C. Saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus
Et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi.

Si proprium hoc fuerit, levi de marmore tota
Puniceo stabis suras evincta cothurno.

T. Sinum lactis et haec te liba, Priape, quot annis
Exspectare sat est: custos es pauperis horti.
Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus; at tu,
Si fetura gregem suppleverit, aureus esto.

C. Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblae,
Candidior cycnis, hedera formosior alba,
Cum primum pasti repetent praesepia tauri,

29.] Corydon speaks in the character of Micon (see on 3. 10, 79), who is supposed to dedicate an offering to Diana with an address in the form of an inscription: 'Parvus,' as Menalcas, Theocr. 8. 64, calls himself μkóc,' a young boy.'

30.] The verb is omitted, as frequently in inscriptions, A. 3. 288. For the custom of offering spoils of hunting to Diana, comp. A. 9. 407, Soph. Aj. 178. The longevity of the stag was proverbial among the ancients. 'Vivacis cornua cervi' is copied by Ov. M. 3. 194.

31.] Proprium,' 'one's own property,' and hence 'permanent,' coupled by Cic. Pro Lege Manil. 16 with perpetuum,' with 'perenne' De Sen. 4. So A. 6. 871, "propria haec si dona fuissent," Hor. 2 S. 6. 5, "propria ut mihi munera faxis." The thought is the same as in the well-known line, Lucr. 3. 971, "Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu." The thing of which a continuance is prayed for is no doubt success in hunting. Tota,' not a mere head or bust. Serv.

32.] Comp. A. 1. 337, where this line is almost verbally repeated of a Tyrian huntress. A similar line is quoted by Terentianus Maurus De Metris, professedly from the Ino of Livius Andronicus, "Iam nunc purpureo suras include cothurno." Diana is generally represented with buskins. Puniceo:' colouring was frequent even in the case of marble statues. De marmore stabis:' "aeneus ut stes," Hor. 2 S. 3. 183, σφυρήλατος ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ στάθητι, Plato Phaedr. p. 215.

33-36.] Th. Priapus, we offer thee cakes and milk, being poor; however, though thou hast only a marble statue now, thou shalt have a golden one if the lambing turns out well.'

33.] Thyrsis fails first in his subject, Priapus instead of Diana, and then in the

66

30

35

sudden and absurd change from ostentatious homeliness to lavish promises. 'Sinum' or 'sinus' (Plaut. Curc. 1. 1. 82) is distinguished by Varro from a 'poculum,' quod majorem cavationem habet." (L. L. 4. 26.) The resemblance in appearance and sense to 'sinus' seems merely accidental. 'Quot annis,' comp. the yearly offering to Daphnis, 5. 67.

35.]Pro tempore' is coupled with 'pro re' by Caes. B. G. 5. 8, according to our circumstances,' ἐκ τῶν παρόντων, as Heyne renders it. The statues of Priapus were commonly of wood; but Thyrsis intends to insult Micon and his Diana, by apologizing for having had to make his god of the same material which his rivals promise to their goddess-not remembering that such extravagant language is utterly out of character.

37-40.] Cor. Sweet Galatea, lovelier than everything in nature, come to thy Corydon at evenfall.'

37.] Galatea, the Nereid, appears in Theocr. (Idyls 6 and 11) as the love of Polyphemus. Virg., who, as Keightley remarks, had transferred the language and feelings of Polyphemus to Corydon in Ecl. 2, here makes him address Galatea, who is his love, just as Daphnis, who in Idyl 8 answers to Corydon here, marries a nymph. The words are imitated more or less from Theocr. 11. 19 foll., and both passages are copied and characteristically amplified by Ov. M. 13. 789 foll. 'Nerine' seems not to occur elsewhere in Latin as a patronymic, but Catull. 62 (64). 28 calls Thetis 'Neptunine.' Hyblae;' see on 1. 55, though here it need not be a piece of mannerism, as a shepherd speaking as a Sicilian would naturally allude to Hybla.

38.] Hedera alba,' 3. 39.

39.] He bids her come to him in the pastoral evening. See on 3. 67.

Si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, veņito.

T. Immo ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis, Horridior rusco, proiecta vilior alga,

Si mihi non haec lux toto iam longior anno est. Ite domum pasti, si quis pudor, ite iuvenci.

C. Muscosi fontes et somno mollior herba, Et quae vos rara viridis tegit arbutus umbra, Solstitium pecori defendite; iam venit aestas Torrida, iam laeto turgent in palmite gemmae. T. Hic focus et taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis Semper, et adsidua postes fuligine nigri ;

Hic tantum Boreae curamus frigora, quantum
Aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina ripas.
C. Stant et iuniperi et castaneae hirsutae;
Strata iacent passim sua quaque sub arbore poma;
Omnia nunc rident; at si formosus Alexis
Montibus his abeat, videas et flumina sicca.
T. Aret ager; vitio moriens sitit aeris herba;
Liber pampineas invidit collibus umbras:
Phyllidis adventu nostrae nemus omne virebit,
Iuppiter et laeto descendet plurimus imbri.

