On this and the next line see note at the end of Book 5. ‘Sic fatur lacrimans’ is Hom.'s ὣς φάτο δακρυχέων (Il. 1. 357). ‘Classi inmittit habenas’ means that he spread his sails to the wind. Ladewig remarks that Virg. himself supplies a comment on the words in a later passage, 8. 707, “Ipsa videbatur ventis regina vocatis Vela dare, et laxos iam iamque inmittere funis.” Henry says, “This is the ordinary metaphor (as A. 5. 662, Lucr. 5.787, Ov. M. 1. 280), but is here peculiarly appropriate, the ‘habenae’ of a ship being its ‘rudentes’ (sheets), which required to be let loose or slacked in order to allow the sails to be filled with the wind and the ressel to go at full speed.”
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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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