[579] Arrecti, excited; quite a different word from ‘erecti,’ reassured, though Heyne and Forb. seem to confound the two.
[580] Erumpere nubem. Comp. Hor. 4 Od. 15. 9, “Rectum evaganti licentiae.” Prop. 4. 2. 21, “praescriptos evecta est pagina gyros,” Lipsius' conj. for the corrupt “praescripto sevecta gyro.”
[582] ‘Shall we not reveal ourselves now?’ It is implied that they had the power to do so in v. 516, though the mist in fact vanishes without their will. The line may be a translation of Apoll. R. 1. 463, “Αἰσονίδη, τίνα τήνδε μετὰ φρεσὶ μῆτιν ἑλίσσεις;” The latter part is nearly repeated 9. 191.
[583] Receptos, sc. “esse,” as they did not see the fleet before them.
[584] Unus abest, Orontes. Comp. v. 113., 6. 334.
[586] Weidner comp. Od. 16. 11, οὔπω πᾶν εἴρητο ἔπος ὅτε κ.τ.λ. The phrase however is not a commonplace with Hom., as ‘vix ea fatus erat’ is with Virg.
[587] Purgat borrows ‘se’ from ‘scindit.’ ‘In aethera:’ see on 5. 20. Wakefield's preference (on Lucr. 3.507) of the variant ‘aera’ is particularly unfortunate, as it is the grosser “aer” that defecates into the purer “aether.” Καὶ τότε δή ῤ̔ αὐτοῖο πάλιν χύτο θέσφατος ἀήρ, Od. 7. 143.
[588] Restitit, “abscedente scilicet nube,” Serv. For ‘refulsit’ see note on v. 402.
[589-593] The whole of this passage is almost a translation of Od. 23. 156—162, which is nearly repeated from Od. 6. 229 foll. Except in employing the agency of Venus, who is not only the mother of Aeneas, but the goddess of beauty, Virg. is as usual less appropriate as well as forcible than Hom. For ‘os humerosque deo similis,’ comp. also the well-known lines, Il. 2. 478, Ὄμματα καὶ κεφαλὴν κ.τ.λ., and see on 4. 11.
[591] Adflarat, as regards ‘caesariem,’ is a zeugma; as regards ‘lumen’ it may refer to the supposed connexion between light and air, indicated by such passages as 3. 600, “hoc caeli spirabile lumen” (see above on v. 546). ‘Purpureum,’ glowing. For the vague use of ‘purpureus’ see on E. 5. 38. The word here probably refers to the rosy bloom of youth. ‘Honores,’ lustre. ‘Laetus’ is φαιδρός. Virg. may have thought of Eur. Bacch. 236, οἰνωπός, ὄσσοις χάριτας Ἀφροδίτης ἔχων.
[592] Hom. has simply ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε τις χρυσὸν περιχεύεται ἀργύρῳ ἀνὴρ Ἴδρις, which answers to ὡς ἄρα τῷ κατέχευε (Ἀθήνη) χάριν, the point being that the beauty of Ulysses is, as it were, gilded with diviner grace, as silver is gilded with more precious gold. Virg. has taken the idea of beauty superadded by art, and expressed it in two ways, neither of them exactly the same as Homer's. The first (‘quale manus addunt ebori decus’) is the mere superaddition of art to a beautiful material (‘manus,’ in the technical sense of the artist's hand, v. 455 above); the second, the adornment of silver or marble with gold, a practice similar to that referred to 10. 135, and illustrated in Heyne's Excursus. ‘Flavo:’ elsewhere gold is called “fulvum,” 7. 279, &c.
[594] Connect ‘cunctis inprovisus.’ Burm. after Serv. thinks ‘sic’ means ‘thus beautified;’ an ingenious but unlikely notion.
[597] Sola is to be understood loosely, alone of those not allied to Troy, and so excluding Helenus and Acestes.
[598] Reliquias Danaum: see on v. 30 above.
[599] Exhaustos Med., Rom., Pal., Gud. ‘Exhaustis’ fragm. Vat. originally, Serv. Ribbeck alone has adopted the latter, which is very plausible in itself, agreeing with the use of “exhaustus” elsewhere in Virg. (comp. 4. 14., 9. 356., 10. 57, a strong parallel, 11. 256), and sufficiently weightly in external authority. After much hesitation I have allowed the parallel “tot casibus actos,” above v. 240, to decide me to follow the rest of the editors. Comp. “quo magis exhaustae fuerint,” G. 4. 248, of the bees. ‘Omnium:’ the only instance in which Virg. has forced this intractable word into a hexameter.
[600] Urbe, domo, socias, offer to make us the partners of your city and your home —open your city, your very home to us. The construction seems to be ‘socias （“tibi” or “tecum”） urbe, domo’ (instr. or modal abl.). Not unlike is G. 4. 153, “consortia tecta Urbis habent.” ‘Grates persolvere dignas,’ 2. 537.
