[746] Comp. 3. 58, “Delectos populi ad proceres primumque parentem Monstra deum refero,” though there the reference seems to be more formal: see note there. ‘Accersit,’ the old reading before Heins., is supported here by Med., Rom., Gud. a m. s. &c. The question is of course one to be decided on grounds far wider than can be supplied by the MSS. of a single author in a single passage. The result seems to be that ‘arcesso’ is apparently the correct form according to analogy, but that ‘accerso’ has every where such respectable support from the MSS. that it is probably to be admitted as a co-ordinate form in use in the best ages of Latinity. A mistaken spelling founded on a mistaken analogy may easily come into vogue in the purest period of a language. Which form Virg. preferred we cannot of course tell, nor is the point of any importance. Med. is inconsistent, giving ‘accerso’ here and in 6. 119, ‘arcesso’ in 10. 11, G. 4. 224.
[748] Nunc and ‘constet’ both point to previous indecision. “Quae nunc animo sententia surgat” 9. 191.
[749] Haud mora consiliis seems to mean ‘the plan does not take long to approve itself to them,’ or ‘to put in action:’ comp. v. 639 above. But it might possibly be ‘the debate is not delayed,’ i. e. it is short, or they do not debate at all. “‘Iussa,’ voluntatem, aut certe quae Iuppiter iusserat,” Serv. The first interpretation seems the right one: comp. 4. 503. In each case perhaps the choice of the word may have been regulated by the fact that the request has something of the authority of a command, embodying here the injunction of a deity, there that of a priestess.
[750] Serv. says of ‘transcribunt’ “Romani moris verbum est: transcripti enim in colonias deducebantur.” No other instance is however quoted of this use of the word, which is perhaps only adapted by Virg. from ‘adscribi,’ the regular word for entering a colony already formed.
[751] “‘Deponunt,’ quasi de navibus” Serv., rightly. “Caesar deponit legiones, equitesque a navibus egressos iubet de languore reficere,” Hirt. Bell. Alex. 1. 34. They had of course been already landed: but the word expresses with some vividness the fact of their subtraction from the ships' crews. It is perhaps hardly worth while to combine with this Heyne's explanation, “ut inutile onus.” Serv. mentions another interpretation, according to which a stop is placed at ‘volentem,’ and ‘deponunt’ taken with ‘animos’— “quae lectio et sententia Nascimbaeno castior visa est,” says Taubmann. ‘Animos’ forms an apposition like ‘corda’ above v. 729. ‘Egentis’ expresses not the absence of the thing, but the sense of its absence—a change of meaning equally observable in our word ‘want,’ as Henry remarks. Thus the expression is exactly contrasted with “laudum cupido” v. 138 above, 6. 823. With the construction Henry comp. G. 2. 28, “Nil radicis egent aliae.” One or two MSS. have ‘agentis,’ which has met with some approbation in later times.
[752] Ipsi contrasts those who go with those who stay. ‘They provide for the weaker sort, and then prepare vigorously for their own departure.’ ‘Transtra novant,’ either make new benches or repair the old. Comp. “tecta novantem” 4. 260. ‘Reponere’ of repairing, i. e. setting up again, in a new form. Forc. quotes Tac. A. 1. 63, “ruptos vetustate pontis reponeret.”
[753] Navigiis not “in navigia,” like “vina reponite mensis” 7. 134, but in the same sense as “ponere alicui,” to give a thing to a person. There was a doubt about the pointing even in Serv.'s time, some putting the stop after ‘robora,’ as Heins. has done, with the approbation of Heyne: but the old commentator rightly prefers punctuating after ‘navigiis.’ ‘Aptare’ is used elsewhere of getting a ship into order, 4. 289. As applied to oars, it refers more particularly to shaping them (comp. 1. 552), as applied to ropes, to attaching them to the vessel (comp. 3. 472).
[754] Virtus forms rather a bold apposition to ‘exigui numero;’ but there is a similar one in 11. 338, “Largus opum, et lingua melior, sed frigida bello Dextera” (comp. also by Forb.). “Vivida virtus” 11. 386. It matters little whether ‘bello’ be dative, “ad bellum,” or abl.
