[790] Omnipotens: see on v. 785. The passages where the epithet is used of Juno are not parallel, she being supposed to share Jove's omnipotence. It is difficult to say whether ‘pulsae’ here and ‘pulsa’ v. 793 mean beaten off or wounded. The first would on the whole be the more natural meaning here, as answering to the etymological sense of ‘tropacum’ (comp. “pulsi Turni gloria” 10. 143), and being undoubtedly the more usual meaning of the word. The second would suit v. 793 better, and is supported by Prop. 5. 9. 15, “Maenalio iacuit pulsus tria tempora ramo Cacus.” Perhaps it is safest to say that Virg. was glad to avail himself of the various associations of the word, beating off, putting to flight, and striking. Arruns might naturally regard himself as repelling an enemy, and he would characteristically express himself as if he were conquering her in fair fight and even making her fly, at the same time that the poet might be determined in his choice of the word by its further and more primitive meaning. So just below, v. 796, Gossrau, after Peerlkamp, finds a difficulty in ‘turbatam,’ as implying that Camilla did not die with fortitude. Virg. probably chose the word partly from the association of ‘proturbo’ and ‘exturbo,’ partly as suggesting the notion of routing an army, partly again as expressing the suddenness and surprise of the event. There is a somewhat similar fluctuation in the meaning of the words ‘victus’ and ‘fusus’ in such passages as 10. 842, vv. 102, 366 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. and Henry Nettleship, M.A. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane;. George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1876.
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