[335] Honore, i. e. being addressed as a goddess or nymph, not a sacrifice, as Serv. and Heyne say.
[336] ‘This garb is not that of a goddess of the chase, but merely of a Tyrian huntress.’
[337] Comp. E. 7. 32 (note), “Puniceo stabis suras evincta cothurno” (of Diana). ‘Alte’ refers to the height of the cothurnus, which rose more than half way to the knee.
[338] ‘The city in whose domain you are is that of Agenor (one of Dido's ancestors); but the country around is Libya.’ “Cocyti stagna alta vides,” 6. 323.
[339] Henry compares 4. 40, “Hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,” in support of Heyne's interpretation, which refers ‘genus intractabile bello’ to the Libyans, against Wagn., who refers it to the Carthaginians. ‘Intractabile,’ ἄαπτος.
[340] ‘Inperium regere’ occurs Ovid, 3 Pont. 3. 61, cited by Wagn. ‘Inperium’ is the command, not, as an English reader might think, the domain. Elsewhere Virg. talks of “regere inperio aliquem” (v. 230 above); here he varies the expression.
[341] ‘It is a long and intricate tale of wrong.’ “Longis ambagibus,” Lucr. 6. 1081.
[342] Summa fastigia is nearly equivalent to “capita.” ‘Sequar’ = “persequar,” ‘recount in order.’
[343] ‘Ditissimus agri’ has been objected to as inappropriate in the case of the Phoenicians, who were a commercial, not an agricultural, people; and ‘ditissimus auri’ has been proposed by Huet, approved by Heyne, and adopted by Ribbeck. But ‘ditissimus agri’ is a common phrase, occurring 10. 563 (comp. 7. 537), Sil. 5. 260. Wagn. (Q. V. 39) suggests that Virg. was thinking of the great estates of the Roman nobles in his own time. The orthography ‘Sychaeus’ was introduced by Heins. from Med., and is supported by Pal. For the variety of the quantity in the first syllable (comp. v. 348) see the note on v. 258 above.
[344] Miserae, because her love was ill-fated.
[345] ‘Iugare’ is similarly used of marriage, Catull. 62 (64). 21, quoted by Cerda.
[346] Ominibus, the omens of the marriage sacrifice, and so the marriage rite. Comp. Prop. 4. 20. 24, “Contineant nobis omina prima fidem.” ‘Primis’ with reference to ‘intactam.’
[347] Inmanior ante alios omnis: the comparative is pleonastic. Comp. 7. 55, “petit ante alios pulcherrimus omnis Turnus,” and Hand, Tursell. 1, p. 387.
[348] Medios is the reading of Med. and some other MSS.; but ‘medius’ is the idiomatic expression, and the origin of the variation is obvious. Serv. and Donatus connect these words with the preceding line, so as to make ‘omnis’ the antecedent to ‘quos,’ “ac si diceret, Sceleratior Atreo et Thyeste, vel Eteocle et Polynice;” but this punctuation, though approved by Trapp, is clearly less natural. ‘Furor’ may perhaps refer to the unnatural character of the quarrel, as in Hor. Epod. 7. 13, Lucan 1. 8.
[349] Atque couples ‘caecus’ with ‘impius.’ ‘He was so blinded with the love of gold that he did not even respect the altar.’ Henry refers ‘impius’ to the unnatural character of the murder, comp. Ov. Her. 7. 127; and this is doubtless included in the notion of the word here: but that it also denotes impiety in our sense is plain from such passages as 2. 163. ‘Aras,’ the altar of the Penates. Comp. 4. 21, and see on v. 355 below.
[350] Superat is compared by Heyne with δαμᾷ (‘lays him low’), as not necessarily implying a struggle. With the passage generally comp. 3. 332. ‘Securus amorum’ in a different sense 10. 326.
[352]
Malus, to be taken adverbially.
Comp. the phrase “dolo malo.” The best
commentary on ‘vana spe lusit amantem’
is Keats' Isabella, st. 29,—
“Poor girl! put on thy stifling widow's
weed,
And'scape at once from Hope's accursed
bands:
To-day thou wilt not see him, nor tomorrow,
And the next day will be a day of
sorrow.
”
[353] Inhumati, as Heyne suggests, may account for the unrest of the shade (comp. Il. 23. 71 foll.), as it enhances the barbarity of the murderer.
[354] Burm., followed by the recent editors, places a semicolon at ‘coniugis,’ and a comma at ‘miris;’ but ‘ora modis attollens pallida miris’ is obviously a description of ‘imago.’ Comp. Lucr. 1.123, “simulacra modis pallentia miris,” already copied by Virg. G. 1. 477. See on 10. 822. ‘Attollens’ in fact expands ‘venit,’ much as Byron makes the witch of Endor call up Samuel in the words, “Samuel, raise thy buried head!”
