[402] Invitis divis, the dat., not the abl. The sense is not ‘men can have no confidence when the gods are averse,’ but ‘a man may not safely trust the gods against their will,’ may not rely on Fortune when she has really declared against him. ‘Invitis’ seems to express that the gods are not willing to be trusted, as if by taking advantage of a turn of fortune and improving it by a stratagem Aeneas and his companions were exhibiting a trust in Heaven which they were not entitled to feel. This agrees with ‘haud numine nostro,’ as explained above, and gives a force to the whole context which it would not otherwise possess, the fate of the disguised Trojans being treated as a visitation from the gods for presuming on their aid, or attempting to gain it when it was not to be given. If Serv.'s explanation of v. 396 could be substantiated, the meaning would be more definite; but the passage does not require such a hypothesis. We should bear in mind the prominence given throughout this book to the agency of the gods; the Trojans are blinded by the gods so as to take in the horse: Aeneas rushes out in desperation on hearing that the gods have declared against Troy, v. 336; his very words to his companions, vv. 350 foll., contrast ominously with those of Coroebus, v. 387, the one bidding them accept the doom of the vanquished, “Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem,” the other urging them to avail themselves of the first omen of safety and convert it into a certainty. They are punished; and Aeneas, after witnessing the fate of Priam, is caused by Venus to see the gods visibly arrayed against his country. With the language of this line comp. 5. 800, “Fas omne est, Cytherea, meis te fidere regnis,” which might perhaps be quoted to show that ‘nihil’ here agrees with ‘fas,’ like “nihil opus.”
[403] The Cyclic poets, as appears from the argument of the Ἰλίου πέρσις of Arctinus, preserved by Proclus, described Cassandra as dragged from the temple of Pallas by Ajax, the son of Oileus, who dragged away also the statue of the goddess to which she was clinging; for this the Greeks would have stoned him had not he himself taken sanctuary, and his trial before the kings for the crime was the subject of paintings in the Poecile at Athens and at Delphi. The story is also referred to by Eur. Tro. 69 foll., where it is said that the Greeks took no notice of the crime. His death on the voyage home was represented as Pallas' revenge for the sacrilege, as mentioned on 1. 39. The ἑλκηθμός, or dragging away of prisoners into captivity, is mentioned by Hom. (Il. 6. 465, &c.) The suppliant Danaides in Aeschylus (Supp. 428 foll., 909) are in danger of being dragged by the hair from the statues to which they are clinging; and so Eur. Iph. A. 1366, Tro. 881, &c.
[404] Templo, the temple of Minerva in the citadel; Aeneas and his comrades had made their way to the heart of the city, v. 359. Heyne.
[405] Tendens, as Wagn. well remarks, is used by anticipation with reference to ‘palmas.’ Virg. however may have thought of ‘tendere oculos,’ to direct the eye in observing an object (5. 508), as he thought of ‘tendere vocem,’ to strain or exert the voice, when he wrote “tendo ad caelum cum voce manus,” 3. 176, &c.
[406] Arcebant, not simply ‘bound,’ but ‘prevented them from being raised,’ Henry. With the structure of this and the foregoing verse comp. Catull. 62 (64). 260, “Pars obscura cavis celebrabant orgia cistis, Orgia, quae frustra cupiunt audire profani.” With the sentiment Henry comp. Eur. Andr. 573.
[407] Speciem, the sight, as in Cic. Ph. 11. 3, quoted by Serv., “Ponite itaque ante oculos, P. C., miseram quidem illam et flebilem speciem, sed ad incitandos nostros animos necessariam.” So “imago” above, v. 369, note. ‘Furiata:’ the verb occurs Hor. 1 Od. 25. 14.
[408] Periturus instead of ‘periturum,’ 1. 314. ‘Periturus’ was restored by Heins. from the best MSS. in place of ‘moriturus,’ which is found in two of Ribbeck's cursives.
[409] Densis armis, abl., as in v. 383 above, ‘closing our ranks,’ so that ‘densis’ virtually = “densatis.” ‘Incurrimus armis,’ like “inruimus ferro,” 3. 222.
