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745. tantum: 'so much'; 'so early'; i.e. making the day so short in winter. 746. vel quae mora, etc.: refers to the winter nights,' lingering and retarded in their progress to the dawn.

748. Nec non et: as in l. 707.

750. Multa - multa: observe the chiastic order of the words in this line. 751. filius Aurorae: i.e. Memnon. See note on 1. 489.

752. quantus: 'of what stature'; heroes were conceived to tower above

common men.

753. Immo age: 'nay, come (these disconnected details do but irritate our curiosity), recount to us from their very beginning the wiles of the Greeks.' origine: does not refer to the beginning of the siege of Troy, but to the final stratagem which led immediately to the sack of Troy; for it is with this stratagem of the "wooden horse" that Aeneas begins his narrative in the Second Book.

755. septima aestas: = septimus annus. See introductory note to Third

Book.

BOOK II

Aeneas recounts to Dido the capture and sack of Troy.

1-249. After a brief introduction, Aeneas enters upon his narrative, which begins with the story of the wooden horse. The Greeks, now in the tenth year of the siege, disheartened by their ill success, resort to stratagem. On the night which precedes the burning of the city, they pretend to have abandoned the siege, and to have taken ship for Greece; they leave upon the plain, before the walls of Troy, an immense fabric of wood, made to resemble a horse, and of such size that it can be carried into the city only by enlarging the gate or breaking down a portion of the wall.

Within this fabric are concealed many of the Grecian chiefs, while the army, under the command of Agamemnon, instead of continuing the voyage, lies hidden beyond the island of Tenedos, a few miles from Troy.

The Trojan multitude issues from the gates, and, gathering round the strange image, hesitate whether to convey it into the city or to destroy it.

At this moment the cunning Sinon, who has purposely suffered himself to be made prisoner, is brought before King Priam, and by his artful story gains the confidence of the king, and leads him and his people to believe that the wooden horse, once placed within the citadel, will become, like the Palladium, the safeguard of Troy. The device of Sinon and the Greeks is aided by Minerva, who sends two serpents to slay the priest Laocoon for attempting to destroy the image consecrated to her. This prodigy confirms the Trojans in the purpose already formed, and by means of ropes and rollers they convey the wooden horse through the city up to the citadel.

1. Conticuere:

(all) were silent'; a completed action; tenebant: an action continuing. intenti: may be rendered adverbially, 'intently,' 'earnestly.' The beginning of this line has been found scratched upon the walls of Pompeii.

3. renovare: sc. me.

4. ut: 'how,' interrogative, as in I, 466. The indirect question depends on renovare dolorem, which here implies the notion of narrating.

5. quaeque: 'and (the things) which'; the antecedent, ea understood, is in the same construction as dolorem.

6. fando: 'while uttering'; a gerund in the ablative expressing the rela tion of time and equivalent to a present participle. This usage also occurs occasionally in prose.

7. Myrmidonum, Dolopum: join with Quis as a partitive. The Myrmidons and Dolopians were Thessalian soldiers, followers of Achilles, and, after his death, of his son Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus. They are specified here as being the most bloodthirsty enemies of Troy. Before miles sc. quis.

8. Temperet: 'could refrain.' See note on nesciat, I, 565. caelo: for de caelo.

9. Praecipitat: sc. se, as in IX, 670; XI, 617; 'is swiftly descending.' On the journey of night through the heavens, see note on l. 250. suadent: cf. IV, 81.

10. amor: sc. est tibi; if such a desire possesses you.' The infinitives cognoscere and audire depend upon amor est, which has the governing power of cupis or vis; the infinitive is thus equivalent to the genitive of the gerund. H. 608, 4, N. 2; LM. 956; A. 298, N.; G. 423, 2; (H. 533, II, N. 3). 11. supremum laborem: the final disaster.'

12. meminisse - refugit: 'though my mind shudders to recall it, and hath shrunk from it with grief.' The perfect may be used with the present, for while the mere act of shrinking is now past, the feeling of horror remains, Cf. also X, 726, 804.

