Cycladas, et crebris legimus freta consita terris. Jamque fere sicco subductæ litore puppes; Connubiis arvisque novis operata juventus; Jura domosque dabam: subito quum tabida membris, 127 Et. crebris freta consita terris. "And (we pass through) the narrow seas, sown thick with many an island." These words are supposed to describe their passage through the group of the Sporades. Observe the zeugma in legimus. 130 Prosequitur surgens, &c. "A wind springing up astern, accompanies us on our way;" i. e., a favourable wind. Compare the Greek nopos. 131 Curetum oris. By "the shores of the Curetes" Crete is meant. The Curetes carry us back to the first establishment of the Cretan race and name. 130 135 140 134 Arcemque attollere tectis. "And to raise a citadel with lofty roof;" i. e., the lofty roof of which would make it appear truly an arx. 137 The jura were the laws and regulations necessary to be established in a new settlement. By domos are meant portions of ground whereon to build. 138 Corrupto cœli tractu. "Our quarter of the sky becoming filled with infection;" i. e., a pestilential blight arising from a vitiated atmosphere attacked the men, the trees, and crops. 139 Letifer annus, "The year was pregnant with death." Sup"Re-ply erat. 133 Latam cognomine. joicing in the name," inasmuch as it reminded them of home, and seemed like a restoration of their ancient city. Compare the remark of Servius: "Lætam autem propter Pergama restituta." 141 Tum steriles, &c. "Then, too, the Dog-star began to parch the steril fields," i. e., to parch and render them steril. 144 Veniamque precari. On the supposition that they had L Quam fessis finem rebus ferat; unde laborum Nox erat, et terris animalia somnus habebat : committed some offence against the gods, and that the pestilence and drought had been sent for their punishment. 145 Quem fessis finem, &c. "(To ask of the god) what end to our weary wanderings he will be pleased to point out." Ferat is here equivalent to oraculo mon stret. 151 The true reading here is in somnis, literally, "amid my slumbers," not insomnis, "sleepless," as many insist. The expression nec sopor illud erat (line 173) is alone sufficient to settle the point. Heyne thinks that Æneas could not have been asleep, since the images of the gods were seen by him amid the light of the moon. He forgets, however, that this statement about the moonlight forms part of the dream. 145 150 155 160 Limina. Not the threshold or his dwelling, for they were under his roof already, but that of his sleeping apartment. 158 Idem venturos, &c. We will crown thy posterity with glory, and thy city with the empire of the world. Idem. Contracted for iidem. 159 Monia magnis magna. “A great city for a great race." 160 Ne linque. "Renounce not;" i. e., give not over through weariness. 162 Creta considere. "To settle in Crete." Creta is the dative, by a Græcism, for in Creta. Apollo. To be joined in construction with Delius. 163-166 Est locus, &c. These 165 Terra antiqua, potens armis, atque ubere glebæ: (Nec sopor illud erat; sed coram agnoscere vultus, lines (from 163 to 166) have al- | ready occurred in the first book (530-533), where consult notes. 168 Genus a quo principe nostrum. "From which chieftain springs our race." There is a difficulty in this passage. Iasius was not the father, but the brother of Dardanus, and pater, therefore, is here merely a term of respect, as in the case of Æneas. According to the collocation of the words, however, principe must refer to Iasius, and not to Dardanus, when, in truth, it ought to be just the other way, since Dardanus was the real founder of the line. Heyne, therefore, seeks to obviate the difficulty by making a quo principe apply to both brothers, and to be equivalent to a quibus principibus. This, however, is extremely harsh, and we prefer enclosing Iasiusque pater in a parenthesis, by which the reference to Dardanus is saved in the words a quo principe. 170 Corythum. Corythus, the 175 founder of Cortona in Etruria, is first put for the city itself, and then the latter for all Italy, or, at least, for Etruria and the neighbouring country of Latium. 171 Dictaa arva. "The Dictæan fields;" i. e., Crete, so called from Mount Dicte, in a cave of which Jupiter was nurtured. 173 Nec sopor illud erat, &c. "Nor was that a sound sleep," &c. Observe the force of sopor here. | i. 93. Intemerata focis. Perfecto lætus honore, 180 185 Nunc repeto, hæc generi portendere debita nostro, 178 The foci stand here for the domestic altar. Intemerata. Not merely of pure wine, but with due precautions and ceremonies. So that the term answers nearly to our epithet "solemn." Perfecto honore. "The offering being ended;" i. e., the libation over. 180 Agnovit prolem ambiguam, &c. "He recognized (instantly) the double stock, and the two founders of the line, and (confessed) that he had been misled by a mistake of later days relative to places of ancient date." Anchises calls his error that of a modern (novus error), compared with the remote date of the legends to which he alludes. Prolem ambiguam. Alluding to the double origin of the Trojans, from Dardanus and Teucer. Hence, by geminos parentes Dardanus and Teucer are meant. 184 Nunc repeto, &c. 190 "Now I recollect that she foretold that these things were destined unto our race." Нас. The same with tales casus in the previous line, namely, that the Trojans were destined to return to Italy, whence Dardanus came. Debita. Supply fato. 187 Aut quem tum vates, &c. "Or whom could Cassandra, then, as a prophetess, move." According to the legend, Apollo decreed that no credit should ever be attached to her predictions, as a punishment for a deception she had practised upon him. 190 Paucisque relictis. This is said in order to account for the appearance of a Pergamus, at a later day, among the cities of Crete. It is supposed to be the modern Peramo. Servius says it was near Cydonia, Noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris. 195 Involvere diem nimbi, et nox humida cœlum Abstulit; ingeminant abruptis nubibus ignes. 200 205 210 195 Noctem denotes the darkness arising from the dank atmosphere. Heyne thinks that the storm was encountered by the Trojans in doubling around the Peloponnesus, and passing from the Ægean into the Ionian Sea. There was always a strong current to be stemmed here. (Compare Hom. Od. ix. 80.) 200 Cæcis in undis. "In an unknown sea." 202 Palinurus was the pilot of the fleet. 203 There is some doubt about the proper construction of adeo in this sentence. It may be joined with incertos ("rendered thus uncertain"), or it may be connected with tres ("for three whole days"). 206 Aperire procul montes, &c. "To disclose mountains in the |