[90] For the motion of the sanctuary see on E. 4. 50. ‘Omnia’ is explained by what follows.
[91] Here and in 12. 363 ‘que’ is lengthened before a single consonant. Gossrau (Excursus on the Virgilian Hexameter) cites other instances, from Ov. M. 1. 193., 4. 10., 5. 484., 10. 262. So at Delphi the high altar stood in the front of the temple before the gates, and was crowned with bay, Eur. Ion 103 foll.
[92] Cortina, properly a caldron, seems to have been used to designate the vessel which formed the body of the tripod. Others make it the slab on which the priestess sat (Dict. A. s. v.). ‘Reclusis:’ so the temple flies open to give the response 6. 81.
[93] Submissi petimus terram is from Lucr. 1.92, “Muta metu terram genibus submissa petebat,” as Cerda remarks. The variant ‘ad auras’ is here partially supported by Pal.
[94] Durus is the Homeric πολύτλας. Like Ulysses, Aeneas and his comrades are destined to many hardships and formed to bear them. See G. 1. 63 note. ‘Dardanidae’ is doubtless intended to be significant, though not understood by those to whom it was addressed. It is noticed by Macrob. Somn. Scip. 1. 7. It is to be observed that the MSS. here uniformly give ‘a stirpe,’ “ab stirpe” being the more usual expression elsewhere in Virg.
[95] ‘The land which first produced you from your ancestral stock,’ i. e. the land where your ancestral stock first grew, the birthplace of your ancestors. ‘Ubere laeto’ expresses the quality of Italy (comp. 1. 531., 2. 782), perhaps with a reference to the image of a mother immediately following. They are told not merely that they shall find a home, but that the home shall be a fruitful one.
[96] Antiquam exquirite matrem sums up what had been said in the previous two lines and a half. The enigmatic character of the Greek oracles would perhaps have been better preserved if it had been allowed to stand alone; but Virg. is going to demand our attention for the thing said, not for the manner of saying it. With the image comp. G. 2. 268, and the oracle given to the Tarquins and Brutus that he should be king who first kissed his mother.
[97] This and the next line are translated from Poseidon's prophecy Il. 20. 307, νῦν δὲ δὴ Αἰνείαο βίη Τρώεσσιν ἀνάξει, Καὶ παίδων παῖδες, τοί κεν μετόπισθε γένωνται. We may observe however the verbal changes, ‘domus Aeneae’ for Αἰνείαο βίη, which involves making the second line epexegetical of the first, not, as in Homer, an addition to it, and the separation of ‘qui nascentur ab illis’ from ‘nati natorum,’ and the real change of converting a prediction of the supremacy of Aeneas and his family in a revived Phrygian Troy into a promise of the Roman empire. V. 98 is an answer to Aeneas' prayer v. 86. Serv. has a curious statement, borrowed, Heyne suggests, from some Alexandrian poem, such as the Chiliad of Euphorion, that Homer took the words from Orpheus, as Orpheus had taken them from the oracle of Apollo.
[99-120] ‘All are eager to know the meaning of the oracle. My father explains to them that Crete was the original cradle of our race and our national religious observances, and that we can reach it in a three days' sail, and orders sacrifices to render the voyage auspicious.’
[100] Ea moenia, the city which Apollo had promised by implication.
[101] Quo seems to be a separate question, not a dependent on ‘moenia.’ ‘Errantis,’ truants from their home.
[102] Volvens, 1. 305; but Virg. may also have meant to suggest the notion of unrolling a volume, 1. 262. ‘Veterum monumenta virorum,’ the traditions (not of course written, but oral) of past generations, of which in those days the old were the natural depositaries, just as in Plaut. Trin. 2. 2. 100, the father says to his son, “Historiam veterem atque antiquam haec mea senectus sustinet.” It may be questioned whether ‘virorum’ is a possessive genitive, or a genitive of the object, “quae monent de veteribus viris.” In 8. 356, where the words recur, the latter is evidently meant.
[103] Spes, the object of your hope, like “vestras spes uritis” 5. 672.
[104] Κρήτη τις γαἶ ἐστί, μέσῳ ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ Od. 19. 172. ‘Iovis magni insula,’ as the birthplace of Jove. ‘Medio ponto:’ see on v. 73.
[105] The existence of a mount Ida is adduced to prove that Troy was colonized from Crete. ‘Cunabula’ of a birthplace, Prop. 4. 1. 27, “Idaeum Simoenta, Iovis cunabula parvi.”
[106] Habitant, men inhabit (G. 3. 158, 312), another way of saying “centum urbes habitantur.” Ninety is the number of the cities of Crete in Od. 19. 174; but in Il. 2. 649 the island is called ἑκατόμπολις.
