[45] Comp. Lucr. l.c. “Turbine caelesti subito correptus et igni.” ‘Turbine’ is the wind or force of the thunderbolt, as in 6. 594. See also on 2. 649. Forb. is right in placing a semicolon only after ‘acuto,’ to show that ‘Ast ego,’ &c. is connected with the lines preceding. One or two MSS. have ‘inflixit,’ which Cornutus ap. Serv. preferred “ut vehementius.” ‘Infixit’ is a little awkward after ‘transfixo;’ and the construction “infigere aliquem alicui,” to impale a person upon a thing, is, as Henry has pointed out, unusual, if not unexampled. ‘Infixit’ however is supported by Sen. Ag. 571, “Haerent acutis rupibus fixae rates,” quoted by Gossrau. Henry's interpretation, making ‘scopulo’ abl., and supposing Ajax to be pierced by a fragment of rock hurled at him (‘turbine’ being paralleled with “ingentis turbine saxi,” 12. 531), agrees to a certain extent with Quinct. Smyrn. 14. 567 foll. (not with Sen. Ag. 552 foll., who follows Hom.); nothing however is there said about piercing Ajax, who is merely said to be overwhelmed by the rock as Enceladus was overwhelmed by Aetna; so that the parallel is hardly made out. W. Ribbeck cites Seneca's poem to Corduba, vv. 13, 14 (Wernsdorf's Poet. Lat. Min. vol. 5, p. 1367), “Ille tuus quondam magnus, tua gloria, civis Infigar scopulo,” which is in favour of the common interpretation, as the writer evidently means to speak of his banishment to a rocky island as an impalement.
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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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