Conington-Nettleship-Haverfield, Aen. 1

P. VERGILI MARONIS AENEIDOS LIBER PRIMUS

A Commentary
by
John Conington and Henry Nettleship

(Fourth edition, 1884)

Go on to the end of this section or back to the previous section or to the menu.

Lines 1-7

'I sing the hero who founded the Trojan kingdom in Italy, his voyages and his wars.'

1.] Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris

This line is preceded in some MSS. by the following verses,
Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
Carmen et egressus silvis vicina coegi
Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,
Gratum opus agricolis: at nunc horrentia Martis
They are not found in Med., Rom., Gud. Or the Verona fragments (Pal. and the fragments of Vat. and St. Gall seem to fail here), and the only MS. in Ribbeck's list which contains them (the Berne MS. No. 172) has them written in the margin by a later hand. They appear to have existed in the time of Suetonius, who says (Vita Vergilii 42) that Nisus the grammarian had heard a story of their having been expunged by Tucca and Varius; on which Heyne remarks, "Si res ita se habet, acutior sane Varius Vergilio fuit." [Suetonius, it should be remembered, is a poor authority on matters of criticism; he has no difficulty, for instance, in accepting the Culex as genuine. Ti. Donatus knows nothing of these four lines. --H. N.] Those who speak of them as an introduction to the poem, forget that if genuine they are an integral part of the first sentence; and that it is, to say the least, remarkable that the exordium should be so constructed as to be at once interwoven with the context and yet capable of removal without detriment to the construction, just at the point which forms a much better commencement. The words arma virumque are quoted by Martial, 8. 56., 19. 14. 185. 2, and Auson. Epig. 137.1, evidently as a real commencement of the Aeneid while Ovid, Trist. 2. 533, and Persius 1. 96, quote arma virumque, or arma virum, as important and independent words, which they cease to be the moment arma is viewed in connexion with the words supposed to precede it. [The words arma virumque -- litora, are quoted in an inscription (Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. 2, No. 4967, 31) assigned by Hubner to the first century A.D. Arma virumque cano has also been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii. --H. N.] Virg. himself, 9. 777, has (of the poet Clytius) "Semper equos atque arma virum pugnasque canebat." Comp. also Ov. 1 Amor. 15. 26, Prop. 3. 26. 63, which point the same way. Macrob. Sat. 5. 2 quotes Troiae qui primus ab oris as part of the first verse of the Aeneid. On the other hand Priscian 940 P cites Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avena as Virg.'s. Henry's view that "arma Martis" is happily contrasted with "arma agricolae" (comp. G. 1. 160) seems to be favoured by the structure of the sentence, and may very possibly have been present to the mind of the author of these lines; but it clearly was not present to the minds of those who quoted arma by itself as war. Tastes may differ as to the rival commencements, on which see Henry in loco, and on 2.247; but it may be suggested that Virg. would scarcely in his first sentence have divided the attention of the reader between himself and his hero by saying, in effect, that the poet who wrote the Eclogues and the Georgics, sings the hero who founded Rome. [It should be added that supposing the Aeneid to have begun with arma virumque cano, the first seven lines of the poem will be found to correspond strikingly in rhythm with the first seven lines of the Iliad. Did Ennius begin his poem with "arma"? Horace 1 Epist. 19. 7, "Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma Prosiluit dicenda." --H. N.] Wagn. and Forb., however, as well as Henry, consider the lines as genuine; and they have been imitated by Spenser in the opening of the Faery Queene, and Milton in the opening of Paradise Regained.

Arma virumque: this is an imitation of the opening of the Odyssey, = êndra. It may also be taken from the first line of the Cyclic poem of the Epigoni, preserved by the Schol. on Aristoph. Peace 1270, =. It is followed by all the other Roman writers of epic poetry, Lucan, Flaccus, Statius, and, above all, Silius, the most faithful copier of Virg., with a unanimity which strongly supports the view taken in the preceding note. The words are not a hendiadys, but give first the character of the subject and then the subject itself Arma may have been intended to suggest, though it does not express, a contrast between this and Virg.'s previous poems. -- In commencing with cano he has followed his own example in the Georgics, rather than that of Homer, who at once invokes the Muse; and the Latin Epic writers have followed Virg. The earlier commentators have found a difficulty in reconciling primus with Antenor's previous migration (below, vv. 242 foll.), and suggest that Aeneas had first reached Italy proper, though Antenor had previously reached Venetia. [Ti. Donatus says "primus fato, quia alii ex eventu ad Italiam fuerant delati, Aeneas vero compulsus." --H. N.] On the other land, Heyne and Wagn. make primus equivalent to olim, thus weakening a word which from its position and its occurrence in the first line of the poem nust be emphatic. The more obvious sense is that Aeneas is so called without reference to Antenor, as the founder of the great Trojan empire in Italy.

