[195] Talibus insidiis, the instrum. abl. In prose “talibus insidiis effectum est ut res crederetur.”
[196] Coacti, the old reading before the time of Heins., supported by Gud. corrected and others, and the MSS. of Nonrus, p. 253, is more euphonious: but ‘coactis,’ which is found in the best extant MSS., and was read by Serv. and perhaps Donatus, is much more forcible, and is confirmed by imitations in Ov. 1 Amor. 8. 83, “discant oculi lacrimare coacti,” and Juv. 13. 133, “vexant oculos humore coacto,” and was possibly itself imitated from Aesch. Ag. 794, ἀγέλαστα πρόσωπα βιαζόμενοι.
[197] Tydides: called already, 1. 96, “Danaum fortissime gentis.”
[198] Mille carinae 9. 148. The round number 1000 for 1186 (the actual sum in Hom.), had been already given by Aesch. Ag. 45, στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύταν, and others. Cerda quotes a passage from Varro, R. R. 2. 1, “si, inquam, numerus non est ad amussim, ut non est, cum dicimus mille naves iisse ad Troiam, centumvirale esse iudicium Romae.” In the sentiment and form of the expression, Virg., as he remarks, may have imitated Hor. Epod. 16. 3, “Quam neque finitimi” &c.
[199-249] ‘Two monstrous serpents appear and destroy Laocoon and his sons. We accept the event as a token of the will of Heaven that we should admit the horse, which we forthwith drag into the city with festive demonstrations.’
[199] The story of Laocoon appears to have been variously related. See Introduction to this book. Euphorion apud Serv. agrees mainly with Virg., except that Laocoon's real offence is said to have been a forbidden marriage; and so Hyginus, who treats the notion of any other crime as a delusion of the Trojans. Heyne thinks it probable that Virg. may expressly have copied Euphorion, whom he is known to have admired (see E. 6. 72., 10. 50). Of Sophocles' tragedy of Laocoon but very few fragments have been preserved: from one of them however (fr. 343, Nauck) it appears that his story must have differed from Virg.'s, as the flight of Aeneas with his father and a body of Trojan emigrants is distinctly mentioned, so that the hero of the play can hardly have died before the taking of the city. Serv. has a strange notice of Bacchylides, who, he says, speaks of Laocoon and his wife, or the serpents which came from the Calydnae islands and were turned into men (“in homines conversis” might conceivably mean ‘attacking men’); but the passage may be corrupt. For fuller details of these legends see Heyne's Excursus. An interest of a different kind is given to the story by Lessing's celebrated treatise.
[200] ‘Inprovida’ refers generally to the blindness of the Trojans, not to their inability to foresee this portent (Heyne); nor proleptically to its effect in making them rush on their doom (Wagn. ed. mi., Forb. &c.). Comp. v. 54. ‘Pectora,’ the intellect, as 1. 567.
[201] Ductus sorte: a variety for “electus ducta sorte.” Comp. 1. 508, “sorte trahebat,” and note. So in English a man is said to be drawn for the militia. Soph. Elect. 709, “ὅθ᾽ αὐτοὺς οἱ τεταγμένοι βραβῆς Κλήροις ἔπηλαν”, a thoroughly Sophoclean expression, altered, like others of the sort, by some later critics. Serv. quotes a fragment of Sallust, “sorte ductos fusti necat,” and the phrase is also found Tac. A. 1. 54., 13. 29. According to Euphorion, Laocoon was already the priest of the Thymbraean Apollo, and was chosen by lot on this occasion to sacrifice to Neptune, in place of the former priest, who had been put to death. Herder (referred to by Heyne) thought this description partly suggested by Il. 2. 305 foll.; but the resemblance is very slight.
[202] Sollemnis ad aras, the altars where the customary sacrifices took place; Heyne, who comp. “sollemnis Circus” Ov. F. 5. 597, “sollemnia theatra,” A. A. 1. 133, “campus sollemnis” Claud. 6 Cons. Hon. 5. Hyginus makes him sacrifice on the shore according to the Homeric practice, and this is probably Virg.'s meaning (comp. 3. 21, “Caelicolum regi mactabam in litore taurum”), as the subsequent description suggests.
