[393] With ‘lenire dolentem’ Forb. comp. Cic. Att. 6. 2, “Illum saepe lenivi iratum.”
[394] Comp. 2. 775, “curas his demere dictis.” “Averte dolorem” below v. 547.
[395] Labefactus is applied to the weakening and softening effect of love again 8. 390.
[396] Revisit seems to mean little more than ‘visit.’ It does not appear that Aeneas had been to the fleet before, though he gives orders about it v. 289; but this may be Virg.'s indirect way of telling us that he had. At any rate Henry can hardly be right in explaining the word with reference to Aeneas' long neglect and absence.
[397] Tum vero implies that Aeneas' coming stimulated the crews to fresh exertions, but it does not oblige us to suppose with Henry that they had not set about the work seriously before. ‘Incumbunt’ absolutely, as in 9. 73.
[398] “Labitur uncta vadis abies” 8. 91. Ennius A. 14. fr. 2 has “Labitur uncta carina.”
[399] Many MSS., but apparently none of the best, give ‘ramos,’ which Henry prefers, considering ‘frondentis remos’ more in the style of Statius or Valerius Flaccus than of Virg. “Stringere remos” (1. 552) is however an expression of the same kind, being equivalent to “stringere ramos ut remi fiant.”
[400] ‘Infabricatus’ seems to occur nowhere else.
[401] Henry may be right in pressing the meaning of ‘cernere,’ to distinguish, as contrasted with “videre.” (See Forc., who shows that the words are sometimes discriminated, morefrequently confounded.) Henry remarks that the propriety of the following comparison is much enhanced if we suppose the Trojans to be seen from a distance, as Dido herself is represented as seeing them immediately afterwards (comp. ‘cernenti’ v. 408).
[402] The MSS. seem divided between ‘velut’ and ‘veluti,’ the reading of Med. being variously reported. Wagn. thinks Virg. does not use ‘veluti’ before a vowel. There is the same variety in the MSS. in v. 441., 6. 707. The hint of the comparison seems to be from Apoll. R. 4. 1452 foll., where the Minyans are compared to ants or flies; but Virg. goes much more into detail. A somewhat idle question about the poetical dignity of the simile has been raised by the earlier critics. Hom., as Heyne remarks, has two similes from flies, Il. 2. 469 foll., 16. 461 foll., the point of comparison in the one case being their numbers, in the other their numbers and pertinacity. Here the point is numbers, division of labour, and assiduity, much as in the simile of the bees 1. 430 foll. With the expression of this line comp. G. 1. 185.
[403] With ‘hiemis memores’ comp. Hor. 1 S. 1. 35, of the ant, “haud ignara ac non incauta futuri.”
[404] It nigrum campis agmen is from Enn. (A. fr. inc. 17), according to Serv., who says it was there applied to elephants. ‘Praedam convectant’ 7. 749. So “comportare praedas” 9. 613.
[405] The practice of ants, to move on a single track, has been noted already G. 1. 380. Ἀεὶ μίαν ἀτραπὸν πάντες βαδίζουσι, Aristot. H. A. 9. 38. ‘Grandia’ with reference to the size of the ants, it being at the same time an ordinary epithet of grain, E. 5. 36.
[406] “Obnixus latis humeris” 9. 725. Here ‘humeris’ may go either with ‘obnixae’ or with ‘trudunt.’
[407] They rally and coerce the stragglers. ‘Castigantque moras’ however need not stand for “castigant morantis,” as ‘castigo’ takes an acc. of the thing as well as of the person, as in 6. 567. As usual, the last clause of the simile gives the general effect of the whole. Comp. 6. 709. ‘Semita’ is the ‘callis angustus.’
[408-436] ‘Dido sees them and is overcome with grief. She tries again what entreaty will do, and sends her sister to Aeneas, begging that he will wait a little till she has reconciled herself to parting with him, as she hopes she shall in time reconcile herself.’
[408] Henry suggests plausibly that Virg. has imitated Soph. Phil. 276 foll., where Philoctetes uses a similar apostrophe to express his emotions at finding that the Greeks had gone away and left him in Lemnos. ‘Tunc’ was restored by Heins. from Med. and others for ‘tum;’ but see on G. 2. 317.
[410] Perhaps from Catull. 62 (64). 241 “summa prospectum ex arce petebat.” Dido's palace was in the citadel, like Priam's, 2. 760. After recovering from her prostration, she mounts the roof.
[411] Misceri clamoribus like “gemitu miseroque tumultu Miscetur” 2. 486, comp. by Wund.
[412] Apoll. R. 4. 445 addresses love similarly, when Medea is about to kill Absyrtus. Part of the line we have had already 3. 56 (note).
[413] Ire in lacrimas like “preces descendere in omnis” 5. 782, perhaps with the further notion of ‘solvi in lacrimas,’ which would be supported by Flor. 2. 4, “in sudorem ire,” quoted by Forb.
[414] Animos of a high and haughty spirit 2. 386 &c., somewhat as we talk of ‘spirits.’ Some MSS. give ‘animum.’
[415] Wund. rightly explains the sense to be “Ne, si quid inexpertum relinquat, frustra moriatur.” ‘Moritura’ in fact expresses Dido's case as considered dependently on, not independently of, the action of the verb ‘relinquat.’ ‘Frustra moritura’ means that in that case she would die when there was no occasion for dying.
