Adsidue veniebat. Ibi haec incondita solus O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? teris, iam fracta cacumina, fagos," 9.9. Spohn would remove the commas in each place, making cacumina ' a dependent accusative, like "Os humerosque Deo similis," A. 1. 589; but the epithet 'veteris' at least would hardly support such an accusative, and the apposition between a thing and a prominent part of itself is not uncommon; e. g., "iuvenes, fortissima pectora, "A. 2. 348. 4.] Gallus (10.50) talks of solacing himself by singing verses which he has already composed: the strains of Corydon, on the contrary, are unpremeditated. The word, however, in Cic. and Livy seems merely to mean artless,' like "versibus incomtis," G. 2. 386. 'Solus' is better than solis,' a plausible conjecture of Drakenborch's, as making Corydon the principal object. So Prop. 1. 18. 30, "Cogor ad argutas dicere solus aves." 5.] Iactabat,' 'raved.' A. 2. 588, “ Talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar." Inani,' 'bootless,' because it was 'montibus et silvis.' It expresses also a prolonged purposeless lament, like incassum,' G. 1. 387,nequiquam,' ib. 403. This can hardly be called an imitation of Theocr. 11. 18, where the Cyclops soothes his love for Galatea with song. 6-18.] 'Alexis, I am desperate; midday and everything living shelters itself from the heat; yet I am wandering under the sun in the hope of finding you. Never did I find the scorn of a loved one so hard to bear you may be more lovely than others, but do not presume on it.' 6.] The opening seems to be modelled on Theocr. 3. 6, xapiɛoo' 'Aμapvλλí. 11. 19, ὦ λευκὰ Γαλάτεια. 7.] Theocr.3.9, áñáɣžaoðαí μe πonosis, which is in favour of 'coges' over' cogis,' though Heyne inclines to the latter. 'Coges' has also most MS. authority, and agrees better with denique.' 8.] "Iam pastor umbras cum grege languido Rivumque fessus quaerit," Hor. 3 Od. 29. 21; "patula pecus omne sub ulmo 5 10 est," Pers. 3. 6; both descriptions of noon. In captant' and 'occultant,' as Keightley remarks, the frequentative may be significant, denoting the multitudes that are seeking shelter. 9.] Theocr. 7. 22, 'Avíka dǹ kai σavpos ἐφ ̓ αἱμασιαῖσι καθεύδει. "Rubum Dimovere lacertae," Hor. 1 Od. 23. 6. 10.]Rapido aestu:' 'rapidus' in its original sense is nearly a synonyme of 'rapax.' Lucr. 4. 712 has rapidi leones,' ravening lions.' Hence the word is applied to devouring seas and fire, and to the scorching sun. Keightley on E. 7. 66 shows that 'rapax' and 'rapidus' are sometimes used indifferently of seas and rivers, comparing Ennius 2. 46 with Lucr. 1. 720, and Lucr. 1. 14 with ib. 17. The meaning 'swift' probably flows from 'rapere,' in the sense of hurrying away.' Thestylis,' Theocr. 2. 1. 6 11.] She was making for them the mess called 'moretum,' which is described in a poem of that name attributed to our poet. It was composed of flour, cheese, salt, oil, and various herbs (herbas olentis) brayed together in a mortar. Keightley. Horace in his philippic against garlic, Epod. 3. 4, says, "O dura messorum ilia!" 'Olentis' is applied equally to the stench of garlic and the fragrance of wild thyme. 12.] 'I and the cicalas alone are stirring and piping still.' 'Cicadis' is of course the real subject, to be coupled with 'mecum,' though arbusta' is made the grammatical subject by the turn of the expression, and mecum resonant arbusta cicadis' is equivalent to' mecum canunt cicadae.' 'Mecum,' for ‘like me,' is found in G. 1. 41., 2. 8. But the sense here is not only 'with' or 'like me,' but 'with me alone:' and we may compare the use of 'mecum,' 'tecum,' 'secum,' for 'by myself,' &c. 'Tua vestigia' is explained by Keightley as if Corydon were merely going over the ground once trodden by Alexis: but the obvious meaning is more graphic. Corydon is trying to find Alexis, whom he supposes to be flying from him, Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis. vv. 60, 63, and examining his footprints. 13.] Comp. G. 3. 338, where the 'cicadae' are loud at the fourth hour before the 'aestus medii' (v. 331). 