454-553. Evander and Aeneas in the morning confer together. Evander advises Aeneas to seek the aid of the Etrurians, who have thrown off the authority of the wicked King Mezentius; placing under his command at the same time all the forces he himself can raise, and with them his son Pallas. While they are engaged in this conference the clang of gleaming armor and the sound of a trumpet are heard in the sky. Aeneas sends back a part of his followers to Ascanius with tidings of his success, while with the rest he prepares to depart into Etruria.

454. Lemnius: Vulcan, according to mythology, was cast from heaven, and fell upon the island of Lemnos, where he was nurtured, and afterward worshiped as the tutelary deity of the island.

456. volucrum: roof-swallows are meant.

457. inducitur artus: 'clothes his limbs'; middle use. See note on II, 275. 458. Tyrrhena: 'Tuscan'; i.e. primitive.

461. limine ab alto: to be understood literally. The threshold was commonly of stone, and elevated from the ground.

461, 462. gemini custodes canes: 'two dogs, guardians (of the house).' 463. secreta: 'retirement.'

468. licito: now at length the important conference was 'permitted' by the circumstances, — both leisure and privacy.

472. pro nomine tanto: for such reputation as is ascribed to me, the aid I can afford is small.

473. Tusco: the Tiber is frequently called Tuscan, because it rises in Etruria and flows along its borders.

475. populos: the Etrurians were divided into twelve nations or populi, each having its own king, or lucumo, and when assembled for war one of the lucumones was appointed chief. Their camp, or army, thus composed, is 'rich in kingdoms'; i.e. made up of many royal armies.

479. There was a tradition current among the Romans that the Etrurians came originally from Lydia in Asia Minor. See note on II, 781. 481. deinde: 'then' or 'afterward'; join with tenuit.

489. infanda: adverbially with furentem.

493. The infinitives here are historical. defendier: cf. IV, 493. 497. puppes: i.e. populi. They are assembled on the sea-shore, not far from Caere, ready to sail for the coast of Latium, near Ardea.

=

499. Maeoniae: an older name for Lydia. See note on 1. 479.

504. Hoc: Evander points across the Tiber in the direction of Caere, where the Etrurians are encamped. Their territory extends to the Tiber, opposite Evander; hence Hoc campo.

506. Tarchon: the lucumo in temporary command of the Etrurians. Cf. note on 1. 475.

507. Succedam: (requesting) that I proceed to the camp.' Ut is omitted.

508. saeclis: 'by years' of life.

511. Hinc: from this country'; Italy; hence, not completely externus, as required by the soothsayer, 1. 503.

523. Ni signum, etc.: the apodosis is suggested by putabant; 'they were pondering on many a peril in their anxious hearts,' and would have continued thus meditating, 'unless,' etc. Either Venus herself is permitted on this occasion to use the thunder, or Jupiter hurls it at her request.

525. ruere: the flashing of arms in the sky, the sound of trumpets, and other warlike tokens, in the heavens, were not infrequent to the imagination of the Romans, as the pages of Livy and other historians testify.

529. Per sudum: 'through the clear sky'; though the arms themselves were surrounded by a cloud.

531. promissa: the promise is not mentioned before in the poem. 533. Olympo: for ab Olympo.

tended for me, not for thee.

The heavenly token summons me, is in

542. Herculeis ignibus: Aeneas proceeds at once to the ara maxima, or great altar of Hercules, where the worship had been conducted on the previous day, and there, as the one to whom the supernatural sign had been sent, he renews the altar fires, and makes offerings first to Hercules, as the deity of the place, and then to the household gods of Evander, who have received and sheltered him, and who had also been included in the sacred honors of the day before.

547. in bella: 'on warlike perils'; not actual war.

552. exsortem: not drawn by lot like the rest; therefore equivalent to egregium, insignem.

554-607. The parting of Evander with Aeneas and Pallas, and the arrival of Aeneas at the camp of the Etrurians near Caere.

555. regis: Tarchon (1. 506).

556. periclo: dative. The fear increases as the danger threatens.

558. euntes: sc. filii, suggested by pater and the general sense of the passage.

569, 570. finitimo Huic capiti: 'this person (reigning) near him'; 'me, his neighbor.'

576. in unum: 'to a meeting.'

579. abrumpere: cf. IV, 631.

588. pictis armis: the Arcadians painted their shields with symbolic figures.

589. perfusus unda: 'bedewed with the wave'; just risen from the east<

ern ocean.

596. Note this famous line, the rhythm of which imitates the sound of galloping horses.

597. Caeritis amnem: 'the river of Caere'; the river running by the town of Caere.

598, 599. undique - cingunt: "the encircling hills hem in and surround the wood (lucum or nemus through which the river runs) with dark pines' that covers their slopes.

601. diemque: 'and a (festal) day'; a day set apart to his worship.

