nimo; vultus ejus hæreut in- Gentis honos; hærent infixi pectore vultus, fixi pectore, verbaque; nec cu ra dat membris placidam quie. Verbaque; nec placidam membris dat cura qui tem. etem. 5 TRANSLATION. of his race, still to her thoughts by frequent starts recur: his looks and words dwell fixed in her soul; nor does care allow one moment's undisturbed rest NOTES. about 300 years lower down than any other chronologist had done before, fixing it to the 78th year after the death of Solomon, the year before our vulgar æra 904; and the year of Dido's building Carthage, to the year 883, i.e. 21 years after, when Eneas might very well be alive. Those who will take the trouble to examine his book, will find it no easy matter to withstand the weighty reasons he offers in support of his singular opinion. To shorten the reader's labour, I shall briefly mention a few of them. 1. He observes that Virgil agrees with the Arundel Marbles. As Virgil relates, probably from the archives of Tyre or Cyprus, that Teucer came from the war of Troy to Cyprus in the days of queen Dido (see n. I. 623.) and with her father seized Cyprus; so the Arundel marbles say that Teucer came to Cyprus seven years after the destruction of Troy, and built Salamis. 2. In the temple built at Cadiz to Hercules, under the name of Melcartus, was Teucer's golden belt, beside Pygmalion's golden bow, by which it appears, that the temple was built in their days, and that they were contemporary. 3. Dionysius Halicarnasseus reckons sixteen kings from Latinus, who reigned in Italy in the time of the Trojan war, to Romulus; and from him to the consuls were six kings more: which 22 reigns, at a medium of 18 years to a reign (taking the lowest reckoning, because many of them died violent deaths), amount to 396 years. These, counted backward from the consuls Brutus and Publicola, place the Trojan war about 78 years after the death of Solomon, according to Sir Isaac's first computation. 4. Herodotus, who says Homer and Hesiod were but 400 years before him, wrote in the time of Nehemiah, i. e. 444 years before Christ. And Hesiod says he was but an age after the destruction of Troy. Now 400, 444, and 60 years more for the time between Hesiod and the war of Troy, bring it to the year before Christ 904, as Sir Isaac reckons. 5. Lastly, in the year 1689, the cardinal points had gone back one full sign, 6 degrees, and 29 minutes, from the cardinal points of Chiron (in the time of the Argonautic expedition) as nearly, he says, as can be determined from the coarse observations of the ancients. Consequently, at the rate of 72 years to a degree, 2627 years had been passed since Chiron, which brings us back to 43 years after the death of Solomon, for the time of the Argonautic expedition; and the destruction of Troy was about 30 or 35 years later, So that all these collateral proofs agree in one point, and fix the æra of the ruin of Troy to about one and the same year, viz. 904 years before our vulgar æra. I shall only make one farther remark upon this subject. There is hardly any doubt to be made, that the Romans in Virgil's time were of opinion, that Dido and Æneas were contemporary; and even granting it to be an error, and that Virgil knew it to be so, yet he acted wisely in (not deviating from common opinion, but) taking advantage of it as a poet, since it conduced so much to the embellishment of his poem. 1. Jamdudum. Servius thinks jamdudum here may have the signification of nimium or vehementer, as in Terence, Eun. III. 1. 57 t Quando illud, quod tu das, expectat, atque amat, Jamdudum amat te: jamdudum illi facile fit Quod doleat. But I see nothing to hinder us from understanding the word in its common acceptation; for, though it was but a short while since Dido had first seen Æneas, yet, when the poet is describing the pangs of love she had suffered all that while, he very elegantly uses a word implying long duration. With the same propriety he uses this word in the second book, verse 103, where Sinon says, Si omnes uno ordine habetis Achivos, Idque audire sat est jamdudum, sumite pœnas. Though but a few minutes had intervened since the Trojans had been informed that Sinon was a Greek, he calls those few minutes a long while-jamdudum audire, to represent their impatient desire of revenge, as if it Postera Phoebeâ lustrabat lampade terras, Credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse Deorum. quibus fatis fuit ille jactatus! TRANSLATION. Postera Aurora lustrabat terras Phœbeâ lampade, dimoveratque humentem umbram polo; cum Dido malesana sie alloquitur sororem suam unanimem: Soror Anna,quæ insom nia terrent me suspensam! Quis