[461] Aeneas stops the combat, as Achilles stops the wrestling match Il. 23. 734 foll., and the Greeks stop the passage of arms ib. 822.
[463] Fessum, spent with or (in colloquial English) sick of fighting, 12. 593.
[464] Mulcens dictis 1. 197. Virg. probably thought of Il. 23. 682, θαρσύνων ἔπεσιν, though that is said of Diomed encouraging Euryalus before the fight.
[465] Aeneas' address, as Heyne remarks, is modelled on Poseidon's to Aeneas himself, after he had rescued him from Achilles, Il. 20. 332 foll. “Infelix, quae te dementia cepit?” E. 6. 47. τίς σ᾽ ὧδε θεῶν ἀτέοντα κελεύει κ.τ.λ. Il. l. c.
[466] Viris alias has been variously understood, most taking it of Entellus' power, which has been changed, either simply increased, or superseded by divine power, while Peerlkamp understands it of Dares', which has been diminished. The former is supported by an imitation in Val. Fl. 4. 125, “Iam iam aliae vires maioraque sanguine nostro Vincunt fata Iovis,” where the meaning evidently is strength of a different grade from Amycus'. But for this authority, I should prefer taking the words more generally, making ‘alias viris’ the human equivalent to ‘conversa numina,’—“do you not see that the balance of strength is altered and the powers of heaven have changed sides?” This would certainly answer to the parallel passage in Il. 20. 334, ὃς σεῦ ἅμα κρείσσων καὶ φίλτερος ἀθανάτοισιν. The objection to understanding it of a new, i. e. divine power brought on the scene seems to lie in ‘conversaque numina,’ as it would be awkward to say that the gods generally turned against Dares when a god helped his antagonist. Virg. evidently thought also of Il. 8. 140, ἦ οὐ γινώσκεις, ὅ τοι ἐκ Διὸς οὐχ᾽ ἕπετ᾽ ἀλκή; though the verbal resemblance is not close enough to enable us to fix his precise meaning. Lucan, 7. 648, seems to have had Virg. in his mind, “Iam Magnus transisse deos Romanaque fata senserat infelix.”
[467] Deo is, I think, to be understood generally of the will of heaven, as in 1. 199., 4. 651, not specially of Eryx helping Entellus or manifesting himself in him. It is not clear whether ‘voce’ means by the words just uttered, or by a command given after the address to Dares. The ‘que’ is perhaps rather in favour of the former, “he spoke, and the contest ceased at once.”
[468]
The best comment on this and the
lines that follow is to be found in the
passage which Virg. has copied, Il. 23.
695 foll.:
“φίλοι δ᾽ ἀμφέσταν ἑταῖροι,
οἵ μιν ἄγον δἰ ἁγῶνος ἐφελκομένοισι πόδεσσιν,
αἷμα παχὺ πτύοντα, κάρη βάλλονθ᾽ ἑτέρωσε,
κὰδ δ᾽ ἀλλοφρονέοντα μετὰ σφίσιν εἷσαν
ἄγοντες.
αὐτοὶ δ᾽ οἰχόμενοι κόμισαν δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον.
”
[470] Eiectantem (Pal., Gud. first reading, &c.) was restored by Heins. for ‘reiectantem’ (Gud. second reading, &c), which the metre would hardly admit. Med. has ‘oreiectantem,’ Rom. ‘oreiactantem,’ which shows how the error may have arisen. ‘Mixtoque’ was the original reading of Med., ‘s’ being inserted above. Wakef. prefers ‘mixto:’ Wagn. thinks it inappropriate. It seems clear that either would do, the meaning being ‘blood and teeth together.’ So Virg. might have said ‘mixtos (or ‘mixto’) sanguine dentes:’ but he has chosen to speak of the teeth as mingled with the blood in which they float.
[471] Vocati can hardly be pressed with Serv., as if it meant that they were too humbled or too busy to come without a summons. Homer's competitors indeed require no invitation, but take the prize the instant the game is over: but Virg.'s sports are conducted with more ceremony (see above vv. 244 foll.), as he doubtless had the Roman routine in his eye.
[472] “‘Palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt:’ exprimit quanto cum dolore haec facerent,” Donatus. ‘Palma’ is probably to be understood literally, as Taubm. remarks, of a palm branch, not metaphorically of the victory: comp. v. 111 above.
[473-484] ‘To show what might have been the issue of the contest, Entellus crushes the skull of the bullock which he received as his prize at a single blow.’
[473] Superans animis, as we might say, in the excess of his spirits. Comp. 8. 208, “totidem forma superante iuvencas.”
[474] Cognoscite E. 6. 25 note.
[475] Iuvenali was restored by Heins., after Pierius, for ‘iuvenili.’ We have had the same variety in 2. 518, where see note.
[476] The line may be restored into “a qua morte revocaveritis et servetis.” “Revocare a morte ad vitam” occurs Cic. post Red. in Sen. 9. Comp. “Paeoniis revocatum herbis et amore Dianae” 7. 769, “socios a morte reduxi” 4. 375. ‘Servetis’ because the preservation continues.
[477] Comp. v. 414.
