[571] Pierius' note on ‘viduasset’ may amuse the reader: “Servius ait, proprie ‘viduasset’ dictum a Vergilio, quia urbs est generis feminini: abusive vero et satis incongrue ab Horatio dictum ‘viduus pharetra Risit Apollo.’ Quia scilicet putat ipse ‘viduam’ quasi ‘viro iduam’ dici. Atqui sunt ex grammaticis quorum auctoritas minime contemnenda est qui ‘viduam’ a ‘ve’ et ‘duitate’ dictum velint, sicut ‘vesanus’ non sanus, atque ita non incongrue dixerit Horatius ‘viduus Apollo.’” Serv.'s supposed etymology is so far nearer the truth that “viduus” has the same root as “dividere” and “iduare.” ‘Viduo’ occurs Lucr. 5.840, where it is constructed with a gen., as here with an abl. ‘Urbem’ can hardly be Agylla, as Forb. thinks, as unless we read ‘finitimos,’ there is nothing in the context to favour Serv.'s supposition mentioned on v. 569 that Mezentius' treatment of his subjects would have concerned Evander. Mezentius was an ally of Turnus, and Turnus was an enemy of Evander, so that we may readily suppose that Mezentius had been a scourge to his neighbours of Pallanteum. Gossrau's solution, that Mezentius had persisted in his tyranny in defiance of Evander's counsels, seems quite gratuitous.
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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. and Henry Nettleship, M.A. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane;. George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1876.
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