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Stat Fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum.
Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptos et ingens
Lydia, nec populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes
Observant. Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est;
Amisso rupere fidem, constructaque mella
Diripuere ipsae et cratis solvere favorum.
Ille operum custos, illum admirantur, et omnes

tuma:' it seems doubtful whether the omis-
sion of the comparative particle, which is as
common in Greek as in Latin, is an abbre-
viation arising from constant colloquial use,
or a relic of a time when comparison may
have been expressed by simple juxtaposi-
tion. This latter view may seem to have
some probability, if we consider what is the
meaning of the various forms by which
comparison is expressed in some of the best
known languages. 'Quam' means in such
a way as― minor est quam tu,' he is less
viewed in reference to you, judged by your
standard. Soals,' 'wie,' in German, wg
in such phrases as μãoσov wc éμoì yλvкú.
Our 'than,' as Latham says, is 'then'
'he is less, then you.' With the solution
would seem to be he is less, viewed as an
alternative to you.' The genitive and ab-
lative are cases of reference.

209.] Fortuna domus' was a favourite expression in the imperial period for the destiny or star of the reigning family-a notion which, as Heyne remarks, may illustrate Virgil's use of the words, though to suppose any connexion between the two would be an anachronism. The word 'Fortuna' was already in use to express the destiny of the Roman people; and to this at any rate Virgil may very well be supposed to allude, as in A. 1. 454, " quae Fortuna sit urbi;" 11. 345, " quid Fortuna ferat populi." 'Stat Fortuna' may be further illustrated by A. 3. 16, “dum Fortuna fuit;" 7. 413, "sed Fortuna fuit," where the destinies of the cities Troy and Ardea are respectively spoken of. • Avi numerantur avorum expresses retrospectively what is expressed prospectively by genus inmor

tale manet.'

210-218.] 'Their submission to their monarch is more than oriental. Social order with them is bound up with his life: they guard him, carry him, and die for him.'

211.] The older Romans, like the Greeks (e. g. Aeschylus), draw their notions of absolute monarchy from the eastern nations. The selection of 'Aegyptos' will need no comment to one who recollects that the battle of Actium was fought about the time that Virgil was finishing the

210

215

Georgics. 'Ingens Lydia' is doubtless meant to recall the μɛyáλŋ doxʼn of Croesus, as the epithet, inapplicable to a later period, might be sufficient to show.

212.] The Parthians kissed the ground when approaching their king. Cerda refers to Martial 10. 72. 5, "Ad Parthos procul ite pileatos, Et turpes humilesque supplicesque Pictorum sola basiate regum,' where the whole epigram illustrates the antipathy to despotism as oriental and unRoman. 'Medus Hydaspes' is another geographical inaccuracy, voluntary or involuntary, on Virgil's part (see on E. 1. 63, 66., 2. 24), as it is evidently the word 'Medus' which gives the point, suggesting the associations of Persian royalty, so that even if it could be shown, as has been attempted, that the river rises within the limits of Persia, it would not make the expression a proper one. With the substitution of the river for the nation Cerda comp. Lucan 1. 19, "Sub iuga iam Seres, iam barbarus isset Araxes," where Hydaspes' is actually read by Bentley. Comp. also 2. 225, 226, "Talem arat . . . Clanius."

213.] Germanus sees in this line a direct allusion to a Persian custom of allowing an interregnum of eight days between the death of a king and the accession of his successor, that the nation might taste the evils of anarchy. Whatever may be thought of this, the language of Virgil may be illustrated by Aeschylus' description of the dissolution of order impending on Xerxes' overthrow, Pers. 591, Ovd' ëтɩ yλwooα Booτοῖσιν Εν φυλακαῖς· λέλυται γὰρ Λαὸς ἐλεύθερα βάζειν, Ὡς ἐλύθη ζυγὸν ἀλκᾶς. 'Constructa' seems to refer rather to the honey-combs than to the honey, the same thing which is expressed immediately afterwards by 'cratis favorum.'

214.] 'Cratis' from the resemblance of the holes in the comb to wicker-work, as Pind. Pyth. 6. 54, quoted by Cerda, talks of μeλtoσāv tyytòv nóvov. There may perhaps be a reference to Eastern armies, on the death of their leader, plundering their own camp, as Keightley suggests, citing however no instance of the fact.

