BOOK VII

Arrival of Aeneas in Latium, and commencement of hostilities between the Latins and Trojans.

1-36. Aeneas buries his nurse on a promontory of Latium, which he names after her, Caieta. He then sails by the promontory of Circeium, the abode of the sorceress Circe, enters the mouth of the Tiber, and disembarks on the Laurentine bank of the river.

1. Tu quoque: thou also'; as well as Misenus and Palinurus. See VI, 234, 381. The place is still called Gaeta.

3. nunc: 'now'; even in the poet's times. sedem: for sepulcrum. The passage may be rendered, and even now thy honored name preserves the memory of thy resting place, and a name marks thy ashes.' The name Caieta is the honos; this preserves the memory of her burial place. ossaque nomen signat more distinctly expresses the idea in servat honos sedem.

10. Circaeae terrae: the promontory of Circeium, on the coast of Latium. II. Solis filia: Circe.

11, 12. lucos resonat: 'makes the groves resound.'

13. nocturna in lumina: 'to illumine the night'; in

with the accusative denoting the object or end.

15. exaudiri: historical infinitive.

18. formae luporum: for lupi. Cf. V, 822.

21. Quae monstra talia: 'such fearful transformations as these.'

27. posuere : sc. se; were calmed.' Cf. X, 103.

28. tonsae: 'the oars.' Arbores is understood.

35. Flectere: instead of ut flectant..

37-44. Second invocation to the muse, at the opening of the second grand division of the poem, which describes the

battles of the Trojans and Italians under Aeneas and Turnus. Fig. 60.- Erato

(1.37)

37. reges: e.g. Latinus, Turnus, and Mezentius. Erato: the name of one of the muses for the general term, muse. So often Calliope, Melpomene, etc. tempora rerum: 'circumstances'; 'aspect of things'; i.e. in Italy. Sc. fuerint.

6

42. actos animis: impelled by passion.'

45. moveo: 'I enter upon.' Cf. I, 262.

45-106. Latinus, the king of Latium, had an only daughter, whom his queen, Amata, had destined for the hand of Turnus, chief of the Rutulians. But before the arrival of the Trojans, Latinus had been warned by the oracle at Albunea that his daughter was to marry a foreign prince.

46. regebat: 'was ruling.'

47. Fauno: a deified prince of ancient Latium, regarded as a god of shepherds, as well as a god of prophecy. He was identified by the Greeks and later Romans with the Greek Pan. Marica: the guardian deity of the river Liris. She is here called Laurentian, or Latian, because Latium was bounded at one period by the Liris.

48. Accipimus: 'we learn' by tradition. No doubt this is a genuine Italian tradition, unmixed with the fables of the Greeks, which confounded Saturnus, Faunus, Mavors, and other Italian deities, with the Greek Kronos, Pan, Ares, etc.

51. primaque - est: 'but he (proles virilis), when growing up, was snatched away in early youth.' -que has here a slight adversative force. 52. tantas sedes: 'so great a kingdom.' filia: Lavinia.

56. regia coniunx: Amata.

59. Laurus: as in the palace of Priam. See II, 512 sqq.

68. Externum: as the bees had come through the air, trans aethera, and not from the immediate neighborhood, the arrival of foreigners was portended; as they had settled upon the summit of the sacred laurel, this indicated the occupation of the palace and kingdom by the strangers.

69. partes easdem: 'the same quarter' to which the bees have directed their course.

70. dominarier: H. 244, 6; LM. 389; A. 128, e, 4; B. 116, 4, a; G. 130, 6; (H. 240, 6).

74, 75. ornatum, comas, coronam: 'in respect to her apparel,' etc., the accusative with a passive verb, in imitation of the Greek. See note on oculos, I, 228.

78. ferri: was noised abroad.'

79. canebant: 'they (i.e. the prophets) foretold.'

80. pcrtendere : 'that she was destined to bring.' Others trans., 'it por

tended.'

81. oracula Fauni: the oracle of Faunus was in a grove near the fountain of Albunea, a deified prophetess. To her a sulphurous fountain was consecrated near Tibur, but the place mentioned here may not have been so far away. The name is applied both to the nymph and the fountain.

82, 83. sub alta Albunea: i.e. under the height from which the fountain of Albunea descended.

83, 84. nemorum sonat: the best interpretation seems to be to regard Albunea as the antecedent of quae, with maxima agreeing with it, and nemorum a partitive genitive depending on maxima. Albunea then is the general name of the locality - including the forest. mephitim: the noxious exhalation rising from the sulphurous fountain.

87. cum tulit-incubuit: this is a general account of the manner in which

this oracle gave the desired information; it was revealed to the priest by visions and voices while he was sleeping on the hides of the victims previously slain in sacrifice. In the present instance Latinus acted as priest himself; for in Latium the priestly office was a royal prerogative.

91. Acheronta: 'Acheron'; put for the powers of the lower world. Avernis: in Hades.'

97. mea: the voice is that of Faunus, the ancestor of Latinus.

104-147. While the Trojans are partaking of food on the shore, and using their loaves of bread for dishes on which to lay the gathered fruits, after the bread itself was finally eaten, Ascanius exclaims, "We are eating our tables!"—and thus the prediction of the Harpy and of Anchises is fulfilled.

109. adorea liba: 'wheaten loaves'; usually for sacrifice, but not here. 110. epulis: 'their food'; i.e. the sylvan fruits they have gathered in the neighborhood.

III. Cereale solum: 'the wheaten surface'; the wheaten table.

114, 115. orbem, quadris: describe the loaves, which were either circular, or stamped into squares.

119. Eripuit pressit: 'the father caught the word instantly (primam) from the lips of (the boy) speaking, and, amazed by the divine revelation, followed up (the omen) '; i.e. with the words following.

