[XXXIII.] Meliboea was a town at the foot of Mount Ossa in Thessaly.
[LVI.] Alcides, a common name for Hercules, who was descended from Alcaeus. Hercules slew Eryx in the boxing-match referred to.
[LXVIII.] This refers to an incident mentioned in the Iliad. A truce had been concluded by the Greek and Trojans but it was broken by Pandarus, who shot an arrow at Menelaus.
[LXXII.] The meaning of this passage is very obscure. For we are not told what the portent signified either in this or the succeeding books. The old interpretation was that it referred to the burning of the ships ([lxxxii.] and following), but it is more probable that Virgil was thinking of the wars between Rome and Sicily.
[LXXVII.] The mother of Augustus was a member of the Atian family, and this passage was evidently inserted by Virgil with the special idea of pleasing Augustus.