(premit) with the spear; the repetition of iam pictures the scene, so makes the impression more lively.

533. in media morte tenetur, is held in the jaws of death. 534. voci iraeque, angry words (hendiadys).

and

535. at, i.e. though you now triumph. The word is often thus in entreaties introducing a suggestion as opposed to some thought of the speaker which is itself unexpressed.—ausis, passive, like the participles of deponent verbs (§ 135, 6; H. 231, 2).

536. pietas = regard for piety, justice; properly, only used of dutiful regard towards some one, but transferred sometimes to the other party in the same relation: cf. iv. 382.- curet, see § 320, a.

537. persolvant, return. Literally, pay as a debt.—grates... praemia, just thanks and due recompense.

538. cernere, see § 273, c.

foedasti voltus, hast

539. fecisti, for mood see § 319, head note. defiled a father's sight (not, literally, "stained his face "), i.e. made him religiously impure by making him see the deed.

540. mentiris, you falsely call, i.e. his deed "belies" his lineage. — quo (§ 244, a; G. 395; H. 415, ii.).

541. in hoste, "in the case of," hence equal to "towards." - fidem, the faith due to a suppliant.

542. erubuit, respected, i.e. blushed to disregard (§ 237, b; G. 329, R.; II. 371, iii.). See the narrative in Il. xxiv. 468–676; Bry. 600. — sepulchro, for burial (§ 235; H. 384, 4).

545. rauco, ringing.

547. referes, a kind of imperative (§ 269, f; G. 265, 1; H. 470, 1). We should expect ibis to come first, but, as often, the general word comes first and the particular follows to explain it.

549. degenerem, alluding to the taunt in v. 540. — memento, forget not.

550. trementem, from feebleness of age.

553. capulo (§ 260, e; G. 414, R.'; H. 434, N.4).

554. Priami fatorum: the phrase "fates of Priam" seems to have passed into a sort of proverb, so that there is an emphasis in the expression here, which is weakened by punctuating (with Ribbeck) after Priami.

555. sorte = by fate; strictly, the lot of an individual. — videntem, in sight of.

556. tot populis, over so many tribes (dative of reference).

557. ingens truncus: so Homer represents Priam and Hector as “tall.” — iacet litore: as if the body were still lying there. Virgil seems to be thinking of the fate of Pompey.

558. sine nomine, i.e. unrecognizable.

560. imago, the vision, i.e. not a real phantom, but only the thought in imagination.

562. Creusa, daughter of Priam and wife of Æneas.

563. direpta, casus, i.e. the probable plunder of the house, and death of the child.

564. copia: usually only in the plural.

...

565. corpora . . dedere, i.e. leaped in desperation from the walls, or back into the flames.

567-588. These lines are wanting in most MSS., but they are generally accepted and have no mark of doubt in Ribbeck. The momentary impulse to kill a woman whose treachery was as famous as her charms would be held no shame in the heroic age, though some editors think otherwise.

567. iamque, etc., and just at this moment I alone was left; super › . eram, as in Ecl. vi. 6.

...

568. servantem, keeping close to, so as not to be out of the reach of sanctuary.

569. dant, etc., explains why he happened to see her.

570. erranti (sc. mihi): Æneas is still amidst the sack and confusion of the citadel, and does not go down into the streets before v. 632. 571. eversa (§ 292, a; H. 549, N.2).

572. coniugis: Menelaus hesitated at first whether to kill Helen with his own hand; but the old fascination prevailed, and in the Odyssey she appears in full honor as his queen.

573. praemetuens, i.e. forecasting in her fear.

574. invisa sedebat, crouched unseen.

575. ira, a wrathful impulse.

=

576. ulcisci, depending on the phrase ira subit, which is equivalent to a verb of wishing. - sceleratas poenas vengeance on the guilty. sumere, notice that the ancients looked upon punishment as a penalty paid; hence sumere, capere, etc., of the inflicter, and dare, solvere, of the sufferer; cf. i. 136; ii. 72.

577. scilicet, ironical.

- Mycenas, used for Greece in general.

580. turba comitata, attended by a throng (see note on i. 312).

581. occiderit (fut. perf.), i.e. shall she return in triumph when Priam has perished? Grammatically the sentences are coördinate and inde pendent.

582. sudarit, has . . . reeked.

583. nullum memorabile nomen: cf. iv. 94, xi. 791.

585. extinxisse laudabor, I shall have praise for having destroyed. Here the verb is equivalent to a verb of saying, "I shall be said with praise to have," etc. An extension of indirect discourse peculiar to poetry. merentis, deserved, agreeing with poenas, cf. sceleratas, v. 576.

