not far from Aracynthus, and brought up by him.—(Apollod., iii., 5, 5.-Compare Paus., i., 38.)

25-27. Nec sum adeo informis. "Nor am I so devoid of personal attractions."-In littore. He alludes to the clear, calm water near the shore, in some retired nook, where his image could easily be reflected from the surface. Compare the remarks of Voss in reply to the quibbling objection of Servius.-Placidum ventis. "Undisturbed by the winds." Compare the explanation of Wagner : "ventis placatum, stratum.”—Daphnin. Daphnis was famed in the legends of the Sicilian shepherds for his beauty, and was the son of Mercury. He led a pastoral life.—Si nunquam fullit imago. "If my image never deceives me," i. e., if the image reflected from the water speaks truth, and I am sure it does. Observe the force of the indicative in denoting certainty. The subjunctive fallat is an inferior reading, and implies doubt.

28-30. O tantum libeat, &c. "O that it may only please thee to inhabit with me the country, that possesses no attractions (for thee)," i.e., which appears mean to thee in comparison with the splendour of a city life. Compare the explanation of Spohn: Sordida rura, quia carent munditiæ urbanæ cultu.”—Et figere cervos. Heyne maintains that this does not refer to hunting, because such an employment is foreign to pastoral life, but to the fixing of forked beams, called cervi, with which cottages were propped; and this is also one of the interpretations given by Servius. Nothing, however, can be more erroneous. In the first place, hunting does belong to the pastoral life, as will readily appear from the following passages: Eclog., iii., 12; Georg., iv., 404, seqq.; Columell., vii., 12; Geopon., xix., 1, seqq.; Theocrit., v., 106. In the next place, Alexis is certainly not invited to a scene of labour, such as fixing up props; and then, again, the dwelling of Corydon is described as already erected, not as requiring erection.

Hædorumque gregem, &c. "And to drive the flock of goats unto the green hibiscus." Observe that hibisco is here in the dative, for ad hibiscum. (Consult Voss, ad loc., and Gronov., Diatr., p. 8, seq.) By the hibiscus is meant the Althea officinalis, a species of mallow, on which the young goats were accustomed to be fed after weaning. Sibthorp found it growing in the low, wet grounds of Greece. (Billerbeck, Flora Class., p. 176.) Some less correctly take hibisco for an ablative, and translate "to drive the flock of goats with a green switch." As Voss correctly remarks, compellere does not mean merely agere, but agere aliquo.-Viridi. Referring to the

plant as in a young and tender state, and therefore fitter for browsing upon.

31-33. In silvis. The scene now changes to the woodland pastures among the mountains, as opposed to the meadows where the hibiscus grows.-Pan primus calamos, &c. The Pan's pipe, or Pandean pipe, was the appropriate musical instrument of the Arcadian and other Grecian shepherds, and was regarded by them as the invention of Pan, their tutelary god, who was sometimes heard playing upon it, as they imagined, on Mount Mænalus. Its Greek name was oúptys, its Latin appellation, fistula. It was constructed either of cane, reed, or hemlock. In general, seven hollow stems of these plants were fitted together by means of wax, having been previously cut to the proper length, and adjusted so as to form an octave; but sometimes nine were admitted, giving an equal number of notes. The annexed wood-cut represents Pan, holding in his right hand a drinking horn, and in his left a syrinx, which is strengthened by two transverse bands.

34-39. Nec te pœniteat, &c. "Nor let it repent thee," &c., i. e., nor deem it unworthy of thee, or, in other words, an unbecoming employment.-Calamo trivisse labellum. "To have rubbed thy lip against the reed,” i. e., to have passed the lips along the several apertures, the pipes, in blowing on them, being moved along the lips. Quid non faciebat Amyntas. Alluding to a well-known player on the syrinx in the neighbourhood, who left no means untried to equal the skill of Corydon.-Disparibus septem, &c. "Formed of seven hemlock stalks of unequal length, fastened together."-DaA celebrated performer on the syrinx, who left his pipe as a legacy to Corydon.-Secundum. "As a second owner," i. e., and one deserving to hold it as such. Compare the explanation of

mætas.

