the three parties, of twelve each, divide so as to form two opposing ranks (diductis choris) of eighteen each in three divisions. Any explanation of their manœuvres has its difficulties: in this case, two leaders, or perhaps six, seem to be called for instead of three.

584. orbibus, the wheeling of the little companies: the whole picture is somewhat confused, just as the evolutions would be to the eye.

587. pariter, in even line.

589. parietibus cæcis, with blind walls, i. e. without doors or windows to serve as guide. — ancipitem, baffling.

591. inremeabilis error, the winding course that cannot be retraced. — indeprensus, undiscoverable.

594. delphinum similes: the play of dolphins, in its life and brilliancy, relieves the architectural stiffness of the last comparison.

595. Carpathium, the sea about Rhodes; Libycum: these names suggest "the extraordinary swiftness and agility of the dolphin tribe."

596. hunc morem cursus (gen.): some editions preserve the symmetry by reading hos cursus.

662. Troja, Trojanum: see note, v. 545.

603. hac... tenus, celebrated to this day.

607. ventos adspirat, compare voca zephyros, iv. 223.

613. in sola acta, on a lonely headland.

615. flentes, as they wept.

618. ergo, thus, prepared as they are already.— haud ignara nocendi = with thoughts of mischief.

621. cui... fuisset (subj. of charact.), as one who once had had a family, and name, and children: a woman of dignity and influence amongst the rest.

627. cum ferimur, while we are still borne on.

628. sidera emensæ, having passed through so many storms. The stars are put for the dangers of the sky, the rocks for those of the deep.

631. dare urbem: they are now a people without a city,—a violent contradiction to ancient notions.

635. infaustas puppes, those ill-omened hulks.

639. tantis prodigiis: such prodigies admit no delay. — quattuor are: erected perhaps to offer sacrifice for a prosperous voyage; perhaps by the four ships' crews, or by Cloanthus, according to his vow (v. 237).

642. sublata procul dextra, lifting high her hand.

655. ambiguæ, etc., gazed at the ships, doubtful between their unhappy clinging to the earth at hand, and the kingdoms which summoned them by the fates.

658. secuit, cut her path through the air, as a ship through the water: the rainbow is her wake.

=

663. pictas abiete puppes =ships of painted fir. Homer describes ships by the epithet "scarlet-prowed." Figures of gods, &c., were also painted on the stern.

666. in nimbo, in the cloud of smoke.

669. castra, the encampment (of huts, &c.) near the ships. 671. cives, reminding them of their allegiance and their hopes. 677. sicubi ... saxa, i. e. whatever hollow rocks (if anywhere) may chance to be thereabout.

683. est vapor, the heat consumes slowly (lentus). — toto pestis, the destruction sinks into the entire frame.

687. exosu's=exosus es.

688. pietas antiqua, thy ancient regard.

...

691. quod superest, whatever is left: either rescue what little remains (res tenues), or destroy it all suddenly.

695. ardua, campi, the high places and the plains.

696. turbidus, murky.

697. super, from above.

semiusta, three syllables.

704. Nautes, said to have been the priest of Pallas in Troy, and preserver of the Palladium, which passed to his descendants, the Nautii, at Rome.

706. responsa dabat: the subject of dabat may be considered. to be Pallas, who instructed Nautes both as to the events which are brought about by favor or anger of the gods, and those fixed by unalterable fate.

713. superant, remain over, on account of the loss of the ships, after the serviceable ones are filled. quos pertæsum est, who are quite wearied out with the enterprise and its vicissitudes.

717. habeant sine, permit them to retain.

718. Acestam (see note, v. 38): here Virgil follows the tradition. Cicero (Verr. v. 33) says: "Segesta is a very old town in Sicily, which is shown to have been founded by Æneas when he fied from Troy, and came into these parts. The people of Segesta, accordingly, consider themselves to be bound to the Roman people, not only by constant alliance and friendship, but also by ties of blood (cognatione)." — permisso nomine by your permission, which is thus courteously asked.

=

719. incensus, glowing (with gratitude) at this proposal.

720. diducitur, is perplexed, lit., drawn both ways, fearing to disobey the divine voice which guides him to Italy, yet desirous to embrace so generous an offer.

721. et—and while he ponders thus. — subvecta, borne up from beneath.

722. visa facies (compare iv. 353, a divine vision taking the appearance of Anchises, whose shade does not appear to have been aware of these events (vi. 687). — delapsa, gliding down (from heaven, not from the world below).

727. tandem, in your extremity.

730. gens dura, compare ix. 603-613.

732. Averna, used generally of the realms below (vii. 91). 736. multo sanguine, see vi. 243.

738. jamque vale:

"But soft! methinks I scent the morning air:
Brief let me be.

...

Fare thee well at once:

The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,

And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire."— Hamlet.

743. cinerem, the embers of his own hearth: the sacrifice of wheat and incense (acerra) is made to the household deities.

750. transcribunt, they register for the new city: the regular word for registering colonists is adscribo.

