Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

786. traxe: for traxisse. See note on I, 201. 'through all suffering'; i.e. of the ten years' siege.

poenam per omnem:

787. Reliquias, etc.: she pursues the remnant of Troy, the (very) ashes and bones of the city she has destroyed.'

788. sciat illa: 'let her understand,' for I do not.

789. tu testis: sc. es. See I, 50 sqq.

791. nequiquam: in vain'; for Neptune had thwarted her attempt by repelling the winds of Aeolus.

[ocr errors]

793. Per scelus: is not an adverbial expression for sceleste, but a substi tute for ad, or in scelus; meaning, through all the steps of crime.' Join with actis.

794. subegit: sc. illum or Aenean. classe anger is apt to exaggerate. 796. Quod superest: 'as the only thing that remains' i.e. to be asked for. Cf. 1. 691. Others refer it to the remnant' of the fleet.

797. tibi: join with Vela dare; 'let it be lawful (for them) to commit their sails safely to you'; i.e. to your protection.

[graphic]

Fig. 48. Neptune attended by Tritons and Nereids (11. 816 sqq.)

798. ea moenia: that city which Aeneas is aiming to establish in Italy. 800. omne: omnino; it is wholly right.'

801. Unde genus ducis: she sprung from the foam of the sea. See note on Cytherea, I, 257. quoque it is not only right by the laws of nature, but also I have by my own friendly acts deserved your confidence.

:

805. impingeret agmina muris: 'dashed their battalions against the walls.'

810. Cum cuperem: though I desired.'

811. periurae: 'false,' because her king, Laomedon, had violated his promise to Neptune. See note on II, 610.

813. Portus Averni: refers especially to Cumae, which is near Lake Avernus.

814. Unus erit, etc.: Palinurus is the destined victim. See ll. 840 sqq. 815. caput: := vita.

816. laeta: proleptic.

817. auro: for aureo iugo; ablative of instrument.

820. Cf. I, 147.

821. aquis: either an ablative of place where ( = mari), or ablative of specification. fugiunt: 'disappear.' vasto aethere: from the wide heavens.' 822. cete a Greek plural, = KÝTN.

823. senior: aged'; a term often applied to marine deities.

822-826. Virgil may have had in mind a group of statuary by Scopas, which stood in the Circus Flaminius at Rome (described in Pliny's Natural History, 36, 5).

827. Hic, etc. cf. I, 502. vicissim: 'in turn'; i.e. in place of care. 830. Una pedem: they all hauled the sheet alike.' All the vessels, governed by the movements of Palinurus, took the wind alike (una, pariter), now on the one side of the ship, now on the other. Pes was the name of the rope called by us the ‘sheet,' fastened at each of the lower corners of the sails. These were alternately 'let out' and 'shortened,' according as the ship took the wind from the right or left. Facere pedem is 'to manage the

sheet.' Cf. III, 267, and note.

831, 832. They simultaneously turned the sails now to the left, now to the right. The yards themselves are necessarily turned to one side or the other when the sheets are hauled or loosened.

833, 834. densum Agmen: 'the squadron in close array.'

834. ad hunc: 'after him'; according to his movements.

835. mediam metam: her turning point or goal in the middle of the heavens; the middle of her course.'

837. Sub remis: 'near their oars.'

839. dispulit umbras: Somnus did not disperse the darkness, but passed through it, 'parting' it, as it were, in his descent.

843. ipsa = sua sponte.

844. Aequatae: 'fair'; such as make the sails aequata, with the accessory idea of 'steady.' See IV, 587.

845. labori: the dative is rare with furari. Cf. H. 427; LM. 539; A. 229; B. 188, 2, d; G. 345, r. 1; (H. 385, II, 3).

847. vix attollens: 'scarcely lifting'; i.e. hardly turning his eyes away from his steering to notice the supposed Phorbas.

853. Nusquam: occasionally, as here, for nunquam. amittebat: has the last syllable long under the ictus. sub astra: 'up toward the stars,' by

which he was steering the boat.

856. cunctanti: of him resisting.' natantia

is proleptic. lumina

solvit: the eyes of Palinurus, which had been strained and fixed steadily on

the stars, Somnus causes to yield and to sink to sleep.

857. primos: for primum.

858. Et equivalent to cum, as in III, 9.

861. Ipse: Somnus. ales as a winged creature;

:

on his wings.'

