dextra, i.e. 36. mihi (dative of reference, § 235, a; H. 384, 4). the money was spent as soon as received, probably to gratify his mistress. 37. mirabar, i.e. I see now the reason of what I wondered at at the time. "And really you were much missed, Tityrus." His friend noticed the effect though he did not know of his absence. — quid (§ 240, a). — Amarylli, see § 348, 6; H. 581, i. 2. 38. sua in arbore (cf. vii. 54), i.e. on the tree where they grew. 39. aberat: for quantity see § 359, f, but compare $ 375, 8, 5. ipsae pinus, etc., the very pines, these very watersprings and orchards. Even they are playfully represented as sharing in the grief of Amaryllis and missing their master, not as wanting any special care, but as not finding the man they were wont to see. The pine here mentioned is probably the stone-pine, planted for its large edible seeds, as well as for shade: valuable also as furnishing wax and food for bees. The arbusta are the plantations of young elms, on which vines were trained in festoons from tree to tree, as in the vineyards of Italy now. 41. quid facerem, what was I to do? (§ 268, and R., cf. 266, e; G. 258; referred by H. to 486, ii.). At length, answering the question of v. 19, he says, To leave home and go to Rome was his only chance, first, of freedom, and second, of protection. It is by these two sentences that the allegory is connected, though somewhat loosely, with the facts. 42. praesentis (acc. plur., § 58), i.e. propitious (compare "a very present help "). — alibi, elsewhere than at Rome (belonging to licebat). 43. iuvenem: Octavianus (Augustus), who was only twenty-two at the time of distributing the lands to the veterans. 44. bis senos dies, twelve days, i.e. the first day of every month (kalends), when offerings were regularly made to the Lares, or household gods. Virgil means that he will join with the worship of his own Lares that of young Cæsar's genius or guardian spirit (Preller, Röm. Myth. 571): as Horace says (Od. iv. 5), laribus tuum miscet numen. Ovid (Fast. ii. 636) describes the ceremony: Parca precaturi sumite vina manu, Et Bene vos, bene te, patriæ pater, optime Cæsar -fumant, i.e. the service is already an established custom: this dialogue being supposed to be held in the autumn (see line 82).—altaria, high altars, see note, v. 7. 45. responsum dedit, the phrase used properly of an oracular response, keeping up the thought of Caesar as a divinity. - primus, i.e. this was the first assurance of security and favor, anxiously sought. 46. pascite, etc.: here Virgil drops the allegory: he went to Rome chiefly to beg his freedom; and the answer he is supposed to get is to keep his farm, — feed your cows and breed your bullocks as before (compare note v. 41). — submittite, properly, to raise for the purpose of breeding, apparently a technical word of graziers and cattle-breeders (see Georg. iii. 73, 159, and Lexicon). 47. tua rura manebunt, the fields will continue yours. Tityrus is here no longer the poor slave herdsman, but the yeoman landowner, representing the poet himself. 48. lapis omnia, etc., however the bare stone and marsh with muddy bulrush may cover all the grazing-ground. This description of a country alternately marshy and gravelly will be recognized by any one who has travelled in the territory of Mantua. The idea is: though it is not a very good farm, yet it is good enough and a blessed fortune compared with ours. By some, the passage from quamvis is connected less naturally withi non insueta, etc., below, and some have referred it to the neighboring farms. 50. non insueta, etc., no strange pasturage will distress your sickly flock, as is the case with ours. gravis fetas, the weakling cattle, which have lately dropped their young (compare line 15). 51. mala, baneful. — contagia: plural, meaning many cases of the disease, as often in Latin (§ 75, c; H. 130, 2). 52. flumina nota, familiar streams: i.e. the course of the "smoothsliding Mincius," which flows by Mantua. 53. fontis sacros, sacred founts, "from the pretty superstition which assigned a divinity to every source and spring.”—frigus opacum, cool shade (see note on tegmine, v. I). 54. hinc tibi, etc., on this side, as ever, the hedge on the neighboring roadway, whose willow-flower is fed on by Hyblæan bees, shall often, with its soft whispering, win you sleep. In this perplexed sentence, quae semper means as it always has done; florem is acc. of specification (§ 240, c; G. 332; H. 378) by a common Greek construction, after depasta, fed upon; salicti is the contracted form of saliceti, willow-grove; susurro, the whispering of leaves mingled with the hum of bees; limite, strictly, the line run by public surveyors (agrimensores), dividing off the land for purposes of cultivation. (See Georg. i. 126. The term was also extended to the municipia, and cases of other public boundaries, where the strict formalities of the Roman system were not followed. It always means a public boundary, while finis is used of private estates. The limes was not a line, but an open tract, 8, 12, 20, or 40 feet wide, serving as a roadway. The saepes here described was therefore, strictly, a roadside hedge.) — tibi (§ 227, N.; H. 384, 4).· Sicily celebrated for its honey. Hyblaeis; Hybla is the name of a hill in 56. suadebit, shall invite (root SVAD as in suavis). — inire, see §331, and g; H. 535, iv. 57. hinc alta sub rupe, on the other side beneath the high rock (opposed to line 54). — frondator, leaf-gatherer. The foliage of the trees was stripped in autumn and used for fodder. The cooing of the woodpigeon (see Georg. ii. 365) is a sign that autumn is coming on. — ad auras, upon the breeze. 