tum inchoabitur, et mag quiæ supersunt, tunc de næ, et videbit heroas so Porrò sub tuo consulatu, Teque adeò decus hoc ævi, te consule, inibit, patris virtute. Terra in stabulum mammas Ipse capre reportabunt Jam legere, et quæ sit poteris cognoscere virtus: lacte tumentes, nec gre Molli paullatim flavescet campus aristâ, ges timebunt magnos le- Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, ones: ipse cunæ profe- Et dure quercus sudabunt roscida mella: rent tibi jucundos flores: angues quoque morientur, et morientur plantæ venenatæ, quæ colligentem decipiunt: amomum Syriacum orietur ubique. Sed statim atque poteris jam legere laudes heroum, et gesta tui patris, ac percipere quid sit virtus; tunc agri sensim flavescent spicis maturis, et racemi rubentes pendebunt è rubis agrestibus, et duræ quercus stillabunt mel instar roris. NOTES. 11. Inibit is not an unclassical expression; and it is more emphatic than any of those which the commentators have substituted for it: it implies, he shall enter on the happiness of his life, and glories of his reign. 12. Magni menses. About Virgil's time, Quintilis and Sextilis, or July and August, (from Julius Cæsar and Augustus,) were added to the calendar. The high compliment the words convey is easily discovered. 17. Pacatum orbem. After the battle of Actium the temple of Janus was shut, and peace prevailed by land and sea. 18. Nullo munuscula cultu. So Ovid Met. 1. 108. sine semine. 19. Hederas. He promises him ivy as a future poet, Ecl. VII. 25. Pastores, hederá crescentem ornate poëtam. 19. Baccare. The herb baccar, or ladies glove, thought to have virtue against fasci nation. 20. Colocasia fundet acantho. The colocasia is without doubt an Egyptian plant. Dioscorides affirms that it is the root of the Egyptian bean. Ruæus says the root and stem are used for food, and the leaves for chaplets. When this eclogue was written, the colocasia was a rarity newly brought from Egypt, its native soil. The poet speaks of its spread through Italy as one of the glories of the approaching age of gold. The acanthus here meant is the Acacia, an Egyptian tree, from which we obtain the gumarabic. 22. Leones. It is impossible, says Mr. Wharton, to forbear observing the great similitude of this passage and the famous ones of Isaiah, chap. 11. and also chap. 35. which see. He adds, "How much inferior is Virgil's poetry to Isaiah's. The former has nothing comparable to these beautiful strokes, that a little child shall lead the lion, and that the trees of the forest shall come to pay adoration. Virgil says only occidet et serpens; Isaiah adds a circumstance inimitably picturesque: that the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned child, a little older and beginning to make use of his hands, shall put his fingers on the adder's den. There are certain critics who would never cease to admire these circumstances and strokes of nature, if they had not the ill-fortune to be placed in the Bible." See Pope's Pollio. 26. At simul, i. e. As soon as you shall ar rive at youth. 26. Facta parentis. This is referred to Augustus, the adoptive father of Marcellus. 28. Melli arista. Mr. Wharton says the ancients used to sow bearded or prickly wheat, which deterred the birds from picking the ears. But in this golden period no such vallum aristarum, as Cicero calls it, no such fortification or palisade will be needed. 