[617] Praecipitat intrans., 2. 9. ‘Vitam dispergit in auras’ seems at first sight to mean that Aconteus was dead before he reached the ground (comp. 5. 517): this however would perhaps be too strong a hyperbole, as we have no right to assume that he was wounded, as Heyne suggests, though the combined shock and fall might well have killed him. Sil. 9. 167 has “In vacuas senior vitam disperserat auras” of an ordinary death in battle; and so 4. 705 of Dido's death (both quoted by Gossrau). Gud. originally had ‘dispersit.’
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John Conington. P. Vergili Maronis opera. P. Vergili Maronis Opera. The works of. Virgil. , with a Commentary by John Conington, M.A. and Henry Nettleship, M.A. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane;. George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1876.
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