"Non tam quoniam hoc Junonis odium fatale erat, ut Servius; sed potius, quoniam hi ipsi Trojanorum, errores fatales erant."—HEYNE.
Not only these two, but all other commentators and translators, as far as I know, have wholly mistaken the meaning of this passage, which is not that the Trojans were jactati, fatigati, or agitati, harassed, or driven hither and thither by the fates, (actus being never used in the sense assigned to it in such interpretation), but simply that they were driven onward, or toward Latium, by the fates (acti fatis); while at the same time they were driven backward, or from Latium, by Juno, (arcebat longe Latio). The result was "multos per annos errabant maria omnia circum:" words could not more clearly express the opposition of the forces between which the Trojans were placed; an opposition on which hangs the whole action of the poem. The invidia of Juno, concerning which Servius queries, was manifested by her using her utmost exertions to prevent the Trojans from arriving at the place toward which they were impelled by the fates, i.e. at which it was fated they should arrive.
As "acti fatis" here, so "fato profugus venit," verse 6; "sedes ubi fata quietas ostendunt," verse 209; "data fata secutus," verse 386; "fata deum vestras exquirere terras imperiis egere suis" (Æn. VII. 239.); "fatisque vocantia regna" (Æn. v. 656.); &c.; through all which expressions runs the one constant idea of the fates calling, forcing, driving (agentia) the Trojans toward Latium.
II. "Sævus ubi Æacidæ telo jacet Hector ubi ingens
Sarpedon."—Virg. Æn. I. 103.[1]
[1] The numbering of the lines is that of the Delphin edition.
Observe how the poet surmounts the obvious difficulty of uniting Hector, the principal champion of Troy, and Sarpedon, the son of Jove, in one and the same sentence, without implying a preference for either, without exalting one at the expense of the other; viz., by counterbalancing, by an inferior position towards the end of a line, that advantage of priority of mention, which he must necessarily give to one of them; and by compensating the other for the disadvantage of being placed second in order, by the double advantage of first place in a line, and separation from the rest of the line by a sudden pause.
III. "Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis
Scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit."—Virg. Æn. I. 104.
"Contendit cum Homero (Il. μ. 22. seq.). Potest sane oratio nimis ornata videri ex Æneæ persona; sed innumeris locis poetæ cum epici, tum tragici, ac lyrici, sibi indulgent in ornatu, etiam ubi alios loquentes inducunt."—HEYNE.
This stricture, very seasonable in a commentary on Statius or Lucan, is wholly inapplicable to Virgil; a poet remarkable, above all others, for his abstinence from gaudy ornament, and singularly careful to adapt the sentiment to the character and circumstances of the speaker. The words in the text, or some similar words, were indispensable to give full expression to the idea of Æneas; very imperfectly understood either by the annotators, or, with the exception of Caro, by the translators: Happy those who died on the plains of Troy, in the sight of their sires? Oh! that I, too, had perished there by the hand of Tydides, or been swept away along with so many of my friends by the Simois!
JAMES HENRY.