ingredere, et votis iam nunc adsuesce vocari. Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus umor 42. 'Ingredere.' Comp. A. VIII 513, where Evander invites Aeneas to take command of the Tyrrhenians, and 'Adgredere o magnos, aderit iam tempus, honores,' E. IV 48. Caesar then is called upon to enter on his divinity. The other interpretation, explaining the word with reference to 'viae,' 'begin to tread the path,' seems less likely on account of the words that follow, votis iam nunc adsuesce vocari.' 'Votis' abl.: see on A. v 234. 43-49. Begin to plough as soon as winter is over. A fourfold ploughing will be repaid by an abundant harvest.' 43. Columella (11 2, § 2) tells the farmer not to wait for some fixed day, as the beginning of spring, but to commence operations before the winter is well over, say after the ides of January. 'Gelidus resolvit' give the reason why this is the earliest moment for ploughing. 44. Liquitur montibus,' like liquuntur rupibus amnes,' 11 185. 'Zephyro' is the agent by whose help the liberation takes place. Emm. well comp. II 330, 'Zephyrique tepentibus auris Laxant arva sinus,' Hor. Od. 1 iv 1, 'Solvitur acris hiemps grata vice veris et Favoni,' Stat. Theb. Iv 1, 'Tertius horrentem Zephyris laxaverat annum Phoebus.' 45. The adjuncts 'depresso,' 'ingemere,' 'attritus,' 'splendescere,' imply that the ploughing is to be thorough. So 'fortes invertant tauri,' v. 65. The language of the first clause is borrowed from Lucr. v 209, vis humana. . . valido consueta bidenti Ingemere, et terram pressis proscindere aratris.' 'Taurus' here and elsewhere for 'bos' or 'iuvencus.' The ancients never ploughed with bulls, any more than the moderns. 46. Serv. quotes from Cato's discourse 45 50 to his son, Vir bonus est, M. fili, colendi peritus, cuius ferramenta splendent.' The notion here may be of rubbing off the rust of winter. Med. (second reading and one or two others have 'vomis,' [and Serv. and the Berne scholia remark on the double form of the nom.-H. N.] 47. 'Respondet :' see II 64 note. 47, 48. The common practice was to plough three time, in spring, summer, and autumn; where the soil was strong there was another ploughing in the autumn of the previous year. So Pliny explains the passage (XVIII 181), 'quarto seri sulco Vergilius existimatur voluisse, cum dixit, optimam esse segetem, quae bis solem, bis frigora sensisset. Heyne comp. Theocr. ΧΧν 25, τριπόλοις σπόρον ἐν νειοῖσιν Εσ, ὅτε βάλλοντες καὶ τετραπόλοισιν ὁμοίως. 'Sensit' refers to the effect of the ploughing, after which the land would be more alive to feel the hot and cold seasons. Seges' is the land. 49. Illius,' segetis. Ruperunt horrea :''burst at once,' the perf. expressing instantaneous action, as in 1 330, II 81. It would be equally possible, though less forcible, to render the perfect have been known to burst.' [Comp. IV 43, 213, notes.] 50-63. First however understand the nature of the soil and climate. Different soils are adapted to different products, as experience shows. It is nature's law, as old as man's creation.' 50. Ac' Med., Rom., Pal. ; ‘At' Gud. and Ribbeck. [Serv. mentions a variant 'inmensum' (comp. v. 29).-H. N.] 51. The same question is raised by Varro at the outset of his work (1 iii 4), and also by Columella (1 pref.), who has Virg. in his mind. Lucr. I 296 talks of the facta ac mores' of the winds. cura sit ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum, 55 et quid quaeque ferat regio, et quid quaeque recuset. 52. 'Patrios cultus,' as we should say, the agricultural antecedents of the spot, which is spoken of as if it were a person with ancestors. So morem caeli' and ' recuset' imply personifications. The expression then is virtually equivalent to 'proprios cultus,' 11 35. Comp. A. 1 51, 539 notes. [Prop. IV v 25, varium caeli perdiscere morem.'-H. N.] 53. [Plin. N. H. XVIII 170 quotes from Cato, oraculum illud: quid quaeque regio patiatur.'-H. N.] 54. Veniunt' proveniunt,' II II. Pal. originally had hinc-illinc.' = 55. With Keightley I have placed a comma after' alibi,' so as to make 'fetus' and 'gramina' alike subjects of 'virescunt,' which seems appropriate where young trees are spoken of. 56. Nonne vides,' a favourite Lucretian expression. So Aratus opens his Diosemeia with οὐχ ὁράας. 'Tmolus' is named by no earlier writer than Virg. as producing saffron. The place most famous for saffron was Cilicia, and this may be one of Virg. 's geographical inaccuracies. Later writers who support Virg. (Columella, Solinus, Martianus Capella) probably only copy him. Serv. mentions an alternative, to understand 'croceos odores' of the peculiar smell of Tmolian wine (II 98); but this seems very unlikely. [Ribbeck spells 'Molus,' following Med., etc. see his Prol. p. 447.] 57. Mittit,' to Rome. For the indic. see on E. IV 52. Med. corr. [and Seneca Epist. LXXXVII 20] have mittat ;' Pal. gives 'mittet.' India produced the largest elephants (Pliny VIII 32), whence ivory is called 'Indus dens,' Catull. LXIV 48. ergo age, terrae 60 58. At,' as in II 447, distinguishes one part of an enumeration from another. 