nass "PA .:- : m 
 
 Book ■ A(c 
 

3 
 
P. VIRdlLII MARONIS 
 
 GEORGICORUM 
 
 LIBRI QUATUOR. 
 
 THE 0( 
 
 GEORGICKS OF VIRGIL, 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION 
 
 AND 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 BY JOHN MARTYN, F.R.S. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BAXTER J 
 FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE MARIA LANE, LONDON. 
 
 1819. 
 

 K 
 
 
TO 
 
 RICHARD MEAD, M. D. 
 
 PHYSICIAN TO HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE II. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 x DESIRE leave lo present to you the follow- 
 ing Work, which was begun with your approbation 
 and encouragement. You will find in almost 
 every page what use has been made of those 
 valuable Manuscripts of Virgil, which make a 
 part of your noble library ; and which you was 
 pleased to lend me with that readiness, which you 
 always shew in the encouragement of learning. 
 
 Your exact acquaintance with all the fine 
 authors of antiquity, makes you a proper patron 
 of an edition of any of their compositions. But 
 Virgil seems in a particular manner to claim your 
 patronage. He, if we may credit the writers 
 of his life, had made no small proficiency in 
 that divine art, in the profession of which you 
 have for so many years held the first place, and 
 acquired a reputation equal to the great know- 
 
ii DEDICATION. 
 
 ledge and humanity, with which you have exer- 
 cised it. 
 
 As the Georgicks were, in the opinion of their 
 great author himself, the most valuable part of his 
 Works, you will not be displeased with the pains 
 that I have taken to illustrate the most difficult 
 passages therein. And if I shall be so happy as 
 to have your approbation of these fruits of my 
 labours, I shall have no reason to fear the censure 
 of others. But if they had not been composed 
 with as much exactness and care as I am master 
 of, I should not have ventured to desire your 
 acceptance of them, from, 
 
 Sir, 
 Your most obliged 
 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 JOHN MARTYN. 
 
 Chelsea, 
 March 16, 1710-1. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 HUSBANDRY is not only the most ancient, but also 
 the most useful of all arts. This alone is absolutely 
 necessary for the support of human life ; and without it 
 other pursuits would be in vain. The exercise therefore 
 of this art was justly accounted most honourable by the 
 ancients. Thus in the earliest ages of the world we find 
 the greatest heroes wielding the share as well as the 
 sword, and the fairest hands no more disdaining to hold 
 a crook than a sceptre. The ancient Romans owed 
 their glory and power to Husbandry : and that famous 
 Republic never flourished so much, as when their great- 
 est men ploughed with their own hands. Lucius Quin- 
 tius Cincinnatus was found naked at the plough-tail, 
 when he was summoned to take upon him the Dictator- 
 ship. And when he had settled the Commonwealth, 
 the glorious old man returned to the tillage of his small 
 farm, laden with the praises of the Roman people. C. 
 Fabricius and Curius Dentatus, those glorious patterns 
 of temperance, who drove Pyrrhus out of Italy, and 
 vanquished the Samnites and Sabines, were as diligent 
 in cultivating their fields, as they were valiant and 
 successful in war. But when the virtuous industry of 
 this great people gave way to luxury and effeminacy, 
 the loss of their glory attended on their neglect of 
 Husbandry, and by degrees they fell a prey to bar- 
 barous nations. 
 
 a2 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 This art has not only exercised the bodies of the 
 greatest heroes, but the pens also of the most 
 celebrated writers of antiquity. Hesiod, who lived in 
 the generation immediately succeeding the Trojan war, 
 wrote a Greek poem on Husbandry. And though 
 Homer did not write expressly on this subject, yet he 
 has represented Laertes, the father of his favourite hero, 
 as a wise prince, retiring from public business, and de- 
 voting his latter years to the tillage of his land. Demo- 
 critus, Xenophon, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and several 
 other Grecian philosophers, have treated of Agriculture 
 in prose. Among the Romans, Cato the famous censor 
 has written a treatise of rural affairs, in which he was 
 imitated by the learned Varro. Cato writes like an 
 ancient country gentleman, of much experience ; he 
 abounds in short pithy sentences, intersperses his book 
 with moral precepts, and was esteemed as a sort of rural 
 oracle. Varro writes more like a scholar than a man of 
 much practice : he is fond of researches into antiquity, 
 enquires into the etymology of the names of persons and 
 things ; and we are obliged to him for a catalogue of 
 those who had written on this subject before him. 
 
 But Virgil shines in a sphere far superior to the rest. 
 His natural abilities, his education, his experience in 
 Husbandry, conspired to render him the finest writer on 
 this subject. No man was ever endowed with a more 
 noble genius, which he took care to improve by the 
 study of Greek literature, mathematics, astronomy, me- 
 dicine, and philosophy. He cultivated his own lands 
 near Mantua, till he was about thirty years of age, when 
 he appeared at Rome, and w r as soon received into the 
 favour of Augustus Caesar. Virgil wanted nothing but 
 the air of a court, to add a polish to his uncommon 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 share of parts and learning. And here he had the hap- 
 piness to live under the protection of the most powerful 
 prince in the world, and to converse familiarly with the 
 greatest men that any age or nation ever produced. 
 The Pastorals of Theocritus were much admired, and 
 not undeservedly ; but the Romans had never seen any 
 thing of that kind in their own language. Virgil at- 
 tempted it, and with such success, that he has at least 
 made the victory doubtful. The Latin Eclogues dis- 
 covered such a delicacy in their composition, that the au- 
 thor was immediately judged capable of arriving at the 
 nobler sorts of poetry. The long duration of the civil 
 wars had almost depopulated the country, and laid it 
 waste; there had been such a scarcity in Rome, that 
 Augustus had almost lost his life by an insurrection of 
 the populace. A great part of the lands in Italy had been 
 divided among the soldiers, who had been too long en- 
 gaged in the wars, to have a just knowledge of Agricul- 
 ture. Hence it became necessary that the ancient spirit 
 of Husbandry should be revived among the Romans. 
 And Maecenas, who wisely pursued every thing that 
 might be of service to his master, engaged the favourite 
 poet in this undertaking. 
 
 Virgil, who had already succeeded so well in the 
 contention with one Greek poet, now boldly entered 
 the lists with another. And if it may be questioned 
 whether he exceeded Theocritus, there can be no doubt 
 of his having gone far beyond Hesiod. He was now in 
 the thirty-fifth year of his age, his imagination in full 
 vigour, and his judgment mature. He employed seven 
 years in the composition of this noble poem, which he 
 called Georgicks; and when it was finished, it did not 
 fall short of the expectations of his patron. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 Those who have been accustomed to see the noble 
 art of Husbandry committed to the management of the 
 meanest people, may think the majestic style which Vir- 
 gil has used not well adapted to the subject. But the 
 poet wrote for the delight and instruction of a people, 
 whose dictators and consuls had been husbandmen. 
 His expressions accordingly are every where so solemn, 
 and every precept is delivered with such dignity, that 
 we seem to be instructed by one of those ancient 
 farmers, who had just enjoyed the honours of a triumph. 
 Never was any poem finished with such exactness : 
 there being hardly a sentence that we could wish omit- 
 ted, or a word that could be changed, without injuring 
 the propriety or delicacy of the expression. He never 
 sinks into any thing low and mean ; but by a just distri- 
 bution of Grecisms, antique phrases, figurative expres- 
 sions, and noble allusions, keeps up a true poetical spirit 
 through the whole composition. But we cannot be sur- 
 prised at this extraordinary exactness, if we consider, 
 that every line of this charming poem cost more than an 
 entire day to the most judicious of all poets, in the most 
 vigorous part of his life. Besides, it appears that he 
 was continually revising it to the very day of his death. 
 
 It would be an endless labour to point out all the 
 several beauties in this poem : but it w ould be an 
 unpardonable omission in an editor, to pass them 
 wholly over in silence. The reader will easily observe 
 the variety which Virgil uses in delivering his precepts. 
 A writer less animated with a spirit of poetry, w ould 
 have contented himself with dryly telling us, that it is 
 proper to break the clods with harrows, and by drawing 
 hurdles over them; and to plough the furrows across; 
 that moist summers and fair winters are to be desired; 
 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 and that it is good to float the field after it is sown. 
 These precepts are just ; but it is the part of a poet to 
 make them beautiful also, by a variety of expression. 
 Virgil therefore begins these precepts by saying, the 
 husbandman, who breaks the clods with harrows 
 and hurdles, greatly helps the field ; and then he 
 introduces Ceres looking down from heaven with a 
 favourable aspect upon him, and on those also, who 
 plough the field across, which he beautifully calls exer- 
 cising the earth, and commanding the fields a . He 
 expresses the advantage of moist summers and dry 
 winters, by advising the farmers to pray for such 
 seasons; and then immediately leaves the didactic 
 style, and represents the fields as rejoicing in winter 
 dust, and introduces the mention of a country famous 
 for corn, owing its fertility to nothing so much as to 
 this weather, and, by a bold metaphor, makes the fields 
 astonished at the plenty of their harvest b . The poet 
 now changes his style to the form of a question, and 
 asks why he needs to mention him that floats the 
 ground : he then describes the field gasping with thirst, 
 and the grass withering, and places before our eyes the 
 labourer inviting the rill to descend from a neighbouring 
 rock; we hear the stream bubble over the stones, and 
 
 a Multum adeo, rastris glebas qui frangit inertes, 
 Vimineasque trahit crates, juvat arva: neque ilium 
 Flava Ceres alto nequicquam spectat Olympo: 
 Et qui, proscisso quae suscitat aequore terga, 
 Rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro, 
 Exercetque frequens tellurem, atque imperat arvis. 
 
 b Humida solstitia, atque hyemes orate serenas, 
 Agricolae : hyberno laetissima pulvere farra, 
 Lsetus ager : nullo tantum se Mysia cultu 
 Jactat, et ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messes. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 are delighted with the refreshment that is given to the 
 fields c . To mention every instance of this variety of 
 expression, would be almost the same thing with 
 reciting the whole poem. 
 
 Virgil has exceeded all other poets in the justness 
 and beauty of his descriptions. The summer storm in 
 the first book is, I believe, not to be equalled. We see 
 the adverse winds engaging, the heavy corn torn up by 
 the roots, and whirled aloft, the clouds thickening, the 
 rain pouring, the rivers overflowing, and the sea 
 swelling, and to conclude the horror of the description, 
 Jupiter is introduced darting thunder with his fiery 
 right hand, and overturning the mountains; earth 
 trembles, the beasts are fled, and men are struck with 
 horror; the south wind redoubles, the shower increases, 
 and the woods and shores rebellow. The description 
 of the spring, in the second book, is no less pleasing, 
 than that of the storm is terrible. We there are enter- 
 tained with the melody of birds, the loves of the cattle, 
 the earth opening her bosom to the warm zephyrs, 
 and the trees and herbs unfolding their tender buds. 
 I need not mention the fine descriptions of the cesculus, 
 the citron, the amellus, or the several sorts of serpents, 
 which are all excellent. The descriptions of the horse, 
 the chariot race, the fighting of the bulls, the violent 
 effects of lust, and the Scythian winter, can never be too 
 much admired. 
 
 c Quid dicara, jacto qui seraine cominus arva 
 Insequitur, cumulosque ruit male pinguis arenae ? 
 Deinde satis fluvium inducit, rivosque sequentes ? 
 Et cum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, 
 Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam 
 Elicit : ilia cadens raucum per laevia murmur 
 Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva, 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 The use of well adapted similes is in a manner essen- 
 tial to a poem. None can be more just, than the com- 
 parison of a well ordered vineyard to the Roman army 
 drawn out in rank and file ; nor could any have been 
 more happily imagined, than that of a bull rushing on 
 his adversary, to a great wave rolling to the shore, and 
 dashing over the rocks. But above all that celebrated 
 simile of the nightingale, in the fourth book, has been 
 no less justly than universally applauded. 
 
 But nothing is more generally admired in poetry, 
 than that curious art of making the numbers of the 
 verses expressive of the sense that is contained in it. 
 When the giants strive to heap one huge mountain 
 upon another, the very line pants and heaves d ; and 
 when the earth is to be broken up with heavy drags, 
 the verse labours as much as the husband man e . We 
 hear the prancing steps of the war horse f , the swelling 
 of the sea, the crashing of the mountains, the resounding 
 of the shores, and the murmuring of the woods &, in the 
 poet's numbers. The swift rushing of the north 
 wind 11 , and the haste required to catch up a stone to 
 destroy a serpent 1 , are described in words as quick as 
 the subject. 
 
 d Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam. 
 
 e.--.---..-_ Omne quotannis 
 Terque quaterque solum scindendum, glebaque versis 
 iEternum frangenda bidentibus. 
 
 f Insultare solo, et gressus glomerare superbos. 
 
 g„. _-_-«..-_ Freta ponti 
 Incipiunt agitata tumescere, et aridus altis 
 Montibus audiri fragor : aut resonantia longe 
 Littora misceri, et nemorum increbrescere murmur. 
 
 h Ille volat, simul arva fuga, simul aequora verrens. 
 
 1 - - - Cape saxa manu, cape robora pastor, 
 b 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 Digressions are not only permitted, but are thought 
 ornamental in a poem ; provided they do not seem to 
 be stuck on unartfully, or to ramble too far from the 
 subject. Virgil's are entertaining and pertinent; and 
 he never suffers them to lose sight of the business in 
 hand. The most liable to objection seems to be the 
 conclusion of the first Georgick, where he entertains 
 the reader with a long account of the prodigies that at- 
 tended Caesar's death, and of the miseries occasioned 
 by the civil wars among the Romans. But here it may 
 be observed what care the poet takes not to forget his 
 subject. He introduces a husbandman in future ages 
 turning up rusty spears with the civil plough-share, 
 striking harrows against empty helmets, and astonished 
 at the gigantic size of the bones. And when he would 
 describe the whole world in arms, he expresses it by 
 saying the plough does not receive its due honour, the 
 fields lie uncultivated by the absence of the husband- 
 men, and the sickles are beaten into swords. The 
 praises of Italy, and the charms of a country life, in the 
 second Georgick, seem naturally to flow from the 
 subject. The violent effects of lust, in the third book, 
 are described with a delicacy not to be paralleled. 
 This was a dangerous undertaking; it was venturing to 
 steer between Scylla and Charybdis. We need but 
 consult the translations to be convinced of this. 
 Dryden, endeavouring to keep up the spirit of the 
 original, could not avoid being obscene and lascivious 
 in his expressions; and Dr. Trapp, whose character 
 laid him under a necessity of avoiding that rock, has 
 sunk into an insipid flatness, unworthy of the poet 
 whom he has translated. But in the original, the senti- 
 ments are warm and lively, and the expressions strong 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 and masculine. And yet he does not make use of a 
 word unbecoming the gravity of a philosopher, or the 
 modesty of a virgin. The pestilence that reigned 
 among the Alpine cattle is confessedly a master-piece ; 
 and not inferior to the admired description which 
 Lucretius has given of the plague at Athens. The 
 story of Orpheus and Eurydice is told in so delightful 
 a manner, that, had it been less of a piece with the main 
 poem, we could not but have thanked the author for 
 inserting it. 
 
 These, and innumerable other beauties, which cannot 
 easily escape the observation of a judicious reader, are 
 sufficient to make the Georgicks esteemed as the finest 
 poem that ever appeared. But the work is not only 
 beautiful, but useful too. The precepts contained in it 
 are so just, that the gravest prose writers among the 
 Romans have appealed to Virgil, as to an oracle, in 
 affairs of Husbandry. And though the soil and climate 
 of Italy are different from those of England ; yet it has 
 been found by experience, that most of his rules may be 
 put in practice, even here, to advantage. 
 
 This was the poem on which Virgil depended for 
 his reputation with posterity. He desired on his 
 death-bed that his iEneis might be burnt; but was 
 willing to trust the Georgicks to future ages. The 
 reason of this conduct seems to be obvious. The 
 iEneis was unfinished, and had not received the last 
 hand of the author. And though it has justly been the 
 admiration of all succeeding times, yet this great 
 master thought it unworthy of his pen. He was con- 
 scious, that it fell short of the Iliad, which he had 
 hoped to exceed ; and, like a true Roman, could not 
 brook a superior. But in the Georgicks, he knew that 
 
 b2 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 he had triumphed over the Greek poet. This poem 
 had received the finishing stroke, and was therefore 
 the fittest to give posterity an idea of the genius of its 
 author. Nor was the poet disappointed in his expec- 
 tations: for the Georgicks have been universally 
 admired, even by those who are unacquainted with the 
 subject. The descriptions, the similes, the digressions, 
 the purity and majesty of the style, have afforded a 
 great share of delight to many whom 1 have heard 
 lament, that they were not able to enjoy the principal 
 beauties of this poem. I had the good fortune to give 
 some of my friends the satisfaction they desired in this 
 point: and they were pleased to think, that my obser- 
 vations on this poem would be as acceptable to the 
 public, as they had been to themselves. I was without 
 much difficulty persuaded to undertake a new edition 
 of a work, which I had always admired, and endea- 
 voured to understand, to which the general bent of my 
 studies had in some measure contributed. I was 
 desirous in the first place, that the text of my author 
 might be as exact as possible. To this end, I compared 
 a considerable number of printed editions, valuable 
 either for their age, their correctness, or the skill of the 
 editor. I thought it necessary also to enquire after the 
 manuscripts that were to be found in England; that 
 by a collection of all the various readings, I might be 
 able to lay before the reader the true and genuine ex- 
 pression of my author. The manuscripts, which I col- 
 lated, being all that I had any information of, are seven 
 in number : one of them is in the King's Library ; one 
 in the Royal Library at Cambridge > one in the 
 Bodleian Library at Oxford ; two in the Arundelian 
 Library, belonging to the Royal Society; and two in 
 
PREFACE. xiii 
 
 Dr. Mead's Library. I have collated all these myself, 
 and the reader will find the various readings inserted 
 in the following annotations. I have generally followed 
 the edition of Heinsius, seldom departing from it, unless 
 compelled by some strong reason; and I have never 
 ventured to alter the text by any conjectural 
 emendation, or on the authority of a single manu- 
 script. 
 
 In composing the annotations, I have carefully 
 perused the grammatical comments of Servius, the 
 learned paraphrase of Grimoaldus, the valuable collec- 
 tions of observations, various readings, and compari- 
 sons with the Greek poets, made by Fulvius Ursinus 
 and Pierius ; the learned and judicious criticisms of 
 La Cerda and Ruaeus, and the curious remarks of 
 Father Catrou, whose French edition of Virgil did not 
 fall into my hands, till the greatest part of the first 
 Georgick was printed, which is the reason that I have 
 not quoted him sooner. But I did not depend entirely 
 on these learned commentators ; and have often ven- 
 tured to differ from them, for which I have assigned 
 such reasons, as I believe will be found satisfactory. 
 They were all unacquainted with the subject, and 
 therefore could not avoid falling into considerable and 
 frequent errors. When the sense of any word or ex- 
 pression has been doubtful, or variously interpreted, I 
 have endeavoured to find how it has been used by the 
 poet himself in other parts of his works, and by this 
 means have sometimes removed the ambiguity. If this 
 has failed, I have consulted the other authors, who 
 wrote about the same time; and after them, the earliest 
 critics, who are most likely to have retained the true 
 meaning. With regard to the precepts themselves, I 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 have compared them with what is to be found in 
 Aristotle, Cato, and Varro, whom our author himself 
 evidently consulted; and with those of Columella, 
 Pliny, and Palladius, who wrote before the memory of 
 Virgil's rules was lost in the barbarous ages. I have 
 generally given the very words of the author, whom I 
 find occasion to cite, not taking them at second hand, 
 as is too frequent, but having recourse to the originals 
 themselves. 
 
 I am not conscious of having assumed any observa- 
 tion, for which I am indebted to any other. The 
 reader will find many, which I am persuaded are not 
 to be met with in any of the commentators. I have 
 been very particular in my criticisms on the plants 
 mentioned by Virgil : that being the part, in which I 
 am best able to inform him, and which, I believe, has 
 been chiefly expected from me. The astronomical part 
 has given me most trouble, being that with which I am 
 the least acquainted. But yet I may venture to lay the 
 annotations on this subject before the reader with some 
 confidence, as they have had the good fortune to be 
 perused by the greatest astronomer of this, or perhaps 
 of any age ; the enjoyment of whose acquaintance and 
 friendship 1 shall always esteem as one of the happiest 
 circumstances of my life. 
 
 I know not whether I need make any apology for 
 publishing my notes in English. Had they been in 
 Latin as I at first intended, they might have been of 
 more use to foreigners : but as they are, I hope they 
 will be of service to my own country, which is what I 
 most desire. The prose translation will, I know, be 
 thought to debase Virgil. But it was never intended 
 to give any idea of the poet's style ; the whole design 
 
PREFACE. xv 
 
 of it being to help the less learned reader to understand 
 the subject. Translations of the ancient poets into 
 prose have been long used with success by the French : 
 and I do not see why they should be rejected by the 
 English. But those who choose to read the Georgicks 
 in English verse, may find several translations by emi- 
 nent men of our own country, to whom we are greatly 
 obliged for their laudable endeavours, though they 
 have sometimes deviated from the sense and spirit of 
 the author. I have therefore pointed out most of their 
 errors, that have occurred to me ; which I thought 
 myself the more obliged to do, because I have found 
 Virgil himself accused of some mistakes, which are 
 wholly to be ascribed to a translator. I say not this to 
 detract from the merit of any of those learned and 
 ingenious gentlemen. I am no poet myself, and there- 
 fore cannot be moved by any envy to their superior 
 abilities. But as I have endeavoured to rectify the 
 errors of others, so I shall be heartily glad to have my 
 own corrected. I hope they are not very numerous, 
 since I have spared no labour to do all the justice to 
 my author that was in my power ; and have bestowed 
 as much time in attempting to explain this incomparable 
 work, as Virgil did in composing it. 
 
As nothing is more necessary for scholars, than the 
 right understanding of the authors which are put into 
 their hands; and as among the poets VIRGIL is the 
 chief; so the accurate English translation, and learned 
 notes which Dr. Marty n has made, with much pains 
 and labour, upon the GEORGICKS, the most complete 
 and exactly finished wwk of that poet, deserve to be 
 recommended for the use of public and private schools of 
 this kingdom. The authors preface to this his per- 
 formance is very well worth the readers careful persual 
 and particular attention. 
 
 M. MAITTAIRE. 
 
 Soutkampton-R&w, 
 July 1, 1746. 
 
P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 GEORGICORUM 
 
 LIBER PRIMUS. 
 
 QUID faciat laetas segetes, duo sidere terrain 
 
 ° * rejoice, under what signs it 
 
 Vertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adjungere vites SSSi, b L5 r jS5" the *£.*£ 
 
 s>t . . , 'l-iii elms : what care is to be had 
 
 Conveniat : quae cura bourn, qui cultus habendo of oxen, and how other cattle 
 
 may be managed : what ex- 
 Sit pecori : apibus quanta experientia parcis : th?fru =e a ite^ ired t0 treat 
 
 1. Quid faciat fyc] Virgil begins 
 this poem with a brief account of 
 the subjects of his four books: corn 
 and ploughing being the subject of 
 the first, vines and other trees of 
 the second, cattle of the third, and 
 bees of the fourth. 
 
 Lcetas segetes) Seges is common- 
 ly used by Virgil to signify the 
 field. Joyful is a noble epithet: 
 we have the same metaphor used in 
 some passages of the Bible. Thus 
 it is in the 65th Psalm, ver. 14. 
 ec The valleys shall stand so thick 
 " with corn, that they shall laugh 
 " and sing." 
 
 Quo sidere.~] This expression is 
 very poetical. Dryden has debased 
 it by translating it, 
 
 •when to turn 
 
 The fruitful soil, and when to sow the 
 
 And -when to raise on elms the teeming 
 vine. 
 
 And yet in the essay on the Geor- 
 gicks, prefixed to Dryden's transla- 
 
 tion, Addison observes that " Virgil, 
 " to deviate from the common form 
 tc of words, would not make use of 
 " tempore, but sidere in his first 
 " verse." 
 
 3. Qui cultus,'] Pierius tells us, 
 that in the Roman, the Lombaru, 
 the Medicean, and some ancient 
 manuscripts, it is qui. The same 
 reading is in all the manuscripts I 
 have collated, except that of the 
 King's library, and one of Dr. 
 Mead's, where it is quis. La Cerda, 
 and some other printed editions, 
 have quis: but Heinsius and most 
 of the best editors read qui. 
 
 4. Pecori: apibus.'] Some editions 
 have atque, between pecori and api- 
 bus, to avoid the synalcepha. But 
 Pierius assures us, that in all the 
 most ancient manuscripts he had 
 seen, atque is left out. It is wanting 
 in the King's, the Cambridge, the 
 Bodleian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. In another of Dr. 
 Mead's, there is only que, which 
 Pierius observes to have been gene- 
 rally inserted in the Lombard manu- 
 
2 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ?oTng\ N SnShS"ngSt" Hinc canere incipiam. Vos, 6 clarissima mundi 5 
 
 of the world, who lead the -r • i i_ 1 J 
 
 year sliding through the sky: .Lumina, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum: 
 
 script, where there would be a syna- 
 loepha. This figure however is fre- 
 quent in Virgil: Pierius quotes many 
 instances. I shall mention only one, 
 which is in the third Georgick: 
 
 Arcebis gravido peeori ; armentaque 
 pasces. 
 
 Heinsius and Masvicius leave out 
 atque: but La Cerda, Ruaeus, and 
 most of the common editions keep 
 it in. 
 
 Experiential] This is generally 
 understood to mean the experience 
 which is required in us to manage 
 bees. Ruaeus interprets it in this 
 sense, ee quanta industrial ut alan- 
 " tur apes frugales." But in his 
 notes he proposes another sense, 
 making experientia to signify the 
 experience, prudence, or ingenuity 
 of the bees. " Prater interpretatio- 
 e: nem jam traditam afferri potest 
 " haec altera: Dicam qua? sit apum 
 <( experientia, prudentia, ingenium, 
 <e ars quaedam: non usu quidem 
 " comparata, sed ingenita." Dry- 
 den translates apibus quanta experi- 
 entia, 
 
 The birth and genins of the frugal bee. 
 Mr. B— translates it, 
 
 What mighty arts to thrifty bees belong. 
 Dr. Trapp has it, 
 
 The experience of the parsimonious bee. 
 
 He is very fond of this new inter- 
 pretation of Ruasus: M To me (says 
 * he) it is much the best sense ; be- 
 " cause it is literal, and yet most 
 ec poetical. According to the other 
 " construction, the expression is ve- 
 u ry harsh ; and not to be support- 
 ed by any parallel place that I 
 
 " know of." This learned gentle- 
 man is mistaken, when he thinks 
 that only Ruceus mentions this sense ; 
 for Grimoaldus had interpreted this 
 passage the same way long before : 
 " postremoquam frugalem solertiam 
 " ipsis apibus, in congregando, et 
 " custodiendo melle, divina provi- 
 fe dentia concesserit, explicabo." 
 But, for my part, I do not see any 
 reason to reject the common inter- 
 pretation; nor do I perceive why we 
 may not interpret this passage, qui 
 cultus sit habendo peeori; quanta ex- 
 perientia sit habendis apibus. Be- 
 sides it rather seems harsh to ascribe 
 experience to bees, whose prudence, 
 as Ruaeus himself confesses, is non 
 usu comparata sed ingenita. 
 
 Par cis.'] This epithet is frequent- 
 ly applied to bees : thus Aristotle, 
 
 if-lXoivvovri, cil xctt ru<; a^yag oil ^Xir\eCi y 
 x.eti t«5 (A (ptidofAivxg ; and Pliny, 
 Cceterum proeparcce, et quae alioquin 
 prodigas atque edaces, non secus ac 
 pigras, et ignavas proturbent; and 
 Martial, parca laborat apis. 
 
 One of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 instead of par cis, has paucis, which 
 would make this passage be read 
 thus; 
 
 — — apibus quanta experientia, paucis 
 Hinc canere inc ipi 
 
 But I think the common reading is 
 better. 
 
 5. Vos, Sfcl The Poet having 
 proposed the subject of his work, 
 proceeds to the invocation of those 
 deities, who preside over rural af- 
 fairs. 
 
 Clarissima mundi Luminal] Some 
 are of opinion, that in these words 
 Virgil does not invoke the sun and 
 moon, but only Bacchus and Ceres. 
 Ruaeus assents to this interpretation, 
 and gives his reasons why those dei- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 Liber et alma Ceres, vestro si munere tell us 
 Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista, 
 
 O Bacchus and nourishing 
 Ceres, if by your bounty 
 the earth changed Chaonian 
 acorns for fruitful corn, 
 
 ties may deserve such an appella- 
 tion; 1. Because they are thought to 
 have discovered, and to preside over 
 the harvest and vintage: 2. Because 
 by them may be understod the sun 
 and moon; for it is proved in Ma- 
 crobius, that the sun is not only 
 Liber and Dionysius, but also Jupi- 
 ter, Mars, Mercury, and Hercules; 
 and that the moon is Ceres. La 
 Cerda contends with better reason, 
 that the sun and moon are here in- 
 voked distinctly from Bacchus and 
 Ceres: 1. Because these words de- 
 note only the sun and moon: 2. Be- 
 cause leading the year is more pro- 
 perly understood of those which 
 lead the whole year, than of those 
 which lead only two parts of it: 3. Be- 
 cause Virgil seems to imitate Varro 
 in this passage, who invokes the sun 
 and moon distinctly from Bacchus 
 and Ceres : 4. Because Virgil is un- 
 derstood in this sense by Apuleius. 
 As it is generally thought that 
 Virgil had Varro's invocation in his 
 mind; it may not be amiss to place 
 it here before the reader. " Et 
 " quoniam (ut aiunt) Dei facientes 
 " adjuvant, prius invocabo eos, nee, 
 " ut Homerus, et Ennius, Musas, 
 " sed XII. deos, consenteis neque 
 " tamen eos urbanos, quorum ima- 
 i( gines, ad forum auratae stant, 
 " sex mares, et fceminae totidem, 
 " sed illos XII. deos, qui maxime 
 a agricolarum duces sunt. Primum, 
 * qui omnes fructus agricultural 
 " caelo, et terra continent, Jovem, 
 " et Tellurem. Itaque quod ii pa- 
 " rentes, magni dicuntur, Juppiter 
 " pater appellatur, Tellus terra ma- 
 " ter. Secundo Solem et Lunam, 
 " quorum tempora observantur, cum 
 " quaedam seruntur et conduntur. 
 " Tertio Cererem et Liberum, 
 " quod horum fructus maxime ne- 
 
 " cessarii ad victum: ab his enim 
 " cibus et potio venit e fundo. 
 " Quarto Robigum ac Floram, qui- 
 " bus propitiis, neque rubigo fru- 
 " menta, atque arbores corrumpit, 
 " neque non tempestive florent. Ita- 
 " que publicae Robigo ferise robiga- 
 " lia, Florae ludi noralia instituti. 
 u Item adveneror Miner vam et Ve- 
 " nerem, quarum unius procuratio 
 " oliveti, alterius hortorum,, quo 
 " nomine rustica vinalia instituta. 
 " Nee non etiam precor Lympham, 
 " ac Bonum Eventum, quoniam 
 " sine aqua omnis arida ac misera 
 " agricultura, sine successu ac bono 
 " eventu, frustratio est, non cul- 
 " tura." 
 
 7. Liber et alma Ceres.] These 
 two deities are properly invoked to- 
 gether, because temples were erected 
 jointly to them, and they were fre- 
 quently united in the same myste- 
 ries. Lucretius has brought them to- 
 gether much after the same manner: 
 
 Nam que Ceres fertur fruges, Liberque 
 
 liquoris 
 Vitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse. 
 
 <&'.] Servius thinks si is used in 
 this place for siquidem. 
 
 Munere r\ Fulvius Ur sinus says, 
 that, in an ancient manuscript of A. 
 Colotius, it is numine. The same 
 reading is in one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts. 
 
 8. Chaoniam glandemr\ Epirus is 
 often called Chaonia, because the 
 Chaones, a people of Epirus, for- 
 merly ruled over the whole country. 
 Dodona was a city of Epirus, hear 
 which was the famous grove of 
 oracular oaks. Thus Virgil poeti- 
 cally mentions Chaonian or Dodonean 
 acorns, for acorns in general; those 
 of Dodona being the most cele- 
 brated. 
 
 b 2 
 
4 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 £hdSS d w^r d, S& htt thJ Poculaque inventis Acheloia miscuit uvis: 
 
 juice of the newly discovered -p, _ 
 
 grapes. And ye Fauns, the ±L.t vos agrestum praesentia numma Fauni, 10 
 
 deities who assist husband- ° 
 
 »"rw!thtL er Dr?a5iThe Ferte simul Faunique pedem, Dryadesque pu- 
 
 nymphs who preside over 
 trees : I sing vour gifts. And 
 thou, Neptune, _ ~ 
 
 Munera vestra cano. Tuque 6, cui prima fre- 
 
 ellae: 
 
 mentem 
 
 9- Pocula Acheloia.'] The river 
 Achelous is said to be the first that 
 brake out of the earth : whence the 
 name of that river was frequently 
 put for water by the ancients. Thus 
 Eustathius observes, that, as all high 
 mountains were called Ida, so all 
 water was called Achelous. This 
 expression might still be more pro- 
 per in the invocation of deities, as 
 being more solemn; for we find in 
 Macrobius, that water was called 
 Achelous, chiefly in oaths, prayers, 
 and sacrifices: Maxima y#g to vta^ 
 
 y.cu iv Teas iv%x7sj Koii Iv rxtg S-virixtg. 
 Fulvius Ur sinus quotes many pas- 
 sages out of ancient authors, to the 
 same purpose. Dryden has quite 
 lost the solemnity of the expression, 
 by translating it, 
 
 Who gave us corn for mast, for water 
 wine. 
 
 Vida alludes to this passage, when 
 he tells us that the poets sometimes 
 put Achelous for water in general: 
 
 Nee deerit tibi, pro fluviis, proque om- 
 nibus undis, 
 Pocula qui pressis Acheloia misceat uvis. 
 
 10. Agrestum prcesenha numina 
 Fauni, fyc] The Fauns and Dryads 
 were usually invoked together, as 
 deities who presided over rural af- 
 fairs. <c Quin et Sylvanos," says 
 Pliny, " Faunosque et Dearum ge- 
 te nera sylvis, ac sua numina, tan- 
 " quam et caelo, attributa credi- 
 " mus." The original of these 
 Fauns is thought to be Faunus, who 
 taught the ancient Italians their re- 
 
 ligion, and was worshipped by 
 them. He was the father of Lati- 
 nus, and delivered his oracles in a 
 grove, not by signs, but by voice. 
 We have an account of tins in the 
 seventh iEneid : 
 
 At Rex sollicitus monstris, oracula Fauni 
 Fatidici genitoris adit, lucosque sub alta 
 Consulit Albunea, nemorum quae max- 
 ima sacro 
 
 Fonte sonat. 
 
 — . Subita ex alto vox reddita luco est. 
 
 The Fauns are so called afando, be- 
 cause they speak personally to men. 
 They are generally thought to be 
 the same with the satyrs. Horace 
 seems to make Faunus the same 
 with Pan: 
 
 Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem 
 Mutat Lycaeo Faunus ; 
 
 for Lycaeus was one of the habita- 
 tions of Pan, as we find in this in- 
 vocation: 
 
 Ipse nemus linquens parrium, saltusque 
 
 Lycaei, 
 Pan ovium custos. 
 
 The Dryads had their name^from 
 £gy?, an oak. 
 
 12. Prima.'] Various are the opi- 
 nions of commentators concerning 
 the meaning of this epithet. Many, 
 says Servius, take it to mean olim. 
 In this sense Grimoaldus has inter- 
 preted it. La Cerda leaves his 
 reader to choose which he pleases 
 of four interpretations. 1. The earth 
 may be called prima, because it ex- 
 isted before the other elements. 
 2. Because the earth, together with, 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 Fudit equum magno tell us percussa tridenti, 13 ^SS?^iS e r& 
 
 ^ trident, first brought forth 
 
 Neptune: et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia i_,eae the neighing horse : and thou 
 
 ■r ' * o inhabitant of the groves, 
 
 heaven, was said to be the parent 
 of the gods. In this sense Dr. 
 Trapp has translated it: 
 
 — — Thou, at whose command 
 The parent earth a sprightly steed dis- 
 clos'd. 
 
 3. Tellus prima may signify the sea- 
 shore, where the horse was pro- 
 duced by Neptune; for Virgil in 
 another place uses prima terra in 
 this sense: 
 
 — Primaque vetant consistere terra. 
 
 4. The Poet may allude to Attica, 
 the seat of this fable, for the Athe- 
 nians pretended to be the most an- 
 cient people in the world. I have 
 ventured to take it in what seems 
 to me the most obvious sense. I 
 imagine that the adjective is put 
 here only for the adverb, of which 
 many examples may be produced 
 from our Poet: as " pede terram 
 " crebra ferit." Nay, he has used 
 prima in the same manner in this 
 very Georgick: 
 
 Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere 
 
 terram 
 Instituit. 
 
 Mr. B — translates it in this sense, 
 
 , Thou, whose trident's force 
 First clave the earth and rais'd the 
 neighing horse. 
 
 13. Fudit equum, tyc] This al- 
 ludes to the story of Neptune's pro- 
 ducing a horse at Athens. La 
 Cerda offers some strong reasons 
 for reading aqaam instead of equum, 
 which emendation is mentioned also 
 by Servius, who says the most an- 
 cient manuscripts have aquam. La 
 Cerda's reasons are; 1. Herodotus 
 says, that in the temple of Erec- 
 
 theus, there was an olive-tree and 
 the sea, in memory of the contention 
 between Neptune and Minerva. 
 2. Varro, when he relates this fable, 
 mentions water, not a horse, to be 
 produced by Neptune. 3. In the 
 best and purest manuscripts of 
 Ovid, he finds fretum, where the 
 common editions have^er^m: 
 
 Stare Deum pelagi, longoque ferire tri- 
 
 dente 
 Aspera Wxa facit, medioque e vulnere 
 
 saxi 
 'E.xsiluxsse f return. 
 
 I have adhered to the common 
 reading, for the three following 
 reasons: 1. Because I do not re- 
 member to have seen aquam in any 
 manuscript, or printed edition. 
 
 2. Because it seems proper for Vir- 
 gil to invoke Neptune, on account 
 of his bestowing the horse on man- 
 kind, that animal being celebrated 
 in the third Georgick; whereas the 
 sea has nothing to do in this poem. 
 
 3. Because in the third Georgick, 
 when he is speaking of the cha- 
 racters of a fine stallion, he men- 
 tions as the most excellent, that he 
 should be descended from the horse 
 of Neptune : 
 
 Et patriam Epirum referat, fortesque 
 
 Mycenas ; 
 Neptunique ipsa deducat origine gentem. 
 
 14. Cultor nemorum, 8fC.~\ He 
 means Aristaeus, the son of Apollo 
 and Cyrene. This Aristaeus was 
 educated by the nymphs, who taught 
 him the arts of curdling milk, mak- 
 ing bee-hives, and cultivating olive- 
 trees. He communicated these be- 
 nefits to mankind, on which account 
 he had the same divine honours paid 
 to him as to Bacchus. 
 
 Cea?.~\ A very fruitful island in 
 
P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 whose three hundred milk 
 white steers browse on the 
 fruitful bushes of Csea: and 
 thou, O Tegeaean Pan, the 
 protector of shtep, if thy 
 own Maenalus be thv care, 
 leave the groves of thy own 
 country, and the forests of 
 Lycasus, and come hither pro- 
 pitious : and thou, O Minerva, 
 who discoveredst the olive : 
 and thou, O youth, who didst 
 teach the use of the crooked 
 plough : and thou, O Sylva- 
 nus, who bearest a young 
 cypress-tree, plucked up by 
 the roots : 
 
 Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta juvenci: 15 
 Ipse nemus linquens patrium, saltusque Lycaei, 
 Pan ovium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, 
 Adsis 6 Tegeaee favens : oleaeque Minerva 
 Inventrix : uncique puer monstrator aratri : 
 Et teneram ab radice ferens, Sylvane, cupres- 
 sum : 20 
 
 the Archipelago, to which Aristaeus 
 retired after the unfortunate death 
 of his son Actaeon. He was there 
 first worshipped as a deity. 
 
 16. Ipse nemus linquens patrium, 
 fycl Pan's country is Arcadia, in 
 which were the mountains Lycaeus 
 and Maenalus, and the city Tegea. 
 
 17. Sir\ Grimoaldus interprets si 
 by quanlumvis, and gives this pas- 
 sage the following sense : " And 
 (e thee, O Arcadian Pan, the illus- 
 ( ' trious feeder of sheep, I most ear- 
 " nestly entreat : that though thy 
 " mountain Maenalus, famous for 
 " the pastoral pipe, affords thee 
 " great pleasure ; yet leave thy na- 
 " tive soil a httle while, and engage 
 " entirely in overseeing our affairs." 
 Ruaeus gives it this sense : " If thou 
 <c hast any regard for Maenalus, Ly- 
 " caeus, and the other mountains 
 " and woods of thy own Arcadia, 
 " leave now those places, and assist 
 " me whilst I speak of pastoral af- 
 " fairs and trees : for my discourse 
 " will do honour to these places, 
 " and be of use to them." I have 
 followed this sense, as the most ge- 
 nerally received. 
 
 18. Tegecee.~\ Servius and Hein- 
 sius read Tegcee ; one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts has Tegeke; in 
 the Cambridge, the Bodleian, and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 Tegee ; in the King's manuscript, 
 and in some of the old printed edi- 
 tions, it is Tegeaz ; La Cerda and 
 Ruaeus read Tegecee, which seems 
 to be right, for the two first sylla- 
 
 bles are always short; the Greek 
 name of the city being Tiyiu. 
 
 Oleceque Minerva Inventrix, .] This 
 alludes to the story of the conten- 
 tion between Neptune and Minerva, 
 about naming Athens. Pliny says 
 the olive-tree produced on that oc- 
 casion by Minerva was to be seen 
 in his time at Athens. 
 
 19. Uncique puer monstrator ara- 
 tri.^ Some will have this to be 
 Osiris, the Egyptian deity; but 
 others, with better reason, think 
 that Triptolemus the son of Celeus 
 is meant, who was taught the art 
 of husbandry by Ceres. La Cerda 
 gives the following reasons: 1. It 
 is not probable that Virgil would 
 invoke the gods of the Egyptians, 
 which he reproaches in the eighth 
 iEneid. 2. Servius observes that 
 the Romans had not yet admitted 
 the Egyptian worship under Au- 
 gustus. 3. As he invokes Minerva 
 and other Grecian gods, why not a 
 Grecian inventor of the plough ? 
 4. It was a generally received opi- 
 nion, that the discovery of corn was 
 made in Attica. 5. Pausanias says, 
 that the Athenians and their neigh- 
 bours relate that Triptolemus was 
 the inventor of sowing. 6. As Ce- 
 leus is mentioned in this very book, 
 it is not probable that he would 
 omit the mention of his son. 
 
 20. Et teneram ab radice ferens, 
 Sylvane, cupressum7\ Sylvanus is 
 the god of the woods. Achilles 
 Statius, in his commentary on Ca- 
 tullus, tells us, that on ancient coins 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 7 
 
 Dique Deaeque omnes, studium quibus arva ^ ses f^ e G e t P ,o a yment°1t 
 
 , • is to protect the fields, and ye 
 
 tlieri) who take care of the new 
 
 fruits, that are produced with- 
 out culture, and ye who send 
 down the plenteous showers 
 on those which are cultivated. 
 And chiefly thou, O Caesar, 
 rr, • a. 1 i whose future seat amongst 
 
 luque aaeo, quem mox quae suit habitura the gods 
 
 Quique novas alitis non ullo semine fruges, 
 Quique satis largum caelo demittitis imbrem. 
 
 deorum 
 
 and marbles, Sylvanus is represent- 
 ed bearing a cypress-tree plucked 
 up by the roots, which fully ex- 
 plains this passage; Mr. B — seems 
 not to have been aware of this, 
 when he translated it, 
 
 And you, Sylvanus, with your cypress 
 lough. 
 
 Sylvanus is described in a different 
 manner by our Poet, in his tenth 
 Eclogue : 
 
 Venit et agresti capitis Sylvanus honore, 
 Florentes ferulas et grandia lilia quas- 
 sans. 
 
 But in the Georgicks, where the 
 Poet speaks of trees, and designedly 
 omits flowers, it was more proper to 
 distinguish Sylvanus by his cypress. 
 
 21. Diqne Deceque omnes7\ Hav- 
 ing invoked the particular Deities, 
 he concludes with an invocation of 
 all the rest. This is according to 
 the custom of the priests, who used, 
 after the particular invocation, to 
 invoke all the gods in general. Ful- 
 vius Ursinus says he saw a marble 
 at Rome with this inscription : 
 
 NOMIOIC 0EOIC 
 
 IOTAIOC 
 
 MAIOP 
 
 ANTONINOC 
 
 La Cerda mentions several inscrip- 
 tions to all the gods and goddesses 
 in general. 
 
 22. Non ullo.~\ So I find it in the 
 Cambridge, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. Heinsius, Masvicius, 
 
 and several good editors have the 
 same reading. Servius, Grimoal- 
 dus, La Cerda, Ruaeus, and many 
 others, read nonnullo. Servius gives 
 it this sense: you who nourish the 
 seeds sown by us, with your own 
 seed ; that is, with rain and warmth. 
 La Cerda interprets it; you who 
 produce new fruits, with some 
 newly discovered seed. I am loth 
 to depart from that excellent ma- 
 nuscript of Heinsius, without very 
 good reason. And here I think non 
 ullo the best reading, notwithstand- 
 ing the great authorities I have 
 quoted against it. To produce new 
 fruit with some seed seems to be a 
 very poor expression, and by no 
 means worthy of Virgil. But to 
 produce new fruits without any seed, 
 that is, without being sown by men, 
 is a very proper expression. The 
 Poet, in these two lines, invokes, 
 first, those deities who take care of 
 spontaneous plants, and then those 
 who shed their influence on those 
 which are sown. Thus, at the be- 
 ginning of the second Georgick, he 
 tells us, that some trees come up of 
 their own accord, without culture, 
 and that others are sown : 
 
 Principio arboribus varia est natura cre- 
 
 andis : 
 Namque aliae, nullis hominum cogenti- 
 
 feus, ipsae 
 
 Sponte sua veniunt. 
 
 Pars autem posito surgunt de semine. 
 
 24. Tuque adeo, 8fc.~\ After the 
 invocation of these deities, he takes 
 an opportunity of making his court 
 to Augustus Caesar, by adding him 
 
8 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 82S3fS^l : o?SS Concilia incertum est, urbesne invisere, Caesar, 
 
 euardianship of cities, and rr i« ... 
 
 ae care of countries, so that I eiTarumque vehs curam, et te maximus orbis 
 
 the whole world shall ac- 
 
 of fmKd th S "of^tS Auctoremfrugum, tempestatumque potentem 27 
 
 tTy W moKsL^r3e P : es witl1 Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto : 
 
 to the number, and giving him his 
 choice, whether he will be a god of 
 earth, sea, or heaven. 
 
 Adeo.~] Some think adeo to be only 
 an expletive here, others interpret 
 it also. Servius, and after him 
 most of the commentators, take it 
 to signify chiefly. 
 
 Mox.~] It is generally agreed that 
 mox in this place signifies hereafter; 
 as in Horace : 
 
 JEtas parentum, pejor avis, tulit 
 
 Nos nequiores, mox daturos 
 
 Progeniem vitiosiorem. 
 
 It is usual with the poets to pray 
 that it may be long before their 
 monarchs are received into heaven; 
 thus Horace: 
 
 Serus in caelum redeas, diuque 
 Laetus intersis populo Quirini ; 
 Neye te nostris vitiis iniquum 
 
 Ocyor aura 
 Tollat. 
 
 25. Urbes."] Almost all the edi- 
 tions have urbis ; some read urbeis. 
 It is certainly the accusative case 
 plural, for the construction will not 
 admit of its being the genitive sin- 
 gular; wherefore, to avoid confu- 
 sion, I have put urbes. Dryden 
 imagined urbis to be the genitive 
 case singular ; and that Virgil meant 
 particularly the city of Rome : 
 
 Whether in after times to be deelar'd, 
 The patron of the world, and Rome's 
 peculiar guard. 
 
 Inviserc7\ La Cerda observes that 
 this word is expressive of divinity, 
 and quotes several passages from 
 the poets in confirmation of his opi- 
 nion. 
 
 27. Tempestatumque potentem."^ 
 These words are generally under- 
 stood to mean, that Augustus should 
 be the ruler of the seasons. But I 
 think Virgil has seldom, if ever, 
 used tempestates to signify the sea- 
 sons. Sure I am that many pas- 
 sages may be produced where he 
 has expressed storms by that word. 
 I shall content myself with one in 
 the first iEneid, where iEolus speaks 
 in the following manner to Juno : 
 
 Tu mihi quodcunque hoc regni, tu scep- 
 tra, Jovemque 
 
 Concilias : tu das epulis accumbere 
 divinn, 
 
 Nimborumque facis, tempestatumque po- 
 tentem. 
 
 Pliny explains tempestates, hail, 
 storms, and such like : " Ante om- 
 " nia autem duo genera esse cae- 
 <e lestis injuria? meminisse debemus. 
 " Unum quod tempestates voca- 
 " mus, in quibus grandines, pro- 
 " cellae, caeteraque similia intelli- 
 " guntur." 
 
 Mr. B — translates it in this sense; 
 
 Parent of fruits, and pow'rful of the 
 storm. 
 
 The Poet means, no doubt, that 
 Augustus shall govern the storms 
 in such a manner, that they shall 
 not injure the fruits of the earth. 
 
 28. Cingens materna tempora myr- 
 to^ The myrtle was sacred to 
 Venus, as Virgil tells us himself in 
 the seventh Eclogue : 
 
 Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho, 
 Formosa? myrtus Veneri. 
 
 He pays a fine compliment to Au- 
 gustus in this passage, making him, 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 An deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautie 
 Numina sola colant; tibi serviat ultima Thule, 
 Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus 
 undis: 31 
 
 Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, 
 Qua locus Erigonen inter, Chelasque sequentes 
 
 or whether thou wilt be a god 
 of the vast ocean, and be the 
 only oive invoked by mariners, 
 the farthest parts of the earth 
 shall worship thee, and Tethys 
 shall give th.ee all her waters 
 to be her son-in-law : or whe- 
 ther thou wilt put thyself, as 
 a new sign, among those that 
 rise slowly, in the space be- 
 tween Virgo and Scorpio j 
 
 as he was very desirous to have it 
 thought, to be descended from JE- 
 neas, who was the son of Venus. 
 The same expression is used with 
 regard to iEneas himself, in the 
 fifth iEneid : 
 
 Sic fatus, velat materna tempora myrto. 
 
 SO. Ultima Thule. 7 ] The King's 
 manuscript, and one of Dr. Mead's 
 have it Thile; in another of Dr. 
 Mead's, and in the Cambridge ma- 
 nuscript, it is Tyle; in the Bod- 
 leian manuscript it is Thyle. Thule 
 was thought by the ancients to be 
 the farthest part of the earth to- 
 wards the north, and inaccessible: 
 thus Claudian ; 
 
 Ratibusque impervia Thule. 
 
 The place which the Romans meant 
 by Thule seems to be Schetland ; 
 for Tacitus tells us, it was in sight 
 of the Roman fleet, when Agricola 
 sailed round Britain, and conquered 
 the Orkney islands. <c Hanc oram 
 " novissimi maris tunc primum Ro- 
 " mana classis circumvecta, insulam 
 " esse Britanniam affirmavit, ac si- 
 " mul incognitas ad id tempus in- 
 ".sulas, quas Orcadas vocant, inve- 
 cc nit, domuitque. Dispecta est et 
 " Thule, quam hactenus nix, et 
 " hyems abdebat." 
 
 31. Teque sibi generum Tethys, 
 fyc.~\ One of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts, and one of Dr. Mead's, have 
 Thetis, which is certainly a mistake; 
 
 for the first syllable of Thetis is 
 short : 
 
 DilectjE Thetidi halcyones. 
 
 Tethys is the wife of Oceanus, and 
 mother of the Nymphs. 
 
 32. Tardis mensibus.'] By the 
 slow months he is generally under- 
 stood to mean the summer months, 
 because the days are then longest ; 
 or perhaps, because the summer 
 signs rise backwards, he might poe- 
 tically feign them to move slower 
 than the rest ; thus Manilius : 
 
 Quod tria signa novem signis conjunct a 
 
 repugnant, 
 Et quasi seditio caelum tenet. Aspice 
 
 Taurum 
 Clunibus, et Geminos pedibus, testudine 
 
 Cancrum, 
 Surgere ; cum rectis oriantur ceetera 
 
 membris. 
 Ne mirere moras, cum Sol adversa per 
 
 astra 
 iEstivum tardis attollit mensibus anrium. 
 
 But Dr. Halley has favoured me 
 with the true meaning of these 
 words, which have given so much 
 trouble to the commentators. Leo, 
 Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio, are 
 really of much slower ascension than 
 the other eight signs of the Zodiac ; 
 to which Virgil no doubt alluded. 
 
 33. Qua locus Erigonen inter, c^c] 
 Erigone is Virgo. Servius tells us, 
 that the Egyptians reckoned twelve 
 signs of the Zodiac, and the Chal- 
 deans but eleven: that the Chal- 
 deans allotted twenty degrees of the 
 
10 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SU^SbSk Ws'dS Panditur; ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens 
 
 to leave for thee a more than o • i« • j. i ^ i« •.,«»• 
 
 equal share of the heavens : OCOrpiUS, et CSell JUSta piUS parte rellliqUlt. 3d 
 
 ecliptic to some signs, and forty to 
 others ; whereas the Egyptians al- 
 lotted just thirty to each : and that 
 the Chaldeans make the Scorpion to 
 extend his claws into the place of 
 Libra. Thus Ovid: 
 
 Est locus, in geminos ubi brachia con- 
 
 cavat arcus 
 Scorpius ; et cauda flexisque utrinque 
 
 iacertis, 
 Porrigit in spatium signorum membra 
 
 duorum. 
 
 It is certain that Libra was not uni- 
 versally received as a sign amongst 
 the ancients; and that the Ckelce, 
 or claws of the Scorpion, were reck- 
 oned instead of it. Virgil was by 
 no means ignorant of Libra, for he 
 mentions it in another place: 
 
 Libra dies somnique pares ubi fecerit 
 horas. 
 
 He takes advantage of this differ- 
 ence amongst the ancient astrono- 
 mers, and accommodates it poeti- 
 cally, by placing Augustus, instead 
 of Libra, the emblem of justice, be- 
 tween Virgo and Scorpio ; and de- 
 scribes the scorpion as already pull- 
 ing back his claws to make room 
 for him. He might also in this 
 place have a view to the birth of 
 Augustus, which was under Libra. 
 
 34f. Panditur ; ipse tibi] Servius 
 made the point after tibi: but I 
 think it is better after Panditur. 
 The sense is better if ipse be joined 
 with Scorpius, than if it be made to 
 agree with locus. 
 
 Ardens Scorpius.'] This epithet 
 is thought to belong to Scorpio, be- 
 cause it is the house of Mars ; thus 
 Manilius : 
 
 Pugnax Mavorti Scorpiua haeret. 
 
 Those, who are born under this sign, 
 are supposed by astrologers to be of 
 a fiery and turbulent disposition. 
 Thus we find in Manilius : 
 
 Scorpius armata violenta cuspide cauda. 
 Qua sua cum Phcebi currum per sidera 
 
 ducit, 
 Rimatur terras, et sulcis semina miscet. 
 In bellum ardentes animos, et martia 
 
 castra 
 EfScit, et multo gaudentem sanguine 
 
 civem, 
 Nee prasda quam caede magis. Cumque 
 
 ipsa sub armis 
 Pax agitur, capiunt saltus, sylvasque per- 
 
 errant. 
 Nunc hominum, nunc bella gerunt vio- 
 lenta ferarum : 
 Nunc caput in mortem vendunt, et fu- 
 
 mus arense : 
 Atque hostem sibi quisque parat, cum 
 
 bella quiescunt : 
 Sunt quibus et simulachra placent, et 
 
 ludus in armis. 
 Tantus amor pugnae est, discuntque per 
 
 otia bellum, 
 Et quodcunque pari studium producitur 
 
 arte. 
 
 Servius hints at another interpreta- 
 tion ; that by ardens the Poet may 
 mean that the Scorpion is ardent to 
 embrace Augustus. 
 
 35. Et coelijusta plus parte relin- 
 quit.] Some manuscripts and print- 
 ed editions have reliquit ; but the 
 best authority seems to be for the 
 present tense. One of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts has ut coelijusta 
 plus parte relinquat, which is a good 
 reading. But as I find only the 
 authority of this single manuscript 
 for it, I choose to preserve relinqvii. 
 
 Justa plus parte may admit of 
 two interpretations : either that the 
 Scorpion, by drawing in his claws, 
 will relinquish to Augustus the un- 
 equal share of the heavens, which 
 he now possesses : or that by so do- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 11 
 
 Quicquid eris, nam te nee sperent Tartara re- 
 gem, 
 Nee tibi regnandi veniat tarn dira cupido, 
 Quamvis Elysios miretur Graecia campos, 
 Nee repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem, 
 Da facilem cursum, atque audacious annue 
 coeptis, 40 
 
 Ignarosque viae mecum miseratus agrestes, 
 Ingredere, et votis jam nunc assuesce vocari. 
 
 whatsoever thou wilt be, for 
 let not hell hope for thee to be 
 her king ? nor let so dire a thirst 
 of reigning enter thy breai-t, 
 though Greece admires the 
 Elysian fields, and Proserpine 
 does not care to follow her 
 mother to the upper regions, 
 do thou direct my course, and 
 favour my bold undertaking, 
 and with me taking pity on 
 the husbandmen who are ig- 
 norant of the way, begin thy 
 reign, and accustom thyself 
 even now to be invoked. 
 
 ing he will leave him a greater 
 share than belongs to one sign. 
 Dryden follows the former inter- 
 pretation : 
 
 The Scorpion ready to receive thy laws, 
 Yields half his region, and contracts his 
 daws. 
 
 And Mr. B— 
 
 For thee his arms the Scorpion now 
 
 confines, 
 And his unequal share of heaven resigns. 
 
 Dr. Trapp understands it in the 
 latter sense : 
 
 — see the burning Scorpion now, 
 
 Ev'n now contracts his claws, and leaves 
 
 for thee 
 A more than just proportion of the sky. 
 
 36. Sperent.] It is spernent in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in an old edition printed at 
 Nurenberg, in 1492 : but I look 
 upon it to be an error of the tran- 
 scribers. 
 
 41. Ignarosque vice mecum misera- 
 tus agrestes.'] Servius mentions two 
 ways of interpreting this verse. 
 One is agrestes mecum ignaros ; in 
 which ^ense Dryden has translated 
 it: 
 
 Pity the poet's and the ploughman's 
 cares. 
 
 The other is rusticis ignarisjave me- 
 
 cum ; which seems to be much the 
 best sense ; for Virgil would hardly 
 have declared himself ignorant of 
 the subject on which he had under- 
 taken to write. This interpretation 
 is generally received by the com- 
 mentators ; and thus Mr. B — has 
 translated it : 
 
 Pity with me th' unskilful peasant's 
 cares. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 And pitying, with me, the simple swains 
 Unknowing of their way. 
 
 42. Ingredere, et votis jam nunc 
 assuesce vocari.'] Ruseus interprets 
 this ingredere viam, which is very 
 low. Ingredior signifies to enter 
 upon an office. Virgil therefore 
 calls upon Augustus to begin now 
 to take the divine power upon him. 
 Dr. Trapp has very well translated 
 this line; 
 
 Practise the god, and learn to hear our 
 pray'rs. 
 
 The poet is justified in this compli- 
 ment, by the divine honours which 
 began to be paid to Augustus about 
 the time that Virgil began his Geor*. 
 gicks. Thus Horace: 
 
 Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores, 
 Jurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus 
 
 aras. 
 c 2 
 
P. VIRGIL1I MARONIS 
 
 I| the very beginning of the 
 soring, as soon as the snow is 
 molted from the hoary moun- 
 tains, and the crumbling earth 
 is unbound by the zephyrs ; 
 then let my bullock begin to 
 groan with ploughing deep, 
 and ' e f the sh are be worn bright 
 with the furrow. That land 
 fulfils the wishes of the most 
 covetous farmer, which has 
 twice felt the coid, and twice 
 the heat. That man's crops 
 have been so large, that they 
 have even burst his barns. 
 But before we plough an un- 
 known plain, we must care- 
 fully obtain a knowledge of 
 the winds, 
 
 Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor 
 Liquitur, et zephyro putris se gleba resolvit; 
 Dcprcsso incipiat jam turn in ''hi taurus aratro 45 
 Ingemere, et sulco attritus splendescere vomer. 
 Ilia seges demum votis respondet avari 
 Agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit ; 
 Illius immensse ruperunt horrea messes. 
 At prius ignotum ferro quam scindimus eequor, 
 
 43. Vere novo, $;c.~] The invo- 
 cation being finished, he begins his 
 work with directions about plough- 
 ing, which is to be performed in the 
 very beginning of the spring. 
 
 The beginning of the spring was 
 in the month of March ; but Virgil 
 did not mean this by his Vere novo. 
 The writers of agriculture did not 
 confine themselves to the computa- 
 tions of astrologers , but dated their 
 spring from the ending of the frosty 
 weather. Thus Columella has ex- 
 plained this very passage : e ' Ne 
 " discedamus ab optimo vate qui 
 (C ait, ille vere novo terram proscin- 
 " dere incipiat. Novi autem veris 
 " principium non sic observare rus- 
 " ticus debet, quemadmodum astro- 
 " logus, ut expectet certum diem il- 
 " lum, qui veris initium facere di- 
 " citur. Sed aliquid etiam sumat 
 " de parte hyemis, quoniam con- 
 e< sumpta bruma, jam intepescit an- 
 Ci nus, permittitque clementior dies 
 " opera moliri. Possunt igitur ab 
 (C idibus Januariis, ut principem 
 " mensem Romani anni observet, 
 " auspicari culturarum officia." 
 
 48. Bis qnce solem, his frigora 
 sensit.'] The King's, the Cambridge, 
 the Bodleian, and some of the old 
 printed editions, have sentit. The 
 commentators have found great dif- 
 ficulty in explaining this passage. 
 Servius takes it to mean that land, 
 which has twice felt the heat of 
 the days and cold of the nights ; by 
 
 which he supposes Virgil intends to 
 express the two times of ploughing, 
 in spring and autumn. Others sup- 
 pose that he means the ground should 
 lie fallow every other year, and 
 thus explain its feeling both heat 
 and cold twice : they say it is 
 ploughed about the end of winter, it 
 rests the next summer, is sown about 
 the beginning of winter, and yields 
 its crop the following summer. 
 They support their interpretation 
 by several quotations: but these 
 prove only that it was a common 
 practice amongst the ancients, to 
 cultivate their fields after this man- 
 ner. The poet is here advising the 
 farmer to be very diligent in plough- 
 ing, not to spare the labour of his 
 oxen, and to polish his share with 
 frequent use; and to encourage 
 him, he adds, that if he would ex- 
 ceed the common rule, by letting his 
 land he fallow two years, and con- 
 sequently ploughing it four times, 
 his crop would be so large, that his 
 barns would scarce contain it. We 
 have Pliny's authority, that this is 
 thought to be the sense of Virgil : 
 " quarto seri sulco Virgilius existi- 
 " matur voluisse, cum dixit opti- 
 " mam esse segetem, qua? bis solem, 
 "•' bis frigora sensisset." Dryden 
 erroneously translates ilia seges, that 
 crop : it is plain that seges can mean 
 nothing but the land in this passage. 
 50. At prius tyc] In these lines 
 the poet advises us to consider we:l 
 
GEORG. LIB. I, 
 
 13 
 
 Ventos, et varium caeli praedisceVe morem 
 Cura sit, ac patrios cultusque habitusque lo- 
 
 corum, 
 Et quid qureque ferat regio, et quid quaeque 
 
 recuset. 
 Hie segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae: 
 Arborei foetus alibi, atque injussa virescunt 55 
 Gramina. Nonne vides croceos ut Tmolus 
 
 odores, 
 
 the various dispositions of the 
 weather, the peculiar culture 
 and nature of the place, and 
 what each country will pro- 
 duce, and what not. In one 
 place corn succeeds, in another 
 vines : another abounds with 
 fruit-trees, and spontaneous 
 herbs. Do you not see that 
 Tmolus yields the odorous 
 saffron, 
 
 the nature of the place, before we 
 begin to plough. 
 
 At.]' The King's, the Cambridge, 
 the Bodleian, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, have ac : it is the same 
 also in Servius, Paul Stephens, La 
 Cerda, and some other printed edi- 
 tions. The two Arundelian manu- 
 scripts, Heinsius, Ruaeus, Masvi- 
 cius, and most of the editors, read 
 at. 
 
 51. Cceli morem.'] I take ccelum 
 in this place to signify the weather, 
 or temperature of the air. Thus 
 Servius interprets it; cceli, id est 
 a'eris; and strengthens his opinion 
 with these words of Lucretius : 
 
 In hoc ccelo qui dicitur air. 
 
 La Cerda quotes the authority of 
 Pliny for rendering ccelum the con- 
 stellations ; but he is mistaken. 
 Pliny's words are, " Et confitendum 
 <e est, caelo maxime constare ea: 
 " quippe Virgilio jubente praedisci 
 " ventos ante omnia, ac siderum 
 xc mores, neque aliter quam navigan- 
 " tibus servari.' ' In these last words 
 it is plain that Pliny alludes to an- 
 other passage in this Georgick ; 
 
 Praeterea tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis 
 Hoedorumque dies servandi, et lueidus 
 
 anguis ; 
 Quam quibus in patriam ventosa per 
 
 zequora vectis 
 Pontus et ostriferi fauces tentantur 
 
 Abydi. 
 
 53. Et quid quaeque feral regio, et 
 quid qu&que recuset.] Pliny alludes 
 to this line, when he says, lib. xviii. 
 cap. 18. " In omni quidem parte 
 " culturse, sed in hac quidem max- 
 " ime valet oraculum illud, Quid 
 " quaeque regio patiatur." Colu- 
 mella also seems, in his preface, to 
 have had it in his view : " Nam 
 " qui se in hac scientia perfectum 
 " volet profiteri, sit oportet rerum 
 " naturae sagacissimus, declinatio- 
 " num mundi non ignarus, ut explo- 
 <e ratum habeat, quid cuique plages 
 ec conveniat, quid repugnat/' In lib. v. 
 cap. 5. he quotes the very words of 
 our poet : " Notandum itaque et di- 
 " ligenter explorandum esse, et quid 
 " quceque ferat regio, et quid ferre 
 u recuset." 
 
 56. Croceos ut Tmolus odores.'] 
 One of the Arundelian manuscripts 
 has croceos Timolus odores. The 
 name of this mountain is sometimes 
 indeed spelt Timolus or Tymolus ; 
 but then the first syllable is short, 
 as in the sixth book of Ovid's Me- 
 tamorphosis. 
 
 Deseruere sui nymphae vineta Timoli. 
 
 One of Dr. Mead's manuscripts has 
 croceos ut Timolus, which cannot be 
 right: the other has ut Molus. Tmo- 
 lus is a mountain of Lydia famous 
 for the best saffron. Some of the 
 commentators would fain understand 
 
H 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^ktaS^/S^ffi; I ndia mittit eb ^ molles sua thura Sabsei ? 
 fuic'aSS?,' ° ntus r " At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus 
 
 the poet to allude to the odorous 
 wines which are made in that coun- 
 try; but the other interpretation 
 seems to be the best, as well as the 
 most obvious. 
 
 " 57. India mittit ebur.~\ All authors 
 agree in preferring the elephants of 
 India to those of all other countries. 
 Ivory is the tusk of that animal, 
 not the tooth, as is commonly ima- 
 gined. 
 
 Molles sua thura Sabcei.] The 
 Sabeans are a people of Arabia 
 Felix, in whose country only the 
 frankincense-tree is said to grow : 
 thus we find in the second Geor- 
 gick; 
 
 — Solis est thurea virga Sabaeis. 
 
 Theophrastus also and Pliny both 
 affirm that it is found only in Ara- 
 bia. Dioscorides mentions an In- 
 dian as well as an Arabian frankin- 
 cense. Garcias affirms that it does 
 not grow in any part of India, and 
 that the Indians have all their frank- 
 incense from Arabia. Bodaeus a 
 Stapel, in his notes on Theophrastus, 
 observes that the Greek writers 
 called that sort of frankincense In- 
 dian, which grew in the islands 
 near Arabia, because those islands 
 were formerly under the govern- 
 ment of the Indians. Virgil gives 
 them the epithet of molles because 
 of their effeminacy : thus Manilius ; 
 
 Nee procul in molles Arabes, terramque 
 
 ferentem 
 Delicias. 
 
 And again, 
 
 Et molles Arabes, sylvarum ditia regna. 
 
 58. Chalybes nudi ferrum.} There 
 is some doubt who these Chalybes 
 are. Strabo says the Chaldeans were 
 anciently so called, and that their 
 
 chief support is from iron and other 
 metals : T?$ Vi T ' gxTiZfivvlos V7rigxuv\u,t, 
 xeti Tyig <$oc£votKcoi$ } TiZx^voi re xeti XecX- 
 
 douoi. Oi £e vvv XctX$x7oi, XoLhv&ts 
 
 to srotXctiov wopufyvio, xxff ov$ ftdXtrcc *i 
 Q>xgvccxtx tcigvTxt, xocru, S-dXo&rlxy pth 
 i%ovroc ivtyvtocv tw ix t»k TxriKxp.v&Ltt.s, 
 -sr^aTiece, ya.^ otXia-xirxi ivrxvSx to o^ev 
 tovto ix oi ?%$ yr^ rx fcirxXXx, vv» ftM 
 (rt0 K y>(>ou 3 -zs-goTZ^ov Oi xxi x^yv^ov. "OAajj 
 
 Oi XXTX T6V$ T07T0V$ TCVTOV$ » WXgxXtX 
 Tivi) TiXiOJg iftV V7Ti(>XUrXl yX(> «t$t>S TftJ 
 
 og« ptrxXXuv -srXvievi xx) dgvpiw, yiugyu 
 di ov -zroXXcc. Xtlwtrxi £sj roiq ftlv farxX- 
 Xivrxts tx rav pirxXXw fiiog. He 
 thinks also that they are the Hali- 
 jzones of Homer ; and that Alyba 
 in that poet is the same with Cha- 
 lyba : 
 
 Avrug 'AXi^a/vm x 0^7es xa,) 'ETt^ooipos «££«» 
 TnkoB-iv \\ 'AXuSns, I'S-tv u^yv^ou Is - ) yzv- 
 
 Justin makes them a people of 
 Spain, and says they take their name 
 from the river Chalybs, near which 
 they dwell. Both Dryden and Mr. 
 B — have followed Justin, translat- 
 ing Chalybes Spaniards. They are 
 called naked, because the excessive 
 heat of their forges made them 
 work naked. Thus we find one of 
 the Cyclops described, when at 
 work : 
 
 Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in 
 
 antro, 
 Brontesque Steropesque et nudus membra 
 
 Pyracmon. 
 
 Virosaque Pontus Casiorea.] Pon- 
 tus is a part of Asia Minor, famous 
 for drugs of extraordinary efficacy, 
 and such as were said to be used in 
 enchantments. Virgil mentions 
 them in his eighth Eclogue : 
 
 Has herbas, atque haec Ponto mihi lecta 
 venena 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epiros equarum ? 
 
 15 
 
 and Epirus the best of mares, 
 which win the prize in the 
 Olympic games? 
 
 Ipse dedit Moeris : nascuntur plurirna 
 
 Ponto. 
 His ego saepe lupum fieri et se condere 
 
 sylvis 
 Moerin, saepe animas imis excire sepul- 
 
 chris, 
 Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes. 
 
 Castor is an animal substance taken 
 from a quadruped, which in Latin 
 is called Castor and Fiber, in Eng- 
 lish the Beaver. It has been ge- 
 nerally imagined, that this drug is 
 the testicle of that animal, and that, 
 when it is close pursued, it bites off 
 its testicles, leaves them for the 
 hunters, and so escapes. To this 
 story we find frequent allusions 
 amongst the ancients: thus Juvenal; 
 
 Imitatus castora, qui se 
 
 Eunuchum ipse facit, cupiens evadere 
 
 damno 
 Testiculorum. 
 
 Pliny takes the castor to be the tes- 
 ticles of the animal ; but quotes the 
 authority of Sextius, against the 
 story of its biting them off. e ' Spec- 
 f< tabilis naturae potentia in his 
 " quoque, quibus et in terris et in 
 " aqua victus est, sicut et fibris quos 
 " castores vocant, et castorea testes 
 " eorum. Amputari hos ab ipsis 
 ff cum capiantur negat Sextius di- 
 * ligentissimus medicinse. Quinimo 
 u parvos esse substrictosque, et ad- 
 " haerentes spinas, nee adimi sine 
 " vita animalis posse." Modern 
 authors have discovered that the 
 bags which contain the castor are 
 not the testicles of the beaver, and 
 that they have no communication 
 with the penis, and are found in 
 both sexes. They are odoriferous 
 glands placed in the groin of the 
 beaver, as we find in some other 
 quadrupeds. The best castor is 
 now brought to us from Russia. 
 Virosa does not mean in this place 
 poisonous, but efficacious or powerful. 
 
 Virus, from which it seems to be 
 derived, is sometimes used in a good 
 sense, as we find it in Statius : 
 
 — Jungam ipse manus, atque omne 
 
 benigne 
 Virus, odoriferis Arabum quod doctus 
 
 in arvis, 
 Aut Amphrysiaco pastor de gramme 
 
 carpsi. 
 
 In the passage just now quoted from 
 the eighth Eclogue we find the ve- 
 nena of Pontus not to signify any 
 thing destructive to life; but drugs 
 of such extraordinary power, that 
 by their means Mceris could turn 
 himself into a wolf, raise spirits, 
 and remove a crop of corn from one 
 field to another. 
 
 Dryden has followed the ancient 
 tradition of the testicles : 
 
 Thus Pontus sends her beaver stones 
 from far. 
 
 Mr. B — translates virosa-, heady. 
 Dr. Trapp observes that virus and 
 venerium sometimes carry the sense 
 of QoLqmumv, and so translates it, 
 
 Pontus, its castor's drug, 
 
 which is very low. 
 
 59. Eliadum palmas Epiros equa-* 
 rum.'] Elis is a country of Pelopon- 
 nesus, in which was the city of 
 Olympia, famous for the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympius, and the Olympic 
 games. Epirus was formerly a 
 kingdom of Greece, famous for 
 horses. In the third Georgick we 
 find Epirus recommended as breed- 
 ing good horses : 
 
 Et patriam Epirum referat. 
 
 The Phoenicians are thought to have 
 given this country its name, from 
 TDK abir, which signifies strong; 
 whence bulls and horses are called 
 O s TDK abirim, being the strongest 
 of beasts. Thus Epirus will signify 
 
16 
 
 P. VIRG1LII MARONIS 
 
 These laws and eternal cove- 
 nants were laid by nature on 
 certain places, ever since the 
 time that Deucalion threw 
 the stones into the uninha- 
 bited world : whence a labo- 
 rious race of men were pro- 
 duced. Come on then, im- 
 mediately from the very first 
 months of the year, 
 
 Continuo has leges, seternaque foedera certis 60 
 Imposuit natura locis, quo tempore primum 
 Deucalion vacuum lapides jactavit in orbem : 
 Unde homines nati durum genus. Ergo age, 
 
 terrae 
 Pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni 
 
 the country of bulls and horses. It 
 was certainly famous for both these 
 animals. 
 
 60. Continuo has leges, c^-c] Af- 
 ter having observed that nature has 
 subjected the world to these laws, 
 that different places should produce 
 different things, ever since the time 
 of Deucalion, he resumes his sub- 
 ject, and gives directions when a 
 rich soil should be ploughed, and 
 when a poor one. 
 
 62. Deucalion vacuum lapides, c^c] 
 The story of Deucalion is in the 
 first book of Ovid's Metamorphosis. 
 We are there told that, when the 
 world was destroyed by a deluge, 
 Deucalion only, with his wife 
 Pyrrha, survived. They consulted 
 the oracle of Themis, in what man- 
 ner mankind was to be restored. 
 The oracle commanded them to 
 throw the bones of their great mo- 
 ther behind their backs. By their 
 great mother they understood the 
 earth to be meant, and her bones 
 they apprehended to mean the 
 stones. They obeyed this command, 
 and the stones which Deucalion 
 threw became men., and those which 
 Pyrrha threw became women. O vid 
 concludes the fable with a remark, 
 almost in Virgil's words ; . 
 
 Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque 
 
 laborum, 
 Et documenta darnus, qua simus origine 
 
 nati. 
 
 64. Primis a mensibus anni.] The 
 preposition a is wanting in the Cam- 
 bridge manuscript. By these words 
 
 he means the same that he did by 
 vere novo in the forty-third verse in 
 this Georgick. He there mentions 
 the beginning of the spring, as the 
 season to begin ploughing Here he 
 is more particular, and informs us, 
 that a rich soil only is to be ploughed 
 so early, and gives his reason for it. 
 Pliny has quoted this passage of our 
 poet, in lib. xviii. c. 26. He is there 
 speaking of what work the hus- 
 bandman is to do when Favonius- 
 begins to blow, which he makes to 
 be about the eighth of February, 
 sooner or later. " Interim," says he, 
 " ab eo die, quisquis ille fuerit, quo 
 u flare coeperit, non utique vi. Idus 
 " Febr. sed sive ante, quando prae- 
 " vernat, sive post, quando hyemat: 
 " post earn diem, inquam, innu- 
 " mera rusticos cura distringat, et 
 Cl prima quaeque peragantur qua? 
 (( differri nequeunt. — Terra in futu- 
 " rum proscinditur, Virgilio maxi- 
 " me autore, ut glebas sol coquat. 
 " Utilior sententia, quae non nisi 
 ct temperatum solum in medio vere 
 " arari jubet : quoniam in pingui 
 " statim sulcos occupant herbae, 
 " gracili insecuti aestus exiccant : 
 " turn nam que succum Venturis se- 
 *' minibus auferunt. Talia autumno 
 " melius arari certum est." Colu- 
 mella tells us, that a fat soil should 
 be ploughed in February, if the wea- 
 ther be warm enough to admit of 
 it. " Colles pinguis soli, peracta 
 u satione trimestri, mense Martio, si 
 " vero tepor ca?li, siccitasque regio- 
 " nis suadebit, Februario statim 
 " proscindendi sunt." 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 17 
 
 Fortes invertant tauri, glebasque jacentes 65 
 Pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus sestas. 
 At si non fuerit tellus foecunda, sub ipsum 
 Arcturum tenui sat erit suspendere sulco : 
 Illic, officiant laetis ne frugibus herbae, 
 Hie, sterilem exiguus ne deserat humor arenam. 
 Alternis idem tonsas cessare novales, 71 
 
 let the strong bullocks turn up 
 the rich soil, and let the clods 
 lie to be baked by the dusty 
 summer with the hot beams 
 of the sun. But if the soil be 
 poor, it will be sufficient to 
 turn it up lightly with a small 
 furrow, about the rising of 
 Arcturus : the design of the 
 first of these precepts is to 
 hinder the weeds from hurt- 
 ing the joyful corn ; that of 
 the second is to prevent the 
 small quantity of moisture 
 from forsaking the barren 
 sand. Suffer also your arable 
 land to lie fallow every other 
 year, 
 
 65. Fortes invariant tauri] This 
 agrees with what he said before, 
 
 Depresso incipiat jam turn mihi taurus 
 
 aratro 
 Ingemere. 
 
