P. VIRGILII MARONIS ENEIDOS LIBER PRIMUS. ARGUMENT. THE Trojans, after a seven years' voyage, set sail for Italy, but are overtaken by a dreadful storm, which Eolus raises at Juno's request. The tempest sinks one, and scatters the rest. Neptune drives off the winds, and calms the sea. Æneas, with his own ship and six more, arrives safe at an African port. Venus complains to Jupiter of her son's misfortunes. Jupiter comforts her, and sends Mercury to procure him a kind reception among the Carthaginians. Æneas, going out to discover the country, meets his mother in the shape of a huntress, who conveys him in a cloud to Carthage, where he sees his friends whom he thought lost, and receives a kind entertainment from the queen. Dido, by a device of Venus, begins to have a passion for him, and, after some discourse with him, desires the history of his adventures since the siege of Troy, which is the subject of the two following books. ARMA virumque cano, Trojæ qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit Litora multum ille et terris jactatus et alto, I. THE Poem is called the Æneid from its hero Eneas, whose wars in Italy it is designed to commemorate, as well as his final settlement in that country. The closing scenes of the Trojan war, and the wanderings of Æneas before he reached the shores of Italy, are brought in by way of episode. II. It would have been more in accordance with the rules of Latin formation, if the poet had called his production the Æneas, or, as we would say in English, the Enead. Indeed, one ancient manuscript has this very form, (Ænēăs, genit. Eneados, &c.) Virgil, however, would seem to have preferred for his poem an appellation that savoured of Grecian origin (Ænēïs, Aivnic). B Vi superûm, sævæ memorem Junonis ob iram; Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, III. In many manuscripts the following lines are prefixed to the Eneid: Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avenâ Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono: Gratum opus agricolis: at nunc horrentia Martis. These are meant as an introduction to the poem, and are printed as such in most editions. They are quite unworthy, however, the pen of Virgil, and would appear to have proceeded from some early grammarian, who wanted taste to perceive that the Arma virumque cano of the Roman poet formed a far more spirited commencement for an epic poem. Virgil here treads in the footsteps of his great master Homer. Compare the opening of the Odyssey. 1-2. Arma virumque cano. "I sing of arms and the man." By arma, put for bella, are here meant the wars that followed the arrival of Eneas in Italy; and by virum, the hero himself. The subject of the entire poem is thus stated in a few words, which the first seven lines expand in a general argument.-Troje qui primus ab oris, &c. "Who, a wanderer by fate, was the first that came from the coasts of Troy to Italy and the Lavinian shores." Literally, profugus means one who flies forth into the wide world, as Æneas here does in obedience to the decree of destiny. Antenor, as we learn from ver. 242, had reached Italy before Æneas, but the latter was the first who had come to those parts of that country where Lavinium was afterward built, (Æn. xii. 194.) and where the foundations were thus laid of the subsequent greatness of Rome. Virgil, therefore, adds, Laviniaque litora, to fix his meaning. Italia has the same limited sense, in v. 381. Observe the accusative of proper names, without a preposition, after a verb of motion to a place; as in Ecl. i. 65.-Laviniaque is pronounced in scanning as Lavinyaque, four syllables. Consult Metrical Index. 3-4. Multum ille et terris, &c. "Much was he tossed about both on land and on the deep." With jactatus supply est: and again with passus, in v. 5. Terris in the plural alludes to the wanderings of Æneas in many lands; and the poet here refers to the many hardships encountered by his hero while seeking for the spot where he was fated to become the founder of a new city. 4. Vi superúm. “By the power of the gods," i. e. by the might and will of the gods. The reference is not, as some think, to Juno alone, but to all the gods whose intervention at different times forms part of the machinery of the poem.—Memor, “ ever-mindful," is here commonly rendered “unrelenting," which, though it conveys the sense, does not hit with sufficient exactness the literal meaning of the Latin adjective. (Esch. Prom. 525. μνήμονες Ερίννες. Agam. 15. μνάμων μῆνις.) 