Three notes on Virgil,Aeneid2

Abstract

Aeneas begins his narrative with the story of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks, after constructing a huge wooden horse, within which they hide a great many armed soldiers, flee the land. The Trojans rejoice, thinking that they have driven off their opponents. Lines 27–8 express the joy of the Trojans as they visit the Greek camp:iuuat ire et Dorica castradesertosqueuidere locos litusquerelictumIt is disputed whetherdesertosandrelictumare used with an attributive or predicative function. The repeateddesertus(24huc se prouecti deserto in litore condunt, i.e. the Greeks) directs the reader's attention to its earlier use in an attributive function (‘they hid on thevacant shoreof Tenedos’). The image of the deserted shore of Tenedos is clearly meant to suggest the potential destructiveness of the Doric camp and shore deserted now. Such an interpretation seems to be further supported by the predicative use ofdesertosandrelictum, since we see the Greek camp through the eyes both of Aeneas and of his countrymen.