[621, 622] Macrob. Sat. 4. 1 says that these lines are closely copied from two of Varius', “Vendidit hic Latium populis, agrosque Quiritum Eripuit, fixit leges pretio atque refixit.” Virg. has been generally supposed to refer to Curio, who was bribed by Caesar's paying his debts to quit the party of Pompey; but though Lucan 4. 819 foll. speaks of him in similar language, it is not credible that Virg. should refer in this way to a transaction which reflected on the buyer no less than on the seller. Virg. might safely speak of the impiety of civil contests to Augustus, as we have seen on vv. 612, 613, but he cannot be supposed to have glanced at any of those who brought about either the dictatorship of the first Caesar or the imperial power of the second. ‘Fixit’ &c. seems to refer to the same person as ‘vendidit,’ ‘inposuit,’ so that the same reason would operate against our supposing a distinct reference to Antony, though we cannot say that his proceedings may not have been in Virg.'s mind. ‘Vendidit auro’ 1. 484. “Dominam potentem” 3. 438. Here the words are significant, as opposed to the liberty which has been taken away. “Dominum vehet inprobus atque Serviet aeternum” Hor. 1 Ep. 10. 40. ‘Fixit’ and ‘refixit,’ the laws being engraven on brazen tablets and fastened in some public place whence they were removed when abrogated. The laws of the Twelve Tables were engraved on brass and fixed in the Forum: the Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus, now preserved at Vienna, is on brass. See Lewis, Credibility of Rom. Hist., vol. 1. p. 138.
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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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