 He advises the husbandman to make 
 deep furrows in the rich ground, 
 which he expresses poetically by re- 
 quiring the bullocks to be strong. 
 
 66. Maturis solibus.] Pierius tells 
 us that in the Roman manuscript it 
 is maturis frugibus. 
 
 6? '• Sub ipsum Arcturum.] Arctu- 
 rus rises, according to Columella, 
 on the fifth of September : ' ' Nonis 
 K i Septembris Arcturus exoritur." 
 According to Pliny, it rises eleven 
 days before the autumnal equinox, 
 that is, a week later than Colu- 
 mella's account : " Post eos, rursus 
 " Austri frequentes, usque ad sidus 
 " Arcturi, quod exoritur undecim 
 " diebus ante aequinoctium autum- 
 " ni." In another place he tells 
 us, that, according to the Athenians, 
 Arcturus rises on the fifth of Sep- 
 tember, but, according to Caesar, 
 on the twelfth : ' ' Vindemiator JE- 
 " gypto nonis exoritur. Atticae 
 " Arcturus matutino, et sagitta oc- 
 " cidit mane. Quinto Idus Septem- 
 " bris Caesari capella oritur vesperi. 
 " Arcturus vero medius pridie Idus, 
 " vehementissimo significatu terra 
 {l marique per dies quinque." Co- 
 lumella no doubt followed the Greek 
 calculation. This author gives the 
 same advice about ploughing a poor 
 
 soil ; and for the same reason : 
 " Graciles clivi non sunt aestate 
 " arandi, sed circa Septembres ca- 
 " lendas ; quoniam si ante hoc tem- 
 " pus proscinditur, effceta et sine 
 " succo humus aestivo sole peruri- 
 ' c tur, nullasque virium reliquias ha- 
 " bet. Itaque optime inter Calen- 
 " das, et Idus Septembris aratur, 
 " ac subinde iteratur, ut primis plu- 
 " viis aequinoctialibus conseri pos- 
 " sit : neque in lira, sed sub sulco 
 " talis ager seminandus est." 
 
 " Arcturus, in the time of Colu- 
 <c mella and" Pliny, rose with the 
 " sun at Athens, when the sun was 
 i( in 12^ of Virgo; but at Rome 
 fC three days sooner, the sun being 
 "in 9 J of Virgo : the autumnal 
 " equinox then falling on the 24th 
 " or 25th of September." Dr. 
 Halleij. 
 
 71. Alternis idem, c^c] In this 
 passage the poet advises us to let the 
 ground lie fallow every other year, 
 or else to change the grain. 
 
 Tonsas novales.'] Novalis signi- 
 fies, according to Pliny, a ground 
 that is sown every other year: 
 " Novale est, quod alternis annis 
 u seritur." Varro says, it is one 
 that has been sown before it is re- 
 newed by a second ploughing : " Se- 
 11 ges dicitur quod aratum satum 
 iC est; arvum quod aratum nee dum 
 " satum est : novalis ubi satum fuit 
 " ante, quam secunda aratione re- 
 " novetur." It is sometimes also 
 used to express a land that is new 
 
 n 
 
18 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 a^th h i^gstm d or^ Et segnem patiere situ durescere campum 
 
 chaneine the season, sow the . . ., . n . t r> 
 
 changing tt 
 golden corn, 
 
 Aut ibi flava seres mutato sidere farra, 
 
 broken up. The epithet tonsas be- 
 ing added to novates, seems to bring 
 it to Varro's sense ; if we must un- 
 derstand it to mean the same with 
 demsssas, as it is generally inter- 
 preted. But perhaps the poet may 
 mean by tonsas novates, new broken 
 up fields that had lately been grazed 
 by cattle. Our author uses londeo 
 in this sense, at the beginning of 
 this Georgick: 
 
 Tondent dumeta juvenci. 
 And in the third ^Eneid : 
 
 Equos in gramine vidi 
 
 Tondentes campum late. 
 
 73. Mutato sidere.] Pierius says 
 it is mutato semine in the Roman 
 manuscript, which seems a plainer 
 and more intelligible reading than 
 mutato sidere : but as we have only 
 the authority of a single manuscript 
 for it, I have preserved the common 
 reading. By mutato sidere, the poet 
 must mean that pulse are sown in 
 one season, and corn in another. 
 
 Farra7\ Far seems to be put here 
 for corn in general. It may not 
 however be improper to say some- 
 thing in this place concerning that 
 grain; which was so famous amongst 
 the ancient Romans. It seems to 
 me pretty plain, that it is the £«/* 
 or £e* of the Greeks, and what we 
 call in English spelt. It is a sort of 
 corn, very like wheat ; but the chaff 
 adheres so strongly to the grain, 
 that it requires a mill to separate 
 them, like barley. Dionysius of 
 Halicarnassus says expressly, that 
 the Greeks call that £«*, which the 
 Romans call far. The principal 
 objection to this seems to be, that 
 Pliny treats of zea and far, as two 
 different sorts of grain. But this is 
 
 of no weight with me, for it is plain 
 that Pliny borrows what he says of 
 zea from the Greek writers. In 
 lib. xviii. cap. 8. he says it is peculiar 
 to Egypt, Syria, Cilicia, Asia, and 
 Greece: " Frumenti genera non 
 " eadem ubique : neque ubi eadem 
 " sunt, iisdem nominibus. Vulga- 
 (i tissima far, quod adoreum veteres 
 " appellavere, siligo, triticum. Haec 
 " plurimis terris communia. Arinca 
 et Galliarum propria, copiosa et Ita- 
 " liee est. iEgypto autem ac Syriae, 
 cc Ciliciaeque et Asiae, ac Graeciae 
 e< peculiares zea, olyra, tiphe." In 
 cap. 10, he says, " Apud Graecos 
 (C est zea.'' Thus we may reason- 
 ably suppose that what Pliny says 
 of zea is taken from the Greek au- 
 thors ; and that they are the same 
 grain, notwithstanding his having 
 distinguished them. Besides it may 
 not be amiss to observe, that our 
 poet has given, in the 219th verse 
 of this Georgick, the epithet robusta 
 to farra ; which is the very same 
 that Theophrastus has given to zea : 
 
 fyiec?, TiQn?, oXvffois, fi^copov, uiyiXaxog, 
 iGr%v£OTt(>cv ko.1 poiXis-ot, KCC^TTl^OfiitCt, »j 
 
 £g/<*. I shall add only one obser- 
 vation more ; that far was the corn 
 of the ancient Italians, and was fre- 
 quently used in their sacrifices and 
 ceremonies, whence it is no wonder 
 that this word was often used for 
 corn in general. Thus in several 
 counties of England, we find the 
 several sorts of grain called by their 
 proper names, and that which is 
 the chief produce of the country 
 dignified with the name of corn. 
 That far was the food of the ancient 
 Italians, we have Pliny's authority : 
 " Primus antiquis Latio cibus." 
 That it was used in sacrifices, I shall 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 19 
 
 Unde prius laetum siliqna quassante legumen, 
 
 where you have just taken off 
 the joyful pulse with shatter- 
 ed pods j 
 
 quote only the authority of Virgil 
 himself, in the fifth iEneid : 
 
 Haec memorans cinerem et sopitos sus- 
 citat ignes : 
 
 Pergameumque Larem, et canae pene- 
 tralia Vestae 
 
 Farre pio et plena supplex veneratur 
 acerra. 
 
 74. Lcetam siliqua quassante legu- 
 men.^ Pierius seems to approve of 
 ledum instead of labium ; as it is in 
 the Roman manuscript : but I take 
 Iwtum to be the true reading. By 
 lazlum legumen Virgil intends to ex- 
 press beans ; which were esteemed 
 as the principal sort of pulse. Thus 
 Pliny ; " Sequitur natura legumi- 
 " num, inter quae maximus honos 
 " fabis." The same author, quot- 
 ing this passage of Virgil, substi- 
 tutes Jaba for legumen : " Virgilius 
 " alternis cessare arva suadet, et 
 " hoc, si patiantur ruris spatia, uti- 
 " hssimum procul dubio est. Quod 
 " si neget conditio, far serendum 
 " unde lupinum, aut vicia, autfaba 
 " sublata sint, et quae terram faciant 
 " laetiorem." He mentions beans 
 also in another place, as fattening 
 the soil, instead of dung : ff Solum 
 " in quo sata est laetificat stercoris 
 " vice." Cato also, where he is 
 speaking of what enrich the earth, 
 begins with lupinum, faba, vicia. 
 Legumen is derived a legendo, be- 
 cause pulse are gathered by hand, 
 and not reaped according to Varro : 
 " Alii legumina, alii, ut Gallicani 
 " quidam, legaria appellant, utraque 
 " dicta a legendo, quod ea non se- 
 " cantur, sed vellendo leguntur." 
 Pliny has almost the same words, 
 speaking of the legumina : " Quae 
 " velluntur e terra, non subsecan- 
 " tur : unde et legumina appellata, 
 " quia ita leguntur." The epithet 
 quassante seems not to have been 
 
 well understood by the commen- 
 tators. They generally indeed agree 
 with Servius, in telling us that quas- 
 sante is used for quassaia; but 
 then they proceed no farther than 
 to tells us, that they suppose the 
 poet alludes to the shaking of the 
 pods with the wind. I have never 
 observed any remarkable shaking in 
 bean pods, nor does their firm ad- 
 herence to the stalk seem to admit 
 of it. I rather believe the poet al- 
 ludes to the method used by the 
 Romans, of shaking the beans out 
 of the pods. Pliny just mentions it 
 in his eighteenth book, where he 
 says Jaba metitur, deinde concutitur. 
 Columella has given us a particular 
 account of it. He says they untie 
 a few bundles at a time, at the far- 
 ther end of the floor, and then three 
 or four men kick them forward, 
 and strike them with sticks or pitch- 
 forks, and when they are come the 
 whole length of the floor, they ga- 
 ther the stalks into a heap, and so 
 the beans are shaken out. " Max- 
 ' ime ex leguminibus ea, et sine ju- 
 e mentis teri, et sine vento purgari 
 ' expeditissime sic poterit. Modi- 
 ' cus fasciculorum numerus reso- 
 c lutus in extrema parte areae col- 
 c locetur, quern per longissimum 
 ' ejus, mediumque spatium tres vel 
 c quatuor homines promoveant pe- 
 e dibus, et baculis furcillisve con- 
 f tundant : deinde cum ad alteram 
 ( partem areae pervenerint, in acer- 
 c vum culmos regerant. Nam se- 
 ( mina excussa in area jacebunt, su- 
 c perque ea piulatim eodem modo 
 ' reliqui fasciculi excutientur. Ac 
 ' durissimae quidem acus resectae, 
 ' separataeque erunt a cudentibus : 
 ' minutae vero, quae de siliquis cum 
 ' faba resederunt, aliter secernen- 
 ' tur. Nam cum acervus paleis, 
 d2 
 
20 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SfeE**^S^ Aut tenues foetus viciae > tristisque lupini 75 
 
 tlinpr haum of the bitter hi- n ,-■•/* *i i i 
 
 pine. For a crop of flax, or (Sustuleris tragiles calamos, syivamque sonantem. 
 
 oats, or drowsy poppies 
 the land. 
 
 burns 
 
 Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenge, 
 Urunt lethaeo perfusa papavera somno. 
 
 " granisque mistus in unum fuerit 
 cc conjectus, paulatim ex eo ventila- 
 " bris per longius spatium jactetur, 
 " quo facto, palea, quae levior est, 
 tc citra decidet : faba, quae longius 
 " emittetur, pura eo perveniet, quo 
 f< ventilator earn jaculabitur." I 
 have rendered quassante, shattered, 
 which I take to be the true mean- 
 ing of the word : for it appears by 
 Columella's account, that the pods 
 are broken and shattered to let the 
 beans come out. Quasso is fre- 
 quently used in this sense ; and our 
 English word to quash is derived 
 from it. 
 
 75. Tenues foetus vicias.~] The 
 seeds of vetches, or tares, are very 
 small in proportion to beans and lu- 
 pines; and therefore the poet has 
 distinguished them by the epithet 
 of tenues. They are also reckoned 
 to fertilize the fields : Et vicia pin- 
 guescunt arva, says Pliny. 
 
 Tristis lupini.] This epithet is 
 well chosen, for lupinus is derived 
 from Avthj, tristitia. The ancient 
 writers of agriculture agree that lu- 
 pines being sown in a field are as 
 good as dung to it. Columella says 
 they will make the husbandman 
 amends, if he has no other dung : 
 " Jam vero ut ego reor, si deficia- 
 " tur omnibus rebus agricola, lupini 
 " certe expeditissimum presidium 
 " non deesse, quod cum exili loco 
 *? circa Idus Septembris sparserit, et 
 " inaraverit, idque tempestive vo- 
 " mere vel ligone succiderit, vim 
 " optimae stercorationis exhibebit." 
 Pliny also mentions lupine as an ex- 
 cellent manure : " Inter omnes au- 
 " tern constat nihil esse utilius lupini 
 
 " segete, priusquam siliquetur, ara- 
 " tro vel bidentibus versa, mani- 
 " pulisve desectae circa radices ar- 
 " borum ac vitium obrutis. * * * Se- 
 " getem stercorant fruges, lupinum, 
 " faba, vicia." And in the eigh- 
 teenth book, speaking of lupine, he 
 says; " Pinguescere hoc satu arva 
 " vineasque diximus. Itaque adeo 
 " non egit fimo, ut optimi vicem re- 
 " praesentet." 
 
 77. Urit enim lini campum seges.\ 
 Most authors agree with Virgil, that 
 flax burns or impoverishes the soil. 
 Columella says it is so exceedingly 
 noxious, that it is not safe to sow it, 
 unless you have a prospect of great 
 advantage from it. " Lini semen, 
 " nisi magnus est ejus in ea regione 
 " quam colis proventus, et pretium 
 cc proritat, serendum non est ; agris 
 " enim praecipue noxium est." Pal- 
 ladius observes also that it exhausts 
 the ground : " Hoc mense lini se- 
 <c men seremus, si placet, quod pro 
 " malitia sui serendum non est, 
 " nam teiTas uber exhaurit." Pliny 
 quotes Virgil, for this observation : 
 < c Virgilius et lino segetem exuri, 
 " et avena, et papavere arbitratur." 
 
 78. Urunt lethceo perfusa papave- 
 ra somno.'] Poppies were commonly 
 sown by the ancients : not that with 
 the scarlet flowers, which is com- 
 mon in our corn fields, but those 
 sorts which we cultivate in our gar- 
 dens. That they were cultivated by 
 the ancient Romans, is plain from 
 the directions, which all their writers 
 give about sowing them. That it 
 was not our corn poppy, but that of 
 the gardens, appears from the figure 
 of its head in the hand of many 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 21 
 
 Sed tamen alternis facilis labor : arida lantum 
 Ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola ; neve 80 
 Effoetos cinerem immundum jactare per agros. 
 Sic quoque mutatis requiescunt fcetibus arva: 
 
 But to sow every other year 
 is an easv labour. Only be not 
 ashamed to enrich the dry 
 soil with fat dung ; nor to 
 spread unclean ashes over the 
 exhausted fields. Thus also 
 the fields rest with changing 
 the grain ; 
 
 statues of Ceres. The head of the 
 garden poppy is round, but that of 
 the red poppy is long and slender, 
 as Pliny has justly observed, lib. xx. 
 cap. 18. "Sativum omne magis ro- 
 " tundat capita; at sylvestri longum 
 " ac pusillum." This author there- 
 fore seems to contradict himself, 
 when he reckons this red sort, lib. 
 xix. cap. 9- amongst the cultivated 
 poppies. He there mentions three 
 sorts ; the white one, of which the 
 ancients used to eat the seeds : the 
 black one, from which opium is ob- 
 tained: and the rhceas, or erraticum, 
 which frequently grows amongst 
 barley, resembling rocket, a cubit 
 in height, with a red flower which 
 soon falls off, whence it is called in 
 Greek rhoeas. This is a plain de- 
 scription of our red poppy or corn- 
 rose. I shall set down the author's 
 own words : " Papaveris sativi tria 
 " genera : candidum, cujus semen 
 u tostum in secunda mensa, cum 
 " melle apud antiquos dabatur. Hoc 
 " et panis rustici crustae inspergitur 
 " affuso ovo inhaerens, ubi inferio- 
 " rem crustam apium githque cere- 
 ee ali sapore condiunt. Alterum ge- 
 " nus est papaveris nigrum, cujus 
 " scapo inciso lacteus succus exci- 
 u pitur. Tertium genus rhceam vo- 
 " cant Greed, id nostri erraticum. 
 u Sponte quidem, sed in arvis, cum 
 " hordeo maxime nascitur, erucae 
 " simile, cubitali altitudine, flore 
 " ruffo et protinus deciduo, unde et 
 " nomen a Graecis accepit." The 
 white poppy is cultivated in our 
 physic gardens; the heads being 
 much in use : for of them is made 
 the syrup, which is generally known 
 by the name of Diacodium. The 
 
 black poppy is not only sown in 
 our gardens, but grows wild also in 
 several places. I have found it in 
 great plenty on banks, between 
 Cambridge and Ely. The seeds of 
 it are sold for birds, under the name 
 of maw seed. The beautiful double 
 poppies, so frequent in gardens, are 
 the same species, the fulness of the 
 flowers being only an accidental va- 
 riety. That poppies, especially the 
 juice flowing from their wounded 
 heads, which is well known under 
 the name of opium, procure sleep, 
 hardly requires to be mentioned. 
 On this account Virgil says they 
 are lethceo perfusa somno: and in the 
 fourth Georgick he calls them lethcea 
 papavera : and in the fourth iEneid 
 he has soporiferum papaver. Lethe 
 is the name of a river in the infernal 
 regions, which causes those who 
 drink of it entirely to forget every 
 thing: whence our poet gives the 
 epithet lethean to sleep. 
 
 79- Sed tamen alternis facilis labor, .] 
 He returns to his first precept, about 
 ploughing every other year, and ob- 
 serves that this makes the labour 
 easy; and adds that dunging must 
 not be omitted, if the soil be poor or 
 worn out. This is the generally re- 
 ceived interpretation : but Grimo- 
 aldus gives another sense to this 
 passage. He takes it to mean that, 
 though you should sow flax, oats, or 
 poppies, which greatly exhaust the 
 ground ; yet you may easily remedy 
 this inconvenience, by letting the 
 ground lie fallow one year, if you do 
 but take care to dung it diligently. 
 
 82. Mutatis requiescunt fcetibus 
 arva.] The sense of this passage is, 
 that the change of grain is of service 
 
22 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S; a ^SSS , fa i ln a S B . Nee nulla interea est inaratae gratia terra. 
 
 ploughed field. It is often <>, , . • 1 • i r • . 
 
 also beneficial to set fire to baepe etiam stenles lncendere protuit agros, 
 
 the barren fields, r r ° 
 
 to the ground, and in some measure 
 answers the same end as letting it 
 lie fallow. 
 
 83. Nee nulla interea est inaratae 
 gratia terrce.] By inaratce is meant 
 uncultivated. He here again encou- 
 rages the husbandman to let his 
 ground lie fallow a year or two, if 
 he can afford to wait so long : and 
 assures him that his forbearance will 
 be well rewarded. Thus at the be- 
 ginning of this Georgick, he tells 
 us, that a husbandman, who lets his 
 ground lie fallow two years, will 
 reap such an abundant crop, that 
 his barns will scarce contain it : 
 
 Illius immensae ruperunt horrea messes. 
 
 84. Scepe etiam, tyc.~] In this pa- 
 ragraph he relates the method of 
 burning a barren soil; and assigns 
 four reasons, why it may be of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Grimoaldus does not understand 
 this passage as it is commonly un- 
 derstood ; that the poet proposes so 
 many different, and even contrary 
 conjectures, concerning the benefit 
 accruing from burning a barren 
 field. He rather thinks that Virgil 
 intends to describe these four cures 
 for so many causes of barrenness. 
 If the soil be poor, burning will 
 make it fat and full of juice : if it 
 be watery, the heat will make the 
 superfluous moisture transpire : if 
 it be a stiff clay, the warmth will 
 open the pores, and relax the stiff- 
 ness : if it be a spongy and thirsty 
 soil, the fire will bind and condense 
 it. La Cerda quotes Bersmanus for 
 the same interpretation : and ap- 
 proves of it. 
 
 Virgil is generally thought not to 
 have intended to speak of burning 
 the ground itself, but only of burning 
 
 the stubble. Pliny seems to under- 
 stand him in this sense : " Sunt qui 
 " accendunt in arvo et stipulas, 
 " magno Virgilii praeconio." Ser- 
 vius in his comment, on these words, 
 incendere profuit agros, says, ec Non 
 " agros, sed eaquae in agris sunt, id 
 " est stipulas vel quisquilias : hoc 
 " est purgamenta terrarum, et aha 
 " inutilia concremare." Grimoaldus 
 also interprets this passage ; " Sse- 
 " penumero etiam herbas, frutices, 
 " et stipulam igne absumpsisse, ad 
 " reparandam sterilium agrorum 
 " foecunditatem nonnihil confert." 
 Dryden also translates it in this 
 sense : 
 
 Long practice has a sure improvement 
 
 found, 
 With kindled fires to burn the barren 
 
 ground ; 
 When the light stubble to the flames 
 
 resign'd 
 Is driv'n along, and crackles in the wind. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Oft too it has been gainful found to burn 
 The barren fields with stubble's crackling 
 flame. 
 
 He says, " agros atque stipulam 
 ' ' flammis : i. e. agros flammis stipu- 
 " la?" Mr. B — differs from them 
 all, and says, " Virgil 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." This seems 
 to be the most natural interpreta- 
 tion. 
 
 Scepe.'] Servius tells us that some 
 join scepe to incendere. If this in- 
 terpretation be admitted, we must 
 render this passage, sc It is bene- 
 " ficial also to set fire often to the 
 " barren fields." 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 23 
 
 Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flam- 
 mis : 85 
 Sive inde occultas vires, et pabula terrge 
 Pinguia concipiunt: sive illis omne per ignem 
 Excoquitur vitium, atque exudat inutilis humor: 
 Seu plures calor ille vias, et caeca relaxat 
 Spiramenta, novas veniat qua succus in herbasr 
 Seu durat magis, et venas adstringit hiantes ; 91 
 Ne tenues pluviae, rapidive potentia solis 
 Acrior, aut Boreae penetrabile frigus ad u rat. 
 
 and to burn the light stubble 
 with crackling flames : whe- 
 ther by this means the lands 
 receive some hidden powers, 
 and rich nourishment : or whe- 
 ther every vicious disposition 
 is removed by the heat, and 
 the superfluous moi stu re made 
 to transpire : or whether the 
 warmth opens more passages, 
 and relaxes the hidden pores, 
 through which the juice is de- 
 rived to the new herbs : or 
 whether it hardens and con- 
 tracts the gaping veins, and 
 so hinders the small showers, 
 or parching heac of the sun, 
 or the piercing cold of Boreas 
 from scorching it. 
 
 85. Atque levem stipulam crepitan- 
 tibus urere fiammis7\ It is scarce 
 possible to avoid observing how 
 beautifully the rapidity of this verse, 
 consisting entirely of Dactyls, ex- 
 presses the swiftness of the flame 
 spreading over a stubble field. Vida 
 quotes this passage, amongst the 
 many beautiful examples of making 
 the sound an echo to the sense : 
 
 Hinc etiam solers mirabere saepe legendo 
 Sicubi Vulcanus sylvis incendia misit, 
 Aut agro stipulas flamma crepitante cre- 
 mari. 
 
 86. Pabula.] The commentators 
 generally suppose, that when the 
 poet speaks of this nourishment to 
 be derived from the fire, he alludes 
 to the philosophy of Heraclitus ; 
 that all things are created out of 
 fire. La Cerda, with better rea- 
 son, thinks, that he means the 
 nourishment proceeding from the 
 ashes. 
 
 92. Ne tenues pluvioe, rapidive po- 
 tentia solis acrior.] This passage 
 has very much perplexed some of 
 the commentators. They think it 
 strange that rain should be said to 
 scorch the ground. La Cerda in- 
 terprets it "ne pluviae, quae tenuitate 
 " sua penetrant, herbas perdanV 
 Dry den translates it, 
 
 Lest soaking show'rs should pierce her 
 secret seat. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp, 
 
 — Lest drisling show'rs 
 
 Should soak too deep. — = — 
 
 This seems to be taking too great a 
 liberty with Virgil ; to suppose an 
 ellipsis, and then to fill it up with 
 what we please. I would rather 
 suppose that by tenues, he does not 
 mean quae tenuitate sua penetrant; 
 but, as Servius tells us, some inter- 
 pret it, inutiles, jejunae, macrae, in 
 opposition to pingues, as tenuis ubi 
 argilla. If we understand it in this 
 sense, why might not the poet say 
 that the fire, by contracting the 
 gaping veins of the earth, hinders 
 the small showers from scorching 
 the earth : that is, hinders the earth 
 from being scorched or dried, by 
 the smallness of the showers, which 
 are not sufficient to moisten it, but 
 soak through its gaping chinks. This 
 interpretation will be still clearer if 
 with Schrevelius we read rapidique, 
 instead of rapidive: for then the 
 sense will be that the small showers 
 joined with a very parching heat 
 will dry up the spongy, thirsty soil. 
 They may poetically be said to parch 
 the earth, because they are not suf- 
 ficient to hinder it from being 
 parched. 
 
 93. Penetrabile frigus.] Thus Lu- 
 cretius : 
 
 Permanat calor argentum, penetraleque 
 frigus. 
 
24 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 5h?SeffiSe^S2* fi dSi Multum adeo, rastris glebas qui frangit inertes, 
 
 with harrows, and draws the TT . . , . . .,, 
 
 osier lmrdies: nor does yellow Vimineasquetrahit crates, juvatarva : nequeillum 
 
 Ceres look down upon him in 
 
 Jnd 1 he°too, h who u&the Flava Ceres alto nequicquam spectat Olympo : 
 Et qui, proscisso qua? suscitat aequore terga, 97 
 
 Adurat.~] Burning applied to cold 
 is not merely a poetical expression ; 
 but we find it made use of also 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. IIotVlTlXOV ($1 Ti-^/V^POV, a$ (pSxpriKOV, 
 
 V) aq y.acroc, <rvp*ivYi)cov } xabxireg ilprcrxi 
 ■zrgOTtgov' Ivi'oTl yseg xxt Kxtuy Xiynxi kxi 
 Sh<>pxmi)> to ^X^} *X> ®$ T0 S^pov, 
 x>Xx to cvvxyiiv, it xvTtTlpiifoivxi to 
 
 Seg/tto'v. Pliny also applies aduror to 
 cold : te Aduri quoque fervore, aut 
 " jlatu frigidiore:" and again; 
 11 Olei libra, vinique sextario illini- 
 f tur cum oleo coctis foliis partibus 
 " quas frigus adusserit :" and in 
 another place ; " Leonis adipes cum 
 i( rosaceo cut em in facie custodiunt 
 " a vitiis, candoremque servant, et 
 " sanant adusta nivibus :" and in 
 another place he says, " Si vero 
 " adusti frigore." 
 
 94. Multum adeo, $c] In this 
 passage he recommends the break- 
 ing of the clods small, which the 
 writers of agriculture call occatio. 
 " Occare, id est comminuere, ne sit 
 ff gleba," says Varro. " Pulvera- 
 11 tionem faciunt, quam vocant rus- 
 " tici occationem, cum omnis gleba 
 " in vineis refringitur, et resolvitur 
 " in pulverem," says Columella. 
 
 95. Vimineas crates.'] Dr. Trapp 
 translates rastris rakes, and crates 
 harrows : 
 
 Much too he helps his tilth, who with 
 
 the rake 
 Breaks the hard lumpish clods, and o'er 
 
 them draws 
 The osier harrow. 
 
 Rostrum. I think, always signifies a 
 harrow, in Virgil ; who describes it 
 as something very heavy, which by 
 no means agrees with a rake* In 
 this very Georgick we find iniquo 
 pondere rastri, and gravibus rastris. 
 Crates cannot be harrows, which 
 are too solid to be made of osiers or 
 twigs of trees, as the hurdles are. 
 Thus we have arbutece crates, in this 
 Georgick; and crates salign/is, in 
 the seventh iEneid; and in the 
 eleventh, 
 
 Crates et molle feretrum 
 
 Arbuteis texunt virgis, et vimine querno. 
 
 The word is used for any kind of 
 basket work ; whence Virgil, in the 
 fourth Georgick, applies it to the 
 structure of a honey-comb; crates 
 solvere favor urn ; and the crates sa- 
 lience, just quoted, are the basket 
 work of a shield ; whence the poet 
 figuratively uses it to express the 
 bones of the breast : 
 
 crudum 
 
 Transadigit costas et crates pectoris 
 ensem. 
 
 96. Flava Ceres.] Ceres is called 
 yellow, from the colour of ripe 
 corn : thus we have in Homer %x&* 
 
 97. Et qui, $c] " Ruaeus," says 
 Mr. B — , ' ' and after him Mr. Dry- 
 cC den, apply this passage to what 
 "goes before; but Virgil means it 
 cc only of what follows, namely, 
 ( ' a°oss ploughing. What the poet 
 " speaks of here retains the Roman 
 " name to this day in many parts 
 <c of England, and is called sowing 
 iC upon the back, that is, sowing stiff 
 " ground after once ploughing. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 25 
 
 Rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro, ^Wi^KEG^SE 
 
 ,-, P ,, ,-, , edup,andfrecmentlyexerches 
 
 Lxercetque trequens tellurem, atque imperat the earth, and commands tiie 
 
 arvis. 
 
 9.9 
 
 Humida solstitia, atque hyemes orate serenas, 
 
 fields. Pray, ye farmers, for 
 moist summer's and fair win- 
 ters; 
 
 " Now, says Virgil, he that draws 
 " a harrow, or a hurdle, over his 
 <c ground, before he sows it, multum 
 "juvat arva; for this fills up the 
 " chinks, which otherwise would 
 " bury all the corn: but then, says 
 " he, Ceres always looks kindly upon 
 (e him who ploughs his ground cross 
 " again, and then exercises it fre- 
 " quently ; that is, often repeats the 
 •' labour of ploughing. What made 
 " Ruseus and others mistake this 
 " place is, that they did not observe 
 t( that Et qui, proscisso, Sfc. must 
 <c be construed qui et perrumpit, et 
 <( exercet, et imperat." This obser- 
 vation is very ingenious; but I am 
 afraid we shall find it difficult to 
 produce an authority for making et 
 qui to be the same with qui et. Gri- 
 moaldus interprets this passage thus: 
 " Neque vero illi minus propitia 
 ." futura ilia est, qui, &c." In this 
 sense Dry den translates it : 
 
 Nor Ceres from on high 
 
 Regards his labours with a grudging 
 
 eye ; 
 Nor his, who ploughs across the furrow'd 
 
 grounds, 
 And on the back of earth inflicts new 
 
 wounds. 
 
 This way too there seems to be a 
 •difficulty in the grammatical con- 
 traction; for we must place the 
 ^vords thus: "Neque flava Ceres 
 I spectat ilium ; et ilium qui, &c/' 
 jua Cerda's interpretation seems to 
 »e most natural: he couples qui 
 /ith the other qui in ver. 94. Thus 
 he sense will be : " Ille juvat arva, 
 7 qui frangit glebas, et ille juvat 
 '• arva, qui perrumpit, &c." Ru- 
 seus follows La Cerda ; for he in- 
 terprets et qui thus : F Valde eihm 
 
 " prodest ille, qui." Dr. Trapp in- 
 terprets it to the same purpose: 
 " Et ille etiam juvat arva, qui." 
 Neque ilium fiava Ceres alto nequic- 
 quam spectat Olympo must there- 
 fore be understood to be in a paren- 
 thesis. 
 
 Proscisso.'] Beroaldus, in his notes 
 upon Columella, tells us that pro- 
 scindere means the first ploughing of 
 the land : et Quod vere semel ara- 
 " turn est, a temporis argumento 
 " vervactum vocatur, dicitur et pro- 
 " scissum, et proscindere appellant, 
 " cum primum arant terram." Ser- 
 vius gives us the same interpreta- 
 tion : " Propria voce usus est, cum 
 " enim primo agri arantur, quando 
 " duri sunt, proscindi dicuntur ; 
 ie cum iterantur, obfringi ; cum ter- 
 " tiantur, litari." 
 
 98. Perrumpit.'] The King's, one 
 of the Arundelian, both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, Servius, La Cerda, 
 and several of the old printed copies 
 have prorumpit. Pierius owns that 
 many of the ancient manuscripts 
 have perrumpit; but admits pro- 
 rumpit, on the authority of the Me- 
 dicean manuscript, in which pro- 
 rumpit is altered to perrumpit with 
 a different ink. The Cambridge ma- 
 nuscript has perrumpat ; and in the 
 Bodleian manuscript it is perrupit. 
 
 99' Exercet tellurem.] Thus Ho- 
 race ; " Paterna rura bobus exercet 
 " suis:" and Pliny; " alii tellurem 
 " exercent:" and Columella ; " fre- 
 " quenter solum exercendum est." 
 
 Arvis.] The Bodleian manuscript 
 has armis, which no doubt is an 
 error of the transcriber. 
 
 100. Humida solstitia, fyc] Hav- 
 ing spoken sufficiently of preparing 
 
 E 
 
?6 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S r S2 h 2S!! , S5SS t SSS Agricolae; hybernoliEtissimapulverefarra, 
 
 the field so fruitful, 
 
 the ground, he now begins to speak 
 of sowing it; and advises the 
 farmers, in the first place, to pray 
 for moist summers and fair winters. 
 La Cerda has proved by a great 
 number of instances, that the purest 
 Latin writers meant only the sum- 
 mer solstice by solstilium, and that 
 they called the winter solstice bruma. 
 Columella indeed calls the winter 
 solstice brumale solstitium : but solsti- 
 tium alone, I believe, was never used, 
 but to express the summer solstice. 
 We have the word solstitium no 
 where else in Virgil, except in the 
 seventh Eclogue : 
 
 Muscosi fontes, et somno mollior herba, 
 Et quae vos rara viridis tegit arbutus 
 
 umbra ; 
 Solstitium pecori defendite : jam venit 
 
 Torrida : jam laeto turgent in palmite 
 gemmae. 
 
 This is apparently meant of the 
 summer solstice. It will not perhaps 
 be displeasing to the learned reader, 
 if I quote some passage of Pliny, 
 which confirm La Cerda's observa- 
 tion. In lib. ii. cap. 19- he says ; 
 " Sol autem ipse quatuor differen- 
 ec tias habet, bis aequata nocte diei, 
 " vere et autumno, et in centrum 
 " incidens terra? octavis in partibus 
 ee arietis ac libra : bis permutatis 
 " spatiis, in auctum diei, bruma oc- 
 " tava in parte capricorni : noctis 
 " vero, solstitio totidem in partibus 
 " cancri." In lib. xviii. cap. 25. he 
 says; " Cardo temporum quadri- 
 tc partita anni distinctione constat, 
 <e per increments, lucis. Augetur 
 " haec a bruma, et aequatur noctibus 
 * verno aequinoctio diebus xc. horis 
 " tribus. Deinde superat noctes ad 
 u solstitium diebus xcm. horis xn. 
 " usque ad aequinoctium autumni. 
 " Et turn aequata die procedit ex eo 
 
 " ad brumam diebus lxxxix. horis 
 u in. Horae nunc in omni accessione 
 " aequinoctiales, -non cujuscunque 
 " diei significantur : omnesque eae 
 u differentiae fiunt in octavis parti- 
 <c bus signorum. Bruma capricorni, 
 " ab vni. calend. Januarii fere: ae- 
 " qiiinoctium vernum, arietis : sol- 
 " siitium, cancri : alterumque aequi- 
 " noctium, librae, qui et ipsi dies 
 "■ raro non aliquos tempestatmn sig- 
 u nificatus habent. Rursus hi car- 
 " dines singulis etiamnum articulis 
 " temporum dividuntur, per media 
 t( omnes dierum spatia. Quoniam 
 <e inter solstitium et aequinoctium 
 " autumni fidiculae occasus autum- 
 " num inchoat die xlv. At ab ae- 
 " quinoctio eo ad brumam, vergili- 
 " arum matutinus occasus hyemem 
 " die xliii. Inter brumam et aequi- 
 " noctium die xlv. flatus favonii 
 " vernum tempus." In cap. 28. of 
 the same book he says ; " Solstitium 
 " peragi in vni. parte cancri, et 
 <e vni. calendas Julii diximus. Mag- 
 " nus hie anni cardo, magna res 
 " mundi. In hoc usque a bruma 
 " dies creverunt sex mensibus." 
 Servius therefore must be mistaken, 
 who takes humida solstitia to mean 
 the winter solstice, and imagines 
 that the epithet humida is added as 
 a distinction from the summer sol- 
 stice, and therefore interprets this 
 passage thus: " Solstitia ilia quae 
 <c humida sunt naturaliter, id est hy- 
 " berna, O Agricolae, et hyemes se- 
 " renas orate." 
 
 Pliny accuses our poet of a mii ■ 
 take in this advice, and says it wa. 
 only a luxuriance of his wit : " Qui 
 " dixit hyemes serenas optandas, 
 " non pro arboribus vota fecit. 
 " Nee per solstitia imbres vitibus 
 " conducunt. Hyberno quidem 
 " pulvere laetiores fieri messes, lux- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 27 
 
 Laetus ager : rmllo tantum se Mysia cultu &if 7^Iti&\Z 
 
 •r . , . . • g~* beneficial, and in such seasons 
 
 Jactat, et ipsa suas mirantur Uargara messes. even Gargarus admires its own 
 
 harvests. Why should I speak 
 
 Quid dicam, iacto qui semine cominus arva . of him who, as soon as he has 
 v* « , j ^ j SQwn the seed ^ imrne d lat ely 
 
 Insequitur, cumulosque ruit male pinguis arenas ? Se'rKof^l'&im iSS " 
 
 " uriantis ingenii fertilitate dictum 
 tC est." But Virgil is sufficiently 
 justified by its being an universally 
 received opinion amongst the an- 
 cient Roman husbandmen. We are 
 told by Macrobius, that in a very 
 old book of verses, which is said to 
 be the most ancient of all the Latin 
 books, the following words are to 
 be met with: " Hyberno pulvere, 
 " verno luto, grandia farra Camille 
 " metes." From this old saying 
 Virgil no doubt derived his advice 
 to the farmers, to pray for moist 
 summers and fair winters. 
 
 Orate.~\ It is opiate in one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, and in La 
 Cerda. Pliny seems also to have 
 read optate ; for in the passage, 
 which I just now quoted, he says, 
 " Qui dixit hyemes serenas optan- 
 " das." 
 
 102. Nullo tantum se Mysia, 8fc.~\ 
 It is Mcesia in the Bodleian manu- 
 script, in Servius, and in several 
 old editions; some of the old edi- 
 tions have Mesia. The Cambridge 
 manuscript has Messia. Fulvius 
 Ursinus tells us that the old Colo- 
 i manuscript has Mysia, which 
 v iding is admitted also by Macro- 
 is. Pierius says it is Mysia in 
 1 e Roman manuscript, and in an- 
 ;her very ancient one. Heinsiusand 
 veral of the best editors have My- 
 ~. According to Pliny, Mcesia is 
 he name of a province joining to 
 Pannonia, and running down with 
 the Danube to the Euxine sea. But 
 Mysia is a part of Asia minor join- 
 ing to the Hellespont. In this pro- 
 vince were both a mountain and a 
 town called Gargarus, famous for 
 
 great plenty of corn. * Thus we find 
 in Ovid : 
 
 Gargara quot segetes, quot habet Me- 
 
 thymna racemos : 
 jEquora quot pisces, fronde teguntur 
 
 aves ; 
 Quot caelum Stellas, tot habet tua Roma 
 
 puellas. 
 
 104. Quid dicam, Sj-c.'] In this 
 beautiful passage, the poet advises 
 to break the barren clods immedi- 
 ately after the seed is sown; and 
 then to overflow the ground. He 
 recommends also the feeding down 
 of the young corn, to prevent its 
 too great luxuriance : and men- 
 tions the draining of a marshy 
 soil. 
 
 105. Male pinguis arence.] Ruaeus 
 says, that male pinguis is not put 
 for sterilis in this place, but that it 
 signifies male, intempestive, et frus~ 
 tra compacta et conglobata. He ob- 
 serves that arena is often put for 
 any sort of earth, as in the fourth 
 Georgick it is used for the mud of 
 the Nile, which is fat : 
 
 Et viridem iEgyptum nigra fcecundat 
 arena. 
 
 But however it is certain that male 
 joined with an adjective has the 
 same signification with non. Thus 
 in the second iEneid, statio male 
 Jida carinis is the same as non fida; 
 and in the fourth iEneid, alloquitur 
 male sana sororem is the same as in- 
 sana or non sana: therefore male 
 pinguis in this passage may well be 
 interpreted non pinguis, notwith- 
 standing what Ruaeus has said to 
 the contrary. 
 E 2 
 
28 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and then brings down rills of 
 water over it ? And when the 
 parched field lies gasping with 
 dying herbs, behold he draws 
 down the water from the brow 
 of a lull by descending clian- 
 nels : the water, as it falls, 
 makes a hoarse murmur along 
 the smooth scones, and re- 
 freshes the thirsty fields with 
 its bubbling streams. Why 
 should I speak of him, who, 
 lest the heavy ears should 
 weigh down the stem, feeds 
 down the luxuriant corn in 
 the tender blade, as soon as it 
 is even with the furrow l or of 
 him who drains the collected 
 moisture of the marsh from 
 the soaking sand? especially 
 in doubtful months, when the 
 river has overflowed its banks, 
 and covered all the country 
 round with mud, 
 
 Deinde satis fluvium inducit, rivosque sequen- 
 tes? 106 
 
 Et cum exustus ager morientibus festuat herbis, 
 Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam 
 Elicit : ilia cadens raucum per laevia murmur 
 Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva. 
 Quid, qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis, 
 Luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba ; 
 Cum primum sulcos gequant sata? quique paludis 
 Collectum humorem bibula deducit arena? 114? 
 Praesertim incertis si mensibus amnis abundans 
 Exit, et obducto late tenet omnia limo, 
 
 106. Deinde satis fluvium, fyc] 
 Virgil is thought in these lines to 
 have imitated the following passage 
 of Homer, in the 21st Iliad : 
 
 'Slg S' or u,vv)(> o^iT'/iyog utto x^mug /KsXa- 
 
 'AftQuru xix.) xTi-ras tfietros poov hytpovtvu, 
 Xtgffi paxtWav £^&)v, ccfuzgn; §' Ig s%ft,arcc 
 
 T» ftiv re z?£ooiovro$, v*o ■fyytf^is a.xa<rut 
 '0%XiuvTui, ro ¥$ r UKO, xctraSof&svov xi- 
 
 Xugu ivi zrgoctki?, ipSdvii ¥t rs xa,\ rov 
 osyovra. 
 
 So when a peasant to his garden brings 
 Soft rills of water from the bubbling 
 
 springs, 
 And calls the floods from high, to bless 
 
 his bow'rs, 
 And feed with pregnant streams the 
 
 plants and flow'rs ; 
 Soon as he clears whate'er their passage 
 
 stay'd, 
 And marks their future current with his 
 
 spade, 
 Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the 
 
 hills 
 Louder and louder purl the falling rills, 
 Before him scatt'ring, they prevent his 
 
 pains, 
 And shine in mazy wand'rings o'er the 
 
 plains. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Rivosque sequentes7\ It is rivosque 
 
 fluentes in the Roman manuscript, 
 according to Pierius. 
 
 109- Elicit.] Pierius says it is di- 
 git in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 112. Luxuriem segetum tenera de- 
 pascit in kerba.] The former pre- 
 cept, of breaking the clods, and wa- 
 tering them, related to a barren soil. 
 Here he speaks of an inconvenience 
 attending a rich soil, the too great 
 luxuriance of the corn ; and advises 
 to feed it down, while it is young. 
 He seems to have taken this from 
 Theophrastus, who says, that in a 
 rich soil the husbandmen both mow 
 the young corn, and feed it down, 
 to keep it from running too much 
 
 to leaf. 'E» $i Tci7? uyxSxlg %P%*tq 
 7?£o<; to pk QvXXfiftccvuy, i7rivif*iio-i xxi 
 Z7rix.u'(>iicri rh <nrov. Pliny says th 
 same thing : " Luxuria segetiu* 
 " castigatur dente pecoris in herba 
 " duntaxat." 
 
 113. Quique paludis, fyc] He 
 now speaks of draining a marshy 
 land. 
 
 115. Si] In the King's manu- 
 script it is cum. 
 
 Incertis mensibus.] Months where- 
 in the weather is uncertain ; as in 
 spring and autumn. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 29 
 
 Unde cavae tepido sudant humore lacunae. 
 Nee tamen, haec cum sint homin unique boumque 
 
 labores 
 Versando terram experti, nihil improbus anser, 
 Strymoniaeque grues, et amaris intuba fibris 120 
 Officiunt, aut umbra nocet. Pater ipse colendi 
 
 whence the hollow ditchet 
 sweat with warm moisture. 
 Though all these constant la- 
 bours of men and oxen attend 
 the culture of the earth, yet 
 these are not all, for the 
 wicked goose, and Strymonian 
 cranes, and succory with bit- 
 ter roots, are injurious, and 
 shade is hurtful to the corn. 
 Jupiter himself 
 
 118. Nec tamen, fyc] Having 
 spoken of these labours which at- 
 tend the culture of the earth, the 
 poet adds that these are not all; 
 for birds that infest the corn are to 
 be scared away, weeds are to be 
 rooted up, and trees to be lopped, 
 that overshade the field. Hence he 
 takes occasion to make a beautiful 
 digression concerning the golden 
 and silver ages. 
 
 Bourn.'] One of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts has bovum throughout the 
 book. 
 
 119. Anser.] The goose is inju- 
 rious wheresoever it comes by pluck- 
 ing every thing up by the roots. 
 Columella quotes the following 
 words to this purpose from Celsus : 
 cc Anser neque sine aqua, nec sine 
 " multa herba facile sustinetur, 
 " neque utilis est locis consitis, quia 
 " quicquid tenerum contingere pot- 
 ' est carpit." Palladius has al- 
 
 lost the same words, and adds that 
 le dung of geese is hurtful : " An- 
 ser sane nec sine herba, nec sine 
 aqua facile sustinetur : locis con- 
 I sitis inimicus est, quia sata et 
 morsu laedit et stercore." This 
 btion, of the dung of geese burning 
 p the grass where they feed, still 
 •evails amongst our country people, 
 ut I have observed that grass will 
 % *ow as well under their dung, as 
 ider that of other animals. The 
 many bare places, which are found 
 where geese frequent, are occasioned 
 by their drawing up the grass by 
 the roots. 
 
 120. Strymonice grues.] The cranes 
 are said to come from Strymon, a 
 river of Macedon, on the borders of 
 Thrace. 
 
 Amaris intuba Jibris.] Iniybum, 
 or Intybus, is commonly translated 
 Endive: but the plant which Virgil 
 means is Succory. Columella, when 
 he recommends intubum to be sown 
 for geese, tells us, it must be that 
 sort which the Greeks call <n^<;: 
 " Sed praecipue genus intubi, quod 
 C( c-i^tv Graeci appellant." Diosco- 
 rides tells us there are two sorts of 
 <r'i£i$, one wild, and the other culti- 
 vated : the wild sort is called -srix^ 
 and succory : 2^/$ ay^ux, xect qf&if>o$' 
 u>v « f*iv uygicc -ztikqis, *i xcci xi%&)piov 
 
 xuXaySvvi. It is called srU^ no doubt 
 from its bitterness: whence Virgil 
 describes it to be amaris Jibris. It 
 is a very common weed about the 
 borders of our corn fields ; and may 
 be two ways injurious. The spread- 
 ing tof its roots may destroy the 
 corn ; and, as it is a proper food for 
 geese, it may invite those destruc- 
 tive animals into the fields where it 
 grows. La Cerda, in his note on 
 this passage, takes occasion to cor- 
 rect an error which has crept into 
 the editions of Pliny. In lib. viii. 
 cap. 27. he says, <f Fastidium pur- 
 
 " gant anates, anseres, csete- 
 
 " rseque aquaticae herba siderite." 
 That judicious commentator ob- 
 serves that we ought to read scride 
 instead of siderite. 
 
 121. Umbra ?wcet.] That trees 
 overshading the corn are injurious 
 
30 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 would have the method of 
 tillage not to be easy, and 
 first of all commanded the 
 fields to be cultivated with 
 art, to whet the minds of mor- 
 tals with care: and would not 
 suffer his reign to rust in sloth. 
 Before the reign of Jupiter, 
 no husbandmen subdued the 
 fields: nor was it lawful to 
 mark out lands, or distinguish 
 them with bounds : all things 
 were in common : and the 
 earth of her own accord pro- 
 duced every thingmore freely, 
 without compulsion. He gave 
 a noxious power to horrid 
 serpents, 
 
 Haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusque per 
 
 artem 
 Movit agros, curis acuens mortalia corda : 
 Nee torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno. 
 Ante Jovem nulli subigebant arva coloni : 125 
 Nee signare quidem, aut partiri limite caropum 
 Fas erat. In medium quaerebant : ipsaque tellus 
 Omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. 
 Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris, 
 
 to it, is known to every body. The 
 poet has said the same thing in his 
 tenth Eclogue : 
 
 Nocent et frugibus umbrae. 
 
 Pater ipse colendi haudfacilem esse 
 viam voluit.'] That the husbandman 
 may not repine at so many obsta- 
 cles thrown in his way, after all his 
 labour, the poet in a beautiful man- 
 ner informs him, that Jupiter him- 
 self, when he took the government 
 of the world upon him, was pleased 
 to ordain, that men should meet 
 with many difficulties, to excite 
 their industry, and prevent their 
 minds from rusting with indolence 
 and sloth. 
 
 122. Primus per artem movit 
 agros.] Mr. B — has justly ob- 
 served, that this does not mean that 
 Jupiter invented tillage, but that 
 " he made it necessary to stir the 
 " ground, because he filled it with 
 " weeds, and obliged men to find 
 <c out ways to destroy them/' Ser- 
 vius seems to think that movit may 
 be interpreted jussit coli. The poet 
 tells us presently afterwards, that 
 Ceres was the inventor of husbandry. 
 Dryden was not aware of this when 
 he wrote, 
 
 Himself invented first the shining share, 
 And whetted human industry by care : 
 Himself did handicrafts and arts or- 
 dain. 
 
 Ovid also ascribes the invention of 
 agriculture to Ceres, in the fifth 
 book of his Metamorphosis : 
 
 Prima Ceres unco glebam dimovit aratro : 
 Prima dedit fruges, alimentaque mitia 
 
 terris : 
 Prima dedit leges : Cereris sumus omnia 
 
 munus. 
 
 125. Ante Jovem nulli subigebant 
 arva coloni.] Thus Ovid : 
 
 Ipsa quoque immunis rastroque intacta, 
 
 nee ullis 
 Saucia vomeribus, per se dabat omnia 
 
 tellus. 
 
 126. Nee] It is ne in the Roman 
 manuscript, according to Pierius, 
 which is no unelegant reading. 
 
 127. In medium qucerebant] In 
 medium signifies in common. Thus 
 Seneca, speaking of the golden age, 
 says, " Cum in medio jacerent be- 
 " neficia naturse promiscue utenda:" 
 and after having quoted this pas- 
 sage from Virgil, he adds : ' ' Quid 
 " hominum illo genere felicius ? In 
 " commune rerum natura frueban- 
 ' ' tur : sufficiebat ilia, ut parens, in 
 " tutelam omnium." 
 
 Ipsaque tellus omnia liberius nullo 
 poscente ferebat.] Thus Hesiod : 
 
 Avrepscrn, zzoWov ri x.cti ciipS-ovov. 
 
 120. Malum virus.] Malum is not 
 a superfluous epithet; for virtu is 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 SI 
 
 Praedarique luposjussit,pontumque moveri: 130 
 Mellaque decussit foliis, ignemque removit, 
 Et passim rivis currentia vina repressit : 
 Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artes 
 Paulatim, et sulcis fruraenti quaereret herbam: 
 Ut silicis venis abstrusum excuderet ignem. ] 35 
 Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas: 
 Navita turn stellis numeros et nomina fecit, 
 Pleiadas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton. 
 
 and commanded the wolves 
 to prowl, and the sea to swell : 
 and shook the honey from the 
 leaves of trees, and concealed 
 the fire, and withheld the 
 wine, which ran commonly 
 before in rivulets : that expe- 
 rience might gradually strike 
 out various arts by frequent 
 thinking, and seek the blades 
 of corn in furrows : that it 
 might strike the hidden fire 
 out of the veins of flints. 
 Then did the rivers first feel 
 the hollowed alders : then did 
 the sailor first give numbers 
 and names to the stars, the 
 Pleiades, the Hyades, and the 
 bright bear of Lycaon. 
 
 used in a good as well as a bad 
 sense. The Greeks used (pugpxKov in 
 the same manner : thus we find in 
 Homer. 
 
 <&dojU.KXK, zfoXXa pi* IffS-Xci fAtju.iy^iva, 
 zfoXXoc, oi Xuy^oi. 
 
 See the note on virosa Castorea, 
 ver. 58. 
 
 131. Mellaque decussit foliis.'] The 
 poets feign, that, in the golden age, 
 the honey dropped from leaves of 
 trees. Thus Ovid : 
 
 Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella. 
 
 Our poet, speaking, in the fifth 
 Eclogue, of the restoration of the 
 golden age, says that the oaks shall 
 sweat honey : 
 
 Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella. 
 
 It is no uncommon thing to find 
 a sweet, glutinous liquor on oak 
 leaves, which might give the poets 
 room to imagine, that, in the golden 
 age, the leaves abounded with honey. 
 
 Ignemque removit.'] He did not 
 totally take the fire away, but only 
 concealed it in the veins of flints. 
 Thus Hesiod : Kgv^/e dl srvg. 
 
 132. Et passim rivis currentia 
 vina repressit] It is feigned that 
 there were rivers of milk and wine 
 in the golden age. Thus Ovid : 
 
 Fluminajam lactisjam flumina nectaris 
 ibant. 
 
 133. Ut.] It is et in the Bod- 
 leian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. Ut is certainly 
 right. 
 
 Extunderet.] Pierius says it is ex- 
 cuderet in several ancient manu- 
 scripts : but in the Roman, the Me- 
 dicean, and other good copies, it is 
 extunderet. The King's, one of the 
 Arundelian, and one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts have excuderet : in the 
 Bodleian it is exfoderet. Extun- 
 deret is admitted by most of the 
 editors. 
 
 135. Ut.] So I find it in the Cam- 
 bridge, and one of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts. Pierius says it is ut in 
 all the ancient copies he had seen. 
 Servius, Heinsius, some of the old 
 printed editions, and Masvicius read 
 ut. In most of the modern editions 
 it is et. 
 
 136. Alnos.] The alder-tree de- 
 lights in moist places, and on the 
 banks of rivers. One of these trees 
 that was grown hollow with age, 
 falling into a river, may be imagined 
 to have given the first hint towards 
 navigation. 
 
 137- Turn.] In the old Nurenberg 
 edition it is dum. 
 
 138. Pleiadas, Hyadas, claramque 
 Lycaonis Arcton.] This line seems 
 to be an imitation of Hesiod : 
 
32 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SE ta^SS&SLSJ! Turn laqueis captare feras, et fallere visco 
 
 ing with bird-lime, and the 
 encompassing of great forests 
 with dogs discovered. And 
 now one seeking the deep 
 places lashes the" broad river 
 with a casting net, and another 
 drags his wet lines in the sea. 
 
 Inventum, et magnos canibus circumdare sal- 
 tus. 140 
 
 Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem, 
 Alta petens ; pelagoque alius trahit humida lina. 
 
 Or of Homer, 
 
 ITAx/aSaf B-% 'Tabat n, to, ts trS-ivos 
 
 ' Clgiuvos. 
 "Agxrov 3-', h kcci ot/u,a%av Wixkwtv *«- 
 
 htouiriv. 
 
 The Pleiades are seven stars in the 
 neck of the bull, not in the tail, as 
 we find in Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 41. 
 (< In cauda tauri septem, quas ap- 
 "■ pellavere vergilias." They are fa- 
 bled to have been the seven daugh- 
 ters of Atlas, king of Mauritania, 
 whence they are called also by Vir- 
 gil Atlantides. The Latin writers 
 generally call them Vergiliae, from 
 their rising about the vernal equinox. 
 Pleiades is generally thought to be 
 derived from -zsrxia, to sail, because 
 their rising pointed out the time in 
 those days proper to adventure to 
 sea. Others derive this name from 
 -zrXiiow;, many, because they appear 
 in a cluster ; thus we find Manilius 
 call them sidus glomerabile. The 
 Hyades are seven stars in the head 
 of the bull. This name is derived 
 from vu, to rain, because they are 
 thought to bring rain at their rising 
 and setting. The old Romans, 
 thinking hyades to be derived from 
 vq, a sow, called these stars suculoe ; 
 as we are informed by Cicero: 
 " Ejus (Tauri) caput stellis consper- 
 " sum est frequentibus : 
 
 " Haec Grseci Stellas : H) r adas vocitare 
 suerunt : 
 
 « f A pluendo : vav enim est pluere. 
 u Nostri imperite suculas ; quasi a 
 " suibus essent, non ab imbribus no- 
 " minatae." Pliny makes the same 
 observation : " Quod nostri a simili- 
 
 " tudine cognominis Graeci propter 
 " sues impositum arbitrantes, impe- 
 " ritia appellavere suculas." Servius 
 mentions another etymology, that 
 these stars represent the form of the 
 Greek letter Y, and are therefore 
 called 'Xdh",. It is certain that the 
 five principal stand in the shape of 
 that letter. Callisto, the daughter 
 of Lycaon, was violated by Jupiter, 
 and turned into a bear by Juno. 
 Jupiter afterwards translated her 
 into the constellation called by the 
 Greeks "A^re?, by the Romans Ursa 
 major, and by us the Great Bear. 
 See the whole fable in the second 
 book of Ovid's Metamorphosis. 
 
 1 39- Laqueis.] It is laqueo in one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 140. Inventum, et magnos.'] In one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts it is 
 inventum : magnos. In one of Dr. 
 Mead's it is inventum est : magnos. 
 
 Canibus circumdare saltus.] Thus 
 we have in the tenth Eclogue : 
 
 Non me ulla vetabunt 
 
 Frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare 
 saltus. 
 
 141. Verberat amnem.] This lash- 
 ing the river is a beautiful descrip- 
 tion of the manner of throwing the 
 casting net. 
 
 142. Alta petens.] Servius tells us 
 that some make the point after am- 
 nem ; and make alia petens to belong 
 to the sea- fishing. But in this case, 
 I believe Virgil would hardly have 
 put the que after pelago : I believe 
 the line would rather have run 
 thus : 
 
 Alta petens alius pelago trahit humida line. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 Turn ferri rigor, atque argutae lamina serrae; 
 Nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum. 
 Turn variae venere artes : labor omnia vicit 145 
 Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas. 
 Prima Ceres f'erro mortales vertere terram 
 Instituit: cum jam glandes atque arbuta sacrae 
 
 Then the tempering of steel 
 was invented, and the blade of 
 the grating saw; for in the 
 first age they clave the split- 
 ting wood with wedges. Then 
 Various arts were discovered. 
 Incessant labour and necessity 
 pressing in difficult affairs 
 overcame all things. Ceres 
 first taught mankind to plough 
 i he ground, when mast and 
 arbutes began to fail in the sa- 
 cred wood, 
 
 Humida Una.] La Cerda observes 
 that linum is often used for a net. 
 Mr. B — says, " The sea-fishing is 
 l< finely painted ; for in this business 
 " the lines are so long, by reason 
 " of the depth of the water, that the 
 " fisherman's employment seems to 
 " be nothing else but irahit humida 
 " Una." Whether Virgil intends, 
 by these words, to express the drag- 
 net, or fishing with the hook, I shall 
 not venture to determine. 
 
 144. Primi.] The King's, the 
 Cambridge, and one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts, have primum: 
 but primi seems more poetical. Thus, 
 
 — — — Tuque O cui prima frementem 
 Fudit equum tellus. 
 
 And, 
 
 Prima Ceres 
 
 terram 
 Instituit. 
 
 ferro mortales vertere 
 
 Scindebant.] It isjindebant in the 
 Cambridge manuscript: but this 
 must be a mistake; for Jindebant 
 Jissile lignum is by no means worthy 
 of Virgil. 
 
 145. Vicit.] In most of the manu- 
 scripts and printed editions it is 
 vincit. Pierius says it is vicit in the 
 Roman manuscript ; and adds, that 
 it is vincit in the Medicean copy; 
 but that there is a mark under the 
 n, which shews it is to be expunged. 
 It is vicit in one of the Arundeliau 
 manuscripts: all the rest which I 
 have collated, have vincit. Heinsius, 
 who made use of one of the best 
 copies, reads vicit. 
 
 148, Arbuta.] Virgil uses arbu- 
 
 tum for the fruit in this place. In 
 the second Georgick he uses arbutus 
 for the tree; and in the third, he 
 makes arbutum to signify the tree. 
 The Greek writers call the tree *o^«- 
 go?, and the fruit pvipciiKvXov. Pliny 
 calls the fruit unedo. The commen- 
 tators observe that Horace uses arbu- 
 tus for the fruit. 
 
 Impune tutum per nemus arbutos 
 Quserunt latentes, et thyma. 
 
 But as Horace joins arbutos with thy- 
 ma, which cannot mean fruit, I ra- 
 ther believe we are to understand 
 that he meant the trees themselves. 
 Lucretius uses arbuta for the fruit 
 in two places ; in one of which we 
 find glandes atque arbuta, as in this 
 passage of Virgil. The arbute or 
 strawberry-tree is common enough 
 in our gardens. The fruit has very 
 much the appearance of our straw- 
 berry, but is larger, and has not the 
 seeds on tke outside of the pulp, 
 like that fruit. It grows plentifully 
 in Italy, where the meaner sort of 
 people frequently eat the fruit, 
 which is but a very sorry diet. 
 Hence the poets have supposed the 
 people of the first age to have lived 
 on acorns and arbutes in the woods, 
 before the discovery of corn. Thus 
 Lucretius : 
 
 Quod sol, atque imbres dederant, quod 
 terra crearat 
 
 Spo«t$ sua, satis id plaeabat pectora 
 don urn, 
 
 Glaiidiferas inter curabant pectora quer- 
 cus 
 
 Plerumque, et quae nunc hyberno tem- 
 pore ccrnis 
 
 Arbuta, phceniceo fieri matura colore. 
 F 
 
34 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ™L™ on loot™ e ™ b s Z Deficerent sylvae, et victum Dodona negarct 
 
 added to the corn : that nox- ■««• . P , , , ,. , . 
 
 ious blights should eat the Mox et frumentis labor audit us: ut mala cul- 
 
 stalks, and thai the lazy thistle 
 
 should be dreadful in the corn IU.OS 150 
 
 Esset robigo, segnisque horreret in arvis 
 
 And Ovid: 
 
 Arbuteos foetus montanaque fraga lege- 
 bant. 
 
 149. Deficerent, .] Pierius says, 
 that in several very ancient manu- 
 scripts it is defuerant; but he thinks, 
 not without reason, that dejicerent 
 is better. 
 
 Dodo?ia.~\ See the note on Chao- 
 niam glandem, ver. 8. 
 
 151. Robigo.] The blight is a 
 disease, to which corn is very sub- 
 ject: Theophrastus calls it fyvo-fen. 
 Many modern writers take robigo 
 to signify smut, which is a putre- 
 faction of the ear, and converts it 
 into a black powder. But Virgil 
 mentions it as a disease of the stalk: 
 ut mala culmos esset robigo; and 
 Pliny tells us it is a disease, not only 
 of corn, but of vines : " Caeleste 
 " frugum vinearum que malum, nullo 
 " minus noxium est robigo :" and 
 the title of a chapter in Columella 
 is, Ne robigo vineam vexet. Varro 
 also invokes the god Robigus, to 
 keep the robigo from corrupting the 
 corn and trees : " Robigum ac Flo- 
 " ram, quibus propitiis, neque ro- 
 (e bigo frumenta, atque arbores cor- 
 " rumpit, neque non tempestive flo- 
 " rent." But smut is a disease to 
 which vines are not subject. Pliny 
 informs us farther that robigo and 
 carbunculus are the same : and his 
 description of the carbunculus seems 
 plainly enough to belong to blights. 
 He says the vines are burnt thereby 
 to a coal; no storm does so much 
 damage, for that affects only some 
 particular spots ; but they lay waste 
 whole countries : " In hoc temporis 
 " intervallo res sumraa vitiumagitur, 
 
 fc decretorio uvis sidere illo, quod 
 " caniculum appellavimus. Unde 
 " carbunculare dicuntur, ut quodam 
 " uredinis carbone exustae. Non 
 C{ comparantur huic malo,grandines, 
 iC procellse, quaeque nunquam an- 
 " nonae intulere caritatem. Agro- 
 " rum quippe mala sunt ilia : car- 
 " bunculus autem regionum late pa- 
 <e tentium." 
 
 Segnisque horreret in arvis car- 
 duus.] Thistles are well known to 
 be very injurious to the corn. Our 
 common thistle not only sends forth 
 creeping roots, which spread every 
 way, and sends up suckers on all 
 sides : but is propagated also by a 
 vast number of seeds, which, by 
 means of their winged down, are 
 carried to a considerable distance. 
 Dr. Woodward has calculated, that 
 one thistle seed will produce at the 
 first crop twenty -four thousand, and 
 consequently five hundred and se- 
 venty-six millions of seeds at the 
 second crop. What particular spe- 
 cies of thistle Virgil meant is not 
 certain : perhaps it was the Carduus 
 solstitialis, or Saint Barnaby's thistle, 
 which, according to Ray, is very fre- 
 quent and troublesome in the corn 
 fields in Italy. " Monspelii in satis 
 " nihil abundantius, nee minus fre- 
 " quens in Italia, unde incremento 
 " segetum aliquando officit, et mes- 
 iC sorum manus pedesque vulnerat." 
 The epithet segnis is generally inter- 
 preted inutilis, infeecundus : I have 
 ventured to translate it lazy, with 
 Mr. B — . I believe Virgil called 
 the thistle lazy, because none but a 
 lazy husbandman would suffer so 
 pernicious a weed to infest his corn. 
 Servius interprets horreret, abunda- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 35 
 
 Carduus: intereunt segetes : subit aspera sylva, ^Tp^wo^of E 
 
 T .. i. - , .^ i, .. .„ and caltrops: and amongst 
 
 Lappseque tribulique: interque nitentiaculta 153 the shining com 
 
 ret, ut Mum agrum impleret : I take 
 it in this place to signify to appear 
 terrible or horrid. Virgil uses it, in 
 the eleventh iEneid, to express a 
 serpent's erecting his scales : 
 
 Saucius at serpens sinuosa volumina 
 
 versat, 
 Arrectisque horret squamis, et sibilat 
 
 ore 
 Arduus insurgens. 
 
 In the same book he applies it to 
 the scales of a breast-plate : 
 
 Jamque adeo Rutulum thoraca indutus 
 
 ahenis 
 Horrebat squamis. 
 
 In the seventh iEneid he applies it 
 to rocks : 
 
 Tetricae horrentes rupes. 
 
 In the ninth, to the spoils of a lion: 
 
 Horrentlsque leonis 
 
 Exuvias. 
 
 In many places, he uses it to ex- 
 press the terrible appearance of the 
 spears of an army. In the seventh 
 iEneid we find, 
 
 Atraque late 
 
 Horrescit strictis seges ensibus. 
 
 In the tenth, 
 
 Mille rapit densos acie atque horrentilus 
 hastis. 
 
 And 
 
 Horrentes Marte Latinos. 
 
 And in the twelfth, 
 
 ■ Strictisque seges mucronibus horret 
 Ferrea. 
 
 Thus it may be used with great pro- 
 priety to express a thistle, which is 
 so horribly armed all over with 
 strong prickles. 
 
 152. Inter eujit segetes.] This tran- 
 sition to the present tense is very 
 beautiful. 
 
 153. Lappce.~\ Lappa seems to 
 have been a general word, to ex- 
 press such things as stick to the 
 garments of those that pass by. 
 We use the word burr in the same 
 manner: though what is properly 
 so called is the head of the Bardana 
 major, or burdock. The Lappa of 
 Pliny is certainly the cc7rx^tvn of 
 Theophrastus ; for he has translated 
 the very words of this author. The 
 passage of Theophrastus is at the 
 beginning of the fourteenth chapter 
 of the seventh book of his History 
 of Plants : "lhcv 21 xai to %tq) rh o,7fcc~ 
 
 PIMIV, *t XUI TM tfAOtTlM UVTSfcZTCtl 2l» 
 
 riiv r^ec^vr'Arot. xott eV* 2varoe,<poctpirov, Iv 
 T8T0J yc&p lyytviTca r<a rgetfciT to civSog 
 » 73-goVov, %2l ixtpuivov, ot.X}C \v ietvrS -snr- 
 rofttvov xcci o-Trgg^ayovSv' <i>Ve Trcc^oftotov 
 iivo&i to <rv[*&ouvcv' axnriQ In) rcov yotXwv 
 xxi ptvav. The words of Pliny are, 
 " Notabile et in Lappa quae adhae- 
 " rescit, quoniam in ipsa flos nas- 
 " citur, non evidens, sed intus oc- 
 " cultus, et intra se germinat, velut 
 " animalia quae in se pariunt." The 
 u-7rct£ivn of the Greeks is not our 
 burdock, but a little herb, with a 
 burry seed, which is very common 
 in our hedges, and is called cleavers, 
 clivers, or goose grass. Theophras- 
 tus, in the eighth chapter of the 
 same book, mentions k-jra.pin amongst 
 those herbs, which lie on the ground 
 unless they are supported; which 
 agrees with the cleavers, but not 
 with the burdock : "Evict 21 zre^wX- 
 XoxxvXot, xx$-ei.7ri(> sj zrirvim, not) » cnra- ' 
 g/wj, xxi U7rXug m o xet.vXb$ M7rrog, xui 
 pccXoiKos, xeci potxpo$' 2tb xcci (pvovrett 
 Txvroc as lirt to zroiv iv uXXoi?. Dios- 
 corides is so particular in his de- 
 f 2 
 
36 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 wMTa h tfp7evin ra Vt n un£ e s Infelix lolium, et steriles dominantur avenae. 
 
 vou pursue the ground dili- ~ , . . 'j • , • i. i_ *. ' 
 
 gently with harrows, Quod nisi et assiduis terram insectabere rastns, 
 
 scription of the x-xet^m, that he leaves 
 no room to doubt of its being the 
 cleavers. He says it has many 
 small, square, rough branches, and 
 leaves placed in whorls at the joints, 
 as in madder. The flowers are 
 white : the seeds hard, white, round, 
 hollow in the middle, like a navel. 
 The herb sticks to one's clothes, 
 and the shepherds make use of it 
 to get hairs out of their milk: 
 
 A5T«g/yjJ, 61 21 XftTiXOXXPTTOV, CI 21 0{6- 
 
 <PxXox,X(>7rov, ol 2i QtXxvfyairov xxXxtrtv, 
 ol ol i^ov. x.Xavig -zroXXoi, pixqci, rirgx- 
 ywvoi, r^x-fciig. QvXXx 2i \x. oixrvip,xTog 
 KvxXon^g zn^Kilfiiva,, aiTTtig rx rx 
 sgv$£o2xvif. avSq Xivx.cH. tmi^px <rxXr>(>ov, 
 Xtvxbv, r^oyyvXov, vxokoiXov, \x. pk<m ag 
 optyxXog. zs-^otn^irxi 21 xxi ipxrioig vi 
 ■zrioc. •fczjavTcu 21 xvtv\ xxi cl ■zsciftkvig 
 ecvri ffipS \m tS ydX.xx.Tog, TT^og '(kXiv^iv 
 ruv h xvra r^yfiv. Pliny says al- 
 most the same words concerning 
 the aparine : " Aparinen aliqui om- 
 i( phalocarpon, alii philanthropon 
 " vocant, ramosam, hirsutam, qui- 
 <c nis senisve in orbem circa ramos 
 " foliis per intervalla : semen rotun- 
 " dum, durum, concavum, subdulce. 
 " Nascitur in frumentario agro, aut 
 " hortis pratisve, asperitate etiam 
 " vestium tenaci." Hence it ap- 
 pears, either that Pliny lias treated 
 of the same plant, under the different 
 names of Lappa and Aparine; or 
 else that he misunderstood Theo- 
 phrastus, and applied what he had 
 said of the aparine to the lappa. 
 We find in the last quotation from 
 Pliny, that the Aparine was a weed 
 amongst their corn, so that perhaps 
 the Lappa of Virgil was our 
 cleavers. 
 
 Tribuli.] The tribulus or land 
 caltrop is an herb with a prickly 
 fruit, which grows commonly in 
 Italy, and other warm countries. It 
 
 is the name also of an instrument 
 used in war, to annoy the horse. 
 This instrument has r^7g fioXxg, three 
 spikes, whence the Greek name 
 rgt&oXog is derived. 
 
 This fiction of the poets, that Ju- 
 piter caused the earth to produce 
 these prickly weeds, seems to have 
 been borrowed from Moses. We are 
 told in the third chapter of Genesis, 
 that when God cursed the earth, he 
 said it should bring forth thorns and 
 thistles, as it is in our translation. 
 The LXX have XKsivSxg kxI r^QoXag. 
 
 The Hebrew words, seem to signify 
 any prickly, troublesome weeds: 
 for ^lp, which is rendered a thorn, 
 is derived from the verb pp, which 
 signifies to make uneasy ; and "1T")*7, 
 which is rendered a thistle, or -rg/- 
 QoXog, is derived from 1~\7, freedom, 
 because it grows freely in unculti- 
 vated places. 
 
 154. Infelix lolium, et steriles do- 
 minantur avence.~] Virgil has this 
 very line in his fifth Eclogue : 
 
 Grandia sspe quibus mandavimus hordes 
 
 sulcis 
 Infelix lolium, et steriles dominantur 
 
 avenae. 
 
 Lolium or Darnel is a common weed 
 in our corn fields. The wild oats are 
 no less frequent in many places. 
 They are not the common oats de- 
 generated by growing wild, but a 
 quite different species : the chaff of 
 them is hairy, and the seed is small, 
 like that of grass. It was the ge- 
 neral opinion of the ancients that 
 wheat and barley degenerated into 
 these weeds: but they are specifi- 
 cally different, and rise from their 
 own seeds. The word dominantur is 
 very proper ; for these weeds grow 
 so tall, that they overtop the corn. 
 
 155. Quod nisi et assiduis, fyc.\ 
 Here the poet concludes with a par- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 37 
 
 Et sonitu terrebis aves, et ruris opaci 156 
 
 Falce premes umbras, votisque vocaveris ira- 
 
 brem : 
 Heu magnum alterius frustra spectabis acervum; 
 Concussaque famem in sylvis solabere quercu. 
 Dicendum et quaesint durisagrestibusarma: 160 
 Queis sine nee potuere seri nee surgere messes. 
 Vomis, et inflexi primum grave robur aratri, 
 Tardaque Eleusinsb matris volventia plaustra, 
 Tribulaque, traheaeque, et iniquo pondere rastri: 
 
 and make a noise to scare the 
 birds, and restrain the over- 
 shading boughs with your 
 sickle, and call down the 
 showers with prayers: alas, 
 you shall behold another's 
 large heap in vain, and relieve 
 your hunger i n the wood* 
 with shaking an oak. I must 
 also mention the arms which 
 belong to the laborious hus- 
 bandmen: without which the 
 corn can neither be sown, nor 
 spring up. In the first place 
 the share, and the heavy tim- 
 ber of the crooked plough, 
 and the slow rolling carts of 
 Eleusinian Ceres, and thresh- 
 ing instruments, and sleds and 
 harrows of unwieldy weight : 
 
 ticular injunction to avoid the 
 plagues which he mentioned about 
 the beginning of this article. He 
 mentions the diligent harrowing, to 
 destroy the weeds, because succory 
 is injurious, amaris iniuba Jibris qffi- 
 ciunt. Pierius says, that in the Me- 
 dicean manuscript, instead of terram 
 insectabere rastris, it is herbam in- 
 sectabere rastris : the same reading 
 is in the Bodleian manuscript. He 
 says the birds are to be scared away, 
 because geese and cranes are trou- 
 blesome : improbus anser Slryjnoni- 
 ceque grues officiunt. He advises to 
 restrain the overshading boughs, 
 because shade is hurtful to the corn, 
 umbra nocet. He puts the husband- 
 man in mind of praying for showers, 
 because they depend on the will of 
 the gods. He had spoken before of 
 praying for seasonable weather. 
 
 Humida solstitia atque hyemes orate 
 
 serenas 
 Agricolae. 
 
 158. Spectabis.'] It is exspectabis 
 in the Medicean manuscript, accord- 
 ing to Pierius. It is the same in 
 the Bodleian manuscript. 
 
 159- Concussa.l It is excussa in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 160. Dicendum, #c.] Here the 
 poet begins to describe the various 
 instruments, with which a husband- 
 man ought to be provided. 
 
 162. Robur, .] Robur is the name 
 of a particular sort of oak : but it is 
 used also for any solid timber. Thus 
 we find it, in the twelfth iEneid, 
 applied to the wood of a wild olive- 
 tree: 
 
 Fprte saeer Fauni foliis oleaster amaris 
 
 Hie steterat.- ■ > 
 
 Viribus haud ullis valuit discludere 
 
 morsus 
 Roboris iEneas. 
 
