ECLOGA III. .

PALÆMON.

MEN.

MENALCAS, DAM TAS, PALEMN. DIC mihi, Damæta, cujum pecus ? an Melibei?

INTERPRETATIO.

Men. O Damæta, die DA. Non, verùm Ægonis : nuper mihi tradidit Agot.

mihi, cujus est grex iste? ME. Infelix ô semper oves pecus ! ipse Neæram

an Melibai?-Dam. MiDum fovet, ac, ne me sibi præferat illa, veretur,

nime, sed est Ægonis : Hic alienus oves custos bis mulget in horâ :

5 Egon mihi nupes ilum

commisit.-Men. O oves, Et succus pecori, et lac subducitur agnis.

pecudes semper infausDA. Parciùs ista viris tamen objicienda memento.

tæ! dum Ægon ipse de

mulcet Neæram, ac timet Novimus et qui te, transversa tuentibus hircis,

ne illa me anteponat ipEt quo, sed faciles Nymphæ risêre, sacello.

si: mercenarius iste pas. ME. Tum, credo, cùm me arbustum vidêre Myconis, 10 tor Damætas exprimit

lac ovibus bis singulis Atque malâ vites incidere falce novellas.

horis : Et succus subripiDa. Aut hic ad veteres fagos, quum Daphnidis arcum tur gregi, et lac agnis.Fregisti et calamos : quæ tu, perverse Menalca,

Dam. Memineris tamen

ista cautiùs esse exproEt cùm vidisti puero donata, dolebas;

branda viris. Scimus et Et, si non aliquà nocuisses, mortuus esses.

15 qui te corruperint, hoeME. Quid domini facient, audent cùm talia fures?

dis obliquè spectantibus, Non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum

et quo in delubro, sed

bonæ Nymphae riserunt. Excipere insidiis, multùm latrante lycisca ?

-Men. Tunc, puto, riseEt cùm clamarem ;“ Quò nunc se proripit ille ?

runt, eum viderunt me Tityre, coge pecus :” tu post carecta latebas.

20 amputare improbâ falce

arbores, et novas vites DA. An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille,

Myconis.-Dam. Vel poQuem mea carminibus meruisset fistula, caprum ? tiùs hic prope fagos an.

tiquas, quando rapisti Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon

arcum et sagittas Daph. Ipse fatebatur, sed reddere posse negabat.

midis : quæ tu, maligne ME. Cantando tu illum ? aut unquam tibi fistula cerâ 25 Menalca, quando vidisti

data esse puero illi et Juncta fuit ? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas

invidebas, et periisses, niStridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen ?

si damnum aliquod ipsi intulisses.-Men. Quid faciet herus Ægon : siquidem servus furax audet talia mihi dicere ?

Nonne ego te vidi, nequissime, dolo furari caprum Damonis lyciscả multùm latrante ? Et cùm clamarem: "Quem in loeum fugit ille? Tityre, collige gregem:" tu delitescebas post carecta.-Dam. An ille, canendo superatus, mihi non reddidisset caprum, quem avena mea meruerat cantilenis! si ignoras, eaper ille erat meus, et ipse Damon id fatebatur, sed dicebat se non posse reddere.-Men. Tu illum vicisti canendo? an unquam habuisti avenam cerâ compactam? Nonne tu, imperite, solebas raucâ cicutá spargere in plateis miserabiles cartilenas?

NOTES. Damætas and Menalcas, after some smart 10. Tum, credo, &c. Menalcas here slily strokes of rustic raillery, resolve to try who accuses Damætas of what he charges himhas the most skill at a song; and according- self with. ly make their neighbour Palæmon judge of 16. Fures, i. e. slaves; because slaves their performance; who, after a full hear- were much addicted to pilfering : hence ing of both parties, declares himself unqua- Plautus, speaking to a slave, says: tu trium lified to decide so important a controversy, literarum homo, vituperas me? i. e. tu fui. and leaves the victory undetermined. 18. Lycisca. The mongrel breed of a

7. Viris. A particular emphasis rests on wolf and a bitch, from Aunos lupus, and xuar viris ; as much as to say, such indignities canis. may be borne by such varlets as you, but 20. Coge, i, e. examine that none of them not by men of honour,

be wanting

Tercam difficilem : et bis

Dam. Visne igitur iit pa. 'is ergo inter nos, quid possit uterque vicissim privatim vidcamus, quid Expriamur ? ego hanc vitulam (ne fortè recuses,

valent alteruo carmine? ego do Bis lenit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fætus)

80 pignori lane juvencam: Depmo : tu dic, mecum, quo pignore certes. ne fortassè rejicias eam

ME. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum. bis mulgetur, educat laete geminos vitulos : tu Est nihi namque domi pater, est injusta noverca: dic quo pignore conten. Bisqie die numerant ambo pecus, alter et hædos. das mecum.-- Men. De Verim, id quod multò tute ipse fatebere majus, 35

collocare quicquam in spon.

