[623] Inexcita i. q. “inexcitabilis:” comp. “invictus,” “indomitus” &c. The word occurs Stat. Achill. 2. 352. ‘Ante,’ till the sacred gates of War were opened. ‘Ardet’ indicates the instantaneous effect of the opening. Ribbeck changes the order of the following lines, supposing 624—627 to have been written by the poet as an alternative with 638—640, which in the autograph copy they preceded, and to have been transposed accidentally by a confusion of the transcriber between ‘signa’ v. 628 and ‘signum’ v. 637. But 624— 627 really answer not to 638—640, but to the whole 629—640, combining, what in the longer passage are kept separate, preparing for the fight and actually taking the field. The scouring of shields and sharpening of axes would precede, not follow, the sounding of the trumpet. The simple fact is that Virg. has chosen to give a brief general description first, a more detailed one after. It is possible of course that he may not have intended both to stand, though the possibility is infinitesimal; but in that case we must suppose that he wrote the lines in the order in which we have them, but that on revision he would have left out vv. 624—627, if not v. 628.
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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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