Note 83 — Chapter IV · ENNIUS.
Reading edition
'Here it is; here, the torch, wrapped in fire and blood. Many years it hath lain hid; help, citizens, and extinguish it. For now, on the great sea, a swift fleet is gathering. It hurries along a host of calamities. They come: a fierce host lines the shores with sail-winged ships.' Exitium = exitiorum, cf. Cic. Orator. 46. Itaque idem poeta, qui inusitatius contraxerat 'Patris mei meum factum' pudet pro 'meorum factorum' et 'Texitur: exitium examen rapit' pro 'exitiorum.'