[12] Muretus thinks this passage imitated from Cic. Phil. 14. 3, “refugit animus, P. C., eaque formidat dicere.” It is itself imitated by Sen. Ag. 417, “refugit loqui Mens aegra tantis atque inhorrescit malis,” which seems to show, as Wund. thinks, that ‘refugit’ as well as ‘horret’ goes with ‘meminisse.’ The perf. seems best explained as expressing the instantaneous and instinctive action of the feeling. Prof. Munro comp. Sen. H. F. 1200, “quid hoc? manus refugit: hic errat scelus,” where however the structure of the sentence makes the tense more explicable. Weidner thinks ‘horret’ is a sort of perf. of “horrescit,” and so explains its combination with ‘refugit,’ appealing ingeniously to Sen. Ag. l. c., where ‘inhorrescit’ is coupled with ‘refŭgit,’ the pres. He explains ‘refugit’ on the analogy of δέδοικα &c., a single past act leading to a continuing state.
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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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