The date of the fourth Eclogue is fixed by that of Pollio's consulship (40 B.C.), the eighth may with almost equal certainty be assigned to 39, and the tenth has with much probability been referred to 37. The date of the seventh is unknown, and that of the sixth quite uncertain, though it is often connected with the third and ninth and thought to be a little later than them.

Suetonius (Vita Vergilii, 25), and after him Servius, say that Virgil wrote the Eclogues in three years: a statement probably based on the fact that the first Eclogue may be assigned to 40, and the last to 37 B.C.

Schaper (Quaestiones Vergilianae, i), followed by Baehrens, believes that the fourth, sixth, and tenth Eclogues were written in the year 27-25 B.C. and inserted by Virgil in a second edition of the Bucolica. I agree with Ribbeck in thinking that there are no solid grounds for this hypothesis. There is no hint in Suetonius or any other ancient authority of a second edition of the Eclogues. The fourth Eclogue was referred by all the ancient commentators to the consulship of Pollio, the name of Pollio stands in the text, and can only be removed by violence. There is nothing again, either in the style or the matter of the sixth or tenth Eclogues, which can fairly be held to justify so strange a breach with an excellent historical tradition.”—H. N.

1 [Deuticke (Jahresbericht 1896, 356) also doubts the three years. He observes that the Eclogues are said to have been written in 3 years, the Georgics in 7 (3 + 4), and the Aeneid in 11 (7 + 4), and suspects this symmetry.]

2 Servius, in his Life, says, it is true, carmen Bucolicum . triennio scripsisse et emendasse.' But the word emendasse (used also by Servius of the Georgics) means only that Virgil put the finishing touch to the Eclogues, as he was prevented by death from doing to the Aeneid.

3 [Ribbeck, in the preface to his last edition (Lipsiae, 1895), gives B.C. 42-39 as the dates within which the Eclogues were written; he assigns the first to the summer of 41, the ninth to the autumn of the same year, the sixth a little later, the fourth to 40, the eighth to the early autumn of 39. Most recent writers agree more or less with him, as indeed all must who accept the statements that Virgil • Xxvili annos natum bucolica edidisse' and 'triennio scripsisse.' M. Sonntag, Vergil als bukolischer Dichter (Leipzig, 1891) has tried to show that the carrying out of the land confiscations of B.C. 41 lasted some years, and that the first Eclogue may be assigned to the spring of B.C. 38: he supposes that six of the poems were written in 39, and 1, vi, ix, and x added in 38 or 37. There is no real evidence for these conclusions, and Deuticke, Ribbeck, and other good critics very rightly reject them. Even the suggestion that E. I can be put as late as 38 seems improbable, though Deuticke inclines to accept it. Appian writes as if the settlement of the veterans in 41 B.C. had to be carried out at once, and a delay of three years is incredible.]

eum constat

The historical groundwork of this Eclogue is the assignment of lands in Italy by the triumvirs to their veterans, in 41 B.C. Place had to be found without delay for upwards of 170,000 men (Appian, Bell. Civ. V 5), and universal confiscation resulted. The 'spoliation,' says Mr. Merivale (History of the Roman Empire, vol. iii p. 222),

spread from the suburban lands to remote tracts, from municipal to private possessions. Even loyalty to the Caesarian party proved of no avail: the faithsul Mantua shared the fate of its neighbour, the disaffected Cremona ; and the little township of Andes, Virgil's birthplace, in the Mantuan territory, was involved in the calamities of its metropolis.' The story, as told in Servius' Commentary, is that Virgil went to Rome on the seizure of his property, and obtained from Octavian a decree of restitution, which however was rendered ineffectual by the violence of the new occupant, referred to in the ninth Eclogue, so that a second appeal for protection had to be made. [This is the traditional account, accepted by most modern critics. It is however possible, as is argued in the excursus to the ninth Eclogue, that the ninth Eclogue is earlier in time than the first, and that there was only one eviction (referred to in the ninth Eclogue) and one restoration (referred to in the first).-H. N.]

