Lines 453-529

Question 1

‘non…nullius’

it is NOT the case that NO divinity’s anger…

Answer 1

Heavy double negative emphasises Proteus’ oracular style.

Question 2

‘magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus’

you atone for a heavy crime: Orpheus, wretched man

Answer 2

Proteus’ oracular style is emphasised with the emphatic short sentence and pause after the trochee in the third foot.
This is the only line in which Orpheus’ name is mentioned – except for line 494 where Eurydice speaks to him.
ALSO start of Epyllion (mini epic)

Question 3

‘haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant’
(Orpheus, wretched man,)
brings this punishment on you, which you have not deserved

Answer 3

Although Aristaeus is responsible for Eurydice’s death (a version of events repeated nowhere else in mythology), he did not do it deliberately.
The consultation with Proteus means that Orpheus’ hostility is fated to be turned aside.

Question 4

‘illa quidem’

indeed that…

Answer 4

Changes the subject and provides emphasis.

The focus is moving from Orpheus to Eurydice.

Question 5

‘fugeret’

seeking to avoid

Answer 5

Subjunctive- implies purpose

Question 6

‘flerunt Rhodopeiae arces
altaque Pangaea et Rhesi mavortia tellus
atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Orithyia.’

the towers of Rhodope wept,
and the heights of Pangaea, and the warlike land of Rhesus,
and the Getae, and the Hebrus, and Orythia, Acte’s child.

Answer 6

Personification of inanimate objects.
Pathetic Fallacy (When the mood of the character is reflected in the atmosphere (weather) or inanimate objects.)
Effect is reinforced by slow spondees and repetition of ‘et’ and ‘attack’ (polysyndeton)

Question 7

Rhodope and Pangea

Answer 7

Mountains in Thrace

Question 8

Rhesus

Answer 8

Famous Thracian leader who took part in the Trojan war.

Question 9

Connotations of Thrace

Answer 9

Considered to be very Martial- in Homer, Ares lived there.

Question 10

‘atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Orithyia.’

And the Getae, and the Hebrus, and Orythia, Acte’s child.

Answer 10

Hiatus after Getae.
No strong caesura in the third/fourth foot.
Pollysyllabic endings with a spondaic fifth foot.
Very unusual.

Question 11

Hiatus

Answer 11

The absence of elision where 2 vowels meet or as expected.

Question 12

The Getae

Answer 12

A northern people, here associated with Thrace.

Question 13

The Hebrus

Answer 13

a rive of Thrace

Question 14

Orithyia

Answer 14

Daughter of Erecthus, King of Athens, and wife of the North Wind.

Question 15

‘Ipse cava solans aegrum testudine amorem’

He himself, consoling love’s anguish, with his hollow tortoise-shell (lyre),

Answer 15

Tortoise shell- synechdoche.

he is consoling himself through song.

Question 16

‘Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps,
immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella
servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba.’

Indeed that doomed girl, while seeking to avoid you, headlong along the stream,
in the deep grass under her feet
did not see the enormous snake, keeping to the riverbank.

Answer 16

Scattered word order, shows panic and fear.

Question 17

‘te, dulcis coniunx, te solo in litore secum,
te veniente die, te decedente canebat.’
was singing of you, sweet wife, you alone on the shore,
of you as day neared, of you as day departed.

Answer 17

Slow spondaic movement. 
assonance of long 'e'
alliteration of 't' and 'd' 
Repetition of direct address to Eurydice from poet:
All create a sense of pathos. 
ALSO anaphora is used- 'te'

Question 18

Anaphora

Answer 18

The repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis.

Question 19

Taenarus

Answer 19

Entrance to the underworld, in the extreme south of Greece.

Question 20

Dis and Erebus

Answer 20

Synonyms for the underworld.

Question 21

‘nigra formidine lucum’

‘…sacred grove dim with dark fear’

Answer 21

Contrast between sacred location and dark imagery.

Question 22

‘et caligantem nigra formidine lucum’

Answer 22

Chiasmus (ABBA)
Slow movement.
Allows Virgil to blend the physical and spiritual appearance of the place.

Question 23

‘ibant’

came

Answer 23

long ‘i’ picks up the long ‘i’s in the previous line.

Question 24

‘quam multa in foliis avium se milia condunt
vesper ubi aut hibernus agit de montibus imber,’

As many as the thousand birds that hide among the leaves,
when Vesper, or wintry rain, drives them from the hills,

Answer 24

This simile is given a different turn in Aeneid Book 6 where the ghosts are compared first with leaves and then with birds flying in to land from the ocean in winter.
Here the point is that the birds flock from the open sky into the trees for shelter.
It is also an apt comparison because both ghosts and birds are fleeting.

Question 25

‘matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita
magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,
impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum’

Mothers and husbands, and the bodies of noble heroes
bereft of life, boys and unmarried girls, and young men
placed on the pyre before their father’s eyes,

Answer 25

These three lines are repeated in Aeneid Book 6.
They are based on Homer’s Odyssey Book 11 which also features a visit to the underworld.
Each group Virgil chooses has particular poignancy

Question 26

‘Taenarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis,
et caligantem nigra formidine lucum
ingressus manesque adiit regemque tremendum
nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda.’

