In such a night

Stood Dido, with a willow in her hand,

Upon the wild sea-banks and waft her love

To come again to Carthage.

554. certus eundi, determined to go: § 504 (298); B. 338, 1, b; G. 428; H. 626 (542, i); H.-B. 612, i.

556. eodem: i.e. as in v. 265.

558. omnia: Greek acc. coloremque: § 612, e, N. (359, c, R.); B. 367, 6; G. 728; H. 733, i, N.4 (608, i, N.5); H.-B. 641, N.4.

559. iuventa: abl. of manner.

560. hoc sub casu, just at this emergency. — ducere somnos: cf. Paradise Lost, v. 673-676:

Sleep'st thou, companion dear? What sleep can close

Thy eyelids? and rememb'rest what decree

Of yesterday so late hath pass'd the lips

Of Heaven's Almighty?

561. deinde, next.

564. certa mori, bent on death, and accordingly reckless: cf. certus eundi, with no difference of meaning; § 461 (273, d); B. 333; G. 428, N.3; H. 608, 4 (533, ii, 3); H.-B. 598, 2, c. — vario, changing : cf. v. 532. 565. non fugis, will you not fly? For tense see note on ii. 322. 566. iam, presently. — trabibus: i.e. the Carthaginian fleet.

568. attigerit: § 516, c (307, c); B. 264, a; G. 596, 1; H. 574, 2 (508, 2); H.-B. 494.

569. varium: § 289, c (189, c); B. 234, 2; G. 211, R.; H. 394, 5 (438, 4); H.-B. 325, c.

570. nocti: cf. viris, i. 440 and note.

571. umbris, apparition.

576. sancte deorum, holy deity: § 346, b (216, b); G. 372, N.1; H. 442, 3 (397, 3, N.); H.-B. 346, d.

578. sidera... feras, grant us propitious stars (weather).

582. litora deseruere: i.e. and now they have left the shore (taking a new point of view to indicate the haste of the action).

585. For the myth, see Tennyson's poem Tithonus. The description of the dawn in Tithonus is remarkable for using mythological imagery without being conventional:

I used to watch-if I be he that watch'd

The lucid outline forming round thee; saw

The dim curls kindle into sunny rings;

Chang'd with thy mystic change, and felt my blood
Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all
Thy presence and thy portals.

587. aequatis, even, i.e. right before the wind.

590. abscissa: cf. note on collecta, i. 320.—flaventes: the color universally ascribed to the hair of heroic persons by the ancients.

591. advena, an adventurer. - inluserit: i.e. laugh my power to scorn; the fut. perf. looks forward to the completion of the act, as if she said, "shall he succeed in doing so?"

592. expedient, will not my men? etc.

593. A peculiar abruptness is given by the pause at the end of the fifth foot. Notice also the hurried movement of v. 594.

594. flammas, torches. Cf. Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, ii. 12:

Up, up, my faithful! hasten on your way

With fire and sword. Up, up! to burn and slay!

595. mentem: i.e. her purpose of death.

596. nunc: emphatic. — facta impia : i.e. toward Sychæus.

597. tum decuit (emphatic), then it ought (to have come home to you). — cum . . . dabas, when you offered him the sceptre, i.e. before you put the power in his hand: § 471, c (277, c); B. 260, 3; G. 233; H. 534, 2 (469, 1); H.-B. 484. Cf. ii. 672.- en dextra: i.e. the right hand given in making a pledge, as with us; spoken with scorn, i.e. this then is the honor of this most pious hero.

598. quem: i.e. eius quem, of him who, they say, etc.

600. non potui . . . divellere, could I not have torn? § 486, a (288, a); B. 270, 2; G. 254, R.1; H. 618, 2 (537, 1); H.-B. 582, 3, a, ftn.2. — abreptum § 496, N.2 (292, R.); G. 664, R.1; H. 639 (549, 5); H.-B. 604, I. 602. epulandum (for constr., see ii. 589 (note), iii. 50, 329): cf. the story of Thyestes and that of Tereus.

