University of Virginia Library

Ver. 2. Reed.] Avenâ, says the original.—The musical instruments used by shepherds were at first made of oat and wheat straw; then of reeds and hollow pipes of box; afterwards of leg bones of cranes, horns of animals, metals, &c. —Hence they are called avena, stipula, calamus, arundo, fistula, buxus, tibia, cornu, aes, &c. Ruaeus.

7. 'Twas a god.] This is pretty high flattery. Octavius had not yet received divine honours, which were afterwards bestowed on him: but Virgil speaks as if he were already deified. This was the language of the courtiers of that time.

27. The city] This manner of speaking of Rome, has the true pastoral simplicity in it.

34. As lofty] Not only different in magnitude, but in kind, say the commentators.

41. There Amaryllis reigns.] Some fanciful critics imagine that the poet meant Rome by Amaryllis, and Mantua by Galatea. But Ruaeus justly looks on these allegorical interpretations as trifles, and rejects them for the following reasons. 1. As the poet has twice mentioned Rome expressly, and by its proper name, in this eclogue, what could induce him to call it sometimes Rome, and sometimes Amaryllis? 2. He distinguishes Galatea from Mantua also; when he says, that whilst he was a slave to Galatea, he had no profit from the cheeses which he made, from that unhappy city. 3. If we admit the allegory, that verse Mirabar quid moesta deos, is inextricable. 4. Servius has laid it down as a rule, that we are not to understand any thing in the Bucolics figuratively, that is, allegorically. Ruaeus and Martyn.

52. The shrubs.] The arbusta were large pieces of ground planted with elms or other trees, at the distance commonly of forty feet, to leave room for corn to grow between them. These trees were pruned in such a manner, as to serve for stages to the vines, which were planted near them. The vines fastened after this manner, were called arbustivae vites. See the 12th chapter of Columella de arboribus. Martyn.

58. Swains feed.] The word submittite in the original may mean of the breeding the cattle, as well as of yoking oxen.

61. What tho' rough stones.] The reader of taste cannot but be pleased with this little landscape, especially as some critics think Virgil is here describing his own estate. 'Tis a mistake to imagine the spot of ground was barren, for we find it contained a vineyard and apiary, and good pasture land; and the shepherd says he supplied Mantua with victims and cheeses.

85. Ah! shall I never.] By en, in the original, say the commentators, is meant unquamne, aliquandone, or an unquam. Ruaeus observes that these expressions are in general only a bare and cold interrogation, but surely in this passage the poet means an interrogation joined with an eager desire; a sort of languishing in Meliboeus after the farms and fields he was obliged to leave. We find the same expression in the same sense in the eighth eclogue.

86. Many a year.] By post aliquot aristas in the original, is certainly meant after some years It is natural for shepherds to measure the years by the harvests. Arista is the beard of the wheat; the Roman husbandmen sow'd only the bearded wheat.

87. Ah! ne'er.] These short and abrupt exclamations are very natural, and have quite a dramatic air. The image of his little farm and cottage being plunder'd, breaks in upon the shepherd, and quite disorders his mind. The irony in the following lines,

strongly expresses both grief and indignation.

97. No more, as in] I have seen in Italy (and on the Vatican hill near Rome, in particular) a little arch'd cave made by the shepherds of ever-greens, not high enough to stand in; there they lie at their ease to observe their flocks browsing. Is it not such a sort of cave which is meant here? Viride is not a proper epithet for the inside of a natural cave, especially for such rocky ones as one finds in Italy. Spence.

104. Cheese.] The Roman peasants used to carry the curd as soon as it was pressed into the towns, or else salt it for cheese against the winter.

13. Garlick pounds.] We are told by Pliny that garlick was very much used in the country as an excellent medicine; Allium ad multa, ruris praecipuè, medicamenta prodesse creditur. It must in Italy be a very nutritious food for husbandmen.

16. Shrill Cicada.] I don't know how every body almost in England came to imagine, that the Cicada in the Roman writers was the same with our grashopper; for their characters are different enough to have prevented any such mistake. The Cicada is what the Italians now call Cicala, and the French Cigale. They make one constant uniform noise all day long in summer-time, which is extremely disagreeable and tiresome, particularly in the great heats. Their note is sharp and shrill in the beginning of the summer, but hoarse and harsh towards the latter part of it. They are supposed to feed on the morning dew, and then fix on some sunny branch of a tree, and sing all day long. It is hence that this insect is opposed to the ant in the old Æsopian fables, which is as industrious and inoffensive as the other is idle and troublesome. Virgil calls the Cicada querulae and raucae; Martial, argutae and inhumanae. Their note is the more troublesome, because in the great heats they sing alone. Any one who has passed a summer in Italy, or in the south of France, will not think the epithet inhumanae too severe for them. Spence.

18. Amaryllis.] Servius informs us, that the true name of Amaryllis was Leria, a beautiful girl whom Maecenas gave to Virgil, as he also did Cebes, whom the poet mentions under the person of Menalcas. Catrou thinks this story of Servius is a fiction: but adds another fiction of his own, that Rome is meant by Amaryllis.

27. Sung] The ancient shepherds walked before, and called their sheep after them.

28. View'd.] La Cerda has very fully vindicated Virgil, against those who deny the possibility of an image being reflected by the sea. When it is perfectly calm it is quite a mirrour.

41. Rosy lip.] There is a fondness in mentioning this circumstance of his wearing his lip.

45. Joints] Servius tells us that Cicuta means the space between the two joints of a reed.

47. Kids.] These were undoubtedly wild kids, taken from their proper dam, and not kids which Corydon had lost, and now recovered again. Servius says, kids at first have white spots, which alter and lose their beauty afterwards.

53. The nymphs in baskets bring.] These lines are of an exquisite beauty, and contain the sweetest garland that ever was offered by a lover. He concludes this description of his presents by saying that, alas! Alexis would not regard any of his gifts, as he was only a poor rustic, and that his rival Iolas was able to make far richer presents. At the mention of his rival's name he stops short, and cries, Fool that I am, to put Alexis in mind of him,—who will certainly prefer him to me! This seems to be the true meaning of quid volui misere mihi? tho' several commentators give a different interpretation. The agitation and doubts of a lover's mind are finely painted in this passage and the succeeding lines. At last the shepherd seems to come to himself a little, and reflects on the bad condition of his affairs, which his passion has occasioned, semiputata tibi, &c.—and finally resolves to leave the obdurate Alexis, and go in search of another object.

60. Marigold.] Dr. Martyn has taken great pains to explain the true names of the flowers here mentioned by Virgil, and from his skill in botany one may imagine he has justly ascertained them. I follow him.

61. Chesnuts sweet.] There are still in Italy, garlands intermixt with fruits as well as flowers like that described by Virgil in his Eclogues. I have seen some of these carried about the streets of Florence, the Sunday before Christmas-day: They were built up in a pyramid of ever-greens, chiefly of bays, and faced with apples, grapes, and other fruits. Spence.

71. What] This reading is after the Vatican manuscript.

77. Pallas is said to be the inventor of architecture.

84. De in composition signifies augmenting, says Servius.

88. Elms.] The epithet frondosa has great propriety: for Servius says, here is a double instance of neglect; the vines are half pruned, and the elms are suffered to make long shoots.

92. This is taken from Theocritus.

12. We know that you.] Virgil here imitates Theocritus (Novimus, &c.) but is not so gross and indelicate as the Greek poet.

36. To hear.] Nothing can be so satyrical as this line. All these R's (with a repetition of st in stridenti & stipula) could not concur without some design. Milton imitates this passage in his beautiful poem entitled Lycidas.

48. Alcimedon.] As there is no account left us of any famous artist called Alcimedon; Dr. Martyn imagines that he was a friend of our poet, who was therefore willing to transmit his name to posterity. By his name, he appears to have been a Greek. How highly the arts of painting and carving wore esteemed in Greece, appears from this very remarkable passage in Pliny; speaking of Eupompus, he says, “It was enjoined by his authority, first in Sicyon, and next throughout all Greece, that none but ingenuous youths should learns the art of carving, that is, of making designs in box; and that this art should be rank'd among the first of the liberal ones. He thought the laws of honour were violated, if any but gentlemen, or at least those that were reputably born, practis'd this art; and made a perpetual prohibition that slaves never should be admitted to learn it. Hence it is that we see no celebrated pieces of carving, neither of engraving, or relievo, [Toreutice] done by any person in the degree of a slave.

77. Muses from mighty.] Virgil seems to have laid it down as an indispensible rule to himself, in these Amoebaean verses, to make the respondent shepherd answer his opponent, in exactly the same number of lines. Either this rule was never taken notice of, by any former translator; or the extreme difficulty of observing it, hath deterred them from attempting to follow it. How I have succeeded (both in this and the seventh Eclogue) must be left to the determination of the judicious reader, who, it is hoped, will make proper allowances for such a constraint.

82. Laurel.] The ancient poets seem to use laurus indifferently for laurels, or bays: strictly speaking, lauro, or lauro regio, signifies the former in Italian, and alloro the latter; but their best poets use lauro indifferently for both. Spence.

103. Breezes bear.] This sentiment of Damoetas is beautiful and poetical to the last degree; especially, partem aliquam.

107. The boar at bay.] Orig. Si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo? “What signifies your love to me, if you will not let me shew mine to you by sharing your dangers?” For all the danger was in hunting the wild beasts; none in watching the nets. Ruaeus and Trapp.

113. Phillis o'er every other nymph.] The original is, et longum formose, vale—Iola! The vocative case Iola does not agree with formose, but is to be construed at the beginning of this couplet: O Iolas, I love Phillis above other women, for she wept when I parted from her, and cried, O fair shepherd [Menalcas] farewel, &c.

