[852] Pal. and two other good MSS. have ‘dictabat,’ as in 9. 323 some have “vastabo” for “vasta dabo,” varieties which support Lambinus' “nuda dabant” for “nudabant” in Lucr. 5.970. The imperfects are intended to show that while he was speaking he moved neither hand nor eye. Virg. doubtless took his description from Od. 3. 281, where Menelaus' pilot dies by a visitation of Apollo in the performance of his duty, πηδάλιον μετὰ χερσὶ θεούσης νηὸς ἔχοντα. Comp. also Od. 5. 270 foll., αὐτὰρ ὁ πηδαλίῳ ἰθύνετο τεχνηέντως, Ἥμενος: οὐδέ οἱ ὕπνος ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν ἔπιπτεν. For ‘clavum’ Med. a m. p. gives ‘clavo,’ a natural variation, which might also be accounted for by the form ‘clavom,’ found in Pal. a m. p. and adopted by Ribbeck.
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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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