Wund. seems substantially right in saying that ‘at’ contrasts the restlessness of Dido with the rest of Aeneas and the others. The same opposition is drawn out more sharply below vv. 522 foll. ‘Cura’ of love, as in 6. 444 &c.
[2] Henry insists that ‘volnus’ is the wound and ‘igni’ the fire, referring to the mention of Dido's passion towards the end of Book 1: but this seems refining. The wound is said to be nourished, as it is kept alive and unhealed. So below, “vivit sub pectore volnus” v. 67, “alitur vitium vivitque tegendo” G. 3. 454. So in Greek a person is said βόσκειν a disease which exhausts the vital powers, Aesch. Supp. 620, Soph. Phil. 312, 1167. ‘Venis’ is doubtless an instrumental abl., as Heyne explains it—‘nourishes it by her veins,’ allows it to suck her blood. So Heracles says of his poisoned tunic, Soph. Trach. 1055, πνεύμονός τ᾽ ἀρτηρίας Ῥοφεῖ συνοικοῦν, ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου Πέπωκεν ἤδη. We may either suppose Virg. to have changed his metaphor in ‘igni,’ or with Heyne imagine a reference to the fiery arrows of Love, as Apollonius says of Medea (3. 286), “βέλος δ᾽ ἐνεδαίετο κούρῃ Νέρθεν ὑπὸ κραδίῃ, φλογὶ εἴκελον”.
[3] Multa and ‘multus’ seem rightly understood by Heyne and Jahn as qualifying ‘recursat,’ so that they nearly = “saepe.” ‘Recursat’ 1. 662.
[4] Gentis honos may be either the glory of Aeneas' ancestry, or that of his nation, opposed in either case to his personal merits. The former is perhaps more like Dido's feeling, though the latter enters into Anna's thoughts below, 8. 48. ‘Haerent’ &c.: the same thought is dwelt on more at length by
“προπρὸ δ᾽ ἂρ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔτι οἱ ἰνδάλλετο πάντα,
αὐτός θ᾽ οἷος ἔην, οἵοισί τε φάρεσιν ἕστο,
οἷά τ᾽ ἔειφ᾽, ὥς θ᾽ ἕζετ᾽ ἐπὶ θρόνου, ὥς τε θύραζε
ἤιεν. οὐδέ τιν᾽ ἄλλον ὀίσσατο πορφύρουσα
ἔμμεναι ἀνέρα τοῖον: ἐν οὔασι δ᾽ αἰὲν ὀρώρει
αὐδή τε μῦθοί τε μελίφρονες οὓς ἀγόρευσεν.
”
[5] Dat: love is said not to give what it does not allow a person to receive. The words partially recur 10. 217.
[6] Here and in the similar passages v. 607 below, 7. 148, ‘lustro’ seems to mean to traverse or survey, as there appears no authority for giving it the sense of “illustro.” So Lucr. 5.693 “Sol . . . . obliquo terras et caelum lumine lustrans;” ib. 1436, “mundi magnum versatile templum Sol et luna suo lustrantes lumine circum;” while ib. 79 the sun and moon are said “cursus lustrare perennis.” ‘Aurora’ is virtually equivalent to the rising sun, so that we need not ask why the goddess of the dawn has the torch of the god of day in her hand.
[7] 3. 589.
[8] It is not easy to choose between ‘unanimem,’ the first reading of Med., found also in two of Ribbeck's cursives, and ‘unanimam.’ The same question recurs in other parts of Virg. about this and other compounds of “animus.” Wagn. thinks Virg. was decided in each case by euphony. Virg. has followed Apollonius in making Dido's confidante her sister: Naevius however, as we learn from Serv., had already spoken of Anna as Dido's sister.
[9-30] ‘She spoke of her disturbed rest, and of the hold which the stranger had taken on her imagination, owned that if she could think of a second marriage, it would be with him, but vowed that she would remain faithful to the memory of her first lord, and ended by bursting into tears.’