121. Vernal showers.] La Cerda thinks the shepherds are equal in these couplets: but Catrou, according to custom, affirms that Menalcas has the advantage. “The images, says he, which Menalcas here presents to the mind, are more agreeable than those of his adversary. A wolf, unseasonable rains, and tempestuous winds, are the ornament of Damoetas's discourse. In that of Menalcas, we have favourable rains, and an agreeable nourishment to the flocks.”

139. Graze not.] Catrou understands this couplet as an allegory, implying a caution to avoid being surprized by dangerous inclinations.

148. What magic eye.] The notion of an evil eye, still prevails among the ignorant vulgar. Lord Bacon speaks of the power of the glances of an envious eye. See an account of fascination in Chamber's Dictionary.

151. Tell this.] Catrou and Dr. Trapp are for the well and the oven as the most simple and suitable to a shepherd's understanding. But Dr. Martyn proposes a new interpretation, and thinks the shepherd may mean a celestial globe or sphere.

154. Of kings.] The flower here meant is the hyacinth, which as it is said to spring from the blood of Ajax, was mark'd AI.

159. The stream.] Claudite jam rivos, is an allegorical expression, taken from a river's refreshing the meadows, and applied to music and poetry delighting the ears, the fancy, and the judgment.

Ver. 21. For thee, O child.] 'Tis impossible to forbear observing the great similitude of this passage, and that famous one of Isaiah:

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose, chap. xxxv. ver. 1. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, chap. xi. ver. 13. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid: and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den, chap. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.”

How much inferior is Virgil's poetry to Isaiah's. The former has nothing comparable to these beautiful strokes; “that a little child shall lead the lion;—that the very trees of the forest shall come to pay adoration.”—Virgil says only occidet et serpens; Isaiah adds a circumstance inimitably picturesque, that the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp; and that the weaned child, a little older and beginning to make use of its hands, shall put his fingers on the adder's den. There are certain critics who would never cease to admire these circumstances and strokes of nature, if they had not the ill fortune to be placed in the bible.

33. Harvests.] The ancients used to sow bearded or prickly wheat, which deterred the birds from picking the ears. The epithet molli may therefore imply, that the corn shall no longer stand in need of this fortification, this pallisade, this vallum aristarum as Cicero calls it, to defend it from injuries, but shall spring up spontaneously, and grow ripe with soft and tender beards. See Martyn.

38. Argo's.] By navigation and commerce Virgil means that avarice, and by wars, that ambition shall still subsist. Catrou.

39. Wars.] A bloody war at last reduced Sextus Pompey to quit Sicily, and meet his death in Asia by Anthony. The conjuncture of affairs, the preparations made by Octavian, and above all, the dispositions of men's minds, gave room for the prediction of the poet. Catrou.

49. Purple.] Murex was a shell fish set about with spikes, from whence the Tyrian colour was obtained. Lutum is that herb, says Dr. Martyn, which our English writers of botany describe under the name of Luteola, wild woad, and dyer's weed. It is used in dying yellow both wool and silk.

50. Sandyx.] Servius and La Cerda affirm the sandyx to be an herb, which is a great mistake. Sandyx is spoken of by Pliny, as a cheap material for painting. The true sandaracha, says Dr. Martyn, which seems to be our native red arsenic, was said to come from an island in the Red Sea.

54. O progeny of Jove] Would it have been proper to bestow these illustrious appellations on a son of Pollio? Surely Virgil does not here pour them forth without reason. But what young prince could at that time deserve to be called the child of the gods, and the illustrious offspring of Jupiter? Without doubt it must have been one of the family of the Caesars! And did there at that time come into the world any child of the family of the Caesars, except young Marcellus. Tiberius was not yet entered into the house of Octavian by his mother, and Drusus was not yet born. Catrou.

55. Tottering nature.] What is the meaning of nutantem? says the learned Dr. Trapp. With, or under what does it nod or stagger? With its guilt and misery, say some, and so wants to be succoured by this new-born hero. But that to others seems not to agree with the happiness which is ascribed even to the first division, and to the beginning of this happy age. And therefore they say, it either nods, i. e. moves and shakes itself with joy and exultation; which is pretty harsh to my apprehension; or, which is not much better, inclines and tends to another, i. e. a yet more happy state; vergentem, say they, nutantemque in meliorem statum. After all I like the first interpretation best.—'Twas good sense to say, the world at present labours with its guilt and misery: but yet rejoices at the very near prospect of the happy change, which is in a manner begun already.

68. Thy mother by her tender smile.] The commentators are divided in opinion, whether he means the smile of the child, or that of the mother. I chuse the latter meaning, as it may be supported by the best reasons. See Ruaeus, and Erythraeus.

71. Smile not.] Those who understand this passage of the smiling of the child, strain the verb cognoscere, to signify that the child should own, or acknowledge his mother, by smiling on her: but I do not find any instance of its having been used in that sense.

In the next line, the making of the last syllable but one short tulĕrunt, is a poetical licence not very unusual; thus we read stetĕrunt et miscuĕrunt, for stetērunt et miscuērunt; so that there is no occasion to read tulerint, as some have done without any good authority.

72. No god.] The life of the gods or apotheosis (here promised by the poet) consisted of two particulars; the sitting at the table of Jupiter, and the marriage of some goddess; therefore the threats of Virgil amount to this.—You shall not enjoy the life of the gods, because neither Jupiter will admit you to his table, nor any goddess to her bed. Ruaeus.

Ver. 2. Skill'd.] Boni discere & inflare, is a Grecism of which there are many in our author.

5. Elder.] Servius says, it may either mean, major natu vel merito. But the context seems to favour the first.

18. A beech's.] Cortice fagi. It was the ancient custom of Italy to write on the barks of trees, as it was in Egypt to write on the Papyrus, a sort of rush, from which the word Paper is derived.

22.] There is no English name for saliunca: it is either the nardus Celtica, or else entirely unknown. Martyn.

27. His sad mother.] Dr Martyn with great probability observes, that by the mother is meant Venus, and confirms his opinion by an almost parallel passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 15. Ovid there represents Venus to be terrified at the approach of Caesar's Death, she discovers all the fears and tenderness of a mother, and considers the injury as offered to herself.

29. No cattle,—no horse.] This circumstance is remarkable, and may allude to a real fact that happened, according to Suetonius his account, at Julius Caesar's death: He tells us, that the horses which this emperor consecrated when he passed the Rubicon, and had been turned wild ever since, were observed to abstain from their food, pertinacissimè pabulo abstinere ubertimque flere.

33. Armenian tygers.] Ruaeus says, the solemnities of Bacchus were in a manner restored and celebrated by Caesar with greater magnificence than they had ever been before.

44. Wretched lolium.] Virgil here gives lolium the epithet of infelix. It is of a malignant nature, and is so much the more dangerous from its not being easily to be distinguish'd from the corn among which it usually springs up. The ancients thought it bad for the eyes: Mirum est lolio victitare te tam vili tritico. P. Quid jam? S. Quia luscitiosus. P. Aedepol tu quidem caecus, non luscitiosus.

And the modern Italians have yet a worse notion of it: for they look upon it as the cause of the melancholy kind of madness; and 'tis common with them to say of any such person, A mangiato pane con loglio, ‘He has eat bread with lolium in it.’ Holdsworth and Spence.

54. O bard divine.] The elegance and sweetness of these lines are not to be equalled by any thing, but the answer Mopsus makes to them afterwards in line 82 of the original.

73. Peace.] This expression of otia seems more particularly to allude to the mercy and clemency of Caesar: virtues for which he was so much celebrated by Tully and other writers.

77. A god, a god.] This passage is very sublime, and bears a great resemblance to that of Isaiah (which probably Virgil might have read) “Break forth into singing ye mountains, “O forest, and every tree therein.” And this lofty language must confirm the opinion that Julius Caesar is meant, by Daphnis.

83. Chios'.] Arvisium was a promontory of the island Chios, ow Scios, from whence the finest of the Greek wines came.

92. When the victims.] This ceremony was called Ambarvalia. The sacred dances mentioned in the lines immediately preceding, were used by the ancients both Jews and heathens in religious ceremonies. A learned account of them may be seen in Dr. Delany's life of David, and in Lucian περι ορχησεος

96. So long.] Aeneas advises Dido in almost the same words: but observe that all the shepherd's ideas are taken from rural objects, whereas those of Aeneas are taken from philosophy. Such propriety doth Virgil ever observe in his sentiments. See Martyn.

100. Thou—hear our prayer.] Ruaeus has well explained this passage: “He who makes a vow desires something from God, and promises something to him at the same time. If God grants his request, then he, who makes the vow, is in a manner judged, and obliged to perform his promise. Thus God is said damnare votis or voti, when he grants the request, and so obliges the person to perform what he had promised.

110. The same, &c.] 'Tis inferred from this passage that Virgil certainly means himself under the name of Menalcas; and likewise, that by his mentioning only the subjects of the Palaemon and the Alexis, and not a syllable of the Tityrus, that all these three eclogues were written before the Tityrus; notwithstanding that eclogue, usually, but erroneously, is placed first in all editions. It is not improbable, that the Alexis was published before the death of Julius Caesar, who might read and admire it. See Martyn.

Ver. 3. Chiefs.] This alludes to Virgil's attempt to write an historical poem on the actions of the Alban kings.

6. Humbler.] The word deductum is a metaphor taken from wool, which by spinning is made smaller and smaller. Tenui deducta poemata filo. Hor. Ruaeus.

21. Goblet] Cantharus was a cup sacred to the use of Bacchus, and not used by mortals.

22.] The commentators are equally divided about the true meaning of procul tantum, which undoubtedly signify near or just by; tantum procul, is barely at a distance.

29.] That is, just as Silenus began to open his eyes: videnti Silena.

32. Enough.] Servius tells us the demi-gods were visible only when they thought proper.

44. How seeds of water.] This is the system of the atomical philosophers; tho' it is certain Epicurus was not the inventor of this doctrine, but received it from Democritus, These philosophers held, that there were two principles of all things, body, and void; or as the moderns speak, matter, and space; and that by a fortuitous concourse of these atoms, or particles of matter, the universe was formed without the assistance of a directing mind.