Insarire libet quoniam tibi, pocula ponam sione ti cum : habeo enim Fagim, cælatum divini opus Alcimedontis : domi patrem, habeo no

Lentaquibus torno facili superaddita vitis quotidie recensent uter

Diffusis hederâ vestit pallente corymbos. que gregem, alteruter In medio duo signa, Conon : et quis fuit alter, vero hudos. At, siqui- Descrpsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem ? dem tibi placet stultam tsse

, opponan id quod tu Tempera quæ messor, quæ curvus arator haberet? ipse fateberis esse longè Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. pretiosius, calices è fago pa. Etnobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, confecios, opus incisum á præstantissimo Aleime. Et moli circùm est ansas amplexus acantho :

45 donte; in quibus rimen Orpheiq; in medio posuit, sylvasque sequentes. kederæ superadjectum Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. ape torni facilis, implica: Si ad vitulam spectes, nihil est quòd pocula laudes. dæ corymbos suos disper-ME. Nunquam hodie effugies : veniam quocunque vocâris. sos. In medie, duæ sunt Audia: hæc tantùm vel qui venit : ecce,

Palæmon : 50 effigies, Conon: et quis fuit alter, qui virgå dis. Efficiam posthac ne quemquam voce lacessas. tinxit populis totum da. Quin age, si quid habes; in me mora non erit ulla : mundum, et tempora Nec quemquam fugio : tantùm, vicine Palæmon, quæ essent apta messori, quæ curvo aratori? Ne Sensibus hæc imis, res est non parva, reponas. que adhuc illos calices PAL. Dicite : quandoquidem in molli consedimus herbâ : artigi labiis, sed servo ab- Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos :

56 ditos.-Dam. Mihi quoque idem Alcimedon fa. Nunc frondent sylvæ, nunc formosissimus annus. bricavit duos calices, et Incipe, Damæta : tu deinde sequêre Menalca. circumambiit ansas

a. Alternis dicetis : amant alterna Camenæ. cantho tlexili, et locavit in medio Orpheum et arbores sequentes. Neque adhuc illos attigi labiis, sed servo abditos. Si tamen ad jul #encam respicies, non est cur æstimes calices.- Men. Nullatenus hodie evitabis certamen : descendam ad quascunque conditiones me adduxeris. Tantummodo, idem ille qui venit, ea audiat : En Palemon: Faciaio ne deinceps ullum provoces cantu.-Dam. Ergo age, si habes aliquid ; ego nullo modo morabor : neque recuso ullum judicem. Unum precor, a Palamon, mi vicine ; id penitus defige animo, res est bon levis. Pal. (8nite, siquidem sedimus in tenero gramine; et uunc omnis arbor, nunc omnis campus parit : nunc nemora virescunt, nunc annus pulcherriunus est. Incipe, 0 Dameta; lu deinde succedes, û Menalca : canetis vitissim, vicissitudo placet Musis.

:

:

NOTES. 31. Mecum quo pignore certes. Literally, 40. Quis fuit alter ? supposed to mean ciWith what stake you will contend with me. ther Aratus or Archimedes,

38. Lenta quibus, &c. These two verses 45. Acantho. Acanthus is properly the are somewhat intricate, and the commen- plant called bear's-foot, or bear's-breech. tators have made them much more so by 49. Nunquam hodiè effugies. Damætas their glosses. Ruæus takes vitis for vimen, seemed to construe .Menalcas's backward. but quotes no authority: and the whole of ness to stake a heifer as an attempt to evadi. his interpretation appears harder than the the combat, and still insisted on that conde original. Vitis we would take in the usual tion; upon which Menalcas turns short up. sense ; by torno facili, the easy carving-tool, on him, retorts the charge of fainthearted. understand the ingenious carver, who han- ness, and takes him on his own terms : nune dles the graving-tool with ease and address; quam hodie, &c. Think not that any of your and by diffusos edere pallente corymbos, the evasive arts will serve your turn; veniam berries diffused on the ivy-boughs : so that quocunque vocaris ; I will descend to any the plain meaning will be, that each cup terms you name; if you insist on my staking was engraven with vine and ivy-branches a heifer, be it so ; I agree to that, or any interwoven, in such sort, that the ivy-ber. other condition you name. ries were shaded by the mantling vinc. 54. Sensibus imis. Literally, Lay up these

matters in your deepest thoughts.

meos

DA. Ab Jove principium, Musæ; Jovis omnia plena : 60 Dam. A Jove ducamus Ille colit terras, illi mea carmina curæ.

initium, 0 Musæ : omnia

plena sunt Jove: ille fo. ME. Et me Phæbus amat : Phæbo sua semper apud me cundat terras, ille eurat Munera sunt, lauri, et suavè rubens hyacinthus.

versus.-Men.

