[473] Comp. generally 4. 173, 298, 666. In ‘pennata’ Serv. finds an allusion to the feather which, according to the Schol. on Juv. 4. 149, was attached to despatches containing alarming news: but the image of Fame as winged is common enough: see 4. 180 foll., Hor. 2 Od. 2. 7, “Illum aget penna metuente solvi Fama superstes,” the latter comp. by Forb. ‘Urbem’ the campsettlement, v. 8.
[474] Adlabi of a thing conceived as winged v. 578. Elsewhere in Virg. it takes a dat., as 6. 2.
[475] “Calor ossa reliquit” 3. 308. The espression recalls Lucr. 3.123, “Cum corpora pauca caloris Diffugere, forasque per os est editus aer, Deserit extemplo venas atque ossa relinquit.”
[476] Imitated from Andromache's reception of the news of Hector's death Il. 22. 448, τῆς δ᾽ ἐλελίχθη γυῖα, χαμαὶ δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε κερκίς, her weaving having been previously mentioned. Barnes on Il. l. c. conj. ‘resolutaque membra;’ but this part of the Homeric description is expressed in the preceding line. Virg. may also have thought of Apoll. R. 3. 255. ‘Revoluta:’ the threads which were passing round the shuttle are untwined when it falls to the ground.
[477] Comp. generally Anna rushing to Dido's side 4. 672 foll. “Femineo ululatu” 4. 667.
[478] Scissa comam 4. 590. “Cursu petere” 1. 157. ‘Agmina,’ as Mr. Long remarks, is rather a singular word to use under the circumstances.
[479] Prima not, as Serv. and Burm., nom. sing., but, as Heyne, acc. pl. She stands among the soldiers at the edge of the rampart, that she may have a nearer view of her son's head. ‘Non illa’ 6. 593. ‘Pericli telorumque’ ἓν διὰ δυοῖν. ‘Memor virum’ apparently refers to the want, not of sense of danger, but of the customary restraint of women before men. Forb. comp. Stat. Theb. 11. 318, a passage imitated from Virg., where Jocasta rushes upon the scene “non sexus decorisve memor.”
[480] “Loca questibus inplet” G. 4. 515.
[481] ‘Is it thus that I behold you?’ Comp. 3. 558, “Nimirum haec illa Charybdis.” For ‘ille’ Rom. has ‘illa,’ which Heins. restored and Heyne retained; but ‘ille’ is supported by 1. 664, “Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus,” and is much more likely to have been altered than ‘illa.’ See on v. 485 below.
[482] “Mea sola et sera voluptas” 8. 581. “Senectae tu requies miserae” 12. 57. Comp. the Greek γηροβόσκος, γηροτρόφος. ‘Sera’ means belonging to my latest days.
[483] Crudelis is similarly placed 4. 311. ‘Sub’ gives the notion of entering dangers. Comp. “subire pericula,” “pericula insinuandum” Lucr. 5.44.
[484] Med. and originally Pal. have ‘extremis,’ a curious variety, which may be accounted for either by a confusion with the first syll. of ‘miserae’ or by a recollection of the expression “in extremis.” “Extremum fato quod te adloquor hoc est” 6. 466. For ‘copia adfari’ see on G. 1. 213. “Coram data copia fandi” 1. 520.
[485] This and the following line are imitated from Od. 24. 290 foll. (comp. Il. 22. 86 foll.). In the present line Virg. thought of Il. 1. 4, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν Οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι. All Ribbeck's MSS. have ‘data,’ but it can scarcely be doubted that ‘date’ is the true reading, though the oldest authority quoted for it is the second Mentelian, and that ‘data’ was introduced partly from the previous line, partly as being supposed to be the more regular construction. The voc. is used where we should expect the nom., as in 2. 283., 12. 947.
[486] Funera has created great difficulty. Serv. makes it a nom., saying that ‘funera’ or “funerea” was an ancient term for an unprofessional, as “praefica” for a professional mourner: his note however leaves it in doubt whether he ever found ‘funera’ in that sense, though he may have found “funerea,” and in the only other passage where it has been supposed to occur, Ennius' epitaph on himself, v. 1, “Nemo me lacrimis decoret, nec funera fletum Faxit,” the MSS. of Cic., who twice quotes the passage, have ‘fletu,’ which is doubtless the right reading. Others have wished to take ‘te’ with ‘veste tegens,’ ‘tua funera’ with ‘produxi,’ which the order of the words absolutely repudiates. If the text is sound, it seems best with Ribbeck to follow Catrou's interpretation, making ‘tua funera’ epexegetical of ‘te,’ Euryalus' mother correcting herself in her grief, ‘you—your corpse.’ This is not free from objection, but perhaps it may receive some support from 12. 935 “Et me, seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis, Redde meis.” There seems no probability in any of the conjectures proposed: the most popular of them, Bembo's ‘funere,’ seems scarcely Virgilian, either in the construction it introduces or in the order of the words, and the insertion of ‘et,’ ‘ad,’ or ‘in,’ before ‘tua’ would be clumsy.
