Medium iter is not to be pressed, merely meaning that he had got well on his way. Most of the instances quoted however for this loose use of the word are scarcely in point, e.g. G. 3. 486, 519, where though all that the context requires is that the operation spoken of should have begun, there is no reason why it should not have been exactly half finished at the time mentioned. In other words, Virg. assumes for rhetorical purposes that the thing is half done, an assumption which here is contrary to the fact, while there, for aught we know, it may be consistent with it. 4. 277 is nearer the mark, as we can hardly suppose that Mercury ceased to be visible in the middle of his speech, so that we may say that there the word stands for something more than half, as here for something less than half. ‘Tenere iter’ 2. 359.
[2] Certus, unwavering, as an arrow going straight to its mark is called “certa sagitta.” So Henry, rightly, reconciling Serv. and Wagn. Neither love nor stormy water deterred Aeneas from his purpose: he looked back to Carthage, but he went sailing on. ‘Atros’ with ‘aquilone.’ Taubm. refers to Gell. 2. 30, “Austris spirantibus mare fieri glaucum et caeruleum, Aquilonibus obscurius atriusque.” Aeneas encounters the danger Dido threatened (4. 310), and we see the consequence in the next paragraph.
[4] Dido did not light her own pile, as some of the commentators have fancied: but she had a pile made to burn, as she gave out, the effigy of Aeneas: she killed herself upon it, having ascended it apparently for the purpose of lighting it: and it would naturally be made use of to burn her body.
[5] Dolores and ‘notum’ are the subjects of ‘ducunt.’ They are not properly co-ordinate: but ‘dolores’ is intended to stand for the thought of the pangs.
[6] Polluto: see on 3. 61. ‘Notum,’ the knowledge; a use of the neuter participle often found elsewhere, especially in Livy, who has (7. 8) “diu non perlitatum tenuerat dictatorem.”
[7] Their minds are led through a sorrowful presage: that is the course their thoughts are led to take. ‘Augurium’ means no more than conjecture, as “augurat” 7. 273, so that it is not a full realization of Dido's wish, 4. 661.
[8-34] ‘Seeing a storm threaten, Palinurus suggested that they should make for Sicily. Aeneas assents, and they land there accordingly.’
[8-11] Nearly repeated from 3. 192— 195. The old reading here in v. 9 before Heins. was “caelum undique et undique pontus,” as in 3. 193.
[12] Ipse as in 3. 201. Things were so bad that even the pilot &c.
[13] ‘Quianam’ 10. 6, an archaic word. Quinct. Inst. 8. 3 thinks it, like ‘olli,’ lends dignity to the passage.
[14] Sic deinde locutus below v. 400, where, as here and in 7. 135, ‘deinde’ is out of its place, belonging not to the participle but to the verb. Comp. 2. 391, and for the transposition of ‘deinde,’ 1. 195.
[15] Arma, of a ship's furniture, as to 6. 353, where the specific reference is in the rudder, and possibly in 3. 371., 4. 290, though there I have preferred the more ordinary interpretation. We have already had “armari classem” 4. 299. So ὅπλα Od. 2. 390, 423, 430., 12. 410, passages which may have suggested to Virg. this use of the word, as no instances are quoted in the lexicous from other Latin authors. The precise meaning however of ‘colligere arma’ is not quite certain. It seems generally to be understood of taking in part of the sails. M. Jal, in his ‘Virgilius Nauticus’ (‘La Flotte de César,’ &c.) explains it of stowing away those parts of the ship's furniture that the wind might take hold of, streamers, &c. Mr. Long thinks Virgil means generally to make every thing tight and prepare for a squall. But it is possible that Virg. may have meant ‘colligere’ as well as ‘arma’ to be metaphorical, speaking of the sailors as men resuming the arms which they had laid down and preparing for action; or even that he may have thought of the phrase “se colligere in arma,” which he twice uses later in the poem, 10. 412., 12. 491. “Validis incumbite remis” 10. 294.
[16] He turns the sails so that the wind may catch them sideways. Forb. comp. Livy 16. 39, “aliae ad incertos ventos hinc atque illinc obliqua transferentes vela in altum evectae sunt.”