[355] Crudelis aras, not unlike “crudelis terras,” 3. 44. There the co-operation of the country in the crime of its king might be assumed naturally; here it is uncertain whether the Penates are those of Pygmalion, and so concerned in the murder, or those of Sychaeus, and so merely witnesses of it. Perhaps 4. 21, Ov. Her. 7. 113, point rather to the latter, which is also more probable if we suppose that Dido is made actually to see the altar and the treasure (see on next line). On the other hand, we should more naturally think of the crime as perpetrated, like that of Atreus, in the house of the murderer, and the concealment would then have been more easy. But where the data are so few conjecture degenerates into licence.
[356] Nudavit will bear the general sense of ‘revealed,’ which is applicable to both the objects of the verb (see Forc.); but it is more probably to be referred specially to ‘pectora,’ so that we shall have a zeugma. Whether the poet intended a vision strictly speaking or a dream, is not quite clear; if the former, ‘nudavit’ and ‘tellure recludit’ must be taken of words spoken by the apparition; if the latter, Dido was actually made to see the altar and the cavern where the treasure lay. The former seems more consistent with analogy; but the latter is supported by 2. 297, where Hector, after appearing in much the same way as Sychaeus here, brings out the sacred things from the penetralia. ‘Domus scelus,’ ‘the domestic crime,’ as perpetrated by her brother, not as perpetrated before the Penates.
[358] Pierius's Medicean MS. reads ‘auxilioque viae,’ which might be worth adopting if it had more authority. ‘Tellure,’ ‘from the earth,’ a construction frequently found with words compounded with ‘re,’ as Wund. remarks. Comp. 5. 99. The course of the narrative, especially v. 349, shows that these are hereditary treasures belonging to Sychaeus, not an ancient and forgotten hoard.
[359] Ignotum is explained by ‘recludit.’
[360] ‘His’ must be taken with ‘commota,’ ‘by these revelations,’ not ‘his (thesauris) parabat.’ With ‘fugam parabat’ comp. “cursum parari,” 4. 299, with ‘socios parabat,’ “deos parant comites,” 2. 181.
[361] Crudele seems to mean ‘fierce,’ or ‘savage.’ Serv. and others call it a hypallage, and probably the juxtaposition of ‘tyranni’ partially accounts for the epithet. ‘Metus acer’ occurs again 3. 682, of the Trojans escaping from the Cyclops. The epithets here are emphatic. The word ‘tyrannus’ in Virgil sometimes seems to bear a neutral sense, but more frequently it occurs in connexions which imply the notion of arbitrary if not of abused power. Here the circumstances of the story rather remind us of Greeks flying from a τύραννος.
[362] For the omission of the verb subst. after a participle in a relative clause, Weidner comp. 9. 675, E. 8. 24, G. 4. 89, to which may be added A. 10. 162, 655, 827.
[364] The ‘opes’ are evidently the ‘aurum;’ not, as Henry and after him Forb. suppose, the resources which constituted the power of Pygmalion, a sense which would not well agree with ‘portantur.’ Pygmalion may not have actually taken possession of the treasures, but they were his from the time when he slew their owner. The epithet ‘avari’ should be remarked. The wealth for which he has committed the crime is wafted away from him over the sea. The expression is meant to be terse and almost epigrammatic, as ‘dux femina facti’ shows. Comp. Dido's words Ov. Her. 7. 149, “Hos potius populos in dotem, ambage remissa, Accipe, et advectas Pygmalionis opes,” where there is evident reference to paying a dowry in treasure.
[365] Heyne and Ribbeck, from Pal., Rom., and Gud., read ‘cernes;’ ‘which you will see when you are at the top of the hill;’ but Wagn. with apparent justice objects that ‘nunc’ with the future could not mean, ‘you will see by and by.’ ‘Cernis’ is the reading of Med., and may be rendered with sufficient accuracy, ‘where now meet your eye.’
[366] Novae Karthaginis: see on v. 298.
[367] Mercatique (sunt) to be coupled with ‘devenere.’ Jahn makes it a part., supposing that Venus interrupts herself at the end of v. 368,—not a very natural thing, as there is no abruptness in the context (the case of 2. 100 foll. is obviously different); and Ribbeck thinks the passage unfinished, and encloses this and the next line in brackets. Byrsa, whence the legend of the bull's hide (βύρσα) arose, appears to have been the Greek corruption of Bosra, the Phoenician name for the citadel of Carthage. ‘Facti de nomine’ is copied by the author of the Ciris, v. 487.
[368] Taurino tergo. The story was that they cut the hide so as to make one thong; the bargain being that they should have as much ground as they could compass with a bull's hide.
[369] Tandem: see on v. 331. Rom. and some others have ‘advenistis’ for ‘aut venistis,’ which was restored by Heins. Med. has ‘aud,’ altered into ‘aut,’ and other MSS. show signs of correction or erasure.
[370] Quove tenetis iter? 9. 377. For ‘ve’ following ‘aut’ comp. 6. 842 foll., where “vel” is similarly used. There seems to be no means of determining whether ‘talibus’ should be taken with ‘quaerenti’ or with ‘ille,’ as in itself it may refer either to a speech just made or to one to come.
[371] Apoll. R. 2. 207, “ἐξ ὑπάτοιο στήθεος ἀμπνεύσας”.
[372-386] ‘Aeneas tells his name and fortunes.’
