The Aeneid of Virgil (Conington, 1917)/Notes
NOTES
BOOK I
1:1. Arms and the man I sing. Compare the following opening lines of great epics:—
Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought
Woes numberless upon the Greeks."
—Iliad, Bryant's Trans.
Who, having overthrown the sacred town
Of Ilium, wandered far and visited
The capitals of many nations, learned
The customs of their dwellers, and endured
Great sufferings on the deep."
—Homer, Odyssey.
Of courtesies and many a daring feat."
—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.
The Sepulchre of Christ from thrall profane;
Much did he toil in thought and much in deed,
Much in the glorious enterprise sustain."
—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
******
Sing, heavenly muse."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
By one man's disobedience lost, now sing
Recovered Paradise to all mankind,
By one man's firm obedience."
—Milton, Paradise Regained.
1:1. Troy. A city in northwest Asia Minor where the famous Trojan war took place.
1:3. Latian. The broad plain near the mouth of the Tiber, in Italy.
1:5. Juno. Queen of the gods; wife and sister of Jupiter.
1:5. Much.
And many perilles past in forreine landes,
To save his people sad from victours vengefull handes,"
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
1:8. Alba. Alba Longa, a long ridge some fifteen miles southeast of Rome. The successors of Æneas reigned there until the founding of Rome.
1:10. Muse. One of the nine Muses. Greek and Latin poets often profess to be merely the mouthpiece of the Muses.
1:14. Hate.
—Pope, Rape of the Lock.
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
1:17. Tyre. Carthage was sprung from Tyre, an old and prosperous city on the coast of Phœnicia. The founders of Carthage and their descendants are termed indifferently by Virgil Phœnicians, Sidonians, Pœni, or Tyrians.
1:19. War's.
—Milton, Comus.
1:21. Samos. A large island off the west coast of Asia Minor. Here were the most ancient temple and worship of Juno, here she was nurtured, and here she was married to Jupiter.
1:28. Libya. North Africa.
2:1. Fate's.
Doo weave the direful threads of destinie
And in their wrath brake off the vitall bands."
—Spenser, Daphnaïda.
And slits the thin-spun life."
—Milton, Lycidas.
By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine,
That cruell Atropos eftsoones undid,
With cursed knife cutting the twist in twaine."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
2:1. Saturn. An ancient Italian god of agriculture, identified later with the Greek god Cronos.
2:3. Argos. A city of Argolis in the Peloponnesus. One of Juno's favorite cities. Juno's love for Argos played the same part in the Trojan war as her regard for Carthage plays in the Æneid. It is used here poetically for the name of the people, i.e. = Greeks.
2:6. Paris. A son of Priam, king of Troy, who eloped with Helen and caused the Trojan war. The judgment was the award of the golden apple, prize of beauty, to Venus as against Juno and Minerva.
The which emongest the gods, false Ate threw;
For which th' Idæan Ladies disagreed,
Till partiall Paris dempt it Venus dew,
And had of her fayre Helen for his meed."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
In Tennyson's Œnone, Juno offers—
Alliance and allegiance till thy hand
Fail from the sceptre-staff."
And Minerva—
"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control."
But Venus—
The fairest and most loving wife in Greece."
2:9. Ganymede. A Trojan prince; was carried off to Olympus by Jupiter's eagle. He was made cup-bearer to the gods in place of Hebe, daughter of Juno.
Of men; the gods beheld and caught him up
To heaven, so beautiful was he, to pour
The wine to Jove, and ever dwell with them."
—Homer, Iliad.
Half-buried in the Eagle's down,
Sole as a flying star shot thro' the sky
Above the pillar'd town."
—Tennyson, Palace of Art.
2:10. Danaan. Greek. Danaus, an ancient city of Argos. Conington transliterates various proper names, such as Argives, Achæans, Pelasgians, all meaning Greeks. Vergil uses the originals now to secure variety, now to meet the metrical requirement.
2:11. Achilles. Son of Peleus, king of Thessaly, and Thetis, a sea nymph, chief champion of the Greeks before Troy.
2:22. Teucrians. Teucer, an ancient king of Troy; he came to Troy from Crete. He was father-in-law of Dardanus, and is often called founder of the Trojans.
2:23. Pallas. Epithet of the Greek goddess Athena. Sometimes identified with the Latin goddess of wisdom, Minerva.
2:26. Ajax. Oïleus' son. Had, on the night Troy was taken, assaulted Priam's daughter Cassandra, who had taken refuge in Minerva's temple.
2:27. Jove. Jupiter, chief of the Olympian gods. Son of Cronos or Saturnus. He is father omnipotent, father of gods, and king of men. The lightning and the thunderbolt, fashioned for him by Vulcan, are his weapons. The eagle is his messenger. Apparently Jupiter, the Sky-father, is the personification of the sky. Cicero quotes Ennius as follows: "This shining vault on high which all men call upon in prayer as Jupiter."
2:30. Rock's.
Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
Of rocking whirlwinds."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
2:38. Æolia. Home of the winds, —Lipara. One of the Æolian islands north of Sicily.
2:38. Cavern.
It struggles and howls by fits."
—Shelley, The Cloud.
3:2. Bond.
—Tennyson, Mariana.