 In this place I take it to mean the 
 beam, or solid body of the plough. 
 
 163. Tardaque Eleusince matris 
 volventia plaustra.'] This line beau- 
 tifully describes the slow motion of 
 the cart. Ceres is called Eleusina 
 mater, from Eleusis, an Athenian 
 town, where Ceres was hospitably 
 received by Celeus, and in return, 
 taught his people the art of hus- 
 bandry. The Eleusinians, in ho- 
 nour of this goddess, instituted the 
 Eleusinian feasts, which were very 
 famous. It was death to disclose 
 any of their mysteries. In the 
 feasts of Ceres at Rome, her statue 
 was carried about in a cart or 
 waggon. 
 
 164. Tribute.] The tribulum or 
 tribula was an instrument used by 
 the ancients to thresh their corn. 
 It was a plank set with stones, or 
 pieces of iron, with a weight laid 
 upon it, and so was drawn over the 
 
38 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 add to these the mean osier 
 furniture of Celeus, arbute 
 hurdles, and the mystic fan of 
 Bacchus : all which you must 
 carefully provide long before- 
 hand, if you have a due re.ard 
 for divine husbandry. In the 
 first place the elm is forcibly 
 bent in the woods into a 
 plough-tail, and receives the 
 form of the crooked plough. 
 To the end of this are joined 
 a beam eight feet in length, 
 two earth boards, and share- 
 beams, with a double back. 
 
 Virgea praeterea Celei, vilisque supellex, 165 
 Arbutese crates, et mystica vannus Iacchi : 
 Omnia quae multo ante memor provisa repones, 
 Si te digna manet divini gloria ruris. 
 Continuo in sylvis magna vi flexa domatur 
 In burim, et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri. 
 Huic a stirpe pedes temo protentus in octo, 171 
 Binoe aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso. 
 
 corn by oxen. Varro has given us 
 the description of it : " Id fit e ta- 
 " bula lapidibus, aut ferro asperata, 
 te quo imposito auriga, aut pondere 
 Ci grandi, trahitur jumentis junctis, 
 " ut discutiat e spica grana." Tri- 
 bulum is derived from r^ila, to thresh. 
 Hence we may see why the first 
 syllable of trihulum is long; but 
 that of tribulus short. I mentioned, 
 in the note on tribuli, ver. 153/ that 
 tribulus,' the name of a plant, and of 
 an instrument used in war, is so 
 called from its having r^sTg /3oA«s, 
 three spikes. Now the compounds 
 of rgws have the first syllable short; 
 as T£i7ntq, of which we have frequent 
 instances in Homer. I shall men- 
 tion only one, in the twenty-third 
 Iliad: 
 
 But the first syllable of r^'&w is long; 
 of which we have an instance a few 
 lines after, in the same Iliad : 
 
 Traheoe."] The trahea or traha is 
 a carriage without wheels. It was 
 used to beat out the corn, as well as 
 the tribulum. This appears from Co- 
 lumella: " At si competit, ut in area 
 '.' teratur frumentum, nihil dubium 
 " est, quin equis melius, quam bubus 
 " ea res conficiatur, et si pauca juga 
 " sunt, adjicere tribulam et traham 
 " possis, quae res utraque culmos fa- 
 " cillime comminuit." 
 
 Iniquo pondere rosin.] See the 
 note on ver. 95. 
 
 165. Celei.~\ Celeus was the fa- 
 ther of Triptolemus, whom Ceres 
 instructed in husbandry. 
 
 166. Arbutece crates.] See the 
 notes on ver. 95 and 148. 
 
 Mystica vannus Iacchi.'] The fan 
 is an instrument used to cleanse the 
 corn: thus Columella; " Ipsa? au- 
 " tem spicas melius fustibus tundun- 
 " tur, vannisque expurgantur." It is 
 called mystica, because it was used 
 in the mysteries of Bacchus. Iac- 
 chus was a name of Bacchus seldom 
 made use of, but on solemn and 
 sacred occasions. 
 
 169. Continuo in sylvis, fyc] Here 
 the poet gives us a description of the 
 plough, in which we find that the 
 custom was to bend an elm, as it 
 grew, into the crooked form of the 
 buris, or plough-tail, to which the 
 beam, the earth-boards, and the 
 share-beam were fastened. 
 
 171. Temo.] This is the beam, or 
 pole, which goes between the oxen, 
 and to which they are yoked. He- 
 siod calls it iroZoevg, which is derived 
 from iVof, a mast, and fiovg, an ox. 
 He says it is made either of bay or 
 elm : 
 
 172. Aures.~\ These must be the 
 earth-boards, which being placed on 
 each side of the share-beam, serve 
 to make the furrows wider, and the 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 39 
 
 Caeditur et tilia ante jugo levis, altaque fagus, 
 Stivaque, quae currus a tergo torqueat imos : 
 
 The light lime-tree also is cut 
 down beforehand for the yoke, 
 and the tall beech, and the 
 staff, to turn the bottom of 
 the carriage behind i 
 
 ridges higher. Palladius tells us 
 that some ploughs had earth-boards, 
 and others not. " Aratra simplicia, 
 " vel si plana regio permittit, anrita, 
 " quibus possint contra stationes hu- 
 " moris hyberni, sata celsiore sulco 
 " attolli." 
 
 Duplici dentalia dorso.~] Dentale 
 is the share-beam, a piece of wood 
 to which the share is fixed. But why 
 they are said to have a double back 
 seems not to be very clear. The com- 
 mentators generally agree that by 
 double is meant broad, and quote 
 some authorities for this interpreta- 
 tion. Servius indeed tells us, that 
 most of the plough-shares in Italy 
 have a wing on each side; " cujus 
 ' c utrumque eminet latus : nam fere 
 et hujusmodi sunt omnes vomeres in 
 " Italia." On this account Virgil 
 might have called the share double, 
 but why the board should be said to 
 have a double back, I do not readily 
 comprehend. A passage in Hesiod 
 seems to be of some use in removing 
 this difficulty. It is agreed on all 
 hands, that Virgil had Hesiod's 
 plough before him when he made 
 this description. The Greek poet 
 speaking of the ywrc, which all in- 
 terpret dentale, says it is fastened 
 to the plough-tail, and at the same 
 time nailed to the pole : 
 
 — — • Q?iguv Bs yv'/iv, or oiv tugys, 
 E/'j olxov, xxt ogot oi£'/if&ivo; t) kxt cigvgav, 
 Ugivivov, os yo\() (ZxiTiv aoovv o%ugcuTOi]!>s Wtv, 
 TLvr' av 'A$»j>/«/»jj o*f/.a>os l» IkCfcan ■zstr^a.^, 
 TifjLQoiffiv zriXocffus -zTgoffoigngtrxi /V06OS7/. 
 
 Now if we suppose the dentale or 
 share-beam to have been made with 
 two legs, one of which was fastened 
 to the bottom of the tail, and the 
 other nailed to the beam, which 
 would make all three hold faster to- 
 gether; it will easily appear, that 
 
 Virgil means these two legs by his 
 duplex dorsum. Hesiod speaks of 
 two sorts of ploughs, one with the 
 plough-tail and share-beam of one 
 piece, and another, where they are 
 joined. He advises to have both 
 these in readiness, that if one should 
 break, the other may be at hand. 
 
 Aoicc It SiffS-xi aoor^u., 7rovy<rdfiivos xara. 
 oikov, 
 
 Avroyuov, kou ■zfYixrbv. Wu zfoXu Kuiov 
 
 tireo;. 
 Et % trtgov y «£«/?, tngov y \<r) fixe) 
 
 (ZdXoio. 
 
 173. Altaque fagus, stivaque.^ 
 Stiva is the plough-staff, which with 
 us is generally fixed to the share- 
 beam, in the same manner as the 
 hurts, or tail, so that we have two 
 tails or handles to our ploughs : but 
 sometimes it is a loose staff, with a 
 hook at the end, with which the 
 ploughman takes hold of the back 
 part of the plough, to turn it. 
 
 The grammatical construction of 
 this passage does not seem very 
 clear. Caeditur is made to agree 
 with tilia, fagus, and stiva. We 
 may say tilia cceditur, and fagus 
 catditur ; but to* say at the same time 
 stiva cceditur seems to be absurd: 
 for this makes the staff a tree, by 
 coupling it with lime and beech. 
 Besides que and quae coming close 
 together pffend the ear, and I be- 
 lieve there is not another instance of 
 their coming thus together any 
 where in Virgil. I believe instead 
 of stivaque we ought to read stivae; 
 which will make the sense clearer, 
 and the verse better : 
 
 Caeditur et tilia ante jugo levis, altaque 
 
 fagus 
 Stivae, quae currus a tergo torqueat imos. 
 
 " The light lime-tree also is cut 
 " down beforehand for the yoke, 
 
40 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 StaS^b!? sSnSfby Et suspensa focis explorat robora fumus. 1 75 
 
 " and the tall beech for the staff, to 
 et turn the bottom of the carriage 
 " behind." The Bodleian manu- 
 script has stiva que currus. 
 
 Currus.~\ " I do not know whe- 
 (C ther any edition justifies the alter- 
 ec ation I have made in this line, of 
 " currus to cursus. The reason of 
 cc my doing it is because cursus is in- 
 te telligible, and explains the use of 
 ' ' the handle, or plough staff; cursus 
 cc torqueat imos, the handle serves to 
 cc keep the plough up, which other- 
 (( wise would run down too deep in 
 " the ground. Mr. Dryden finding 
 " this passage difficult to explain, 
 ** has left it quite out of his transla- 
 " tion. All that the commentators 
 u have said concerning currus in 
 " this place is very perplext." Mr. 
 B— . 
 
 The poet is thought by some to 
 mean a wheel-plough, by the word 
 currus, which is derived from curro, 
 to run ; and Servius informs us, that 
 in Virgil's country, the ploughs run 
 upon wheels: we have wheel-ploughs 
 in many parts of England. 
 
 175. Explorat .] The King's, the 
 Bodleian, and one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts, -have explorct. 
 Servius, La Cerda, Schrevelius, and 
 several printed editions have the 
 same reading. Pierius seems willing 
 to admit exploret: though at the 
 same time he says it is explorat in 
 the Roman manuscript, and in the 
 very ancient oblong one. Heinsius 
 and Ruaeus read explorat. It is the 
 same in the other Arundelian, the 
 Cambridge, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 I have here inserted the figure of 
 a modem Italian plough, which 
 seems to differ but little from that 
 which Virgil has described. It seems 
 to have no stiva, distinct from the 
 hurls ; and it has a coulter, which 
 
 Virgil does not mention. And in- 
 deed Pliny, who describes the coul- 
 ter, seems to speak as if it was not 
 in all ploughs. "■ Vomerum plura 
 te genera. Culter vocatur, praeden- 
 " sam, prius quam proscindatur, 
 " terram secans, futurisque sulcis 
 " vestigia praescribens incisuris, quas 
 " resupinus in arando mordeat vo- 
 " mer." 
 
 After my notes on this passage 
 were printed, I had the favour of a 
 letter from Sir Daniel Molyneux, 
 Bart, dated from Rome, July 27, 
 1737, with a drawing and descrip- 
 tion of the plough which is now 
 used about Mantua and Venice. 
 There is a plough used in many 
 parts of England, which differs very 
 little from this ; but yet, I believe, 
 it will be no small satisfaction to my 
 readers, to find an exact account of 
 the very plough, now employed in 
 cultivating the lands in Virgil's own 
 country. 
 
 The two timbers marked A are 
 each made of one piece of wood, 
 and are fastened together with three 
 wooden pins at B. 
 
 C, C, are two transverse pieces of 
 wood, which serve to hold the han- 
 dles together at the back. 
 
 D is a piece of wood fastened to 
 the left handle, or Sinistrella, at E, 
 and to the beam F. 
 
 F is the beam, or Periica, which 
 is fastened to the left handle, at G. 
 
 H is the plough-share, into which 
 the Dejitahy or share-beam, seems 
 to be inserted. 
 
 I is the coulter, being a piece of 
 iron, square in the body, which is 
 fixed in the beam, and bending in 
 the lower part, and having an edge, 
 to cut the weeds. 
 
 L is an iron chain, fastened at one 
 end to the plough-pillow, or Mesolo 
 N ; and, at the other, to the beam 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 41 
 
 Possum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre ; 
 Ni refugis, tenuesque piget cognosccre curas. 
 Area cum primis ingenti asquanda cylindro, 
 
 I can recite to you many pre- 
 cepts of the ancients, unless 
 you decline them, and are 
 loth to be informed of small 
 things. In the first place, the 
 floor is to be smoothed with a 
 huge rolling stone, 
 
 by an iron hammer M ; the handle 
 of which serves for a pin, and the 
 more forward you place the ham- 
 mer, the deeper the share goes into 
 the ground. 
 
 O, are two pieces of wood fast- 
 ened to the pillow, which serve to 
 keep the beam in the middle. 
 
 P is the pole, or Timonzella, to 
 which the oxen are yoked, and is of 
 no certain length. 
 
 Q, R, with pricked lines is a strong 
 plank, which is fastened to D, and 
 to the left handle. This being placed 
 sloping serves to turn up the earth, 
 and make the furrow wider. This 
 part therefore is the earth-board, or 
 auris, of Virgil, of which he says 
 there should be two : but in this 
 plough there seems to be but one. 
 
 1 do not question, but that the 
 Mantuan plough was in Virgil's 
 time more simple than that here de- 
 scribed : but let us compare a little 
 the poet's description witli the figure 
 now before us. Let the left handle 
 A A, be supposed to be the Bin-is, 
 the right handle A A, to be the Stiva, 
 and A E, A B, to be the two Denia- 
 lia. Here then we see the crooked 
 Buris, to form which an elm was 
 bent as it grew. Near the bottom 
 of this, hide a stirpe, we see the pole 
 is inserted, which probably was con- 
 tinued to the length of eight feet, 
 and had the oxen yoked to it, with- 
 out the intervention of the Timon- 
 zella. Thus the plough wanted the 
 advantage of having the share go 
 lighter or deeper, which may be a 
 modern improvement. The two 
 handles may very well be supposed 
 to be meant by the double back, to 
 which the two share-beams are join- 
 
 ed. Upon this supposition we must 
 make some alteration in interpreting 
 the two following verses : 
 
 Huic a stirpe pedes temo protentus in 
 
 octo : 
 Binae aures, duplici aptantur dentalia 
 dorso. 
 
 " From the bottom of this a beam 
 <c is protended, eight feet in length: 
 " and two earth-boards, and share - 
 " beams are fitted to the double 
 " back." The wheels were probably 
 fixed immediately to the beam, and 
 shew the propriety of the word 
 currus, as is already observed in the 
 note on ver. 174. 
 
 . 176. Possum multa tibi, Sj-c] After 
 the mention of the instruments of 
 agriculture, he gives instructions 
 concerning the making of the floor. 
 
 Veterum prcecepla.] He means 
 Cato and Varro, who wrote before 
 him ; and from whom he has taken 
 the directions relating to the floor. 
 
 178. Area.] Cato directs the floor 
 to be made in the following man- 
 ner : dig the earth small, and 
 sprinkle it well with lees of oil, that 
 it may be well soaked. Beat it to 
 powder, and smooth it with a roll- 
 ing stone or a rammer. When it is 
 smooth, the ants will not be trou- 
 blesome, and when it rains it will 
 not grow muddy : " Aream ubi fru- 
 u mentum teratur sic facito : Con- 
 " fodiatur minute terra, amurca 
 rt bene conspergatur, ut combibat 
 " quam plurimum. Comminuito 
 " terram, et cylindro aut pavicula 
 " coaequato. Ubi cosequata erit, 
 " neque formicae molestae erunt, et 
 " cum pluerit lutum non erit.'* 
 Varro is more large in his descrip- 
 tion of the floor ; and mentions not 
 
42 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and to be wrought with the 
 hand, and consolidated with 
 binding chalk : to keep weeds 
 from growing up, and to pre- 
 serve it from growing dusty 
 and chapping. Then various 
 plagues mock your hopes: the 
 little mouse often ha< built its 
 house under the ground, and 
 made its iranaiies: or the 
 blind moles have digged their 
 chambers: the toad aLo is 
 found in hollow places, and 
 other vermin, which the earth 
 produces in abundance : and 
 the vveavel destroys the great 
 heap of corn, and the ant also, 
 which is afraid of a needy old 
 age. 
 
 Et vertenda manu, et creta solidanda tenaci : 
 Ne subeant herbse, neu pulvere victa fatiscat. 1 80 
 Turn variae illudunt pestes : saepe exiguus mus 
 Sub terris posuitque domos, atque horrea fecit ; 
 Aut oculis capti fodere cubilia talpae : 
 Inventusque cavis bufo, et quae plurima terras 
 Monstra ferunt : populatque ingentem farris 
 acervum 185 
 
 Curculio, atque inopi metuens formica senectae. 
 
 only the ants, but mice and moles: 
 " Aream esse oportet — solida terra 
 " pavitam, maxime si est argilla, ne 
 " aestu pseminosa, in rimis ejus 
 " grana obiitescant, et recipiant 
 te aquam, et ostia aperiant muribus 
 ec ac formicis. Itaque amurca solent 
 " perfundere : ea enim herbarum 
 " est inimica et formicarum : et tal- 
 <e parum venenum." 
 
 Cum primis ingenli azquanda.\ 
 Some copies have cum primum, others 
 turn primum. Aulus Gellius observes 
 that cum primis is the same with in 
 primis. " Apprime crebrius est : cum 
 lC prime rarius : traductumque ex 
 " eo est, quod cum primis dicebant, 
 e ' pro eo quod est in primis" Those 
 who read primum, insert est either 
 after primum or ingenti. Pierius 
 says that in the Medicean, and most 
 of the ancient copies, it is cum primis 
 ingenli oequanda without est. 
 
 Cylindro.~] The Cylinder seems to 
 have been a stone, not unlike that 
 with which we roll our gardens. 
 Palladius speaks of a fragment of a 
 pillar being used for a roller. " Ju- 
 " nio mense area paranda est ad tri- 
 " turam, cujus primo terra radatur, 
 tc deinde effossa leviter mistis paleis, 
 " et amurca aequatur insulsa. Quae 
 " res a muribus et formicis frumenta 
 u defendit. Tunc premenda est ro- 
 " tundo lapide, vel columnae quo- 
 
 " cunque fragmento, cujus volutatio 
 " possit ejus spatia solidare." 
 
 181. Illuduni.~\ Pierius says it is 
 illudant in the Roman and several 
 other ancient manuscripts. One of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts has illudant: 
 it is the same in the editions of 
 Heinsius and Paul Stephens. Ser- 
 vius and most of the editors admit 
 illudunt. 
 
 Exiguus mus."] Quintilian justly ob- 
 serves, that not only the diminishing 
 epithet, but the ending of the verse 
 with one syllable, beautifully ex- 
 presses the littleness of the animal : 
 " Risimus, et merito, nuper poetam 
 " qui dixerat, 
 
 " Prortcxtam in cista mures roscre Cam'illi. 
 
 " At Virgilii miramur illud, 
 
 " Soepc exiguus mus. 
 
 " Nam epitheton exiguus, aptum 
 " proprium effecit ne plus expec- 
 " taremus, et casus singularis magis 
 " decuit, et clausula ipsa unius syl- 
 " labae non usitata, adcht gratiam." 
 
 183. Oculis capti talpce.~\ The 
 poet speaks according to the vulgar 
 opinion, when he says the moles are 
 blind: but it is certain that they 
 have eyes, though they are small 
 ones. 
 
 186. Curculio.] Some read Cur- 
 gulio: others Gurgulio. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 43 
 
 Contemplator item, cum se nux plurima sylvis 
 
 Observe also when the walnut- 
 tree 
 
 187. Contemplator item, 8fC.~\ In 
 this passage he shews the husband- 
 man how he may form a judgment 
 of his future harvest. 
 
 Nux.] The commentators seem 
 to be unanimous in rendering nux 
 the almond-tree : but I cannot dis- 
 cover upon what grounds. I believe 
 nux has never been used, without 
 some epithet, to express an almond- 
 tree. That it is used for a walnut- 
 tree, is plain from Ovid's poem de 
 Nuce. Virgil says in the second 
 Georgick, that the mix is ingrafted 
 on the arbutus : 
 
 Inseritur vero ex fcetu nucis arbutus 
 horrida. 
 
 That this is to be understood of the 
 walnut, appears from Palladius : 
 
 Arbuteas frondes vastae nucis occupat 
 
 umbra 
 Pomaque sub duplici cortice tuta refert. 
 
 Palladius could not mean the al- 
 mond, when he spoke of a great 
 shade, which is very applicable to 
 the walnut. In another place he 
 has a chapter de Nuce Juglande, 
 where he says expressly, that the 
 walnut is ingrafted on the arbute : 
 " Inseritur, ut plerique asserunt, 
 ft mense Februario, in Arbuto." We 
 have nux but once more in all Virgil ; 
 it is in the eighth Eclogue : 
 
 Mopse novas incide faces: tibi ducitur 
 uxor. 
 
 Sparge marite nuces ; tibi deserit Hes- 
 perus (Etam. 
 
 -Prepare the lights 
 
 Mopsus, and perform the bridal rites. 
 
 Scatter thy nuts among the scrambling 
 boys: 
 
 Thine is the night; and thine the nup- 
 tial joys, 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 The ancient custom of throwing 
 nuts amongst the boys at weddings, 
 
 is well known. We learn from 
 Pliny that these nuts were walnuts : 
 and that they were used in the nup- 
 tial ceremonies, because the fruit is 
 so well defended with a thick rind, 
 and a woody shell : " Ab his locum 
 " amplitudine vindicaverunt, quae 
 u cessere autoritati, nuces juglandes, 
 " quanquam et ipsae nuptialium 
 " Fescenniorum comites, multum 
 " pineis minores universitate, eae- 
 " demque portione ampliores nu- 
 " cleo. Necnon et honor his na- 
 " turae peculiaris, gemino pro tectis 
 ' c operimento, pulvinati primum ca- 
 " lycis, mox lignei putaminis. Quae 
 <c causa eas nuptiis fecit religiosas, 
 " tot modis fcetu munito, quod est 
 " verisimilius, quam quia cadendo 
 " tripudium sonumve faciant." 
 
 Plurima.~] Servius interprets this 
 word longa, and thinks it is designed 
 to express the long shape of the al- 
 mond. Dr. Trapp understands it to 
 mean the tallness of the tree : 
 
 Observe too, when in woods the almond 
 
 tall 
 Blossoms with flowers, and bends jts 
 
 smelling boughs. 
 
 I take it to signify very muck, or 
 plentifully : in which sense it is to 
 be understood in the following pas- 
 sage of the second Georgick : 
 
 Hsec eadem argenti rivos, aerisque me- 
 
 talla 
 Ostendit venis, atque auro plurima fluxit. 
 
 Here Ruaeus interprets the three 
 last words auro multum abundavit : 
 and Dr. Trapp translates these 
 lines ; 
 
 The same blest region veins of silver 
 
 shews, 
 Rivers of brass ; and flows in copious gold? 
 
 A few lines after we find 
 
 Indicio est, tractu surgens oleaster eodem 
 Plurimus, 
 
 ,g2 
 
44 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 shall put on its bloom plenti- 
 fully in the woods, and bend 
 down its strong smelling 
 branches : if it abounds in 
 fruit, you will have a like 
 quantity of com. and a great 
 threshing with much heat. 
 But if it abounds with a lux- 
 uriant shade of leaves, in vain 
 shall your floor thresh the 
 com, which abounds with no- 
 thing but chaff. 1 have seen 
 some medicate their seeds be- 
 fore they sow ; and steep them 
 in nitre 'and black lees of oil, 
 to cause a fuller produce in 
 the deceitful pods. Andthough 
 they havebeen moistened over 
 a gentle fire to quicken them, 
 and long tried, and examined 
 with much labour, 
 
 Induet in florem, et ramos curvabit olentes : 
 Si superant foetus, pariter frumenta sequentur, 
 Magnaque cum magno veniet tritura calore. 190 
 At si luxuria foliorum exuberat umbra, 
 Nequicquam pingues palea teret area culmos. 
 Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentes, 
 Et nitro prius, et nigra perfundere am urea, 
 Grandior ut foetus siliquis fallacibus esset. 195 
 Et quamvis igni exiguo properata maderent, 
 Vidi lecta diu, et multo spectata labore 
 
 Dr. Trapp does not translate oleaster 
 plurimus the wild olive tall, but 
 
 This the wild olives shew, when thick 
 
 they rise 
 On the same mould. 
 
 I believe May is the only translator, 
 who has given plurima the true 
 sense, in the passage under our con- 
 sideration : 
 
 Consider thou 
 bloom. 
 
 when nut-trees ful 
 
 188. Ramos olentes.~\ The strong 
 smell of the branches is more appli- 
 cable to the walnut than to the al- 
 mond. The very shade of the wal- 
 nut was thought by the ancients to 
 be injurious to the head. Pliny 
 says in lib, xvii. cap. 12. " Jam 
 " quaedam umbrarum proprietas, 
 (C Juglandium gravis et noxia, etiam 
 <( capiti humano, omnibusque juxta 
 fC satis." And in lib. xxiii. cap. 8. 
 he says, " Arborum ipsarum folio - 
 " rumque vires in cerebrum pene- 
 « trant." 
 
 191. Exuberat.] In one of the 
 Arundelian and one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, it is exsuperat. But 
 this must be an error of the tran- 
 scribers ; for the second syllable in 
 exuperat is short ; as in the second 
 Mneid : 
 
 Sanguines exuperant undas. 
 
 192. Nequicquam.] Servius, and 
 after him La Cerda, interprets ne- 
 quicquam pingues to be the same as 
 non pingues : which I believe is not 
 the sense in this place. Nequicquam 
 frequently occurs in Virgil : but sel- 
 dom is used for not. See the note 
 on ver. 403. 
 
 Palea.] Some copies have palece : 
 but palea is generally received. 
 
 193. Semina vidi equidem, fyc] In 
 this place he adds a precept relating 
 to beans : that they should be picked 
 every year, and only the largest 
 sown; without which care all the 
 artful preparations made by some 
 husbandmen is in vain. 
 
 I have interpreted this passage 
 to relate to beans, on the authority 
 of Pliny, who says, " Virgilius ni- 
 " tro et amurca perfundi jubetyiz- 
 " bam : sic etiam grandescere pro- 
 (c mittit." 
 
 194. Perfundere.] Schrevelius reads 
 prqfundere. 
 
 195. Siliquis fallacibus.] The men- 
 tion of pods shews that the poet 
 speaks of pulse. The pods are called 
 deceitful, because they often grow 
 to a sufficient size, when upon ex- 
 amination they prove almost empty. 
 
 197. Vidi lecta diu.'] Columella 
 reads vidi ego lecta diu. One of Dr, 
 Mead's manuscripts has vidi lecia 
 manu. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 45 
 
 Degenerare tamen ; ni vis humana quotannis 
 Maxima quaeque manu legeret. Sic omnia fatis 
 In pejus mere, ac retro sublapsa referri : 200 
 Nonaliter, quam qui adverso vix fluminelembum 
 Remigiis subigit; si brachia forte remisit, 
 Atque ilium in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni. 
 Praeterea tarn sunt Arcturi sidera nobis, 
 Hoedorum que dies servandi, et lucidus anguis; 
 Quam quibus in patriam ventosa per sequora 
 vectis 206 
 
 Pontus, et ostriferi fauces tentantur Abydi. 
 
 yet have I seen them degene- 
 rate, unless a man picked out 
 the largest of them one by one 
 every year. Thus every thing 
 by fate degenerates and runs 
 backwards : just as when any 
 one is rowing with difficulty 
 against a stream, if he happens 
 to slacken his arms, immedi- 
 ately the tide drives him head- 
 long down the river. Besides 
 we ought as much to observe 
 the stars of Arcturus, and the 
 days of the kids, and the shin- 
 ing dragon ; as those, who re- 
 turning homewards through 
 the stormy main, venture in 
 the Euxine sea, and the straits 
 of oyster-breeding Abydos, 
 
 200. Retro sublapsa referri.] Thus 
 in the second JEneid : 
 
 Ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri 
 Spes Danaum. 
 
 203. Atque.] Aulus Gellius ob- 
 serves that atque is to be rendered 
 statim in this passage : " Et prae- 
 " terea pro alio quoque adverbio 
 " dicitur, id est statim, quod in his 
 " Virgilii versibus existimatur ob- 
 " scure et insequenter particula ista 
 " posita esse." 
 
 204. Praeterea, S^cT] In this pas- 
 sage the poet inculcates the necessity 
 of understanding A stronomy : which 
 he says is as useful to the farmer, as 
 to the sailor. 
 
 204. Arcturi.] Arcturus is a star 
 of the first magnitude in the sign 
 Bootes, near the tail of the Great 
 Bear. Its name is derived from 
 *£ktos, a bear, and ovgee, a tail. The 
 weather is said to be tempestuous 
 about the time of its rising : ' ' vehe- 
 " mentissimo significatu," says Pliny, 
 " terra marique per dies quinque :" 
 and in another place; " Arcturi 
 " vero sidus non ferme sine pro- 
 " cellosa grandine emergit." 
 
 205. Hoedorum.] The kids are 
 two stars on the arm of Auriga. 
 They also predict storms, according 
 to Aratus : 
 
 Ei ¥t <roi yivto%ov rt xat a?i(>u$ fivio^oio 
 "ZxivrMrS-xi Iok'ioi xairoi tpoLris favStv alyh 
 At/T>is ft V i^itpuv, oW th aXt -srogtpugioucrri 
 TIoWkxis Iffxi^ayro xtScaoftiviis ivS-guffHs. 
 
 And Pliny : ' c Ante omnia autem 
 " duo genera esse caelestis injuria? 
 " meminisse debemus. Unum .quod 
 " tempestates vocamus, in quibus 
 " grandines, procellae, caeteraque si- 
 " milia intelliguntur : quae cum ac- 
 " ciderint vis major appellatur. Haec 
 " ab horridis sideribus exeunt, ut 
 <c saepius diximus, veluti Arcturo, 
 " Orione, Hcedis." 
 
 Anguish] The dragon is a northern 
 constellation. See the note on ver. 
 244. 
 
 207. fontus.] This is commonly 
 taken to mean the Hellespont : but 
 that is to be understood by the 
 straits of Abydos, fauces Abydi, I 
 take it to mean the Black or Euxine 
 sea, which has the character of being 
 very tempestuous. 
 
 Ostriferi Abydi."] Abydos is situ- 
 ated on the Asiatic side of the Helle- 
 spont. It was famous for oysters : 
 thus Ennius: 
 
 Mures sunt jEnij aspera ostrea plurima 
 Abydi. 
 
 And Catullus : 
 
 Hunc lucum tibi dedico, consecroque, 
 Priape, 
 
AG 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 hours" o¥ b the 'da S sleep Libra dies somnique pares ubi fecerit horas, 
 
 3ibS5eS%h^dda?k' Et medium luci, atque umbris jam dividit orbem: 
 
 ness, then work your bullocks, . . • i i ^ -, n 
 
 ye ploughmen, and sow barley Lxercete, viri, tauros: sente hordea campis, 210 
 
 in the fields, till about the last 7 7 r 
 
 wK'sdstice. impracticaWe Usque sub extremum brum<e intractabilis im- 
 brem. 
 
 Qua domus tua Lampsaci est, quaque 
 
 sylva Priape. 
 Nam te praecipue in suis urbibus colit ora 
 Hellespontia, caeteris ostreosior oris. 
 
 208. Libra dies, <$-c] Here Vir- 
 gil exemplifies his precept relating 
 to Astronomy. 
 
 The time, which he mentions for 
 sowing barley, is from the autumnal 
 equinox to the winter solstice. This 
 perhaps may seem strange to an 
 English reader; it being our cus- 
 tom to sow it in the spring. But it 
 is certain that in warmer climates 
 they sow it at the latter end of _the 
 year: whence it happens that their 
 barley harvest is considerably sooner 
 than their wheat harvest. Thus we 
 find in the book of Exodus, that the 
 flax and the barley were destroyed 
 by the hail, because the barley was 
 in the ear, and the flax was in seed, 
 but the wheat and the rye escaped, 
 because they were not yet come up. 
 
 Dies.] Amongst the ancient Ro- 
 mans the genitive case of the fifth 
 declension ended in es: thus dies 
 was the same with what we now 
 write diei. Sometimes it was written 
 die : which all the editors receive in 
 this place. I have restored dies, on 
 the authority of A. Gellius, who 
 says that those, who saw Virgil's 
 own manuscript, affirmed, that it 
 was written dies. " Q. Ennius in 
 f e sexto decimo annali dies scripsit 
 ce pro diei in hoc versu : 
 
 " Postrema longinqua dies confecerit cetas. 
 
 " Ciceronem quoque aifirmat Caesel- 
 " lius in oratione, quam pro P. Sestio 
 f fecit, dies scripsisse, pro diet, quod 
 
 ego impensa opera conquisitis ve- 
 teribus libris plusculis ita, ut Cse- 
 sellius ait scriptum inveni. Verba 
 sunt heec Marci Tullii: Equites 
 vero daturos illius dies poenas. Quo 
 circa factum hercle est, ut facile 
 iis credam, qui scripserunt idio- 
 graphum librum Virgilii se in- 
 spexisse; in quo ita scriptum est: 
 
 " Libra dies somnique pares ubi fecerit 
 
 " horas : 
 
 " id est, Libra diei somnique." 
 
 209 . Dividit.'] So I find it in both 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, and in 
 Heinsius, and several of the old edi- 
 tions. Servius, and after him most 
 of the editors read dividei. 
 
 210. Hordea.] Servius informs 
 us that Bavius and Maevius were 
 greatly offended at Virgil, for using 
 hordea in the plural number : and 
 expressed their resentment in the 
 following verse : 
 
 Hordea qui dixit, superest ut Iritica dicat. 
 
 Hence it seems that the objections, 
 which those ancient critics made 
 to Virgil, were only grammatical ca- 
 vils. 
 
 211. Usque sub extremum brumce 
 intractabilis imbrem7\ Bruma cer- 
 tainly means the winter solstice : but 
 what Virgil means by the last 
 shower of it I must acknowledge 
 myself unable to explain. Pliny 
 understands our poet to mean that 
 barley is to be sown between the 
 autumnal equinox and the winter 
 solstice. " Virgilius triticum et far 
 " a vergiliarum occasu seri jubet, 
 " hordeum inter aequinoctium au-? 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 Nee non et lini segetem, et Cereale papaver 
 
 47 
 
 It is al o time to cover flax in 
 the ground, and the poppy of 
 Ceres, 
 
 " tumni et brumam." The same 
 author tells us expressly that barley 
 is to be sown only in dry weather : 
 " Hordeum, nisi sit siccum, ne se- 
 u rito." Palladius speaks of sowing 
 barley in September, October, and 
 November ; but says it is full late 
 to sow it in December : " Decembri 
 4< mense seruntur frumenta, triti- 
 " cum, far, hordeum, quamvis hor- 
 " dei satio jam sera sit." These 
 directions of Pliny and Palladius 
 seem by no means to agree with 
 Virgil's extending the sowing time 
 to the last shower of the solstice. 
 The autumnal equinox, in Virgil's 
 time, was about the twenty-fourth 
 of September; and the winter sol- 
 stice about the twenty-fifth of De- 
 cember. Hipparchus, according to 
 Columella, places it on the seven- 
 teenth of December, and the Chal- 
 deans on the twenty-fourth. Ac- 
 cording to Pliny it was on the 
 twenty-fifth : "Bruma Capricorni ab 
 " viii. Calend. Januarii fere." 
 
 The poet calls the winter solstice 
 intractabilis, because the cold, which 
 comes at that season, begins to put 
 a stop to the labours of the plough- 
 man. That the cold begins to be 
 severe at that time, even in Italy, 
 we have the testimony of Lucre- 
 tius : 
 
 Tandem brurna nives adfert, pigrumque 
 
 rigorem 
 Reddit, Hyems sequitur, crepitans ac 
 
 dentibus Algus. 
 
 212. Lini.'] Columella and Pal- 
 ladius agree with Virgil about the 
 time of sowing flax. Columella 
 says it is from the first of October 
 to the seventh of December : " Se- 
 " ritur a Calendis Octobris in or- 
 " turn Aquila?, qui est vn. Idus 
 " Decembris." Palladius says the 
 time for sowing of it is October : 
 
 " Hoc mense lini semen seremus." 
 And again, under December, he 
 says, " Hoc etiam mense adhuc 
 " lini semen spargi poterit, usque 
 " ad vn. Idus Decembris." Pliny 
 differs from all these writers, and 
 says it is sown in the spring : iC Vere 
 " linum, et avenam, et papaver;" 
 and in another place, " Vere satum 
 " aestate vellitur." The time of 
 sowing flax with us is in March. 
 
 Cereale papaver. ~] I have spoken 
 of poppies at large, in the note on 
 ver. 78. Pliny speaks of sowing 
 them in the spring, as we have 
 seen in the preceding note. Co- 
 lumella agrees with Virgil : "* Chss- 
 " rephyllum, itemque olu's atriplicis, 
 " quod Graeci vocant <kT£u<pot%iv, circa 
 u Calendas Octobris obrui oportet 
 " non frigidissimo loco. Nam si 
 " regio ssevas hyemes habet, post 
 " Idus Februarias semihe disserenda 
 e< sunt, suaque de sede partienda. 
 " Papaver et anethum eandem ha- 
 " bent conditionem sationis, quam 
 u chasrephyllum et u.r^a.%t<;." Pal- 
 ladius says the time of sowing pop- 
 pies is in September : " Nunc pa- 
 " paver seritur locis siccis, et calidis: 
 " potest et cum aliis oleribus semi- 
 " nari." 
 
 Many are the reasons assigned by 
 the commentators for the epithet ce- 
 reale being added to Papaver. Ser- 
 vius assigns the following reasons : 
 either because it is eaten like corn ; 
 or because Ceres made use of pop- 
 pies to forget her grief, and was 
 thrown thereby into a sleep, when 
 she had watched a long time on 
 account of the rape of Proserpine ; 
 or because Mycon the Athenian, 
 who was beloved by Ceres, was 
 transformed into a poppy; or be- 
 cause it was sprinkled upon bread. 
 La Cerda quotes the authority of 
 Eusebius, in his third book de Free* 
 
48 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 yotrS^g! 7 t0 begin Tempus humo tegere, et jamdudum incumbere 
 
 rastns, 
 
 213 
 
 paratione Evangelica, that Ceres was 
 accounted the inventress of poppies. 
 Ruaeus has the same quotation : but 
 I fear he took it implicitly from La 
 Cerda. I wish these commentators 
 had given us the words of Eusebius: 
 for I cannot find any passage in that 
 author, which agrees with what they 
 have said. I find, in the third book 
 of Eusebius, a quotation from Por- 
 phyry, where he says the statues of 
 Ceres are adorned with ears of corn, 
 and that poppies are added, as a sym- 
 bol of fruitfulness : Ato kcci xetrwrflcu 
 
 TO £§gT#$ uvtHs t«% rdxvw, yJ,K6j/-g T£ 
 ■zregi uvrijv t?s ■zroXvyovio&s cvfcQcXov. La 
 Cerda gives another reason: that 
 Ceres relieved her hunger with pop- 
 pies, as appears from the fourth 
 book of Ovid's Fasti. We are there 
 told, that, when Celeus invited Ceres 
 to refresh herself in his cottage, his 
 little boy was sick, and could get 
 no rest ; upon which Ceres gathered 
 some poppies, to cure him, and tast- 
 ed them herself unawares. She de- 
 clined eating with Celeus, and gave 
 the poppies to the boy with warm 
 milk: 
 
 Dux comiti narrat, quam sit sibi filius 
 aeger; 
 Nee capiat somnos, invigiletque malis. 
 Ilia soporiferum, parvos initura penates, 
 
 Colligit agresti lene papaver humo. 
 Dum legit ; oblito fertur gustasse palato, 
 Longamque imprudens exoluisse fa- 
 mem. 
 
 Mox epulas ponunt, liquefacta coagula 
 
 lacte, 
 Pomaque, et in teneris aurea raella 
 
 favis. 
 Abstinet alma Ceres, somnique papavera 
 
 Dat tibi cum tepido lacte bibenda puer. 
 
 La Cerda quotes Brodaeus for an- 
 other reason: that poppies were sown 
 amongst the corn, for the sacrifices 
 
 of Ceres. Again he quotes Brodaeus, 
 and also Turnebus, who observe that 
 the statues of that goddess are fre- 
 quently adorned with poppies. Last- 
 ly, he quotes a reason assigned by 
 Mancinellus, that there is a sort of 
 poppy called £«Aos*?t<$, of which a 
 wholesome sort of bread may be 
 made. The reason assigned by 
 Probus, because poppies are com- 
 mon amongst the corn which is 
 under the protection of Ceres, 
 cannot be right ; because the poppy 
 heads, which are so common on the 
 statues of Ceres, plainly belong to 
 the cultivated sort, not to that which 
 grows amongst *he corn. Ruaeus 
 thinks the best reason is because it 
 appears from Pliny, that the seeds 
 of white poppies were frequently 
 eaten by the ancients : " Vel potius, 
 " quia papaver i s candidi semen tostum 
 " in secunda mensa cum melle apud 
 " antiquos dabatur, et panis rusiici 
 " crusta eo inspergebatur, juxta Plin. 
 " lib. xix. 8. idque ad delicias et 
 " famem excitandam : unde vescum 
 "papaver, id est, edule dicitur G. 
 " iv. 131." This indeed shews why 
 our poet called the poppy vescum 
 papaver: but I think it does not 
 seem to explain the epithet Cereale, 
 This is certain that poppies were 
 consecrated by the ancients to Ceres, 
 and that most of her statues are 
 adorned with them. 
 
 213. Bastris.] So I find it in the 
 King's, the Bodleian, and both the 
 Arundelian manuscripts. Pierius 
 found the same reading in the Me- 
 dicean, and several other ancient 
 copies. Servius, Heinsius, and most 
 of the editors, read aratris. Virgil 
 had already spoken of ploughing 
 the ground, and sowing barley, flax, 
 and poppies. It is not probable 
 therefore that he should conclude 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 49 
 
 Dum sicca tellure licet, dum nubila pendent. 
 Vere fabis satio : turn te quoque, Medica, pu- 
 
 215 
 
 trcs 
 
 whilst the dry ground gives 
 you leave, and the clouds yet 
 hang over. Spring is the time 
 for sowing beans : and thee 
 also, O Medick, the rotten 
 
 with a repetition of ploughing. But 
 the sense is very clear, if, according 
 to these ancient manuscripts, we 
 understand him to speak of harrow- 
 ing. Mr. B — has translated him 
 in this sense : 
 
 Nor should the harrow's labour ever end, 
 Whilst dry the glebe, whilst clouds as 
 yet impend. 
 
 Dr. Trapp also in his note upon this 
 passage says rastris is much better 
 than arairis. 
 
 214. Dum sjeca tellure licet, dum 
 nubila pendent.) Ruaeus differs from 
 the rest of the commentators, in his 
 interpretation of this verse. He 
 thinks that the poet does not mean, 
 that this is to be done before the 
 rainy season begins, but that those 
 days are to be chosen, which prove 
 dry and fair. " Plerique post Ser- 
 ' ' vium, interpretantur : antequam 
 " pluat, dum imber imminet, nec- 
 <c dum venit pluviosa tempestas. 
 " Ego sic : quoties, in ilia ipsa plu- 
 " viosa tempestate, terra erit paulo 
 " siccior, et imber suspensus. Et 
 <s vero poeta sationem illam assignat 
 " Autumno, cujus ultima pars plu- 
 cc viosa est : eandemque sationem 
 <e profert usque sub extremum brumce 
 11 imbrem : non igitur jubet praeve- 
 " niri tempestatem imbriferam ; sed 
 " iLius tempestatis eoseligi dies qui 
 u sicci magis ac sereni erunt." 
 
 Several of the old printed editions 
 have jacet instead of licet. 
 
 215. Vere fabis satio.] I do not 
 find any of the ancient writers of 
 agriculture to agree with Virgil 
 about the time of sowing beans. 
 Varro says they are sown about the 
 latter end of October : " Fabam op- 
 " time seri in vergiliarum occasu." 
 
 Columella says it is not right to 
 sow them after the winter solstice ; 
 but that the worst time of all is in 
 the spring : " Post brumam parum 
 " recte seritur, pessime vere, quam- 
 " vis sit etiam trimestris faba, quae 
 " mense Februario seratur ; quinta 
 " parte amplius, quam matura, sed 
 " exiguas paleas, nee multam sili- 
 " quam facit." Palladius says beans 
 are sown at the beginning of No- 
 vember : " In hujus principio fabam 
 " spargimus/' Pliny mentions their 
 being sown in October: " Seritur 
 " ante vergiliarum occasum, legu- 
 lC minum prima, ut antecedat hye- r 
 " mem." But Pliny's words, which 
 follow immediately, shew that, in 
 Virgil's own country, beans were 
 sown in the spring : " Virgilius earn 
 " per ver seri jubet, circumpadanae 
 iC Italiae ritu." We find by this pas- 
 sage, that those, who lived near the 
 Po, did not always sow at the same 
 time with the rest of Italy. Hence 
 it is no wonder, if we do not always 
 find an exact agreement between 
 our poet, and the other Latin 
 writers. 
 
 Medica.] This plant has its name 
 from Media, because it was brought 
 from that country into Greece, at 
 the time of the Persian war, under 
 Darius, according to Pliny : " Me- 
 " dica externa, etiam Graeciae, ut a 
 " Medis advecta per bell a Persa- 
 " rum, quae Darius intulit." It is of 
 late years brought to us from France 
 and Switzerland, and sown to good 
 advantage under the name of Lu- 
 cern. Ray affirms, that the Lucern 
 or Luzerne of the French is the 
 Onobrychis, known to us under the 
 name of Saint-Foin, or, as it is cor- 
 ruptly called, Cinquefoil: and that 
 
50 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 q^Ses r a e nlMutf caSf let *" Accipiunt sulci ; et milio venit annua cura : 
 
 the Medica is called by the French 
 Saint-foin, Foin de Burgogne, and 
 grand Treffle. Hence, he observes, 
 appears the mistake of our seeds- 
 men and farmers, who sow the 
 Onobrychis, instead of the Medica, 
 under the name of Saint-foin. But 
 I suspect that learned author was 
 misinformed, because Tournefort 
 has given Luserne for the French 
 name of Medica, and Saint-foin for 
 that of Onobrychis. The names 
 by which our English botanists 
 have called the Medica, are Bur- 
 gundy Trefoil, and Medick fodder. 
 Pliny says it is sown in May; 
 but Palladius says the season is in 
 April : " Aprili mense in areis, quas 
 " ante, sicut diximus, prasparasti, 
 " Medica serenda est." The best 
 manner of cultivating this useful 
 plant in England is described at 
 large by Mr. Miller, in his Garden- 
 er s Dictionary, under the article of 
 Medica. 
 
 Putres sulci.~\ Putris signifies rot- 
 ten or crumbling. Thus we find, 
 near the beginning of this Georgick, 
 j)ut?'is used to express the melting 
 or crumbling of the earth upon a 
 thaw: 
 
 Vere novo, gelidus canis cum raontibus 
 
 humor 
 Liquitur,tet zephyro putris se gleba re- 
 
 solvit. 
 
 In the second Georgick, it is used to 
 express a loose crumbling soil, such 
 as we render the earth by ploughing: 
 
 Etcui putre solum, namque hoc imitamur 
 arando. 
 
 Perhaps Virgil may mean, in this 
 place, a soil that has been well 
 dunged. Columella says the ground 
 must first be ploughed in October, 
 and suffered to rot all the winter, and 
 dunged in the spring : ' e Locum in 
 " quo Medicam proximo vere satu- 
 
 " rus es, proscindito circa calendas 
 " Octobris, et eum tota hyeme pu- 
 " trescere sinito — Postea circa Mar- 
 " tium mensem tertiato, et occato. — 
 fe Deinde vetus stercus injicito." In 
 another place he says pinguis andjpw- 
 tris are the same : " Idem pinguis ac 
 •' putris." And we find the ancients 
 to agree, that the ground was to be 
 dunged for sowing Medick. Pliny 
 says the ground must be well la- 
 boured in autumn and dunged: 
 " Solum, in quo seratur, elapidatum 
 " purgatumque subigitur autumno : 
 " mox aratum et occatum integitur 
 " crate iterum et tertium, quinis die- 
 " bus interpositis, et fimo addito." 
 Palladius agrees with Pliny, except 
 with regard to the time of preparing 
 the ground, which he says is in Fe- 
 bruary : " Nunc ager, qui acceptu- 
 " rus est Medicam, de cujus natura, 
 " cum erit serenda, dicemus, iteran- 
 " dus est, et, purgatis lapidibus, di- 
 " ligenter occandus. Et circa Mar- 
 " tias Calendas, subacto sicut in hor- 
 " tis solo, formandae sunt areas lata? 
 " pedibus decern, longae pedibus 
 " quinquaginta, ita ut eis aqua mi- 
 " nistretur, et facile possint ex utra- 
 " que parte runcari. Tunc injecto 
 " antiquo stercore in Aprilem men- 
 " sem reserventur paratae." With 
 us a loose sandy soil seems to agree 
 very well with it. 
 
 216. Milio venit annua cura.'] This 
 expression of the annual care of mil- 
 let is used by the poet to shew that 
 the Medick lasts many years, Pliny 
 says it lasts thirty : u Tanta dos 
 " ejus est, cum uno satu amplius 
 " quam tricenis annis duret." Co- 
 lumella and Palladius says it lasts 
 ten: "Eximia," says Columella, "est 
 ee herba medica, quod cum semel se- 
 ee ritur, decern aimis durat." The 
 words of Palladius are, " Quae semel 
 " seritur, decern annis permajiet." 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 51 
 
 Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum ^&Bg3gtB^ 
 
 Seneca, in his eighty-sixth Epistle, 
 reproves our poet, for placing the 
 time of sowing beans, medick, and 
 millet in the same season, and says 
 he saw the farmers gathering beans 
 and sowing millet about the latter 
 end of June. Hence he takes oc- 
 casion to observe, that Virgil does 
 not confine himself to truth, but 
 only endeavours to divert his read- 
 ers : " Virgilius noster non quid 
 " verissime, sed quid decentissime, 
 u diceretur, adspexit ; nee agricolas 
 " docere voluit, sed legentes delec- 
 " tare. Nam, ut omnia alia trans- 
 " feram,hoc quodhodie mihi necesse 
 " fuit reprehendere, ascribam : 
 
 " V ere falls satio est: tunc te quoque Me- 
 
 dica putres 
 " Accipiunt sulci, et millo venit annua cura. 
 
 " An uno tempore ista ponenda sint: 
 ' ' et an utriusque verna sit satio, hinc 
 " aestimes licet. Junius mensis est 
 " quo tibi scribo, jam proclivus in 
 " Julium. Eodem die vidi fabam 
 " metentes, milium serentes." But 
 Virgil does not say that beans and 
 millet are sown precisely at the same 
 time. He says that beans are sown 
 in the spring, that is; in February or 
 March, and that millet is sown 
 when the sun enters Taurus, that is, 
 about the seventeenth of April, and 
 when the dog sets, that is, about the 
 end of the same month. This agrees 
 with what other authors have said. 
 Pliny says, millet is sown before 
 the rising of the Pleiades, that is, 
 according to Columella, before the 
 seventh of May : ' ' Frumenti ipsius 
 " totidem genera per tempora satu 
 " divisa. Hyberna, quae circa ver- 
 " giliarum occasum sata terra per 
 " hyemem nutriuntur, ut triticum, 
 " far, hordeum. iEstiva, quae sestate 
 " ante vergiliarum exortum serun- 
 " tur, ut milium." Palladius says, 
 
 that in warm and dry countries, 
 millet is sown in March : " Calidis 
 " et siccis regionibus panicum sere- 
 " mus, et milium ;" but that in cold 
 and wet places it is sown in May : 
 " Maio mense, locis frigidis, et 
 " humectis, panicum seremus, et 
 " milium." 
 
 217. Candidus auratis aperit cum 
 cornibus annum Taurus.] By the 
 bull's opening the year, Virgil means 
 the sun's entering into Taurus; 
 which, according to Columella, is 
 on the seventeenth of April : " De- 
 " cimo quinto calendas Maias sol 
 " in Taurum transitum facit.'' April 
 is said to have its name ab aperiendo, 
 whence the poet uses the expression 
 aperire annum. Servius thinks this 
 passage is not to be rendered the 
 bull opens the year with his golden 
 horns, but the bull with golden horns 
 opens the year ; because the bull 
 does not rise with his horns, but 
 with his back. La Cerda adheres 
 to the former interpretation, and 
 supports it with the authority of 
 Manilius, who uses an expression 
 something like it, of the bull's bear- 
 ing the sun upon his horns. This 
 poet speaks also of that sign's be- 
 ginning the labours of the plough- 
 man: as this seems to have some 
 relation to what Virgil has said, I 
 shall set down the whole passage : 
 
 Taurus simplicibus donavit rura colonis : 
 Pacatisque labor veniet, patientia laudis, 
 Sed terrae tribuet partus: summittit 
 
 aratris 
 Colla, jugumque suis poscit cervicibus 
 
 ipse. 
 Ille suis Phoebi portat cum cornibus 
 
 orbem, 
 Militiam indicit terris, et segnia rura 
 In veteres revocat cultus dux ipse 
 
 laboris, 
 Nee jacet in sulcis solvitque in pulvero 
 
 pectus. 
 Seranos Curiosque tulit, facilesque per 
 
 arva 
 H 2 
 
52 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 to^h^fefd;|n? nsway Taurus, et averso ceclens Canis occidit astro. 
 
 Tradidit, eque suo dictator venit aratro. 
 Laudis amor, tacitas mentes, et corpora 
 
 tarda 
 Mole valent, habitatque puer sub fronte 
 
 cupido. 
 
 218. Averso cede/is canis occidit 
 astro.~\ Servius says some read aver- 
 so, others adverso. Pierius says it 
 is adverso in the Roman and Lom- 
 bard manuscripts; but averso in 
 ethers. In the Medicean, he says, it 
 is averso incedens. The King's, both 
 Dr. Mead's, and one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts have adverso. The 
 other Arundelian and the Cam- 
 bridge manuscript have averso. 
 The Bodleian has verso. La Cerda 
 and several of the old editors read 
 adverso. Heinsius, Ruaeus, and 
 many others prefer averso. The 
 commentators are greatly divided 
 about the meaning of this passage. 
 Servius interprets it two different 
 ways : if we admit adverso, it is to 
 be rendered the dog with the adverse 
 constellation, because with the dog 
 arises Sirius, who is adverse, or in- 
 jurious to mankind; if we admit 
 averso, cum must be understood, 
 and the sense will be, when the dog 
 giving place sets with the backward 
 sign, that is, the ship, which rises 
 backwards. Grimoaldus seems to 
 understand it to mean that the dog 
 is obscured by the sun when he en- 
 ters Taurus : " Cum canis in scor- 
 " pione constitutus propter tauri so- 
 " lem tenentis vicinitatem occulitur 
 f< et obscuratur." According to 
 this interpretation, the sun must be 
 the adversum astrum. La Cerda 
 seems to adhere to the first inter- 
 pretation of Servius : " Cum canis 
 " heliace occidit, qui habet astrum 
 " adversum contrariumque morta- 
 " libus." Ruaeus, according to Ser- 
 vius" s second interpretation, takes 
 the ship to be the aver sum astrum : 
 
 but instead of understanding cum, 
 with Servius, he takes averso astro 
 to be the dative case, governed of 
 cedeyis. Thus the sense will be, the 
 dog sets, giving place to the backward 
 sign, or ship. I rather believe, that 
 Virgil meant the bull by the aver sum 
 astrum : for that constellation is 
 known to rise backwards. Thus 
 Manilius : 
 
 Aversus venit in caelum. 
 
 It seems more natural to suppose 
 that Virgil should mean the bull, 
 which he had just mentioned, than 
 the ship, which he has not once 
 named in the whole poem. Dry den 
 translates this passage : 
 
 When with the golden horns, in full 
 
 career, 
 The bull beats down the barriers of the 
 
 year ; 
 And Argos and the Dog forsake ths 
 
 northern sphere. 
 
 Mr. B — 's translation is reconcil- 
 able with the sense which I have 
 proposed : 
 
 When with his horns the bull unbars the 
 
 year ; 
 And frighten'd flies the dog, and shuns 
 
 the adverse star. 
 
 Dr. Trapp has followed Ruaeus : 
 
 When now with golden horns 
 
 The shining bull unlocks the op'ning 
 
 year, 
 And, setting, to the ship the dog gives 
 
 way. 
 
 The sun enters Taurus, according 
 to Columella, on the seventeenth of 
 April, as I observed at the begin- 
 ning of this note. According to 
 the same author, the dog sets with 
 the sun on the last day of the same 
 month: " Pridie calendas Maias 
 e •' canis se vespere celat." Pliny says, 
 that, according to the Boeotians and 
 Athenians, it is on the twenty- sixth 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 53 
 
 At si triticeam in messem, robustaque farra fwa" Jh«t w £^2£ S3 U ^ 
 
 Exercebis humum, solisque instabis aristis : 220 for° n fhe pe bearded earJ, 01 ^ 
 
 the morning Pleiades first be 
 
 Ante tibi Eoag Atlantides abscondantur, hidden, 
 
 of April; but, according to the Assy- 
 rians, on the twenty-ninth : " Sexto 
 " calendas Maii Boeotiae et Atticae 
 <e canis vesperi occultatur, fidicula 
 " mane oritur : quinto calendas As- 
 te syriae Orion totus absconditur, 
 i( tertio autem canis." 
 
 219. Triticeam in messem 7\ The 
 triticum of the ancients was not our 
 common or lammas wheat, but a 
 bearded sort. Hence arista, which 
 signifies the beard, is often used by 
 the poets for wheat: but it would 
 be too violent a figure to put the 
 beard for corn, which has no beard 
 at all. Cicero, in his Cato major, 
 speaking of the pleasures of hus- 
 bandmen, gives a beautiful descrip- 
 tion of the growth of corn, and 
 mentions the beard as a palisade, 
 to defend the grain : " Me quidem 
 " non fructus modo, sed etiam ip- 
 " sius terrse vis, ac natura delectat : 
 " quae cum gremio mollito ac 
 u subacto semen sparsum accepit : 
 (< primum occaecatum cohibet : ex 
 " quo occatio, quae hoc emcit, no- 
 ' e minata est : deinde tepefactum va- 
 " pore, et complexu suo, difFundit, 
 " et elicit herbescentem ex eo viri- 
 c ' ditatem : quae nixa fibris stirpium, 
 <e sensim adolescit, culmoque erecta 
 cc geniculato, vaginis jam quasi pu- 
 ff bescens includitur, e quibus cum 
 Ct emerserit, fundit frugem, spicae 
 " ordine structam, et contra avium 
 " minorum morsum munitur vallo 
 ce aristarum." I shall add another 
 proof, that the triticum was bearded: 
 all the statues and medals of Ceres, 
 that ever I saw, have no other corn 
 represented on them than that which 
 is bearded. 
 
 Farra.~\ See the note on Farra, 
 vet 73. 
 
 220. Aristis.] Arista is the beard 
 of corn: " Spica ea, quae mutilata 
 " non est, in ordeo et tritico, tria 
 u habet continentia, granum, glu- 
 " mam, aristam : et etiam primitus 
 " cum spica oritur, vaginam. Gra- 
 " num dictum quod est intimum 
 " solidum : gluma, qui est follicu- 
 (c lus ejus : arista, quae, ut acus te- 
 " nuis, longa eminet e gluma ; pro- 
 " inde ut grani theca sit gluma, 
 
 " apex arista. Arista dicta quod 
 
 <c arescit prima." Varro de Re. Rust. 
 lib. i. cap. 48. 
 
 221. Eoce Atlantides abscondantur.] 
 Atlas had seven daughters by Plei- 
 one. Their names, according to 
 Aratus, are Alcyone, Merope, Ce- 
 laeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and 
 Maia; 
 
 'AXkvov/j, Mtgovnrt, KiXatveo <r , 'HXs*- 
 
 Kai TErzgovrk, xat Tvi'vy'iryi, xai zfforvttc, 
 Ma7a. 
 
 See the note on ver. 138. 
 
 By the epithet Eoce, Virgil does 
 not mean setting in the east, as some 
 have imagined, but in the morning, 
 at sun rising : that is, when the 
 Pleiades go down below our western 
 horizon, at the same time that the 
 sun rises above our eastern horizon. 
 Hesiod, according to Pliny, com- 
 puted this to be at the autumnal 
 equinox; Thales, twenty-five days 
 after; Anaximander, twenty-nine; 
 and Euctemon, forty -eight : " Occa- 
 " sum matutinum vergiliarum He- 
 " siodus, nam hujus quoque nomine 
 ec extat Astrologia, tradidit fieri, 
 " cum aequinoctium autumni con- 
 cc ficeretur, Thales xxv die ab aequi- 
 " noctio, Anaximander xxix, Euc- 
 " temon xlviii." Columella, in the 
 second chapter of his eleventh book, 
 
5* P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 &i!£&£5EZZ£L* Gnosiaque ardentis decedat Stella coronse, 
 
 says they begin to set at sun-rising 
 on the 21st of October : (e Duode- 
 ic cimo calendas Novenrbris sol is 
 " exortu vergiliae incipiunt occi- 
 " dere." In the eighth chapter of his 
 second book, he comments on this 
 very passage of Virgil. He there 
 says the Pleiades set on the thirty- 
 first day after the autumnal equinox, 
 which happens on the twenty -third 
 of September : wherefore the time 
 of sowing wheat must be understood 
 to be six and forty days from the 
 setting of the Pleiades, which is be- 
 fore the twenty-fourth of October, 
 to the time of the winter solstice. 
 (i Absconduntur autem altero et 
 " trigesimo die post autumnale se- 
 u quinoctium, quod fere conficitur 
 " nono calendas Octobris, propter 
 " quod intelligi debet tritici satio 
 " dierum sex, et quadraginta ab oc- 
 " casu vergiliarum, qui fit ante 
 " diem nonam calendarum Novem- 
 " bris, ad brumas tempora." I be- 
 lieve instead of ante diem nonam, we 
 should read ad diem nonam; for the 
 ninth of the calends of November, 
 which is the twenty-fourth of Octo- 
 ber, is exactly one and thirty days 
 after the time which Columella 
 fixes for the autumnal equinox : and 
 from the twenty-fourth of October, 
 there are just six and forty days to 
 the twenty-fourth of December, 
 which he reckons to be the winter 
 solstice : " Nono calendas Januarii 
 " brumale solstitium, sicut Chaldaei 
 " observant." According to Pliny, 
 the winter solstice is December the 
 twenty-fifth. 
 
 222. Gnosiaque ardentis decedat 
 stella coronoe.~\ Gnosus is a city of 
 Crete, where Minos reigned, the fa- 
 ther of Ariadne, who was carried 
 away by Theseus, and afterwards 
 deserted by him in the island of 
 Naxos, where Bacchus fell in love 
 
 with her and married her. At the 
 celebration of their nuptials, all the 
 gods made presents to the bride ; 
 and Venus gave her a crown, which 
 Bacchus translated into the heavens, 
 and made a constellation. One of 
 the stars of this constellation is 
 brighter than the rest, and rises be- 
 fore the whole constellation appears. 
 Thus Columella reckons the bright 
 star to rise on the eighth of October, 
 and the whole constellation on the 
 thirteenth or fourteenth : " Octavo 
 " idus Octobris coronse clara stella 
 " exoritur. — Tertio et pridie idus 
 " Octobris corona tota mane exo- 
 >" ritur." Pliny tells us, that, accord- 
 ing to Caesar, the bright star rises 
 on the eighth of October, and the 
 whole constellation on the fifteenth; 
 " Octavo idus Octobris Csesari ful- 
 
 " gens in corona stella oritur. 
 
 " Idibus corona tota." Aratus men- 
 tions the crown of Ariadne being 
 placed in the heavens by Bacchus : 
 
 • Abrou xaKtTves, f'sQavos, rov ayxvos eSyxs 
 lyifA iftzvai Atovutriros, uToixopivm 'A^/- 
 
 «5V»JJ, 
 
 Hutai ifros(nq)i<Ta.i x.ix.fjcnx'o'roz itbu/kota 
 Hair co f&iv ?i<pavos srikan. 
 
 Manilius has mentioned the superior 
 brightness of one of these stars. 
 
 At parte ex alia claro volat orbe corona 
 Luce micans varia, nam stella vincitur 
 
 una 
 Circulus in medio radians, quag proxima j 
 
 fronte 
 Candidaque ardenti distinguit lumina [ 
 
 flam ma 
 Gnosia desertae fulgent monumenta 
 
 puellas. 
 
 I have translated decedat, emerge, be- 
 cause the commentators agree, that 
 Virgil means by that word the helia- . 
 cal rising of the crown ; that is, -when 
 the constellation, which before had 
 been obscured by the superior light 
 of the sun, begins to depart from it. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 55 
 
 Debita quam sulcis committas semina, quamque I^JSe faSSS.Mdtt 
 
 T . j fore you hasten to trust the 
 
 Invitae properes anni spem credere terra?. 
 Multi ante occasum Maiae ccepere : sed illos 
 Expectata seges vanis elusit aristis. 226* 
 
 hope of the year to the un- 
 willing earth. Many have be- 
 gun before the setting of 
 Maia : but the expected crop 
 hasdeceived them with empty 
 ears. 
 
 and to appear in the eastern horizon 
 before sun rising. I must own I 
 have some doubt about this inter- 
 pretation ; because Virgil never uses 
 decedere, when applied to the sun, 
 but for the setting of it. In the 
 first Eclogue we find, 
 
 Et sol crescentes decedcns duplicat um- 
 bras : 
 
 in this Georgick, 
 
 Emenso cum jam decedet Olympo : 
 
 and in the fourth Georgick, 
 Te veniente die, te decedentc canebat. 
 
 Therefore as decedere does signify 
 to set, the poet should rather seem 
 to mean the heliacal setting of the 
 constellation, than the heliacal rising 
 of it. Pliny would have the helia- 
 cal rising to be called emersion, and 
 the heliacal setting to be called oc- 
 cupation : " Aut enim adventu solis 
 " occultantur stellae et conspici de- 
 " sinunt, aut ejusdem abscessu pro- 
 " ferunt se. Emersum hoc melius 
 " quam exortum consuetudo dix- 
 11 isset: et illud occultationem potius 
 " quam occasum." One of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts has descendal 
 instead of decedat, which is mani- 
 festly wrong. Dryden however has 
 translated it in that sense : 
 
 And the bright Gnossian diadem down- 
 ward bend. 
 
 Mr. B — has criticised on this line 
 of Dryden, and seems to understand 
 the poet to mean the heliacal setting 
 of the crown : " Mr. Dryden in this 
 " place, and in many others here- 
 " after, discovers his little know- 
 <€ ledge of the lowest degree of 
 
 " astronomy. Ariadne's crown does 
 " not bend downward, at the time 
 " Virgil mentions, but rises with 
 " the sun ; and as the sun's great 
 " light soon makes that star imper- 
 " ceptible, this Virgil very poeti- 
 " cally describes by 
 
 " Gnossiaque ardentis decedat stella corona?" 
 
 But this learned Gentleman, in his 
 translation of this very passage, has 
 represented the poet as speaking of 
 the heliacal rising : 
 
 First let the sisters in the morn go down, 
 And from the sun retire the Gnossian 
 crown. 
 
 225. Ante occasum Maice.] Maia 
 is one of the Pleiades : the poet puts 
 a part for the whole. He speaks 
 here against sowing too early : and 
 we are informed by Columella, that 
 it was an old proverb amongst the 
 fanners, that an early sowing often 
 deceives our expectation, but seldom 
 a late one : " Vetus est agricolarum 
 " proverbium, maturam sationem 
 " saepe decipere solere, seram nun- 
 " quam, quin mala sit." 
 
 226. Aristis.] See the notes on 
 ver. 219 and 220. The King's, the 
 Bodleian, one of the Arundelian, and 
 both Dr. Mead's manuscripts have 
 avenis. The other Arundelian, and 
 the Cambridge manuscript have 
 acervis. Pierius says the Roman 
 manuscript has illusit aristis, and 
 some others elusit aristis. But he 
 prefers avenis, as it is in the Medi- 
 cean copy, because avena is a de- 
 generacy of corn. Heinsius reads 
 aristis : which I take to be the true 
 reading : because I do not find that 
 anv ancient writer has ascribed the 
 
56 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^4^^Tn U SdSy-btS Si vero viciamque seres, vilemque faselum, 
 
 and do not despise the care of XT ^ 1 1 1 • 
 
 the Egyptian lentil, the set- JNec Jrelusiacae curam aspernabere lentis; 
 
 ting of Bootes will give you 
 
 no obscure direction. Haud obscura cadens mittet tibi signa Bootes. 
 
 growth of wild oats to the early 
 sowing of corn. Besides vanis 
 avenis, sounds too like a jingle to 
 agree with the style of Virgil. It 
 must be confessed however, that 
 there is a passage in Tibullus, some- 
 thing like this, which seems to coun- 
 tenance the reading of avenis : 
 
 Neu seges eludat messem fallacibus 
 herbis. 
 
 227. Vilem faselum."] The kidney- 
 beans are said to have been very 
 common among the Romans : and 
 therefore the poet is thought to have 
 given them the epithet of vile, 
 mean, or common. He might use 
 this epithet perhaps, because they 
 might be sown in any sort of soil ; 
 as Pliny tells us. This author tells 
 us also, that the Homans eat the . 
 seeds in the shells, as we do now : 
 
 " Siliquae faseolorum cum ipsis 
 
 " manduntur granis. Serere eos 
 " qua velis terra licet ab idibus 
 " Octobris in calendas Novembris." 
 
 228. Pelusiacce lentis.~\ Pelusium 
 is a town of Egypt, which gives 
 name to one of the seven mouths of 
 the Nile. He calls the lentil Pe- 
 lusian, or Egyptian, because the 
 best are said to grow in that coun- 
 try. 
 
 229« Bootes."} This is a northern 
 constellation, near the tail of the 
 Great Bear. Arcturus, as has been 
 already observed, is a part of this 
 constellation. Thus Aratus : 
 
 'E|»<r<$£v 3' zXizyis (pi^trai Ikciavri ioixu; 
 'AgxroQuXaZ,, rov f ecvdots Iwutkitoutri Boarr,v, 
 
 aifrif 
 
 a,fr,o. 
 
 The time of the setting of Arcturus, 
 according to Columella, is on the 
 twenty-ninth of October : " Quarto 
 " calendas Novembris Arcturus ves- 
 " pere occidit." Let us see now how 
 far the other ancient writers agree 
 with our poet. As for vetches or 
 tares, Columella mentions two times 
 of sowing them ; the first for fodder, 
 about the time of the autumnal equi- 
 nox ; the second for seed, about Ja- 
 nuary : " Vicise autem duae sationes 
 " sunt. Prima quani pabuli causa 
 " circa aequinoctium autumnale se- 
 " rimus, septem modios ejus in 
 " unum jugerum. Secunda quse sex 
 " modios, mense Januario, vel etiam 
 " seriusjacimus, semini progeneran- 
 " do." The first of these times is 
 about a month sooner than the acro- 
 nical setting of Arcturus ; that is, 
 when Arcturus sets with the sun. 
 The second time Virgil has express- 
 ed, by advising the sowing time to 
 be extended to the middle of the 
 frost. The middle of winter, ac- 
 cording to Columella, is on the 
 fourth of January : " Pridie nonas 
 " Januarii media hyems/' Pliny 
 mentions three seasons: the first 
 about the setting of Arcturus, when 
 they are designed for seed : the se- 
 cond in January: the third in 
 March, for fodder: " Sationis ejus 
 <e tria tempora : circa occasum Arc- 
 c< turi, ut Decembri mense pascat, 
 " tunc optime seritur in semen. 
 " Secunda satio mense Januario est : 
 " novissima Martio, turn ad frondem 
 " utilissima." The first of these 
 times is the same with that which 
 Virgil mentions. The second agrees 
 with Columella. The third seems 
 not to have been mentioned by the 
 poet: unless we may suppose that by 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 57 
 
 ng 
 frosts. 
 
 Incipe, et ad medias sementem extende pruinas. ? n f tL^to^mJd 
 Idcirco certis dimensum partibus orbem 231 
 Per duodena regit mundi Sol aureus astra. 
 
 our sow- 
 die of the 
 For this purpose the 
 
 irpos 
 the i 
 
 golden sun governs 
 the world divided ir.._ 
 parts, through twelve constel- 
 lations. 
 
 orb of 
 into certain 
 
 the setting of Bootes, he designed to 
 express both the acronical and the 
 cosmical setting of Arcturus. The 
 cosmical setting, that is, the setting 
 at sun-rising, of Arcturus then hap- 
 pened in March. Palladius follows 
 Columella: for he mentions Sep- 
 tember as the first time of sowing : 
 cc nunc viciae prima satio est, et fseni 
 " graeci cum pabuli causa seruntur :" 
 and January, as the other time : 
 " hoc mense ultimo, colligendi se- 
 " minis causa, non pabuli secandi, 
 " vicia seritur." As for kidney 
 beans, I think, Palladius alone has 
 mentioned the time of sowing them, 
 which he settles to be from the be- 
 ginning to the middle of October, 
 which is about a fortnight sooner 
 than the time prescribed by Virgil : 
 " Seremus sisamum usque ad idus 
 " Octobres, et faselum." As for 
 lentils, they all agree that November 
 is the time; only Columella adds, 
 that there is a second season in Fe- 
 bruary : " Sationes ejus duas serva- 
 " mus, alteram maturam per mediam 
 " sementim, seriorem alteram mense 
 " Februario." Pliny's words are, 
 '* Ex leguminibus autem Novembri 
 ' ' seruntur lens, et in Graecia pisum." 
 Palladius, under the month of No- 
 vember, says, " Nunc seritur prima 
 u lenticula." 
 
 230.] After this line, in one of 
 the Ar undelian manuscripts is added, 
 
 Tempus liumo tegcre, et jamdudum in- 
 cumbere aratris. 
 
 which is a repetition of ver. 213. It 
 is observable, that this very manu- 
 script, in the proper place of this 
 verse, has rastris instead of aratris. 
 231. Idcirco, fyc.~\ In these lines 
 the poet, having, in honour of agri- 
 
 culture, supposed the sun to make 
 his annual journey, for the sake of 
 that art, takes occasion to describe 
 the five Zones, the Zodiac, the 
 Northern Pole, and the Antipodes, 
 in a most beautiful and poetical 
 manner. 
 
 232. Mundi.~\ The commentators 
 are much divided about the inter- 
 pretation of this passage. The most 
 general opinion is that mundi follows 
 astra ; which makes the sense to be 
 this : the sun governs the earth through 
 twelve constellations of the world. 
 
 Mr. B contends that mundi 
 
 should follow Sol; and so renders 
 it the golden sun of the world. " Id- 
 cc circo," says he, <c sol aureus mundi 
 " (as in the beginning of this book, 
 " clarissima mundi lumina) regit 
 " orbem [suum] dimensum certis 
 u partibus, per duodena astra/' 
 Thus, according to Mr. B or- 
 bem signifies the course of the sun ; 
 according to the general opinion, it 
 is the globe of the earth. RuaBus 
 places mundi after astra, in his in- 
 terpretation : Dr. Trapp says, " it 
 " may relate either to orbem or astra; 
 " rather to the latter." I believe 
 we must read orbem mundi, and 
 understand it of the turning round 
 of the heavens. We have those 
 words used in this sense in Ma- 
 nilius : 
 
 -Nunc sidera ducit, 
 
 Et rapit immensum mundi revolubilis 
 orbem. 
 
 According to the ancient philosophy, 
 the earth is placed in the centre of 
 the world, and the heavens turn 
 round it once in four and twenty 
 hours. Thus Pliny: " Formam 
 " ejus in speciem orbis absoluti glo- 
 i 
 
58 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Sl^SwKS 4 i8 tl S^ Quinque tenent caelum Zonae: quarum una 
 
 red with the bright sun, and 
 always glowing with fire : 
 
 corusco 
 
 Semper sole rubens, et torrida semper ab igni : 
 
 " batam esse, nomen in primis et 
 (C consensus in eo mortalium, orbem 
 ec appellantium, sed et argumenta 
 iC rerum docent . . . Hanc ergo for- 
 <c mam ejus, aeterno et irrequieto 
 " ambitu inenarrabili celeritate, vi~ 
 cc ginti quatuor horarum spatio cir- 
 " cumagi solis exortus et occasus 
 " haud dubium reliquere . . . Nee de 
 (i elementis video dubitari, quatuor 
 " ea esse. Ignium summum, inde 
 " tot stellarum collucentium illos 
 " oculos. Proximum spiritus, quam 
 u Graeci nostrique eodem voeabulo 
 f< aera appellant. Vitalem hunc, et 
 " per cuncta rerum meabilem, toto- 
 C( que consertum : hujus vi suspen- 
 <f sam, cum quarto aquarum ele- 
 " mento, librari medio spatio tel- 
 " lurem . . . Inter hanc caelumque, eo- 
 tC dem spiritu pendent, certis dis- 
 " creta spatiis, septem sidera, quae 
 e ' ab incessu vocamus errantia, quum 
 " errent nulla minus illis : eorum 
 ce medius Solfertur amplissima mag- 
 ei nitudine ac potestate : nee tempo- 
 e( rum modo terrarumque, sed side- 
 1 ' rum etiam ipsorum caelique rector. 
 " Hunc mundi esse totius animum, 
 <c ac planius mentem, hunc princi- 
 " pale naturae regimen ac numen cre- 
 " dere decet opera ejus aestimantes." 
 233. Quinque tenent caelum Zonce.] 
 This description of the five zones is 
 thought to be taken from Erato- 
 sthenes. I shall set down his words 
 as I find them quoted by Fulvius 
 Ursinus, and la Cerda. 
 
 Tlivri Ti. oi Z,uvat zst^iviy'ii$ Ittftigqvreti, 
 At $uo ij.iv y~ku.vx.olo xikoavori^ai xuaveio. 
 'H Vi ptct \]/a(px(>'/irs, xod Ix, zsvots elveu 
 
 Tutf<rofLivvi (pkoy[/,o7ffiv, \<xu pa \f/,o7gu.v vx 
 
 avrvtv 
 KixXiftivot axr/vi? uuS-zgii; •stvg'ouo'tv. 
 A< Tt It/o ixdriq^i zs'okoto 'srigiTi#yiyv7tiu 
 
 Alii ngvpakiou, ecu I' vbavi [toy'iovo-ai, 
 
 Ov fih uSwg, akk' aiiTos aw ovguvoSlv 
 
 KobsaXkos 
 Kurai a.vtt.<7tiax i i ■sfioi-^ vx.ro; Ti rirvKrai. 
 'AXXa roc, p\v %tgo'u7a i xa.) aft&ccra, uvS-ooj- 
 
 <7to7(nv 
 Aoiou £' ukka.1 'laetv havrieu akk'/ikaiffiv 
 Mtffo-nyvs B-igiog ri xou virion x-gvfeikkov. 
 