hic novus hospes successit nostris sedibus? quem ferens sese ore! quàm forti pectore et armis! Ego equidem credo, nec fides mea est vana,eum esse genus Deorum. Timor arguit degeneres animos. Heu, quæ bella exhausta ab eo cauebat! to her weary limbs. Returning Aurora now illuminated the earth with the lamp of Phœbus, and had chased away the dewy shades from the sky, when thus the love-sick queen addresses her affectionate sympathizing sister: Sister Anna, what visionary dreams terrify and distract my mind! What think you of this wondrous guest now lodged within our walls? in mien how graceful he appears! in manly fortitude and warlike deeds how great, how god-like! I am fully persuaded (nor is my belief groundless) that he is the offspring of the gods. Fear argues a mind ignoble and degenerate. Ah, by what fatal disasters has he been tossed! what toils of war he sang, with invincible fortitude endured to the last! Had I not been fixed and sted NOTES. could brook no delay, but reckoned every moment long, that withheld them from gratifying their resentment. So also in the same fourth book, where Dido is quite dissatisfied with Eneas's speech from the beginning, the poet says: Talia dicentem jamdudum aversa tuetur. Verse 362.. 1. Gravi curâ, Love's painful durts. This easy metaphor in English, seems best adapted to convey the force of the original gravi curâ, heavy or oppressive care; especially since Virgil uses the words saucia and vulnus, probably in allusion to the darts and arrows with which Cupid was poetically represented; as the following expression, cæco carpitur igni, alludes to his flaming torch. 5. Nec placidam membris dat cura quietem. Her care and anguish allow her to enjoy no rest but what is broken and disturbed by dreams. That this is the sense, appears from the following ninth verse: Qua me suspensam insomnia terrent ! 8. Unanimem. This is a very emphatic expression; it signifies, there was such an union and harmony of affection between them, that they seemed to be both animated with one and the same soul. 10. Novus-hospes. Servius explains novus here to signify magnus, ráre, matchless, as in Ecl. III. 86. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina. i. e. excellent, inimitable verses, quasi quæ antea nunquam, such as were never matched. In the same sense Virgil calls wine novum nectar, excellent as the drink of the gods, Ecl. V. 71. 11. Quam forti pectore, et armis! This is an elliptic way of speaking in Latin, and the full sentence is, Quam forti est pectore, et quam fortibus armis. By the first we are to understand his fortitude in surmounting hardships and misfortunes, and by the second his valour and prowess in war. 13. Degeneres animos timor arguit. The meaning is, as fear argues an ignoble baseborn mind, so valour, like that of Æneas, who is forti pectore et armis, bespeaks a noble, a divine original. The poet designedly filled this speech of Dido with abrupt half-sentences, and made her speak incoherently, to show the confusion and perturbation of her mind. 14. Futis. The word sometimes signifies the distresses and calamities of life, whose causes are more secret, and that seem to arise from the particular appointment and determination of heaven; hence Cicero, speaking of Cati Si non sederet mihi fixum im. Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet, 15 motumque animo, ne cui vel lem sociare me jugali vinculo, Ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare jugali, postquam primus amor fefellit Postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit; me deceptam morte; si non Si non pertaæsum thalami tædæque fuisset; pertæsum fuisset me thalami 20 tædæque, forsan potui succum Huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpæ. bere huic uni culpa. Anna (ego Anna (fatebor enim) miseri post fata Sichæi enim fatebor tibi), hic solus inflexit meos sensus, impulitque Conjugis, et sparsos fraterna cæde Penates, meum animum labantem, post Solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem fata mei miseri conjugisSichæi, et Penates sparsos fraterna Impulit: agnosco veteris vestigia flammæ. cæde: agnosco vestigia mea Sed mihi vel tellus optem priùs ima dehiscat, veteris flammæ. Sed optem ut Vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad um vel ima tellus dehiscat mihi, vel pater omnipotens adigat bras, me fulmine ad umbras, pallen Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam, tes umbras Erebi, profundamque noctem, antequam, O pu. Ante, pudor, quàm te violo, aut tua jura resolvo. dor! ego violo te, aut resolvo tua jura. TRANSLATION. 