[593] Contorsit 2. 52 note. ‘Ille’ is semipleonastic, as in 1. 3., 5. 457 notes (comp. Hor. 4 Od. 9. 51, “Non ille pro caris amicis Aut patria timidus perire”): here however, as perhaps in the passage just quoted from Hor., it has the force of contrast, distinguishing Jove from Salmoneus. ‘Fumea taedis lumina,’ a variety for ‘fumeum lumen taedarum.’ In 7. 456 we have “atro Lumine fumantis taedas.” The smokiness of pinewood torches is doubtless mentioned contemptuously, as contrasted with the lightning, which, though it causes smoke when it falls, and so may be called ψολόεις κεραυνός, is itself clear. Comp. Aesch. Ag. 496, where Clytaemnestra contrasts the human messenger with the beacon in similar words, ὡς οὔτ᾽ ἄναυδος οὔτε σοι δαίων φλόγα Ὕλης ὀρείας σημανεῖ καπνῷ πυρός. “Irai fax fumida” Lucr. 3.304.
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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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