66 5-7. Multa quoque, &c. That is, after he had reached Italy. These wars constitute the subject of the six last books of the Æneid. -Urbem. Lavinium. Dum is generally regarded here as equivalent to donec, and this meaning will answer well enough for the purposes of ordinary translation. The true force of the particle, however, appears more clearly in a literal rendering, "while he was founding," i. e. Inferretque deos Latio: genus unde Latinum, 10 while events were taking such a turn as enabled him eventually to found. Observe, also, the peculiar force of the subjunctive mood in conderet, "until he founded, as is said, or, as early legends tell."— 6. Deos. "His gods," i. e. the gods of his country; the Penates of Troy.-Latio. For, in Latium.-Unde. "Whence sprang." Unde here refers to the train of events consequent on the arrival of Eneas in Italy, and may therefore be more freely rendered "from which events."-Genus Latinum. The popular belief of the Romans was, that Æneas united the aborigines whom he found in Italy, and his own followers, into one nation, under the name of Latini. 7. Albanique patres. Not, as Heyne and others think, the senators of Alba, but the line of Alban kings, from whom as the fathers of his race, Romulus, the founder of Rome, was descended. 8-11. Musa. The Muse of epic poetry, Calliope. So Homer, whom Virgil here imitates, invokes the Muse at the commencement of both his great poems.-Causas. "The causes of this," i. e. of Juno's wrath. Quo numine læso, &c. Quo is here equivalent, as Heyne and others think, to quo negotio, or qua ratione: but this is harsh and inelegant, even if it be possible. The words, quo numine læso, must be rendered, what deity being offended, in which sense the phrase numen lædere constantly occurs (Hor. Epod. xv. 3); and the answer to this general question being mentally supplied, it is followed up by the particular one, quidve dolens, &c. Compare also v. 674. By the numen læsum the poet refers to the circumstance of Juno's power having been found by that goddess to be inferior to the decrees of fate, in consequence of which the Trojans eventually escaped from her malign influence and settled in Italy; while, on the other hand, the quidve dolens pictures the same goddess to our view as an irritated female, wrought upon by all a woman's feelings, on account of the "spretæ injuria formæ” (v. 27). 9. Tot volvere casus. "To struggle with so many calamities." Servius, and those with him, who make volvere cusus an hypallage for volvi casibus, manage to spoil a very beautiful figure. The hero, while toiling against many a hardship, is compared by the poet to a traveller whose path is impeded by numerous obstacles (fragments of rock, for example), which, by persevering efforts, he is finally enabled to remove or roll from before him. 10. Tot adire labores. "To confront so many labours." More literally, "to go against (and meet)." So, again, in En. v. 379.- Pietate. chief trait in the character of Eneas in his "piety," by which is meant his constant respect for the rites and ceremonies of religion, and his unwavering obedience to all the commands of the gods. Homer praises his piety in the Iliad (v. 174, xx. 298), and Virgil would seem to have borrowed the idea from him. Hence, too, Horace calls him castus in Carm. Sec. 42. Virgil, however, seems rather to have used pietas in the no less usual sense of filial affection; and it is in this respect that the character of Æneas is not only more amiable but more The Impulerit. Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ ? 15 exalted in Virgil than in Homer. 11. Impulerit. Taken here in the sense of compulerit, "compelled."-Tantæne. "Is there so great." Observe the force of the plural in ire, as imparting far more energy than the singular could have done, but which cannot be expressed in a translation. Compare En. xii. 494, 499. Hence, more peculiarly descriptive of the anger of the gods: as, again, in Hor. Carm. iii. 27. 70. 12-14. Antiqua. Cities are wont to pride themselves in an ancient origin. Compare Æn. i. 531, ii. 363.-Fuit. "There was." Implying that it had been subsequently overthrown.-Tyrii tenuere coloni. Alluding to the settlement of Carthage by a colony from Tyre in Phoenicia. 13. Carthago. Some supply nomine, "by name;" but without necessity. Contra longe. Facing in the distance." So contra is used in Sueton. Aug. 44. Locum contra Prætoris tribunal. Matt. xxi. 2. tǹv ȧπÉVAVTI KÓμŋV. Longe refers to the intervening Mediterranean.14. Dives opum. Mark the genitive. "Rich in resources," i. e. in all the elements of national power.