604. locis: in position'; join with tuta. de colle: the whole Tyrrhenian army (legio) could be seen from the hill, where it was encamped. Cf. III, 647, and note. de colle is not the position of the spectator, Aeneas, but that of the object beheld, namely, the Etrurian army.

605. latis in arvis: probably refers to a broad plateau on the summit of the hill, affording a convenient and safe camping-ground. With tendebat sc. tentoria.

606. Huc: i.e. to the nemus or sacred grove in the valley. He does not visit the Etruscan camp on the hill until the following morning, when he forms the league with Tarchon. See X, 148 sqq., where this part of the nar

rative is resumed.

608-730. Venus brings to Aeneas the shield wrought by Vulcan, and adorned with raised work illustrating the following events and scenes in Roman history: 1, the story of Romulus and Remus; 2, the rape of the Sabine women; 3, the

punishment of Mettus
Fufetius; 4, siege of
Rome by Porsenna; 5,
Manlius and the Gauls;

6, a procession of the priests of
Mars and Pan; 7, the punishment
of Catiline in Tartarus; 8, the
battle of Actium; 9, triumph of
Augustus.

610. gelido secretum flumine : 'withdrawn by the cool stream' apart from his followers. Flumine, ablative place where.

611. ultro: beyond' what is expected, hence, here, 'suddenly.'

626 sqq. 'In Virgil's description of the shield of Aeneas every scene is a prophetic conception of events in Roman history, culminating with the glories of Augustus; the whole is thus strictly in harmony with the leading purpose of the poem, as an epic of national glory.' - Papillon.

630. Fecerat et: 'he had also represented.' In this sense facere takes the infinitive.

635. sine more: contrary to the usage of nations; 'lawlessly.'

Fig. 69. Sistrum (1.696)

636. Consessu caveae: 'in the assembly of the circus.' 643. maneres: = debebas manere.

644. Tullus: Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome. 647. Accipere: sc. illos (= Romanos), as the subject. 650. Aspiceres: 'you might see.' auderet: indirect discourse after verb of mental action implied in indignanti, minanti.

652. In summo: 'on the top of the shield'; on the upper part of the orb as it stood, or as it would appear when held up before the warrior in battle.

654. recens regia: 'the palace (always) fresh.' The hut of Romulus, built in the first days of Rome, was always renewed by the Romans whenever its thatch had decayed, and therefore it was recens, as represented on the shield.

660. Virgatis: the small cloaks of the Gauls were 'striped' or checked, like the plaids of their modern kinsmen, the Scottish highlanders.

664. Lanigeros: the peak on the cap of the Salian priest, or priest of Mars, was encircled at the base by a tuft of wool.

670. Secretos: 'set apart' from the wicked.

671. Haec inter, etc.: the battle of Actium, perhaps,

filled up the center of the shield.

673. argento: join with clari. Cf. III, 464.

676. erat: 'it was possible' to see. See note on VI, 596.

678. Hinc: contrasted with Hinc, 1. 685.

680, 681. tempora flammas vomunt: referring to the ornaments on his helmet. patrium vertice sidus: a star appears in the bas-relief work just over the head of Augustus. This is the Iulium, here patrium sidus, termed also in the Eclogues, IX, 47, Caesaris astrum, a comet which appeared while Augustus was celebrating the funeral games in honor of Caesar. Augustus was the adopted son of Caesar. 688. coniunx: Cleopatra, the paramour of Antony.

689. reductis: cf. adductis, V, 141.

Fig. 70.

- Anubis

(1.698)

696. sistro: the sistrum was a small musical instrument of iron, used in the worship of Isis.

697. angues: there is a reference here to the asps which Cleopatra is said to have used as the instruments of her death.

698. monstra: the Egyptian gods had the heads of beasts; Anubis, that

of a dog; hence, latrator. These are represented as fighting against the gods of Rome.

704. Augustus dedicated to Apollo a temple on the Actian promontory in honor of his victory.

710. lapyge ferri: 'to be carried by the lapyx'; or northwest wind.

712. tota veste vocantem: 'inviting with all his (unfolded) mantle.' The god of the Nile is represented as opening his ample robes to receive the fugitives.

714. Augustus, on his return to Rome in 29 B.C., celebrated three triumphs for his victories respectively in Dalmatia, at Actium, and at Alexandria.

725. Lelegas Carasque: the early inhabitants of the west coast of Asia Minor; put here for the people of Asia Minor in general.

726 sqq. In Roman triumphs it was customary to carry representations of the rivers that flowed through the subjugated territory.

727. bicornis: perhaps with reference to the two principal outlets of the Rhine, the Vahalis and Rhenus. See note on 1. 77.

The attack of Turnus on the Trojan camp.

1-76. Iris, as the agent of Juno, encourages Turnus to attack the Trojan camp in the absence of Aeneas. On the approach of Turnus, the Trojans determine to follow the parting directions of Aeneas, to act only on the defensive. Turnus, exasperated at their inaction, prepares to set fire to their ships.