[758] The constitution of the state proceeds pari passu with the building of the town, as in 1. 426., 3. 137. See note on the former passage. ‘Indicit forum’ is apparently explained on the analogy of “forum agere,” to hold a court, ‘indicere’ being used as in “indicere iustitium,” &c. ‘Iura dare,’ to make laws, was part of the kingly office as conceived by Virg. See on 1. 293. Lersch. § 2, “de iure condendo,” quotes from Livy, 1. 8, “Rebus divinis rite perpetratis vocataque ad concilium multitudine, quae coalescere in populi unius corpus nulla re praeterquam legibus poterat, iura dedit,” a passage exactly appropriate to the present. So 7. 246, “Hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis More daret populis.” On a comparison of the passage in Livy with two others in Virg., “Iura dabat legesque viris” 1. 507, “Secretosque pios: his dantem iura Catonem” 8. 670, it may be doubted whether ‘patribus vocatis’ here and “vocatis populis” 7, l. c. are abl. abs. or dat. In any case the sense is the same. A council, large or small, is summoned, and the laws given by the king. Gossrau remarks that this was not only the old Roman practice, but that established or revived by Augustus, who consulted the senate but was not bound by it. Wagn.'s explanation ‘establishes rules for senatorial procedure,’ teaches the senators their duties, is less likely, though it might receive some support from 1. 731, “Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur.”
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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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