862. Currit: with the cognate accusative, iter. Cf. III, 191.

865. Difficiles quondam: 'once dangerous'; when former voyagers, such as Ulysses, passed them; but no longer so, at least, on account of the

Fig. 49. Ulysses bound to the Mast successfully passes the Sirens (11. 864, 865)

Sirens, as they had disappeared before the arrival of Aeneas in these waters; for, according to the myth, they cast themselves into the sea and perished because they were outwitted by Ulysses.

866. Tum: refers to the time when Aeneas sailed by the rocks. rauca proleptic, may be translated as an adverb. sale sonabant: they were no longer sounding with the music of the Sirens. 867. Cum: relates to iam subibat.

869. Multa gemens: see note on I, 465. animum: see note on I, 228. 871. Nudus, ignota:

to die away from one's native land was a great misfortune, but the greatest of all was to be deprived of burial. Palinurus, soon after his death, meets Aeneas in Hades, and gives him the particulars of his fate. For these, see VI, 347 sqq.

BOOK VI

Arrival of Aeneas at Cumae. His descent to Hades and interview with the shade of Anchises.

1-155. Aeneas lands at Cumae, and immediately proceeds to the temple of Apollo, on the Acropolis, to consult the Sibyl. Deiphobe, the Sibyl, who is also priestess of Hecate, informs him of his future wars and hardships, and instructs him how to prepare for his proposed descent into the lower regions. 1. Sic fatur lacrimans: these words closely connect the narrative of the Fifth and Sixth Books. tere funes, VIII, 708.

immittit habenas: 'loosens the sheets.' Cf. immit

Beneventum

Capua

• Caúdium

2. Euboicis-oris: Cumae, a city situated on the coast of Campania, a little north of Naples, was founded in very ancient times by a colony from Cyme, in Asia Minor, and from Chalcis, in Euboea. Hence the terms Euboean and Chalcidian are applied to the city of Cumae and to objects connected with it. Traces only of the ancient city remain to-day. Beneath the Acropolis, on which stood the temple of Apollo, are very many subterranean passages.

3. Obvertunt on landing, the prow of the ship was turned toward the water, and the stern toward the shore.

8. Tecta rapit, etc.: 'part quickly penetrate the thick

Atella

Cumae

L. Avernus

Puteoli

Neapolis

Bained
Misenumo

PROCHYTA

AENARIA

S. Cumanus

ola

Herculaneum

Vesuvius
Pompeii

Sarnus

Nuceria

Salernum

Stabiae

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

forests, the habitations of wild beasts, and point out the discovered streams.' densa belongs logically with silvas. Rapit, like Corripuere, I, 418, is equiva

[graphic][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

rapit, and means here 'hurries through.' Their first object is

to find fuel and food. Cf. I, 174.

9. arces for the singular, which is used in l. 17; 'the Acropolis.' altus: seems to have reference here to the lofty site of the temple, though altus Apollo, in X, 875, can mean only 'exalted Apollo.'

10. horrendaeque procul, etc.: 'and seeks at a distance the solitary abode of the awe-inspiring Sibyl.'

II. cui, etc.: in whom the Delian prophet breathes mighty intelligence and inspiration.'

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

tradition, Daedalus was an Athenian, and the pioneer of Athenian art, but he is sometimes called Cretan, on account of his residence in Crete under King Minos, for whom he built the celebrated Labyrinth. Having offended Minos by aiding Pasiphaë in the commission of an unnatural crime, he was imprisoned with his son Icarus in the Labyrinth. He effected their escape by contriving artificial wings of wax and other materials. Icarus flew too near the sun, so that the heat melted his wings, and he fell into that part of the Mediterranean called, after him, the Icarian Sea. Daedalus, flying toward the north (ad Arctos), according to one tradition, landed safely in Sicily; according to another, which Virgil adopts, he first alighted on the Acropolis of Cumae. 15. pennis: ablative of the instrument.

Fig. 52. Hecate (1. 13)

17. Chalcidica: see note on 1. 2.

18. Redditus: 'returning'; reaching the earth again first at this point. Redux, reddere, and kindred words are used of objects coming back from the air or water to the land, at whatever point the land is reached again. Cf. I, 390. sacravit: 'devoted.' He suspended the oarage of his wings' in the temple of Apollo as a thank offering for his preservation.

20. On the folds or valves (foribus) of the door, Daedalus had represented in raised work, or bas-reliefs of gold, some of the most striking events in the history of Theseus. Each of the two folds of the door was divided into

« PredošláPokračovať »