[410] ‘What would you say had you seen.’ ‘Caestus ipsius et Herculis arma’ has the air of a double hendiadys, though ‘ipsius’ is not independent of ‘Herculis,’ any more than “nostra” of “Thalia” in E. 6. 2. See above on 3. 162. The meaning apparently is that Hercules' weapons were still more terrible than those of Eryx. We might however take this line as merely an ornamental amplification of the thought expressed in the next, understanding Entellus to mean ‘What if you had seen a fatal combat between two champions like Hercules and Eryx, each armed with these weapons, in this very place?’
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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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