[462] Loca senta situ is a translation of Ἀΐδεω δόμον εὐρώεντα Od. 10. 512 &c. (comp. Il. 20. 65.) ‘Sentus’ occurs Ter. Eun. 2. 2. 5, “Video sentum, squalidum, aegrum, pannis annisque obsitum” of a poor man. From this, which seems the only authority anterior to Virg.'s, we may assume that here it must = ‘horrida’ or ‘inculta.’ Ov. M. 4. 436 copies Virg.: Prudentius (see Forc.) uses it in a way which shows that he connected it with ‘sentis.’ This may or may not be the case: at any rate there seems no reason for supposing the reference here to be to briars or other obstacles, or to any thing but that roughness which a locality would acquire when left to itself, and which is in fact expressed by ‘situs,’ G. 1. 72. Serv. remarks that mould forms on things not exposed to the sun. Comp. Aesch. Eum. 387, ἀνηλίῳ λάπᾳ δυσοδοπαίπαλα δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς. “Noctemque profundam” 4. 26.
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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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