[132] Ruunt properly applies only to the horsemen and the dogs, but the hunting apparatus is regarded as part of the cortege, and one verb accordingly does duty for all. Wund. well comp. Hor. 1 Ep. 6. 58, “qui mane plagas, venabula, servos, Differtum transire forum populumque iubebat.” ‘Canum vis,’ which occurs twice in Lucr. (“permissa canum vis” 4. 681, “fida canum vis” 6. 1222), is obviously modelled on the Greek use of βία in a periphrasis, so that it seems equally vain to understand ‘vis’ here in the sense of multitude, with Taubm., and with Henry to explain it strictly with reference to ‘odora,’ as if ‘odora vis’ meant merely the smelling instinct or gift, though it would be wrong to suppose that the notions of the epithet and the noun are meant to be kept quite separate. This seems a solitary instance of ‘odorus’ for ‘having a keen sense of smell.’
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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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