[107] Maxumus pater is evidently used loosely for the founder of the race; it is worth while however to comp. “quartus pater” Pers. 6. 58 for a great-great-grandfather, and the expression “maxumus patruus” or “avunculus” for a great-greatgrandfather's or grandmother's brother. According to the legend, Anchises seems to have been the great-great-great-grandson of Dardanus, whom one story made the son-in-law of Teucer, another his fatherin-law.
[108] For the two legends about Teucer see Dict. Biog. ‘Rhoeteas:’ the Troad is so called from the Rhoetean promontory on the Hellespont. ‘Teucrus’ is defended by Heins. as better supported by the MSS. than ‘Teucer,’ which others give.
[109]
Optavit 1. 425 note. Virgil is
again translating Hom. (Il. 20. 216 foll.):
“κτίσσε δὲ Δαρδανίην: ἐπεὶ οὔπω Ἴλιος
ἱρὴ
ἐν πεδίῳ πεπόλιστο, πόλις μερόπων ἀνθρώπων,
ἀλλ᾽ ἔθ᾽ ὑπωρείας ᾤκεον πολυπίδακος
Ἴδης,
”
where it is Dardanus that is spoken of.
[110] Steterant: see on v. 403 below. ‘Habitabant’ like “habitant” v. 106.
[111] Mater, of goddesses, like “pater” of gods, G. 1. 498, but with a special reference to Cybele as the mother of the gods. ‘Cultrix Cybelae:’ Cybele derived her name from a mountain Cybele in Phrygia. “Dindymon et Cybelen et amoenam fontibus Iden, Semper et Iliacas mater amavit opes” Ov. F. 4. 249. ‘Corybantiaque aera:’ see on G. 4. 151. The Corybantes are classed with the Curetes Ov. F. 4. 210 (speaking of the birth of Jupiter), and were sometimes identified with them. Others however place the Curetes in Crete, the Corybantes in Phrygia.
[112] Idaeum nemus like “Idaea silva” 2. 696. All these are mentioned as derived by Phrygia from Crete. ‘Fida silentia sacris’ refers to the mysteries of Cybele. Forb. well comp. the language of Hor. 3 Od. 2. 25 foll., about the parallel if not kindred mysteries of Ceres.
[113] Cybele was represented as drawn by lions (comp. 10. 253), a mode of conveyance which Anchises appears to say originated in Crete. ‘Domina’ of Cybele as of Juno v. 438 below. Here however, as Gossrau suggests, the word may be used relatively to ‘leones,’ as in Catull. 61 (63). 13, “Dindymenae dominae vaga pecora.”
[115] Placemus ventos of sacrificing to the gods of the sea, as vv. 119, 120 show. ‘Gnosia’ G. 1. 222.
[116] Nec longo distant cursu: about 150 miles. Jupiter may be mentioned as the god of the weather (E. 7. 60 note), Serv. This and the following line are imitated from Il. 9. 362, 363, εἰ δέ κεν εὐπλοίην δώῃ κλυτὸς Ἐννοσίγαιος, Ἤματί κεν τριτάτῳ Φθίην ἐρίβωλον ἱκοίμην, the latter of which lines (or rather the adaptation of it by Socrates) Cicero renders (Divin. 1. 25) “Tertia te Phthiae tempestas laeta locabit.”
[118] Honores G. 3. 486 note. ‘Mactavit’ is of course used in its later sense of sacrificing: but we may comp. “eos ferunt laudibus, et mactant honoribus” Cic. Rep. 1. 43. ‘Aris’ is more likely to be a local abl. than, as Forb. would have it, a dative.
[119] Neptune and Apollo are the tutelary deities of Troy; and there is a further reason for invoking them here, the one as the god of the sea, the other as having given the oracle. A bull is sacrificed to Neptune 2. 202, promised to the sea-gods 5. 235 foll. ‘Pulcher Apollo’ E. 4. 57. Comp. Il. 11. 727, ταῦρον δ᾽ Ἀλφειῷ, ταῦρον δὲ Ποσειδάωνι.
[120] The ‘pecus’ was probably a lamb, which 5. 772 is offered under similar circumstances to the “Tempestates.” A black victim is offered to the power which is required to withhold unpropitious influences (as to the powers of the dead 6. 249), a white one to those that are expected to exert themselves favourably. ‘Hiemps’ is itself called black 7. 214, the Zephyrs white Hor. 3 Od. 7. 1. Virg. may have thought of Il. 3. 103, οἴσετε δ᾽ ἄρν᾽, ἕτερον λευκόν, ἑτέρην δὲ μέλαιναν.
[121-131] ‘We hear that we may settle in Crete without danger from enemies, and make our way thither accordingly.’
