ABSTRACT
Caeli is preferred by Rivero et al., Conte, Goold and Mynors. The problem is that the sentence does not construe well. Wagner took et in the sense of cum praesertim, Page, having likewise caeli in his text, has this comment on et: "and (shall I do it though) so often beguiled by the treachery of a calm sky?" And most recently Farrell takes et as an adverb: "entrust Aeneas to the false winds even (et) when so often deceived by the treachery of a clear sky". I find these endeavours artificial and confusing. If one says in Latin Aenean huic monstro credam deceptus totiens fallacibus auris (abl.) et fraude caeli sereni? the copulative et would as a matter of course combine the two ablatives auris and fraude, acceptable Latin, but clumsily expressed. Much effort has been spent on finding a suitable and meaningful category for et, but in my view in vain. I for one can see no serious objections to caelo with Pcγ, Servius and Tiberius, the text preferred by Ribbeck and Hirtzel who were followed by Sabbadini, Geymonat, Perret and Williams among others. Fallaces aurae and caelum ('weather' OLD s.v. 6) go well together; no comma should separate the nouns:
