[8] Caussae is not unfrequently used where we should be content with the sing., e. g. v. 414., 2. 105., 3. 32., 6. 710, the last of which will illustrate the epexegetical clause ‘quo—inpulerit.’ ‘Memora’ is appropriate, as the Muses were connected with memory: comp. 7. 645, and see note on E. 7. 19.—There are various ways of taking ‘quo numine laeso.’ Some think there is a change of construction, and that “inpulsus fuerit,” or something like it, should have followed; so that Virgil should have imitated Homer, Il. 1. 8, τίς τ᾽ ἄρ σφωε θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι; But this, as Heyne remarks, though not unexampled, would be a singular piece of loose writing so early in the poem, and would moreover involve the inconsistency of first saying that it was Juno, ‘saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram,’ and then asking the Muse what god it was. Others make ‘numine’ nearly equivalent to ‘voluntate,’ citing 2. 123, “quae sint ea numina divom;” but even supposing that ‘numen’ in this sense might be taken distributively, which the passage above quoted does not prove, ‘laeso’ would scarcely be appropriate to ‘numine’ in this sense, while the words frequently occur in conjunction in the sense of outraged majesty. Comp. 2. 183, Hor. Epod. 15. 3, and Macleane's note. Heyne accepts Serv.'s proposal of separating ‘quo’ from ‘numine,’ and taking it in the sense of “qua re,” “qua caussa,” which would be extremely harsh. It remains then, with Wagn., to regard the expression as equivalent to “quam ob laesionem numinis sui;” referring it to the cases already noticed on E. 1. 53, where the pronoun or pronominal adjective stands for its corresponding adverb. Thus the negative answer to ‘quo numine laeso’ would be “nullum numen Iunonis laesit.” Or we may say that ‘numen laesum’ alone would stand for “laesio numinis” (see Madv. § 426), and that in such a construction the question could hardly be asked otherwise than by making the interrogative pronoun agree with the noun. No charge of impiety strictly could be brought against Aeneas, but there might be ‘dolores,’ such as are mentioned vv. 23—28, which impelled Juno to persecute even one renowned for piety.
