Vergil, Aeneid II 105-144

Manuscripts: M 105-118, 119-144 | P 105-116, 117-139, 140-144

Urged to continue his tale, Sinon relates that the Greeks had long desired to return home but had been detained by evil omens, until an oracle declared that the sacrifice of a human life was needed to appease the gods: by the devices of Ulysses he had been selected as the victim, but had succeeded in escaping when already at the altar (Page).

105: tum vērō: emphatic, “then more than ever.” Notice that these words regularly introduce the most important point or the decisive moment in the narrative (G-K). Sinon’s plan of rousing his hearer’s curiosity has succeeded (C-R). ārdēmus scītārī: “we burn [with eagerness] to enquire” (Page). Scītor is a frequentative (AG 263 note 2) from sciō, expressing either repeated action or (as here) attempt (Storr). causās: i.e., of his ruin (Comstock).

106: ignārī scelerum: ignārus and other adjectives of knowledge and memory (and their opposites) govern the genitive (AG 349). Vergil stresses the simple, trusting nature of the Trojans (Austin). artis: = dolī (Comstock). For ars in the meaning of “trickery,” “guile,” compare also line 195 (Carter).

107: prōsequitur pavitāns: “proceeds, quaking with fear” (Comstock); prōsequor is rarely, as here, used absolutely (Carter). fictō pectore: “deceitfully” (Carter); “with false heart” (H-H); “with dissembling heart” (Comstock); “with feigned emotion” (Conington). Ablative of manner (AG 412); note the alliteration (Pharr).

108–110: saepe…saepe: = quotiēs…totiēs (Storr). Notice this simple and vigorous method of connecting clauses by a repeated word (anaphora): “Often the Greeks desired…often the wild winter of the sea prevented them…” In prose this would be “As often as they desired…a storm prevented them” (Page).

108: fugam…molīrī: a more dignified expression for fugam parāre (Carter). Molīrī, “to plan” or “prepare,” is used commonly in Vergil of anything done with effort (Sidgwick) or with difficulty (Chase). relictā: with Trōiā forms an ablative absolute (AG 419); translate by infinitive coordinated with molīrī (C-R): “they desired to abandon Troy and to plan a retreat” (Comstock).

109: longō…bellō: ablative of means (AG 409) with fessī (Pharr); and also ablative of place from which / separation (AG 402) with discēdere (G-K). The war had gone on for ten years (Carter). The juxtaposition of longō fessī lends force to the words (C-R). discēdere: to return home each to his own country. This is the distributive force of the prefix dis- (Carter).

110: fēcissentque utinam!: supply id: “Would that they had done [that]! (C-R). Pluperfect subjunctive in an unfulfilled wish (optative subjunctive) (AG 442) (Pharr). Note the inversion of the normal order (utinam fēcissent!).

110–111: pontī hiems aspera: “the stormy roughness of the deep” (Storr); “the rough and stormy sea” (Comstock); “the stormy state of the deep.” We might have expected pontō, but the MSS give no variation. Servius distinguishes pontī hiems (“a storm on the sea”) from hiems temporis / annī (“a winter storm”) (Conington).

111: interclūsit: supply eōs; “barred their way” (H-H). Auster: an adverse wind for those sailing from Troy to Greece (Howson). euntēs: supply illōs, “when on the point of starting” (Comstock); “as they were [just] departing” (C-R); “just going,” with a sort of future meaning (G-K).

112: praecipuē cum iam: “especially [was this true] just at the time when” (Comstock); “and most of all when now” (H-H). The previous occurrences were omens forbidding departure, and now still more were there signs of divine wrath (G-K). hic: Sinon points to the Horse, almost casually, as if it were a common object of the sea-shore. In this first reference to it he is content to hint that there is something uncanny about it, and then quickly leaves the subject. His statement here is inconsistent with his story in 183 f.; but the Trojans never notice his inconsistencies (Austin). trabibus: ablative of means (AG 409) (H-H). contextus: “wrought of” (Comstock). acernīs: the horse is variously represented by Vergil; here it is “of maple”; in line 16 it was of pine; in the later passages it is of oak. Instead of using the general word “wood,” the poet strives to employ specific terms, at the expense of consistency (Pharr). As a matter of fact it is a curious illustration of Vergil’s art. He prefers the particular to the general, and therefore prefers to name some particular tree rather than to speak simply of wood, but he so loves variety, and is consequently led to this artificial and unnatural method of giving three different names to the same wood. (Page).

