Vergil, Aeneid I 12-33

Manuscripts: M 12-29, 30-33 | R 12-18, 19-33

The history of Juno’s enmity to the Trojans: her dear city, Carthage, was threatened by a decree of the Fates to be destroyed by a Trojan race; further, she had hated Troy’s people ever since the insult set upon her by the judgement of Paris (Austin). 

12: urbs antiqua: Carthage was “ancient” with reference to the time of Vergil, not to the time of Aeneas (Frieze). Tyrii: Carthage was founded by Phoenicians from Tyre (F-B). tenuere: the ending ēre for erunt is very common in poetry, being convenient for metrical purposes (C-R) (AG 163). As object understand eam, referring to urbem (Bennett).

13: Italiam contra: an instance of anastrophe, inversion of the usual word order (F-B). contra...longe: These words go together, and in prose the order would be longe contra Italiam Tiberinaque ostia “far away and directly facing Italy and the mouth of the Tiber.” The peculiarity here is that the two words longe contra both go with two accusatives, but are distributed or interwoven with the co-ordinated accusatives as though one went with Italiam and the other with the other half of the phrase (Conway). longe: modifying contra, “facing Italy far away,” Carthage and Rome being on opposite shores of the great Mediterranean Sea (F-B). Of course when Vergil speaks of Carthage as “opposed to Italy” he is thinking of its historical as well as its geographical position (Page).

14: dives opum: opum is genitive of specification (Wetherell). Gen. of respect, especially common with words of plenty, abounding (plenus, dives, abundans) (Sidgwick) (AG 349a,d). A poetical construction (F-B). Vergil is very fond of using the genitive after adjectives—substituting it in many cases for the more ordinary ablative (Carter). studiis: “in its passion for”: abl. of specification (G-K) (AG 418). dives...belli: “rich in resources, and formidable in the pursuits of war” (Frieze).

15: quam ... coluisse: “which Juno is said to have cherished” (G-K) (AG 582). fertur: = dicitur (Knapp). unam: often used to strengthen a superlative idea (F-B). It intensifies quam (Walpole). The phrase magis omnibus unam would be in prose unam omnium maxime (Carter).

16: posthabitā Samō: ablative absolute. On the island of Samos was a famous temple of Juno. In connecting Juno with Carthage, Vergil identifies her with the Phoenician Astarte (Ashtaroth). Note the hiatus in Samo hic, which is allowed because of the caesura and the break in the sense (F-B). coluisse: “cherished” (Conway). hīc: the adverb (Bennett). illius: in the genitive termination -ius the poets often use the i as short (Bennett). hic illius arma: this and the two following clauses form a tricolon in crescendo pattern, with anaphora (Austin 1971).

17–18: hoc ... fovetque: regnum is a substitute for regno, the dative of “the end,” and gentibus a dative of “the object,” governed by esse (Frieze) (AG 382). hoc ... esse: an acc. and infinitive following the sense of “wish” or “desire” contained strongly in tendit and less strongly in fovet (Page). regnum ... fovetque: The combination of tendit (intransitive) and fovet (transitive) is a strong expression of desire, and so governs an accusative with the infinitive (F-B). esse: object infinitive of tendit and fovet (Bennett). Completing the meaning of tendit and fovet, a poetical extension of the accus. and inf. with verbs of wishing (C-R).

17: fuit: the verb is in the singular in agreement with currus, though arma is also its subject (Carter). hoc: agrees with the following noun, regnum, though it refers to urbs (Frieze). By attraction for hanc (urbem) (F-B) (AG 296.2a). gentibus: a poetic use of the dative where we should expect the objective genitive (Bennett).

18: si qua fata sinant: subjunctive of subordinate clause in indirect discourse (Bennett) (AG 589). Future protasis, of which the apodosis is absorbed in tendit esse, etc. (G-K). si qua: “if in any way”; qua is the indefinite adverb (Bennett). sc. ratione or via (Carter). = si forte (Storr). iam tum: “even then”; so early in the history of Carthage: before it was even completely built, and before it had subdued even the neighboring tribes of Africa (Frieze).

19: sed enim: “but indeed,” “however” (Frieze). duci: (imperf.) “was springing” (P-H), literally “was being led,” infinitive > dūco, -ere.

20: olim: “one day” (Bennett). Of time indefinite, either past, present, or future (Storr). quae verteret: “which would overthrow.” The subjunctive is due to indirect narration and represents a future indicative (F-B) (AG 580). = everteret (Walpole). audierat: = audīverat (Walpole) (AG 181b).

