"Namque erit ille mihi semper deus: illius aram
Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
Ille meas errare boves…"
Instances of this construction will occur to every reader. Frequently the first half of the hexameter expresses a thought obscurely which is expressed clearly in the latter half, or vice versa, e.g. (G. iv. 103):
"At quum incerta volant, caeloque examina ludunt."
Again (Aen. iv. 368):
"Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo?"
at times this parallelism is very useful as helping us to find out the poet's meaning, e.g. (Aen. ii. 121):
"Cui fata parent, quem poseat Apollo."
Here interpretations vary between fata, n. to parent, and acc. after it. But the parallelism decides at once in favour of the former "for whom the fates are making preparations; whom Apollo demands." To take another instance (Aen. i. 395):
"Nunc terras ordine longo
Aut capere, aut captas, iam despectare videntur."
This passage is explained by its parallelism with another a little further on (v. 400):