Voss: "Von dir gebraucht, wird sie ihren vorigen Eigener nicht vermissen."

Dixit Damatas, &c. The repetition here, dixit Damœtas, lays a particular stress on the person of the speaker.-Invidit stultus Amyntas. Amyntas had foolishly hoped to inherit the pipe, and had approached, under this view, the couch of the dying musician.

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40-44. Nec tutâ mihi, &c. Found by me in a dangerous valley." The danger arose from the wild beasts that frequented it; and the risk encountered enhanced the value of the intended gift.-Sparsis etiam nunc, &c. Observe the force of etiam nunc. In progress of change colour. According to Wunderlich, hunters affirm that young kids, recently born, have their skins marked by white spots for the space of about six months.

time the animals

Et faciet. "And she will do so," i. e., will succeed in getting them from me. He avoids saying dabo, lest this open avowal of intention may offend Alexis.-Sordent tibi. "Are paltry in thy eyes."

45-47. Huc ades. "Come hither." The shepherd being in doubt whether these presents of the pipe and kids are sufficient to attract Alexis, renews the invitation by offering him a gift of flowers, to be gathered by the hands of the Nymphs, &c.-Lilia. The white lilies are those which were most celebrated and best known among the ancients.

Nympha. The imagination of the Greeks peopled all the regions of earth and water with beautiful female forms called Nymphs, divided into various orders, according to the place of their abode. Thus, 1, the Mountain-Nymphs, or Oreades ('Opɛládɛç), haunted the mountains (opos, a mountain); 2, the Dale-Nymphs, or Napaa (NaTaiα), the valleys (váπη, a woodland vale); 3, the Mead-Nymphs, or Leimoniades (Aciμwviádɛs), the meads (λɛ1μóv, a mead); 4, the WaterNymphs, or Naiades (Naιádes), the rivers, brooks, and springs (váw, to flow); 5, the Lake-Nymphs, or Limniades (Aiμviádes), the lakes and pools (λíμvn, a lake); 6, the Tree-Nymphs, or Hamadryades (Αμαδρυάδες), who were born and died with the trees (ἅμα and δρύς) ;. 7, the Wood-Nymphs, or Dryades (Apvádɛs), who presided over the forests generally (dpûç); and, 8, the Fruit-tree Nymphs, or Meliades (Mnλiádes), who watched over gardens, or flocks of sheep, according to the meaning of the term μñλov, a tree-fruit, or a sheep.

Candida Naïs. "A fair Naiad," i. e., water-nymph.-Pallentes violas. "Pale violets.” The plant here intended is, according to Martyn, the stock-gilliflower, or wall-flower, which all botanists, with one consent, allow to be what the ancients called Leucoïum,

formed from 2ɛvкòv lov, “a white violet." Theophrastus says the Leucoïum is one of the earliest flowers, appearing even in the winter, if the weather is mild, but if it is cold, somewhat later, in the spring. Pliny, in translating the passage of Theophrastus just referred to, calls the flower in question viola alba. As, however, the wall-flower is of a yellow hue, it may be asked how the term "pale" comes to be applied to it here. The answer is easy. In the northern parts of the world, paleness is, indeed, a sort of faint, dead whiteness; but in the warmer countries, where the people are in general of a more swarthy complexion, their paleness is rather yellow than white. Hence the Greeks and Romans by paleness do not mean whiteness, but a yellow colour or sallowness.—Summa papavera. "The tops of poppies." The kind here meant is the common red poppy, which grows wild among the corn.

