Errabunda bovis vestigia; forsitan illum, Tum canit, errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum 60 65 Utque viro Phoebi chorus assurrexerit omnis; Floribus atque apio crinis ornatus amaro, Dixerit: Hos tibi dant calamos-en accipe--Musae, 70 Cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos. His tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo, Ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus jactet Apollo,' Quid loquar, ut Scyllam Nisi, quam fama secuta est, 75 60. Gortynia; from Gortyna, a city of Crete.. 61. The fifth mythe was that of Atalante, whom Hippomenes conquered in a foot race, and thus gained as a wife, by throwing in her way three golden apples, which she stooped to pick up; Ovid, Met. x. 560. Virgil speaks of these apples as those of the Hesperides, whose office it was to guard the golden apples of the far west. See Aen. iv. 480. 62. Phaethontiadas. The next mythe is that of the sisters of Phaethon; for which see Ovid, Met. ii. 325, &c.; and Aen. x. 190, where they are said to have been changed into poplars. Circumdat. Silenus is represented as doing what was done in the case of those whom he is celebrating.. 64. Virgil introduces the praises of Corn. Gallus as a poet. Permessi. A river of Boeotia, rising in Mount Helicon, the haunt of the Muses. - 65. Aonas montis. The Boeotian hills, of which Helicon was one; from Aones, the primitive inhabitants. Sororum, the Muses. 66. This was a mark of respect. See Iliad, i, 533. — 67. Linus. Already mentioned, iv. 56. He was a mythic personification of lamentation, said to be the son of Apollo and Calliope, and in later times regarded as a poet. Join divino carmine either with dixerit, or, what seems preferable, with pastor. 70. Ascraeo dederant seni-to Hesiod, so called from Ascra, in Boeotia, his birthplace. -72. Grynei. From Gryneum (Tpúvεiov), a town of Aeolis, where Apollo had a celebrated grove and temple. It would seem that Gallus had written, in imitation of Hesiod, a poem celebrating this grove and temple. See Ecl. x. 50. &c.74. Virgil leaves Gallus to take up another mythe, that of Scylla, the daughter of Phorcys, changed into a monster sheltering in her belly sea-dogs (Ovid, Met. xiv. 1, &c.), whom he confounds with the daughter of Nisus, changed into a bird (Ovid, Met. viii. 6, &c.). Scyllam, governed by narraverit, ver. 78.76. Du lichias. Dulichium was an island near Ithaca, with which it is often confounded. Ah! timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis; Quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit, Omnia, quae, Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus Ille canit; pulsae referunt ad sidera valles; 80 85 78. This mythe is told by Ovid, Met. vi. 424, &c. Philomela, with her sister Procne, the wife of Tereus, king of Thrace, had, in revenge for his infamous conduct, killed his son Itys, and served him up (dapes, dona) to his father. Tereus was changed into a hoopoe, Procne into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. Terei-two syllables. -83. The affection of Phoebus for Hyacinthus, a native of Laconia, led him to frequent the Eurotas, a river of that district. 85. Cogere-referri. For other instances of this change of construction, see Georg. i. 130; Aen. iii. 61.86. Invito. The heaven itself was unwilling to see the advance of the evening star, because it stopped the sweet strains of Silenus. ECLOGA VII. AFTER an introduction, occupying the first twenty lines, this Eclogue contains amoebaean verses (see Argument to Ecl. iii.), in which Corydon, a shepherd of a gentle nature, begins, and is replied to by Thyrsis, whose strains are more morose. It is supposed to have been written in the spring of B. c. 38, the year that Virgil began to write the Georgics, when he was thirty-two years old, and had become intimate with Maecenas, Horace (then twenty-seven years old), and other men of note. MELIBOEUS. MELIBOEUS.-CORYDON.-THYRSIS. Mel. FORTE sub arguta consederat ilice Daphnis, Et cantare pares, et respondere parati. 5 1. Arguta; shrill whistling in the wind.-4. Ambo indicates that the shepherds were together when the remark is made.-5. Cantare, for the prose cantando, respondere, for ad respondendum. See Ecl. v. 47; Zumpt, $598. Huc mihi, dum teneras defendo a frigore myrtos, 10 Quid facerem? neque ego Alcippen, neque Phyllida habebam, Depulsos a lacte domi quae clauderet agnos; Et certamen erat, Corydon cum Thyrside, magnum. 15 Alternis igitur contendere versibus ambo 20 Cor. Nymphae, noster amor, Libethrides, aut mihi car men, Quale meo Codro, concedite; proxima Phoebi Versibus ille facit; aut, si non possumus omnes, Hic arguta sacra pendebit fistula pinu. Thyr. Pastores, hedera nascentem ornate poëtam, 25 Arcades, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro; Aut, si ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro. Cor. Saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus 6. Meliboeus, who narrates the contest, proceeds to tell how he had come to witness it.