68/122 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. 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. For Crete and the Labyrinth, see note on Book VI. |