3:19. Tyrrhene sea. Also Tuscan sea; the part of the Mediterranean which extended from Liguria to Sicily.
3:19. Ilion. Troy.
3:30. Bidding.
Mine, both in heaven and earth, to do thy will."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
3:36. Rush forth.
Within their stormy caves, but rushed abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell
On the vexed wilderness."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
And in wild uproar all embroil both land and deep."
—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
Confounds both land and seas, and skyes doth overcast."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
3:38. Fall.
Leaning upon the ridged sea."
—Tennyson.
4:5. Daylight.
And all the world confound with wide uprore."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
Nor suffer sun or star to cheer the view.
******
While aye descending night, with deeper shade,
The vext and fearful billows overlayed."
—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.
4:9. Æneas. Son of Venus and Anchises, hero of the Æneid.
4:9. Chilled.
In a tall ship, and all his country lost
Dissolves with fear; and, both his hands upheld,
Proclaims them happy when the Greeks had quelled
In honorable fight."
—Waller, Of the Dangers his Majesty Escaped.
4:12. Thrice.
On Troy's wide field warring for Atreus' sons:
O, had I met my fate and perished there."
—Homer, Odyssey.
4:14. Tydeus' son. Diomedes, with whom Æneas had fought in single combat and been saved by direct intervention of Venus.
4:16. Hector. Son of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. Hector was the bravest champion of Troy, and was slain by Achilles.
4:17. Æacides. A descendant of Æacus (king of Ægina and father of Peleus). Virgil applies the name to (1) Achilles, (2) Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, (3) Perseus, king of Macedonia.
4:18. Sarpedon. Son of Jupiter, and king of the Lycians; an ally of Troy slain by Patroclus, friend of Achilles.
4:18. Simois. The famous river that flows by Troy.
And helms and bodies of slain demigods."
—Homer, Iliad.
4:23. Stars. Hyperbole; cf.—
The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
Seems to cast water on the burning Bear
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole."
—Shakespeare, Othello.
4:26. Crest.
While deep beneath the enormous gulf divides:
Now launching headlong down the horrid vale,
Becalmed she hears no more the howling gale."
—Falconer, Shipwreck.
4:33. Syrtes. Two shallow bays on the north coast of Africa distinguished as Major and Minor,—dangerous to navigation.
5:8. Side-jointings.
On the living sea rolls an inanimate bulk."
—Shelley, Vision of the Sea.
And, rent with labour, yawn'd their pitchy seams."
—Falconer, Shipwreck.
5:11. Neptune. God of the sea,—brother of Juno.
5:22. Confound.
As earth and sky would mingle."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies."
—Goldsmith, Deserted Village.
5:29. Eurus. The east wind. It is the poet's way to single out one wind and use it as general word for winds. One example of the use of the specific for the generic.
5:33. Routs.
Skulks to his cavern, 'mid the gruff complaint
Of all his rebel tempests. Dark clouds faint
When, from thy diadem, a silver gleam
Slants over blue dominion."
—Keats, Endymion.
5:34. Cymothoë and Triton. Lesser sea deities.
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn."
—Holmes, Chambered Nautilus.
5:37. Trident.
With all his hosts of waters at command,
Beneath them to submit th' officious flood;
And with his trident shov'd them off the sand."
—Dryden, Annus Mirabilis.
6:4. Weapon.
Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
6:15. Haven.
And calmy bay, on the one side sheltered
With the brode shadow of an hoarie hill;
On th' other side an high rock towred still,
That twixt them both a pleasaunt port they made,
And did like an halfe theatre fulfill."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
Woods over woods in gay theatric pride."
—Goldsmith, Traveller.
Where, to a crescent curved, the shore extends
Two moony horns, that in their sweep embrace
A spacious bay,—a rock the port defends;
Inward it fronts, and broad to ocean bends
Its back, whereon each dashing billow dies,
When the wind rises and the storm descends;
While here and there two lofty crags arise,
Whose towers, far out at sea, salute the sailor's eyes.
Safe sleep the silent seas beneath; above,
Black arching woods o'ershade the circled scene:
Within, a grotto opens, in the grove,
Pleasant with flowers, with moss, with ivies green,
And waters warbling in the depths unseen;
Needed nor twisted rope nor anchor there
For weary ships."
—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
Of cable is; no anchor there is cast,
Nor hawsers fastened to the strand."
—Homer, Odyssey.
7:3. Biremes. Ships having two tiers of oars.
7:23. Scylla. A sea-monster, residing in a cave in certain rocks, also called Scylla, between Italy and Sicily. The upper part of this monster resembled a lovely woman. About the waist was a circle of dogs or wolves; below was the tail of a dolphin. The wolves reach out and seize passing ships and drag them on the rocks. Virgil's Scylla is adopted by Milton as a description of one of the monsters guarding the gates of Hell.
7:25. Cyclops. Certain giants of cannibal nature who dwelt in Sicily near Ætna. They had a single large round eye in the middle of the forehead.
7:27. Remembered.
When to remember ev'ry past dismay
Will be no less a pleasure than a pride;
Hold then courageous on, and keep, I pray,
Your noble hearts in cheer for that victorious day."
—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
7:33. Heart-sick.
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
8:15. Ether.
From the pure empyrean where he sits
High throned above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
8:26. Barred.
