[156] Comp. 8. 520, where as here the downcast eye indicates both sorrow and thoughtfulness.
[157] Ingreditur seems to mean ‘enters on his journey to the shore,’ or perhaps merely ‘goes on:’ comp. 8. 309. A correction in Med. gives ‘progreditur.’ ‘Caecos eventus’ probably includes the various things he had heard from the Sibyl, the prediction of vv. 83 foll., the doubt about the golden bough, and the mysterious death.
[158] Achates was with him, v. 34.
[159] Figere is so often used as a synonyme of ‘ponere’ that it would be most natural to take ‘vestigia figit’ like “vestigia ponat” G. 3. 195, or the more common “vestigium facere:” the meaning merely being that he walks along moodily. Forb. however, who contends against this, may be so far right that the use of ‘figere’ may be intended to show that the tread is slow, the foot being as it were driven into the earth each time, though he is certainly wrong in making it equivalent to “vestigia pressit” vv. 197, 331 below, where the notion is that of stopping. Comp. Lucr. 3.3, “inque tuis nunc Fixa pedum pono pressis vestigia signis,” where curiously enough all three verbs are used, though the use of “pressis” does not really support Forb.'s view. Serv. gives both explanations of ‘figit,’ stepping and stopping.
[160] “Vario sermone” 1. 748., 8. 309. ‘Ferebant’ was an old reading: but ‘serebant’ is found in all the best MSS., and recognized by Serv. ‘Serere sermonem’ is as old as Plaut., and ‘serere colloquia’ occurs in Livy (see Forc.): it is doubtless to be explained by giving ‘serere’ the sense of ‘connecting,’ ‘setting in order,’ though Stat. Achill. 2. 35 has a strange expression, “campumque patentem .... Alterno sermone serunt,” apparently taking it, if the reading is right, from ‘sero, sevi.’ It is possible, as Serv. hints, that Virg. means to indicate that ‘sermo’ and ‘serere’ are cognate words, according to Varro's explanation (L. L. 6. § 64), “sermo non potest in uno homine esse solo, sed ubi oratio cum altero coniuncta,” though such a grammatical spirit belongs rather to the early Latin poets, who never forgot that they were literary teachers. The next line seems to show that Wagn. is right in understanding ‘vario sermone’ not of various topics, but of various conjectures on one topic.
[161] Heyne rightly remarks that it is strange they should not at once have thought of Palinurus, or rather strange that Virg. should not have perceived that Palinurus would at once be thought of as the lost comrade. As Forb. observes, it is probably one of those confusions which Virg. would have rectified had he lived to finish his Aeneid. With the construction comp. 2. 121. ‘Humandum’ 10. 493., 11. 2 ‘Exanimum’ Pal., Rom., Gud., ‘exanimem’ Med., which is more euphonious.
[164] It was one of the legends about the landing of Aeneas that he lost a comrade called Misenus at that time, and called that part of the coast after him (comp. v. 234 note). See Heyne, Excursus 4 and 7 to this book. One of the stories seems to have made him Aeneas' pilot, which might tend further to make Virg. waver between him and Palinurus. ‘Aeoliden’ probably means, as Heyne thinks, the son of Aeolus, a Trojan of age and rank, killed afterwards 12. 542 foll. There would however be plenty of Homeric precedent for making him the son of a god, and some propriety in ascribing the birth of an illustrious trumpeter to the god of the winds. ‘Quo non praestantior alter,’ &c. may be taken, as Cerda suggests, from Il. 2. 553, τῷ δ᾽ οὔπω τις ὁμοῖος ἐπιχθονίων γένετ᾽ ἀνήρ, Κοσμῆσαι ἵππους τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἀσπιδιώτας.
[165] Praestantior ciere like “boni inflare” E. 5. 1 note. Misenus has already appeared 3. 239 as a trumpeter, an officer, as has often been remarked, unknown to Hom., who however mentions a trumpet in a simile Il. 18. 219. Serv. tells the story that “Martemque accendere cantu” was added by the poet during the fervour of recitation, the line having been previously a hemistich. It is at any rate a good specimen of an effective and poetical tautology. The story as told in Virg.'s life says further that the previous line ended at ‘Aeoliden,’ and that the remainder was similarly improvised, which is to the last degree unlikely, as ‘aere ciere viros’ postulates the existence of the previous words. Cerda thinks ‘Martem accendere cantu’ is imitated from Aristoph. Peace 310, τὸν Πόλεμον ἐκζωπυρήσετ᾽ ἔνδοθεν κεκραγότες.
[166] Hectoris magni like Hom.'s Ἕκτορα δῖον. ‘Circum’ is like the use of ἀμφί or περί in Greek to express companionship.
[167] The ‘lituus’ differed from the ‘tuba,’ which appears below v. 233 as Misenus' instrument, in being slightly bent: but the two are used as synonymous by Virg., just as he uses the names of various trees indifferently for the wood of which the Trojan horse is made. Heyne refers to Stat. Theb. 6. 120, 128 for a similar confusion of ‘lituus’ and ‘tuba:’ but the two words do not occur there, though in the former line the ‘tibia’ is said ‘cornu mugire adunco.’ ‘Insignis’ probably with ‘lituo’ and ‘hasta,’ like “insignis equis” 10. 354 &c., and the Homeric κλυτὸς ἔγχεϊ δουρί &c., which Cerda comp. “Proelia obire” occurs Lucr. 4.967, also comp. by Cerda.
