In the multitude of conjectures regarding the subject of this Eclogue, Wagner's views seem preferable. All Italy had been exposed to dreadful calamities; first, from the division of the lands, spoken of in the first Eclogue; then, from the quarrels between Antony and Octavianus, and the war which ensued, B. C. 41; and finally, from a most severe famine, the result of the blockade formed by the fleets of Antony and Sex. Pompeius. So much the greater was the joy occasioned by the treaty of Brundisium, made in the autumn of B. C. 40, by which harmony was restored between the two contending chiefs. Antony's agent in arranging the peace was Virgil's patron, Asinius Pollio. A little afterwards, on his return to Rome, Pollio entered on the consulship, and about the same time had a son born to him. There was a common belief at the time that a new age was dawning on the world; and as Italy seemed to have escaped from its miseries chiefly through the means of Pollio, Virgil, in this Eclogue, congratulates him on his consulship, and does it in such a way, as at once to extol him as the harbinger of a new era of happiness, and at the same time to augur this, from the birth of his son, as an omen of future peace and prosperity. The coincidence between Virgil's language and that of the Old Testament prophets in relation to the coming of the Messiah is sufficiently striking; but it may be doubted whether Virgil uses any image to which a classical parallel cannot be found. This Eclogue was written in the autumn of B. C. 40.

1. Sicelides = Sicilian; i. e. of Theocritus, pastoral. Theocritus (see Introduction to Bucolics) was a Sicilian. Majora = loftier themes; i. e. than the usual subjects of pastoral song. A. & S. 256, R. 9 (a). —2. Arbusta ... myricae; emblems of the lower strain of rural poetry. - 3. Silvae is used for pastoral poetry, and symbolizes the genus of which myricae is the species. If my theme is still to be pastoral, let it rise to the dignity of which a consul need not be ashamed. 4, 5. Ultima-Ordo. The reference is to the Platonic year, a vast period of time, variously estimated by the ancients, but now calculated to require about 26,000 years for its completion, when all the heavenly bodies occupy the same places which they did at the beginning of the world. In each of these periods it was supposed that the cycle of mundane and human history repeated itself. It was divided into four eras, or ages, styled the golden, the · silver, the brazen, and the iron age: the first being the purest and happiest, and the last the most degenerate and corrupt. (See Ov

8. Tu

M. I. Introduction, p. 369.) A series of these ages had, according to poetic legends, now nearly elapsed, and it had been predicted by the Cumaean Sibyl that the great order was to begin anew (ab integro), the golden age returning first. -4. Cumaei. . . carminis - of the Sibylline prophecy; the Sibyl of Cumae in Italy being the most famous, and delivering her oracles in verse. - 5. Saeclorum. Gr. 703. 2. A. & S. 322. 4.-6. Redit-regna=et Virgo et Saturnia regna redeunt. The repetition of a noun or verb is sometimes equivalent to a repetition of the copulative. Virgo; i. e. Astraea, or Justitia = Justice. She was a daughter of Jupiter and Themis. See on Ov. M. I. 150, and cf. G. II. 474. Regna. See on Ov. M. I. 113.—7. Nova progenies: a new race; i. e. a better race called in v. 9 gens aurea. puero . . . fave= do thou only favor the birth of the boy. See Introduction. Quo= under whom. Gr. 426. 1. A. & S. 257, R. 9 (2); or 253. Primum = at last. Cf. I. 45.-10. Lucina; the goddess who presided over childbirth. She is sometimes the same as Juno, and sometimes, as here, Diana, whom the Romans identified with the Greek Artemis, the sister of Apollo; hence tuus Apollo. Cf. Hor. C. S. 14-16. Tuus; sc. frater. Apollo is here the same as Phoebus; i. e. Sol, the Sun. See on Ov. M. II. 116. According to the Sibylline verses, Apollo, i. e. the Sun, was to reign during the last or iron age, after which the cycle was to begin anew with the golden age. —11. Adeo, especially with pronouns, gives a rhetorical prominence to the word after which it is used, and can be best rendered by laying a vocal stress on that word. Here the emphasis is increased by the repetition of te. Decus hoc aevi this glorious age. Inibit=

