[34] Virg. plunges “in medias res,” as the commentators remark. See Introduction to this Book. The departure from Sicily closes Aeneas's narrative, 3. 715. Forb. takes ‘e conspectu Siculae telluris’ to mean ‘out of sight from Sicily,’ or of those who were in Sicily, comparing 11. 903, “Vix e conspectu exierat;” but there the sense is determined by the context: and the common rendering, ‘out of sight of Sicily,’ is more natural, and equally good Latin. Comp. e. g. “urbis conspectu frui,” Cic. Sull. 9. Generally, though not universally, where the noun in the gen. is a thing, the gen. is that of the object; and, in the present case, we more naturally think of the Trojans looking towards Sicily, than of Sicily looking towards the Trojans.
[35] Heyne puts a comma after ‘dabant,’ which is the punctuation of Med., but MS. authority on such points is of little value. Wagn. omits the comma altogether, on the ground that ‘laeti’ belongs to both verbs; which of course it does, in sense; but in construction it must be taken with the one or the other, and it is obviously better taken with the former. Virg., in fact, is imitating Od. 5. 269, γηθόσυνος δ᾽ οὔρῳ πέτασ᾽ ἱστία δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς, Ulysses's voyage there answering to Aeneas's here. ‘Ruebant,’ ‘were driving before them;’ see note on G. 1. 105. “Campos salis aere secabant,” 10. 214. “Spumat sale” (“sale” neut. nom.) occurs Enn. A. 14. 1.
[36] Sub pectore, ‘deep in her breast,’ with a derivative notion of secrecy. Comp. Aesch. Eum. 156, ἔτυψεν—ὑπὸ φρένας ὑπὸ λοβόν. On a comparison of Lucr. 1.34, “aeterno devictus volnere amoris,” it is perhaps better to take ‘aeternum’ closely with ‘volnus’ than, as the order might warrant, with ‘servans.’
[37] Secum: “sine conscio,” says Serv., comparing v. 225 below and 2. 93. ‘Loqui secum,’ as opposed to ‘loqui cum aliquo,’ is to soliloquize, if the person is alone; to think or mutter, if the person is in company. It is the προτὶ ὃν μυθήσατο θυμὸν of Od. 5. 285, where Poseidon takes the part taken by Juno here. ‘Mene—desistere:’ for this use of the accus. and infin. to denote indignation or surprise, see Madv. § 399. In Greek the article is not unfrequently prefixed to the infin. in this construction. ‘Victam,’ ‘baffled.’ For one aspect of the word we may comp. 7. 310, “Vincor ab Aenea:” for another, Hor. 1 Ep. 13. 11, “Victor propositi.”
[38] Avertere, G. 2. 172. As Henry remarks, it means not merely to turn way, but to turn back. Rom. originally and Gud. have ‘Italiam.’
[39] Quippe generally gives a reason (comp. vv. 59, 661 below, G. 1. 268., 2. 49., 4. 394), sometimes with irony, and here with indignation.—The use of ‘ne,’ which implies a negative answer, expresses incredulity that Pallas should have done what Juno cannot. Hom., Od. 1. 326, makes the minstrel sing to the suitors of the νόστον Ἀχαιῶν Λυγρὸν ὃν ἐκ Τροίης ἐπετείλατο Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη. But in Od. 3 and 4, where the return of the Greeks is described in detail, he says nothing of a general storm. Ajax, in Od. 4. 499, is shipwrecked, but saved on a rock, in spite of the enmity of Pallas, by Poseidon, who afterwards, provoked by his impious boast that he would escape in spite of the gods, cleaves the rock on which he is sitting, and drowns him. Aeschylus, like Virg., mentions a general storm, and implies (through the forebodings of Clytaemnestra) that it was the punishment of some impiety. The crime of Ajax is fixed by Lycophron and others to be insolence offered to Cassandra in the temple of Pallas. Virg. however merely mentions him among others in 2. 403, where Cassandra is dragged from sanctuary.
[40] Ipsos, ‘Argivos,’ the crews, as distinguished from the ships. Forb. comp. Il. 14. 47, πρὶν πυρὶ νῆας ἐνιπρῆσαι, κτεῖναι δὲ καὶ αὐτούς.
[41] So Tryphiodorus v. 650, ἀνθ᾽ ἑνὸς Ἀργείοισιν ἐχώσατο πᾶσιν Ἀθήνη. I have placed a comma at ‘noxam,’ to show that ‘unius’ is not to be taken with ‘Aiacis Oilei,’ but that the second clause is distinct from and epexegetic of the first. Comp. v. 251 below, “unius ob iram.” But it is hard to judge in cases like this, where it is a question of minute considerations. See on 3. 162. ‘Furias’ expresses the Homeric ἄτη, the infatuation which impels to crime. Μέγ᾽ ἀάσθη is twice used of the provocation which Ajax gives to Poseidon, Od. 4. 503, 509. ‘Oilei’ is not an adjective, but a patronymic genitive, like Ὀϊλῆος ταχὺς Αἴας. In Cic. de Orat. 2. 66, and Ov. M. 12. 622, ‘Oileos’ is probably the Greek genitive. Hyginus and Dictys Cretensis however are cited by Freund for an adjective, ‘Oilëus.’ For the orthography ‘Oilei,’ not ‘Oili’ (which is however the reading of Med., supported by some grammarians, and adopted by Ribbeck), see Wagn. on v. 30 above, who decides that where the nominative terminates only in ‘eus,’ the genitive must terminate, not in ‘i,’ but in ‘ei.’ Rom. and Gud. have ‘Oilei.’
