[268] Prima quies, 1. 474. ‘Mortalibus aegris,’ G. 1. 237 (note), where “munere divom” answers to ‘dono divom’ here, mortals being characterized in their relation to the gods. The epithet here is general, but it is meant to excite sympathy for the Trojans, betrayed while enjoying the relief which kind nature gives to overtoiled mortality. So v. 253, and 6. 520. Contrast Aesch. Ag. 336, ὡς δ᾽ εὐδαίμονες Ἀφύλακτον εὑδήσουσι πᾶσαν εὐφρόνην, of the first tranquil sleep enjoyed by the victors after a ten years' siege, unbroken by watchings, and unmolested by the cold airs of heaven.
[269] Dono: probably abl., not, as in E. 2. 37, dative. ‘Gratissima’ answers to ‘prima’ in the former clause: “prima eademque gratissima.” Forb. rightly places a colon rather than a full stop after ‘serpit,’ to show that the next verse is closely connected with v. 268. ‘It was the time of first sleep, when I saw,’ &c. See notes on vv. 134, 172.
[270] Cerda is no doubt right in suggesting that Virg. thought of the apparition of Homer to Ennius, which we know to have been recorded at the beginning of that poet's Annals. ‘Visus adesse’ comes from Enn. A. 6, “visus Homerus adesse poeta,” and “Hei mihi, qualis erat!” v. 274, doubtless is to be referred with Vahlen and Ilberg to the same passage, as Serv. says of it, “Ennii versus.” It appears too from Lucr. 1.125 that the apparition of Homer shed tears, “lacrimas effundere salsas Coepisse.” In Il. 23. 105, the spectre of Patroclus stands all night by the couch of Achilles, γοόωσά τε μυρομένη τε.
[272] Henry seems right in restoring the old punctuation, so as to make ‘ut quondam’ parenthetical, instead of connecting it with ‘raptatus bigis.’ Hector appears ‘raptatus,’ having been dragged, i. e. torn by dragging, disfigured with dust, and with his feet bored. So in 1. 483 the body, when ransomed by Priam, is represented as in a mangled state, as the difference between the tenses shows. ‘Ater’ may refer to the blood as well as to the dust, 3. 33. The dust is from Il. 22. 401 foll. τοῦ δ᾽ ἦν ἑλκομένοιο κονίσσαλος, ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται Κυάνεαι πίλναντο, κάρη δ᾽ ἅπαν ἐν κονίῃσι Κεῖτο, πάρος χαρίεν.
[273] Tumentis, as Henry remarks, proves that Virg. like Sophocles ( Aj. 1031, “ἐκνάπτετ᾽ αἰὲν ἔς τ᾽ ἀπέψυξεν βίον”) followed a story representing the ‘raptatio’ (for his view of which see 1. 483, note) to have taken place in life, as dead limbs do not swell from violence. For the boring of the feet comp. Il. 22. 396: for the swelling, the story of Oedipus. ‘Traiectus lora:’ see note on G. 4. 337.
[274] See on v. 270.
[275] Redit, contrasted with his present return. The present makes the remembrance more vivid. Il. 17. 207, ὅ τοι οὔτι μάχης ἐκ νοστήσαντι Δέξεται Ἀνδρομάχη κλυτὰ τεύχεα Πηλείωνος. Hector never returned to the city after taking the arms of Achilles, though he wore them in the battle.
[276] Iaculatus coupled with ‘redit,’ like ‘indutus.’ The contrast is taken from the taunts of the Greeks, Il. 22. 373, Ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δὴ μαλακώτερος ἀμφαφάασθαι Ἕκτωρ, ἢ ὅτε νῆας ἐνέπρησεν πυρὶ κηλέῳ.
[277] See the quotation from Hom. on v. 272.
[278] Gerens is appropriate, signifying that Hector assumed the same appearance which he exhibited at the time of his death. Comp. 1. 315, note. In construction it seems to be in apposition with ‘qualis’ and ‘mutatus,’ v. 274. ‘Volnera’ are probably the wounds which he received while being dragged round the walls, which is the natural sense of ‘circum muros accepit patrios.’ In Hom. the body is dragged not round the walls but through the plain to the ships (Il. 22. 392 foll.), and afterwards round the tomb of Patroclus (ib. 24. 14 foll.). We hear of no wounds during the former process, and we are expressly told that they are averted during the latter by Aphrodite (ib. 23. 187) and Apollo. On the other hand we do hear of wounds inflicted by the Greeks on the body before it is tied to the chariot (ib. 22. 371: comp. ib. 24. 420, ἕλκεα . . . Ὅσσ᾽ ἐτύπη: πολέες γὰρ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ χαλκὸν ἔλασσαν), though these are said to have been closed by divine agency (l. c.). Virg., treating the subject in a different way from Hom., has availed himself of his predecessor where he could: ‘circum muros patrios’ here is from Il. 22. 403, τότε δὲ Ζεὺς δυσμενέεσσι Δῶκεν ἀεικίσσασθαι ἑῇ ἐν πατρίδι γαίῃ, while ‘plurima’ is from ib. 24. 420 just quoted. Wounds inflicted in battle are not to be thought of (Symmons e. g. translates “And red the wounds his patriot bosom bore”), as in Hom. Hector receives scarcely any.
[279] Ultro, v. 145, note. ‘Compellare ultro’ 4. 304., 6. 499. ‘Flens ipse’ go together. ‘I wept like him.’ W. Ribbeck comp. Ov. 1 Ex Pont. 4. 53, “Et narrare meos flenti flens ipse labores.”