[755] With the passage generally comp. the description of the building of Carthage 1. 423 foll. ‘Designat aratro:’ the custom is thus explained by Serv., “Quem Cato in Originibus dicit morem fuisse. Conditores enim civitatis taurum in dextram, vaccam intrinsecus iungebant, et incincti ritu Gabino, id est, togae parte caput velati, parte succincti, tenebant stivam incurvam, ut glebae omnes intrinsecus caderent, et ita sulco ducto loca murorum designabant aratra suspendentes circa loca portarum.” The same account is given more briefly by Varro L. L. 5. 143 Müller. The passage of Cato is given by Isidorus 15. 2, 3, “Qui urbem novam condet, tauro et vacca aret, ubi araverit, murum faciat, ubi portam vult esse, aratrum sustollat et portet et portam vocet.” So when Aeneas first lands in Latium, “humili designat moenia fossa,” 7. 157.
[756] Sortitus is found in a few MSS., and was adopted by Burm. and Heyne, perhaps under a mistaken notion that its external authority was greater. The participle would clearly be out of place, as the clause ‘hoc Ilium’ &c. has nothing to do with what precedes. The meaning is, he assigns the sites for private dwellings by lot, and gives names to the different quarters of the city. With ‘sortitur domos’ comp. 3. 137, “Iura domosque dabam:” with the remainder, v. 633 above, 3. 349 foll. Wagn. explains ‘Ilium’ of the city, ‘Troiam’ of the region: but the city was called Acesta, and ‘Troia’ in Helenus' city can scarcely have been the region, which Helenus had called Chaonia (3. 334 foll.). Strabo 13, p. 608 C. comp. by Wagn. says that the rivers about Aegesta had the names of Scamander and Simois.
[757] Troianus gives the reason of Acestes' joy at seeing the old names revived.
[758] The constitution of the state proceeds pari passu with the building of the town, as in 1. 426., 3. 137. See note on the former passage. ‘Indicit forum’ is apparently explained on the analogy of “forum agere,” to hold a court, ‘indicere’ being used as in “indicere iustitium,” &c. ‘Iura dare,’ to make laws, was part of the kingly office as conceived by Virg. See on 1. 293. Lersch. § 2, “de iure condendo,” quotes from Livy, 1. 8, “Rebus divinis rite perpetratis vocataque ad concilium multitudine, quae coalescere in populi unius corpus nulla re praeterquam legibus poterat, iura dedit,” a passage exactly appropriate to the present. So 7. 246, “Hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis More daret populis.” On a comparison of the passage in Livy with two others in Virg., “Iura dabat legesque viris” 1. 507, “Secretosque pios: his dantem iura Catonem” 8. 670, it may be doubted whether ‘patribus vocatis’ here and “vocatis populis” 7, l. c. are abl. abs. or dat. In any case the sense is the same. A council, large or small, is summoned, and the laws given by the king. Gossrau remarks that this was not only the old Roman practice, but that established or revived by Augustus, who consulted the senate but was not bound by it. Wagn.'s explanation ‘establishes rules for senatorial procedure,’ teaches the senators their duties, is less likely, though it might receive some support from 1. 731, “Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur.”
[759] The temple of Venus on Mount Eryx was famous. Dionys. 1. 53 (cited by Heyne, Excursus 2) instances the alter τῆς Αἰνειάδος Ἀφροδίτης as one of the proofs that Aeneas visited Sicily, and Tac. A. 4. 43 says that the Segestans sent an embassy to Rome, begging that the temple might be restored, “nota memorantes de origine eius et laeta Tiberio,” doubtless its foundation by Aeneas. “Turrim . . . sub astra Eductam” 2. 460.
[760] Idaliae seems an ordinary epithet, as Venus is not likely to have been specially worshipped on Mount Eryx as Idalia, though Venus Erycina was worshipped at Rome, Livy 22. 10. We might have expected “matri Idaliae:” but the only variation in the MSS. is that one gives ‘Iliadae.’
[761] Anchises, as a hero, has a τέμενος bestowed on him. Comp. 3. 302 foll., where we read of a similar honour to Hector. ‘Anchiseo’ suggests the Greek way of indicating a temple by a neuter adjective, τὸ Ἀγχίσειον. ‘Ac’ was restored by Heins. for ‘et.’ ‘Late sacer’ occurs again of a grove 8. 598. Forc. seems to explain it rightly (s. v. ‘late’), “lucus amplus et totus sacer;” though it would be possible to explain ‘late’ as indicating an extraordinary and more than local sanctity, just as e. g. the words in this sense might be applied to Delphi. Pal. has ‘additus.’
[762-778] ‘After nine days of festivities they prepare to embark. Those who are left behind grieve at parting, especially the women. All is ready, and the fleet sails.’