shall commence. - 12. Magni — menses; the periods into which the magnus annus, i. e. the magnus saeclorum ordo, was divided. Some explain it by illustres, memorabiles, as belonging to the golden age. · 13. Te duce under thy guidance, auspices; i. e. as consul. Sceleris; i. e. of the bloody civil wars which were terminated about this time by the peace of Brundusium. 14. Irrita completely effaced, removed. Formidine; i. e. of the vengeance of the gods for the scelus.-15. Ille; the puer of v. 8. Accipiet shall participate in, be the recipient of, enjoy. Divis. Gr. 385. 5. A. & S. 245. II. 2 and R. 1. Videbit and videbitur express that familiar intercourse with the gods on earth which was one of the characteristics of the golden age. 16. Heroas. Gr. 98. A. & S. 86. Illis. Gr. 388. 4. A. & S. 225. II.-17. Patriis virtutibus follows reget. -18-47. The coming of the golden age will be gradual, its stages corresponding to those in the life of the child. Thus its infancy is signalized by the production of natural gifts and the removal of natural evils (vv. 18-25); in its youth the vegetable world

spontane. Ov. M. I.

will actually change its náture (vv. 26-36); in its manhood the change will extend to the animals (vv. 37-47). Further, the particular changes would seem to be adapted to the successive requirements of the child. There are toys and milk for its childhood, which is to be specially guarded from harm; stronger food for its youth, which is not to be without adventure and military glory; quiet and prosperous luxury for its mature age. - 18. At moreover, and. It does not here mark opposition, but simply a transition to a new subject. Prima = primo at first. Nullo-cultu ously. On all these characteristics of the golden age of. 89-112. Munuscula = small gifts; i. e. for children. They are specified in the verses which follow. -19. Errantes spreading; i. e. with luxuriance. Passim; with fundet. What now grows only in certain places will then grow everywhere. Bacchare. It is not certain what plant is meant. It had a fragrant root from which an oil was extracted. — 20. Colocasia. The Egyptian bean, a plant whose root, stalk, and fruit were used for food, had just been introduced into Italy, and was regarded as a valuable rarity. Acantho. Virgil mentions two kinds of acanthus; an herb, as in III. 45, and a tree, as here and in G. II. 119. — 21. Ipsae = of their own accord. -23. Ipsa; i. e. sponte; in the same sense as ipsae, v. 21, and nullo cultu, v. 18. So Ovid speaks of the earth as fruitful per se and nullo cogente, and of natos sine semine flores.-24. Fallax; because of its similarity to harmless ones. Cf. G. II. 152. Herba veneni = poisonous herb. — 25. Assyrium; i. e. eastern, oriental, in a general sense. The poets use geographical names very loosely. See on Hor. C. I. 2. 22 and C. III. 4. 32. Amomum. See on III. 89. As a remarkable parallel to this whole passage, compare the prophet Isaiah, xxxv. I and xi. 6-8.-26. Simul simul atque, as often. Heroum virtus; i. e. by reading of the glories of his father and the heroes of older time, the child will learn to conceive of virtue. — 28. Molli... arista: with waving corn. Another interpretation is "smooth, beardless." The beard, which protects the grain from birds, would not be needed in the golden age. Paulatim seems to mean here spontaneously; i. e. there will be no process of sowing, from which the springing of the crop can date, but the field will gradually develop into corn. - 30. Roscida dewy. The ancients imagined that honey fell in the shape of dew, and was gathered by the bees from leaves. In the golden age it will be so abundant as to drop from the leaves of trees. Cf. G. I. 131. So Ovid: Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.

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31. Before the child becomes a man and the pletely restored there will be a repetition of the

golden age is comheroic age, in which

there will be some traces of ancient wickedness (priscae fraudis),

and which Virgil identifies by mentioning the two most prominent events of that age, the Argonautic Expedition and the Trojan War. — 32. Quae... jubeant = which (i. e. such as) shall prompt. Gr. 501. I. A. & S. 264. 1 (a) and (b). Thetim; a goddess of the sea, put by metonymy for the sea itself. She was a daughter of Nereus, the wife of Peleus, and the mother of Achilles. Gr. 85. 4. A. & S. 80, Ex. 2. — 34. Tiphys; the helmsman of the ship Argo which sailed in the celebrated quest for the golden fleece with Hercules, Jason, and others (delectos heroas). - 35. Altera bella; i.e. the old wars over again. 36. Achilles; the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones in Phthiotis in Thessaly, and the Nereid Thetis. From his father's name he is sometimes called Pelides (A. II. 548), and from that of his grandfather Aeacus, he derived his name Aeacides (A. I. 99). In fifty ships he led his hosts of Myrmidones, Hellenes, and Achaeans against Troy. Here he was the great bulwark of the Greeks, and the worthy favorite of Minerva and Juno. 37-47. When he shall have grown to manhood, the fulness of the blessings of the golden age will have come. There will be no need of commerce, for everything will grow everywhere. 38. Et ipse-vector even the passenMari. Gr. 422.

