Vēstibulum ante ipsum prīmōque in līmine Pyrrhus

exsultat tēlīs et lūce coruscus aēnā:470

quālis ubi in lūcem coluber mala grāmina pāstus,

frīgida sub terrā tumidum quem brūma tegēbat,

nunc, positīs novus exuviīs nitidusque iuventā,

lūbrica convolvit sublātō pectore terga

arduus ad sōlem, et linguīs micat ōre trisulcīs.475

Ūnā ingēns Periphās et equōrum agitātor Achillis,

armiger Automedōn, ūnā omnis Scȳria pūbēs

succēdunt tēctō et flammās ad culmina iactant.

Ipse inter prīmōs correptā dūra bipennī

līmina perrumpit postēsque ā cardine vellit480

aerātōs; iamque excīsā trabe firma cavāvit

rōbora et ingentem lātō dedit ōre fenestram.

Appāret domus intus et ātria longa patēscunt;

appārent Priamī et veterum penetrālia rēgum,

armātōsque vident stantēs in līmine prīmō.485

At domus interior gemitū miserōque tumultū

miscētur, penitusque cavae plangōribus aedēs

fēmineīs ululant; ferit aurea sīdera clāmor.

Tum pavidae tēctīs mātrēs ingentibus errant

amplexaeque tenent postēs atque ōscula fīgunt.490

Īnstat vī patriā Pyrrhus; nec claustra nec ipsī

custōdēs sufferre valent; labat ariete crēbrō

iānua, et ēmōtī prōcumbunt cardine postēs.

Fit via vī; rumpunt aditūs prīmōsque trucīdant

immissī Danaī et lātē loca mīlite complent.495

nōn sīc, aggeribus ruptīs cum spūmeus amnis

exiit oppositāsque ēvīcit gurgite mōlēs,

fertur in arva furēns cumulō campōsque per omnēs

cum stabulīs armenta trahit. Vīdī ipse furentem

caede Neoptolemum geminōsque in līmine Atrīdās,500

vīdī Hecubam centumque nurūs Priamumque per ārās

sanguine foedantem quōs ipse sacrāverat ignēs.

Quīnquāgintā illī thalamī, spēs tanta nepōtum,

barbaricō postēs aurō spoliīsque superbī

prōcubuēre; tenent Danaī quā dēficit ignis.505

Manuscripts: M 468-496, 497-505 | P 468-484, 485-505

There, at the entrance below, is Pyrrhus, like an evil, glittering snake: he leads an attack and smashes down the doors, and the Greeks swarm into the palace (Austin).

469: vēstibulum: a space before the door, most probably. But Vergil uses these words, līmen, forēs, vēstibulum, iānua, postēs, with some freedom, naturally (Sidgwick). prīmō: freely “the verge of” (C-R). Pyrrhus: his name means in Greek “red-haired,” and the following line, with its description of light and glitter, hints at the etymology (Williams).

470: exsultat: indicates the swift movements of the warrior (Frieze); probably referring to both his actions and his state of mind (C-R); equivalent, in fact, to pugnat exsultans (Anthon). tēlīs...aēnā: hendiadys (G-K). lūce coruscus aēnā: i.e., the light reflected from his brazen armor (Bennett); coruscus here means “glittering” rather than “gleaming” (Horsfall)

471–5: The simile is founded very closely on one in Iliad 22.93, in which Hector is compared to an angry snake (Howson). The elaboration of Vergil’s art is very clear here when contrasted with Homer’s natural simplicity. Notice how the simile serves to bring out (1) the youthful vigour of Pyrrhus, (2) the malignancy of his attack, (3) the exceeding brightness of his appearance (Page). This simile is in Vergil’s richest manner, with the details piled up to give colour and insolent strength; the serpent knows that its prey cannot escape, and Pyrrhus will presently seize Priam with equal inexorability (Austin).

471: quālis ubi coluber: = tālis quālis coluber est ubi (F-B); “just as when a snake”; literally, “such as a snake, when it” (Bennett). in lūcem: the verb is defered, and when it comes (convolvit, 474) in lūcem is taken up and repeated in ad solem (Sidgwick). The phrase is introduced thus early in the sentence in order to emphasize the parallel between lūce (line 470) and in lūcem (Bennett). mala grāmina pāstus: middle participle (C-R) taking an accusative direct object (AG 397c). It was a common belief among the ancients that the snake drew its venom from the food on which it fed (H-H).

472: frigida: with brūma, not terrā (C-R); effectively juxtaposed with sub terrā, cold with snugness; frigida brūma tegēbat (“the cold winter wrapped him up”) is a striking oxymoron (Austin). tumidum: he is supposed to be swollen by eating venomous herbs (Frieze).