21: hinc: i.e., Troiano a sanguine (C-R). late: modifies the verbal idea which is prominent in regem (= regnantem) (F-B). regem: = regnantem qualifies the personified populum (Walpole). = regnantem by antimeria (the using of one part of speech for another). superbum: really indicating the “pride” which comes from success, here denotes that success (Walpole).

22: venturum: sc. esse (Walpole). excidio Libyae: datives; one to what, the other for what (G-K) (AG 382). The Roman general Scipio Aemilianus besieged Carthage for three years until it fell, in 146 BC. After sacking the city, the Romans burned it to the ground. A modern myth has grown up that the Roman forces then sowed the ruins with salt, but this story has no basis in fact. (Ancient History Encyclopedia). sic volvere Parcas: “so the Fates decree”; literally, “spin” or “unwind,” i.e., the thread of destiny (F-B). The Parcae were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, conceived as spinning the fate of men; volvere is here used in the sense of evolvere, another instance of the use of the simple verb for the compound (Bennett) (Smith’s Dictionary s.v. Moirae).

23: id: sums up 19–22 (Knapp). metuens, memor: the principal verb [arcebat] follows in line 31, but the long parenthesis of lines 25–28 has disturbed the natural run of the sentence (C-R). Saturnia: i.e., Juno, the daughter of Saturn (Bennett). veteris: the old, i.e., “the former” (Chase). belli: i.e., the Trojan War (F-B).

24: prima: “first,” used freely for prior, “formerly,” or “of old,” and having an adverbial force (F-B). “Foremost.” She was the leader and chief instigator of the gods and heroes who fought on the Greek side at Troy (Frieze). ad Troiam: “around Troy” (Bennett) (AG 428d). “At Troy,” in the vicinity of Troy (Walpole). Argis: ablative plural of Argi (-orum), another form of Argos, the capital of Argolis. By saying “in behalf of dear Argos,” Vergil means, “in behalf of Greece” (synecdoche) (Bennett). dolores: “pangs,” i.e., caused by the “affront,” explained in the following verses (Comstock).

25–8: The passage from 25 to 28, inclusive, is parenthetical (Frieze).

26: animo: ablative of separation after exciderant, with the preposition omitted (Carter) (AG 402). manet: singular with iudicium, though iniuria, genus and honores are all its subjects (Carter). alta mente repostum: “deeply stored in her mind,” literally, “in her deep mind”; repostum for repositum by syncope (F-B).

27: iudicium Paridis: the “Judgement of Paris” refers to the well-known Greek tale that Strife threw a golden apple in among the feasting gods as a prize for the fairest: that Hera (Iuno), Aphrodite (Venus), and Pallas (Minerva) all claimed it; and that the Trojan prince Paris was made judge and assigned the prize to Venus. So Iuno resented the judgment and her “slighted beauty’s wrong” (Sidgwick; see Smith’s Dictionary s.v. Paris.) spretaeque iniuria formae: iniuria means the same as iudicium,—a case of epexegesis (Wetherell). -que: introducing not a new idea, but a modification or explanation of a former one (P-H). formae: objective genitive (Frieze). Gen. of definition (Walpole) (AG 343d).

28: genus invisum: Juno hated the whole Trojan race because its founder Dardanus was a son of Jupiter by Electra (Walpole) (Smith’s Dictionary, s.v. Dardanus). rapti Ganymedis honores: “the honors of the stolen Ganymede,” the beautiful Trojan youth, whom an eagle carried off to Olympus to be Jupiter’s cupbearer (F-B) (Smith’s Dictionary s.v. Ganymedes). rapti: with Ganymedis, not with honores (Carter).

29: The construction of the sentence interrupted by the preceding parenthetical lines, is here resumed (Frieze). his: sc. rebus. Abl. of cause (Walpole). super: adverb = insuper (P-H). aequore toto: the ablative of place with totus is the regular construction in prose (Storr).

30: Troas: a Greek accusative form (F-B) (AG 81.5). Danaum: = Danaorum (Wetherell) (AG 49d). Achilli: a contracted gen. of decl. II (Wetherell). Danaum ... Achilli: subjective genitives with reliquias, “left by the Greeks and by Achilles” (Carter).

31: arcebat: imperfect of constant action (Austin 1971). Latio: ablative of separation, without preposition (F-B) (AG 401).

32: maria ... circum: anastrophe (Wetherell); the preposition circum follows its objects.

33: molis: predicate genitive of quality (F-B) (AG 345). condere: subject of erat (Carter).