The interpretation of Verg. Aen. VIII 96 is controversial; this paper supports, through the analysis of
auctores behind the Virgilian text (especially Ap. Rh. 519-558 and Cat. 64, 16-18), the exegesis of Servius,
according to which the Trojans vessels, as they sailed up the river, shattered the shadows projected over the
water.
Among the Virgilian commentators who interpret the verse in the way of Servius, there is also G. Pascoli,
who glosses silvas ‘reflected in water'; also in Alexandros, Pascoli engages with some of the previous
Virgilian reworkings (Stat. silu. I 3,16 ff. and G. Carducci, Alle fonti del Clitumno vv. 77-88) thus adding to
the tradition developed around this classical motif.
