uch-disputed question I must not go farther,
except to note that while Heinze is absolutely confident
that Virgil never wrote these lines, the editor of the
new Oxford text of Virgil is equally certain that he
did. My opinion is of no value on such a point; but I am
disposed to agree with Mr. Hirtzel that "versus valde
Vergilianos, ab optimis codicibus omissos, iniuria
obleverunt Tucca et Varius." They are certainly in
keeping with the picture of Aeneas' _impotentia_ which
is generally suggested in Book ii. If it should be
argued that this _impotentia_, _i.e._ want of
self-control, is only put into the mouth of Aeneas in
order to heighten the effect of his stirring narrative,
it will be well to remember the remonstrances of Venus,
which make such a hypothesis impossible.

[890] _Op. cit._ p. 231.

[891] _Vergils epische Technik_, p. 113 foll.

[892] The original story was, that unable to escape from
an enforced marriage with Iarbas, she killed herself to
mark her unflinching faithfulness to her first husband
Sicharbas. Servius quotes Varro as stating that it was
not Dido, but Anna who committed suicide for love of
Aeneas (on _Aen._ iv. 682); and as Varro died before the
Aeneid was begun, this may be taken as proving that
Virgil's version of the love-story was not his own
invention. But it is quite possible that Servius here
only means that Varro's version differed in this point
from that which the poet soon afterwards adopted; it may
be that the story in the poem is thus practically his
own.

[893] _Op. cit._ p. 116.

[894] _Ancient Lives of Vergil_, Clarendon Press, 1879.

[895] The critics have, I think, been weaker in dealing
with the fifth book than with any of the others. Prof.
Tyrrell is too violent in his contempt for it to admit
of quotation here. Heinze has some good and acute
remarks on Virgil's motive in placing the book where it
is, but seems to me to miss the real importance of it
(_op. cit._ 140 foll.). Even Boissier, whose delightful
account of the scenery of Eryx should be read by every
one who would appreciate this book (_op. cit._ p. 232),
goes so far as to say that it is the one book with which
we feel we might easily dispense so far as the story is
concerned.

[896] _Roman Festivals_, p. 307.

[897] _Op. cit