755. aratro, see note, i. 425.

756. Ilium, Trojam: these names appear to be given to different quarters of the city.

758. patribus . .

vocatis, gives laws to the assembled Senate. Augustus restored the practice of the old kings of Rome, who consulted the senate, but did not hold themselves bound by its decretum.

761. late sacer, widely held in reverence.

763. straverunt, see note, E. ii. 26.

766. morantur, they prolong the night and day.

767. ipsi, see v. 716.

773. solvi funem, the hawser to be cast loose.

775. prora: the offering was usually made from the ship's stern;

here, however, they are looking to the forward voyage.

784. infracta, still unsubdued.

785. exedisse: for the expression, compare Il. iv. 35. 786. traxe (=traxisse), to have dragged.

787. reliquias, etc., observe the emphasis: the relics, the very ashes and bones of murdered Troy.

794. subegit linquere, compelled him to leave behind.

796. quod superest, what remains of the expedition, liceat tibi, may it be allowed you to give them safe passage.

801. merui, I have deserved this confidence.

803. Xanthum, Simoënta, see Il. xx. 291, 325. The rescue of Æneas from Achilles took place before the struggle with the waters, but doubtless close upon their banks. Compare the whole description with the splendid narrative in Homer.

810. cum cuperem, though I could have wished: alluding to the treachery of Laomedon.

814. unus, i. e. Palinurus, see v. 859.

819. tonanti, perhaps a general epithet of a chariot-wheel; or it may refer to the roaring of the waters below.

821. vasto æthere, i. e. the sky is made empty of clouds.

822. cetē, a Greek plural (kýτŋ), used for monsters of the deep in general (cetaceous).

823. chorus, band of sea-deities. -Glauci; Glaucus, said to be completely overgrown with "shellfish, seaweed, and stones," so that he is used by Plato (Rep. x. p. 611) as the image of a soul incrusted with sin. -Inous Palæmon: of the transformation of Melicerta, with his mother Ino, into a sea-deity, see Ovid, Met. iv. 426–542. 827. blanda gaudia, flattering delights.

829. brachia, sail yards.

830. fecere pedem, made fast the sheet.

832. cornua, spars. sua flamina, favoring gales.

837. sub remis, every man close to his oar.

840. tristia, fatal; insonti, as it was against his will.

845. furare, steal away (like "stealing a nap ").

849. monstro, i. e. the terrible deep.

852. dabat, amittebat, tenebat: observe the force of these imperfects. Palinurus speaks without once losing his grasp of the helm, or letting his eyes wander from the stars.

856. solvit, relaxes, in contrast to tenebat, above.

859. cum gubernaclo, compare vi. 349.

865. quondam: after they were foiled by the craft of Ulysses (Od. xii. 178-200), the Sirens are said to have cast themselves into the sea and perished.

867. fluitantem, floating at random: Æneas is roused by the irregular movement and the chafing surge against the cliff.

BOOK VI.

The main action of this book, the visit to the world of Shades, is expanded from the narrative of Ulysses in the eleventh book of the Odyssey. But while Ulysses, in a region vaguely indicated as at the ends of the earth, beyond the Ocean stream, simply offers sacrifice and digs a trench about which the ghosts crowd eager to taste the victim's blood, and so hold converse with him; we have in Virgil a definite locality, and a vast underground realm of which the entrance is marked by the sulphur springs and caverns near the bay of Naples, with its well-defined regions of the tormented and the blessed, according to the more developed though philosophic and skeptic opinion of his time. Some passages have been thought to hint at the initiatory rites of certain mysteries, to which Virgil had himself been admitted; and the theory of the vision appears to include the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis (see Ovid, Met. xv. 1-487).

1. Sic fatur: these lines, in some editions, are added to Book V.—immittit habenas, i. e. sets all sail to the wind (lit. casts the reins on the neck of the steed).

2. Euboicis: the colonization from Euboea was of a later date than the time of Æneas.—Cumarum: Cuma was the oldest Greek settlement in Italy. It was situated on the coast, a few miles west of Naples, where its remains are still to be seen. In its foundation Chalcis of Euboea was united with Cyme in Asia Minor, — hence the name Cumæ: the assigned date is B.C. 1050: compare with the succeeding description that in iii. 441-460.

3. obvertunt proras, the vessels were brought up to land stern on, so as to set sail again more easily.

8. rapit, scour for fuel or game.

9. arces, i. e. the temple of Apollo is on a hill, its secret shrine (adytum) being the cave of the Sibyl.

10. horrendæ, an object of awe as inspired by Apollo. -procul, at a distance from the landing-place.

E. iv. 4.

Sibyllæ, see note,

12. Delius, i. e. the inspiration is the same as at Delos.

13. Triviæ, an epithet of Diana in her three-fold form (iv. 609). 14. Dædalus: of his escape by flight, see Ovid, Met. viii. 183-259. Minoia regna, not merely Crete, but all the Grecian waters of which Minos had sovereign rule, says Thucydides.