47. Moist.] The earth by growing compact and solid, forced the waters to retire from it, and to form the seas. Thus the sea was separated or distinguished, which is the proper meaning of disciudere. Martyn.

50. Struck with the new-born sun's.] This circumstance of the earth's being amazed at the first appearance of the sun, is strongly imagined; yet has been omitted by several translators.

58. His mangled heart by hungry vultures rent.] This tale has been prettily allegorized. It is an ingenious but cruel story which the poets have contrived, to express the train of cares brought into life by Prometheus or Foresight: The chains which fasten him to the rock, and the insatiable vulture that rends his vitals every morning. Blackhall's life of Homer. Page 124.

62. And Hylas.] Hylas the favourite of Hercules falling into a well, was said to be snatched away by the nymphs. Pasiphae the wife of Minos king of Crete, was said to have had an unnatural passion for a bull. The daughters of Proetes, king of the Argives, being struck with madness by Juno, imagined themselves to be cows.

63. Cretan queen] The medals of the people of this town are mark'd with a cow or bull. Lord Pembroke's medals, 2, 34, 8. Quære, whether they had any sacred cattle of that kind kept there? or, whether the woman riding on it be not Pasiphae? Gortyna was a city of Crete. Spence.

67. At this verse, Proetides implerunt, &c. begins the famous manuscript of Virgil in the Lorenzo library; authorized by one of the consuls, and dated by him in the 5th century. Spence.

73. Side reclines] In the original fultus hyacintho. Among the ancients every one was said to be fultus by whatsoever he rested upon. Thus we read Pulvino fultus in Lucilius. Servius. The Rumen or Paunch is the first of the four stomachs of those animals which are said to ruminate or chew the cud. See Martyn.

75. Nymphs.] In the original claudite nymphae.—Here Pasiphae is introduced speaking to the nymphs.

81.] Hippomanes being engaged in a race with Atalanta, in order to obain her in marriage, threw down a golden apple whenever she gained ground upon him; which she stooping to gather up, Hippomanes had an opportunity of getting before her, and of consequence of obtaining the lovely prize. The sisters of Phaeton consumed themselves with weeping for his death, and were transformed into trees. Phaeton rashly attempting to drive the chariot of the sun, would have set fire to the earth if Jupiter had not struck him down with a thunderbolt.

84. Inclos'd.] I have ventured to translate literally circumdat, because it is very lively. He did not sing how they were inclosed with moss, but he inclosed them.

88. When Virgil himself once entered the theatre, all the spectators rose up to honour his entrance.

89. Linus.] Virgil has been blamed very ridiculously for not saying any thing of Homer in his sixth Aeneid (637. 677.) where if he had said any thing of him, he must have put him in Elysium before he was born. It seems more just to complain that he has not mentioned him in all his works. He seems to have had a fair opportunity here, and another in the fourth Eclogue (v. 55.) But have not the poets he mentions in both these places some relation to pastoral poetry? And might not the mentioning of an epic poet be improper in both? Here he names Linus only; and before, the same Linus, Orpheus, and Pan. Spence.

91. Ascrean sage.] The senex Ascraeus, is Hesiod, who was of Ascra, a city in Boeotia. According to some he was coaeval with Homer. He writes with great simplicity, tho' in his description of the battle between the giants and the gods, he rises to the true sublime

110. Unwillingly.] There is a peculiar beauty in that epithet invito Olympo. The sky was so delighted with the song of Silenus, that it was sorry and uneasy to see the evening approach.

Ver. 16. Bees.] That is, apum examina.

20. Gains.] 'Tis difficult to make the pastoral simplicity, of this introduction to the contest, agreeable to modern readers. The images are all taken from plain unadorned nature, and will not bear to be dress'd up with florid epithets and pompous language, as is the custom of our pastoral writers in painting their scenes of action.

23. Nymphs of the spring.] The critics are greatly divided about the situation of Libethrum (Nymphae Libethrides) but the learned and accurate Strabo, whose testimony is worth that of a thousand commentators, tells us, that Libethrum is the name of a cave in or near Mount Helicon, consecrated to the Muses by the Thracians.

24. Codrus.] Codrus, says Servius, was a contemproary poet with Virgil, and is mentioned in the elegies of Valerius.

30. With baccar.] It was imagined by the ancients that this plant carried an amulet or charm against the fascination of what they call'd an evil tongue.

33. If still the chace.] In the original, si proprium hoc fuerit; i. e. says Ruæus, if you shall make it as it were my own, and perpetual. Da propriam Thymbrae domum, Æn. 3. What is the meaning of hoc? That I should make such verses as Codrus, says Servius.—But falsely.—The meaning is, As I have succeeded in hunting this boar and stag, so may this success be perpetual.

40. Ivy white.] More beautiful than ivy, to us may seem but an odd simile. It might sound otherwise to an Italian, whose country abounds with ever-greens; most of them of a rusty and disagreeable colour; whereas ivy is of a clean lively green. They used it of old in the most beautified parts of their gardens: Pliny speaking of his garden, and of the Hippodrome, which seems to have been one of the prettiest things in it, says, Platanis circuitur, illae hederâ vestiuntur; utque summae suis, ita imae alienis frondibus virent. L. 5. Ep. 6. Horace compares young beauties to ivy, and old women to dead wither'd leaves. L. 1. Od. 25. St. ult. Spence.

44. Sardinia's.] Dioscorides says expressly, that the poisonous herb of Sardinia is a species of βατραχιον, ranunculus or crowfoot. See Martyn.

45. Wolves.] Catrou gives quite a new interpretation to the word numerum: he says it means musical numbers.

47. Ye mossy founts.] This amoebaean is doubtless more beautiful than the succeeding, and contains more delightful images of nature. Mr. Dryden has omitted the natural stroke of the smoaky posts in the cottage.

58. Streams would cease to flow.] The end of this Amoebaean appears to some critics to be flat—videas et flumina sicca. But I am of opinion the poet design'd the line should be faint and languishing, as it were, more fully to express that mournful state of nature he is painting. Mr. Pope has imitated this and the following passage in his first pastoral.

59. Parch'd.] A fine contrast is observable in these two Amoebaeans. The flourishing scenes of nature are strongly set off by the fading and languishing prospect that succeeds.

63. Alcides.] When Hercules returned from hell, he was fabled to have crown'd his head with a chaplet of poplar leaves.

71.—But vanquish'd were his strains.] The victory is adjudged to Corydon, because Corydon in the first Amebæan begins with piety to the gods; Thyrsis with rage against his adversary: in the second, Corydon invokes Diana, a chaste goddess; Thyrsis, an obscene deity, Priapus: in the third, Corydon addresses himself to Galatea with mildness; Thyrsis with dire imprecations: in the rest, Corydon's subjects are generally pleasing and delightful to the imagination; those of Thyrsis are directly contrary. Ruaeus.

72. And Corydon.] The original says, ex illo Corydon, &c. which is an ellipsis, says Servius, and may be supplied victor nobilis supra omnes. Simplicius says, ex illo tempore Corydon habetur à nobis verè Corydon: that is, really worthy the reputation he has attained.

17. Reclin'd.] Denoting the melancholy posture of the shepherd, leaning against the tree, not incumbens baculo ex olivá.

25. 'Tis very poetical to personify the mountain Maenalus, and ascribe to it a voice and the power of hearing.

34. Nuptial lights.] The bride used to be led home by night with lighted torches before her. Their torches were pieces of pine or unctuous wood, which were cut to a point, that they might be the more easily inflamed. Plutarch says, there were five usually carried. Martyn.

That nuces signify walnuts, and have a mystical signification in the nuptial ceremonies, see Martyn's Georgics, v. 187.

36. Hesper.] That is, night approaches.

40. Length of beard.] La Cerda is of opinion, that the meaning is, my violent love has made me neglect my person.

45. The choicest fruit.] The circumstances of his officiousness of pointing out the fruit, and of his being but just able to reach the branches from the ground, are natural and poetical.

excells the

52. On horrid Tmarus.] Does not the shepherd Damon seem to be too well acquainted with the geography and names of distant countries?

57. Relentless love.] After Medea had fled with Jason, one of the Argonauts, from her father and country, he basely forsook her and married another: this so highly enraged her, that she murdered before his face the children she had by him. The most pathetic tragedy of Euripides is on this fine subject: wherein the tenderness of the mother, and the fury of the forsaken mistress, produce noble struggles of passion. I cannot forbear adding, that the celebrated lines crudelis mater magis, &c. contain a trifling play and jingling of words very unworthy the simplicity of Virgil's style. Dr. Trapp and Dr Martyn are of a quite contrary opinion, and think the passage beautiful.

78. Ye tuneful virgins.] The poet hints that he is unable to proceed by his own strength, and begs therefore the assistance of the muses. Bossu.

80. Bring water.] The water was heated in the house, and the sorceress calls to her assistant Amaryllis to bring it out to her; so there is no need to read affer, as some have done.

82. The strongest.] The ancients called the strongest sort of frankinsence, male.

94. For three.] The ancients had a prodigious veneration for the number three, and held many ridiculous superstitions in relation to it. This number was thought the most perfect of all numbers, having regard to the beginning, middle, and end.

103. As this same fire.] There were plainly two figures made, one of wax, and the other of clay, the former would naturally melt, and the other harden by the fire. The notion was, that as the image consumed, so did the person it represented. Dr. Martyn observes, that in the beginning of the last century, many persons were convicted of this and other such like practices, and were executed accordingly, as it was deemed to be attempting the lives of others. King James the first was a great believer of the power of magic, and wrote a very idle book on the subject, entituled, Daemonologie. Shakespear seems to have chosen the subject of his Macbeth to please the taste of that prince.