14. tot-annis: 'while so many years were passing by.' The present participle denotes an action which has been going on and is still continuing. H. 533, 1; LM. 732; A. 276, a; B. 259, 4; G. 230; (H. 467, III, 2). 15. Instar: in apposition with equum, with the genitive depending upon it. It may be translated 'as large as.' divina Palladis arte: the actual builder of the horse was Epeos. See below, 1. 264.

16. intexunt: 'they construct.' abiete: an ablative of means, scanned here as a trisyllable, ab-ye-te. See note on I, 73, and cf. parietibus, l. 442.

17. Votum: sc. esse. The Greeks possibly indicated by some inscription on the image that it was a 'votive offering,' or votum, to Minerva, and was intended to secure, through her favor, a safe return to their country.

18. Huc equivalent to in equum. lateri (1. 19) explains huc, and refers

more definitely to the interior of the horse. Both terms limit includunt. Trans. as if it were written huius in latus. virum corpora: for viros.

20. milite: 'with soldiery'; used collec

tively.

21. in conspectu: 'in sight,' i.e. of Troy. 22. opum: for the genitive, see note on I, 14. 23. Nunc tantum sinus: 'at present there is only a bay'; it is no longer an opulent seaport. male fida: 'unsafe.' So male amicum, below, l. 735; male sana, IV, 8.

24. Huc: join with provecti.

25. abiisse: sc. eos as subject. Mycenas: put for the whole of Greece, as in I, 284.

26. Teucria: for Troia. luctu: the ablative of separation. See H. 462; LM. 600, 601; A. 243, a; B. 214, I, a; G. 390; (H. 414, 1). The woe occasioned by the ten years' siege is 'the long (continued) grief' referred to.

27. Dorica: for Graeca.

29. tendebat: 'encamped'; 'stretched'

(his tents). See note on I, 469.

30. locus: subject of erat understood.
31. stupet, mirantur: H. 389, 1, N.; LM.

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472; A. 205, c, I, N.; B. 254, 4; G. 211, Exc.; (H. 461, 1, N. 2). donum: the horse was at once a gift to the Trojans (see ll. 36, 44, 49) and to Minerva (see above, l. 17). exitiale: the idea is that of the narrator, not of the Trojan multitude. Minervae : an objective genitive; 'the gift (offered) to Minerva.' 32. Thymoetes: is mentioned in the Iliad, III, 146, as one of the elders of Troy. A soothsayer had predicted that a child should be born on a certain day who should cause the destruction of Troy. On that day both Paris, the son of Priam, and Munippus, the son of Thymoetes, were born. Hence Priam, supposing the prophecy had reference to Munippus, ordered both the infant and his mother, Cylla, to be put to death. Aeneas, therefore, is in doubt whether the advice of Thymoetes to carry the horse into the city is given out of resentment and treachery (dolo), or under the influence of fate (sic fata ferebant).

33. arce: see note on I, 2.

34. ferebant: 'tended' or 'directed.'

35. Capys: a Trojan chief, not mentioned by Homer, but by Virgil, I, 183, VI, 768, and elsewhere. quorum-menti: sc. erat; who entertained a better purpose.' The expression is equivalent to quibus melior sententia erat. 36. pelago: dative for in pelagus. See notes on I, 6 and 181.

37. -que there are two plans suggested as to the disposition to be made of the horse: one, to destroy it at once; the other, to penetrate the fabric and ascertain what there is in it. These two main propositions are separated by aut. The first of them, however, contains two subordinate ideas as to the method of destroying the horse: some advise casting it into the sea; and others, burning it. Hence the propriety of -que, rather than -ve, a reading sometimes adopted here.

40. Primus: Laocoön was foremost, not in giving counsel, but in making any active demonstration.

42. procul: sc. clamat. insania: sc. est ista?

43. Creditis: in vehement language the interrogative particles utrum and ne are often omitted.

44. carere dolis: cf. luctu, 1. 26. sic notus Ulixes: you should suspect that the craft of Ulysses is in some way connected with the wooden horse.

46. machina-Inspectura: Virgil has in mind the siege towers of a later period, which, being rolled up to the walls of the besieged city, enabled the assailants from the several stories and from the summit of the tower to hurl their missiles, and to pass over upon planks to the battlements of the besieged. Thus the Greeks might have intended to use the wooden horse. For the use of the future participle here, see H. 638, 3; LM. 1017, c; A. 293, b; B. 337, 4; G. 438, N; (H. 549, 3). Ventura desuper refers rather to the descent of those in the machina upon the city than to the fabric itself. 47. urbi: poetical use of the dative for in urbem.