Phæbus quoque me am da. Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella :

mat : sunt semper apud Et fugit ad silices, et se cupit antè videri.

65 me dona sacra Phæbo, MEN. At mihi sese offert ultro meus ignis Amyntas : lauri, et hyacinthus su

aviter purpurascens. Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris.

Dam. Galatea, jocosa Da. Parta meæ Veneri sunt munera : namq; notavi

puella, me ferit malo, er Ipse locum, aëriæ quo congessere palumbes.

fugit ad salices, et optat

se videri à me priusquam ME. Quod potui, puero sylvestri ex arbore lecta

70 fugiat. - Men. Amyntas Aurea mala decem misi : cras altera mittam.

verò, meus amor, se sponDA. O quoties, et quæ nobis Galatea locuta est !

te exbibet mihi : ita ut Partem aliquam, venti, divům referatis ad aures.

jam Delia ipsa non sit

familiarior canibus meis. M. Quid prodest, quòd me ipse animo non spernis, Amynta, - Dam. Dona jam paraSi, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo ?

75 ta sunt amicæ meæ : nams

observavi ipse locum, in DA. Phyllida mitte mihi, meus est natalis, Iola.

quo palumbes aëriæ ni. Cùm faciam vitulâ pro frugibus, ipse venito.

dificaverunt.-Men. Misi ME. Phyllida amo ante alias : nam me discedere faevit: Amyntæ decem mala fila

va electa ex arbore sylEt " longum, formose, vale, vale,” inquit, Iola.

vestri : quod unum potui DA. Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres, 80 facere : eras mittam totiArboribus venti: nobis Amaryllidis iræ.

dem alia.-Dam. O quoM. Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus hædis,

ties, et quæ verba mihi

dixit Galatea ! o venti, Lenta salix fæto pecori : mihi solus Amyntas.

ferte ad auras Deorum p. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam. aliquam corum partem. Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro.

85

-Men. Quid prodest mi

hi, O Amynta, quod tu M. Pollio et ipse facil nova carmina : pascite taurum, me non aspernaris aniJam cornu petat, et pedibus qui spargat arenam.

ego servo retia,

dum tu apros inseque. D. Qui te, Pollio, amat; veniat quò te quoq; gaudet :

ris ?-Dam. O lola, mitte ad me Phyllida, meus est dies natalis. Quando immolabo vitulam pro terræ fructibus, tu ipse veni.-Men. O lola, diligo Phyllida præ aliis, me enim abeunte ploravit, et diu, dixit : vale, vale, o formose.-Da. Lupus funesta res est gregibus, pluvia segetibus maturis, venti arboribus : nobis ira Amaryllidis.- Men. Humor grata res est teneris su geubus, arbutus hædis à lacte depulsis; salix flexilis gregi prægnanti : mihi solus Amyntas. -Dam. Pollio diligit mea carmina, licèt sint agrestia ; ô muse, nutrite juvencam Pollioni, qui vos legit.Men. Ipse etiam Pollio componit novos versus : nutrite illi taurum, qui jam cornibus feriat, et spargat arenam caleibus-Dam. Quisquis te diligit, û Pollio, perveniat ad ea, ad quæ lætatur te quoque pervenisse :

mo, si

NOTES. 63. Lauri-hyacinthus. The laurel and respond with formose, but is to be conhyacinth were sacred to Apollo : the one on strued at the beginning of the couplet, as in account of Daphne, Apollo's mistress, who the couplet preceding: was transformed into the laurel; and the 77. Faciam vitulâ, i. e. Faciam sacra ex other of Hyacinthus, his favourite boy, vitulâ. whom he accidentally killed with a coit, 78. Me discedere flevit, for discessum meum and from whose blood sprang the flower of Revit, a Grecism. his name. See Banier's Mythology.

80. Stabulis. Stalls are here put for herds 68. Veneri. The Greek and Roman poets or flocks of cattle. frequently use Venus for a mistress.