113: stāret: = esset, though surely the full force of stāret is here more vivid and poetic (H-H). tōtō aethere: “throughout the heavens” (Comstock). nimbī: thunderstorms (Austin).

114: suspēnsī: “bewildered” (Comstock). Eurypylum: Eurypylus was a Thessalian chieftain (Iliad 2.736); he is not mentioned elsewhere in Vergil (Carter). scītātum: accusative supine with a verb of motion (mittimus) to express purpose (AG 509) (Pharr): “to inquire [of]” (Carter); “to consult” (C-R). Most MSS show scītantem, as the supine does not often govern a case (Howson). ōrācula Phoebī: “the responses of Apollo” (G-K); apparently at Delphi, where the most famous oracle of Apollo (Phoebī) was located. He also had oracles at Delos, Patara, Chrysa, and other places (Page). In Homer Calchas is the only interpreter of the divine will, and in Aeschylus he resolves the difficulty at Aulis (Conington).

115: adytīs: supply ex, ablative of separation (AG 401) (Pharr), often found without a preposition after compounds of re- (Chase): “from the sanctuary,” properly the inner shrine containing the image of the god (H-H). trīstia: “dreadful” (Comstock).

116: plācāstis: = placā[vi]stis by syncope (Pharr), i.e., with a maiden’s blood (Howson). sanguine…virgine caesā: hendiadys (AG 640) = sanguine virginis caesae (H-H): “with the blood of a maiden slain” (Comstock), referring to the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis (on the Euboean Strait where the Greek fleet mustered for the Trojan expedition (G-K)), which Artemis the goddess demanded of Agamemnon her father, before she would consent to give favorable winds to the fleet, to sail for Troy (Sidgwick).

117: vēnistis: = venīre volēbātis (Chase). The sacrifice of course was before their arrival; but we need not press the words, which merely mean adventū vestrō (Conington).

118: sanguine: compare sanguine (116); this emphatic rhetorical repetition is called anaphora (Pharr). quaerendī...litandum: = quaerendī [sunt nōbīs] reditūs, litandum [est nōbīs]: passive periphrastics denoting necessity (AG 500). “Expiation must be made” (G-K). Litāre is “to make a successful offering” (Sidgwick), “to make a favorable sacrifice,” “to appease the gods,” used absolutely, or with an ablative of the thing sacrificed, and a dative of the god to whom it is made (Storr). Brilliant use of the “interlocking positional pattern” suddenly raises the emotional level (Horsfall).

118–119: animā Argolicā: Argolicā is very emphatic by position at the end of the sentence and the beginning of a line. It is the thought that an Argive life must be sacrificed, which terrifies them (Page).

119: quae vōx: “this utterance” (C-R); “[divine] pronouncement” (Carter).

120: obstipuēre animī: “terror-stricken were their souls” (Comstock). Some later MSS have animīs (Conington).

121: tremor, cui fāta parent: Cui parent is an indirect question (AG 575) loosely dependent on tremor: “a shudder of wonder” (Howson) as they ask themselves “for whom fate prepares [this doom]” (Page). The omission of the implied object mortem adds to the vague horror (Storr). It is possible, also, to understand ōrācula as subject to parent, and to take fāta as the accusative (Howson). Fāta is probably the subject of parent; what they are making ready is too dreadful to be made definite (C-R).

122: hīc: temporal adverb (Carter): “at this point” (Comstock); “at this crisis” (Chase). Ithacus: = Ulixēs (Carter); as in line 104. vātem magnō Calchanta tumultū: note the interlocked word order (synchysis, AG 598h); “with loud bluster” (Storr); “amid mighty uproar” (Page); “loudly shouting” (Comstock); said of Ulysses, not of the multitude (Conington), to hide the fact that it was all arranged beforehand with Calchas (C-R).