[487] Lucan 2. 298 has “longum producere funus,” which confirms ‘funera’ here, Stat. 2 Silv. 1. 19 foll. “nigrae sollennia pompae . . . et puerile feretrum Produxi.” But it is possible that the words here may mean ‘I laid out the corpse,’ like ἐκτείνειν. ‘Pressive oculos,’ ὀφθαλμοὺς καθελοῦσα Od. 24. 296. Macrob. Sat. 6. 2 comp. Enn. Cresph. fr. 8, “Neque terram iniicere neque cruenta convestire corpora Mihi licuit, nec miserae lavere lacrimae salsum sanguinem.”
[488] So Andromache Il. 22. 510 foll. laments that Hector cannot be laid in the robes which are in store in the palace, τετυγμένα χερσὶ γυναικῶν. Here the garment was doubtless prepared for Euryalus' wearing when alive, and his mother laments that he cannot have the use of it even when dead. She was weaving when the news reached her, v. 476. ‘Festina,’ to finish it before her death.
[489] ‘Vestem urguebam’ like “urguet opus” Tibull. 1. 9. 8. ‘Et solabar’ is used loosely after the relative clause: comp. G. 2. 208 note. “Cantu solata laborem” G. 1. 293.
[490] She asks whither she is to follow him, his limbs being doubtless dispersed. ‘Avolsa’ torn from the trunk, like “avolsum humeris caput” 2. 558.
[491] Funus of a corpse, as in Prop. 1. 17. 8, “Haeccine parva meum funus arena teget?” comp. by Cerda. “‘Hoc’ caput intuens ait” Serv.
[492] Refers, from your expedition. ‘Hoc’ still refers to the head, according to Heyne's first interpretation. The alternative which he proposes and Wagn. prefers, “‘hoc’ pro ‘eo,’ ‘propterea,’” would be much less forcible. She says ‘secuta’ rather than ‘comitata’ to express that this is the issue and, as it were, goal of her wanderings. Some early editions give ‘quae’ for ‘hoc,’ whether from any MS. is uncertain.
[493] “Si qua est caelo pietas” 2. 536. ‘If you have the feelings of men.’ Virg. may have thought of Eur. Hec. 387, κεντεῖτε, μὴ φείδεσθ᾽: ἐγὼ ᾿τεκον Πάριν.
[494] Serv. remarks “Unusquisque in propriae salutis desperatione credit tum universa etiam posse consumi, unde est quod modo dixit, ‘me primam,’ quasi mortuo Euryalo omnes Troiani perituri essent.” The observation shows great poetical feeling, and may be illustrated by Kent's question in the last scene of King Lear, “Is this the promised end?” Yet it seems simpler to say that she merely bids them kill her at once before they use their weapons further. Pal. originally had ‘primum.’ ‘Absumite ferro’ 4. 601.
[495] Comp. generally 5. 691 foll.
[496] Caput 4. 613.
[497] Quando i.q. “quoniam,” 4. 315. “Crudelem abrumpere vitam” 8. 579.
[498] “Quo gemitu conversi animi” 2. 73.
[499] Ad proelia might be constructed either with ‘torpent infractae’ or with ‘vires:’ but the former is more probable. Comp. 8. 509 note. “Exercitum tardatum ad proelia” Tac. A. 1. 62.
[500] Extravagant sorrow is compared to a flame, from its effect on the mourner and on the bystanders. Comp. 4. 360 “Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis.” Not unlike is “ἄταν οὐρανίαν φλέγων” Soph. Aj. 196. ‘Luctus’ is her own grief, not, as Heyne takes it, that of the army. Virg. was thinking of Catull. 62 (64). 226, “Nostros luctus nostraeque incendia mentis.” Cerda comp. Il. 9. 433, δάκρυ᾽ ἀναπρήσας, Od. 20. 353, οἰμωγὴ δέδηε. Idaeus and Actor do not appear elsewhere, though there is a namesake of the first 6. 485, Priam's herald and charioteer, of the second 12. 94.
[501] Ilioneus takes the lead as in 1. 521., 7. 212.
[502] Inter manus 2. 681., 11. 311. Here it is constructed not with ‘reponunt’ but as if with an implied participle, “inter manus positam.” Comp. Il. 5. 344, τὸν μὲν μετὰ χερσὶν ἐρύσσατο Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων. One of Ribbeck's cursives has ‘reportant.’
[503-524] ‘The Italians attempt to storm the camp in various ways.’