473: positīs novus exuviīs: “fresh, having sloughed off its old skin”; positīs = depositīs (Carter); positīs exuviīs is an ablative absolute, giving the cause of novus. The logical relationship is emphasized by placing novus between the two members of the phrase (Bennett). Vergil in his country life had probably often seen what he describes (Page). novus...iuventā: probably with a reference to his other name Neoptolemus (“young warrior”) which is used at 501 (Page). Perhaps too we may connect the renewed snake (novus) with the renewal of Achilles in Neoptolemus (which in Greek means “new war”) (Williams). nitidus: with the implication of health and fitness (Austin). iuventā: a poetic form, first used by Catullus; Vergil uses the ablative, and sometimes the genitive, to avoid the metrically intractable oblique cases of iuventus (but he regularly has the nominative iuventūs, not iuventa: the relation of senecta to senectus is similar) (Austin). Note the accelerated rhythm of the line (F-B).

474: convolvit: gives the coiling as well as the gliding motion, and the line is very smooth (ictus and accent coincide in four of the feet) (Austin).

475: linguīs micat ore trisulcīs: i.e., darts its forked tongue in and out of its mouth (Bennett). The use of the plural linguīs is probably intentional: the tongue moves so quickly that it seems several tongues. The tongue of a serpent has only two not three forks (Page). Further trisulcīs continues the marked t-alliteration of the passage (Austin).

476: Periphās: not otherwise know (Carter).

477: Automedon: Automedon was the charioteer of Achilles, often mentioned in Homer. After Achilles’ death, he became armor-bearer to his son Pyrrhus (Carter). Scȳria pūbēs: Pyrrhus’s mother, Deidamia, was the daughter of king Lycomedes of Scyros (one of the islands in the Cyclades). Pyrrhus led the troops from this island (Carter). Pyrrhus had not participated in the war until the death of his father Achilles. After that event he was brought with his followers by Ulysses from Scyros, where he had been educated by his mother (Bennett).

478: tēctō: dative object of a compound verb (AG 370); “the dwelling,” not, as often, the roof. The spondaic rhythm of this and the following line is indicative of great effort (F-B). flammās: “brands,” “embers”; perhaps fire-darts, like the malleoli of Cic. Cat. 1.32 (Knapp).

479: ipse: Pyrrhus (Bennett). bipennī: a double axe (Carter).

480: It is difficult to say whether this is meant to be a precise description with full and natural details of breaking open a door: or whether the phrases are varied and forcible expressions for the general notion. Assuming the former, he first hews at the whole structure (līmina), tears the posts (postēs) from their sockets, cuts open the panel (trabs) and hacks away the oak of the door (Sidgwick). The hinges (cardinēs) in a Roman house were not as with us fastened to the side of the door, but were pivots working in sockets, one in the lintel (līmen superum) and the other in the sill (līmen). The doors were double doors (valvae) (H-H). līmina: the lintel and threshold, for the door (Frieze). perrumpit...vellit: The present denotes the continuance of the act, or the attempt to break, and wrench, not the completion of the act (Frieze). cardine: a pivot-hinge let into the upper and lower casing (G-K).

481–482: iamque...cavāvit...dedit: not adding new facts, but explaining the statement already made in līmina perrumpit (Bennett).

481: aerātōs: notice the emphatic position (C-R). The doors were of wood, but covered with plates of bronze (Chase).

482: ōre: limits fenestram; “an opening with a broad mouth” (Frieze). Perhaps ingentem refers to the length, latō...ōre to the breadth of the fenestra (Knapp). fenestram: used of any sort of “opening,” a window in a house, a slit in a wall for hurling weapons through (Stat. Th. 10.536), holes in the ears for ear-rings (Juv. 1.104), openings in a dove-cote (Colum. 7.8.1) (Austin).

483–484: the repetition appāret, appārent at the beginning of both lines and both sentences draws the attention arrestingly to this repugnant military profanation of the domestic scene (Williams).

483: appāret: through this opening the great central apartments are at once visible to the Greeks; for the vestibule admitted directly to the courts, which were connected by open passages, so that the eye could range through the whole at one view (Frieze). domus intus: the ātrium of the house, in contrast on the one hand to the vēstibulum (469), and on the other hand to the domus interior (486), or rooms farther within (Carter). ātria: the general arrangements of a Roman house are apparently kept in view (G-K).

484: veterum penetrālia: the pathos is heightened by the suggestion that this privacy, now ruthlessly violated, had been respected by the local people for so many generations (C-R).

485: armātōs: the armed guards defending the vestibule, mentioned in 449 (Frieze). vident: refers to the Greeks (Frieze). This is generally taken to mean “they (the Greeks) see armed men,” i.e., the Trojans inside on guard (449, 492); but the imagery of the previous lines requires that the subject of vident should be the Trojans inside, Priam, and those around him (Williams). Geymonat did well to draw attention to the reading videt in Vn; after the change in subject, the singular here brings the reader back to the singulars of 479–82. Vergil has directed Pyrrhus’ gaze to the heart of the palace, and only now back to the foreground, immediately inside the doors (Horsfall).

 in līmine prīmō: i.e., those nearest the outside (G-K).

