several, are unsatisfactory. The allusion in this passage is to the familiar tradition, reported by Livy (I. 8), according to which Romulus peopled his new city by establishing on the Capitoline hill a refuge for the criminals and adventurers of the surrounding districts. 343. Lupercal: a cave or grotto at the foot of the northern side of the Palatine hill, sacred to the Italian shepherd divinity Lupercus, who was identified with the Arcadian Pan. This, according to tradition, was the place in which the she-wolf had suckled Romulus and Remus. 344. Parrhasio is equivalent to Arcadio, Parrhasia being a town in Arcadia. Parrhasio- Lycaei: called Lycaean Pan's in imitation of the Arcadian custom. According to Vergil, therefore, Lupercal, the name of the grotto in the Palatine, is derived from lupus, 'wolf,' just as Lycaeus, Pan's surname, is derived from Xúkos, 'wolf.' According to this etymology, the god owed his surname to the fact that he was the protector of the flocks of the shepherds from wolves. Ovid, on the other hand, refers this surname to Mt. Lycaeus in Arcadia (Fast. II. 423-4). 345. Argileti: a district of uncertain situation in Rome. Vergil obviously interprets the name as meaning 'the death of Argus' (Argi letum). The tradition on which this etymology is founded is thus given by Servius : Euander Argum quendam suscepit hospitio. Qui cum de eius cogitaret interitu, ut ipse regnaret, Euandro hoc non sentiente, socii intellexerunt et Argum necarunt: cui Euander et sepulcrum fecit et locum sacravit, non quod ille merebatur, sed hospitalitatis causa. The name probably comes, however, from argilla, 'white clay,' and is due to the character of the soil. 346. testatur locum, i. e., in protestation of his innocence of the crime. 347. Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia. The Capitoline hill, down to the time of Servius Tullius, was called Tarpeius mons, a name which perpetuated and perhaps gave rise to the story of the tragic fate of the Roman maiden Tarpeia (Liv. I. 11). Capitolia is merely explanatory of Tarpeiam sedem. 348. aurea nunc: in allusion to the rich gilding with which the Capitol was ornamented in the poet's time: even the tiles on the roof were gilded. 350. saxum: the famous Tarpeian rock from which criminals were thrown. 351-354. A spirited passage worthy of an appreciative translation at the hands of the pupil. 352. ipsum: in visible presence. 353. saepe belongs not to concuteret alone, but to the whole sentence; translate it with vidisse. Cf. I. 148: veluti magno in populo cum saepe coörta est seditio. 357. Ianus pater: Ianus (= Dianus) is the masc. form corresponding to Diana. Janus was, therefore, originally worshiped as a sun-god, i. e., as the god of the opening and of the closing day. Being the herald of the night as well as of the day, he was represented with two faces (cf. VII. 180: Iani bifrontis imago). As the god of all beginnings, he was the god of gates, and so faced both ways. When he ceased to hold the first rank among the Latin divinities, he became a national hero, and as such was associated with Saturn, the traditional king of the golden age. 360-1. armenta videbant mugire: for a similar use of video, see passage cited in foot-note. Carinis: the Keels, a celebrated quarter in Rome between the Coelian and Esquiline hills. It contained many magnificent buildings, whence the epithet lautis. Pompey had a palace there, which afterwards became the property of Mark Antony. According to some, the name 'keels' was due to the way in which the buildings of the quarter were grouped about the temple of Tellus; according to others it was due to the peculiar conformation of the ground. 363. Note the long final syllable in subiīt. cepit: was spacious enough for. 364. aude: school thyself. te dignum finge: count thyself worthy. 365. veni non asper: scorn not, accept not ungraciously. rebus is to be construed with asper. 364-5. Heyne's comment on the sentiment of these lines is: Nihil magnificentius his versibus dici potest; Dryden's: "I am lost in the admiration of it: I contemn the world when I think of it, and myself when I translate it." 369-406. Venus begs Vulcan to forge armor for Aeneas and, through the charm of her blandishments, wins his consent. 370. mater: for she was his mother. The position of mater at the end of the verse draws attention to the reason of Venus's agitation. 371. This verse carries us back to the tumultuous preparations for war described in vv. 1-8. duro: stern, betokening danger. 372. What metrical peculiarity? Cf. v. 292. 373. dictis aspirat: breathes into her words; dictis is in the dat. For the construction, cf. passage cited in foot-note. 374. bello vastabant: were carrying on a desolating war against. 375. debita (sc. vastari): doomed, devoted to destruction. casuras arces is explanatory of Pergama debita. 377. artis opisque (skill and power): cunning workmanship. 378. incassum: because the Fates had decreed that Troy should be destroyed. Priami natis: 379. deberem plurima: was deeply indebted. motives of delicacy restrain her from referring to Paris more directly. 