35

Nam neque adhuc Vario videor, nec dicere Cinna
Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores.
M. Id quidem ago et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse voluto,
Si valeam meminisse; neque est ignobile carmen.
"Huc ades, o Galatea; quis est nam ludus in undis ?
Hic ver purpureum, varios hic flumina circum
Fundit humus flores, hic candida populus antro
Imminet, et lentae texunt umbracula vites;
Huc ades; insani feriant sine litora fluctus."
L. Quid, quae te pura solum sub nocte canentem.

36.] Argutos-olores,' an expression of the same class as those referred to on 8. 55, though the allusion here seemingly is not to a contest between geese and swans, but to geese spoiling the melody of swans' songs by their cackling. Anser,' Serv. tells us, is a punning reference to a contemporary poet of that name, mentioned by Ov. Trist. 2. 435, along with Cinna, and by Cic. Phil. 13. 5 as a friend of Antony, and probably, like Bavius and Maevius, personally obnoxious to Virgil, as would appear from an obscure, if not corrupt, passage in Prop. 3. 26. 83, 84, as well as from Donatus, who however may have known nothing beyond the present line and the note of Serv.

37-43.] 'M. I am trying to recollect. Here are some lines in which he asks Galatea to leave the sea, and come on shore and enjoy the glories of spring.'

37.] Id agere' is a common phrase for being busy about an object, as in the wellknown expression' hoc age,' the same sense doubtless which appears in the common use of the imperative 'age,' though in the Greek aye, from which it obviously comes, the notion must be that of leading or going along with.

40

6

40.] Purpureum,' 5. 38 note, red being doubtless meant here as the prominent colour of blooming flowers, like "vere rubenti," G. 2. 319. Theocr. 18. 27 has λευκὸν ἔαρ.

41.] Candida populus,' called 'alba' Hor. 2 Od. 3. 9, Xɛúrη being the Greek name. 'Antro' carries us back to Polyphemus and his cave in the passage from Theocr. 11. 44.

42.] Whether the vine grows over the cave, as in 5. 6, or forms a bower of itself, is not clear. Umbracula:' " prope aream faciundum umbracula, quo succedant homines in aestu tempore meridiano," Varro, R. R. 1. 51.

Audieram? numeros memini, si verba tenerem.

M. "Daphni, quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortus?
Ecce Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum,

Astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo
Duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem.

Insere, Daphni, piros; carpent tua poma nepotes."
Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque; saepe ego longos
Cantando puerum memini me condere soles:
Nunc oblita mihi tot carmina; vox quoque Moerim
Iam fugit ipsa; lupi Moerim videre priores.

46-55.] M. The Julian is the star of stars it will tell us when to sow, and plant, and graft.-Memory fails mememory, that was once so good-and voice too but Menalcas will gratify you himself.'

46.] Daphnis is addressed as the representative of the shepherds, who watch the stars for agricultural purposes (G. 1. 204 foll., 257, 258). Antiquos' is transferred from 'signorum' to ' ortus.'

47.] The allusion is to the comet which appeared when Octavianus was giving games in honour of Julius, the year after his death, and which was supposed to signify the dictator's apotheosis (Suet. Caes. 88). Comp. Hor. 1 Od. 12. 47, "micat inter omnes Iulium sidus." 'Dionaei' as the descendant of Venus, who is called 'Dionaea mater,' A. 3. 19. Processit,' of the rising of a star, 6. 86.

48.] The Julian star is to be the farmer's star, as Julius in 5. 79 is the farmer's god, and Octavianus also (G. 1. 24 foll.). Quo' denotes the agency, not, as in 'quo sidere,' G. 1. 1, the time. The rising of the star might naturally be the signal for harvest and vintage (G. 1. 253): but Virgil evidently expresses himself here as if the stars not only formed the shepherd's calendar, but actually foretold or created agricultural prosperity. Keightley suggests that the summer of A.U.C. 711, when the comet appeared, would naturally have been very hot and dry. 'Segetes,' of fields, as in G. 1. 47.

