Arboribus venti, nobis Amaryllidis iræ. MEN. Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus hædis, Lenta salix foto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas. 81 DAM. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam: Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro. 85 MEN. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina, pascite taurum, Jam cornu petat, et pedibus qui spargat arenam. DAM. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat; quo te quoque gaudet: Depulsis arbutus hadis.] The goats are fond of the arbute, or strawberry-tree. See the notes on ver. 148. of the first Georgick, and ver. 300. of the third. Depulsis signifies weaned, a lacte being understood. Pollio amat nostram, &c.] Damætas introduces a new subject, and boasts that Pollio is fond of his poetry. Menalcas lays hold on this occasion to celebrate Pollio, as being a poet himself. C. Asinius Pollio was a poet, orator, and historian, and a great patron of poets, especially of Virgil and Horace. He was chosen consul in the year of Rome 714. The next year he had a triumph decreed him for his victory over the Dalmatians, at which time Ruæus supposes this eclogue to be written, because mention is here made of preparing victims for Pollio. Jam cornu petat, &c.] These circumstances make a good description of a young bull, that is just come to maturity. This line is repeated in the ninth Æneid, ver. 629. It can hardly be doubted but that the victory here belongs to Menalcas. Damætas speaks of Pollio only as a judge of poetry: but Menalcas celebrates him, as being a good poet himself. Damotas offers him a heifer: but Menalcas proposes a bull for him. Thus the latter excels the former in each particular. The shepherds are now equal; Damotas excelling in the first, second, and fourth, and Menalcas in the third, fifth, and seventh; for they were equal in the sixth; as they will also appear to be in the remaining part of this contention. Qui te, Pollio, amat, &c.] Damotas, unwilling to fall short of his adversary, in the praises of Pollio, expresses the highest regard for him, and wishes that all who love him may reach the same honours. Menalcas, on the other side, expresses the strongest detestation of the detractors from that great man. Veniat ; quo te quoque gaudet.] Here no doubt venisse must be understood, according to Servius, who adds, that the poet alludes to the consulship, which Pollio obtained, after having taken Salonæ, a city of Dalmatia: though others affirm, that the victory over the Dalmatians was in the year after the consulship. Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. MEN. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina Mævi: Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos. DAM. Qui legitis flores, et humi nascentia fraga, Mella fluant illi.] Burman interprets this to mean eloquence. It seems rather to allude to the happiness of the golden age, in which the poets feign that honey dropped from oaks. See the note on ver. 131, of the first Georgick. Ferat et rubus asper amomum.] Rubus is without doubt the bramble, or blackberry-bush. Servius says the amomum is an Assyrian flower; to prove which, he quotes these words of Lucan; "Vicinæ messis amomum." It has been a matter of great question among the modern writers, whether we are at present acquainted with the true amomum of the ancients. It is sufficient for our present purpose to know, that there was such a spice or perfume, in high esteem among them, and that it came from the eastern parts of the world. Therefore, when Damotas wishes that Pollio's friends may gather amomum from brambles, he makes a second allusion to the happiness of the golden age. Thus we find again in the next eclogue; -Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum. Qui Bavium non odit, &c.] Menalcas changes the subject from the admirers of Pollio to his detractors; and as Damotas had wished all happiness to the former, so he expresses the greatest detestation of the latter. 91 "Let him who does not hate Bavius, be punished with liking the poems of Mævius." Wherein does the punishment consist? It would indeed be a punishment to a person of good taste, to be obliged to read bad poetry; but surely it can be none to him that likes it. We know that both Bavius and Mævius were contemporary with Virgil: perhaps Bavius was the older of the two, and his verses allowed without dispute to be ridiculously bad. Let us suppose then, that Mævius was the adversary of Pollio: the satire in this case will be very plain, and strongly levelled against Mævius. The sense then will be, that none can bear the poetry of Mævius, but such as are so senseless as to like the wretched verses of Bavius. Atque idem jungat, &c.] Here Menalcas says, that such as can like the poetry of Mævius, are capable of employing themselves in the grossest absurdities. "In Qui legitis flores, &c.] these and the following couplets, the shepherds seem to be grown friends they do not sting one another, as before; but only oppose one sentence to another; in which they appear to me to be always equal. The allegories which some have imagined, do not please me. Damætas admonishes the boys to avoid the flowers of the meadows, Frigidus, O pueri! fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba. MEN. Parcite, oves, nimium procedere: non bene ripæ Creditur: ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat. DAM. Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas: Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo. MEN. Cogite oves, pueri: si lac præceperit æstus, Ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. 95 DAM. Eheu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo! Idem amor exitium pecori est, pecorisque magistro. 101 MEN. His certe neque amor causa est; vix ossibus hærent. Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. where snakes lie hid: Menalcas warns the sheep to keep from the banks of the rivers, where there is danger." La Cerda. Humi nascentia fraga.] This epithet humi nascentia is very proper; it expresses the manner in which strawberries grow; for the plants which bear them trail upon the ground, and are therefore more likely to conceal serpents. Tityre, pascentes, &c.] These couplets continue the subject of taking care of the flocks. Reice.] "Here is first a syncope, rejice into re-ice, then a contraction of two short vowels into a long dipthong, re-ice into reice. Thus we have eicit for ejicit in Lucretius; Nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit." Ruaus. Si lac præceperit astus.] That is, præripuerit, ante cœperit, ante verterit. Hence preceptors are so called, because they first take a thing, and conceive it in their mind, before they teach others. Eheu, quam, pingui, &c.] Damætas laments that his herd is subject to the passion of love as well as himself. Menalcas answers, that love is not the occasion of the leanness of his sheep, but some fascination. His certe, &c.] Damotas had ascribed the leanness of his bull to love, a passion by which himself was tormented; but Menalcas tells him, that this cannot be the case of his young lambs, which are mere skeletons; and therefore some other cause ought to be assigned, which he thinks to be fascination or witchcraft. Oculus... fascinat.] It is an opinion which still prevails among the ignorant, that witches, and other evil disposed persons, have a power of injuring both persons and cattle, by looking at them with a malici ous eye. DAM. Dic quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, Tres pateat cœli spatium non amplius ulnas. MEN. Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum Nascantur flores; et Phyllida solus habeto. 105 PAL. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites: Et vitula tu dignus, et hic: et quisquis amores Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros. Claudite jam rivos, pueri: sat prata biberunt. Dic quibus in terris, &c.] Damotas, to put an end to the controversy, proposes a riddle to his antagonist, who, instead of solving it, proposes another. Philargyrius speaks of a well, into which they used formerly to descend in order to celebrate their mysteries, the orb, or circumference of which was no more than three ells, that they might thereby discover the produce of the year: when they were at the bottom, they could see no more of the sky, than what answered to the circumference of the well. Dic quibus in terris, &c.] Servius explains this riddle to mean the hyacinth of the poets, which has been largely considered in the note on ver. 183. of the fourth Georgick. Phyllida solus habeto.] Phyllis was one whom both the shepherds claimed; one saying Phyllida mitte mihi; and the other, Phyllida amo ante alias. But now Menalcas seems so confident of 110 his having puzzled Damotas, that he offers to give him a sole right to her, if he can solve the riddle. Non nostrum inter vos, &c.] Palæmon declares, that it is not in his power to decide which has the better, and desires them to make an end of their contention. Pa Et vitula tu dignus, &c.] læmon determines, that each of the shepherds deserves a cow for his reward, and every one also, who shall give so just a representation of the hopes and fears of love. Claudite jam rivos, &c.] Some understand that Palæmon, having given his decision, now turns to his own servants, and gives them direction to stop the rills, that have overflowed the meadows sufficiently. But the most general opinion is, that he speaks figuratively, alluding to the comfort which the meadows receive from the overflowing rills. P. VIRGILII MARONIS BUCOLICORUM ECLOGA QUARTA. POLLIO. SICELIDES Musæ paullo majora canamus. Sicelides Musa, &c.] In the verses of the Sibyls there were some prophecies, which foretold that a king should be born into the world about this time, under whom the happiness of the golden age should be restored. These prophecies the poet applies to a child, that was born, or just ready to come into the world in the consulship of his great friend Pollio. He there fore invokes the Muses to raise his verse above the common pitch of pastoral poetry. He invokes the Sicilian Muses, because Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry, was a Sicilian. Majora canamus.]. Whilst Virgil was writing his Eclogues and Georgicks he seems to have had frequent impulses to write something above his present subject. Non omnes arbusta juvant.] The subjects of pastoral poetry are of themselves too mean to give delight to many readers. Arbusta.] See the note on ver. 40. of the first eclogue. Humilesque myrica.] The tamarisk sometimes becomes a pretty tall tree; but it is generally low and shrubby. It is very common on the banks of the rivers in Italy. This plant was first brought into England in queen Elizabeth's time by archbishop Grindall, as a sovereign remedy for the spleen, according to Camden. Si canimus sylvas, &c.] The poet is willing to raise his pas |