8:37. Antenor. Nephew of Priam. After the capture of Troy, he sailed up the Adriatic Sea, established a new people called the Veneti, and founded Patavium (Padua).
9:8. Arms.
And all the armes of my companye."
—Chaucer, Knight's Tale.
These votive wreaths of withered memory."
—Shelley, Epipsychidion.
9:13. Piety.
What, is not piety exempt from woe?"
—Marlowe and Nash, Dido.
9:18. Cythera. An island south of Laconia, near which, the tradition is, Venus rose from the foam of the sea.
9:20. Lavinium. A city of Latium, represented as founded by Æneas and named by him for his wife Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus. It was Latinus' promise of Lavinia to Æneas that caused the wars of the last six books of the Æneid.
9:29. Rutulians. A Volscian people whose chief city was Antium. They with their King Turnus were the chief antagonists of Æneas when he was trying to settle in Italy.
9:30. Ascanius. Son of Æneas.
9:36. Hector's.
The Roman sceptre royal shall remain."
—Marlowe and Nash, Dido.
10:11. Assaracus. A Trojan king of Phrygia; he was grandfather of Anchises, hence the expression "house of Assaracus" means the descendants of Æneas. And as the Julian clan was thought to be derived from Iulus, Æneas' son, this included Julius Cæsar and his adopted son Augustus.
10:11. Phthia. A city and district in Thessaly, Greece, over which, it is said, Achilles ruled.
10:12. Mycenæ. A famous city ruled by Agamemnon, in the Morea (southern Greece).
10:12. Argos. A city of Argolis, in the Peloponnesus. One of Juno's favorite cities. So fate wills that the descendants of the Trojans shall take vengeance for the destruction of Troy on the descendants of the great Greek leaders.
10:15. Stars.
The throne hereditary, and bound his reign
With Earth's wide bounds, his glory with the heavens."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
10:19. War.
Of force, ne fraud in wight was to be found:
No warre was known, no dreadfull trompets sound;
Peace universall rayn'd mongst men and beasts."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
Was heard the world around;
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hookèd chariot stood,
Unstained with hostile blood;
The trumpet spake not to the armèd throng,
And kings sat still with awful eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by."
—Milton, Hymn on Nativity.
10:20. Vesta. Goddess of the hearth.
10:20. Quirinus. Name given to Romulus after he was translated from earth to heaven. Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Cicero tells us that after his translation, Romulus appeared on the Quirinal Hill and stated that his name as god was Quirinus, and gave instructions that a temple should be erected to him on that hill—hence the name of the hill and the palace, once home of the popes, now of the monarchs of Italy.
10:26. Son of Maia. Mercury, swift-winged messenger of the gods.
That word, streight with his azure wings he cleav'd
The liquid clowdes, and lucid firmament;
Ne staid, till that he came with steep descent
Unto the place where his prescript did showe."
—Spenser, Mother Hubbard's Tale.
10:28. Dido. Daughter of Belus, king of Tyre; widow of Sychæus. According to story, she led the Phœnician colony to Carthage.
10:33. Punic. Carthaginian. So the three Punic wars of Rome against Carthage.
11:17. Ho.
11:26. Goddess.
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island."
—Shakespeare, Tempest.
11:27. Phœbus' sister. Diana, sister of Phœbus Apollo.
12:1. Agenor. Twin brother of Belus and founder of Sidon, from whom Dido was descended.
12:18. Hope.
12:33. Woman. "Dux femina facti,"—motto on the medal in 1588, in honor of Elizabeth's victories over the Spanish Armada. Cf. Kingsley's Westward Ho!
12:36. Byrsa. A word which in the Carthaginian language meant citadel, but sounded like a Greek word meaning bull's hide. From this confusion, apparently, arose the story that Dido cut a bull's hide into very thin strings and so encompassed much ground for her new city.
13:24. Breath of life.
Unformed, unfriended by those kindly cares,
That health and vigor to the soul impart."
—Gray, Education and Government.
Two birds of gayest plume before him drove."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
13:36. Wings.
With clang of wings and scream, the eagle sailed."
—Shelley, The Revolt of Islam.
14:6. Walk.
14:18. Paphos. A city in Cyprus.
14:20. Sabæan incense. Arabian frankincense.
14:37. Bees.
Like labouring bees on a long summer's day.
Some sound the trumpet for the rest to swarm,
And some on bells of tasted lilies play;
With glewy wax some new foundation lay
Of virgin combs, which from the roof are hung;
Some arm'd within doors upon duty stay,
Or tend the sick, or educate the young."
—Dryden, Annus Mirabilis.
15:18. Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were the chief cities of Phœnicia. Adjectives formed from them are used interchangeably with Phœnician and Carthaginian for the sake of variety or to meet metrical requirements.
15:37. Tears.
And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown
Are mourned by man."
—Wordsworth, Laodamia.
16:4. Pergamus. Troy.
16:12. Xanthus. A river near Troy.
16:13. Troilus. Shakespeare's Troilus draws plot from Chaucer.
16:19. Pallas. Minerva, goddess of wisdom, friend of the Greeks.
16:32. Memnon. Leader of the Æthiopian allies of Troy. Was son of Tithonus and Aurora.
16:33. Penthesilea. Queen of the Amazons who fought for Troy. Achilles slew both Memnon and Penthesilea.