-7. Deerraverat; the first two syllables make one long; see Georg. ii. 200; Aen. x. 378. Atque is often used to introduce a statement not only additional, but unexpected. 12. Praetexo, I weave in the front of-I fringe. See Aen. vi. 5. -13. Mincius. So Milton in his Lycidas -22. 'Smooth sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds.' - 16. This is a rare apposition, equivalent to, Et certabant Corydon cum Thyrside magnopere. See Aen. v. 339.-19. Alternos (versus). See Ecl. iii. 59.-21. Libethrides; from Libethrus, a fountain and cave of Helicon. The Nymphs, therefore, may be the Muses, or the nymphs merely of the grotto and spring. See Ecl. x. 1. Proxima may be used substantively, as in Ecl. iii. 80; or it may refer to carmina, involved in carmen in the preceding line.-24. Those who left any employment, hung up their implements as a sacred offering: here to Pan, to whom, as well as to Cybele, the pine was sacred.-27. Ultra placitum, beyond the real opinion of Codrus; or rather beyond what you approve of, as indicating the flattery of envy, bringing danger with it. Baccare. This acted as a charm against envy.-29. Delia, a name for Diana, from the islond Delos. These four lines contain a votive inscription, in the vle of the Epigrammata, such as usually accompanied offerings to Et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi. Si proprium hoc fuerit, levi de marmore tota Thyr. Sinum lactis te haec et liba, Priape, quotannis Cor. Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblae, 30 35 40 Thyr. Immo ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis, Si mihi non haec lux toto jam longior anno est. 45 Cor. Muscosi fontes et somno mollior herba, Hic tantum Boreae curamus frigora, quantum 50 the gods-as to Diana a portion of the animals slain in the chace.31. Hoc. This success.- 32. Suras evincta. See Ecl. i. 55. Puniceo cothurno. Even marble statues were sometimes painted. The description is that of a huntress. See Aen. i. 337.-33. Priapus, the son of Bacchus and Venus, was worshipped as the guardian (custos) of fields, and especially of gardens. Sinum. Take care not to confound this word with sinus. A verse similarly formed, without any caesural pause save the Trochaic in Priape, is rarely found in Virgil.-35. To excel Corydon, Thyrsis brags of marble and gold.-37. Galatea, daughter of Nereus (Nerine, a rare patronymic), was famed in Sicily for her love to Acis. Hyblae. See Ecl. i. 55.-41. Sardoniis herbis. Sardinia abounds in an herb called by the Greeks Barpáxiov, by the Romans ranunculus; of which the species described by Pliny, xxv. 109, is called by Linnaeus Ranunculus sceleratus, our celery-leaved crowfoot. It is extremely acrid (amarior), and blisters the skin. When taken inwardly, it was said to produce mortal spasms, and to contract the muscles of the face, so as to resemble laughter. Hence risus Sardonicus, and our Sardonic grin. 42. Rusco. Probably a species of whin, the ulex Europaeus of Linnaeus. -50. Nigri. The Romans had no chimneys to carry off the smoke.-51, 52. The sentiment is, 'We do not fear cold in the least, so well are we supplied with the means of warming ourselves.'-53. The picture presented is that of the juni pers and the chestnuts exhibiting their branches stiff with berries and nuts (stant); while under each tree lie in heaps its native fruits. Strata jacent passim sua quaque sub arbore poma; Thyr. Aret ager; vitio moriens sitit aëris herba; 55 60 Cor. Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho, Mel. Haec memini, et victum frustra contendere Thyr- Ex illo Corydon, Corydon est tempore nobis. 70 Castaneae hirsutae. The ae unelided and long through the arsis.60. Jupiter. The air-god, personifying the air. See Georg. ii. 325. 61. Populus, &c. Compare Phaedrus, iii, 17. Iaccho. See Ecl. vi. 15.-70. Corydon est nobis; a phrase indicative of high satis. faction; as we say colloquially, 'Is the man for us.' A ECLOGA VIII. ASINIUS POLLIO, to whom this Eclogue is addressed, had in B. C. 40 completely crushed the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe on the confines of Macedonia, near Dyrrachium. It is probable that the Eclogue was inscribed to him on his return in the subsequent year. The subject, apart from the address, 6-13, and the introductory verses, 1-5, 14-16, 62, 63, is twofold. The first part, 17-61, is occupied with the unsuccessful love of a shepherd for Nisa, as sung by Damon. In the second, Alphesiboeus represents the grief felt by a shepherdess when abandoned, as she supposed, by Daphnis, and the magical charms to which she had recourse to bring him back. Hence the title of the Eclogue, borrowed from Theocritus, from the Greek φαρμακευτρία, an enchantress. |