'Arbusta' here, as there, are probably natural, not artificial. 14.] Amaryllidis iras,' 3. 80. 6 15.] The later editors suppose the grievance to have been that Amaryllis was scornful, Menalcas swarthy; but Corydon obviously contrasts the scorn of Alexis with that of his two former favourites, his passion for whom of course he wishes to paint strongly, anticipating an objection that Menalcas at least could not be put into comparison with Alexis, as being far less beautiful. The next lines accordingly are a sort of apology for dark beauty, like that in 10. 39. 16.] Esses,' as the tense shows, refers properly to Menalcas only, the former love, not to Alexis, though Virgil, for the sake of brevity, chooses to express himself as if both had been objects of Corydon's affection at the same time. 'Quamvis' qualifies the two adjectives, however black, however fair.' 17.] Color,' beauty,' as consisting in colour. "Nullus argento color est," Hor. 2 Od. 2. 1. 18.] Ligustra,' probably 'privet.' 'Vaccinia,' hyacinths;' though some say, whortle berries, thinking that the contrast ought to be between two shrubs. Voss ingeniously supposes 'vaccinium' and váκivlog to be the same word. Cadunt,'' are left to fall.' Compare the use of 'jacent,'' are allowed to lie without being picked up.' 19-27.] 'Yet I am not a man to be scorned. I have numerous flocks under my charge; I can sing like Amphion; and the mirror of the water tells me that I am not uncomely.' 20-23.] From Theocr. 11. 34, where the 15 20 Cyclops boasts his pastoral wealth and skill in piping to Galatea. Hence too, perhaps, 'Siculis,' v. 21. Servius and others take 'nivei' with 'pecoris,' but niveum' is a regular epithet of 'lac,' like yaλa devкóv in Hom., Theocr., &c. So Ov. Met. 13. 829, in an evident imitation of this passage, "Lac mihi semper adest niveum." If Corydon is a slave, we must suppose with Keightley that in falling into the Cyclops' language, he is really thinking of the advantage he gets from having so much under his charge. 22.] Theocrit. instead of perennial milk has cheese, which being soft cheese unfit to keep would imply a constant supply of milk. Frigore,' as v úxe, Soph. Phil. 17, opp. to v Oépet. The words do not merely mean I have new milk all the year round' (Wagn.), but 'milk does not fail me even at the most trying times; in summer when "lac praecipit aestus" (3. 98), or in winter, which is the lambing season.' 23.] Vocabat,' 'piped them home from pasture.' Keightley refers to a pretty passage in Apoll. Rhod. 1. 575: Ὣς δ ̓ ὁπότ' ἀγραύλοιο κατ ̓ ἴχνια σημαντῆρος Μυρία μῆλ ̓ ἐφέπονται ἄδην κεκορημένα ποίης Εἰς αὐλιν, ὁ δέ τ ̓ εἶσι πάρος σύριγγι λιγείη Καλὰ μελιζόμενος νόμιον μέλος. Amphion and Zethus were brought up among the shepherds in ignorance of their divine birth. 24.] Amphion was a Boeotian hero, Dirce a fountain near Thebes: Acte was an old name for Attica, and Aracynthus is a Nec sum adeo informis: nuper me in litore vidi, Cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura ridge in Aetolia, near the mouth of the 25.] From Theocr. 6. 34 foll., where it is the Cyclops who finds himself not so ugly. It is just possible that a Mediterranean cove might be calm enough to mirror a giant, not possible that it should be calm enough to mirror Corydon. Servius observes the error, but he condemns Virgil and Theocritus alike. 26.] 'Placidum staret' is equivalent to ' placatum esset,' and 'vento' is the instrumental ablative. So "vento rota constitit," G. 4. 484. The wind is elsewhere mentioned as the agent in calming the waters, as in A. 1. 66, "Et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento " (note); 5. 763, "placidi straverunt aequora venti," perhaps after Soph. Aj. 674, deivõv däŋμa πvεvμάτwv ἐκοίμισε στένοντα πόντον. The common explanation is that the wind is said to do what by absenting itself it allows to be done; but though such a turn of thought is common enough, and hence applicable to any single passage, it is not easy to see why it should have suggested itself frequently when the wind is spoken of, unless we suppose that Virgil is consciously imitating Sophocles in all four places. For Daphnis, the great bucolic hero, who was beloved by a Naiad, see introduction to E. 5. 