[9] Nothing has been said of dreams, but Virg. doubtless intended, more suo, that his readers should supply the narrative in vv. 3 foll. from Dido's words here. Henry plausibly suggests that the visions may have represented her angry husband, threatening her if she should entertain the thought of another love, as Aeneas is haunted by visions of his father vv. 351 foll. Another reading ‘terret’ is mentioned by Serv., ‘insomnia’ being understood as “vigilia.” Virg. translates Apoll. 3. 636, “δειλὴ ἐγών, οἷόν με βαρεῖς ἐφόβησαν ὄνειροι”, and perhaps also, as Burm. suggests, Eur. Hec. 69, τί ποτ᾽ αἴρομαι ἔννυχος οὕτω Δείμασι, φάσμασι, where αἴρομαι answers to ‘suspensam.’ Virg. thought of Catull. 62 (64). 176, “in nostris requiesset sedibus hospes,” as Ursinus observes.
[10] Successit as in 1. 627.
[11] Quem sese ore ferens like “talem se laeta ferebat” 1. 503. ‘Quam forti pectore et armis’ is not to be constructed with ‘ferens’ but with ‘hospes,’ being a qualifying ablative. ‘Fortis’ is read by a few MSS. and adopted by Wakef., while several critics conj. ‘quem’ for ‘quam.’ ‘Armis’ is generally taken from ‘arma’ (‘fortibus armis’ occurs in this sense 10. 735); but Forb., after Valesius, seems right in explaining it of the shoulders (comp. 11. 644, where “armos” is used of a man, and see on 11. 640). Dido speaks first of Aeneas' personal appearance, afterwards, v. 13, of his prowess. So we have seen that Aeneas appears “Os humerosque Deo similis” 1. 589. Comp. also the appearance of Agamemnon Il. 2. 478, ὄμματα καὶ κεφαλὴν ἴκελος Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ, Ἄρεϊ δὲ ζώνην, στέρνον δὲ Ποσειδάωνι. The meaning then will be that Dido can well believe from Aeneas' mien and stature that his mother was a goddess. With ‘forti’ thus used comp. “forte latus” Hor. 1 Ep. 7. 26. Since the above was written (1859), I have been pleased to observe a confirmation of this view in a passage in Mr. Tennyson's Idylls of the King, where Enid, looking at her husband as he lies asleep, breaks out into the exclamation ‘O noble breast and allpuissant arms!’ a coincidence which will, I trust, show that similar language may be attributed to Dido without involving any imputation of coarseness.
[12] Nec vana fides, nor is my belief unfounded. ‘Genus’=“proles,” as in 6. 793. ‘Genus deorum:’ see on 6. 322.
[13] Degener is used not only of those who degenerate from illustrious ancestry, but of those whose ancestry is mean or disgraceful (Wagn. comp. Val. Fl. 6. 86), and such is probably its sense here, though we might preserve the ordinary meaning by supposing Dido to say, ‘His appearance proves him to be of godlike origin, nor is he unworthy of it, as his dauntless spirit shows.’
[14] Iactatus of Aeneas' sufferings 1. 3., 6. 693. Ribbeck removes the stop after ‘fatis,’ so as to avoid taking ‘iactatus’ as a finite verb. “Exhausta pericula” 10. 57, like the Greek ἀντλεῖν. ‘Canebat’ of measured utterance (comp. 3. 438). Virg. may have been identifying the narrative of Aeneas with his own heroics.
[16] “Vincla iugalia” below v. 59. This line is in fact the subject of ‘sederet.’
[17] ‘Since my first passion played me false, and allowed death to cheat me.’ Three MSS. give ‘decepta morte,’ which Heins. rather prefers. The expression might perhaps be just admissible on the principle which in Greek sometimes turns a cognate accusative into the subject of a passive verb or participle (see my note on Aesch. Cho. 843); but it would be extremely harsh.
[19] Potui expresses that the thing had all but actually taken place: see on G. 2. 133, and comp. v. 603 of this book.
[21] Comp. 1. 348 foll. ‘Fraterna caede’ is explained by Forb. not ‘the blood shed by my brother,’ but ‘a brother's blood,’ referring to Sychaeus as Pygmalion's brother-in-law. It is difficult to decide, but the other interpretation seems the simpler. Com. “Pyrrhi de caede” 2. 526.
