coincide, and (so) at once, whenever the vineyard has shed its leaves..., at once then (iam tum) the eager countryman looks forward....' olim cum is put for cum olim (see 4. 421 n.), as in Plaut. Trin. 2. 4. 122 primum omnium, olim terra quum proscinditur. 404. silvis...honorem] Cf. Hor. Epod. 11. 6 December... silvis honorem decutit; Theocr. 8. 79 râ dpvt rai Báλavoɩ kbσμos, τῷ μαλίδι μᾶλα. 406. curvo Saturni dente] i.e. the falx with which Saturn falciferi senis Ov. Ib. 218; unctis falciferi senis diebus Mart. 11. 6. 1 of the Saturnalia) is regularly depicted as the god of agriculture. relictam: he has left it for a while after the vintage, but the moment it has shed its leaves, he resumes his attentions. Many strangely take relictam = 'stripped of its leaves,' e.g. Dryden 'ev'n then the naked vine he persecutes,' but relictam is clearly contrasted with persequitur. attondens: probably rightly explained of root-pruning (ablaqueatio), which took place immediately before the top-pruning, cf. Col. 4. 9 ablaqueationem...sequitur putatio. 407. fingitque putando] 'shapes with pruning'='prunes into shape. 408. primus...] Cf. Cato de R. R. 5 opera omnia mature conficias face. nam res rustica sic est: si unam rem sero feceris, omnia opera sero facies, a passage which Virgil clearly has in mind, as in the same chapter it is said of the bailiff primus cubitu surgat: postremus cubitum eat, while the formal (198 n.) imperatives fodito, cremato, referto, metito are an exact reproduction of the same passage. devecta carted home, as 207. 409. vallos] 'props' or 'poles' used in some way to support the fruit-laden vines, and stored up after the vintage to prevent them rotting. 410. metito] Here of the ingathering of the grapes; cf. 231 messis, 4. 231 messis of the 'honey-harvest.' postremus: that the grapes might be fully ripe. bis...: the two processes referred to are pampinatio, a general trimming of leaves and shoots, and runcatio weeding; each of these must be carried out twice a year. 411. segetem] 'the ground,' where the vines are planted; cf. its common use = 'corn-land,' e.g. 1. 47. sentibus: the word describes all that rough growth ('thorns and thistles,' Gen. iii. 18) which land produces when left untilled; cf. Lucr. 5. 206 quod superest arvi, tamen id natura sua vi | sentibus obducat ni vis humana resistat. 412. uterque labor] i.e. pampinatio and runcatio. laudato... the connection of thought is 'Since vineyards need so much care, praise large estates, (but) cultivate a small one.' Notice the chiastic order in LAUDATO ingentia rura, exiguum COLITO, and also how the contrasted clauses are simply put side by side. The form of the precept is borrowed from Hes. W. and D. 643 νῆς ὀλίγην αἰνεῖν, μεγάλῃ δ ̓ ἐνὶ φόρτια Oéolai, and the use of laudare should be compared with the Gk. Káλiot' étaiŵ (je vous remercie) used in declining an offer. Columella (4. 3. 6) quotes an excellent story of a farmer who dowered his first daughter with a third of his vineyard, and got as big returns as before, and then gave his second daughter half the remainder, nec sic ex pristino reditu detraxisse.' 6 415. inculti] Not inconsistent with cura: the willow-bed needs no cultivation, but you must be careful' about cutting it for withes. 416. iam...iam...iam] The repeated words emphasise the exultation of the vine-dresser that 'now' at last his work is over an expectation which, as lines 417, 418 point out, is not to be realised. falcem reponunt, 'lay the pruning-knife aside,' i.e. no longer require its use. 417. iam canit...] now at their end the vine-dresser sings the completion of his rows'; the vine-dresser has reached the end of his last row, and breaks forth into song at the thought that his task is finished. Others render the last vine-dresser.' antes is said to be orixo, rágeis, and is apparently a military term, cf. Cato de Re Militari (quoted by Philargyrius) pedites quattuor agminibus, equites duobus antibus duces. The old reading was extremos effetus (the MSS. varying much), but effetus is a startling epithet for a vine-dresser, who may be imagined as weary, but certainly not as 'effete,' i. e. capable of no more vigorous work, whereas he is described in the next line as having to start work again at once. As well the idea of this effetus vinitor singing' is absurd. 