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.