[410] Hic primum, 1. 450, 451. ‘This was the beginning of our reverses.’ ‘Primum’ answers to “tum,” v. 413, and to “etiam,” v. 420.
[411] Oriturque miserrima caedes occurs again 11. 885. ‘Miserrima,’ ‘most piteous,’ here, because men are slain by their friends in ignorance; there, because their friends are compelled in self-defence to abandon them to their fate.
[412] Facie—errore, Madvig, § 255. ‘Error iubarum,’ arising from the crests. ‘Facie’ and ‘errore’ are not strictly parallel; in prose ‘errore’ would probably have been connected with both substantives, “errore e facie armorum et Graiis iubis orto.”
[413] Gemitu, with a groan of indignation. “Dentibus infrendens gemitu,” 3. 664. ‘Ereptae virginis ira,’ like “ira provinciae ereptae,” Livy 37. 51. Forb. Weidner comp. 7. 15, “gemitus iraeque leonum.”
[414] Undique with ‘collecti,’ not, as Heyne, with ‘invadunt.’ “Undique collecti coeunt,” 7. 582. ‘They rally from all sides, and fall on us.’ ‘Collecti’ alone, ‘formed into a mass,’ would not imply that the attack was made from all quarters at once. ‘Acerrimus,’ with all the fury of revenge for the loss of his prize.
[415] δισσοὶ Ἀτρεῖδαι. ‘Dolopum,’ v. 7 above.
[416] Adversi, predicate. ‘Rupto turbine,’ like “vocem rumpere,” v. 129, note. The resemblance between this simile and Il. 9. 4 foll., noticed by Heyne, is very faint. For the physical fact see on 1. 85.
[417] Laetus equis, ἱππιοχάρμης, of which it may be a translation. The attributing of horses to the winds, like the converse belief that certain horses were the offspring of the winds (G. 3. 275, note), is sufficiently common. Whether Virg. conceived of the winds as driving or as riding horses is not clear; the former would be the more Homeric conception, but the latter is supported by Hor. 4 Od. 4. 44, “Eurus per Siculas equitavit undas” (Ζεφύρου ἱππεύσαντος, Eur. Phoen. 219), and a fragment quoted by Orelli, on Hor. l. c., “Eure, beato lumine volitans, Qui per caelum candidus equitas.” The plural ‘equis’ proves nothing, as Virg. evidently intends ‘laetus equis’ to be a perpetual epithet.
[418] Saevitque tridenti: comp. “saevumque tridentem,” 1. 142.
[419] Spumeus is separated from ‘Nereus’ for the sake of poetical variety, so that it adheres as a predicate to ‘saevit,’ though in point of sense it might equally go with ‘ciet.’ For a similar position of the epithet comp. (with Henry) 11. 626, and 7. 464, “furit intus aquai Fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis.”
[420] Obscura nocte, note on v. 360. The night seems to be mentioned here both as favouring the stratagem, and as rendering the rout more complete.
[421] Insidiis, not to be taken strictly, by ambush, but by the stratagem described v. 387 foll. ‘Totaque agitavimus urbe,’ v. 399.
[422] Primi, seemingly implying that Ajax and the Greeks with him had not detected the fraud, their one feeling being revenge for the rescue of Cassandra. Ribbeck, following an indication in Pal., where there is a gap after the first three letters of ‘primi,’ reads ‘Priami,’ supposing the sense to be that the Greeks discover that the arms of Aeneas and his friends are really not Greek, but Trojan. But the Trojans are not commonly spoken of as Priam's men; and it is a considerable step even from this to speak of the assumed arms as Priam's arms. ‘Mentita,’ to be understood in its usual sense with Serv. ‘our lying, counterfeiting weapons,’ not with Heyne and others as if it were passive. The weapons were actually Greek, and so were not counterfeited, but counterfeiting.
