5

not whither, like Horace's 'I pedes quo te rapiunt et aurae' (Od. III xi 49), 'ire pedes quocunque ferunt' (Epod. XVI 21). In Hom. however (e.g. Il. XVIII 148, Tηv μὲν ἄρ ̓ Ολυμπόνδε πόδες φέρον) it is merely a primitive expression for walking or running; and it might be doubted whether it is more here, were it not for Theocr. VII 21. Virg.'s more usual expression is 'ferre (efferre, referre) pedem.' 'Quo via ducit :'' qua te ducit via, dirige gressum,' A 1 401.

'Urbem' seemingly Mantua, I 20, 34. 2-6. M. We have lived to be turned out of our farm by an intruder. It is to him I am carrying this present.'

·

2. Vivi pervenimus,' we have lived to see (Serv.); 'vivi' expressing both that they might have expected to die before such an outrage (as Wagn. explains it), and that death would have been a boon.

'Advena,' contemptuous, as A. IV 591, XII 261. The order of the words seems to express the confusion of Moeris, who brings them out in gasps.

SO

3. Wagn. reads 'quo' for 'quod,' from three MSS. (none of Ribbeck's), denying 'pervenimus ut' to be Latin: it is however sufficiently defended by Forb., who contends that 'eo' is implied in the form of the sentence,-a remark which really applies to all cases where 'ut' means that,' though no antecedent like 'sic,' 'adeo,' or talis' is expressed. On the other hand, 'quo,' besides its deficiency in external authority, would introduce greater confusion into the order of the sentence than could be excused by Moeris' perturbation of mind. Lachm. on Lucr. VI 324, [Munro on Lucr. I 553, and most editors] accept 'quod.'

['Possessor.' Cf. Sullani possessores, Sullanae possessiones' Cic. Leg. Agr. II 69, 98; III 10; 'bonorum possessor, expulsor, evertor' Pro Quinct. 30; the word had got to be associated with violence.]

4.

Haec mea sunt:' VII 46. It was the natural language in laying a claim. 5. The emphatic word would seem to be 'fors,' not ' versat '-'since things are regulated by chance, which makes void the rights of property.'

6. ['Nec' = non: Munro, Lucr. II 23.] 'Vertat bene' is the order of Med., Pal. originally, and Gud. corrected, preferred by Wagn. on rhythmical grounds to the common bene vertat,' which is found in Pal. corrected, Gud. originally, and one other of Ribbeck's MSS. The latter order seems more usual in prose, but the former occurs more than once in Terence. • Mittimus' is used because Moeris, though carrying the kids himself, speaks for his master, who sends the present.

7-10. L. I thought your master's poetry had saved all his property.'

7. 'Certe equidem,' frequently found together. Hand, Tursell. ii p. 28.

'Qua-fagos' is connected with 'omnia,' expressing the extent of the property. Though the scenery is imaginary, the specification here seems to show a jealousy on behalf of the strict rights of Menalcas, which, as Voss points out, doubtless represents Virg.'s own feeling.

'Subducere,' draw themselves up from the plain, the slope being regarded from below; in iugum demittere' it is regarded from above.

8. Molli clivo,' G. III 293. Caes. B. C. II 10, speaks of 'fastigium molle,' as he elsewhere uses 'lene,' like our expression a gentle slope.'

9. The old reading, 'veteris iam fracta cacumina fagi' (Pal., Gud. originally, and most of Ribbeck's cursives), is supported by [Quint. VIII vi 46 (who quotes vv. 7-10) and] Pers. v 59, Fregerit articulos, veteris ramalia fagi.' The present reading, restored by Heins. (Med. and the margin of Gud.), is neater and more poetical, comp. 11 3 note, III 12.

15

11.

Audieras' affirmative, not interrogative. Moeris asserts what Lycidas had told him, merely to show that he believes it. Yes, so you did, and so the story went.' [Set' Pal.-H. N.]

12. Nostra,' speaking for Menalcas in particular. Serv. quotes Cic. Pro Milone 4, silent leges inter arma.

13. Chaonias,' referring to the doves of Dodona-a literary epithet: see I 54. With the language, as Heyne observes, comp. Lucr. III 752, accipiter fugiens veniente columba;' with the thought comp. Soph. Aj. 169. 14. 'Me.' 'We may suppose that Moeris first observed the prophetic bird, and that he then informed Menalcas of what it portended.' Keightley.

'Incidere ludum,' Hor. Ep. 1 xiv 36 [and often.] Comp. Serv. on v. I, 'se omnem litem amputaturum interfecto Vergilio.' Pal. has 'quocumque.'

15. The appearance of a raven on the left hand seems simply to have constituted the augury a credible one. Cic. De Div. I xxxix 85, Quid (habet) augur, cur a dextra corvus, a sinistra cornix faciat ratum?' Plaut. Asin. II i 12, 'Picus et cornix a laeva, corvus, parra a dextera.' What determined the character of the augury to be favourable or the reverse does not appear. Voss, following Serv., thinks that the unlucky sign here was the hollowness of the oak. Martyn however observes with some justice that the present omen may be regarded as lucky or unlucky, according as we choose to look at

Menalcas' escape or the loss of his property. All that we can say is that it was a warning, as in Hor. Od. III xxvii 15, 'Teque nec laevus vetet ire picus Nec vaga cornix.'

