[577] Saevior, fiercer than Tisiphone. ‘Habet sedem’ i. q. “sedet.” In what follows Virg. has copied Hom., doubling his measurement, τόσσον ἔνερθ᾽ Ἀΐδεω, ὅσον οὐρανός ἐστ᾽ ἀπὸ γαίης Il. 8. 16; a mode of ‘excelling by ill imitating’ which he has more than once resorted to. Milton, we may remember, has similarly attempted to improve on Virg. and Hom. both, placing the rebel angels in a region “as far removed from God and light of heaven As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole” (P. L. Book 1. 73 foll.).
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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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