Lines 365-417 Flashcards
‘mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam’
… and bought land, as much as they could enclose with the hide
Ellipsis (leaving out of) of ‘sunt’ after ‘mercati’
Byrsa
name of the walled citadel and probably comes from the Akkadian word ‘birtu’.
Birtu was misunderstood as the Greek word ‘Bursa’ meaning a Bull’s hide, hence the story that the arrivals, granted as much land as a bull’s hide would enclose, cut it up into very thin strips and enclosed a huge area.
‘possent’
as they could
subjunctive
refers to what the natives said which was indefinite.
‘Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,
quove tenetis iter?’
But who then (are you)? Or from what shores do you come?
What course do you take?
Venus asks questions knowing full well what the answers are – all part of her disguise.
It would be off for her not to question a “stranger” in this way as in the ancient world there are specific rituals associated with meeting people (known as xenia).
‘O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam,’
O goddess, if going right back to the start I might proceed at the beginning….
Continues referring to her as a goddess.
His comments about the length of his story are justified – Virgil uses the whole of Books 2-3 for him to recount his tale to Dido.
‘annalis’
story
An anachronistic term meaning the annals/yearly register of events.
It might be being used deliberately to convey a slight weariness on Aeneas part.
Vesper
The evening star.
Olympus
The heavens
‘ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo.’
…Before then Vesper would have shut day away within closed Olympus.
Aeneas is speaking to a god which might explain his ethereal tone.
‘Componat’
would have shut
Indicative is used rather than the subjunctive to convey greater certainty.
‘Italiam quaero patriam…’
I seek my country Italy
Venus explains in Book 3 that the Trojan ancestor Dardanus was originally from Italy and was also a son of Jupiter – hence Aeneas is returning the Trojans to their homeland.
The Trojan’s Italian heritage becomes important later when he forms various alliances with Italian leaders.
Phrygia
The Trojan region to the centre and west of Asia Minor
‘ab Iove summo’
born of Jupiter on High
Aeneas is Jupiter’s grandson
‘matre dea’
his mother, a goddess
requires divine intervention to fulfil his destiny
“Quisquis es, HAUD, credo, invisus caelestibus auras
vitalis carpis, Tyriam QUI adveneris urbem.”
Whoever you are I believe you don’t draw the breath of life
while hated by the gods, since you have reached a city of Tyre.
- Venus briefly ignores Aeneas’ identification of himself.
- positioning of ‘haud’ is emphatic, and taken with ‘invisus’ rather than ‘credo’.
- ‘qui’ is casual, and therefore uses the subjunctive ‘adveneris’.
