[658] Whether ‘secuit’ means ‘cut her path along the bow already existing,’ as Henry thinks, or ‘described a bow in her path,’ as Heyne takes it, is a question rather of sense than of language, as in either case ‘secare arcum’ must mean to trace the line of the bow, and so cannot be compared with ‘secare ventos,’ &c., where the accusative denotes the space divided. There is nothing in the context to show whether the bow along which Iris descended (v. 609) was visible, or, like herself, invisible, nor yet whether it remained after she came down. On either supposition there would be enough to show to the Trojan women the supernatural character of the appearance, the main point being that Iris, the goddess, having come down unseen, re-ascended in the most visible and conspicuous manner. ‘Fuga’ v. 586 note.
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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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