 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 ex- 
 cessive 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 arctic circle, near the 
 north pole, are contained Nova 
 Zembla, Lapland, Greenland, &c. 
 Within the antarctic circle, near the 
 south pole, no land has yet been 
 discovered : though the great quan- 
 tities of ice found there make it pro- 
 bable that there is more land near 
 the north than the south 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 arctic circle and the tro- 
 pic of Cancer, contains the greatest 
 part of Europe and Asia, part of 
 Africa, and almost all North Ame- 
 rica. That between the antarctic 
 circle and the tropic of Capricorn 
 contains part of South America, or 
 the Antipodes. 
 
 234.] The old Nurenberg edition 
 has est after igni. 
 

 ^jgf 
 
 
 
 pi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / j'' / /^ /\ 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 /$<>SI^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i-4 
 
 
 
 \v\ 
 
 
 f P 
 
 
 ^W 
 
 
 '/\\2i-'V'"""\ 
 
 — 
 
 -r~^ 
 
 X 3 
 a 
 
 
 
 v\W 
 
 
 
 r * 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 ~\ 
 
 *ffh 
 
 HB 
 
 1 H*"i -| 
 
 
 « 
 
 Si 
 
 fj 
 
 
 « /' 
 
 n ** r~~- 
 
 
 
 "? 
 
 
 L: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ?i ! 
 
 \i *vg 
 
 ~^I/fcnullkk»ti 
 
 * 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 (M'li 
 
 \P 
 
 
 ■K 
 
 !i^fi 
 
 
 
 Iw/Bl 
 
 ?s 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ ,/\ -^/jmmll?' j 
 
 
 '"Vfi 1 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 2l 
 
 Jn 
 
 
 
 a ^^^/ jiffr^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 \ * \ ^^ **\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \%^j^>^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 "^3p|^\ 
 
 
 
 
 ^Vert 
 
 '-I 
 
 
 t [~^Mj^miJM^^- 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 N 
 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 59 
 
 Quam circum extremse dextra leevaque tra- 
 huntur, 235 
 
 Cserulea glacie concretae atque imbribus atris. 
 Has inter mediamque duse mortalibus aegris 
 Munere concessse divum. Via secta per ambas, 
 Obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo. 
 Mundus ut ad Scythiam Riphaeasque arduus 
 arces 240 
 
 on each side of which to right 
 and left two others are drawn, 
 stiff with blue ice and dark 
 showers. Between these and 
 the middle zone two are 
 granted to weak, mortals by 
 the bounty of the gods. A 
 path is cut between them for 
 the oblique course of the signs 
 to turn in. As the world is 
 elevated at Scythia and the 
 Riphaean hills, 
 
 236. Ccerulea.'] Pierius says it is 
 ccerulea?, in most of the ancient co- 
 pies : and that it was cerulee in the 
 Medicean copy, but had been altered 
 to cerulea. One of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts has ccerulece. If this 
 reading be admitted, we must alter 
 the pointing thus : 
 
 Quam circum extremae, dextra laevaque 
 trahuntur 
 
 Caeruleae : glacie concretae atque imbri- 
 bus atris. 
 
 So glacie concretae atque imbribus 
 atris must be understood as the 
 cause that these zones are blue. 
 Pierius farther observes, that some 
 manuscripts have ccerulece et glacie; 
 which reading, though he does not 
 approve, yet he thinks it a con- 
 firmation of ccerulea?. In the King's 
 manuscript it is ccerulea et glacie. 
 
 238. Munere concessce divUm. 
 Via secta per ambas, obliquus qua se 
 signorum verteret ordo] So I point 
 this verse with Heinsius: most of 
 the editors have a comma or a se- 
 micolon after divum. 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 ob- 
 liquely 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 
 through them. Thus presently after, 
 speaking of the Dragon, he says it 
 twines per duas Arctos : now that 
 constellation cannot be said to twine 
 through the two Bears, but between 
 them. The zodiac is the annual 
 path of the sun, through 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 ap- 
 pears in that part of the heavens, 
 where those stars are, of which the 
 sign is composed. 
 
 240. Mundus ut ad Scythiam, fyc] 
 He speaks here of the two poles of 
 the world. He says the north pole 
 is elevated, because that only is visi- 
 ble in these parts of the earth : and 
 for the same reason he speaks of the 
 south pole, as being depressed. 
 These lines seem to be an imitation 
 of Aratus : 
 
 Kai fjuv 'srn^aivovffi ^vca rtt'koi ufitpor'sguSiv 
 'AAA' o ftiv eux Ivrto-Trofj o $ avriog ixGa' 
 atxu, 
 
 
 ^n xakiovrai 
 
 The ancient Scythia was the inost 
 northern part of the known world, 
 being what we now call Muscovy, 
 and the Muscovite Tartary. Lybia 
 i2 
 
60 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 so it is depressed at the south 
 of Lybia. One pole always ap- 
 pears above our heads ; but 
 the other dark. Styx, and the 
 infernal ghosts see under their 
 feet. At the north pole the 
 vast Dragon twines with a 
 winding course, and after the 
 manner of a river, between 
 the two Bears, the Bears that 
 fear to be dipped in the wa- 
 ters of the ocean. At the south 
 pole, either, as some report, 
 still night dwells in eternal 
 silence, 
 
 Consurgit, premitur Lybiae devexus in austros. 
 Hie vertex semper nobis sublimis ; at ilium 
 Sub pedibus Styx atra videt, Manesque pro- 
 fundi. 
 Maximus hie flexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis 
 Circum, perque duas in morem fluminis Arctos, 
 Arctos Oceani metuentes aequore tingi. 24 6 
 
 Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox 
 
 is an ancient name for Africa, the 
 southern part of which reaches to 
 the tropic of Capricorn. 
 
 244. Maximus hie flexu, fyc] 
 These lines also are an imitation of 
 Aratus : 
 
 ik; oi S/ a^ori^as, oln zrorafioTo uTop- 
 
 &» f % , 
 
 Eiksirai (jJiya. S-avpa, op^axuv, -zrzpi <r 
 
 a t u<pi t luyas 
 WLvpios, ai $ apa oi ffniipns ixarzgSt 
 
 <p6ovrui 
 "Agxroi, xvanov ■zrztpvXay/tsvai vxiavoTo. 
 
 This description of the Dragon 
 winding, like a river, at the north 
 pole, between the two Bears, is no 
 less just than beautiful. One of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts has labitur. 
 246. Arctos Oceani metuentes ce- 
 quore tingi.'] " I beg leave," says 
 
 Mr. B , " to suppose, that this 
 
 ' ' line cannot be of Virgil's writing, 
 " but that it is slid into the text from 
 " the marginal note of some gram- 
 " marian or other. There is such 
 <c a jingle betwixt oceani and tingi, 
 " and the sense, if any sense at all 
 " can be affixed to it, is so forced, 
 r * that it seems to me not in any 
 tC wise to belong to the author of 
 " the Georgicks." For my part, I 
 see no reason to question the au- 
 thority of this verse : nor is it left 
 out in any manuscript, or printed 
 edition, that I have seen. Virgil, 
 no doubt, had in his view Homer's 
 description of the northern constel- 
 
 lations on the shield of Achilles ; to 
 which he has more than once al- 
 luded : 
 
 ITA»ji'a£#s 9-', votSas <r£, to rt ffSives 'Qpiuvo;. 
 "Agxrov B-', »jv xai afta%av l-rixkrio-tv xa- 
 
 \iovfftv, 
 "Kt alrou fpiQtrai, xai r ^Qpivia "hoxiuu. 
 O'ln V apropos \?t "koirpuv uxiavoTo. 
 
 The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern 
 
 team ; 
 And great Orion's more refulgent beam ; 
 To which, around the axle of the sky, 
 The bear revolving, points his golden 
 
 eye, 
 Still shines exalted on th' aetherial plain, 
 Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the 
 
 main. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 One of the Arundelian manuscripts 
 has mergi for tingi. 
 
 247- Illic, ut perhibent, aut in- 
 tempesta silet nox.'] Virgil alludes, 
 in this passage, to that doctrine of 
 Epicurus, that the sun might pos- 
 sibly revive and perish every day, 
 if which opinion be admitted, there 
 can be no Antipodes, nor can the 
 sun go to light another hemisphere. 
 This opinion of Epicurus is to be 
 found in his epistle to Pythocles, 
 preserved by Diogenes Laertius ; 
 '£» to7s ttipI Qve-tog fiiQxiois ejtjx.yvf4.iv, 
 uvxroXag x.xi ov<rii$ iiXiov x.ee.t (rtXiivtig kai 
 rZv Xoi7ray ar^av, xtu xurec ctva^n 
 yivioSect ovvtcaScti xeti y.ctra. trQio-tv. The 
 
 reader cannot but observe how justly 
 this verse expresses the still silence 
 of the night. Mr. B has been 
 
p & 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 61 
 
 Semper, et obtenta densantur nocte tenebrae ; 
 Aut redit a nobis Aurora, diemque reducit : 
 Nosque ubi primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis, 
 Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper. 251 
 Hinc tempestates dubio prgediscere caelo 
 
 and thickens the gloomy dark- 
 ness j or else Aurora returns 
 from us to them, and brings 
 back the day : and when the 
 sun first rising breathes on us 
 with his panting horses, there 
 bright Vesper lights up the 
 late fires. Hence we are able 
 to foresee storms in doubtful 
 weather j 
 
 - 
 
 more careful to preserve this beauty, 
 than any other of the translators : 
 
 There, as they say, or rests the soft, still 
 night. 
 
 249. Aut redit a nobis Aurora^ 
 Here he proposes the contrary doc- 
 trine : that the sun goes to light an- 
 other hemisphere, when he leaves 
 our horizon. This is not inconsistent 
 with the Epicurean philosophy : for 
 we see, in the preceding note, that 
 Epicurus proposes the other opinion, 
 only as a possibility : and Lucretius 
 mentions both opinions : 
 
 At nox obruit ingenti caligine terras, 
 Aut ubi de longo cursu Sol extima caeli 
 Impulit, atque suos efflavit languidus 
 
 ignes 
 Concussos itere, et labefactos aere multo: 
 Aut quia sub terras cursum convertere 
 
 cogit 
 Vis eadem, supra terras quae pertulit, 
 
 orbem. 
 
 And day may end, and tumble down the 
 
 •west, 
 And sleepy night fly slowly up the east ; 
 Because tlie sun having now performed his 
 
 round, 
 And reached with weary flames the utmost 
 
 bound 
 Of finite heaven, he there puts out the ray, 
 Wearied and Hunted all the tedious day 
 By hindering air, and thus the flames decay. 
 Or else that constant force might make it 
 
 move 
 Below the earth, which whirVd it round 
 
 above. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 250. Primus 
 
 eqms oriens 
 
 afflavit 
 
 anhelis.] Some interpret this of the 
 morning, as if it referred to Aurora, 
 just mentioned : but the gender of 
 
 primus is a sufficient argument 
 against this interpretation. I take 
 Sol to be understood ; as it must in 
 the fifth iEneid; where we have 
 the same words, without any men- 
 tion of Aurora : 
 
 Jamque vale: torquet medios nox hu- 
 
 mida cursus, 
 Et me saevus equis oriens afflavit anhelis. 
 
 251. Accendit lumina Vesper."] 
 Virgil is commonly understood to 
 speak here of lighting candles : be- 
 cause Vesper, or the evening star, 
 is the forerunner of the night. This 
 is so low an idea, that I cannot 
 think it ever entered into the mind 
 of our poet. To conclude so sub- 
 lime a piece of poetry with the 
 mention of lighting candles, would 
 be a wretched anticlimax. Surely 
 Virgil still keeps amongst the hea- 
 venly bodies, and as Vesper is the 
 first star that appears, he describes 
 him poetically, as lighting up the 
 rest. In other places this star is 
 called Hesperus. 
 
 252. Hinc tempestates, c^c] After 
 this beautiful description of the hea- 
 vens, the poet adds an account of 
 the usefulness of this knowledge to 
 husbandmen. 
 
 Hinc] One of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts has hie. 
 
 Tempestates.] See the note on 
 ver. 27. 
 
 Prcediscere.] Pierius says it is 
 prcedicere in the Roman manuscript, 
 bjit he does not approve of it. La 
 Cerda however has admitted this 
 reading. 
 
62 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 hence we know the time of 
 harvest and the season of sow- 
 ing ; and when it is proper to 
 cut the faithless sea with oars ; 
 when to draw out the armed 
 fleets, or to fell the pine-tree 
 in the woods in a proper sea- 
 son: nor is it in vain that we 
 observe the setting and rising 
 of the signs, and the year di- 
 vided equally into four differ- 
 ent seasons. Whenever the 
 winter rains confine the hus- 
 bandman at home, many 
 things may be done at leisure, 
 which afterwards, when the 
 weather is fair, would be done 
 in a hurry. Then the plough- 
 man 
 
 Possumus : hinc messisque diem, tempusque se- 
 
 rendi ; 
 Et quando infidum remis impellere marmor 
 Conveniat ; quando armatas deducere classes, 
 Aut tempestivam sylvis evertere pinum. 256 
 Nee fi'ustra signorum obitus speculamur et ortus, 
 Temporibusque parem diversis quatuor annum. 
 Frigidus agricolam siquando continet imber, 
 Multa, forent quae mox caelo properanda sereno, 
 Maturare datur. Durum procudit arator 261 
 
 253. Messisque diem.'] In some 
 copies it is mensisque diem ; but the 
 best authority seems to be for messis. 
 
 256. Tempestivam sylvis evertere 
 pinum.'] In several of the old ma- 
 nuscripts and printed editions we 
 find in sylvis ; but the leaving out 
 of the preposition is more conform- 
 able to the style of our poet. 
 
 Dryden has translated these 
 words, or when to fell the furzes. He 
 must certainly have meant firs : 
 for the furze, otherwise called gorse, 
 and whin, is a prickly shrub, which 
 grows commonly on our heathy 
 grounds, and bears no sort of re- 
 semblance to a fir or pine. There 
 is some pretence for translating 
 pinus a fir, as Mr. B — has done: 
 because that tree which we com- 
 monly know under the name of the 
 Scotch fir is really a species of 
 pine. 
 
 By tempestivam the poet means 
 the proper season for felling timber. 
 This season we are told by Cato is 
 when the seed is ripe : " Robus, 
 " materies item pro ridica, ubi sol- 
 " stitium fuerit ad brumam semper 
 ** tempestiva est. Caetera materies 
 " quae semen habet, cum semen 
 " maturum habet, turn tempestiva 
 u est." Dr. Trapp has translated 
 tempestivam, seasoned. 
 
 Or when in woods to fell the seasoned pine. 
 
 But I believe we never use that 
 epithet for timber, which is not yet 
 cut down. 
 
 257. Necfrustra, &c] Here the 
 poet urges still farther the usefulness 
 of astronomical knowledge. He ob- 
 serves, that many works are to be 
 performed by the husbandman ; the 
 proper time for doing which de- 
 pends upon a knowledge of the sea- 
 sons. 
 
 259. Frigidus imber, .] The poet 
 does not seem to mean that these 
 works are to be done when any 
 sudden shower happens ; but when 
 the winter season comes on, which 
 he had before expressed by brumas 
 intractabilis imbrem. 
 
 261. Maturare.] It is here op- 
 posed to proper are: maturare signi- 
 fies to do a thing at leisure, in a pro- 
 per season: but properare signifies 
 to do it in a hurry. Virgil's sense 
 therefore in this place is, that the 
 farmer has time to prepare these 
 things in winter; but that if he 
 should neglect this opportunity till 
 the season of the year calls him out 
 to work in the field, he will then be 
 so busy, that he cannot have time 
 to do them as he ought. Aulus 
 Gellius observes, that in his time the 
 signification of mature was corruptly 
 used for hastily : " Mature nunc 
 " significat proper e et cito, contra 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 63 
 
 sharpens the hard point of the 
 
 Vomeris obtusi dentem : cavat arbore lintres : 
 
 Aut pecori signum, aut numeros impressit acer- cattle, or numbers his sack*. 
 
 r ° Some sharpen stakes and two- 
 
 VIS. 
 
 blunt share ; scoops troughs 
 out of trees; or marks his 
 
 horned forks, 
 
 Exacuunt alii vallos, furcasque bicornes, 
 
 " ipsius verbi sententiam. Aliud 
 " enim est mature quam quod di- 
 " citur propere. Propterea P. Ni- 
 " gidius homo in omnium bonarum 
 " artium disciplinis egregius, Ma- 
 " ture, inquit, est quod neque citius 
 " est neque serius : sed medium quid- 
 " dam et temperatum est. Bene atque 
 " proprie Nigidius. Nam et in fru- 
 c ' gibus et in pomis matura dicuntur 
 " quae neque cruda et immitia sunt, 
 " neque caduca et decocta, sed tem- 
 " pore suo adulta maturaque. Quo- 
 " niam autem id, quod non segniter 
 " fiebat, mature fieri dicebatur, pro- 
 <c gressa plurimum verbi significatio 
 " est, et non jam quod non segnius, 
 " sed quod festinatius fit, id fieri ma- 
 " ture dicitur, quando ea, quae prae- 
 cf ter sui temporis modum properata 
 " sunt, immatura verius dicantur. 
 " Illud vero Nigidianum rei atque 
 " verbi temperamentum divus Au- 
 " gustus duobus Graecis verbis ele- 
 u gantissime exprimebat. Namque 
 " et dicere in sermonibus et scribere 
 " in epistolis solitum esse aiunt, 
 " <mivhi ^qa^'iaq. Per quod monebat 
 " ut ad rem agendam simul adhi- 
 <f beretur et industriae celeritas et 
 " diligentiae tarditas, ex quibus duo- 
 tc bus contrariis fit maturitas. Vir- 
 <e gilius quoque, siquis animum at- 
 " tendat, duo ista verba properare 
 " et maturare tanquam plane con- 
 *' traria scitissime separavit in hisce 
 " versibus : Frigidus agricolam, fyc. 
 " elegantissime ista duo verba di- 
 " visit. Namque in praeparatu rei 
 " rusticae per tempestates pluvias, 
 " quoniam otium est, maturari pot- 
 " est : per serenas, quoniam tempus 
 <e instat, properari iecessum est." 
 262. Cavat arbom lintres.] Most 
 
 of the commentators think lintres 
 means boats in this place; which 
 were anciently scooped out of trees. 
 Thus Virgil speaks of hollowed al- 
 ders, when he mentions the begin- 
 ning of navigation : 
 
 Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere ca- 
 vatas. 
 
 But I believe navigation was so far 
 improved in Virgil's time, that the 
 Romans made no use of hollow trees 
 for boats. Therefore I rather think 
 he meant troughs, which seem more 
 immediately to concern the farmer 
 than boats. 
 
 9,63. Pecori signum.] The way 
 of marking the cattle was by burn- 
 ing them ; as we find in the third 
 Georgick : 
 
 Post partum cura in vitulos traducitur 
 
 omnis : 
 Continuoque notas, et nomina gentis 
 
 in ur tint. 
 
 Numeros impressit acervis.] I take 
 the poet to mean numbering the 
 sacks of corn ; perhaps in order to 
 signify the quantity contained in 
 each. For I cannot understand how 
 the heaps of corn can be said to be 
 imprinted with numbers. Dr. 
 Trapp, in his note on this passage, 
 says, " Sacks, or if you please 
 " stacks. Acervis. It is uncertain 
 " whether he speaks of corn threshed 
 cc or unthreshed : of barns, or of 
 " granaries." 
 
 264. Exacuunt alii vallos.] Servhis 
 interprets vallos the banks and 
 ditches which are made round vine- 
 yards: " Fossas et muros de terra 
 " factos, et glebis, qui fiunt in cir- 
 ce cuitu cohortium et vinearum." 
 He takes exacuunt to mean the 
 
64 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and prepare willow twigs to 
 bind the bending vine. Now 
 the light basket is woven with 
 bramble twigs. Now parch 
 your corn with fire, now grind 
 it with stones. Nay, even on 
 sacred days, divine and human 
 laws permit some works to be 
 done. No strictness ever for- 
 bad to drain the fields, 
 
 Atque Amerina parant lentae retinacula viti. 265 
 Nunc facilis rubea texatur fiscina virga : 
 Nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo. 
 Quippe etiam festis quaedam exercere diebus 
 Fas et jura sinunt. Rivos deducere nulla 
 
 cleaning of the ditches, and repair- 
 ing of the banks. But this inter- 
 pretation seems to be greatly 
 forced: and besides it is no work 
 for wet weather : nor is it possible 
 to be done within doors, which 
 Virgil plainly expresses : 
 
 Frigidus agricolam si quando conthtct 
 imber. 
 
 Valli certainly mean the stakes or 
 poles, which serve to prop the 
 vines. 
 
 265. Amerina retinaculaT] Ameria 
 is the name of a city in Italy where 
 the best willows were said to grow 
 in abundance. It is a sort of willow 
 with slender red twigs, according 
 to Columella : " Nee refert cujus 
 " generis vimen seras, dum sit len- 
 ' ' tissimum : putant tamen tria esse 
 cf genera praecipue salicis, Graecae, 
 " Gallicae, Sabinae, quam plurimi 
 fC vocant Amerinam. Graeca flavi 
 ' c coloris est, Gallica obsoleti purpu- 
 " rei, et tenuissimi viminis. Ame- 
 " rina salix gracilem virgam, et ru- 
 " tilam gerit." 
 
 2.66. Rubea virga.'] Rubi was the 
 name of a city of Apulia. It is 
 mentioned by Horace : 
 
 Inde Rubos fessi pervenimus. 
 
 Servius thinks that by Rubea virga 
 is meant such twigs as grow about 
 Rubi. Indeed it seems natural for 
 the poet to mention these two cities 
 of Italy, Ameria and Rubi, just to- 
 gether. But at the same time it 
 must be confessed, that Rubi is not 
 any where, that I can find, cele- 
 brated for willows or osiers. I ra- 
 
 ther believe the poet meant twigs 
 of brambles, because the bramble, 
 rubus, is mentioned by Pliny 
 amongst the bending twigs, which 
 are fit for such purposes as Virgil is 
 here speaking of. " Siquidem et 
 " genistae, et populi, et ulmi, et san- 
 " guinei frutices, et betulae, et ha- 
 " rundo fissa, et harundinum folia, 
 " ut in Liguria, et vitis ipsa, reci- 
 " sisque aculeis, Rubi alligant, et 
 " intorta corylus." Mr. B — is the 
 only translator, who has followed 
 this last interpretation : 
 
 Now with the Iramhle weave the basket's 
 round. 
 
 267. Nunc iorrete igni fruges.] 
 He speaks here not of baking, but 
 of parching the corn, in order to 
 grind it. We have the same ex- 
 pression in the first iEneid : 
 
 Frugesque receptas 
 
 Et torrere parant flammis, et frangere 
 saxo. 
 
 268. Quippe etiam, &c] Here 
 the poet enumerates those works 
 which are lawful to be done on festi- 
 val days. 
 
 269. Rivos deducere.] Most of the 
 translators have erred about this 
 passage. May translates it, To dig 
 a dyke : Dryden, to Jloat the mea- 
 dofvs: Mr. B , 
 
 To lead the torrent o'er the thirsty 
 plain. 
 
 To dig ditches, or to float the 
 ground, was hot allowed by the 
 high priests to be done on holy days. 
 But to drain and cleanse ditches 
 was lawful, as we find in Columella : 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 C5 
 
 Kclligio vetuit, segeti pnetendere scpem, 270 
 Insidias avibus m6tiVi, incendere vepres, 
 Balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri. 
 Saepe oleo tardi costas agitator aselli 
 Vilibus aut onerat pomis; lapidemque revertens 
 Incusum, aut atrae massam picis urbe reportat. 
 Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna 276 
 
 Felices operum. Quintam fuge : pallidus Orcus, 
 Eumenidesque satae : turn partu terra nefando 
 
 to defend the corn with a 
 hedge, to lay snares for birds, 
 to fire the thorns, and to dip 
 the bleating flock in the 
 wholesome river. The driver 
 also of the slow-paced ass 
 often loads his ri'is with oil 
 or common frui ; and when 
 he returns from the city, 
 brings back, with him an in- 
 dented millstone, or a mass of 
 black pitch. The very moon 
 has given some days in dif- 
 ferent degrees luckv for work. 
 Avoid the fifth : pale Orcus 
 and the Furies were born on 
 that day : then did the earth 
 with a horrid labour 
 
 " Ferns autem ritus majorum etiam 
 5? ilia permittit. — Piscinas, lacus, 
 te fossasveteres tergere, et purgare." 
 And indeed the true meaning of 
 vivos deducere is to drain : 
 
 Quique paludis 
 
 Collectum humorem bibula deducit arena. 
 
 ¥ or floating is called inducere : 
 
 Deinde satis fluvium inducit rivosque 
 sequentes. 
 
 See verse 106, and 113, of this 
 Georgick. Dr. Trapp has justly 
 translated these words ; " To drain 
 " the fields." 
 
 270. Segeti prcetendere sepem.] 
 Columella differs from Virgil, in 
 this particular : " Quanquam Pon- 
 " tifices negent segetem feriis sepiri 
 tc debere." 
 
 272. Balantumque gregem fluvio 
 mersare salubri.] Columella ob- 
 serves, upon this passage, that it 
 was unlawful to wash the sheep on 
 holy days, for the sake of the wool: 
 but that it was allowed to wash 
 them, to cure them of their diseases. 
 Hence Virgil mentions the whole- 
 some river, to shew that he meant it 
 by way of medicine: <c Vetant 
 <f quoque lanarum causa lavari oves, 
 " nisi propter medicinam. Virgi- 
 " lius, quod liceat feriis flumine 
 " abluere gregem, praecepit, et id- 
 " circo adjecit, fluvio mersare salubri. 
 " Sunt enim vitia, quorum causa 
 
 ' ' pecus utile sit lavare." Balantum 
 gregem is here used for sheep, with 
 great propriety: for it is observable 
 that sheep make a great bleating, 
 when they are washed. 
 
 274. Vilibus pomis.'] Vilis signi- 
 fies common, mean, or cheap. Po- 
 mum is used by the ancients not only 
 for apples, but for all esculent fruits. 
 Fruit is used by botanists to signify 
 the seeds of any plant, with their 
 covering : but in common accepta- 
 tion it agrees exactly with what the 
 ancients meant by Pomum. See my 
 First Lecture of a Course of Botany, 
 page 19, 20, 21. 
 
 Lapidem incusum.~] This Servius 
 interprets a stone cut with teeth, 
 for a hand-mill to grind corn. The 
 King's and the Bodleian manuscript, 
 and some of the old printed editions 
 have incussum. 
 
 276. Ipsa dies, <§-c] Now the 
 poet gives an account of those days, 
 which were reckoned lucky and 
 unlucky by the ancients. 
 
 277. Quintam fuge7\ The fifth 
 day is set down as unlucky by 
 Hesiod : 
 
 Tliftfrus V IJtaXieurS-eti, \9rt1 %a\tirui n 
 
 xa.) atvai. 
 'Ev zvifAVrn yoe.^ faffiv 'Egivvvccg ufiQitfo- 
 
 Xtutiv, 
 "0£*«v rmufiivecs, rev "E^s vixt ssr,^ 
 
 19T10(>X0I$. 
 
 278. Turn.] One of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts has cum. 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 bring forth Coeus and Iape- 
 tus, and fierce Typhoeus, 
 and the brethren who con- 
 Spired to destroy heaven. 
 Thrice truly did they en- 
 deavour to lav Ossa upon 
 Pelion, and to roll the shady 
 Olympus upon Ossa: thrice 
 did Tupiter scatter asunder 
 the neaped mountains with 
 his thunderbolt. 
 
 Coeumque Iapetumque creat, ssevumque Ty- 
 
 phoea, 
 Et conjuratos caelum rescindere fratres. 280 
 Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam 
 Scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olym- 
 
 pum : 
 Ter pater extructos disjecit fulmine montes. 
 
 279* Cceumque, Iapetumque creat, 
 saevumque Typhoea.] These are said 
 also by Hesiod to be the sons of 
 the earth. Virgil imitates the Greek 
 poet in mentioning Coeus and Iape- 
 tus without any epithet. 
 
 KoTov re, KgtTov 9-', *T tftPiovcl r, 'lain- 
 
 But he bestows the epithet of scevus 
 on Typhoeus: and indeed Hesiod 
 gives a terrible description of this 
 giant. 
 
 281. Ter sunt conati imponere Pe- 
 lio Ossamr\ The fable of the war of 
 the giants against the gods is well 
 known. Homer mentions this heap- 
 ing up of mountains on mountains, 
 but he differs from Virgil in placing 
 them: 
 
 Hrikiev ilvotriQvX'kov, "v igavcs ajtSxres 1%. 
 
 Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa 
 
 stood ; 
 On Ossa Pelion nods with all his wood. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Olympus seems the fittest for the 
 foundation, being the biggest of the 
 three mountains. Longinus brings 
 these verses of Homer, as an in- 
 stance of the sublime, and observes, 
 that the poet, not content with 
 barely mentioning this attempt of 
 the giants, immediately adds that 
 they had almost effected what they 
 designed : Kect vv x.iv s|sTgAs<r<r* v. But, 
 with all due submission to that ex- 
 cellent critic, I think the sublimity 
 of this passage is rather diminished 
 
 than augmented by the following 
 line: 
 
 K«« vv Kit i^irikio-fan tl ijSns fiirgor 'ixovre. 
 
 <e They would have brought to pass 
 ff what they designed, if they had 
 " arrived to their full strength." 
 Surely what idea soever this gives 
 of the strength of the giants, it di- 
 minishes the power of Jupiter and 
 the rest of the gods, who with so 
 much difficulty subdued a few boys, 
 who had not yet arrived to their 
 full strength. Virgil has enlarged 
 the idea of Homer, by saying that 
 the giants made this attempt three 
 times before they could be subdued. 
 The labour of the giants in heaping 
 mountain upon mountain is very 
 beautifully expressed in the numbers 
 of this verse : 
 
 Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam. 
 
 It is impossible to read it without 
 a pause. 
 
 283. Disjecit.] Pierius says it is 
 dejecit in the Roman manuscript. 
 The same reading is in the Cam- 
 bridge, the Arundelian, and one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Virgil has 
 used deficit in this Georgick : 
 
 Ille flagranti 
 
 Aut Atho, aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ce- 
 
 raunia telo 
 Dejicit. 
 
 But there he is speaking of single 
 mountains. Disjecit seems more 
 proper in this place, to express the 
 scattering asunder of these moun- 
 tains. And we find in Strabo, that 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 G7 
 
 Septima post decimam felix et ponere vitem, 
 Et prensos domitare boves, et licia telfe 285 
 Addere : nona fugas melior, contraria furtis. 
 Multa adeo gelida melius se nocte dedere, 
 Aut cum sole novo terras irrorat Eous. 
 
 The seventeenth is lucky to 
 plant the vine, and to tame 
 oxen, and to begin to weave. 
 The ninth is better for flight, 
 but adverse to theft. Many- 
 things also may be done bet- 
 ter in the cool night, or when 
 the morning bedews the earth 
 at sun-ri3ing. 
 
 Ossa was really thought to have 
 been torn from Olympus: 'y™ ?g 
 
 rao-pm pvyfAotTog ymntcivov {roc, vvv kci- 
 Xovpivcc Tift7Tvi) y.oii tjjv "Orcroiv a.7ro<r^}- 
 fyvrog axo rov 'OXvp.7rov. This might 
 give the poets room to feign that 
 this violence was committed at the 
 time of the war between the gods 
 and the giants. 
 
 284. Septima post decimam.'] Ser- 
 vius mentions three different inter- 
 pretations of these words: 1. The 
 seventeenth is lucky: 2. the seventh 
 is lucky, but not so lucky as the 
 tenth: 3. the fourteenth is lucky, 
 that is the seventh doubled, which 
 comes after the tenth. This last is 
 so forced an interpretation, that I 
 cannot be persuaded that Virgil 
 could mean any thing so obscure. 
 It must however be confessed that 
 Hesiod has set down the fourteenth 
 day as lucky for taming cattle : 
 
 Kougy oi <rt nrpa: 
 
 fiov Si 
 Kxt xvvcc xxgxczgcdovrei, xod ovgnoci ret- 
 kaigyou; 
 
 The last words agree with prensos 
 domitare. The second interpreta- 
 tion is generally received : and in- 
 deed Hesiod says the seventh and 
 the tenth days are both lucky : 
 
 and 
 
 Eo-B-k-/] o avd^oyovos Stxolrt]. 
 
 But he no where says that the se- 
 venth is inferior to the tenth ; nor 
 does he mention either of them as 
 
 fortunate for any part of husbandry. 
 I prefer the first interpretation, be- 
 cause it seems the most plain. He- 
 siod allows it also to be one of the 
 lucky days : 
 
 Micrcrri §' i^bo^arn &*ip.nn°os 'ugh uxrhf 
 Ev peek' oTtTTTivovra lurgo%u\<k> iv akuy 
 BoiXXuv. ukotifiov rt rctftsTv SxXufunt'et 
 
 o^ovoa, 
 Nnici rs £yAa •ac\'ka> to, t ugfitva vnvft 
 
 TffikoVTOU. 
 
 El.] One of the Arundelian ma- 
 nuscripts has est. Pierius says it is 
 est in the Lombard manuscript, but 
 it is altered from et with a different 
 hand. 
 
 Vitem.] Pierius says it is vites in 
 the Lombard manuscript. It is the 
 same in the King's and both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in several 
 printed editions. 
 
 287. Malta adeo, #c] The poet 
 proceeds to mention what sort of 
 works are to be done in the night, 
 both in winter and summer. 
 
 Gelida melius, .] Thus it is in the 
 Medicean and other ancient manu- 
 scripts, according to Pierius : and 
 in all the manuscripts, which I have 
 collated, except one of Dr. Mead's. 
 Heinsius, La Cerda, Poiseus, and 
 most of the editors have gelida me- 
 lius. In some few editions it is 
 melius gelida. 
 
 288. Aut.'] Pierius says it is vel 
 in some ancient manuscripts: but 
 that most copies have aut. One of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts also has vel. 
 
 Irrorat.'] In one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts it is irrigat. 
 
 Eous.] Servius and most of the 
 commentators interpret this the 
 Morning Star. Some take it to 
 k2' 
 
6-3 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 By night the light stubble, 
 by night the parched mea- 
 dows are better cut: the 
 ciammv dew is never known 
 to fail in the night. Some 
 Mt up late by the light of a 
 winter fire, and point torches 
 with a sharp knife : whilst 
 their wives, easing their long 
 labour with singing, run 
 through the loom with the 
 rattling reed, or boil away 
 the moisture of the sweet 
 must over the fire, and ?cum 
 with leaves the wave of the 
 trembling kettle. But red- 
 dened Ceres is cut down in 
 the heat of noon, 
 
 Nocte leves melius stipulae, nocte arida prala 
 Tondentur: noctes lentus non deficit humor. 2 ( J0 
 Et quidam seros hyberni ad lu-minis ignes 
 Pervigilat, ferroque faces inspicat acuto. 
 Interea longum cantu solata laborem 
 Arguto conjux percurrit pectine teias : 
 Aut dulcis musti Vulcano decoquit humorem, 
 Et foliis undam trepidi despumat aheni. 296 
 At rubicunda Ceres medio succiditur aestu, 
 
 mean one of the horses of the sun 
 of that name. He is mentioned by 
 Ovid: 
 
 Interea volucres Pyroeis, et Eous> et 
 
 iEthon, 
 Solis equi, quavtusque Phlegon. 
 
 289- Nocte leves melius stipulaz.] 
 Heinsius is almost singular, in print- 
 ing the words in this order. Pie- 
 rius however observes that the same 
 disposition is in all the ancient ma- 
 nuscripts which he had seen : and 
 that it is more elegant than the 
 common reading. 
 
 Nocte arida prata to?ide?itur.~] 
 Pliny also observes that a dewy 
 night is fittest for mowing : " Noc- 
 " tibus roscidis secari melius." 
 
 290. Nodes.] In some manu- 
 scripts it is nodis : which may be 
 either the genitive case singular, 
 or the accusative plural. Pierius 
 proves it is the accusative plural, 
 from a passage in Arusianus Mes- 
 sus, de Ehcutionibus Virgilii: where, 
 observing that deficit illam rem is an 
 elegant expression, he quotes the 
 authority of Virgil, who wrote Noc- 
 tes lentus non deficit humor. 
 
 292. Faces inspicat.'] The torches 
 of the ancients were sticks cut to a 
 point. 
 
 295. Dulcis musti Vulcano deco- 
 quit humorem.] Must is the new 
 wine before it is fermented. We 
 find in Columella, that it was usual 
 
 to boil some of the must till a fourth 
 part, or a third, or even sometimes 
 half was evaporated. This Virgil 
 expressses by decoquit humorem. 
 The use of tins boiled must is to 
 put into some sorts of wine to make 
 them keep. Columella is very co- 
 pious on this subject, in lib. xii. 
 cap. 19;. 20, 21. He recommends 
 the sweetest must for this purpose : 
 thus dulcis is no idle epithet to 
 musti in this passage. 
 
 La Cerda observes that Vulcan is 
 never used by Virgil for Jire ; but 
 when he would express a large fire. 
 This is certain, that Columella di- 
 rects the fire to be gradually in- 
 creased to a considerable heat. 
 
 296. Undam trepidi aheni.] The 
 wave of the trembling kettle is a 
 poetical expression ; the boiling of a 
 pot resembling the waves of the sea. 
 Pierius says it is irepidis despumat 
 aenis in the Roman manuscript, and 
 trepidi in the Medicean and some 
 other manuscripts. The Cambridge 
 manuscript has trepidi : in the other 
 manuscripts which I have consulted 
 it is tepidi. Servius, Heinsius, La 
 Cerda, Masvicius, and several good 
 editors read trepidi. Kuseus and 
 many others prefer tepidi. 
 
 297. At rubicunda Ceres, «£c] 
 From the mention of works to be 
 done in the night, he passes to these 
 which are to be done in the day 
 time, both in summer and winter j 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 G9 
 
 Et medio tostas sestu terit area fruges. JJ ^SS 2S &?£ 
 
 Ntidus ara, sere nudus: hyems ignava colono. ?« fei^VucSieX 
 
 the husbandman. 
 
 and enlarges upon the enjoyments 
 of husbandmen in the winter sea- 
 son: 
 
 By rubicunda Ceres the poet 
 means the standing corn, which is 
 of a reddish yellow, or golden co- 
 lour, when ripe. 
 
 Succidilur.] Mr. B — would fain 
 read succingiiur. le Several copies," 
 says he, " have snccinditur, but it is 
 " a very improper expression to say 
 ™ corn is hewed down : but Ceres 
 " represented by a sheaf of corn is 
 " very poetically said to be girt or 
 " bound." In consequence of this 
 criticism, he translates this line 
 thus: 
 
 But bound is Ceres at the noon of heat. 
 
 I do not find any other authority 
 than this gentleman's conjecture, 
 for reading succingiiur. All the 
 manuscripts and printed copies 
 which I have seen have succiditur, 
 which signifies is cut down. The 
 participle of this verb is applied by 
 Virgil, in the ninth iEneid, to a 
 flower cut down by a plough : 
 
 Purpureus veluti cum fios succistis aratro 
 Languescit moriens. 
 
 Ccedo and its compounds are fre- 
 quently applied by Columella to 
 the cutting down of hay and corn. 
 The title of the nineteenth chapter 
 of his second book is, Quemadmodum 
 succisum fcenum tractari et condi 
 debcat. In that chapter we find 
 cum fcenum cecidimus. In the 
 twenty-first chapter, which treats 
 of harvest, Ave find si tempestive 
 decisa sint: and sin autem spicce 
 tantummodo recisae sunt. 
 
 298. Et medio tostas ce§tu terit 
 area fruges.~] Thus Columella: 
 u Quod si falcibus seges cum parte 
 " culmi demessa sit, protinus in 
 
 " acervum, vel in nubilarium con- 
 ec geritur, et subinde opporiunis soli- 
 " bus torrefacta proteritur." 
 
 I make use of the word thresh in 
 my translation, as being most fami- 
 liar to the English reader : though 
 it is certain that the Romans seldom 
 made use of a flail or stick to beat 
 out their corn. I have already de- 
 scribed the iribulum in the note on 
 ver. 164. Sometimes they per- 
 formed it by turning cattle into the 
 floor, to tread the corn out with 
 their feet. Varro, immediately 
 after his description of the tribulum, 
 adds : " Apud alios exteritur grege 
 " jumentorum inacto, et ibi agitato 
 ec perticis, quod ungulis e spica ex- 
 " teruntur grana." Columella men- 
 tions all these ways, of threshing, 
 treading, and rubbing with the tri- 
 bulum. " Sin autem spicae tantum- 
 " modo recisae sunt, possunt in 
 " horreum conferri, et deinde per 
 " hyemem, vel baculis excuti vel 
 " exteri pecudibus. At si competit, 
 " ut in area teratur frumentum, 
 " nihil dubium est, quin equis 
 cc melius, quam bubus ea res conn* 
 tc ciatur, et si pauca juga sunt, adji- 
 ec cere tribulam et traham possis, 
 " quae res utraque culmos facillime 
 tC comminuit." 
 
 299. Nudus ara, sere nudus.~] 
 Thus Hesiod : 
 
 By saying these works should be 
 performed naked, the poets mean 
 that they ought to be done when 
 the weather is exceeding hot. Ac- 
 cording to Pliny, Cincinnatus was 
 found ploughing naked, when the 
 dictatorship was brought to him : 
 " Aranti quatuor sua jugera in Va- 
 a ticano, quae prata Quintia appel- 
 
70 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 In cold weather the farmers 
 generally enjoy what they 
 have go'tten: and rejoicing 
 one with another make mu- 
 tual feast*. Tie gonial win- 
 ter invites them, and dis- 
 solves their cares. As when 
 the l«len ship^ have just 
 reached the port, and the joy- 
 ful mariners have crowned 
 their sterns. But yet then is 
 the season to gather acorns, 
 and bav berries, and bloody 
 tayrtle berries. 
 
 Frigoribus parto agricolae plerumque fruuntur, 
 Mutuaque inter se laeti convivia curant. 30 1 
 Invitat genialis hyems, curasque resolvit : 
 Ceu presses cum jam portum tetigere carinas, 
 Puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas. 
 Sed tamen et quernas glandes turn stringere 
 tempus, 305 
 
 Et lauri baccas, oleamque, cruentaque myrta. 
 
 " lantur, Cincinnato viator attulit 
 " dietaturam, et quidem, ut traditur, 
 * e nudo, plenoque pulveris etiamnum 
 " ore. Cui viator, vela corpus, in- 
 Ci quit, ut proferam Senatus Popu- 
 " lique Romani mandata." 
 
 Colono.] Pierius says that in the 
 Medicean copy it is colono est. 
 
 B04. Puppibus et Iceti nautce impo- 
 mere coronas.'] This whole line is 
 repeated in the fourth iEneid, ver. 
 418. 
 
 305. Quernas glandes.] Glans 
 seems to have been used by the Ro- 
 mans in the same sense that we use 
 Mast. Thus the fruit of the beech 
 is called glans ; " Fagi glans nuclei 
 cc similis," says Pliny. But strictly 
 speaking it means only such fruits 
 as contain only one seed, which is 
 covered at the lower part with a 
 husk, and is naked at the upper 
 part : thus the fruit of an oak, which 
 we commonly call an acorn, is pro- 
 perly a glans. " Glandem," says 
 Pliny, " qua? proprie intelligitur, 
 iC ferunt robur, quercus, esculus, 
 te cerrus, ilex, suber." 
 
 Stringere.] This word signifies 
 to gather with the hand: thus we 
 find in the ninth Eclogue : 
 
 Hie ubi densas 
 
 Agricolae slringunt frondes. 
 
 306. Lauri baccas.] Translators 
 frequently confound the laurel and 
 the bay ; as if they were the same 
 tree, and what the Romans called 
 Laurus. Our laurel was hardly 
 known in Europe, till the latter end 
 
 of the sixteenth century; about , 
 which time it seems to have been 
 brought from Trebizond to Constan- , 
 tinople, and from thence into most ■ 
 parts of Europe. The laurel has . 
 no fine smell, which is a property 
 ascribed to the Laurus, by our poet 
 in the second Eclogue : 
 
 Et vos, o Lauri, carpam, et te proxime, 
 
 myrte, 
 Sic positse, quoniam suaves miscetis i 
 
 odores : 
 
 and in the sixth iEneid : 
 
 Odoratum Lauri nemus. 
 
 Nor is the laurel remarkable for 
 crackling in the fire: of which 
 there is abundant mention with re- 
 gard to the Laurus: Thus Lucre- 
 tius: 
 
 Aridior porro si nubes accipit ignem, 
 Uritur ingenti sonitu succensa repente : 
 Lauricomos ut si per mentes flamma 
 
 vagetur, 
 Turbine ventorum comburens impete 
 
 magno. 
 Nee res ulla magis, quam Phcebi Del- 
 
 phica Laurus 
 Terribili sonitu flamma crepitante cre- 
 
 matur. 
 
 But if the cloud he dry, and thunder fall, 
 Rises a crackling Haze, and spreads o'er 
 
 all; 
 As when fierce fires, pressed on by winds, r 
 
 do seize 
 Our laurel groves, and waste the virgin 
 
 trees; 
 The leaves all crackle ; she that fled the 
 
 chace 
 Of Phoebus' love, still flies the flames* 
 
 embrace. 
 
 Chekch. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 71 
 
 Turn gruibus pedicas et retia ponere cervis, 
 Auritosque sequi lepores; turn figere damas, 
 Stuppea torquentem Balearis verbera fundae, 
 Cum nix alta jacet, glaciem cum flumina trudunt. 
 Quid tempestates autumni, et sidera dicain? 31 1 
 Atque ubi jam breviorque dies, et mollior eestas, 
 
 Then is the a«ason to lay 
 snares for cranes, and nets 
 for stags and to pursue the 
 Jong eared hares : then is the 
 season for the Baharicslinger 
 to pierce the does, when the 
 snow lies d?. p, when the 
 riversroll down the ice. Why 
 should I speak of the storms 
 and constellations of autumn. 
 
 These characters agree very well 
 with the bay-tree, which seems to 
 be most certainly the Laurus of the 
 ancients; and is at this time fre- 
 quent in the woods and hedges in 
 Italy. The first discoverers of the 
 laurel gave it the name of Lauro~ 
 cerasus, because it has a leaf some- 
 thing like a bay, and a fruit like a 
 cherry. 
 
 Crueidaque myrta.] The myrtle 
 berries are here called cruenla, from 
 their vinous juice. There are seve- 
 ral species of myrtle ; but Ray in- 
 forms us that he observed no other 
 sort in Italy, than the common 
 myrtle, or myrtas communis Italica 
 C.B. 
 
 309. Balearis.] The Balearides 
 are two islands near Spain, now 
 known by the names of Majorca 
 and Minorca. The inhabitants of 
 these islands are said to have been 
 famous for slinging: their name 
 being derived from /3«AAg;y. 
 
 311. Quid tempestates autumni, 
 fyc] The poet having barely men- 
 tioned the stormy seasons : the latter 
 end of spring, and the beginning of 
 autumn, proceeds to an elegant de- 
 scription of a storm in the time of 
 harvest. 
 
 Tempestates autumni, et sidera.] 
 The Autumn was reckoned to begin 
 about the twelfth of August, at the 
 cosmical setting of Fidicula and the 
 Dolphin: which was accounted a 
 stormy season, according to Colu- 
 mella: " Pridie Idus Augusti fidis 
 " occidit mane, et autumnus incipit. 
 fr . . Idibus Augusti delphini occasus 
 
 tc tempestatem significat. Decimo 
 cc nono CalendasSeptembrisejusdem 
 " sideris matutinus occasus tempe- 
 u statem significat. Decimo tertio 
 iC Calendas Septembris sol in virgi- 
 " nem transitum facit. Hoc et se- 
 tc quenti die tempestatem significat, 
 " interdum et tonat. Hoc eodem 
 " die fidis occidit. Decimo Calen- 
 <( das Septembris ex eodem sidere 
 *'• tempestas plerumque oritur et plu- 
 ee via." Homer mentions the Au- 
 tumn as a stormy season : 
 
 'Us S* vtto XatXutrj vruffa xsXatvh jGi£g4$t 
 X§uv 
 
 Zsj/j. 
 
 When in Autumn Jove his fury 
 
 pours 
 And earth is loaden with incessant 
 
 show'rs. 
 
 Mr. Pope, 
 
 One of the Arundelian manuscripts 
 has f rigor a instead of sidera. 
 
 312. Atque ubi Jam breviorque 
 dies, et mollior eestas.'] One of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts has 
 
 Atque ubi jam breviorque dies, jam 
 mollior aestas, 
 
 which is not amiss. Servius thinks 
 the latter end of Autumn is meant : 
 but that interpretation will not agree 
 with mollior eestas, unless we sup- 
 pose eestas to be put poetically for 
 warm weather, as it seems to be in 
 the second Georgick : 
 
 Prima vel autumni sub frigora, cum ra- 
 
 pidus sol 
 Nondum hyemem contingit equis, jam 
 
 praetsrit aestas. 
 
72 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 vigilance is neces- Q uae vimlanda viris ? vel cum ruit imbriferurn 
 
 en, when the days ^ o 
 
 ver 
 
 and what 
 
 sary in men, 
 
 grow shorter, and the heat 
 
 more moderate? Or when 
 
 the showery spring con- . . • • i •. 
 
 dudes, when the spiky har- Spicea 1am camDis cum messis inhorruit, et cum 
 
 vest now bristles in thp 
 fields, and when 
 
 the 
 
 313. Vel cum ruit imbriferurn 
 ver.] One of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 has et instead of vel. Servius inter- 
 prets ruit, prcecipitatur, in fine est. 
 The latter end of the spring is about 
 the end of April, and beginning of 
 May, which is a rainy season, ac- 
 cording to Columella: u Decimo 
 " quinto Calendas Maias sol in tau- 
 " rum transition facit, pluviam sig- 
 <c nificat. Decimo quarto Calendas 
 <c Maias suculae se vesperi celant, 
 " pluviam significat. Undecimo Ca- 
 " lendas Maias ver bipartitur, pluvia 
 ce et nonnunquam grando. Decimo 
 " Calendas Maias vergilias cum sole 
 " oriuntur, africus vel auster, dies 
 "humidus. Nono Calendas Maias 
 " prima nocte fidicula apparet, tem- 
 " pestatem significat. Quarto Ca- 
 " lendas Maias auster fere cum plu- 
 " via. Tertio Calendas Maias mane 
 ee capra exoritur, austrinus dies, in- 
 " terdum pluvise .... Quinto Nonas 
 " Maias centaurus totus apparet, 
 " tempestatem significat. Tertio 
 e< Nonas Maias idem sidus plu- 
 <f viam significat. . . . Septimo Idus 
 " Maias iEstatis initium, favonius, 
 " aut corus, interdum etiam pluvia." 
 Lucretius mentions both Autumn 
 and Spring, as stormy seasons : 
 
 Autumnoque magis stellis fulgentibus 
 alta 
 
 Concutitur cash domus undique, totaque 
 tellus ; 
 
 Et cum tempora se Veris florentia pan- 
 dun t. 
 
 Now Spring and Autumn frequent thun- 
 ders hear ; 
 
 TJiey shake the rising and the dying 
 year. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 314. Spicea jam campis, &?c.~\ 
 Some understand the poet to speak 
 
 of the ripe corn in this passage. 
 But he plainly means the first ap- 
 pearance of the ear: this agrees 
 with the time mentioned by him, 
 which is May : and the next line, 
 where he speaks of the milky corn, 
 and the green stems, puts it out of 
 all question. 
 
 Inhorruit.~\ Servius interprets this 
 intremiscit, in which he is followed 
 by Ruaeus. Dr. Trapp adheres to 
 this interpretation : 
 
 When the trembling ears 
 
 Wave with the wind. 
 
 He observes upon this passage, that 
 " trembling in animals being the 
 ' < effect of fear ; the word inhorruit 
 " is elegantly transferred to corn, 
 " &c. trembling with the wind." 
 See the note on segnisque horreret in 
 arvis carduus, ver. 151. Virgil has 
 used inhorruit, only in three other 
 places in all his works : in neither 
 of which he puts it for fear or trem- 
 bling. In the third and fifth ^Eneids, 
 he uses it to express a horrid dark- 
 ness overspreading the sea in a 
 storm: 
 
 Caeruleus supra caput astitit imler 
 
 Noctem hyememque ferens : et inhorruit 
 unda tenebris. 
 
 In the tenth JEneid he uses it to 
 describe a wild boar erecting his 
 bristles : 
 
 Postquam inter retia ventum est, 
 Substitit, intremuitque ferox, etinhorruit 
 armos. 
 
 Thus I take it in this place to sig- 
 nify the bristling of the bearded ears 
 of corn ; as Mr. B — has translated 
 it: 
 
 Or when the harvest IrUtles into ears. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 73 
 
 Frumenta in viridi stipula lactentia turgent? 315 
 Saepe ego cum flavis messorem induceret arvis 
 Agricola, et fragili jam stringeret hordea culmo, 
 Omnia vcntorum concurrere proelia vidi, 
 Quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis 
 Sublime expulsam eruerent : ita turbine nigro 
 
 the milky corn swells on the 
 green stem ? Often have I 
 seen, when the husbandman 
 had brought the reaper into 
 the yellow fields, and was 
 reaping the barley with brit- 
 tle stems, all the fury of the 
 winds engage, and tear up the 
 heavy corn by the very roots 
 far and near, and toss it on 
 high, just as a black whirl- 
 wind 
 
 315. Lactentia.'] The Bodleian 
 and one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 have lactantia. Servius observes 
 that lactans signifies that which 
 yields milk, lactens that which re- 
 ceives milky nourishment. 
 
 31 6. Scepe ego cum flavis, fyc.~\ 
 The meaning of the poet seems to 
 be that the storms of Autumn and 
 Spring have nothing extraordinary 
 in them, being usually expected in 
 those seasons. Therefore he chooses 
 to enlarge upon those storms which 
 he has often seen even in the time 
 of harvest: and describes the ter- 
 rible effects of them in a very po- 
 etical manner. 
 
 317' Fragili jam stringeret hor- 
 dea culmo7\ Stringere signifies to 
 gather with the hand, as is observed 
 in the note on that word, ver. 305. 
 Servius seems to take it in this sense. 
 But Ruaeus interprets it to bind: 
 " Et jam ligaret hordea paleis fra- 
 " gilibus." Most of our translators 
 implicitly follow this interpretation. 
 Dryden translates this verse : 
 
 Ev'n while the reaper fills his greedy 
 
 hands, 
 And binds the golden sheaves in brittle 
 
 bands. 
 
 Thus he takes fragili culmo to mean 
 the band of the sheaf. I rather be- 
 lieve the poet means the stem or 
 straw of the growing barley by cul- 
 mus, and uses the epithet fragilis to 
 express its ripeness ; as he adds flu- 
 *vis to arvis in the foregoing verse, 
 for the same reason. Mr. B — leaves 
 out the brittle straw, and says only, 
 . — And now bound the grain. 
 
 Dr. Trapp follows Dryden : 
 
 -And hound 
 
 His sheaves with brittle straw. 
 
 May understood it in the same sense 
 which I have given it : 
 
 ——When corn was ripe to mow, 
 And now in dry, and brittle straw did 
 grow. 
 
 318. Concurrere.'] It is consurgere 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in the Roman manuscript, ac- 
 cording to Pierius. But concurrere 
 is a better word : and we have the 
 authority of Pliny that it is the word 
 which Virgil used in this place : 
 " Etenim praedicta ratione vento- 
 " rum, ne saepius eadem dicantur, 
 iC transire convenit ad reliqua tem- 
 " pestatum praesagia, quoniam et 
 " hoc placuisse Virgilio magnopere 
 " video. Siquidem in ipsa messe 
 u saepe concurrere praelia ventorum 
 " damnosa imperitis refert." 
 
 320. Ita turbine nigro, <^c] This 
 no doubt is to be understood as a 
 simile. The poet, to magnify the 
 storm he is describing, represents it 
 as whirling aloft the heavy corn with 
 its ears and roots, just as an ordi- 
 nary whirlwind would toss some 
 light empty straw. Ruaeus seems 
 to take the whirling up of the light 
 straw to be a part of Virgil's storm : 
 " Quae dissiparent in auras plenam 
 " segetem extirpatam radicitus, tarn 
 " denso nimbo jactabat procella 
 " calamos leves, et stipulas vo- 
 *' lantes." Dryden follows Ruaeus: 
 
 The heavy harvest from the root is torn, 
 And whirl'd aloft the lighter stubble 
 born. 
 
74 
 
 P. VIRGILII MAROXIS 
 
 ^t! c i7 a ^ th s e tubfS Ferret hyems culmumque levem, stipulasque 
 
 Often also an immense flood -, «^ , 
 
 of waters falls from the hea- VOianteS. 321 
 
 vens, and clouds gathered out 
 
 of the deep ;twcken the tem- Ssepe etiam immensum caelo venit agmen aqua- 
 pest with black showers* the * & ^ 
 lofty sky pours down, mm * 
 
 Et fcedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris 
 Collectae ex alto nubes : ruit arduus aether, 
 
 The two following lines are hardly- 
 intelligible, and have nothing but 
 the word hyems in Virgil, to give 
 them any sort of countenance. 
 
 With such a force the flying rack is 
 
 driv'n, 
 And such a winter wears the face of 
 
 heav'n. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates it as if by ita 
 turbine was meant tali turbine : 
 
 With such a giist a hurricane would 
 
 drive 
 Light, flying stubble. 
 
 324. Collectce ex alto nubes.] Ser- 
 vius thinks that by ex alto is meant 
 from the north ; because that pole 
 appears elevated to us. But, as Ru- 
 seus justly observes, storms gene- 
 rally come from the south ; and the 
 poet a few lines afterwards says 
 ingeminant austri. Some take ex 
 alto to mean the upper regions of 
 the air; of which opinion Dr. 
 Trapp seems to be : 
 
 -Gather'd clouds 
 
 Brew the black storm aloft. 
 
 But it seems most probable that 
 Virgil means the sea ; out of which 
 the clouds may properly be said to 
 be gathered. In this sense Dryden 
 has translated it : 
 
 And oft whole sheets descend of sluicy 
 
 rain, 
 Suck'd by the spongy clouds from off 
 
 the main. 
 
 and Mr. B— 
 
 Oft gather from the deep the thickening 
 c.ouds. 
 
 Ruit arduus aztlier7\ Servius takes 
 this to signify thunder : Tordtribus 
 percrcpat. I take it rather to be a 
 poetical description of the greatness 
 of the shower, as if the very sky de- 
 scended. Virgil uses ruit, in the 
 third iEneid for the going down of 
 the sun : 
 
 Sol ruit interea, et montes umbrantur 
 opaci. 
 
 In the fifth iEneid, he uses it for 
 the falling of a great shower in a 
 tempest : 
 
 -Effusis imbribus atra 
 
 Tempestas sine more furit : tonitruque 
 
 vremiscunt 
 Ardua terrarum, et campi : ruit asthere 
 
 toto 
 Turbidus imber aqua, densisque nigerri- 
 
 mus austris. 
 
 Martial uses ccelum ruehat, when he 
 is speaking of a very great shower 
 of rain : 
 
 Imbribus immodicis caelum nam forte 
 ruebat. 
 
 Virgil is thought, in this description 
 of a flood, to have had in his mind 
 a passage in the sixteenth Iliad : 
 
 Twy Vi vi •rd.vn; utv >rorctft.oi jr\r,§ov<r$ 
 
 piavrts, 
 UoXXa; $i xX/rt/j inr uiro'rux'yovri %aod,- 
 
 liotzi, 
 'F.j V a.'ka voo$vo%r l v fnyuXa 5i*te,%cv<ri 
 
 p'hoveai 
 'E£ h(>itov W) xio' jaivvSh ¥i T£ sgy' ivS-eu- 
 
 ffttW. 
 
 From their deep beds he bids the rivers 
 
 rise, 
 And opens all the floodgates of the skies : 
 Th 1 impetuous torrents from their hills 
 
 obey, 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 75 
 
 Et pluvia ingenti sata laeta, boumquelabores 
 Diluit: implentur fossae, et cava flumina cre- 
 scunt 326 
 
 Cum sonitu, fervetque fretis spirantibus sequor. 
 Ipse pater, media nimborum in nocte, corusca 
 Fulmina molitur dextra : quo maxima motu 
 
 and with a vast quantity of 
 rain washes away the joyful 
 crops, and labours of the 
 oxen the ditches are filled, 
 and the hollow rivers sound- 
 ing swell, and the sea boila 
 with tossing waves Jupiter 
 himself in the midst of the 
 thickest darknes-- 'ance9 the 
 thunders with his fiery right 
 hand: with the violence of 
 which the whole 
 
 Whole fields are drown'd, and mountains 
 
 swept away ; 
 Loud roars the deluge till it meets the 
 
 main ; 
 And trembling man sees all his labours 
 
 vain. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 In both poets are mentioned the de- 
 struction of the fields, and labours 
 of husbandry, and at last the deluge 
 spending its force upon the sea. 
 
 325. Sata laeta, boumque labores.] 
 We find the same words in the se- 
 cond iEneid, where he alludes to a 
 torrent rushing down from the 
 mountains : 
 
 — — — Rapidus montano flumine torrens 
 Sternit agros, sternit sata locta boumque 
 labores, 
 
 328. Ipse pater, &c.] The poet 
 has already given us the whirlwind, 
 the rain, and the deluge, which 
 make as terrible description of a 
 storm, as perhaps is to be met with 
 in any other poet. But to increase 
 the horror of his description, he in- 
 troduces J upiter himself lancing his 
 thunders, and striking down the 
 mountains; the earth trembling, 
 the beasts flying, and men struck 
 with horror : then the south wind 
 redoubles its violence, the rain in- 
 creases, and the woods and the 
 shores groan with the violence of 
 the tempest. 
 
 Nimborum in nocte.~\ Thus Lu- 
 cretius : 
 
 Usque adeo tetra nimborum nocte coorta. 
 
 In is wanting in one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts. Pierius observed 
 
 the same in some ancient manu- 
 scripts; but he says it is nimborum 
 in nocte in the Medicean and most 
 other copies ; and prefers that read- 
 ing as much more numerous and 
 elegant. 
 
 Corusca fulmina molitur dextra."] 
 Servius, and after him some other 
 commentators, make corusca agree 
 with fulmina. Thus we find in 
 Horace : 
 
 Igni coruscb nnbila dividens. 
 
 Ruaeus joins it with dextra. This 
 also has a parallel in Horace : 
 
 -Itubente 
 
 Dextera sacras jaculatus arces. 
 
 It appears to me more poetical to 
 say that Jupiter lances the thunders 
 with his fiery right hand, than that 
 he lances the fiery thunders with his 
 right hand. May has translated it 
 in this sense : 
 
 In midst of that tempestuous night great 
 
 Jove 
 From a bright Jiand his winged thunder 
 
 throws. 
 
 and Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Great Jove himself, amidst the night of 
 
 clouds, 
 Hurls with his red right hand the forky 
 
 fire. 
 
 Dryden seems to follow the other 
 interpretation : 
 
 The father of the gods his glory shrowds, 
 Involv'd in tempests and a night of 
 
 clouds, 
 And from the middle darkness flashing 
 
 out 
 By fits he deals his fiery bolts about. 
 l2 
 
76 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 earth tremblei, the beast? are 
 fled : the hearts of men in all 
 nations are sunk with hum- 
 ble fear : he casts down Athos, 
 or Rhodope, or the high Ce- 
 raunia with his burning bolt ; 
 the south winds redouble: 
 and the shower thickens ex- 
 ceedingly: now the woods, 
 and now the fhores resound 
 with the vast wind. 
 
 Terra tremit: fugere ferae : mortalia corda 330 
 Per gentes humilis stravit pavor: ille flagranti 
 Aut Atho, aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia telo 
 Dejicit : ingeminantaustri,etdensissimus imber: 
 Nunc nemora ingenti vento, nunc littora plan- 
 gunt. 
 
 and Mr. B , 
 
 Amidst a night of clouds his glitfring 
 
 fire. 
 And rattling thunder hurls th' eternal 
 
 sire. 
 
 SSO. Fugere ferce: mortalia corda, 
 &c] So I venture to read it with 
 the Cambridge and one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts. The common 
 reading is fugere J "erae, et mortalia 
 corda, &c. But the making a pause 
 at force, and leaving out the con- 
 junction, seems to me more poe- 
 tical: 
 
 Dr. Trapp justly observes that 
 fugfre being put in the preterper- 
 fect tense has a wonderful force : 
 " We see, says he, the beasts scud- 
 " ding away; and they are gone, 
 " and out of sight in a moment." It 
 is pity that learned gentleman did 
 not preserve the force of this tense 
 in his translation. He has not only 
 used the present tense, but has di- 
 minished the strength and quick- 
 ness of the expression, which Virgil 
 has made to consist only of two 
 words fugere ferae, by adding an 
 epithet to beasts, and mentioning 
 the place they fly to : 
 
 ■ ■ Savage beasts to coverts fly. 
 
 Dryden has been guilty of the same 
 oversight : 
 
 And flying beasts in forests seek abode. 
 
 <e The Latin, says Mr. B — — , is as 
 " quick and sudden as their flight. 
 <: Fugere ferae, they are all vanished 
 ie in an instant. But in Mr. 
 " Dryden's translation, one would 
 l< imagine these creatures were 
 
 " drove out of some inclosed coun- 
 " try, and were searching for en- 
 " tertainment in the next forest." 
 
 But Mr. B did not observe the 
 
 beauty of the tense : 
 
 Far shakes the earth : beasts jly : and 
 
 mortal hearts 
 Pale fear dejects. 
 
 332. Atho.'] The King's, the Cam- 
 bridge, the Bodleian, one of the 
 Arundelian, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts have Athon, the other 
 Arundelian manuscript has Aion. 
 Pierius observes that it is Athon in 
 the Roman, the Medicean, and 
 some other ' ancient manuscripts. 
 Servius, Heinsius, la Cerda, Ruaeus, 
 and most of the good editors have 
 Atho. It is certain that the accu- 
 sative case of &$*>$ is generally *3*>, 
 though sometimes it is c&uv. The- 
 ocritus has c&», in a verse of the 
 seventh Idyllium, which Virgil is 
 thought in this place to have imi- 
 tated: 
 
 r H "AB-u, *i 'Pobo'rxr, n Kauxetrer ttx»- 
 ritvra. 
 
 Athos is a mountain of Macedonia, 
 making a sort of peninsula in the 
 Mgean sea, or Archipelago. 
 
 Rhodopen.] Rhodope is a moun- 
 tain of Thrace. 
 
 Alta Ceraunia.] The Ceraunia 
 are some high mountains in Epirus, 
 so called because they are frequently 
 stricken with thunder: for xiexvn; 
 signifies a thunderbolt. 
 
 333. Densissimus imber.] One of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts has den- 
 sissimus aether. 
 
 334. Planguni.] Servius reads 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 77 
 
 Hoc metuens, caeli menses et sydera serva : 335 JJoSi5y d^J , aJ?S e c2lI 
 
 t-i • *J O * * j. 11 ^ ... stellations: observe whither 
 
 r ngida oaturni sese quo stella receptet : the cold planet of satum re- 
 
 .. . tires: into what circles of hea- 
 
 QUOS lglllS Caell CyllenJUS erret 111 Ol'DeS. ven Mercury wanders. 
 
 plangit, and interprets it resonare 
 Jack: but he acknowledges that 
 others read plangunt Pierius says 
 it is plangit in the Roman and some 
 other very ancient manuscripts ; 
 and seems to suppose densissimus 
 imber to be the nominative case to 
 plangit. If this interpretation be 
 admitted, we must render the pas- 
 sage now under consideration thus: 
 ' ' The south winds redouble ; and 
 *■ the exceeding thick shower now 
 " makes the woods, and now the 
 * shores resound." He adds, "that 
 " in the Medicean copy plangunt is 
 a paraphrased scindunt : thus the 
 " verb must agree both with auster 
 " and imber.' But to say either 
 that the shower, or the south wind 
 and the shower, make the woods and 
 shores resound with a great wind, 
 seems to me to be a tautology. If 
 we were to admit plangit, I should 
 
 rather with Mr. B understand 
 
 Jupiter : though I think he is mis- 
 taken in ascribing this interpretation 
 to Pierius. Masvicius also has ad- 
 mitted plangit: but as plangunt 
 seems to be full as good as the other 
 reading, and as it is generally re- 
 ceived, I have chosen to adhere 
 to it. 
 
 33.5. Hoc metuens.] After this 
 description of a tempest, the poet 
 proposes two methods of avoiding 
 such misfortunes : one by a diligent 
 observation of the heavens; the 
 other by a religious worship of the 
 gods, especially of Ceres. 
 
 Cceli menses.] By the months of 
 heaven, I take the poet to mean the 
 twelve signs of the zodiac, through 
 each of which the sun is about a 
 month m passing. 
 
 336. Frigida.] Thus Pliny, " Sa- 
 " turni autem sidus gelida? ac rigen- 
 
 " tis esse naturae." Saturn may 
 well deserve the epithet of cold, its 
 orb being at a greater distance from 
 the sun than that of any of the 
 other planets. 
 
 Receptet] Servius commends the 
 skill of Virgil in making choice of 
 this verb, which he thinks is de- 
 signed to express Saturn's returning 
 twice to each sign: "Sane perite 
 " ait receptet, ut ex frequentativo 
 " verbo nobis ostenderet Saturnum 
 " bis ad unumquodque signum re- 
 " verti, quod alii planetae minime 
 " faciunt. Solus enim est qui et 
 " longius a sole discedat, et bis ad 
 " unumquodque signum revertat." 
 Pliny has quoted this passage of 
 our poet : " Ideo Virgilius erran- 
 " tium quoque siderum rationem 
 " ediscendam praecipit, admonens 
 " observandum frigidae Saturni 
 " stellae transitum." I cannot 
 think Virgil is to be understood to 
 mean, that we are to observe what 
 part of the zodiac Saturn is in, 
 and thereby to predict a storm. 
 That planet is almost two years 
 and a half in passing through each 
 sign : therefore surely we are not 
 to expect a continuance of the same 
 weather for so long a time. I ra- 
 ther think he means that we should 
 observe the aspects of the planets 
 in general: and mentions Saturn 
 and Mercury for the whole number. 
 Thus in a former verse he mentions 
 Maia, one of the Pleiades, for that 
 whole constellation : 
 
 Multi ante occasum Maiae coepere. 
 
 337. Ignis Cyllenius.] By the 
 Cyllenian Jire he means Mercury, 
 who was said to be born in Cyllene, 
 a mountain of Arcadia. 
 
 Erret.] The wandering of a 
 
78 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 First of all worship the gods, 
 and repeat the annual sacri- 
 fices to great Ceres, offering 
 upon the joyful turf, when 
 winter is ended, and spring 
 grows mild. Then the lambs 
 are fat, and then the wines 
 are mellow ; then sleep is 
 sweet, and the shades are 
 thick on the hills. Let all thy 
 rural youths adore Ceres : for 
 her do thou mix the honey- 
 comb with miik and soft 
 wine ; 
 
 In primis venerare Deos, atque annua magna? 
 Sacra refer Cereri, lastis operatus in herbis, 339 
 Extremae sub casum hyemis, jam vere sereno. 
 Turn pingues agni, et turn mollissima vina : 
 Turn somni dulces, densaeque in montibus um- 
 brae. 
 Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adoret : 
 Cui tu lacte favos, et miti dilue Baccho ; 3-14 
 
 planet is a very proper expression ; 
 the word being derived from nxd**, 
 wandering. 
 
 338. Annua magna; sacra refer 
 Cereri.~\ The poet here gives a beau- 
 tiful description of the Ambarva* 
 lia ; so called because the victim 
 was led round the fields : quod vie- 
 tima amblret arva. In ver. 345. 
 Virgil mentions it being led three 
 times round. 
 
 340. Casum.'] All the ancient 
 manuscripts which Pierius had seen, 
 except the Medicean, have casu. It 
 is casu also in the King's, the Bod- 
 leian, and in both Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts. 
 
 341. Turn pingues agni, et turn 
 mollissima vina.] Pierius says that 
 all the ancient manuscripts he had 
 seen agree in reading pingues agni 
 et, without a Synalcepba, and that 
 some have tunc and others turn. He 
 observes also that in the Medicean 
 copy it is tunc in this verse, but in 
 the next it is Turn somni dulces. 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts it is Tunc pingues agni turn 
 sunt. In one of Dr. Mead's it is 
 Turn pingues agni sunt turn. In the 
 ether it is Turn pingues agni, el turn: 
 which reading is admitted by Hein- 
 sius, from whom I seldom deviate. 
 The other manuscripts which I 
 have collated, and most of the com- 
 mon editions, have Tunc agni pin- 
 gues et tunc. 
 
 344. Miti dilue Baccho.~] Mont- 
 faucon quotes this passage, to shew 
 
 that Ceres and Bacchus were wor- 
 shipped jointly. " Virgile marque 
 " aussi le culte des deux dans les 
 (i Georgiques, oii il parle des trois 
 " tours qu'onfaisoitfaire a la victime 
 " autour des moissons avant que de 
 " l'immoler. Cette ceremonie des 
 " trois tours etoit encore observee 
 <e en d'autres sacrifices, comme nous 
 " verrons plus bas : il met Ceres et 
 " Bacchus ensemble, et dit que dans 
 " la ceremonie on invoquoit Ceres 
 " a haute voix." This learned au- 
 thor seems to have viewed the pas- 
 sage under our consideration too 
 hastily, and to have taken Baccho 
 to be put for the name of the god, 
 and to be the dative case, coupled 
 with cui. All the commentators 
 agree, and I think it cannot be 
 doubted, that Baccho is here put fi- 
 guratively for wine, and that it is 
 the ablative case, coupled with 
 lacte. Nor could that famous an- 
 tiquary be easily led into this mis- 
 take, if he took Bacchus in this 
 place to signify wine, by conclud- 
 ing that the sacrifice must be to 
 Bacchus, as well as to Ceres, to 
 whom wine did not use to be offered, 
 as some have imagined. For it is 
 plain, from the account which Cato 
 gives of the sacrifices before harvest, 
 not only that wine was offered to 
 Ceres ; but also that Bacchus was 
 not one of the deities, to whom they 
 sacrificed on that occasion. . " Pri- 
 " usquam messim facies, porcam 
 " praecidaneam hoc niodo fieri opor- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 79 
 
 Terque novas circum felix eat hostia fruges, 
 Omnis quam chorus, et socii comitentur ovantes; 
 Et Cererem clamore vocent in tecta: neque 
 
 ante 
 Falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, 
 Quam Cereri torta redimitus tempora quercu, 
 Det motus incompositos, et carmina dicat. 350 
 Atque hsDC ut certis possimus discere signis, 
 ^Estusque, pluviasque, et agentes frigora ventos; 
 Ipse pater statuit, quid menstrua Luna mone- 
 
 ret, 
 Quo signo caderent austri : quid ssepe videntes 
 
 and let the happy victim be 
 Jed thrice round the new 
 fruits, accompanied by the 
 whole crowd of shouting com- 
 panions ; and let them loudly 
 invite Ceres under their roofs : 
 nor let any one put the sickle 
 to the ripe corn, before he 
 has crowned his head with 
 wreaths of oak, and danced 
 in uncouth measures, and 
 sung songs to Ceres. And 
 that we may know these 
 things bv manifest tokens, 
 both" heat and rain, and cold 
 winds ; Jupiter himself has 
 appointed what the monthly 
 moon should advise, what 
 should be a sign of the south- 
 winds falling, what 
 
 tC tet. Cereri porca pra?cidanea, 
 * porco fcemina, priusquam hasce 
 " fruges condantur, far, triticum, 
 <( ordeum, fa bam, semen rapicium, 
 " thure, vino, Jano, Jovi, Junoni 
 
 " praefato Postea porcam 
 
 ' ' praecidaneam immolato. Ubi exta 
 " prosecta erunt, Jano struem com- 
 cc raorato, mactatoque item uti prius 
 " obmoveris. Jovi ferctum obmo- 
 " veto, mactatoque item uti prius 
 " feceras. Item Jano vinum dato, 
 " et Jovi vinum dato, ita uti prius 
 " datum ob struem obmovendam, 
 " et ferctum libandum. Postea Ce- 
 " reri exta, et vinum dato." It is 
 very certain that Ceres and Bac- 
 chus were frequently joined toge- 
 ther in the same sacrifice ; but it is 
 no less certain, that this passage of 
 Virgil is no proof of it. 
 
 340. Torta redimitus tempora 
 quercu.'] They wore wreaths of 
 oak in honour of Ceres, because 
 she first taught mankind the use of 
 corn instead of acorns: thus our 
 poet: 
 
 Vestro si munere tellus 
 
 Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista. 
 
 351. Atque haze, &c] La Cerda, 
 and after him Ruaeus, and several 
 ether, commentators, understand the 
 
 poet in this passage to say, there are 
 two ways of predicting the weather ; 
 one by astrology, to which purpose 
 he mentions the moon ; the other by 
 common observation. But he has 
 already insisted sufficiently on the 
 use of the astrological science, and 
 now intends only to shew the hus- 
 bandman, how, without science, he 
 may be able, in a good measure, to 
 foresee the changes of the weather, 
 and prevent the misfortunes that 
 may attend them. Grimoaldus has 
 justly paraphrased the passage 
 under our consideration to this pur- 
 pose : " Sed quoniam rustici ho- 
 " mines, et operarii ex Saturni cae- 
 " terorumque syderum conversioni- 
 " bus parum aut nihil possunt col- 
 " ligere, ea de tempestatum indiciis, 
 " ac praenotionibus dicam, quae sunt 
 " pene ad vulgarem popularemque 
 <c sensum accommodata, &c." 
 
 352. Pluviasque.] It is pluvias 
 without que, in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, and in the old Nuren- 
 berg edition: Grimoaldus also has 
 the same reading. 
 
