[797] ‘Was it fit that Aeneas, a god, should be wounded by a mortal?’ ‘Mortali volnere’ (like “mortalis mucro” v. 740 above), a wound dealt by a mortal. The thought is like that in Eur. Orest. 271, Βεβλήσεταί τις θεῶν βροτησίᾳ χερί; Comp. 10. 30, “Et tua progenies mortalia demoror arma.” The wounding may be either that attempted by Turnus (v. 740), or that actually effected by the arrow (v. 319). ‘Violare’ in a similar context 11. 277, “cum ferro caelestia corpora demens Adpetii, et Veneris violavi volnere dextram:” comp. ib. 591, 848. Heyne makes strange difficulties here, suggesting either that ‘mortali’ must = “mortifero,” or that ‘mortalem’ would be clearer.
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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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