make geminatus enim or geminatus...patrumque an explanatory parenthesis, supplying est.

510. gaudent perfusi] An imitation of the Gk. construction with a participle after verbs of 'feeling,' 'knowing,' etc.'they rejoice to steep themselves'; cf. Aen. 2. 377 sensit medios delapsus in hostes; 12. 6 gaudet excutiens; 12. 82, 702.

513-542. Meantime the husbandman ploughs the ground, and the year yields him increase of fruit and flocks, of corn and oil and wine. He has loving children and a chaste wife, while on holidays he joins in rural feasts and sports. Such was the life of the old Sabines, and so Rome became the fairest thing on earth; such a life did Saturn lead on earth in the age of gold before the clash of arms was heard. But enough; my course is done.

513. dimovit] Perfect; while all the evils just described have been going on he has quietly pursued his ploughing.

514. hinc...] 'hence (comes) his year's task'; it is in ploughing that he finds the chief part of his work, his work comes to him from the plough.

515. meritos] A beautiful epithet. Cf. 3. 525.

516. nec requies, quin...] Just like nec mora ulla est, quin... Ter. And. 3. 4. 14; lit. nor is there any respite but that the year overflows.' As soon as the work is done the reward follows.

519. venit hiemps: teritur] The omission of cum before venit gives great vigour. Cf. Hor. Sat. 2. 6. 48; 2. 7. 68 evasti: credo, metues; and perhaps Aen. 1. 572 vultis et his mecum pariter considere regnis: | urbem quam statuo vestra est, where, however, many make the first clause a question. Sicyonia: because Sicyon was famous for olives.

520. glande...] Late in the year pigs were sent into the woods to feed on the fallen acorns, and they returned home when winter began, 'joyous' and fat with their feast.

521. ponit]=deponit, cf. 403, or rather perhaps 'presents,' i.e. on the table, this use of ponere = 'serve up at a meal' being common, e.g. Hor. A. P. 422 unctum recte qui ponere possit. autumnus: mentioned out of its natural order after winter in order to bring in the description of the 'mellow vintage ripening on sunny rocks' as a climax.

522. mitis in...] For the peculiar order of this concluding line cf. 1. 468 n. and 540 below. saxis, i.e. the rocks on which the vines are planted in terraces; cf. 377.

523. pendent circum oscula] 'hang around his kisses' or, possibly, his lips.'

524. domus] 'the housewife.' ubera...: bringing out the idea of 'plenty'; cf. pingues and lacto.

527. fusus]' stretched.'

528. cratera coronant] Cf. Aen. 3. 525 magnum cratera corona induit inplevitque mero, which shows that actual crowning the bowl with a garland is described, although the Homeric κρατῆρας ἐπεστέψαντο ποτοῖο (Ιl. 1. 470), from which the phrase is taken, is now explained 'filled full the bowl,' èπiσтépeσlai retaining the original meaning of the root of σrépw=stipo, our stuff.'

530. certamina ponit...] One of the ambiguous phrases which Virgil loves, the words meaning first 'set up a mark for their rivalry or an elm,' but also suggesting the idea ' establishes a contest (ἀγῶνα προτίθησιν).

532. Sabini] The accepted type of a sturdy simple mountain race; Cic. pro Lig. 11 calls them florem Italiae ac reipublicae robur; cf. Hor. Od. 3. 6. 38.

533. Remus et frater] The accepted type of internal union as opposed to civil strife. Cf. Aen. 1. 291 Remo cum fratre Quirinus iura dabunt.

534. scilicet] assuredly,' giving stately emphasis to the preceding words, cf. 1. 282. If the pause is put after crevit the whole rhythm of the passage is spoiled and the jingle of scilicet et is intolerable. rerum pulcherrima, the fairest city on earth,' rerum being literally of things that are'; cf. Hor. Sat. 1. 9. 4 dulcissime rerum dearest in the world'; Ov. Met. 8. 49 pulcherrime rerum, where the gender of dulcissime and pulcherrime shows that res is not to be supplied here with pulcherrima.