The bays were burnt also to consume the flesh of the person on whose account these magical rites were performed. The cake is crumbled upon the image of Daphnis as upon the victim of this sacrifice.

105. The mola was made of meal salted and kneaded, molita, whence it was called mola: and victims were said to be immolated, because the foreheads of the victims, and the hearths and the knives had this cake crumbled on them. Ruaeus.

115. Night.] In the original, Perdita, nec serae meminit decedere nocti; which sweet line, says Macrobius, is taken entirely from Varius.

125. Sage Moeris.] The description of the powerfulness of Moeris his magic, is sublime. Pontus was the land of poisons: Mithridates, who used to eat poison, reigned there; and Medea was born in Cholcis.

132. These ashes.) The most powerful of all incantations was to throw the ashes of the sacrifice backward into the water.

140. The dying embers.] The ancients thought the sudden blazing of the fire a very happy omen. For Plutarch relates, that the vestal virgins congratulated Cicero, and begged him to proceed in his prosecution of Catiline, and assured him of great success, because the fire of their sacrifice lighted of its own accord.

Ver. 14 Doves.] Species pro genere. Two doves were said to sit on the tops of the oracular oaks at Dodona, in Epirus; and Epirus was often called Chaonia.

25. Who then could strew.] Virgil certainly alludes to his eclogue, entitled Daphnis, composed on the death of Julius Caesar.

35. Cremona's.] Augustus divided the lands of Cremona amongst his soldiers, because they sided with Antony. But that country not affording sufficient quantities of land for all the soldiers, part of the territory of Mantua was added and given away in that manner.

40. Cyrnaean.] Corsica was called Cyrnus by the Greeks. The honey of this island was most remarkably bad.

43. Cinna's, &c.] This undoubtedly was not Helvius Cinna the poet who was murdered, by mistaking him for Cornelius Cinna, and an enemy of Julius Caesar, at that emperor's funeral. But it seems to have been Lucius Cinna, the grandson of Pompey, and a great favourite of Augustus. Others think the words relate to two writers.

47. O lovely Galatea.] These verses in the original, assemble together some of the loveliest objects of wild unadorned nature. They are a copy of a beautiful passage in Theocritus, but greatly excel the Greek poet's description.

52. Leaves.] Observe how judiciously Virgil mentions only the shades of the vines; it being yet only spring, there could be no grapes.

58. Daphnis! behold] Virgil, says La Cerda, seems to have contended with himself in this place for victory. He opposes these five verses to those which went before, Huc ades o Galatea, in which having excelled Theocritus, he now endeavours to excel himself. In the former he aimed only at the sweetness of expression, as became one who addressed himself to Caesar, who was then admitted among the gods. There he describes the delights of the spring, flowers, rivers, shades, such objects as tend to pleasure; here, he produces the fruits of summer, corn, grapes, and pears, all which are useful to man. Who can say that Virgil speaks idly, or to no purpose?

58. Behold the Julian.] The Julian star, according to Doctor Halley was a comet; and the same that appeared (for the third time after) in 1680. He says that the tail of that comet in its nearest approach to the sun, was sixty degrees long. So that it must have made a very considerable figure in the heavens, as Horace says the Julian star did. After Caesar's death a comet happened to appear, which the superstitious vulgar thought was the soul of Julius Caesar placed among the gods. Augustus' his courtiers propagated this notion.

59. Fields.] Segetes generally signifies the fields in Virgil's writings.

62. Fruits.] Poma, says Dr Martyn, is used by the ancients for any esculent fruit.

63. Alas! by stealing.] Here the shepherd breaks off abruptly, as if he had forgot the rest of the poem.

65. My memory fails.] Observe two things, says Ruaeus, 1. That oblita is used in a passive signification. 2. That mihi is put for me. So in the Aeneid, Nulla tuarum, accedita mihi neque vis a sororum.

65. Some wolf accurs'd.] The ancients imagined, that if a a wolf happened to look on any man first, the person was instantly deprived of his voice. Λυκον ειδες, επαιε τις, ως σοφος ειπεν, says Theocritus.

68. Causando signifies by pretending to make excuses.

70. The neighb'ring lake.] The original says, stratum silet acquor. By acquor cannot possibly be understood the sea, as some translators have imagined. Catrou's observation is very ingenious. Our shepherds were already arrived at the edge of the lake of Mantua, which is formed round the city by the Mincio. Is not a lake a sea in the eyes of shepherds?

72. Bianor's tomb.] Bianor, son of the river Tiber, by the daughter of Tiresias, named Manto, is fabled to have first of all fortified the city of Mantua, and to have given it the name of his mother. His tomb, as ancient ones usually were, was placed by the way-side. Hence the expression, abi viatur, siste viator—absurdly introduced into modern epitaphs, not placed in such situations.

74. And strew their leaves.] La Cerda says, they gathered the leaves to strew them on Bianor's tomb: but the epithet densas seem to point to amputation, which they wanted by growing too thick.

Ver. 10. While browze the goats.] The original calls them simae capellae, snub-nos'd goats, which will not bear to be rendered into English. This is one instance among a thousand that may be given, of the utter impossibility of giving any gracefulness to many images in the classics, which in a dead language do not appear gross or common.

13. Where were ye, Naiads.] This is finely imitated in that excellent piece of Milton intituled, Lycidas.

41. Sad Gallus then.] This address of Gallus to the Arcadians is tender and moving: especially that part of it where he wishes he had been only an humble shepherd like them. But when he just afterwards addresses his mistress, the lines are inexpressibly pathetic

And then he turns off at once to the evils his passion has exposed him to,

53. These four lines are taken from sir George Lyttelton's elegant eclogues, entitled, The progress of love.

65. I go, I go.] How justly are the various resolutions and shifting passions of a lover here described! First, he resolves to renew his poetical studies, (for Gallus was a writer of elegies) then suddenly he talks of leaving the world, and finding out some melancholy solitude, and hiding himself among the dens of wild beasts, and amusing himself by carving her name on the trees. Then all at once he breaks out into a resolution that he will spend all his time in hunting; but suddenly recollects with a sigh, that none of these amusements will cure his passion; and then bids adieu to all the diversions of which he had been speaking.

87. Feed.] Versemus, in this place signifies to feed sheep, or drive them about, to feed.

88. Elm.] Liber signifies the inmost bark of a tree.

89. Virgil uses the constellation of Cancer to express the tropic. The sun enters Cancer on the 10th or 11th of our June, which is the longest day of the year, and naturally the hottest. See Martyn.

99. Loitering.] La Cerda reads, cunctantibus, which seems to be the true sense.

101. Even the shades of juniper, tho' it is a tree whose leaves are so fragrant, are still very unwholsome.

Ver. 1. Fields.] The subjects of the four following books of Georgics are particularly specified in these first four lines, Corn and Ploughing are the subject of the first, Vines of the second, Cattle of the third, and Bees of the last. By seges Virgil generally means the field. Quo sidere is very poetical for quo tempore. Mr. Dryden says only when to turn, &c. I apply experientia to the bees after Grimoaldus and Dr. Trapp, as more poetical than the other meaning, and as suitable to Virgil's manner of ascribing human qualities to these insects. I wonder, says Mr. Holdsworth, whence Seneca came to speak so lightly of Virgil's exactness in his Georgics: but this I am sure of, that the more I have look'd into the manner of agriculture used at present in Italy, the more occasion I have had to admire the justice and force of his expressions, and his exactness even in the minutest particulars. Holdsworth.

7. Lights of the world.] Clarissima mundi lumina cannot be put in apposition or joined with Bacchus et alma Ceres; Virgil first invokes the sun and moon, and then Bacchus.— Varro's invocation proceeds in the same manner.

11. Chaonian mast.] The famous grove of Dodona was in Epirus or Chaonia;

18. Snow white heifers feeds.] Aristaeus is here invoked, who taught the arts of curdling milk and cultivating olive trees. Triptolemus the son of Celeus was the inventor of the plough. In a contention between Neptune and Minerva about naming Athens, Neptune struck the earth with his trident, and produced a horse, and Pallas an olive tree.

19. Lycaeus' grove.] Lycaeus and Maenalus were two mountains in Arcadia, sacred to Pan.

25. Sylvanus.] Medals represent Sylvanus bearing a young cypress tree torn up by the roots. Neither Mr. Dryden nor Mr. Benson seem apprehensive of this allusion, which is very picturesque.

31. And thou.] The poet here begins a fine address to Augustus, asking him whether he would chuse to be the god of earth, sea, or heaven. Catrou ingeniously imagines this address was added by Virgil the year before his death, when several other passages were likewise inserted; for he says Augustus was not thus highly honoured till after his return from the conquest of Egypt.

46. Scorpius.] Libra, or the Balance, was originally represented as held up by Scorpius, who extended his claws for that purpose out of his own proper dominions; and that, under Augustus, or a little after his death, they made Scorpius contract his claws, and introduced a new personage (most probably Augustus himself) to hold the Balance. On the Farnese globe it is held by Scorpius; (which by the way, may perhaps shew that work to have been previous to the Augustan age:) in several of the gems and medals on which we have the signs of the zodiac, it is held by a man. This is said to be Augustus. It was a very common thing among the Roman poets to compliment their emperors with a place among the constellations; and perhaps the Roman astronomers took the hint of placing Augustus there, and that in this very situation, from Virgil's compliment of this kind to the emperor. To say the truth, there could scarce have been a place or employment, better chosen for Augustus. The astronomers originally were at a loss how to have the Balance supported: they were obliged, for this purpose, to make Scorpius take up the space of two signs in the zodiac; which was quite irregular: and to be sure they would be ready to lay hold of any fair occasion of reducing to his due bounds again. On the other hand, it was quite as proper for Augustus, as it was improper for Scorpius, to hold it: for beside its being a compliment to him for his justice, or for his holding the balance of the affairs of the world, (if they talked of princes then, in the style we have been so much used to of late) Libra was the very sign that was said to preside over Italy; and so Augustus in holding that, would be supposed to be the guardian angel of his country after his decease, as he had been so formally declared to be the father and protector of it in his life-time. Upon the whole, I do not see how any thought of this kind could have been carried on with more propriety, than this seems to have been, by the admirers or flatterers of that emperor. Polymetis, Dialogue 11. Page 170.