82. Depulsis, à lacte understood. It is ex74. Quid prodest, &c. Damætas mentions pressed in the seventh eclogue, the happiness he had enjoyed in his mis- Depulsos d lacte domi quæ

clauderet

agnos. tress's presence and converse ; and in her 82. Arbutus. The strawberry-tree, so calle absence solaces himself with the delightful ed from the resemblance of its fruit tom remembrance thereof: Menalcas here strives strawberry. to go beyond him in sentiments of love and 86. Nova, i. e. magna, miranda, such as tenderness, and shows that it is impossible are rare and unmatched. for him to have an enjoyment of himself 88. Veniat quò. May he arrive at the while Amyntas is absent, nay, unless he Consulship, and all those honours which you share with him every danger.

have attained, 76. lola. The vocative sola does not cor

C

memus

mammas mani

illi mel fluat, et vepres Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. rigidi producant amo

m. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina Mævi: 90 .mum.----Men. Quisquis

non odit Bavium, amnet Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos. tuos versus, Û Mævi! d. Qui legitis flores, et humi nascentia fraga,

subliget jugo vulpes, et exprimar "lac Frigidus, ô pueri! fugite hinc, latet anguis in herbâ. ex hircis.-Dam. O pue. m. Parcite oves nimiùm procedere : non benè ripæ ri, qui colligitis flores, et Creditur : ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat.

95 fraga nascentia huini,

DAM. Tityre, pascentes à flumine reice capellas : hinc fugite : serpens lethalis occultus est sub Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo. gramine.-Men. O oves, men. Cogite oves, pueri : si lac præceperit æstus, abstinete longiùs ire, non Ut nuper, frustrà pressabimus ubera palmis. aries siccat adhuc villos. D. Eheu, quàm pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo! 100 -- Dam. O Tityre, remo- Idem amor exitium pecori est, pecorisq; magistro. ve fluvio pascentes ca

M. His certè neq; amor causa est : vix ossibus hærent. pellas : ego purgabo eas omnes in fonte, cùm erit Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. opportunum.--Men. Op. Dic quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, pueri , colligite oves in Tres pateat cæli spatium non ampliùs ulnas.

105 ovile : si vis caloris corruperit lac, ut antè pau-me. Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum cos dies, incassum pre. Nascantur flores : et Phyllida solus habeto.

PAL. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. bus.-Dam. Heu! quàm macilentos habeo tauros

Et vitulâ tu dignus, et hic: et quisquis amores in fertili agro: idem Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.

110 amor perdit gregem, et Claudite jam rivos, pueri : sat prata biberunt. dominum gregis.-Men. Non certè amor id importat his ovibus meis : tamen vis stant ossibus. Nescio quis oculus corrumpit mihi jupiores agnos.-Dam. Dic quá in regione coeli spatium apertum sit uinis non plusquam tribus, et eris mihi magnus vates.- Men. Die qua in regione oriantur fores notati regum nominibus : et possidebis solus Phyllida.- Pal. Non meum est dirimere tantam contentionem inter vos: Tu mereris virulam, et hic quoque : ct quicunque aut diffidet amoribus prosperis, aut experietur tristes. Nune obstruite rivos, o juvenes : prata satis irrigata sunt.

NOTES. 89. Rubus is without doubt the black- 106. Inscripti nomina rerum, &c. The berry bush.

Power here meant is probably the hyacinth, 89. Amomum. What is commonly called of which Pliny says : Hyacinthum comitatur amomum Plinii, or berry-bearing night- fabula dupler, luctum præferens ejus quen shade: but Salmasius thinks that the an- Apollo dilexerat, aut ex Ajacis cruore editi, cients called every sweet odour amomum. ita discurrentibus venis, ut figura literarum When Damætas wishes that Pollio's friends Græcarum Ai legatur inscripta, Lib. XXI. may gather amomum (some spice or per- Chap. 11. This account, i doubt, is like fume) from brambles, he makes an allusion many others in Pliny, built on a slight foundto the golden age :

ation : but it is sufficient for Virgil if there Assyrium vulgò nascetur amomum. was such a tradition. Minelius observes Dryden renders amomum, myrrh.

that some suppose that this is to be under96. Reice. Here is first a syncope, rejice stood of the money coined in the time of being changed into reice, then a contraction Augustus, by Florus the triumvir, on which of the two short vowels into a long diph- a flower was impressed. thong. So eicit forejicit in Lucretius, 1.3.891. 110. Metuet dulces, &c. Literally, Shall

Næ radicitùs è vitá se tollet et eicit. either fear sweet amours, or experience the 98. Præceperit. Shall take it before us. bitter, i. e. shall sing the fears and jealousies

100. In arvo. Several manuscripts read in that mingle with sweet successful love, and ervo. The ervum is a leguminous plant from experience describe the pangs and bitter. called the vetch. Aristotle and Pliny re- ness of disappointment. The one was the present it as useful for fattening cattle. case of Menalcas, Dulce satis humor, &c.