6

535. septemque...] and with her ramparts enfolded in one the seven hills'; the line is repeated Aen. 6. 783, and marks the all-embracing unity of Roman empire of which Rome enfolding the seven hills is the symbol.

536. etiam]'moreover'; so too in 539. Dictaei regis, i.e. Jupiter (cf. 4. 151), who overthrew and succeeded Saturn.

537. inpia] The ox as the friend of man (cf. 515) was not allowed to be slain and eaten in ancient times (cf. the similar view held in India); Columella 6. Pref. 7 (bos) laboriosissimus hominis socius in agricultura, cuius tanta fuit apud antiquos veneratio ut tam capital esset bovem necuisse quam civem ; Cic. de Nat. D. 2. 63.

538. aureus] because his was the age of gold. Hence aureus is often used in Latin to describe what is perfect; cf. Hor. Od.

1. 5. 9 te fruitur credulus aurea; 2. 10. 5 auream mediocritatem the golden mean'; 4. 2. 23 aureos mores. Saturn, although identified with Kronos the father of Zeus, is really a purely Italian deity, the god of sowing (sero, satum) and the husband of Ops' plenty,' who was supposed to have once dwelt in Latium, whence he disappeared (cf. Latium from lateo), the golden age of agriculture disappearing with him.

541. spatiis] 'in our course,' the word literally being= 'laps' (cf. σrádiov and 1. 513). The end of Book I. exhibits a similar comparison of the poet and his work to a charioteer eager to end his course triumphantly in the race.

GEORGIC III

The

Now I will tell of cattle and the deities who guard them. idle legends of heroic song are all hackneyed and I must essay my own path to fame. Hereafter I will lead the Muses in triumph from Helicon to Italy, and, holding high festival in his honour with games and pageants, will rear a temple to Caesar, the gates of which shall show his mighty victories, while around shall be placed the statues of his great forefathers and sculptured images of conquered frenzy, strife, and guile. Meantime I must pursue the task that thou, Maecenas, hast ordained; yet soon will I gird me for my loftier theme.

1. te quoque] The First Book deals with agriculture, which is under the guardianship of Ceres; the Second with trees, and especially the vine, which is sacred to Bacchus : now Virgil says that he will sing of thee also, O mighty Pales, and i.e. he will proceed to deal with cattle, which are under the care of these deities. Pales: Ecl. 5. 35 n.

35 n.

2. pastor ab Amphryso] i.e. Apollo Nóos, see Ecl. 5. It is very rarely that an adverbial expression like ab Amphryso can be joined to a noun in Latin, whereas in Greek and English it is easily effected by the use of the articleπoμǹv å åπò 'A. 'the shepherd from A.' Cf., however, 2. 243 dulcesque a fontibus undae; Aen. 7. 647 Tyrrhenis asper ab oris ...Mezentius; Prop. 6. 6. 37 Longa mundi servator ab Alba; Ov. Am. 2. 6. 1 imitatrix ales ab Indis; Liv. 1. 50 Turnus Herdonius ab Aricia. silvae...Lycaei: the haunts of Pan 'guardian of sheep'; cf. 1. 16.

3. cetera, quae...] 'other themes that might have charmed with song': tenuissent is potential. vacuas: Virgil claims that

U

his subject will give not only empty pleasure but solid benefit ; cf. 2. 285 n.

4. vulgata] 'hackneyed,' 'commonplace.' aut Eurysthea... the subjects mentioned in 4-8 are the stock subjects for epic verse. durum: as imposing his twelve labours on Hercules (Aen. 8. 291).

5. inlaudati] 'not praised,' by litotes = 'accursed'; cf. infelix 37; 1. 88 inutilis baneful; 4. 479 inamabilis of the Styx and so='hateful'; Aen. 3. 707 inlaetabilis 'most mournfull ; 1 Cor. xi. 22 ἐπαινέσω ὑμᾶς ἐν τούτῳ; οὐκ ἐπαινῶ. Busiris was a king of Egypt who sacrificed strangers on the altar, but was slain by Hercules.

