[893] “Sunt geminae Belli portae” 7. 607. The gates of Sleep are from Hom.'s gates of dreams, which are similarly described Od. 19. 562 foll. Much ingenuity has been expended in searching for a symbolical meaning in them. Heyne seems right in saying that Virg. wanted to dismiss Aeneas from the shades by some other way than that by which he had entered, and that Hom.'s gates fortunately occurred to him. See Introduction to this Book. Turnebus and others wanted to understand ‘somni’ as ‘somnii:’ but ‘somnii’ would not be the same as ‘somniorum.’ Here, as elsewhere (e. g. v. 702 above), Virg. evidently substitutes sleep for dreams, on account of the metrical unmanageableness of ‘somnium.’ ‘Fertur’ might conceivably be understood as = ‘surgit’ or ‘tollit se;’ but it is simpler to understand it ‘is reported to be,’ Virg. speaking doubtfully of things that mortals have no direct means of knowing. ‘Fertur cornea’ like “non sat idoneus Pugnae ferebaris” Hor. 2 Od. 19. 26.
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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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