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Praeceps aerii specula de montis in undas
Deferar; extremum hoc munus morientis habeto.
Desine Maenalios, iam desine, tibia, versus.

Haec Damon; vos, quae responderit Alphesiboeus,
Dicite, Pierides; non omnia possumus omnes.
A. Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria vitta,
Verbenasque adole pinguis et mascula tura:

I at least will find my death in the deep, and she may delight in it.'

58.] Medium,' the mid or deep sea. "Graditurque per aequor Iam medium," A. 3. 665. The wish, as Elmsley pointed out, appears to be a mistranslation of Theocr. 1. 134, navτà d'évadλa yévoivтo, as if the word were váλia. Virgil may have intended to lead up to this thought by the mention of Tityrus in the sea, v. 56, 'in short, let earth take the place of sea.' So the farewell to the woods, 'silvae' contrasted with the sea, as in v. 56, and the shepherd's resolution to drown himself, are introduced as if in anticipation of this general change. The notion certainly cannot be called appropriate, though we are in some measure prepared for it by such passages as 1. 60, and that quoted from Hdt. in the note there. The farewell is from Theocr. 1. 115, where it is given in much greater detail. "Concedite silvae," 10. 63.

59.] Again from Theocr. 3. 25, ràv Baiταν ἀποδὺς ἐς κύματα τηνῶ ἀλεῦμαι Ωπερ τὼς θύννως σκοπιάσδεται Ολπις ὁ γριπεύς, where σκοπιάσδεται suggested specula' here, though the word, like the Homeric σкоπin, evidently means no more than a mountain-top which may be used as a watch-tower. "Specula ab alta," A. 10. 454. The author of the Ciris has a similar line, v. 301.

60.] It is doubtful whether 'munus'.is to be understood of the song, with Heyne, or of his death, with the majority of editors. The latter is recommended by Theocr. 23. 20, δῶρα τοι ἤνθον Λοίσθια ταῦτα φέρων, Tòv iμòv Booxov: still there is something awkward in death's being called the last gift of a dying man, and it would be more satisfactory if there were anything connected with his death, like the halter in Theocritus, which he could be supposed to offer her. Virgil however probably meant to convey the sense of Theocr. 3. 27 (see last note), κἤ κα δὴ ἀποθάνω, τό γε μὴν τεὸν ἡδὺ

τέτυκται.

61.] Theocr. 1. 127, λnyete Bwкolika, Μῶσαι, ἴτε, λήγετ' ἀοιδᾶς, a line which occurs not only at the end of Thyrsis' song,

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but several times during the latter part of it.

62, 63] Alphesiboeus replies. Virgil, having rehearsed Damon's song in his own person, asks the Muses to repeat that of Alphesiboeus, alleging that one man is not equal to both. There is nothing here to indicate a preference of the latter, or to countenance Voss's notion referred to in the Introduction. Alphesiboeus' song is in a totally different style from Damon's: and whether the Muses are invoked as goddesses of memory, or song, or both (see note on 7. 19), it is not extraordinary that the narrator should request for the second song an assistance which he did not require for the first. In fact the words non omnia possumus omnes,' 'every one has not power for everything,' a hemistich from Lucilius, Sat. 5. 21 (Gerlach), seemingly proverbial (comp. 7. 23, G. 2. 109 note), sufficiently explain themselves. That the song is meant to correspond to Damon's, like Menalcas in Ecl. 5 to Mopsus', is clear from the whole language of the Eclogue, as well as from the similarity of detail (see note on v. 76): but an amoebean exercise does not involve a contest here any more than there.

64-68.] 'A. Bring lustral water : wreath the altar with wool: throw sacred boughs and frankincense into the fire: I am trying to bring back my lover by enchantment: now for a magic song.'

64.] The maiden is standing before the altar, and about to commence. 'Effer aquam, addressed to her attendant, Amaryllis (vv. 76, 77, 101), who is bidden to bring the lustral water out into the 'impluvium,' where these solemnities seem to be going on. 'Molli' probably, as Serv. thinks, because the fillet was of wool. "Terque focum circa laneus orbis eat,' Prop. 5. 6. 6. The passage is imitated more or less closely from Theocr. 2. 1 foll.