'Chalybes,' called σidnpotéktoves, Aesch. Prom. 714. 'Nudi' gives the picture of them working in a forge, like the Cyclopes A. VIII 425. 'Virosa castorea' like 'castoreo gravi,' Lucr. VI 794, referring to the strong smell. For the fable and the fact about the beaver, see Mayor on Juv. XII 34. The best castoreum was produced in Pontus; an inferior sort in Spain. Strabo III p. 163 Cas. 59. The palms of the mares of Elis' for the mares which win palms at Elis.' Thus the expression is not quite parallel to tertia palma, Diores,' A. v 339, with which it is commonly compared. · 6 With Epiros' comp. III 121, with Eliadum,' ib. 202. Mares are mentioned as fleeter than horses. 'Apta quadrigis equa,' Hor. Od. II xvi 35. But the word may be chosen to indicate Epirus as the breeding country. 6 60. Continuo' connected with 'quo tempore.' 'Foedera' of the laws of nature, as in A. 1 62, Lucr. 1 586, v 57, 924. Pal. has 'alterna,' an obvious error. 62. Compare E. VI 41. 63. Durum genus,' born from the stones. Comp. II 341, Lucr. V 926. The connexion seems to be that the restriction of certain products to certain soils is part of the iron rule of the world, which is now inhabited by men of rougher mould, doomed to labour, and physically adapted to it. Work then, Virg. goes on to say, pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni 64. Pingue' emphatic, as v. 67 shows. 65. Fortes' emphatic, like validis terram proscinde iuvencis,' II 237. The rhythm of the line is obviously intended to suit the sense. Iacentis,' upturned by the plough and lying exposed to the sun. The word probably indicates that there should be a second ploughing or cross-ploughing in summer. See on vv. 47, 48, and comp. 11 261, 'Ante supinatas Aquiloni ostendere glaebas.' 'Let the clods be exposed for summer to bake them to dust with its full mellow suns.' 65 70 Suspendere tellurem,' not 'aratrum.' 'Neque enim parum refert suspensissimum esse pastinatum [solum], et, si fieri possit, vestigio quoque inviolatum,' Col. III 13, who immediately afterwards talks of vineam in summa terra suspendere,' as opposed to planting deep. The notion of raising seems to have come from that of holding up in air: comp. A. vII 810, 'fluctu suspensa tumenti.' [Pallad. I xxi 1, 'stabula ab omni umore suspensa.'-H.N.] At the same time the passages of Col. apparently show that it is not simply i. q. tollere, but implies that the thing is done lightly, perhaps with reference to such phrases as suspenso gradu' or suspensa manu.' 69. 'Illic' refers to vv. 64-66, "hic' to vv. 67, 68. Laetis,' as the quality of the soil would make the corn luxuriant. Forb. comp. II 251, Umida maiores herbas alit, ipsaque iusto Laetior.' 6 Serv. on 67 says 'Ipsius manu adiecti sunt, deletis duobus, quorum alter totus legi potuit, "Illic officiant segetes ne frugibus illis," ex altero hoc tantum "ne deserat umor harenam,' words which can hardly belong to any passage but the present. 71-83. Let your land lie fallow every other season or change the crops, and so relieve the soil at the same time that you turn it to some account.' 71. 'It can hardly be meant that the land was to be let lie idle an entire year; for in that case there would be only one crop in three years. What he means is, that, after the corn had been cut in the summer, the land was to be let to lie and get a scurf of weeds till the following spring, when they were to be ploughed in,' Keightley. However, on v. 47, he quotes a passage from Simond's Travels in Italy and Sicily, showing that the extreme view of the length of time allowed to elapse between the crops is counte et segnem patiere situ durescere campum ; aut ibi flava seres mutato sidere farra, unde prius laetum siliqua quassante legumen, aut tenuis fetus viciae tristisque lupini sustuleris fragilis calamos silvamque sonantem. nanced by the present practice at Soiacca in Sicily. When the land is manured, which is rarely the case, it yields corn every year, otherwise once in three years: thus, first year corn (fromento); second year fallow, and the weeds mowed for hay; third, ploughing several times, and sowing for the fourth year' (p. 476). Dickson (Husbandry of the Ancients, i 444) concludes that fallowing was the rule in Italy. 'When the several authors treat of ploughing, and direct at what seasons this operation should be performed, they have the fallow-land only in view. The seasons of ploughing.. were in the spring and summer, while the crop was on the ground; for the seed-time was in autumn, and the harvest in the end of summer. The directions given must therefore relate only to the fallow. It would seem that they considered the ploughings given to land that had carried a crop the preceding year, and was immediately to be sown for another, as of so little consequence that it was needless to give any directions about them. From this we may conclude that they considered ploughing and sowing immediately after a crop as bad husbandry, and only to be practised in a case of necessity; or at least that they were of opinion that very little of their land was so rich as to allow this kind of management.' Compare Daubeny's Lectures p. 125, [Plin. XVIII 137]. "Alternis, alternately, implying no more than that the husbandman instead of sowing every time is to sow every other time. 