Virg. Æn. viii. 96.
be correct. I beg to reply that it is not. The interpretations of Servius are almost invariably incorrect; Servius was a very illiterate, ignorant, and narrow-minded man, and totally unable to understand the author whom he attempted to illustrate. His comments on Virgil resemble those which we might expect a hedge schoolmaster in Yorkshire now to make upon Milton. These comments, which are only valuable on account of the mythological traditions which are preserved in them, have been very injurious to the right understanding of Virgil.
The meaning of the passage in question is, that the Æneadæ row up the river among the green woods, or (literally) "secant silvas," travel the woods, "placido æquore," on the calm surface of the water, i. e. by rowing up the placid stream of the river. This, and not that assigned by Servius following Terentienus, is the true meaning. 1st. Because secare with the objective case means constantly in Virgil to travel along. Compare "viam secat ad naves," Æn. vi. 902.; "secuit sub nubibus arcum," v. 658., &c. 2ndly. Because the Tiber is described only as placid, not as clear; and as appears from Æn. vii. 31., was actually very muddy, "multa flavus arena." The immediately preceding words, "variisque teguntur arboribus," have been pronounced by a very learned critic (one who has often deserved well of Virgil) to be idle, otiosa. (See Wagner ad Æn. i. 678.) And his opinion has been sanctioned by the usually judicious Forbiger. But they are not idle; on the contrary, they are necessary to convey the idea that the Æneadæ passed up the river under the shade of the trees; and so are supplemental to the statement contained in the words cited by your correspondent, which inform us only that they went up the river. Hence a confirmation of the correctness of the received interpretation.
JAMES HENRY.
34. Westland Row, Dublin, July 14. 1851.
Your correspondent ERYX wishes to know, whether in the passage (Æneid, viii. 96.)—
"Viridesque secant placido æquore silvas,"
the word secant can legitimately convey the same idea that is expressed in Tennyson's lines—
—— "my shallop ... clove
The citron shadows in the blue."