[2] It is not easy to say whether ‘dare’ is constructed with ‘curae’ or with ‘praecipitant.’ Probably Virg. trusted that a recollection of the ordinary construction of ‘cura’ with an inf., as in G. 1. 52, would soften any harshness that might be felt in connecting ‘dare’ with ‘praecipitant.’ ‘Praecipitant’ is apparently intransitive, ‘dare’ being in effect a kind of cogn. acc. If the text of Virg. had been as much vexed by conjectures as that of other authors, ‘praecipiunt’ would doubtless have been suggested. But ‘praecipitant’ is confirmed by an imitation in Stat. Theb. 1. 679, “Sed si praecipitant miserum cognoscere curae,” and gives a more forcible sense. Some have fancied that in Plaut. Trin. 2. 2. 17 “praecipito” is used as a frequentative of “praecipio,” and Val. F. 2. 390, “Tunc Argum Tiphynque vocat, pelagoque parari Praecipitat,” seems almost to have been influenced by a similar notion. For ‘et—que’ see Madv. § 435 a. obs. 1, where it is said to be only found as a loose way of connecting propositions. Some MSS. omit ‘et,’ and Ribbeck strangely conjectures ‘ei’ or ‘hei,’ Rom. having ‘et’ for ‘hei’ below v. 57. With ‘dare tempus’ comp. Ov. 2 Pont. 9. 50, “Mitibus aut studiis tempora plura dedit.”