'Idem,' as we should say, at the same time, implying that the rules already given do not exhaust the subject. 'Sapienter idem Contrahes. . . vela,' Hor. Od. 75 terrae nunc loquimur, non de situ,' Col. I 2, § 6. Here'situ' may denote not only repose, but the scurf that forms on things allowed to lie [compare A. VI 462.H. N.], as 'durescere' seems to mean the physical effect of exposure to the air. [Recent writers on philology, Stolz, de Saussure, etc., seem inclined to connect situs' = decay, and perhaps sino' and desino,' with the Greek poive and other words denoting decay.] 73. Mutato sidere:' wheat would not be sown at the same season as pulse. See vv. 215, 220. 'Sidere' is used strictly, as in v. I, for the seasons of the year were marked by the constellations. Keightley seems right (after Voss) in supposing these two crops to be sown in the same year, the pulse in spring, the wheat in autumn. Rom. has 'semine.' 'Farra,' properly 'spelt:' here probably corn. The Romans had some glimpses of the doctrine of the rotation of crops: but it does not appear that any system of culture founded upon this knowledge was in general use among them,' Daubeny, p. 124. [Compare Dict. Antiq. i p. 71 (ed. 3), Pliny XVIII 187.] 74. The pulse which is luxuriant with quivering pod '-a description of the bean. Pliny xvIII 185. 75. Tenuis viciae: The tare or vetch is called slight because its halm is so slender and its seed so small compared with those of the bean or pea.' Keightley. Tristis,' bitter, as in II 126, [III 448; Lucr. I 944, IV 125, and often.] Vetches and lupines were supposed to enrich the land, acting as manure if immediately after they had been cut the roots were ploughed in and not left to dry in the ground. Col. II 13; Plin. XVIII 137, 187. 76. 'Silvam,' like 'calamos,' belongs to viciae' and 'lupini,' expressing the luxuriance of the crop. So aspera silva,' v. 152, of burrs and caltrops." ['Silva' here, as in vv. 152, 481; II 17, 207, etc., bushes, or a bushy growth.-H. N. Contr. to Latin Lex. p. 586.] = 80 urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae, pinguia concipiunt; sive illis omne per ignem 77. The general sense is that the same crop, invariably repeated, will exhaust the soil. Flax, oats, and poppies are specified merely as instances of this rule, though of course they are chosen as significant instances. Virg. then adds that, though this is the tendency of these crops in themselves, it need not be apprehended when they alternate with each other, if only the soil is renovated after each crop by plentiful manuring. This is substantially the interpretation of Wagn., and seems the only satisfactory one. 'Lini: Tremellius obesse maxime ait solo virus ciceris et lini, alterum quia sit salsae, alterum quia sit fervidae naturae,' Col. II 13, who quotes this passage. 78. G. IV 545, Lethaea papavera,' where see note; A. v 854. 'Rotation 79. Labor' of the field. will lighten the strain.' Mox et frumentis labor additus,' v. 150. 'Arida' and 'effetos' are emphatic-after the parching and exhausting effect of each crop. We may render freely only think of the dried-up soil, and be not afraid to give it its fill of rich manure: think of the exhausted field, and fling about the grimy ashes broadcast.' 80. Pudeat,' because shame restrains men from excess in any thing. Comp. E. VII 44 note. 'Iactare' in the same way seems to imply profuseness. 81. [Rom. has effectos.'-H. N.] 82. Sic quoque' is explained by 'mutatis fetibus." Rest is gained by a change of crops as well as by leaving the land untilled. Rom. has requiescent.' 83. Nor is the land meantime, while enjoying its rest, thankless and un 'Gratia' fruitful, because unploughed.' ne 'Inaratae terrae,' genitive after 'gratia,' the thanklessness of unploughed land; the thanklessness, as it were, of that which has nothing to be thankful for. 84-93. Burning stubble is a good thing, either as invigorating the soil, or as getting rid of its moisture, or as opening its pores, or as acting astringently.' 84. Saepe' with 'profuit.' • Steriles agros' is perhaps rightly explained by Keightley of the lands from which the corn had been carried, and which therefore have nothing but the stubble on them. 85. Levem stipulam,' v. 289. Emm. comp. Ov. M. 1 492, Utque leves stipulae demptis adolentur aristis.' The most common mode of reaping was to cut the corn in the middle of the straw, leaving the rest in the ground; Varro, R. R. I 50. The rhythm again is accommodated to the sense. 86. Daubeny (pp. 91 foll.) accepts all Virg.'s reasons but the last, seu durat,' etc., remarking that light and sandy soils are injured by the operation. He adds that the ancients do not seem to have reached the modern practice of burning away the turf, though Virg.'s words would be a good statement of its salutary effects. 88. Vitium' as the cold in soils is called 'sceleratum,' 11 256. |