[42] So Aesch. Eum. 827, she says of herself, καὶ κλῇδας οἶδα δωμάτων μόνη θεῶν Ἐν ᾧ κεραυνός ἐστιν ἐσφραγισμένος. Juno, in Book 4, raises a thunder-storm, but does not herself (‘ipsa’) hurl the thunderbolt. “Pallas fulminatrix,” and the owl grasping a thunderbolt, are found on coins. ‘Iovis ignem’ is of course merely a periphrasis for the lightning. See the passage from Attius cited on v. 44. Comp. Eur. Tro. 80, ἐμοὶ δὲ δώσειν φησὶ πῦρ κεραύνιον, Βάλλειν Ἀχαιοὺς ναῦς τε πιμπράναι πυρί (spoken by Pallas).
[43] Eurip. l.c. makes Zeus send the storm and Poseidon raise the sea, Pallas being merely charged with the lightning. Quinct. Smyrn. 14. 444 foll. follows Virg., making Zeus give all his artillery to Athena for the occasion, and delight in seeing the storm which she raises. He imitates Virg. in the speech which Athena addresses to Zeus, vv. 427 foll., and also in the visit Iris is represented as paying on Athena's account to Aeolia, for the special purpose of making the tempest worse about the headland of Caphareus, vv. 474 foll., though in the latter case his narrative is more summary.
[44] Comp. Lucr. 6.391 foll., “icti flammas ut fulguris halent Pectore perfixo”; and Attius, Clyt. fr. 5 (quoted by Serv. on this passage), “In pectore fulmen inchoatum flammam ostentabat Iovis.” For ‘pectore’ Probus read ‘tempore.’
[45] Comp. Lucr. l.c. “Turbine caelesti subito correptus et igni.” ‘Turbine’ is the wind or force of the thunderbolt, as in 6. 594. See also on 2. 649. Forb. is right in placing a semicolon only after ‘acuto,’ to show that ‘Ast ego,’ &c. is connected with the lines preceding. One or two MSS. have ‘inflixit,’ which Cornutus ap. Serv. preferred “ut vehementius.” ‘Infixit’ is a little awkward after ‘transfixo;’ and the construction “infigere aliquem alicui,” to impale a person upon a thing, is, as Henry has pointed out, unusual, if not unexampled. ‘Infixit’ however is supported by Sen. Ag. 571, “Haerent acutis rupibus fixae rates,” quoted by Gossrau. Henry's interpretation, making ‘scopulo’ abl., and supposing Ajax to be pierced by a fragment of rock hurled at him (‘turbine’ being paralleled with “ingentis turbine saxi,” 12. 531), agrees to a certain extent with Quinct. Smyrn. 14. 567 foll. (not with Sen. Ag. 552 foll., who follows Hom.); nothing however is there said about piercing Ajax, who is merely said to be overwhelmed by the rock as Enceladus was overwhelmed by Aetna; so that the parallel is hardly made out. W. Ribbeck cites Seneca's poem to Corduba, vv. 13, 14 (Wernsdorf's Poet. Lat. Min. vol. 5, p. 1367), “Ille tuus quondam magnus, tua gloria, civis Infigar scopulo,” which is in favour of the common interpretation, as the writer evidently means to speak of his banishment to a rocky island as an impalement.
[46] Apparently from Il. 18. 364 foll., where Here pleads her dignity as greatest of the goddesses and consort of Zeus, as a reason why she should work her will on the Trojans. ‘Incedo,’ poetically substituted for the simple copula “sum;” with an allusion, of course, to the majesty of Juno's gait. The word itself, as Henry remarks, does not necessarily imply majestic movement; but this notion is gained by attention being directed to the movement at all, in a context like this; at the same time, of course, that it is enforced by the qualifying words ‘divom regina,’ &c. Comp. Prop. 2. 2. 6, “incedit vel Iove digna soror.” It is probable that Prop. had seen Virg.: see on v. 2 above.
[47] κασιγνήτην ἄλοχόν τε, Il. 16. 432. ‘Una:’ Juno thinks it strange that she should take so long to subdue a single nation; Venus, on the other hand (v. 251 below), complains that she and her son are persecuted to gratify a single individual, Juno.
[48] The old reading, unsupported apparently by the better MSS., though one or two have ‘adoret,’ was ‘adorat—inponat.’ Heins. and Heyne recommended, and later editors have restored, ‘adorat—inponet’ from Med., Rom., and other MSS. Some MSS. however, including Gud. originally, have ‘inponit;’ and this would appear to be the true reading, both from the instances quoted by Wagn. in support of the indicative against the subjunctive ( Ov. 3 Am. 8. 1, 2, “Et quisquam ingenuas etiamnum suspicit artis Aut tenerum dotes carmen habere putat?” and Consolatio ad Liviam Incerti Auctoris, 7, 8), and from the nature of the case. ‘Et quisquam adoret’ would be, ‘can it be that any one will or is likely to do it?’ ‘et quisquam adorat,’ ‘can it be that any one is doing it?’ If then the subjunctive is less forcible than the indicative, it is precisely because the future is less forcible than the present. Those who read ‘inponet’ explain the change of tense by saying that ‘adorat praeterea’ = “adorabit.”—‘Et’ couples the presents ‘adorat’ and ‘inponit’ with ‘gero’—‘I am proving my imbecility, and yet I have worshippers!’ ‘Praeterea’ then will express, not so much sequence in time, as a logical relation, like ἔπειτα. We may still however comp. “praeterea vidit,” G. 4. 502. ‘Honorem’ G. 3. 486. ‘Inponere,’ of offerings, 4. 453., 6. 246, 253, G. 3. 490. The general thought seems to be from Poseidon's complaints in two distinct passages of Hom., Il. 7. 446 foll., Od. 13. 128 foll.
[50-64] ‘She goes to Aeolia, the home and prison of the winds, and applies to Aeolus their king.’
