12, Ov. Her. 5. 21 seq., and Mr. Jerram quotes Shak. As You Like It 3. 2

'O Rosalind, these trees shall be my books,

And in their barks my thoughts I'll character;
That every eye, which in this forest looks,

Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere........'

54. amores] Here probably used in a double sense-(1)= the love-songs carved upon the trees, which will grow with their growth, (2)= the 'love' or 'passion' of Gallus.

55. mixtis lustrabo Maenala Nymphis] 'I will traverse Maenalus in company with the Nymphs.' The Nymphs are wood-nymphs (line 62 Hamadryades), who would naturally delight in roaming through the forest and hunting.

58. iam mihi...]' already I seem to myself to be traversing..., 'tis joy to hurl....' In imagination he seems to be already enjoying the happier life he hopes for. There is a dramatic contrast between the enthusiasm of these words and the melancholy of the next as his dream suddenly vanishes and he awakes to sad reality.

59. Partho torquere Cydonia cornu spicula] Cydonia is in Crete and Cretan archers were famous; G. 3. 345. For the 'ornamental epithets' cf. Introduction, p. xxvi. and G. 1. 8 n.

60. tamquam...] He suddenly recollects himself and breaks off his description :-' as if that (i.e. hunting) were a remedy for my madness!'

62. iam marks strongly the change which has suddenly come upon him. This change is also emphasised by the repetition of rursus, which (= reversus 'back again') expresses the complete return of his former feelings. This force of rursus is imperfectly expressed by our English again.' Translate 'now again neither woodland Nymphs nor even songs delight me: again, even ye woods, depart.'

64. non possunt...nec si...nec si] 'cannot change him... whether...or if'; for the repeated negative cf. 4. 55 n. labores, 'troubles. Note the mournful movement of the line.

65. frigoribus mediis] This goes with both the following clauses, as its position shows, whether in mid cold we both drink the Hebrus and endure....'

68. versemus] 'drive,' keep moving from place to place.

69. Amōr: et] Cf. 1. 38 n. et nos: 'us too," i.e. as well as everything else.

N

70-77.

So ends my pastoral lay, a humble lay but one that the Muses will endear to Gallus as a remembrance of my everLet us away; the evening shades warn us, my flock, to hasten home.

growing love.

70. haec] No doubt this refers chiefly to the present Eclogue, but it is clear that these lines are also intended to form a sort of epilogue to the whole of the Eclogues.

72. vos haec...] 'you will make even this precious in the eyes of Gallus': the next lines suggest how this will be done ; the Muses will remind Gallus that, however humble the poem, it is to be prized for the true affection which inspires it.

73. in horas] hour by hour,' 'every hour': so commonly in dies day by day.'

74. quantum...] 'as much as the green alder shoots in early spring.'

75. gravis] injurious': cantantibus, i.e. to those who continue to sit singing after the shadows begin to fall.

77. Notice the reposeful cadence of this concluding line.

GEORGIC I

1—42. Introductory. Agriculture is my theme-the growing of corn, the management of vines, the rearing of flocks and herds, the keeping of bees. I invoke the great heavenly luminaries that bring the seasons, the deities that give corn and wine, the Fauns and the Dryads, Neptune who first produced the horse, Aristaeus feeder of cattle, Pan too keeper of sheep, Minerva discoverer of the olive, Triptolemus inventor of the plough, Silvanus planter of trees, and the gods and goddesses all who love the fields; but chiefly I ask thy aid, O Caesar, thou of whom we know not yet whether thy deity is to be of the earth or of the sea or of the sky (for assuredly it shall not belong to the world below); do thou grant thy gracious favour to my bold attempt, and even now, pitying the ignorance of husbandmen, learn the divine duty of hearing prayer.

1-4. quid...parcis] A series of parallel clauses in oblique interrogation, dependent on canere: what makes the cornfields joyous, at what season it is fitting to upturn the soil... now will I begin to sing.' The culture of the fields principally occupies the First Book of the Georgics, the management of trees and especially of the vine the Second, the care of cattle the Third, and that of bees the Fourth.

For laetas segetes cf. 101 n.

:

2. ulmisque adiungere vites] 'to wed the vines to the elms' elms were specially grown to train vines upon, and were then spoken of as 'wedded' to the vine; cf. Hor. Od. 4. 5. 30 et vitem viduas ducit ad arbores; whereas the plane-tree, which owing to its broad shady leaves was useless for this purpose, was called 'the bachelor plane,' Hor. Od. 2. 15. 4 platanusque caelebs | evincet ulmos.