104. Dic quibus, &c. Observing Menalcas the other that of Dainatas, Triste lupus sta. prepared to continue his responses, to put bulis, &c. In the language of poetry, peran end to the contest, Damætas offers what sons are said to do what they naturally dehe supposes an enigma too difficult for so- scribe. So Ecl. VI. 62. lution.

Trım Phaethontiadas musco circumdat ama105. Tres pateat, &c. may mean, In the bottom of a well. Some suppose the shield Corticis, &c. of Achilles is meant, on which the constel- 111. Claudite, &c. An allegorical expres. lations were depicted. Professor Martyn sion, denoting that it was time to give over conceives it may allude to the space or body their songs, now that they had given suffiof the heavens as seen on a celestial globe. cient proof of their talent. So in Catullus, Globes had been before this time (probably Claudite ostia, virgines, lusimus satis.

ECLOGA IV.

POLLIO.

SICELIDES Musæ, paulò majora canamus.

INTERPRETATIO. Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesq; myricæ.

O Musæ Siculæ, can

temus paulò grandiora. Si canimus sylvas, sylvæ sint consule dignæ.

Arbores, et parvæ myri. Ultima Cumæi venit jam carminis ætas :

cæ non placent omnibus. Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo.

5

Si cantamus sylvas, syl

væ deceant consulem. Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna :

Nunc attigimus extreJam nova progenies cælo demittitur alto.

mum sæculum vaticini Tu modò nascenti puero, quo ferrea primùm

Cumea Sibylla, Magna

series temporum oritur Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,

Nune Astre: Casta fave Lucina : tuus jam regnat Apollo.

10 revertitur, regnum Sa

turni revertitur: nune novum genus hominum mittitur è summo cælo. Tu tantùm, 6 pudica Diana, adsis nascenti puero : sub quo ferrea ætas primùm finietur, et aurea per totum orbem orietur : tuus frater Apollo jam imperat.

de novo.

:

NOTES. Among the various conjectures about the 3. Sylve. Woods, here put for pastoral, design of this pastoral, the most probable rural subjects. is, that Virgil therein celebrates the birth 3. Consule dignæ. Minelius is of opinion of the famous Marcellus, the nephew of that the poet alludes to a custom of the old Augustus by Octavia ; the same who died Romans, among whom it was provided, in the flower of his age, and whose memo. that the consuls themselves should have the ry the same poct has perpetuated by that

care of the mountains and woods, lest at celebrated funeral eulogium in the sixth any time timber might be found deficient Æneid. The time of his birth agrees to the for building vessels for the sea. year of Pollio's consulship, A. U. c. 714, 5. Magnus ordo. Thought to refer to the when the child here described is said to great Platonic year, which Cicero says, have come into the world. This event oc- tum efficitur, cum Solis, et Lunæ, et quinque curred in a happy conjuncture, just after errantium ad eandem inter se comparationem Augustus and Antony had ratified a league confectis omnium spatiis, est facta conversio. of peace, and Octavio, by marrying Anto- 2. de Nat. Deor. And Clavius, C. 1. Sphæ. ny, sealed that peace; which restored plen- ræ quo tempore quidam volunt omnia, quæty to Rome, and re-established the tranquil. cunque in mundo sunt, eodem ordine esse redility of the empire, as in the time of the tura, quo nunc cernuntur, golden age. Yet many, not without ground, 9. Gens aurea. Hesiod mentions five ages think this pastoral a prophecy of our blessed of the world. 1. The golden age, in the Saviour, there being several remarkable days of Saturn, when men lived like the passages in it applicable to him.

gods, without labour, trouble, or decay. 2d. 1. Sicelides Musæ. Sicilian or pastoral The silver age, in which men were less hap. muses ; because Theocritus, the original py, being injurious to each other, and in. pastoral poet, was a native of Sicily, devout. 3d. The copper or brazen age, in 2. Non omnes ; for, as Horace observes, which men made themselves armour, and

Multos castra juvant, et lituo tube were given to war. 4th. The age demiPermistus sonitus, bellaque matribus gods and heroes, who warred at Thebes detestata.

and Troy. 5th. The iron age, in which He. 2. Myrice. The tamarisk generally grows siod lived, and which was to end when the low and shrubby. It is common on the banks men of his time grew old and gray. Hence of the rivers in Italy, and was first introdu. Virgil means to teach that the golden age, ced into England in the reign of Elizabeth. by a natural revolution, was returning.