[198] Neque enim. Comp. v. 65, “Aeole, namque tibi,” note. There seems no occasion to follow the commentators (Gossrau is an exception) in joining ‘ante malorum’—τῶν πρὶν κακῶν. ‘Sumus ante’ (including the present time in the past) corresponds to the idiom πάλαι ἔσμεν. So in the Greek use of the superlative for the comparative the object compared is included in the objects of comparison. The speech is modelled on Od. 12. 208 foll. Macrob., Sat. 5. 11, thinks Virg. the “locupletior interpres” here. Serv. says Virg. has borrowed it from Naevius' Punic War, which, if it means anything more than that Naevius imitated Hom., may apply to the latter part, where Virg. has deviated from his Greek original. See p. 23 above.
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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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