[2] Henry insists that ‘volnus’ is the wound and ‘igni’ the fire, referring to the mention of Dido's passion towards the end of Book 1: but this seems refining. The wound is said to be nourished, as it is kept alive and unhealed. So below, “vivit sub pectore volnus” v. 67, “alitur vitium vivitque tegendo” G. 3. 454. So in Greek a person is said βόσκειν a disease which exhausts the vital powers, Aesch. Supp. 620, Soph. Phil. 312, 1167. ‘Venis’ is doubtless an instrumental abl., as Heyne explains it—‘nourishes it by her veins,’ allows it to suck her blood. So Heracles says of his poisoned tunic, Soph. Trach. 1055, πνεύμονός τ᾽ ἀρτηρίας Ῥοφεῖ συνοικοῦν, ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου Πέπωκεν ἤδη. We may either suppose Virg. to have changed his metaphor in ‘igni,’ or with Heyne imagine a reference to the fiery arrows of Love, as Apollonius says of Medea (3. 286), “βέλος δ᾽ ἐνεδαίετο κούρῃ Νέρθεν ὑπὸ κραδίῃ, φλογὶ εἴκελον”.
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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. Late Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane. 1876.
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