486: at: marks a change in the narrative (H-H).

487: miscētur: misceō in its true Vergilian sense of “confusion” (Sidgwick). cavae...aedēs: the second court, or square, around which the more private apartments were built, was often called cavaedium (Frieze). plangōribus: Strictly, the word refers to the beating of the breast by the hands (Knapp).

488: ululant: often said of a woman’s shriek of grief as vāgīre is of an infant’s wail (H-H). The verb ululō properly means, to send forth a wild cry or howl. It is then applied generally to sounds of lamentation and woe, more particularly such as proceed from females (Anthon) [video of ululation]. Cavae (“hollow”) helps to produce the effect of the noise (Williams). aurea: if this is not a constant epithet, its force must lie in the contrast between the distracted house of Priam and the bright stars where dwelt the ever-blessed gods (C-R); there is a tragic contrast between the brilliant heavens above and the terrible scene below (F-B).

489: tēctīs: = in tēctīs (H-H).

490: ōscula: i.e., of farewell (G-K).

491: vī patriā: with the impetuosity inherited from his father, the wrathful Achilles (Frieze). claustra: the bars that still remained after an opening had been cut in the door (C-R).

492: sufferre: sc. eum; “withstand” him, i.e., Pyrrhus (Carter); lit. “support,” i.e., “stay” him, resist him (Sidgwick). ariēte: three syllables (G-K); pronounced here ar-ye-te. The battering-ram, perhaps, in its primitive form, is meant; that is, a long stick of timber, wielded by men without the aid of machinery (Frieze). As a matter of fact the battering-ram belongs to a later age (C-R). Not here strictly a battering-ram, but whatever he used to batter with; (probably the trabs, line 481) (Chase). crēbrō: not many battering-rams, but repeated blows of one (G-K).

494: fit via: i.e., the door yields (G-K). aditūs: cognate accusative (AG 390b): “they burst an entrance” (H-H). Observe alliteration and forcible brevity: “might makes a way” (Sidgwick). trucidant: It suggests business-like, matter-of-fact butchery (Austin).

495: mīlite: as a collective noun.

496: The simile is based on Homer, Iliad 5.87 f. (Williams). nōn sīc: only a more effective way of making the comparison: Pyrrhus’ violence was greater than that of a burst dam (Sidgwick); implying that the simile is not quite adequate (C-R); “with far less violence” (Howson). aggeribus ruptīs: The Po in many places was kept within its channel, like the lower Mississippi at the present day, by embankments; and Vergil was familiar with the disastrous floods produced by a crevasse, or breach in the dike (Frieze).

497: exiit: i.e., from its channel (Frieze). ēvīcit: stronger than the simple vīcit (Carter). mōlēs: i.e., dikes, etc. (G-K).

498: in: “over” (C-R). furēns: gives the main point of the simile. Note its late position (Knapp). cumulō: The use of the abl. of manner in this slightly unusual way is thoroughly Vergilian (Sidgwick).

499: vīdī ipse: Aeneas, who had been repelling the storming party of Greeks from the battlements, was compelled to witness the entrance of Neoptolemus and the other assailants at the gate, without the power to render help (Frieze). Cf. 5, where the words mark the trustworthiness of the speaker: here they claim the sympathy of his hearers (Page). furentem caede: as we should say, “drunk with blood” (Page).

500: geminōs...Atrīdās: Agamemnon and Menelaus (Carter).

501: nurūs: here, both for the daughters and daughters-in-law of Hecuba (Frieze). According to Homer (Iliad 6.244), Priam had fifty sons and fifty daughters. The hundred mentioned here must refer to both daughters-in-law and daughters (H-H). per: “amid” (C-R).

503: thalamī...spēs...postēs: Not in apposition, but describing the same object in its different aspects (Storr). illī: “those (well-known)” (AG 297b).

504: barbaricō: because the gold and spoils which adorned the door-posts were trophies captured from foreign or barbarian enemies of the Trojans. It was customary to hang such spoils on the door-posts of houses, as well as temples (Frieze). I.e., of the East. Aeneas here speaks from a Roman point of view (G-K). = Phrygiō, Asiāticō, according to the associations of Greek and Roman writers. So in the passage of Ennius (trag. 89), which Vergil is following, Andromache says of Trojan forces, vidī egō tē adstante ope barbaricā, as Aeneas here calls Trojan gold barbaricum (P-H).

505: quā dēficit ignis: they destroyed, by plundering, everything which the fire did not destroy (Carter).

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Suggested Citation

Christopher Francese and Meghan Reedy, Vergil: Aeneid Selections. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-947822-08-5. https://dcc.dickinson.edu/zh-hans/vergil-aeneid/vergil-aeneid-ii-469-505