2.] fato profugus Lavinaque venit

Fato, a mixture of modal and instrum. abl., as in 4. 696., 6. 449, 466, &c. Here it seems to go with profugus though it might go with 'venit:' comp. 10. 67. Perhaps the force may be "profugus quidem; sed fato profugus," a glorious and heaven-sent fugitive. So Livy 1. 1., comp. by Weidner, "Aenean ab simili clade domo profugum sed ad maiora rerum initia ducentibus fatis." For the poetic accus. Italiam -- Lavina litora, without the preposition, see Madv. ¤ 232, obs. 4. The MSS. are divided between Lavinaque, Laviniaque, and perhaps Lavinia. The last, however, though adopted by Burm. and Heyne, and approved by Heins., seems to rest solely on the authority of Med., which has Lavinia (corrected into Lavina) with a mark of erasure after the word. Laviniaque is found in the Verona fragm., and is supported by quotations in Terentianus Maurus and Diomedes, and in single MSS. of Priscian, Censorinus, and Sergius in artem Donati. Lavinaque is found in the inscription quoted on v. 1, in Rom., Gud., and probably most other MSS., and is supported by quotations in Macrobius, Gellius, Marius Victorinus, Pompeius, the Schol. On Lucan, most MSS. of Priscian, and one of Censorinus. Servius mentions both readings, saying, "Lavina legendum est, non Lavinia." Lavinia is supported by 4. 236: but the synizesis, though not unexampled (comp. 5. 269, 6, 33, and see on G. 4. 243), is perhaps awkward, especially in the second line of the poem, and the imitation in Prop. 3. 26. 64, "Iactaque Lavinis moenia litoribus," is in favour of the form Lavina. Juv. 12.71 has "novercali sedes praelata Lavino," though there as in Prop. the quadrisyllabic form might be introduced and explained by synizesis. On the whole, I have preferred Lavinaque, believing the form to be possible in itself (comp. " Campanus," " Lucanus," "Appulus," &c.),and more probable in this instance; the modern editors however are generally for Laviniaque. Lachmann on Lucr. 2. 719 speaks doubtfully. Tho epithet which belonged to the place after the foundation of the city by Aeneas is given to it here, as in 4. 236, by a natural anticipation at the time of his landing.

3.] The imitation of the exordium of the Odyssey continues, multum ille iactatus . . . multa quoque passus, being modelled on = : 'ille,' as so often in Virg., standing for the Homeric =. 'Multum;' &c., used to be pointed as a separate sentence; it is however evidently constructed with ' venit,' so that ' ille ' is virtually pleonastic. Comp. 5. 457., 6. 593., 9. i79. Here it appears rhetorically to be equal to 'quidem.' 'Iactatus' is naturally transferred from wanderings by sea to wanderings by land. In such passages as vv. 332, 668, we see the point of transition. So 5.627, " cum freta, cum terras omnis . . . emensae ferimur."

4.] ' Vi superum ' expresses the general agency, like ' fato profugus ' though uno was his only personal enemy. [Ti. Donatlus, like Gossrau in our time, seems to have taken 'vi superum' as = in spite of heaven. "Vis enim non est," he says " nisi cum fit aliquid contra legem, hoc est, contra fatum." --H. N.] But there is no authority for such an interpretation. ['Saevae :" non saevam potentem dixit, ut alii volunt, sed revera saevam, quae persequeretur innocentem." Ti. Donatus. --H. N.] For ' memorem iram' comp. Livy 9. 29, "Traditur censorem etiam Appium memori Deum ira post aliquot annos luminibus captum." So Aesch. Ag. 155, = 'Ob iram,' below, v. 251,Õ to sate the wratlh.'