The speakers in the Eclogue are two shepherds, one of whom is enjoying rustic life, singing of his love and seeing his cattle feed undisturbed, when he is encountered by the other, who has been expelled from his homestead and is driving his goats before him, with no prospect but a cheerless exile. This is simple enough, but it is complicated by an unhappy artifice. The fortunate shepherd is represented as a farm slave who has just worked out his freedom : and this emancipation is used to symbolize the confirmation of the poet in his property. The two events, with their concomitants, are treated as convertible with each other, the story being told partly in the one form, partly in the other. See vv. 41 foll, and notes. This confusion arises from the identification of the shepherd and the poet, spoken of in the Introduction to the Eclogues : but in the present case its very grossness has prevented its being observed by the editors, who suppose Tityrus, like Moeris in Ecl. ix, to be Virgil's 'vilicus, 'who goes to Rome to purchase his liberty of his master, and there hears from Octavian that his master's property is safe—a cumbrous hypothesis, and not really reconcilable with the language of the Eclogue. The earlier commentators, such as La Cerda and Catrou, did not feel this difficulty, but they created one for themselves in the shape of an allegory, according to which Tityrus’ two partners, v. 30, stand for Rome and Mantua respectively. Trapp, in rejecting the allegory, himself supposes that the change of partners is intended to intimate a change of parties, Virgil's abandonment of the cause of the republicans for that of the triumvirs.

6

a

The scenery, as in other Eclogues, is confused and conventional, the beeches (v. 1), caverns (v. 75), mountains (v. 83), and rocks (vv. 15, 47, 56, 76) belonging to Sicily, while the marshy river (v. 48) is from Mantua. See Introduction to the Eclogues. In other respects the poem appears to be original, only the names Tityrus, Galatea, and Amaryllis, being borrowed from Theocritus.

M. TITYRE, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi

silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena ;
nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva :
nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra

formonsam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas. T. O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit.

5

6

1-5. How is it that while I am wan- Meditaris,' compose.

Hor. S. I ix 2, dering an outcast from my native fields, * Nescio quid meditans nugarum et totus you are lying in the shade and singing in illis.' like a happy shepherd of your mistress? 'Avena,' not a straw (which would be

1. Of the three principal MSS., the absurd), but a reed, or a pipe of reeds, Medicean, Palatine, and Roman, the first hollow like a straw. So . stipula,' of a is defective till E. Vi 48.

reed, III 27, though the word there is Tityrus (Tirupos) is one of the Theo- designedly contemptuous. Milton, howcritean shepherds (Theocr. in ii soll.). ever, in his Lycidas talks seriously of the The word is said to be the Doric form of oaten flute,' as he talks contemptuously Σάτυρος, being applied in the same way of pipes of wretched straw.' to designate a short-tailed ape. Another 3. Patrios fines,' v. 67. account, that it means a reed, was also 4. He repeats the contrast in an inreceived among the ancient critics (Schol. verse order, so that we shall perhaps do on Theocr. I. c.,), and is supported by the best to put with Jahn a semicolon after v. words τιτύρνος (αυλός), τιτυριστής; but 2, a colon after v. 3. Gebauer, p. 55, well these may be explained by supposing that remarks that this repetition is after the the name had come to have a conventional manner of Theocritus, comparing Theocr. sense as a rustic minstrel. (Servius says, IX 1-6, where the editors have been too * Laconum lingua tityrus dicitur aries ready to suspect interpolation. Comp. maior qui gregem anteire consuevit.'-H. also Theocr. VIII 28-32. N.]

* Fugimus,' peúyouev, are banished. 2. ‘Silvestrem,' pastoral; as 'silvae · · Lentus' = 'securus.' Comp. Ovid, is used for pastoral poetry, IV 3. Forbiger Her. XIX 81, “Certe ego tum ventos audiobserves that the Italians pasture their rem lenta sonantis.' cattle in summer among the woody slopes 5. “Resonent mihi Cynthia silvae,' of the mountains. "Silvestrem Musam

Prop. 1 xviii 31, probably in imitation. is from Lucr. IV 589, “ Fistula silvestrem [*Formonsam,' Asper, p. 115. Keil : ne cesset fundere Musam.'

