This line is preceded in some MSS.
by the following verses,
“Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
Carmen et egressus silvis vicina coegi
Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,
Gratum opus agricolis: at nunc horrentia Martis.
”
[2] Fato, a mixture of modal and instrum. abl., as in 4. 696., 6. 449, 466, &c. Here it seems to go with ‘profugus,’ though it might go with ‘venit:’ comp. 10. 67. Perhaps the force may be “profugus quidem, sed fato profugus,” a glorious and heaven-sent fugitive. So Livy I. 1., comp. by Weidner, “Aenean ab simili clade domo profugum sed ad maiora rerum initia ducentibus fatis.” For the poetic accus. ‘Italiam—Lavina litora,’ without the preposition, see Madv. § 232, obs. 4. The MSS. are divided between ‘Lavinaque,’ ‘Laviniaque,’ and perhaps ‘Lavinia.’ The last, however, though adopted by Burm. and Heyne, and approved by Heins., seems to rest solely on the authority of Med., which has ‘Lavinia’ (corrected into ‘Lavina’), with a mark of erasure after the word. ‘Laviniaque’ is found in the Verona fragm., and is supported by quotations in Terentianus Maurus and Diomedes, and in single MSS. of Priscian, Censorinus, and Servius in artem Donati. ‘Lavinaque’ is found in Rom., Gud., and probably most other MSS., and is supported by quotations in Macrobius, Gellius, Marius Victorinus, Pompeius, the Schol. on Lucan, most MSS. of Priscian, and one of Censorinus. Servius mentions both readings, saying, “Lavina legendum est, non Lavinia.” ‘Lavinia’ is supported by 4. 236: but the synizesis, though not unexampled (comp. 5. 269., 6. 33, and see on G. 4. 243), is perhaps awkward, especially in the second line of the poem, and the imitation in Prop. 3. 26. 64, “Iactaque Lavinis moenia litoribus,” is in favour of the form ‘Lavina.’ Juv. 12. 71 has “novercali sedes praelata Lavino,” though there as in Prop. the quadrisyllabic form might be introduced and explained by synizesis. On the whole, I have preferred ‘Lavinaque,’ believing the form to be possible in itself (comp. “Campanus,” “Lucanus,” “Appulus,” &c.), and more probable in this instance; the modern editors however are generally for ‘Laviniaque.’ Lachmann on Lucr. 2.719 speaks doubtfully. The epithet which belonged to the place after the foundation of the city by Aeneas is given to it here, as in 4. 236, by a natural anticipation at the time of his landing.
[3] The imitation of the exordium of the Odyssey continues, ‘multum ille iactatus . . multa quoque passus,’ being modelled on πολλὰ πλάγχθη . . πολλὰ δὲ ὅγε . . πάθεν: ‘ille,’ as so often in Virg., standing for the Homeric ὅγε. ‘Multum,’ &c., used to be pointed as a separate sentence; it is however evidently constructed with ‘venit,’ so that ‘ille’ is virtually pleonastic. Comp. 5. 457., 6. 593., 9. 479. Here it appears rhetorically to be equal to ‘quidem.’ ‘Iactatus’ is naturally transferred from wanderings by sea to wanderings by land. In such passages as vv. 332, 668, we see the point of transition. So 5. 627, “cum freta, cum terras omnis . . ferimur.”
[4] Vi superum expresses the general agency, like ‘fato profugus,’ though Juno was his only personal enemy. Gossrau's fancy that ‘vi superum’ = βίᾳ θεῶν, ‘in spite of heaven,’ has no authority. For ‘memorem iram’ comp. Livy 9. 29, “Traditur censorem etiam Appium memori Deum ira post aliquot annos luminibus captum.” So Aesch. Ag. 155, “μνάμων μῆνις”. ‘Ob iram,’ below, v. 251, ‘to sate the wrath.’
[5] Passus, constructed like ‘iactatus.’ ‘Quoque’ and ‘et’ of course form a pleonasm, though the former appears to be connected with ‘multa,’ and the latter with ‘bello.’ ‘Dum conderet’ like “dum fugeret,” G. 4. 457, where see note. Here we might render ‘in the struggle to build his city.’ So Hom. Od. 1. 4. foll., πολλὰ πάθεν . . ἀρνύμενος κ.τ.λ. The clause belongs to ‘multa bello passus,’ rather than to ‘iactatus.’
[6] “Victosque Penatis inferre,” 8. 11. ‘Unde’ may be taken either as “qua ex re,” or as “a quo,” as in v. 568., 6. 766, &c. The latter seems more probable. ‘Genus Latinum,’ ‘Albani patres,’ ‘altae moenia Romae,’ denote the three ascending stages of the empire which sprang from Aeneas, Lavinium, Alba, and Rome. Comp. 12. 823, foll., which is a good commentary on the present passage. ‘Albani patres’ probably means not ‘our Alban ancestors,’ but the senate, or rather the noble houses of Alba, of which the Julii were one.
[8-11] ‘Why was it, Muse, that Juno so persecuted so pious a hero?’