[612, 613] ‘Those who were slain for adultery’ are particularized among other adulterers, either as having been surprised in the fact, or to show that punishment in life does not confer immunity from punishment after death. ‘Arma secuti’ 3. 54, 156., 11. 161, as we should say, to follow a standard. The followers are chosen instead of the leader for the sake of poetical variety. Doubtless Virg. had in his mind the civil wars of Rome, ‘impia’ having that special reference, as in G. 1. 511, though in E. 1. 70 it seems general. Augustus would of course not be likely to regard himself as glanced at, as some of the commentators have feared that he might, since he doubtless considered his own mission to be that of putting an end to such impious conflicts. Wagn. ingeniously supposes the servile wars to be meant, connecting ‘nec—dextras’ closely with the preceding clause; but the two images do not seem as if they were meant to harmonize, and there is a point gained in supposing two classes of violators of relative duties to be intended rather than one. We have then (1) those who have violated duty to their brothers, (2) to their parents, (3) to their clients, (4) to their kindred generally, (5) to their married fellow-citizens, (6) to their country, (7) to their masters. Ruhkopf remarks that slaves partook largely of the general social disorganization of the time, and refers to Appian B. Civ. 1. 72., 4. 22, 29, 39, 51. ‘Dextras dominorum’ i. q. “fidem dominis datam.” Virg. seems to have expressed himself loosely, since a slave, as Mr. Long remarks, could not strictly be said to give ‘fides’ to his master, like an equal.
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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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