Men. Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum Pal. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. Claudite jam rivos, pueri : sat prata biberunt. 110 (spatium) left but his grave, three paces of the vilest earth.' His name was Caelius, Virgil's genitive of which is Caeli. (See Ecl. i. 33.) Ulnas. In the later writers, ulna is equivalent to cubitus, about a foot and a half. Servius explains it as meaning here, the whole width between the outstretched hands-about four feet.-107. Flores. The hyacinth was believed to be marked with the name of Hyacinthus, or of Ajax. Ovid, Met. x. 206; xiii. 389. Inscripti nomina; see Ecl. i. 55.-109. Et quisquis amaros. The meaning seems to be: Not only do both of you, love-inspired, deserve the prize, but all that shall tremble with fear when love is propitious, or suffer under his frown; in short, all true lovers, such as you.' But the passage is a difficult one, and many emendations have been suggested. 111. Palaemon leaves them to see closed the sluices of the irrigating streams. This Eclogue is mainly imitated in Pope's first Pastoral. ECLOGA IV. In the multitude of conjectures regarding the subject of this Eclogue, Wagner's views seem preferable. All Italy had been exposed to dreadful calamities; first from the division of the lands, spoken of in the first Eclogue, then from the quarrels between Antony and Octavianus, and the war which ensued, B. C. 41; and finally, from a most severe famine, the result of the blockade formed by the fleets of Antony and Sex. Pompeius. So much the greater was the joy occasioned by the treaty of Brundusium made in the autumn of B. C. 40, by which harmony was restored between the two contending chiefs. Antony's agent in arranging the peace was Virgil's patron, Asinius Pollio. A little afterwards, on his return to Rome, Pollio entered on the consulship, and about the same time had a son born to him. There was a common belief at the time that a new age was dawning on the world; and as Italy seemed to have escaped from its miseries chiefly through the means of Pollio, Virgil, in this Eclogue, congratulates him on his consulship, and does it in such a way, as at once to extol him as the harbinger of a new era of happiness, and at the same time to augur this, from the birth of his son, as an omen of future peace and prosperity. This Eclogue was written in the autumn of B. C. 40. POLLIO. SICELIDES Musae, paulo majora canamus! Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas; Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, 5 10 15 20 25 1. Sicelides. Theocritus, whom Virgil principally imitated, was a Sicilian.-4. For the Cumaean Sibyl, see Aen. vi. 10. The age was the tenth in her books, or Golden Age.-6. Virgo. Astraea; that is, Justice. Ovid, Met. i. 149; Georg. ii. 473. Saturnia. See Georg. ii. 538. -10. Lucina. This name (from lux; that is, the light-bringer) is applied to the goddess who presided over childbirth; sometimes Juno, sometimes, as here, Diana, whom the Romans identified with the Greek Artemis, the sister of Apollo; hence tuus Apollo.-18, &c. Virgil traces the progress of the world: 1. in the boyhood, verses 18-25; 2. in the youth, 26-36; 3. in the manhood, 37-45; of Pollio's son.-25. Assyrium. This name is often employed by the poets to indicate eastern countries in general.-26. Simul; that is, simul ac.-30. See Georg. i. Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella. 131; Ovid, Met. i. 112.-32. Thetis. A sea goddess. To tempt her, is to tempt the sea.- -34. Tiphys. The pilot of the ship Argo, which sailed in the celebrated quest for the golden fleece, with Hercules, Jason, and others-delectos heroas.-39. There will be no need of navigation, for every land will produce everything of itself.-43. Suave. See Ecl. iii. 8, 63.-47. Parcae. The Fates; from parco, to propitiate them, and induce them to spare. Ages are here said to be spun from their spindles.-49. Jovis; the subjective genitive, Jupiter causing the growing honours of the boy; or objective, the boy being regarded as one more added to Jupiter's race. Incrementum. For the force added to a verse by the spondaic quadrasyllable, see Georg. i. 221; Aen. ii. 68, viii. 167. -51. Tractusque. The last syllable long from the arsis.-52. Laetantur. The indicative shows the poet's firm conviction of the truth of his statements. It is not 'See how all nature rejoices,' but 'See! How does all nature rejoice!'-55. It is not unusual for a negative proposition to be laid down generally, and then particulars to be stated, still with particles of negation. Here the general proposition is, "There shall not (non) any conquer me;' the particular instances are Orpheus and Linus, both ushered in with nec, nec. In strong negations, in Eng Nec Linus, huic mater quamvis atque huic pater adsit, 60 lish, we have something similar; and here we may say, 'No one shall surpass me in song; no, not Orpheus,' &c.-60. Risu cognoscere; to show thy mother by thy laugh that thou recognisest her.-61. Tulerunt. For the quantity see Georg. ii. 129, iii. 283, iv. 393; Aen. ii. 774, iii. 48, 681, x. 334.-62. Cui non, &c. Him to whose laugh no parents have joyously replied. This Eclogue is expressly imitated in Pope's Messiah, a Sacred Eclogue. ECLOGA V. THE original Daphnis was a Sicilian hero, and his name occurs frequently in the ancient Pastorals. It is supposed that this Eclogue was written B. C. 42, in which year public rejoicings throughout Italy were ordered to celebrate the deification of Julius Caesar, the month of July being also named after him. According to this conjecture, which is not improbable, Virgil celebrates Caesar under the name of Daphnis, though not carrying the resemblance through all its features. The poem has been extensively imitated, and has furnished materials for many elegiac Eclogues. The first fifty-two lines consist chiefly of lamentation; the remaining verses celebrate the deification of Daphnis. DAPHNIS. MENALCAS-MOPSUS. Men. CUR non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, Tu calamos inflare levis, ego dicere versus, Hic corylis mixtas inter considimus ulmos? Mop. Tu major; tibi me est aequum parere, Menalca, 5 1. Boni; that is, periti. It is followed by the infinitive inflare, which is a poetical usage. See Ecl. vii. 5-x. 32; Georg. i. 280, 284; Aen. Men. Montibus in nostris solus tibi certat Amyntas. Mop. Quid, si idem certet Phoebum superare canendo? Men. Incipe, Mopse, prior, si quos aut Phyllidis ignis, 10 Aut Alconis habes laudes, aut jurgia Codri. Incipe; pascentis servabit Tityrus haedos. Mop. Immo haec, in viridi nuper quae cortice fagi Mop. Sed tu desine plura, puer; successimus antro. Exstinctum Nymphae crudeli funere Daphnim 15 20 30 30 Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla nec amnem 25 Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus hordea sulcis, 335 ix. 772; and Zumpt, § 598.-7. Sparsit. See Ecl. iv. 52.-8. Tibi certat. So Certent et cycnis ululae. Ecl. viii. 55.-9. Mopsus seems to sneer at Amyntas, as daring to contend not with him only, but with Apollo.14. Alterna. Mopsus inscribed his verses, and then set them to music, which, too, he inscribed. See Ecl. iii. 8.-23. Atque-atque; that is, et-et. Astra. She upbraids with cruelty the stars, as influencing her son's fate. Mater. Venus, the alleged foundress of the Julian race. See Ecl. ix. 47.-25. Nulla nec. See Ecl. iv. 55.-29. Curru for currui; a form usually adopted by Caesar, and not uncommon in Virgil. See Georg. iv. 158; Aen. i. 257, iii. 541.-35. Pales. An Italian deity who presided over shepherds. Apollo. One of the offices of the Greek Apollo, especially dwelt on in later times, and here recognised by Virgil, was that of protecting the flocks and cattle.-36. In is sulcis is necessary to complete the sense.-37. Infelix, not fitted to sustain life. Aen. |