[769] Hunc Med. and Pal. corrected, which might well stand: comp. 11. 504, “Solaque Tyrrhenos equites ire obvia contra.” Comp. 7. 649 for a similar variety. ‘Huc’ Pal. originally. ‘Longe’ one of Ribbeck's cursives for ‘longo.’
[770] Quintilian 1. 5. 65 notices ‘inperterritus’ as a compound in which the prepositions contradict each other. The word does not seem to have been used before Virg. (Forc.)
[771] With ‘mole sua stat’ comp. 2. 639 (note), “solidaeque suo stant robore vires,” and 7. 589, “Quae sese multis circum latrantibus undis Mole tenet.” The rhythm is like that of 1. 105., 5. 481.
[772] Comp. v. 457 above.
[773] Comp. Aesch. Theb. 529 (of Parthenopaeus), Ὄμνυσι δ᾽ αἰχμὴν ἣν ἔχει, μᾶλλον θεοῦ Σέβειν πεποιθὼς ὀμμάτων θ᾽ ὑπέρτερον. So too Idas, in Apoll. R. 1. 467 foll. “Ἴστω νῦν δόρυ θοῦρον, ὅτῳ περιώσιον ἄλλων Κῦδος ἐνὶ πτολέμοισιν ἀείρομαι, οὐδ᾽ ἐμ᾽ ὀφέλλει Ζεὺς τόσον, ὁσσάτιόν περ ἐμὸν δόρυ” &c. A number of imitations of Virg. are quoted from later writers by Cerda and Forb. A good instance is Stat. Theb. 9. 548, “Ades O mihi dextera tantum: Tu praesens bellis et inevitabile numen, Te voco, te solum superum contemptor adoro.” ‘Mihi’ with ‘adsint,’ not, as Heyne, ‘mihi deus.’ “Ferro quod missile libro” v. 421 above.
[774-776] Adsint may either be a prayer, or i. q. “modo adsint.” “Phrygii praedonis” of Aeneas 11. 484: comp. 7. 362. Lausus, clothed in Aeneas' armour, is to be his living trophy. The ‘tropaeum’ was properly a trunk of wood hung with the arms of the slaughtered man: see the opening of Bk. 11. ‘Aeneae’ gen. after ‘tropaeum.’
[777] Heins., followed by Heyne, read ‘iniicit’ from Gud. for ‘iecit at,’ ‘at’ being originally omitted in Med. Τῆλε δ᾽ ἀπεπλάγχθη σάκεος δόρυ Il. 22. 291.
[779, 780] We had another companion of Hercules, Melampus, v. 320 above. ‘Haeserat,’ had attached himself to. Pliny Ep. 7. 27. 2, Suet. Gramm. 14.
[781] Alieno volnere, the blow meant for another. ‘Caelum aspicit’ of a dying person 4. 692 note: see v. 899 below. The form ‘Argi’-‘orum’ is frequent in Virg. and Horace.
[782] Serv. says not badly “inter physica signa moriturorum etiam hoc legitur, patriae aspectum desiderare perituros. . . . An ex facti paenitentia, qui ad patriam redire contempserat?” Falstaff's ‘babbling of green fields’ (if the latest correctors of Shakspeare will allow us to keep it) and Carlyle's description of the death of Danton and Camille Desmoulins will occur to the modern reader. Stat. Theb. 8. 436 (Forb.) as usual spoils his imitation by affectation: “dilecta genis morientis oberrant Taygeta.” The whole passage is worth looking at, as an instance of false taste and aiming at spurious effect.
[783] With this and the following lines to v. 788 comp. Il. 3. 357 foll. Διὰ μὲν ἀσπίδος ἦλθε φαεινῆς ὄβριμον ἔγχος, Καὶ διὰ θώρηκος πολυδαιδάλου ἠρήρειστο: Ἀντικρὺ δὲ παραὶ λαπάρην διάμησε χιτῶνα Ἔγχος: ὁ δ᾽ ἐκλίνθη, καὶ ἀλεύατο κῆρα μέλαιναν. Ἀτρείδης δὲ ἐρυσσάμενος ξίφος ἀργυρόηλον κ.τ.λ.
[784] Cavo Rom. ‘Aere cavum triplici’ seems to mean ‘hollow and of triple brass:’ comp. “pictas abiete puppis” 5. 663 note. ‘Linea terga,’ layers of linen, like “ferri terga” v. 482 above (note). “Lino tegebantur scuta ut possent inhaerere picturae,” says Serv. But the words here imply that the linen came between the brass and the bull's hide: comp. the description of the “clipeus” in Poly b. 6. 23, ἐκδιπλοῦ σανιδώματος ταυροκόλλῃ τετηγώς, ὀθονίῳ, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα μοσχείῳ δέρματι περιείληπται τὴν ἐκτὸς ἐπιφάνειαν: and Sil. 4. 291, “Fugit illa (hasta) per oras Multiplicis lini, subtextaque tegmina nervis:” ‘nervis’ being the leather.
[785] Transiit Med. corrected, Pal., Rom., Gud. ‘Transiet’ Med. originally: see Excursus on G. 2. 81 (2nd edition). ‘Tauris’ for bulls' hides, as Hom. uses βόας for shields Il. 12. 137 (Forb.). ‘Ima’ has the force of ‘imo,’ which is actually found as a correction in Med.
[786] Haud pertulit, did not carry its force home. “Nec pertulit ictum” 12. 907.
[788] ‘Femine’ all the best MSS., supported by Charisius 66 and Serv. here. ‘Femore,’ one of Ribbeck's cursives and some inferior copies, and so Priscian 701. ‘Feminis’ and ‘femoris’ exist side by side in good Latin: see Forc. Ritschl, Opuscula Philologica, vol. 2, p. 437 foll., assumes a lost form “feminur” to account for the double declension.
[789] Cerda comp. Pindar Pyth. 6. 30 foll., a brilliant tribute to the memory of Antilochus, who saved his father Nestor at the expense of his own life. But it is more likely that Virg. had in his mind the story of the young Scipio defending his father at the battle of the Ticinus: see Livy 21. 47.
