Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit;
Luctere: multa proruet integrum
Cum laude victorem geretque
Proelia coniugibus loquenda.’
Horace, Odes, IV. iv. 49-68.
51 ultro = aggressively, needlessly.—Wickham.
51-52 opimus triumphus = a rare (lit. rich, noble) triumph. Cf. spolia opima.
53-56 ‘This stanza is a résumé of the story of the Aeneid.’—W.
53 gens (sc. illa), i.e. the Roman stock.
57-60 ‘The idea of this stanza is that their very calamities only gave them fresh heart and vigour. They rise like the Phoenix from its pyre.’—W.