6 Vela traham et terris festinem advertere proram, 117.] Trahere,' of furling the sails, like contrahere.' For the confusion of tenses, traham canerem,' Forb. comp. Tibull. 1. 8. 22, "et faceret, si non aera repulsa sonent." The force of the present seems to be to bring out more vividly the clause containing the condition, by representing the conditioned action as having anticipated that on which it depends, and so being prevented when it has already begun. 118.] 'Colendi' is almost pleonastic. Virgil probably intended to combine the phrases quae cura hortos ornaret,' and quae esset cura hortorum colendorum,' or 'hortis colendis.' 119.] The rosaries of Paestum are a commonplace among the Latin poets. Ov. M. 15. 708, Prop. 5. 5. 61. Tenore, quoted by Keightley, says that as he has never met with any twice-blowing roses in the country round Paestum, it is probably of cultivated roses that Virgil speaks. Rosaria' may depend either on 'ornaret' or on ' canerem.' 120.] Intiba' here is not succory, σépiç aypía, as in 1. 120, but endive, opus Kηπευτη, as being a garden plant. 6 121.] Apio,' E. 6. 68. The endive rejoices in the water it drinks, the banks of the stream rejoice in the parsley. Wund. comp. 2. 112, “litora myrtetis laetissima." Tortus per herbam,' winding along the grass. From this and from 'cresceret in ventrem' Tenore (in Keightley) supposes that Virgil refers not to the common cucumber, but to the cocomero serpentino,' which is twice its length, has a crooked neck and swollen belly, and tastes like the melon. 6 122.] With cresceret in ventrem' Forb. comp. Ov. M. 2. 479,"crescere in ungues,' of Callisto's hands in her transformation into a bear; ib. 5. 547, "inque caput crescit," of Ascalaphus when changed into an owl. Sera comantem:' in a favourable 120 125 ... climate the narcissus flowers about the 124.] Pallentisque hederas,' E. 3. 39 note. Amantis litora myrtos,' 2. 112, 113. 125.] Oebaliae,' a name of Laconia, usually derived from a mythical king Oebalus, is given here, as in Claud. Prob. et Ol. Cons. 260, to Tarentum, which was founded by a Laconian colony. Heyne, supposing that it could not be so used, changed 'altis' into 'arcis' from a quotation of the line by Arusianus Messius. 6 126.] Niger: "Though the course of the Galaesus is short, it is of some depth, and its waters are clear: hence he calls it 'dark,' in opposition probably to the 'flavus Tibris, and other rivers of Italy which were usually turbid" (Keightley). A contrast is of course intended between niger' and 'flaventia.' Some of the old editions read piger,' from a correction of Scopa. Propertius apparently refers to this passage, 3. 26. 67, where he describes Virgil himself as producing his Eclogues "umbrosi subter pineta Galaesi," an epithet which may partially account for 'niger' here, though Forb. thinks otherwise. 127.] Corycium' from Corycus in Cilicia, which was famous for saffron (Hor. 2 S. 4. 68), as Cilicia was for the art of gardening ('Cilicum pomaria,' Mart. 8. 14. 1). This old man may have been a freedman, or one of the Cilician pirates whom Pompey transplanted into Calabria (Suet. ap. Serv.). Relicti,' not inherited (Burm.), which would not agree with the old man's being from Cilicia, but land unappropriated, not marked out in the assignments, either from its undesirableness, as here, or for some other reason. Forb. refers to Frontin. de Limit. p. 42, Goes., and Iugera ruris erant, nec fertilis illa iuvencis, ... 128.] Contrast 2. 221 foll., which Virgil may have had in mind, and for the general characteristics of the country about Tarentum, ib. 197. Fertilis iuvencis' is perhaps to be explained like Hor. 2 Od. 15. 8, "olivetis Fertilibus domino priori,' yielding produce to or under; but 'iuvencis' may be virtually equivalent to 'arando' (as Heyne takes it, though apparently regarding it as an ablative, explaining it 'iuvencorum labore, aratione'), 'fruitful for purposes of ploughing.' 129.]Commoda,' if not 'opportuna,' may be transferred from human qualities: see on 2. 223,"facilem pecori et patientem vomeris unci." 'Seges' is equally applicable to land sown and land intended for sowing. Here it will mean the latter, being applied properly to iuvencis' and 'Baccho' as corn-land and vineyard, improperly to 'pecori,' as pasture-land. For the aptitude of the neighbourhood of Tarentum in general for pasturage and vines see Hor. 2 Od. 6. 10. 18. 130.] Hic' seems to be the pronoun rather than the adverb. Rarum: panctile' (pango), Serv.; 'planted in rows or drills, Keightley. In dumis' is probably an exaggerated expression, showing the tendency of the soil against which he had to struggle. Olus' is the garden-plants that were used for food, 'garden-stuff' in the language of our peasantry (Keightley). 'Circum,' round the beds of garden-stuff (Heyne). 