δύσκαπνα δώματα. This and the preceding
line seem to be from Theocr. 11. 51, as
Keightley remarks, though the context
there is quite different.

51.] Theocr. 9. 12 foll., 19 foll. 52.]'Numerum' is understood by Heyne and the later editors of the counting of the sheep, the prospect of which does not deter the wolf from devouring any of them: but the old interpretation seems simpler, the wolf not fearing the multitude of the sheep, where the notion is the same as that of Juvenal's defendit numerus,' and not unlike Horace's 'nos numerus sumus,' 'a mere set of figures,' a mere throng.' Alexander, when told of the number of the Persian army, replied that a single butcher is not afraid of a number of sheep.

6

54.] Perhaps from Theocr. 7. 144 foll. Quaque' is the correction of Heinsius, Gronovius, and Bentley for 'quaeque,' which is retained by Jahn and defended by Forb., the latter making sua' the ablative singular pronounced monosyllabically, after the example of Ennius and Lucretius (1. 1022., 3. 1025). Wagn. however replies with force that it is strange that Virgil should have preferred an archaism of this kind when a more obvious expression was close at hand. 'Quaque' too seems preferable to 'quaeque,' as making the trees the more prominent objects, and thus connecting the line with the preceding the trees are standing, and each has its fruit lying under it,'' poma' being used generally (2. 53 note). It of course comes to the

55

60

same thing whether the fruit be spoken of as belonging to the tree, as in G. 2. 82, or the tree to the fruit, as in E. 1. 38., A. 6. 206.

6

55.] Alexis' is doubtless introduced with a reference to Ecl. 2 (compare the mention of mountains in 2. 5), but as Corydon does not always adhere to his own character (see v. 30), we need not suppose that he is always speaking of those whom he has himself loved.

56.] The general drought would affect even the rivers, which are the natural resource when there is no rain.

57-60.]' 'Th. Everything is parched up: but Phyllis' arrival will bring fertility and refreshing showers.'

57.] All that can be said against Thyrsis here is that he dwells more on unpleasing objects than Corydon: but this was forced on him by the subject of his picture, and he makes what he can of the anticipated contrast, vv. 59, 60. 'Vitio,' 'disease,' a sense more common in the cognate words, 'vitiosus' and 'vitiare :' "Dira lues quondam Latias vitiaverat auras," Ov. M. 15. 626. Forb. thinks that Virgil may be referring to Lucr. 6. 1090 foll., where diseased states of the air are treated of as causes of pestilence. Comp. morbo coeli,' G. 3. 478, corrupto coeli tractu,' A. 3. 138. 58.] The vines on the slopes of the hills are all withering.'

6

59.] Phyllidis,' 3. 76, &c. 'Nemus omne' may refer to the plantations, or perhaps, as vines have just been spoken of, to the 'arbustum,' which appears to be its sense G. 2. 308. 401.

C. Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho,
Formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phoebo;
Phyllis amat corylos; illas dum Phyllis amabit,
Nec myrtus vincet corylos, nec laurea Phoebi.
T. Fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima, pinus in hortis, 65
Populus in fluviis, abies in montibus altis;
Saepius at si me, Lycida formose, revisas,
Fraxinus in silvis cedat tibi, pinus in hortis.

M. Haec memini, et victum frustra contendere Thyrsim.
Ex illo Corydon Corydon est tempore nobis.

61-64.] Cor. Each god has his favourite tree but Phyllis is fond of the hazel, so that is the tree for me.'

61.] Populus,' evкáv, 'Hparλéos iepòv Epvoc, Theocr. 2. 121. So G. 2. 66., A. 8. 276. The story was that Leuce was a nymph beloved by Pluto, who caused a white poplar to grow up in the shades after her death: and that Hercules, on his way from the infernal regions, made himself a garland from its leaves.

62.] Myrtus.' The myrtle, being a seaside plant, was supposed to have sheltered Venus on her first rising from the sea.

64.] Serv. seems to have read ' Veneris for corylos,' and Heyne prefers it, but it would rather weaken the emphasis which at present falls on laurea Phoebi.'

6

65-68.] Th. Each spot has its favourite tree but Lycidas will grace any spot more than any tree.'

:

65.] If Thyrsis fails at all here, it is that he does not pay so high a compliment as Corydon but his language is more natural. Corydon had spoken merely of favourite trees Thyrsis compares Lycidas himself to a tree, as being like it, the glory of the place which he frequents. Comp. 5. 32 foll. 'Silvis' are probably the plantations which the shepherd has to take care of, as ' horti' are his gardens or orchards. For this reason the trees belonging to them seem to be

70

chosen rather than the river and mountain trees to be compared with Lycidas in v. 68, as it is to the scenes of his labour that Thyrsis wishes to invite his beloved one. Pinus' is the Tírvç nμεpos, called by Ov. A. A. 3. 692, 'pinus culta.'

