose is still undecided, she does not shrink from speaking of death, though her words are little more than those of vague desperation. It is only when she has seen death to be her only course that she is anxious that no one should suspect what she is meditating. Sophocles has represented just the same change of feeling in Ajax, who talks wildly of death on his first recovery from his frenzy, but afterwards, when he is quite resolved to die, contrives an elaborate blind for Tecmessa and the Chorus. Thus that Dido should speak of death here is no more than we should expect, though the precise import of her words may be left undetermined. Ribbeck, adopting ‘dederit,’ reads ‘cumulatam monte,’ apparently from his own conjecture. The old editors placed the comma after ‘cumulatam,’ not after ‘dederis.’ With the parenthetical ‘miserere sororis’ comp. “gratare sorori” v. 478, which may be meant as a contrast to it. ‘Venia’ of a favour. “Da veniam hanc mihi” Ter. Hec. 4. 2. 29, comp. by Serv.
[437-449] ‘Anna attacks Aeneas again and again, but he is like an oak in a storm, buffeted but not overthrown.’