29. Sentibus. Sentes imports not any particular plant, but is a general word for all shrubs of a wild and spinous character. It corresponds with the English word shorn. Pauca tamen suberunt priscæ vestigia fraudis, 13 omnis Tamen latebunt nonnullæ reliquiæ malitiæ veteris, quæ cogant adire navibus mare, et claudere urbes mœnibus, et sulcare terram. Tunc erit alter Tiphys, et altera Argo, 35 quæ portet electos duces: erunt quoque bella alia, et ingens Achilles rursus ibit adversus Trojam. Deinde, postquam ætas jam robusta te reddiderit virum, ipse eti40 am nauta recedet è mari, nee naves è pinu fabricata transferent merces : terra producet omnia: nee ager scindetur rastris, nee vitis falee. Tum quoque fortis agricola auferet jugum 45 bobus; nec assuescet lana simulare diversos colores: sed aries ipse in pascuis tinget vellus purpurâ suaviter rubenti, et croco luteo: Sandyx ultro induet agnos inter pascendum. Parcæ, firmo fatorum ordine unanimes dixerunt suis fusis: 6 talia tempora, currite. Accede & ad magnos magistratus, mox veniet tempus accedendi: dilecta proles deorum, mag 50 6 Non me carminibus vincet, nec Thracius Orpheus, 55 ne Jovis alumne! Vide mun- dum rotundâ mole vacillanut cuncta exultent ob adventum ætatis aureæ. tem, terramque, et spatia anima, quantum sufficiet ut tua gesta celebrem. Utinam restet mibi pars extrema tam prolixæ vitæ, et maris, et altum cœlum. Vide, licèt huic Orpheo mater faveat Calliopea; et huic Lino pater pulcher Apollo. Non me cantu superabit, aut Orpheus Thracius, aut Linus 2 NOTES. 31. Pauca vestigia. Men will still cherish avarice and ambition. 32. Thetim. Here taken for the sea. She was the daughter of Nereus, or, as others say, Neptune, 35. Delectos heroas. The Argonauts, so called because they sailed in the ship Argo. These heroes accompanied Jason in his expedition to Colchis to fetch the golden fleece. Tiphys was the pilot in this expedition. 37. Firmata virum, &c. Literally, When confirmed age shall now have made thee a man, i. e. When thou art now arrived at the years of full maturity. 38. Nautica pinus. Ships used to be built of the pine tree. 44. Murice. The murex was a shell-fish set about with spikes, from which the Ty. rian purple was obtained. 44. Luto. Lutum is an herb with which they dyed yellow. 45. Sandyx. A fine red colour, answering to our red orpiment. Pliny describes it as a cheap material for painting. 46. Talia secla, currite. Some make the construction to be, currite talia sæcla, or per talia sæcla; i. e. interrupt not the course of such happy ages. mind with which he was to rise to honour, Some explain it thus: Look with compassion be the glory of thy actions, that though de- trio; ipse Pan fatebitur Si Pan ipse contendat Pan etiam Arcadiâ mecum si judice certet, ve puer, agnoscere matrem ex ipsius risu: de 60 matri diuturna tædia. Incipe, parve puer: cui parentes non arrisere, hunc nec Deus ad mensam, nec Dea in lectum, excipere dignata est. INTERPRETATIO. CUR non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, una sumus: periti uter- Hic corylis mixtas inter consedimus ulmos? que, tu fistula canere, ego canere versus; cur MOP. Tu major: tibi me est æquum parere, Menalca: mus inter ulmos mixtas corylis-Mop. Tu natu major, justum est ut tibi Sylvestris raris sparsit labrusca racemis. obediam, ◊ Menalca: seu 5 subimus umbracula fluctuantia ventis agitantibus, seu potiùs cavernam. Vide quomodo vitis agrestis præ. texit cavernam uvis raris. NOTES. Two shepherds, Menalcas and Mopsus, celebrate the funeral eulogium of Daphnis. Virgil himself is Menalcas, as appears from verse 85, &c.; Mopsus, some other poet of reputation in Rome, but young, and who had probably been Virgil's disciple. Daphnis some suppose to have been a brother of his, who died in the prime of his age; others Quintilius Varus, of whom Horace says, "ulli flebilior quam tibi, Virgili: but here the chronology does not agree; for Quintilius Varus died A. U. C. 730, and Virgil wrote this eclogue fifteen years before: others therefore, with more probability, refer it to the death and deification of Julius Cæsar. Mopsus laments his death; Menalcas celebrates his apotheosis or deification. 7. Labrusca. This was the wild vine of the ancients. MEN. Montibus in nostris solus tibi certet Amyntas. Men. Amyntas unus te eum potest contendere in montibus nostris. MEN. Incipe, Mopse, prior, si quos aut Phyllidis ignes, 10 Mop. Quid mirum, cùm MOP. Sed tu desine plura, puer: successimus antro. 