[655] Serv. speaks of an Aventinus king of the Aborigines, who was killed and buried on the Aventine. The name also appears, as he says, in the list of Alban kings. Virg. seems to have invented the account he gives of this person. Heyne remarks that the victorious chariot is Homeric, and not altogether consistent with the lion's skin, which belongs to a different state of society. See on vv. 664, 666. ‘Palma,’ gained in some race like that in Il. 23. ‘Per gramina:’ “tu currum deserto in gramine versas” 12. 664.
[656] Serv. explains ‘pulchro’ by “forti,” which some inferior MSS. actually give: but Heyne rightly remarks that the ancient representations of Hercules (e. g. the Farnese torso) bear out Virg.'s epithet.
[657] “Clipei insigne decorum” 2. 392: comp. 10. 188.
[658] Centum—Hydram, ἓν διὰ δυοῖν rather awkwardly expressed, as it would seem at first sight that the ‘angues’ and the ‘serpentes’ were different. Virg., as Cerda and others have remarked, imitates Eur. Phoen. 1134 foll.:
ταῖς δ᾽ ἑβδόμαις Ἄδραστος ἐν πύλαισιν ἦν, ἑκατὸν ἐχίδναις ἀσπίδ᾽ ἐκπληρῶν γραφῇ, ὕδρας ἔχων λαιοῖσιν ἐν βραχίοσιν Αργεῖον αὔχημ᾽.[659] The name Rhea seems to be borrowed from the story of Romulus: though Prof. Seeley (Livy p. 29), thinks that Virg. is here actually thinking of Rhea Silvia the Vestal, and that this story of Aventinus is virtually the original legend of Romulus, who was confounded with Aventinus after the Aventine was included in Rome. The first syllable is made short by other poets: but Virg. doubtless followed the analogy of the Greek, where the goddess is called indifferently Π̔εία and Π̔έα. This seems to show that Niebuhr (Hist. vol. 1. p. 211 Eng. Tr.) is wrong in laying the blame of the confusion between the goddess and the priestess on the editors of Latin texts, as if the Romans invariably wrote the name of the priestess ‘Rea.’ Here Gud. originally had ‘Rea,’ and the latter ‘h’ is written in Rom. over an erasure. Nor does it appear likely, as Niebuhr conjectures, that Virg.'s Rhea was the daughter of Evander, as Aventinus fights against Evander and the Trojans. The name “Silvia” may have suggested to Virg. the birth of the child in the woods: comp. 6. 765. Other warriors however are born or bred in woods, as Virbius, below v. 763, and the son of Arcens, 9. 584.
[660] Furtivo, the reading of some inferior MSS., may have come from the original reading of Pal. ‘furtivom.’ ‘Partu edidit’ like “partu dabit” 1. 274. ‘Luminis oras’ G. 2. 47 note, Munro on Lucr. 1.22.
[661] Mixta deo mulier from Il. 16. 176, γυνὴ θεῷ εὐνηθεῖσα, with a reference to the Greek use of μιγῆναι. For Hercules' visit to Italy comp. 8. 201 foll., and see Lewis vol. 1. pp. 288 foll.
[662] Tirynthius of Hercules 8. 228. Hercules was said by some to have been born at Tiryns, and by others to have lived there while he served Eurystheus (Dict. M. s. v.).
[663] “Versus poeticum ornatum habet commode ab eo petitum quod in armentorum cura proprium est lavare gregem. pro ‘et armenta ex Hispania adduxit,’” Heyne. Serv. remarks on the two epithets “admiratio, locorum longinquitate.”
[664] Heyne rightly remarks that the transition here is abrupt, as we should have expected to hear definitely that these are the soldiers commanded by Aventinus. We are not even told whence they came, unless we are to infer it, as Gossrau thinks, from the epithet ‘Sabello.’ Mount Aventine, where Aventinus was born, was within Evander's territory, 8. 190 foll. Altogether the passage may be said to show the want of the poet's final revision. ‘Pilum’ (Dict. A. v. ‘Hasta’), the wellknown Roman javelin. ‘Dolo’ is explained by Serv. to mean either a swordstick or a pole with a short iron point. The latter explanation he gives on the authority of Varro; the former is supported by Hesych., δόλωνες ξιφίδια ἐν ξύλοις ἀποκεκρυμμένα; by Alfenus Dig. 9. 2. 52, cited by Forc.; and by the supposed etymology of the word from δόλος. Here at any rate we must suppose the latter to be meant. If the word is originally Latin, it would seem to be connected with “dolare.” ‘In bella’ may either go with ‘saevos’ or with ‘gerunt:’ comp. G. 3. 50.
[665] ‘Tereti,’ with a round shaft: “hastili abiegno et cetera tereti praeter quam ad extremum,” Livy 21. 8 of the phalarica. Comp. “teretes aclydes” v. 730 below. ‘Tereti mucrone veruque Sabelle’ may be ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, as Heyne suggests for the ‘veru’ or ‘verutum’ seems to have answered the purpose of a sword not a spear: Livy 1. 43, (quartae classi） “nihil praeter hastam et verutum datum.” For the ‘veru,’ “verutum,” or σαύνιον, see Dict. A. ‘Hasta.’ It was a Samnite weapon, which is probably the meaning of the epithet ‘Sabello.’ In G. 2. 168 the Volsci are called “veruti,” so that the weapon may have been common to the early Italian nations.
[666] Torquens: see on 8. 460. Here it is loosely if not carelessly followed by ‘indutus,’ the meaning of the poet being that the lion's skin is swathed round the body, while the head forms a sort of cap. This however is no reason for altering the text, with Peerlkamp and Ribbeck. In Rom. the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth letters of ‘torquens’ are written over an erasure. The form ‘tegumen’ or ‘tegimen’ has occurred already 3. 594. ‘Tegumen leonis’ like “tegmine lyncis” 1. 323. The mention of Aventinus as marching on foot, just after we have heard of him as driving his chariot, is another mark of incompleteness, which cannot be paralbeled, as Heyne thinks, by the passages in the Homeric narrative, where heroes are represented as at one moment in their cars, at another fighting on foot. We can hardly suppose ‘pedes’ to mean ‘dismounting from his car.’
[667] ‘Inpexum’ expresses the same as ‘horridus’ v. 669. Rom. has ‘inplexu,’ and one of Ribbeck's cursives (originally) and some inferior MSS. ‘inplexum.’ The sing. ‘saeta,’ where the pl. is meant, seems unusual, but perhaps follows the analogy of “crinis,” “capillus” &c. “Caput ingens oris hiatus Et malae texere lupi cum dentibus albis” 11. 680, where see note.
[668] “Induere aliquid alicui” is not an uncommon construction (11. 76); so here, to the ordinary construction of ‘indutus’ with an acc. of the thing put on, a dative is added of that on which the thing is put. ‘Sic’ refers to ‘torquens’ and ‘indutus:’ comp. 1. 225.
[669] This line expresses further the accoutrement with which he entered the palace of Latinus. For ‘innexus’ Pal. and Rom. have ‘innixus:’ see on 1. 448., 4. 217, “Crinem vittis innexa” 6. 281.
[670-677] ‘Two brothers, Catillus and Coras, come from Tibur.’