123: in mediōs: “for all to see” (Austin). quae sint ea nūmina dīvum: indirect question (AG 575) dependent on flagitat (124): “demands what that heavenly intimation means (literally, is)” (Page); “what these divine commands mean” (Comstock); “what this will of heaven is,” i.e., “what is the interpretation of this oracle” (Storr). Ulysses cautiously avoids asking explicitly “who is the man?” (C-R). dīvum: = dīv[ōr]rum by syncope (Pharr).

124: flāgitat: in the sense of “to press”; related to flagellum, infligere (Howson); implies violence or insistence (G-K). It is in keeping with magnō tumultū, “insists on knowing” (Conington). iam: “all the while” (H-H). canēbant: “were prophesying” (Carter); “were predicting” (Chase); “began to foretell”  (G-K); “continued to warn” (H-H). Canere, which is commonly used of delivering an oracle, here describes the prophetic foreboding which they felt but did not utter (tacitī) (Page).

125: artificis: “the schemer” (πολύμητις) (Austin). et tacitī: not strictly consistent with canēbant (124), but Vergil probably means that the forebodings were privately whispered, not openly expressed, for fear of Ulysses (Conington). ventūra: as a substantive (AG 288): “what was to come” (C-R). vidēbant: = prōvidēbant, “foresaw” (Carter).

126: bis quīnōs: quīnōs is the distributive numeral (AG 136) for the cardinal quīnque, as is usual with adverbs of multiplication (AG 138) (Pharr). With diēs, accusative of duration of time (AG 423, 424). ille: the priest (Comstock). tēctus: Both literally and metaphorically: “shut up in his tent,” and “concealing his thoughts” (Page); “mysterious” (Kennedy); “secretive” or “cautious” (Conington). Middle voice participle (AG 156) (Comstock).

127: vōce suā: “by speaking” (Comstock). quemquem: the accusative direct object of both prōdere and oppōnere. oppōnere: “expose” (Comstock); Servius explains the verb as synonymous with obicere and dēstināre (Conington).

128: vix tandem: “unwillingly” (Carter); represents the reluctance of Calchas (Sidgwick). This delay also was to avoid suspicion of collusion with Ulysses (C-R). Ithacī: supply ducis, = Ulixis; see 104 (H-H).

129: compositō: “according to agreement [with Ulysses]” (Sidgwick). rumpit vōcem: used of sudden and abrupt speaking (Carter). “He breaks his silence,” literally “makes an utterance break forth” (Page). Vōcem is a cognate accusative (AG 390) (Pharr). mē destinat: the pronoun has intense dramatic force (Austin).

130–131: et quae…tulēre: “what each dreaded for himself, they bore [i.e., permitted] when turned to one wretch’s ruin” (G-K). The sentence is bitterly sarcastic: we all endure the ills of others easily, but we do so with especial ease when their suffering brings relief to ourselves (Page). Note the emphatic position of ūnīus (C-R).

132: diēs īnfanda: i.e., the day of sacrifice (Carter). sacra: i.e., the arrangements for the sacrifice (G-K), defined in the next line (Page). parārī: historical infinitive (AG 463) (Pharr); translate with indicative: “sacrificial preparations were made” (Comstock).

133: salsae frūgēs: a little coarse barley meal mixed with salt was sprinkled on the head of the victim just before sacrifice (Page). tempora: “my temples” or “brow.” vittae: “fillets,” twisted bands of white and red wool adorned the heads of the priest and of the victim (Chase). As usual, Vergil refers to Roman, not to Greek, customs (C-R). We do not know exactly what the infulae and vittae of a Roman priest were thought to be (Horsfall).

