[609] Deinde is not unfrequently used by Virg. out of its place (see on 1. 195), so that Jahn and Forb. may be right in connecting it here with ‘fateri.’ But a very good meaning may be extracted from it as it stands, not by connecting it, as Wagn. does, with ‘quae’ in the sense of ‘quae iam,’ a sense which Forb. rightly denies to be supported by 5. 741., 9. 781., 12. 888 (where see notes), but by referring it to ‘agitet Fortuna.’ Achemenides is asked what is his birth, and what have been his subsequent fortunes. ‘Agitet’ is used because the present is inquired about as well as the past, and is indeed the more prominent object of curiosity. The word might be understood in a neutral sense, Fortune being said ‘agitare’ a person, as a person is said himself ‘agitare aevum,’ ‘vitam,’ &c. (a conversion of subject and object not unusual in Virg.), but it is better taken in its less favourable acceptation, as they would naturally assume that Achemenides had been persecuted by Fortune.
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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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