-Studiisque asperrima belli. "And very fierce in the pursuits of war," i. e. fiercely warlike, or, rather, trained to the asperities of war. 15-18. Quam unam. "Which one city." Unus is frequently joined with superlatives, more rarely, as in the present instance, with comparatives. 16. Coluisse. "To have regarded."--Posthabitâ Samo. "Even Samos being held in less esteem." More literally, "being regarded after it." The goddess Astarte or Astaroth, sometimes styled "the Queen of Heaven," was particularly worshipped at Carthage, and in some of her attributes resembled the Roman Juno. Hence the poet identifies her with this deity.-Hic illius arma, &c. Arms and a chariot are here assigned to her, though not properly a warlike goddess. The idea itself, of giving such appendages to Deity, seems borrowed from the habits of the heroic age. See Hom. Il. v. 194, 720. The chariot of the Carthaginian Juno is represented as drawn by lions in Apul. As. Aur. vi. Ovid has borrowed from Virgil in Fast. vi. 45. Observe the force of the cæsural pause, in saving the final vowel of Samo from elision; and also the quantity of illius. See Metrical Index. 17. Regnum. "A seat of empire;" i. e. a centre of empire, as Rome afterwards was. 18. Si quá. "If in any way." Supply ratione. Jam tum. "Even then." More freely, "even at this early or remote period," i. e. even in the age of Æneas, and long before the founding of Rome.-Tenditque fovetque. 'Strives earnestly, and cherishes the wish." 66 19-22. Sed enim, &c. The particle sed here denotes some op Audierat, Tyrias olim quæ verteret arces; "Ruling position or obstacle to what precedes, namely, to the wish of Juno, while enim points to the reason or cause of that opposition. So in Greek, áλa yáp. Translate: "But (there was an obstacle to this), for she had heard," &c.-Duci. "Was being derived." The race here alluded to is the Roman. 20. Olim. "In after ages.-Tyrias arces. By the "Tyrian towers" is meant Carthage, as a city of Tyrian origin.-Verteret. In the sense of everteret. 21. Hinc. "That from this source," i. e. from Trojan blood.-Late regem. far and wide." Equivalent to late regnantem. Compare the Homeric EvρνкρEίwv.-Superbum. "Illustrious," here used in a good sense. Compare Sil. Ital. viii. 474, x. 573. 22. Excidio Libya. "For the destruction of Libya," i. e. of Carthage. Libya is here used, according to Greek usage, for Africa.- Volvere. "Decreed." The Parcæ cause the wheel to revolve as they spin the thread of individual, or of national destiny; hence the expression volvere fatum. Such, at least, is the common explanation. For another, and probably better one, consult note on ver. 262. 23-28. Id metuens. Dumesnil says, that metuo expresses apprehension of an evil yet distant; timeo of immediate danger. This is incorrect. Timeo is a generic term, signifying "to fear," without regard either to the nature of the object or of the extent of the evil. Metuo, on the other hand, implies that a hostile disposition is always dreaded in the person exciting the fear, and that the evil apprehended is great. -Veteris belli. "Of the late war." Vetus and antiquus are often used in speaking of a thing not long passed. The Trojan war is meant.-Saturnia. An epithet applied to Juno as the daughter of Saturn. Translate "the Saturnian goddess," or, "the daughter of Saturn." The term Saturnia is commonly regarded as the nominative to arcebat in the 31st line, the intervening part from line 25 to 28 (both inclusive) being taken as a parenthesis. It is much better, however, to view the whole construction as an anacoluthon, the result of poetic feeling. Saturnia will then be the nominative absolute, and arcebat will have the nominative illa understood.-24. Prima. 66 Previously." Taken as an adverb, and equivalent to prius or olim.-Caris Argis. "For her beloved Argos." i. e. for her beloved Greeks. Argos (in the plural Argi, -orum), the old capital of the Peloponnesus, is put here for Greece in general; or, perhaps, Argis may be a syncopated form of Argivis. 25. Causæ irarum sævique dolores. These are mentioned immediately after. 26. Alta mente repôstum. "Deeply treasured up." Alla is here used for alte. Literally, "treasured up in her deep mind." Repôstum is, by syncope, for repositum, as frequently in the poets. 27. Ju |