27.] Fallit' is certainly better than 'fallat;' though' fallat' has good MS. authority, including Med., and is adopted by Heyne. He means, of course, that the mirror cannot lie. 28-44.] 'If you would but try life with me! we would hunt and tend flocks to 25 30 gether, and I would teach you to sing like Pan, the shepherd's patron. It is an art which others have envied, and I have a pipe which Damoetas gave me at his death as the only one worthy to succeed him. Besides I have two pet roes, which I am saving for you in spite of many entreaties.' 28.] Comp. Theocr. 11. 65. 'Sordida,' merely coarse,' opp. to the elegance and refinement of the city. Aristoph. Clouds 43, Εμοὶ γὰρ ἦν ἄγροικος ἥδιστος βίος Εὐρωτιῶν, ἀκόρητος, εἰκῆ κείμενος. 29.] Heyne thinks hunting out of place, and therefore proposes, after a suggestion of Serv., to take cervos' as antler-shaped props for the cottage; but Serv. himself had justly observed that Corydon invites Alexis to pleasure, not to toil, and Wagn. adds that there is abundant proof of the connection between the hunter and the shepherd, e. g. G. 2.471., 3.409. Besides Virg. witnesses to his own meaning by the similar expression, 'figere damas," G. 1. 308, and Sen. Herc. F. has "Tutosque fuga figere cervos" (passages referred to by Cerda). 66 30.] cum.' "Viridi hibisco,' for 'ad viridem hibisSo Hor. 1 Od. 24. 18, “Quam (imaginem)...nigro compulerit Mercurius gregi,' where the 'grex niger' must mean the souls already below. Serv. comp. A. 5. 451, "It clamor caelo." Some however take ‘hibisco' as a rod of hibiscus, with which the kids are driven. It is unluckily uncertain what plant the hibiscus is, Dioscorides and Palladius describing it as a kind of mallow, Pliny as resembling a parsnip. Neither a mallow nor a parsnip would make a rod; but as we find the shepherd in 10. 71 making a basket with 'hibiscus,' we may conclude that it possessed some strength and pliancy. 32.] Pluris:' we hear of pipes made of three, nine, eleven, fifteen, and twenty-one reeds. The Cyclops in Ov. Met. 13. 784 has one of a hundred. Forb. 33.] "Pecori pecorisque magistro," 3. 101. Ov. F. 4. 747. Nec te poeniteat calamo trivisse labellum: 34.] Trivisse labellum,' by running the under lip backwards and forwards along the fistula. Lucr. 4. 588 of Pan, "Unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hiantis." 'Poeniteat,' not quite the same as 'pudeat,' as the act is rhetorically supposed to have been done (hence the past trivisse') and the actor to be looking back on it. 35.] Amyntas is not a favourite (10. 38), but a foolish and envious rival (5. 8 foll.). 36.] Cicutis,' hollow hemlock stalks. "Cavas inflare cicutas," Lucr. 5. 1383, of the origin of pastoral music. 38.] Secundum,' 'my worthy successor;' • secundus being used of that which is nearly equal. Hor. 1 Od. 12. 17, "Unde nil maius generatur ipso Nec viget quicquam simile aut secundum; Proximos illi tamen occupavit Pallas honores." Comp. also E. 5. 48, "Nec calamis solum aequiparas sed voce magistrum; Fortunate puer, tu nunc eris alter ab illo." Ista, not 'haec,' as being already Corydon's property when Damoetas spoke. It is not even certain from the words that the gift may not have been made long before his death. 39.] Stultus,' because he fancied himself equal to Corydon. The language, as Forb. remarks, is rather epic. 40.] There are similar love presents in Theocr. 3.34., 11.40. Nec tuta,' from wild beasts. The difficulty enhances the value of the present, as Heyne remarks, comparing Ov. M. 13. 834. 41.] These white spots disappear after the roe is six months old (Serv. and Wunderlich), and therefore these roes would be very young. Theocr. 11. 40 has rpέow de Tot ἕνδεκα νεβρώς, Πάσας μαννοφόρως, where μavvopóows, though naturally meaning adorned with collars (μávvoc), is by some commentators referred to spots. 35 40 45 42.] Bina die siccant ovis ubera,' i. e. they suck the same ewe twice a day. Varro, R. R. 2. 