418. sollicitanda] 'must be harassed,' 'allowed no rest.' pulvisque... cf. Col. 11. 2. 60 pulverationem faciunt, quam rustici occationem vocant, cum omnis gleba in vineis refringitur. This process was to be carried out for the third time just before the grapes were ripe, this being supposed to afford protection against any dangers which the weather might cause, cf. Col. de Arb. 12 pulveremque excitato. ea res et a sole et a nebula maxime defendit, which shows that pulvisque movendus here is closely connected with the next line-' you must stir the dust' because the weather now causes anxiety, and you must adopt this protection against it. 420-457. Olives, on the other hand, when once well rooted, need no care, except occasional ploughing. So too fruit-trees need no attention. The woods also produce fruit and berries, the cytisus affords fodder and pines fuel; even willows and broom are useful. Look how Cytorus produces box-wood, Naryx pitch, and the forests of Caucasus timber for every sort of work! The myrtle is good for spear-shafts, the yew for bows, the lime and box for turning and carving, the alder for boats. Are the Bacchic gifts of the vine better than these, or are they not rather often the cause of strife and bloodshed? After emphasising the labour which the vine requires, Virgil artistically contrasts with it the many gifts which nature bestows on the husbandman without effort on his part, and so leads up to the enthusiastic description of their happy lot in 458 seq. 420. illae] Emphatic: they, as opposed to vines. 421. exspectant] 'look for'; personification. ་ 423. satis] 'sufficiently' without any aid of the husbandmen. Conington gives to the young plants,' cf. sata 350 (and this dat. is found 436; 1. 23, 106, 444), but the olives of which Virgil is speaking are not young; the young olives need care, while these are already established and only need ploughing between them to produce a crop. For the dentale cf. 1. 172 n. 424. cum vomere] 'along with the ploughshare'; the 'teeming crops' seem to accompany it. The phrase marks immediate sequence of cause and effect without the intervention of any other laborious processes. placitam = 425. hoc] 'therewith,' i.e. with ploughing; others give 'therefore,' on this account' r in Homer. = quae placuit. nutritor: the deponent nutrior only occurs here. For the emphatic form of the imperative cf. 198 n. For the olive as a sign of peace cf. Aen. 8. 116 paciferae ramum praetendit olivae. 426. sensere] Personification: the fruit-trees (poma) 'feel their trunks strong.' nemus = 429. nec minus] i.e. equally with the trees just mentioned. all trees which grow wild or in woods, as opposed to vines, olives, and fruit-trees which are grown in artificial enclosures. 430. aviaria] 'haunts' or 'homes of birds.' 431. tondentur cytisi] 'the cytisus is cut' or 'browsed on ' (cf. 1. 15 tondent dumeta iuvenci). The cytisus is a flowering shrub (florentem cytisum Ecl. 1. 79; 2. 64) on which goats browsed eagerly (ib.), and which was also cut to feed cows on to increase their yield of milk (3. 394; Ecl. 9. 31). 433. et dubitant...] 'and do men hesitate to plant and devote care?' i.e. when nature is so lavish how can men fail to meet her bounty by doing their best? The line is an indignant outburst as he contemplates nature's gifts the poet cannot understand how men fail to be enthusiastic about agriculture. et is the 'and' of indignant question; so kaí indignantis in Gk.; cf. in English : 'And shall they scorn Tre, Pol, and Pen? Cf. Aen. 1. 48; 6. 806 et dubitamus adhuc virtutem extendere factis; Cic. pro lege Man. 14. 42; 15. 