17:6. Diana.
Of swift Eurotas, or on Cynthus greene,
Where all the nymphs have her unwares forlore [left],
Wandreth alone with bow and arrowes keene,
To seeke her game."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
17:9. Latona. Mother of Apollo and Diana. The type of perfect mother love.
18:10. Orion. A hunter famous in ancient myth, armed with belt and sword, translated to the heavens as a constellation, thought to bring storms.
19:36. Shone.
Her warrior to the Punic shore,
Around that radiant head she threw
In deep'ning clouds ambrosial dew:
But when the Tyrian queen drew near,
The light pour'd round him fresh and clear."
—Landor.
When, the dark mantling mist dissolved away,
He to the Tyrians showed his sudden face,
Shining with all his goddess mother's grace:
For she herself had made his countenance bright,
Breathed honor on his eyes, and her own purple light."
—Dryden, Britannia Rediviva.
20:4. Enchased.
Framed in goldsmithes forge with cunning hand."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
21:9. Learning.
And from her own she learned to melt at others' woe."
—Gray, Hymn to Adversity.
21:30. Acanthus. A plant now called bear's-foot, or bear's-breech; grows in southern Europe, Asia Minor, and India. Its leaf was a common form in embroidery and sculpture, and is well known from its use in the Corinthian capital.
21:31. Helen. Most beautiful of women, daughter of Jupiter and Leda, was wife of Menelaus of Sparta. She was carried off by Paris as Venus' reward to him for his decision in her favor in the question of the Golden Apple. This breach of hospitality by Paris was the cause of the Trojan war. 22:1. Cupid. Son of Venus; god of love. 22:10. Typhœan. Thunderbolts of Jove, called Typhœan because they slew the giant Typhœus at the time of the great fight for the throne of heaven between Jupiter and the Olympian gods and "the earth-born Titan brood.""Phœbus resigns his darts, and Jove His thunder to the god of love." —Denham, Friendship.
"Through her bones the false instilled fire
Did spred it selfe and venime close inspire."
—Spenser, Faerie Queene.
"She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven
That slid into my soul."
—Coleridge, Ancient Mariner.
"And her eyes on all my motions with a mute observance hung."
—Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
"But both Dione honored they and Cupid,
That as her mother, this one as her son,
And said that he had sat in Dido's lap."
—Dante, Paradiso.
"As heaven with stars, the roof with jewels glows,
And ever-living lamps depend in rows."
—Pope, Temple of Fame.
"Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest, Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest." —Goldsmith, Deserted Village.
"He sung the secret seeds of Nature's frame:
How seas, and earth, and air, and active flame,
Fell through the mighty void, and in their fall
Were blindly gathered in this goodly ball.
The tender soil, then stiff'ning by degrees,
Shut from the bounded earth, the bounding seas.
Then earth and ocean various forms disclose;
And a new sun to the new world arose;
And mists, condensed to clouds, obscure the sky,
And clouds, dissolved, the thirsty ground supply.
The rising trees the lofty mountains grace;
The lofty mountains feed the savage race,
Yet few, and strangers, in th' unpeopled place.
From thence the birth of man the song pursued,
And how the world was lost, and how renewed."
—Dryden, Translation of Ecl. VI. Cf. Æn. VI.
26:8. Myrmidons or the Dolopes. The soldiers of Achilles, who was the fiercest of the Greeks.
26:9. Ulysses. King of "Ithaca's rocky isle," husband of "faithful Penelope." His wanderings are the subject of Homer's Odyssey. Homer's stock epithet is "the very crafty."
27:18. Laocoon. A priest of Apollo appointed to act as priest of Neptune. The famous group of Laocoon and his two sons in the coils of the twin serpents, of the Pergamenian type of sculpture, was discovered in the baths of the Emperor Titus, and stands in the Belvidere of the Vatican Museum.
29:8. Calchas. Priest of the Greeks.
29:14. Sons of Atreus. Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ, commander-in-chief of the Greeks, and his brother Menelaus of Sparta, former husband of Helen.
29:27. Phœbus. Apollo, god of prophecy.
31:16. Palladium. Statue of Pallas, the Greek goddess identified by the Romans with Minerva, goddess of wisdom, of household arts, and of war. Also called Tritonia.
32:7. Pelops. Son of Tantalus and father of Atreus. He was served up as food for the gods by his father, restored to life by Jupiter, and furnished with an ivory shoulder in place of the one eaten at the banquet. He gained control of the Peloponnesus, or Morea, which was named for him. The use here, another case of the specific for the generic, is in place of Greece itself. 33:27. Cassandra. Daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Priestess of Apollo. When she offended Apollo, he could not take back the prophetic power which he had given her, but he decreed that her prophecies should never be believed.
34:17. Hector. Of this passage Fénelon wrote, "Can one read this passage without being moved?" Châteaubriand called the scene "a kind of epitome of Virgil's genius."
35:9. Vesta. So Æneas is to be apostle to the heathen. Even the early Christians reverenced the vestal sisters, prototype of church sisterhoods. The institution known as the Vestal Virgins was the purest element of the Roman religion; even emperors intrusted their last wills to their sacred keeping as the most inviolable of safeguards. Their convent has recently been excavated near the Roman Forum.
38:36. Nereus. A sea-god, father of the Nereids.