5.] 'Passus,' constructed like 'iactatus.' 'Quoque' and 'et' of course form a pleonasm, though the former appears to be connected with ' multa,' and the latter with ' bello.' 'Dum conderet' like " dum fugeret," G. 4. 457, where see note. Here we might render 'in the struggle to build his city.' So Hom. Od. 1. 4 foll., =. The clause belongs to 'multa bello passus ,' rather than to 'iactatus.'

6.] "Vietosque Pcmltis inferre," 8. 11.Õ Unde ' may be taken either as "qua ex re," or as "a quo," as in v. 568., 6.766, &c. The latter seems more probable.Õ Genus Latinum,' 'Albani patres,' 'altae moenia Romae,' denote the three ascending stages of the empire which sprang from Aeneas, Lavinium, Alba, and Rome. Comp. 12. 823 foll., which is a good commentary on the present passage.Õ Albani patres ' probably means not ' our Alban ancestors,' but the senate, or rather the noble houses of Alba, of which the Julii were one.

8-11.] 'Why was it, Muse that Juno so persceuted so pious a hero? '

8.] ' Causae ' is not unfrequently used where wc should be content with the sing, e. g v. 414., 2 105., 3. 32., 6. 710, the last of which will illustrate the epexegetical clause ' quo -- inpulerit.' 'Memora ' is appropriate, as the Muses were connected with memory: comp. 7. 645, and see note on E. 7. 19. -- There are various ways of taking 'quo numine laeso.' Some think there is a change of construction, and that " impulsus fuerit," or something like it, sbould havc followed so that Virgil should have imitated Homer, II. 1. 8, = But this, as Heyne remarks, though not unexampled, would be a singular piece of loose writing so early in the poem and would moreover involve the inconsistency of first saying that it was Juno, 'saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram,' and then asking the Muse what god it was. Others make 'numine' nearly equivalent to ' voluntate,' citing 2.123, "quae sint ea numina divom" but even supposing that 'numen ' in this sense might be taken distributively, which the passage above quoted does not prove, 'laeso' would scarcely be appropriate to ' numine ' in this sense, while the words frequently occur in conjunction in the sense of outraged majesty. Comp. 2. 183, Hor. Epod. 15. 3, and Macleane's note. Heyne accepts Serv.'s proposal of separating ' quo' from ' numine,' and taking it in the sense of " qua re," " qua causa," which would be extremely harsh. It remains then, with Wagn., to regard the expression as equivalent to "quam ob laesionem numinis sui; " referring it to the cases already noticed on E. 1 53, where the pronoun or pronominal adjective stands for its corresponding adverb. Thus the negative answer to ' quo numine laeso ' would be " nullum numen Iunonis laesit." Or we may say that ' numen laesum' alone would stand for " laesio numinis " (see Madv. ¤ 426;), and that in such a construction the question could hardly be asked otherwise than by making the interrogative pronoun agree with the noun. [Henry's interpretation now is " what arbitrium of hers being offended i.e. her arbitrium or free will and pleasure being offended in what respect." --H. N.] No charge of impiety strictly could be brought against Aeneas, but there might be 'dolores' such as are mentioned vv. 23-28, which impelled Juno to persecute even one renowned for piety.

9.] ' Volvere: ' see on G. 2. 295, " Multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit." The misfortunes are regarded as a destined circle which Aeneas goes through. [So 6. 748 "ubi mille rotam volvere per annos." Henry now supposes the metaphor to be from a rolling stone or wheel. --H. N .]

10.] ' Insignem pietate ' (6. 403) characterizes the hero, as = does Ulysses in the commencement of the Odyssey. The contrast,howwever,between piety and sufferings is made in the case of Ulysses himself, Od. 1. 60 foll., 66; foll.Õ Pietas ' includes the performance of all duties to gods, parents, kinsmen, friends, and country. "Adire periculum " is not uncommon in Cicero; see Forc.

11.] It is difficult to say whether ' animis caelestibus ' is a dat. with an ellipsis of the verb substantive or the ablative. ['Impulerit ' Verona fragm. 'impulerat ' Rom. --H. N.]

Continue to the next section or Go back to the beginning of this section, to the previous section, or to the menu.

(10/14/95)