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65.] "Verbenae sunt omnes herbae frondesque festae ad aras coronandas, vel omnes herbae frondesque ex aliquo loco puro decerptae: verbenae autem dictae quasi herbenae," Donatus on Ter. Andr.

Coniugis ut magicis sanos avertere sacris

Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt.

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam;

Carminibus Circe socios mutavit Ulixi;

Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis.

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore

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4. 3. 11. For its use in the sense of 'vervain' see G. 4. 131. Pinguis,' 'unctuous,' and so fit for burning. 'Mascula' was the name given to the best kind of frankincense, also called 'stagonias,' being shaped like a round drop. Pliny 12. 14. Comp. Hor. 1 Od. 19. 13, " Verbenas, pueri, ponite turaque." 'Adolere' occurs also A. 1. 704., 3. 547., 7. 51, each time in connection with sacrifice, an association as old as Ennius and Valerius Antias, though it would not be easy to determine from Virgil's use of the word whether it means originally to cause it to grow (adolesco), thence to honour, like the Greek avžavev, especially by sacrifice, and finally to burn, as Voigtländer in Forcell. thinks, following in the track of Serv., or in the first instance to smell or make to smell, thence to burn, especially in sacrifice, and finally to honour by burning, like the Greek kviσav, which is the view taken in Dr. Smith's Lat. Dict. The question itself is the more difficult to decide, as we cannot tell how far the Latin writers themselves understood the original meaning of the word: Virgil at least seems more than once to have availed himself of the similarity in form between 'oleo' and 'olesco,' so as to communicate to a compound of one of them a shade of meaning borrowed from the other. See notes on G. 3. 560., 4. 379.

66.] Coniugis' occupies the same place as in v. 18, near the opening of Damon's song, so as to suggest the intended parallel between the two. Here the lovers would seem to have been already united, if we may argue from the Idyl in Theocr. "Avertere, a sanitate mutare," Serv. rightly, 'sanos avertere sensus' being probably a translation of the Homeric ẞλáπтεv pрivas toas, Od. 14. 178, quoted by Voss, where ẞλá

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68.] Imitated from the burden in Theocr. 2. 17, &c., ἴυγξ, ἕλκε τὸ τῆνον ἐμὸν ποτὶ δῶμα τὸν ἄνδρα. 'Ab urbe' seems to imply that the speaker is a country woman whose lover is away at Mantua, 1. 35.

69-72.] 'Great is the power of magic song: it can bring down the moon, change men into brutes, burst serpents asunder.'

69.] Observe the correspondence of the opening of Alphesiboeus' song with that of Damon's. The first stanza in each gives the subject of the song: the second speaks of the associations connected with the kind of song chosen. With the present passage comp. Tibull. 1. 8. 19 foll., which resembles it closely, A. 4. 487-491. The power of sorceresses to draw down the moon is frequently referred to by the ancients. Aristoph. Clouds 749. Hor. Epod. 5. 45., 17. 77.

'Ulixi' was

70.] See Od. 10. 203 foll. restored by Heins. from the Med. MS. in place of Ulyssei' or 'Ulyssi,' which is however supported by the Pal. 'Ulissei.'

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71.] This effect of incantation is spoken of by Lucil. Sat. 20. 5 (Gerlach), "Iam disrumpetur medius, iam ut Marsu' colubras Disrumpit cantu, venas cum extenderit omnes," and by Ov. M. 7. 203. Id. Am. 2. 1. 25. 'Frigidus anguis,' 3. 93. 'Cantando' is used substantively or impersonally, like 'habendo,' G. 2. 250, 'tegendo,' G. 3. 454, &c.

73-79.] I twist three threads of different colours round Daphnis' image, which I carry thrice round the altar, for the virtue of the number. Let them be knit into a love-knot.'