6. cui non dictus] sc. est, by whom has not the (tale of) Hylas been told?' The dat. of the agent after a perfect pass. is so common that there is no likelihood in the rendering to whom has it not been told?' Moreover line 8 shows that Virgil is thinking not of readers but writers-every one has sung of Hylas, and I too....' For Hylas see Ecl. 6. 43. Latonia Delos: it was in Delos that Leto became the mother of Apollo.

7. Hippodame, or Hippodamia, was daughter of Oenomaus king of Elis, who, being informed that he would be killed by his son-in-law, refused to give her in marriage except to a suitor who should beat his invincible horses in a chariot-race. Pelops effected this by the aid of Myrtilus, charioteer of || Oenomaus, who secretly took out the linch-pins from the wheels of his master's chariot. The ivory shoulder' of Pelops refers to the story that his father Tantalus killed him and served up his flesh to the gods, who however detected the fraud and restored him to life, replacing with ivory a portion of his shoulder which Demeter had inadvertently eaten.

8. temptanda...] 'a path must be essayed whereby I too may have power to soar aloft from earth and float triumphant on the lips of men.' The words virum volitare per ora are from the famous epithet which Ennius wrote for himself,

nemo me lacrumis decoret, nec funera fletu

faxit cur? volito vivu' per ora virum,

where volito seems to describe the movement of a living but disembodied spirit (Aen. 6. 293, 329; Cic. Rep. 1. 17. 26 speremus nostrum nomen volitare et vagari latissime) and per ora' around' or 'on the lips'; cf. Aen. 12. 234 ille quidem ad superos...succedet fama vivusque per ora feretur; Sil. It. 135 ire per ora | nomen in aeternum; also the common phrases in ore esse hominum, vulgi, etc.. Some however render before the faces,' and say that the poet is thinking of himself as a

bird which soars in the sight of all (cf. Hor. Od. 2. 20), but this seems less natural.

Virgil here distinctly asserts his determination to rival Ennius, the father of Latin poetry, by one day attempting a theme far loftier than his present one. This future poem (which subsequently, in a much altered shape, became the Aeneid) he proceeds to describe in an allegory (10-39), in which, instead of speaking of himself as writing a poem, he speaks of building a temple of which Caesar is to be the deity and on which all his exploits will be displayed in sculpture.

10. primus] i.e. I shall one day write a Latin poem such as has not been attempted before, and such as will show that the Muses have quitted Helicon for Italy. This line again contains a literary reminiscence of the famous description of Ennius by Lucretius as the first to bring down from Helicon to Italy an imperishable crown' (1. 117 qui primus amoeno | detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam | per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret). The word primus must not be interpreted too strictly, for of course Ennius was the first writer of a Roman epic poem, but it is customary for poets to claim that their work is novel, the 'first' attempt of the kind, etc.; cf. Lucr. 1. 927 avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante | trita solo. iuvat integros accedere fontis; Hor. Od. 3. 30. 13 princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos | deduxisse modos; Milton P. L. 1. 16 things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.'

Conington explains primus of Virgil's being the earliest rural poet, but there is no reference here (as there is 2. 175) to either the Bucolics or the Georgics; the reference is clearly to an epic poem and to a poem not yet begun, cf. modo vita supersit, the antithesis to which is interea line 40.

11. deducam] 'lead in triumph'; cf. victor 9, palmas 11, victor 16, and for this use of deduco Hor. Od. 1. 37. 30 invidens | privata deduci superbo | non humilis mulier triumpho.

12. Idumaeas palmas] In Greece a branch of palm was carried by victors in the games, and the practice was introduced at Rome 293 B.C. (the triumphator also wore a toga palmata), so that palmas = rewards of victory; and for referam cf. Aen. 4. 93 spolia ampla refertis; 10. 862 spolia...referes. The palms of Idumaea and Palestine were celebrated (Hor. Ep. 2. 2. 184 Herodis palmetis pinguibus; Judges i. 16), but the adj. here is merely an epitheton ornans and by no means in place.

13. de marmore] with ponam, 'will set up in marble,' though templum de marmore a temple of marble' might stand; cf. line 2 n. and Aen. 4. 457 fuit...de marmore templum; 5. 266 geminos ex aere lebetas. It was common for Roman