Mecum una in Sylvis imitabere Pana canendo. Haec eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas? § 35 Fistula, Damoetas dono mihi quam dedit olim, Et dixit moriens: Te nunc habet ista secundum : Dixit Damoetas; invidit stultus Amyntas. Praeterea duo, nec tuta mihi valle reperti, 40 Capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, 4.5 Amyntas is not known to allude to any particular person; nor, Damoetas, by the best commentators, supposed to personify any known poet. i Lilium candidum, fig. 7. White lilies are those which were best known and most celebrated among the ancients. Theophrastus speaks of red lilies as flowers he had only heard of, but never saw. k Naides were nymphs of the springs and fountains. 1 Pallens viola is thought, with great probability, to mean our stock-gilliflower, Cheiranthus incanus, fig. 8. m The Poppy here alluded to is our common garden poppy, which is the black poppy of the fields in a state of cultivation. Narcissum, et florem jungit bene olentis anethi; t Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala,' apros. 50 55 Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! floribus austrum n Narcissus poeticus, fig. 9. • Anethum graveolens, fig. 10. P Daphne gnidium, fig.11. 61 9 Caltha. This plant cannot be ascertained with certainty; but it is supposed to be a marigold, of which genus there are fourteen species, and this may probably be the field marigold, Calendula arvensis, fig. 12. • Lanugine mala. It is probable that this fruit was some kind of apricot or peach, though Pliny's account of the introduction of these fruits into Italy, militates somewhat against this opinion. s Laurus nobilis of Linnaeus, t Myrtus communis, fig. 13. "Dardaniusque Paris. Paris was called Dardanius, from Dardanus the son of Jupiter and founder of the royal family of Troy. ECLOGA II. ALEXIS. FORMOSUM pastor Corydona ardebat Alexin, O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? Nil nostri miserere? mori me denique coges. Thestylish et rapido fessis messoribus aestu с Allia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes: 5 10 Atque superba pati fastidia? nonne Menalcan ? e 15 a Corydon is a fictitious name for a shepherd, and most probably alludes to no individual person. b Thestylis. The name of a female servant. c Thymus serpyllum. Fig. 4. d Amaryllis by some commentators is supposed to be a girl, and Menalcas a boy, given to Virgil by Mæcænas; but these are opi Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses. 20 25 Nec sum adeo informis: nuper me in littore vidi, Cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim, Judice te, metuam, si nunquam fallat imago. O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura Atque humiles habitare casas et figere cervos, Hoedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco! 30 mions more of imagination than authority. In the filth eclogue, under the name of Menalcas, Virgil would seem to mean himself. e The ligustrum of the ancients is generally supposed to be the common privet, Ligustrum vulgare, fig. 5; nevertheless, there is reason to believe that it may be our great Bind-weed, Convolvulus sepium. f Vaccinium, as mentioned by Virgil, both here and in the tenth eclogue, is not different from what, in other places, he calls hyacinthus; the latter being the same as the bands of the Greeks, and the former a Latin name derived from it. From different passages in Moschus, Ovid, and Virgil, this hyacinthus, or vaccinium, would seem to be, not the flower that is known to us by that name, but the Liium martagon of Linnæus, fig. 6. Ipsa colat: nobis placeant ante omnia sylvae. Te Corydon, o Alexi; trahit sua quemque voluptas. 65 Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras : Me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori ? Quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus, Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexin. 70 x Pallas, the goddess of wisdom, is also said to be the inventor of building. |