40:3. Andromache. Daughter of King Eëtion, wife of Hector, the eldest son of Priam and the most famous warrior of the Trojans, finally slain by Achilles and dragged around the walls of Troy.
40:17. Pyrrhus. Son of Achilles. Also called Neoptolemus. After fighting in the Trojan war, he founded a kingdom in Epirus.
41:17. Hecuba. Chief wife of Priam. She really was the mother of nineteen children. Poetic license treats her as the queen mother of all Priam's fifty daughters-in-law and fifty daughters, and finally includes them all under the term daughters-in-law.
43:13. Creusa. Wife of Æneas and mother of Ascanius or Iulus. 43:21. Tyndareus. Father of Helen.
46:2. Flame. In this passage Virgil makes Anchises refer to a previous capture of Troy by the Greek hero Hercules, at which time King Laomedon was slain; and, secondly, to Jupiter's punishment of Anchises himself for boasting of the love of Venus. Jupiter crippled him by a thunderbolt.
BOOK III
The time covers about six years. It begins with events immediately following the fall of Troy, June, b.c. 1184.
51:7. Antandros. A city on the southern side of Mount Ida, near Troy.
51:19. Lycurgus. An early king of Thrace who stoutly opposed the introduction of the rites of Bacchus into his realm, was blinded and afterward destroyed by Jupiter. The present king was Polymnestor, who had married Priam's daughter Ilione.
51:24. Æneadæ. Literally, descendants of Æneas, translated by Conington in Book 1, line 157, as "the family of Æneas." Really used to mean the "household" of Æneas, or followers of Æneas, nation of Æneas. So Greek artists of the early time called themselves Dædalides, or followers of Dædalus. One is reminded of the tale of Jacob with his "household" meeting Esau with his "household." Indeed, the Romans themselves were sometimes called Romulides, followers of Romulus.
51:25. Dione. Mother of Venus.
52:13. Gradivus. Mars, god of war, who decides the issue of all battles, and goes forth to war with giant strides. Gradivus is derived from a Latin word meaning to march, Mars was father of Romulus and Remus by Rhea Sylvia.
53:11. Manes. The souls of the dead, also the spirit or shade of a single person.
53:16. Farewell call. The cry valë, made three times at the funeral pyre as a final farewell to the dead.
53:35. Thymbra. A city near Troy having a famous temple of Apollo.
64:35. Gnossus. A common name for Crete, from one of its towns.
55:4. Idomeneus. A king of Crete, leader of the Cretan forces against Troy. On his return to Crete, in accordance with a vow, he sacrificed his son to the gods. Because of the pestilence that followed this act, the Cretans banished Idomeneus.
56:17. Hesperia. Land of the evening star, or western land, Italy. Also called Ausonia.
56:25. Corythus. Legendary ancestor of the Trojans.
56:26. Dicte. A mountain in the eastern part of Crete.
57:32. Celæno. Queen of the Harpies, which were foul winged monsters described as daughters of Electra and Oceanus.
57:33. Phineus. King of Salmydessus in Thrace. He put out the eyes of his son, and so was himself blinded by the gods, and the Harpies were sent to torment him by carrying off or defiling all his food. The house of Phineus was shut to the Harpies when they were driven off by the Argonauts. 59:5. Tables. Not so dreadful a portent as it seemed. See page 153.
59:18. Zacynthos. The island Zante.
59:29. Actium. Actium is introduced here because of the epoch-making battle of Actium between Augustus and Antony, and the fact that Augustus, after the victory, initiated games there.
60:5. Phæacian. The island Corfu.
61:4. Daughter. Polyxene, sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles.
61:11. Hermione. Granddaughter of Leda, daughter of Menelaus and Helen; had been betrothed in Menelaus' absence to Orestes. Menelaus, not knowing this, gave her to Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, Achilles' son.
61:36. Scæan gate. Famous gate of Troy.
63:4. Circe. The famous sorceress, who by her magic cake turned men into animals. She was called Ææan, from Æa, a city in Colchis, in Asia Minor, famous for its magic. Circe came from Colchis. Her island is fabled to have become a promontory of Latium.
64:5. Scylla and Charybdis. Whirlpools, bordering the straits of Messina, dangerous to the ancient navigator. This is the description of Scylla used by Milton in describing one of the guardians of the gate of Hell.
64:15. Trinacrian. Sicilian. The word is of Greek origin, and signifies triangular, referring to the contour of Sicily. Pachynus itself was the southeastern point of Sicily, the modern Capo di Passaro.
66:8. Astyanax. Son of Hector and Andromache, who perished in the sack of Troy. 67:8. Aurora. Goddess of the dawn. Wife of Tithonus.
68:32. Enceladus. One of the giants who was defeated by Jupiter and imprisoned in a burning cave beneath Mount Ætna. See Longfellow's Enceladus.
"Under Mount Etna he lies,
It is slumber, it is not death;
For he struggles at times to arise,
And above him the lurid skies
Are hot with his fiery breath."
All this region, as has been—newly shown by the late terrible earthquake, is peculiarly subject to seismic disturbances.