134: ēripuī lētō mē: literally, “I snatched myself away from death”; lētō is dative or ablative of separation (AG 381) (Pharr). fateor: a hypocritical apology, as if it were a crime to save his own life (Conington). As a victim devoted to the gods, it was sacrilege for Sinon to escape and thus thwart the divine will (Pharr). vincula rūpī: the bonds which Sinon is at present wearing (see 2.57 and 146) were put on him by the Trojans when they captured him (Carter).

135: līmōsōque lacū: supply in, ablative of place where (AG 421); “and in a miry marsh” (H-H). Vergil probably thought of Marius taking refuge in the marshes of Minturnae in 88 B.C. (Page) when he was trying to escape the soldiers of Sulla (H-H). obscūrus in ulvā: “crouching in the rushes” (Storr); “screened amid the sedge” (H-H).

136: dum vēla darent sī forte dedissent: These words give in indirect discourse the thought which was in Sinon’s mind when he hid himself: he would say to himself “I will lie hidden until they set sail (dum vēla dent) if haply they shall have set sail (sī forte vēla dederint).” After the past tense dēlituī, dent passes into darent and dederint into dedissent (Page). “Until they should set sail (AG 553), if perchance they should do so” (Carter). The expression is meant to excite the curiosity of the Trojans (Howson).

137: nec…iam: “no longer” (G-K). mihi…spēs ūlla: supply erat, dative of possession (AG 373) (Pharr).

138: dulcēs nātōs: “the children that I love” (Comstock). exoptātum: “for whom I long” (C-R); “that I long to see” (Comstock).

139: quōs poenās…reposcent: “of whom they will demand punishment” (Sidgwick). Verbs of “asking,” “claiming” etc. take a double accusative after them (AG 396) (Page). fors et: supply sit (Carter); = forsitan, “perhaps” (Pharr); = forte, “perchance” (Carter); “it may be that” (Conington). nostra: = mea, as often (Comstock).

140: culpam hanc miserōrum morte piābunt: “will make the death of my wretched family the expiation of this sin of mine” (Comstock); morte is ablative of means (AG 409).

141: quod: “as to which [thing],” “wherefore,” “so”; the cognate or adverbial accusative (AG 390) after ōrō (Conington); this use of quod is common in adjurations (Page). per superōs et conscia nūmina vērī: “by the gods above, and [by] the deities to whom the truth is known” (H-H). Vērī, used substantively, is genitive governed by conscia, an adjective of “knowing” (AG 349). It carries a double reference to the truth of Sinon’s story and the justice of his case (C-R).

141–143: tē…ōrō: tē = Priamum (Pharr), to whom he addresses himself especially (Carter).

142–143: per…intemerāta fidēs: = per [intemerātam fidem], sī est [ali]qua intemerāta fidēs quae restet (Pharr): “by all the faith yet unsullied that is anywhere left among mortals” (H-H); Sinon’s words express a despairing doubt whether there is any pledge left which men think too sacred to violate; hence the subjunctive restet (Page). fidēs: used in an idiomatic and peculiar sense: there is an obligation or claim on the powerful to help the miserable, and so the suppliant calls on the fidēs (“honor,” “truth”) of the gods or the strong. In this way fidēs comes sometimes to be used almost for “aid,” “protection” (Sidgwick). quae restet: quae = tālis ut ea (Chase); subjunctive verb in a relative clause of characteristic (AG 534) (Pharr). Consecutive or generic use of quae, “if there is any remaining,” “any such as remains” (Sidgwick).

143–144: miserēre….animī: = miserēre [meōrum] labōrum, miserēre [meī] animī; rhetorical repetition of the deponent imperative miserēre which governs the genitives (AG 354) labōrum and animī (Pharr). labōrum: “sufferings.” The repeated misērere, and the assonance in labōrum tantōrum, suggest Ciceronian rhetoric in full flood; and far less simple souls than Vergil’s Trojans could have believed Sinon’s protestations (Austin). A Greek lamenting his laborēs to the Trojans: the irony will not have been lost (Horsfall).

144: animī nōn digna ferentis: “a soul that bears sorrow undeserved” (Page), “suffering undeservedly” (C-R). Nōn digna is used substantively, as the object of ferentis (Pharr).