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215.] Operum custos:' other writers

Circumstant fremitu denso, stipantque frequentes,
Et saepe attollunt humeris, et corpora bello
Obiectant pulchramque petunt per volnera mortem.
His quidam signis atque haec exempla secuti
Esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus
Aetherios dixere; deum namque ire per omnis
Terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum;
Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum,
Quemque sibi tenuis nascentem arcessere vitas;
Scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri
Omnia, nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare
Sideris in numerum atque alto succedere caelo.

speak of the queen bee as regulating the
work of the others. Cerda cites Xen.
Oec. 7. §§. 33 foll., Aelian 5. 11, and Pliny
11. 17. Comp. the description of Dido A.
1. 507, "operumque laborem Partibus
aequabat iustis, aut sorte trahebat." The
occupations of the Carthaginians had been
compared to those of bees in a previous pas-
sage, so that if Virgil had been aware of the
sex of the monarch, he would perhaps have
made it a point in the comparison.

217.] Λέγεται δὲ καὶ φέρεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἑσμοῦ, ὅταν πέτεσθαι μὴ δύνηται, Aristot. H. A. 9. 40. This takes place, according to other rustic writers, when the monarch is sick, aged, or tired. Cerda, who refers to them, compares the custom of the Roman soldiers taking up their commander on their shields and proclaiming him emperor. 'Bello' with 'obiectant.'

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218.] Pulchram . . . mortem' repeated A. 11. 647. Per' apparently signifies not 'by means of,' but, as we should say, through a shower of wounds.

219-227.] 'These human qualities have led some to think that bees are inspired by the "anima mundi," which runs through all creation, animal life, when apparently extinguished, being really transferred to the stars.'

219.] Virgil seems to confuse, rather characteristically, two classes of thinkers, those who from the special qualities of the bees consider them to be specially gifted with divine wisdom, like Aristot. de Gener. Anim. 3. 10 (quoted by Cerda), who says of wasps and hornets οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσιν οὐδὲν θεῖον, ὥσπερ τὸ γένος τῶν μελιττών, and those who believe them in common with all the rest of creation, animate and inanimate, to be inspired by the 'anima mundi.' The former doctrine seems to be that which he rejects 1. 415, as applied to the rejoicing of

220

225

Here

rooks after a storm, at least if we may
press the word 'maior' there, which seems
to discriminate it from the 'anima mundi'
view, though he may very well have con-
founded the two there as here. The latter
doctrine, which, as Heyne says, was ori-
ginally Pythagorean, and was accepted with
different modifications by the Platonists
and Stoics, is the same which Anchises is
made to expound A. 6. 724 foll.
Virgil merely mentions it, neither adopting
nor disapproving. The union of the in-
strumental or modal ablative his signis
with the participle 'haec exempla secuti ' is
illustrated by Wund. from the union of the
abl. abs. with the participle, in such sen-
tences as "Hannibal... obsidibus acceptis,
et commeatu usus sequitur," Livy 21.
34, a usage, as he remarks, found in Greek
no less than in Latin.

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220.]Partem divinae mentis,' as Hor. 2 S. 2. 79, comp. by Cerda, calls the human soul "divinae particulam aurae." This Virgil goes on to express further by saying that they breathe not merely common air, but pure ether, which was supposed to be liquid flame, the essence of the human soul,-" purum. . Aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem," A. 6. 746.

221.] Cerda comp. Arat. Phoen. 2, μεσταὶ δὲ Διὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί, Πᾶσαι δ ̓ ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα Kai Xpéves, where however the divine spirit is said to permeate not so much all parts of nature as all parts of the inhabited globe.

222.] Repeated from E. 4. 51.

223.] "Inde hominum pecudumque genus vitaeque volantum,” Α. 6. 728.

224.] Tenuis vitas:" "animos, quippe aetheriae naturae" (Heyne).

225.]Scilicet' seems to continue the explanation.