[203] ‘A Tenedo:’ Quinctus Smyrnaeus and Lycophron make them come from the Calydnae, two islands near Tenedos, mentioned Il. 2. 677 with Cos. Donatusis doubtless right in saying that this symbolized the appearance of the enemy from Tenedos; but there seems no occasion, in default of any intimation from the poet, to draw out the parallel into detail, as Henry does, not only making the destruction of Laocoon's sons and their father stand for the slaughter of the Trojans and the overthrow of their religion, but supposing that the movement of the serpents abreast represents the sailing of the ships together, the erection of their flaming crests the signal from the royal galley, the floating of their hinder parts on the surface the motion of the vessels in the rear, and lastly, their taking refuge under Pallas' feet the hostile settlement of Pallas herself on the citadel, v. 615. ‘Gemini:’ the names of the serpents were actually given in the legend, among others by Sophocles. Tzetzes on Lycophron calls them Porces and Chariboea, Lysimachus ap. Serv. Curiffis (?) and Periboea.
[205] Incumbunt: with a notion of movement supplied from the context.
[206] Angues iubati appear to have been unusual, if not prodigies. Cerda refers to Livy 43. 13 (15), “in aede Fortunae anguem iubatum a compluribus visum esse,” and to Plaut. Amph. 5. 1. 56, “devolant angues iubati,” of the serpents strangled by Hercules; as also to Eur. Phoen. 820, φοινικολόφοιο δράκοντος, which Virg. may have had in his mind. These crests seem to have been of actual hair, as Pindar, Pyth. 10. 47, speaks of them as φόβαι. Pliny 11. 37 says “draconum cristas qui viderit, non reperitur.”
[207] Sanguineae: so the serpent in Il. 2. 308 is ἐπὶ νῶτα δαφοινός. ‘Exsuperant,’ the reading of but one late MS., found its way into the common texts, and was retained by Heins. and Heyne; but the later editors have properly replaced ‘superant.’
[208] Legit pontum, ‘skims the deep,’ is not precisely parallel to 3. 127, 706, Ov. F. 4, 289, 566, where the notion is really that of picking the way among islands or sunk rocks, so that perhaps it had better be compared to ‘legere oram’ or ‘litus,’ the motion of the serpents along the surface of the water resembling that of a ship skirting the land. ‘Sinuat,’ the common reading, supported by Pal., Med., and other MSS., and by Serv. is restored by Wagn. instead of ‘sinuant,’ the reading of Heins. and Heyne, which Pierius found in some very old copies. As Wagn. remarks, the nom. ‘pars cetera’ is emphatic, opposing the second part of the sentence to the first. ‘Their heads and breasts are erect; the rest floats in sinuous waves along the sea.’
[209] Fit sonitus: caused by their rapid motion through the otherwise calm water. The clause confessedly relates to what goes before, not to what follows; so I have pointed accordingly. ‘Arva,’ as Henry remarks, is the field inside the beach, where the altars seem to have stood.
[210] Suffecti: a rare use of “sufficio,” seemingly in the sense of “inficio,” with the notion of the process as taking place from beneath. Cic. fragm. ap. Non. 4. 405., 12. 13, “ut qui combibi purpuram volunt, sufficiunt prius lanam medicamentis quibusdam,” unless the word is there to be understood in its ordinary sense, ‘subject,’ or ‘submit wool to the operation of certain dyes.’ The other instances given in Forc. are apparently from imitators of Virg. ‘Sanguine:’ comp. 4. 643., 7. 399, where eyes glaring with excitement are called “sanguinei.” ‘Sanguine et igni,’ which Ovid as usual copies, M. 8. 284 (quoted by Forb.), is a union of a physical cause with a metaphor.
[211] Vibrare, of a serpent's tongue, Lucr. 3.657. So “micat,” G. 3. 439.
[212] Visu, at the sight, like “aspectu suo,” Lucr. 1.91. See v. 382. ‘Agment,’ of a serpent, G. 3. 423, A. 5. 90, where it is synonymous with “tractus;” here it expresses not only the long column, but the march. ‘Certo’ contrasts with ‘diffugimus.’ Lucan 9. 712, “semper recto lapsurus limite Cenchris.”
[213] Primum, opposed to ‘post,’ v. 216. The names of Laocoon's sons are given by Hyginus as Antiphantes and Thymbraeus; by Thessander (Pisander?) ap. Serv., as Ethron and Melanthus. They were probably in attendance on their father officially, like the Camilli at Rome (Dict. A. ‘Camilli’).
[215] Depascitur artus, G. 3. 458. Perhaps Virg. thought of Il. 2. 314, ἔνθ᾽ ὅγε τοὺς ἐλεεινὰ κατήσθιε τετριγῶτας.
[216] Auxilio: either the instrum. abl. or the dative, as 1. 22, &c. In Quinct. Smyrnaeus, the father, though not destroyed himself, is deprived of power to help his sons. ‘Tela ferentem,’ 12. 565.
[217] Spiris, G. 2. 154., 12. 848.
[219] Capite et cervicibus, of the serpents. Comp. “colla,” v. 381.
