[42] Iamque may either indicate a transition (see Wagn. Q. V. 24. 9) or may have its ordinary sense of “just now” or “already,” implying that what is prophesied will take place immediately. The incompleteness of v. 41 makes the precise sense here uncertain. The omen here promised by the Tiber as a confirmation of the vision had been promised already by Helenus 3. 388 foll., though with a different object: see on v. 46. Here the white sow is Alba; the thirty young ones are the thirty years that were to elapse between the building of Lavinium and Alba (v. 47); an explanation of the legend as old as Varro, R. R. 2. 4, L. L. 5. § 144. For the various forms of the legend see Lewis vol. 1. pp. 334, 354, 5. The symbolizing of the thirty years by the thirty pigs is like the symbolizing of the nine years of unsuccessful siege by the sparrow and her eight young ones in Il. 2. 326 foll. For ‘ne’ Rom. has ‘nec.’ The lines 43—45 are repeated from 3. 390— 392, where see notes.
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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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