inaratae gratia terrae]: in the case of fallow land 'the land being unploughed brings no return meantime,' but by a change of crops this loss is obviated and does not occur. gratia: lit. ‘gratitude,' the land being personified, cf. line 48 n. ; when left unploughed it has nothing to be 'thankful for,' and so leaves the husbandman without any thanks in the shape of a crop. 84-99. Burning stubble on the land increases its fertility, either because this process somehow feeds the land, or because it purifies it, or opens its pores, or solidifies it. Breaking the clods too, harrowing, cross-ploughing, and generally working the land hard are good and will be rewarded. 85. Accommodation of sound to sense, the rapid dactylic movement marking the rapid sweep of the fire. For the sense cf. Joel ii. 5 'like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble'; Is. v. 24, xlvii. 14; Ex. xv. 7; Nahum i. 10. 86. inde] 'thence,' i.e. from the burning of the stubble. occultas, mysterious.' The 'mysterious strength and rich diet' which the fields thus 'take in' are as a matter of fact the incombustible elements of the straw, and include such mineral elements as silica, carbonate of lime, and potash, which are requisite for building up the structure of plants, and are by this process of burning the stubble restored to the land in very fine particles. The stubble under the ancient method of cutting corn probably included nearly all the straw. 87. sive illis...] It is hard to believe that the three reasons here suggested are anything but fanciful; the last two are contradictory, but Virgil probably thought that the effect of the same process might be different on different soils. Pliny (N. H. 18. 30) says that the real reason for burning stubble was to extirpate the seeds of weeds. 88. vitium...] 'evil,' i.e. all injurious qualities: inutilis, by Litotes practically='baneful'; cf. 3. 5 n. 90. veniat qua] so that by that road, i.e. by the newlyopened passages and pores; veniat is subj. because qua is final =ut ea. sucus is used of the natural juice or moisture which living bodies contain, and without which they become mere dead structures; here it is used of that 'nutritive moisture' or 'sap' which the earth provides to plants, and by means of which they live and grow. 91. seu durat...] The idea seems to be that the heat may bind a light soil together, and make the surface more compact and less vulnerable to the attacks of rain, heat, and frost. The rain would wash the goodness out of it, the 'scorching sun' burn up, and the 'piercing cold' 'pinch' or 'starve' its lifegiving powers. 92. tenues] 'thin,' 'fine,' and therefore 'searching.' 93. acrior] 'too fierce.' penetrabile: most adjectives in -abilis are passive, but many are used actively by the poets, cf. Hor. Od. i. 3. 22 Oceano dissociabili 'the dividing ocean'; Lucr. 1. 11 genitabilis aura ‘life-giving breeze.' adurat the verb urere is often used of the effect of cold as well as heat; we have no word which can mean both 'consume' and 'wither up' or 'pinch.' From the general sense of adurat'injure' some verb must be supplied after pluviae by zeugma. 94. multum adeo] Ecl. 4. 11 n. inertes: 'dull,' 'lifeless'; breaking them up brings out their latent energy. The object of the processes mentioned in lines 94-99 is to break up the ground and so expose it thoroughly to the effects of the weather, cf. 48 n. The technical term for breaking up the clods is occatio. 95. vimineas crates] 'bush-harrows,' used after the bigger lumps had been broken with the rastrum. 96. flava Ceres] = gaven Anunтnp, the 'golden-haired goddess of the 'golden corn' (flava farra 73). nequiquam: i.e. without richly rewarding him. 97. et qui...] Supply iuvat from line 95; and he (much benefits the fields) who turning his plough starts afresh and breaks through crosswise the ridges which....' The object of the first ploughing (proscindere) was to turn up the clods and so destroy the roots of the weeds, and then the ground was further broken up by 'cross-ploughing' (offringere). : 99. imperat arvis] To understand the force of this climax it is necessary to remember that impero is a very strong word in Latin it is commonly used of a master giving orders to a slave, of despotic government, or of the government of subject states, but it is especially a military word and suggests the absolute power (imperium) possessed by a Roman general in the field, but which was so incompatible with civil life that he was obliged to lay it down before he could enter Rome. Cf. 2. 370 dura exerce imperia, and Ruskin somewhere has the fine phrase 'Soldiers of the Ploughshare as well as Soldiers of the Sword.' 100-117. Wet summers and dry winters produce crops which neither Mysia nor Gargarus can rival. Often, too, the husband man does not let the fields alone after sowing, but levels the ground over the seed, and later, if there is a drought and the young crop is perishing, resorts to irrigation, or on the other hand (line 111) if the crop is growing too freely, feeds it off, and carefully drains away the useless and excessive moisture. It should be noticed that Virgil, after mentioning in lines 100 -4 the ideal weather for crops, proceeds to describe two opposite cases in which the weather is not favourable and great vigour on the husbandman's part is needed; each case is described in seven lines, and the parallelism is also marked by the opening words quid dicam...qui (104) and quid qui (111). In the first case the crop is perishing from drought, in the second it is likely to become worthless from overgrowth and too much wet: in the first case the husbandman must irrigate, in the second drain. This much is clear, but in the first passage the words cumulosque ruit male pinguis harenae are very hard, and in the second passage it is curious that the words bibula deducit harena seem equally so. 100. solstitia] = 'summers,' see Ecl. 7. 47 n., and so) (hiemes. 