[168] Vita spoliavit like “corpus spoliatum lumine” 12. 935.
[170] “Addiderat sese socium” 2. 339, E. 6. 20. ‘Inferiora’ is rightly explained by Heyne as a Grecism, τὰ ἥττω for τὸν ἥττονα. Virg.'s doctrine of the equality of Aeneas to Hector appears again 11. 291.
[171] Concha is probably the same as the ‘lituus’ or ‘tuba,’ being substituted for it as more appropriate to a performance on the water, and more likely to rouse the jealousy of Triton, whose instrument it was, 10. 209. Comp. Ov. M. 1. 333 foll. (too long to quote), where Triton is made by Neptune to sound on his shell a retreat for the waters of Deucalion's flood, the shell being afterwards spoken of as “cava buccina.” Emm., to whom this citation is due, also quotes Hesych. s. v. κόχλος, κόχλοις τοῖς θαλασσίοις ἐχρῶντο πρὸ τῆς τῶν σαλπίγγων εὑρέσεως, a natural supposition enough. It is in fact the rationale of the myth which attributes the shell to Triton. It is possible however, as Peerlkamp and Forb. think, that Misenus is meant really to have taken up a shell on the shore and tried his powers. ‘Personat aequora concha’ like “personat regna latratu” v. 417 below. Here as elsewhere ‘dum’ is followed by the present when the rest of the sentence would have led us to expect some other tense: see on E. 7. 6, G. 4. 560. Here there may be a rhetorical propriety in the discrepancy, the suddenness of the retribution being expressed by the intimation that it was over while the provocation was still going on.
[172] Demens is used like νήπιος Il. 2. 38 and elsewhere. Strictly speaking it belongs to the second clause here rather than to the first; but the act of defiance is implied in the first clause, so that Forb. is wrong in pointing it with the second, contrary to the Homeric parallels. ‘Vocare’ in the sense of ‘provocare’ is found, though not very commonly: see Forc. ‘Vocare in’ is very common in Virg., the general sense being apparently the same in all, that of calling to a place (e. g. “vocare in vota,” to invoke the presence of the gods at a vow), though the particular applications are very different. ‘Provocare in aleam’ occurs Plaut. Curc. 2. 3. 76 (Forc.), but ‘provocare ad’ is more usual. Heyne, Excursus 7, remarks that in mythical language men who excel in any thing are said either to have received it from some god or to have provoked the jealousy of some god by it. Misenus is in fact like Thamyris, Arachne, &c.
[173] Exceptum inmerserat = ‘exceperat et inmerserat,’ ‘excipere’ being used of surprise, as in 3. 332, E. 3. 18. “Si credere dignum est” G. 3. 391. Virg. represents the cause of Misenus' death as mythical, as Forb. remarks.
[174] Inter saxa implies that the provocation and its punishment took place on the coast, and ‘spumosa’ perhaps points the same way.
[175] Fremere of lamentation 4. 668.
[176] “Praecipue pius Aeneas” 1. 220.
[177] Festinare with acc. 4. 575. ‘Sepulchri’ Med., Rom., ‘sepulchro’ Pal., Gud., which Ribbeck adopts. But Sil. 15. 387 has “alta sepulchri Protinus exstruitur caeloque educitur ara,” where Drakenborch notes no various reading. ‘Aram sepulchri’ seems rightly understood by Serv. not of the altars to the ‘Di Manes’ (3. 63 note), but of the pyre piled up like an altar. ‘Congerere arboribus’ might be said of heaping the altar with boughs for fuel, but ‘caelo educere’ points to a more considerable structure, and the gen. ‘sepulchri’ would be somewhat harsh for ‘sepulchralis,’ though ‘sepulchro’ might be more tractable. Sil. l. c. follows Virg. closely, evidently showing that he understood him in this way. Val. Fl. 5. 10, also quoted by Heyne, is somewhat doubtful: much more Ov. M. 8. 479, whom Forb. cites. Βωμός is used in Hom. of any raised place, and in later Greek actually of a tomb: see Lidd. and Scott.
[178] Congerere arboribus μενοεικέα νήεον ὕλην Il. 23. 139. Apoll. R. 1. 403 has νήεον αὐτόθι βωμόν, which may have been in Virg.'s mind. “Caelo educere” 2. 186.
[179-211] ‘They go into the wood for fuel for the pile. Aeneas prays that he may see the golden bough. Two doves guide him to it. He plucks and carries it off.’
[179]
The description is imitated from
Il. 23. 114 foll. and also from Enn. A. 6.
fr. 11, preserved by Macrob. Sat. 6. 2
The latter, as the rarer author, may be
quoted:
“Incedunt arbusta per alta: securibus
caedunt:
Percellunt magnas quercus: exciditur
ilex:
Fraxinus frangitur, atque abies consternitur
alta:
Pinus proceras pervortunt: omne sonabat
Arbustum fremitu silvai frondosai.
”
[180] Pitch-trees were used in funeral piles, “picea . . . rogis virens,” Pliny 16. 10, referred to by Heyne. With ‘sonat’ comp. Il. l. c. ταὶ δὲ μεγάλα κτυπέουσαι Πίπτον.
[181] It signifies comparatively little whether ‘fraxineaeque trabes’ be connected with what precedes or with what follows. With the rest of the line comp. G. 1. 144.
[182] Montibus, from the mountains, as the sense shows: but the ambiguity is harsh. ‘Advolvunt,’ ‘litori’ or ‘pyrae,’ like “advolvere focis ulmos” G. 3. 378.
