[648] Exsultat Amazon i. q. “exsultat ut Amazon,” the μεταφορά being used instead of the εἰκών (Aristot. Rhet. 3. 4). Serv. comp. 1. 318, “suspenderat arcum Venatrix.” For the Amazons see 1. 490 foll.
[649] “Aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae” 1. 492. Comp. v. 803 below. Whether the breast exposed is the right or the left does not appear. The Amazons were said to have cut or burnt off the right breast, that it might not interfere with the drawing of the bow: they are however sometimes represented in sculpture with the right breast exposed: and this is generally the case with Diana and her nymphs. See Heyne's note. ‘Pugnae’ = “ad pugnandum,” with a special reference to shooting. ‘Pharetrata’ G. 4. 290.
[650] “Lenta spicula” 7. 165. Donatus read “laeta” (nom.), to suit “exsultat.” ‘Spargens’ as in 12. 50, “ferrum haud debile dextra Spargimus.” “Sparsis hastis” Ennius, quoted on v. 601 above. ‘Denset’ Med. a m. s. and one of Ribbeck's cursives, supported by Serv., ‘densat’ Med. a m. p., Rom., Gud., and two other cursives. See on G. 1. 248. In Serv.'s note “‘denset,’ i. e. dense, sparse iacit,” we should doubtless read “dense sparsa iacit.”
[651] Rapit may = “rapide movet,” ‘whirls,’ as in Sen. (?) Oct. 122, “Violentus ensem per latus nostrum rapit” (comp. 1. 176, “rapuitque in fomite flammam,” according to Serv.'s explanation). But it is simpler and perhaps better to take it in its ordinary sense, comp. 7. 510, 520 &c. Camilla, after using the spear, would snatch up the battle-axe. ‘Indefessa’ however would have rather more propriety with the former interpretation.
[652] Virg. has chosen to speak of the bow and arrows as carried by her while she is using other weapons: in the following lines however he speaks of the use to which she puts them. With the language comp. 4. 149, “Tela sonant humeris,” and Il. 1. 45, 46. ‘Arma Dianae’ like “nostris armis” v. 535 above.
[653] It is difficult to say whether ‘in tergum’ is to be taken ‘towards the rear of the army,’ or as a kind of adverb, i. q. “tergo dato.” Neither lexicographers nor commentators quote anything which would support either interpretation. Ribbeck reads ‘in tergum si quando’ from one cursive, taking ‘in tergum’ with the next line; but this, even if its external authority were greater, would not help us much, as Camilla's arrows would be directed at the faces of her pursuers, not at their backs, so that we should still have to assume the meaning “tergo dato.”
[654] Converso, turned towards her pursuers. So of turning about from flight, 12. 252. “‘Fugientia’ pro ipsa fugiens,” Serv. Rom. has ‘fulgentia,’ a natural error.
[655] It has been questioned whether all Camilla's followers are female warriors as well as herself, or whether she has merely a few Amazons who lead her squadrons of cavalry or form her staff. The latter seems more likely, as otherwise the singular fact of a female army would doubtless have been dwelt on by Virg. in such passages as 7. 803 foll., vv. 433, 434 above. In any case the list here is not exhaustive, as we hear of Acca v. 820 below. The names are obviously Italian, Larina being connected with the town Larinum.
[656] ‘Aeratam’ seems virtually = “aeream” (see Forc. s. v.), as it is not likely that bronze ornaments on the handle are referred to. Perhaps Virg. may have thought of the wooden haft as furnished with a bronze blade. The axe seems to be mentioned as the national weapon of the Italian rural population, 7. 627.
[657] Dia was read by Serv., and is more or less supported by Ribbeck's cursives, being the original reading of Gud. ‘Diva,’ the rival reading, is supported by Med. The question perhaps is merely one of spelling: but as Virg. does not elsewhere use the form ‘dius,’ it may be worth noticing that Varro L. L. 7. 34 on the word “Casmilus” (see on v. 543) says, “Casmilus nominatur dius quidam administer Dis Magnis.” This may point to some further connexion between the epithet and the name here, to which we have lost the clue. Rom. has ‘dura.’
