[844] “Serranus was originally an agnomen of C. Atilius Regulus, consul B. C. 257, but afterwards became the name of a distinct family of the Atilia gens. The origin of the name is uncertain. Most of the ancient writers derive it from ‘serere,’ and relate that Regulus received the surname of Serranus because he was engaged in sowing when the news was brought him of his elevation to the consulship (“serentem invenerunt dati honores Serranum, unde cognomen,” Pliny 18. 3, Cic. pro Sext. Rosc. 18, Val. Max. 4. 4, § 5). It appears however from coins that Saranus is the proper form of the name, and Perizonius (Animadv. Hist. c. 1) thinks that it is derived from Saranum, a town of Umbria.” Dict. Biog. Serranus. We may wonder that Virg. did not rather think of Cincinnatus, who seems to have been the more famous of these heroes of the plough. ‘Sulco serentem’ like “conducta tellure serebat” 12. 520,—words immediately following the use of ‘potens’ cited in the last note, and noticeable as showing how Virg. in reproducing himself or others is apt to take words from the same context, even when they have no special connexion. See on 1. 375, &c. For the rhyme comp. 4. 189, 190, 256, 257.
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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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