Men. Cogite ovis, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, Dam. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo! Idem amor exitium pecori pecorisque magistro. 100 Men. His certe neque amor caussa est; vix ossibus haerent. Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. Tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas. Men. Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum Pal. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. 6 105 110 102. The force of these two lines is: For the disease of your bull there is a remedy; but there is none for that of my sheep. Bad as love is, not it even (neque) is the source of the illness of these lambs. They are certainly under the fascination of the Evil Eye.' This superstition still lingers in some parts of Europe. 105. Öne answer to this puzzle is, the bottom of a well. In this country we have a similar puzzle and solution-the latter being the bottom of a coal-pit. There is a tradition, now generally followed, that Virgil's own solution was as follows: In Mantua there was a profligate citizen who sold his all, and had no territory (spatium) left but his grave, three paces of the vilest earth.' His name was Caelius, Virgil's genitive of which is Caeli. (See Ecl. i. 33.) Ulnas. In the later writers, ulna is equivalent to cubitus, about a foot and a half. Servius explains it as meaning here, the whole width between the outstretched hands-about four feet. 107. Flores. The hyacinth was believed to be marked with the name of Hyacinthus, or of Ajax. Ovid. Met. x. 206; xiii. 389. Inscripti nomina; see Ecl. i. 55. 109. Et quisquis amaros. The meaning seems to be: Not only do both of you, love-inspired, deserve the prize, but all that shall tremble with fear when love is propitious, or suffer under his frown; in short, all true lovers, such as you.' But the passage is a difficult one, and many emendations have been suggested.. 111. Palaemon leaves them to see closed the sluices of the irrigating streams. This Eclogue is mainly imitated in Pope's first Pastoral. ECLOGA IV. In the multitude of conjectures regarding the subject of this Eclogue, Wagner's views seem preferable. All Italy had been exposed to dreadful calamities; first from the division of the lands, spoken of in the first Eclogue, then from the quarrels between Antony and Octavianus, and the war which ensued, B. C. 41; and finally, from a most severe famine, the result of the blockade formed by the fleets of Antony and Sex. Pompeius. So much the greater was the joy occasioned by the treaty of Brundusium made in the autumn of B. c. 40, by which harmony was restored between the two contending chiefs. Antony's agent in arranging the peace was Virgil's patron, Asinius Pollio. A little afterwards, on his return to Rome, Pollio entered on the consulship, and about the same time had a son born to him. There was a common belief at the time that a new age was dawning on the world; and as Italy seemed to have escaped from its miseries chiefly through the means of Pollio, Virgil, in this Eclogue, congratulates him on his consulship, and does it in such a way, as at once to extol him as the harbinger of a new era of happiness, and at the same time to augur this, from the birth of his son, as an omen of future peace and prosperity. This Eclogue was written in the autumn of B. c. 40. POLLIO. SICELIDES Musae, paulo majora canamus! 5 10 15 1. Sicelides. Theocritus, whom Virgil principally imitated, was a Sicilian.-4. For the Cumaean Sibyl, see Aen. vi. 10. The age was the tenth in her books, or Golden Age.-6. Virgo. Astraea; that is, Justice. Ovid. Met. i. 149; Georg. ii. 473. Saturnia. See Georg. ii. 538.-10. Lucina. This name (from lux; that is, the light-bringer) is applied to the goddess who presided over childbirth; sometimes Juno, sometimes, as here, Diana, whom the Romans identified with the Greek Artemis, the sister of Apollo; hence tuus Apollo. sea. At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu 20 25 Jam legere, et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus: Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista, Aggredere o magnos-aderit jam tempus-honores, 18, &c. Virgil traces the progress of the world: 1. in the boy. nood, verses 18-25; 2. in the youth, 26-36; 3. in the manhood, 37-45; of Pollio's son. -25. Assyrium. This name is often employed by the poets to indicate eastern countries in general. — 26. Simul; that is, simul ac.