.

48. aliquis: is occasionally employed, as here, in the sense of alius quis, 'some other.'

49. Quidquid —est: see note on I, 387. et: 'even.' dona: see note on

1. 31.

51. In latus inque — alvum : he hurled the spear with such violence that it penetrated not only the frame, but even the inner cavities of the beast. feri: as in V, 818. compagibus: is joined with curvam (= curvatam) as an ablative of means; 'curving with jointed work.'

52. illa: the spear.

53. gemitum: of the hollow sound given back by the wooden fabric. Cf. III, 555; IX, 709.

54. si fata: sc. fuissent; if the fates of the gods had so willed.' Cf. l. 433. si fuisset: if our minds had not been perverse'; referring to the infatuation of the multitude.

55. Impulerat: 'he had induced us'; put for the subjunctive, impulisset, which would not so vividly have expressed the conviction of the narrator. H. 525, 4; A. 308, b; B. 304, 3; G. 597, R. 2; (H. 476, 2).

57. Ecce a striking incident now diverts their attention from the horse. manus: see note on I. 228

59. venientibus: join with Obtulerat.

60. Hoc ipsum: 'this very purpose'; namely, that of being brought before King Priam. strueret: might execute.' The subjunctive denotes the pur

pose of Obtulerat.

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61. fideus animi: H. 452, 1; LM. 575; A. 218, c, R.; B. 204, 4; G. 374, N. 7; (H. 399, III, 1). in utrumque: 'for either issue'; for either of the alternatives expressed in the following lines. For the gender, see H. 495, 2; LM. 487; A. 189, d; B. 237, 2, a; G. 204, N. 2; (H. 441).

62. versare dolos: 'to follow out his stratagems.'

64. Circumfusa ruit: more lively than circumfunditur; the youths 'gather rapidly round.' For the number of the verbs, see note above on l. 31. omnes: from one wicked act learn (to know) all the Greeks'; from the treachery of one, understand them all.

65. ab uno

·

68. Observe the spondaic verse.

69. Heu: the first object of Sinon is to gain the pity and confidence of the Trojans by pretending to have been cruelly treated by his countrymen. 71. super: adverbially, moreover.'

72. poenas cum sanguine: 'bloody punishment.' Cf. IV, 514; X, 617. 73. conversi: sc. sunt. et: in prose would stand before compressus. In poetry the conjunctions et, nec, sed, enim, are sometimes, as here, placed after the first word of the second of the two coördinate sentences.

74. quo sanguine cretus: 'of what lineage he is sprung.' Sit is understood. 75. Quid ferat: 'what (information) he brings.' Cf. 1. 161; VIII, 119. memoret: 'that he declare.' For the omission of ut, sce H. 565, 4; LM. 780; B. 295, 8; G. 546, R. 2; (H. 499, 2). Hortari may be followed by either the infinitive or subjunctive; as here by fari and memoret. sc. sibi; 'what ground of confidence he has as a captive.'

quae - capto:

76. formidine: he lays aside his pretended fear. Since this line is inconsistent with 1. 107 below, it is believed to have been interpolated here. The line occurs in its proper connection, III, 612.

77. quodcumque fuerit: 'whatever the result shall have been'; put for erit. Quodcumque is used here substantively for quidquid.

78. me: subject of esse understood.

79. Hoc: object of fateor understood.

emphatic substitute for me. Cf. I, 48.

Sinonem: the name is here an

80. Finxit: H. 573. CLASS 1; LM. 933; A. 305, 306; B. 302; G. 595; (H. 507, I).

81. Fando: 'by heresay.' aliquod nomen: 'any mention.'

82. Palamedis Belidae: 'Palamedes, the descendant of Belus.'

83. falsa sub proditione: 'under a false charge of treason.'

84. infando indicio: 'on outrageous testimony.' Through the contrivance of Ulysses, a letter, purporting to be signed by King Priam, and a quantity of

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