[601] Opis in its original sense of means or power. Forb. comp. Hor. 1 Ep. 9. 9, “Dissimulator opis propriae.”
[602] Nec quidquid ubique est gentis Dardaniae = “nec omnium, quotquot sunt, Dardanorum.” ‘Maguum quae sparsa per orbem,’ both as fugitives and as captives.
[603] Comp. generally 2. 536. “Si quid pietas antiqua labores Respicit humanos,” 5. 688.
[604] Iustitiae, the old text before Heyne, is found in Med. (second reading) and some other MSS. ‘Iustitia’ however is found in Med. (first reading), Rom., Pal., fragm. Vat. and Gud., besides Serv., and is rightly preferred by all modern editors. There is still a question whether ‘mens sibi conscia recti’ is to be coupled with ‘Di’ or with ‘iustitia.’ Those who read ‘iustitiae’ of course adopted the former view; but it is supported also by Serv., though reading ‘iustitia,’ with the remark that the doctrine that virtue is its own reward is Stoic, and in modern times by Peerlkamp, and undoubtedly receives strong confirmation from 9. 252 foll., which is generally parallel, “Quae vobis, quae digna, viri, pro laudibus istis Praemia posse rear solvi? pulcherrima primum Di moresque dabunt vestri.” On the whole however the latter view is that to which the passage itself seems most naturally to point. ‘If justice and conscious rectitude be of any account anywhere on earth.’ Comp. 2. 142, “si qua est, quae restat adhuc mortalibus usquam Intemerata fides.” “Mens sibi conscia facti” is read by some Lucr. 3.1018, where Lachm. retains “factis,” joining “sibi” with “praemetuens.”
[605] Comp. Od. 6. 154 foll., and for the construction v. 539 above, G. 2. 315.
[607] Dum montibus umbrae lustrabunt convexa, while the shadows move in the hollows of the hills. ‘Umbrae,’ not, as Heyne thinks, the shadows of the woods, but those cast by the hills themselves, E. 1. 84. ‘Lustrabunt’ Heyne explains rightly of the shadow moving with the sun. With ‘convexa’ comp. “convexo nemorum,” v. 310, and the word “convallis.” Many critics, from the time of Serv., have taken ‘convexa’ with ‘sidera’ (comparing Ov. 4. ex Pont. 9. 129), supposing ‘lustrabunt’ to be corrupt (‘lustra dabunt,’ Heins., ‘constabunt,’ Burm.; Ribbeck thinks the passage imperfect). The use of a word in one sense in a context which would seem to suggest another, is not unVirgilian, even where, as here, that other sense is not meant to be in any way recognized. ‘Polus dum sidera pascet’ is from Lucr. 1.231, “unde aether sidera pascit” (comp. Id. 5. 523 foll.). Virg. also had v. 230 (“Unde mare ingenui fontes externaque longe Flumina suppeditant”) in his eye, though the prominent thought with him is not the constant supply, but simply the constant course of nature. perhaps, as the earlier critics suggested, Virg. may also have thought of Callim. Del. 176, “τείρεσιν, ἡνίκα πλεῖστα κατ᾽ ἠέρα βουκολέονται”, the stars being conceived of as a flock grazing in the sky. Med. and one or two others have ‘pascit:’ see on 4. 336.
[609] This line is repeated from E. 5. 78. The sense of that passage is, so long as rural life exists, you shall be celebrated with festivals like the gods. So here we may explain, with Wagn., ‘so long as nature holds her course, your name shall be perpetuated in the land where I may be, be it Italy or any other.’ Comp. 5. 49—60, where a similar promise is made to the memory of Anchises, and 4. 335, where the same acknowledgment is made more weakly to Dido herself. This seems more likely than Henry's view, ‘whatever becomes of me, your fame is assured.’
[610] Vocant expresses that he is dependent on destiny, and so implies that he will have to leave Dido, as Henry remarks. Comp. 3. 494, “nos alia ex aliis in fata vocamur,” 5. 656, “fatisque vocantia regna.”
[611] Petit dextra, puts forth his right hand to: comp. “cornu petere.” ‘Serestus,’ apparently not the same as “Sergestus” v. 510: see on 4. 288., 5. 487. The present passage, combined with v. 510, would be rather in favour of the identification, which might be compared with the double quantity of words like “Sychaeus,” though Heyne says of it “quod vix feram ne in malo quidem poeta.”
[612] V. 222 above. Here ‘Gyan’ and ‘Cloanthum’ seem to be epexegetical of ‘alios.’
[614-642] ‘Dido tells him she has heard of him from Teucer, a wandering Greek, and bids him welcome. She sends food to the crews at the ships, and orders a splendid banquet in the palace.’
