[118]
Wagn. thinks ‘ingentem’ refers
to bulk generally, ‘ingenti mole’ to height;
but Gossrau's view seems more natural:
“duplicato adjectivo magnitudo navis extollitur,”
like Homer's μέγας μεγαλωστί.
It is singular that Gyas is not mentioned
as the founder of any house, as it appears
from Serv. that the Geganii, a great Alban
family, afterwards a patrician house at
Rome (Livy 1. 30), regarded him as their
progenitor. It is supposed however that
they may have died out before Virg.'s
time, as they are not mentioned in the
later history of the republic. At any rate
Virg. indemnifies Gyas by dwelling at
much greater length on the points of his
ship. ‘Gyas’ 1. 222. It occurs again Ov.
F. 6. 639, of a house built by Vedius Pollio
and left to Augustus, who pulled it down.
The lines are worth quoting:—
“Disce tamen, veniens aetas, ubi Livia
nunc est
Porticus, inmensae tecta fuisse domus.
Urbis opus domus una fuit, spatiumque
tenebat
Quo brevius muris oppida multa tenent.
”
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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