57. In earliest spring.] The writers of agriculture, says Dr. Martyn, did not confine themselves to the computation of astrologers; but dated their spring from the end of the frosty weather. Possunt igitur ac idibus Januariis, ut principem mensem Romani anni observet, auspicari culturarum officia. Columella.

63. Which twice the sun, and twice.] The meaning is, that a field which has lain still two years together, instead of one (which last is the common method) will bear a much greater crop. Benson.

74. Castor.] 'Tis a vulgar mistake that the testicles of the beaver contain the castor; for 'tis taken from some odoriferous glands about the groin of this animal. Virosa in this place does not mean poisonous, but efficacious or powerful: So likewise Eclogue 8. Martyn.

87. There, lest the weeds.] Virgil speaks of the seasons of ploughing strong and light ground. The first, says he, must be ploughed early in the spring, and lie all summer; and the other lightly in autumn: or else the strong ground will run all to weeds, and the light ground will have all its juices exhausted. Benson.

92. The lupin shook.] The tristis lupinus is not our lupin, but that seed which they now in Italy lay asoak so long in water, to get rid of its bitterness, and even sell it so in their streets. 'Tis but a very insipid thing at best. The faselus of the Romans is our lupin. Holdsworth.

95. Parcht are the lands.] That flax, oats, and poppies, dry and impoverish the soil, we have the concurrent testimony of Columella, Paladius, and Pliny. The Romans cultivated poppies, not our common scarlet ones, but our garden poppy. See Martyn.

102. To burn the barren glebe.] Virgil, says Mr. Benson (but he seems to be mistaken) speaks of two different things, of burning the soil itself before the ground is ploughed, and of burning the stubble after the corn is taken off from arable land. The rapidity of saepe levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis, expresses the crackling and swiftness of the flame.

103. While the light stubble.] They still use the method so much recommended by Virgil (Geo. I. 84 to 93) of burning the stubble, especially in the more barren fields, in most parts of Italy; and about Rome in particular, where there is so much bad ground. The smoke is very troublesome when they do it; and there had been so many complaints made of it to Clement XI, that he had resolved to forbid that practice. When the order was laid before that pope, to be signed by him; a cardinal (who happened to be with his holiness) spoke much of the use of it; shewed him this passage in Virgil; and the pope on reading it, changed his mind, and rejected the order. Holdsworth.

113. Cold should scorch.] Burning applied to cold is not merely a poetical expression; but we find it made use of by the philosophers. Aristotle says, that cold is accidentally an active body, and is sometimes said to burn and warm, not in the same manner as heat, but because it condenses or constrains the heat by surrounding it. Martyn.

116. Who ploughs across.] What the poet speaks of here (says Mr. Benson) retains the Roman name to this day in many parts of England, and is called, sowing upon the back; that is, sowing stiff ground after once ploughing. Now, says Virgil, he that draws a harrow or hurdle over his ground before he sows it, multum juvat arva, for this fills up the chinks; which otherwise would bury the corn; but then, says he, Ceres always looks kindly on him, who ploughs his ground across again. Benson.

119. And Ceres.] Virgil in his Georgics gives us an idea of Ceres as regarding the laborious husbandman from heaven, and blessing the work of his hand with success. There is a picture like this in the famous old manuscript of Virgil in the Vatican; and Lucretius has a strong description of another deity, exactly in the same attitude, though with a very different regard.

This image of Ceres puts one in mind of that beautiful one in the psalms—Righteousness (a person) hath looked down from heaven.

121. Solstice.] Solstice, when used alone, is always used for the summer solstice by the ancients. Holdsworth.

125. And Gargarus.] This is one of those figures that raise the style of the Georgics, and make it so majestic.

133. Rills.] When the Persians were masters of Asia, they permitted those who conveyed a spring to any place, which had not been watered before, to enjoy the benefit for five generations; and as a number of rivulets flowed from mount Taurus, they spared no expence in directing the course of their streams. At this day, without knowing how they came thither, they are found in the fields and gardens, Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, Vol. 1. p. 325.

139. Feeds down.] It is a common practice among the farmers at present, when the corn is too rank and luxuriant, to turn in their sheep and feed it down.

149. Goose.] Virgil speaks of the geese as a very troublesome bird, and very pernicious to the corn. They are still so in flocks, in the Campania Felice, the country which Virgil had chiefly in his eye when he wrote his Georgics. Holdsworth.

153. With cares he rous'd.] This account of the providential usefulness of some seeming evils, is not only beautifully poetical, but strictly philosophical. Want is the origin of arts: Infirmities and weaknesses are the cause and cement of human society. If man were perfect and self-sufficient, all the efforts of industry would be useless. A dead calm would reign over all the species.

Says the great moral poet in his Essay on Man. And this doctrine is strongly illustrated throughout that whole system.

189. From forest oaks.] This is another instance of Virgil's poetical manner of telling plain things; instead of saying, You will have no crop; You will be forc'd, says he, to go into the wild forests, as man used to do, before he was civilized, for food.

192. Plough.] I have a drawing of an antique plough, from a brass figure in the jesuits college at Rome. I don't know the exact time or place in which it was made, but every part of it seems to me to have something to answer it in Virgil's description. The figure of it is below: and I take all the bending part of the wood, or the plough tail (mark'd a) to be what Virgil calls buris; b the pole or temo; c the two pieces that go over the necks of the oxen; which he calls aures; d the plough-share, dentale; e the two clouts of iron to fasten the plough-share, dorsa; and f the handle of the plough, or stiva.

I have borrow'd a few lines from Mr. Benson's translation of this passage.

195. Bacchus' flying sail.] The persons who were initiated into any of the ancient mysteries, were to be particularly good; they looked upon themselves as separated from the vulgar of mankind, and dedicated to a life of singular virtue and piety. This may be the reason that the fan or van, the mystica vannus Iacchi, was used in initiations: The instrument that separates the wheat from the chaff being as proper an emblem as can well be, of setting apart the good and virtuous from the wicked or useless part of mankind.

In the drawings of the ancient paintings by Bellori, there are two that seem to relate to initiations; and each of them has the vannus in it. In one of them, the person that is initiating, stands in a devout posture, and with a veil on, the old mark of devotion; while two that were formerly initiated hold the van over his head. In the other there is a person holding a van, with a young infant in it. The latter may signify much the same with the scripture expression, entering into a state of virtue “as a little child.” Mark x. 15. The van itself puts one in mind of another text relating to a particular purity of life, and the separation of the good from the bad. “Whose fan is in hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Luke iii. 17.

208. Floor.] Aream esse oportet—solidâ terrâ pavitam, maximè siest argilla, ne aestû paeminosa, in rimis ejus grana delitescant, et recipiant aquam, et ostia aperiant muribus & formicis. Itaque amurcâ solent perfundere, ea enim herbarum est inimica & formicarum, & talparum venenum. Thus says Varro, from whom 'tis plain Virgil borrow'd this precept, as he has done many others.

240. The torrent.] It is remarkable in Virgil, that he frequently joins in the same sentence the complete and perfect present with the extended and passing present; which proves that he considered the two, as belonging to the same species of time; and therefore naturally formed to co-incide with each other.

In the same manner he joins the same two modifications of time in the past; that is to say, the complete and perfect with the extended and passing.

248. Winter's.] Bruma was not used by the ancients for the whole winter; but for one day only of it, the shortest day, or the winter solstice. Holdsworth.

248. First.] The word extremus in Latin has two very different significations; it may relate to the beginning, as well as the end of any thing; or to the nearest part of it, as well as that farthest off. Thus, if one was to say, in extremo ponte, it may mean the hither extremity or end of the bridge; and when Virgil says his countrymen should work

It must be understood of the beginning of that rainy season, which was itself unfit for work; this took up the latter half of December, which was therefore turned all into holy-days, or the Saturnalia, in which the slaves that were at other times kept hard to work, were indulged in particular liberties, and spent all the time in mirth and joviality.

257. His backward-rising star.] By averso astro, 'tis most probable Virgil means the Bull; for that constellation rises with his hinder parts upwards. Throughout Manilius the Bull is called astrum aversum. Some read adversum; but that is scarce reconcileable to the sense of this passage.

260. Pleiades.] The heliacal setting of these stars Eoae Atlantides is pointed out by the word abscondantur. Whereever Virgil speaks of the setting of any stars in general, and without any such restriction, it is always to be understood of their natural setting. Holdsworth.

272. Five zones.] Under the torrid or burning zone lies that part of the earth which is contained between the two tropics. This was thought by the ancients to be uninhabitable, because of the excessive heat: but later discoveries have shewn it to be inhabited by many great nations. It contains a great part of Asia, Africa, and South America. Under the two frigid or cold zones lie those parts of the earth, which are included within the two polar circles, which are so cold, being at a great distance from the sun, as to be scarce habitable. Within the artic circle, near the north pole, are contained Nova Zembla, Lapland, Groenland, &c. within the antartic circle, near the south pole, no land as yet has been discovered; tho' the great quantities of ice found there make it probable, that there is more land near the south than the north pole. Under the two temperate zones are contained those parts of the globe which lie between the tropics and polar circles. The temperate zone, between the artic circle and the tropic of Cancer, contains the greatest part of Europe and Asia, part of Africa, and almost all North America. That between the antartic circle and the tropic of Capricorn, contains part of South America, or the Antipodes. See Martyn.

