“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.
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.
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. Cocles. 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.
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.
Council of the gods.
226:12. Terebinth. Turpentine tree.
227:3. Helicon. A mountain of Bœotia sacred to Apollo and the Muses.
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.
265:4. Champaign. Plain.
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.
Transcriber’s Note: Endnotes indicated by [o] are missing.