603. fuerat, might have been: § 517, b (308, b); cf. B. 304, 3; G. 254, R.; H. 525, 4 (476, 2); H.-B. 581, e.— fuisset, suppose it had been: § 440 (266, c); B. 278; G. 264; H. 514, N.; H.-B. 532, 1.

604. faces, etc.: i.e. set the ships on fire. The Romans drew their ships on land and fortified them. — tulissem, I ought to have, etc.: § 439, b (266, e); G. 272, 3; H. (483, 2, N.); H.-B. 512, 6.

606. extinxem, for exstinxissem: § 181, b, N.2 (128, b); B. 116,

4, c; G. 131, 4; H. 238, 3 (235, 3); H.-B. 163, 4.

607. opera omnia terrarum, all deeds of mortals.

608. interpres . . . et conscia, conscious witness: properly agent, or even cause, as the goddess of marriage.

609. triviis: Hecate was worshipped at cross-roads (places where three roads met) and was hence called Trivia (cf. vi. 13, Ecl. iii. 26). — ululata, invoked with shrieks.

610. Dirae: see v. 473. more than one is not clear.

(cf. iii. 63).

di: the special or tutelary divinity, but why Perhaps it was conceived as twofold; hence

the expression Manes, and the custom of erecting two altars to the shade The idea of divinities in pairs was a common Roman notion. 611. accipite, hear, as often. — haec, these my words.—meritum, as I have deserved (agreeing with numen). malis advertite numen, turn your power to (avenge) my sufferings.

612. The language of the curses that follow depends upon the common belief in the prophetic power ("second sight ") of a person at the point of death and in the efficacy of a dying person's curse. -audite, grant.

615-620. at, at least. These are the ominous lines which were opened by Charles I, when he consulted the Sortes Vergilianae, at Oxford. It will be noticed that they are so worded that they do not prevent the expedition of Æneas from being one of final glory and success. The curses are literally fulfilled in the later fortunes of Æneas (see the later books of the Æneid), including his reign of only three years, and the loss of his body, which was swept away by the Numicius, or at least was not found after the battle in which he perished. 616. finibus: abl. of separation.

619. optata: a general epithet of light; as we might say in English, "the boon of light."

622-629. tum vos . . . nepotes: an imprecation prophetic of the Punic wars, which, strictly fulfilled, resulted in the greatest struggle, but also in the proudest military glory of Rome.

625. exoriare... ultor, rise some avenger! § 439, a (266, a); B. 275, 2; G. 263, 2; H. 560, I (484, iv, N.2); H.-B. 530, 1, a.— - aliquis: because referring to an indefinite person. No Roman, however, could

hear it without thinking of Hannibal (cf. Livy, xxi. I, 1, 3).

626. qui sequare, to pursue: § 531, 2 (317, 2); B. 282, 2; G. 630; H. 589, ii (497, i); H.-B. 502, 2.

629. ipsique nepotesque : i.e. may the warfare begin at once, and not cease. e in -que is elided before the next verse (synapheia).

633. cinis may be rendered by tomb. Cf. the figurative uses of ashes in English: e.g. Henry VIII, iv. 2. 73 ff:

Whom I most hated living, thou hast made me

Now in his ashes honor.

634. mihi: with huc siste (see Vocabulary).

635. corpus (her body), etc.: a very ancient rite of lustration. — properet: for constr., see v. 289, note.

636. pecudes: the black sheep, for a sacrifice to Pluto (Iovi Stygio); cf. "Nether Jove," Comus, v. 20. — monstrata, appointed.

637. sic veniat: i.e. after having made such preparations.

638. paravi: see vv. 504–508.