281. Roll the signs.] Here the poet describes the zodiac, which is a broad belt spreading about five or six degrees on each side of the ecliptic line, and contains the twelve constellations or signs. They are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The ecliptic line cuts the equinoctial obliquely in two opposite points, whence the poet calls the zodiac obliquus signorum ordo. It traverses the whole torrid zone, but neither of the temperate zones; so that, per ambas, must mean between, not thro' them. Thus presently after, speaking of the Dragon, he says it twines, per duas arctos: now that constellation cannot be said to twine thro' the two Bears, but between them. The zodiac is the annual path of the sun, thro' each sign of which he passes in about the space of a month. He is said to be in one of those signs, when he appears in that part of the heavens, where those stars are, of which the sign is composed. Martyn.

290. The Bears] Mr. Benson thinks this line in the original spurious, and omits it as such.

313. Mark.] How came the Romans not to find out the art of printing many ages ago? The Caesars impressed their whole names on grants and letters, and this practice was so common a one, that even the shepherds impressed their names on their cattle.

337. Ossa on Pelion.]

To represent the giants piling up the mountains on each other,

The verse cannot be read without making pauses; so judiciously are the hiatus's contrived. Hesiod has most nobly described this battle of the giants. The learned Mr. Jortin thinks the ασπις to be his. See Milton's battle of the angels, Book 6, and compare it with Hesiod.

357. Corn] The Romans did not thrash or winnow their corn: in the heat of the day, as soon as it was reaped, they laid it on a floor made on purpose, in the middle of the field, and then they drove horses or mules round about it, till they trod all the grain out.

This was the common practice too all over the east; and that humane text of scripture, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,” is a plain allusion to it.

395. Great Jove himself pavilion'd.] This description is very sublime. While the winds are roaring, the rains descending, the rivers overflowing, he nobly introduces Jupiter himself surrounded with a thick cloud, and from thence darting his thunderbolts, and splitting the loftiest mountains, all the earth trembling and astonished with fear and dread. I follow Mr. Benson and Masvicius, in reading plangit (instead of plangunt) because it adds a poetical and bold image of Jupiter's striking the woods and shores. This description, fine as it is, is excelled by the storm in the 18th psalm. God is described flying upon the wings of the wind—“He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him, with dark water and thick clouds to cover him.—The springs of waters were seen, and the foundations of the round world were discovered at thy chiding, O Lord.” See the whole, too long to be transcribed, but inimitably great and sublime.

398. The beasts are fled.] Dr. Trapp justly observes, that fugêre being put in the preter-perfect tense has a wonderful force: “We see, says he, the beasts scudding away, and they are gone, and out of sight in a moment.” It is a pity that learned gentleman did not not preserve the force of this tense in his translation. He has not only used the present tense, but has diminished the strength and quickness of the expression, which Virgil has made to consist only of two words, fugêre ferae, by adding an epithet to beasts, and mentioning the place they fly to:

Dryden has been guilty of the same oversight:

“The Latin, says Mr. Benson, is as quick and sudden as their flight. Fugêre ferae, they are all vanished in an instant. But in Mr. Dryden's translation, one would imagine these creatures were drove out of some inclosed country, and were searching for entertainment in the next forest.” But Mr. Benson did not observe the beauty of the tense.

417. And Ceres call.] This sacrifice the Romans called Ambarvalia from ambire arva; for they led the victim round the fields.

427. Mountain.]—Aridus alte. This puts me in mind of a passage in Thomson's Seasons on the same subject, the approach of a storm:

446. The heifer tossing.] This prognostic is taken from Aratus; and I would observe once for all, that almost each of the signs of weather are borrowed (and indeed beautified) from that ancient writer. The line

with several that precede and follow it, are intirely taken with very small alterations from Varro Atacinus, as may be seen in Servius.

452. Deep drinks the bow.] Alludes to the ridiculous notion of the ancients, that the rainbow suck'd up water with its horns from lakes and rivers.

461. Stalks across the scorching sands.] The line admirably represents the action of the crow, and is an echo to the sense. Those who are fond of alliteration, are delighted with this verse, where so many s's are found together: they may say the same of plena pluviam et vocat voce, in the preceding line.

467. Calm.] According to what Pierius found in several old manuscripts: for the poet begins to speak of fair weather.

477. In vain repeats.] Dr. Trapp interprets nequicquam, in vain, Dr. Martyn, not repeats.—If we understand the poet to be speaking of the continuance of fair weather, nequicquam must signify not; because, according to Pliny, the hooting of the owl at such a time would be a sign of rain.

Mr. Dryden has strangely translated this passage:

487. Not that to them.] This is a remarkable instance of Virgil's clear and beautiful style in expressing even the most abstruse notions. The meaning of the words fato prudentia major, which occasions difficulties among the commentators, seems to be, a greater knowledge (than men have) in the fate of things.

505. Clearly.] The verse in the original is quoted by Seneca in his works, in a different manner from the common reading,—Plena, nec obtusis per coelum cornibus ibit; and he certainly meant it so, by what he says of it. If this be the true reading, it may be thus understood.—“If on the fourth day of the new moon, its whole disk appears, and the horns of that part of it which is enlighten'd, are sharp, and well-pointed; then the next day, and all the following to the end of the month, will be free both from high winds and rain.” Holdsworth.

525. The dusky rain.] Tho' I believe there is no one thing in the whole language of the Romans, that we are more at a loss about now, than their names of colours; it appears evidently enough, that coerulcus was used by them for some dark colour or other. One might bring a number of instances to prove this, but one or two from Virgil will be sufficient:

536. Auster meditate.] Several of the commentators that have been used to consider the winds only in a natural way, and never perhaps in an allegorical one, are greatly offended at the word cogitet here. The thinking of a wind is to them the highest pitch of absurdity that can be. They are therefore for altering the passage into quid cogat et humidus auster, or quid concitet—contra omnes codices, as themselves say: If these gentlemen would please to consider that it is not they, but Virgil that is speaking here; that the winds were frequently represented as persons in his time; that he had been used to see them so represented both in Greece, and in his own country; that they were commonly worshipped as gods—and they may perhaps be persuaded not to think this so strange an expression for him to use. Polymetis, Dial. 13. p. 204.

541. He too bewailing.] 'Tis amazing that the best historians, Pliny, Plutarch, and Appian, join in relating these prodigies. Plutarch not only mentions the paleness of the sun, for a whole year after Caesar's death, but adds, that the fruits rotted for want of heat. Appian relates the stories of the clashing of arms, and shouts in the air, an ox speaking with a human voice, statues sweating blood, wolves howling in the Forum, and victims wanting entrails.

562. Eridanus.] The redundant syllable in fluviorum, is expressive of the inundation. Dion Cassius relates, that the river Po did not only overflow and occasion prodigious damages, but left likewise great quantities of serpents when it retired.

569. Philippi.] Many learned critics have disputed about the meaning of this passage, which was never cleared up till Mr. Holdsworth published a judicious dissertation on the subject. He is of opinion, that Virgil means by his two battles of Philippi, not two battles fought on the same individual spot, but at two distant places of the same name, the former at Philippi (alias Thebae Phthiae) near Pharsalus in Thessaly: the latter at Philippi near the confines of Thrace. And tho' historians (all except Lucius Florus) for distinction's sake, call the latter battle only by the name of Philippi; yet, as there was one at Philippi near Pharsalia, in sight of which the former was fought, the poets, for certain reasons (which, says he, I shall consider hereafter) call both by the same name. As to the reasons which he says determined Virgil to call both battles by the same name, the chief of them I think is this: “that in compliment to Augustus, he might impress the superstitious Romans with a belief, that the vengeance of the gods against the murderers of Caesar was denounced by numbers of prodigies and omens; and in so remarkable a manner that there appeared in it a particular stroke of providence, according to the heathen superstition, that the second battle which proved fatal to the Romans, should be fought in the same province with the first, and near a second Philippi.”

574. Ploughs.] The delicate art of the poet in returning to his subject by inserting this circumstance of the ploughman's finding old armour, cannot be sufficiently admired. Philips ha finely imitated it in his Cyder, where speaking of the destruction of old Ariconium, he adds,

579. Ye greater guardian gods.] Virgil (says Mr. Spence) by the dii patrii, here means the great train of deities, first received all over the east, and afterwards successively in Greece and Italy. Among the Romans, the three deities received as supreme, were Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; and therefore Virgil adds the word indigetes, to fix it to the θεοι πατρωοι, or the three great supreme gods, received as such in his own country. Indigetes here is much the same as nostri in Juvenal, when he speaks of these very deities. Mr. Spence observes how faultily Dryden has translated this passage. Polymetis, Dial. 20.

582. Etrurian.] Virgil in this place, and in Geo. 2. 530. speaks of Tuscany and Rome almost as if they were upon the same footing; chiefly out of complaisance for his great patron Mecaenas, who was descended from the old race of the kings of that country. Holdsworth.

586. False Laomedon] Apollo and Neptune being hired by Laomedon, to assist him in building a wall round his city of Troy, when the work was finished were by him defrauded of their pay.

Ver. 2. Now thee I sing, O Bacchus.] Instead of coolly proposing the subject he is going to treat of, viz. the cultivation of vines, olives, &c. the poet at once breaks out into a rapturous address to Bacchus; the image contained in the following lines is beautiful and picturesque.

We see the god treading the wine-press. Mr. Dryden's translation of this passage is remarkable.

11. Kind nature trees.] The poet says, wild trees are produced three several ways, spontaneously, by seeds, and by suckers.

22. Greece devoutly paid.] In this, and many other passages, he glances at, and ridicules the superstitions of the Grecians.

24. Cherries.] This kind of fruit had not been brought into Italy many years before Virgil wrote. 'Tis said, Lucullus first introduced them into that country after he had conquered Mithridates.

29. Yet other means.] Having spoken of trees which spontaneously propagate their species, he now proceeds to mention those methods which are used by human industry. These are by suckers, sets, layers, cuttings, pieces of cleft wood, and ingrafting. Martyn.