[22] Terentianus Maurus, p. 1657, reads ‘solus hicc',’ supposing ‘hicce’ to be necessary, and imagining that the first foot might be a cretic. For similar fancies, critical and metrical, see on 2. 664, E. 8. 78. ‘Inflexit sensus’ like “animum flexere hymenaei” G. 4. 516 note. ‘Labantem’ is rightly taken by Wagn. and Forb. with ‘inpulit,’ “inpulit ut labaret.” That her spirit was not already tottering before Aeneas gave the impulse is evident from the context.
[23] Comp. 1. 721.
[24] A translation of the Homeric τότε μοὶ χάνοι εὐρεῖα χθών, which may perhaps show that ‘ima’ qualifies ‘dehiscat.’ ‘May earth yawn to its foundations.’
[25] Adigat 6. 594.
[26] Erebo is supported by Rom., fragm. Vat., and Gud., adopted by Ribbeck, and defended by Jahu and Wund. Wagn. thinks that it could not well stand either as the abl. for “in Erebo,” or as the dat., “adigat Erebo.” The former however might be maintained from 7. 140, “duplices caeloque Ereboque parentes,” which seems sufficiently parallel. But the genitive is more natural. Serv. acknowledges both. ‘Noctem profundam’ (6. 462) seems rightly understood by Thiel as ‘the night of the depth’ (i. e. of the lower world), not ‘the depth of night.’
[27] This pleonastic use of ‘ante’ after ‘prius’ is probably an imitation of Homer's πρὶν—πρὶν ἤ. It is found however elsewhere in the Latin poets, e. g. Prop. 2. 25. 25, “Aut prius infecto deposcit praemia cursu, Septuma quam metam triverit ante rota.” Markland ingeniously but needlessly conj. ‘Sancte Pudor.’ ‘Violo’ and ‘resolvo’ are supported by the older MSS. (all Ribbeck's except one cursive, the Cod. Minoraugiensis), ‘violem’ and ‘resolvam’ by the later. The grammatical question is a difficult one: perhaps however we may say that the subj. would naturally mean that the judgment of heaven is to interpose to prevent her breaking the law (comp. Hor. 3 Od. 27. 53, “Antequam turpis macies decentis Occupet malas . . . speciosa quaero Pascere tigris”), intimating consequently, what Dido would not wish to intimate, that she is in danger of breaking it. Madv. § 360 obs. 3 cites another passage to show that the present indicative is put with “antequam” and “priusquam,” even to express a thing that one wishes to avoid, that is not to happen, “Dabo operam ut istuc veniam antequam ex animo tuo effluo” (Cic. Fam. 7. 14). There however “effluam” would be the natural word, so that the account of “effluo” seems to be that the writer playfully supposes that the thing he desires to prevent has already begun to take place. ‘Iura resolvo’ 2. 157.
[29] Abstulit, has carried them with him to the grave. Forb. comp. Lucan 1. 112, “taedas Abstulit ad Manis Parcarum Iulia saeva Intercepta manu.” We may comp. also Soph. Oed. R. 971, τὰ δ᾽ οὖν παρόντα συλλαβὼν θεσπίσματα Κεῖται παρ᾽ Ἅιδῃ Πόλυβος ἄξἰ οὐδενός. The thought is the same as in Moore's well-known line “Her heart in his grave is lying.”
[30] Sinum, Dido's own, not, as some have thought, her sister's. Both views may be supported by parallel instances; but the absence of any mention of Anna in the line is decisive. Δεῦε δὲ κόλπους Ἄλληκτον δακρύοισι is said of Medea by Apoll. 3. 804. Her tears, as Henry remarks, show that her passion is strong in spite of her oath.
[31-53] ‘Anna replied, talking of the evils of the unmarried state, urging that she might refuse others yet accept Aeneas, dwelling on the political advantages of the alliance, and finally suggesting that Aeneas should be asked to stay for the present at all events.’
