it is probably nothing more than a usual poetic license. — 173. Ante. See on v. 167. Jugo; a piece of wood, straight in the middle and curved towards both ends, which was attached to the end of the pole of the plough or cart, and went over the necks of the oxen. Fagus stivaque; by hendiadys for stiva fagina. Gr. 704. II. 2. A. & S. 323. 2 (3). 174. Stiva the plough-handle. The stiva was originally mortised into the buris, but it sometimes formed one piece with it. It had a cross piece named manicula, by which the ploughman held and directed the plough. Cursus...imos the lowest courses; referring, perhaps, to the turning of the plough at the end of the furrow. Most editors read currus (= carriage). Gr. 500. A. & S. 264. 5.-175. Explorat searches (i. e. dries) and tests. The above diagrams, illustrating Virgil's plough, are taken from the work of Schulz, De Aratri Romani Forma et Compositione. = = 176. Possum... ni refugis. Gr. 508. A. & S. 261. R. 1. Tibi. Maecenas is addressed throughout as the ideal reader. 177. Refugis; i. e. from hearing, as in A. II. 12 from speaking. Observe the mood and tense: I can repeat . . . but I see you start off.-178. Cum primis as a matter of the first importance, especially. 179. Vertenda manu. The earth had to be turned up and worked, or kneaded, with the hand. This operation really preceded the aequanda cylindro, as the preparation of the floor was the first thing. Gr. 704. IV. 2. A. & S. 323. 4 (2). Creta argilla, as in II. 215. The clay was for the purpose of making it harden and bake. -180. Pulvere; for siccitate, effect for cause.-181 Tum et tum; i. e. if the threshing-floor cracks. Illudant = = may mock; i. e. the threshing-floor and the husbandman's labor. See II. 375, where the goats are said to mock, to disport themselves with the young vine. Gr. 485. A. & S. 260. II. Pestes; as injuring the floor and annoying the husbandman. -182. Posuit . . . fecit; aoristic perfects. See on v. 49. 183. Oculis capti = blind; lit. taken in the eyes. Gr. 429. A. & S. 250. 1. The expression seems to come from the use of capi, for to be injured. The mole has eyes, though they are very small, and much covered over. Talpae. Gr. 44. Ex. A. & S. 42. 2. - 184. Inventus; which is found in holes, and which therefore is likely to creep into holes. Bufo is said to occur nowhere else in the classics. Plurima. Gr. 453. 5. A. & S. 206 (7) (a) and (b). —185. Monstra= unsightly creatures; sometimes, as here, without reference to their size. Farris. Cf. on v. - 73. - 186. Senectae. Gr. 385. 3. A. & S. 223. Ants live but for a short time (supposed to be for one year only), so that senectac is a poetical expression for hiemi, which is the old age of their brief existence. It is well known that the ancients were in error about the habits of the ant, which has no storehouses, and remains torpid dur area. ing the greater part of the winter. -187. Contemplator. Gr. 537. II. A. & S. 267 (3). Nux: the walnut-tree. Some understand it of the almond-tree. Plurima abundantly. — 188. Curvabit; said by anticipation; for if the poet uses fetus of the blossoms, or embryo fruit, he may likewise speak of these bending the branches. -189. Si fetus; i. e. if a great number of the blossoms set, as the gardeners term it. -190 There will be a very hot summer and a great threshing; i. e. an abundant harvest.—191. Foliorum is emphatic, opposed to fetus; umbra, general. —192. Nequidquam. Connect with teret. Palea. Gr. 419. III. A. & S. 250. 2. Teret The tritura was performed sometimes by the trampling of oxen, sometimes by the tribulum or trahea (see on v. 164), sometimes by fustes, flails or sticks. 193–203. Steeping seed-beans is a plan often pursued, to make the produce larger and easier to be cooked. But the best seeds will degenerate, unless you pick every year. It is the tendency of everything in nature, and only man's most strenuous efforts can counteract it. 194. Nitro; not our nitre, but a mineral alkali, carbonate of soda, and therefore used in washing. Amurca = lees of olive oil. 195. Siliquis. Gr. 387. A. & S. 226. Fallacibus; referring to the general character of the pods of beans, which in this particular case are to be less deceptive than usual. 196. Quamvis - maderent that they might be quickly cooked by a fire however small. lit. being hastened. Quaeque. Gr. 458. 1. ... to be borne backward. Properata = propere; i. e. homines.-199. 200. Ruere 198. Vis humana; verbs beginning with re. = referri. Gr. 545. I. A. & S. 209, R. 5 and N. 7. Translate, "are accustomed," etc. Retro - referri = slipping away Retro is often used pleonastically with Cf. A. II. 169. — 201. Flumine. Gr. 431. A. & S. 257.