[121]
Gossrau, Ladewig, and Henry are,
I think, right in following Serv. against the
later editors, and explaining ‘alae’ as
the “alatores,” who appear from Isid.
Orig. 10 quoted on G. 3. 413 and other old
authorities to have been a distinct class of
huntsmen. They are generally supposed
to have been mounted like cavalry, of
which the ‘alae’ of the Roman army originally
consisted: Mr. Long, however,
thinks that they were beaters or drivers,
so called from their position on the flank,
the people for whom the game was driven
answering to the legions in the centre.
The other interpretation, understanding it
of the red feathers with which the game
was scared (see on G. 3. 372), is not in
Virg.'s manner, though it may suit a more
modern taste, dwelling as it does on an unimportant
circumstance, with the object of
producing a picturesque effect. The change
of nom. at ‘cingunt,’ too, is an objection
to this view, though a slight one. A similar
question has been raised on the use of
‘ala’ in a passage in Silius Italicus (2. 418),
describing this very scene:
“Hinc et speluncam furtivaque foedera
amantum
Callaicae fecere manus: it clamor ad
auras
Latratusque canum, subitoque exterrita
nimbo
Occultant alae venantum corpora silvis.
”
This text is part of:
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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