[347] Gronov. on Sen. Herc. F. 779, Burm., and Hand (Tursell. 3. 268), conjecture ‘ardere,’ which is supported by “ardere in arma” 12. 71, “ardere in bellum” Manil. 4. 220, at the same time that it might easily be confounded with ‘audere’ by the copyists, as has been the case in 11. 895. But Ladewig well comp. Stat. Theb. 1. 439, “neque enim meus audeat istas Civis in usque manus,” Grat. Cyn. 498, “non omne meas genus audet in artis;” from which it appears that the meaning of ‘audere in’ is to have courage sufficient for. ‘Audere’ is used absolutely 9, 320., 12. 159. ‘Confertos:’ formed into a band, as Aeneas wished “glomerare manum bello,” v. 315. Some MSS. have ‘consertos,’ which is the corrected reading of Canon.
[348] ‘Super his’ could hardly have the sense of “post haec,” as Heyne thinks, but would rather mean “de his;” nor is Weichert's explanation more likely, that ‘his’ stands for “ad hos,” like Homer's τοῖσι δ᾽ ἦρχ᾽ ἀγορεύειν, as ‘quos’ precedes so immediately. It remains then with Serv. to understand ‘his’ as “his dictis,” taking ‘super’ adverbially, “quia iam audebant, unde paullo post, ‘furor additus.’” ‘Fortissima pectora’ like “fortissima corda” 5. 729.
[349] Audendi is a reading mentioned by Serv., apparently adopted by Donatus, and found in Med. and a few other MSS., but no construction would be possible with it, though Ladewing attempts to give ‘sequi’ an imperative sense: see on 3. 405.
[350] Sequi may go either with ‘certa’ or with ‘cupido,’ as in v. 10. The words from ‘quae sit’ to ‘incensae,’ v. 353, were taken by Heyne as parenthetical, but Wagn. rightly objects to this as too complicated. A succession of short sentences, without connecting particles, is precisely what we should expect in an address like this.
[351] See note on v. 326, and comp. Aesch. Theb. 310, Eur. Tro. 25. The custom of “evocatio,” which arose from this belief, seems to have been peculiar to the Romans. “Excedere” or “cedere” is used elsewhere in speaking of the subject, e. g. Hor. 2 Od. 1. 25. Tac. H. 5. 13, “Expassae (“exapertae” Orelli) repente delubri fores, et audita maior humana vox, Excedere deos: simul ingens motus excedentium,” the μεταβαίνωμεν ἐντεῦθεν of the siege of Jerusalem.
[352] v. 163 above, note.
[353] Incensae is the emphatic word, as in v. 327, βοηθεῖτε φλεγομένῃ τῇ πόλει. ‘The city you succour is a blazing ruin.’ ‘Moriamur et ruamus’ is not exactly a case of ὕστερον πρότερον. The first thing which Aeneas had to do was to persuade his comrades to die; the next to tell them how to do it. “In arma feror,” v. 337.
[354] Wagn. well comp. Justin 20. 3, “Locrenses paucitatem suam circumspicientes omissa spe victoriae in destinatam mortem conspirant; tantusque ardor ex desperatione singulos cepit ut victores se putarent si non inulti morerentur. Sed dum mori honeste quaerunt feliciter vicerunt, nec alia caussa victoriae fuit quam quod desperaverunt.”
[355] There are several comparisons of men to wolves in Hom., in two of which (Il. 11. 72., 16. 156) the words λύκοι ὡς occur at the end of a line; but the circumstances of the simile are rather from the comparison of Ulysses and Diomede to lions sallying out διὰ νύκτα μέλαιναν Ἂμ φόνον, ἂν νέκυας, διά τ᾽ ἔντεα καὶ μέλαν αἷμα (Il. 10. 297).