-202. Subigit. Cf. A. VI. 302. — 203. Atque, according to Gellius and Servius, is statim, but it is better to connect it with remisit, and give it its usual signification. Virgil does not expressly introduce an apodosis in such comparisons, but makes his whole sentence depend on the quam or si which follows the non aliter or haud secus following the simile. Cf. A. IV. 669. Illum is doubtless the lembus, which is distinguished from the rower. Wr. accounts for atque by supplying retro sublapsus refertur before it, and making the whole into an apodosis, but he quotes no similar instance. Alveus = the current. Amni. Gr. 87. III. 3. A. & S. 82. Ex. 5 (a). — 204–207. The husbandman must observe the rising and setting of the constellations as attentively as the sailor. — 204. Arcturi. See on Ov. M. II. 176, and cf. v. 68. Nobis. Gr. 388. I. A. & S. 225. III. — 205. Haedorum the Kids, or Goat. See on Ov. M. III. 594. An guis. See on Ov. M. II. 138. — 206. Quam quibus =as (by those) by whom. Vectis euntibus. The Latin having no present pass. part., the perf. part. is sometimes used in a present sense. 207. Pontus; sc. Euxinus. Fauces... Abydi; i. e. Hellespontus. Abydos was a town on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont, opposite the European Sestos. Oysters are still found there. - 208. Libra; i. e. the Balance, between Scorpio and Virgo. See on v. 33. Die. Gr. 119. 4. A. & S. 90. 2. Pares. The sun was in Libra at the time of the autumnal equinox, when the days and nights were of equal duration, and when the Roman hours were, of course, equal too. Fecerit. Gr. 473. A. & S. 145. VI. - 209. Et orbem and already divides the globe equally for light and darkness; i. e. gives both the northern and southern hemispheres an equal amount of day and night. -210. Tauros boves. — 211. Usque imbrem even to the first rain of the impracticable (i. e. when no work can be done) winter solstice. Extremum may be used of either end; here the beginning. - 212. Segetem; used proleptically for the seed. Cereale; because sacred to Ceres, who was represented with poppies in her hands. She was said to have calmed her grief for the loss of her daughter Proserpina by eating its seeds. 213. Humo. Gr. 47. 2. 2); 414. A. & S. 49. I; 247. Tegere. Gr. 563. 6. A. & S. 275. III. N. 1. Jamdudum : at once, without delay. Cf. A. II. 103. Incumbere; like curvus arator, E. III. 42. 214. Tellure. Gr. 430. A. & S. 257, R. 7 (a). Pendent; i. e. they do not yet come down in rain. - 215. Medica (sc. herba) = lucerne ; introduced into Greece from Media at the time of the invasion of Darius. Putres; because they have lain fallow through the winter. - 216. Annua cura; to distinguish it from lucerne, which required to be sown only once in ten years. — 217, 218. A periphrasis for vere. - 217. Candidus. The allusion, according to Keightley, is to the milk-white bulls with gilded horns which appeared in the triumphal processions at Rome. Aperit is illustrated by the etymology of Aprilis. Cornibus. Gr. 428. A. & S. 211, R. 6. Whether auratis cornibus is meant to be taken descriptively with taurus, or instrumentally with aperit, is not clear. The former seems more reasonable, as there would be no natural propriety in the image of a bull using his horns to open a gate. The horns are called auratis, because there are bright stars at their tips. - 218. Canis; i. e. Sirius, a star of the first magnitude in Canis Major. This star sets heliacally, i. e. is lost in the effulgence of the sun, a few days after he has entered Taurus. It is therefore said to give way (cedens) to this sign. Adverso astro; sc. Tauro. Gr. 384. A. & S. 223. The bull is represented as driving the dog be fore him; the dog, however, keeping his face to the bull. 219. Robusta 224. = 221. Ante. ing. Atlantides: ... = hardy. 220. Solis; as opposed to the produce just mentioned, vv. 215, 216. Aristis = bearded grain. Cr. 326. A. & S quam. Gr. 523. 2). Loae = in the mornthe daughters of Atlas; i. e. the Pleiades. Sce on v. 138. Gr. 316. A. & S. 100. I and (). These set in the morning, according to different authorities, from Oct. 20 to Nov. 11. · 222. Gnosia Cretan; from Gnosus, a city of Crete, of which island Minos, father of Ariadne, was king. Stella Coronae; i. e. the constellation Corona Borealis, said to have been Ariadne's crown, placed among the stars by Bacchus, after he married her. Stella sidus, as in Hor. C. III. 29. 19. 223. Com mittas... properes. Gr. 523. II. A. & S. 263. 