227.] The commentators can scarcely be

Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella Thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum Ora fove, fumosque manu praetende sequacis. Bis gravidos cogunt fetus, duo tempora messis,

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right in taking 'sidus' as a kind of noun of multitude, so as to interpret'sideris in numerum,' 'joining the number of the stars.' Numerus,' like apilμóc, seems to be applicable to a single individual, designating as it were his place as a unit, which is perhaps its sense in A. 7. 211, "numerum divorum altaribus addit." Thus the meaning would be, each flies up into the place of a star,' the reference being partly to the Pythagorean doctrine that each planet was animated by an individual soul (Plato, Timaeus 38, E), partly to the mythological belief that human beings and other animals were changed into constellations. But it would be simpler if we could accept one of the glosses of Philarg. "in numerum : id est, in modum" (another gives "sideris: pro siderum"), taking 'numerus' to signify part or function, a sense which might be illustrated, if not established, by the expression 'omnes numeri,' so as to make Virgil mean no more than that the departed life flew to heaven like a star or meteor. For succedere' the Rom. hasse condere,' of which Heyne thought the common reading might possibly be an interpretation; but the variation is easily accounted for as a transcriber's error.

228-250.] When you want to take the honey, disarm the bees, which will otherwise be violent and dangerous, by personal cleanliness and the application of smoke to the hive. There are two times for this, in spring and in autumn. If you wish to spare them, at all events fumigate the hive that you may remove the useless combs, and so preserve them from vermin. Taking the honey will stimulate them to repair the loss.'

228.] It is difficult to decide between 'angustam,' the reading of Rom. and others, and augustam,' which is supported by Serv. and Med. The latter is to a certain extent confirmed by 'thesauris,' though scarcely, as has been thought, by the latter part of the sentence, where there would be no relevancy between the grandeur of the abode of the bees and the means recommended for storming it. If it be adopted, a mock-heroic contrast must be supposed between the assumed importance of the bees and the easiness of their capture, like that in vv. 86, 87. But on the whole Wagn. and Forb. seem right in preferring 'angustam,' which suits best with the sim

230

plicity of a practical precept, and is not irrelevant to the process of rifling the hive.

229.] 'Relino' is the technical word for opening casks by undoing the pitch with which they were fastened. "Relevi dolia omnia, omnes serias," Ter. Heaut. 3. 1. 51. The removal of the honey from the cells is supposed to be an analogous process, on account of the sticky nature of the wax and gluten (vv. 39 foll.). Thesauris' with servata.'

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230.] Col. (9. 14) says that the person who is to take the honey ought to have bathed, and to have abstained from any thing that would taint the breath. It is natural then with Wund. to take ora fove' of rinsing the mouth, the process being the same as would take place in fomentation, though the object is different. We have already had 'ora fovent' (2. 135) of cleansing the breath, without any reference to ablution, the force of the word there, as is remarked in the note, being that of medical application; while both are combined in A. 12. 420, "Fovit ea volnus lympha." Virgil, we may remember, has other uses of foveo,' which may be characterized as rather strained or indefinite (e. g. 3. 420, and v. 43 above), and a certain circumlocution is natural in a poet speaking of a somewhat undignified action. 'Sparsus,' which has occasioned some difficulty, has doubtless a quasi-middle force, while its application is limited by' ora' and 'haustu.' The mouth of course would be sprinkled in squirting out the water or in taking the mouthful. The old reading before Heins. was haustus... ore.' Haustu... ora is supported by a sufficient number of good MSS., though they do not invariably concur in both words. Med. a m. p. has 'astu... ore fave,' which last words are recognized as a variant by Serv., and have been adopted by Brunck, as if the poet had meant to invest his precept with a ritual air. Other interpretations and readings have been suggested; but as the view given above appears satisfactory, they need not be mentioned. Fumos:' the smoke seems to have been intended not to stupify the bees, but to drive them away, as appears from Col. 9. 15 and other writers on the subject, as well as from Virgil's own simile A. 12. 587. This gives force to 'sequacis.'

231.] This and the four following lines

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Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum
Plias et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnis,
Aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi
Tristior hibernas caelo descendit in undas.
Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum
Morsibus inspirant, et spicula caeca relinquunt
Adfixae venis, animasque in volnere ponunt.

