Virgil's Eclogue IV

[Iacobus de Indianius]

I'm working my way through Virgil's 4th Eclogue and am having trouble identifying the type of subjunctive in the lines below.

non me carminibus vincet nec Thracius Orpheus
nec Linus, huic mater quamvis atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.

I think this goes something like:

"The Thracian(s), Orpheus, and Linus shall not surpass me in songs, although the mother to this Orpheus, Calliopea, and the father to this Linus, handsome Apollo, may help/support [them]."

A few assumptions I have made are:

1. the nec...nec cancel out and become positive because of the non, which I believe is possible from Gildersleeve 449.
2. the huic Orphei...huic Lino are in the dative because adesse can take the dative. I also think that the huics may not need to be included in the translation because they only function as a placeholder for the substantive they represent, and this allows the metre to work -- similar to Catullus 100.

So, can anyone help me identify what kind of subjunctive "adsit" is?

[Qimmik]

quamvis normally requires a subjunctive in Latin of the Augustan period: Gildersleeve sec. 606; Allen & Greenough sec. 527.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ythp%3D527

"Neither Thracian Orpheus nor Linus will defeat me in [a contest of] song[s], even if [his] mother is present to support [adsit + dative] this one or his father is present to support this one, Calliope [for] Orpheus, handsome Apollo [for] Linus."

Here the double negatives don't cancel each other out. Otherwise, Vergil would be saying that he would lose the contest. See Allen & Greenough sec. 327:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ythp%3D327

[Iacobus de Indianius]

Many thanks for explaining this.