3. — 224. Invitae; because conscious that she is not yet ready to receive the seed. – 225. Maiae; one of the Pleiades, here standing for the group, as Taygete in Ov. M. III. 595. — 227. Vilem; on account of its abundance. - 228. Pelusiacae = Egyptian; from Pelusium, a town at the mouth of the eastern branch of the Nile. Egypt was famed for lentils. — 229. Mittet dabit. Bootes. See on Ov. M. II. 176. — 231. Idcirco; i. e. that the seasons should be clearly marked for the husbandman. Certis... partibus; referring to the twelve divisions of the zodiac. Gr. 414 and 3. A. & S. 247 and 2. Orbem (sc. annuum) (his yearly) circle. Cf. Annuus orbis, A. V. 46.232. Duodena= duodecim. The poets often use distributive for cardinal numerals. Cf. A. I. 393. Regit. Cf. cursus regebam, A. VI. 350, and Nulla viam fortuna regit, XII. 405. Mundi astra = the constellations of the celestial sphere.-233. Coelum; because the zones of heaven answer to the zones of earth, and determine their character. - 234. Ab igni; instead of the ordinary abl. of cause. -—235. Extremae; i. e. the frigid zones. Dextra. Gr. 441. 3. A. & S. 205, R. 7 (1). — 236. Glacie. The mention of ice seems more appropriate to the earthly than the heavenly zones; but Virgil was doubtless thinking of the sky as the parent of ice. — 237. Duae; i. e. the temperate zones, which alone the ancients supposed to be habitable. —238. Via; i. e. the ecliptic. Per inter; as the sun never enters the temperate zones. So v. 245, per duas Arctos. ~ 239. Obliquus; with se verteret. Gr. 443. A. & S. 205, R. 15 (a). Obliquus ordo is the zodiac, the constellations of which it consists being arranged along the ecliptic which cuts the equator obliquely at an angle of about twenty-three and a half degrees. Cf. Ov. M. II. 130 foll. Se... verteret = might revolve. Gr. 500. A. & S. 264. 5. 240 Mundus. See on v. 232. Scythiam; used for the North generally, as often in the poets. Rhipaeas. The Rhipean mountains were supposed to separate the land of the Hyperboreans from the rest of the world. Here these countries are made to stand -- = for the northernmost point, not only of earth, but of the mundane system, as Libya for the southernmost. Arduus; referring to the elevation of the north pole, as premitur, etc., does to the depression of the south pole. Cf. Ov. Trist. IV. 10. 108. - 242. Hic vertex; i. e. the north pole. Illum; i. e. the south pole. — 243. The infernal regions were supposed to be in the centre of the earth; so here they are said to be over the south pole. Sub pedibus is to be connected with videt, the feet being those of Styx and the Manes; but videt of course does not mean that the south pole is actually visible from the shades. -244. Hic; i. e. at the north pole. Flexu. Gr. 414 and 3. A. & S. 247 and 2. Anguis. See on v. 205. Elabitur shoots out: not the same as labitur. — 246. Metuentestingui; i. e. they never set. See on Ov. M. II. 172. 247. = Illic; i. e. at the south pole. Ut perhibent; for the southern hemisphere was wholly unknown to the ancients. Aut... aut; i.e. either the southern regions are in total darkness, or they have day when we have night.—248. Obtenta . . . nocte by the overspreading pall of night. -249. Redire, reducere, recurrere, referre, and other words of the sort, are constantly used of the recurring order of nature. 250. Primus. Gr. 443. A. & S. 205, R. 15 (a). Oriens; sc. Sol. Cf. A. V. 739. The horses of the sun come panting up the hill, casting their breath, which represents the morning air, on the objects before them. — 251. Rubens may merely mean bright, or the color of sunset may be naturally transferred to the star. Lumina; Vesper's own rays, not the light of sunset, as Voss thinks, taking Vesper generally of evening, nor the other stars, as others interpret it.—252. Hinc seems to refer to the whole of the preceding passage from v. 231, which has been devoted to an exposition of certain parts of the mundane system. Virgil now enforces the conclusion: "It is on the strength of this that we know beforehand," etc. Tempestates the changes of the weather. Dubio... coelo though the (appearance of the) sky may be doubtful. Gr. 430. A. & S. 257, R. 7 (a). —254. Infidum is significant, as showing the importance of knowing when to venture on the sea. - 255. Conveniat. Gr. 525. A. & S. 265. Armatas = rigged. Deducere = to launch. Cf. A. III. 71; IV. 398. The ancients drew their vessels up on the shore during the winter. See on Hor. C. I. 4. 2. - 256. Tempestivam; with evertere. Gr. 443. A. & S. 205, R. 15 (a). — 257. Vv. 257, 258 belong to what precedes, coming in fact under hinc, which is the introduction to the whole paragraph. 258. Temporibus. Gr. 429. A. & S. 250. 1. Parem is intended to contrast with diversis. The seasons are diverse, yet they make the year uniform. = 259. Weather which is bad for ordinary out-door purposes is good |