25 fast in my resolution, never to join myself to any in the bonds of wedlock, since my first love by death mocked and disappointed my fond hopes of hap piness; had I not been sick of the marriage-bed and nuptial torch; to this one frailty I might perhaps give way. Anna (for I will frankly own it) since the decease of my unhappy spouse Sichæus, and since the household gods were stained with his blood shed by a brother, this stranger alone has warped my inclinations, and interested my wavering mind: I feel the symptoms of my former flame. But sooner may earth from her centre open to swallow me up, or almighty father Jove hurl me by his thunder to the shades, the pale shades of Erebus, and deepest night, than I violate thee, O sacred NOTES. line's wicked gang, who had become almost too powerful for the commonwealth, and acted in defiance of the laws, says, he was confident some secret unforeseen calamity would soon overtake them: Quibus ego confido impendere fatum aliquá. Cat. II. 5. 14. Exhausta. Non inchoata tantum, sed perfecta, et ad ultimum constantissime perducta: not only begun, but accomplished, and with the greatest resolution brought to a period. The word carries an allusion to the draining of some bitter and unpleasant cup to the very last dregs. 17. Deceptam morte fefellit. Postquam spe perpetui amoris, interfecto murito, frustrata sum, says Scaliger, Lib. IV. cap. 16. 19. Culpa. Because second marriages were somewhat infamous, as carrying a suspicion of incontinency. Hence, says Valerius, Lib. II. Olim que uno matrimonio contentæ fuerunt, co- Ibant insignes vultuque habituque verendo, So Ovid, Ludite, sed furto celetur culpa modesto. 2 Art. 27. Ante, pudor, quàm te, &c. The unte here is redundant, for prius goes before; Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores Ille, qui primus junxit me sibi, abstulit meos amores; ille ha beat eos secum, servetque eos 30 in sepulchro. Illa effata sic, implevit sinum lacrymis obortis. Anna refert: Ö magis dilecta sorori luce, tune sola mærens carpêre in perpetuâ juventâ nec nôris dulces natos, nec præmia Veneris? Cre35 disne cinerem aut sepultos manes curare id? Esto, nulli mariti quondam flexere te ægram, non Libyæ, non ante in Tyro: esto, Iarbas fut despectus, aliique ductores, quos Africa terra dives triumphis alit TRANSLATION. modesty! or break thy laws. He who first linked me to himself, hath borne away my heart; may he possess it still, and retain it in his grave. This said, she filled her bosom with trickling tears. Anna replies: O dearer to your sister than the light, will you thus in mournful solitude waste all your bloom of youth, nor know the dear delights of children, and joys of love? Think you that cold ashes and the buried dead regard these your vows and promises ? What though no lovers moved you before, when your sorrows were green, either here in Libya, or before in Tyre? what though you slighted Iarbas and other princes whom Afric, fertile in triumphs, maintains? Will you also NOTES. so that the sentence runs thus: Tellus prius dehiscat antequam, pudor, violo te. But examples of the same kind occur in other authors, even in prose writers; particularly in Sallust, who says: Ac prius quam legiones scriberentur, multa ante capere qua bello usui forent. In Catil. And Corn. Nepos in Vit. Att. Atque antea quidem morbi diuturnitatem moleste ferebat, priusquam hoc ei accide ret. 27. Violo-resolvo. This is the reading of the best and most ancient manuscripts: some others, however, read violem, resolvam. 30. Sinum implevit. By sinum here Servius, and with him Turnebus, understand the cavity of the eye, as the word sometimes signifies. But the common sense of the word is surely the stronger and more expressive of the two, as it shows her tears to be more copious, and paints her passion more violent. 35. Nulli mariti. That is, none who courted with sincere views of marriage. 36. Iarbas. Justin gives a very distinct and particular account of the proposals of marriage made by this prince to queen Dido, and of the way in which she received his offer. I shall give it to the reader in his own words, and at full length, because it serves to ac quaint him' with the true character of this princess, and shows how widely the poet differs from the historian: Cum successu rerum florentes Carthaginis opes essent, rex Maxitanorum Hiarbas, decem Panorum principibus ad se arcessitis, Elisa nuptias sub belli denuntiatione petit; quod legati reginæ referre metuentes, Punico cum eâ ingenio egerunt; nuntiantes regem aliquem poscere, qui cultiores victus eum Afrosque perdoceat: sed quem inveniri posse, qui ad barbaros et ferarum more viventes transire à consanguineis velit? Tunc à regina castigati, Si pro salute patriæ asperiorem vitam recusarent, cui etiam ipsa vita, si res exigat, debeatur; regis mandata aperuêre, dicentes, Que præcipiat aliis, ipsi facienda esse, si velit urbi consultum esse. Hoc dolo capta, diu Acerba viri nomine cum multis lacrymis et lamentatione flebili invocato, ad postremum ituram se quo suæ urbis fata vocarent, respondit. In hoc trium mensium sumpto spatio, pyrâ in ultimâ parte urbis extructa, velut placatura viri manes, inferiasque ante nuptias missura, multas hostias cadit, et sumpto gladio pyram conscendit: atque ita ad populum respiciens, ituram se ad virum, sicut præceperant, dixit; vitamque gladio finivit, Lib. XVIII. 