¹ On the question of Corythus' location add: McKay, A.G., Vergil's Italy (1970), p. 81 and n. 2, p. 326.Google Scholar

² Cf. Iris' story about Cassandra (5. 636 f.) or Juno's string of distortions in the Assembly (10. 67 f.). Iris' lying speech here takes the typical Virgilian form, with its initial basis of veracity (viz. the reference to Aeneas' mission to Evander). Cf. how Sinon begins the first section of his lying speech with a reference to the death of Palamedes (2. 81 f.), the second by describing the war-weariness of the Greeks (2. 108 f.) and the third with an account of the stealing of the Palladium (2. 163 f.), in each case proceeding thereafter to his persuasive fiction.

³ It is important to note here that ‘collector’ (line 11) must be referred to Aeneas for its agent and is as false as ‘armat’. That both these pieces of information are false is clear, as we already can assume on the basis of Evander's account (8. 493 f.) and will have confirmed for us later, in the narrative (10. 148 f.) All Aeneas has to do is establish contact with Tarchon, conclude a formal agreement, and set out forthwith (cf. 10. 153 ‘haud fit mora’). The mustering and the arming have already been done for him: that is the whole point of Virgil's use of Mezentius.