[697] Cum venit. On his arrival the feast begins. ‘Conposuit—locavit:’ the perfect coupled with the historic present ‘venit,’ as the pluperfect would have been coupled with the past. ‘Aulaea’ are doubtless the awning or curtain that hung from a Roman ceiling to catch the dust, and under which the couches would be arranged. Comp. Hor. 2 S. 8. 54, and the Schol. there. So also Serv. and the older commentators interpreted it, and so Henry. It is difficult however to account for the abl., which may be either in or under a curtain, or settled herself (‘conposuit se’） with a curtain, as contributing to the ease of the banquet. Heyne, followed by the later editors, takes ‘aulaea’ for the tapestry on the couch; but there seems to be no authority for this use of the term. Horace's “cenae sine aulaeis et ostro” (3 Od. 29. 15) might support such a meaning if established, but cannot be quoted to prove it.
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John Conington. P. Vergili Maronis opera. P. Vergili Maronis Opera. The works of Virgil, with a Commentary by John Conington, M.A. Late Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane. 1876.
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