not?" &c.-24. The pronoun (as in Greek) omitted before posse.-25. tu, sc. vincere potuisti.—tibi ... fuit, "had you

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.?"—27. disperdere, means "to fling away in pieces," hence "to spoil," or "ruin."—29. Experiamur, with ellipse of ut; so commonly after volo and like verbs. binos "twin," a rarity in the cow kind.-31. depono, "lay down," i. e. “a pledge or stake;" a forensic term, hence our deposit;" so pono, v. 36. ausim, fut. conj. of audeo, "I could venture;" so faxo-im, fut. ind. and conj. of facio.-34. alter, "one of the two."—35. id, a pendent acc. in app. with the sentence, pocula ponam corymbos, v. 36-39.-37. calatum, "carved,” der. cælum,“ a chisel."—38. quibus, i. e. poculis, dat. after superad., torno abl. of instr. after same.— 39. diffusos hederâ, "spreading from the ivy;" the hedera pall., a distinct plant from the usual kind. corymbos, "clusters" (of ivy-berries), Gr. кópuμßos, a top, or knot, or cluster, der. koрúpn. vestit, "the vine clothes ivy-berries," means, "the vine and ivy are intertwined."-40. signa, "effigies." Conon, a famous mathematician, friend of Archimedes, and contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus. alter, Eudoxus appears meant.-41. descripsit radio, "traced with his rule," i. e. in the tray of sand (abacus) used for diagrams. orbem, "sphere of heaven."-42. tempora, seasons, acc. in app. with orbem as parts with whole, for each quadrant of the sphere would represent a season. curvus, 'bending" at his plough; so proni, G. iii. 107.-45. acanthus, a plant with curling and luxuriant leaves: from its foliage wreathing a basket, the idea of the capital in Corinthian architecture is said to have been borrowed. semp. frond. acanthi, G. ii. 119, is a tree, thorny, and yielding the gum arabic.-48. nihil est quod, "there is no reason why;" quod a conjunction here.-50. Before he has made up his mind whom to wish for as a hearer, he sees Palæmon coming, and breaks off vel qui venit, &c., n. b. vel couples

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Palamon to some unexpressed nom. to audiat.—51. efficiam ne, "I will ensure that you do not ..."-59. alternis, und, dictis, from dicetis:

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63. principium, Musæ, "your origin, ye Muses."—63. lauri et, hiatus, see note B. suave, see on v. 8.-64. petit, "aims at."-66. meus ignis, "my flame."-67. Delia, the name of a country girl; not for Diana, as vii. 31.-68. Veneri, i. e. Galatea. munera, some presents."-69. congessere, sc. nidos, "have piled" (their nests); so congesta, G. ii. 156.-70. Quod, the antecedent to this is the sentence, puero misi.-75. retia servo, "watch the nets," i. e. play the part of an inferior, since you prefer your amusement to my society.-76. mihi, see on ii. 30. natalis und. dies. Iolla, voc., a name perhaps designating a master who monopolized the affections of a slave, so ii. 5, and who is here apostrophized and bidden, "send the girl when I mean to be merry, and come yourself when I mean to be solemn." -77. faciam, &c., "shall sacrifice," so operor, Hor. Od. III. xiv. 6, and in Gr. pese; so "liturgy" means public work." pro frugibus, i. e. at the festival ambarvalia, the most solemn of the rural year, see on G. i. 343-7.-78. me disc., "my departure," as if an acc. after flevit, see on ii. 1.-79. longum, i. e. in longum tempus, with vale, “farewell, a long farewell." vale, valě, see note B. Iolla, Menalcas, by adopting the name, means that Phyllida regarded HIM as her lord; see on 76, Iolla. 80. Triste, a sad thing."-82. satis, sc. frugibus, "to crops." depulsis, sc. a matre = ="weaned;" so Hor. Od. iv. iv. 15.-83. feto, see on i. 50.-84. Pollio, see introduction to IV.-85. lectori, sc. Pollioni; it is a circumstance out of keeping with the costume of pastoral life, that Pollio was "fond of reading," i. e. a fine critic ;-shepherds had no books.-86. "Pollio is not a critic only," replies M., "but a writer too; he deserves a bull;" (since, maxima taurus victima, G. ii. 146.)

