POSITIONING AENEAS: A PROPOSED EMENDATION TO AENEID.

The text of Aeneid 7.5 on the rites performed for Caieta, is suspicious for several reasons, most notably the unparalleled sedes of Aeneas . I argue that Virgil wrote at pius Aeneas sacris iam rite solutis, and that exsequiis is an intrusive gloss (evidence for which may be found in the ancient manuscripts). With sacris, Virgil seems to be suggesting cult honors as part of a complex allusion to Apollonius' Argonautica and Callimachus' Hecale . I also discuss four verse passages in Ovid, Petronius and Columella to argue that sacris would suggest a cult and, especially, that Ovid and Columella had a text of Virgil with sacris, not exsequiis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]