[336] Versare hardly = “vertere,” to overturn (v. 407), but rather i. q. “turbare.” So perhaps in the passage of Ennius quoted on v. 345. ‘Verbera’ and ‘faces’ are the whips and torches of the Furies (comp. vv. 451, 457), and here that which the whips and torches allegorize, whether the madness of crime or the fires and lashes of remorse. ‘Funereas’ is only the same as “atro” v. 456 and “atris” 4. 384. Another view makes ‘verbera’ quarrels and ‘funereas faces’ the funerals of those who are slain. But besides the fact that ‘verbera’ and ‘faces’ are the undoubted attributes of the Fury, ‘verbera’ is never used in Virg. in the general sense of blows, but only of a whip or lash.
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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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