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are thrown in as it were parenthetically, but that is no reason for changing the arrangement of the passage with Schrader and Keightley, the former of whom would place them after v. 238, while the latter, accepting this, would also transpose vv. 239-247 and vv. 248-250. Bis gravidos cogunt fetus' is rightly explained by Serv. "gemina est fecunditas mellis," fetus being used generally for produce of all sorts, and gravidos' coupled with it as with 'fruges' (2. 143, 424), while 'cogere' is used of gathering and collecting, like cogere oleam,' Cato 65, 66, of gathering olives, with a further sense of squeezing the combs, as in v. 140. Virgil calls the gathering of the honey, the technical term for which, vindemiatio,' itself contains a metaphor, messis:' as in 2. 410 he uses 'metere' of gathering the grapes. Aristot. (H. A. 9. 40) and other rustic writers agree with Virgil in fixing two seasons for collecting the honey; but Varro (3. 16) makes three, one at the rising of the Pleiades, a second just before the rising of Arcturus, a third after the setting of the Pleiades, and so Didymus in Geop. 15. 5.

232.] The heliacal rising of the Pleiades is the one intended, supposed to be about the beginning of May: see Geop. 1. c. Wund. says it is now generally understood that the Pleiades are invisible from the end of April to the middle of June, a fact which he supports by Hesiod, W. and D. 385, where however Göttling, after Ideler, makes the forty days spoken of extend from the second week in April, when they are said to set heliacally, to the third week in May, when they rise again. Taygete, one of the Pleiades, stands for the rest, and is described as a nymph, as the Bull and Dog are described as animals 1. 217. 'Os honestum,' like "caput honestum,' 2. 392. 'Os ostendit honestum,' like tulit os sacrum caelo," A. 8. 591, of the morning star.

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235

comp. by Burm., "pedibus tellure repulsa Arduus in nubes abiit." With 'spretos,' which seems here to have a half physical sense, like our 'spurn,' comp. Hor. 3 Od. 2. 24, "Spernit humum fugiente penna."

234.] The reference is to the morning setting of the Pleiades, already mentioned 1. 221, where see note. Thesidus Piscis aquosi' seems rightly explained by Wund. and Voss, after Cerda and Catrou, not of the star called the Southern Fish, a notion which has led several writers on the passage into error and perplexity, nor, as others have thought, of the Dolphin, Scorpion, or Hydra, but of the zodiacal sign 'Pisces' (comp. Ov. M. 10. 165, “Piscique Aries succedit aquoso"), 'sidus Piscis' being put generally for the winter, which is just coming on when the Pleiades set, though actually the sun does not enter Pisces till the latter part of the winter. With the expression 'sidus Piscis' comp. "sub sidere Cancri," E. 10. 68. This rainy season the Pleiades are said to avoid by disappearing under the sea, 'tristior,' an epithet applied to bad weather (e. g. v. 135 above), being meant also to indicate that they depart as it were disconcerted.

236.] He speaks of the danger in taking the honey from the anger of the bees, which is to be avoided by the precautions mentioned above. So in the simile above referred to from A. 12. 589, "Illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra Discurrunt, magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras." 'Modum supra :' 'praeter' and 'extra modum' are also used.

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237.] Morsibus' used improperly for the stings. Inspirant venenum' like "inspires ignem," A. 1. 692.

238.] Adfixae venis' is a poetical variety for adfixa venis' (itself read by some MSS.). Strictly speaking, it is of course not reconcilable with 'relinquunt,' unless we understand the words to mean 'having fastened themselves on the veins, they (separate and) leave their stings there.' The expression is doubtless borrowed, as Heyne remarks, from Lucr. 5. 1322, "Morsibus adfixae validis atque unguibus uncis," though the construction is different. In vulnera' is read by Rom, and other MSS.,

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Sin duram metues hiemem parcesque futuro
Contunsosque animos et res miserabere fractas :
At suffire thymo cerasque recidere inanis
Quis dubitet? nam saepe favos ignotus adedit
Stellio et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis
Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus;

and by Non. s. v. 'anima;' but in vol-
nere seems better, whether it be under-
stood in the act of wounding,' or literally
in the wound,' a view confirmed by Sil.
12. 386 (quoted by Cerda), Alternique
animas saevo in mucrone relinquunt,'
where it is doubtless meant that the life,
like the blood, is left on the blade.