He even entered the jaws of Taenarus, the high gates of Dis,
and the grove dim with dark fear,
and came to the spirits, and their dread king,
and hearts that do not know how to soften at human prayer.

Answer 26

All one sentence- more dramatic.

Anaphora of and- build up.

Question 27

‘magnanimum’

noble

Answer 27

Virgil employs an archaic genitive plural form.

Appropriate for describing heroes of Rome’s past.

Question 28

‘impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum’

placed on the pyre before their father’s eyes

Answer 28

A notion of extreme pathos and tragedy throughout Virgil.

The detail is not found in the Homeric model.

Question 29

Cocytus

Answer 29

River of lamentation in the underworld

Question 30

Rivers that converge in the centre of the underworld (5)

Answer 30

Styx
Phlegethon
Acheron
Lethe
Cocytus

Question 31

Name for the great marsh in the centre of the underworld

Answer 31

Styx (sometimes)

Question 32

Tartarus

Answer 32

Specifically, the deepest pit of hell,

Can be used generally.

Question 33

Leti

the dead

Answer 33

Leti is personified here (and in book 6 of the Aeneid)

Question 34

Eumenides

Answer 34

the Furies.
Bringers of doom.
Often depicted with snakes for hair.

Question 35

Cerberus

Answer 35

Cerberus is often depicted being placated by music.

Question 36

Ixion

Answer 36

Son of either Ares of Phlegyas (king of the Lapiths).
Murdered his father-in-law and could find no one to purify him until Zeus did so and invited him as a guest into Olympus.
He then tried to seduce Hera, and Zeus punished him by tying him to a fiery wheel which rolls unendingly around the underworld.

Question 37

‘Iamque pedem referens casus evaserat omnes;
redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras,’

And now, retracing his steps, he evaded all mischance,
and Eurydice, regained, approached the upper air,

Answer 37

The dactylic movement of these lines indicates the triumphal advance towards the upper world.

Question 38

dactylic

Answer 38

a metrical foot made of a long syllable followed by two short syllables.

Question 39

‘pone sequens, namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem’

She following behind, since Proserpine had ordained this law

Answer 39

elliptical way of alluding to the well-known part of the myth where Orpheus makes an agreement with Proserpina and Pluto.

Question 40

Ellipsis

Answer 40

Absence of a word which can be understood from the sense, or is commonly left out.

Question 41

‘cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem’

when a sudden madness seized the incautious lover

Answer 41

The most dramatic moment is reflected by the diction and order of words
Uses an inverted ‘cum’ (where cum is attributed to the wrong clause), one of the strongest ways of emphasising action
‘subita’ and ‘incautum’ precede their nouns (ABAB).

Question 42

‘ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes.’

one to be forgiven, if the spirits knew how to forgive.

Answer 42

alliteration of -sc- gives a spitting sound, showing disdain.

Question 43

‘Restitit Eurydicenque suam iam luce sub ipsa
immemor heu! victusque animi respexit.’

he stopped, and forgetful of his Eurydice, alas, now on the edge of light,
with his will conquered, he looked back.

Answer 43

Climactic sentence.
Two actions at beginning and end of sentence.
middle creates suspension of action which drives home the enormity of Orpheus’ error.
emphasis put on ‘respexit’, which tells the whole story in a word. Emphasis put by pause after fifth foot.

Question 44

‘effusus labor’

wasted effort

Answer 44

conflict between accent and ictus.
conveys sense of disaster.
Links Orpheus’ story to the rest of the Georgics-
Orpheus is a paradigm for the man who controls not only nature, but even the powers of the Underworld, finds his own ‘labor’ destroyed by a momentary lapse – a lapse caused by ‘amor’, one of the very forces of nature which destroyed man’s work in Georgics Book 3.

Question 45

‘furor’

rage

Answer 45

key word which becomes central in the Aeneid for irrational, primitive, non-Roman behaviour.

Question 46

‘Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus’
the cruel Fates recall me again,
and sleep hides my swimming eyes…

Answer 46

no strong cesurae in the third/fourth foot.

Lilting, soporific effect.

Question 47

‘lumina condere’

hides my eyes…

Answer 47

commonly used to describe closing the eyes of a corpse.

Question 48

‘iamque vale’

and now goodbye

Answer 48

Virgil reserves this phrase for the dead and dying. 
See also:
- Creusa to Aeneas (Aeneid 2)
- Anichises to Aeneas (Aeneid 5) 
- Camilla to Acca (Aeneid 11).

Question 49

‘Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte
invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!’

And now farewell: I am taken, wrapped round by vast night,
and stretching out to you, feeble hands, alas, no longer yours!

Answer 49

Apposition of ‘hey non to’
powerful alliteration of ‘t’ words.
Make it memorable.

Question 50

‘presantem…. volentem’

grasping… longing

Answer 50

assonance.
Concentrates the attention on Orpheus’ futile actions- mirrored in the Aeneid with:
- Aeneas and Creusa (Book 2)
- Aeneas and Dido (Book 4).