587. flammae, following explesse ( § 248, R.3; G. 373, R.; H. 410, v.). - cineres satiasse: vengeance is imagined to be a satisfaction to the spirits of the dead, - a very old idea.

589. se videndam obtulit, presented herself in visible presence; see § 294, d; G. 431; H. 544, N.2

590. pura in luce, in clear light, not cloud or mist, such as usually wraps the presence of a divinity.

591. confessa (§ 135, e). — deam, for se deam esse; see note to i. 390. — qualis, supply talem.

592. quanta: the gods are represented as larger than men. - dextra ... continuit, caught and held me by the hand. See § 292, R.; G. 667, R.'; H. 549, 5.

594. quis... tantus, what great... is this which: a very common

tasis and apodosis. We may suppose either that the Romans took a different view of such conditions, treating them as still future, or what is more

probable, that the present and perfect subjunctive in Latin had in earlier times the force which the imperfect and pluperfect had later.

600. hauserit ensis, the sword would have drunk their blood.

Fig. 74.

601. tibi (dat. of reference): the sense is, it is not Helen that you should hate, or Paris that you should blame. Not that they are guiltless, but their guilt only fulfils the divine decree. 604. aspice: he now not only knows that the gods have ordained the fall of Troy, but sees them in clear vision, engaged in its overthrow. -omnem nubem abripiam, see Il. v. 127; Bry. 154.-tuenti, see note, Ecl. i. 29.

606. ne... time, i.e. do not fear to look at anything I show you, or hesitate to do what is still in your power.

607. parere, see § 271, cf. a;

G. 548, R.; H. 505, ii.

610. Neptunus: Neptune as the builder takes the foremost part in the destruction of the walls (compare II. xi. 27-30; Bry. 22).

613. prima, the foremost. -socium agmen, the allied troops, i.e.

the Greeks who are still thronging from the ships.

615. arces, governed by in

sedit (§ 228, a).

616. nimbo, a much-vexed word. Others read limbo, a reading as old as Servius, which seems very weak. It appears best to take the word as referring to the divine effulgence surrounding the gods when they appeared to mortals, which is the origin of the technical nimbus or aureole of later times. Even this aureole proper, in its symbolic form, appears in several wallpaintings of Pompeii and Hercu

Fig 75.

laneum, probably not more than fifty years later than Virgil's time, so that the general idea could hardly be unknown to Virgil. (See Figs. 73, 74, 75.)-effulgens, gleaming, a not uncommon conception of the divini

ties; compare i. 402. — Gorgone, i.e. on her shield or ægis, or both,

where it often appears in works of art.

Fig. 76.

P

(See Fig. 76.)

617. pater, of course Jupiter. - vires secundas, victorious strength.

619. eripe fugam, hasten your flight, a stronger form for capere fugam; hinting also at rescue from peril.

620. limine (§ 258, ƒ; cf. also 260, a; G. 413, R.).—sistam, here causative, as often in poetry and later prose, rarely also in Cicero.

624. tum vero, then at length, my eyes being opened.—considere in ignes, to sink into the flames.

625. Neptunia, i.e. the walls, though built by immortal hands, are now destroyed by the same agency.

626. ac veluti . . . cum, even as when. 627. ferrabl. of means).

628. certatim, eagerly, vying with each

other. usque, ever (lit., all the way, to a place or time). -minatur, threatens, i.e. totters to its fall.

629. comam (Gr. acc.). — vertice (abl. of specification).

630. supremum congemuit, has groaned its last (cognate accusative).

631. traxit ruinam, fallen with a crash.

632. ducente deo, guided by divine power, i.e. of Venus.

633. expedior, I find my way out (reflexive).

634. iam, at length. — perventum, impersonal, the regular construction where mere sequence of time and progress of action is to be indicated, without personal reference. — patriae, see § 214, a.

35. quem, etc., whom it was my first wish to bear away to the high mountains. There was a story that when the Greeks allowed Æneas and others to bear away what treasure they valued most, he chose his father; rewarded for his piety by a second choice, he took the penates; and after this second proof of piety, he was allowed to take all he would. - tollere belongs only with optabam.

636. optabam: the imperfect hints at the non-fulfilment of the wish; compare § 277, c; G. 224.

637. excisa Troia, now that Troy is utterly cut off. — producere (§ 271). The regular indirect discourse would be se producturum, but here Virgil follows the analogy of verbs of refusing; compare parere, v. 607.