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239.] 'Metuens' was restored by Heyne from Rom. and others; but metues' is better, as there is no colour for joining parces' and 'miserabere' by 'que... que.' Priscian, who supports metues,' wrongly makes' parces... miserabere' the apodosis. Virgil means, 'if your consideration for them keeps you from taking the honey, you need not hesitate about cutting away the combs.' Virgil may almost seem to have versified a passage in Varro 3. 16, though the apparently corrupt state of the text makes it hard to speak with any confidence," si fecunda sit alvus, ut ne plus tertia pars eximatur mellis, reliquum hiemationi relinquatur: si vero alvus non sit fertilis, ubi quid eximatur, exemtio cum est maior (?), neque universam, neque palam (?) facere oportet, ne deficiant animum. Favi qui eximuntur (non eximuntur?), si qua pars nihil habet, aut habet inquinatum, cultello praesecatur ('praesecetur' or 'praesecator'?)." This passage, compared with similar precepts in the other rustic writers, may show that Virgil does not think of absolutely sparing the honey, but only of leaving a greater or less portion. In that case, the pity expressed in the next line may be for the injury already done by depriving them of a part of their store; in the other, and perhaps in any view, it will be for mischief not done but only contemplated, this prospective pity acting as a restraining power. 'Metues :' the bee-keeper fearing not for himself, but for the bees: comp. note on 2. 419. futuro:''deal gently with their future.' 240.] With contunsos animos,' comp. 'deficiant animum,' Varro 1. c., and the words of Didymus, Geop. 15. 5, our yàp οὔτε ἀθυμήσουσι, καὶ τροφὰ ἕξουσι : with 'res fractas,' 'trepidae rerum,' cited on v. 236.

'Parces

241.] At' as in v. 208. 'Aut' is erroneously read by Med. and Rom., which

240

also have sufferre.' Thymo :' fumigation is prescribed by Varro 1. c. and Col. 9. 14, in connexion with precepts about cleansing the hive. The latter recommends cow-dung, whence Schrader very plausibly conjectured fimo' here: thymo' however may stand, as Florentinus in Geop. 15. 3 speaks of fumigation with thyme and κνέωρον as a means of attracting them back to the hive. From the two former writers it would appear that fumigation is recommended partly as a means of purification, partly as grateful to the bees, not, as some have thought, with a view to expelling or destroying the vermin.

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242.] Dubitet:' with reference to the hesitation implied in vv. 239, 240, which, Virgil says, need not extend further. 'Ignotus adedit,' λa0ɛ rρwywv. Heyne. With the following enumeration comp. 1. 181 foll.

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243.] Stellio et,' the reading of most, if not all MSS., was regarded by the early editors as a cretic foot, and restored as such even by Heins., for the old text 'stellio,' which Heyne retained. The synizesis is of course easily paralleled from such instances as 1. 482, v. 297 below. It is doubtful whether cubilia' is to be taken with Wagn. as one of the subjects of 'adedit,' the lurking places of the moths being put for the moths themselves, as Forb. thinks, a bold expression, scarcely covered by Keightley's reference to the use of 'nidus,' v. 17,

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'congesta' constructed as a verb, the grammatical connexion being temporarily interrupted and immediately returned to in the next line. Lucifuga or 'lucifugus' is an old word used as a term of reproach by Lucil. 14. 3, “fuit lucifugus, nebulo." 'Solifuga' is mentioned by Solinus, c. 4, as the name of an insect; but the word is probably an error of his for solpuga' or 'salpuga.' Keightley thinks it clear from Pliny 11. 28 that the 'blatta' was the black-beetle.

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244.] Immunis' is used similarly as a term of reproach, Plaut. Trin. 2. 2. 69, "civi immuni scin quid cantari solet?" of a citizen who has no public spirit. The word is a compound of the old adjective 'munis' (i. q. officiosus '), used by Plautus, Merc. prol. 104, and Lucilius, and recognized by

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