131.] Verbenas,' E. 8. 65, perhaps used here specially of vervain, as in Pliny 25. 9. It would then be planted for the sake of the bees (Heyne), and also for medicinal purposes (Martyn). 'Premens,' 2. 346 note. Vescum' see on 3. 175. The reference here is probably to the smallness of the poppy's seeds. 132.] Animis,' the reading of the great 6 130 135 majority of MSS., including the best, should, I think, be retained, as against 'animo,' the sense being, not, as Wagn. supposes, 'he matched in his own imagination the wealth of kings' he thought himself as rich as a king, but he matched the wealth of kings by his spirit' (for aequare' with abl. see A. 3 671, and probably A. 2. 362), i. e. he was as proud of his riches as a king, or his spirit was as high as if he had a king's wealth (Hor. 2 Od. 10. 20, "rebus angustis animosus atque Fortis appare"). Ladewig keeps animis,' but connects it, very unnaturally, with 'regum,'' he thought his wealth as great as the pride of kings,' i. e. as that which kings are proud of. 133.] Dapibus inemptis' is imitated by or from Hor. Epod. 2. 48, "dapes inemptas apparet." "Onerabat' is to be noted, as expressing the abundance of the produce. 134.] The infin. is not historical, as Heyne and Forb. take it, but depends on primus,' as in Sil. 1. 160 (quoted by Forcell.), "Primus inire manu, postremus ponere Martem." 135.] Etiamnum' is restored by Wagn. from Med. and the Gudian MS. for 'etiam nunc.' Various accounts are given of the distinction between them: Wagn. thinks 'etiam nunc' refers to present, etiam num' to past time: Forb., following Kritz. on Sall. Cat. 2. 1, says that in ' etiam num the stress is laid on 'etiam,' 'num' being enclitic, while in 'etiam nunc' both words have their proper force; an explanation which, though advanced against Wagn.'s, seems virtually coincident with it; while Hand, Tursell. 2. 580 foll., considers them to be used indiscriminately. 136.] Rumperet:' Voss. comp. Afran. (fr. Epistula) v. 106, "silices cum findit gelus." Virgil is thinking rather of the effect of the cold in other places than at Tarentum, where the winter was unusually mild (Hor. 2 Od. 6. 17), as Keightley observes. 'Glacie... aquarum :' Germ. comp. Lucr. 6. 530, "Et vis magna geli, mag Ille comam mollis iam tondebat hyacinthi, 140 num duramen aquarum, Et mora, quae flu- which appears in one MS., meant the old vios passim refrenat euntis." 137.] The old reading was 'iam tum tondebat acanthi,' which would hardly suit the sense, the 'acanthus' being semper frondens' (2. 119), whereas the point here is that the old man got his plant to flower before the season. This was pointed out by Heyne, who restored iam tondebat hyacinthi' from Med. and some others, a reading previously maintained by Achilles Tatius. The commentators explain 'comam' of the flower and 'tondebat' of gathering ("nunc violas tondere manu Prop. 4. 13. 29). 138.] 'Taunting the spring for its laziness,' as a master might a dilatory servant, whose work he had been obliged to do himself. 139.] Fetis' may be either pregnant or just delivered (see on E. 1. 50). Either way the sense is the same, the old man having a swarm of young bees before his neighbours, and either way Virgil is inconsistent with what he says afterwards of the generation of bees. Examine multo' is explained by fetis.' 140.]Pressis' may refer to the straining of the honey (v. 101 note), as well as to collecting it by squeezing the combs (v. 231 note). 141.] The lime-tree is known to be a favourite with bees: Col. (9. 4) recommends it among other trees, as also the pine. For 'tiliae' Med. gives tilia,' which hardly seems worth adopting on its single authority. 'Uberrima' might refer either to the luxuriance of the individual trees, or to the numbers in which they grew; but the use of the sing. seems to point rather to the latter. Philarg. says that Virgil left a choice of two readings, pinus' and 'tinus,' the latter being a kind of wild bay-tree. 142, 143.] It seems more idiomatic to take ' in flore novo' of the tree than of its fruit. 'Matura' accordingly will belong to 'arbos,' not to poma.' 'Tenebat' means 'retained,' kept possession of,' not a single blossom being lost, but all turning to fruit in due time. The author of the reading 'legebat,' man to be the subject of the verb, understanding matura as an acc. The tree is said 'induere se pomis,' the fruit being regarded as there potentially, that the reader may understand that the promise was fully given and fully redeemed. At the same time in flore novo " serves to explain in what sense 'poma' is used, while it also is virtually equivalent to 'vere novo,' and So answers to autumno as well as to 'matura.' See 144.] 