[84] Saxo structa vetusto merely means “vetusta:” though Macrob. Sat. 3. 6 and Serv. find in it an allusion to the freedom of the island from earthquakes, so that the old building was still preserved. Forb. comp. 8. 478, “saxo fundata vetusto.” For ‘venerabar’ some MSS. give ‘veneramur,’ which would be tautologous with v. 79, and less consistent with v. 90. The word has here the force of entreating, as in Hor. 2 S. 6. 8 and older Latin, so that the prayer naturally follows without further introduction.
[85] Propriam E. 7. 31, note. ‘Thymbraee’ G. 4. 323. ‘Da’ need not have the sense of “dic” (E. 1. 18), as Apollo is looked upon as actually conferring a new home on them by telling them where to find it. Wagn. comp. v. 460 below, 6. 66 foll. ‘Fessis’ may be an oversight, as they were only beginning their wanderings; but they may well have been weary already.
[86] Genus is explained by ‘mansuram urbem.’ Comp. 1. 5, 6, “dum conderet urbem Inferretque deos Latio: genus unde Latinum.” So the parallel 5. 735, “Tum genus omne tuum, et quae dentur moenia, disces.” 1. 380, which is also parallel in language, might suggest a different interpretation, ‘genus’ being taken of ancestry; but though the Trojans have ultimately to seek for the original seat of their race, it is not till after Apollo's reply, vv. 94 foll., that they know that they have to do so. ‘Altera Troiae Pergama:’ the city is regarded as already existing in the persons of those who are to inhabit it. See on 2. 703. ‘Troiae Pergama:’ in Hom. the citadel of Troy is called Πέργαμος; but later writers, beginning with Stesichorus, talk of πέργαμα Τροίης, as if the name were a generic one for a citadel. Etymologists connect it with πύργος, like “berg” and “burg.”
[87] 1. 30.
[88] Quem sequimur? ‘who is to be our guide?’ like “quae prima pericula vito?” v. 367 below, Aeneas expressing himself in each case as if the matter on which he sought advice were already present, not future, and so showing the urgency of the request. They had started without any clear notion of their destination, v. 7. “Sedes ubi ponere possint” Lucr. 1.994.
[89] Pater G. 2. 4; though here there is probably a further reference to Apollo's Delian title of γενέτωρ. ‘Augurium’ is used loosely for an oracular response: see on v. 5. Heyne comp. Hdt. 4. 155, where the oracle tells Battus where to settle. ‘Animis inlabere nostris,’ as Heyne observes, is expressed as if the inspiration which Apollo gives to the seer (6. 11) were imparted to the ordinary applicant at the temple.