 353. Moneref.] It is moveret in 
 one of Dr. Mead s manuscripts, and 
 in some of the eld printed editions. 
 
 354. Quo signo.] l< Vel quo sub 
 {t sidere ; vel melius quo indicio in- 
 
80 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 the husbandman often observ- 
 ing, should keep their herds 
 nearer the stall. When the 
 winds are rising, either the 
 straits of the sea work and 
 begin to swell, and a dr) 
 crackling is heard in the 
 mountains ; or the far re- 
 bounding shores begin to echo, 
 and the murmur of the groves 
 to thicken. 
 
 Agricolae, propius stabulis armenta tenerent. 
 Continuo ventis surgentibus aut freta ponti 356 
 Incipiunt agit ita tumescere, et aridus altis 
 Montibus audiri fragor ; aut resonantia longe 
 Littora misceri, et nemorum increbrescere mur- 
 mur. 
 
 (( tell igi posset ventos deficere," says 
 Ruaeus. I have already observed 
 that Virgil has no astrological mean- 
 ing in this passage: whence we 
 must prefer with Ruaeus this latter 
 interpretation. Dr. Trapp adheres 
 to the former : 
 
 Beneath what star 
 
 Auster's rough blasts should fall. 
 
 Caderent.] La Cerda observes, 
 that from the context of Virgil it 
 appears, that caderent must signify 
 not the ceasing or falling of the 
 wind, but its rushing down, to occa- 
 sion storms. He quotes a passage of 
 Terentius Varro in Sesquiulysse, to 
 confirm this interpretation : Adversi 
 venti ceciderunt, quod si pergunt di- 
 utius mare volvere, vereor, &c. I 
 cannot find that Virgil has ever used 
 cado in this sense : but he has used 
 it for the ceasing of the wind in 
 the ninth Eclogue: 
 
 Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor, 
 
 et omnes, 
 Aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris 
 
 aura?. 
 
 Mr. B 's translation agrees with 
 
 La Cerda : 
 
 When southern tempests rise. 
 
 Quid.~\ Both the Arundelian and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts have 
 quod. Servius has the same reading, 
 and it is in some of the old printed 
 editions. Pierius says it is quid in 
 the Roman and Medicean manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 S56. Continuo ventis, &c] Here 
 
 the poet gives us the signs of the 
 winds rising. 
 
 It is more easy to admire than 
 describe the beauty of these lines of 
 our poet. The very motion of the 
 swelling sea is expressed in these 
 words, which seem to rise gradu- 
 ally with the waves : 
 
 -Freta ponti 
 
 Incipiunt agitata tumescere. 
 
 We hear the crackling of the moun- 
 tains in 
 
 -Aridus altis 
 
 Montibus audiri fragor : 
 
 and the rustling of the woods in 
 
 —Nemorum increbrescere murmur. 
 
 These beauties are too frequent in 
 Virgil to escape the observation of 
 most readers : but it would be un- 
 pardonable in a commentator not to 
 take notice of them. 
 
 The swelling of the sea, the re- 
 sounding of the coasts, and the roar- 
 ing of the mountains are mentioned 
 as prognostics of wind by Aratus, 
 whom Virgil has imitated in his 
 predictions of the weather : 
 
 J?«a o i rei xvipoio xx) 6&xUovcx S-xXxtrrx 
 TfyvioSa' xxi p.xxolv \it xlyixXoi $om»i- 
 
 Tig, 
 
 'Axrxi r ihxkiti, Ixor tubtot riXruvriu 
 Tiyvovrxi, xcevfx'i rt fioupttxt ov^tes xx^au. 
 
 357- Aridus fragor.] Pierius says 
 it is arduus in the Roman manu- 
 script. Aridus fragor means a dry 
 crackling sound, like that of trees, 
 when they break. 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 81 
 
 Jam sibi turn a curvis male temperat unda ca- 
 rinis, 360 
 
 Cum medio celeres revolant ex aequore mergi, 
 Clamoremque ferunt ad littora: cumque ma- 
 rinas 
 In sicco ludunt fulicse: notasque paludes 
 Deserit, atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. 
 Saepe etiam Stellas, vento impendente, videbis 
 Prsecipites caelo labi, noctisque per umbram 
 Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus. 
 
 Now can the wave hardly for- 
 bear the bending ships, when 
 the cormorants fly swiftly 
 from the middle of the sea, 
 and come crying to the shore: 
 and when the sea-coots play 
 on the dry land : and the 
 heron forsakes the well known 
 fens and flies above the lofty 
 clouds. When wind impends, 
 you shall also often see the 
 stars fall headlong from hea- 
 ven, and long tracts of flame 
 whiten after them through 
 the shade of night. 
 
 360. Jam sibi turn a curvis.] In 
 all the manuscripts I have consulted 
 the preposition a is omitted ; as also 
 in many printed editions. Pierius 
 says it is a curvis in the Pioman ma- 
 nuscript. Heinsius retains the pre- 
 position: and in the only passage, 
 beside this, where Virgil uses tern- 
 pero in the same sense, we find a be- 
 fore the ablative case : 
 
 -Quis talia fando, 
 
 Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles 
 
 Ulyssei 
 Tempetet a lachrymis. 
 
 361. Mergi.'] What Virgil says 
 of the cormorant, Aratus ascribes to 
 
 the i^Oi^loq. 
 
 Kou km \<7t\ fyi(>r\v or \ocahio; eb xuru xo<r- 
 
 ftov 
 'Eg a,Xo; sg%*irKt, Quvy tfigl -ffoXXa. XaXn- 
 
 Y.ivuy.ivou xt §KXuff<ra.i VTn^Qoqiotr an- 
 f/uio. 
 
 Now l^iog is generally understood 
 to mean a heron : but La Cerda in- 
 terprets it a mergus or cormorant. 
 It is said to be called l^aotog quasi 
 >>Xa}ios, because it delights in fenny 
 places ; but this agrees with the he- 
 ron, as well as with the cormorant. 
 The same author will have the ccBvion 
 of Aratus to be Xhefulica of Virgil, 
 because they are so called, as he 
 says, a fuligine, from their black- 
 
 ness : though the ottSvia is generally 
 thought to be the same with the 
 mergus. The »27r<p»s of Aratus he 
 takes to be the heron. For the 
 learned reader's satisfaction I shall 
 set down what Aratus has said of 
 these sea fowl, immediately after 
 the three verses just now quoted : 
 
 Kai Tort xa) xitftpo/, h<xor iti^ioi iroviuv- 
 
 rat, 
 'Avriu fAtXXovrn/v avifttuv tlXr$oc, (pigovrai. 
 UeXXccxt V uy^totiis vvfftrui, % ilv aXi Vivetl 
 AlS'Jioii xi^ffoua. rivdcfftfovrut Wrt^vyifffiV. 
 
 365. Saepe etiam stellas, &c] 
 This prognostic of wind taken from 
 the stars seeming to fall is borrowed 
 also from Aratus : 
 
 Ka) o*ia, vuxrec ftiXeavoiv or ufigts iuo'o'utfi 
 TagQici, ro) V oViS-tv pupo) viroXivxotlvuvroiif 
 Aidi^Sru.i xuvot$ avrqv o$ov i^o(jt.ivoio 
 Ilvivftaros. 
 
 Vento impe?idente.] One of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts has impellenie. 
 
 366. Umbram.] So I read it 
 with Heinsius. I find the same 
 reading in the Cambridge and in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 In the- King's, the Bodleian, the 
 other Arundelian, and in both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in some 
 printed editions it is umbras. Pie- 
 rius says it is umbram in the Roman 
 and Medicean manuscripts; and 
 prefers that reading. 
 
82 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Often shall you see the light 
 chaff and falling leaves fly 
 about, or floating feathers 
 dance on the surface of the 
 ■water. But when it lightens 
 from the quarter of fitrce 
 Boreas, and when the house 
 of Eurus and of Zephyrus 
 thunders; then all the coun- 
 try swims with full ditches, 
 and every mariner on the 
 sea gathers up the wet sails. 
 Never did a storm of rain fall 
 upon any without giving 
 them warning: either the 
 airy cranes avoided it in the 
 bottom of the 
 
 Saepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas, 
 Aut summa nantes in aqua colludere plumas. 
 At Boreae de parte trucis cum fulminat, et 
 
 cum 370 
 
 Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus ; omnia plenis 
 Rura natant fossis, atque omnis navita ponto 
 Humida vela legit. Nunquam imprudentibus 
 
 imber 
 Obfuit: aut ilium surgentem vallibus imis 
 
 368. Scspe levem paleam, &c] 
 What Virgil says of chaff, falling 
 leaves, and feathers, Aratus has said 
 of the down of thistles. 
 
 *HS>j xw <Xa.tf<7toi. ) Xzvxr,; y/joziov u.xkv^'/;g, 
 ~2>ifi,' lyivovr uvittev, xu<p>i$ a,Xog hvxirt 
 
 zroXXoi 
 Ax^ot itfivrXitacrt, <ra ft\v tfupo;, aXXtt o' 
 It'iaou. 
 
 370. At Borece, &c] In these 
 lines we have the prognostics of 
 rain, in which lines the poet plainly 
 imitates Aratus : 
 
 Avrccg or 1% iv^oio xccl ix vorov arguvrlycrtv, 
 "AXXors V lx fyipvgoio, xai aXXorz z?xg 
 
 fiopiuo, 
 A»j ron <r)$ tfiXoiyu hi 0*110*11 vavriXog uvr,g, 
 Ulri ft.iv, tjj fth %xy ir'iXayoSi T* o* £* A«j 
 
 "To^xti ya£ rocrtrxih mp) <sipoiroCi Qogiovrui. 
 
 The Cambridge, one of the Arun- 
 del ian, and one of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts have aut instead of at, at 
 the beginning of ver. 370. 
 
 373. Legit.] Heinsius has legunt, 
 in which, I think, he is almost sin- 
 gular. 
 
 Imprudentibus.'] Some interpret 
 this unwise, as if the poet's meaning 
 was, that these signs are so plain, 
 that the most unwise must observe 
 them. Thus Dryden : 
 
 Wet weather seldom hurts the most 
 
 unwise, 
 So plain the signs, such prophets are the 
 
 skies. 
 
 But imprudens signifies not only 
 imprudent or unwise, but also unad- 
 vised, uninformed, or unawares, in 
 which sense this passage is gene- 
 rally understood. Virgil' s meaning 
 seems to be, that the signs are so 
 many, that none can complain of a 
 shower's falling on him unawares. 
 
 374. Aut ilium surgentem vallibus, 
 &c] This passage is variously in- 
 terpreted. Some take the prog- 
 nostic of rain to be the cranes leav- 
 ing the valleys, and flying on high, 
 reading this passage gruesfugere ex 
 imis vallibus. Of this opinion are 
 Servius, Grimoaldus, Ruaeus, and 
 several others. Dryden translates 
 it in this sense : 
 
 The wary crane foresees it first, and 
 
 sails 
 Above the storm, and leaves the lowly 
 
 vales : 
 
 and Dr. Trapp : 
 
 1 Or them aerial cranes 
 
 Fled, rising from the vales. 
 
 La Cerda takes the meaning to be 
 that the showers rise out of the val- 
 leys ; interpreting it thus : " Grues 
 " volatu suo altissimo indicant im- 
 " brem surgere ab imis vallibus/' 
 In this sense May translates it : 
 
 For from the valleys, e'er it thence arise, 
 The cranes do fly. 
 
 Servius was aware of this inter- 
 pretation, and condemned it: " D^'* 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 83 
 
 Aeriae fiigere grues : aut bucula caelum 375 
 
 Suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras : 
 Aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hirundo : 
 Aut veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. 
 
 valleys as it rose : or the heifer 
 looking up to heaven has 
 snuffed in the air with wide 
 nostrils: or the chattering 
 swallow has flown round 
 about the lakes : or the frogs 
 have croaked out their an- 
 cient moan in the mud. 
 
 " autem grues, de vallibus surgere, 
 " non pluviam de vallibus surgere." 
 A third interpretation is, that the 
 cranes left their aerial flight, and 
 fled or avoided the coming storm, 
 by retreating to the low vales. In 
 this sense only Mr. B — has trans- 
 lated it : 
 
 Cranes, as it rose, fiew downwards to 
 the vale. 
 
 This interpretation is agreeable to 
 what Aristotle has said, in the ninth 
 book of his history of Animals, 
 where treating of the foresight of 
 cranes, he says they fly on high, 
 that they may see far off, and if 
 they perceive clouds and storms, 
 they descend, and rest on the 
 ground : Ek v^os ^irovroci, -zrgos to 
 xocSogxv rcc -zrojipa. Koci leiv 'i^eotn v'zQyi, 
 xcti %ii[M£ici, x.cn,roc,7Froi(r6Ci yiarv^cc^ovcriv. 
 From this high flight of the cranes, 
 we see the propriety of the epithet 
 aerias ; and we also find that not 
 their flying on high, but their 
 descent is to be esteemed a sign of 
 rain. Aratus also, whom our poet 
 imitates in his signs of weather, 
 says, the cranes leave their airy 
 flight, and return in winding 
 mazes : 
 
 OuV v$ou yifw.vm (/.Bixoot.) ?i%ts ctbvk 
 
 xikiv^oc 
 liivovrar <?£o<pxhs Tt frakifcrBTis uvoveovrat. 
 
 375. Aut bucula caelum, &c.] 
 Thus also Aratus : 
 
 Kui (lots ffi'/l rot fugo; venires IvYtoio, 
 Ovgavou itffuvi^ovTts, cevr criSi^os ufftpgrjo'Kvre. 
 
 Virgil has imitated and almost tran- 
 scribed some verses of Varro Ata- 
 cinus, which I shall here set down, 
 
 as I find them in Servius, and 
 Fulvius Ursinus : 
 
 Turn liceat pelagi volucres, tardaeque 
 paludis 
 
 Cernere inexpleto studio certare lavandi : 
 
 Et velut insolitum pennis infundere 
 rorem : 
 
 Aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hi- 
 rundo : 
 
 Et bos suspiciens caelum, mirabile visu, 
 
 Naribus aerium patulis decerpsit odo- 
 rem: 
 
 Nee tenuis formica cavis non extulit 
 ova. 
 
 These lines of Varro are undoubt- 
 edly borrowed from Aratus; and 
 the prognostics contained in them 
 are in the same order, as in the 
 Greek poet. Virgil has varied them, 
 and made them more poetical. 
 
 377. Aut arguta lacus, &c] Thus 
 Aratus : 
 
 "H Xtf&vnv zfft^i otiQx %tXi$ovss ai'tfo'ovrxiy 
 Te&e'egt rvTTTovffat aureus uXvfjcivov v%u(>. 
 
 This line of Virgil is exactly the 
 same with one of Varro, quoted in 
 the preceding note. 
 
 378. Aut veterem in limo, &c] 
 It is generally read et veterem : but 
 Pierius observed aut in several an- 
 cient manuscripts. I find aut in 
 the Bodleian and in one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts. We find this 
 prognostic also in Aratus : 
 
 "H fietXXov hiXat ytvia), uSgoiffiv ovuu£, 
 AuroBiv i% tl^aros, 'Xa.Tigts (2oouo"i yvgivuv. 
 
 As to the frogs croaking out their 
 ancient moan in the mud, the poet 
 no doubt alludes to the story of the 
 Lycian countrymen being turned 
 into frogs by Latona : which is men- 
 tioned by Ovid : 
 
 M 2 
 
H 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Often also has the pismire 
 making a narrow road brought 
 forth her eggs out of the hid- 
 den recesses ; and the rain- 
 bow has drank deep ; and the 
 army of rav.ns departing 
 from their food in a vast body 
 has made a great noise with, 
 clapping their wings. Now 
 may you see various sea-fowl, 
 and those which search fev 
 food about the Asian mea- 
 dows 
 
 Saepius et tectis penetralibus extulit ova 
 Angustum formica terens iter : et bibit ingens 
 Arcus: et e pastu decedens agmine magno 381 
 Corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis. 
 Jam varias pelagi volucres, et quae Asia circum 
 
 ■Et nunc quoque turpes 
 
 Litibus exercent linguas: pulsoque pu- 
 dore, 
 
 Quamvis sint sub aqua, sub aqua male- 
 dicer e tentant. 
 
 Vox quoque jam rauca est. 
 
 379- Scepius et tectis penetralibus, 
 &c] Thus Aratus : 
 
 Keci xo'iXm p.ugfi7ixt$ o%ri; 1% via tfavra 
 Qctirtrov avnviyxavro. 
 
 See also the last of the verses quoted 
 from Varro, in the note on ver. 375. 
 380. Et bibit ingens arcus."] It 
 was a vulgar opinion amongst the 
 ancients, that the rainbow drew up 
 water with its horns. We find fre- 
 quent allusions amongst the poets 
 to this erroneous opinion. I shall 
 content myself with one quotation 
 from the Curculio of Plautus ; where, 
 as Lena, a drunken, crooked, old 
 woman, is taking a large draught 
 of wine, Palinurus says, see how the 
 bow drinks ! we shall certainly have 
 rain to-day : 
 
 Ecce autem bibit arcus ! pluet 
 Credo hercle hodie. 
 
 Aratus mentions the rainbow ap- 
 pearing double, as a sign of rain : 
 
 "H ^tbvftv) tZ,eain $ia pzyav oh^aiov Jgi;' 
 
 in which he is followed by Pliny : 
 u Arcus, cum sunt duplices, pluvias 
 " nunciant." 
 
 382. Corvorum increpuit densis 
 exercitus alis."] Thus also Aratus : 
 
 An rtorz xa\ yivzai xo(>axm, xa) <puXa 
 zoXoutf, 
 
 T dares toy^ofiivato Atos vta^a fftift iyevovro, 
 <E>a.ivo/&ivot ayiXiiha,, xa) \or\xi<firiv »[ju>7ov 
 <&§iy\aft.i\ai' xal <sw xogaxis ^lov; ra~ 
 kayfiils 
 
 <$&>v7i ifiipr.tavra avv vharos \(>%ofiiveio' 
 ' H tots xat xgu^avrt /S«£s/jj *$io~ffxxt tyvrn 
 Maxj>ev ivippoi^idff'i rtva\oifitvoi irrtga •zuxvu. 
 
 383. Jam varias pelagi volucres, 
 &c] Pierius says that in some an- 
 cient manuscripts, the words are 
 placed thus: Jam volucres pelagi 
 varias ; and that in some it is atque 
 Asia for et quae Asia. He observes 
 also that it is varice in the Roman 
 manuscript. I find the same read- 
 ing in the Bodleian, and in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts: but the 
 grammatical construction will hardly 
 allow it not to be varias. The other 
 Arundelian manuscript has turn in- 
 stead of jam. 
 
 Aratus has mentioned this prog- 
 nostic also of the water-fowl duck- 
 ing themselves before rain : 
 
 TLoWxxi Xi/LtvaTat ?j iivdXixi oaviB'ts 
 "ATXn'S'ov xXv^ovrai ivrtftivai voanffrtf. 
 
 Virgil seems to have imitated this 
 verse of the second Iliad : 
 
 'Afftu |v Xtifjtuyi, Kavvoiou eif&fi paSga. 
 
 The Asia palus or Asius campus is 
 the name of a fenny country, which 
 receives the overflowings of the Cay- 
 ster. The first syllable of this ad- 
 jective is always long; as in the 
 passage now before us ; and in the 
 fourth Georgick : 
 
 Atque Ephyre, atque Opis, et Asia 
 Dei'opeia: 
 
 and in the seventh iEneid : 
 
 -Sonat amnis et Asia longe 
 
 Pulsa palus. 
 The first syllable of Asia, the name 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 85 
 
 Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri, 
 Certatim largos humeris infundere rores; 385 
 Nunc caput objectare fretis, nunc currere in un- 
 das, 
 Et studio incassum videas gestire lavandi. 
 Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce, 
 Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena. 
 Nee nocturna quidem carpentes pensa puellas 
 Nescivcre hyemem : testa cum ardente viderent 
 Scintillare oleum, et putres concrescere fungos. 
 
 in the sweet lakes of Cayster, 
 strive to pour a plenty of 
 water over their shoulders, 
 and now plungcinto the sea, 
 and then run upon the waves, 
 and wantonly wash them- 
 selves in lay. Then does 
 the unlucky crow call the 
 rain with a loud voice, and 
 wanders by herself alone on 
 the dry sand. Nor are the 
 maids who perform their 
 nightly tasks ignorant of the 
 approaching storm, when 
 they seethe oil sputter in the 
 lamp, land fungous excres- 
 cences grow about the wick. 
 
 of a quarter of the world, is short ; 
 as in the second Georgick : 
 
 Qui nunc extremis Asice jam victor in 
 oris. 
 
 Cayster or Caystrus is the name of 
 a river of Asia, which rises in Phry- 
 gia major, passes through Lydia, 
 and falls into the iEgean sea near 
 Ephesus. The country about this 
 river, being marshy, abounds with 
 water-fowl. Swans are frequently 
 mentioned by the poets : Homer, 
 in the passage to which we just 
 now referred, speaks of geese, cranes, 
 and swans : 
 
 -OgviSwv tfinwm s&vtx TfoXXa, 
 
 Xjjv&jv, 7i yio&vuv, vi xvkvuv dovXt^odil^uv 
 'Ariu, &c. 
 
 386. Undas.] Pierius says that 
 some of the ancient manuscripts 
 have undis, and others undas. One 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts has 
 undis, and the other has undam. 
 
 388. Turn cornix plena, &c] The 
 crow is mentioned also by Aratus : 
 
 *H<rou xtti Xaui/fv^a zreto nim ztgoiifcovty 
 
 ax^ov; 
 "rifiovs ix xitp&Xq;' 7\ xai ftciXu 'sru.ffu. 
 xo\v(i&a. / 
 
 H sroXXvi fji^TW •zSot.g uhu^ ■zfu.^ta. xgu- 
 
 The ancients thought that crows 
 not only predicted rain, but called 
 
 it. Thus Lucretius, speaking of 
 the different voices of birds: 
 
 Et partim mutant cum tempestatibus 
 
 una 
 Raucisonos cantus, cornicum ut saecla 
 
 vetusta, 
 Corvorumque greges, ubi aquam di- 
 
 cuntur et imbres 
 Poscere, et interdum ventos aurasque 
 
 vocarc. 
 
 Sometimes at change of air they change 
 
 their voice : 
 Thus dates, and om y nous crows, with va- 
 rious noise, 
 Affright the farmers; and Jill all the plain, 
 Now calling for rough winds, and now 
 ' for rain. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 Servius reads rauca instead of plena; 
 but plena is generally allowed to be 
 the true reading. 
 
 The Bodleian and one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, after ver. 
 388, have 
 
 Aut caput objectat querulum venientibus 
 undis. 
 
 The King's and one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts have et caput, &c. In 
 the Cambridge manuscript this verse 
 is mutilated; Aut caput querulum 
 j act at, &c. In the old Nurenberg 
 edition et caput, &c. is added after 
 ver. 389. 
 
 3Q2. Scintillare oleum, et putres 
 concrescere fungos.'] This also is 
 mentioned by Aratus : 
 
86 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Nor is it less easy to foresee 
 unshovvery suns, and fair open 
 weather, and to know them 
 bv manifest signs. For then 
 the light of tie stars does not 
 »eem dim, nor doe* the moon 
 teem to rise, as if she was in- 
 debtedtoh-rb-other'sbeams : 
 nor thin fleeces of wool seem 
 to be carried through the sky. 
 Nor do Thetis s beloved Hal- 
 cyons spread open their wings 
 to the warm sun, along the 
 shore : 
 
 Nec minus eximbres soles, et aperta serena 
 Prospicere, et certis poteris cognoscere signis. 
 Nam neque turn stellis acies obtusa videtur ; 395 
 Nee fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna : 
 Tenuia nee lanae per cgelum vellera ferri. 
 Non tepidum ad solem pennas in littore pandunt 
 
 Nvxra xara exorwv, p.r$ »Jv vtto %U(taro; 
 Av%vuv aWert fi'tv rt Qao$ xara xoffpov 
 
 "AWon V 
 xovtyai 
 Tlopipokuyts. 
 
 hitrauffi* a<To Qkoyts, y,irt 
 
 The sputtering of the lamps, be- 
 ing occasioned by the moisture of 
 the air, may well predict rain. 
 
 393. Nec minus, &c] After the 
 signs of wind and rain, the poet 
 now proceeds to give us those of 
 fair weather. 
 
 Eximbres.] So Pierius found it 
 in some ancient manuscripts. Al- 
 most all the editions have ex imbri ; 
 taking the poet's meaning to be that 
 these are signs of fair weather fol- 
 lowing the shower; or that they 
 are to be observed during the rain. 
 May's translation is, 
 
 By no less true, and certaine signes 
 
 may we 
 Faire dayes and sunshine in a siormc 
 
 foresee. 
 
 Dryden has, 
 
 Then after sko&'rs 'tis easy to descry 
 Returning suns, and a serener sky. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates it, 
 
 Nor less serenity succeeding shoxe'rs 
 And sunny skies, by sure unfailing signs 
 Thou may'st foresee. 
 
 Mr. B — alone adheres to eximbres; 
 
 Nor from less certain signs, the swain 
 
 descrys 
 Unshow'ry suns, and bright expanded 
 
 skies. 
 
 This reading seems more poetical 
 than the common : and it is certain, 
 that Virgil's meaning could not be, 
 that these observations are to be 
 made during the rain. At such a 
 time it would be impossible to ob- 
 serve the brightness of the moon 
 and stars ; which are the first prog- 
 nostics mentioned by our author. 
 
 395. Nam neque turn stellis acies 
 obtusa videtur."] Aratus mentions 
 the dimness of the light of the stars 
 as a sign of foul weather : 
 
 r Hftos ^ artgoS-tv xa&agov $do$ £f*,€Xvviirai, 
 
 396. Nec fratris radiis obnoxia 
 surgere luna.] Servius thinks that 
 obtusa is to be understood here ; and 
 that the sense is, " For then neither 
 u does the light of the stars seem 
 " dim, nor that of the moon, which 
 ' e is beholden to her brother's beam." 
 Ruaeus seems to have found the true 
 meaning of this passage ; that * ( the 
 " moon rises with such an exceed- 
 " ing brightness, that one would 
 " rather think her light to be her 
 <c own, than only borrowed from the 
 " sun." See Aulus Gellius, 1. vii. 
 c. 17. 
 
 397. Tenuia nec lanaz per caelum 
 vellera Jerri.] By thin fleeces of 
 wool the poet means the fleecy clouds, 
 which Aratus mentions as a sign of 
 rain: 
 
 HoXXaxi y tg%8fiivw» lirui vtQta vcgaTa- 
 07a ftctkic-a, Toxotffn ieixira IvtiakXovrat. 
 
 398. Non.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is nec. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 87 
 
 Dilectae Thetidi Alcyones : non ore solutos 
 Immundi meminere sues jactare maniplos. 400 
 At nebulae magis ima petunt, campoque recum- 
 
 bunt: 
 Solis et occasum servans de culmine summo 
 Nequicquam seros exercet noctua cantus. 
 
 nor do the filthy swine re- 
 member to unbind and toss 
 about the bundles of straw 
 with their snouts. But the 
 mists descend, and lie on the 
 plain : and the owl observing 
 the setting sun from the top 
 of the roof, forbears to sing 
 her nightly song. 
 
 399. Dilectce Thetidi Halcyones.] 
 The fable of Ceyx and his wife Hal- 
 cyone being turned into these birds 
 is beautifully related in the eleventh 
 book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The 
 mutual love of these persons sub- 
 sisted after their change, in honour 
 of which, the gods are said to have 
 ordained, that whilst they sit on 
 their nest, which floats on the sea, 
 there should be no storm. Some 
 say this lasts seven days, others 
 nine, others eleven, and others four- 
 teen. Ovid mentions seven : 
 
 Et tandem, superis miserantibus, 
 
 ambo 
 Alite mutantur. Fatis obnoxius isdem 
 Tunc quoque mansit amor. Nee con- 
 
 jugiale solutum 
 Fcedus in alitibus : coeunt, fiuntque pa- 
 
 rentes : 
 Perque dies placidos hiberno tempore 
 
 septem. 
 Incubat Halcyone, pendentibus cequore 
 
 nidis. 
 Turn via tuta maris : ventos custodit, et 
 
 arcet 
 iEolus egressu: praestatque nepotibus 
 
 eequor. 
 
 •The gods commiserate : 
 
 And change them loth, obnoxious to like 
 
 fate. 
 As erst they love: their nuptial faiths 
 
 they shew 
 In little birds : ingender, parents grow. 
 Seven winter days with peaceful calms 
 
 possesty 
 Alcyon sits upon her floating nest. 
 Then' safely saile : then Aeolus incaves 
 For his the winds; and smooths the 
 
 stooping waves. 
 
 Sandsts. 
 
 Hence they are said to be beloved 
 
 by the sea-nymphs. Thus Theo- 
 critus : 
 
 X* aXxvons fogifivvn rot xvpara, reiv rz 
 
 S-uXua-fftt,9, 
 Tov r$ vorov, rav <r tv^ov os ttf%etra Quxia 
 
 KIVt7. 
 
 'AXxuov$Sy yXuuzuTg H'/igyi'itri rectrt f/,a- 
 Xt$a 
 
 Let Halcyons smooth the seas, the storms 
 allay, 
 
 And skim the floods before him all the 
 way: 
 
 The nymphs lov'd bird, of all that 
 haunt the flood, 
 
 Skim o'er the waves, and dive for swim- 
 ming food. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 399. Ore solutos.] Servius says 
 that some read ore soluto, that is, 
 with very wide snouts or mouths. 
 In this sense Mr. B has trans- 
 lated it : 
 
 Nor mindful are the swine, with jaws 
 displayed 
 
 To gripe the straw, and toss their rust- 
 ling bed. 
 
 403. Nequicquam.'] I have ob- 
 served, in the note on ver. 192, that 
 nequicquam is seldom used by Virgil 
 for non: but here I think it is 
 plainly used in that sense. Aratus 
 says that the singing of the owl is 
 a sign of the storms ceasing : 
 
 ■Nuangiii >y\uv% 
 
 v HffV%oi> uiftovcra, f/.agxivoy/ivov %ti[tuvos 
 Ttvi<rS-u roi ffvifia. 
 
 Pliny says the chattering of the owl, 
 in rain, is a sign of fair weather; 
 
88 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 s N gran dTcyt f i^^hedfor Apparet liquido sublimis in aere Nisus, 
 
 the purple hair : 
 
 Et pro purpureo poenas dat Scylla capillo : 405 
 
 and in fair weather, of a storm: 
 ft Grues silentio per sublime vo- 
 " lantes [praesagiunt] serenitatem. 
 " Sic noctua in imbre garrula: at 
 " sereno, tempestatem." We have 
 seen already , in the note on ex- 
 imbres, that the prognostics here 
 set down relate to the continuance 
 of fair weather, not of its succeed- 
 ing a storm. Therefore the silence 
 of the owl is a sign of the continu- 
 ance of fair weather. If we un- 
 derstand the poet to be speaking 
 during the rain, the hooting of the 
 awl will be a sign of fair weather, 
 according to Aratus. But then ne- 
 quicquam must be wrong, whether 
 we take it to mean not or in vain. 
 If we understand the poet to speak 
 of the continuance of fair weather, 
 nequieqnam must signify not; be- 
 cause, according to Pliny, the hoot- 
 ing of the owl at such a time would 
 be a sign of rain. May has trans- 
 lated nequicquam, not : 
 
 The fatal owle high mounted at sun-set 
 Does not the balefull evening song repeat. 
 
 Dryden has translated this passage 
 most wretchedly : 
 
 And owls that mark the setting sun, 
 
 declare 
 A star-light evening, and a morning 
 
 fair. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates nequicquam, in 
 vain : 
 
 And now the bird 
 
 Of night, observant of the setting sun, 
 Sings her late song from some high 
 tow'r in vain. 
 
 " Nequicquam (says this learned 
 " gentleman) for non is intolerable: 
 " and Servius gives us no authority 
 " for it but Persius's ; which, con- 
 " sidering the obscurity of that 
 " writer, is nothing at all. Besides, 
 
 " it is well known that the music 
 " of the owl (such as it is) is a 
 " prognostic of dry weather. I 
 " therefore take it thus ; that dark 
 " bird delighting in rain and clouds 
 " makes this noise, by way of com- 
 <c plaint, not of joy (for it is a dismal 
 " ditty indeed) at the approach of 
 " fair weather : but does it nequic- 
 " quam, in vain : for that weather 
 " will come, for all her hooting." 
 This interpretation seems to be very 
 much forced, and not to be sup- 
 ported by any good authority. 
 Mr. B — 's interpretation is not very 
 different. " Virgil embellishes this 
 " mean subject in a very extraor- 
 " dinary manner. When he is to 
 " say that the hooting of owls at 
 " night is a sign of fair weather, he 
 " takes occasion to make a delicate 
 " reflection upon superstitious peo- 
 " pie. Owls were supposed by 
 ci such persons always to forebode 
 " some calamity by their noise ; 
 u but now, says lie, they sing 
 tf nequicquam, in vain; for nobody 
 " is so weak as to expect bad wea- 
 " ther from their music." 
 
 404. Aere.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is cethere: it is the 
 same also in the Roman manuscript, 
 according to Pierius. 
 
 405. Et pro purpureo poenas dat 
 Scylla capillo.] The story of Nisus 
 and Scylla is related in the eighth 
 book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. 
 Nisus was king of Alcathoe or 
 Megara. He had on his head a 
 purple hair, in which the security 
 of the kingdom lay. Scylla, his 
 daughter, falling desperately in love 
 with Minos, who besieged the city, 
 stole the purple hair, and fled with 
 it to him. But that just prince, 
 abhorring the crime, rejected her*, 
 with indignation, and sailed to Crete, 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 89 
 
 Quacunque ilia levem fugiens secat aethcra 
 
 permis, 
 Ecce inimicus atrox magno stridore per auras 
 Insequitur Nisus, qua se fert Nisus ad auras, 
 Ilia levem fugiens raptim secat aethera pennis. 
 Turn liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces, 410 
 Aut quater ingeminant; etsaepe cubilibus altis, 
 Nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine laeti, 
 Inter se fohis strepitant : jurat irnbribus actis 
 Progcniem parvam, dulcesque revisere nidos. 
 Haud equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis 415 
 Ingenium, aut rerum fato prudentia major : 
 
 wherever she flying cuts the 
 light air with her wings, be- 
 hold Nisus her cruel enemy 
 pursues with a great noise 
 through the air : where Nisus 
 mounts the sky, she swiftly 
 flying cuts the light air with 
 her wings. Then do the ra- 
 vens press their throats, and 
 three or four times redouble 
 a clearer sound ; and often re- 
 joicing, in their lofty habita- 
 tions, with I know not what 
 unusual sweetness, rustle a- 
 mongst the leaves : they de- 
 light, when the showers are 
 driven away, to revisit their 
 little offspring, and their sweet 
 nests. Not that I think they 
 have any genius from heaven, 
 or extraordinary knowledge 
 of tilings by fate : 
 
 leaving her behind. Scylla, in de- 
 spair, plunged into the sea after him, 
 and took fast hold of the ship. Her 
 father, who had just been changed 
 into the Haliaetos, which is thought 
 to be the osprey, a rapacious bird 
 of the eagle kind, hovering over her 
 to tear her in pieces, she let go her 
 hold, and was immediately changed 
 into the ciris. Some take this bird 
 to be a lark, others think it is a 
 solitary bird, with a purple crest on 
 its head, which continually haunts 
 the rocks, and shores of the sea. 
 
 406. JEthera.] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is aera. 
 
 410. Corvi.] This prognostic of 
 the ravens is taken also from Aratus: 
 
 Kx) xogxxzs (/.ouvot fth, ifWtfjLOUoi (iocuvrt; 
 Attrtrxxis. ccbra,^ bthtx (Airx^^'ox xixXn- 
 
 HXuon^oi o kyzXrlhov Itm xostoio ftideovrat, 
 <J><wv5js iftvrXtiot, %a'tguv xi ri? utcroiro, 
 Oi« rk fih fioowffi, htycavofAivoicriv ofioTx. 
 TloXXa. $1 $$v$/)<ioto ?ri(u (pXoov kX-Xot tv 
 
 ccl-lv 
 H-X,' ri tuowrit xai utforgovroi uvrregvovrai. 
 
 413. Liter sefoliis.~\ So I read it 
 with Heinsius, and most of the good 
 editors. Pierius says it is inter se 
 in foliis, in the Medicean and most 
 of the ancient manuscripts. The 
 preposition in is retained also in one 
 
 of the Arundelian, and both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts : but in the rest, 
 which I have consulted, in is omitted. 
 It is more agreeable to Virgil's style 
 to leave it out. 
 
 415. Hand equidem. credo, SfC.~\ 
 Here Virgil speaks as an Epicurean : 
 he does not allow any divine know- 
 ledge or foresightto be in birds ; but 
 justly ascribes these changes in their 
 behaviour to the effects which, the 
 alterations of the air, with regard to 
 rarefaction and density, have upon 
 their bodies. 
 
 41 6. Rerum fato prudentia ma- 
 jor.'] This passage has been vari- 
 ously interpreted by the commen- 
 tators. Servius interprets it, ' ' pru- 
 " dentia quae est major rerum fato;" 
 a knowledge which is greater than 
 the fate of things. La Cerda ex- 
 plains it much to the same purpose ; 
 " prudentia quibus fata superent;" 
 a knowledge by which they sur- 
 pass fate. Ruaeus follows Servius : 
 " prudentia quae potentior est fato." 
 May translates it according to the 
 same construction : but with a sort 
 of paraphrase : 
 
 I do not thinke that all these creatures 
 have 
 
 More wisedome than the fates to man- 
 kind gave. 
 
 N 
 
90 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 but when the storm and move- 
 able moisture of the heaven 
 have changed their courses, 
 and the air moist with south 
 winds cond n>es what just be- 
 fore was rare, and rarities what 
 was dense; theimiges of their 
 m nd- are changed, and their 
 bre sts now receive a difFe-enc 
 impress : on, from that which 
 they had w h n the wind drove 
 away the clouds. Hence the 
 birds join in concert in the 
 fields, and the cattle rejoice, 
 and the ravens exulting croak. 
 But if you regard the rapid 
 sun, and the moons which 
 follow in order ; the next d iy 
 will never deceive you, nor 
 will you be caught by the 
 snares of a fair night. When 
 the moon first collects the 
 returning rays, if she in- 
 closes black air with dark- 
 ened horns, 
 
 Verum, ubi tempestas, et caeli mobilis humor 
 Mutavere vias, et Jupiter uviclus austris 
 Densat erant quae rara modo, et quae densa 
 
 relaxat ; 
 Vertuntur species animorum, et pectora motus 
 Xunc alios, alios dum nub. la veulusa^ebat, 421 
 Concipiunt. Hinc ille avium concentus in agris, 
 Et laetas pecudes, et ovantcs gutture corvi. 
 Si vero solem ad rapklum, lunasque scquentes 
 Ordine respicies; nunquam te crastina fallet 
 Hora, neque insidiis noctis capiere serenae. 426 
 Luna revertentes cum primum colligit ignes, 
 Si nigrum obscuro comprenderit aera cornu. 
 
 Dry den's translation is scarce sense: 
 
 Not that I think their breasts with 
 
 heav'nly souls 
 Inspir'd, as man, ivho destiny conirouls. 
 
 Mr. B proposes a new inter- 
 pretation, " major prudentia infato," 
 or " in futuro;" and accordingly 
 translates this passage, 
 
 Not that I think the gods to them dis- 
 pense 
 
 Of things in fate a more discerning 
 sense. 
 
 Dr. Trapp is of the same opinion : 
 f f Prudence greater than fate (as this 
 f f is generally rendered) is flat non- 
 " sense. Take it thus : A greater 
 <c knowledge [than we have] in the 
 " fate of things." His translation 
 runs thus : 
 
 Not that I think an ingeny divine 
 
 To them is giv'n or prescience of events 
 
 In fate superior. 
 
 Grimoaldus seems to have found 
 the true sense of this passage : that 
 these animals have no particular in- 
 struction from the gods, or superior 
 knowledge by fate. 
 
 418. Mutavere vias.] In one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, itis mu- 
 tavere vices. 
 
 Jupiter uvidus.] So I read it with 
 Heinsius: almost all the editions 
 have Jupiter humidus. Masvicius 
 reads uvidus. 
 
 419. Densat.] La Cerda con- 
 tends, that denset is the true reading.. 
 I find denset in one of the Arunde- 
 lian, and in one of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts. 
 
 420. Pectora.] It is pectore in the 
 Cambridge and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. Pierius found pectore 
 in several ancient copies : he ob- 
 serves that in the Medicean manu- 
 script pectore is written in a different 
 hand. 
 
 424. Si vero, fyc] Having shewn 
 how the changes of weather are pre- 
 dicted by animals, he now proceeds 
 to explain the prognostics from the 
 sun and moon ; and begins with the 
 moon. 
 
 428. Aera.] Pierius would fain 
 read a'ere ; though he allows at the 
 same time that it is aera in all the 
 ancient manuscripts. He thinks 
 nigrum agrees with cornu, because 
 Varro has said obatrum cornu ; and 
 then obscuro will agree with aere. 
 The horn of the moon black with 
 dark air would certainly not be 
 amiss : but then there is some diffi- 
 
GEORG. LIB. L 
 
 91 
 
 Maximus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber. 
 At, si virgineum sufFuderit ore ruborem, 430 
 Ventus erit: vento semper rubet aurea Phoebe. 
 Sin ortu quarto, namque is certissimus auctor, 
 Pura, Deque obtusis per caelum cornibus ibit, 
 Totus et ille dies, et qui nascentur ab illo, 
 Exactum ad mensem, pluvia ventisque carebunt: 
 Votaque servati solvent in lilore nautae 436 
 
 a great storm of rain will in- 
 vade both iand and sea. But 
 if she spreads a virgin blush, 
 over her face, there will be 
 wind : for gold n Phoebe al- 
 ways reddens with wind. 
 But if at her fourth rising, 
 for that is the surest sign, 
 she shines clear a d not with 
 blunted horns, that whole 
 day, and all the re.-t of the 
 month will be free from rain 
 and wind: and the sailora 
 escaping shall pay their vows 
 on the shore 
 
 culty in making cornu follow com- 
 prenderit. For though we may say 
 the moon contains or incloses dark 
 air with her horns ; yet we cannot 
 say that the moon contains or in- 
 closes her horns with dark air. 
 Varro, as he is quoted by Pliny, 
 speaks of the dark part of the moon's 
 orb inclosing a cloud: Si caligo 
 orbis nubem incluserit. This seems 
 to be the same with the horns in- 
 closing black air; si nigrum com- 
 prenderit a'era cornu. Soon after 
 he says ; if the moon rises with the 
 upper horn blackish, there will be 
 rain after the full ; nascens luna, si 
 cornu superior e obatro surget, pluvias 
 decrescens dabit. This I suppose is 
 the passage to which Pierius alludes. 
 Virgil has comprehended both these 
 presages in one line : the latter be- 
 ing fully expressed by the epithet 
 obscuro added to cornu. The most 
 that we can grant to Pierius seems 
 to be, that his reading might be ad- 
 mitted, if there were good authority 
 for it. But, as he cannot produce 
 one manuscript to justify it, and as 
 the common reading is sense, and 
 Very intelligible, I see no reason to 
 make such an alteration. 
 
 429. Agricolis.] La Cerda reads 
 Agricolce. 
 
 430. Virgineum.] La Cerda reads 
 virgineo. 
 
 432. Sin ortu quarto.] La Cerda, 
 Ruaeus, and several other editors 
 read orlu in quarto. But the prepo- 
 
 sition is omitted in most of the an- 
 cient manuscripts, according to Pie- 
 rius. It is omitted also in the King's, 
 the Cambridge, one of the Arunde- 
 lian, and both Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts. Servius, Heinsius, and se- 
 veral of the old editors also leave it 
 out. It is retained in the Bodleian, 
 and in the other Arundelian manu- 
 script. It is more agreeable to the 
 style of Virgil, to leave out the 
 preposition. 
 
 Other authors differ from Virgil 
 in this particular, and propose other 
 days of the moon's age, as equally 
 or more certain prognostics of the 
 ensuing weather. The poet follows 
 the opinion of the Egyptians, ac- 
 cording to Pliny : Quartam earn ma- 
 xime observat Mgyptus. 
 
 434. Nascentur.] It is nascetur 
 in the Roman, and nascuntur in the 
 Lombard manuscript, according to 
 Pierius. It is nascetur in the King's 
 manuscript : La Cerda also has the 
 same reading. 
 
 436. Votaque servati solvent in li- 
 tore nautce.] Pierius says it is ad li- 
 tora in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 It was a custom amongst the an- 
 cient mariners to vow a sacrifice to 
 the sea-gods on the shore, provided 
 they returned safe from their voyage. 
 This custom is alluded to by our 
 poet in the third iEneid : 
 
 Quin ubi transmissae steterint trans 
 
 aequora classes, 
 Et positia arte jam vota in littore solves. 
 N2 
 
92 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SSlSSa a Se P S?3 , iS Glauco, et Panopeae, et Inoo Melicert*. 
 
 The sun also, both when he ■, • i«, • l 
 
 rises, and when he dios him- bol quoque etexonens, et cum se condit m undas, 
 
 self in the waves, will give ... 
 
 gg ns j n th e surest signs attend Signa dabit ; solem certissnna signa sequuntur; 
 
 But -when your ships rest wafted o'er tlie 
 
 main, 
 And you on altars raised along the shore 
 Pay your vow'd offerings. 
 
 Dr. Trapp. 
 
 And again in the fifth : 
 
 Dii, quibus imperium est pelagi, quorum 
 
 aequora curro ; 
 Vobis laetus ego hoc candentem in littore 
 
 taurum 
 Constituam ante aras voti reus, extaque 
 
 Porriciam in fluctus, et vina liquentia 
 fundam. 
 
 Ye gods, who rule the ocean which I sail : 
 Victor, before your altars on this shore, 
 To you a snow white bull I will present, 
 Obliged by vow ; and on the briny deep 
 Scatter the entrails, pouring purest wine. 
 Dr. Trapp. 
 
 437. Glauco, et Panopece, et Inoo 
 Melicertce.] This verse is taken 
 from Parthenius, according to Aulus 
 Gellius : 
 
 TXxvxa, xa) Nygit, xa) uvuXiu UltXtxi^rri, 
 
 Macrobius reads 'Ima instead of ihoc- 
 Xii*. Lucilius also has almost the 
 same words in one of his epigrams : 
 
 Tkavxeo, xa.) N^s*, xa.) r lvo7, xa.) Mikixzpr'/i 
 
 Kx) (iuS-in K^ov'ity, xa.) ^afioS-^i SioTs, 
 
 1£w$t)$ tx viXayous hovxiWio;, u%i xixxo- 
 
 fUU 
 
 la.; roi^a; \x xitpxXr,;' uXko yu.% ou^iv 
 
 Vjrgil leaves the vowels open, after 
 the manner of the Greek poets. 
 
 Glaucus was a fisherman, who, 
 observing that his fish, by touching 
 a certain herb, recovered their 
 strength, and leaped again into the 
 water, had the curiosity to taste of 
 it himself: upon which he imme- 
 diately leaped into the water and 
 became a sea-god. Panopea was 
 
 one of the Nereids. She is men- 
 tioned in the fifth iEneid : 
 
 Dixit ; eumque imis sub fluclibus audiit 
 
 omnis 
 Nereidum Phorcique chorus, Panope- 
 
 aque virgo ; 
 Et pater ipse manu magna Portunus 
 
 euntem 
 Impulit. 
 
 Ino was the daughter of Cadmus, 
 andwifeof Athamas,king of Thebes. 
 Flying from the fury of her husband, 
 who had already torn one of their 
 children in pieces, she threw herself 
 into the sea, with her son Melicerta^ 
 They were both changed into sea- 
 deities : Ino was called by the Greeks 
 Leucothea, and by the Romans Ma- 
 tuta: Melicerta was called by the 
 Greeks Palaemon, and by the Ro- 
 mans Portunus. 
 
 438. Sol quoque, 8?c.~] In this pas- 
 sage are contained the predictions 
 drawn from the rising and setting 
 of the sun. The three first lines are 
 taken from as many of Aratus : 
 
 'RsXioio Yi rot /xiXiru txursgS-tv iovtos' 
 RiXiu xa) ftaXXov loixorx ai\fiaTX xiTrxi, 
 'Afi^iOTi^ov, ^vvovn, xa) Ix Trzoams xvt'ovri. 
 
 Condit.~\ It is condet in one of the 
 Arundelian, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts: several printed edi- 
 tions have the same reading. I 
 follow Heinsius. 
 
 439. Sequuntur.'] It is sequentur 
 in the Cambridge, one of the Arun- 
 delian, one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, and in several printed edi- 
 tions. Pierius says it is sequuntur 
 in the Roman, the Medicean, and 
 the Lombard manuscript, and thinks 
 this the best reading. Servius, La 
 Cerda, and some others read sequen- 
 tur. Heinsius, Ruaeus, and others 
 read sequuntur. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 93 
 
 Et quae mane refert, et quae surgentibus astris. 
 Ule ubinascentem maculis variaverit ortum 441 
 Conditus in nubem, medioque refugerit orbe ; 
 Suspecti tibi sint imbres ; namque urget ab alto 
 Arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister. 
 Aut ubi sub lucem densa inter nubila sese 445 
 Diversi rumpent radii, aut ubi pallida surget 
 Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile ; 
 Heu male turn mites defendet pampinus uvas, 
 Tarn multa in tectis crepitans salit horrida grando. 
 
 both those which he brings in 
 the morning, and those when 
 the stars arise. When at his 
 first rising he appears spotted, 
 and hid in a cloud, and with- 
 draws half his orb ; you 
 may suspect showers : for 
 the south-wind pernicious to 
 trees, and corn, and cattle, 
 presses from the sea. Or 
 when at his rising the rays 
 scatter themselves diversly 
 among thick clouds, or when 
 Aurora rises pale, as she leave* 
 the saffron bed of Tithonus ; 
 alas, the vine-leaf will but 
 poorly defend the ripening- 
 grapes, so thick will horrid 
 hail bound rattling upon the 
 roofs. 
 
 441. Maculis variaverit ortum.] 
 Thus Aratus : 
 
 Mw oi ToixiXXoiro viov (iaXXovros upovpuis 
 KvxXos, or tbViov xi%i>vif*.ivos tifturo; t'/ys, 
 Mrdi rt trrjpa ty'ipoi, Qetivotro Ti Xtros uTrutrn. 
 
 442. Conditus in nubem.~\ Thus 
 Aratus : 
 
 M>?5' ors oi okiyti vstpiXyi vroigos uvriXXrien, 
 Tvv Tt far axrivav xs%gao*fiivos attros as^SJj, 
 ' ' AfAvr,riiv virolo. 
 
 443. Ab alto.] La Cerda explains 
 this ab alto aere. Ruaeus interprets 
 it e mari. Mr. B seems to fol- 
 low La Cerda : 
 
 The south comes pow'ring down. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 — Notus from above 
 Threatens. 
 
 See the note on collects ex alto nubcs, 
 ver. 324. 
 
 445. Sese diversi rumpent radii.] 
 Pierius says it is rumpunt in the Ro- 
 man manuscript; and rumpent in 
 the Medicean, and other ancient 
 manuscripts. It is rumpent in the 
 King's, the Cambridge, and both 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. Hein- 
 sius, Masvicius, and several other 
 
 I editors, have the same reading. 
 
 ! Servius, La Cerda, Ruaeus, and 
 others read erumpent. 
 
 This prognostic of the scattering 
 of the rays of the sun is taken also 
 from Aratus : 
 
 'AXX' ol% o-r-rort xo7Xo$ tuiofavos 9tpi- 
 
 riXXr,, 
 ObV oTor axrivuv, al fciv vorov, ai Se (lopwot 
 "Sfctfypsmi fiuXkojiri, ra S' aZ #tp) fikvaob 
 
 Qouivy, 
 'AXXk irou n virolo oiigxireci, >} aviftdio. 
 
 446. Surget.'] So Pierius found 
 it in the Medicean and other ancient 
 manuscripts, though, he says, there 
 are some that read surgit. One of 
 the Arundelian, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts have surgit. Almost 
 all the printed editions have surget. 
 
 447. Tithoni croceum linquens Au- 
 rora cubile.] This verse is repeated 
 in the third and ninth JEneids. 
 Tithonus was the sonofLaomedon, 
 king of Troy. Aurora, or the 
 morning, is fabled to have fallen in 
 love with him. Homer speaks of 
 Aurora rising from the bed of Ti- 
 thonus, in the eleventh Iliad : 
 
 ? Hai? S' Ik Xi%iav Tug ocyK'Jod TiB-uvoTt 
 
 The saffron morn, with early blushes 
 
 spread, 
 Now rose refulgent from Tithonus' bed. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 448. Defendet.'] Servius reads 
 defendit : but Pierius has observed, 
 that it is the future tense, in the 
 Medicean, and almost all the other 
 ancient manuscripts. 
 
 449. Tarn.] It is turn in several 
 manuscripts : but tarn is generally 
 received. 
 
94 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 It will also be more profitable 
 to observe this, when the sun, 
 having measured the heavens, 
 is now going down : for we 
 often see various colours wan- 
 der over his face. The bine 
 foretels rain ; the fiery foretels 
 wind : but if the spots begin 
 to be mixed with fiery red, 
 then you may expect a storm 
 of wind and fain. That night 
 let none advise me to go upon 
 the sea, or to loose my cable 
 from the shore. But if his 
 orb shall be clear, both when 
 he brings on the day, and 
 when he carries it back again, 
 in vain shall you be afraid of 
 showers, and you will see the 
 woods wave with the clear 
 north wind. Lastly, the sun 
 will give you signs of what 
 the late evening will produce, 
 from whence the wind drives 
 the bright clouds, what the 
 moist south wind is meditat- 
 ing. Who dares accuse the 
 sun of falsehood ? he also often 
 foretels the approach of dark 
 tumults, and the growth of 
 treachery, and hidden wars. 
 
 Hocetiam,emenso cum jamdecedetOlympo,450 
 Profuerit meminisse magis : nam saepe videmus 
 Ipsius in vultu varios errare colores. 
 Caeruleus pluviam denunciat, igneus euros : 
 Sin maculae incipient rutilo immiscerier igni ; 
 Omnia tunc pariter vento nimbisque videbis 455 
 Fervere. Non ilia quisquam me nocte per alturn 
 Ire, neque a terra moneat convellere funem. 
 At si, cum referetque diem, condetque relatum, 
 Lucidus orbis erit, frustra terrebere nimbis, 
 Et claro sylvas cernes aquilone moveri. 460 
 
 Denique, quid vesper serus vehat, unde serenas 
 Ventus agat nubes, quid cogitet humidus auster, 
 Sol tibi signa dabit : Solem quis dicere falsum 
 Audeat? ille etiam cascos instare tumultus 
 Saepe monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere 
 bella. 465 
 
 450. Emenso cum jam decedet 
 Olympo, profuerit meminisse magis.] 
 Thus Aratus : 
 
 t Eo , tfi(jioi; xa) [/.xWov uXviOia rsxju.r,^aia. 
 
 4>52. Varios errare colores.] The 
 various colours of the sun are men- 
 tioned also by Aratus : only, where 
 Virgil speaks of blue, the Greek 
 poet mentions black : 
 
 ' H u vrov fti\an~, xoci <rot to. f&iv, vSxro; '(<?u 
 "Syftxrtz f&'iWovros' to. V IgtvS-ia ^ri.vr 
 
 uvifjcoto. 
 E*yt fih aftQorzgois ilftuSis x.z%(>uffpUos s"n, 
 Kat xiv uBu(> Qogioi, xai vTwifAios ruvvoiro. 
 
 456. No?i ilia quisquam, fyc] 
 This kind of excursion is used by 
 Virgil in other places. Thus in the 
 second Georgick : 
 
 Nee tibi tam prudens quisquam persua- 
 
 deat auctor 
 Tellurem Borea rigidain spirante mo. 
 
 vere. 
 
 And in the third : 
 
 Ne mihi turn molles sub dio carpere 
 
 somnos, 
 Neu dorso nemoris libeat jacuisse per 
 
 herbas. 
 
 458. At si, fyc] Thus Aratus : 
 
 E? y auru; xctSxgiv fttv %X 01 (^ovXv<rio; ugt), 
 Avvai 5' a.vs<pt\e$ ftxXuxzv vroSutXos alyXniy 
 
 461. Vehat.'] Pierms says it is 
 ferat in the Koman manuscript; 
 
 which he takes to have been put in 
 by way of paraphrase. I find the 
 same reading in the Cambridge ma- 
 nuscript. 
 
 462. Agat.] It is agit in the 
 King's manuscript : but agat is cer- 
 tainly much better. 
 
 Quid cogitet humidus Auster.'] Pie- 
 rius says that some would fain read 
 quid cogat et humidus Auster : but 
 that most of the ancient manuscripts 
 have cogitat. 
 
 465. Operta.~\ The Bodleian ma- 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 95 
 
 Me etir.m extincto miseratus Craare Romam, at^h^mSdefo7c t i e 5 d ar R > ome, 
 
 nuscript has aperta. Dryden seems 
 to have read aperia, for he trans- 
 lates it open wars. But I have not 
 seen aperta in any other manu 
 script, or in any printed edition. 
 
 In Mr. B- s edition it is operia, 
 
 and yet he translates it audacious 
 wars. 
 
 466. Ille eiiam, &c.] Having just 
 observed that the sun foretels wars 
 and tumults, he takes occasion to 
 mention the prodigious paleness of 
 the sun after the death of Julius 
 Caesar. Then he digresses into a 
 beautiful account of the other pro- 
 digies which are said to have ap- 
 peared at the same time. But though 
 he represents these extraordinary 
 appe trances, as consequences of the 
 murder of Caesar ; yet at the same 
 time he shews, that they predicted 
 the civil war of Augustus and An- 
 thony, against Brutus and ( assius. 
 The reader cannot but observe how 
 judiciously Virgil takes care to shew 
 that he had not forgot the subject 
 of his poem in this long digression. 
 At the close of it he introduces a 
 husbaiidman in future ages plough- 
 ing up the field of battle, and asto- 
 nished at the magnitude of the bones 
 of those, who had been there buried. 
 
 Servius takes the prodigies here 
 mentioned to have predicted the 
 death of Julius Caesar; and men- 
 tions a darkness of the sun, which 
 happened on the fourteenth of 
 March, being the day before that 
 murder. He adds that this dark- 
 ness lasted several hours : u Constat 
 " autem occiso Caesare in Senatu, 
 " pridie Iduum Martiarum JSolis 
 " fuisse defectum, ab hora sexta 
 " usque ad noctem. Quod quia 
 " multis protractum est horis, dicit 
 " in sequentibus, ceternam timuerunt 
 " scscuki noclem." Ovid relates these 
 
 prodigies, as preceding Caesar's 
 death, but the greatest part of them, 
 and especially the extraordinary 
 dimness of the sun, are related by 
 historians, as happening after that 
 murder. Servius is generally un- 
 derstood to mean an eclipse in this 
 passage by the word defectics ; but 
 it is no where mentioned as an 
 eclipse, that I remember, nor can I 
 guess upon what authority Servius 
 could relate either that there was 
 an eclipse about that time, or that 
 it happened the day before Caesar's 
 murder. Ovid speaks of a pale- 
 ness of the sun : 
 
 Phoebi quoque tristis imago 
 
 Lurida sollicitis praebebat lumina terris. 
 
 Pliny makes use indeed of the word 
 defectus, but he cannot possibly be 
 understood to mean what is pro- 
 perly called an eclipse ; because he 
 speaks of its lasting a whole year ; 
 " Fiunt prodigiosi et longiores solis 
 " defectus, qualis occiso dictatore 
 " Caesare, et Antoniano bello, totius 
 te pene anni pallore continuo." Ti- 
 bullus also says the misty year saw 
 the darkened sun drive pale horses : 
 
 Ipsum etiam solem defectum lumine 
 
 vidit 
 Jungere pallentes nubilus annus equos. 
 
 Plutarch, in his life of Julius Caesar, 
 goes farther. He not only men- 
 tions the paleness of the sun, for a 
 whole year after Caesars death: 
 but adds, that for want of the na- 
 tural heat of the sun, the fruits 
 rotted, without coming to maturity. 
 Dryden has fallen into the error, 
 that the sun predicted Caesar's 
 death. 
 
 He first the fate of Caesar did foretel, 
 And pitied Rome when Rome in Caesar 
 
 fell. 
 
96 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 when he covered his bright 
 head with a dusky redness, 
 and impious morta's were 
 afraid tUe darkness would be 
 eternal. Though at that time 
 the earth also, and the sea, 
 and ominous dogs, and fore- 
 boding birds 
 
 Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texif, 
 Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. 
 Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque, et 
 
 aequora ponti, 
 Obscoenique canes, importunaeque volucres 470 
 
 467. Cum.] In the King's manu- 
 script it is turn. 
 
 Ferrugine.] Ferrugo does not pro- 
 perly signify darkness, or blackness, 
 but a deep redness. Thus ferrugi- 
 neus is applied to the flower of the 
 hyacinth, which is also crJled pur- 
 pureus, the colour of blood. 
 
 468. Impia scecula.] By scecula 
 the poet means men, in imitation of 
 Lucretius, who frequently uses that 
 word, for kind, species, or sex. Out 
 of many examples I shall select a 
 few : in the fifth book he calls man- 
 kind hominum scecla : 
 
 Quod si forte fuisse antehac eadem 
 
 omnia credis : 
 Sed periisse hominum torrenti scecla va- 
 
 pore. 
 
 In the fourth book he calls the fe- 
 male sex muliebre sceclum : 
 
 Et muliebre oritur pa trio de semiue 
 sceclum. 
 
 In the second book, scecla is used 
 for the several kinds of animals : 
 
 ■ 'Effbetaque tellus 
 Vix animalia parva creat, quae cuncta 
 
 creavit 
 Scecla, deditque ferarum ingentia corpora 
 
 partu, 
 Haud ut opinor enim mortalia scecla 
 
 superne 
 Aurea de caelo demisit funis in arva. 
 
 In the same book sceva scecla is used 
 for beasts of prey , and bucera scecla 
 for bulls and cows : 
 
 Principio genus acre leonum, scevaque 
 
 scecla 
 Tutata 'st virtus, vulpes dolus, et fuga 
 
 cervos ; 
 At levisomna canum fido cum pectore 
 
 corda, 
 
 Et genus omne, quod est veterino semine 
 
 partum , 
 Lanigerasque simul pecudes, et luccra 
 
 scecla 
 Omnia sunt hominum tutelae tradita, 
 
 Memmi. 
 
 Cornicum scecla vetusta is used also 
 in the same book for the species of 
 crows. In the second book scecla 
 pavo?ium is used for peacocks : 
 
 Aurea pavon um ridenti imbuta lepore 
 Scecla novo rerum superata colore jace» 
 rent. 
 
 I shall produce but one quotation 
 more from this author, where scecla 
 is used for inanimate things : 
 
 Nam sua cuique locis ex omnibus omnia 
 
 plagis 
 Corpora distribuuntur, et ad sua scecla 
 
 recedunt : 
 Htimor ad humorem, &c. 
 
 Virgil seems to have used scecula for 
 mankind also, in the first iEneid : 
 
 Aspera turn positis mitescent scecula 
 bellis. 
 
 470. Obsccenique canes.] Hein- 
 sius reads obsccence, in which he is 
 almost singular. Obsccenus amongst 
 the augurs was applied to any thing 
 that was reputed a bad omen. Ap- 
 pian mentions dogs howling like 
 wolves, after the death of Caesar. 
 Ovid speaks of dogs howling by 
 night in the forum, and about 
 houses, and the temples of the 
 gods : 
 
 Inque foro, circumque domos, et templa 
 
 Deorum 
 Nocturnos ululasse canes. 
 
 Imporiuncequc volucres.] Ovid 
 mentions the owls as giving omens. 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 97 
 
 Signa dabant. Qudties Cyclopum effervere in 
 
 agros 
 Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus iEtnam, 
 Flammarumque globos, liquefactaque volvere 
 
 sax a ! 
 Armorum sonitum toto Germania caelo 
 Audiit, insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes. 475 
 Vox quoque per lucos vulgo exaudita silentes 
 Ingens, et simulacra modis pallentia miris 
 
 presaged. How often have 
 we seen JEtna. pour a burning 
 deluge from her bursten fur- 
 naces over the fields of the 
 Cyclops, and roll down globes 
 of fire and melted stones! 
 Germany heard a clashing 
 of arms throughout the sky; 
 the Alps trembled with un- 
 usual shakings. A mighty 
 voice also was frequently 
 heard through the silent 
 groves, and spectres horridly 
 pale 
 
 Tristia mille locis Stygius dedit omina 
 bubo. 
 
 Some omens of birds are mentioned 
 by the historians, as preceding the 
 death of Caesar. 
 
 474. Armorum sonitum toto Ger- 
 mania ccelo audiit.'] Ovid speaks of 
 the clashing of arms, and the noise 
 of trumpets and horns : 
 
 Anna ferunt inter nigras crepitantia 
 
 nubes, 
 Terribilesque tubas, auditaque cornua 
 
 caelo 
 Presmonuisse nefas. 
 
 Appian also mentions great shouts 
 in the air, and clashing of arms, and 
 rushing of horses. Perhaps this 
 was some remarkable Aurora bore- 
 alis seen about that time in Ger- 
 many. The learned M. Celsius, 
 professor of astronomy at Upsal in 
 Sweden, has assured me, that in 
 those northern parts of the world, 
 during the appearance of an Aurora 
 borealis, he has heard a rushing 
 sound in the air, something like the 
 clapping of a bird's wings. Before 
 these phaenomena were so frequent 
 amongst us as they now are, it was 
 no unusual thing for the common 
 people to take them for armies 
 fighting in the air. 
 
 475. Motibus.'] The King's, and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and 
 Schrevelius, read montibus. 
 
 47o. Vox quoque per lucos vulgo 
 exaudita silentes ingens."] In the 
 
 King's manuscript it is vulgo est 
 audita. 
 
 La Cerda is of opinion that the 
 mighty voice heard in the groves, 
 of which Virgil here speaks, was 
 the voice of the gods leaving, or 
 threatening to leave, their habita- 
 tions. He understands Ovid to 
 mean the same thing, when he 
 speaks of threatening words being 
 heard in the sacred groves : 
 
 Cantusque feruntur 
 
 Auditi, Sanctis et verba minacia lucis. 
 
 He takes this to be farther explained 
 by a passage in Tibullus, lib. ii. eleg. 
 5. where he says the groves foretold 
 a flight : 
 
 Atque tubas, atque arma ferunt strepi- 
 
 tantia caelo 
 Audita, et lucos prsecinuisse fugam. 
 
 The threatening words, says he, of 
 Ovid are explained by the flight of 
 the gods in Tibullus. He strength- 
 ens this observation by a quotation 
 from Josephuss seventh book of 
 the Jewish war; where, speaking 
 of the prodigies, which preceded 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, he 
 says the priests heard a voice in 
 the night-time, saying, Let us go 
 hence. 
 
 477. Simulacra modis pallentia 
 miris visa sub obscurum noctis.'] 
 Thus Lucretius : 
 
 Sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia 
 
9S 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 were seen in the dusk of even- 
 ing, and cattle spoke, a dire 
 omen ! the rivers stop, and 
 the earth gapes : and the 
 mournful ivory weeps in the 
 temples, and the brazen sta- 
 tues sweat. Eridanus, the 
 king of rivers, whirling down 
 whole woods with his mad 
 torrent, poured forth, and 
 bore away the herds with 
 their stalls all over the plains: 
 nor at the same time 
 
 Visa sub obscurum noctis, pecudesque locutae, 
 Infandum ! sistunt amnes, terraeque dehiscunt : 
 Et moestum illacrymat templis ebur, seraque 
 sudant. 480 
 
 Proluit insano contorquens vortice sylvas 
 Fluviorum Rex Eridanus, camposque per omnes 
 Cum stabulis armenta tulit : nee tempore eodem 
 
 Plutarch speaks of ghosts walking 
 in the night, before Caesar's death. 
 Ovid also mentions the same thing: 
 
 Umbrasque silentum 
 
 Erravisse ferunt. 
 
 478. Pecudesque locutce.] By pe- 
 cudes the poet seems to mean oxen : 
 for those are the cattle, which are 
 said to have spoken on this occa- 
 sion. Appian says expressly that 
 an ox spoke with human voice. 
 Tibullus also mentions oxen : 
 
 Fataque vocales praemonuisse boves. 
 
 479- Sistunt amnes.'] Horace men- 
 tions the overflowing of the Tiber 
 at this time : 
 
 Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis 
 Littore Etrusco violenter undis, 
 Ire dejectum raonumenta regis 
 
 Templaque Vestas : 
 Iliae dum se nimium querenti 
 Jactat ultorem ; vagus, et sinistra 
 Labitur ripa, Jove non probante, 
 
 Uxorius amnis. 
 
 Terrceque dehiscunt.'] Ovid men- 
 tions an earthquake at Rome : 
 
 — — Motamque tremoribus urbem. 
 
 480. Et moestum illacrymat templis 
 ebur oeraque sudant.~\ <( In the an- 
 " cient oblong manuscript it is lacri- 
 " mat. But in the Roman, Medi- 
 " cean, and some other ancient ma- 
 " nuscripts it is illacrimat, which is 
 " more like Virgil. For our poet 
 " loves to join to the verbs those 
 " prepositive particles which he has 
 
 " taken from before the nouns." 
 Pierius. 
 
 Appian says that some statues 
 sweated, and that some even 
 sweated blood. Ovid mentions the 
 ivory images sweating in a thou- 
 sand places : 
 
 Mille locis lacrymavit ebur. 
 
 Tibullus speaks of the statues of 
 the gods weeping : 
 
 Et simulacra Deum lacrymas fudisse 
 tepentes. 
 
 482. Fluviorum Rex Eridanus.'] 
 The two first syllables of fluviorum 
 are short: the poet therefore puts 
 two short syllables for one long one. 
 Dr. Trapp observes that this redun- 
 dancy of the syllables elegantly ex- 
 presses the overflowing of the river: 
 and has accordingly imitated it in 
 his version : 
 
 Eridanus supreme of rivers. 
 
 Eridanus is the Greek name for the 
 Po. It rises from the foot of Vesu- 
 lus, one of the highest mountains of 
 the Alps, and passing through the 
 Cisalpine Gaul, now part of Italy, 
 it falls into the Adriatic sea, or 
 gulf of Venice. It is the largest 
 and most famous of all the rivers 
 of Italy ; whence Virgil calls it the 
 king of rivers, see Pliny, lib. iii. 
 c. 16. 
 
 483. Tulit] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is trahit. 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 99 
 
 Tristibus aut extis fibrae apparere minaces ; 
 Aut puteis manare cruor cessavit ; et alte 485 
 Per noctem resonare, lupis ululantibus, urbes. 
 Non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno 
 Fulgura ; nee diri toties arsere cometae. 
 
 did threatening fibre* fail to 
 appear in the sad entrails ; or 
 wells to flow with blood ; and 
 cities loudly to resound with 
 howling wolves by night. 
 Never did more lightnings 
 fall from a clear sky; nor 
 dreadful comets so often 
 blaze. 
 
 484. Tristibus aut extis Jibrce ap- 
 parere minaces.'] Several authors 
 mention a victim wanting a heart, 
 before Caesar's death. Ovid adds 
 that none of the sacrifices were pro- 
 pitious : 
 
 Victima nulla litat : magnosque instare 
 
 tumultus 
 Fibra monet. 
 
 485. Puteis manare cruor.] Ovid 
 speaks of its raining blood : 
 
 Saepe inter nimbos guttae cecidere cru- 
 entae. 
 
 Alte per noctem resonare lupis ulu- 
 lantibus urbes.'] Servius reads altce, 
 and interprets it magnce. If this 
 reading be admitted, we must render 
 this passage, and great cities to re- 
 sound with howling wolves by night. 
 
 Appian mentions wolves running 
 along the Forum. La Cerda thinks 
 that the poet means by wolves the 
 ghosts of the departed. In confirma- 
 tion of this he quotes some passages 
 where the verb ululare is applied to 
 spectres. But that real wolves 
 should come into the cities seems 
 no more improbable than many of 
 the other prodigies. 
 
 487- Non alias caelo ceciderunt 
 plura serenoJulgura.~] Thunder from 
 a clear sky was always looked upon 
 as a prodigy by the ancients: 
 though not always accounted an ill 
 omen. Horace speaks of Jupiter's 
 sending a great deal of snow and 
 hail on this occasion, and affrighting 
 the city with his thunder and light- 
 ning: 
 
 Jam satis terris nivis, atque dirae 
 Grandinis misit Pater : et rubente 
 
 Dextera sacras jaculatus arces, 
 
 Terruit urbem. 
 
 Appian also mentions the temples 
 and statues of the gods being fre- 
 quently stricken with thunder-bolts. 
 488. Nee diri toties arsere cometce.] 
 Comets are to this day vulgarly re- 
 puted dreadful presages of future 
 wars. Thus Tibullus : 
 
 Hae fore dixerunt belli mala signa 
 cometen. 
 
 Virgil is generally thought to mean 
 that comet which appeared for seven 
 nights after Caesar's death. But he 
 speaks of several comets : where- 
 fore I rather believe he means some 
 fiery meteors, which were seen about 
 that time. Ovid calls them torches : 
 
 Saepe faces visae mediis ardere sub astris. 
 
 Besides, the famous comet, which is 
 said to have appeared for seven 
 days, was esteemed a good omen, 
 and was fancied to be Caesar's soul 
 converted into a blazing star by 
 Venus. Thus Ovid: 
 
 Vix ea fatus erat ; media cum sede Se- 
 
 natus 
 Constitit alma Venus nulli cemenda: 
 
 suique 
 Caesaris eripuit membris, nee in a6ra 
 
 solvi 
 Passa recentem animam, caelestibus in- 
 
 tulit astris, 
 Dumque tulit; lumen capere, atque 
 
 ignescere sensit : 
 Emisitque sinu. Luna volat altius ilia : 
 Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite 
 
 crinem 
 Stella micat. 
 
 This said : invisible faire Venus stood 
 Amid the Senate ; from his corpse, with 
 blood 
 
 o2 
 
100 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SdX m Philippi a 8e * Er g° inter s ^ se paribus concurrere telis 
 
 DeflPd, her Caesar* s new -fled spirit "bare 
 To lieaven, nor suffered to resolve to aire. 
 Andy as in her soft bosom borne, she might 
 Perceive it take a powre, and gather light, 
 TJien once let loose, it forthwith upward 
 
 flew; 
 And after it long blazing tresses drew. 
 
 Sandys, 
 
 Pliny says it was worshipped in a 
 temple at Rome, and has set down 
 the very words in which Augustus 
 Caesar gave an account of this co- 
 met's appearing., whilst he was cele- 
 brating the games to Venus genitrix, 
 soon after Caesar's death, in the col- 
 lege which he had founded : tf lis 
 " ipsis ludorum meorum diebus, 
 " sidus crinitum per septem dies 
 " in regione caeli, quae sub septen- 
 " trionibus est, conspectum. Id 
 " oriebatur circa undecimam horam 
 " diei, clarumque et omnibus terris 
 t( conspicuum fuit. Eo sidere sig- 
 ** nificari vulgus credidit, Caesaris 
 " animam inter deorum immorta- 
 " Hum numina receptam : quo no- 
 " mine id insigne simulacro capitis 
 tf ejus, quod mox in foro consecra- 
 " vimus, adjectum est/' We see 
 here that Augustus does not mention 
 this star, or comet, as being the soul 
 of Caesar, but only as a sign, that his 
 soul was received into the number 
 of the gods. Yet Suetonius, after 
 Ovid, has related it to have been 
 thought the very soul of Caesar: 
 " In deorum numerum relatus est, 
 fe non ore modo decernentium, sed 
 <c et persuasione vulgi. Siquidem 
 " ludis, quos primo consecratos ei 
 u haeres Augustus edebat, Stella cri- 
 " nita per septem dies continuos 
 " fulsit, exoriens circa undecimam 
 <f horam. Creditumque est, animam 
 " esse Caesaris in caelum recepti : et 
 " hac de causa simulacro ejus in 
 " vertice additur Stella." Cicero 
 however, in his second book de 
 natura deorum, mentions the appear- 
 
 ance of some comets, in Augustus's 
 war, which were predictions of great 
 calamities : " Stellis iis, quas Graeci 
 ' e cometas, nostri crinitas vocant : 
 " quae nuper bello Octaviano, mag- 
 " narum calamitatum fuerunt prae- 
 " nuntiae." Before we part with 
 these prodigies, it may not be amiss 
 to observe, that it is very common 
 not only with poets, but with his- 
 torians also, to introduce them as 
 attending upon great wars, and 
 especially upon the destruction of 
 cities and great persons. Lucan 
 makes them wait on the battle of 
 Pharsalia, and Josephus is not 
 sparing of them at the destruction 
 of Jerusalem. The wisest men 
 however amongst the ancients had 
 little faith in them : and only made 
 use of them to lead the superstitious 
 vulgar. Virgil has related them as 
 a poet, with a design to flatter his 
 patron Augustus : for it cannot be 
 supposed that he, who was not only 
 a philosopher, but an epicurean 
 also, could have any real faith in 
 such predictions. If historians 
 have thought it not unbecoming 
 their gravity to make such relations, 
 surely a poet may be indulged in 
 making use of popular opinions, 
 when they serve to adorn his work, 
 and ingratiate himself with those, 
 who have inclination and power to 
 confer benefits upon him. 
 