382. ergo: but Aeneas has now, in pursuance of his appointed destiny, reached the shores of Italy. The Rutuli, however, are endeavoring to thwart his efforts to effect a settlement in Latium, and are thereby striving to defeat the decrees of fate: therefore I come, etc. eadem i. e., I who, under the distressing experiences described in vv. 374-5, forebore to trouble you with fruitless entreaties. 383. filia Nerei: the story of Thetis's appeal to Hephaestus (Vulcan) for armor to replace that which her son Achilles had lent to Patroclus and of which Patroclus had been despoiled, is told at length in Il. XVIII. 424-67. Nerei: how many syllables? 384. Tithonia coniunx: the arms wrought by Vulcan for Memnon, son of Aurora, at the entreaty of the latter, are referred to in I. 489: nigri Memnonis arma, and in I. 751: quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis. 387. niveis lacertis : abl. of description limiting diva; in this view the expression is a translation of the Homeric epithet λeuкwλeros. lacertis may, however, be taken as an instrumental ablative; this is Conington's view. 390. labefacta (sc. calore amoris): melting. 391. olim is occasionally used by the poets, as here, in the sense of interdum, 'at times.' Cf. V. 125-6: [saxum] tumidis submersum tunditur olim fluctibus, hiberni condunt ubi sidera Cori. 391-2. tonitru. . . rupta . . . ignea rima: grammatically tonitru is to be construed as an abl. of means with rupta (rent by the thunder peal), corusco goes with lumine, and rupta belongs to ignea rima. Strictly speaking, of course, it is the cloud, and not the rift (rima), that is rent asunder, and the thunder is the effect, not the cause, of the lightning. The Aeneid is a poetical composition, not a scientific treatise. 395. quid causas petis ex alto: why go so far in search of arguments? cunctantem, v. 388, seems to give a sufficient answer to this question. ... 395. tibi (ethical dat.) . . mei: these words have a touch of tender reproachfulness. diva: my queen (Conington). 396-7. fuisset... fuisset: the repetition of this word at the end of the verse gives prominence to the condition and marks the conclusion as sure of fulfillment. 397. tum quoque indicates the time referred to by Venus in vv. 374-7. 398. nec fata vetabant: the decrees of fate are sure of fulfillment, but the time of their fulfillment is subject to change. Cf. VII. 313-15. Non dabitur regnis, esto, prohibere Latinis, 399. decem alios per annos is to be taken with stare as well as with superesse. Servius quotes certain Etruscan books of divination as authority for the statement that the fulfillment of the decrees of fate might be delayed ten years. 401-3. The passage beginning with quidquid and ending with valent illustrates 'anacoluthon.' After valent we should expect id tibi promitto; but at this point Vulcan, overcome by the blandishments of Venus, involuntarily drops the language of solemn assurance and ends with a gush of feeling. 402. electro: according to Pliny, a metal composed of three parts of gold and one of silver. 403. ignes animaeque: fires of the forge and blasts from the bellows. 370-406. The foregoing passage is imitated, from Il. XVIII. 428-67, where Thetis asks Hephaestus to forge new armor for Achilles in place of that which the latter has lent to Patroclus and which Patroclus has lost; and from II. XIV. 294-351, where Hera by her blandishments lures Zeus to slumber in order that Poseidon, taking advantage of his absence, may lead the Greeks to victory. Both passages in the Iliad seem natural because they are adequately explained by what precedes and follows the action described; whereas, in the passage before us, there is imitation merely, without adequate motive. As Heyne justly remarks, Venus's application to Vulcan for armor of divine workmanship would seem more natural and appropriate if the passage in which the splendid armor of Aeneas's rival Turnus is described (XII. 87-100) had preceded. The need of divinely wrought armor would then be more apparent. 407-53. Soon after midnight Vulcan proceeds to a cavern, beneath one of the Aeolian islands, where his giant workmen, the Cyclopes, are forging thunderbolts for Jupiter, a war-chariot for Mars, and the aegis for Pallas. At the command of the god, they at once lay aside these tasks and proceed to forge a shield for Aeneas. 407-8. ubi prima quies expulerat: the prose expression would be: ubi primum quies expulit. The pluperfect expulerat, though emphasizing the completeness of the action, is here due mainly to the exigencies of the metre. noctis abactae: the fleeting night (lit., night drawn away). Night is thought of as drawn in a chariot by the Hours (cf. passage cited in foot-note). The ab- in abactae implies that mid-heaven has already been reached and passed, and that the chariot of Night is now descending, i. e., departing from the sky. In other words, the time indicated is between midnight and daybreak. curriculo is an abl. of time. 408. cum femina primum . . . suscitat marks more exactly the time already indicated by ubi prima quies expulerat somnum. 409. tenui Minerva, added in explanation of colo, refers not to the delicate texture of the fabric wrought, but to the slender income obtainable from the household arts of spinning and weaving. On the use of Minerva to designate the arts over which the goddess presides, cf. passages cited in foot-note. 409-10. cui impositum (sc. est) cui necesse est. 410. cinerem. . . ignis: repeated from V. 743. |