45

50

Duceret-colorem :' "variis solet uva racemis Ducere purpureum nondum matura colorem," Ov. M. 3. 484. Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva," Juv. 2. 81.

50.] Poma' are the fruit which are to grow on the pear-tree. Insere piros,' 1. 74. The meaning is that the trees shall be good bearing trees for more than one generation. Palladius (8. 3., 9. 6) says that pears may be grafted in August, or if the soil is moist (which, as Voss reminds us, is the case in the neighbourhood of Mantua), in July.

51.] Fert,' as in 5. 34. Emm. comp. Plato's verses, aiwv návra pépei doλixòs χρόνος οἶδεν αμείβειν Οὔνομα καὶ μορφὴν καὶ φύσιν ἠδὲ τύχην. 'Animum :''in animo esse' is used for recollecting (Ter. And. 1. 5. 47), and 'ex animo effluere' for forgetting (Cic. de Or. 2. 74), as we talk of 'bearing a thing in mind;' and hence probably animus' comes to be used for the memory itself, like 'mens' in Cic. Brut. 61, "huic ex tempore dicenti effluit mens.' Comp. the old English expression 'to bear a brain' for 'to remember.'

52.] Condere,'' to bury,' for 'to see go down:' imitated doubtless from Callim. Εp. 2. 3, ἥλιον ἐν λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν, and Lucr. 3. 1090, "vivendo condere saecla." So Hor. 4 Od. 5. 29, " Condit quisque diem collibus in suis."

.

Sed tamen ista satis referet tibi

saepe Menalcas.
L. Caussando nostros in longum ducis amores.
Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor, et omnes,
Aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae;
Hinc adeo media est nobis via; namque sepulchrum
Incipit adparere Bianoris: hic, ubi densas
Agricolae stringunt frondes, hic, Moeri, canamus;
Hic haedos depone, tamen veniemus in urbem.
Aut si, nox pluviam ne colligat ante, veremur,
Cantantes licet usque-minus via laedit—eamus;
Cantantes ut eamus, ego hoc te fasce levabo.

cumstances.

A. 1. 321.

'Priores,' like 'prior inquit,' Ocnus Bianorus. Thus the scenery becomes Mantuan again.

55.] "Ordo est, satis saepe," Serv.

56-65.] 'L. Do not put me off-there is perfect stillness about us, and we are half way to the town: we can afford to stop: or if you want to get on, we can sing as we walk.'

56.] Comp. Lucr. 1. 398, "quamvis caussando multa moreris.' 'Amores' for 'studium' or 'cupido.' "Si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros," A. 2. 10.

57.] Apparently imitated from Theocr. 2. 38, ἠνίδε σιγᾷ μὲν πόντος, σιγῶντι δ' άñraι, so that aequor' seems to be the sea, the scenery being taken from Sicily. Neither the context nor the language of the line itself allows to interpret the word of the swamp of the Mincio. Tibi,' for your purpose,' so that you may sing.

58.] Adspice,' vide, calling attention. 'Ventosi murmuris' is apparently equivalent to venti murmurantis,' with which 'aurae' is naturally connected, like "Zephyri tepentibus auris," G. 2. 330, quoted by Voss. This seems better than with Heyne to make 'murmuris' the attributive genitive, like 'veneni,' 4. 24, though there is not much room for choice. Virgil probably intended a variation on the more natural expression, ventosae murmura aurae.' 'Cadere,' of winds, G. 1. 354.

61.] Stringere' of the 'frondatio,' or clearing away of leaves,' which were used for fodder, G. 1. 305., 2. 368, Hor. 1 Ep. 14. 28, "oleam ubi nigra erit stringito," Cato, R. R. 65. Col. 11. 2, § 65 (referred to by Keightley) says that the 'frondatio' should be done 'antelucanis et vespertinis temporibus.' 'Canamus:' they were to sing alternately, as in Theocr. 7.

62.] Tamen,'' after all,' 'notwithstanding.' "Tamen cantabitis," 10. 31 (note). Keightley thinks the expression strange, as they were within a mile and a half of Mantua: but it seems to be a playful anticipation of an objection from Moeris.