[356] With ‘raptores’ comp. G. 1. 130, “Praedarique lupos iussit,” with ‘atra in nebula’ 9. 61 (of a wolf), “nocte super media,” and with ‘inproba ventris rabies’ ib. 62, 63, “inprobus ira . . . collecta fatigat edendi Ex longo rabies,” Homer's περιστένεται δέ τε γαστήρ (Il. 16. 163), Aeschylus' κοιλογάστορες λύκο. (Theb. 1035), and Shakspeare's ‘belly-pinched wolf.’ ‘Inproba,’ note on v. 80 above, G. 1. 119. Comp. Od. 17. 473.
[357] Exegit caecos: has driven them out blindly to prowl.
[358] “Siccae sanguine fauces,” 9. 62. So Shelley's Hellas (of an eagle): “And her brood expect the clanging Of her wings through the wild air, Sick with famine.”
[359] They apparently make for the arx as the seat of danger: comp. v. 240.
[360] Cava umbra: “quatenus ipsi ea circumdantur,” Heyne. See 1. 516. There does not seem any real inconsistency between this line and vv. 255, 340, as we are not meant to think of a moonlight as distinguished from a moonless night, but of night as distinguished from day. See further on v. 369.
[361] “Fando enumerare” 4. 333. The line is apparently imitated from Od. 3. 113 (of the sufferings of the Greeks at Troy） τίς κεν ἐκεῖνα Πάντα γε μυθήσαιτο καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων;
[362] Aequare, to keep pace with, ‘lacrimis’ being the abl., as in 3. 671., 6. 263. This seems better than to make ‘lacrimis’ dat., as in 4. 89 &c., and regard the words as a poetical variety for “lacrimis aequare laboribus,” with Serv.
[363] See on v. 557.
[364] Inertia, i. q. “inbellia,” the bodies of the weak and helpless, 4. 158., 9. 150. ‘Passim’ has here its etymological sense of ‘dispersedly.’ Hand, Tursell. 4. 405 foll.
[365] Religiosus is a common epithet of holy places: see Forc.
[367] Quondam in its strict sense, at a certain time, or sometimes, as in 7. 378. Comp. the use of ‘sometime’ for ‘formerly.’ So “olim” is ‘at that time,’ which may refer either to the past, as we say ‘once on a time,’ or to the future, like our ‘one day.’ The thought, as Heyne remarks, is from Il. 14. 480 foll., where the Trojan Acamas says to the Greeks, οὔ θην οἴοισίν γε πόνος τ᾽ ἔσεται καὶ ὀϊζὺς Ἡμῖν, ἀλλά ποθ᾽ ὧδε κατακτανέεσθε καὶ ὔμμες. Comp. also Il. 17. 363, καὶ Δαναῶν: οὐδ᾽ οἳ γὰρ ἀναιμωτί γε μάχοντο.
[368] Crudelis answers to ὠμός, and its contrary is expressed by “mitis.” Here accordingly it may be rendered ‘ruthless’ or ‘relentless agony’ (see on v. 298). Weidner cites Sall. Cat. 51 (Caesar's speech), where an enumeration of the horrors of a sack concludes with the words “postremo armis, cadaveribus, cruore atque luctu omnia conpleri.” The predicate appears to be ‘ubique,’ which is accordingly repeated with ‘pavor,’ and, in the form of ‘plurima,’ with ‘mortis imago.’
[369] Imago, simply ‘the sight,’ as in 6. 405: so that it is not quite the same as Shaksp. Macbeth, 1. 3, “Nothing afraid of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death,” which Henry comp. Some MSS. have ‘noctis,’ which may lend a slight support to an ingenious suggestion of Peerlkamp's that ‘nox’ v. 360 may be an error for ‘mors,’ on a comparison of Hor, 2 S. 1. 58, “mors atris circumvolat alis.”
[370-401] ‘A meeting with a party of Greeks, who mistake us for their own countrymon, and fall a prey to us in consequence, revives our hopes. We assume their armour, and in this disguise make much havoc among the enemy.’