formosam,' Pal. Rom. Gud. ; for Med. [* Tenui,'= 'humili' (Serv.) 'subtili' see vii 38.--H. N. See Wölfflin's Archiv (Schol. Bern.).—H. N.] Comp. ' Agres- V 196. The ‘n’ is not phonetic, but tem tenui meditabor harundine Musam,' belongs to the original suffix: Brugmann's VI 8, where it is evident from the context Grundriss, i p. 202, $ 238.) that "tenui' is meant to be in keeping 6-10. These rural liberties I owe to with 'agrestem,' and to suggest sim- one whom I shall ever own as a god.' plicity and humility, at the same time 6. Meliboeus is explained by Servius, that it is a natural epithet of the reed, ότι μέλει αυτή των βοών: analogy would like 'fragili cicuta,' v 85.

rather point to uénı as the first part of the Musam :' the Muse had come to be compound. Perhaps the name was sug: used for the song personified as early as gested by the geographical Meliboea, and Sophocles and Euripides, and the usage adopted simply from its connexion with is frequent in Theocr.

Bouc. Comp. Alphesiboeus.

IO

namque erit ille mihi semper deus ; illius aram
saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum

ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti.
M. Non equidem invideo; miror magis: undique totis

usque adeo turbatur agris. en, ipse capellas
protenus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco.
hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos,
spem gregis, a, silice in nuda conixa reliquit.

15

'Otia,' peace: comp. Hor. A. P. 199, by Serv., and Quintilian (i iv 28) and apertis otia portis.' The 'deus ’ is Octa- Consentius, p. 372, give ' turbatur.' vian. This is probably mere hyperbole, Ipse' contrasted with ‘undique totis though it heralds the adulation which agris.' treated a living emperor as a god. (See 13. Protenus,' onwards; the primary p. 21.-H. N.]

meaning of the word. [. Protinus' Rom. 7.‘Eris mihi magnus Apollo,' 111 104. Protenus' Pal. and Gud. as in Georg. “Shall be honoured by me as a god,' IV 1: and so Serv., who explains the softening the expression of the preceding word as =' porro tenus,' seems to have line. Serv. comp. Lucan's adulation of read in his copy or copies. Nonius, p. Nero (1 63), Sed mihi iam numen.' 375 s.v. "protinus,' says that wherever

Aram,' Theocr. Epig. I 5, Bwpòv Virg. has protenus,' he uses it in the αιμάξει κεραός τράγος ούτος ο μαλλός. sense of 'porro, sine intermissione, con

9. • Ille (mihi) permisit boves errare et tinuo,' and quotes this passage among ipsum ludere,' the infinitives standing in others. An artificial distinction was made place of an accusative. This must not by some grammarians between 'protenus' be confounded with our idiom, ‘he per. and ‘protinus,' it being supposed that mitted my cattle to feed at large and me to ' protenus' was used of place, 'protinus' play,' where 'cattle' and 'me' are datives. of time (Caper De Orth. p. 100, Keil,

* Errare' implies security, as in Hor. Schol. Bern. here). The notion may have Epod. II 13 (quoted by Emmenessius), arisen from the variation of spelling found * Prospectat errantis greges.' In E. 11 21 in the text of Virg. A similar distinction it implies wealth.

is made by Fest. 258 between 'quatenus' 10. ‘Ludere,' frequently used of poetry, and 'quatinus.'-H. N.] VI 1, Hor. Od. i xxxii 2, half slightingly, Aeger' applies probably both to body as of a relaxation. So mai av.

and mind. ' Duco,' the rest he drove 11-18. Well, I do not grudge you before him, this one he leads by a cord. your lot, but I wonder-such peace in 14. “Gemellos :' Emmen. quotes the midst of such troubles. You see me Theocr. I 25, 111 34, where õiòvuarókos wearily driving my flock--one of them is the epithet of a goat.

Such goats' has just dropped her young dead-not were especially valuable from their quanbut that I might have foreseen this. Buttity of milk. tell me about this god of yours.'