63.] The night is said to gather the rain, because the gathering of the clouds is the prelude of rain. Comp. G. 3. 327, “ubi quarta sitim caeli collegerit hora."

64.] From Theocr. 7. 35. Usque' with 'eamus,' 'let us go straight on.' "Iuvat usque morari," A. 6. 487. 'Laedit' is the reading of the Med. for 'laedet ' or 'laedat.' The sense seems to be cantantis via minus laedere solet.' Comp. 10.75, "Surgamus: solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra."

65.] Fascis,' of a burden generally, as G. 3. 347 of a soldier's baggage, G. 4. 204 of the food brought home by the beeshere of the kids, which may have been carried in some sort of bundle. Comp. Moretum, v. 80, "venalis olerum fasces portabat," of things taken to market. Lycidas offers to carry the kids while Moeris is singing, meaning him to begin.

66, 67.] M. Best think only of our present business, and leave singing till we see Menalcas again.'

H

M. Desine plura, puer, et, quod nunc instat, agamus ;
Carmina tum melius, cum venerit ipse, canemus.

66.] Desine plura, puer,' 5. 19. 'Instat,' reminding Lycidas that the business admits of no delay, not even of singing or talking as they walk along.

67.] Ipse,' Menalcas, designated either as Moeris' master (3. 3 note), or, in relation to the songs, as their author.

ECLOGA X.
GALLUS.

If the claims of friendship were but scantily acknowledged in the sixth and eighth Eclogues, they are abundantly satisfied in the present, which is entirely devoted to Gallus. Like Varus, C. Cornelius Gallus is said by the pseudo-Donatus to have been Virgil's early associate and fellow-student under Syro. He is said by Serv. to have been appointed by the triumvirs to collect money from those trans-Padane towns whose lands were to be spared; and it is conjectured that he may have been the Cornelius who, according to Serv., attacked Alfenus Varus in a speech for his division of the Mantuan territory as unfair to the inhabitants-one or both of which grounds would be sufficient to account for Virgil's connection with him, even if the story of their previous intimacy should be deemed untrustworthy. Besides, he had been already admitted to Pollio's friendship, and so might easily win the regard of Pollio's protegé. His further life need not be noticed here: all we have to do with is the fact that, as this Eclogue shows at the time of its composition, he had become known as a poet and a lover, having written elegies (four books, Serv. says), chiefly addressed to his mistress Lycoris, like Propertius' to Cynthia, and Tibullus' to Delia, besides translating (if that is to be considered with Serv. a separate work) some of the poems of Euphorion (note on v. 50). Lycoris is identified by Serv. with Volumnia Cytheris, a freedwoman of Volumnius Eutrapelus, and at one time mistress of M. Antonius, whom the same account erroneously represents as the rival mentioned v. 23. These elegies are repeatedly mentioned by Ovid, who appears to have regarded them with high admiration, and once, in an obscure passage (3. 26. 91, 92), by Propertius: but only one fragment of them survives, preserved by Vibius Sequester, De Fluminibus, p. 333.

Here, as in Ecl. 1, the identification of the shepherd and poet is so rudely managed as to amount to absolute confusion. The subject of the Eclogue is the hopeless and absorbing passion of Gallus: Gallus, if not a pastoral poet himself, is the friend of a pastoral poet, and so one of the pastoral company: accordingly he is represented as being at one and the same moment a soldier and a shepherd, serving in the camp in Italy, and lying under a rock in Arcadia with wood-gods to comfort him. As before, the naked simplicity of the explanation has caused it to be missed: Gallus has been supposed to have gone on furlough into Arcadia, while others, who could not reconcile the language of v. 44 with his being in Arcadia at all, have changed the text.

The structure of the poem is taken from the latter part of Theocr. Idyl 1, the dying Daphnis supplying the model for Gallus, whose despair however does not bring him to death. Virgil is supposed to narrate the story in a song as he is tending his goats, and in rising to go home for the evening he gracefully intimates that he is closing the volume of pastoral poetry.