[17] Magnanime Aenea, a Homeric address, like Τυδείδη μεγάθυμε Il. 6. 145. ‘Auctor’ has its technical sense of guarantee, its union with ‘spondeat’ implying that he who gives the promise is in this case the person to make it good, as Mr. Long remarks.
[18] Hoc caelo, = “hac tempestate,” as we might say ‘with a sky like this.’ ‘Spero’ with pres. inf. 4. 337 &c.
[19] Transversa adverbially, as in E. 3. 8. The meaning seems to be, the wind is changed, and instead of being favourable blows right across our path. Comp. the metaphorical use of the word Cic. Brut. 97, “Cuius in adolescentiam per medias laudes quasi quadrigis vehentem transversa incurrit misera fortuna reipublicae.” ‘Vespere ab atro’ is Homer's ζόφον ἠερόεντα. ‘Ab alto’ is the reading of Med. a m. sec. and two other MSS., and might perhaps be supported from G. 1. 443, ‘ab alto’ being separated from ‘vespere.’ But ‘atro’ is doubtless meant to be emphatic —‘the west is blackening, and a wind is getting up there.’
[20] The opinion of the ancients, as Serv. remarks, was that clouds were produced by condensed air. Taubm. quotes Cic. N. D. 2. 39, “Exinde mari finitimus aer die et nocte distinguitur: isque tum fusus et extenuatus sublime fertur, tum autem concretus in nubes cogitur.” Serv. well contrasts 1. 587 “scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum,” a passage which, taken in connexion with the present, illustrates the distinction between ‘aer’ and ‘aether.’
[21] Contra with ‘tendere’ as well as with ‘obniti:’ comp. v. 27 below. ‘Tantum,’ as much as is wanted. Comp. “subsistere tantum” 9. 806.
[22] Comp. vv. 709, 710 below; also 2. 387, 388. For the order ‘superat quoniam,’ see Munro on Lucr. 4.752.
[24] Fraterna Erycis = “fratris Erycis.” So in v. 630 below ‘fraterni’ is nom. plural. See on v. 80 below.
[25] Rite with ‘memor’ or ‘remetior.’ ‘Servata’ already observed, i. e. in their previous voyage to Sicily. ‘Servare’ of watching the stars 6. 338. G. 1. 205. With ‘remetior astra’ comp. “sidera emensae” v. 628 below.
[27] Iamdudum probably with both ‘poscere’ and ‘tendere.’
[28] Flecte viam velis like “hanc arripe velis” 3. 477, “tendit iter velis” 7. 7, ‘velis’ being nearly = ‘navigando,’ so that ‘flecte viam velis’ = “flecte navis cursum.” ‘Sit’ apparently = “esse potest.”
[29] Fessas navis 1. 168. ‘Demittere’ of bringing into harbour. Neither Forc. nor the commentators give any other instance of this use, which must doubtless have been an idiomatic one. We may compare it with ‘devenire’ of reaching a place, and κατελθεῖν &c. of returning home. This seems better than to suppose a special reason for the notion of descent here, such as that of the sea appearing higher than the land. The majority of MSS., including Pal. and Med., have ‘dimittere,’ a common error: Ribbeck however adopts it.
[30] ‘Than where my friend Acestes yet lives.’ Comp. for the thought 1. 550, for the language 1. 546. The living friend is contrasted with the dead father.
[31] Perhaps from Lucr. 1.135 “Morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa.”
[32] Virg. seems to mean that the wind, which distressed them while they were sailing against it, was now in their favour. Thus ‘Zephyri’ here agrees with ‘vespere’ v. 19. This however, as Mr. Long remarks, obliges us to suppose that Virg. had misconceived the relative position of Carthage and the west part of Sicily. So perhaps ‘gurgite’ may intimate that the sea was still excited (comp. 1. 118., 3. 564 &c.), though elsewhere it simply means ‘aqua,’ e. g. below vv. 160, 209.
[34] Advertere of bringing a ship to land, G. 4. 117 &c. Comp. also A. 1. 158. ‘Tandem:’ “periculis liberati” Serv.
[35-41] ‘Acestes comes up and welcomes them.’