'Differo' as applied to trees, plants, &c. means to plant out, implying a removal from a confined space, such as a nursery garden, to a more open one where there is room for growing. Thus it is virtually synonymous with 'transfero,' though in strictness it has a different sense. Col. 11. 3, where the word frequently recurs, and comp. the use of 'digero' G. 2. 54, 267. Hence it appears that Serv. and Philarg. are right with Martyn and others against Wagn. and Forb. in understanding Virgil to be speaking of transplantation here, a sense which accords admirably with the epithets attached to the several trees, 'seras,' 'eduṛam,' 'iam pruna ferentis,' iam ministrantem,' &c. The peculiarity was that he could remove trees and plant them out when they had arrived at maturity, from which we may infer that in such cases they had been transplanted once already. Wagn.'s objection that we want to know not what the old man did but what he had is frivolous, as the former implies the latter and something more, and his doings have been already spoken of vv. 133, 137, while the counter interpretation, which takes 'distulit.' 'dilatas habuit,' and supposes the meaning to be that the gardener had trees in his garden arrived at maturity which he had planted in his youth, by no means comes up to the studied force of the poet's expressions. In versum = 'in ordinem,' like 'versu' A. 5. 119, quoted by Serv. 'Versus' is said to be properly a furrow, 'a vertendo aratro,' whence it comes to be used of a written line. In two Eduramque pirum et spinos iam pruna ferentis of its senses at any rate it answers to 145.] Edurus,' a strengthening of 'durus,' as 'egelidus,' A. 8. 610, of 'gelidus.' 'Spinos:' whether the spinus' is the thorn, or, as Martyn takes it, the plum-tree, and if the former, whether the 'pruna' are sloes, or plums engrafted on it, seem to be doubtful points. 146.] So Ov. (M. 10. 95) calls the planetree' genialis.' 147.] Excludi tempore (temporibus)' is quoted by Forcell. from Cic. 2 Verr. 3. 56, Caes. B. G. 7. 11, in the sense of being prevented by time (or, as we should say, by shortness of time) from doing this or that. In the same way Virgil here complains of being cut off by the narrowness of his limits from dilating or expatiating. 'Spatio iniquo' occurs A. 5. 203 of sailing, so that we need not suppose the metaphor of the chariot race to be resumed, unless the plural be thought to make a difference. Iniquus' here of injustice by defect, as in 1. 164 of injustice by excess. 6 148.] The reading here is not quite certain, some MSS. giving 'post me memoranda,' others 'post haec memoranda,' others post commemoranda,' which was adopted by the older editors; others again, among them Med., 'post memoranda.' It seems probable that the first is right, as 'me' might easily slip out before 'memoranda,' and those who had the imperfect text before them, such as that of Med., would supply the missing word 'ex ingenio.' The reference in Col. 10 praef. proves nothing, except that he read memoranda,' not commemoranda.' Serv. says that in aliis' Virgil pointed to Gargilius Martialis, who however is quoted by no earlier writer than Palladius, so that, as Martyn remarks, he can hardly have been intended unless Virgil were prophet as well as poet. The task was undertaken by Columella, who accordingly wrote the tenth book of his De Re Rustica in verse, at the instance, as he tells us, of his friend Silvinus; but though his prose often runs into poetical phraseology, his poetry is apt to be prosaic. A later writer, the Jesuit Rapin, made a similar attempt at greater length, and so 145 150 far as can be judged from a quotation in Martyn's note, with greater success, though Heyne, after mentioning Columella with apparent respect, says, "Nam Rapini hac de re insipidum opus in hunc censum non venit." (Mr. Hallam, Literature of Europe, vol. 3, pp. 481, 482, judges very favourably of Rapin's work.) Pliny (14, prooem.) intimates that the real reason why Virgil did not write on flowers was the humbleness of the subject; but this seems a mere arbitrary guess. It is at least as likely that he thought a rural poem could not be extended beyond four books without weariness to himself and his readers, that he recoiled from the difficulty of minute botanical description. A model he might apparently have found in Nicander: see Introductory Essay. 149-169.] The nature and habits of bees are unique-a privilege which they owe to their ancient services to Jupiter. With them, and with them alone, the community is every thing. Hence their division of labour, some seeking food abroad, some at home making combs, some training the young, some storing honey, some keeping watch, some taking in burdens, some expelling drones—all working to one end.' 149.] Nunc age:' a Lucretian formula of transition (e. g. 1. 265, 921). Natura :' of the natural constitution, as in Cic. ad Q. F. 2. 