72:17. Arethusa. According to fable, pursued by Alpheus, river-god of Elis in Greece, was turned into a subterranean river, still pursued by the river-god under the Ægean until she emerged harmoniously blent with her pursuer in the famous fountain of Ortygia. Shelley uses the legend as follows in his Arethusa:—
"And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the morning basks,
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep
In the cave of the shelving hill;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel;
And at night they sleep
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore:—
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
Where they love but live no more."
BOOK IV
This portion of the Æneid was written when the memory of Antony and Cleopatra was still fresh, and many traits of royal, imperious Dido seem suggestive of the Egyptian queen. Cf. Shakespeare's Cleopatra, and Chaucer's Legend of Good Women.
74:8. Dawn-goddess. Aurora, with Phœbus' torch. Apollo is constantly identified with the sun-god.
75:3. Erebus. God of darkness, son of Chaos and brother of Night. Synonymous with darkness, especially that of the underworld.
76:5. Lyæus. Bacchus. As the god that makes men unbend and frees them from care, he is called Father Lyæus.
78:9. Hymen. God of marriage.
79:24. Fame. Cf. Bacon, Fragment of an Essay of Fame. "The poets make Fame a monster. They describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and sententiously. They say, look how many feathers she hath, so many eyes she hath underneath; so many tongues; so many voices; she pricks up so many ears. This is a flourish; there follow excellent parables; as that she gathereth strength in going; that she goeth upon the ground, and yet hideth her head in the clouds, that in the day-time she sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most by night; that she mingleth things done with things not yet done, and that she is a terror to great cities."
79:31. Cœus. One of the Titans; was father of Latona.
80:34. Mæonian cap. Mæonia, part of Lydia, Asia Minor. Since Lydia and Phrygia were adjacent, Mæonian = Phrygian = Trojan.
81:15. The laws. Rome, the world's lawgiver.
83:18. Mænad. Mænads, or Bacchantes, women worshipping Bacchus in wild and orgiastic fashion in the woods or on mountain slopes of Cithæron.
84:19. Elissa. Dido.
84:31. Grynean. Refers to oracle of Apollo at Gryneum.
89:29. Hecate. Diana, moon-goddess, is identified with Hecate, also moon-goddess. As goddess of cross-roads, Hecate was called Trivia, and is represented by three statues standing back to back. Hecate is especially a goddess of the underworld and of witchcraft.
90:28. Laomedon. The father of Priam. He was notorious for his trickery and broken promises. Hence Trojans in a derogatory, scornful sense were termed race of Laomedon.
91:38. Tithonus. Son of Laomedon, husband of Aurora.
95:10. Iris. Goddess of the rainbow, the messenger of Juno.
95:14. Proserpine. Daughter of Ceres, wife of Pluto, and hence queen of underworld. BOOK V
Æneas sees the flames of Dido's pyre and guesses their meaning. In Sicily, he institutes funeral games to Anchises. Compare funeral games of Patroclus in 23d book of Iliad. The contest of the ships and the equestrian exhibition are wholly original, however. The burning of the fleet was part of an old Trojan legend.
99:8. Acheron's prison. The underworld.
99:14. Phaethon. The sun-god.
99:23. Talent. A weight, not coin, of silver or gold. The Attic silver talent was worth over $1000.
103:2. Feel that they are thought strong. The translation here is poor, the correct rendering being, "They can, because they think they can." Virgil's is a classical expression of the power of belief.
103:12. Portunus, a god of harbors, is here associated with the other divinities of the deep.
103:24. The royal boy. Ganymede, a favorite subject of art.
106:38. Amycus. A famous boxer of Bebrycii killed by Pollux.
107:35. Eryx. A Sicilian king, son of Venus; was killed by Hercules in a boxing contest.
113:8. Labyrinth in Crete. The Labyrinth, a maze built by Dædalus for King Minos at Gnossus in Crete to contain the Minotaur.
113:25. Solemn. Sacred festival, required each year.
117:20. Dis. Ruler of the underworld, variously called Orcus, Acheron, Erebus, Avernus. Dis, or Pluto, brother of Jupiter, is called Jupiter Stygius. 117:22. Tartarus. The abode of the wicked in the underworld.
117:24. Elysium. The abode of the good in the underworld.
120:11. Glaucus. A prophetic sea-god, said to be completely incrusted by "shellfish, seaweed, and stones," so that he is used by Plato (Rep. X, p. 116) as the image of a soul incrusted with sin.
120:12. Ino's Palæmon. Ino with his son Palæmon were transformed into sea divinities. The following names are of sea divinities.
121:7. Lethe. A river of the underworld whose waters bring forgetfulness. Styx. The main river in the underworld.
121:17. Sirens' isle. The Sirens were monsters with heads of women and bodies of birds who dwelt on some rocks off the Campanian coast, by the bay of Naples. Their sweet singing enticed mariners on to the rocks to be detroyed.
121:24. Naked corpse. Burial thought essential to spirit's peace.
BOOK VI
Visit of Æneas to Anchises in the world of the dead. Much of the philosophy is Stoic pantheism. The theory of the vision appears to include the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis. Ulysses in Odyssey, Book XI, visited the world of shades.
122:11. Sibyl. Through the Cumæan Sibyl, Deïphobe, as the guide of Æneas through the lower world, Virgil exalts the use of the Sibylline Books in the Roman religion. It is interesting to note that the position given the Sibyl, as guide of Æneas, Dante in turn gives to Virgil as his own guide in the lower world.