[281] Imitated again from Ennius (Alex. fr. 8), “O lux Troiae, germane Hector! quid te ita contuo lacerato corpore miser, aut qui te sic tractavere nobis respectantibus?” which is apparently a speech of Paris at the actual sight of Hector's body. Virg. makes Aeneas forget not only the circumstances, but the fact of Hector's death. ‘Lux:’ the Homeric φάος, safety. Heyne.
[283] Exspectate, the vocative by attraction for the nom. So “indute,” 12. 947: γενοῦ πολυμνῆστορ ἔφαπτορ Ἰοῦς, Aesch. Supp. 535. ‘Ut’ goes with ‘aspicimus’ (comp. 8. 154), not with ‘defessi,’ the addition of which however, together with the other intervening words, explains it to mean, ‘ut libenter,’ as 8. 154. ‘O the eyes with which after long months of death among your people, months of manifold suffering.’ Virg. probably had Hom. in his mind, Il. 7. 4, ὡς δὲ θεὸς ναύτῃσιν ἐελδομένοισιν ἔδωκεν Οὖρον, ἐπὴν κεκάμωσιν ἐϋξέστῃς ἐλάτῃσιν Πόντον ἐλαύνοντες, καμάτῳ δ᾽ ὑπὸ γυῖα λέλυνται: Ὣς ἄρα τὼ (Hector and Paris) Τρώεσσιν ἐελδομένοισι φανήτην.
[284] “Hominumque boumque labores,” G. 1. 118. ‘Hominum labores,’ in fight. Il. 1. 162, ᾧ ἔπι πόλλα μόγησα, v. 108, ἐπὴν κεκάμω πολεμίζων. ‘Urbis labores,’ v. 11, note.
[285] ‘What has marred the clear beauty of thy face?’ So “foeda tempestas” of the sky disfigured by storms, G. 1. 323, note. ‘Indigna,’ ἀεικής, Il. 22. 395. On the other hand ‘foedavit’ directly contradicts Il. 24. 418, οὐδέ μιν αἰσχύνει.
[287] Moratur, as in 5. 400. ‘He does not regard my vain inquiries.’
[290] Muros, emphatic. ‘The ramparts are in the enemy's hand.’ ‘Ruit alto a culmine Troia:’ Il. 13. 772, ὤλετο πᾶσα κατ᾽ ἄκρης Ἴλιος αἰπεινή, which however is no reason for reading ‘alta’ from Dorville's conj., found also in MS. Coll. Jes., with Wakef., Forb., Ladewig, and now Wagn., as ‘alto’ conveys the same notion, while κατ᾽ ἄκρης could scarcely have had an epithet. See v. 603.
[291] Sat datum, 9. 135. “Satisdare” is a legal phrase for giving security for payment (Cic. 2 Verr. 1. 56., 2. 24). Here it stands for the payment itself, more commonly expressed “satisfacere.” ‘The claims of your country and your king are discharged:’ “Nil debes patriae Priamoque.” ‘Dextra,’ by strength of hand: “audendum dextra” 9. 320, like “manu” v. 645. ‘If strength of hand could save Troy now, mine too would have saved it in my day.’ Serv. mentions another interpretation of ‘etiam,’ “ut sit adhuc, ut ‘etiam currus, etiam arma tenentem’ (6. 485: comp. 7. 778).” This is very plausible, though perhaps we should rather have expected “defenderentur.” Serv.'s own judgment is “sed melius est etiam hac, ut et particeps gloriae sit Aeneas et Hector arrogantiam vitet.”
[292] Nägelsbach (ap. Forb.) seems right in removing the period after ‘fuissent,’ the general sense being ‘You have no duties to the city; that no fighting can or could save; but the care of the Penates devolves on you: take them.’
[293] What the Penates were was an unsolved problem among the ancients themselves: nor is it easy to say what Virg. supposed them to be. He classes them here and 9. 258 foll. with Vesta (comp. 5. 744), and elsewhere (3. 12., 8. 679) with the “magni Di;” but it is not clear in either case whether the association implies distinction or identification. All that can be said is that they were supposed to be in a peculiar sense the national gods of Troy (comp. 5. 63, where Acestes has other Penates of his own), and that, as their name imports, they were connected with the home and the hearth. Their images were easily carried, as appears from v. 717 below. On the whole subject see Dict. B. s. v., Heyne's Excursus on this Book, and Lersch § 57. 13.
[294] Fatorum comites, to share your destiny. ‘His,’ for these; 3. 159, “Tu moenia magnis Magna para,” and note. Serv. makes the reference (though he seems not to have understood that ‘quaere’ is synonymous with “para”), and Donatus says “‘magna:’ quia magni sunt Dii.” ‘Magna’ then must be taken with ‘quaere,’ which happens to be the punctuation of Med., not with ‘quae statues.’
[295] Quae statues, a distinct proposition containing a prophecy, ‘a mighty city, which thou shalt build at last, after having wandered the whole sea over.’ There is nothing weak in this explanation and punctuation, as Wagn. supposes, for the whole Aeneid turns on the founding of a city by Aeneas, and this is the first prediction of it.
[296] Vittas Vestamque: equivalent to “Vestam vittatam” (note on v. 168). Vesta is mentioned along with the Penates again 5. 744., 9. 258. The Penates had already been put into his hands, vv. 293, 294, ‘hos cape.’ It is evident that Virg. means to represent the apparition of Hector as actually bringing out the gods, not merely as appearing to do so. It is therefore neither a vision nor a dream strictly speaking, though in particulars it may be compared with both. See note on 1. 355.
[298-317] ‘My first impulse is to make for the citadel.’