[658] Serv. read ‘bonae,’ and so Rom., Gud. corrected, and at least two other of Ribbeck's cursives. It is a natural enough epithet for peace (comp. Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 102), but it would be rather out of place here. ‘Bonas’ on the other hand is the Homeric ἐσθλὸν ἑταῖρον, Il. 17. 345 &c. Serv. strangely says “sine dubio et ‘belli saevi’ diceret, si ratio versus admitteret,” adding as strangely (if the words are his), “quidam ‘bonum’ interdum pro ‘grandi’ accipiunt.” (These words are in none of the Oxford MSS. of Servius.) For the gen. after ‘minister’ see Forc.
[659] Threiciae is separated from ‘Amazones’ as “Delius” from “Apollo” 3. 162. Serv. quotes a fragment of Sallust, “Dein Themiscyrii campi, quos habuere Amazones, a Tanai flumine incertum quam ob caussam digressae:” a statement which he endorses. Comp. Justin 2. 4. The neighbourhood of the Thermodon was, according to all accounts, the legendary home of the Amazons: it is less easy to trace their connexion with Thrace. Justin l. c., like Sallust, represents them as having come to the Thermodon from the north of the Euxine, and Pausanias 10. 31. 8 mentions a picture in which Penthesilea was represented as carrying a bow τοῖς Σκυθικοῖς ἐμφερές. Penthesilea is however a Thracian in the cyclic legend: in Pindar Ol. 8. 47 the Amazons are mentioned along with the Ister: in Aeschylus Prom. 724 the Thracian Salmydessus is confusedly spoken of as in the neighbourhood of the Thermodon. Diodorus 2. 46 speaks of the Amazons as conquering the tribes extending from the Tanais to Thrace. Whether the Greek poets, and Virgil who followed them (see also 5. 312), meant by the Thrace which they connected with the Amazons anything more definite than the north, is not easy to say. Propertius 3. 11. 14 calls Penthesilea “Maeotis.” Rom. and other copies have ‘Thermodoontis,’ a reading mentioned by Serv.: but the name of the river is Thermodon.
[660] Pulsant flumina is understood by Heyne of the horse-hoofs beating on the frozen river, perhaps rightly: but there is nothing in Sil. 2. 73 foll. or Claud. Proserp. 2. 62 foll., to which he refers, to prove that they so understood it (for the sense of ‘fatigant’ in the former passage see on 1. 317), and the words might apply equally well to the hoofs shaking the banks and echoing along the stream (comp. 7. 701, “sonat amnis et Asia longe Pulsa palus”). There is a similar doubt about Sil. 8. 430, “Nec coetu leviore—Perstrepit et tellus et Amazonius Thermodon.” The mention of lec would seem more appropriate to the Scythian than to the Cappadocian home of the Amazons (see Claudian l. c., and comp. Soph. Ant. 981 foll., referred to on 1. 317): Ovid however (4 ex Ponto 10. 51), speaking of the freezing of the Euxine, attributes it partly to the influx of the water of the rivers, among which he specifies the Thermodon. ‘Pictis armis’ 8. 588. Here it may refer to metallic ornaments on the “pelta,” which was of wood or wicker, covered with skin (see Dict. A. s. v.). ‘Bellantur:’ the deponent is also found Sil. 2. 349, “Et nudis bellantur equis.” See Madv. § 147 b.
[661] Hippolyte and Penthesilea were mythical queens of the Amazons, the first being connected in legend with Theseus and Hercules, the second (see 1. 490 note) with the Trojan war. Virg. speaks as if one or the other was still in being. ‘Martia’ need only mean “bellatrix:” the queens of the Amazons however professed to be daughters of Mars, Justin 2. 4.
[662] Se refert, victorious from the battle. So Claud. l. c. “quoties Arcton populata virago Hippolyte niveas ducit post proelia turmas.” ‘Ululante tumultu:’ “tumultus ipse ululat cum ululent tumultuantes,” Gossrau. The verb is appropriate here, both as indicating triumph (the Greek ὀλολύζειν) and as characteristic of women. “Magno turbante tumultu” 6. 857.
[663] Here as in v. 648 ‘exsultare’ seems to refer to the prancing of horses. ‘Lunatis peltis’ 1. 490.
