[705] ‘Praenato’ may be compared with “praefluo,” which has the force of “praeterfluo,” as in Hor. 4 Od. 3. 10, “quae Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt.” “Natare” had been previously used of water by Ennius and Lucr., the former of whom is quoted by Serv. as talking of “fluctusque natantes” (A. fr. inc. 119), while the latter has “campi natantes” more than once, 5. 488., 6. 267, 1142, an expression borrowed, probably in the same sense, by Virg. himself G. 3. 198: see note there. Lethe is unknown to Hom. Plato, Rep. p. 621 A, makes the spirits pass through a sultry plain called Λήθης πεδίον, after which they drink of the river of Indifference, Ἀμέλητα ποταμόν: lower down however he speaks of τὸν τῆς Λήθης ποταμόν.
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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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