16, "quos situs, quas naturas rerum et locorum," so that it is virtually equivalent to 'indoles,' 'mores,' or 'ingenium.' The plural is probably used because the word is meant to be taken distributively, as in the passage just cited, though from Cic. N. D. 2. 57, "quod his naturis relatus amplificatur sonus," it would seem that it might express natural qualities, as predicated of any one bee. 'Ipse :' see on 1. 121. 150.] Addidit' need mean no more than 'indidit;' it seems however from the context to be used in our sense of 'add,' as if the bees had not had their nature originally, but received it afterwards as wages. So "virus serpentibus addidit" (1. 129). Naturas' is the object of 'expediam,' 'quas' being simply relative, not quasiinterrogative, which accounts for the indica Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera secutae, Solae communis natos, consortia tecta Urbis habent, magnisque agitant sub legibus aevum, tive 'addidit.' On 'pro qua mercede,' for which in more simple writing we should have had 'mercedem, propter quod paverant,' or something of the kind, Keightley well remarks, "he makes the bees, like men, with whom all through he assimilates them, to labour with a view to the reward, instead of the reward being a thing of which they had no previous conception, and which was given in consequence of their labours." 151.] The story is told by Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus, v. 50, and is referred to by Col. 9. 2, who, in discussing the origin of bees, says "An, ut Euemerus poeta dicit, crabronibus et sole genitas apes, quas nymphae Phryxonides educaverunt, mox Dictaeo specu Jovis exstitisse nutrices, easque pabula munere dei sortitas, quibus ipsae parvum educaverant alumnum." As in the next sentence he talks of Virgil's allusion to the story, it seems possible that the words 'pabula munere dei sortitas' may be founded on a misunderstanding of the present passage; but the loss of Euemerus' work will not allow us to speak with certainty. For the 'Curetum sonitus' see Lucr. 2. 629 foll., who gives a different, but not inconsistent account of the sound, as intended to drown the cries of the infant Jupiter. So Hygin. Fab. 132. For the effect on the bees, see v. 64 above. The office of feeding Jupiter was by others attributed to doves, which carried him ambrosia, and were as a reward turned into stars, the Pleiades. See Od. 12. 63, and the commentators there. 153.] The reference is to a community of children, like that desired by Plato in his Republic, to which Serv. appositely refers. This is accounted for by the fact that the ordinary bees are not parents, as will be seen below. Wagn. restores the form 'natos' for 'gnatos' from Med. a m. sec, and Vat. 'Consortia tecta urbis' seems to mean dwellings united into a city, the latter being the emphatic word. Technically consors' means a co-heir (Festus s. vv. 'disertiones,'' sors'), though Mr. Long 155 thinks they were so called when they did not divide the hereditas' but kept it in common. Keightley observes that Virgil in his anxiety to exalt the bees must have forgotten the ants, which the ancients, though erroneously, thought no less examples of social prudence. See on 1. 186. 154.] Magnis,' ornamental, like Tv μɛyáλwv Oroμwv Soph. Ant. 797, " magnum fas nefasque" Hor. Epod. 5. 87. 'They live under the majesty of law.' 'Agitare aevum," A. 10. 235. See on 2. 527 above. 66 155.] Patriam' and 'penatis' are coupled 2. 514, according to the reading I have there adopted. "Certi penates,' A. 8. 39, like "certa domus" A. 6. 672. Thus 'novere' is more than a mere synonym of 'habuere,' apparently including both the recognition of the principle of patriotism and domestic life, and familiarity with the things themselves. 156.]Hiemis memores,' A. 4. 403. 157.] In medium :' apparently with 'quaesita,' as 1. 127 would seem to show, though it might also be constructed with 'reponunt.' 158.] So Aristot. H. A. 9. 40, dýpηvrai δὲ τὰ ἔργα . . . καὶ αἱ μὲν κηρία ἐργάζονται, ai de тò μédi, ai d'épilákŋy kai ai μèv πλάττουσι κηρία, αἱ δὲ ὕδωρ φέρουσιν εἰς τοὺς κυττάρους καὶ μιγνύουσι τῷ μέλιτι, αἱ δ ̓ ἐπ ̓ ἔργον ἔρχονται. The division of labour is of course a clear proof of a common purpose, consciously or unconsciously realized. So 'foedere pacto.' "Venatu invigilant," A. 9. 602. 159.]Exercentur agris,' like " exercentur equis," A. 7. 163, except that the ablative here seems to be local. Saepta domorum,' like "tuta domorum," A. 11. 882. So perhaps "tecta domorum," A. 8. 98., 12. 132. See Madv. § 284, obs. 5, who rightly observes that the neuter in such expressions is sometimes used partitively, sometimes denotes the quality, if indeed it is not better to say generally that the shades of meaning are nearly as various as |