45 et quisquam dubitabit...? This verse is wanting in the Medicean MS., and Ribbeck omits it. 434. quid maiora sequar] Closely in connection with what follows. Why should I go on to tell of larger and more important trees when even willows and the lowly broom' (line 12 n.) are still 'look you' (illae, cf. 3. 216 n.), in spite of their insignificance, of great use? 437. Cytorum] A mountain in Paphlagonia; cf. Catul. 4. 13 Cytore buxifer, and the adage πúçov eis Kúтwpov hyayes. 438. Naryciae] Naryx was a town of the Opuntian Locrians on the Euboean Sea, of which Ajax, son of Oileus, was king; on their return from Troy some of his companions were said to have been wrecked on the coast of Bruttium in S. Italy, and to have founded Locri Epizephyrii. The district of Bruttium seems to have been famous for pitch. 439. obnoxia] 'dependent on'; these lands yield their produce independently of men's care. 440. ipsae...steriles] In opposition to fetus 442; in spite of their being 'barren' (i.e. not bearing fruit) they still 'yield increase.' 441. Notice the imitative character of the line, with the strong elisions before and after Euri and the iteration of sound in franguntque feruntque. animosi, 'with angry blasts,' the adj. clearly suggesting both ideas; cf. the common use of animi='anger,' and the connection of animus with äveμos. 443. cupressosque] Hypermetric; cf. 1. 295 n. 444. trivere] gnomic perfect: 'men have before now' or ' often.' tympana, drums,' TúμTava, i.e. solid circular wheels, see illustration in Smith's Dict. Ant. s. v. plaustrum. 447. at myrtus...] cf. Aen. 3. 23 densis hastilibus horrida myrtus; 8. 817. 448. Ituraeos] A purely ornamental epithet. The inhabitants of Ituraea on the N. E. of Palestine were famous archers. 452. missa Pado] 'launched adown the Po'; the words give local colour and reality; Cic. Phil. 2. 8. 19. nec non et apes..., i.e. finally, in addition to all these benefits, trees afford bark for making hives (cf. 4. 33), or themselves when decayed provide a natural hive (cf. 4. 44). 453. alvo] So the MSS. (except Rom.) rightly, see 4. 34 n. Schaper, who reads alveo, points out that the synizesis of short ě, though common in the Aeneid, occurs only here in a Latin word (except deinde) in the Georgics. 454. Baccheïa dona] 'Bacchic gifts,' i. e. wine, the gift of Bacchus, who introduced the cultivation of the vine; but the peculiar adj. also suggests an idea of wild revelry (cf. bacchor, Βακχεύω, Βάκχειος) which is specially appropriate here. 455. furentes...] For the quarrel between the Centaurs and the Lapithae at the marriage of Pirithous, king of the latter, with Hippodamia, see Class. Dict. The subject is frequently treated in Greek art, as for instance in the sculptured metopes of the Parthenon designed by Phidias, and now in the British Museum, and on one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Cf. Hor. Od. 1. 18. 7; 2. 12. 5; Ov. Met. 12. 210 seq. 458-474. Happy indeed would husbandmen be did they but know their own blessedness; theirs is peace and plenty; they possess not splendour or luxury but they have repose, simplicity, and the gifts of nature to enjoy; their youth are hardy and reverent, and among them Justice lingered latest upon earth. 458. si...norint] Kennedy says 'The use of noverint in protasis indicates that futuros is to be supplied with fortunatos. O how more than blessed will they be if they come to know it'='how blessed are they, and how will their bliss be enhanced by the full consciousness of it.' 459. ipsa...fundit...facilem] All emphasising the idea of free bounty; for fundit cf. Ecl. 4. 20 n. 460. iustissima tellus] 'the most righteous earth,' because she not only gives back the seed entrusted to her but gives it back often an hundredfold; cf. Phil. (Stob. 66. 15) dikaιótatOV πρᾶγμ ̓ ἐστὶν ἀνθρώποις ἀγρός : Xen. Cyr. 8. 3. 38 γήδιον... πάντων δικαιότατον· ὅ τι γὰρ λάβοι σπέρμα, καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἀπεδίδου. At the same time iustissima is in strong contrast |