[725] Ingentem is the first reading of Med., possibly pointing to a variant ‘fulgentem.’ “Lunaique globum” Lucr. 5. 69. ‘Titaniaque astra’ seems best referred to the sun alone, already 4. 119 called ‘Titan,’ as one of the Titanic brotherhood, being the son of the Titan Hyperion. The stars had no connexion with the Titans: nor would it be natural either that they should be mentioned to the exclusion of the sun or that the sun should be merged among them, they having been already distinguished from the moon. The pl. for the sing. is supported by Ov. M. 14. 172, “sidera solis” (where however another reading is “lumina”), and Val. F. 2. 364, “Saturnia sidera,” which is said of Capricorn alone. If it is any thing more than an arbitrary stretch of poetical licence, it is probably to be explained of the rising and setting sun regarded as two, as Ov. M. 1. 338 talks of “littora sub utroque iacentia Phoebo,” and Petronius of “sidus utrumque.” So Weber (Corpus Poetarum） on Ov. M. 14. 172. Dryden conj. “Titanaque et astra,” a plausible suggestion from an amateur critic.
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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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