32. Cross-split or sharpen'd stakes.] There are two ways of planting setters. The quadrifidas sudes (says Mr Benson) is when the bottom is slit across both ways; the acuto robore is when it is cut into a point, which is called the colt's foot.

37. Olive.] It is common in Italy to see old olive-trees, that seem totally dead in the trunk, and yet have very flouing young heads. The same is often as surprizing in old willows; of which I have seen several (and particularly some in the garden island in St. James's Park) which send down a tap-root from their heads through the trunk, that often seems intirely decayed; and so form a young tree on an old stock, which looks as flourishing as the other does rotten. Spence.

47. Ismarus.] Ismarus is a mountain in Thrace; Taburnus in Campania, famous for olives.

61. The trees.] The poet had before mentioned the three ways by which wild trees are produced.—Here he follows the same method, and shews by what culture each sort may be meliorated. Martyn.

80. But quite full grown.] A curious dissertation on the subject of these verses by Mr. Holdsworth was published not long ago, of whom I have heard many able judges declare, that he understood Virgil better than any man living. In my humble opinion, says he, after the general conclusion of planting out,

And the short remark added, that some trees thrive best, not by the ordinary way of planting, but by layers and truncheons,

Virgil proceeds next to another sort of planting, still more difficult; and tells us, that not only young plants and truncheons may be removed, but even grown trees. This is methodical, and consistent with what preceded, the transition easy, and the climax just. We continue still in the plantation, but we are led into a part we had seen nothing of before, a grove of some considerable growth, newly planted. And therefore we may observe, all the epithets and decorations, used here to enliven the subject, are suited to trees of an advanced age,

By this interpretation it must appear already, that the epithet ardua, which is another difficulty with Dr Martyn, becomes plain and easy: and indeed it was so far from embarrassing me, that it helped to explain what went before. We advance farther in the plantation, and are shewn, that even the palm too (an exotic) may be transplanted when tall, or in poetic language, be born a tree; and so likewise the fir, when grown fit for a mast.

We may very reasonably imagine, that in Virgil's time, that age of luxury, the great men of Rome transplanted tall trees from woods and nurseries, as is frequently done with us, into their walks and gardens. Maecenas, to whom this book is dedicated, had a garden, we know, on the Esquiline hill, celebrated by Horace and others; and 'tis not improbable, that in order to bring it sooner to perfection, this might be practis'd there, perhaps just at the time when Virgil was writing this Georgic. If so, how artfully does the poet here insinuate, with his usual address, a compliment to his patron? I only hint this as a conjecture; but am more inclin'd to believe, that something of the wilderness part of a garden is intended, by the palm being placed amongst the others; which, tho' a fruit tree in its own country, yet is not improperly put here in the company of forest-trees, because it did not bear fruit, nor was counted a fruit-tree at that time in Italy: as Pliny informs us lib. iii. c. 4. and therefore could be planted only, as the others might, for beauty and ornament to gardens.

Whether Virgil had any such view or not, there can at least be no doubt but that removing tall trees was practis'd among the Romans. We find by Pliny, that the common method of making their arbusta, or plantations for supporting vines, was by planting out elms, when about five years old, or about twenty foot high: lib. xvii. c. 11. And the fir, mention'd above, which Pliny tells us had so deep a root, must certainly have been a tall tree, and yet, he says, was removed. As to the palm, tho' it did not arrive to such perfection in Italy, as to bear fruit, yet we find it was common there; and a tree which not only would bear removing, but thrive the better for it.

And to put this matter about removing tall trees beyond dispute, Virgil himself confirms it in another place, and makes his Corycius Senex put it in practice, Georg. iv. 144, &c.

'Tis true, most of the commentators and translators seem not to have rightly apprehended the meaning of this passage, as Dr. Martyn observes, and thereby have lost much of its spirit. But since he has render'd it justly, and given it its full force, I doubt not, but when he compares the expressions of both passages together, he will more easily agree to my interpretation; and will be surpriz'd, as indeed I am, how it before

Mr. Holdsworth observes, that Virgil had before spoken of grafting in the common method, from ver. 32 to 34.

As he there grafts only kernel fruit on kernel, and stone on stone, he shews plainly, that he understood what was the common method, and conforms to it. Again, from ver. 49. to 51. under the articles of improvements, he observes, that chance-plants, which are naturally wild, may be civilized by grafting, as crabs, sloes, or wild plums, &c.

Having thus sufficiently mentioned this practice, and there being no necessity to repeat it as he endeavours to be as concise as possible; he proceeds in the next place to tell us, that trees of different kinds may likewise be grafted on each other. And as he had before shew'd, in the four preceding verses, what art could do in transplanting tall trees; he advances here to shew what may likewise be done by the help of art in grafting, viz. that any cion may be ingrafted on any stock. All the translators have mistaken this passage: and I am indebted to Mr. Holdsworth for his clearing it up.

114. Psythia.] Passum is a wine made from raisins, or dried grapes, common both in Italy and the south of France. But the grapes are only hung up to dry, and not squeezed into barrels like our common raisins.

126. Libations.] Among the Romans the first course consisted of flesh, and the second of fruit, at which they poured out wine to offer to the gods, called a Libation. See Arbuthnot on Coins, &c.

127. Plumpest.] Bumastus is the very large red sort of grapes, that they give you so perpetually in their deserts in Italy: and particularly at Florence. It has its name from its shape, each grape being like the teat of a cow; Varro half latinises the word, where he calls it bumamma. Holdsworth.

154. Median fields.] Virgil here gives a very high character of this tree, both for its beauty and usefulness: I take it that he means orange-trees, which were brought first into Italy from Media in his time. As the orange-tree was not yet generally known in Italy, he describes it by its likeness to a tree, well known there, the laurel-tree. The leaves, says he, resemble the leaves of that; but have a finer and more diffused smell and it is almost always beautify'd with flowers. Pliny (Nat Hist. lib. xii. c. 3.) calls the orange-tree malus Medica, and his account of it agrees extremely with this in Virgil. Holdsworth.

166. Media's groves.] We are now come to his most beautiful praises of Italy; nor is it easy to determine which is greatest, the poet's skill, or the patriot's love of his country, He glances at Greece with some ironical sarcasms, in several parts of this passage; particularly he seems to laugh at some of their absurd stories: in these lines,

he alludes to the famous story of Jason. Mr. Thomson has finely imitated these praises of Italy in his Seasons, where he celebrates Great Britain. See his Summer.

181. Clitumnus.] Now called Clitumno; it rises a little below the village of Campello in Ombria. The inhabitants near this river still retain a notion, that its waters are attended with a supernatural property, imagining that it makes the cattle white that drink of it; a quality for which it is likewise celebrated by many of the Latin poets. See Melmoth's Pliny, p. 455.

196. With towns—cliffs.] Among other instances of the happiness of Italy, Virgil mentions its having so many towns built on craggy rocks and hills. There were more formerly, and are several still. In the road from Rome to Naples, you see no less than four in one view, from the hill on which Piperno now stands; reckoning that for one of them. These were very useful, of old, for defence, among such a fighting race of people: and are so still for their coolness, in so hot a climate, that they are generally forced to drive their flocks of sheep up upon the mountains for the summer-season, as they usually feed them in the sheltered plains by the sea-side in the winter. Holdsworth and Spence.

198. Ocean.] Italy is washed on the north side by the Adriatic sea, or gulph of Venice, which is called mare superum, or the upper sea; and on the south side by the Tyrrhene or Tuscan sea, which is called mare inferum, or the lower sea. The Larius is a great lake at the foot of the Alps in the Milanese, now called, Lago di Como. The Benacus is another great lake in the Veronese, now called Lago di Garda; out of which flows the Mincius, on the banks of which our poet was born. Lucrinus and Avernus are two lakes of Campania; the former of which was almost wholly destroyed by an earthquake, but the latter is still remaining, and now called Lago d' Averno.

214 The Scipios.] The elder Scipio delivered his country from the invasion of Hannibal, by transferring the war into Africa; where he subdued the Carthaginians, imposed a tribute upon them, and took hostages. Hence he had the surname of Africanus, and the honour of a triumph. The younger Scipio triumphed for the conclusion of the third Punic war, by the total destruction of Carthage. Hence they were called the thunderbolts of war—duo fulminæ belli Scipiades. Aen. 6. Virgil borrows the expression, from Lucretius, Scipiades belli fulmen.

218. All hail.] The conclusion of Pliny's natural history bears a very near resemblance to this passage, and is very beautiful. Ergo in toto orbe et quacunque coeli convexitas vergit, pulcherrima est omnium, rebusque merito principatum obtinens, Italia, rectrix parensque mundi altera; viris, foeminis, ducibus, militibus, servitiis, artium praestantiâ, ingeniorum claritatibus, jam situ ac salubritate coeli atque temperie, accessu cunctarum gentium facili, littoribus portuosis, benigno ventorum afflatu. The whole passage is worth the reader's perusal.

272. Roremque ministrat.] Ros does not in this place signify dew, as Dryden translates it, but rosemary. Virgil says that the dry hungry soil (now under consideration) is of so barren a nature, that not even those common plants, casia and rosemary, will grow in it. Dr. Martyn has proved the casia here mentioned not to be the celebrated aromatic casia, but a very vulgar herb. Perhaps the epithet humiles, in this place, ought to be construed mean or insignificant, rather than low of growth.

288. Dense.] Densa signifies such a soil, as will not easily admit the rain, is easily crack'd, and apt to gape, and so let in the sun to the root of the vines, and in a manner to strangle the young plants. This therefore must be a hard or stiff soil; rara, lets the showers quite through, and is apt to be dry'd up with the sun. Therefore this must be a loose soil. See Dr. Martyn, who grounds this interpretation on Julius Graecinus, as he is quoted by Columella.

289. Chuse.] It is extremely difficult to make this experiment, which is told with great dignity in the Latin, read gracefully and agreeably in a translation.

