[229] The construction is resumed from ‘promisit.’ ‘Gravidam inperiis’ has been variously explained; as ‘gravidam inperatoribus’ (Serv.), which Heyne justly rejects as weak, as ‘the parent of future empire,’ and as ‘teeming with masterful nations.’ Virg. probably meant to include both of the latter interpretations. That he was thinking of the future of Italy is shown by the word ‘gravidam’ and by the whole context, as the temper of the Italian nations at the time of Aeneas' arrival was a matter of infinitely small moment compared with the destiny in store for them: at the same time it was the imperious and unbridled character of those nations which marked them out as instruments in the conquest of the world after they should have been conquered themselves, first by Aeneas and eventually by Rome, so that Italy could be said to be not only the future mother of empire, but actually teeming with it at the moment when Jupiter was speaking. The plural may be used with reference to these various nations, but it need be nothing more than a poetical hyperbole, expressing the everincreasing sway which Virg. saw before him. So 8. 475, “Sed tibi ego ingentis populos opulentaque regnis Iungere castra paro,” where one thought in the poet's mind seems to be the material afforded by the Etruscans for a great empire. With the expression comp. “gravidam bellis urbem” 10. 87.
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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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