Medium iter is not to be pressed, merely meaning that he had got well on his way. Most of the instances quoted however for this loose use of the word are scarcely in point, e.g. G. 3. 486, 519, where though all that the context requires is that the operation spoken of should have begun, there is no reason why it should not have been exactly half finished at the time mentioned. In other words, Virg. assumes for rhetorical purposes that the thing is half done, an assumption which here is contrary to the fact, while there, for aught we know, it may be consistent with it. 4. 277 is nearer the mark, as we can hardly suppose that Mercury ceased to be visible in the middle of his speech, so that we may say that there the word stands for something more than half, as here for something less than half. ‘Tenere iter’ 2. 359.
