[144] Virg. may be said to glance indirectly at his master in asserting that the ships moved faster and the rowers showed more eagerness than the chariots and their drivers. The comparison of a ship to a car at full speed is Homer's own, Od. 13. 81 foll., while the lines descriptive of the chariots and their drivers are partly taken from Virg.'s previous description of a chariot-race, G. 3. 103 foll., which is itself modelled on the chariot-race in Il. 23. “Praecipiti certamine campum Corripuere ruuntque effusi carcere currus” G. 3. 103, 104, where see notes. ‘Biiugo certamine’ is the poetical equivalent of “biiugorum” or “bigarum certamine.”
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