['Antesinistra indivise legendum,' Serv., who interprets 'ab antica ad sinistram partem.'-H. N. The word occurs nowhere else. Conington and all other editors read ante sinistra.']

16. Hic,' the speaker himself, like öde. 'Tibi erunt parata verba, huic homini verbera.' Ter. Haut. 11 iii 115. Comp. A. 1 98. So'hic 'and 'ipse' are contrasted above III 3.

17-25. L. Was Menalcas so near death? Who could write verses like his, such as those of his where he commends his sheep to Tityrus?'

17. Cadit:non cadit. . in hunc hominem ista suspicio,' Cic. Pro Sull. 27, In such expressions 'cadere' seems to be used in the sense of is the lot' or part of,' so that suspicio cadit in aliquem' is little more than equivalent to 'cadit aliquis in suspicionem.' So Tvyxávεiv is used indifferently of the thing happening and the person to whom it happens.

18. Solacia' is referred by Voss specifically to the song on Daphnis, which is alluded to in the next verse; but the application is doubtless more general.

19. The allusion is seemingly to v 20, 40, on which latter see the note. The song is that of Mopsus, not that of Menalcas; but Menalcas is apparently regarded as the poet who rehearses his friend's song as well as his own, just as he there declares himself the poet of E. III (v 86, note)— in other words he is Virg. For the representation of the poet as actually doing what he only sings of, comp. vI 46, 62.

incipe, si quid habes.

30-36. L. As you hope for a farmer's blessings, let me hear more of such verses. I am something of a poet myself, though the shepherds overrate me.'

30. Sic' in adjurations, x 5. May your bees (155, VII 13) continue to give good honey.' The use is virtually the same as that of sic' or 'ita' in protestations, when it is frequently, though not always, followed by "ut.' Sic has deus aequoris artis Adiuvet, ut nemo iamdudum litore in isto... Constitit,' Ov. M. VIII 867. Thus the Greek ourwg and our 6 So.

['Cyrneas' Med. originally, Serv., the Berne Scholia, .and Isid. xfv vi 42: 'Grynaeas,' Med. corrected, Pal., Gud., and the lemma of the Berne Schol.-H. N.] There seems no authority for representing Corsica (called Cyrnus by the Greeks; see Dict. Geogr.) as famous for yews, which is assumed by several of the commentators. But the honey of Corsica, though known historically as one of its articles of produce, was, like that of Sardinia (VII 41), proverbially bitter (Ov. Am. 1 xii 20, ‘mel infame'), and, as the baleful yew' (G. 11 257) was prejudicial to bees (G. IV 47), Virg. seems, as Martyn observes, to have thought himself at liberty to connect the two. So Ov. 1. c. affects to suppose that the Corsican honey must be collected from hemlockflowers.

31. Cytiso,' I 79, G. III 394 foll., where it is given to goats, as here to cows, to increase their milk.

32. Si quid habes,' III 52, note. The remainder of Lycidas' speech is from Theocr. VII 37 foll.

'Poetam,' not 'vatem.' It can hardly be doubted that Virg. means to distinguish between poeta' and 'vates,' Lycidas asserting himself to be 'poeta,' while he does not claim the honours of the 'vates.' What the precise distinction is, cannot easily be determined from the usage of words either in Virg. (who scarcely uses

'poeta' except in the Eclogues) or in other writers; but we may perhaps infer from the other sense of 'vates' that it would naturally denote a bard in his inspired character, and its transference to other acts, medicinae vates,' Pliny XI 219, legum vates,' Val. Max. VIII xii I (quoted by Martyn), shows that it suggested the notion of eminence. In Theocr. 1. c. the shepherd says that he is the shrill mouth of the Muses, and that all call him the best singer. ['Set' Pal.-H. N.] 35. Varo' Med. and some of Ribbeck's cursives; but 'Vario' is supported by Pal., Serv., and Cruquius' Schol. on Hor. Od. I vi, and required by the context, as the mention of Cinna and the parallel in Theocr. 1. c., where Asclepiades and Philetas are spoken of, show that two poets are here intended. 'Varo' is easily to be accounted for from vv. 26, 27.

[Varius is the celebrated poet of epic and tragedy: C. Helvius Činna, a friend of Catullus, was chiefly known for his Smyrna,' a learned poem in the Alexandrian manner, on which he was engaged nine years (Catullus, XCIII); a fact to which Horace was supposed to have alluded in his nonumque prematur in annum' (A. P. 388). Philargyrius on this place.-H. N.]

36. Argutos-olores,' an expression of the same class as those referred to on VIII 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. He is mentioned by Ov. Trist. II 435 along with Cinna, and by Cic. Phil. XIII 5 as a friend of Antony, and probably, like Bavius and Maevius, was personally obnoxious to Virg., as would appear from an obscure passage in Prop. III xxxii (11 xxxiv) 83, 84.

['Set' Med.-H. N.]