 489- Ergo inter sese, &c] There 
 seems to be no small difficulty, in 
 explaining what Virgil means, by 
 saying Philippi saw two civil wars 
 between the Romans, and Emathia 
 and the plains of Haemus were twice 
 fattened with Roman blood. Ruaeus 
 says that he once was of opinion, 
 that Virgil alluded to the two battles 
 foughtnear Philippi, within a month 
 of each other ; in the first of which 
 Cassius was routed, and in the se- 
 
GEORG. LIB. L 
 
 101 
 
 Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi 
 
 4Q0 see the Roman forces engage 
 ^ Jvy with equal arms : 
 
 cond Brutus. But that learned 
 commentator gives up this inter- 
 pretation; because he thinks the 
 fields cannot be said to have been 
 twice fattened in one year. He 
 seems to me to give it up on rather 
 too slight grounds: and I cannot 
 help allowing it as no ill solution of 
 the difficulty. It is however very 
 probable, that the poet alludes to 
 the two great civil wars, the first of 
 which was decided at Pharsalia, and 
 the latter at Philippi. This is gene- 
 rally allowed to be Virgil's meaning: 
 but then the great distance between 
 those two places causes an almost 
 inextricable difficulty. Servius in- 
 deed says that both battles were 
 fought at Philippi, and makes it a 
 city of Thessaly : " Philippi civitas 
 " est Thessaliae ; in qua primo Cae- 
 " sar et Pompeius, postea Augustus 
 " et Brutus cum Cassio dimicave- 
 " runt." Some others, as Ruaeus 
 observes, finding in Stephanus, that 
 the Thessalian Thebes, near Phar- 
 salus, was also called Philippi, have 
 supposed this to be the place, 
 where Brutus and Cassius were 
 overthrown. But this is certainly 
 a mistake, for whosoever rightly 
 considers the account delivered by 
 historians of that overthrow, will 
 find that no other Philippi could 
 be meant, but that which is on 
 the confines of Thrace, and by some 
 authors is placed in Thrace, and by 
 others in Macedon. Plutarch plainly 
 describes the march of Brutus and 
 Cassius from Asia through Thrace, 
 to the plains of Philippi. There 
 they were near destroying Norbanus , 
 who was encamped near Symbolon, 
 a port of Thrace. He mentions their 
 being at this time on the coasts of 
 Thassus, which is an island between 
 Lemnos and Abdera, a city of 
 Thrace. Cassius also was sent to 
 
 Thassus to be buried. The situation 
 of Pharsalia is no less evidently in 
 Thessaly, being described by Julius 
 Caesar himself, as near Larissa : and 
 besides he says expressly that the 
 decisive battle between him and 
 Pompey was fought in Thessaly. 
 Hence it appears, that the whole 
 country. of Macedon lay between 
 the fields in which those great 
 battles were fought. Ruaeus has 
 thought of a new way to resolve 
 the difficulty. He refers iterum, 
 not to Philippi, but to the Roman 
 armies ; and makes the sense to be, 
 that Philippi saw the Roman armies 
 engage a second time: that it was 
 indeed the first time, that Philippi 
 saw them engage, but that it was 
 the second time of their engaging. 
 This solution is very ingenious: 
 but it seems to be attended with 
 another difficulty. The poet imme- 
 diately adds, that Emathia and the 
 plains of Haemus were twice fattened 
 with Roman blood. Servius says 
 Emathia is Thessaly : " Emathia 
 " Thessalia est, dicta ab Emathio 
 " rege." If this be true, Emathia 
 cannot be said to have been twice 
 fattened with Roman blood : it hav- 
 ing been already proved, that the 
 second war was in Thrace. Be- 
 sides Virgil mentions the plains of 
 Haemus, which every body knows to 
 be in Thrace. But Pliny expressly 
 says that Macedon was anciently 
 called iEmathia : " Macedonia post- 
 " ea cl populorum, duobus inclyta 
 " regibus quondamque terrarum 
 " imperio, iEmathia antea dicta." 
 Ruaeus justly observes, that Mace- 
 don may be said to have been twice 
 fattened with Roman blood; be- 
 cause the plains of Philippi and 
 Pharsalia are both on the confines of 
 Macedon. But this learned com- 
 mentator's interpretation with re- 
 
102 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Kt *£& god9 ^ l€uti Nee fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro 
 
 gard to Haemus seems not very 
 clear. He would have bis to refer 
 only to Emathia, and not to Hae- 
 mus : as if Virgil had said, Emathia 
 was twice fattened with Roman blood, 
 but above all mount Hcemus once. I 
 cannot be persuaded that the poet 
 had so obscure a meaning, which 
 seems little better than a mere 
 quibble. 
 
 For my part, I believe Virgil is 
 to be understood as using the lati- 
 tude of a poet, not the exactness of 
 a historian, or a geographer. He 
 seems to have considered all that 
 part of Greece, which contains 
 Thessaly, Epirus, and Macedon, 
 quite to the foot of mount Haemus, 
 as one country. Strabo the geo- 
 grapher tells us that some reckon 
 Epirus a part of Macedon : eviei SI 
 xcci <rv[t7roi<rc&v rw f&t%(>i Kopkv^x?, Mes- 
 xidovixv 7ir^o<roe,yo^zvov<riy : and Pompo- 
 nius Mela seems to speak of Thes- 
 saly as a part also of Macedon: 
 " In Macedonia prima est Thes- 
 ' ' salia ; deinde Magnesia, Phthi- 
 " otis." Nor is Virgil singular in 
 ascribing both wars to the same 
 tract of land. Ovid introduces Ju- 
 piter comforting Venus at the death 
 of Julius Caesar, and telling her that 
 Phar salia shall feel Augustus, and 
 that Philippi shall be moistened 
 with a second Emathian slaughter : 
 
 Pharsalia sentiet ilium, 
 
 JEmathiaque iterum madefient csede Phi- 
 lippi. 
 
 Lucan mentions the seat of the war 
 between Caesar and Pompey, some- 
 times under the name of Emathia, 
 and sometimes of Thessaly. He be- 
 gins his poem with 
 
 Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia 
 campos. 
 
 In the sixth book he gives a parti- 
 cular description of Thessaly, as the 
 
 field of battle, and represents Phar- 
 salus, as belonging to Emathia : 
 
 regnum Pharsalos 
 
 Emathis aequorei 
 A chillis. 
 
 In the seventh book, when the trum- 
 pets sound to battle, he makes not 
 only Pelion, Pindus, and iEta, but 
 also Haemus and Pangaea, which are 
 mountains of Thrace, to re-echo: 
 
 Excepit resonis clamorem vallibus iEmus, 
 
 Peliacisque dedit rursus geminare ca- 
 vernis : 
 
 Pindus agit gemitus, Pangaeaque saxa re- 
 sultant, 
 
 (Etseaeque gemunt rupes. 
 
 At the end of this book, he men- 
 tions a great part of the Romans 
 being mixed with the Emathian 
 soil : and then makes an apostrophe 
 to that country under the name of 
 Thessaly, and prophesies that its 
 fields will be fattened a second time 
 with Roman blood : 
 
 Latiae pars maxima turbae 
 
 Fastidita jacet ; quam sol, nimbique, 
 
 diesque 
 Longior Emathiis resolutam miscuit 
 
 arvis. 
 TJ/£ssalica infelix, quo tanto crimine 
 
 tellus 
 Laesisti superos, ut ne tot mortibus 
 
 unam, 
 Tot scelerum fatis premerent ? quod 
 
 sufficit 32YUm, 
 Immemor ut donet belli tibi damna ve- 
 
 tustas ? 
 Quae seges infecta surget non decolor 
 
 herba ? 
 Quo non Romanos violabis vomere 
 
 manes ? 
 Ante novce venient acies, scelerique se- 
 
 cundo 
 Praestabis nondum siccos hoc sanguine 
 
 campos. 
 
 In the eighth book he calls Phi- 
 lippi Emathian : 
 
 Credet ab Emathiis primos fugisse Phi- 
 lippis. 
 
 In the first book he had described 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 103 
 
 Emathiam, et latos Haemi pinguescere campos. 
 Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis 
 Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro, 
 Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila ; 495 
 
 Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes, 
 Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. 
 
 and the broad plains of Hae- 
 mus should twice be fattened 
 with our blood. Nay, and 
 the time will come, when in 
 those countries the husband- 
 man, labouring the earth with 
 his crooked plough, shall find 
 javelins half consumed with 
 eating rust ; or shall strike 
 empty helmets with his heavy 
 harrows ; and shall wonder at 
 the greatness of the bones, 
 when he digs up the graves. 
 
 that place to lie under mount Hae- 
 
 •Latosque JEmi sub rupe Phi- 
 
 and in the tenth book he calls Hae- 
 mus Thessalian : 
 
 •Thessalici qui nuper rupe sub 
 
 Hcemi. 
 
 Thus we find he speaks of Emathia, 
 Thessaly, Haemus, Pharsalus, and 
 Philippic as being in the same coun- 
 try. Florus also, the historian, 
 speaks of Thessaly, and the plains 
 of Philippi, as the same place : " Sic 
 f praecipitantibus fatis,praelio sumta 
 f est Thessalia, et Philippicis cam- 
 " pis, urbis, imperii, generis hu- 
 " mani fata commissa sunt." Per- 
 haps both Pliny and Servius are in 
 the right, of whom the former, as 
 has been already observed, says Ma- 
 cedon was anciently called Emathia, 
 and the latter says the same of 
 Thessaly: for it is not impossible 
 that Macedon, Thessaly, and Epirus 
 might have been anciently included 
 under the name of Emathia. And 
 indeed it appears from Caesar's own 
 account of that war, that it ex- 
 tended over all those countries. 
 Soon after Caesar was come into 
 Greece we find all Epirus submit- 
 ting to him, and the two armies en- 
 camped between Dyrrhachium and 
 ! Apollonia, with the river Apsus be- 
 | tween the two camps. There are 
 i several sharp engagements in the 
 neighbourhood of Dyrrhachium. 
 After his defeat there, he marches 
 to the river Genusus, where there 
 
 was a skirmish between Caesar's 
 horse, and those of Pompey, who 
 pursued him. We find Domitius 
 marching as far as Heraclea Sentica, 
 which is in the farther part of Ma- 
 cedon, towards Thrace, whence, 
 being closely pursued by Pompey, 
 he narrowly escaped, and joined 
 Caesar at iEginium, on the borders 
 of Thessaly. Presently after Caesar 
 besieges Gomphi, a city of Thes- 
 saly, near Epirus, and soon subdues 
 all Thessaly, except the city of 
 Larissa, which was possessed by 
 Scipio's army. Pompey in a few 
 days marches into Thessaly, and 
 joins his army with that of Scipio. 
 After the famous battle of Pharsalia, 
 in Thessaly, we find Caesar pursu- 
 ing Pompey, as far as Amphipolis, 
 a city of Macedon, in the confines of 
 Thrace, not far from Philippi. Thus 
 we see the war was not confined to 
 Thessaly, but spread itself all over 
 Epirus and Macedon, even to the 
 borders of Thrace : so that the two 
 wars may, with some latitude, be 
 ascribed to the same country; 
 though there was so large a space 
 between the two spots, where they 
 were decided. 
 
 Paribus telis.] By equal arms the 
 poet means a civil war; Romans 
 being opposed to Romans. 
 
 492. Latos.'] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript, and in some printed edi- 
 tions, it is Icelos. 
 
 493. Cum.] La Cerda has quo. 
 497. Grandia ossa.] It was the 
 
 opinion of the ancients, that man- 
 kind degenerated in size and 
 strength. In the twelfth Mneid 
 
104- 
 
 P. VIRGILII MAftONIS 
 
 2i?SJStg?o roSSS Dii Patrii, indigetes, et Romule, Vestaque mater, 
 
 and mother Vesta, „ 
 
 the poet represents Turnus throw- 
 ing a stone of such a size that 
 twelve such men as lived in his 
 time could hardly lift from the 
 ground : 
 
 Nee plura effatus, saxum circumspicit 
 
 ingens ; 
 Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod 
 
 forte jacebat 
 Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret 
 
 arvis. 
 Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent, 
 Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora 
 
 tellus. 
 Ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in 
 
 hostem. 
 
 Then, as he rolVd his troubled eyes- 
 around, 
 
 An antique stone he saw ; ifie common 
 hound 
 
 Of neighboring fields ; and barrier of 
 the ground. 
 
 So vast, that twelve strong men of mo- 
 dern days, 
 
 Ttt enormous weight from earth eou'd 
 hardly raise. 
 
 He heaved it at a lift ; and poised on 
 high, 
 
 JRan staggering on against his enemy. 
 
 DR5TDEN. 
 
 In the passage now before us he re- 
 presents their degenerate posterity 
 astonished at the bones of the Ro- 
 mans, who fell at Pharsalia and 
 Philippi, which in comparison of 
 those of later ages may be accounted 
 gigantic. 
 
 498. Dii patrii &c] The poet 
 concludes the first book, with a 
 prayer to the gods of Rome, to pre- 
 serve Augustus, and not to take 
 him yet into their number, that he 
 may save mankind from ruin. 
 
 The commentators differ about 
 the signification of the words Dii 
 patrii, indigetes : some think the 
 Dii patrii and the indigetes are the 
 same; to which opinion Ruseus 
 subscribes. Servius, with better 
 reason, separates them, and observes 
 that the Dii patrii are those which 
 
 preside over particular cities, as 
 Minerva over Athens, and Juno over 
 Carthage. They are also called 
 Penates : and in the second iEneid 
 our poet himself seems to make the 
 Dii patrii and Penates the same. 
 Anchises invokes the Dii patrii to 
 preserve his family : 
 
 Dii patrii, servate domum, servate ne- 
 potem. 
 
 And immediately Mne&s desires 
 him to take with him the patrii Pe- 
 nates : 
 
 Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque 
 Penates : 
 
 Ovid, at the end of his Metamor- 
 phosis, has an invocation for the 
 safety of Augustus; wherein he 
 mentions these Penates, which iEneas 
 carried with him, as different from 
 the Dii indigetes : 
 
 Dii precor, JEnece comites, quibus 
 
 et ignis 
 Cesserunt, Diique indigetes, genitorque, 
 
 Quirine, 
 Urbis, et invicti genitor, Gradive, Quirini, 
 Vestaque Caesareos inter sacrata Penates ; 
 Et cum Caesarea tu, Phoebe domestice, 
 
 Vesta, 
 Quique tenes altus Tarpeias, Jupiter, 
 
 arces, 
 Quosque alios vati fas appellare piumque, 
 Tarda sit ilia dies, et nostro serior sevo, 
 Qua caput Augustum, quem temperat, 
 
 orbe relicto, 
 Accedat caelo : faveatque precantibus 
 
 You gods, .Eneas' mates, who made your 
 way 
 
 Through fire and sword ; you gods of men 
 become ; 
 
 Quirinus, father of triumphant Rome ; 
 
 Thou Mars, invincible Quirinus' sire ; 
 
 Chaste Vesta, with thy ever-burning fire, 
 
 Among great Caesar's household gods 
 enshrined ; 
 
 Domestic Phcebus, with his Vesta join'd ; 
 
 Thou Jove, wlw in Tarpeian towers we 
 adore ; 
 
 And you, all you, who poets may im- 
 plore : 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 105 
 
 Quae Tuscum Tiberim, et Romana palatiaservas, j£° SlKom^aia'S; 
 
 Hi. • i at least do not hinder this 
 
 uric saltern everso juvenem succurrere saeclo y 0un g man from saving the 
 
 sinking world; 
 
 Slow be that day, and after I am dead, 
 Wherein Augustus, of the world the head, 
 Leaving the earth, shall unto heaven 
 
 repair, 
 And favour those that seek to him by 
 
 prayer. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 There is indeed an inferior order of 
 Penates, which preside over private 
 families, and are more frequently 
 mentioned : but those spoken of in 
 these quotations are plainly the 
 greater sort, which preside over 
 countries and cities. Ovid indeed 
 speaks of Vesta, as one of the Ve- 
 nules of Augustus Caesar's family : 
 but this seems to be a poetical com- 
 pliment, making her peculiar to 
 Augustus, who was public to all 
 Rome ; as appears from Cicero's 
 second book de Natura Deorum : 
 fi Nam Vesta nomen Graecis : ea 
 " est enim, quae ab illis Wi« dicitur. 
 " Vis autem ejus ad aras, et focos 
 " pertinet. Itaque in ea dea, quae 
 " est rerum custos intimarum, om- 
 " nis et precatio, et sacrificatio ex- 
 " trema est." The Indigetes are 
 men, who on account of their great 
 virtues have been deified : of these 
 Cicero speaks in the same book : 
 " Suscepit autem vita hominum, 
 " consuetudoque communis, ut be- 
 ' e neficiis excellentes viros in caelum 
 <e fama, ac voluntate tollerent. Hinc 
 c< Hercules, hinc Castor, et Pollux, 
 
 " hinc iEsculapius Hinc 
 
 " etiam Romulus, quern quidem 
 " eundem esse Quirinum putant : 
 " quorum cum remanerent animi, 
 " atque aeternitate fruerentur, dii 
 " rite sunt habiti, cum et optimi es- 
 " sent, et aeterni." And in the 
 third book he speaks of them as 
 strangers naturalized in heaven: 
 " In Graecia multos habent ex ho- 
 " minibus deos Romulum 
 
 " nostri, aliosque complures: quos 
 " quasi novos et adscriptiiios cives 
 " in caelum receptos putant." Ovid 
 mentions iEneas as being made one 
 of these Indigetes, by Venus, with 
 the consent of Jupiter : 
 
 Lustratum genitrix divino corpus odore 
 Unxit, et ambrosia cum dulci nectare 
 
 mista 
 Contigitos; fecitque Deum : quern turba 
 
 Quirini 
 Nuncupat Indigetem, temploque arisque 
 
 reeepit. 
 
 His mother . . 
 
 Anoints with sacred odours, and his lips 
 In Nectar, mingled with Ambrosia, dips ; 
 So deified : whom Indiges Rome calls ; 
 Honoured with altars, shrines, and festivals. 
 Sandys. 
 
 Livy also says that vEneas was called 
 Jupiter Indiges: " Situs est, quem- 
 " cunque eum dici jus fasque est, 
 " super Numicium flumen, Jovem 
 " Indigetem appellant." 
 
 Hence it appears to me that Virgil 
 invokes two orders of gods, the Dii 
 patrii, gods of the country, tutelary 
 gods, or Penates, and the Indigetes, 
 or deified men: and then that he 
 enumerates one of the chief of each 
 order. For we find that Vesta is a 
 principal tutelary goddess of Rome; 
 and Romulus is one of the chief of 
 the Indigetes, being the founder of 
 the city. 
 
 499. Tuscum Tiberim.] The Ty- 
 ber is so called, because it rises in 
 Etruria. 
 
 Romana palatia.] It was on the 
 Palatine hill that Romulus laid the 
 foundation of Rome. Here he kept 
 his court, as did also Augustus Cae- 
 sar : hence the word Palatium came 
 to signify a royal seat or palace. 
 
 500. Juvenem.'] He means Au- 
 gustus Caesar, who was then a young 
 man, being about twenty-seven 
 
 p 
 
106 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 already have we paid sufii- 
 ciently with our blood for the 
 nerjurY of Laomedon's Troy. 
 Already, O Caesar, does the 
 palace of heaven envy us thy 
 reign, and lament that thou 
 still regarded human tri- 
 umphs. For here right and 
 wrong are confounded ; there 
 are so many wars throughout 
 the world ; so many sorts of 
 wickedness ; the due honours 
 are not paid to the plough ; 
 the husbandmen are carried 
 away, and the fields lie neg- 
 lected, and the crooked sickles 
 are beaten into cruel swords. 
 Here Euphrates, and there 
 Germany, makes war ; the 
 neighbouring cities break 
 their leagues, and wage war 
 with each other; impious 
 Mars rages all over the globe. 
 Thus when the four horsed 
 chariots pour forth from the 
 barriers, they increase their 
 swiftness in the ring, and the 
 charioteer vainly pulls in the 
 reins, 
 
 Ne prohibete. Satis jampridem sanguine nostro 
 Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Trojse. 502 
 
 Jampridem nobis cadi te regia, Caesar, 
 Invidet, atque hominum queritur curare trium- 
 
 phos. 
 Quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas : tot bella per 
 
 orbem : £05 
 
 Tarn multas scelerum facies : non ullus aratro 
 Dignus honos : squalent abductis arva colonis, 
 Et curvae rigidum falces ccnflantur in ensem. 
 Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc Germania bellum: 
 Vicinae ruptis inter se legibus urbes 510 
 
 Anna ferunt: saevit toto Mars impius orba. 
 Ut cum carceri bus sese effudere quadrigae, 
 Addunt in spatio, et frustra retinacula tender's 
 
 years of age, when Virgil began his 
 Georgicks, which he is said to have 
 finished in seven years. But Mr. 
 
 B and Dr. Trapp seem not very 
 
 exact, who call him a youth in their 
 translations. 
 
 502. Laomedonteae luimus perjuria 
 Trojce.] Laomedon, king of Troy, 
 when he was building a wall round 
 his city, hired the assistance of Nep- 
 tune and Apollo, and afterwards de- 
 frauded them of the reward he had 
 promised. 
 
 506. No?i ullus aratro digitus 
 honos] Here again the Poet slides 
 beautifully into his subject. When 
 he is speaking of the whole world's 
 being in arms, he expresses it by 
 saying the husbandmen are pressed 
 into the service, the fields lie neg- 
 lected, the plough is slighted, and 
 the instruments of agriculture are 
 turned into swords. 
 
 508. Et curvce rigidtimfalces con- 
 Jlantur in ensem.] We have an ex- 
 pression much like this in the pro- 
 phet Joel: " Beat your plough- 
 " shares into swords, and your prun- 
 " ing hooks into spears." 
 
 509. Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc 
 Germania helium.] This part of the 
 Georgicks must have been written, 
 whilst Augustus and Anthony were 
 drawing together their forces, to 
 prepare for that war, which was 
 decided by the defeat of Anthony 
 and Cleopatra, at Actium. An- 
 thony drew his forces from the east- 
 ern part of the empire, which 
 Virgil distinguishes by the river 
 Euphrates : Augu stus drew his from 
 the western parts, which he ex- 
 presses by Germany. 
 
 510. Vicince ruptis inter se.] The 
 Cambridge manuscript has Viciiuz 
 inter se ruptis jam. 
 
 512. Ut cum carceribus sese ejfu- 
 dere quadrigce.] Thus Horace : 
 
 Ut cum carceribus misses rapit :. 
 currus. 
 
 513. Addunt in spatio.] This pas- 
 sage is variously read, and almost as 
 variously interpreted. Some read 
 addunt se in spatio, which is not very 
 easy to be under stood. Both the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, and seve- 
 ral printed editions, have addunt sc 
 
GEORG. LIB. I. 
 
 107 
 
 Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas. ™* ««wa™j tgjge 
 
 regard the bridle. 
 
 in spalia. But se is left out in the 
 King's, the Cambridge, the Bod- 
 leian, and both Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts ; also in the Medicean, and 
 several other ancient manuscripts, 
 according to Pierius. La Cerda en- 
 deavours to prove that spatium sig- 
 nifies the turning round the meta, 
 which was usually performed seven 
 times ; and that addere se in spatia 
 or addere in spatia signifies the often 
 turning round, and adding one 
 circle to another. But Virgil seems 
 to me to mean by spatium the whole 
 space that was allotted for the course. 
 Thus, at the end of the second 
 Georgick, where he alludes to a 
 chariot-race, he says, 
 
 Immensum spatiis confecimus 
 
 aequor. 
 
 which can relate only to the vast 
 circumference of the whole ring. 
 That passage in the third Georgick 
 is to be understood in the same 
 manner, where he is speaking of a 
 good horse : 
 
 Hie vel ad Elei metas et maxima campi 
 Sudabit spatia. 
 
 In the fifth iEneid, where he de- 
 scribes the foot-race, spatium is evi- 
 dently used for the whole ring : for 
 we find that the moment they start, 
 they enter the spatia : 
 
 Locum capiunt, signoque repente 
 
 Corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relin- 
 
 quunt 
 Effusi. 
 
 If addunt se in spatia be the right 
 
 reading, I should rather think it 
 means they enter the ring, which is 
 the meaning of corripiunt spatia or 
 campum, as he expresses it in the 
 third Georgick : 
 
 Cum praecipiti certarnine campum 
 
 Corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere cur- 
 rus. 
 
 Heinsius and Ruaeus, whom I have 
 followed, read addunt in spatio : 
 which I take to signify they increase 
 their swiftness in the ri?ig, or run 
 faster and faster. In this sense 
 Grimoaldus has paraphrased this 
 passage: " Quemadmodum tamen 
 " equorum plus plusque currendo 
 " cursus augetur." May's transla- 
 tion is according to this reading : 
 
 So when swift chariots from the lists 
 
 are gone, 
 Their furious haste increases as they run. 
 
 Dry den's seems to have much the 
 same meaning : 
 
 So four fierce coursers starting to the 
 
 race, 
 Scour thro' the plain, and lengthen ev'ry 
 
 pace. 
 
 Mr. B. reads addunt se in spatia, 
 
 and translates it thus : 
 
 As when the cars swift pouring thro' the 
 
 race, 
 Encounter furious on the dusty space. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates it according to 
 La Cerda's interpretation : 
 
 As when the racers from their barriers 
 
 start, 
 Oft whirling round the goal. 
 
 v 2 
 

P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 GEORGICORUM 
 
 LIBER SECUNDUS. 
 
 IlACTENUS arvorum cultus, et sidera casli : 
 unc te, bacche, canam, nee non sylvestrm and with thee also, of wild 
 
 shrubs, 
 
 tecum 
 
 Thus far of the culture of 
 the fields, and of the constel- 
 lations of heaven : now, O 
 Bacchus, will I sing of thee. 
 
 1. Hacienus arvorum, &c.] The 
 poet begins this book with a brief 
 recapitulation of the subject of the 
 first: he then declares that of the 
 second book to be vines,, olives, and 
 wild trees and shrubs ; and invokes 
 Bacchus to his assistance. 
 
 2. Nee non sylvestria tecum, &c] 
 " This introduction the commen- 
 '* tators have not sufficiently taken 
 " into their consideration, and for 
 " want of thoroughly explaining it, 
 ** it is not easy, for every reader, to 
 " reconcile the conclusion of this 
 " book with the beginning of it. 
 " Virgil begins with these words, 
 ct Nunc te, Bacche, canam; but 
 fi about the latter end of the book, 
 " he prefers olives and fruit, and 
 <f timber trees, and even shrubs, to 
 " the vine itself: 
 
 Quid memorandum ccque Bacche'ia dona 
 tulcrunt 9 
 
 " This is not easily understood, 
 " without observing in how particu- 
 " lar a manner the poet, immedi- 
 " ately after Nunc te Bacche canam, 
 f'adds, Nee non sylvestria tecum 
 
 Virgulta, 8fc. The reason of which 
 I conceive to be this. Virgil, in 
 order to raise the dignity of the 
 verse, in this place, above that 
 of the proposition, in the first 
 Georgick, as he there makes use 
 of a figure, by employing sydere 
 instead of tempore, so here he 
 chooses a nobler figure, by the 
 apostrophe he makes to Bacchus; 
 and in the third book, he uses the 
 same figure, for the same purpose, 
 three times in the two first lines. 
 But this expression, nunc ie, Bac- 
 che, canam, having the air of a 
 Bacchique piece, which was not 
 by any means the poet's intention, 
 he immediately gives it another 
 turn, by declaring he will cele- 
 brate equally with Bacchus, that 
 is, the vine, every twig of the 
 forest. This seems to be Virgil's 
 meaning, and this made the sub- 
 ject worthy of Virgil. He under- 
 takes to disclose all the bounties 
 of nature in her productions of 
 trees, and plants, and shrubs ; 
 and this he does from the vine to 
 the furze." Mr. B . 
 
110 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and the offspring of the slow 
 growing olive. Come hither, 
 O father Lenseus : here all is 
 full of thy Rifts; for thee the 
 field flourishes, laden with 
 viny autumn, and the vint- 
 age foams with full vats. 
 Come hither, O father I.e- 
 nxus; and take off thy 
 buskins, 
 
 Virgulta, et prolem tarde crescentis olivae. > 
 Hue, pater O Lenaee : tuis hie omnia plena 
 Muneribusj tibi pampineo gravid us autumno 5 
 Floret ager, spurn at plenis vindemia labris. 
 Hue, pater O Lenaee, veni; nudataque musto 
 
 3. Tarde crescentis olivce.] The 
 ancient Greek writers of agriculture 
 speak of the olive as a very slow 
 grower ; whence they have given it 
 
 the epithets of oylyovog, o-^/ixoifiTTeg, 
 y&Xarh, o-J/wSfc. Pliny quotes 
 a passage from Hesiod, wherein he 
 says, that the planter of an olive 
 never lived to gather the fruit of it; 
 but he adds, that in his time they 
 planted olives one year, and ga- 
 thered the fruit the next: "Hesi- 
 " odus quoque in primis cultum 
 te agrorum docendam arbitratus 
 ee vitam, negavit Oleae satorum 
 " fructum ex ea percepisse quen- 
 " quam. Tarn tarda tunc res erat. 
 tc At nunc etiam in plantariis serunt, 
 " translatarumque altero anno de- 
 " cerpuntur baccae." But Hesiod 
 no doubt spake of sowing the seeds 
 of the olive ; which will take off 
 Pliny's objection, who seems to 
 mean the transplanting of the trun- 
 cheons. Varro mentions also the 
 slow growth of olives ; but it is plain 
 that he speaks of sowing them ; and 
 therefore he observes that it is a 
 better way to propagate them by 
 truncheons : " Palma et cupressus, 
 
 " et Olea in crescendo tarda 
 
 " Sfmili de causa Olea? semen cum 
 " sit nucleus, quod ex eo tardius 
 " enascebatur colis, quam e taleis, 
 " ideo potius in seminariis ialens, 
 " quas dixi, serimus." It is not 
 improbable that the ancient Gre- 
 cians were unacquainted with any 
 other method of propagating olives, 
 than by sowing them : and, as Mr. 
 Miller informs me, they practise 
 that method in Greece to this day. 
 This might occasion those epithets, 
 
 mentioned at the beginning of this 
 note. Hence also Virgil might 
 make use of the epithet slow grow- 
 ing; though in his time they had a 
 quicker way of propagating olives. 
 
 4. Pater OLencee.] Bacchus is pe- 
 culiarly called Pater ; thus Horace: 
 
 I 
 
 Romulus et Liber Paicr, et cum Castore 
 Pollux. 
 
 Virgil very judiciously makes use of 
 the name Lenceus for Bacchus in this 
 place, Lenceus being derived from 
 A«m$ a wine-press. 
 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 this verse begins with nunc instead 
 of hue. 
 
 Hie] In one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts it is sunt : La Cerda 
 reads hcec. 
 
 Tuis muneribus.~\ Bacchus is said 
 to have been the inventor of wine. 
 This gift is ascribed to him at the 
 beginning of the first Georgick : 
 
 Liber et alma Ceres, vestro si munere 
 
 tell us 
 Chaoniam pingui glandemmutavit arista, 
 Poculaque inventis Acltelota miscuit uvis. 
 
 7. Hue.] It is nunc again, in Dr. 
 Mead's manuscript. 
 
 Nudataque musto fyc] This alludes 
 to the custom, frequent even now, 
 in Italy and other places, of treading 
 out the grapes with their feet. Bac- 
 chus is represented frequently with 
 buskins. Thus we find in Tacitus, 
 that Silius wore buskins in imitation 
 of Bacchus : " At Messallina non 
 " alias solutior luxu, adulto autum- 
 " no, simulacrum vindemia? per do- 
 u mumcelebrat j urgeripra?la,fluere 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 lit 
 
 Tinge novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis. ^^^^Ati 
 
 t- „ place the ways of producing- 
 
 Principio, arboribus varia est natura creandis : y trees arc various: for some 
 
 r 7 come up of their own accord, 
 
 Namque aliae, nullis hominum cogentibus, ipsae gftRffi^Si 
 Sponte sua veniunt, camposque et flumina late the p,ains and wiRding liv ^> 
 
 cc lacus, et feminae pellibus accinctae 
 u assultabant, ut sacrificantes vel 
 u insanientes Bacchea : Ipsa crine 
 " fluxo, thyrsum quatiens, juxtaque 
 " Silius hedera vinctus, gerere co- 
 " thumos, jacere caput, strepente 
 " circum procaci choro." Velleius 
 j^aterculus also tells us, that Mark 
 Anthony would have himself be 
 called a new Father Bacchus, and 
 was carried at Alexandria in a cha- 
 riot, like Father Bacchus, crowned 
 with ivy, adorned with a golden 
 crown, holding a thyrse, and wear- 
 ing buskins : " Cum ante, novum 
 " se Liberum Patrem appellari jus- 
 ee sisset, cum redimitus hederis, co- 
 " ronaque velatus aurea, et thyrsum 
 " tenens, cothurnisque succinctus, 
 <c curru, velut Liber Pater, vectus 
 " esset Alexandriae. 
 
 " In the introduction, where Vir- 
 " gil makes an apostrophe to Bac- 
 et chus, Mr. Dry den makes one to 
 <{ his Muse ; and where Virgil seri- 
 <c onsly desires Bacchus to partake 
 " of the labour of treading the 
 "■ grapes, which comprehends the 
 " whole subject, as to the vine, Mr. 
 " Dryden falls into a most extra- 
 
 * vagant rant, 
 
 Come strip with me* my God, ccme drench 
 
 all o'er 
 Thy limbs in must of wine, and drink at 
 
 ev'ry pore. 
 
 " than which lines nothing was ever 
 
 * writ by man more wide from the 
 " author's sense or character ; nei- 
 " ther should it pass unobserved in 
 " how shocking a manner the ex- 
 " pression, my Godj is put in the 
 ec mouth of a heathen poet, address- 
 
 '• ing himself to a heathen deity, 
 
 " which I do not believe was 
 " ever done in any place but this/* 
 Mr. B— . 
 
 9. Principio, arhoribus &c] The 
 poet begins with an account of the 
 several methods of producing trees: 
 and first he speaks of the three ways, 
 by which they are produced without 
 culture; spontaneously, by seeds, 
 and by suckers. 
 
 Virgil in this place plainly imi- 
 tates Theophrastus, who, at the be- 
 ginning of the second book of his 
 history of plants, says, " The gene- 
 " ration of trees and plants in ge- 
 " neral is either spontaneous, or 
 " by seed, or by root, or by suck- 
 " ers, or by sets, or by cuttings of 
 " the young shoots, or by layers, or 
 " even by cutting the wood into 
 <e small pieces : for that way also a 
 " plant will rise. Among these the 
 " spontaneous generation seems to 
 €t be the principal: and those which 
 " are by seed and root appear the 
 " most natural : for they are in a 
 " manner spontaneous ; and there- 
 " fore suit with wild plants ; where- 
 " as the rest are procured by the 
 " art and industry of man." At 
 TiviFUg xuv "h'i^pav koc) oXco$ tojv tywruv, 
 
 H CCVTOftSCTOl, V) Ct7T0 (TTrigUClTOg, V} W7T0 
 
 fifylfi *) mko ?roi(>etcr7rcidog, si c&7ro dicpk- 
 [tovog, vi ot%h xXavog, *s M7T uvrov rov 
 FiXiftovg Wh, \ in rov ^i/Xov koltockottzv- 
 
 T0$ il$ [AlK^oi. KCtl y«g 0VT6)$ CCVCtQvi- 
 TOif TOVTWV Oi Yi [AlV CCVTOtCOCTOg TTPUTt 
 
 rig. i) ol d>7!ra (mincer og kmi iLZpg, Qv- 
 c-iKaroirxt o*o%ou5v otv* a>Wgg ya,^ cevro- 
 (Acvroi x.oi) uvroci. dib Kent roig dyptoig 
 v7rc6t>X, ova 'iy, ut ^s uXXxi Tiftr/ig, « «Vo 
 Trptaipitriug. 
 
 11. Sponte sua veniunW] Though 
 the spontaneous generation of plants 
 
112 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 bLd^llmfth/p'pfar: Curva tenent ; ut moUe siler, lentaeque genista?, 
 
 and the willow with hoary n " » , ~ ■, i. M , _ 
 
 bluish leaves, some arepro- ropulus, et glauca canentia troncle salicta. 13 
 
 duced by seeds j as the lofty ° 
 
 Pars autem posito surgunt de semine: ut altas 
 
 is now sufficiently exploded ; yet it 
 was universally believed by the 
 ancient philosophers. Instances of 
 this are frequent in Aristotle, Pliny, 
 and many others. 
 
 12. Siler.] I have followed the 
 general opinion, in translating Siler, 
 an osier. I do not meet with any 
 thing certain, in the other Latin 
 writers, to determine exactly what 
 plant they meant. Pliny says only, 
 that it delights in watery places: 
 whence I wonder that Cassalpinus 
 should imagine it to be the Euony- 
 mus Theophrasii, or Spindle-tree, 
 which grows usually in hedges. La 
 Cerda fancies it to be the Siler mon- 
 tanum, or Sermoxntain, because he 
 thinks it more elegant for the poet 
 to speak of two which grow in the 
 plains, and two in the rivers. But 
 this seems too trifling an exactness, 
 to be worth insisting upon : and I 
 do not find any other Siler, to be 
 mentioned in any ancient Latin 
 author, but that which grows in the 
 water. 
 
 Lentceque genislce.~) I take the 
 Genista to be what we call Spanish 
 broom, which grows in great plenty, 
 in most parts of Italy. The Itali- 
 ans weave baskets of its slender 
 branches. The flowers are very 
 sweet, last long, and are agreeable 
 to bees. This agrees with what 
 Virgil says of it afterwards in this 
 Georgick : 
 
 Salices humilesque Genistce, 
 
 Aut illae pecori frondern, aut pastoribus 
 
 umbram 
 Sufficiunt; sepemque satis, et pabula 
 
 melli. 
 
 What Pliny says of the Genista 
 agrees very well with the Spanish 
 broom. In lib. xxi. c. 9. he says it 
 
 has a yellow flower, and is used in 
 garlands: " Trail seat ratio ad eas 
 " coronas, quae varietate sola pla- 
 ' ' cent. Duo earum genera, quando 
 <e alias flore constant, alia? folio. 
 " Florem esse dixerim Genistas: 
 l( namque et iis decerpitur luteus." 
 In lib. xxiv. c. 9. he says the seed 
 grows in pods, like kidney-beans : 
 
 " Semen in folliculis, 
 
 " Phaseolorum modo, nascens :" 
 and that the plant is used for withs 
 to bind; and that the flowers are 
 agreeable to bees: " Genista quo- 
 '* que vinculi usum praestat. Flores 
 " apibus gratissimi." In lib. xvi. 
 c. 18. He says it is used in dying : 
 ' e Tingendis vestibus nascentes Ge- 
 " liista?.'' I do not know that the 
 broom is ever used by our dyers : 
 but another plant of the same kind 
 is much in use: they call it wood- 
 wax, and green weed. It is the 
 Coroneola of Caesalpinus: and is 
 called by other authors Genista 
 tinctoria, Genistella linctoria, and 
 Tinclorius Jlos. I doubt not, but 
 the Spanish broom might be used 
 for the same purposes. 
 
 13. Populus.] This no doubt is 
 the poplar, of which, according to 
 Pliny, there are three sorts: the 
 white, the black, and the Lybian, 
 which is our asp : " Populi tria gc- 
 (i nera, alba, nigra, et qua? Lybica 
 " appellatur, minima folio, ac niger- 
 " rim a, fungisque enascentibus lau- 
 " datissima." 
 
 Glauca canentia fronde Salicta.] 
 This is a beautiful description of the 
 common willow : the leaves are of a 
 bluish green; and the under side 
 of them is covered with a white 
 down. He uses Salictnm or Sati- 
 cetum, the place where willows grow, 
 for Salices, the trees themselves. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 113 
 
 Castanea?, ncmorumque Jovi qiife maxima fron- SlS^Sl^ttSS 
 
 , . . of all the groves of Jupiter, 
 
 det 1 5 
 
 15. Castaneaz.] The Casianea no 
 doubt is our chesnut. Pliny de- 
 scribes the fruit very plainly: " Nu- 
 " ces vocamus et Castaneas, quan- 
 " quam accommodatiores glandium 
 " generi : armatum iis echinato 
 <e calyce vallum, quod inchoatum 
 " glandibus." 
 
 Nemorumque Jovi quae maxima 
 frondet Esculus.] It is no easy mat- 
 ter to determine certainly what the 
 Esculus is. This is certain, that it 
 is not our beech, as many have 
 imagined, and as Diyden and Mr. 
 B — have rendered it in their trans- 
 lations. What has given occasion 
 to this mistake is that Esculus seems 
 to be derived from esca, food, as 
 (piyog is from (pdya, to eat ; whence 
 many learned authors have thought, 
 and not without reason, that (ptiyos 
 and Esculus are the same plant. 
 This being supposed, it has been 
 imagined that Fagus is only <pn'yo$ 
 expressed in Roman characters, and 
 so that Esculus is the same with Fa- 
 gus. It is very plain, from Pliny, that 
 Fagus is the beech : " Fagi glans 
 " nuclei similis, triangula cute in- 
 " cluditur. Folium tenue, ac ,le- 
 <c vissimum, Populo simile." But 
 it is no less plain that the Esculus 
 is a sort of oak ; for Pliny reckons 
 it amongst those trees which bear 
 acorns : " Glandem, quae proprie 
 " intelligitur, ferunt Robur, Quer- 
 " cus, Esculus, Cerrus, Ilex, Suber." 
 Theophrastus also makes the (p/,yog 
 to be a species of oak. Thus the 
 <piyog and Fagus are two different 
 trees : the first being a sort of oak, 
 and the other a beech. The Esculus 
 as our poet describes it has large 
 leaves • for that I take to be the 
 sense of maxima frondet. Ovid also 
 speaks of it, as a tree with abun- 
 dance of large leaves : 
 
 and 
 
 Esculea f randoms ab arbore ramus : 
 
 Frondibus Esculus altis. 
 
 Virgil speaks of it in another place 
 of this Georgick, as a large, spread- 
 ing tree, with a very deep root. See 
 ver. 291. Pliny says the acorn of 
 the Esculus is next in size and good- 
 ness to that of the Quercus : " Glans 
 " optima in Quercu atque gran- 
 (t dissima, mox Esculo." Pie says 
 also that it is not so common in 
 Italy as the Quercus : ee Quippe 
 " cum Robur, Quercumque vulgo, 
 w nasci videamus, sed Esculum non 
 (C ubique." Horace however seems 
 to speak of it as common in Dau- 
 nia: 
 
 Quale portentum neque militaris 
 Daunia in latis alit Esculetis. 
 
 The same poet represents the wood 
 of the Esculus, as being very hard : 
 
 Nee rigida mollior Esculo. 
 
 This tree was sacred to Jupiter, 
 thus Pliny : " Arborum genera nu- 
 " minibus suis dicata perpetuo ser- 
 tf vantur, ut Jovi Esculus/' We 
 find also in the same author, that 
 the Romans made their civic crowns 
 of it : " Civica iligna primo fuit, 
 " postea magis placuit ex Esculo 
 u Jovi sacra. Variatumque et cum 
 " Quercu est, ac data ubique quae 
 " fuerat, custodito tantum honore 
 " glandis." I think it not impro- 
 bable that the Esculus may be that 
 sort of oak, which is known in some 
 parts of England under the name of 
 the bay -oak. Tt has a broad, dark- 
 green, firm leaf, not so much si- 
 nuated about the edges, as that of 
 the common oak. It is called by 
 C. Bauhinus Quercus latifolia mas y 
 quae brevi pedicvlo est. In thecom- 
 
 8 
 
114- 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 *nd the oaks which were re- 
 puted oracular by the Greeks. 
 Others have a thick wood a- 
 rWng from their roots; as 
 cherries, and elms ; the Utile 
 Parnassian bay also shelters 
 itself under the great shade 
 of its mother. Nature first 
 shewed these ways: by these 
 every kind of woods, and 
 shrubs, and sacred groves 
 flourishes. There are other 
 wavs, which experience it- 
 self has found out by art. 
 
 Esculus, atque habitae Graiis oracula quercus. 
 Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima sylva ; 
 Ut cerasis, ulmisque : etiam Parnassia laurus 
 Parva sub ingenti raatris se subjicit umbra. 
 Hos natura modos primum dedit : his genus 
 
 omne 20 
 
 Sylvarum, fruticumque viret, nemorumque sa- 
 
 crorum. 
 Sunt alii, quos ipse via sibi repperit usus. 
 
 mon oak, the acorns grow on long 
 stalks, and the leaves have scarce 
 any tail, but grow almost close to 
 the branches: but in the bay-oak 
 the acorns grow on short stalk s and 
 the leaves have long tails. They 
 are both figured in C. Bauhinus's 
 edition of Matthiolus. 
 
 16. HahitcB Graiis oracula quer- 
 cus."] " It is very well known how 
 " fond the Romans were of their 
 " gods, and religious ceremonies, 
 " and what a contempt they had 
 " for those of other nations. It is 
 u in this manner Virgil uses habiioe 
 " Graiis oracula quercus : he smiles 
 " at the Greeks, as he calls them, 
 " for their superstition ; but Mr. 
 " Dryden unhappily applies this 
 " passage seriously, in these words, 
 
 ** Wltere Jove of old oraculously spoke."" 
 Mr. B 
 
 18. Cerasis r\ Cherries were a new 
 fruit amongst the Romans in Virgil's 
 time. Pliny tells us they were 
 brought from Pontus, by Lucullus, 
 after he had subdued Mithridates : 
 " Cerasi ante victoriam Mithrida- 
 ** ticam L. Luculli non fuere in 
 " Italia. Ad urbis annum dclxxx. 
 " Is primum vexit e Ponto, annisque 
 " exx trans Oceanum in Britanniam 
 " usque pervenere." 
 
 Ultnis.] Elms were in great re- 
 quest amongst the ancients, they be- 
 
 ing preferred before all other trees 
 for props to their vines. Hence we 
 find frequent mention of them 
 amongst the poets. 
 
 Parnassia Laurus.] The finest 
 bay trees grew on mount Parnassus, 
 according to Pliny : ' ' Spectatissima 
 " in monte Parnasso." I have en- 
 deavoured to prove, in the note on 
 ver. 306, of the first Georgick, that 
 the bay, and not the laurel, is the 
 Laurus of the ancients. I shall add 
 in this place, that the laurel is not 
 so apt to propagate itself by suckers 
 as the bay. 
 
 20. Hos natura modos primum de- 
 dit.~\ By this the poet means, that 
 these are the ways, by which trees 
 are naturally propagated, without 
 the assistance of art. 
 
 21. Fruticum.] The difference 
 between a tree and a shrub is, that 
 the tree rises from the root, with a 
 single trunk, and the shrub divides 
 itself into branches, as soon as it 
 rises from the root. Thus Theo- 
 phrastus : Asv^gev fth ovv Wl ro xttq 
 ptfyg povottteftis, vehvxhocdov, e£<WT0», 
 
 OVX, tVX7T0?>.vXVT6V' 6101) ZXoClCC, (TVXJj, 0tU7ri- 
 
 Xog. Q>(>vyxM ol, ro ditto ptZ?lS xmi tto- 
 XvHXi%i$, Kcti ztoXvkXoiom, cioi fixrof, 
 TrxXtovpog. 
 
 22. Sunt alii, &c] Having already 
 mentioned the several ways by 
 which plants naturally propagate 
 their species ; he now proceeds to 
 mention those methods, which are 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 115 
 
 Hie plantas lenero abscindens de corpore ma- ?£Sf b $frSSJ T ™ 
 
 trum 
 
 Deposuit sulcis : hie stirpes obruit arvo, 
 Quadrifidasque sudes, et acuto robore vallos : 25 
 Sylvarumque aliae pressos propagtnis arcus 
 
 ther, and puts them into the 
 furrows j another plant-; sets 
 in the field, either by splitting 
 or sharpening the foot. Other 
 trees expect the bent down 
 arches of a layer, 
 
 used by human industry. These 
 are by suckers, sets, layers, cut- 
 tings, pieces of the cleft wood, and 
 ingrafting. 
 
 Pierius says it is viam in the Lom- 
 bard manuscript. If this reading 
 be admitted the passage must be 
 rendered thus: "There are other 
 " methods which experience has 
 f< found out to be its way." 
 
 23. Plantas tenero abscindens de 
 corpore malrum.~] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is Plantas 
 teneras abscindens corpore matrum. 
 
 In these words the poet plainly 
 describes the propagation of plants 
 by suckers. I take this to be what 
 Theophrastus means by «Vo ira^x- 
 <r7rccdos. The suckers are called Sto- 
 lones, as Varro tells us, who adds 
 that an ancestor of C. Licinius Stolo 
 had the surname of Stolo, because 
 he was very diligent in digging 
 away the suckers from the roots of 
 his trees. " Nam C. Licinium Sto- 
 " lonem, et Cn. Tremelium Scrofam 
 " video venire, unum cujus majores 
 " de modo agri legem tulerunt. 
 " Nam Stolonis ilia lex, quae vetat 
 " plus D. jugera habere civem Ro- 
 " manum, et qui propter diligentiam 
 " culturse Stolonum confiwnavit 
 " cognomen, quod nullus in ejus 
 " fundo reperiri poterat Stolo, quod 
 " effodiebat circum arbores, e radi- 
 " cibus, quae nascerentur e solo, 
 " quos Stolones appellabant." Pliny 
 calls this way of planting Avidsio, 
 and uses avellere in the same sense, 
 that Virgil here uses abscindere : 
 " Et aliud genus simile natura mon- 
 " stravit, avulsique arboribus Sto- 
 " lones vixere. Quo in genere et 
 
 " cum perna sua avelluntur, par- 
 " temque aliquam e matris quoque 
 " corpore auferunt secum fimbriato 
 " corpore." 
 
 24. Hie stirpes obruit arvo, quadri- 
 Jidasque sudes, et acuto robore vallos.] 
 This is fixing the large branches, like 
 stakes, into the earth. It is what 
 Theophrastus calls *V uk^ovo?. 
 Ruaeus divides this passage, and 
 makes the stirpes obruit arvo to be 
 one way of planting ; and the sudes 
 and valli to be another. The first 
 he takes to be stocks, the other sets. 
 
 " This line," says Mr. B— , 
 " has very much puzzled the com- 
 " mentators, but there is no great 
 " difficulty in it, to any one that is 
 " the least versed in husbandry, and 
 " consequently knows that there 
 " are two ways of planting setters. 
 " The quadrifidas sudes is when 
 " the bottom is slit across both 
 " ways ; the acuto robore is when it 
 " is cut into a point, which is called 
 " the coWs-foot." 
 
 26. Sylvarumque alice, &c] This 
 is propagating by layers ; which are 
 called propagines. It is to be ob- 
 served, that, though we use the word 
 propagation for any method of in- 
 creasing the species, yet amongst 
 the Roman writers of agriculture 
 propagatio is used only for layers. 
 The common method, which Virgil 
 seems to mean, is exactly de- 
 scribed by Columella. " When 
 " you would lay down a branch, 
 " says he, from the mother tree, 
 " dig a trench four feet every 
 " way, so that the layer may not 
 " be hurt by the roots of the other. 
 " Then leave four buds, to come to 
 Q2 
 
116 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 fn'lheV^ L°r"h g "SSS Expectant, et viva sua plantaria terra. 
 
 In^thTpiantermaSsnodi/- Nil radicis egent aliae ; summumque putator 
 
 ficultv to plant the young 
 
 shocrsm the ground. Nay, Hand dubitat terras reterens mar.dare cacumen. 
 
 and what is wonderful, if you 
 
 ^^ifSufiiforthtew Q" in et caudicibus seeds, mirabile dictu, 30 
 Truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. 
 
 " the bottom of the trench, and 
 " strike roots : rub the buds off that 
 u part which joins to the mother, 
 " to avoid superfluous shoots. Suf- 
 " fer that part, which is to appear 
 " above ground, not to have above 
 " two or at most three buds. Rub 
 " off all the buds, except the four 
 t( lowest, from that part which is 
 " put into the ground, that the vine 
 <e may not strike roots too near the 
 tf surface. If you propagate it in 
 tc this manner, it will quickly take 
 " root, and the third year you may 
 " separate it from the mother." 
 Pliny tells us that nature first taught 
 this method by the bramble ; the 
 branches of which arc so slender 
 that they fall to the ground, and 
 make layers of their own accord: 
 " Eadem natura et Propagines do- 
 " cuit. Ptubi namque curvati graci- 
 u litate, et simul proceritate nimia, 
 " defigunt rursus in terram capita, 
 " iterumque nascuntur ex sese, re- 
 " pleturi omnia ni resistat cultura, 
 <c prorsus ut possint videri homines 
 " terras causa geniti. Ita pessima 
 ie atque execranda res, Propaginem 
 " tamen docuit, atque radicem ae- 
 " quiri viridem." This method of 
 planting I take to be what Theo- 
 phrastus means by aV etvrov rov s**&- 
 
 28. Nil radicis egent alice, &c] 
 Here he plainly describes what we 
 call cuttings. This is what Theo- 
 phrastus means by esVo kXmos- It 
 is cutting the young shoots of a 
 tree, and planting them into the 
 ground; whence Virgil says they 
 nave no need of a root They are 
 
 called in Latin Surculi. Thus we 
 find them called by Varro : ec Ter- 
 <( tium genus Seminis quod ex ar- 
 cc bore per Surculos defertur in ter- 
 ic ram, sic in huraum demittitur, ut \ 
 " in quibusdam tamen sit videndum, j 
 " ut eo tempore sit deplantatum [ 
 " quo oportet." 
 
 30. Quin et caudicibus sectis, &c] 
 He speaks of it justly as a wonder, 
 that olive-trees should strike roots 
 from dry pieces of the trunk. This 
 is mentioned by Theophrastus ; rev 
 \v\ov Kxra,x.c7rivr«q its f&ut^oi. This 
 sentence of Virgil has been fre- 
 quently understood to mean graft- 
 ing: but of this he speaks imme- 
 diately after. La Cerda says, that 
 what the poet here speaks of was 
 practised in Spain in his time. 
 They take the trunk of an olive, 
 says he, deprive it of its root and 
 branches, and cut it into several 
 pieces, which they put into the 
 ground, whence a root, and soon 
 afterwards a tree is formed : " Hunc 
 '* sextum modum cum septimo con- 
 " fundunt plurimi, et putant in his 
 <c caudicibus loqui Virgilium de In- 
 " sitione, et una cum illis Beroaldus. 
 ec Nihil unquam magis adversum 
 " menti Virgilii. Testes sunt oculi 
 " scientissimorum agricolarum, a 
 " quibus id quaesivi : testis ars ipsa, 
 " quae nunc quoque in Hispania, 
 " ubi ego sum, viget. Secant agri- 
 1 ' colae, scinduntque in partes plures 
 " caudicem Olivae, cui amputata ra- 
 " dix, cui amputati rami: ita con- 
 " sectum infodiunt, ac inde format 
 el se mdix ei: mox arbor, quod poeta 
 " stupet, quia vere minim." 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 117 
 
 Et seepe alterius ramos impune videmus 
 Vertere in alterius, mutatamque insita mala 
 Ferre pyrum, etprunis lapidosa rubescere corna. 
 Quare agite O proprios generatim discite cultus, 
 Agricolse, fructusque feros mollite colendo, 36 
 Neu segnes jaceant terras. Juvat Ismara Baccho 
 Conserere, atque Olea magnum vestire Tabur- 
 
 And we often see the branches 
 of one tree to turn with im- 
 punity into those of another, 
 and a pear tree being changed 
 to bear grafted apples, and 
 stony Cornelian cherries to 
 glow upon plumb-stocks. 
 Wherefore, O husbandmen, 
 learn the culture which is 
 proper to each kind, and 
 learn to tame the wild fruits 
 by cultivating them, that no 
 land may lie idle. It is worth 
 the while to plant Ismarus 
 wiih vines, and to crown the 
 great Taburnus with olives. 
 
 num. 
 
 32. Alterius ramos impune videmus 
 vertere in alterius.] In this passage 
 he plainly speaks of grafting, of 
 which he subjoins two instances. 
 This subject is farther explained; 
 ver. 73. 
 
 33. Mutatamque insita mala ferre 
 Pyrum.] He speaks of grafting ap- 
 ples upon a pear stock, not of pears 
 upon an apple- stock, as Drydenhas 
 translated it, who has added quinces 
 also, though not in the original : 
 
 Thus pears and quinces from the crab- 
 tree come. 
 
 Mutaiam agrees with Pyrum ; now 
 it is the nature of the stock, not of 
 the graft, that is changed : wherefore 
 the pear must be the stock spoken 
 of in this place. The apples are 
 said to be insita, ingrafted, which 
 fully explains the meaning of this 
 passage. 
 
 34. Prunis lapidosa rubescere Cor- 
 na.'] It is a doubt whether Virgil 
 means, that Cornels are ingrafted 
 upon plumb-stocks, or plumbs upon 
 cornel-stocks. May takes it in the 
 former sense : 
 
 And hard red cornoiles from a stock of 
 plumme : 
 
 and Dr. Trapp : 
 
 And on the plumb's the stony cornel 
 glow. 
 
 Dryden takes it in the latter sense : 
 
 And thus the ruddy cornel bears the 
 plum: 
 
 and Mr. B — : 
 
 And stony corneils blush with blooming 
 plums. 
 
 I take the former to be the poet's 
 meaning : for the Cornelian cherry 
 is a fruit of so beautiful a red colour, 
 that the cornel cannot properly be 
 said to glow or redden with plumbs, 
 which are not so red as its own na- 
 tural fruit. Besides the epithet 
 stony belongs very properly to the 
 fruit of the Cornel, not to the tree : 
 wherefore if Virgil speaks of that 
 fruit, he must mean the stock of the 
 plumb. Columella says the Cor- 
 nelian cherries were used for olives : 
 " Corna, quibus pro olivis uta- 
 " mur." 
 
 37. Juvat Ismara Baccho conse- 
 rere.] Ismarus is a mountain of 
 Thrace, not far from the mouth of 
 Hebrus. That country was famous 
 for good wines. Ulysses speaks in 
 commendation of some wine, which 
 was given him by Maron, the priest 
 of Apollo at Ismarus : 
 
 — — 'A<ra£ alyiav afficov 'i%ov pikctvof 
 
 otvoto 
 'H^soj, ov pot 'tbcaxi Mtiguv EvavS-zes vtcg 
 c l/>vj$ 'AttoXXuvos. o;"l(r{ta,(>ov ufiCpiGiZnxu. 
 
 Then took a goat-skin fill'd with pre-*\ 
 
 cious wine, I 
 
 The gift of Maron, of Evantheus' line, > 
 
 The priest of Phoebus at th' Ismarian I 
 
 shrine. ** 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 38. Olea magnum vestire Tabur- 
 num.] l^aburnus is a mountain of 
 
118 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ishtmVJn°d'be°ar^ C a e rt na of Tu q ue ades > inceptumque una decurre laborem, 
 
 the labour which I have be- /-^ t r^ r 
 
 gun, thou, who art my giovy, U decus, (J ramae merito pars maxima nostrae, 
 
 and justly the greatest part of 
 
 my fame and flying spread Maecenas, peir.^oque voians da vela patenti. 41 
 
 the sails to the open sea. I 7 i o J r 
 
 ™2!!K;S?b?3I Non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto : 
 
 on this subject; 
 
 Campania, which was very fruitful 
 in olives. It is now called Taburo. 
 
 39. Tuque ades, &c] The poet 
 having invoked Bacchus, and pro- 
 posed the subject of this Book, now 
 calls upon his patron Maecenas, to 
 give him his assistance. 
 
 " This allegory, says Ruaeus, is 
 " generally thought to allude to the 
 " Cirque, which opinion is strength- 
 " ened by the last verses of this 
 " book: 
 
 ** Sedjam tempus cquum fumantia solvere 
 " colla, &c. 
 
 " but I think that this and the fol- 
 " lowing lines allude to Navigation. 
 " And indeed the verb decurro is 
 '« used with water : thus Catullus; 
 
 " A usi sunt vada salsa cita decurrere puppi. 
 
 " And Virgil, in the fifth .Eneid ; 
 
 " Prona petit maria et pelago dccurrit 
 " aperto." 
 
 40. decus, fames merito pars 
 maxima nostra;.] " In some ancient 
 " manuscripts it is nostri : if this be 
 " admitted, we must necessarily 
 " read, as some think it should be, 
 
 " O decus, Ofama, et merito pars maxima 
 " nostri. 
 
 " But in the Medicean and other 
 " correct copies it \sfamoe nostrce. 
 
 " The reading in some copies 
 
 " is extravagant, 
 
 " O Deus, O fames merito pars maxima 
 *' nostra?. 
 
 " Surely it is better to read decus 
 " with Horace, 
 
 " et presidium, et dulce decus mcum." 
 
 PlERIUS. 
 
 41. Pelagoque volans da vela pa- 
 tend.] Several commentators take 
 these words to signify, that the poet 
 begs Maecenas to favour him : " Sim- 
 ' ' plici generi carminis praesta favo- 
 " rem: ut Vela favorem accipia- 
 te raus," says Servius. " Ut Mas- 
 " cenas favoris vela explicet, aspi- 
 " rans in patenti pelago totius 
 '* operis," says La Cerda. But if 
 we carefully consider the poet's de- 
 sign in the whole passage now be- 
 fore us, we shall find, that by da 
 vela pelago, he does not mean fa- 
 vour my undertaking, but set sail or 
 embark with me: as two lines before 
 he had desired him to join with 
 him in the labour he had under- 
 taken: <c inceptumque una decurre 
 *' laborem/' By Pelago patenti 
 Ruaeus thinks he means an open 
 sea, not shut up with winds. I be- 
 lieve he uses that metaphor to ex- 
 press the copiousness of his subject, 
 comparing the immensity of his 
 undertaking to that of the ocean. 
 For he adds immediately, that Mae- 
 cenas may not be discouraged by 
 the vastness of the labour, that he 
 has no intent to aim at comprehend- 
 ing the whole in his Poem, and in- • 
 deed, that, if he had such a design, 
 it would be impossible. 
 
 42. Non ego cuncta meis.] We 
 have an expression like this in the 
 second Iliad. Homer, when he is 
 drawing up the Grecian army, says 
 he should not be able to recite all 
 their numbers, though he had ten 
 tongues, and ten mouths, a voice 
 not to be broken, and a heart of 
 brass : 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 119 
 
 Non, mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, 
 Ferrea vox. Ades, et primi lege littoris oram : 
 In manibus terrae : non hie te carmine ficto, 45 
 Atque per ambages, et longa exorsa tenebo. 
 Sponte sua quae se tollunt in luminis oras, 
 
 not though I had a hundred 
 tongues, a hundred mouths, 
 and a voice of iron Assist 
 me, and coast along the near- 
 est shore : the land is in sight : 
 I will not here detain you 
 with poetical fiction, and cir- 
 cumlocutions, and long pre- 
 ambles. Those, which spring 
 spontaneously into the open 
 air, 
 
 Oi/V u pot %'ixa. /u,h y^uffcrxt, Vma. Tt g-ofietr 
 
 tttv, 
 <J>uvy) }' ccppnKTOS, ^aXxsev }i fiat frog 
 
 ht/f], 
 
 44. Primi lege littoris oram.] This 
 expression, of coasting near the 
 shore, is thought to contradict the 
 open sea just now mentioned : but 
 I believe what I have said in the 
 note on ver. 41. will reconcile this 
 
 seeming contradiction. Mr. B 
 
 would have primi altered to the ad- 
 verb primo; and indeed it is pri- 
 mum in the King's manuscript, but 
 there seems to be no occasion for 
 this alteration. Lego in naval affairs 
 is always used in Latin for coasting, 
 whence, as La Cerda observes, pe- 
 lagus legere, which some write, is 
 barbarous. 
 
 45. Non hide carmine Jicto, &c] 
 " ftuseus and Mr. Dryden under- 
 " stand non hie te carmine Jicto rela- 
 u tively to the whole work in ge- 
 " neral ; but it is plain, Virgil con- 
 tl fines it to his invocation, non hie, 
 " not in this place. The conclusion 
 " seems to carry with it some kind 
 " of reflection upon the common 
 " tedious forms of invocation, 
 <( which, it is probable, Maecenas 
 " had been often tired with." Mr. 
 B . 
 
 47. Sponte sua, &c] The poet 
 had before mentioned the three ways 
 | by which wild trees are produced; 
 i spontaneously, by roots, and by 
 ! seeds. Here he mentions them 
 j again, and shews by what culture 
 jeach sort may be meliorated. 
 
 Oras.] So I read it with Heinsius, 
 and La Cerda : it is commonly read 
 in luminis auras. This last author 
 
 observes that in luminis oras is a fre- 
 quent expression amongst the poets : 
 thus Ennius : 
 
 O Romule, Romule die, O 
 
 Qualem te patriae custodem Di genue- 
 
 runt ? 
 Tu produxisti nos inter luminis oras. 
 
 And Lucretius: 
 
 Nee sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras 
 Exoritur. 
 
 And 
 
 At nunc seminibus quia certis quidque 
 
 creatur, 
 Inde enascitur, atque oras in luminis exit, 
 Materies ubi inest cujusque et corpora 
 
 prima. 
 
 And 
 
 ■ Vivida tellus 
 
 Tuto res teneras effert in lutninis oras. 
 
 And 
 
 Miscetur funere vagor, 
 
 Quern pueri tollunt visentes luminis oras. 
 
 And 
 
 Significare volunt indignos esse putandos, 
 Vivam progeniem qui in oras luminis 
 edant. 
 
 And 
 
 Turn porro puer, ut saevis projectus ab 
 
 undis 
 Navita, nudus humi jacet, infans, indi- 
 
 gus omni 
 Vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis 
 
 oras 
 Nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit. 
 
 And 
 
 Nunc redeo ad mundi novitatem, et 
 
 mollia terrae 
 Arva, novo foetu quid primum in luminis 
 
 oras 
 Tollere, et incertis tentarit credere ventis. 
 
120 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 are unfruitful indeed, but fair 
 and strong: for nature lies 
 hid in the soil. Yet these if 
 you graft them, or change 
 them by putting them into 
 well prepared trenches, will 
 put off their wild nature, and 
 by frequent culture will be 
 not slow to obey any disci- 
 pline. And those also, which 
 arise barren from the bottom 
 of the plant, will do the same, 
 if you transplant them into 
 the open fields. For the high 
 shoots and branches of the 
 mother overshadow them, 
 and hinder them from bear- 
 ing fruit, as they grow up ; 
 and scorch it when they bear 
 any. The tree which' arises 
 from seed, grows slowly, and 
 will spread a shade for late 
 posterity. 
 
 Infcecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt : 
 Quippe solo natura subest. Tamen hac quo- 
 
 que si quis 49 
 
 Inserat, aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis, 
 Exuerint sylvestrem animura : cultuque fre- 
 
 quenti 
 In quascunque voces artes, haud tarda sequen- 
 
 tur. 
 Nee non et sterilis, quae stirpibus exit ab imis, 
 Hoc faciet, vacuos si sit digesta per agros. 
 Nunc altse frondes, et rami matris opacant, 55 
 Crescentique adimunt foetus, uruntqueferentem. 
 Jam, quse seminibus jactis se suslulit arbos, 
 Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus umbram. 
 
 And 
 
 Sic unum quicquid paullatim protrahit 
 
 astas 
 In medium, ratioque in lum'mis eruit 
 
 oras. 
 
 Thus also our poet himself, in the 
 seventh JEneid : 
 
 Quern Rhea sacerdos 
 
 Furtivum partu sub h'.mlnis edidit oras. 
 
 Though here also many editors read 
 auras. Fulvius Ursinus looks upon 
 the passage now under consideration 
 to be an imitation of that line in 
 Lucretius : 
 
 Sponte sua nequeunt liquidas existere in 
 auras. 
 
 49- Quippe solo natura subest.] 
 Some understand solo to mean the 
 root of the tree : others interpret it 
 the soil or earth, in which it grows. 
 By nature's lying hid in the soil, the 
 Poet seems to mean, that there is 
 some hidden power in the earth, 
 which causes it to produce particular 
 plants, which therefore grow fair 
 and strong in that soil, which is 
 adapted to give them birth. 
 
 Tamen hoec quoque si quis, &c] 
 The way to tame these luxuriant 
 wild trees, is to ingraft a good fruit 
 upon them, or to transplant them. 
 
 50. Inserat.] Some have imagined 
 erroneously that Virgil means that 
 their branches should be ingrafted 
 upon other trees ; but this is con- 
 trary to practice. Insererc arbor em 
 signifies not only to ingraft that tree 
 upon another, but also to ingraft 
 another upon the stock of that. 
 
 52. Voces.] Pierius says that some 
 ancient manuscripts have voles, and 
 some velis ; but that voces is most 
 approved by the learned. 
 
 56. Crescentique.] In the King's 
 and Cambridge manuscripts it is 
 crescentesque. If this reading be ad- 
 mitted, we must render this passage, 
 " and destroy the growing fruits, 
 " and scorch the plant which bears 
 " them." 
 
 57. JamT\ In the Cambridge,, 
 and one of the Arundelian manu-, 
 scripts, and in some old printed edi- 
 tions, it is nam. 
 
 58. Nepotibus."] Fulvius Ursinus 
 contends, contrary to the opinion oi 
 all the other commentators, that bj 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 121 
 
 Pomaque degenerant succos oblita priores : 
 Et turpes avibus praedam fert uva racemos. 60 
 Scilicet omnibus est labor impendendus, et 
 
 omnes 
 Cogendae in sulcum, ac multa mercede do- 
 
 mandse. 
 Sed truncis Oleae melius, propagine Vites 
 
 And apples degenerate, for- 
 getting their former juices : 
 and the vine bears sorry clus- 
 ters, a food for birds. There- 
 fore labour must be bestowed 
 on them all, and all must be 
 removed into trenches, and 
 tamed with much expence. 
 But olives succeed best by 
 truncheons, vines by layers, 
 
 Nepotes Virgil meant the late pos- 
 terity of the tree, which he thinks 
 is more poetical, and more worthy 
 of Virgil, than the common inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 5Q. Pomaque degenerant] Some 
 take poma to mean the fruit of the 
 tree just mentioned : and indeed 
 the ancients seem to have used po- 
 mum not only for an apple, but for 
 any esculent fruit. Others under- 
 stand the poet to speak of the fruit 
 of the apple-tree. Of the former 
 opinion is La Cerda, who explains 
 this passage thus : " Praeterea poma 
 * * harum arborum facile degenerant, 
 " veluti oblita suam naturam et 
 " succos." And Ruaeus, whose in- 
 terpretation is in these words : " Et 
 " fructus ejus degenerant, amisso 
 ?' priore sapore." Dry den also 
 translates this line in the same 
 
 sense : 
 
 The gen'rous 
 decay. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 flavour lost, the fruits 
 
 Its fruit degen'rous proves, 
 
 Losing its native juices. 
 
 Grimoaldus is of the latter opi- 
 nion, whose paraphrase runs thus: 
 f Quemadmodum pirus abit in pi- 
 " rastrum, et mali dulces in amaras, 
 " aliaeque in alias transeunt." May's 
 translation also is in this sense : 
 
 And apples lose the first good juice they 
 had. 
 
 And Mr. B — *s : 
 
 Degenerate apples thus forget their taste. 
 
 60. Turpes avibus praedam fert 
 uva racemos.] Uva must be used 
 here figuratively for the tree: for 
 uva signifies the whole cluster of 
 grapes as well as racemus, not a sin- 
 gle grape, which is properly called 
 acinus or vinaceum. Thus, at the 
 latter end of the fourth Georgick; 
 we find uva used to express a swarm 
 of bees hanging on the branches of 
 a tree : 
 
 <- Liquefacta houm per viscera toto 
 Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere 
 
 costis, 
 Immensasque trahi nubes ; jamque ar- 
 
 bore summa 
 Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis. 
 
 63. Sed truncis, &c] Here the 
 poet speaks of the several ways of 
 cultivating trees by human in- 
 dustry : and gives us a no less just 
 than beautiful description of the 
 manner of inoculating and ingraft- 
 ing. 
 
 Servius, and after him most of 
 the other commentators, think that 
 what the poet says here of olives is 
 a repetition of what he had said 
 before : 
 
 Quin et caudicibus sectis, mirabile dictu ! 
 Truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. 
 
 In the note on that passage, it is 
 shewn, that Virgil speaks of a way 
 of cutting the trunk of an olive-tree 
 in pieces : and he mentions it as a 
 wonder, that the roots should shoot 
 from the dry wood. Here he speaks 
 of the best way of propagating olives, 
 which he says is by truncheons, 
 
122 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 foUdwSSi an m * rtlesT, y tte Respondent, solido Paphiae de robore Myrtus. 
 
 which are the thick branches sawn 
 in pieces, of a foot or a foot and a 
 half in length. These are to be 
 planted as fresh as possible, not e 
 sicco ligno. Columella, in the seven- 
 teenth chapter of his book de Arbo- 
 ribus, follows our poet in recom- 
 mending the propagation of olives 
 by truncheons: " Melius autem 
 " truncis quam plantis olivetum 
 •* constituitur." The ninth chapter 
 of the fifth book of the same author 
 is entirely on the culture of olives. 
 I shall here set down his description 
 of the taleas or truncheons of olive- 
 trees. u Turn ramos novellos, pro- 
 " ceros, et nitidos, quos compre- 
 " hensos manuspossitcircumvenire, 
 " hoc est manubrii crassitudine fe- 
 " racissimos arboribus adimito, et 
 " ex his quam recentissimas taleas 
 " recidito, ita ut ne corticem, aut 
 " ullam aliam partem, quam quae 
 " serra praeciderit, laedas : hoc au- 
 " tern facile contingit, si prius va- 
 " ram feceris, et earn partem supra 
 " quam ramum secaturus es, foeno, 
 " aut stramentis texeris, ut molliter, 
 " et sine noxa corticis taleae super- 
 " positae secentur. Taleae deinde 
 <c sesquipedales serra praecidantur, 
 " atque earum plagae utraque parte 
 " falce leventur, &c." Here he says 
 they are to be cut to the length of a 
 foot and half; but Cato recommends 
 them to be no longer than one foot : 
 fe Taleas oleagineas, quas in scrobe 
 " saturus eris, tripedaneas decidito, 
 " diligenterque tractate-, ne liber 
 " laboret. Cum dolabis aut secabis, 
 " quas in seminario saturus eris, pe- 
 " dales facito." 
 
 Tnmcus is properly a stock of a 
 tree, divested of its head: hence 
 these taleas, or branches, with their 
 heads cut off are called trunci. The 
 French derive their word troncon 
 from truncus ; and hence comes our 
 word truncheon. 
 
 The winters in England are gene- 
 rally too severe, to suffer olive-trees 
 to be planted in the open ground. 
 The way of propagating them here 
 is by laying down their tender 
 branches, and taking them from the 
 mother-plant in about two years. 
 This method is so tedious, that most 
 people choose to have them from 
 Italy in the spring. They are 
 usually planted in pots or cases, 
 and removed into the green-house 
 at the approach of winter. 
 
 Propagine vites respondent."] Vir- 
 gil here recommends the propaga- 
 tion of vines by layers : which is 
 still practised. It is found by ex- 
 perience to be a better way to pro- 
 pagate them by cuttings; the de- 
 scription of which I shall take the 
 liberty to set down, in the words of 
 my judicious friend Mr. Miller: 
 " You should always make choice 
 " of such shoots as are strong and 
 " well ripened of the last year's 
 " growth. These should be cut 
 sc from the old vine, just below the 
 " place where they were produced, 
 " taking a knot of the two years' 
 " wood, which should be pruned 
 " smooth, then you should cut off 
 " the upper part of the shoot, so as 
 " to leave the cutting about sixteen 
 " inches long." This is the way 
 which Columella recommends ; who 
 calls this sort of cutting malleolus, 
 because it bears no ill resemblance 
 to a little hammer. I do not know 
 that we have any proper English 
 word for malleolus, though it is a 
 cutting of a different nature from 
 that which is usually taken from 
 other trees. Columella mentions 
 also the propagation of vines by 
 layers, in his seventh book de Arbo- 
 ribus. 
 
 64. Solido Paphiae de robore Myr- 
 tus.] In one of the Arundelian ma- 
 nuscripts it is melius instead of solido 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 123 
 
 Plantis edurse Coryli nascuntur, ct ingens 65 
 Fraxinus, Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronse, 
 Chaonlique patris glandes : etiam ardua palma 
 
 The hard hazels and the vast 
 ash, and the tree which 
 spreads its shade for the crown 
 of Hercules, and the acorns 
 of ourChaonian father, grow 
 from suckers : this way also 
 grows the lofty palm, andithe 
 
 The myrtles are called Paphian 
 from Paphos a city of the island Cy- 
 prus, where Venus was worshipped. 
 The myrtle was sacred to that god- 
 dess: see the note on ver. 28. of 
 the first book. 
 
 By solido de robore he seems to 
 mean planting by sets. Thus Mr. 
 B seems to understand him : 
 
 Myrtles by huge boughs. 
 
 With us they are propagated by cut- 
 tings, and removed into the green- 
 house in winter. 
 
 65. Plantis edurce Coryli nascun- 
 tur.] By plantis the poet means 
 suckers ; which is a method still in 
 common practice : though it is now 
 found to be a better way to propa- 
 gate them by layers. 
 
 I read edurce with Heinsius, and 
 several other good editors. Servius 
 reads et durce ; but he says that 
 some read edurce, as it were non 
 durce; like enodes for sine nodis. 
 Pierius says that in some ancient 
 manuscripts it is edurce, but in the 
 greater part et durce. One of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts has et dura?, 
 and the other edurce. The King's, 
 the Cambridge, and the Bodleian 
 manuscripts have et dura?. Both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts have edurce. 
 Grimoaldus, Paul Stephens, La 
 Cerda, Schrevelius, and several 
 other editors read et dura?, Ruaeus 
 and many others read edurce. This 
 last commentator interprets edurce, 
 valde dura?: and the hazel being 
 a hard wood, this interpretation 
 seems to be better than that of 
 Servius. 
 
 One of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts reads nascentur, instead of 
 nascuntur. 
 
 66. Hcrculeceque arbos umbrosa 
 corona?.] The tree of Hercules was 
 the poplar : thus Theocritus, in his 
 second Idy Ilium : 
 
 ■ A'cvkccv, 'HgUKhios hgov Egvos '. 
 
 and our poet, in his seventh Eclogue: 
 
 Populus Alcidae gratissima. 
 
 It is certain that the poplar puts 
 forth suckers in great abundance. 
 
 67. Chaoniique patris glandes.] 
 See the note on ver. 8. of the first 
 Georgick. The oak was sacred to 
 Jupiter. 
 
 Etiam] In both Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts it is etjam. 
 
 It must not be denied, that not- 
 withstanding our poet seems to men- 
 tion the oak, palm, and fir, as being 
 propagated by suckers, yet these 
 trees are never known to produce 
 any, nor were they ever propagated 
 any other way, than by seeds. It 
 has been suggested to me by an in- 
 genious friend, that what Virgil 
 says of suckers is terminated with 
 the end of ver. 66, and that Ckaonii 
 patris glandes, fyc. signifies that 
 " oaks grow from seeds, as does 
 " also the lofty palm, and the fir, 
 " which is to try the dangers of the 
 " sea." I much question whether 
 the words of our author can be 
 brought to this sense, but I leave 
 it to the determination of the learned 
 reader. 
 
 Ardua palma.] The palm (I be- 
 lieve) has this epithet on account of 
 its great height. Some think it is 
 called ardua, because the honour of 
 the palm is difficult to be obtained. 
 Mr. Miller thinks it is called ardua, 
 because " it is with difficulty propa- 
 " gated, and is of slow growth, so 
 it 2 
 
124 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^eif'B^the'mggfcTa?- Nascitur, et casus abies visura marinos. 
 
 bute is ingrafted with the off- T . r : ,, . . , ., 
 
 ipring of the wainut-tree, Insentur vero ex rcetu Nucis arbutus hornda, 
 
 " that the persons who plant the 
 " stones, seldom live to taste the 
 tf fruit of their labour." 
 