[423] Signant = “pro signo habent,” as Jahn explains it, a person who is concerned with a thing when done being said poetically to do it, as in E. 9. 20, and elsewhere. ‘Sono discordia’ to be taken closely with ‘signant,’ the discordance being the “signum.” Wund remarks that Hom. assumes that the Greeks and Trojans spoke the same language, but Virg., following the later Greek poets, makes them differ. Forb. says that the difference must be understood to be confined to dialect, as they are always represented in the Aeneid as intelligible to each other. The probability seems to be that Virg. followed Hom. without thought, or from the necessity of the case, in other passages, and that he is here inconsistent with himself. In Aesch. Choeph. 563, Orestes says that Pylades and he will speak in a peculiar dialect; when however they appear again they talk Attic like the rest, the poet not scrupling to be inconsistent where consistency would have produced awkwardness.
[424] Ilicet (“ire licet”) is properly a verbal clause, constructed with a dative in Plaut. Capt. 3. 1. 9, “Ilicet parasiticae arti maxumam in malam crucem,” but more generally used parenthetically, as in Ter. Eun. 2. 3. 56, “ilicet, desine, iam conclamatum est,” whence it comes to be a mere adverb, as here. Serv. says it was the word of the crier in dismissing the court, and so Donat. on Ter. Phorm. 1. 4. 31; but Martius Salutaris, quoted by Charisius, calls it “interiectio graviter ingemiscentis,” as if it were = “hem.” It has also been confouded with “illico,” as by Serv. on 11. 468. Donat. says on the present passage, “ubicumque ponitur ilicet, extrema omnia occidere vel occidisse significatur,” which is so far true that in the comic writers it appears generally to have the force of “actum est.” ‘Numero,’ as we should say, by numbers, as in E. 7. 52, “aut numerum lupus.”
[425] Heyne thinks this cannot be the Homeric Peneleus, leader of the Boeotians (Il. 2. 494., 14. 490, &c.), as Pausanias (9. 5) says that he had been killed by Eurypylus, son of Telephus; but Virg. may very well have followed a different story about Peneleus, as we know him to have done about the death of Coroebus (note on v. 341). On ‘Penelei’ or ‘Peneleo,’ see v. 371, note. ‘Armipotentis,’ “Armipotens praeses belli, Tritonia virgo,” 11. 483.
[426] Unus strengthens ‘iustissimus,’ ‘the one justest,’ or ‘the very justest,’ as if he had said “iustissimus omnium Teucrorum.” So Plaut. Asin. 3. 1. 18, “Quid ais tu, quam ego unam vidi mulierem audacissimam?” Comp. 7. 536, and also 1. 15., 5. 704., 12. 143.
[428] Visum, of the decrees of the gods, 3. 2. The meaning of course is not the gods did not think him just, but that they did not deal with him as they might have been expected to deal with a just man. The expression is one of piety, as we might say ‘Heaven's ways are not as ours,’ not unmixed with reproach, the latter feeling appearing more strongly in the parallel passage in Od. 1. 234, νῦν δ᾽ ἑτέρως ἐβάλοντο θεοὶ κακὰ μητιόωντες, which will illustrate the peculiar use of ἄλλος or ἕτερος in the sense of evil or inauspicious. Sen. Ep. 98 recommends his friend on the occasion of any loss, to say constantly without complaining, “Dis aliter visum est,” or rather, as a nobler and wiser ejaculation, “Di melius.”
[430] Imitated from Il. 1. 28, μή νύ τοι οὐ χραίσμῃ σκῆπτρον καὶ στέμμα θεοῖο, which shows the unsafeness of Gossrau's inference from ‘infula,’ that Panthus was slain by a wound in the head.
[431] Flamma extrema meorum is parallel to ‘Iliaci cineres,’ as the flames of Troy were the funeral flames of Aeneas' countrymen and friends. Comp. Catull. (66). 68. 90, “Troia virum et virtutum omnium acerba cinis.” He not only addresses the ashes of Troy and of the Trojans about his own conduct towards them, but calls them solemnly to witness, the common method of attestation being by the ashes of parents or relatives, as in Prop. 3. 11. (2. 20). 15 foll, “Ossa tibi iuro per matris et ossa parentis; Si fallor, cinis heu sit mihi uterque gravis,” and in other passages collected by Cerda.
