[548] Nec is the reading of all the MSS., except the Hamburg corrected, and of Serv., and is supported by the occurrence of the expression “nec te paeniteat” E. 2. 34., 10. 17, where it is nearly equivalent to “nec pudeat.” ‘Ne’ was recommended by Heins. and introduced by Heyne, and has been followed by most subsequent critics. Retaining ‘nec,’ we must understand ‘non metus’ with Henry, ‘we have no cause to dread,’ which would agree with Dido's words v. 562. But the expression is a harsh one, though it may perhaps be palliated by such phrases as “haud mora.” There should, I think, be a semicolon or colon after ‘metus;’ not a period, as Ribbeck punctuates, as if a new thought began here and were carried on to the end of v. 550. It is Aeneas who will repay Dido if he lives. ‘Officio certasse priorem,’ to have taken the lead in the rivalry of good deeds. Comp. the phrase “provocare aliquem beneficio.” “Si muneribus certes” E. 2. 57. Comp. generally the parallel 7. 233, “Nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit.” ‘Certasse,’ like ‘paeniteat,’ assumes that Dido has already done what Ilioneus asks her to do. See E. 2. 34, referred to above.
This text is part of:
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.