123. Anchises: cf. III, 257, and note.

136. primam: 'first of the deities'; to be worshiped before all others on taking possession of a new land. Cf. primum, III, 437.

139. Phrygiam Matrem: Cybele. See III, 111.

140. duplices parentes: 'his two parents'; Anchises in Hades and Venus in Olympus.

147. vina: i.e. the wine cups.

148–194. On the following day the Trojans explore the neighborhood of their camp around the Tiber and the Numicius, and Aeneas sends a hundred envoys to confer with King Latinus, while he commences the building of his new camp or city of Troy.

150. Diversi: 'in different directions.' haec stagna: sc. esse depending on explorant, or a verb implied in it; they ascertain that these are the still waters of the fountain Numicius.' The Numicius, or Numicus, a little stream on the coast of Latium, issues from a swamp.

154. ramis Palladis: 'with boughs sacred to Pallas'; the olive, emblem of peace. velatos: 'veiled'; it is used here not of wreaths bound round the head, but borne in the hand, because being carried in the hand, they shade the person. Cf. VIII, 116; XI, 101.

158. Molitur locum: 'builds the place up'; i.e. he builds houses, erects dwellings, in the place. Cf. 1. 90. Others trans., 'breaks (prepares) the ground.' 160. Latinorum: elides with Ardua of the next line; i.e. the line is hypermetric. In such lines the syllable elided is usually -que or -ve.

167. ingentes: 'mighty'; 'of noble aspect.' The men are of heroic stature. 168. tecta: here, the temple; according to the Roman custom of receiving envoys in temples.

Fig. 61.-Janus (1.180)

169. medius: in the midst of his attendants. 171. Urbe summa: i.e. on the Acropolis.

174. omen: 'auspicious beginning'; a solemn usage ominous of good to the reign of the new king.

176. Perpetuis mensis: 'at continuous tables'; the tables arranged in one unbroken line.

178. cedro: the final letter is not elided.

180. Janus was an old Italian deity, who presided over the beginnings of things, and over gates and gateways. From the latter conception, he is represented in works of art as having two faces (bifrons). See Fig. 61.

186. -que in spiculaque is long under the ictus.

187-189. Ipse-gerebat: the image of Picus, to whom the temple is dedicated, is represented in a sitting posture, and was in a conspicuous place, perhaps at one end of the court. It held the lituus, or augur's staff, and was clothed in a trabea, or striped toga. The lituus is called Quirinalis (= of Quirinus, i.e. Romulus), since Romulus was the first augur at Rome. With lituo, sc. some such word as instructus, easily suggested by the following succinctus.

190. Aurea here pronounced in two syllables, au-rya.

Fig. 62.

The Lituus

(1. 187)

191. avem: Circe, the lover (coniunx) of Picus, transformed him into a woodpecker.

192. intus: adverb. templo: ablative of place.

195-285. Latinus gives the envoys a kind reception, and Ilioneus, on their part, makes known the condition and wants of the Trojans, and presents the gifts sent by Aeneas. The king promises them a peaceful home in Latium, and, in obedience to the oracle, offers his daughter in marriage to Aeneas. The envoys are dismissed with presents for themselves and Aeneas, and return to the camp.

196. auditique-cursum: 'and no stranger to fame do you turn your course hither on the sea.'

197. egentes: by metonymy is transferred from the voyagers to the ships. 203. Saturni gentem: in the time of Saturn, the golden age, men acted

uprightly, not by compulsion, but from goodness of heart, Sponte sua, and by habit inherited from that ancient deity.

206. Auruncos senes: the Auruncan fathers.'

The Aurunci were an

ancient tribe of Italians, situated between Latium and Campania. ut: interrogative; (namely) how.'

207. Dardanus: for the tradition, see III, 107 sqq., and note.

208. Threïciam Samon: the island of Samothrace, in the upper part of

the Aegean.

209. Hinc-ab sede: 'hence (namely) from the Tyrrhenian abode.' Cf. hua, II, 18. Corythi: the Etruscan Cortona.

211. auget: by receiving Dardanus as a god to be worshiped, the golden palace of Olympus increases (by one) the number of the altars of the gods. 215. regione viae: 'in respect to the direction of our voyage.'

219. Ab Iove: cf. note on I, 28.

225. et si quem, etc.: 'both if the farthest land holds any one afar where Ocean turns again, and if the belt of the torrid zone stretched between (in the midst of) four zones separates any one (from our part of the world), he (such an one) has heard how great,' etc. Refuso Oceano, in the extreme north, where the ocean, which was supposed to surround the earth, 'turns back again.' The last vowel of Oceano is not elided.

232. que continues the negation.

237. vittas: i.e. the fillets attached to the olive branches borne in their hands. Cf. l. 154, and note. precantia: pronounced here pre-can-tya. 241. Huc repetit: 'calls (us) back hither.' The subject is Apollo.

243. Dat: Aeneas is the subject.

246. gestamen: 'the array'; explained by sceptrum, etc.

253. Moratur: 'broods,' ' is absorbed in.'

254. sortem: 'the oracle.'

255. Meditatur, or some similar verb suggested by volvit, is understood upon which the infinitives depend; 'that this was that son-in-law,' etc.

258. quae occupet: 'which is destined to possess'; such that it is destined to possess.

261. rege Latino: 'as long as Latinus shall be king.'

271. Hoc Latio restare canunt: 'they predict that this destiny awaits Latium.'

274. numero omni: 'for the whole number'; i.e. for every Trojan envoy (one hundred in number).

277. ostro: the coverings of the horses are of purple cloth embroidered with gold.

282-284. patri- creavit : the cunning (daedala) Circe had bred these bastard horses by secretly putting a common mare to one of the horses of her father, the Sun-god. Thus she stole them from her father. The dative as in V, 845.