73.] 'Terna,' probably is put for 'tres,' though Serv. supposes that there are nine threads of those different colours, and so the author of the Ciris, v. 370, foll., where this passage is imitated. 'Primum,' as her first effort at incantation. 'Tibi' is explained by 'effigiem,' v. 75. For the magic force of the number three, comp. Theocr. 2. 43, A. 4. 511, Ov. M. 7. 189 foll. The three colours, according to Serv., are white, rosered, and black.

Licia circumdo, terque haec altaria circum
Effigiem duco; numero deus inpare gaudet.
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores;
Necte, Amarylli, modo, et, Veneris, dic, vincula necto.
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
Limus ut hic durescit et haec ut cera liquescit
Uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore.
Sparge molam, et fragilis incende bitumine laurus.
Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum.
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.

74.] For haec altaria' one MS., the Longobardic, gives hanc,' which Wagn. would restore even if it had no MS. authority. But Jahn and Forb. seem right in remarking that 'tibi' is the key-note of the sentence. I bind these threads thrice round thee (thy image), and I carry thee in effigy thrice round this altar.' In this view 'hanc' would rather disturb the sense, as if the 'effigies' were not merely Daphnis' representative, but something distinct.

75.] For the use of images in love-charms, comp. A. 4. 508, Hor. I S. 7. Numero deus inpare gaudet:' the superstition, according to Serv., was that odd numbers were immortal, because they cannot be divided into two equal parts, the even being mortal. With the expression comp. 3. 59, "amant alterna Camenae." The hemistich occurs in the Ciris, v. 373.

76.] Jahn seems certainly right in regarding this verse as interpolated, though it is apparently found in all the MSS. It not only offends against the division of the song into three strophes of equal length, but makes it longer by one line than Damon's song, to which it is evidently meant to be equal, as the song of Menalcas is to that of Mopsus, at the same time that it introduces a pause where the sense requires none, and leaves only two lines for the next stanza, a smaller number than is found anywhere in this or the former song.

77.] 'Twine three colours in three knots:' i. e. make three knots, each of a thread with a different colour.

78.] 'Modo' adds emphasis to the command thus repeated. Just twine them.' ‘I modo,' Plaut. Trin. 2. 4. 182. Veneris vincula:' for other allusions to these knots, Voss refers to Synesius, Ep. 121, and Appuleius, Met. 3. 137. The expression is from Theocr. 2. 20, πάσσ ̓ ἅμα καὶ λέγε ταῦτα· τὰ Δέλφιδος ὀστέα πάσσω. This line

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greatly perplexed the early critics, who were anxious to read 'nodos' for 'modo,' and had recourse to various devices to account for the metre.

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80-84.] I put clay, wax, and bay-leaves into the fire, each to work a corresponding effect on Daphnis.'

80.] The commentators explain 'limus' and cera' of images of clay and wax; but Keightley rightly denies that anything more is meant than pieces of clay and wax, which are put into the fire like the sprigs of bay, the mola' and the bitumen. This is evident from the words in Theocr. 2. 28, 'Os τοῦτον τὸν καρὸν ἐγὼ σὺν δαίμονι τάκω, Ὣς τάκοιθ ̓ ὑπ ̓ ἔρωτος ὁ Μύνδιος αὐτίκα Aέλpıç. The rhyme is meant to imitate the jingle usual in charms, as Voss remarks, comparing Cato, R. R. 160, where some seemingly unmeaning specimens of the sort are given.

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81.] Eodem,' dissyllable. "Una eademque via," A. 10. 487. Sic :' so may my love act in two ways, softening Daphnis to me and hardening him to others. Voss.

82.] Sparge molam: ἄλφιτά τοι πρᾶ TOV TVρi TάKETαι áλλ' ¿ñíπαooε, Theocr. 2. 18. For the mola' in sacrifices, comp. A. 2. 133., 4. 517. 'Fragilis,' crackling. "Et fragilis sonitus chartarum commeditatur," Lucr. 6. 112. Bay-leaves were thrown on the altar, and their crackling was thought auspicious. "Et succensa sacris crepitet bene laurea flammis, Omine quo felix et sacer annus eat. Laurus, io, bona signa dedit: gaudete, coloni," Tibull. 2. 5.81 foll. Comp. also Theocr. 2. 24.

