[454] Aeoliis oris: see on v. 416. Lemnos is the place on which the Homeric Hephaestus fell from heaven, Il. 1. 593, and to which he constantly resorted, Od. 8. 283. ‘Properat’ active G. 1. 260.
[455] Wakef. conj. ‘lecto—alba,’ and in v. 456 ‘matutinos.’ ‘Ex humili tecto suscitat’ seems to combine the two notions of rousing from his bed and prompting him to leave the house and go about his business. ‘Lux alma’ 3. 311, an epithet more in the taste of antiquity than ‘alba,’ which would simply express the physical cause of Evander's waking, while ‘alma’ suggests the thought of the effect of morning on all creation.
[456] Heyne inclines to understand ‘matutini volucrum cantus’ not of ‘the swallow twittering from the straw-built shed’ but of ‘the cock's shrill clarion,’ denying that small birds waken sleepers: but Wagn. answers him both from the experience of country people and from the Pseudo-Anacreon 12. Serv. had already given the choice between swallows and cocks. Cerda comp. Soph. El. 17, ὡς ἧμιν ἤδη λαμπρὺν ἡλίου σέλας Ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματ᾽ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ, which is slightly in favour of Wakef.'s conj.: but the reading in the text is more natural as making Evander the principal figure. The object of the lines is to show the rustic simplicity of Evander's life: he wakes as a shepherd night wake.
[457] This passage is modelled on several is Hom., e. g. Il. 2. 42 foll., 10. 21 foll., Od. 2. 1 foll. ‘Tunica inducitur artus,’ a variety for “tunicam inducit artubus.”
[458] The Tyrrheniam sandals are mentioned by Hesychius and by Pollux 7. 22 (both quoted by Cerda), the latter of whom speaks of them as wooden soles of four fingers' breadth with gilded latchets, and says Phidias represented Athene as shod with them. Serv. identifies them with the senatorial shoe. Virg. probably thought rather of simplicity and antiquity than of splendour in choosing the epithet. ‘Vincula’ of sandals 4. 518. It matters little whether we take ‘pedum’ with ‘vincula’ or with ‘plantis.’ The use of ‘planta,’ the sole, agrees with the Homeric ὑπὸ ποσσὶν ἐδήσατο πέδιλα.
[459] The Homeric heroes are said to throw their swords round their shoulders, which means that the sword-belt passed over the right shoulder, while the sword itself hung beside the left hip (Dict. A. Balteus). This explains the combination ‘lateri atque humeris’ here. Evander as an Arcadian has naturally a sword of Tegea: but the commentators have not collected any other passages speaking of Arcadian swords.
[460] The panther's hide is flung round the left shoulder. ‘Retorquens’ refers to the action of flinging and wearing it flung, like “torquens” 7. 666. ‘Tergum’ of a hide 1. 368, &c. Paris wears a leopard's skin, παρδαλέη, Il. 3. 17. Lersch § 79 thinks from the position of the hide that it is worn as a toga; but the words seem hardly express enough to support the supposition, and it might be identified with the ‘laena’ (χλαῖνα) or the ‘chlamys’ Pal. and Gud. have ‘pantherea:’ but there is no example of such an adjective.
[461] So Telemachus is accompanied by dogs Od. 2. 11. ‘Limine ab alto’ does not strictly harmonize with “humili tecto” above v. 455: but the door might be called high in itself, not as compared with other doors, so that there is no need of Markland's conj. ‘arto.’ ‘Custodes’ separated from ‘canes’ like “Delius” from “Apollo” 3. 162. ‘Custodes’ however may be meant to go closely with ‘praecedunt,’ like “comes” with “admonuit” in the similar line 6. 538 note.
[462] ‘Pracedunt’ was restored by Brunck and Heyne for ‘procedunt,’ which is the first reading of Pal. Heins. thought ‘praecedunt’ inconsistent with ‘comitantur,’ but we may reconcile them by supposing either that the dogs sometimes walk before their master, sometimes by his side, or that ‘comitantur’ is used vaguely of going along with a person. ‘Gressum herilem’ i. q. “gressum heri,” like “mensae herili” 7. 490.
[463] Secreta, the retirement, 6. 10, G. 4. 403. He was anxious for a private conference, as the context shows.
[464] Sermonum, of what he had said to Aeneas v. 170, so that it forms a sort of hendiadys with ‘promissi muneris.’ The position of ‘heros’ is significant, like that of “mater” v. 370. ‘Mindful, hero that he was, of discourse held and bounty promised.’
[465] Se matutinus agebat like “infert se saeptus nebula” 1. 439, &c. Rom. and Gud. have ‘sese,’ which is also found from a correction in Med. and Pal., apparently a proof that the knowledge of quantity had died out when those copies were written or corrected. ‘Se agebat’ was moving, 6. 337., 9. 696. So we talk of being astir. With ‘matutinus’ Cerda comp. ὑπηοῖι θωρηχθέντες Il. 8. 530, and other Homeric adjectives of time applied to persons, e. g. χθιζός, ἑσπέριος.
[466] Hic and ‘illi’ reversed, probably because though Aeneas happens to have been last mentioned, Evander has been the prominent subject of the paragraph. See on v. 358.
[467] Congressi of friendly meeting: comp. the subst. “congressus” 5. 733. ‘Iungunt dextras’ 3. 83. ‘Mediis aedibus’ 2. 512, referring here as there to the “atrium” or “cavaedium.”
[468]
Licito seems rightly referred by
Wagn. (following an alternative of Serv.) to
the securing of privacy, which is also indicated
by ‘tandem.’ Comp. the imitation in
Stat. Theb. 2. 148 foll., quoted by Cerda:
“Postquam mediis in sedibus aulae
Congressi, inque vicem dextras iunxere locumque
Quo serere arcanas aptum atque evolvere curas
Insidunt.
”
[469-509] ‘Evander tells Aeneas that though he has but few soldiers of his own, he can offer him the alliance of the Etruscans, who are eager to be led against Turnus, on account of the shelter given by him to their expelled tyrant Mezentius, but have been ordered by the Gods to put themselves under a foreign general. He adds that he will send with Aeneas his son Pallas, and a small troop of his own.’