The time is commonly considered to be fixed by vv. 23, 46 foll., and by general considerations regarding the date of the Eclogues, to the end of 716 or the beginning of 717, when Agrippa was leading an expedition into Gaul and across the Rhine, with which Gallus' rival is supposed to have gone, while Gallus himself was engaged in some other service, perhaps in Italy under Octavianus, acting against Sex. Pompeius Vv. 20, 23, 47 seem to point to winter or early spring.

The scenery seems to be Arcadian throughout, at least in the narrative part of the Eclogue.

EXTREMUM hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem :
Pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris,
Carmina sunt dicenda : neget quis carmina Gallo?
Sic tibi, cum fluctus subterlabere Sicanos,
Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam,
Incipe; sollicitos Galli dicamus amores,
Dum tenera attondent simae virgulta capellae.
Non canimus surdis; respondent omnia silvae.
Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae

1-8.] My last pastoral strain is in honour of Gallus: I sing of his love with my goats about me in the wood.'

1.] 'Arethusa ' was conventionally the pastoral fountain, Mosch. 3. 78, and as such apparently is invoked by the dying Daphnis, Theocr. 1. 117. She is here addressed as a Muse might be, like the "Nymphae Libethrides," 7. 21. 'Concede laborem like carmen concedite,' 7. 22. 'Laborem' as in G. 2. 39. He asks to be allowed to elaborate one song more.

2.] Wagn., followed by Forb., connects this line with the preceding, placing a period at Lycoris,' a change which seems plainly for the worse, as 'meo Gallo' would come awkwardly after 'mihi,' while 'pauca' evidently refers to 'carmina.' For Gallo' and 6 Lycoris' see Introduction. 'Sed quae' is the antithesis to 'pauca,' 'though few, they must be such as may attract even her scornful eye.'

4.] Sic' followed by 'incipe,' as in 9. 30-32. The legend of the union between Arethusa and Alpheus (see Dict. Biog.) is mentioned again A. 3. 694 foll., and is the subject of what remains of Moschus' eighth Idyl, vv. 4, 5, of which Virgil seems to have imitated: καὶ βαθὺς ἐμβαίνει τοῖς κύμασι, τὴν δὲ θάλασσαν Νέρθεν ὑποτροχάει, κού μίγνυται ὕδασιν ὕδωρ. Alpheus in the legend is the pursuing lover: here Virgil apparently contemplates them as reconciled, and passing to and fro to visit each other, and prays Arethusa to assist his tale of love, if she would have the course of her own love

5

run smooth. That he should conceive of her as constantly flying from Alpheus is less likely.

5.] Doris,' wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids (Hesiod, Theog. 240), is here put for the sea, perhaps, as Heyne suggests, after some Alexandrian poet, like Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune, Hom. Od. 12. 60, 97 (referred to by Voss), Thetis, E. 4. 32. 'Amara' is here equivalent to salsa,' with which it is coupled G. 2. 238.

6.] 'Sollicitus' is used as an epithet of love here and in Ov. H. 18. 196, and of a lover Hor. 3 Od. 7. 9, just as 'cura' is a common synonyme of 'amor.'

7.] Simae capellae,' opai pipoi, Theocr. 8. 50. 'Virgulta,' note on G. 2. 2. The goats browse while the goatherd is singing, as in 5. 12.

8.] Non canimus surdis,' like 'non iniussa cano,' 6. 9. 'We are not singing to deaf ears.' There is an allusion, as Emm. remarks, to the proverbial expression 'surdo canere,' or 'surdo narrare fabulam,' Livy 40. 8, Ter. Heaut. 2. 1. 10, Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 200. 'Respondent:' resonare doces Amaryllida silvas," 1. 5.

66

9-30.] 'Why were not the nymphs present when their favourite lay dying? All nature mourned for him : his sheep grieved for their master: the swains came to visit him: Apollo was there, and Silvanus, and Pan, bidding him leave brooding to no end over blighted hopes.'

9.] This and the three following lines are from Theocr. 1. 66 foll., where the nymphs