[427] Pube tenus explains ‘prima.’ ‘Pistrix,’ ‘pristis,’ ‘pistris,’ ‘pristrix,’ are varieties found in the MSS. here or elsewhere. The question seems to lie between the two first, both of which seem to have been forms used in classical Latin, Cic. Arat. v. 152 having “pistricis,” while “pristim” occurs 10. 211. On internal grounds it might seem more probable that Virg. should have written ‘pristis,’ as there is no passage in the Aeneid which requires the form in ‘x,’ while there are several (5. 116, 156., 10. 211) which do not admit it. The external authority however is strongly for ‘pistrix,’ only inferior MSS. being cited for ‘pristis;’ and as the question seems not to be one of mere orthography, it is better to adopt the better attested word. The notion that Virg. was likely to have given the more colloquial name to the ship, the less colloquial to the actual fish, is refuted by the passage in Book 10. The ‘pistrix’ was a great fish, which Pliny (9. 3) says was found sometimes of 200 cubits' length.
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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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