122:24. Sons of Cecrops. The Athenians yearly surrendered seven youths and seven maidens to be sent to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur, because the Athenians, through envy of his success in the public games, had murdered Androgeus, son of Minos, king of Crete, and Minos had made this the condition of peace.
122:31. The edifice is the Labyrinth, in which the Minotaur was confined.
123:5. Icarus. Son of Dædalus, who sought to escape with his father from Crete, but flew so near the sun that the wax by which his wings were fastened on was melted, and he fell and perished in the sea called from his name Icarian.
123:35. Dardan. Trojan. The Trojans are called by Virgil sometimes descendants of Dardanus, sometimes of Laomedon, sometimes of Anchises, again of Æneas, now Teucrians, and now Phrygians.
123:36. Æacides. A patronymic, applied by Virgil, now to Achilles, as here, now to Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, meaning descendant of Æacus.
124:35. Dorian. Greek.
125:36. Alcides. Hercules.
126:10. Cocytus. A river of the underworld.
127:29. Fissile. Easy to split.
129:19. Aornos. Greek word, meaning without birds. 129:28. Furies. The Furies were the goddesses of Vengeance, named Allecto, Megæra, and Tisiphonë.
130:31. Briareus. Giant, son of Earth.
130:31. Lerna. A lake and marsh near Argos in Greece. Here dwelt the Hydra, a nine-headed monster, whose breath was poisonous. Hercules finally slew it. Possibly an idealized tradition of the draining of the marsh Lerna.
130:32. Chimæra. A fabulous monster which breathed forth fire. In front it was a lion, in the hinder part a dragon, and in the middle a goat. The monster was slain by Bellerophon.
130:33. Gorgons. Three mythical women of Libya, having some resemblance to the Furies. The chief was Medusa, slain by Perseus. Her head with serpent hair was placed in the shield or Ægis of Jove and Minerva.
134:31. Cerberus. Three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the underworld.
136:10. Minos. King of Crete; after death became one of the judges in the underworld.
136:19. Marpessa. The mountain in Paros which contained the famous marble quarries, Marpesian, Parian.
138:12. Æolus. Ulysses was descended from Æolus.
140:20. Ixion. Ixion was father of Pirithous, king of the Lapithæ. Examples of men who have incurred the wrath of the gods.
141:31. Priest. Orpheus. Legendary poet and musician. 'Twas he who so charmed Proserpine that she allowed him to lead forth from the lower world his wife Eurydice. 142:9. Eridanus. A river issuing from the underworld, variously identified by ancient writers with the Po, the Rhine, or the Rhone,—usually with the Po.
143:26. Lethe. Quaffing its waters brought forgetfulness. See page 144.
146:1. Berecyntian mother. Cybele, a Phrygian goddess, worshipped as mother of the gods. So called from Berecyntus, a mountain in Phrygia, sacred to Cybele.
146:37. Fasces. The bundles of rods from which an axe protruded, carried by the lictor before certain magistrates when they appeared in public. Symbol of authority.
147:5. Drusi. A Roman family mentioned here in compliment to their descendent Livia, wife of Augustus.
147:5. Decii. The Decii, father, son, and grandson, solemnly devoted themselves to death, each to win a doubtful battle, in the wars of the Latins, of the Samnites, and of Pyrrhus respectively.
147:5. Torquatus. (T. Manlius) won his title (with a gold neck-chain) by slaying a gigantic Gaul.
147:6. Camillus, returning from banishment, drove back the victorious Gauls, winning back the captured standards.
147:12. Father-in-law and son-in-law. Cæsar and Pompey.
147:30. Fabii. Quintus Fabius wore out the strength of Hannibal, constantly refusing to be drawn into a pitched battle. Hence "Fabian policy" means delay.
148:10. Quirinus. Romulus.
149:7. Laurentian. Laurentum, a town on the coast of
Latium, a city of King Latinus. "A recent writer has reminded us that dreams after midnight were accounted true both by the Greeks and the Romans. Hence he concluded that Virgil, in making Æneas issue by the gate of false dreams, is indicating that Æneas comes forth from the underworld before midnight. As to the time of Æneas' stay in the lower world see lines 255, 535-539. He is in the land of the shades from dawn until nearly midnight."
—Knapp.
"By those who think this book a symbolic exhibition of certain mysteries, the legend of the Gate, with the dismissal of Æneas from the ivory one, is considered a warning that the language may not be taken literally, or understood except by the initiated."
—Greenough.
"Anchises conducts Æneas and the Sibyl to the ivory gate as the one which affords the easiest and quickest ascent to the upper world. They are thus saved the toil of ascending by the way they came, which, according to the words of the Sibyl, 128, 129, would have been a work of great labor."
—Frieze.
BOOK VII
Arrival of Æneas in Latium and commencement of hostilities between the Latins and Trojans.
150:1. Caieta. Æneas buries his nurse on a promontory of Latium which he called after her—now called Gaeta.
151:8. Erato. Name of one of the Muses.
151:14. Tyrrhenian. The Tyrrheni were a people of Asia who had settled in Etruria, a district north of Italy. Hence used synonymously for Etrurian, Tuscan—Italian. Œnotrian is still another term. 151:29. Turnus. Son of Daunus and the nymph Venilia, was king of the Rutulians, a people of Latium. He led the Italian forces against Æneas, but was at last slain by Æneas in single combat, as described in the last of Book XII.