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nova, "original," opposed to "old," implied in lectori.— May he who loves thee, Pollio, reach that point to which he rejoices that thou too hast reached," (und. venisse with te quoque); this perhaps conveys a sentiment of Virgil's own, who was commencing his career when the fame of Pollio was established.-89. mella, &c., (see iv. 25, 30,) "for him may honey flow, and the rough bramble bear the spice;" figuratively, perhaps, for "may he have your copious sweetness of style, and your power of enriching a barren subject."—90. Bavius, a bad poet, and Mævius, a worse, contemporaries of Virgil. -91. idem = eâdem ra tione. jungat, &c., "yoke foxes" (to plough) &c., i. e. commit every extravagant folly.-94. non bene, "not safely."-95. creditur, impersonally. vellera siccat, because he had fallen in.-96. reice, a contraction of rejice; for ji ii.-97. erit, see note A.-98. præceperit, "shall have seized before we milk them."-100. ervo, the vetch, Gr. opoẞos.-102. ossibus, abl., the part. viewed as if the instrument; so orbe, G. i. 442, see note there.-103. fascinat, der. Baσkaivo, "bewitches," an effect often ascribed to an evil, i. e. envious

eye.

1

105. "Where an extent of sky is visible of no more than three yards;" the place meant is perhaps down a well.— 106. inscripti nomina, see on i. 55, florem. By regum, Hyacinthus, beloved by Apollo, whose name the flower (a kind of lily) received, and Ajax, are meant; some spots on its petals were fancied to resemble the letters AI AI, hence the name of Ajax supposed written on them.-107. habeto, possess," i. e. you may in that case possess 109-10. These lines are, from et quisquis to amaros, so nonsensical, that they have been suspected to be spurious.111. This is to be figuratively understood, "stop your singing, enough has been heard."

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ECLOGUE IV.

INTRODUCTION

POLLIO, to whom this Eclogue is inscribed, fought on Cæsar's side at Pharsalia; and, temporising between Antony and the senate, was promoted to the consulship (v. 11, 12) by the triumvirs, was commissioned by Antony to settle the division of lands among the veterans in Transpadane Gaul, and when he and Octavius quarrelled, restored peace awhile between them at Brundisium. He was then sent by Antony against the Parthini, a people of Dalmatia, over whom he triumphed, (Hor. Od. II. i. 16). He withdrew after this from active life, being excused by Octavius, whom he was too prudent to oppose, from serving against his former friend Antony; and having become famous as an orator, historian, and poet, still retains celebrity as a patron of literary men. He died A.D. 4.

This Eclogue proclaims the advent of a wondrous boy, during whose infancy, youth, and manhood, the world's evil course was to roll gradually back into the golden age. It was written 714, when, by the peace of Brundisium, the civil war awhile ceased. Antonius took to wife Octavia, sister of his colleague, who himself married Scribonia; a child, either of one of these, or of Pollio himself, has been thought intended by puero, v. 8. But was any individual

definitely intended? A vague general idea, in which perhaps a few individual features dimly lurk, is all one need understand. From Hor. Carm. Sæc. v. 5, Sibyllini monuere versus; some verses called Sibylline were perhaps then extant, and the style of this Eclogue may be supposed a polished imitation of them; in which case an oracular obscurity would quite suit the design. Some of the expressions have been thought borrowed from Hebrew prophecy ; they seem, however, to have been but the current imagery of the golden age. Yet it is true that heathen legend often seems a vague reflex of Holy Writ, and thus the golden age itself, ere Justice left mankind, suggests the state before the Fall (see on G. i. 133); and some broken and clouded rays of a Truth once whole and pure, may perhaps be gleaned from this Eclogue, as a witness to "the Desire of all nations."

NOTES.

1. Sicelides, adj. (fem. only), der. Zikeλía, Sicily. Greek form of adj. are preferred where possible in the Eclogues: Syracosio, vi. 1; Sardois, vii. 41; Cyrneas, ix. 30. A title given to the Muses because Theocritus, whose Idyls Virgil imitates, was a Sicilian; so vi. 1, Syracosio versu.—2. myricæ, "tamarisks;" generally μʊpiêŋ in Homer, but once, Il. xxi. 550, μvpīên; adj. always μupīkivos; long in later Greek, which the Latin followed.-4. Cumai, the Sibyl whose prophecy (carminis) is meant, abode at Cuma (Æn. vi. 2-10), a colony of Chalcis, in Eubœa.—5. integro, (der. in tango,)