309. Bitter.] Amrora is in the style of Lucretius, and the true reading; tho' many read amaro, making it agree with sensû. Servius.

327.] Columella says the trenches should be dug a year beforehand. Mr. Holdsworth used to say, that Columella's treatise on husbandry was by much the best comment on Virgil's Georgics, that he knew of. Spence.

327. Two soils.] Having explained the several sorts of soil, says Martyn, he proceeds to give some instructions concerning the planting of vines: and speaks of the trenches to be made to receive the plants out of the nursery; of taking care that the nursery and the vineyards should have a like soil, and that the plants should be set with the same aspect which they had in the nursery.

346. As in just ranks.] Virgil, says Dr. Martyn, does not mean the form of a Quincunx in this description, but that you should plant your vines in a square in the following order:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Virgil compares the disposition of the trees in a vineyard, to an army drawn up in battle array, 'tis evident that he must mean this figure. The Romans usually allowed three foot square for every common soldier to manage his arms, that is, six foot between each, which is a proper distance for the vines in Italy, according to Columella, who says the rows should not be wider than ten feet, nor nearer than four.

349. And earth reflects.] Aere renidenti tellus, says the original. This expression is borrow'd from Lucretius's, aere renidescit tellus. The shining beauties of the clusters of the vines (says Dr. Martyn) is finely represented by the splendor of the brazen arms. I beg for once to dissent from this learned gentleman, and to observe, that this part of the comparison seems too minute, and too much like an Italian conceit, for Virgil to have thought of.

370. To the west decline.] 'Tis worth observing that the poet has brought together here, more precepts than in any part of all the Georgics; but it is likewise remarkable, that he has placed them very artfully betwixt that fine passage just mentioned, and another equally beautiful. Benson.

376. Falls a spark.] This fine description of a fire raging among the vines and their supporters, judiciously relieves the dryness of the Didactic lines preceding.

394. In spring.] There are few passages in the Georgics more charming than this description of spring. He strives hard to excell Lucretius, but I am afraid it cannot be said that he has done it. The conjugis in gremium is evidently taken from

And the following lines of the same writer, to whom Virgil is indeed infinitely obliged, are very fine; he is likewise speaking of the genial influence of the spring:

404.] This ascribing boldness and fear to trees is highly poetical.

415. Stars.] This seems to be oddly put together at first sight. The forests were stock'd with beasts, and the heavens with constellations. It was not so in those times, when the constellations were generally considered as real animals, and many of them as men, but most of them as beasts. The prologue to Plautus his Rudens is spoken by Arcturus, as one of the Dramatis Personae. Spence.

422. Pebbles hide.] Mr. Evelyn mentions the placing potsheards, pebbles, or flints near the root of the stem; but then he adds, remember you remove them after a competent time, else the vermin, snails and insects which they produce and shelter, will gnaw and greatly injure their bark; and therefore to lay a coat of moist rotten litter with a little earth upon it, will preserve it moist in summer, and warm in winter, enriching the showers and dews that strain thro' it. Evelyn of Forest Trees.

436. Assisted thus.] The word tabulata in the original signifies the branches of elms extended at proper distances to sustain the vines. See Martyn.

440. Dart into the air.] The original says, laxis per purum immissus habenis; this expression is doubtless extremely bold and strong, but the poet had the authority of his master Lucretius.

460. Hence on the lofty stage.] The ancient theatre was a semicircular building, appropriated to the acting of plays, the name being derived from θεαομαι to behold. It was divided into the following parts. 1. The porticus, scalae, sedilia; the rows of sedilia, or seats, were called cunei, because they were formed like wedges, growing narrower, as they came nearer the center of the theatre; and these were all disposed about the circumference of the theatre. 2. The orchestra, so called from ορχειαι to dance: it was the inner part, or centre of the theatre, and the lowest of all, and hollow, whence the whole open space of the theatre was called cavea. Here sat the senators, and here were the dancers and musick. 3. The proscenium, which was a place drawn from one horn of the theatre to the other, between the orchestra and the scene, being higher than the orchestra, and lower than the scene: here the comic and tragic actors spoke and acted upon an elevated place, which was called the pulpitum, or stage. 4. The scene was the opposite part to the audience, decorated with pictures and columns, and originally with trees, to shade the actors, when they performed in the open air. 5. Proscenium, or part behind the scenes. Ruaeus.

473. The god.] Virgil speaks of some little heads of Bacchus, which the countrymen of old hung up on trees, that the face might turn every way; out of a notion that the regards of this god gave felicity to their vineyards: and Ovid mentions Bacchus's turning his face towards him, as a blessing. The former, in a passage, which is not very easy to be understood of itself; and for the full understanding of which, I was obliged to a gem in the Great Duke's collection at Florence. Virgil on this occasion says, that there is plenty where ever this god turns his beautiful face. Mr. Dryden, in his translation of the words, seems to have borrowed his idea of Bacchus from the vulgar representation of him on our sign-posts, and so calls it, [in downright English] Bacchus's honest face. Polymetis, page 130.

502. At the last rank.] Mr. Benson complains, that he could not find that the word antes in the original, was used by any other Roman writer, and says, that he did not know what to make of it. It undoubtedly signifies ranks or files, and is a metaphor taken from the army. For Cato de Re Militari, says, pedites quatuor agminibus, equites duobus antibus duces.

541. Elms, foodful leaves.] The use of the very leaves of this tree, especially of the female, is not to be despised; for being suffered to dry in the sun upon the branches, and the spray stripped off about the decrease in August (as also where the suckers and stolones are supernumerary, and hinder the thriving of their nurses) they will prove a great relief to cattle in winter, and scorching summers; when hay and fodder is dear they will eat them before oats, and thrive exceedingly well with them. Evelyn.

550. The fierce Centaurs.] This happened at the nuptials of Pirithous, king of the Lapithæ, where a Centaur aided by his brethren, attempted to ravish his bride Hippodamia.

552. Thrice happy swains.] The following description of the pleasures of a country life is celebrated almost to a proverb; it affords the highest ideas of Virgil's uncorrupt mind, as well as of his poetry. He has assembled here all the most striking and beautiful objects of nature. No contrast was ever worked up more strongly, than this between the city and country life.

553. Felt their happiness.] Sua si bona norint, is a tender reproach to the Romans for their insensibility of being delivered, a discordibus armis, and restored to the quiet enjoyment of their possessions. Benson.

556. Tho' high-arch'd domes.] Virgil hath so evidently taken the very turn and manner of expression in these lines from a passage in his master Lucretius (Book 2.) that I cannot forbear inserting it; and shall leave the reader to judge which of the two is most beautiful.

580. Me may the lowly vales.] Cowley observes upon this passage, that the first wish of Virgil was to be a good philosopher; the second, a good husbandman; and God, whom he seemed to understand better than most of the learned heathens, dealt with him just as he did with Solomon; because he prayed for wisdom in the first place, he added all things else which were subordinately to be desired. He made him one of the best philosophers, and the best husbandman; and to adorn and communicate both those faculties, the best poet: he made him besides all this a rich man, and a man who desired to be no richer.

590. O that I wander'd.] O ubi campi, &c. It cannot possibly be the poet's enquiry where these places are situated, tho' most of the translators take it so; but it is an ardent wish to be placed in such delightful retreats. Catrou, and the learned M. Huet, bishop of Avranches, read O ubi Tempe, instead of campi, which is most consistent with the passage.

These noble lines are undoubtedly a compliment to Lucretius, whose system must lead him to despise the fears of death and hell: how strongly and poetically is the latter particular expressed by the roaring (din or noise) of the infernal river Acheron.

592. Haemus.] The very best of the Roman poets copied so much after the Greeks, that they sometimes give us ideas of things, that would be proper enough for a Greek, but sound quite improper from a Roman. Virgil's and Horace's instancing Thrace, as so very cold a country, is a strong proof of this.—Thrace was full north of Greece, and some of the Greeks therefore might talk of the coldness of that country as strongly, perhaps, as some among us talk of the coldness of Scotland. The Roman writers speak just in the same stile of the coldness of Thrace, tho' a considerable part of Italy lay in as northern a latitude, and some of it even farther north than Thrace. Spence.

604. He weeps no wretch's.] The meaning of nec doluit miserans inopem is not, that he looks on distress and misery with a stoical apathy and indifference, but that there is no body in the country (so happy are they) to be pitied. Mr. Benson and Dr. Trapp.

608. The noisy people's rage.] The tabularium in the original was the place where the publick records were kept at Rome. It was in the temple of Liberty. Catrou.

615. To quaff in gems.] The Romans carried luxury so far, as to procure large drinking cups made of one intire gem. See instances of this kind in Pliny's natural history. Pocula myrrhina were common among them. Tyre was anciently called Sarra, hence Sarrano ostro.

641. His infants.] Pendent circum oscula, hang about his kisses, is an image most poetical and well expressed; but would not bear a literal translation. The passage in Lucretius, from whom this is imitated, has an image still more tender and natural.—He says,—nec dulces occurunt oscula nati praeripere,—which last word, representing the children running out to meet their father, and striving which shall have the first kiss is very beautiful.

652. The frugal Sabines.] To raise the praises of the country life still higher, he tells us, that this was the life their glorious ancestors, and the first founders of their city were so fond of. Virum bonum cum laudabant, ita laudabant bonum agricolam bonum colonum. Amplissimè laudari existimabatur qui ita laudabatur, says the venerable old Cato.

654. Tuscans.] He mentions Etruria in compliment to Maecenas, who was descended from the ancient kings of Tuscany. Tyrrhena regum progenies, &c. Hor.

660. Useful bullock's gore.] Varro informs us, that in ancient times it was deemed a capital crime to kill an ox; Hic socius hominum in rustico opere, et Cereris minister. Ab hoc, antiqui manus ita abstineri voluerunt, ut capite sanxerit, si quis occidisset. I could not forbear quoting this passage for its great humanity.