[220] Simul—simul, 1. 631. ‘Tendit —divellere,’ “aqua tendit rumpere plumbum,” Hor. 1 Ep. 10. 20, of effort, almost like the frequentative “temptat.”
[221] ‘Sanie—veneno:’ these serpents, as being portentous, combine the noxious powers of several varieties, devouring, strangling, and poisoning. ‘Sanies,’ of blood tainted by the venom, Lucan 9. 770, 783, 794. ‘Vittas,’ to show completely the inefficiency of his priestly character to protect him. So v. 430. ‘Atro veneno,’ G. 2. 130 note, 3. 430.
[223] It seems better, on a comparison of E. 8. 85, to understand “est” after ‘mugitus’ than to supply “tollit,” with Wagn. and Forb.; but the point is very doubtful. It signifies little whether we make ‘mugitus’ nom. sing. or pl.; but ‘qualis’ is said to be better supported by MSS. and grammarians, so the sing. seems the more probable, though in these matters the weight of external evidence must be very slight. The early commentators rightly remark on the propriety of the simile of the bull, as suggesting the sacrifice in which Laocoon was engaged by a kind of tragic εἰρωνεία. The simile is partially imitated from Il. 20. 403, where the bull is being offered to Poseidon. For a victim to escape from the altar, or to bellow when struck, was a bad omen, as we learn from Paulus Diaconus (ap. Cerdam). Cerda refers to Ov. M. 7. 597, “mugitus victima diros Edidit,” and Livy 21. 63, “immolanti ei vitulus iam ictus e manibus sacrificantium sese cum proripuisset, multos circumstantis cruore respersit.” See also v. 134, note.
[224] Incertam, ill-aimed and so not fatal. “Certam hastam,” 11. 767. “Certa sagitta,” Hor. 1 Od. 12. 23.
[225] Delubra ad summa is explained by what follows, ‘saevaeque petunt Tritonidis arcem,’ the temple of Minerva being at the top of the arx, v. 166.
[226] Effugiunt to be joined with ‘lapsu,’ i. q. “elabuntur.” ‘Diffugiunt’ is the reading of Med. and another MS., but the word probably came from v. 212, and has no place here, as it could only mean, ‘fly in different directions;’ whereas the story of the serpents seems to imply that they moved together from first to last, and the repetition of the word ‘gemini,’ and the fact that they fly to the same spot, confirm the presumption. ‘Saevae:’ comp. 1. 479, “non aequae Palladis.”
[227] Que, placed as in E. 5. 57, G. 3. 523. There seems to have been a statue of Pallas in the arx besides the Palladium, or possibly one was introduced in its place, as the worship of the goddess of course was still kept up. That the mention of it here is not a mere oversight of Virg.'s, appears from the legend that Cassandra was clinging to Pallas' statue when dragged away by the lesser Ajax. See Heyne's Excursus on Vesta, the Palladium, and the Penates. Pallas' statues, as Heyne remarks, had sometimes a serpent coiled at the feet, so that this part of the legend is in keeping. In Q. Smyrnaeus the serpents vanish into the earth near the temple of Apollo.
[228] Novus: see note on G. 4. 357.
[229] “Divom metus insinuarit Pectora,” Lucr. 5.73, with whom the word “insinuo” is a favourite, being used in a variety of constructions (see Munro on Lucr. 1.116). ‘Scelus’ may belong both to ‘expendisse’ and to ‘merentem,’ the latter being in any case the more emphatic word. ‘Scelus merentem’ occurs again 7. 307. ‘Scelus expendisse’ is a brief expression for “sceleris poenam expendisse,” as in 11. 258, like “luere commissa,” “peccata,” &c., for “luere poenam commissorum,” &c., and the similar use of τίνειν in Greek, e. g. Aesch. Cho. 435, πατρὸς δ᾽ ἀτίμωσιν ἆρα τίσει.
[231] Laeserit and ‘intorserit’ rather than “laesisset—intorsisset,” because of ‘ferunt.’ ‘Tergo’ is not really inconsistent with ‘latus,’ v. 52, as it appears to be co-extensive, and sometimes convertible, with “tergus,” 1. 372, &c.
[232] Simulacrum: μέγ᾽ ἄγαλμα θεῶν θελκτήριον, Od. 8. 509. ‘Oranda numina,’ 1. 666, note. ‘Oranda,’ not for “exoranda,” but in its natural sense, though of course the Trojans hoped for a favourable answer. The passage is apparently imitated from Eur. Tro. 522 foll., quoted by Cerda, ἀνὰ δ᾽ ἐβόασεν λεὼς . . . τόδ᾽ ἱερὸν ἀνάγετε ξόανον Ἰλιάδι διογενεῖ κόρᾳ.
