[348] In Hom. Achilles would have given the second prize to Eumelus if Antilochus, who had gained it, had not protested: as it is, he gives an extra reward (Il. 23. 536—565). With ‘vestra’ &c. Forb. comp. 1. 257, “manent inmota tuorum Fata tibi.” ‘Vestra’ and ‘me’ are strongly opposed by their position. ‘This is not a question for you—you are not to be meddled with—it is for me to gratify my own feelings.’
[349] ‘No one removes the prize from its succession:’ i. e. no one disturbs the succession of the prizes—no one interferes with the distribution of the prizes to the first, second, and third comers-in respectively. ‘Nemo movet’ apparently is not = “nemo movebit,” but means ‘no one is moving,’ ‘no one threatens to move.’ ‘Palmam’ is meant to include all the three prizes: see on v. 338. Ladewig's punctuation (after Nauck) ‘pueri et palmam movet ordine nemo’ is no gain.
[350] Casus was restored by Heins. for ‘casum,’ which has very slender MS. authority. Pal. a m. p. and Rom. have ‘misereri.’ “Casum insontis mecum indignabar amici” 2. 93. ‘Casum’ would be awkward here, as it might be taken to mean literally ‘fall,’ which would hardly do, in spite of v. 354: see note there.
[351] Tergum of a hide, as in 1. 368 &c. Aeneas has a lion's hide with the claws gilded as a horse-cloth 8. 552.
[352] ‘Loaded with a weight of shaggy hair and gilded claws.’
[354] Et te lapsorum miseret is said lightly, not, like Aeneas' words v. 353, gravely. Cerda comp. Il. 23. 548, εἰ δέ μιν οἰκτείρεις, καί τοι φίλος ἔπλετο θυμῷ. Nisus' humour is studied after Antilochus', as shown partly in the speech quoted from, partly in a later one, vv. 787 foll., where he jests at his own defeat by elder men. ‘Niso’ is probably to be constructed with ‘dabis’ rather than with ‘digna:’ comp. 1. 603 foll., 9. 252.
[355] Coronam literally: comp. v. 309. ‘Laude’ = “virtute,” as in 1. 461., 2. 252.
[356] Some copies have “quae et Salium.” ‘Tulisset’ of fortune 2. 555, E. 5. 34.
[357] ‘Simul his,’ ἅμα τοῖσδε, a construction found in poetry and post-Augustan prose: see Forc. ‘Turpia fimo’ probably belongs to ‘faciem’ as well as to ‘membra.’
[358] Aeneas' laughter partakes both of the smile of Achilles at Antilochus' humorous petulance, Il. 23. 555, and the mirth of the Greeks at Ajax's rueful appearance after his fall, ib. 784. ‘Ridere’ with dative E. 4. 62. Med. a m. p. has ‘illi.’
[359] Efferri, from the ships. ἐκέλευσεν . . . οἰσέμεναι κλισίηθεν Il. 23. 564. Didymaon is not known otherwise as an artist. In Val. F. 3. 707 he appears as a warrior. ‘Artis’ of works of art, Hor. 4 Od. 8. 5 &c. The pl. is here used rather than the sing. for the sake of poetical variety, the artist's labour being regarded in detail rather than as a whole. Pal. and Rom. however have ‘artem.’ Gossrau remarks that a shield may derive its reputation either from an illustrious maker or from an illustrious possessor. With the apposition he well comp. 8. 729, “clipeum Volcani, dona parentis.”
[360] The meaning is generally supposed to be that the shield had been fastened by the Greeks on the gate of a temple of Neptune as an offering from their spoils, and reclaimed thence by Aeneas. But it is not so easy to see how this is to be obtained from the words. Serv. says “‘Danais,’ a Danais,” which later commentators adopt, seemingly mistaking his meaning (Ladewig is an exception), which is that the shield was torn down from a Trojan temple by the soldiers of Pyrrhus, and given by Helenus to Aeneas. This would give a satisfactory construction: but the story which it tells is indirect, even for Virg. If we accept the sense given above, I have only to suggest that ‘refixum Danais’ may be a pregnant construction, “refixum de poste et ademptum Danais,” though I have no satisfactory parallel to adduce. Aeneas himself hangs up in a Greek temple a shield taken from a Greek chief, 3. 286 foll. Cerda comp. Hor. 1 Od. 28. 11, “clipeo Troiana refixo Tempora testatus;” 1 Ep. 18. 56, “qui templis Parthorum signa refigit.” Lersch § 50 quotes two instances from Livy of spoils thus removed from a temple 22. 57., 24. 21; but both of them are cases where men in want of arms take down offerings hung up in their own temples, as David takes the sword of Goliath.
[362-386] ‘Aeneas next proclaims two prizes for a boxing-match. Only one candidate comes forward, Dares, a Trojan, who claims the first prize unopposed.’