83.] Δέλφις ἔμ' ἀνίασεν, ἐγὼ δ ̓ ἐπὶ Δέλpidi dápvav Aiew, Theocr. 2. 23. 'Exì Aλ pidi explains in Daphnide,' ' in the case of Daphnis,' nearly equivalent to' in Daph.. nim,' like "talis in hoste fuit Priamo," A. 2. 541. Possibly there may be a play intended between 'Daphnis' and dapvn.

Talis amor Daphnim, qualis cum fessa iuvencum
Per nemora atque altos quaerendo bucula lucos
Propter aquae rivum viridi procumbit in ulva,
Perdita, nec serae meminit decedere nocti,
Talis amor teneat, nec sit mihi cura mederi.

85

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. 90
Has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit,

Pignora cara sui; quae nunc ego limine in ipso,
Terra, tibi mando; debent haec pignora Daphnim.
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
Has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena
Ipse dedit Moeris ; nascuntur plurima Ponto.
His ego saepe lupum fieri et se condere silvis

85-90.] 'May Daphnis' longing be like the heifer's, who, tired with seeking her mate in vain, throws herself on the grass, and will not return to her stall at night.'

85.] Virg. can hardly have any other meaning than that the heifer is seeking her mate, like Pasiphae 6. 52 foll.; but the picture is not unlike the celebrated one in Lucr. 2. 352 foll. (compared by Cerda) of a cow looking for her lost calf, desiderio perfixa iuvenci.'

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88.] This whole line is said by Macrob. Sat. 6. 2, to be taken from Varius' poem De Morte Caesaris, where a dog chasing a stag is thus described, "Non amnes illam medii, non ardua tardant, Perdita nec serae meminit decedere nocti." If this be so, Virg. must be held to have proved his right to the line by the use he has made of it. Both the thought itself, the turn of the expression, and the rhythm of the verse, are better suited to the love-stricken heifer than to the eager hound. The word 'perdita' in particular suggests the abandonment of love more naturally than recklessness in pursuit, while it is undoubtedly much more effective when hanging, as it were, between two clauses, a position with which Forb. aptly comp. A. 4. 562, than when necessarily attached to the latter. With decedere nocti,' which occurs again G. 3. 467, comp. 'decedere calori,' G. 4. 23. The expression is not unlike Gray's "leaves the world to darkness and to me." With perdita' Keightley comp. 2. 59.

89.] With 'talis amor Daphnim-talis amor teneat,' comp. vv. 1, 5.

95

91-94.] 'These things which he has left I will bury at the door, in the hope that they will bring him back.'

91.] From Theocr. 2. 53, where the border of the lover's robe which he has left behind is thrown into the fire. So Dido proposes to burn the relics (called 'exuviae') of Aeneas, A. 4. 495 foll. Perfidus ille,' A. 4. 421.

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92.] Pignora' seems to imply that they were left purposely, not by accident. mine in ipso' must be her own threshold, to which she wishes to attract him, the threshold being, as Heyne remarks, a commonplace in Latin poetry in connection with lovers' visits, so that there is no allusion to the practice mentioned by Theocr. 2. 60, of performing incantations at the door of the person whose presence was desired.

93.] Debent' is explained by 'pignora.' They are his pledges, and so bind him to redeem them.

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95-100.] These poison-plants I had from the great Moeris, who by their help could transform himself, conjure up spirits, and charm away crops.'

95.] Herbas' and 'venena,' apparently a hendiadys. 'Pontus' had a reputation of its own for poisons from its connection with Mithridates, and produced a particular poison-plant, the aconite: but it may possibly be put for Colchis, the country of Medea, by the same wilful or careless confusion which we find in Cic. Pro Lege Man. 9, Juv. 14. 114, cited by Forb.

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96.] Moeris' is mentioned no where else; but as his name is given to a shepherd in the next Eclogue, he was doubtless meant to be a noted country wizard. 'Plurima' closely connected with 'nascuntur.'

97.] The change of men into wolves,

Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulchris
Atque satas alio vidi traducere messis.

