[158] Wagn. makes a distinction between “tollere in astra” and “tollere ad astra,” the first being used strictly of apotheosis, the second also of mere metaphorical immortality or exaltation. See on E. 5. 51. When we come however to look at the principle of the distinction, it appears to fail. “Tollere ad auras” may differ from “tollere in auras,” the one meaning rising towards the air, the other elevation into it: but here the elevation is the same, the difference being that in the one case it is literal, in the other rhetorical. There seems then no reason why we should not with Heyne understand these words generally of the superhuman glory of Aeneas' descendants, not with Serv. specially of the apotheosis of Caesar or Augustus, which would harmonize less well with the following clause, and be further objectionable, as merging Aeneas' own deification in that of his posterity.
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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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