 68. Casus abies visura marinos.] 
 The abies is our yew-leaved Jir-tree. 
 The wood of this tree was much 
 used by the ancients in their ship- 
 ping. 
 
 69. Inseritur vero exfoetu nucis 
 arbutus horrida.] I believe there is 
 no passage, in all the Georgicks, 
 which has been more censured, than 
 this about grafting : it being a re- 
 ceived opinion, that no graft will 
 succeed, unless it be upon a stock, 
 which bears a fruit of the same 
 kind. Hence this is looked upon 
 as a mere poetical rant, to talk of 
 grafting a walnut on an arbute, an 
 apple on a plane, a beech on a ches- 
 nut, a pear on a wild ash, and an 
 oak on an elm. Whether the pre- 
 sent art falls short of that of the 
 ancients, or whether our climate 
 will not admit of the same advan- 
 tages, with the better air of Italy, 
 I will not pretend to determine. 
 But I shall endeavour to strengthen 
 what our poet has said, by the au- 
 thority of the best, the most expe- 
 rienced, and the most judicious 
 prose writer on agriculture, amongst 
 the ancients. Columella spends a 
 whole chapter, in his book de Arbo- 
 ribusj in shewing how any cion 
 may be grafted on any stock. I 
 shall present the reader with a trans- 
 lation of that entire chapter. ' c But 
 " since the ancients have denied 
 * that every kind of cion may be 
 " ingrafted on every tree, and have 
 u determined this as a perpetual 
 " law, that those cions only can 
 " succeed, which are like in outer 
 *' and inner bark, and fruit, to those 
 " trees on which they are ingrafted, 
 " we have thought it proper to re- 
 
 " move this mistake, and deliver 
 " to posterity the method by which 
 " every kind of cion may be in- 
 <f grafted on every kind of tree. 
 " But not to tire the reader with 
 " a long preface, we shall give 
 e ' one example, by following which 
 " any one may ingraft whatso- 
 " ever kind he pleases on any 
 " tree. Make a trench four feet 
 " every way from an olive-tree, of 
 " such a length that the extremities 
 " of the olive-branches may reach 
 " it. Into this trench put a young 
 " fig-tree, and be careful that it be 
 " fair and strong. After three or 
 " five years, when it is sufficiently 
 " grown, bend down the fairest 
 " branch of the olive-tree, and bind 
 " it to the fig-stock : and so cutting 
 " off the rest of the branches, leave 
 " only those which you would in- 
 " graft. Then top the fig, smooth 
 " the wound, and cleave the middle 
 " of the stock with a wedge. Then 
 " shave the ends of the olive 
 " branches on each side, whilst they 
 
 * grow to the mother plant, and so 
 " fit them to the cleft of the fig, 
 " and take out the wedge, and bind 
 ' ' them carefully, that they may not 
 " start back. Thus in three years 
 " time the fig and olive will unite : 
 " and in the fourth year, when they 
 " are well incorporated, cut the 
 " olive branches from the mother 
 " in the same manner as you cut off 
 cc layers. By this method every 
 
 * kind of cion is ingrafted upon 
 " any tree." 
 
 What I have here quoted is, I 
 think, sufficient to justify what the 
 poet has related. It cannot be ima- 
 gined, that all he says is from his 
 own experience : but it was cer- 
 tainly thought in his time to be 
 practicable. I shall now lay before 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes : 
 
 70 
 
 125 
 
 and barren planes have borne 
 strong apple-trees : 
 
 the reader what may be said on the 
 other side of the question, in the 
 words of Mr. Miller, who has done 
 me the favour to communicate the 
 following observations. 
 
 " The ancients used two different 
 " methods of grafting : the first is 
 " by approach ; the other is what 
 " the gardeners term clift-grafting. 
 (l It is the former method which 
 " Columella has described, where 
 u he directs the stock, on which the 
 " graft is to be inserted, to be 
 " planted so near the tree designed 
 " to be propagated, as that the 
 " branches may be drawn down, 
 " and inserted in the stock, without 
 li being cut from the parent tree : 
 " for he directs the letting it remain 
 " two years before it is separated. 
 " As to the different kinds of trees, 
 " which are mentioned by the poet, 
 " to be ingrafted on each other, I 
 '* dare affirm it was never practised 
 " in any country : so that we must 
 tl either suppose the trees, which 
 <e now pass under the same appel- 
 " lation, to be different from those 
 cc known at that time under such 
 " names, or that it is a licence taken 
 " by the poet to embellish his poem. 
 ft What Columella has said to con- 
 'f firm this, is no more than what 
 " we find in most books of hus- 
 " bandry, both ancient and modern ; 
 " in which the authors have too 
 " frequently spent more time in ex- 
 " plaining what they supposed 
 " mysteries, than in relating the 
 " practice of the most experienced 
 u husbandmen. For suppose these 
 " things were practicable, there 
 " could no advantage arise from it 
 " to the practitioner, and it would 
 " be only a matter of curiosity, 
 " to see the stock of one kind sup- 
 " porting a tree of a very different 
 ' ' one. But all these sorts of trees 
 
 " have been tried on each other, 
 " not only in England, but also in 
 " Italy, and from all the different 
 " experiments which have been 
 " made, it is found that no trees of 
 " a different kind will take on each 
 " other. In several books of gar- 
 " dening and husbandry, we find 
 " directions how to ingraft one sort 
 " of tree on another of any kind ; 
 " which is to plant the stock near 
 " the tree from which the cion is to 
 «« be taken, and when the stock is 
 " sufficiently rooted, then you must 
 ' ' draw down a young branch of the 
 " tree, and insert it into the stock 
 " as near the ground as possible : 
 " then the earth is ordered to be 
 " laid round the stock above the 
 " place where it was grafted. In 
 " this state they were to remain 
 " until the second or third year, 
 " when they should be cut off from 
 " the parent- tree. By this method 
 " I have known a pear-tree grafted 
 tc on a cabbage stalk, but the stock 
 " was of no use to the graft: for 
 ec the cion put out roots whereby it 
 " maintained itself. But these being 
 " little better than jugglers' tricks, 
 <c were never practised by persons 
 te of experience." 
 
 69. Ex.~\ In one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts it is et. 
 
 Ibid. Nuois.~] See the note on ver. 
 187. of the first Georgick. 
 
 Ibid. Arbutus.] See the note on 
 ver. 148. of the first Georgick. 
 
 Ibid. Horrida.] It is horrens in 
 the King's, and both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 Rueeus thinks that arbutus has 
 the epithet korrida, on account of 
 the fewness of the leaves : I rather 
 believe it is because of the rugged- 
 ness of its bark. Servius seems to 
 take it in this sense : " horrida 
 " autem hispida," says he. The 
 
126 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 bSS;?n1 the ve mou S Castanese fagos, ornusque incanuit albo 
 
 ash has been hoary with the 
 white 
 
 
 branches also of the arbute are very 
 unequal, which the poet seems to 
 express in the numbers of this verse. 
 Mr. B — takes the arbutus to be our 
 crab-tree: and nux to be the fil- 
 berd : 
 
 But Jllberds graft on th* horrid crab-tree's 
 brows. 
 
 70. Steriles platani malos gessere 
 valentes.] The Platanus is our ori- 
 ental Plane-tree, without all ques- 
 tion. Dionysius the geographer 
 compares the form of the Morea, or 
 ancient Peloponnesus, to the leaves 
 of this tree, making the footstalk to 
 be the isthmus, by which it is 
 joined to Greece : 
 
 n eA<j{7*<j$ V Icri vrxros o-rnhTy 
 
 Ei%oftiv/i vXa.ra.voio /^vou^ovn vrer»Xq>. 
 *Axgw fih ya% totx.iv Ugyopivos fives leSpot, 
 Ilgoj /3o££»jv, xai xotvov lip' 'EXXaSos ?%vos 
 
 Igiihav* 
 G>vXXa £' nKugos vri(>to*ivyirw zfsgift&rgos, 
 KoXvrois ihaXiois Is-^^svjj hS-a xec) hS-a,. 
 
 Pliny also says that the Pelopon- 
 nesus is shaped, by the number of 
 its bays, like a plane leaf: " Platani 
 " folio similis, propter angulosos re- 
 " cessus." To illustrate this simi- 
 litude, which is as just as we can 
 expect in any thing of this nature, 
 I have added a figure of the Pelo- 
 ponnesus, and of a leaf of a plane- 
 tree. The Platanus is so called 
 from nXcclvg broad, on account of 
 the remarkable breadth of its leaves. 
 Pliny tells us this tree was first 
 brought over the Ionian sea, into 
 the island of Diomedes, for a mo- 
 nument for that hero: thence into 
 Sicily, and so into Italy. " Sed 
 " quis non jure miretur arborem 
 " umbrae gratia tantum ex alieno 
 " petitam orbe ? Platanus haec est, 
 tc per mare Ionium in Diomedis in- 
 " sulam ejusdem tumuli gratia pri- 
 " mum invecta, inde in Siciliam 
 
 " transgressa, atque inter primas 
 " donata Italiae." It seems the an- 
 cients had so profuse a veneration 
 for this tree as to irrigate it with 
 wine ; thus Pliny : <e Tantumque 
 " postea honoris increvit, ut mero 
 " infuso enutriantur : compertum 
 f( id maxime prodesse radicibus, 
 " docuimusque etiam arbores vina 
 Cf potare/' The poet calls the plane 
 barren, because it bears no fruit that 
 is eatable. 
 
 71. Castanece fagos.] The com- 
 mentators differ greatly about the 
 reading of this passage. Servius 
 reads castanece fagos, but thinking 
 it absurd that a barren beech, as he 
 calls it, should be ingrafted on a 
 fruitful chesnut, he fancies either 
 that it is a hypallage, so that Cas- 
 tanet fagos is for fagi castaneas : or 
 else that we must make a stop at 
 castanece, taking it for the genitive 
 case after malos ; and making fagos 
 the nominative case with a Greek 
 termination, this and the preceding 
 verse being to be read thus : 
 
 Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes 
 Castanece : fagos, ornusque incanuit, fyc. 
 
 The first of these interpretations is 
 such, that, I believe, to mention it 
 is to confute it. The second inter- 
 pretation is not without its follow- 
 ers. Pierius says he has seen cas- 
 taneas marked for the genitive case, 
 in some ancient copies: and As- 
 censius, as he is quoted by Ruaeus, 
 contends for this reading. He 
 takes malos to signify, not apple- 
 trees, but masts : so that the sense 
 will be, according to this critic, 
 Plane-trees have borne such strong 
 branches of chesnuts, that they seem 
 to be masts of ships : but this, as 
 Ruaeus justly observes, is too harsh. 
 Others, says Servius, like neither 
 of these interpretations, but make 
 
p 
 
 -n 
 
 O R II IE 1^ TAIL PILATE TlRIEE 
 

 
GEORG. LJB. II. 
 
 127 
 
 Flore pyri, glandemque sues fregere sub Ulmis. »^« ££&£*<£ 
 
 under elms. 
 
 castanece the genitive case after Jlore, 
 and read fagus in the nominative 
 case singular. Thus it will be, 
 " the beech has been hoary with 
 u the blossoms of chesnuts, and the 
 " mountain ash with those of the 
 " pear-tree." Ruaeus follows this 
 interpretation, and Mr. B 
 
 Thus chesnut plumes on beech surprise 
 
 the sight, 
 And hornbeam blows with pear-tree 
 
 flowers all white. 
 
 Grimoaldus reads castanece fagos, 
 and thinks the poet means a wild 
 sort of chesnutSy for he paraphrases 
 it " in castanea sylvestri fagum." 
 La Cerda contends that it should be 
 read castaneas fagus. making fagus 
 the nominative case plural, like 
 laurus, platanus, myrtus, which are 
 found in some old copies. Dryden 
 seems to have read castaneas fagus: 
 
 Thus mastful beech the bristly chesnut 
 bears. 
 
 Dr. Trapp also highly approves of 
 this reading : " I entirely agree," 
 says he, <( with those who readca-y- 
 " taneas fagus, or castanece fagus, 
 " in Abramus's sense, [see Ruaeus ;] 
 " not castanece fag os. Nobody in 
 " his wits would graft a beech upon 
 " a chesnut." His translation is 
 according to this latter sense : 
 
 ■ Chesnuts bloom'd on beech. 
 
 For my part I see no reason to re- 
 ject the common reading, castanece 
 fagos. Thus Pierius found it in 
 the Medicean manuscript : and thus 
 I find it in all the seven manu- 
 scripts, which I have collated. The 
 commentators have been induced 
 to alter the text, on a supposition, 
 that chesnuts were esteemed, in 
 Virgil's time, as much superior to 
 beech-mast, as they are now : the 
 
 contrary to which I believe may 
 easily be proved. Pliny mentions 
 chesnuts, as a very sorry sort of 
 fruit, and seems to wonder that 
 nature should take such care of 
 them, as to defend them with a 
 prickly husk : ' e Armatum iis echi- 
 " nato calyce vallum, quod inchoa- 
 " turn glandibus. Mirumque vi* 
 " lissima esse quae tanta occultaverit 
 <e cura naturae." We learn from 
 the same author that this fruit was 
 made better by culture, about the 
 time of Tiberius : (l Divus Tiberius 
 " postea balanum nomen imposuit, 
 " excellentioribus satu factis." The 
 mast of the beech was reckoned a 
 very sweet nut, and men are said 
 to have been sustained by it in a 
 siege. (S Dulcissima omnium fagi," 
 says Pliny, " ut qua obsessos etiam 
 " homines durasse in oppido Chio, 
 " tradat Cornelius Alexander." This 
 tree was held in great veneration 
 by the Romans, vessels made of it 
 were used in their sacrifices, and 
 the mast was used by them in me- 
 dicine. Hence I see no reason to 
 doubt that Virgil meant the in- 
 grafting a beech on a chesnut: 
 though with us, who prefer the 
 chesnut, this practice would be 
 absurd. 
 
 71. Ormisque incanuit albo Jlore 
 Pyri.] What the Romans calleo. 
 Ornus seems to be the Sorbus aucu- 
 paria or Quicken-tree, which grows 
 in mountainous places ; not only in 
 Italy, but in many parts, especially 
 the northern counties, of England, 
 where it is commonly called the 
 Mountain Ash. Columella says the 
 Ornus is a wild sort of Ash, and 
 that its leaves are broader than 
 those of the other species : " Sed si 
 " aspera et siticulosa loca arboribus 
 " obserenda erunt, neque Opulus, 
 " neque Ulmus tarn idoneae sunt 
 
158 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 Nor are grafting and inoculat- 
 ing performed the same way. 
 For where the buds thrust 
 themselves forth, out of the 
 middle of the bark, and break 
 the thin membranes, a small 
 slit is to be made in the very 
 knot ; here they inclose a bud 
 from a tree of another sort, 
 and teach it to unite with the 
 moist rind. Or again the 
 unknotty stocks are cut, and 
 a way is made into the solid 
 wood with wedges, and then 
 fruitful cions are put in : and 
 in no long time the vast tree 
 rises up to heaven with happy 
 branches, and wonders at the 
 new leaves, and fruits not its 
 own. 
 
 Nec modus inserere, atque oculos imponere sim- 
 plex. 
 Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae, 
 Et teuues rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso 75 
 Fit nodo sinus : hue aliena ex arbore germen 
 Includunt, udoque docent inolescere libro. 
 Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur, et alte 
 Finditur in solidum cuneis via; deinde feraces 
 Plantae immittuntur: nec longum tempus, et 
 ingens 80 
 
 Exiit ad caelum ramis felicibus arbos, 
 Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma. 
 
 " quam Orni. Eaa sylvesires Fra- 
 u xini sunt, paulo latioribus tarn en 
 u foliis quam caeterse Fraxini, nec 
 " deteriorem frondem quam Ulmi 
 " praestant." 
 
 I have sometimes suspected that 
 the Omus may be that sort of Ash, 
 from which the manna is said to be 
 gathered in Calabria, and which 
 Caspar Bauhinus brought out of 
 Italy, under the name of Omus 3. 
 Galli Brixiani de Re rustica. Both 
 he and his brother John Bauhinus 
 have called it Fraxinus rolundiore 
 folio. 
 
 72. Glandemque sues fregere sub 
 Ulmis.'] In the King's, and one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, I find 
 glandes instead of glandem. 
 
 Pliny has committed an error in 
 quoting this passage, for he says 
 that Virgil speaks of ingrafting 
 cherries upon elms : " Quippe cum 
 « Virgilius insitam nucibus arbutum, 
 " malis platanum, cerasis ulmum 
 « dicat." 
 
 73. Inserere atque ocidos impo- 
 nere.] Here the poet shews the dif- 
 ference between grafting and in- 
 oculating. Inoculation, or budding, 
 is performed by making a slit in 
 the bark of one tree, and inserting 
 the bud of another into it. There 
 
 are several ways of grafting now in 
 use, but the only one, which Virgil 
 describes, is what we call cleft- 
 grafting, which is performed by 
 cleaving the head of the stock, and 
 placing a cion from another tree in 
 the cleft. 
 
 78. Trunci.'] We call the body 
 of a tree the trunk : but truncus is 
 not used for the body, unless the 
 head be cut off. The body of a 
 tree, when it is adorned with its 
 branches, is called caudex or codex. 
 
 82. Miraturque.} Servius reads 
 mirata eslque. 
 
 To conclude the notes on this 
 passage about ingrafting and inocu- 
 lating : it seems impossible not to 
 observe the beautiful manner in 
 which our poet has described them. 
 The variety of expression which he 
 has used in speaking of the different 
 sorts of ingrafted trees, and the 
 various epithets he bestows on them, 
 render this passage exceedingly de- 
 lightful. The arbute is distin- 
 guished by its ruggedness ; the 
 plane by its barren shade ; and the 
 pear by its snowy blossoms. It 
 would have become a prose writer, 
 simply to have said that any cion 
 may be ingrafted on any stock : 
 but a poet must add beauty to his 
 
GEORG. LIB. IE 
 
 129 
 
 Preeterea genus haud unum, nee fortibus ulmis, Snfsort'Sf Jt!S™Jim S ?S 
 
 XT v • i .*. ti ' •• a a willows, of lotes, and of 
 
 Nee sahci, lotoque, neque Idaeis cypanssis: 84 wasan cypresses : 
 
 instructions, and convey the plain- 
 est precepts in the most agreeable 
 manner. Thus Virgil, after he had 
 said that walnuts are ingrafted on 
 arbutes, apples on planes, and 
 beeches on chesnuts, adorns the 
 wild ash with the fine blossoms of 
 the pear: and instead ©f barely 
 telling us that oaks may be in- 
 grafted on elms, he represents the 
 swine crunching acorns under elms, 
 than which nothing can be more 
 poetical. At the close of this pas- 
 sage, he gives life and sense to his 
 ingrafted trees ; making them won- 
 der at the unknown leaves and 
 fruits with which they are loaded. 
 
 83. Preeterea genus, fyc] In this 
 passage the poet just mentions, that 
 there are several species of trees, 
 and speaks of the infinite variety of 
 fruits. 
 
 The two first lines of Dryden's 
 translation are intolerable : 
 
 Of vegetable woods are various kinds, 
 And the same species are of sev'ral minds. 
 
 Ulmis.] Theophrastus speaks of 
 two sorts of elm : Pliny mentions 
 four. 
 
 84. Salici.~] Pliny speaks of four 
 sorts of willow. 
 
 Loto.~] There is a tree, and also 
 an herb, called Lotus by the an- 
 cients. The herb is mentioned by 
 Homer, as being fed upon by the 
 horses of Achilles, 
 
 Aarov Igtvrofiiivoi iXioS-gitfrov rt triXivov. 
 
 It grows in great plenty in the Nile, 
 where they make bread of the heads 
 of it. Prosper Alpinus, an author 
 of good credit, who travelled into 
 Egypt, assures us, that the Egyp- 
 tian Lotus does not at all differ from 
 pur great white water lily. But it 
 is the tree which Virgil here speaks 
 
 of: and which gave name to a peo- 
 ple mentioned by Homer in his 
 ninth Odyssey : 
 
 Ol V aty' ol%oftsvoi fiiytv avSgun AuroQu- 
 
 yoifiv. 
 Ovl? a/nt. AaVofyayoi f*rioov!¥ Irugoifftv oktS-gov 
 'Hpirigoii, a>.Xei er^i Sofav "kwrolo tfucraoS-ai. 
 Tuv V os-if XairoTo tpayoi piXr/iYuz, xetgtfov, 
 Ovk $V a.ira.yyu'ktt.i tfuXiv ijS-iXiv, wit 
 
 'AAA.' avrav (ZouXovro fitr u.vhgu.<ti Auro- 
 
 (petyottri 
 Aarov igsvrjofttvot [Ainpiv, vofou rt XaSiffSui. 
 
 They went, and found a hospitable race : 
 Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign 
 
 guest, 
 They eat, they drink, and nature gives 
 
 the feast ; 
 The trees around them all their food 
 
 produce, 
 Lotos the name, divine nectareous juice ! 
 (Thence call'd Lotophagi) which whoso 
 
 tastes, 
 Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts, 
 Nor other home, nor other care intends, 
 But quits his house, his country, and his 
 
 friends. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Theophrastus describes this tree to 
 be something less than a pear-tree; 
 he says its leaves are cut about the 
 edges, and like those of the Ilex or 
 ever-green oak. He adds, that there 
 are several sorts of them, differing 
 according to their fruit, which is of 
 the size of a bean, and grows thick 
 upon the branches like myrtle ber- 
 ries : "Eft cil rov Aarov to t ulv i'diov 
 y'ivog, iv{*tyi3-i$, jjA/xov cttfios, Jj ftixfiv 
 zX&tIov. <pvAAov $1 hropois '{%tv xxi ir^t- 
 vvdig .... ysvjj dl eevrov 7C>.%i<a dixQopus 
 lyjuvTcc rats xuf>7rois. o oi kch.qtcqs yiXiko*; 
 
 tCVUftOq .... (piliTOit ol KCtS-OCTTtp T» [AVPTOt 
 
 Pliny has translated Theophrastus 
 almost word for word, with very 
 little addition. He informs us h o w- 
 ever that it was frequent in Italy, 
 where it had degenerated : ' ' Eadem 
 S 
 
130 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 nor do the fat olives, ^ec pingues unam in faciem nascuntur olivae, 
 
 " Africa qua vergit ad nos, insignem 
 " arborem Loton gignit, quam vo- 
 " cant celtin, et ipsam Italic? fami- 
 " Harem, sed terra mutatam." It 
 must indeed have very much dege- 
 nerated, if it be, as most botanists 
 agree, that which we call the nettle 
 tree : the fruit of which is far from 
 that delicacy, which is ascribed to 
 the Lotus of the ancients. The 
 leaves are indeed cut about the 
 edges: but he must have a warm 
 imagination, who can find in them 
 any resemblance of the ilex. Hence 
 some critics have taken the liberty 
 to alter the text of Theophrastus, 
 reading 7r^iuvS^ instead of -x^ivcShg, 
 that is, serrated, or indented like a 
 saw, instead of like those of the ilex. 
 But, if we should allow this emen- 
 dation, it would not answer our 
 purpose : for, either bropois t%ov cut 
 about the edges, an&tt^Mwhg serrated, 
 mean the very same thing, and so 
 Theophrastus would be guilty of 
 tautology ; or else the first must be 
 interpreted sinuated, which is not 
 true of the nettle-tree. Besides, in 
 Pliny's time, it certainly was 7r^ivuh§; 
 for he translates this passage: 
 " Incisurae folio crebriores, alioquin 
 " ilicis viderentur." 
 
 It seems to me more probable 
 that the Lotus of the Lotophagi is 
 what we now call Zizyphus or the 
 Jujube-tree. The leaves of this are 
 about an inch and a half in length, 
 and about one inch in breadth, of a 
 shining green colour, and serrated 
 about the edges: wherefore they 
 are much more like the leaves of 
 the ilex, than those of the nettle- tree 
 can be imagined to be. The fruits 
 grow thick upon the branches, ac- 
 cording to what Theophrastus 
 says of the A»to?. They are of the 
 shape and size of olives, and the 
 pulp of them has a sweet taste, like 
 honey, which agrees with what 
 
 Homer says of this tree; that it has 
 [MXivdi* kx£7tov. They are sent over 
 dried, from Italy. 
 
 There is another sort of Lotus 
 mentioned by Theophrastus, dif- 
 ferent from that of the Lotophagi, 
 which he calls also xxXtov^og. This 
 is thought, not without reason, to 
 be that which Prosper Alpinus tells 
 us the Egyptians call Nabca. It is 
 described and figured by that learned 
 author, in his book de Plantis 
 JEgypii, page 7,8. This is thought 
 also to be the lotus described by 
 Polybius, as we find him quoted by 
 Athenaeus. Virgil has mentioned 
 the Paliurus, in his fifth Eclogue : 
 
 ■ Spinis surgit Paliurus acutiS. 
 
 Idatis cyparissis.] He calls the cy- 
 press Idcean, from Ida, a mountain 
 of Crete. Theophrastus tells us this 
 tree is so familiar to that island, that 
 it comes up there spontaneously, if 
 you do but turn up the earth : 'E»««- 
 yp 3s etv fiovov vTri^rxa-avrect xxi xnitratriii, . 
 tv$v$ ccvotZxccrxviiv rec olxiix r*$ ##g«$. 
 axj-Ki^ b K^tvi xv7rei^trloi. 
 
 85. Nee pingues unam in faciem 
 nascuntur olivce.] X nere are many 
 sorts, or varieties, of olives : though 
 they are not so numerous as apples, 
 pears, and plumbs. Cato mentions 
 eight sorts; oleam conditivam, ra- 
 dium majorem, sallentinam, orchitem, 
 poseam, sergianam, colminianam, al- 
 bicerem. Columella says, that ten 
 sorts only had come to his know- 
 ledge : though he thinks there are 
 more. The names of the ten men- 
 tioned by Columella are; Pausia, 
 algiana, liciniana, sergia, nevia, cul- 
 minia, orchis, regia, circites, murtea. 
 He mentions the radius also soon 
 after : but that may probably be only 
 another name for one of the ten. 
 There are many more sorts men- 
 tioned by Pliny, and other authors ; 
 the same fruit obtaining, as I sup- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 131 
 
 Orchites, et radii, et amara pausia bacca : 86 SStE&^tetJffi 
 
 ries, grow in the same form : 
 
 pose, different names, in different 
 provinces, and at different times. 
 Thus we find in Pliny, that the ser- 
 gia was called regia by the Sabines : 
 and yet Columella sets these down 
 as two different sorts. Matthiolus 
 informs us, that there were no more 
 than three sorts known in his time 
 in Tuscany : " Virgilius trium tan- 
 " turn generum meminerit, quem- 
 " admodum etiam plura non no- 
 " vit hac nostra aetate Hetruria, 
 <c praesertimque noster Senensis 
 " ager." 
 
 86. Orchites.] Most of the manu- 
 scripts I have seen have orchades. 
 The same reading is in the Medi- 
 cean, and other ancient manuscripts. 
 Heinsius also, La Cerda, Ruaeus, 
 and most of the editors read orcha- 
 des. One of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts has orchades, radiique, mak- 
 ing the middle syllable of orchades 
 long. Servius reads orchites, which 
 I take to be right, because I find it 
 spelt in that manner by the prose 
 writers of agriculture; and par- 
 ticularly by Pliny, when he quotes 
 this very passage of Virgil : (t Ge- 
 " nera earum tria dixit Virgilius, 
 " orchites, et radios, et pausias." 
 The orchis is a round olive, being 
 so called from o£%i?, a testicle. Co- 
 lumella says that it is fitter for 
 eating, than to make oil : " Orchis 
 ' f quoque et radius melius ad escam, 
 " quam in liquorem stringitur." 
 Pliny says the orchis abounds most 
 in oil : " Prima ergo ab autumno 
 " colligitur, vitio operas non na- 
 " turae, pausia cui plurimum carnis: 
 u mox orchites, cut olei." It seems 
 to be the same with that which Cae- 
 salpinus, who was of Arezzo in Tus- 
 cany, tells us the modern Italians 
 call Olivola, being a small round 
 olive, yielding abundance of oil. 
 " Nostratium, quae minores, rotun- 
 
 <c dioresque, plurimum olei haben- 
 " tes, olivolce vocantur." Matthio- 
 lus says that the olive, which pro- 
 duces the best oil, and in greatest 
 quantities, is called olivastre: that 
 it is a large spreading tree, as big 
 as a walnut-tree ; " Proximae, turn 
 " colore, turn magnitudine prae- 
 " stantes, quamvis praedictis longe 
 " minores sint, sunt tamen omnium 
 " aptissimas ad olei conficiendi 
 " usum : quippe quod oleum ex eis 
 " expressum sit non modo flavum, 
 " dulce, pellucidum, ac caeteris 
 u praestans, sed etiam copiosum. 
 " Gignuntur haec a procerissimis 
 " oleis, praegrandibus, juglandium 
 " nucum instar, ramos in altum la- 
 " tumque amplissime fundentibus, 
 " eas rura nostra olivastre vulgo 
 " vocant/' Hence I take the orchis 
 of Virgil, the olivola of Caesalpinus, 
 and the olivastre of Matthiolus to 
 be the same sort of olive. 
 
 Radii.'] The radius is a long olive, 
 so called from its similitude to a 
 weaver's shuttle. There was a 
 larger and a smaller sort of radius : 
 for Cato, in the passage quoted in 
 the note on ver. 85. mentions the 
 radius major; and Columella in 
 lib. xii. cap. 47. speaks of the ra- 
 diolus. Caesalpinus mentions only 
 the large sort, which, he says, are 
 large and long, yielding a very 
 sweet oil, but in small quantities, 
 and are called raggiarice from radius: 
 " Quae majusculae et oblongae, dul- 
 " cissimum oleum reddentes, sed 
 ( l parcius, raggiarice a radiis nomine 
 u deflexo." These seem to be the 
 same with the first sort mentioned 
 by Matthiolus, which he says are 
 large olives, produced from small 
 trees, and are generally pickled, 
 because they yield but a little oil : 
 " Primum harum genus eas nostri 
 " faciunt, quae licet a minoribus 
 S2 
 
132 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 neither do apples, and the 
 woods of Alcinous: nor are 
 the shoots the same of the 
 Crust umian and Syrian pears, 
 and of the heavy volemi. Nor 
 does the same vintage hang 
 on our trees, as Lesbos gathers 
 from the Methymnaean vine. 
 There are Thasian vines, and 
 there are white Mareotides ; 
 
 Pomaque, et Alcinoi sylvae: nee surc'ulus idem 
 Crustumiis, Syriisque pyris, gravibusque volemis. 
 Non eadem arboribus pendet vindemia nostris, 
 Quam Methymnseo carpit de palmite Lesbos. 
 Sunt Thasiae vites, sunt et Mareotides albae : 91 
 
 tc olearum plantis proferantur, sunt 
 " tamen spectata forma et magnitu- 
 <e dine, Bononiensibus non quidera 
 ' ' inferiores : his tantum muria as- 
 ce servatis utuntur in cibis : quando- 
 ff quidem oleae minus aptae sunt, 
 " quod multo plus amurcae quam 
 " olei fundant." 
 
 Amara pausia bacca.~] The poet 
 mentions the bitter berry of this sort 
 of olive, because it is to be gathered 
 before it is quite ripe ; for then it 
 has a bitter or austere taste. But 
 when it is quite ripe, it has a very 
 pleasant flavour, according to Co- 
 lumella : " Bacca jucundissima est 
 " pausiae." Cato, when he is speak- 
 ing of making green oil, says you 
 must choose the roughest olive: 
 " Quam acerbissima olea oleum 
 " facies, turn oleum optimum erit." 
 Pliny has almost the same words : 
 " Oleum quam acerbissima oliva 
 ec optimum fieri." And Columella 
 calls the Pausian olive acerba : 
 <e Acerbam pauseam mense Sep- 
 " tembri vel Octobri, dum adhuc 
 " vindemia est, contunde." 
 
 87. Poma.~\ Columella mentions 
 nine sorts of apples, as the most ex- 
 cellent: " Praeterea malorum ge- 
 " nera exquirenda maxime scan- 
 <c diana, matiana, orbiculata, sex- 
 ,f tiana, pelusiana, amerina, syrica, 
 " malimela, cydonia." Pliny men- 
 tions twenty-nine sorts : but in these 
 are included citrons and several 
 other fruits which we do not now 
 call apples. 
 
 Alcinoi sylvce.'] The gardens of 
 Alcinous, in which were groves of 
 fruit trees, are celebrated in the se- 
 venth Odyssey. 
 
 8S. Crustumiis, Syriisque pyris, 
 gravibusque volemis.] The Crustu- 
 mia, or, as others call them, crus- 
 lumina, were reckoned the best sort 
 of pears. Columella gives them the 
 first place in his catalogue; and 
 Pliny says they are the best fla- 
 voured. " Cunctis autem crustu- 
 " mina gratissima." Whether they 
 are any sort of pears now known is 
 
 uncertain: Mr. B translates 
 
 them warden pears. 
 
 The Syrian pears are called also 
 Tarentina, according to Columella. 
 They are thought by some to be the 
 bergamot. 
 
 The volemi are so called, quia vo- 
 lam manus impleant ; because they 
 fill the palm of the hand. Ruaeus 
 thinks they are the bon chreiien, and 
 that those are mistaken, who con- 
 found them with the libralia of Pli- 
 ny, which are the pound pears. Dry- 
 den however differs from Ruaeus : 
 
 Unlike are bergamots and pounder 
 pears. 
 
 And Mr. B 
 
 The same variety the orchard bears, 
 In warden, bergamot, and pounder 
 pears. 
 
 90. Methymnceo.'] Methymna is 
 a city of Lesbos, an island of the 
 iEgean sea, famous for good wine. 
 
 91. Thasioe vites.] Thasus is an- 
 other island of the same sea. The 
 Thasian wine is mentioned by Pliny, 
 as being in high esteem : " In 
 ec summa gloria post Homerica ilia, 
 " de quibus supra diximus, fuere 
 <c Thasium, Chiumque." 
 
 Mareotides albce.] It is disputed 
 whether these vines are so called 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 133 
 
 Pihguibiis hae terris habiles, levioribus illae: 
 Et passo psythia utilior, tenuisque lageos, 
 
 the one thrives in a fat loil, 
 and the other in a light one : 
 and the Psythian, which is 
 fitter to be used dry, and the 
 light lageos, 
 
 from Mareia, or Mareotis, a lake 
 near Alexandria; from Mareotis, a 
 part of Africa, called also Marma- 
 rica, and now Barca ; or from Ma- 
 reotis, a part of Epirus. Columella 
 seems to be of the latter opinion, 
 for he calls them Greek vines : 
 " Nam quae Graeculae vites sunt, ut 
 " Mareoticae, Thasiae, Psythiae, fyc." 
 Athenaeus is of the former opinion, 
 and says the best JVIareotic or Alex- 
 andrian wine is white. But Pliny 
 expressly says the Alexandrian grape 
 is black. " Alexandrina appellatur 
 " vitis circa Phalacram brevis, ra- 
 (C mis cubitalibus, acino nigro." 
 Horace seems to countenance the 
 opinion that the Mareotic was an 
 Egyptian wine; for he represents 
 Cleopatra as inebriated with it : 
 
 Mentemque lymphatam Mareotico 
 Redegit in veros timores 
 Caesar. 
 
 Strabo is quoted, as ascribing the 
 Mareotic wine to Marmarica : but I 
 think unjustly. The place referred 
 to is in the seventeenth book: which 
 if the reader will carefully consult, 
 he will find, I think, that this part 
 of Africa did not bear good wine : 
 MiTcc%v oi 7rgwT0v ply ax^oc tevxoyuog , 
 
 XiVXi) CCXTt) XXXovfAiVY). £5T£<TflS QoiVlXOVg 
 hl[AW,1C0l) 7TVtyiVS X6)fiV). UTOL Vvj<rO$ 7TVI- 
 ^OVICC "KiplVCL SfcOVG-et. UT dvTl'(p£0ll, ftlXgOV 
 
 a.7ve>>Tiqa rm SaXxTlng . gcvug-x [aiv jj yfiiqct, 
 ctvrn »vx ivowog, 7rteio) eiexof&zvov rou 
 xigoif&ov B-ocXocrioiv, *j oivov, ov dq XOthOVCl 
 AiQvxov. a $q xxt ra Zfow to 7roXv Qvhov 
 X^rxi ruv 'AAg|fl6v^£&/v. Here we see, 
 that the Lybian wine was in no 
 esteem, and that it served only for 
 the use of the common people of 
 Alexandria. But he plainly enough 
 ascribes the Mareotic wine to the 
 country about the lake Mareia: 
 
 xoti 6iv(>o, •xXu.rog p.vi t^tt 7r>.iiovm, n 
 7rtVTYiKovT» xxt Ixarh fecdi'av, [AVtXOg S* 
 Ihotrlowv « r^txxoo-totv. "Exit 2e oxreif 
 vviff-ovg, xou ret fcvx.hu iroivloc, cixcvfiivoi 
 xotXcHg. Evoiv/cc ri If/ 7T£g* rovg ro%ovg t 
 co?i xxi Hix<pi7o~$ott irfig Trot.'Kodarti rot 
 Mct£c<iwTtv ohov. The same author 
 tells us expressly, in another place 
 of the same book, that this lake 
 Mareia, or Mareotis, is on the south 
 side of Alexandria : 'ApQtxXvrov n 
 yu.% Wi to yjuqIov ooo~t 7iri'hccyio't i rb f&it 
 cc7ro tojv &£XTm ra Aiywrla Xiyopivai, 
 rb dl ot7ro [Ato"np,&gio&g rS rvig Xipcvvig rtj^ 
 MotQu'ctg, q xcu Mx^iung teyirxi. Stra- 
 bo indeed makes Egypt to extend 
 as far as to Catabathmus, which 
 must comprehend the whole Mare- 
 otis Lybia, which, according to 
 Pliny, extends from Catabathmus 
 to Alexandria. Now, as the lake 
 Mareotis is on the borders of Egypt 
 and Lybia, the Mareotic vines may 
 be supposed to have grown in either 
 of these countries. But as Strabo 
 plainly distinguishes between the 
 Lybian and Mareotic vines, I believe 
 we may venture to conclude, that 
 they grew on the Egyptian side of 
 the lake Mareotis : that there were 
 both black and white grapes in that 
 country : and therefore that the poet 
 added the epithet white, because they 
 were better than the black sort. 
 
 93. Passo psythia utilioi\] Passum 
 is a wine made from raisins, or dried 
 grapes. Columella has described 
 the manner of making it, in lib. xii. 
 cap. 39. It is called passum from 
 patior according to Pliny : te Quin 
 " et a patientia nomen acinis datur 
 " passis." 
 
 Tenuis lageos.~\ The lageos is so 
 called from hayag a hare, on account 
 of its colour. This was not an Ita- 
 lian, but a foreign wine, as we are 
 informed by Pliny; " Dixit Virgi- 
 
134 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 t$%^$%£Z£g, Tentatura pedes dim, vincturaque linguam ; 94 
 
 there are purple and early -p> . • j* 
 
 ripe grapes : and how shaii i rurpureae, preciaeque, et quo te carmine dicam 
 
 praise thee, O Rhaetian grape r 
 
 " lius Thasias et Mareotidas, et La- 
 " geas, compluresque externas, quae 
 " non reperiuntur in Italia." Ser- 
 vius interprets tenuis, penetrabilis, 
 quae cito descendit ad venas. Some 
 think that tenuis signifies weak, and 
 therefore that the poet uses olim, to 
 signify that it will be long before it 
 affects the head. I take tenuis in 
 this place to signify what we call a 
 light wine. Dioscorides opposes the 
 light wines to the thick black wines: 
 
 0< 02 TrXftUS KXl ftlXeiViS KXKO^OfAX^Ot, 
 <PVTTC0OUq 3 FX^KOg ftivTCl yi))V7\TlK6l. CI 
 [AiVTOl Xl7r\o) KXl Xl/fYlgOt iV^Of^X^Ot. 
 
 95. Precice,] " Precise, quasi prae- 
 " coquae," says Servius, *' quod ante 
 " alias coquantur." 
 
 Quo te carmine dicam, Rhcetica ?~\ 
 Rhaetia is a country bordering upon 
 Italy. It has been questioned whe- 
 ther this expression of Virgil is in- 
 tended to praise the Rhaetian wines 
 or not. Seneca in his first book of 
 natural questions, cap. 11. speaking 
 of the parhelia, is in doubt what 
 Latin name to give them, and asks 
 whether he shall imitate Virgil's ex- 
 pression, where he is in doubt how 
 to call the Rhaetian vine : " His 
 ' ' quod nomen imponimus ? An fa- 
 " cio quod Virgilius, qui dubitavit 
 " de nomine, deinde id de quo du- 
 " bitaverat, posuit ? 
 
 " Et quo te nomine dicam 
 
 " Rhaetica ? nee cellis ideo contende Fa- 
 " lernis." 
 
 Here Seneca certainly understood 
 Virgil's meaning to be, that he was 
 in doubt what to say of this sort of 
 vine. But I think his authority in 
 this place not very great, because he 
 seems not to have read our poet 
 very carefully. Virgil did not say 
 nomine, but carmine : he was in no 
 doubt about the name of the vine, 
 
 but how he should celebrate it. 
 Servius tells usthatCato commended 
 this grape, and that Catullus spoke 
 in contempt of it : and that Virgil 
 therefore judiciously kept a middle 
 way, and made a doubt whether he 
 should praise or dispraise it. Ful- 
 vius Ursinus thinks this interpre- 
 tation very insipid. Let us see now 
 what reason there is to think that 
 Virgil intended absolutely to praise 
 the Rhaetian vine. I shaD first quote 
 the authority of Strabo, who tells us 
 that the Rhaetian wine was highly 
 esteemed : O/ piv ovv 'TxTtci f^x^i tjjs 
 IrxXixg xxSqxovirt, t>j; V7rsg Owjga/yos 
 Kxi Katpcov, kx} oyt Fxirixog oivag tmv i* 
 ro7s IrxXixaJg 67rxivov^.iyut ovk »7roXu- 
 7ri<r$xi lioxui, h rxig rovrm v^a^uxtg 
 ymroi. The next author I shall 
 quote is Pliny, who understood 
 our poet to mean, that the Rhaetian 
 vine was second to none but the 
 Falernian: " In Veronensi item 
 " Rhaetica, Falernis tantum postha- 
 " bita a Virgilio." He speaks of it 
 in another place, as a grape in high 
 esteem : " Et Rhaetica in maritimis 
 " Alpibus appellata, dissimilis lau- 
 " dates illi." We learn from the 
 same author, that Tiberius intro- 
 duced another sort of wine, but that 
 till then the Rhaetian was most 
 esteemed : " Aliis gratiam qui et 
 " vinis fumus affert fabrilis, iisque 
 " gloriam praecipuam in fornacibus 
 " Africae Tiberii Caesaris autoritas 
 " fecit. Ante eum Rhaeticis prior 
 " mensa erat, et uvis Veronensium 
 " agro." But what has the most 
 weight with me in this argument 
 is, that Suetonius has informed us, 
 that this wine was the favourite of 
 Augustus Caesar : " Maxime delec- 
 " tatus est Rhaetico." Surely Vir- 
 gil was not so ill a courtier, as to 
 make a doubt whether he should 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 135 
 
 Rhaetica ? nee cellis ideo contende Falernis. 96 
 Sunt etiam Ammineae vites, firmissima vina, 
 Tmolius adsurgit quibus, et rex ipse Phanaeus, 
 Argitisque minor : cui non certaverit ulla, 
 Aut tantum fluere, aut totidem durare per annos. 
 Non ego te, Dis, et mensis accepta secundis, 101 
 
 but however thou must not 
 contend with the Falernian 
 cellars. There are also Am- 
 minean vines, which yield 
 the best bodied wine : which 
 the Tmolian, and even the 
 Phanasan king reverences : 
 and the smaller Argit is, which 
 none can rival, either in yield- 
 ing so much juice, or in last- 
 ing so many years. Nor shall 
 I pass thee over, O Rhodian 
 grape, which art so grateful 
 to the gods, and to second 
 courses; 
 
 praise or dispraise that wine which 
 his Emperor applauded : though he 
 confesses at the same time that he 
 must be so sincere as to prefer the 
 Falernian wine before it. 
 
 96. Nee cellis ideo contende Faler- 
 nis.'] Pierius found adeo instead of 
 ideo j in some ancient manuscripts, 
 which he thinks more elegant. 
 
 Falernus is the name of a moun- 
 tain of Campania, famous for the 
 best wine. 
 
 97» Sunt etiam Amminece vites, fir- 
 missima vina.] One of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts has sunt et Ammi- 
 nece: XheoXherh&ssuntetAminece. This 
 last reading is in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, and is admitted by 
 Servius, Paul Stephens, La Cerda, 
 and several other editors. The 
 Cambridge, and the other manu- 
 script of Dr. Mead has sunt et Ani- 
 mee, which is an easy mistake of the 
 transcribers for Aminece. The old 
 Nurenberg edition has suntque Ami- 
 nece. Pierius says the Medicean and 
 Vatican manuscripts have sunt etiam 
 Amminece: it is the same in the 
 King's and the Bodleian manu- 
 scripts. This reading is approved 
 by Heinsius, Ruaeus, Masvicius, and 
 most of the modern editors. Ami- 
 neum vinum, says Servius, quasi sine 
 minio, id est, rubore, nam album est. 
 But this seems to be an imagination 
 of his own, not founded on any good 
 authority. 
 
 98. Tmolius adsurgit quibus, et 
 rex ipse Phanceus.~] Most of the 
 editors read Tmolus et adsurgit. 
 Some have Tmolus adsurgit, but 
 this is objected to by the gramma- 
 
 rians, because there is no instance 
 of a hexameter verse beginning 
 with a trochee. To avoid this im- 
 propriety, perhaps they stuck in et, 
 for which there is no occasion, if 
 we read Tmolius, according to the 
 Medicean, the Vatican, and the 
 King's manuscripts. This reading is 
 approved by Pierius, Heinsius, and 
 Masvicius. I find it also in several 
 of the oldest printed editions. In 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 mollius assurgit. I have spoken of 
 Tmolus in the note on ver. 56. of the 
 first book. This mountain was 
 very famous for wine : thus Ovid : 
 
 Africa quot segetes, quot Tmolia terra 
 racemos. 
 
 Phanae or Phanaea is the name of a 
 mountain of Chios, now called Scio. 
 The Chian wines are abundantly ce- 
 lebrated by the Greek and Roman 
 writers. 
 
 9Q. Argitis."] This is thought to 
 be so called from Argos, a city, and 
 kingdom in the Morea, or ancient 
 Peloponnesus. Some think it is 
 derived from u^yog, white, in which 
 sense May has translated it : 
 
 And white grapes, less than those. 
 
 101. Dis el mensis. ~\ So I find it 
 in the King's, the Cambridge, the 
 Bodleian, and one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts. In the other 
 Arundelian, it is Dis aut mensis. In 
 both Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is 
 mensis et Dis ; which order of the 
 words is preferred by Pierius, 
 wherein he is followed by most of 
 the editors. He acknowledges how- 
 
136 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 nor thee, O Bumastus, with 
 swelling clusters. But the 
 many species, and the names 
 of them are without number : 
 nor is there occasion to relate 
 their number : which, he that 
 would count, might as well 
 number the sands of the Ly- 
 bian sea, that are tossed with 
 the west wind, or the Ionian 
 waves, that dash against the 
 shore, when a strong east- 
 wind falls upon the ships. 
 But neither can every sort of 
 land bear all sorts of trees. 
 Willows grow about rivers, 
 and alders in muddy marshes : 
 
 Transierim, Rhodia, et tumidis, bumaste, race- 
 
 mis. 
 
 Sed neque quam multae species, nee nomina quae 
 
 sint, 
 Est numerus ; neque enim numero comprendere 
 
 refert: 104 
 
 Quern qui scire velit, Lybici velit aequoris idem 
 Discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur arenae : 
 Aut ubi navigiis violentior incidit eurus, 
 Nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad litora fluctus. 
 Nee vero terrae ferre omnes omnia possunt. 
 Fluminibus salices, crassisque paludibus alni 110 
 
 ever that Dis et mensis is in most of 
 the ancient manuscripts he has seen: 
 and this reading is approved by 
 Heinsius, and Masvicius. 
 
 The first course was of flesh ; and 
 the second, or dessert, of fruit : at 
 which they poured out wine to the 
 gods, which was called libation. 
 Therefore when the poet says the 
 Rhodian wine is grateful to the gods 
 and to second courses, he means it 
 was used in libations, which were 
 made at these second courses ; or 
 perhaps, that the wine was poured 
 forth, and the grapes served up, as 
 part of the dessert. 
 
 102. Tumidis bumaste racemis.~] 
 One of Dr. Mead's manuscripts has 
 gravidis, instead of tumidis. The 
 bumasti are so called, because they 
 are large clusters, swelling like great 
 udders: thus Pliny: tg Tumunt 
 " vero mammarum modo bumasti." 
 
 103. Sed neque quam multce spe- 
 cies, nee nomina qum sint, est nume- 
 rus.'] Pliny tells us that Democritus 
 alone thought, that the different 
 sorts of vines were to be numbered, 
 but that others thought they were 
 infinite: " Genera vitium numero 
 " comprehend! posse unus existi- 
 " mavit Democritus, cuncta sibi 
 " Graeciae cognita professus. Cae- 
 
 " teri innumera atque infinita esse 
 " prodiderunt, quod verius appa- 
 " rebit ex vinis." 
 
 105. Velit. ~] It is volet in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 Lybici velit aequoris idem, SfC.~] 
 This seems to be an imitation of 
 Theocritus, in his sixteenth Idyl- 
 hum. 
 
 'AAA.' Jiros yag o poxB-os, It k'on x.vfiavtt 
 "Offer* aviju.o$ xioffovtii fitrec yXecuxeis k>.o; 
 
 109. Nec vero terras, §c7\ The 
 poet now informs us, that different 
 plants require different soils : he 
 mentions several considerable trees, 
 by which the countries that pro- 
 duce them may be distinguished; 
 and concludes with a beautiful de- 
 scription of the citron-tree. 
 
 Half this verse is taken from Lu- 
 cretius, lib. i. ver. 167. 
 
 Ferre omnes omnia possent. 
 
 110. Fluminibus salices.~\ The 
 author of the books of plants, 
 ascribed to Aristotle, says that wil- 
 lows grow either in dry or wet 
 places : Tivot plv Zfitrn h tottok; vyge?s, 
 ny» £s |>jg«<V, rtvx Iv hcxri^g, as n inx. 
 It would be wasting time, to pro- 
 
GEORG. LIB* II. 
 
 137 
 
 Na*cuntur: steriles saxosis montibus orni: 
 Littora myrtetis laetissima : denique apertos 
 Bacchus amat colles, aquilonem et frigora taxi. 
 Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem, 
 Eoasque domos Arabum, pictosque Gelonos. 1 1 5 
 
 the barren wild ashes on rocky 
 mountains : the sea shores a- 
 bound with myrtles: lastly 
 the vine loves open hills, and 
 vews the northern cold. Be- 
 hold also the most distant 
 parts of the cultivated globe, 
 both the eastern habitations 
 of the Arabians, and the 
 painted Geloni. 
 
 duce innumerable quotations from 
 other authors, to shew that wet 
 grounds are the proper soil for wil- 
 lows : sinoe it is confirmed by daily 
 experience. 
 
 Crassis paludibus.] Servius inter- 
 prets crassis, lutosis, naluraliter : 
 Grimoaldus's paraphrase is, " Alni 
 " gaudent paludibus, el Into repletis 
 <f locis." Mr. Evelyn says, " The 
 " Alder is of all the other the most 
 " faithful lover of watery and boggy 
 " places, and those most despised 
 " weeping parts, or water- galls of 
 " forests ; for in better and dryer 
 n ground they attract the moisture 
 " from it, and injure it." 
 
 111. Orni.] See the note on ver. 
 71. 
 
 114. Extremis domitum cultoribus 
 crbem.] Servius thinks the prepo- 
 sition cum is to be understood here, 
 and that these words are to be ren- 
 dered " the farthest part of the earth 
 " subdued together with its hus- 
 " bandmen." He supposes the poet 
 designs a complimenttothe Romans, 
 who had subdued those nations. 
 Grimoaldus, La Cerda, and most of 
 the commentators follow this inter- 
 pretation. Ruaeus gives the sense 
 which I have followed in my trans- 
 lation. May follows Servius : 
 
 " cording to the sense of all the 
 " commentators, except Ruaeus. — 
 " Orbem domitum \jl Romanis, una 
 " cum] extremis [suis] cultoribus. 
 " Though I confess it is strained, 
 " and harsh ; and Ruaeus' s is more 
 •' natural. — Orbem domitum ; for 
 l ' subactum ; i. e. cultum [ab] extre- 
 " mis, 8?c." Dry den follows Ruaeus: 
 
 Regard th' extremest cultivated coast. 
 
 and Mr. B : 
 
 Where'er the globe subdu'd by hinds we 
 see. 
 
 115. Pictos Gelonos7\ The Geloni 
 were a people of Scythia, who 
 painted their faces, like several other 
 barbarous nations, to make them- 
 selves appear more terrible in battle. 
 Some have erroneously, contrary to 
 all geographers, placed the Geloni 
 in Thrace : and Ruaeus thinks that 
 Virgil himself seems to make them 
 Thracians, in the third Georgick, 
 where he says, 
 
 Acerque Gelonus, 
 
 Cum fugit in Rhodopen, atque in deserta 
 Getarum : 
 
 because Rhodope is a mountain of 
 Thrace, and the Getae border upon 
 Scythia and Thrace. I believe the 
 poet uses Rhodope for Thrace ; and 
 the desarts of the Getae are confess- 
 edly not in Thrace, the Danube 
 flowing between them. Hence it is 
 as reasonable to say that the poet 
 makes the Geloni to be Getae as 
 Thracians, nay that he makes them 
 both Getae and Thracians, which is 
 absurd. It seems more probable 
 I have rendered it," says he, " ac- that when he speaks of their frying 
 
 T 
 
 And again behold 
 
 The conquered world's farthest inhabit- 
 ants : 
 
 and Dr. Trapp : 
 
 See the most distant regions, by the 
 
 pow'r 
 Of Roman arms subdu'd. 
 
P. VIRGILII MAROXIS 
 
 m^^btlgl^: Divisee arboribus patrise : sola India nigrum 
 
 India alone bears the black" t. -, ,. \ ' ., - . 
 
 ebony: the Sabaeans only en- I'ert ebenum : sons est thurea virga babaeis. 
 
 jov thebcu.ah of frankincense. 
 
 why should i mention the Quid tibi odorato refer am sudantia hVno 118 
 
 balsam, which sweats out of ^ D 
 
 ft*!*** th e 00d e V e a r n green Balsamaque, et baccas semper frondentis acanthi? 
 
 acanthus? . 
 
 into Thrace,, and the desarts of the 
 Getae, he should mean dying out of 
 their own country ; whence it will 
 follow that they were neither Getee 
 nor Thracians, but Scythians. 
 
 116. Divisce^] In the King's and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 diverse?. 
 
 Sola India nigrum fert ebenum.~\ 
 Our poet has been accused of a mis- 
 take in saying that only India pro- 
 duces Ebony, since we are informed 
 by good authors, not only that it is 
 brought from Ethiopia, but also that 
 the best grows in that country. 
 Herodotus says expressly that 
 Ebony grows in Ethiopia, and we 
 find him quoted to this purpose by 
 Pliny : " Unam e peculiaribus In- 
 " diae Virgilius celebravit Ebenum, 
 "" nusquam ali^bi nasci professus. 
 tc Herodotus earn iEthiopiae intelligi 
 " maluit, tributi vice regibus Per- 
 " sidis e materie ejus centenas pba- 
 " langas tertio quoque anno pensi- 
 " tasse iEthiopas cum auro et ebore, 
 " prodendo." Dioscorides mentions 
 an Indian Ebony, but he says the 
 best comes from Ethiopia : "Evivog 
 
 xftKrir/i A AiQiOTrix-A. iff £s rig nut 
 
 'Iv2ixa. Lucan is quoted for saying 
 it is an Egyptian plant : 
 
 confirmed by another passage in 
 the same author ; where he ex- 
 pressly says that the Ebony grows 
 in Meroe ; 
 
 Ebenus Mareotica vastos 
 
 Non operit postes, seel stat pro robore 
 
 viii 
 Auxilium. 
 
 But it has, not without reason, been 
 supposed, that we ought to read 
 Meroetica instead of Mareotica, 
 which, will make the Ebony not an 
 Egyptian, but an Ethiopian plant, 
 even according to Lucan, for Meroe 
 is in Ethiopia. This emendation h 
 
 ; Late tibi gurgite rupto 
 
 Ambit ur nigris fierce foecunda c 
 
 Laeta comis Ebeni : quae, quamvis ar- 
 
 bore multa 
 Frondeat, aestatem nulla sibi mitigat 
 
 umbra. 
 
 Thus we find a concurrent testimony 
 of several authors, that the Ebony 
 grows in Ethiopia, whereas Virgil 
 asserts, that it grows only in India. 
 Servius vindicates the poet by sav- 
 ing, that Ethiopia was reckoned a 
 part of India ; which opinion seems 
 to be confirmed by a passage in the 
 fourth Georgick, where the source 
 of the Nile is said to be India; 
 which must be understood to mean 
 Ethiopia, for it is impossible to sup- 
 pose the Nile to rise in India pro- 
 perly so called : 
 
 Et diversa mens septem discurrit in era 
 Usque coloratis amnis devexus ab i 
 
 However it is not improbable, that 
 the poet might think that Ebony 
 was peculiar to India, for we find 
 that Theophrastus was of the 
 opinion. This great author, speak- 
 ing of the trees of India, says 
 Ebony is peculiar to that country : 
 'ioiov %i xai iZ-v/i rvs %oopu.<; returns. 
 
 117. Solisest thurea virga Saba'is] 
 See the note on moUes sua thura Sa- 
 baii, book i. ver. 57- 
 
 119. Balsamaque.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is Bahama, 
 quid. If this reading, which seems 
 very good, be admitted, the whole 
 passage will stand thus : 
 
 Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia li-no 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 139 
 
 Quid nemora iEthiopum molli canentia lana ? KtfSf^Ln&pi^ 
 
 lioary with soft wool ? 
 
 Balsama ? quid baccas semper frondentis 
 
 acanthi ? 
 Quid nemora iEthiopum molli canentia 
 
 lana ? 
 
 In the Cambridge manuscript, it is 
 Balsama, et baccas. 
 
 According to Pliny the Balsam 
 plant grows only in Judaea : but Jo- 
 sephus tells us, that the Jews had a 
 tradition, that it was first brought 
 into their country by the Queen of 
 Sheba, who presented it to Solomon: 
 
 jLcyovrt o on rco&t niV rov o7ro<oc&Acroi[AOv 
 p/^i»5il Y t V ITl VVV i)fAUV *i x<>jgoc <psgsj, %ov<ryi$ 
 
 recvTK *W yvvxiKog s%of&iv. According 
 to the best accounts of modern au- 
 thors the true country of the Balsam 
 plant is Arabia Felix. It is a shrub 
 withunequallypennatedleaves. 
 Balsam flows out of the branches, 
 either naturally, or by making 
 incisions in June, July, and August. 
 It is said to be white at first, then 
 green, and at last of a yellow colour, 
 like that offioney. 
 
 Baccas semper frondentis Acanthi.'] 
 The Acanthus is mentioned several 
 times by Virgil. In this place he 
 ^ speaks of it as a tree, that bears ber- 
 ries, and is always green. In the 
 fourth Georgick, he seems to speak 
 of it as a twining plant : 
 
 — — Flexi tacuissem vimen Acanthi. 
 
 A little afterwards he mentions it as 
 a garden plant : 
 
 Ille comam mollis jam turn tondebat 
 Acanthi. 
 
 In the third Eclogue he describes 
 two cups adorned with the figure 
 of it: 
 
 Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula 
 
 fecit ; 
 Et molli circum est ansas amplexus 
 
 Acantho. 
 
 This verse is taken from the first 
 I dy Ilium of Theocritus : 
 
 iixavS-os. 
 
 In the fourth Eclogue it is repre- 
 sented as a beautiful plant : 
 
 Mixtaque ruicntl Colocasia fundet Acan- 
 tho. 
 
 In the first iEneid he speaks of a 
 garment wrought with yellow silk, 
 in the form of Acanthus leaves : 
 
 Et circumtextum croceo velamen Acan- 
 tho. 
 
 And 
 
 Pictum croceo velamen Acantho. 
 
 It seems scarce possible to find any 
 one plant, with which all these cha- 
 racters agree. Hence it has not 
 been unreasonably supposed, that 
 there are two sorts of Acanthus ; 
 the one an Egyptian tree, of which 
 the poet speaks in this place ; and 
 the other an herb, to which the 
 other passages allude. The tree is 
 described by Theophrastus. He 
 says it is called Acanthus, because 
 it is all over prickly, except the 
 trunk: for it has thorns upon the 
 shoots and leaves. It is a large 
 tree, and affords timber of twelve 
 cubits. — - — The fruit grows in pods, 
 after the manner of pulse, and is 
 used by the inhabitants, instead of 
 galls, in dressing leather. The 
 flower is beautiful, and is used in 
 garlands : it is also gathered by the 
 physicians, being useful in medi- 
 cine. A gum also flows from it, 
 either spontaneously, or by incision. 
 It shoots again the third year after 
 it has been cut down. This tree 
 grows in great plenty, and there is 
 a large woo.d of them about The- 
 bais : C H dl "AxxvS-os xoiautxi yAv die* 
 
 70 UKCV&wilS ©AOV TO 2iVO£6V itVUl, TTXVV 
 
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 T 2 
 
uo 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ™*££££&32?£5 Velleraqueutfoliisdepecianttenuia Seres? 121 
 
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 India, which lies nearest the Aut QUOS OCeailO DrODlOr gent India lUCOS, 
 
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 arrows csn soar 
 
 tgej/ipos vM rzpvtreti. ^-'O $1 kx^ttos 
 
 rcti 01 iyvcopioi 7rpog rot dipuatrx . eivrt 
 Ktxidog. To o otvjog ko,i rq o\yu y.otXov. 
 6>fi X.0tt fiQctVOVS TTOitTv g| otvrov. Koii 
 <Pet.fyAotx.adis, Sib y.oct (rvXteyovnv ol target. 
 Tjnreti dl Ik retvTYis t&etl rb xoupi, vxti 
 fet, Kot) vrXityu'erqs, k&i ctvropotrov otnv 
 a-fcotTiui;. ' Orstv $1 -JtoTj-J;, ptsroi r^trov 
 troq ivB-vg civscQiQ\x<rr)Ki. IloXv Ti rb 
 oivo^ov trt. x,xi dpyiM^ p!lyot$ crtpt rbv 
 G/feciixcv vo/itov. The Acanthus of 
 Theophrastus is certainly the Egyp- 
 tian Acacia, from which we obtain 
 that sort of gum, which is com- 
 monly known by the name of Gum 
 Arabic. There is only one thing, 
 in which the Acacia differs from the 
 Acanthus ; the trunk of it is prickly, 
 as well as the other parts. But in 
 this particular Theophrastus might 
 have been misinformed : in other 
 circumstances they agree sufficiently. 
 The juice of the unripe pods is now 
 used at Cairo, in dressing leather ; 
 and Prosper Alpinus, who had ga- 
 thered the gum from this tree v/ith 
 his own hands, affirms that no other 
 sort of tree bears any gum, either 
 in Egypt or Arabia. But, though 
 it be allowed that the Acacia is the 
 Acanthus of Theophrastus. yet there 
 remains a great difficulty to recon- 
 cile what Virgil says of it in this 
 place with the description of that 
 tree. It is certain that the fruit of 
 the Acacia, or Acanthus, is a pod, 
 and bears no resemblance of a berry. 
 Bodaeus a Stapel has proposed a 
 solution of this difficulty. He ob- 
 serves that the flowers grow in little 
 balls, which Virgil might therefore 
 poetically call berries ; though that 
 word strictly belongs to small round 
 fruits. Prosper Alpinus has given 
 a particular description of them : 
 
 " Flores parvos, pallidos, subflavos, 
 " atque etiam albos, rotundos, par- 
 " vos lanee floccos imitantes, platani 
 " fructibus forma plane similes, his 
 " tamen longe minores, et nihil 
 te aliud flos hujusce arboris videtur, 
 " quam mollis lanugo parvum ro- 
 -" tundumque globulum efformans, 
 " non ingrati odoris." But might 
 not Virgil as well call the globules 
 of gum berries ? Mr. B — seems to 
 have been of this opinion : 
 
 Where ever-green 
 
 Acanthus rises with his gummy stem. 
 
 We shall consider the other Acan- 
 thus, in the note on ver. 123. of the 
 fourth Georgick. 
 
 1 20. Nemora Mthiopum molli ca- 
 nentia I ana."] These forests, that are 
 hoary with soft wool, are the cotton- 
 trees. They grow usually to about 
 fifteen feet in height; the cotton is 
 a soft substance, growing within a 
 greenish husk, and serving to de- 
 fend the seeds. 
 
 121. Velleraque utfoliis depectant 
 ienuia Seres.] The Seres were a peo- 
 ple of India, who furnished the other 
 parts of the world with silk. The 
 ancients were generally ignorant of 
 the manner in which it was spun by 
 the silk- worms ; and imagined that 
 it was a sort of down, gathered from 
 the leaves of trees. Thus Pliny : 
 " Primi sunt hominum, qui noscan- 
 '• tur, Seres, lanicio syl varum no- 
 (< biles, perfusam aqua depectentes 
 (% frondium caniciem." 
 
 122. Propior.~) In the Cambridge, 
 and in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, and in the old Nuremberg 
 edition, it is proprior. 
 
 123. Aera vincere summum, &c] 
 The vast height of the Indian trees 
 is mentioned also by Pliny, lib. vii. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 141 
 
 Arboris hand ullae jactu potuere sagittae : 124 
 Et gens ilia quidem sumptis non tarda pharetris. 
 Media fert tristes succos, tard unique saporem 
 Felicis mall, quo non praesentius ullum, 
 Pocula si quando saevse infecere novercae, 
 Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba, 
 A ux ilium venit, acmembris agit atra venena. 1 30 
 
 above the lofty summit* of 
 their trees : and yet those peo- 
 ple are no bad archers. Media 
 bears bitter juices, and the 
 slow taste of the happy apple, 
 than which there is not a 
 better remedy, to expel the 
 venom, when cruel step-mo- 
 thers have poisoned a cup, 
 and mingled herbs, with baler 
 ful charms. 
 
 c. 2. (c Arbores quidem tantsepro- 
 <c ceritatis traduntur, ut sagittis su- 
 <( perari nequeant." 
 
 126. Media fert tristes succos 1 , &c] 
 The fruit here mentioned is cer- 
 tainly the Citron. Dioscorides says 
 expressly that the fruit which the 
 Greeks call Medicum, is in Latin 
 called Citrium : Tu. al Mv^ixoi Aeyd- 
 
 ci Kirgiot, -zreiri yva^ipx. 
 
 Tristis signifies bitter, as tristisque 
 lupini. This must be understood 
 either of the outer rind, which is 
 very bitter ; or of the seeds, which 
 are covered with a bitter skin. The 
 juice of the pulp is acid. 
 
 What sort of taste the poet means 
 by tardum saporem, is not very easy 
 to determine, nor are the commen- 
 tators and translators well agreed 
 about it. Servius seems to under- 
 stand it to be a taste which does not 
 presently discover itself. Philargy- 
 rius interprets it a taste which dwells 
 a long time upon the palate. La 
 Cerda takes it to mean that persons 
 are slow or unwilling to swallow it, 
 on account of its acrimony. Ruaeus 
 follows Philargyrius. May trans- 
 lates this passage, 
 
 Stow tasted apples Media doth produce, 
 And bitter too ; but of a happy use. 
 
 Dryden renders tristes succos, sharp 
 tasted, and tardum saporem, bitter ; 
 which he applies to the rind : 
 
 Sharp-tasted citrons Median climes pro- 
 duce, 
 Bitter the rind, but gen'rous is the juice. 
 
 Mr. B makes it a clammy taste : 
 
 To Media's clime those happy fruits 
 
 belong. 
 Bitter of taste, and clammy to the tongue. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates tristis, pun- 
 gent; and follows Philargyrius, with 
 regard to tardum saporem : 
 
 Media the happy citron bears, of juice 
 Pungent, of taste that dwells upon the 
 tongue. 
 
 I take the epithet happy to be 
 ascribed to this fruit on account of 
 its great virtues. Some of the com- 
 mentators think it is so called, be- 
 cause the tree enjoys a continual suc- 
 cession of fruits. 
 
 127- Praesentius. ~\ Pierius says it 
 is prcestantius, in the Lombard ma- 
 nuscript : but he adds that praesen- 
 tius is preferred by the learned. 
 
 12,9. Miscueruntr\ It is miscue- 
 rant in the Cambridge manuscript ; 
 and miscuerint in one of Dr. Mead's, 
 and in some old printed editions. 
 
 130. Membris agit atra venena.~\ 
 Athenseus relates a remarkable story 
 of the use of Citrons against poison ; 
 which he had from a friend of his, 
 who was governor of Egypt. This 
 governor had condemned two male- 
 factors to death, by the bite of ser- 
 pents. As they were led to execu- 
 tion, a person taking compassion of 
 them, gave them a citron to eat. 
 The consequence of this was, that 
 though they were exposed to the 
 bite of the most venomous serpents, 
 they received no injury. The go- 
 
U2 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 The tree is large, and very 
 like a bay ; ana, if it did not 
 spread abroad a different 
 smell, it might be taken for a 
 bay : the leaves are not shak- 
 en off with any winds : the 
 flower is very tenacious ; the 
 Medes chew it for their un- 
 savoury breaths, and cure 
 with it their asthmatic old 
 men. 
 
 Ipsa ingens arbos, faciemque simillima lauro : 
 Et si non alium late jactaret odorem, 
 Laurus erat: folia hand ullis labentia ventis: 
 Flos ad prima tenax : animas et olentia Medi 
 Ora fovent illo, et senibus medicantur anhelis. 
 
 vernor being surprised at this ex- 
 traordinary event, enquired of the 
 soldier who guarded them, what 
 they had eat or drank that day, and 
 being informed, that they had only 
 eaten a Citron, he ordered that the 
 next day one .of them should eat 
 Citron, and the other not. He who 
 had not tasted the Citron, died pre- 
 sently after he was bitten : the other 
 remained unhurt. 
 
 131. Faciemque simillima Lauro.'] 
 " This is a verbal translation of 
 " Theophrastus : "Eyji ?e to %vfyov 
 (i tovto (pvAAov ph 0U0109 y,x.\ o-yjhov itrov 
 " t» Til? Aot^v>2j. But it must be ob- 
 " served that in the common editions 
 Ci we find dv^^x^v/jg, which is a cor- 
 e( rupt reading for ^dtpvvig: which 
 (i has led Theodorus Gaza into a 
 " mistake, who translates it Fortu- 
 " laca. Others finding this passage 
 " corrupted, have taken pains to 
 " correct it, by substituting olo^dyrdg 
 " for d^^d'x, v ^- But I think I have 
 cc restored the true reading ; for so 
 iC Athenaeus, lib. iii. informs us that 
 " it ought to be read. This au- 
 ' e thor, quoting this passage of The- 
 (i ophrastus, uses licitpr.ig, instead of 
 (i av^^ol^vr.g. As for the words 
 
 " av^ftotftvtg, xci^vocgy which follow 
 
 " 2#<pv>jj, I take them to be the gloss 
 " of some idle commentator, for 
 " they are not to be found in the 
 fe oldest copies." FulviusUrsinus. 
 
 Both Dr. Meads manuscripts 
 hsLveJacieqUe. 
 
 134. Flos ad prima tenax .] 
 " Though some manuscripts have 
 " apprime, I prefer ad prima, which 
 " I find in the most ancient copies. 
 " This reading seems to have been 
 
 (C allowed also by Arusianus. And 
 Cl in an old manuscript of Terence 
 " we find, Meis me omnibus scio esse 
 e< ad prima absequentem. 'Ett; to, 
 c< TreooTct is no inelegant Greek figure." 
 Pjerius. 
 
 Servius reads apprima, which he 
 says is put adverbially, like Et pede 
 ten-am evebrsijerit. for crcbro. The 
 King's, the Cambridge, and the 
 Bodleian manuscripts have ad prima, 
 which .is acknowledged also by 
 Heinsius. 
 
 134. Animas et olentia Medi ora 
 fovent illoA Grimoaklus refers illo 
 to the flower: but it is generally 
 thought to refer to the fruit. The- 
 ophrastus ascribes this virtue to the 
 fruit: 'E«v y«£ ng iynrctg lv ra> fyfta n 
 
 iV UXha) TiVi, TO itTioSiV TCJ LC'/iXoV tfC.7Tii<rYl 
 
 tig to Toe:.!/, tuu Ksticigotprjcryi, sroiit t.vj 
 orpw nhl'xv. Pliny says the Par- 
 thians are subject to a stinking 
 breath, on account of the variety of 
 their food, and their hard drinking: 
 and that their great men cure this 
 disorder with the seeds of Citrons. 
 " AnimsB leonis virus grave . . . Ho- 
 " minis tantum natura infici voluit 
 " pluribus modis, et ciborum ac den- 
 " tium vitiis, sed maxime senio. Do- 
 " lorem sentire non poterat, tactu 
 " sensuque omni carebat ; sine qua 
 " nihil sentitur. Eadem commea- 
 " bat recens assidue, exitura su- 
 " premo, et sola ex omnibus super - 
 '-' iiitura. Denique haec trahebatur' 
 " e caelo. Hujus quoque tamen re- 
 " perta poena est, ut neque ad ip- 
 ec sum quo viyitur, in vita juvaret. 
 " Parthorum populis hoc prareipue, 
 " et a juventa, propter indiscretos 
 " cibos : nam que et vino intent ora 
 

 
 @ 
 
 M 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 143 
 
 Sed neque Mcdorum sylvse, ditissima terra, 136 ^^^e^Z* 
 
 •K-r -i * r>\ u* ] it tries, nor the beautiful Gan- 
 
 Nec pulcner Changes, atque auro turbidus Jrier- ges , and Hermus thick with 
 
 gold, may contend for praise 
 
 IY[ u g with Italy : not Bactra, nor 
 
 ' India, 
 
 Laudibus Italian certent: non Bactra, neque Indi, 
 
 " nimio. Sed sibiproeeres meden- 
 " tur grano Assyria mali, cujus est 
 " suavitas prsecipua, in esculenta 
 " addito." The same author, in 
 another place, speaks of the Citron, 
 as the most salutary of exotic fruits, 
 and a remedy for poison. He there 
 compares the leaves of it to the ar- 
 bute : he says the fruit is not eaten, 
 which we find also in Theophrastus, 
 but it has an agreeable smell; as 
 also the leaves, which preserve gar- 
 ments from being eaten. The tree 
 is laden with a continual suc- 
 cession of fruits. Several nations 
 have endeavoured to -transplant it 
 into their own countries, but it will 
 grow only in Media and Persia. 
 The seeds are used by the Partis- 
 ans, for the sake of their breath: 
 and there is no other tree of note in 
 Media. "In pragsentia extern as 
 ic persequemur, a saiutari maxim e 
 " orsi. Malus Assyria, quern alii 
 " vocant .Medicam, venenis mede- 
 " tur. Folium ejus est Unedonis, 
 ec inter currentibus spinis. Pomum 
 " ipsum alias non manditur : odore, 
 Cc praecellit foliorum quoque qui 
 " transit in vestes una conditus, 
 " arcetque animalium noxia. Ar- 
 " bor ipsa omnibus horis pomifera 
 " est, aliis cadentibus, aliis matures- 
 " centibus, aliis vero subnascenti- 
 " bus. Tentavere gentes transferre 
 " ad sese, propter remedii praestan- 
 <( tiam, fictilibus in vasis, dato per 
 " cavernas radicibus spiramento : 
 " qualiter omnia transitura longius, 
 " sen arctissime transferrique me- 
 " minisse conveniet, ut semel quas- 
 ' ' que dicantur. Sed nisi apud Me- 
 " dos et in Perside nasci noluit. 
 " Hsec autem est cujus grana Par- 
 
 " thorum proceres incoquere dixi- 
 '* mus esculentis, commendandi ha- 
 " litus gratia. Nee alia arbor lau- 
 " datur in Medis." 
 
 Palladius seems to have been the 
 first, who cultivated the Citron, with 
 any success, in Italy. He has a 
 whole chapter on the subject of this 
 tree. It seems, by his account, that 
 the fruit was acrid : which confirms 
 what Theophrastus and Pliny have 
 said of it ; that it was not esculent : 
 cc Feruntur acres medullas mutare 
 " dulcibus, si per triduum aqua 
 " mulsa semina ponenda maceren- 
 " tur, vel ovillo lacte, quod praestat." 
 It may have been meliorated by cul- 
 ture, since his time. 
 
 Lo6. Sed neque, &c.j| The poet 
 having spoken of the most remark- 
 able plants of foreign countries, 
 takes occasion to make a beautiful 
 digression in praise of Italy. 
 
 137- Pulcker Ganges.^] The 
 Ganges is a great river of India, di- 
 viding it into two parts. It is men- 
 tioned by Pliny, as one of the rivers, 
 which afford gold. 
 
 Auro turbidus Hermus.'] Hermus 
 is a river of Lydia; it receives the 
 Pactoius, famous for its golden 
 sands. 
 
 138. ~Bacira7\ This is the name 
 of the capital city of a country of 
 Asia, lying between Parthia on the 
 west, and India on the east. Pliny 
 says it is reported, that there is 
 wheat in this country, of which 
 each grain is as big as a whole ear of 
 the Italian wheat : "■ Tradunt in 
 " Bactris grana tantae magnitudinis 
 " fieri, ut singula spicas nostras 
 " sequent." 
 
 Indir\ He puts the name of the 
 
144 
 
 P. VHlGILII MARONIS 
 
 nor all P*ichaia, whe«e rich 
 sands abound with frankin- 
 cense. This country has never 
 been ploughed by'bulls, that 
 breathe fire from their nos- 
 trils, nor sown with the teeth 
 of a cruel dragon: nor have 
 the fields borne a horrid crop 
 of men armed with helmets 
 and spears, but it is filled 
 with heavy corn, and the 
 Massic liquor of Bacchus : 
 and is possessed by olives, 
 and joyful herds. 
 
