Lines 771 - 773 Notes

Question 1

quaerenti, ruenti

Answer 1

2 present participles ‘to me as I searched…to me as I rushed’: the PPs show how Aeneas is panicking and trying to do everything all at once, instead of the calm sequential thinking which the situation requires.

Question 2

sine fine

Answer 2

without end – suggests a) that he would not ever stop looking for her (commitment, love etc) and b) that he may have been running in circles in his upset state.

Question 3

simulacrum, umbra, imago

Answer 3

3 words for the same thing (verbal redundancy) – the shock of seeing something as unusual as a ghost merits several noun labels! It is as if Dido might not believe him the first time he said it.

Question 4

ante oculos

Answer 4

this is about credibility – it would have been difficult for him to believe his eyes.

Question 5

nota maior

Answer 5

Taller than when I had known her – the account of a ghost encounter should be strange. The details are designed to disorient you and upset you.