[478] Pugnae, gen. with ‘donum,’ v. 365. It would be possible to take it as dat. with ‘adstabat:’ but the expression would be rather forced. ‘Reducta,’ swung back over the head. So “securi reducta” 12. 307.
[479] Libravit seems to be a confusion between the action before the blow (“diu librans iacit” 10. 480) and the blow itself, though it may be said that the swinging motion would be perceptible in the blow. This feat of killing a bull at a blow was performed by Caesar Borgia, Ranke's Popes, Book i. c. 2, § 1, referred to by Henry.
[480] Arduus, rising to the stroke Comp. v. 443 note. Rom. omits ‘in,’ an omission approved by one or two earlier critics, and adopted by Ladewig after Fleckeisen in Jahn's Jahrb. 61, p. 32. Comp. v. 167, where the omission of ‘et’ after ‘revocabat’ rests on the same authority, is approved by nearly the same critics, and must be vindicated on the same grounds, as likely to have been altered by those who did not understand the metrical licence. Here however, putting aside the question of accidental omission, which probably after all may be the true account, there is the counter probability that ‘in’ may have been left out by some one who did not understand the construction ‘inlisit caestus in ossa.’ For other instances of ‘inlidere in’ see Forc. ‘Effracto cerebro’ breaking into the skull and scattering the brains. Those who omit ‘in’ I suppose take ‘cerebro’ as dative, ‘dashed the bones upon the brain.’
[481] I extract from the Variorum editors two comments that have been made on the metrical effect of this well-known verse. “Est autem hic pessimus versus in monosyllaba desinens.” Serv. “Incomparabilis hic versus est: quem Servius incogitantissime (modo Servii est id scholion) pessimum vocat, quod terminetur monosyllabo. Utrum enim malis? huncne, an ‘Sternitur exanimisque tremens bos corruit ictu?’ Ita A. 1. [105], ‘Dat latus: insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.’ Potuisset sic: ‘Dat latus: insequitur tumidis mons incitus undis.’ Verum ut corruit taurus, ut confluxit in unum montem mare, ita corruit versus in monosyllabum, copia multarum syllabarum in unam syllabam coacta, sicut et in illo A. 2. [250], ‘ruit oceano nox.’ Item A. 6. [346], ‘En haec promissa fides est?’ Nihil enim aptius indignationi quam oratio desinens in monosyllabum. Vel evolve Demosthenis orationes. Horatius quoque, cum e magnis coeptis futile poema exiturum stomacharetur, ex prolixis vocibus eduxit monosyllabum, ‘Parturiunt montes: nascetur ridiculus mus,’ &c. Videatur Scalig. 4. 48 et I. Douza praeciden. in Tibull. c. 9. Item Erythraeus et Corn. Valerius, Lipsii doctor.” Taubm. The line seems to be imitated from Apoll. R. 1.427, where Heracles knocks down an ox: ἦτοι ὁ μὲν ῥοπάλῳ μέσσον κάρη ἀμφὶ μέτωπα πλῆξεν: ὁ δ᾽ ἀθρόος αὖθι πεσὼν ἐνερείσατο γαίῃ. Wagn. ed. 3. connects ‘exanimis’ with ‘procumbit,’ ‘tremens’ with ‘bos.’
[482] Heins. restored ‘effundit’ for ‘effudit.’
[483] Turneb. Adv. 14. 4 &c. explains ‘meliorem’ by the Greek custom of propitiating the gods when a second victim, for any reason, had to be substituted for a first, by exclaiming δευτέρων ἀμεινόνων. Whether such a custom prevailed in Rome (where substituted victims were called ‘succedaneae’ or ‘succidaneae’), is not stated: but the illustration seems plausible enough. So Turneb. explains 12. 296, “Hoc habet: haec melior magnis data victima divis.” There may also be some contempt intended to Dares in the word, the allusion being, as Germ. thinks, to the trial of the victim (see on 4. 61), which Plutarch calls τὴν ψυχὴν δοκιμάζειν. ‘The bull dies without flinching: Dares could not abide my blows.’ Serv. apparently thinks the bull is called ‘melior’ merely as compared with unbloody sacrifices. Peerlkamp conj. ‘meliore,’ comparing Ov. F. 6. 162, “Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus,” said of a young pig sacrificed for a child. If we could suppose this to have been a common expression, we might consider that Virg. alluded to it, without adopting it.
[484]
Persolvere: a sacrificial term,
8. 62. Rom. and one or two others give
‘reponit.’ Entellus hangs up his arms to
Eryx as an ‘emeritus,’ like Horace 3 Od.
26. 3 foll. to Venus, Veianius Hor. 1 Ep. 1.
4 foll. to Hercules. Trapp bestows just
praise on Dryden's rendering of Entellus'
speech. The passage is worth quoting,
expressing as it does the veteran combatant's
feelings as conceived by the veteran
poet. The chord struck is not quite the
same as that struck by Virgil, but they are
very noble lines:
“In Dares' stead I offer this:
Eryx, accept a nobler sacrifice;
Take the last gift my wither'd arms
can yield:
Thy gauntlets I resign, and here renounce
the field.
”
[485-499] ‘An archery match follows, between Hippocoon, Mnestheus, Eurytion, and Acestes, who are to shoot at a dove tied to a mast.’