153:19. The eating of tables was foretold by the Harpy and Anchises, in Book III, page 59.
159:19. Bellona. Goddess of war and bloodshed, an old Italian deity—sister of Mars.
159:26. Allecto. One of the Furies. Her sisters were Megæra and Tisiphonë.
160:11. Amata. Queen of Latium, wife of King Latinus.
165:15-17. Trivia's lake (= Diana's), Nar, Veline.
"The lake of Diana on the Alban Mount, far to the southeast
of the Tiber, and the Nar and Velinus far to the northeast, i.e.
the whole country around heard the sound. The lake of Diana
is now called Lake Nemi, near Ariccia, 15 miles south of Rome.
The river Nar runs between Umbria and the Sabine country, and
falls into the Tiber. The lake Velinus was produced by the overflow
of the river Velinus and was led into the Nar by a channel
cut through a ledge of rock by the consul M. Curius Denatus,
B.C. 270. This produced the celebrated fall of Terni."
—Frieze.
168:7. Janus. An Italian god of beginnings and gateways—two-headed,
since gates fall two ways. Is especially
the guardian of the gates of the temple of war.
168:10. Gabine cincture. A peculiar way of adjusting the toga.
169:6 to 175:18. For this portion, omitted in the prose version, we use Conington's verse translation. BOOK VIII
Alliance of Æneas and Evander. Vulcan makes a shield for Æneas.
179:9. Amphitryon's child. Hercules—the stepson of Amphitryon.
180:12. Maia. Daughter of Atlas.
181:3. Pheneus, A town of Arcadia.
182:8. Geryon, A giant monster of Gades (Cadiz) in Spain, the keeper of beautiful cattle. He was slain by Hercules, who took the cattle across the Alps to the valley of the Tiber.
182:36. Tiryns. In Argolis, the early home of Hercules.
186:2. Hests. Commands.
186:22. Ægis. Famous shield of Jupiter (worn also by Minerva), bearing in the centre the baneful head of the Gorgon Medusa. The Ægis when shaken wrought terror and dismay on the wearer's foes. The shaking was accompanied by thunder and lightning—thus the Ægis was the symbol of the whirlwind that drives the storm-cloud.
189:19. Lemnos. An island in the Ægean Sea, the home of Vulcan.
194:21. Cuishes. Greaves, or leg coverings.
198:12. Codes. Horatius. See Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome.
196:19. Egyptian spouse. Cleopatra.
196:31. Anubis. An Egyptian god, with a dog's head. 196:34. Mavors. Mars.
197:2. Saba. In Arabia.
BOOK IX
The attack of Turnus on the Trojan camp.
198:5. Child. Iris.
198:29. Messapus. A Tyrrhenian chief whose followers are from Fescennium and other places on the right bank of the Tiber. See Book VII.
203:19. Wont. Were wont.
212:5. Ravin. Ravages.
217:12. Kid-stars. The Kids were two stars in the hand of Auriga, the setting of which in December was attended with heavy rains.
217:24. Padus. The Po.
217:24. Athesis. A river in northern Italy, now the Adige.
218:22. Prochyta. A small island off the west of Campania, near the promontory of Micenum.
218:23. Inarime. An island off the Campanian coast, now Ischia.
BOOK X
Council of the gods.
226:12. Terebinth. Turpentine tree.
227:3. Helicon. A mountain of Bœotia sacred to Apollo and the Muses. BOOK XI
Funeral honors to the dead. The truce broken by renewal of hostilities.
257:27. Arpi. A town of Apulia.
268:5. The pillars of Proteus are the island of Pharos and the coast of Egypt, whither Menelaus was driven.
258:8. Monarch of Mycenæ. Agamemnon.
262:16. Myrmidons. See page 325.
263:11. Camilla. A warrior princess of the Volsci.
264:10. Coras. See page 170.
265:4. Champaign. Plain.
BOOK XII
Final conflict between Æneas and Turnus.
279:29. Orichalc. Copper.
280:24. Vervain. Verbena, leafy twig, sacred bough (of laurel, olive, myrtle, or cypress).
288:18. Dittany. Herb growing on Mount Dicte in Crete.
288:24. Ambrosia. Sustenance of immortal life, food of the gods, as nectar is their drink.
296:12. Holms. Oaks, holm-oak, "great scarlet oak."
303:16. Soul. Cf. the Emperor Hadrian's Address to his Soul, translated by Byron, Prior, Pope, Merivale, Carnarvon,
etc. "Soul of mine, pretty one, flitting one,
Guest and partner of my clay,
Whither wilt thou hie away,—
Pallid one, rigid one, naked one—
Never to play again, never to play?"
—Merivale.
"Yes, thou goest, Spirit—yes,
In thy paleness, nakedness—
Mirth is banished,
Jest hath vanished
Into gloom and dreariness."
—Carnarvon.
"Wee wan'erin' winsome elf, my saul,
Thou's made this clay long hoose an' hall,
But whar, oh whar art now to dwall,
Thy bield now bare?
Gaun' flickterin' feckless, shiverin' caul,
Nae cantrips mair."