[537] “Felix una ante alias” 3. 321. The narrative that follows, down to v. 584, is supposed by Heinrich and Peerlkamp to have been inserted after the completion of the poem. The latter thinks that it was intended to come at the end of Book 7, but that Tucca and Varius placed it here. It is of course true that it is calculated to interest the reader rather than Opis, who can hardly have been ignorant of the facts; but this is the fault of the poet, and might easily be paralleled from other passages in epic narrative, where such things are difficult to avoid. Gossrau remarks that the ancients not unfrequently forgot themselves in their narrative speeches, which only resemble speeches in the beginning and end, just as many modern letters only resemble letters in the superscription and subscription. The use of ‘Dianae’ here, and ‘Diana’ v. 582, is perhaps part of this self-forgetfulness, though there is some rhetorical force in each: comp. 2. 79., 3. 380, 433. ‘Dianae’ dative. ‘Iste’ may perhaps in passages like this have a reference to the person or persons spoken to: ‘that love, you must know:’ comp. 9. 138, “nec solos tangit Atridas Iste dolor,” where the note suggests other possibilities. It is explained by Wagn. Q. V. 19. 2, “quo me illi conciliatam sentis.”
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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. and Henry Nettleship, M.A. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane;. George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1876.
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