15 ipse contendat vincere Phoebum cantu?-Men. Mopse, ineipe primus, si habes, aut aliquos amores Phyllidis, aut laudes Alconis, aut rixas Codri. Incipe: Tityrus custodiet hædos pascentes.――― Mop. Meditabor potiùs illa carmina, quæ nuper scripsi in cortice fagi, et per vices canens insculp20 si: tu posteà fac ut con . tendat Amyntas.-Men. Quantò salix flexilis inferior est olivâ, quantò parva saliunea rubentibus rosis, tantò tibi inferior est Amyntas, meâ Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina : nulla neq; amnem 25 quidem sententia.-Mop Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. At tu, puer, omitte plara loqui, ingressi sumus in antrum. Nymphæ Jugebant Daphnim defunctum ferâ morte: vos, coryli et fluvii, testes fuistis Nympharum luctus. Dum mater amplexa miserandum cadaver filii sui, et Deos et sidera fera appellaret. O Daphni, nullus boves deduxit è pastu ad fluvios frigidos, per illos dies; nulla quadrupes nec degustavit aquam, nec attigit herbam graminis. O Daphni, et montes inculti, et sylvæ, dicunt leones ipsos Africæ doluisse mortem tuam. Daphnis etiam induxit morem subligandi tigres NOTES. 8. Tibi certet, a Grecism, for tecum certet. 10. Phyllidis ignes. Phyllis, queen of Thrace, fell in love with Demophoon, the son of Theseus, and married him. Some time after, Demophoon having gone to Athens, and being detained there beyond the time when he had promised to return, Phyllis, tortured with the pangs of a jealous lover, grew impatient under his absence, and at last hanged herself in despair. 11. Alconis. A famous Cretan archer, who aimed an arrow so dexterously at a serpent wreathed about his son as to kill the animal without touching the boy. Servius says he could shoot through a ring placed on a man's head; split a hair with the point of his dart; and stick an arrow without a head on the point of a sword or spear. 11. Jurgia Codri. Codrus was king of the Athenians, and signalized himself by dying for his people. For in a war between them and the Lacedemonians, hearing that an oracle had promised the victory to that people whose king should die, and the enemy being strictly enjoined not to kill the Athenian king; he disguised himself in the habit of a peasant, went in among the enemy, picked a quarrel with some of them, and was slain in the scuffle. The enemy no sooner found out who he was than they threw down their swords. 16. Lenta salix, &c. The most remarkable property of the willow is its flexibility, hence called lenta: the epithet pallenti is no less proper for the olive; for its leaves are of a yellowish green. 17. Humilis saliunca. Perhaps the French spikenard. 20. Daphnim. Daphnis signifies a laurel; and is well applied to Cæsar, who demanded no higher honour from the senate than permission constantly to wear a laurel crown. 23. Mater. Ruxus is of opinion, that Rome is here meant; the poet calling that city the mother of Julius Cæsar. Professor Martyn believes Venus intended, and adduces in confirmation of the sentiment an almost parallel passage from the 15th book of the Metamorphoses. 24. Non ulli. To this Ruæus refers these words of Suetonius, in Jul. Cæs. 81. Proximis diebus equorum greges, quos in trajiciendo flumine Rubicone consecrarat, ac vagos et sine custode dimiserat, comperit pertinacissimè pabulo abstinere, ubertimque flere. 25. Nulla neque. La Cerda observes, that this is a Grecism; because in Greek two negatives make the negation stronger; but in Latin they make an affirmative. So in Propertius, in the 19th elegy of book II. Nulla neque ante tuas orietur rixa fenestras. 26. Quadrupes. This word is used in several other places in Virgil, and in almost every one of them plainly signifies a horse. The only place where quadrupes is used for any other animal is in the 7th Eneid, where it signifies a stag. Saucius at quadrupes nota inter tecta refugit. 29. Armenias tigres. Yoked tigers drew the chariot of Bacchus. Cæsar vanquished Pharnaces, the king of Pontus. Pontus was contiguous to Armenia. 