101. hiberno...] Virgil is said here by Macrobius to be copying a very old rustic catch, hiberno pulvere, verno luto, grandia farra, Camille, metes; for the expression winter dust' cf. our proverb 'a peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom.' laetissima farra, laetus ager: 'most joyous are the crops, joyous the fields.' The adj. laetus is commonly used in Latin of crops which are abundant and bountiful, cf. line 1 laetas segetes, and Cic. de Orat. 3. 38 laetas segctes etiam rustici dicunt. None the less we must not suppose that 'abundant' is an adequate translation of the word, which, at any rate in Virgil, is always used to describe actual 'joy' so here the crops are 'joyous' because they are flourishing, and the field 'rejoices' in its crops: the joy in harvest' (Is. ix. 3) is not confined to men but extends to inanimate nature. See note on lines 102-3. 102. nullo...] 'Under no (other condition of) tillage does Mysia so boast itself, and (when it gets such a season) Gargarus marvels at its own harvests.' Mr. J. Sergeaunt seems right in explaining that Mysia, a most prolific region, is never so prolific as when its tillage is conducted under the conditions of a wet summer being followed by a dry winter, and in saying that 'the negative in nullo cultu is not carried on' into the next clause, where hoc cultu has mentally to be supplied (cf. Hor. Sat. 1. 1. 1). Others explain' under no cultivation do Mysia and Gargarus boast themselves so much as a field which has favourable weather conditions,' i. e. no artificial cultivation can do as much for the best lands as favourable weather will do for every farmer. 102-3. se iactat: ipsa suas mirantur: Virgil speaks of the districts as though they were living beings proud of their own products. Cf. line 48 n. 104. quid dicam...qui] 'What am I to say of him, who... ?' Virgil having referred to prosperity which was due to favourable weather, proceeds to refer to cases where the husbandman secures the same result by care and industry. iacto...comminus insequitur] The image is that of the Roman soldier throwing his pilum, and then attacking the foe sword in hand.'-Keightley. The idea of persistency is also strongly present in insequitur; cf. insectabere 155; persequitur 2. 407. 105. cumulosque...] Some doubts have been raised as to the force of male pinguis. Occasionally male with an adjective which has a bad sense gives it a fuller force, e.g. Hor. Sat. 1. 4. 66 male rauci 'abominably hoarse,' Od. 1. 9. 24 male pervicaci 'mischievously obstinate,' and so some take male pinguis= too stiff'; but (1) pinguis naturally has a good sense=" 'fertile,' (2) harenae could hardly be used of a 'too stiff' soil, (3) it is obvious from the context that the soil is not stiff but light, and needing irrigation. It is certainly right therefore to regard male here as negativing the good meaning of pinguis (cf. Aen. 2. 23 male fida 'untrustworthy,' 4. 8 male sana insane,' 2. 735 male amicum, etc.) and render 'unfertile,' 'barren sand.' Probably then the whole phrase means 'levels the ridges of barren sand,' and refers to making the ground even and covering up the seed after it has been sown. Cf. Hes. W. 469 ὁ δὲ τυτθὸν ὅπισθεν | ὁμῶος ἔχων μακέλην πόνον ὀρνίθεσσι τιθείη | σπέρμα κατακρύπτων. 106. sequentes] 'following,' i.e. his guidance, as he makes a path for the rills with his hoe. Cf. carefully Hom. I. 21. 257-262 ὡς δ ̓ ὅτ ̓ ἀνὴρ ἐχετηγὸς ἀπὸ κρήνης μελανύδρου 108. ecce...] Observe the accommodation of sound to sense here, and also in Homer. The force of ecce is dramatic at the very moment when the crop looks parched and perished 'Lo! from the brow of the slope it traverses he charms the water forth. It, as it falls, rouses a hoarse murmuring amid the polished stones....' The field is supposed to lie on the side of a hill, and along the top of it water from the mountains runs in what Virgil calls clivosus trames 'a cross-path on the hill-side,' or 'channel across the slope.' " 'The thing,' says Sidgwick, 'may be seen frequently in Switzerland and Italy.' 110. temperat] 'cools' in contrast with arentia 'burnt-up." tempero is to moderate': here as opposed to what is hot it means 'cools'; in Hor. Od. 3. 19. 6 quis aquam temperet ignibus it means 'warms,' as opposed to what is cold. ne 111. quid] Supply dicam from the parallel line 104. gravidis..., 'lest the stalk fall beneath the weight of the ear,' as would happen if owing to the excess of moisture the corn grew too tall and luxuriant. 112. tenera...] 'eats off in the young blade,' 'while the blade is young': this would be done by turning sheep on. 113. paludis] 'of a marshy spot': a part of the field which in wet weather becomes like a marsh. 114. bibula deducit harena] 'draws (or drains) off by means of thirsty sand,' deduco being the opposite of induco in line 106 (its use in 269 is quite different). See Columella 2. 2. 10, who, after saying that there are two sorts of drains (fossae), namely 'open' and 'closed,' goes on to say of the latter opertae rursus obcaecari debebunt sulcis in altitudinem tripedaneam depressis; qui cum parte dimidia lapides minutos vel nudam glaream receperint, aequentur superiniecta terra, quae fuerat effossa, cf. Theophrastus C. P. 3. 7, who bids the farmer make such drains, λίθων πληροῦντα καὶ γῆς, ὥστε μὴ ἅπτεσθαι τῆς σκαπάνης, εἶτα ἄμμον (sand) ἐμβάλλοντα καὶ χοῦν. From these passages it is clear that for a covered or subsoil drain it was customary to dig a trench, half fill it with sand, gravel, or other porous substance, and then cover it in, the sand or gravel allowing the water to filter away through it and answering the same purpose as the open drainage pipes which we now use. Many render 'draw off from the spongy soil,' but harena cannot be used to describe soil which retains water, for it is the special characteristic of 'sand' to let water pass through it. 115. incertis mensibus] i.e. the months when you cannot be sure of not having violent rains, the spring and autumn months. 116. obducto...] 'covers all things far and wide with a coating of mud.' 118-159. These are not, however, the only things which the |