The use of ‘namque' so late in the II. `Magis' used for potius,' as in sentence is of course peculiar to poetry Lucr. II 428, 869, Catull. LXVIII 30, (comp. A. V 733), though it is placed where as here one assertion is rejected second in a sentence by Livy and later and another substituted ; 'not this, but

prose writers, unlike ·

nam,' which in rather that.' [See Munro, Lucr. 1 612.] prose always comes first. [‘Corulos'

Non equidem invideo, 'KOŰTOL TI Plovéw, Rom. “corylos ' Pal. —H. N.] Theocr. 1 62, which however refers to 15. The kids, being dropped on the giving a present.

stony soil, not on grass, would die soon 12. "Turbatur,' the soldiers are spread after birth. Comp. G. III 297. ing confusion. Rom. and Pal. have 'tur. Spem gregis,' 'spemque gregemque bamur,' which is an old variant and was simul’ G. III 473, spem gentis' iv 162. adopted by Heinsius. But it is condemned Silice in nuda’expresses the character

saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset,
de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus.

set tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. T. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putavi

stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus 20
pastores ovium teneros depellere fetus.
sic canibus catulos similes, sic matribus haedos
noram, sic parvis componere magna solebam.

6

.

6

6

.

10-12.

of the soil, like “ lapis nudus,' v 47. To more like the difference between a cy. understand it (with Keightley) of the road press and an osier. Tityrus begins ab paved with .silex ’ is scarcely consistent ovo,'in rustic fashion. This seems to have with “inter densas corylos.'

misled Apronianus, who thought Virg. 's 'Conixa,' stronger than the ordinary deity might be not Octavian, but Rome. 'enixa,' denotes the difficulty of the labour. 21. Depellere,' or, in the full expres

16. From the parallel passage, A. II sion, 'depellere a lacte,' is to wean, u 54 (note), it would seem that . non 'goes 82, VII 15, G. III 187, etc. : and some with ' laeva,' not with ‘fuisset.' 'Laevus,' take it so here, reading quoi' for 'quo, Gk. okauóc, in the sense of folly.

or even rendering 'quo,'for ' instead of 17. Memini praedicere,' Madvig, Lat. to which.' But the sense requires someGr. $ 408 b, obs. 2.

thing equivalent to going to the city. *De caelo tangi,' Livy XXV 7, etc. * Pellere,' for driving a fock, is found in The striking of a thing or person by light. 'compellere,' 11 30, etc. The 'de' need ing was an omen of evil : Cic. De Div. I not be explained by supposing that Andes

Hence the practice of enclosing was on a hill : it denotes the destination, the 'bidental.' Pomponius says, on the as in 'deducere,' 'demittere navis (in authority of the lost works of ancient portum), etc. It may have been the Grammarians, that the blasting of fruit- custom in Columella's time to sell lambs bearing trees was ominous, that of the very young, and it may be the custom olive being supposed to forebode barren- now to sell them so young that they are ness, that of the oak banishment. If this obliged to be carried to the butcher : but could be established, it would fix the these observations, though valuable as 'malum hoc' to be Meliboeus' exile, not illustrations of the text, must not be althe loss of the goat's twins.

lowed to override it. Keightley thinks After this line some editions insert, Virg. may have misapprehended the tech• Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice nical sense of the word, not being a cornix ;' but the verse is unknown to all practical man. It might also be sug. Ribbeck's MSS. It is evidently made up gested that he may have wished to com froin IX 15.

bine the notions of weaning and taking to 18. Da' for 'dic,' as 'accipe' for market. 'audi’ (Serv.). 'Da .

quae ventrem 22. [ Haedos' Rom., 'aedos' Pal. placaverit esca,' Hor. S. II viii 5.

Gud.-H. N.) • Qui :'(what (god) that god of yours is. 23. It may be questioned whether In such sentences ' quis ’ is usually noun, ‘parvis componere magna' means to comwho, and 'qui' is usually adj., what or pare cities with dogs and goats, i.e. to what sort ( = 'qualis,' as E. 11 19, G. I 3). argue from the latter to the former, or to But the two are often interchanged : here compare the larger member of a class 'qui' is which of the gods, while in A vil with the smaller : but the latter is more 38 'quis' is adj. =‘qualis' (contrast Cic. natural, and recommended by “solebam.' Att. Vi i 23). See Madvig $ 88 and the “Sic'then becomes emphatic; such were examples in Neue-Wagener Formenlehre the comparisons I made.' Hdt. ii 10 has II 430-436.)

σμικρά μεγάλοισι συμβαλέειν, Τhuc. IV 36, 19-25. Why, I used to think Rome pikpòv meyályeiváoal. “Si parva licet differed from Mantua only as a dog does componere magnis,' G. IV 176, of the from a puppy, but I found it was much bees and the Cyclopes.

6