> These are the notorious verses alleged by Donatus and Servius to have > been removed from the beginning of the Aeneid by its first editors: > > Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus auena > carmen, et egressus siluis uicina coegi > ut quamuis auido parerent arua colonis > gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis > > It must be ages since any half-decent critic has believed in them; the > likeliest explanation is that they were written above an author-portrait > in an early manuscript. >
This raises an interesting question to me, of what Romans saw when they picked up a copy of the Aeneid - their most hallowed work. If these spurious lines got into the manuscripts so early, how much else might have found its way into the text to mar the poem for these fellow-admirers of Virgil? I wonder if many such problems arose out of the inclusion of author-portraits and the like, as Leofranc suggests this one might have. Dan King ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