-3 -30. See Georg. i. 131; Ovid, Met. i. 112. 32. Thetis. A sea goddess. To tempt her, is to tempt the 34. Tiphys. The pilot of the ship Argo, which sailed in the celebrated quest for the golden fleece, with Hercules, Jason, and others-delectos heroas.-39. There will be no need of navigation, for every land will produce everything of itself. 43. Suave. See Ecl. iii. 8, 63.-47. Parcae. The Fates; from parco, to propitiate them, and induce them to spare. Ages are here said to be spux from their spindles.-49. Jovis; the subjective genitive, Jupiter causing the growing honours of the boy; or objective, the boy being Incrementum. For regarded as one more added to Jupiter's race. Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, O mihi tam longae maneat pars ultima vitae, 60 the force added to a verse by the spondaic quadrasyllable, see Georg. i. 221; Aen. ii. 68, viii. 167.-51. Tractusque. The last syllable long from the arsis.-52. Laetantur. The indicative shows the poet's firm conviction of the truth of his statements. It is not See how all nature rejoices,' but, 'See! How does all nature rejoice!' -55. It is not unusual for a negative proposition to be laid down generally, and then particulars to be stated, still with particles of negation. Here the general proposition is, 'There shall not (non) any conquer me;' the particular instances are Orpheus and Linus, both ushered in with nec, nec. In strong negations, in English, we have something similar; and here we may say, 'No one shall surpass me in song; no, not Orpheus,' &c.-60. Risu cognoscere;_to show thy mother by thy laugh that thou recognisest her. -61. Tulerunt. For the quantity see Georg. ii. 129, iii. 283, iv. 393; Aen. ii. 774, iii. 48, 681, x. 334.-62. Cuinon, &c. Him to whose laugh no parents have joyously replied. This Eclogue is expressly imitated in Pope's Messiah, a Sacred Eclogue. ECLOGA V. THE original Daphnis was a Sicilian hero, and his name occurs frequently in the ancient Pastorals. It is supposed that this Eclogue was written B. c. 42, in which year public rejoicings throughout Italy were ordered to celebrate the deification of Julius Caesar, the month of July being also named after him. According to this conjecture, which is not improbable, Virgil celebrates Caesar under the name of Daphnis, though not carrying the resemblance through all its features. The poem has been extensively imitated, and has furnished materials for many elegiac Eclogues. The first fifty-two lines consist chiefly of lamentation; the remaining verses celebrate the deification of Daphnis. DAPHNIS. MENALCAS-MOPSUS. Men. CUR non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, Mop. Tu major; tibi me est aequum parere, Menalca, Men. Montibus in nostris solus tibi certat Amyntas. Mop. Immo haec, in viridi nuper quae cortice fagi Mop. Sed tu desine plura, puer; successimus antro. Exstinctum Nymphae crudeli funere Daphnim 15 20 Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla nec amnem 25 30 1. Boni; that is, periti. It is followed by the infinitive inflare, which is a poetical usage. See Ecl. vii. 5-x. 32; Georg. i. 280, 284; Aen. ix. 772; and Žumpt, § 598.-7. Sparsit. See Ecl. iv. 52.-8. Tibi certat. So Certent et cycnis ululae. Ecl. viii. 55. 9. Mopsus seems to sneer at Amyntas, as daring to contend not with him only, but with Apollo.-14. Alterna. Mopsus inscribed his verses, and then set them to music, which, too, he inscribed. See Ecl. iii. 8.-23. Atque-atque; that is, et-et. Astra. She upbraids with cruelty the stars, as influencing her son's fate. ter. Venus, the alleged foundress of the Julian race. See Ecl. ix. 47.-25. Nulla nec. See Ecl. iv. 55.-29. Curru for currui; a form usually adopted by Caesar, and not uncommon in Virgil. See Georg. iv. 158; Aen. i. 257, iii. 541. Ma |