66.] 'In fluviis' merely means that the poplar is a river-tree. "Fluminibus salices crassisque paludibus alni Nascuntur," G. 2. 110.

68.] Comp. Homer's comparison of a beautiful youth killed to a poplar cut down, Il. 4. 482.

69, 70.] Thyrsis was vanquished, and Corydon crowned with lasting glory.'

70.] Virgil imitates Theocr. 8. 92, kỷк τούτω Δάφνις παρὰ ποιμέσι πρᾶτος ἔγεντο, but the meaning of the words is not clear. The choice lies between 'henceforth Corydon is Corydon with us,' as if, intending to say 'primus,' or some such word, he had changed the expression, as if to show that the highest praise that could be bestowed on Corydon was to say that he was himself, and henceforth it is Corydon, Corydon with us '-Corydon is in all our mouths; but though either would yield a sufficiently good sense, no adequate parallel has been adduced either for the identical proposition, 'Corydon est Corydon,' or for the use of 'est nobis' to signify all our talk is about him.'

WE have here again the songs of two shepherds, Damon, in the character of a despairing lover lamenting over his faithless Nisa, who has taken a less worthy mate, and finally resolving on self-destruction, and Alphesiboeus in the character of a woman also forsaken

by her lover, though only for a time, and trying to recover him by enchantments, which at last prove successful.

The poem is addressed to Pollio, in a preface running parallel with that to Ecl. 6 (see Introduction there, and note on v. 7 here). Its date may be fixed with certainty from vv. 6 foll., which evidently point to the time when Pollio had gained his victory over the Parthini in Illyricum ('victricis laurus,' v. 13, refuting the hypothesis that it was addressed to him when setting out on the expedition), and was on his way home to receive the triumph which he celebrated Oct. 25, A. U. 715. Whether "iussis carmina coepta tuis," v. 11, actually means that Pollio suggested one or both of the subjects of the Eclogue, or merely that he asked to have another pastoral written, is of course impossible to say. Voss chooses to fancy that it was for the second song, as an imitation of the Pharmaceutria of Theocritus, that Pollio had asked, and that Virgil intends to give it the preference, both by the appeal to the Muses, vv. 62, 63, and by the title of the whole poem. But Virgil's own words need convey no such notion (see note there), and there seems no reason to suppose that the title Pharmaceutria was affixed by the poet, especially as the Med. MS. has a different title, "Damonis et Alphesiboei Certatio."

The Eclogue itself is so far parallel to Ecl. 5 that it contains a species of amoebean, consisting not, like Eclogues 3 and 7, of a number of short efforts, but of two continuous strains of equal lengths-the difference between a dialogue and a set oration followed by a set reply-suggested perhaps by Theocr. Id. 9, where there are two songs of seven lines each. But the detail here is much more complicated, each of the poems being divided into parts, on similar, though not absolutely identical, principles (see on v. 48). Each consists of nine stanzas (so to call them), every one of them followed by a burden. These nine stanzas are not all of equal lengths, consisting respectively of three, four, and five lines; but they fall into a threefold division, the members of which are equal. It is in the arrangement of these divisions that the two poems do not correspond, the third division of Damon's song consisting of stanzas of four, five, and three lines with their burdens, while in the third division of Alphesiboeus' the order of the stanzas runs, five lines, three lines, and four lines. In the remainder they are identical, the first division of each being subdivided into four, three, and five lines, the second into four, five, and three lines.

The circumstances under which this amoebean exercise takes place are not stated (note on v. 14). The two songs have no formal connection, though baffled love is the theme of both. The first is imitated from various passages in the first, third, and eleventh Idyls of Theocritus, the second entirely from Idyl 2, which Virgil abridges and fits with a more prosperous conclusion.

The lynxes (v. 3) and the mention of Oeta (v. 30) show that the scenery is not national.

PASTORUM Musam Damonis et Alphesiboei,
Inmemor herbarum quos est mirata juvenca
Certantis, quorum stupefactae carmine lynces,

1--5.] 'My subject is the songs of Damon and Alphesiboeus, which entranced all that heard them, inanimate as well as animate.'

1.] Forb. seems right in supposing that 'pastorum Musam' is meant to be equivalent to silvestrem Musam,' as coniugis amore,' v. 18, appears to be to 'coniugali amore,' though of course the genitive in each case is still in apposition to the name

of the person or persons following. 'Alphesiboei,' 5. 73.

2.] For the effect of song upon nature comp. 6. 27 foll., 71. The cattle forget to graze for joy and wonder, as in 5. 26 for grief.

3.] The lynx, like the lion, 5. 27, seems to be neither Italian nor Sicilian, so that its introduction is an additional element of