58. nec tamen, and yet ... not (though the pruner sings). — cura, pet. 59. gemere, mourn. — cessabit (§ 205, d; H. 463, i.). — aeria ab ulmo, on the lofty elm (see Hor. Od. i. 2, 10), literally from. By a very common usage an appearance is said to come from the place where it appears, but in this particular connection “from” is perhaps quite as good, even in English. 60. ante... quam, sooner shall, &c., than (a common expression for never). — ergo, so then: resumptive, referring to 41–46. — lěves, lightfooted (notice the short penult: lēves would be sleek).—aequore, the level, commonly used in poetry for the sea; used also by Juvenal (viii. 61) for the plain. 61. destituent nudos leave (to dwell) exposed. 62. pererratis, having wandered over. — exsul, not necessarily driven out, but only afar from home. 63. The Arar (Saône) is a river of Gaul, the Tigris of Asia: the contrast is of farthest East and West, respectively. -voltus: no particular expression seems to be intended, but merely his face. 64. labatur, for mood see § 327, a; in H., probably 520, 2. 65. at nos, etc.: the mention of his good fortune had excited the gratitude of Tityrus to his benefactor (illius); but, unheeding this expression, Melibous still dwells by contrast on the exile of the others: but we must wander to the most distant corners of the earth. - alii . . . pars, correlative. - sitientis, thirsty: the drought is vividly referred to the people.— Afros: acc. of end of motion, preserving an earlier usage. [In the primitive language of our family the cases express place of themselves, the prepositions being only adverbs. See § 258 and notes.] 66. Cretae, sometimes understood as a common noun following rapidum, which bears down chalk, i.e. turbid, referring to the Oxus, a Scythian river. But there is a town in Crete, Axus or Oaxus (O here representing the digamma found on coins), whose stream is probably meant, Crete being quite far enough eastward for the rustic fancy. It was, besides, a Roman province; and exiles from Capua were actually settled there by Augustus. 67. orbe (abl. of means), by a world. 68-70. en, Ah! giving emphasis and a pathetic wistfulness to the question (compare ecquis, x. 28). — patrios finīs mirabor aristas, shall I filled with wonder long hereafter gaze upon my native bounds and the sodded (congestum caespite) roof of my poor hut, beholding again my little realm, after many years. This interpretation seems on the whole to be preferred, taking aristas as harvests, i.e. years. FIG. 5. 71. impius, as robbing his fellow-citizens, a word constantly used of civil war. - miles: here again is a bitter reference to Virgil's own experience of these legalized robbers. - novalia, fallows, i.e. land which I have broken in by my own toil (land alternately sown and fallow, left uncultivated to get new again, from novus). 72. barbarus: the armies of Cæsar had come to be made up chiefly or largely of barbarian foreigners, Gauls, Germans, and Spaniards. It is for them then that I have sown my fields! (his nos, etc.). To such a pass has civil strife brought our wretched state! 73. nos, inserted to emphasize his, though not itself emphatic. 74. nunc: this word (as often in English) gives a bitterly sarcastic force to the imperative, graft your pears now (if you can, when you see for whom you have done it before). 76. ego, i.e. that lot will be another's. - non posthac, never more. - viridi. . . antro, in the mossy grot. It may however refer to an artificial bower of evergreen. (Observe the vivid image in the words pendere de rupe. See Fig. 5.) 78. me pascente under my tending. 79. cytisum, a flowering shrub, excellent for its milk-giving properties: a kind of lucerne, or coarse clover. 80. tamen poteras, still you might, i.e. if you wished, even though you are obliged to depart (§ 308, c, cf. 311, c; G. 246, R.; in H. see 511, N.3). 82. castaneae, a large and mellow (molles) sort, still much used as food in Italy and Spain. 83. villarum, farm-houses (villa rustica): the country-seat of a rich city resident was villa urbana. (See Fig. 6.) - culmina: in lack of chimneys, the smoke of the hearth or brazier (focus) escaped iam through the well-ventilated roof. These smoking roofs announce that supper-time has come. - iam fumant, are beginning to smoke. with the present and imperfect constantly has this force. 84. maiores, i.e. lengthened by the declining sun. - cadunt, merely a vivid way of saying, lie on the plain. Virgil seems, in accordance with his gentle nature and feeble constitution, to have been particularly fond of quiet scenes, and especially evening scenes. See the endings of Ecls. ii., vi., x., and Æn. iv. 522, et seq. THE third Idyl of Theocritus, from which the general style and sentiment of this eclogue are imitated, is the complaint of a shepherd to his love Amaryllis; the eleventh is addressed by the monster Polyphemus to the sea-nymph Galatea, and seems to be the model for Corydon's defence of his personal appearance. 1. formosum: notice the position at the beginning, corresponding with that of Alexim at the close of the line. This is a very common arrangement in Latin verse (see note i. 1). — ardebat, burned with love for, = amabat, and so governing the accusative by a forced construction, apparently first introduced by Virgil. Similar to this are very many poetical constructions, where words are used for others of kindred meaning and so borrow their constructions as well. - Alexim: the form of the acc. in m seems to be always used by Virgil, except when n is required by the metre. |