[273] The comparison seems to be Virg.'s own. There is an illustration from a serpent cut in pieces Lucr. 3.657 foll., but the resemblance to Virg. is extremely faint. ‘Saepe’ in comparisons below v. 527 &c. Heins. ingeniously fancied that it might here be the abl. of ‘saepes.’ ‘Aggere viae’ = “via aggesta.” Turnebus Adv. 11. 6 quotes two instances from Sidonius Apollinaris, Carm. 24. 5, Epist. 1. 5 (to which Forb. adds Rutilius 1. 39), where ‘agger’ alone = ‘via.’ A slightly different explanation is suggested in Dict. A. ‘viae:’ “The centre of the way was a little elevated, so as to permit the water to run off easily, and hence the terms ‘agger viae’ (Isidor. 15. 16. § 7, Ammian. Marcellin. 19. 16: comp. Virg. A. 5. 273), and ‘summum dorsum’ Stat. 4 Silv. 3. 44, although both may be applied to the whole surface of the ‘pavimentum.’” ‘Deprensus,’ surprised by the wheel or blow: comp. v. 51 above.
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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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