[548] Ordine = “rite,” as in 5. 53.
[549] Cornua 5. 832, κεραῖαι, the extremities of the ‘antennae.’ ‘Velatarum,’ covered with sails (“vela”). “The horns of the ‘antennae,’ and indeed the whole ‘antennae,’ are necessarily, when the vessel sets sail, turned, not like the prows toward the sea, but exactly the opposite way, i.e. toward the land, such being the effect of the fair wind (i.e. of the wind blowing from the land), viz. to force or belly out the sails toward the sea, and of course cause the retaining ‘antennae’ and their horns to point exactly in the same proportion toward land.” Henry. This explanation coincides virtually with that ordinarily given, the question being merely whether Virg. uses the word ‘obvertimus’ with reference to the direction of the sail generally, or of the ‘cornua’ in particular. Henry perhaps refines too much when he sees in ‘cornua obvertimus’ the image of a beast retiring with his horns to the enemy.
[550] Above v. 398. “Graiugena” occurs Pac. Fr. inc. 12.: see on v. 359 above.
[551] Hinc of time, not of place, as the bay of Tarentum could not be seen from the Castrum Minervae. Henry. ‘Herculei:’ the ordinary legend attributed the founding of Tarentum to Taras, son of Poseidon. Heyne, in an Excursus, collects the various notices which connect the name of Hercules with Tarentum, doubting however whether they do not belong to a later time, after Tarentum had been colonized from Lacedaemon, so that he supposes Virg.'s actual authority to be some story, now lost, of the foundation of Tarentum by Hercules. He remarks that the southern coast of Italy was full of memorials of Hercules. Virg.'s ‘si vera est fama’ may be meant to point to the fact that there were other and opposing legends.
[552] The Lacinian promontory had a celebrated temple of Juno, some pillars of which are still standing, and give the spot its modern name, ‘Capo delle Colonne’ or ‘Capo di Nau.’ Serv. gives various legends accounting for the name of the promontory, two of them connecting the foundation of the temple with Hercules, who, according to one story, built it to commemorate the death of the robber Lacinus, while another represents it as built by a king Lacinius, who refused hospitality to Hercules, and signalized the affront to the stepson by a temple to the stepmother. This latter tale would give some point to ‘attollit se contra,’ the temple being supposed to rise in defiance. The temple and the goddess are identified, as in v. 275 above.
[553] For ‘Caulonis’ there appears from Serv. to have been a reading ‘Aulonis,’ which is still found under the form ‘Aulones’ in the MS. known as the first Rottendorphian. Strabo 6. p. 261 B says that the place was originally named Aulonia, afterwards Caulonia, the change being doubtless due, as Heyne suggests, to some dialectic peculiarity. Horace's “amicus Aulon” (2 Od. 6. 18), to which Serv. refers, is a different place. It is not easy to say whether ‘arces’ are rocks or towers. ‘Navifragum’ active, like “mare naufragum” Hor. 1 Od. 16. 10. The shore about Seylaceum is said not to be rocky, so that the epithet refers to the gales which blow about that part of Italy.
[554] ‘E fluctu’ rising out of the water, not constructed with ‘cernitur.’ Comp. v. 270 above, “Iam medio apparet fluctu nemorosa Zacynthos.” ‘Cernitur,’ by its smoke, Heyne thinks; but why not by its general appearance?
[555] Gemitus of the sea in 9. 709 of the earth.
[556] “The structure is not ‘fractas ad litora,’ but ‘voces ad litora:’ the voices or sounds were not broken on or against the shore, but there were at the shore broken sounds.” Henry. Serv. comp. “fractos sonitus” G. 4. 72. Med. a m. sec. and others have ‘ab litore.’
[557]
The waters at the bottom boil up
and surf and sand are mingled together.
With the former part of the line comp. 1.
125 “imis stagna refusa vadis,” with the
latter ib. 107 “furit aestus arenis” (note).
‘Exsultant’ as in 7. 464 “Exsultantque
aestu latices.” The passage seems to be
modelled on Homer's description of Charrybdis
(Od. 12. 240 foll.)—
“ἀλλ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἀναβρόξειε θαλάσσης ἁλμυρὸν
ὕδωρ,
πᾶσ᾽ ἔντοσθε φάνεσκε κυκωμένη, ἀμφὶ δὲ
πέτρη
δεινὸν ἐβεβρύχει: ὑπένερθε δὲ γαῖα φάνεσκε
ψάμμῳ κυανέῃ.
”
[558] Haec illa, ἥδε or αὕτη ἐκείνη. Med. and Pal. have ‘hic.’
[560] “‘Eripite,’ de periculis: et deest ‘nos.’” Serv. Perhaps we had better supply ‘vos;’ comp. 2. 289, “Heu fuge, nate dea, teque his, ait, eripe flammis.” Heyne remarks, “Vulgaris orationis taedium excutit poeta et in hoc, quod pronomina omittit, interdum ad nostros sensus satis duriter.” ‘Pariter’ of rowing 5. 142. ‘Insurgite remis’ 5. 189.
[561] See on v. 236. Palinurus takes the lead, as in 5. 833. ‘Rudentem’ of the sound of the prow in the water. We have just had ‘gemitus’ used of the sea; and we may remember that in 7. 15 foll. both words are applied to lions. The love of variety leads the Roman poets to to characterize by the same word sounds which to us suggest very different associations. Some MSS., not understanding ‘rudentem’ here, change it into ‘rudentis’ or ‘rudente.’
[563] ‘With oars and sails.’ “Vento petere” 2. 25. “Ventis remisque” or “velis remisque” is a regular phrase for ‘using every effort.’ “Ventis, remis in patriam omni festinatione properavi,” Cic. Fam. 12. 25. “Res . . . . omni contentione, velis, ut ita dicam, remisque fugienda,” Id. Tusc. 3. 11. These passages may lend some support to the original reading of Med., ‘ventis remisque:’ Plaut. Asin. 1. 3. 5 however has “Remigio veloque, quantum potis es, festina et fuge.”
[564] Curvato gurgite G. 4. 361 note. With the general sense comp. A. 1. 106 foll.
[565] Before Heins. the reading was ‘descendimus.’ Burm. and Heyne read ‘desidimus’ from one or two MSS.: but the perf. has a rhetorical force. ‘Ad Manis imos’ of extreme depth, like “in Tartara” G. 2. 292. See note on G. 1. 243.
[566] Cava saxa are the rocks at the bottom of the sea, opposed to ‘rorantia astra.’ Comp. generally vv. 421 foll. above, and notes there. ‘Ter’ however has no reference to the three ingurgitations of Charybdis there mentioned.
[567] They see the sky through the medium of foam, so that the metaphor is not so extravagant as would appear from Heyne's remark, “Rorantia astra, aqua in altum sublata roris instar guttatim destillante, probasse videtur saeculi Augustei genius. Nostris hominibus vix placeant!”
[569] “Curetum adlabimur oris” v. 131.
[570-587] ‘We found a safe and spacious harbour; but we were disturbed all night by the sight and sounds of Aetna, which we could not see for the darkness. Legends attribute the convulsions of the mountain to the movements of the giant Enceladus, whom Jupiter placed beneath it.’