29. Curru, for currui. The genitive and dative of the 4th declension used to be uis and ui. When uis became contracted as, ui Armenias ad currum, et Instituit: Daphnis thiasos inducere Baccho, celebrandi choreas in ho Et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas. norem Bacchi, et indu rum, ut racemi vitium, endi flexiles hastas tene- Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvæ, mentum omne tuorum; pe miserum lolium, et nant in suleis, quibus Et tumulum fascite, et tumulo superaddite carmen. commisimus magna hor- Daphnis ego in sylvis hinc usque ad sidera notus : liurus armatus spinis a- Formosi pecoris custos, formosior ipse. dea. Carduus, aut pa cutis nascitur pro dulci MEN. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poëta, pureo. Spargite frondes umbraculis, ô pastores! Nec calamis solùm æquiparas, sed voce magistrum. Daphnis jubet hæve sibi Fortunate puer, tu nunc eris alter ab illo : præstari: et statuite se lebris in sylvis hine us pulchrum, et adjicite se- Nos tamen hæc quocunq; modo tibi nostra vicissim pulchro epitaphium: E- Dicemus, Daphninq; tuum tolemus ad astra: go Daphnis hie jaceo, ce- Daphnin ad astra feremus; amavit nos quoq; Daphnis. que ad cœlum, magister MOP. An quicquam nobis tali sit munere majus ? pulchri pecoris, ipse pul- Et puer ipse fuit cantari dignus, et ista Jampridem Stimicon laudavit carmina nobis. chrior.-Men. Tales mi hi sunt versus tui, ô di vine poëta, qualis res est fatigatis somnus in herbis, et qualis res est æstuontibus sedare sitim scaturiente rivo dulcis aquæ. Nec tantùm æquas magistrum fistulâ, sed etiam voce. Felix juvenis, tu modò eris primus post eum. Nos tamen vicissim tibi qualicumque modo canemus hæc nostra, et Daphnim tuum tollemus in eœlum: Daphnim tollemus in cœlum: Daphnis nos etiam dilexit.-Mop. An ulla res mihi sit pretiosior, quàm hoc munus? et puer ipse meruit celebrari, et jamdudum Stimicon laudavit mihi tuos istos versus. NOTES. was diminished to u. So En. 1. 261. parce metu for metui. See also 6, 465. and 9, 605. 35. The contrast in the appearance of nature, on the birth of the child in the preceding eclogue, and the death of Cæsar in the present, is exquisitely beautiful. 37. Lolium, or cockle-weed. Virgil calls it infelix, or hapless; because, says Wharton, its nature is malignant. The modern Italians suppose it the cause of melancholy madness. It is common with them to say of any such person, he has eaten bread with lolium in it. A mangiato pane con loglio. 38. Purpureo narcisso. There are many different kinds of the narcissus or daffodil; Dioscorides particularly mentions one that is rogpugoudns, of a purple hue. 39. Paliuris acutis. Professor Martyn says we can hardly doubt that the paliuris of the ancients is the Rhamnus folio subrotundo fructu compresso, which is cultivated in our gardens under the name of Christ's thorn; and is supposed to be the thorn of which the crown was made, that was put upon our Saviour's head. This shrub grows abundantly in Italy. 40. Spargite humum foliis. It was a custom among the ancients to scatter leaves and flowers on the ground, in honour of eminent persons. 52. Amavit nos quoque Daphnis. Virgil was obscure and little known in the time of Julius Cæsar; but Ruæus thinks that it may be explained of the Mantuans in general, who, with the other people of Cisalpine Gaul, were cherished and protected by Ca sar. 54. Et puer ipse. Hence Servius infers, that the Daphnis here celebrated cannot be Julius Cæsar, since puer ill agrees to a man of fifty-six years. Ruxus contends that he may be called puer, as being now a god, whose privilege is to preserve immortal youth. But these refined criticisms are very superfluous; Virgil, in the style of pastoral poetry, represents Daphnis, whoever he was, as a swain; and puer is the word constantly used by him in that sense, Ecl. III. ult. VI. 14, &c. |