3. cultus habendo pecori] 'treatment for keeping a flock': this use of the dative with the gerundive is chiefly found in

legal phrases, e.g. tresviri agris dividendis 'a body of three land commissioners,' decemviri legibus scribendis, but is not infrequent in poetry, cf. 2. 9 arboribus natura creandis; 178 rebus natura ferendis quality for producing things'; 2. 397 labor curandis vitibus labour for managing vines'; 3. 159 pecori submittere habendo; Hor. Od. 4. 11. 3 nectendis apium coronis 'parsley for weaving chaplets.'

4. pecori, apibus] For the hiatus cf. Ecl. 3. 63 n.

apibus...] 'how great experience for (keeping) thrifty bees'; habendis is to be supplied from habendo.

6. lumina] These 'most glorious universal lights' which 'conduct the year through heaven' are clearly the sun and moon, which, as they appear to move among the stars, bring with them the changing seasons that make up the year.

Conington and Sellar, following Macrobius, consider that the absence of any connecting particle compels us to regard Liber et alma Ceres as in apposition with lumina, and to identify the sun and moon with Liber and Ceres. Even if some authority can be quoted for the identification of the sun with Bacchus (and in spite of the clever suggestion of Sellar that flava Ceres in line 96 is the 'yellow harvest-moon'), it is impossible that Virgil can have expected his readers to be acquainted with so obscure a theory, and consequently to take the plain words clarissima mundi lumina in so peculiar and unnatural a sense. The asyndeton is perfectly natural, for, in giving so long a list of deities, variation from the ordinary and mechanical method of connection is essential in poetry. Moreover, in mentioning each deity, the poet carefully adds some words explaining the special reason for which he is invoked (see Summary): the sun and moon are invoked because they bring the seasons, Liber and Ceres because they gave wine and corn, and so throughout. If, however, Liber and Ceres are identified with the sun and moon, then two strikingly different reasons are given why these deities are invoked, and the careful balance of the passage is destroyed.

labentem] This word is specially used by the poets to describe easy, smooth, continuous motion ('ohne Hast doch ohne Rast') as of the heavenly bodies, of time, of a river; cf. Lucr. 1. 2 caeli labentia signa and Munro ad loc.

7. alma] A favourite epithet of goddesses, e.g. Pales, Phoebe, Cybele, Faustitas, Venus, 'kindly,' 'gracious,' but here also used with special reference to its derivation=quae alis 'fostering.'

si] This use of si with the indic. in appeals is very common,

cf. line 17; it does not imply any doubt of the fact appealed to, but rather assumes its certainty and reality; when you say 'if by your bounty earth exchanged...' you mean 'as surely as by your bounty earth exchanged....'

8. Chaoniam glandem] A good instance of Virgil's fondness for adorning his subject with allusions of literary, historical, or antiquarian interest. He speaks not of an acorn' but of 'the Chaonian acorn,' thus reminding his readers of the legends which connected the oak groves of Dodona (cf. 149) with the seat of primitive man. See Introduction, p. xxvi.

9. pocula Acheloïa] The Achelous was said to be the most ancient of rivers, and so the name came to be applied poetically to 'river water,' water from a stream' generally. Cf. Eur. Bacch. 627 'Axelov péρew 'to bring water' and Sandys ad loc. The reference here is also suggested by its nearness to the Chaones and Dodona.

A similar use is found Shak. Cor. 2. 1. 53 'A cup of hot wine, with not a drop of allaying Tiber in it,' and in Lovelace's Ode to Althaea from Prison :

'When flowing cups run swiftly round,

With no allaying Thames.'

10. Fauni] Faunus the 'favourable god' (faveo), whose voice was heard in the whisper of the woods, was one of the oldest Roman country gods. After him are named 'the Fauns,' beings half men, half goats, who are the ever-present guardians of country folk.'

11. ferte...] advance together, O ye Fauns and Dryad maidens.' ferte pedem clearly means 'advance,' i.e. in answer to my invocation, cf. 18 adsis and 42 ingredere; at the same time, the idea of rhythmical movement or dancing is suggested by the phrase, cf. Hor. Od. 2. 12. 17 quam nec ferre pedem dedecuit choris.

The association of Italian Fauns with Greek Dryads deserves attention as a good illustration of the blending of Greek and Roman mythology which was prevalent at this time.

12. tuque...] There is no verb in this or the next clause; the vocatives, however, mark clearly that some form of appeal is intended, and the third clause makes the nature of this appeal clear, viz. 'be present to aid me,' line 18 adsis.

cui] for whom,' i.e. in obedience to whose command. Neptune, or rather Poseidon, was supposed to have produced the horse either in Thessaly or Attica by a blow of his trident; one of his regular epithets is incos. According to some legends, Poseidon and Athene (Minerva, cf. line 18) produced one the