Question 51

‘Quid faceret? Quo se rapta bis coniuge ferret?’

What could he do? To where could he turn, twice robbed of his wife?

Answer 51

The despairing deliberative question seems to have been a requirement of epyllion.

Question 52

‘Illa quidem Stygia nabat iam frigida cumba.’

Cold now, indeed she floated in the Stygian boat.

Answer 52

Golden line.
Makes scene particularly poignant.
Shifts our attention suddenly from Orpheus to Eurydice.
Imperfect of ‘rabat’ presents the action from orpheus’ point of view. Sad finality.

Question 53

‘Septem illum totos perhibent ex ordine menses’

They say that he wept to himself for seven whole months,

Answer 53

Virgil stressing duration here.

Question 54

Strymon

Answer 54

River in Thrace

Question 55

‘flesse sibi et gelidis haec evolvisse sub astris
mulcentem tigres et agentem carmine quercus’

and sang of these events, under the icy stars,
charming tigers and moving the oak-trees with his song:

Answer 55

Orpheus’ ability to enchant animals and inanimate objects with his songs is frequently referred to in other versions of his myth i.e. Ovid (Met 9) and Horace (Odes 1).

Question 56

‘qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra’

as the nightingale grieving in the poplar’s shadows

Answer 56

The story of the maiden Philomela who was changed into a nightingale is later told in Ovid (Met 6).
Virgil’s simile here is based on two Homeric passages from Odyssey 16 and 19 and is characteristically given greater pathos especially by the reference to the suffering caused by man (‘durus arator’)(rough ploughman).

Question 57

‘observans nido implumes detraxit; at illa’

snatching them, featherless, from the nest:

Answer 57

An unusual pause after a trochee in the fifth foot. This compels our attention.

Question 58

‘Venus’

love

Answer 58

Used to personify the love she is attributed to

Question 59

the Tanais

Answer 59

Major river to the north of Greece (possibly the Don, Russia), with its source in the Riphaei mountains (have been attributed to the Urals, or the Alps).
The coldness of the landscape is the opposite of the heat of Proteus’ environment described earlier.

Question 60

The Ciconi

Answer 60

People from Thrace, mentioned in Odyssey 9 9 where they aggressively pelt his ships with rocks and they only just manage to escape.
Here Orpheus spurns the women because he remains devoted to Eurydice even after death.

Question 61

‘inter sacra deum nocturnique orgia Bacchi
discerptum latos iuvenem sparsere per agros.’

tore the youth apart, in their divine rites and midnight
Bacchic revels, and scattered him over the fields.

Answer 61

The story of Orpheus’ death here recalls the legend of Pentheus (told in Eurpides Bacchae and Ovid’s Met 3) who was torn to pieces by Bacchic followers.

Question 62

Oeagrus

Answer 62

King of Thrace, father of Orpheus.

Question 63

‘vox ipsa’

his voice

Answer 63

Haunting image suggests disembodied cry for his wife even after his death.

Question 64

‘Eurydicen’ x3

Answer 64

Repetition in typical Alexandrian style (late Greek).

Question 65

‘volveret, Eurydicen vox ipsa et frigida lingua
ah miseram Eurydicen! anima fugiente vocabat:
Eurydicen toto referebant flumine ripae.’

His voice alone, and the ice-cold tongue, with retreating breath,
cried out: ‘Eurydice, ah poor Eurydice!’
‘Eurydice’ the riverbanks echoed, all along the stream.

Answer 65

Elegant word order (though not quite golden lines) closes the song.

Question 66

‘Haec Proteus, et se iactu dedit aequor in altum,
quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit.’

Proteus spoke thus, and gave a leap into the deep sea,
and where he leapt the waves whirled with foam, under the vortex.
THE END

Answer 66

In Ovid the story has a happy ending as Orpheus is reunited with Eurydice, but not here.
Though they will now both be in the underworld. Proteus all of a sudden vanishes into the waves creating an underwater current.
Aristaeus returns to his mother where he is told that he must therefore placate the spirits of Orpheus and Eurydice; he does so and his bees are renewed from the carcases of sacrificed cattle.

Question 67

Structure of Orpheus and Eurydice scene

Answer 67

In L.P. Wilkinson’s book about the Georgics, he tells us that Norwood (an early 20th century scholar) found chiastic structure of the motifs found in the Orpheus and Eurydice passage:

A	457-9		Death beside a stream owing to rejection of love
B	461-3		Impressive Greek geographical names
C	464-6		Persistent singing, utterly indifferent to the world around
D	473ff		Simile of birds
E	478-80		Infernal streams
F	481-503	Heart of the story
E	506		An infernal stream
D	511-515	Simile of a bird
C	507-520	Persistent singing, utterly indifferent to the world around
B	512ff		Impressive Greek geographical names
A	520-2		Death beside a stream owing to rejection of love.

Some of the correspondences here may seem rather vague, but other Virgilian scenes do also seem to behave chiastically. It looks as if this was a feature of Hellenistic (late Greek) poetry, from which we know Virgil drew a lot of inspiration.