640. Dardanii capitis, the Trojan (caput is often used in the sense of person in such periphrases; cf. Eng. soul, and body in everybody, etc.). She is really preparing her own pyre; but ostensibly the rite is to be a mock funeral, in which, to free her from her unhappy love, the effigies of Æneas and his exuviae are to be burned (see vv. 496, 507, 508). 641. studio anili: i.e. with the bustling zeal of an old woman. The old nurse is a stock figure in heroic story: cf. Pyrgo (v. 645), Eurycleia, the nurse of Ulysses (Od. xix.) ; the nurse of Orestes (Esch., Choephori, 734 ff.); of Medea (Eur., Med. 1 ff.), etc.; Juliet's nurse is the most famous English example.

642. coeptis

abl. of cause. — effera, maddened.

643. trementis genas, etc.: cf. i. 228.

645. inrumpit: she rushes down from the tower (v. 586), where she has been hitherto, into the inner open court.

647. non hos in usus, for no such service: probably an ornamental sword or dagger given her by Æneas.

648. hic, hereupon.

649. paulum lacrimis, etc., staying a little in tears and in thought (loc. abl.).

650. que... que: correlative.

651. dum, etc. limits dulces, dear.

652. exsolvite: i.e. by my death.

mei: possess. gen.,

654. magna: i.e. I shall go a famous woman. used instead of mea for metrical reasons; § 343, a (214, a, 2); G. 362, R.1; H. 440, I, N.2 (396, ii. N.); H.-B. 339, a.

656. ulta virum: i.e. in the way described in i. 360–364. — poenas, etc., inflicted the due (re-) punishment; see note to ii. 103.

657. felix: a verb fuissem is implied, the apodosis of tetigissent. -tantum, only (lit. so much and no more). This and the following verse are parodied by Pope, Rape of the Lock, iv. 149, 150:

Happy, ah! ten times happy had I been,

If Hampton Court these eyes had never seen.

660. sic, sic: these words, though accompanying the fatal blows, refer not merely to those but to the whole situation; though dying unavenged and by her own hand still she prefers death to life.

661. hunc ignem : the blaze of the pile which is about to be kindled.

663. ferro: abl. of instrument.

664. comites, her attendants (cf. v. 391).

666. concussam, startled. bacchatur: cf. v. 301.

667. femineo: cf. plangoribus femineis, ii. 487.

669. ruat, were falling in ruins: § 524 and N.2 (312 and R.); cf. B. 307, 1; G. 602; H. 584 and 2 (513, ii and N.1): H.-B. 504, 3 and a. 672. trepido curso: i.e. running wildly (abl. of manner).

675. hoc illud: i.e. was this the thing you meant?

676. hoc rogus, etc., is this what the pyre, etc., were preparing, etc. -iste: i.e. that you ordered me to build; § 298, c (102, c); cf. B. 87; G. 306; H. 505 (450); H.-B. 271, a.

678. vocasses: see note on tulissem, v. 604.

681. sic: i.e. as I have been. - te posita, when you were laid out (in death). — ut abessem: clause of purpose.

682. exstinxti: see v. 606, note.

683. date ... abluam, let me wash her wounds in water (objectclause without ut).

685. ore legam: a customary office of affection, like closing the eyes of the dying; cf. Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, v. 324:

Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul.

sic fata, etc., as she spoke she had, etc.
686. semianimem: the first i is read like y;

§ 603, c, N. (347, c); B. 367, 4; G.

723; H. 733,

ii. 84 and

iii, N.2 (608, iii, N.2); H.-B. 656, 2.
Cf. i. 2.
687. siccabat, tried to stanch (see
note).

689. stridit, gurgles.

690. cubito: § 431 (254, b); cf. B. 218, 3; G. 401, N.; H. 476, 3 (425, I, N.); cf. H.-B. 438, 2, a. – adnixa, leaning.

691. toro dative, or possibly locative abl.;

cf. humi, v. 481.

FIG. 41.

692. quaesivit lucem: the ancients were strongly impressed with the thought that the last act of the dying was to gaze upon the light. — repertă: sc. luce (ablative absolute).

694. Irim: in the case of women, the thread of life was usually supposed to be cut by Proserpine (v. 698). Iris was the messenger of Juno (see Fig. 41, from an ancient vase-painting). Cf. Shakspere, Tempest, iv. 1. 76–82: