[377] Sensit delapsus is a familiar Grecism, probably to be explained not by attraction, but by the help of the fuller expression, “delapsus sensit se delapsum esse,” though in sense of course the participle stands instead of the object of the verb. The principle is the same as that of prolepsis, and is exemplified also in such expressions as “ostendit se dextra,” v. 388. Or we may say that the participle qualifies the verb, “he perceived as a man perceives who has fallen” &c. In some cases the difference between the nom. and the acc. with ‘esse’ scarcely affects the sense at all, e. g. “gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum,” G. 2. 510, where the use of the nom. appears quite natural, and the object of the verb is supplied without any difficulty. The use of the nom. with “esse,” as in Hor. 3 Od. 27. 73, “Uxor invicti Iovis esse nescis,” is not to be confounded with it, as there an attraction does take place, or rather perhaps a confusion between the two modes of expression. It is right also to remember that “sentio” is sometimes used absolutely (see on 7. 434), which may have been an additional reason for Virg. to employ the expression here.
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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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