[435] Iphitus and Pelias are unknown to Hom., and do not appear elsewhere in Virg., unless ‘Iphitus’ is rightly read in v. 340, note. Here, as there, the name is variously spelt, though the form ‘Epytus’ does not seem to occur. Virg. would naturally coin such names as he required to make his epic narrative circumstantial. The age of one of Aeneas' comrades, and the disabled state of the other, show how desperate the fortunes of Troy had become, and so contrast with the description vv. 339 foll. ‘Aevo gravior,’ like “annis gravis,” 2. 246.
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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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