6. pugnabisne etiam placito amo- Dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori? ri? Nec venit tibi in mentem in quorum arvis consederis? Nec venit in mentem quorum consederis arvis? Hinc urbes Getulee, genus in- Hinc Getulæ urbes, genus insuperabile bello, 40 superabile bello, et infræni Nu- Et Numidæ infræni cingunt, et inhospita Syrtis; midæ eingunt te, et inhospita Syrtis; hinc regio deserta siti, Hinc deserta siti regio, latèque furentes Barcæique late furentes cin- Barcæi. Quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam, gunt te. Quid dicam bella sur gentia de Tyro, minasque fra- Germanique minas? tris tui germani? Ego equi- Dîs equidem auspicibus reor, et Junone secundâ,45 dem reor Iliacas carinas vento Huc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas, tenuisse cursum huc, Dis au spicibus, et Junone secundâ. Quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes! quæ surgere O soror, quam urbem tu cer nes hanc quæ regna cernes regna surgere è tali conjugio! Quan- Conjugio tali! Teucrûm comitantibus armis, tis rebus Punica gloria attollet Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus ! se, armis Teucrum comitanti bus tua! Modo tu posce Deos Tu modò posce Deos veniam, sacrisque litatis 50 veniam, sacrisque litatis, in- Indulge hospitio, causasque innecte morandi, dulge hospitio, innecteque cau sas morandi, TRANSLATION. resist the flame which you approve? Will you not reflect in whose country you now reside? Here, Getulian cities, a race invincible in war, fierce, untamed Numidians, and inhospitable quick-sands, enclose you round: there, a region by thirst into a desert turned, and the Barcæans, who stretch their fury wide over the land. What occasion is there to mention the kindling wars from Tyre, and the menaces of your incensed brother? It was surely, I think, by the auspicious influence of the gods, and by the particular favour of Juno, that the Trojan ships steered their course to this our coast. sister, how flourishing shall you see this city, how potent your kingdom rise from such a match! By what high exploits shall the Carthaginian glory be advanced, when the Trojan arms join your own! Wherefore, be this your sole concern; supplicate the favour of the gods, and, having by sacred rites rendered heaven propitious, freely indulge yourself in acts of hospitality, and devise one pretence after another for detaining your guest, while NOTES. 37. Triumphis dives. Some allege that the Africans never triumphed at all. But Servius quotes the authority both of Pliny and Trogus Pompeius, to prove that they on the contrary were the first who invented triumphal shows; to which invention the Romans afterwards laid claim. To confirm Servius' opinion, Justin tells us, that Asdrubal, in particular, had been honoured with four triumphs, Lib. XIX. cap. 1. Cujus (Hasdrubalis) mortem, cum luctus civitatis, tum et dictature undecim, et triumphi quatuor, insignem fecere. 40. Getula, &c. The Getulians inhabited southward from Carthage. The Numidians to the west possessed the country which we now call Belidulgerid. The Barcæans, towards the east, occupied that which was now called the kingdom of Barca. 44. Germanique minas. Justin informs us, that, when Pygmalion heard of his sister's having made her escape, he intended to have pursued her, and was with difficulty withheld from his purpose, by the entreaties of his mother, and the threatenings of the gods: Dum hæc aguntur, Pygmalion, cognitâ sororis fugâ, cum impio bello fugientem persequi pararet, ægre precibus matris et Deorum minis victus, quievit; cui cum inspirati vates canerent, non impune laturum, si incrementa urbis toto orbe auspicatissimæ interpellasset, hoc modo spatium respirandi fugientibus datum. Lib. XVIII. cap.5. 45. Junone secundâ. Juno is particularly mentioned, both because she presided over marriage, and because Carthage was under her peculiar patronage. 50. Sacrisque litatis. Litare signifies to pro |