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. 100
Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras, rivoque fluenti

Transque caput iace; nec respexeris. His ego Daphnim
Adgrediar; nihil ille deos, nil carmina curat.

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
Aspice, corripuit tremulis altaria flammis

Xvxavoρwnia, was a common superstition, extending down to the middle ages. See the story of Lycaon, Ov. M. 1. 209 foll., seemingly one of the earliest traditions on the subject. Et se condere silvis' goes closely with lupum fieri,' 'his' belonging to the former only in its connection with the latter. In Ovid 1. c. Lycaon nactus silentia ruris exululat.' So in 6. 80, Tereus or Philomela, immediately on being transformed, flies to the desert.

98.] "Nocturnosque ciet manes," of the sorceress, A. 4. 490.

99.] "Cantus vicinis fruges traducit ab agris," Tibull. 1. 8. 19. The practice was actually forbidden in the Laws of the Twelve Tables, under the name of 'fruges excantare.' Pliny 28. 2. Our own unfortunate witches, as Keightley reminds us, were (and are still) accused of charming away butter out of the churn.

101-104] Take the ashes and throw them over your head into the running stream; perhaps that may have an effect.'

101.] The imitation here is of another passage in Theocr. 24. 91 foll., where Tiresias bids Alcmena burn the serpents which Hercules had strangled in his cradle at midnight, and make one of her maids fing away their ashes in the morning. Here the burning of the sacrificial boughs and frankincense with the wax and clay, the salt cake and sprigs of laurel, answers, as Voss suggests, to the burning of the serpents; and the ceremony of flinging away the ashes is evidently meant to be similar, though there is perhaps some little difference in the detail, as in Theocr. the servant is to carry the ashes across the stream, then to fling them away, and return without looking back, while in Virgil she is apparently to fling them away down the stream, not looking back when doing so. Comp. also Aesch. Cho. 98, 99, orεixw, кalápμal' ὥς τις ἐκπέμψας, πάλιν, Δικοῦσα τεῦχος, ἀστρόφοισιν ὄμμασιν, where Blomfield remarks on Virgil's misunderstanding of Theocr. It is not easy, however, to see

105

what is the supposed object of the process here, as it can hardly be connected with expiation as in Theocr. and Aesch. Voss thinks she intends nothing short of the destruction of Daphnis, which is symbolized by the ashes thrown into the river, and carried into the sea, just as in Theocr. Id. 2 the enchantress finally threatens to poison Delphis; but v. 104 shows that she is still hoping to bring him back. Whatever it is, she seems to look upon it as a last resource, vv. 102, 103. 'Rivo fluenti iace,' like undis spargere,' A. 4. 600.

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102] Nec respexeris' is the reading of the Med. and one or two other good MSS., and is preferred by the later editors to the old reading 'ne respexeris.' The grounds for deciding between them are slight. Wagn.'s argument for 'nec' that Virgil means her not to look back while flinging the ashes away is rather begging the question, as the passage in Theocr. might suggest another meaning. It would seem, however, from Hom. Od. 5. 349 that the two actions of throwing away and turning the back were meant to be closely connected, Ulysses being bidden ἂψ ἀποδησάμενος βαλέειν εἰς οἴνοπα πόντον, Πολλὸν ἀπ' ἠπείρου, αὐτὸς δ ̓ ἀπὸ νόσφι τραπέσθαι, to cast away Leucothea's scarf, and turn his back. Eur. Andr. 294 speaks of flinging an inauspicious thing vπèp Kepaλáv.

105-109.] Here is a good sign at last; the ashes flame up suddenly. It must be so: and the dog is barking. Can it be Daphnis? It is; cease, my charms.'

105.] The last command is anticipated by an appearance of a sudden flame in the ashes. Serv. would make Amaryllis the speaker, on account of the words 'dum ferre moror;' but this would be awkward, and we may easily suppose that both the enchantress and her attendant would join in removing the ashes. The blazing of the fre was a good omen,as its smouldering was a bad one (comp. G. 4. 385, 6, Soph. Ant. 1006); and a sudden blaze would naturally be thought an especial token of

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