2. 15. Keightley. The distributive force of 'bina' is made to exert itself not on the principal word,' capreoli,' but on the accessory 'dies,' so that it is a kind of hypallage. 43.] Abducere orat:''oro' with an infinitive on the analogy of 'volo,' 'peto,' 'postulo.' Comp. A. 6. 313, "Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum." The passage is from Theocr. 3. 33, Táv μɛ καὶ ὁ Μέρμνωνος Εριθακὶς ἁ μελανόχρως Αἰτεῖ· καὶ δωσῶ οἱ, ἐπεὶ σύ μοι ἐνδιαOpúrry. Thestylis' from v. 10 appears to be a slave. 44.] 'Et faciet' equivalent to 'et abducet,' as we should say 'and she shall do so.' So ni faciat,' A. 1. 62, is equivalent to 'ni molliat et temperet.' Observe how Virgil throughout this line has varied the expressions of Theocritus, his Corydon being more courteous, and his Alexis presumably more sensitive. The fact has been already noticed in part by Servius. 45-55.] 'Come and enjoy a country life. Nature produces her loveliest flowers -all for thee; and thou shalt have the fairest and most delicious fruits.' Spohn rightly remarks that the general scope of the passage is simply an invitation to share the delights of the country, Corydon representing the nymphs and himself as doing the honours; but this does not exclude the notion of special presents of flowers and fruit like those in 3. 70. With the expression, comp. G. 2. 3 note. 46.] The nymphs offer flowers, being goddesses of the springs that water them, as Voss remarks, comparing pseudo-Virg. D Pallentis violas et summa papavera carpens, Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, Copa 15, "Et quae virgineo libata Achelois 47.] Pallentis violas,' 'yellow violets,' λεvкóïov, opp. nigrae,' μɛλávɩov, “tinctus viola pallor amantium," Hor. 3 Od. 10. 14. Heyne remarks that the paleness of southerns is yellow. Ovid, M. 11. 100, has saxum palluit auro." 48.] 'Anethus:' an aromatic plant akin to the fennel, with a yellow flower; it is grown in our gardens. In a celebrated passage of Moschus (Idyl. 3. 101) it is called τό τ' εὐθαλὲς οὖλον ἂνηθον. 49.] Casia' an aromatic shrub, with leaves like the olive, common in the south of Europe. Intexens casia (vaccinia),' a poetical variety for 'intexens casiam.' 50.] Vaccinia,' the dark hyacinth, v. 18. It is not clear whether caltha' is the chrysanthemum or the marigold. That its fragrance was not its recommendation appears from Pliny (21. 6), where its' gravis odor' is mentioned, and Ovid (Pont. 2. 4. 28), who enumerates among other changes in the course of nature" Calthaque Paestanas vincet odore rosas.' 'Pingit,'' picks out.' 51.] A description of quinces, which were called 'mala Cydonia.' These fruits have nothing to do with making a garland, as some of the commentators think. The nymphs bring flowers in baskets. Corydon gathers fruits, and also sprigs of bay and myrtle. 53.] Cerea pruna,' 'yellow plums,' which were valued more than purple. Pliny 15. 13. Ovid, M. 13. 817.Huic quoque pomo,' i. e. 'prunis;' 'pomum 54.] Proxima :' the companion of the laurel, always, and not only in this nosegay. Among other instances is Hor. 3 Od. 4. 19, "ut premerer sacra Lauroque collataque myrto." Comp. the use of proximus' for near kin and bosom friends. 56-68.] 'Vain hope, to recommend myself by presents which he will disdain, and a richer rival surpass! O this destructive passion! Yet why should he disdain a life which even gods have loved? I must follow him-it is mere natural attraction. Evening coming, and no relief!' 56.] Rusticus,' 'you are a clown;' i. e. your presents are clownish. Alexis lived in the city, v. 28. 57.] Iollas, the master of Alexis, would outbid you.' For 'certes-concedat' the Dresden Servius has the indicative Certas concedit,' while some MSS. have ' concedet.' But as he does not mean to compete, the subjunctive is preferable. 58.] 'Quid volui mihi:' like the common phrase 'quid tibi vis?' 'What do you mean?' What are you after?' He suddenly reflects on the destructiveness of his passion. This is more simple and natural than to suppose with Heyne and Voss that he |