[p. 503] This too I notice in the same book of Nigidius: 1 “If you write the genitive case of amicus,” he says, “or of magnus, end the word with a single i; but if you write the nominative plural, you must write magnei and amicei, with an e followed by i, and so with similar words. Also 2 if you write terra in the genitive, let it end with the letter i, as terrai; 3 but in the dative with e, as terrae. Also 4 one who writes mei in the genitive case, as when we say mei studiosus, or ' devoted to me,' let him write it with i only (mei), not with e (meei); 5 but when he writes mehei, it must be written with e and i, since it is the dative case.” Led by the authority of a most learned man, I thought that I ought not to pass by these statements, for the sake of those who desire a knowledge of such matters.
XXVII
[27arg] Of verses of Homer and Parthenius, which Virgil seems to have followed.THERE is a verse of the poet Parthenius: 6
To Glaucus, Nereus and sea-dwelling Melicertes.This verse Virgil has emulated, and has made it equal to the original by a graceful change of two words: 7
To Glaucus, Panopea, and Ino's son Melicertes.