[432] Occasu, 1. 238. The subject of ‘vitavisse’ is left to be supplied from the context, as in 4. 493, &c.
[433] It is not altogether easy to fix the sense of ‘vices.’ That Serv. is right generally in explaining it of battle is clear, so that Forb. has good reason to compare “belli vices” in Stat. Theb. 10. 754, and elsewhere. ‘Vices’ however in this connexion may refer either to the casualties of war (that which happens to each in turn), or to actual encounters between two persons, the ‘give and take’ of combat. The former is evidently the prominent notion in Sil. 3. 13, Claudian 6 Cons. Honor. 282, where fortune is spoken of in the context; the latter is perhaps what is intended in Stat. l. c., where the words are “non quisquam obsistere contra, Non belli tentare vices.” On the whole, I can scarcely doubt that Thiel is right in distinguishing ‘vices’ from ‘tela,’ as hand-to-hand encounters, “comminus,” σχέδια, from missiles; comp. below, v. 726, where the expression is very parallel, “quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant Tela neque adverso glomerati ex agmine Graii,” and above v. 358, “per tela, per hostis.” ‘Nec tela, nec ullas vices’ will then = “nulla tela, nullas vices.” In any case the expression ‘vices Danaum’ is perhaps a little harsh; but there can be no doubt that the punctuation is right, as against an attempt, mentioned by Heyne, and revived by Peerlkamp, Ladewig, Haupt, and Ribbeck, to connect ‘Danaum’ with ‘manu,’ which they join with ‘ut caderem.’ Scaliger seems to have had some notion of the true reference of ‘vices,’ his words being “vices volnera significat et caedes, ut quemadmodum vel percusserat vel interfecerat idem pateretur; ubi igitur ab Argivis tantundem fiebat operis ad pugnandum, eo Aeneas sese induebat.” ‘Tela’ apparently goes with ‘Danaum,’ as well as ‘vices.’ “Si fata fuissent,” v. 54. One MS. gives ‘dedissent,’ one or two others ‘tulissent,’ which Burm. groundlessly prefers.
[434] Whether ‘ut caderem’ depends on ‘si fata fuissent,’ or on ‘meruisse,’ is hard to say, as either construction would be admissible in itself, and either would suit the passage. ‘Meruisse manu’ is aptly explained by Serv., “id est fortiter dimicasse; hi enim merentur occidi.” Gossrau comp. “mereri volnera,” Tac. Germ. 14, and a similar passage in Val. F. 1. 196, “scio me cunctis e gentibus unum Inlicitas temptare vices hiememque mereri.” ‘Manu’ = “pugnando,” as in G. 3. 32, and elsewhere. ‘Inde,’ probably of time, though it might denote place, “we are forced away from the scene of action.” The subject of ‘divellimur’ is doubtless “ego, Iphitus, et Pelias,” or as it is less regularly expressed, “Iphitus et Pelias mecum.”
[435] Iphitus and Pelias are unknown to Hom., and do not appear elsewhere in Virg., unless ‘Iphitus’ is rightly read in v. 340, note. Here, as there, the name is variously spelt, though the form ‘Epytus’ does not seem to occur. Virg. would naturally coin such names as he required to make his epic narrative circumstantial. The age of one of Aeneas' comrades, and the disabled state of the other, show how desperate the fortunes of Troy had become, and so contrast with the description vv. 339 foll. ‘Aevo gravior,’ like “annis gravis,” 2. 246.
[436] Volnere Ulixi, a wound received from Ulysses, as Gell. 9. 12 observes. So “volnere meo” 11. 792, “venantum” 12. 5, “nostro” ib. 51.
[437] Vocati is not a finite verb, but a participle, agreeing with the subject of ‘divellimur.’ The battle-cry at Priam's palace was what forced Aeneas and his comrades away from the scene where the others met their death.
[438-452] ‘At the palace the struggle was most deadly, the Greeks attempting to scale the walls, the Trojans to prevent them by throwing down fragments of masonry, as well as by defending the entrances. The new emergency bred in me new resolve.’