ger himself. Much more the sailor in a ship of war. 2. A. & S. 255, R. 3 (a) and (b). —41. Tauris may be the dative, Gr. 384. A. & S. 223, or the ablative, Gr. 425. 3. 2). A. & S. 251. The best authorities are divided. —42. Mentiri to counterfeit; i. e. to assume colors by means of dyes. — 43. In pratis conveys the same idea as pascentes, v. 45; i. e. the live sheep in the field, opposed to the fleece in the hands of the dyer. — Jam... jam = modo... modo. Suave. See on III. 63.-44. Murice... mutabit—luto = will dye his fleece purple... yellow; or more lit. will change (the color of) his fleece for purple... yellow. Gr. 416. 2. A. & S. 252, R. 5. – 45. Sandyx scarlet. -46. Talia saecla O blessed ages! i. e. such as those just described. Currite= run on; i. e. without interruption. -47. Concordes - numine harmonious in respect to the immutable will of the fates. The ages are here spoken of as threads spun from the spindles of the Parcae, in strict accord with the immutable power which controls their operations. Parcae, three sister-goddesses, daughters of Nox: Clotho, who holds the distaff, Lachesis, who spins the thread of human life, and Atropos, who severs it with scissors. Here each is represented as having her spindle. See also on Ov. M. I. 256. 49. Deum; i. e. dei alicujus ; poetical for an indefinite singular. Cf. A. VI. 322. Incrementum progeny; i. e. the boy being regarded as one more added to Jupiter's race. Some interpret it as the foster-child, the favorite of Jupiter. Gr. 672. 3. A. & S. 310. 1. –50. Adspice mundum = see the universe with its convex mass (i. e. the round world) trembling (with

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joy). Gr. 428. A. & S. 211, R. 6. -51. Terras- profundum; the parts of which the mundus is made up. Terrasque. Gr. 669. V. A. & S. 283. IV. Ex. 2, R. 3; 323, 2 (2). Adspice... laetantur ut omnia = see! how do all things rejoice! This is an emphatic repetition of the substance of vv. 50, 51, and thus indicates the true meaning of nutantem. —53. The simple wish is, O mihi tam longa sit vita; but since, from the nature of the case, he would be quite aged when the child became a man, he says, pars ultima vitae, etc. - 54. Spiritus et (sc. mihi sit tantus) and may my poetic inspiration be so great. Tua dicere facta; a Grecism for ad dicenda tua facta. Dicere depends on sat. Gr. 552. 3. A. & S. 270, R. 1.55. Non... nec... nec. Gr. 585. 2. A. & S. 277, R. 5 (a). Orpheus. See on Ov. M. X. Introd. p. 415. Cf. III. 46. — 56. Linus; the son of Apollo and one of the Muses. Huic... huic the one... the other. Adsit assist, aid. — 57. Orphei; a dissyllable. Gr. 669. II. A. & S. 54. 5; 306. I. Calliopea, another form of Calliope. Gr. 612. 5. A. & S. 283, Ex. 6 (1). —58. Pan. See on Ov. M. XI. 147. The principal seat of his worship was Arcadia, whence it spread over other parts of Greece. As the god of pastoral life, he was fond of music, and the inventor of the syrinx or shepherd's flute, which he himself played in a masterly manner. Arcadia; a mountainous province in the midst of the Peloponnesus. Gr. 430; 705. II. A. & S. 257, R. 7; 324. 2. — – 60. Risu — matrem by thy smile to recognize thy mother; i. e. to show by thy smile that thou dost recognize her. Some refer it to the smile of the mother. This is at least very tame, and does not suit so well the meaning of v. 62. The wish is that the child may smile on his mother, in order that he may receive her smile in return; for not to receive a parent's smile was accounted a bad omen for a child. Neither does it suit so well the meaning of v. 61, which assigns the long period of pain and discomfort preceding his birth as the reason why he should recompense the mother by a smile of recognition. - 61. Decem... menses; the period of gestation as recognized by the Roman law. Tulerunt. Gr. 669. IV. A. & S. 307. 1 and (2). Fastidia 63. Admission to the table of the gods and the hand of a goddess in marriage were the peculiar privileges that followed the deification of a hero.

discomfort.

MENALCAS invites Mopsus, a somewhat younger shepherd, to play and sing. Mopsus complies, with a funeral song on Daphnis, the ideal shepherd. Menalcas matches it by a corresponding song on