48-50. Narcissum. "The daffodil." There can be no doubt that the narcissus of the ancients was some species of what we now call narcissus, or daffodil. (Martyn, ad Georg., iv., 122.)---Anethi. The anethum of the ancients is our "dill." In Southern Europe it grows wild on the rocks. In England, on the other hand, it is sown in gardens, and is very like fennel, but differs from it in being an annual, smaller, not so green, and having broader and leafy seeds of a less agreeable flavour. The flower is yellow, like that of fennel, but smaller. Sibthorp found it both wild and cultivated in Greece. Its frequent use, according to the ancients, injured the sight and the physical powers generally. The seeds were deadly to birds. Dioscorides speaks of an unguentum anethinum, and a vinum anethinum. (Diosc., i., 52.—Id., v., 41.)

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Casiâ. "With the casia." The casia here meant is not the aromatic bark of the East, but a common and well-known European plant, namely, the Daphne cucoron, or Thymelæa, called by some spurge-flax," or "mountain widow-waile." (Martyn, ad Georg., ii., 213.)-Mollia luteola, &c. "She sets off the soft hyacinths with the yellow marigold."-Pingit. Variegates, diversifies, or decks out.-Vaccinia. (Compare note on verse 18.)-Calthâ. It is hardly possible to determine what flower is here meant. Probability, however, is in favour of the marigold. La Cerda is incorrect in making it the ẞoup0a2uoç of Dioscorides.

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51-52. Ipse ego cana, &c. "I myself will gather quinces hoary with tender down." Some think that the apricot is here meant, but, according to Pliny, this fruit was not known in Italy till thirty years before his time, and was sold at a great price. The quince, or Malum Cydonium, is a native of Crete, and obtains its name from

the city of Cydon in that island. The kind here meant is the appleshaped quince ("malum cotoneum minus," Bauh. pin., 434). It was a great favourite on account of its fine odour, and was placed in sleeping apartments around the heads of the images that stood there. Only one kind of quince was eaten raw, the rest were cooked or made into preserves. Modern botanists make three kinds, the apple-shaped, pear-shaped, and Portugal quince.

Castaneasque nuces. In the southern parts of Europe chestnuts grow so abundantly as to form a very large portion of the food of the common people, who, besides eating them both raw and roasted, form them into puddings and cakes, and even bread. (Library of Ent. Knowl., vol. ii., pt. i., p. 92.) It is, however, not the wild castanea which furnishes the nuts that are principally consumed in the South of Europe and exclusively imported to more northern countries, but a number of cultivated varieties, the nuts of which are larger, and the kernels sweeter. (Penny Cyclop., vol. vi., p. 350.) 53-55. Cerea pruna. "Waxen plums." So called from their colour being yellow, like new wax. Hence the epithet cerina applied to this species. Thus Pliny remarks: "Sunt et nigra. . . . pruna . . ac laudatiora cerina" (H. N., xv., 13), and so, also, Ovid (Met., xiii., 817):

"Prunaque non solum nigro liventia succo,

Verum etiam generosa novasque imitantia ceras."

Honos erit huic quoque pomo. "Honour will be rendered to this fruit also." Thou wilt honour this fruit with thy approbation, even as Amaryllis bestowed her attention on the favourite chestnut.— Pomo. Observe, as before remarked, that pomum is a general term for any fruit on trees, &c.

Lauri. "Bays." The Roman laurus is our "bay." Our laurel was hardly known in Europe, remarks Martyn, till the latter end of the 16th century, about which time it seems to have been brought from Trebizond to Constantinople, and thence into most parts of Europe. The laurel differs from the ancient laurus in two respects: it has no fine smell, and it is not remarkable for crackling in the fire. The first discoverers of the laurel gave it the name of laurocerasus, because it has a leaf something like a bay, and a fruit like a cherry.-Proxima. "Next," i. e., referring to the intended position of the myrtle in the basket, next to the bay, and almost joined with it. That this is the true meaning of proxima here, is shown plainly enough by the very next line, quoniam sic positæ.

56-57. Rusticus. "A clown," i. e., a very dolt in offering such