 Totaque thuriferis Panchaia pinguis arenis. 
 Hasc loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem 140 
 Invertere, satis immanis dentibus hydri ; 
 Nee galeis, densisque virum seges horruithastis: 
 Sed gravidas fruges, et Bacchi Massicus humor 
 Implevere ; tenent oleae, armentaque lasta. 
 
 people, for the country. Mr. B — 
 seems to imagine, that Virgil meant 
 both the East and West Indies : 
 
 No nor yet Bactria, not both Indies shores. 
 
 Probably the poet may mean Ethi- 
 opia in this place : for he has spoken 
 already of India properly so called, 
 in mentioning the Ganges. 
 
 139- Thuriferis Panchaia pinguis 
 are?iis.] Panchaia or Punchosa is a 
 country of Arabia felix. See the 
 note on ver. 57, of the first Geor- 
 gick. The sands hearing frankin- 
 cense may be variously interpreted. 
 It may mean, that it is in such 
 plenty, that it is not only gathered 
 from the trees, but even found in 
 plenty on the ground. Thus Gri- 
 moaldus paraphrases it : " Neque 
 tf Panchaia, pars Arabiae soli sub- 
 i{ jecta et consecrata, ubi tanta thu- 
 " ris affluentia est, ut non solum in 
 <e arborum corticibus, sed in areis 
 c< etiam legi queat." I believe areis 
 is an error of the Press, and that it 
 should be arenis. It may mean also, 
 a soil producing frankincense, as 
 Ruaeus interprets it: " Nee tota 
 " Panchaia, dives solo turifero :" 
 and Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Nor Panchaia fat 
 
 All o'er, with frankincense-producing 
 glebe* 
 
 Mr. B thinks it means, that the 
 
 frankincense is in such plenty, that 
 the country may be said to be 
 dunged with it : 
 
 Or all Panchaia's plains, manur'd with 
 spicy stores. 
 
 " The interpretation of the last of 
 " these lines (says he) differs from 
 " the commentators, but I think it 
 " is Virgil's sense. He always rises 
 " in his descriptions. After he has 
 c< mentioned groves of citrons, and 
 " golden sands, Persia and India, 
 " what can be greater than to men- 
 " tion a country dunged with spices, 
 " and what more proper to bring 
 " the digression home to his sub- 
 " ject, and to connect it with what 
 " follows ? But this passage de- 
 " serves to be examined more nearly. 
 " It is plain, the sense of it turns 
 " upon this word pinguis. Now 
 " there are too many places in the 
 " Georgicks to be enumerated, 
 " where pinguis terra, pinguis hu- 
 " mus, or pingue solum, signifies 
 "lands well manured; but where 
 " it once implies dives by its pro- 
 " duce, as Ruaeus and his followers 
 " understand it, I have not been 
 " able to discover." 
 
 140. Hcec loca, &c.] He alludes 
 to the story of Jason, who went to 
 Colchis for the golden fleece ; where 
 he conquered the bulls, which 
 breathed forth fire from their nos- 
 trils, and yoked them to a plough. 
 He also slew a vast dragon, sowed 
 his teeth in the ground, and de- 
 stroyed the soldiers, which arose 
 from the dragon's teeth, like a crop 
 of corn from seed. 
 
 143. Bacchi Massicus humor.'] 
 Massicus is the name of a mountain 
 of Campania, celebrated for wine. 
 
 144. Olccc, armentaque.] It is ge- 
 neral]}'' read elcccque, armentaque. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 145 
 
 Mine bellator cqmis campo sesc arduus infert : 
 Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus 
 Victima, saepe tuo perfusi fluminc sacro, 147 
 Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos. 
 Hie ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus sestas : 
 
 Hence the warlike horse with 
 his lofty neck rushes into the 
 field. Hence thy white flocks, 
 Clitumnus, and the greatest of 
 victims, the bull, having been 
 often washed with thy sacred 
 stream, have led the Roman 
 triumphs to the temples of the 
 gods. Here the spring is per- 
 petual, and the summer shines 
 in unusual months. 
 
 But Pierius informs us, that in the 
 Medicean and other ancient manu- 
 scripts que is left out after olece, I 
 find it so in the King's manuscript. 
 Heinsius also, and Masvicius follow 
 this reading. 
 
 146. Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, 
 Sfc.] Clitumnus is a river of Italy, 
 in which the victims were washed, 
 to be rendered more pure; for 
 none, but such as were white, were 
 offered to Jupiter Capitol inns. 
 
 In the King's manuscript it is 
 tauri instead of taurus. 
 
 149- Hie ver assiduum, atque alie- 
 ?iis mensibus cestas.] He describes 
 the temperate air of Italy, by saying 
 it enjoys a perpetual spring, and 
 summer warmth in such months, as 
 make winter in other countries. 
 Mr. B — contends, that we ought 
 to read messihus, for mensibus. " I 
 " do not wonder (says he) if none 
 " of the interpreters have been able 
 " to make sense of this line : but if 
 " we alter mensibus to messibus, it 
 " seems very intelligible. Virgil 
 <e had already enumerated in the 
 " praises of his country, their corn, 
 " their wine, their olives, and their 
 " cattle, and what could be more 
 " properly mentioned after them 
 " than their foreign grasses f he 
 " very poetically calls their verdure 
 "perpetual spring, and their fre- 
 ci quent harvests continued summer. 
 " The Medica, which he takes such 
 " particular notice of in the first 
 " Georgick, is cut seven or eight 
 " times a year in Italy. There is a 
 " passage in Claudian, which may 
 " give some light to this in Virgil : 
 ** Quod gelidi ruleant alieno sramine menses. 
 
 Ci What Claudian calls alieno gra- 
 " mine, Virgil expresses by aliena 
 " messe. What the former describes 
 " by menses qui rubent, the latter 
 " paints in a finer manner by cestas. 
 " That this passage relates to the 
 "foreign grasses, can hardly be dis- 
 " puted, for another reason, because 
 " otherwise Virgil would have left 
 " them out of his praises of Italy, 
 " which would have been no incon- 
 " siderable omission." In pursuance 
 of this criticism, his translation of 
 this passage is^ 
 
 Here everlasting spring adorns the field, 
 And foreign harvests constant summer 
 yield. 
 
 This is a bold alteration, and not 
 warranted by the authority of any 
 manuscript. Alienis mensibus sig- 
 nifies in unusual months ; that is, in 
 such months, as other countries do 
 not feel warmth. Lucretius uses 
 alienis partibus anni, or, as Fulvius 
 Ursinus reads, alienis mensibus anni, 
 in much the same sense. He is 
 proving that something cannot be 
 produced from nothing by this ar- 
 gument : roses appear in the spring, 
 corn in summer, and grapes in au- 
 tumn. Now, says he, if these were 
 produced from nothing, we should 
 see them rise at uncertain times, and 
 unusual parts, or months, of the 
 year : 
 
 Subito exorerentur 
 
 Incerto spatio, atque alienis partibus anni. 
 
 Trebellius, in the life of Gallienus, 
 as he is quoted by LaCerda, speak- 
 ing of fruits being brought to table, 
 out of the common season, ex- 
 presses it by alienis mensibus. " Fi» 
 
146 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^■taSK^ShS- Bis g ravid * pecudes,bispomisutilisarbos. 150 
 ll?no ve rZ-emng tyg^rs! nor At rabidae tigres absunt, et saeva leonum 
 
 savage breed of lions ; nor do 
 
 aconites deceive the unhappy Semina: nee miseros iallunt aconita leprentes: 
 
 gatherers. O 
 
 u cos virides, et poma ex arboribus 
 <e recentia semper alienis mensibus 
 te praebuit." The verse, which Mr. 
 B — quotes from Claudian, rather 
 confirms the old interpretation. He 
 speaks of roses blooming- in winter, 
 and the cold months glowing with 
 unusual grass : 
 
 ■ Quod bruma rosas innoxia servet, 
 Quod gelidi rubeant alieno gramine 
 menses. 
 
 That is, the roses blow, and the 
 grass flourishes in winter, which is 
 not the usual season. The same 
 author, speaking of a star appear- 
 ing at noon, calls it alienum tempus : 
 
 Emicuitque plagis alieni temporis hospes 
 Ignis. 
 
 I do not understand Dryden's trans- 
 lation of the line under considera- 
 tion : 
 
 And summer suns recede by slow de- 
 grees. 
 
 May has translated it better : 
 
 And summers there in months unusual 
 shine. 
 
 Dr. Trapp's translation is not very 
 different : 
 
 And summer shines 
 
 In months not her's. 
 
 150. Bis gravida pecudes, bis po- 
 mis utilis arbos.] Ke tells us the 
 sheep are so fruitful in Italy, that 
 they breed twice in a year. He 
 seems to insinuate the same in his 
 second Eclogue, where Corydon, 
 speaking of his great riches in sheep 
 and milk, says he has no want of 
 new milk either in summer or win- 
 ter; 
 
 Quam dives pecoris nivei, quam laetis 
 abundans. 
 
 Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus 
 agnae : 
 
 Lac mihi non sestate novum, non frigore 
 dent. 
 
 What stores my dairies, arid my folds con- 
 tain ; 
 
 A thousand lamos that wander on tlie plain : 
 
 New milk, that all the winter -never fails. 
 
 And all the summer overflows the pails ? 
 Drydejt. 
 
 Homer speaks of the Lybian sheep 
 breeding thrice in a year : 
 
 Tgis yao rixru ftqXa rskstrQcpov us Iviauro*: 
 
 which is impossible, if the sheep be 
 of the same species with those of 
 Europe; which go 150 days with 
 young, according to Pliny; " Ge- 
 " runt partum diebus cl." Mr. B— 
 translates pecudes, kine : 
 
 Twice ev'ry year the k'me are great with 
 young. 
 
 Varro mentions an apple-tree, 
 which bears twice : ' ' Malus bifera, 
 " ut in agro Consentino." 
 
 151. Ralridcer\ In the Medicean, 
 and other ancient manuscripts, it is 
 rapidee, according to Pierius. 
 
 152. Nee miseros fallunt aconita 
 legentes.~] The Aconite or Wolfs- 
 bane is a poisonous herb, which 
 was found in Heraclea Fontica. 
 We have several sorts in our gar- 
 dens, one of which is very common, 
 under the name of Monkshood. 
 There are several cases of persons 
 poisoned with eating this herb, one 
 of which was communicated lately 
 to the Royal Society, by Mr. Bacon. 
 See Phil Transact. No. 432. p. 287- 
 Servius affirms, that the Aconite 
 grows in Italy, and observes, that 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 147 
 
 Nee rapit immensos orbes per humiun, neque 
 
 tanto 
 Squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis. 
 Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem : 
 Tot congesta mauu praeruptis oppida saxis ; 156 
 Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros. 
 An mare, quod supra, memorem, quod que allnit 
 
 infra ? 
 
 Nor does the scaly serpent 
 trail his immense folds along 
 the ground, nor collect his 
 length into so vast a spire. 
 Add to this so many famous 
 cities, and stupendous works: 
 so many towns built on the 
 rocky cliffs : and rivers slid- 
 ing under ancient walls. Shall 
 I mention the sea which 
 washes it above, and that 
 which washes it below ? 
 
 the Poet does not deny it, but art- 
 fully insinuates, that it is so well 
 known to the inhabitants, that they 
 are in no danger of being deceived 
 by it. Dryden's translation seems 
 to be according to this interpreta- 
 tion : 
 
 Nor pois'nous Aconite is here predue'd, 
 Or grows unknown, or is, when known, 
 refus'd. 
 
 I do not find however that this 
 poisonous plant is now found com- 
 mon in Italy: or that it was deemed 
 a plant of that country by the an- 
 cients. 
 
 153. Nee rapit immensos, &c] He 
 does not deny that there are ser- 
 pents in Italy, but he says they are 
 riot so large or so terrible as those 
 of other countries. 
 
 155. Laborem.] In the King's 
 manuscript it is labores. 
 
 156. Congesta manu praruptis 
 oppida saris.] This is generally 
 understood to mean towns built 
 on rocky cliffs, as I have trans- 
 lated it. Thus Grimoaldus pa- 
 raphrases : " Extant oppida non 
 " pauca, hominum industriis, et 
 " laborious, in promontoriis collo- 
 " cata." Ruaeus also interprets it, 
 " Oppida manu extructa in altis 
 <( rupibus." Thus also Dryden 
 translates it : 
 
 Our forts on steepy hills : 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 On tops 
 
 Of craggy hills so many towns uprear'd. 
 
 La Cerda takes it to mean towns, 
 in which buildings are raised by 
 human industry, like rocks and pre- 
 cipices : ' ' Oppida in quibus aedifi- 
 " cia instar prsecipitii et rupium ef- 
 '• formata ab humana industria." 
 May interprets it towns fortified 
 with rocks : 
 
 Towns, that are 
 
 Fenced with rocks impregnable. 
 
 Mr. B — gives it yet another sense : 
 
 Add towns unnumber'd, that the land 
 
 adorn, 
 By toiling hands from rocky quarries 
 
 torn. 
 
 157- Fluminaque antiquos subterla- 
 bentia murosJ] Some take this to 
 mean, that the walls of these towns 
 are so built as to give admittance to 
 rivers, which flow through them. 
 Others think the Poet speaks of the 
 famous aqueducts. But the general 
 opinion is, that he means the rivers 
 which flow close by the walls. 
 Thus when any action is performed 
 close to the walls of a town, we 
 say it is done under the walls. 
 
 158. An mare, quod supra, memo- 
 rem, quodque alluit infra ?] In one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is ab- 
 luit. 
 
 Italy is washed on the north side 
 by the Adriatic sea, or Gulf of Ve- 
 nice, which is called mare superum } 
 
 u 2 
 
118 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 or the great lakes ? thee, O 
 greatest Larius, and thee, 
 Benacus, swelling with waves 
 and roaring like a sea? Or 
 shall I mention the havens, 
 and the moles added to the 
 Lucrine lake, 
 
 D Anne lacus tantos ? te, Lari maxime, teque, 159 
 Fluctibus et fremiti! assurgens Benace marino ? 
 An memorem portus, Lucrinoque additaclaustra, 
 
 or the upper sea ; and on the south 
 side, by the Tyrrhene, or Tuscan 
 sea, which is called mare inferum, or 
 the lower sea. We have a like ex- 
 pression in the eighth iEneid : 
 
 Quin omnem Hesperiam penitus sua sub 
 
 juga mittant; 
 Et mare quod supra, teheant, quodque 
 
 alhdt infra. 
 
 159. -Lari maxime."] The Larius 
 is a great lake, at the foot of the 
 Alps, in the Milanese, now called 
 Lago di Como. 
 
 160. Benace.] The Benacus is 
 another great lake, in the Veronese, 
 now called Lago di Garda ,- out of 
 which flows the Mir.cius, on the 
 banks of which our Poet was born . 
 
 161. Lucrinoque addita claustra, 
 &c] Lucrinus and Avernus are two 
 lakes of Campania ; the former of 
 which was destroyed by an earth- 
 quake ; but the latter is still re- 
 maining, and now called Lago 
 d'Avemo. Augustus Caesar made a 
 haven of them, to which he gave 
 the name of his predecessor Julius; 
 as we are informed by Suetonius : 
 " Portum Julium apud Baias, im- 
 " misso in Lucrinum et Avernum 
 " lacum marl, effecit." This great 
 work seems to have been done 
 about the time that Virgil began 
 his Georgicks. We may gather the 
 manner, in which these lakes were 
 converted into a haven, from Stra- 
 bo the geographer, who, as well 
 us our Poet, lived at the time when 
 it was done. He ascribes the work 
 to Agrippa, and tells us, that the 
 Lucrine bay was separated from the 
 Tyrrhene sea by a mound, which 
 was said to have been made by 
 
 Hercules : but as the sea had broken 
 through it in several places, Agrippa 
 restored it : 'O t\ Aoxp7vo$ xoXn-og 
 ■zs-XciTvvtTa.1 ps^i Bcctav, %&)piccTi tigyo- 
 
 ftlVOg U7T0 T?£ g|ft» &«AflSTTI!S OKTClTCllitU) 
 
 to f/Jqxog, -zs-XciTog £j aftafyrov ■srXctTUotg, 
 o <pairiv 'H.qcix.Xzoc, ^loc^ajTca, rag fiovg 
 sXccvvovrec tag Tq^vovov ^i^ofiivov 5' \7r1- 
 
 7T0Mg TO KVfAU. TOlg ftilfAWITiV, CO<?i fW STi- 
 
 fyvsT-3-xi ycfiiioig, ' ' Ay^i7r7ra.g hci9iUVew&. 
 Thus we find this great work con- 
 sisted chiefly in forming moles, to 
 secure the old bank, and leave no 
 more communication with the sea, 
 than was convenient to receive the 
 ships into the harbour. Hence it 
 appears that we are to understand 
 these words of Pliny, mare Tyrrhe- 
 num a Lucrino molibus seclusum not 
 to mean, that the sea was entirely 
 excluded, but only so far as to se- 
 cure the bank. This is what the 
 Poet means by the moles added to 
 the Lucrine lake, and the sea raging 
 with hideous roar. He calls the new 
 haven the Julian water ; as we saw 
 just now, in Suetonius, that Augus- 
 tus gave it the name of the Julian 
 port. It remains now, that we ex- 
 plain what the Poet means by the 
 Tuscan tide being let into the Aver- 
 nian straits. We find in Strabo, 
 that the lake Avernus lay near the 
 Lucrine bay, but more within land : 
 Tcc7; Pi Beitoiig trpnj&ts ri Aoy.^og x.oX- 
 7rog. KX{ IvTog tovtov Aof>vo$. Hence 
 
 it seems probable, that a cut was 
 made between the two lakes, which 
 the Poet calls the straits of Aver- 
 nus, Philargyrius, in his note on 
 this passage of Virgil, says a storm 
 arose at the time when this work 
 was performed, to which Virgil 
 seems to allude, when he mentions 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 149 
 
 Atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor, 
 Julia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso, 
 Tyrrhenusque fretis immittitur aestus Avernis? 
 Haec eadem argenti rivos, aerisque metalla 165 
 Ostendit venis, ajque auro plurima fluxit. 
 Hagc genus acre virum Marsos, pubemque Sabel- 
 
 lam, 
 Assuetumque malo Ligurem, Volscosque verutos 
 
 and the sea raping with hide- 
 ous roar, where the Julian wa- 
 ter resounds, the sea being dri- 
 ven far back, and the Tuscan 
 tide is let into the Avernian 
 straits ? The same country has 
 disclosed veins of silver and 
 copper, and has flowed with 
 abundance of gold. The 
 same has produced a warlike 
 race of men, the Marsi, and 
 the Sabellian youth, and the 
 Ligurians inured to labour, 
 and the Volscians armed 
 
 the raging of the sea on this occa- 
 sion : 
 
 Indignatum magnis stridoribus 
 
 aequor. 
 
 165. Hcec eadem argenti rivos, 
 &c] Pliny tells us in lib. iv. cap. 
 20. that Italy abounds in all sorts 
 of metals, but that the digging 
 them up was forbid by a decree of 
 the Senate : " Metallorum omnium 
 '« fertilitate nullis cedit terris. Sed 
 " interdictum id vetere consulto 
 " patrum, Italiae parci jubentium." 
 In lib. xxxiii. cap. 4. he mentions 
 the Po amongst the rivers which 
 afford gold. In the same chapter 
 he confirms what he had said before 
 of the decree of the senate : " Ita- 
 " liae parcitum est vetere interdicto 
 " patrum, ut diximus, alioquin 
 <e nulla fcecundior metallorum quo- 
 " que erat tellus." At the end of 
 his work, where he speaks of the 
 excellence of Italy, above all other 
 countries, he mentions gold, silver, 
 copper, and iron : " Metallis ami, 
 " argenti, eeris, ferri, quamdiu li- 
 " buit exercere, nullis cesshV' Vir- 
 gil seems to allude to this ancient 
 discovery of metals, by using ostendit 
 nnd Jlujoit in the preterperfect tense, 
 
 JEris metalla.] Ms is commonly 
 translated Brass : but Copper is the 
 native metal ; Brass being made of 
 Copper melted with Lapis Calami- 
 naris. In the Cambridge manu- 
 script it is metalli, which is wrong : 
 
 for the ancient Romans did not say 
 <es metallum, but ceris metalla. We 
 find auri metalla, argenti metalla, 
 and ceris metalla in Pliny. 
 
 166. Plurima.] See the note on 
 this word, in ver. 187. of the first 
 Georgick. 
 
 167. Hcec] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is hoc, which must 
 be an error of the transcriber. 
 
 Marsos7\ The Marsi were a very 
 valiant people of Italy, said to be 
 descended from Marsus, the son of 
 Circe. They inhabited that part 
 of Italy, which lay about the Lacus 
 Fucinus, now called La go Fucino, or 
 Logo di Celano. It is now part of 
 the kingdom of Naples. 
 
 Pubem Sabellam.] The Sabelli 
 were anciently called Ausones. They 
 inhabited that part of Italy, which 
 was called Samnium. 
 
 168. Assuetumque malo Ligurem."] 
 The Ligurians inhabited that part 
 of Italy, which is now the Republic 
 of Genoa. Some have thought that 
 assuetum malo signifies accustomed 
 to deceit, which was imputed as a 
 national crime to the Ligurians, 
 and is mentioned by Virgil himself, 
 in the eleventh ^Eneid : 
 
 Vane Ligur, frustraque animis elate su- 
 
 perbis, 
 Nequicquam patrias tentasti lubricus 
 
 artes : 
 Nee fraus te incolumem fallaci perferei 
 
 Auno. 
 
150 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 MSttepJ&Su Extulit: h8ec Decios, Marios, magnosque Ca~ 
 
 the Scipio's fierce in war : and -ii 
 
 thee, O greatest Caesar, who miilOS, 
 
 now being conqueror in the 
 
 farthest parts of Asia, Scipiadas duros bello : et te, maxime Caesar, 
 
 Qui nunc extremis Asise jam victor in oris 171 
 
 On others practise thy Ligurian arts ; 
 Thin stratagems, and tricks of little hearts 
 Are lost on me. Nor shalt thou safe retire 
 With vaunting lies to thy fallacious sire. 
 Dryden. 
 
 But it seems scarce probable, that 
 Virgil would mention the vices of 
 the people, in this place, where he 
 is celebrating the praise of Italy. 
 I have followed therefore the ge- 
 neral opinion of the commentators 
 and translators, in rendering ma- 
 lum hardship or labour. 
 
 Volscos.] The Volsci were a war- 
 like people of Italy, of whom there 
 is abundant mention in the JEneids. 
 
 Verutos.] " Armatos verubus, that 
 <e is, according to Nonius, armed 
 tc with short and sharp darts. Lip- 
 " sius reads, 
 
 " Assuetumque malo Ligurem, Volscos- 
 " que veruto : 
 
 u and verutum and veru is the same : 
 " but I prefer the common reading, 
 tc verutos from veru, as scutatos from 
 ge scutum ; cinctutos from ductus." 
 Ru^us. 
 
 The Veru is thought to differ 
 from the Pilum in the form of its 
 iron ; which was flat in the latter, 
 but round in the former; as it is 
 described in the seventh iEneid : 
 
 Et tereti pugnant mucrone, veruque 
 Sabello. 
 
 And 'with round pointed Sabine jav'lins 
 
 MM* 
 
 Dr. Teapp. 
 
 169' Decios .] The Decii were a 
 famous Roman family, three of 
 whom, the father, son, and grand- 
 son devoted themselves at different 
 times, for the safety of their coun- 
 
 try : the first in the war with the 
 Latins, being Consul together with 
 Manlius Torquatus ; the second in 
 the Tuscan war; and the third in 
 the war with Pyrrhus. 
 
 Marios.'] There were several 
 Marii, whereof one was seven times 
 Consul. Julius Caesar was related 
 to this family by marriage : where- 
 fore the Poet makes a compliment 
 to Augustus by celebrating the 
 Marian family. 
 
 Camillas.'] Marcus Furius Ca- 
 millus beat the Gauls out of Rome, 
 after they had taken the city, and 
 laid siege to the capitol. His son 
 Lucius Furius Camillus also beat 
 the Gauls. 
 
 170. Scipiadas duros bello.] The 
 elder Scipio delivered his country 
 from the invasion of Hannibal, by 
 transferring the war into Africa ; 
 where he subdued the Carthagini- 
 ans, 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 conclu- 
 sion of the third Punic war, by 
 the total destruction of Carthage. 
 Hence they were called the thun- 
 derbolts of war : thus Virgil, in 
 the sixth JEneid : 
 
 Geminos, duo fulmina belli, 
 
 Scipiadas, cladem Libyae. 
 
 171. Extremis Asice jam victor in 
 oris.'] This verse, as Ruaeus ob- 
 serves, must have been added by 
 Virgil, after he had finished the 
 Georgicks : for it was about the 
 time of his concluding this work, 
 that Augustus went into Asia, and 
 spent the winter near the Euphra- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 151 
 
 Imbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum. 
 
 dost avert the disarmed In- 
 dian from the Roman towers. 
 
 tes, after he had vanquished An- 
 thony and Cleopatra. 
 
 172. Imbellem avertis Romanis ar- 
 cibus Indum,'] Some think the 
 Indians here mentioned are the 
 Ethiopians, who came to the as- 
 sistance of Cleopatra, and are called 
 Indians in the eighth iEneid. 
 
 ■ Omiris eo terrore ^Egyptus, et 
 
 Indiy 
 Omnis Arabs, omnes rertebant terga 
 
 Sabaei. 
 
 TJie trembling Indians, and Egyptians 
 
 yield ; 
 And soft Sabceans quit the ivafry 
 
 field. 
 
 DRYDElf. 
 
 Others think he alludes to the In- 
 dians, who being moved by the 
 great fame of the valour and mo- 
 deration of Augustus sent ambas- 
 sadors to him to desire his friend- 
 ship j as we find in Suetonius : 
 " Qua virtutis moderationisque 
 <c fama, Indos etiam ac Scythas, 
 " auditu modo cognitos, pellexit 
 ee ad amicitiam suam populique 
 fC Romani ultro per legatos peten- 
 " dam." We find also in Florus, 
 that after Augustus had subdued 
 the people between the Euphrates 
 and mount Taurus, those nations 
 also who had not been subdued by 
 arms, amongst whom he reckons 
 the Indians, came to him of their 
 own accord, bringing him presents, 
 and desiring his friendship : Ci Om- 
 iC nibus ad occasum, et meridiem 
 " pacatis gentibus, ad septentrio- 
 " nem quoque duntaxat intra Rhe- 
 " num atque Danubium; item ad 
 ec orientem intra Taurum et Eu- 
 " phratem, illi quoque reliqui, qui 
 <c immunes imperii erant, sentie- 
 " bant tamen magnitudinem, et 
 " victorem gentium Populum Ro- 
 " manum reverebantur. Nam et 
 " Scytliae misere legatos, ct Sar- 
 
 " matae amicitiam petentes. Seres 
 " etiam habitantesque sub ipso sole 
 " Indi, cum gemmis et margaritis, 
 " Elephantes quoque inter munera 
 (i trahentes, nihil magis quam 
 " longinquitatem viae imputabant, 
 c< quam quadriennio impleverant : 
 ' ' et tamen ipse hominum color ab 
 c e alio venire caelo fatebatur." These 
 things happened in the year of 
 Rome 724, about the time that Vir- 
 gil finished his Georgicks, as he 
 himself testifies at the end of the 
 fourth book : 
 
 Haec super arvorum cultu, pecorumque 
 
 canebam, 
 Et super arboribus : Caesar dum magnus 
 
 ad altum 
 Fulminat Euphratem bello, victorque 
 
 volentes 
 Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat 
 
 olympo. 
 
 From what has been said, we may 
 observe that imbellem in this place is 
 not to be rendered weak, effeminate, 
 or unwarlike, as it is generally trans- 
 lated : the meaning of the Poet be- 
 ing, that they came in a peaceable 
 manner to Augustus, being disarmed 
 by the glory of his name, and the 
 fame of his great exploits. 
 
 The King's and the Cambridge 
 manuscripts have artibus instead of 
 arcibus. If this reading be admitted, 
 we must render this passage, " dost 
 " avert the disarmed Indian byRo- 
 " man arts ;" that is, by power and 
 government, which he has told us, 
 in the sixth ^Eneid, are the proper 
 arts of the Roman people : 
 
 Excudent alii spirantia mollius a»ra, 
 Credo equidem : vivos ducent de mar- 
 more vultus ; 
 Orabunt causas melius ; caelique meatus 
 Describent radio, et surgentia sidera 
 
 dicent : 
 Tu regerc impcrio -populos, Romane, me- 
 mento : 
 lice UU er tint artes ; pacisque imponere 
 morem, 
 
152 
 
 P. VIRGILII MAI10NIS 
 
 Hail, Satumian land, the g,reat 
 parent of fruits, the great pa- 
 rent of men ; for thee I enter 
 upon subjects of ancient praise 
 and art, and venture to open 
 the sacred springs : and sing 
 the Ascrasan verse through 
 Hie Roman towns. Now is 
 the time to speak of the na- 
 ture of the fields ; what is 
 the strength of each of them, 
 what their colour, and what 
 they are most disposed to pro- 
 duce. In the first place stub- 
 born lands, and unfruitful 
 hills, 
 
 Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, 
 Magna virum : tibi res antiquae laudis et artis 
 Ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes: 175 
 Ascrseumque cano Romana per oppida carmen. 
 Nunc locus arvorumingeniis; quaerobora cuique, 
 Quis color, et quae sit rebus natura ferendis. 
 Difficiles primum terrae, collcsque maligni, 
 
 Parcere subjectis, et debellare super- 
 bos. 
 
 Let others better mould the running^ 
 
 mass 
 Of metals, and inform tlxe breathing 
 
 brass. 
 And soften into flesh a marble face: 
 Plead better at the bar ; describe the skies, 
 And when the stars descend, and -when 
 
 they rise : 
 But Rome, 'tis thine alone with awful" 
 
 sway, 
 To rule mankind; and make the 
 
 world obey ; 
 Disposing peace, and war, thy own ma- 
 jestic way. j 
 To tame the proud, the fcttefd slave to 
 
 free ; 
 These are imperial arts, and worthy 
 
 thee. 
 
 Drydek. 
 
 173. Salve, magna parens, &c] 
 Pliny has concluded his Natural 
 History much after the same man- 
 ner : " Ergo in toto orbe et qua- 
 c< cunque caeli convexitas vergit, 
 " pulcherrima est omnium, rebus- 
 " que merito principatucn obtinens, 
 " Italia, rectrix parensque mundi 
 cl altera, viris, feeminis, ducibus, 
 " militibus, servitiis, artium prae- 
 " stantia, ingeniorum claritatibus, 
 " jam situ ac salubritate cseli atque 
 (i temperie, accessu cunctaruni 
 " gentium facili, littoribus portuo- 
 " sis, benigno ventorum afflatu. 
 * e Etenim contingit recurrentis po- 
 " sitio in partem utilissimam, et 
 fC inter ortus occasusque mediam, 
 " aquarum copia, nemorum salu- 
 c< britate, montium articulis, fero- 
 " rum animalium innocentia, soli 
 cc fertilitate, pabuli ubertate. Quic- 
 
 " quid est quo carere vita non de- 
 " beat, nusquam est preestantius : 
 " fruges, vinum, olea, vellera, lina, 
 " vestes, juvenci. Ne quos quidem 
 " in trigariis praeferri ullos verna- 
 " culis animadverto. Metallis auri, 
 " argenti, aeris, ferri, quamdiu li- 
 " buit exercere, nullis cessit. Et 
 " iis nunc in se gravida pro omni 
 " dote varios succos, et frugum 
 " pomorumque sapores fundit." 
 
 176. Ascrceum carmen. ~\ By As- 
 craan verse he means, that he fol- 
 lows Hesiod, who was of Ascra in 
 Bceotia, and wrote of husbandry in 
 Greek verse. 
 
 177- Nunc locus, &c] Here the 
 Poet speaks of the different soils, 
 which are proper for olives, vines, 
 pasture, and corn. 
 
 178. Et.'] In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts, and several of 
 the old printed editions, it is aut. 
 
 Ferendis.'] In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is creandis. 
 
 179. Difficiles primum terra.] The 
 same soil does not agree with olives 
 in all countries. Thus Pliny tells 
 us, that a fat soil suits them in 
 some places, and a gravelly soil in 
 others : " Glareosum oleis solum 
 " aptissimum in Venafrano, pin- 
 e< guissimum in Bcetiea." The soil 
 where Virgil lived is damp, being 
 subject to the inundations of the 
 Po, and therefore he recommends 
 the hilly and stony lands for the 
 culture of olives. We find in Pliny, 
 that the country about Larissa for- 
 merly abounded with olives, but 
 
F. 
 
 :KL2Afi?TS 
 
 ©&IITIE Tl 
 
 THE O TART T 
 
 P*'l 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 153 
 
 Tenuis ubi argilla, et dumosis calculus arvis, 
 Palladia gaudent sylva vivacis olivae. 181 
 
 Indicio est, tractu surgens oleaster eodem 
 Plurimus, et strati baccis sylvestribus agri. 
 At quae pinguis humus, dulcique uligine laeta, 
 
 where the bushy fields abound 
 with lean clay and pebbles, 
 rejoice in a wood of long- 
 lived Pal'adian olives. You 
 may know this soil by wild 
 olives rising thick, and the 
 fields being strewed with wild 
 berries. But the ground which 
 u fat, and rich with sweet 
 moisture, 
 
 that the land being chilled by the 
 overflowing of a lake they were 
 all lost : " In Thessalia circa Laris- 
 " sam emisso lacu frigidior facta ea 
 *■* regio est, oleaque desierunt quae 
 " prius fuerant." 
 
 180. Tenuis ubi argilla.) May 
 translates this, where clay is scarce : 
 which is an error; for tenuis signi- 
 fies lean or hungry. Argilla is not 
 our common clay, but potter's clay, 
 which Columella observes is as 
 hungry as sand : (f Creta, qua 
 " utuntwv figuli, quamque nonnulli 
 " argillam vocant, inimicissitna est 
 " [viti] j nee minus jejuna sabulo." 
 
 181. Palladia.] Pallas or Minerva 
 was said to be the discoverer of the 
 olive-tree. See the note on ver. 
 18. of the first Georgick. 
 
 Vivacis.'] We have seen, in the 
 note on ver. 3. of this Georgick, 
 that the olive is a slow grower, 
 and therefore he here calls it long- 
 lived. 
 
 182. Oleaster.] This is a wild 
 sort of olive, which seems to be 
 different from the cultivated sort, 
 only by its wildness, as crabs from 
 apples. That plant which is culti- 
 vated in our gardens under the 
 name of Oleaster, 13 not an olive: 
 Tournefort refers it to his genus 
 of Elaeagnus. It grows in Syria, 
 Ethiopia, and Mount Lebanon 5 
 Clusius observed it in great plenty 
 also near Guadix, a city in the 
 kingdom of Granada, as also in the 
 south of France and Germany. It 
 is thought to be the Cappadocian 
 Jujubs, which are mentioned by 
 Pliny, amongst the coronary flow- 
 
 ers : " Zizipha, quae et Cappadocia 
 " vocantur : his odoratus similis 
 " olearum floribus." The flowers 
 of the Elaiagnus are much like those 
 of the olive ; but the ovary of the 
 Elceagnus is placed below the petal, 
 whereas that of the olive is con- 
 tained within the petal. They are 
 very sweet, and may be smelt at 
 some distance. 
 
 183. Plurimus.'] See the note on 
 ver. 187. of the first Georgick. 
 
 184. At quae pinguis humus, &c] 
 Virgil here recommends a fat, 
 moist, fruitful soil for vines, in 
 which he is said to differ from the 
 other writers of agriculture, who 
 say that a very fruitful soil will ge- 
 nerally make a bad vineyard. Cel- 
 sus, as he is quoted by Columella, 
 says the ground for a vineyard 
 should be neither too loose nor too 
 hard, but approaching to loose : 
 neither poor nor very rich, but ap- 
 proaching to rich : neither plain 
 nor steep, but a little rising : nei- 
 ther dry nor wet, but a little moist: 
 " At si noto est eligendus vineis 
 " locus, et status caeli sicut censet 
 " verissime Celsus, optimum est 
 " solum, nee densum nimis, nee 
 '•' resolutum, soluto tamen propius: 
 " nee exile, nee laetissimum, proxi- 
 " mum tamen uberi : nee campes- 
 " tre, nee prseceps, simile tamen 
 " edito campo: nee siccum, nee 
 " uliginosum, modice tamen rosi- 
 t( dum." We have almost the same 
 words in Palladiusj " Sed solum 
 u vineis ponendis nee spissum sit 
 " nimis, nee resolutum, propius 
 " tamen resoluto : nee exile, nee 
 
 x 
 
154 
 
 P. YIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 and the field which is full of 
 grass, and abounding with 
 fertility, such as we are often 
 wont to look down upon in 
 the valley of some hill, where 
 rivers are melted down from 
 the tops of the rods, and 
 carry a rich ooze along with 
 them: and suchas rises gently 
 to the south, and nroduces 
 brakes, detested by the 
 crooked plough : such a soil 
 will in time produce strong 
 vines, abounding with juice : 
 such a soil will be rich in 
 clusters, and wine, to be 
 poured forch to the gods in 
 golden bowls, when the fat 
 Tuscan has blown his pipe at 
 the altars, 
 
 Quique frequens herbis, et fertilis ubere cam- 
 pus, 185 
 Qualem ssepe cava montis convalle solemus 
 Despicere : hue summis liquuntur rupibus amnes, 
 Felicemque trahunt limum: quique editusaustro, 
 Et filicem curvis invisam pascit aratris : 
 Hie tibi prsevalidas olim multoque fluentes 190 
 Sufficiet Baccho vites : hie fertilis uvae, 
 Hie laticis, qualem pateris libamus et auro, 
 Inflavit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, 
 
 fC laetissimum, tamen laeto proxi- 
 "raum: nee campestre, nee prse- 
 " ceps, sed potius edito campo: nee 
 " siccum, nee uliginosum, mod ice 
 (t tamen rosidum." These authors 
 differ very little from Virgil. He 
 recommends a loose soil 5 rarissima 
 quceque Lyceo ; they say it should be 
 rather loose than hard : he recom- 
 mends a rich soil; fertilis ubere cam- 
 pus; they say it should be rather 
 rich than poor: he reeommends a 
 rising ground j editus austro; and 
 so do they: he recommends a moist 
 soil ; they say it should not be dry. 
 Besides Columella quotes Tremel- 
 lius and Higinius, who agree with 
 our Poet, in recommending the foot 
 of a hill, which receives the soil 
 from above, and valleys, which have 
 received their soil from the over- 
 flowings of rivers: " Higinius qui- 
 " dem secntusTremellium praecipue 
 " montium ima, quae a verticibus 
 te defluentem humum receperint, 
 <c vel etiam valles, quae fluminum 
 " alluvie, et inundationibus concre- 
 " verint, aptas esse vineis asseverat, 
 " me non dissentiente." 
 
 I89. Filicem.] There are several 
 sorts of Filex or Fern. I take that 
 of which the Poet speaks to be our 
 female Fern, or Brake, which covers 
 most of the uncultivated, hilly 
 grounds in Italy. 
 
 Masvicius has silicem for filicem, 
 whether by design, or by an error of 
 the press, I am not sure. This 
 reading however is not without 
 some foundation; for Columella 
 says flints are beneficial to vines: 
 " Est autem, ut mea fert opinio, 
 " vineis amicus etiam silex f cui su- 
 e< perpositum est modicum terre- 
 te num, quia frigidus, et tenax hu- 
 " moris per ortum caniculae non 
 " patitur sitire radices/' Palladius 
 also uses almost the same words. 
 And Mr. Miller observes that " the 
 " land which abounds with Fern is 
 " always very poor and unfit for 
 " vines: but the flinty rocks which 
 " abound in Chianti are always pre- 
 " ferred, and the vines there pro- 
 " duced are esteemed the best of 
 " Italy." But I take filicem to be 
 the true reading, because it is in all 
 the manuscripts I have seen or 
 heard of 5 and because Pliny has it, 
 when he quotes of this very pas- 
 sage: " Virgilius et quae filicem 
 11 ferat non improbat vitibus." 
 
 191. ntes.] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is vires. 
 
 192. Pateris libamus et auro.] It 
 is agreed by the grammarians, that 
 pateris et auro is the same with au- 
 reis pateris. 
 
 193. Pinguis Tyrrhenus.] The 
 ancient Tuscans were famous for 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 155 
 
 Lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta. 
 Sin armenta magis studium vitulosque tueri, 195 
 Aut foetus ovium, aut urentes culta capellas : 
 Saltus et saturi petito longinqua Tarenti, 
 Et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum. 
 
 arid we offer the smoking 
 entrails in bending chargers. 
 But if your design is to breed 
 kine with their calves, or 
 lambs, or kids that burn the 
 trees; seek the forests and dis- 
 tant fields of fat Tarentum, 
 and such as unhappy Mantua 
 has lost, 
 
 indulging their appetites, which 
 made them generally fat ; thus Ca- 
 tullus also calls them obesus Etrus- 
 cus. Or perhaps he might allude 
 to the bloated look of those, who 
 piped at the altars, as we com- 
 monly observe of our trumpeters. 
 
 194. Pandis.] Some interpret this 
 hollow, others bending, which seems 
 the more poetical expression : thus 
 Mr. B 
 
 And massy chargers bending with then- 
 loads. 
 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is patulis, which word seems to 
 have crept into the text from some 
 marginal comment. 
 
 195. Studium vitulosque.'] In one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is stu- 
 dium est vitulosque. 
 
 196. Urentes culta capellas.] We 
 find in Varro that the ancient Ro- 
 mans, when they let a farm, were 
 accustomed to make an article, that 
 the tenant should not breed kids, 
 because they destroy the trees and 
 bushes by browsing upon them : 
 " Nee multo aliter tuendum hoc 
 " pecus in pastu, atque ovillum, 
 " quod tamen habet sua propria 
 " quaedam, quod potius sylvestri- 
 " bus saltibus delectantur, quam 
 * e pratis. Studiose enim de agresti- 
 " bus fruticibus pascuntur, atque 
 " in locis cultis virgulta carpunt : 
 ** itaque a carpendo caprae nomi- 
 " natae. Ob hoc in lege locationis 
 " fundi excipi solet, ne colonus 
 " capra natum in fundo pascat: ha- 
 " rum enim dentes inimici satio- 
 e< nis." This injurious biting of 
 
 goats is also taken notice of by 
 Mr. Evelyn : " Be sure to cut off 
 ' ' such tender branches to the quick, 
 " which you find have been cropt 
 " by goats or any other cattle, who 
 " leave a drivel where they bite ; 
 (< which not only infects the 
 " branches, but sometimes endan- 
 " gers the whole; the reason is, 
 " for that the natural sap's recourse 
 " to the stem communicates the ve- 
 " nom to all the rest, as the whole 
 f< mass and habit of animal blood 
 "is by a gangreen, or venereal 
 " taint." 
 
 197. Tarenti.] Tarentum is a city 
 of Magna Graecia, part of the king- 
 dom of Naples, famous for fine 
 wool, according to Pliny : " Lana 
 '* autem laudatissima Apula, et quae 
 " in Italia Graeci pecoris appella- 
 
 " tur, alibi Italica. Circa Ta- 
 
 " rentum Canusiumque summam 
 " nobilitatem habent." 
 
 198. Aut qualem infelix amisit 
 Mantua campum.] " This line of 
 " Mr. May's, 
 
 " Such fields as hapless Mantua has lost, 
 
 " has something very fine in it. 
 " The metre is extremely grave 
 " and solemn, as it is remarkably 
 " so in the original. There the 
 " verse complains, and every word 
 
 " seems to sigh." Mr. B . 
 
 Augustus Caesar had given the 
 fields about Mantua and Cremona 
 to his soldiers : and Virgil lost his 
 farm with the rest of his neigh- 
 bours; but he was afterwards re« 
 stored to the possession of it, by 
 the interest of his patron Maecenas ; 
 x 2 
 
156 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 where snowy swans feed in 
 the grassy river. Here nei- 
 ther clear springs nor grass 
 will be wanting for the flocks : 
 and what the nerds devour in 
 a long day, the cool dew will 
 restore to you in a short night. 
 That soil generally which is 
 black, and fat under the pierc- 
 ing share, 
 
 Pascentem niveos herboso flumine cycnos. 
 Non liquidi gregibus fontes, non gramina dee- 
 runt : 200 
 Et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, 
 Exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet. 
 Nigra fere, et presso pinguis sub vomere terra, 
 
 which is the subject of the first 
 eclogue. 
 
 W9- Herboso flumine!] In one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and in se- 
 veral of the old printed copies, it is 
 herboso in flumine. 
 
 200. Deerunt.'] So I read with 
 Heinsius, and Masvicius. In the 
 other editions it is desunt: but the 
 other verbs in this sentence are in 
 the future tense. 
 
 201. Quantum longis, &c] What 
 the Poet here says of the prodigious 
 growth of the grass in a night's 
 time seems incredible: and yet we 
 are informed by Varro, that Caesar 
 Vopiscus affirmed, that at Rosea, a 
 vine-pole being stuck in the ground 
 would be lost in the grass the next 
 day : " Cassar Vopiscus ^Edilicius, 
 st causam cum ageret apud Censo- 
 " res, campos Rosese ltaliee dixit 
 <( esse sumen, in quo relicta pertica 
 " postridie non appareret propter 
 " herbam " The same is related 
 by Pliny, lib. xvii. cap. 4. 
 
 203. Nigra fere.~\ Columella 
 blames the ancient writers of hus- 
 bandry, for insisting upon a black 
 or grey colour, as a sign of a rich 
 land : " Plurimos anti quorum, qui 
 tf de rusticis rebus scripserunt, me- 
 " moria repeto, quasi confessa, nee 
 " dubia signa pinguis, ac frumen- 
 " torum fer iis agri prodidisse, dul- 
 " cedinem soli propriam herbarum 
 " et arborum proventum, nigrum 
 " colorem vel cinereum. De caete- 
 " ris ambigo, de colore satis admi- 
 " rari non possum cum alios, turn 
 
 " Cornelium Celsum, non solum 
 " agricolationis, sed universae na- 
 " turae prudentem virum, sic et sen- 
 " tentia, et visu deerrasse, ut oculls 
 " ejus tot paludes, tot etiam campi 
 " salinarum non occurrerent, qui- 
 " hw. fere contribuuntur praedicti 
 " colores. Nullum enim temere 
 " videmus locum, qui modo pigrum 
 " contineat humorem, non eundem 
 " vel nigri, vel cinerei colons, nisi 
 " forte in eo fallor ipse, quod non 
 " putem aut in sololimosae paludis, 
 " et uliginis amarae, aut in mariti- 
 tf mis areis salinarum gigni posse 
 " jacta frumenta : sed est manifes- 
 " tior hie antiquorum error, quam 
 " ut pluribus argumentis convin- 
 " cendus sit : non ergo color, tan- 
 <( quam certus autor, testis est boni- 
 " tatis arvorum." Virgil seems to 
 have been aware of this objection, 
 and therefore cautiously puts in 
 fere. Mr. Evelyn however seems 
 to recommend a black earth, and 
 such as is here mentioned by the 
 Poet : " The best is black, fat, yet 
 " porous, light, and sufficiently te- 
 " nacious, without any mixture of 
 " sand or gravel, rising in pretty 
 (( gross clods at the first breaking 
 u up of the plough ; but with little 
 " labour and exposure falling to 
 fe pieces, but not crumbling alto- 
 " gether into dust, which is the 
 " defect of a vicious sort. Of this 
 " excellent blatk mould (fit almost 
 " lor any thing without much ma- 
 " nure) there are three kinds, which 
 (i differ in hue and goodness." 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 157 
 
 Et cui putre solum, naraque hoc imitamur 
 
 arando, 
 Optima frumentis : non ullo ex aequore cernes 
 Plura domum tardis decedere plaustra juvencis: 
 Aut unde iratus sylvam devexit arator, 207 
 Et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos, 
 Antiquasque domos avium cum stirpibus imis 
 
 and that which is naturally 
 loose, such as we imitate by 
 ploughing, is fittest for corn : 
 from no plain will you see the 
 slow oxen draw more loaded 
 waggons home: that also 
 from which the angry plough- 
 man has removed a wood, and 
 felled the groves which have 
 stood idle for many years, and 
 subverted the ancient habita- 
 tions of the birds from the 
 very 
 
 Presso pinguis sub vomere terra.] 
 A rich land is universally allowed 
 to be good for corn. Virgil here says 
 the soil should be deep, so as to be 
 fat, even below the share that 
 makes a deep furrow; presso sub 
 vomere. I take the epithet presso to 
 allude to the custom of laying a 
 weight on the head of the plough, 
 to make the share enter deeper. 
 
 204. Putre solum.} Putre signi- 
 fies rotten, crumbling, or loose. The 
 Poet explains it here himself, and 
 tells us it is such a soil, as we pro- 
 cure by ploughing. Thereforeinthis 
 place lie recommends such a soil 
 for corn as is in its own nature 
 loose, and crumbling: because we 
 endeavour to make other soils so 
 by art. Agreeable to this Colu- 
 mella tells us, that such a soil, as is 
 naturally loose, requires little la- 
 bour of ploughing : "Pastinationis 
 " expertes sunt externarum gen- 
 ' ' tium agricolse : quae tamen ipsa 
 " pene supervacua est iis locis, qui- 
 " bus solum putre, et per se resolu- 
 te turn est : namque hoc imitamur 
 " arando, ut ait Virgilius, quod 
 " etiam pastinando. Itaque Cam- 
 " pania, quoniam vicinum ex nobis 
 f< capere potest exemplum, non uti- 
 " tur hac molitione terras, quia fa- 
 " cilitas ejus soli minorem operam 
 " desiderat." 
 
 205. Non ullo.] In the Cambridge 
 manuscript it is non nullo, which is 
 manifestly an error of the tran- 
 scriber. 
 
 206. Decedere.~\ In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is descendere. 
 
 207. Iratus.] This epithet seems 
 to be added, to express the anger or 
 impatience of the ploughman, who 
 sees his land overgrown with wood, 
 which otherwise might bear good 
 crops of corn. 
 
 Devexit.] It is dejecit, in the Me- 
 dicean manuscript, according to 
 Pierius. 
 
 209. Antiquasque domos avium, 
 &c] " I understand this place, 
 (< says Mr. B — , in a manner diflfer- 
 " ent from Ruaeus, and others, who 
 " interpret stirpibus imis 3 the roots 
 " of the trees. These are connected 
 <e to domos avium, and consequently, 
 te according to Virgil's clear way of 
 " writing, must relate to the birds; 
 " besides, if they related to the 
 M roots of the trees, it would be an 
 " useless tautology ; for, that the 
 " roots were grubbed up, is said 
 " before, nemora evertit. And again, 
 u cum stirpibus imis is the best 
 " expression possible to describe 
 " where the birds' young ones were 
 " lodged 5 for it is well (known, 
 " that by getting down into the 
 " bottoms of decayed trees, several 
 " sorts of birds preserve their 
 " brood. I translate altum, the 
 " top of the tree, and not the air, 
 " because, in fact, when hollow 
 " old trees are felled, in which 
 " birds have young ones, they al- 
 " ways keep hovering about the 
 "top, and making a lamentable 
 
158 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 £ nSS'fl/Sf/f'b^a! Eruit : illae altum nidis petiere reHctis : 210 
 
 roots 
 their 
 soon as the share has been 
 
 used, the rough field begins to At rudlS emtUlt lmpillSO VOHiere CamDUS. 
 shew its beauty. 
 
 " noise for several days together." 
 According to this interpretation, he 
 translates the passage thus : 
 
 — Down with the sounding wood 
 
 The birds' old mansions fell, and hidden 
 
 brood ; 
 They from their nests flew upwards to 
 
 the head, 
 Long hover'd round, and piteous outcry 
 
 made. 
 
 According to the common interpre- 
 tation of stirpibus imis, Virgil is not 
 made guilty of tautology : for ne- 
 mora evertit does not necessarily 
 signify grubbed up the groves, but 
 may be interpreted felled the groves. 
 Evertere is rendered to fell, in the 
 first Georgick, by Mr. B — himself: 
 Aut tempestivam sylvis evertere pinum ; 
 
 which he thus translates; 
 
 And timely on the mountain fell the 
 fir. 
 
 Therefore the Poet has not expressly 
 said that the groves are grubbed up, 
 till he mentions cum stirpibus imis. 
 Altum, I believe, is never used for 
 the top of a tree, especially after it 
 has been felled. 
 
 Manilius's description of the fell- 
 ing of woods is not very unlike 
 that of our Poet : 
 
 ■ Ruit ecce nemus, saltusque vetusti 
 Procumbunt, solemque novum, nova si- 
 
 dera cernunt. 
 Pellitur omne loco volucrum genus, at- 
 
 que ferarum, 
 Antiquasque domos, et nota eubilia lin- 
 
 quunt. 
 
 211. At rudis enituit, &c] In the 
 King's manuscript it is aut; and in 
 one of Dr. Mead's it is et : but in 
 the other manuscripts, and in most 
 of the printed editions it is at. Mr. 
 B — makes the period to end at 
 relictis ; and takes the description 
 
 of an unfit soil for corn to begin 
 with this line, which he translates 
 thus j 
 
 But where the plough is urg'd on rubble 
 
 ground. 
 Nothing, but 'whitening furrows, will be 
 
 found. 
 
 " This, says he, is another of those 
 f f passages which all the coramen- 
 el tators have misunderstood, more 
 " or less, for want of some know- 
 " ledge of country affairs. Ruaeus, 
 " according to his usual custom, 
 u only abstracts Pontanus. Virgil 
 " speaks here of three sorts of soil, 
 " two of which are fit for corn, the 
 ir other not. The first he describes 
 " thus 5 a loose soil which looks 
 " dark and fat, when turned up 
 " with the plough. Nigra fere, 
 " &c. The second is forest, or 
 " coppice ground. Aut unde iratus 
 " sylvam, &c. The third he de- 
 " scribes in a very poetical manner, 
 " by the different effect the plough 
 ft has upon it. At rudis enituit, &c. 
 iC The loose rich ground, first men- 
 " tioned, looks dark, and fat, even 
 « below the piercing of the share, 
 « but the hard rubbly field, quite 
 " contrary, is all white and shin- 
 " ing, impulso vomere, because the 
 " plough must be drove into it ; 
 " such ground not being to be 
 " ploughed, but by putting weight 
 " upon the head of the beam." I 
 believe Mr. B — mistakes in trans- 
 lating rudis campus, rubble ground ; 
 for rudis does not signify any par- 
 ticular sort of soil, but only that 
 which has not yet been cultivated. 
 Thus Columella : " Sed nunc po- 
 " tius uberioris soli meminerimus, 
 tf cujus demonstranda est duplex 
 " ratio, culti et sylvestris : de syl* 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 159 
 
 For the hungry gravel of the 
 hilly field will scarce afford 
 
 Nam jejuna quidem clivosi glarea ruris 212 
 
 _ T .- .. .. . • • , casia and rosemary for the 
 
 Vix humiles apibus casias, roremque mimstrat : bee^ : 
 
 " vestri region e in arvorum for- 
 '• mam redigenda prius dicemus. — 
 " Incultum igitur locum considere- 
 " mus. — Sed jam expedienti rudis 
 " agri rationem sequitur cultorum 
 " novalium cura/' Here sylvestris, 
 incultus, and rudis are used as sy- 
 nonymous terms, to express a field 
 that has never been ploughed for 
 corn : as rudis, applied to a person, 
 signifies one who has had no edu- 
 cation ; whence erudire signifies to 
 instruct, or educate, that is to take 
 away rudeness, or roughness; and 
 eruditus signifies a well educated, or 
 learned person, whose mind is not 
 uncultivated. Enituit, which Mr. 
 B — takes to mean the whitening of 
 the furrows, signifies to shine, or 
 look beautiful. This verb, I think, 
 is used but once more by our Poet, 
 in all his works. It is in the fourth 
 j^Eneid, where he describes iEneas 
 going forth to hunt with Dido, and 
 compares him to Apollo, for the 
 splendor of his dress, and beauty of 
 his person : 
 
 — — — Ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnes 
 Infert se socium J5neas, atque agmina 
 
 jungit. 
 Qualis, ubihybernam Lyciam, Xanthique 
 
 fluenta 
 Deserit, ac Delum maternam invisit 
 
 Apollo, 
 Instauratque choros, mixtique altariacir> 
 
 cum 
 Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt, pictique 
 
 Agathyrsi : 
 Ipse jugis Cynthi graditur, mollique flu- 
 
 entem 
 Fronde premit crinem fingens, atque im- 
 
 plicat auro : 
 Tela sonant humeris. Haud illo segnior 
 
 ibat 
 jEneas, tantum egregio decus enitet ore. 
 But far above the rest in beauty shines 
 The great JEneas, when the troop he joins : 
 Like fair Apollo, when he leaves the frost 
 Qf wintry Xanthus t and the Lycian coast; 
 
 Wlien to his native Delos he resorts, 
 Ordains the dances, and renews the sports : 
 Where painted Scythians, mix'd with Cre- 
 tan bands, 
 Before the joyful altars join their hands. 
 Himself, on Cynthus walking, sees below 
 The merry madness of tlie sacred show. 
 Green wreaths of bays his length of liair 
 
 inclose, 
 A golden fillet binds his awful brows : 
 His quiver sounds, Not less the Prince is 
 
 seen 
 In manly presence, or in lofty mien. 
 
 Drydejt. 
 
 Enituit therefore is used by the 
 Poet to express, that when a wood 
 has been grubbed up, the rude un- 
 cultivated land, where it stood, 
 appears in full beauty after it has 
 been ploughed. 
 
 212. Nam jejuna quidem, &c] 
 Here he begins to speak of the 
 hungry soil, which abounds with 
 gravel, rotten stone, or chalk. 
 
 213. Casias.'] The xetrU of the 
 Greek writers is not the plant of 
 which Virgil speaks in this place. 
 Theophrastus, in the fourth chapter 
 of the ninth book of his History of 
 Plants, mentions it along with 
 myrrh, frankincense, and cinnamon, 
 and says they all come from Arabia: 
 Tinreii f/Jv oi/v o XtQecvo?, tcctt it <rftvf>voc, 
 xcci « Koto-ioc, kcci gV; to tuveifta/itov, h rvj 
 tuv 'AgciQav %eo%ct, pk(rv\. In the fifth 
 chapter he seems to describe it as a 
 sort of cinnamon, or a plant not very 
 unlike it : Uigt ^e Kivotftaftov kx) Kuatccs 
 Txvrct Xzyovw Sc&pvcv? ph a^'ori^x, 
 reevr uvoct ov f-ayocXovg, aXX nXtxovs 
 oiyvov' 'zroXvKhoioovq dt nut %vXa$ug. 
 Pliny has translated great part of 
 what Theophrastus has said in this 
 chapter, in the nineteenth chapter 
 of his twelfth book. In the seventh 
 chapter, Theophrastus mentions it 
 amongst the spices, which are used 
 to perfume ointments : T* 2i etxxot 
 
160 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SS th e e Sk 3K? £S£ Et tophus scaber, et nigris exesa chelydris 
 
 lowed by black snakes : 
 
 vxvrx rx tuotrpx tig ■&£<><; tx agafixrx 
 %£ejvrxt, rx ph l| 'iv^uv xofttfyrxt. xx- 
 xuSiv Iki SxXxrrxv xxrx7nu,7rirxr rx 
 cz e§ A^xvixg oiov zrfiog ra xivxf&ajtco, xxi 
 
 tjj Kxtix. clq yAv ovv tig rx uoup.xrx 
 
 X^vvrxt, c%z$ov rxh Wi Kxfix, xivxpa- 
 pov, &c. The Casia, of which 
 Theophrastus speaks in these places, 
 is an aromatic bark, not much un- 
 like cinnamon, and may therefore 
 not improbably be that which we 
 call Cassia lignea. It is of this 
 bark, which Virgil speaks in ver. 
 466. of this Georgick : 
 
 Nee Casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi. 
 
 Columella speaks of it amongst 
 other exotics which had lately been 
 introduced into the Roman gardens; 
 " Mysiam Lybiamque largis aiunt 
 " abundare frumentis, nee tamen 
 ' ' Appulos, Campanosque agros opi- 
 fc mis defici segetibus. Tmolon et 
 " Corycion florere croco. Judaeam 
 " et Arabiam pretiosis odoribus il- 
 " lustrem haberi, sed nee nostram 
 " civitatem praedictis egere stirpi- 
 " bus, quippe cum pluribus locis 
 te urbis, jam Casiam frondentem 
 " conspicimus, jam thuream plan- 
 <c tam, florentesque hortos myrrha 
 " et croco/' Therefore it could 
 not be so common, if at all known, 
 in Italy, in Virgil's time, as he 
 seems to make it in all the passages, 
 where he mentions it, except that 
 just now quoted. In the second 
 Eclogue Alexis the shepherd makes 
 a nosegay of Casia, with lilies, 
 violets, poppies, daffodils, dill, hya- 
 cinths, and marigolds, which are 
 all common herbs or flowers ; and 
 it is there expressly mentioned as a 
 sweet herb : 
 
 Tibi lilia plenis 
 
 Ecce ferunt nymphae calathis : tibi Can- 
 dida Na'is 
 
 Pallentes violas et summa papavera car- 
 pens, 
 
 Narcissura et florem jungit bene olentis 
 anethi. 
 
 Turn Casia, atque aliis intexens suavibus 
 heriis, 
 
 Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia caltha. 
 
 In the fourth Georgick, it is men- 
 tioned with wild thyme and savory, 
 both common plants: 
 
 Haec circum Casus virides, et olentia 
 m late 
 
 Serpylla, et graviter spirantis copia thym- 
 
 brae 
 Floreat : 
 
 and afterwards it is mentioned aloDg 
 with thyme : 
 
 Ramea costis 
 
 Subjiciunt fragmenta, thymum, Casicu- 
 que recentes. 
 
 In the passage now under our con- 
 sideration, it seems to be men- 
 tioned as a vulgar herb. For other- 
 wise the Poet, speaking of a hungry 
 gravelly soil, would hardly have 
 said, that it was so far from being 
 fit for corn, that it can hardly afford 
 a little Casia for the bees. Had he 
 meant the aromatic Casia, he would 
 never have let slip such an oppor- 
 tunity of telling us the advantages 
 of such a soil : that though indeed 
 it was not fit for corn, yet it might 
 glory in producing the sweet Casia 
 of Arabia, and perfuming the air of 
 Italy with Panchaean odours. The 
 Casia therefore here spoken of must 
 be some common well known herb. 
 Nor is it at all to be wondered at, 
 that the Poet should speak of two 
 different things under the same 
 name. We have seen already, that 
 there are both trees and herbs called 
 lotus and acanthus. The Romans 
 frequently made use of Greek 
 names, to express different plants, 
 which were common in their own 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 161 
 
 Greta: negant alios seque serpentibus agros 215 n 
 
 sweet food, or such 
 
 country, and afterwards confounded 
 the descriptions of both together. 
 It may not be amiss also to observe 
 that we have a spice, and also a 
 common flower, both which we 
 call cloves; and that we have a 
 common herb in our gardens, which 
 we call balm of Gilead; though 
 very different from the tree, which 
 affords that precious balsam. It 
 has been supposed by some that 
 our Lavender is the Casia, which 
 Virgil means in this place : but on 
 diligently comparing Theophrastus, 
 Pliny, and Dioscorides, it will ap- 
 pear to be a very different plant. 
 Pliny tells us, that the coronary 
 Casia is the same with what the 
 Greeks call Cneoron : " Sunt et 
 u alia genera nominibus Graecis in- 
 " dicanda, quia nostris majore ex 
 " parte hujus nomenclaturse defuit 
 " cura. Et pleraque eorum in ex- 
 " teris terris nascuntur, nobis tamen 
 *' consectnnda, quoniam de natura 
 " sermo, non de Italia est : Ergo 
 " in coronamentafo'io veneremelo- 
 <r thron, spireon, trigonon, cneoron, 
 « quod casiam Hyginus vocat." This 
 therefore is the casia, which he men- 
 tions alittle afterwards, in the twelfth 
 chapter of the ninth book, as good 
 for bees ; " Verum hortis corjna- 
 " mentisquemaxime alvearia et apes 
 " conveniunt, res praecipui quaestus 
 " compendiique cum favit. Harum 
 '* ergocausaoportet serere thymum, 
 te apiastrum, rosam, violas, lilium, 
 " cytisum, fabam, ervilium, cuni- 
 " lam, papaver, conyzam, casiam, 
 " melilotum, melissophyllum, ce- 
 " rinthen." In the twenty-first 
 chapter of the thirteenth book he 
 tells us, that the Thymelcea, which 
 bears the granum Gniclium, is called 
 also cneoron; and describes it to 
 have leaves like the wild olive, but 
 
 narrower, and of a gummy taste : 
 (t Et in quo nascitur granum Gni- 
 " dium, quod aliqui linum vocant ; 
 " fruticem vero ihymelceam, alii cha- 
 " melaeam, alii pyros achnen, alii 
 " cnestron, alii cneoron. Est similis 
 " oleastro,foliis angustioribus,gum- 
 " mosis,si mordeantur, myrti mag- 
 " nltudine, semine, colore, et specie 
 " farris,ad medicinaetantum usum." 
 Dioscorides, in his chapter about 
 Thymelcea, tells us expressly that 
 the leaves of that plant, which, he 
 says also, bears granum gnidium, are 
 peculiarly called cneoron : 'Ek reevmg 
 o Kvionog x.cx,K<i<; xu(>7ros M crvXhiyirxi. 
 
 TU, 21 <pvAA« cl7rq> \2iag KctXiiTetk 
 
 Kviu^ov, crvXhiytiv $i7 mpi tov zrv^ctpn-' 
 rov' Kxi eC7Tori&£<r6oCi %/igoivoiVTocs it <rx.iZ. 
 Theophrastus makes no mention at 
 all of thymelcea, and seems not to 
 have known the plant which affords 
 the granum gnidium. But in the se- 
 cond chapter of his sixth book he 
 mentions two sorts of cneoron, black 
 and white -, the white one, he says, 
 has leaves something like an olive ; 
 which agrees with what Pliny has 
 said of the thymelcea. The r efore it 
 is scarce to be doubted, that the 
 white cneoron of Theophrastus is the 
 same plant with the thymelcea of 
 Pliny and Dioscorides, and conse- 
 quently the cneoron, which, accord- 
 ing to Pliny, was called casia: and 
 hence we may conclude that the 
 herb Casia of Virgil is the cneoron, 
 or thymelcea, which bears the granum 
 gnidium. The plant from which we 
 have the grana gnidia, or cnidia, is 
 the Thymelcea lini folii C. B. and is 
 called by Gerard spurge Jlax, or 
 mountain widow-waile ; and grows in 
 rough mountains, and uncultivated 
 places, in the warmer climates ; ano^ 
 may therefore very well be taken; 
 for Virgil's Casia. The Germans 
 Y 
 
162 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 crooked dens to serpents. 
 That land, which sends forth 
 thin mists and flying vapours, 
 and drinks in the moisture, 
 and returns it at pleasure, 
 which always clothes itself 
 with green grass, and does 
 not stain the share with scurf 
 and salt rust, will twist the 
 joyful vines about their elms : 
 that land abounds with oil: 
 that land you will find by 
 experience to be good for 
 cattle, and obedient to the 
 crooked share. Such a soil 
 is ploughed about rich Ca- 
 pua, and the country which 
 lies near mount Vesuvius, 
 
 Dulcem ferre cibum, et curvas praebere latebras, 
 Quaetenuemexhalatnebulam,fumosquevolucres, 
 Et bibit humorem, et, cum vult, ex se ipsa re- 
 
 mittit, 
 Quaeque suo viridi semper se gramine vestit, 
 Nee scabie et salsa laedit rubigine ferrum : 220 
 Ilia tibi laetis intexet vitibus ulmos : 
 Ilia ferax oleo est : illam experiere colendo, 
 Et facilem pecori, et patientem vomeris unci. 
 Talem dives arat Capua, et vicina Vesevo 
 
 have their grana cnidia from the 
 Mezereon, which is a species of Thy- 
 meloea. I have not seen the Thy- 
 melaea in any of our gardens. 
 
 Rorem.] Dryden takes rorem to 
 mean dew : 
 
 The coarse lean gravel, on the mountain 
 sides, 
 
 Scarce dewy beverage for the bees pro- 
 vides. 
 
 But it is more probable that Virgil 
 means the Rosemary, or Ros mari- 
 nus, so called, because it was used 
 in sprinkling, as we read in the 
 Scriptures of hyssop, and grew in 
 places near the sea coast. The prose 
 authors generally write the name 
 of this plant in one word, rosmari- 
 nus, or rosmarinum : but the poets 
 Commonly divide it. Thus Horace : 
 
 Te nihil attinet 
 
 Tentare multa caede bidentium 
 . Parvos coronantem marino 
 
 Rore deos, fragilique myrto : 
 
 and Ovid, who calls it ros maris : 
 
 — — Cultus quoque quantus in illis 
 Esse potest membris, ut sit coma pectine 
 
 laevis : 
 Ut modo rore maris, modo se violave ro- 
 
 save 
 Implicet. 
 
 214. Tophus scaber.] I take this 
 to be what we call rotten stone. 
 Pliny says it is of a crumbling na-< 
 
 ture : " Nam tophus scaber natura 
 " friabilis expetitur quoque ab au- 
 " toribus." 
 
 21 6. Latebras.~\ In the King's 
 manuscript it is tenebras. 
 
 217- Qua? tenuem exhalat nebulam, 
 &c] The soil, which the Poet here 
 describes in the last place, we are 
 told is fit for all the beforementioned 
 purposes : for vines, olives, cattle, 
 and corn. 
 
 21 S. Et bibit) In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is quce bibit. 
 
 2i#. Quceque suo viridi, &c.} 
 Pierius observes, that in the most 
 ancient Roman manuscript this verse 
 runs thus : 
 
 Quaeque suo semper viridi se gramine 
 
 vestit. 
 
 220. Nee.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is hcec, which must 
 be an error of the transcriber. 
 
 221. Ilia tibi lcetis.~\ In one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is Ilia tibi 
 in laztis. 
 
 222. Oleo.~\ So I read it with 
 Heinsius : and so Pierius found it 
 in the most ancient Roman manu- 
 script, and in the Medicean, and 
 another very ancient one. The 
 common reading is olece. 
 
 224. Capua."] The capital city 
 of Campania. 
 
 Vesevo."] " Servius is mistaken. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 163 
 
 Ora jugo, et vacuis Clanius non a^quus Acerris. 
 Nunc, quo quamque modo possis cognoscere, 
 
 dicam. 
 Rara sit, an supra morem si densa requiras, 
 Altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho, 
 Densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo, 
 Ante locum capies oculis, alteque jubebis 230 
 In solido puteurn demitti, omnemque repones 
 Rursus humum, etpedibus summas aequabis are- 
 
 and on the banks of the Cla- 
 nius, which does not spare de- 
 populated Acerrae. Now will 
 I tell by what means you may 
 distinguish each sort cf soil. 
 If yon desire to know whether 
 it is loose or hard, because one 
 is good for corn, the other for 
 vines, the hard to be chosen 
 by Ceres and the most loose 
 by Bacchus ; first choose out a 
 place, and then order a pit 
 to be digged where the ground 
 is solid, then throw in all the 
 earth again, and tread it well 
 down. 
 
 nas. 
 
 ■' when he affirms, that Vesevus is a 
 w mountain of Liguria, under the 
 " Alps : for that is called Vesulus, 
 " and is mentioned by Virgil in an- 
 " other place : Vesulus quern pinifer 
 ff affert. But the Vesevus, of which 
 " Virgil speaks in this place, is a 
 " mountain of Campania, called also 
 " Vesuvius and Vesvius." Pierius. 
 
 225. Ora.] Aulus Gellius tells 
 us, that he had met with an ac- 
 count, that Virgil wrote at first vi- 
 dua Vesevo Nola jugo, but that 
 being afterwards not permitted, by 
 the people of that city, to bring 
 down some water to his neighbour- 
 ing farm, he altered Nola to ora. 
 Aulus Gellius seems to give no great 
 credit to this old story. 
 
 Vacuis Clanius non cequus Acerris.] 
 Acerraz is the name of a very an- 
 cient city of Campania, which was 
 almost depopulated by the frequent 
 inundations of the river Clanius. 
 
 226. Nunc, quo quamque modo, 
 &c] The Poet having, in the pre- 
 ceding paragraph, informed us of 
 the benefits and disadvantages of 
 the several sorts of soil, he now 
 proceeds to instruct us how we 
 may be able to distinguish each of 
 them. 
 
 227. Rara densa.~\ Mr. 
 
 B translates these words light 
 
 and heavy: but of these the Poet 
 speaks afterwards. Julius Graeci- 
 nus, as I find him quoted by Colu- 
 mella, sufficiently explains what is 
 the true meaning of them. Densa 
 signifies such a soil, as will not ea- 
 sily admit the rain, is easily cracked, 
 and apt to gape, and so let in the 
 sun to the roots of the vines, and 
 in a manner to strangle the young 
 plants. This therefore must be a 
 hard or stiff soil. Rara, says he, 
 lets the showers quite through, and 
 is apt to be dried up with the sun. 
 Therefore this must be a loose soil. 
 " Perdensam humum caelestes aquas 
 " non sorbere, nee facile perflari, 
 " facillime perrumpi, et praebere 
 " rimas, quibus sol ad radices stir- 
 " pium penetret : eademque velut 
 " conclausa, et coarctata semina 
 " comprimere, atque strangulare. 
 (< Raram supra modum velut per 
 iC infundibulum transmittere im- 
 " bres, et sole ac vento penitus sic- 
 " cari, atque exarescere." 
 
 2 HO. Jubebis.'] Pierius says it is 
 videbis in the Medicean manuscript. 
 I find the same reading in the old 
 Nurenberg edition. 
 
 231. In solido] The Poet says 
 you should dig in a solid place ; for 
 if it was hollow, the experiment 
 would be to no purpose. 
 Y2 
 
164 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 If it does not fill the pit, the 
 soil is loose, and will abun- 
 dantly supply the cattle, and 
 fruitful vines. But if it re- 
 fuses to go into its place 
 again, and rises above the pit 
 that has been filled up,the soil 
 is thick : then expect sluggish 
 clods and stiff ridges, and 
 plough up the earth with 
 strong bullocks. But the salt 
 earth, and that which is ac- 
 counted bitter, which is unfit 
 for corn, and is not meliorated 
 by ploughing, and does not 
 preserve the sort of grape, nor 
 the true names of apples, may 
 be known by the following ex- 
 periment. Take close-woven 
 baskets and the strainers 
 of the wine-presses from the 
 smoking roofs . Throw some 
 of this bad soil into them, 
 withsweetspringwater, tread 
 them well together; and all 
 the water will strain out, and 
 large drops will pass through 
 the twigs. Then the taste 
 will plainly discover itself, 
 and the bitterness will distort 
 the countenances of those 
 who take it. 
 
 Si deerunt, rarum, pecorique et vitibus almis 
 Aptius uber erit. Sin in sua posse negabunt 
 Ire loca, et scrobibus superabit terra repletis, 
 Spissus ager: glebas cunctantes, crassaque terga 
 Expecta, et validis terram proscinde juvencis. 
 Salsa autem tellus, et quae perhibetur amara, 
 Frugibus infelix : ea nee mansueseit arando,239 
 Nee Baccho genus, aut pomis sua nomina servat: 
 Tale dabit specimen : tu spisso vimine qualos,. 
 Colaque praelorum fumosis deripe tectis. 
 Hue ager ille malus, dulcesque a fontibus undae. 
 Ad plenum calcentur : aqua eluctabitur omnis 
 Scilicet, et grandes ibunt per vimina guttae.245 
 At sapor indicium faciet manifestus, et ora 
 Tristia tentantum sensu torquebit amaror. 
 
 233. Dcerunt.~\ It is deerint in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and 
 deerit in the old Nurenberg edition: 
 but deerunt is the most received 
 reading, as Pierius found it in the 
 Medicean and other ancient manu- 
 scripts, and as I have found it in all 
 the manuscripts which I have col- 
 lated. 
 
 237. Validis terrain proscinde ju- 
 vencis.'] He mentions the strength 
 of the bullocks, to signify that this 
 soil must be ploughed deep. Thus 
 we have in the first Georgick, fortes 
 invertant tauri, in the same sense. 
 
 241. Tu spisso vimine qualos. .] In 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 turn spisso, &c. Pierius says it is 
 spissos vimine qualos, in the Lom- 
 bard manuscript; but he prefers 
 spisso vimine, as it is in the Medi- 
 cean, and other copies. 
 
 246. At.~\ In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is sat. 
 
 c Z¥l. Sensu torquebit amaro\\ 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts it is sensimi torquebit amaror, 
 
 where sensum seems to be an error 
 of the transcriber for sensu. 
 
 " Amaror is the style of Lucre- 
 ec tius, and the true reading ; though 
 " many read amaro, making it agree 
 " with sensu'' Servius. 
 
 " Though Servius, and some 
 " others affirm amaror to be the 
 " true reading,, and taken from 
 " Lucretius, 
 
 " Cum tuimur misceri absinthia % tangit 
 " amaror : 
 
 " and though Aulus Gellius has 
 " collected the testimonies of some 
 (C very ancient manuscripts, to sup- 
 " port this reading ; yet amaro is 
 K not amiss, as we find it in the 
 " most ancient Roman manuscript. 
 <e For sapor may be the nominative 
 " case both to faciet and torquebit. 
 "In the Lombard and Medicean 
 " manuscripts it was written amaro, 
 " but r has been added with an- 
 " other hand and ink." Pierius. 
 
 The passage of Aulus Gellius to 
 which Pierius alludes, is the twenty- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 165 
 
 Pinguis item quae sit tcllus, hoc denique pacto 
 Discimus; haud unquam manibus jactata fa- 
 
 tiscit, 249 
 
 Sed picis in morera ad digitos lentescit habendo. 
 Humida majores herbas alit, ipsaque justo 
 Laetior: ah nimium ne sit mihi fertilis ilia, 
 Neu se praevalidam primis ostendat aristis ! 
 Quae gravis est, ipso tacitam se porulere prodit: 
 Quaeque levis. Promptum est oculis prae- 
 
 discere nigram, 255 
 
 The fat soil also may be 
 known by this means ; it 
 never crumbles, when it is 
 squeezed by the hand, but 
 sticks to the fingers like pitch. 
 The moist soil produces rank 
 gra=s, and is itself too luxuri- 
 ant : oh ! let not mine be too 
 fruitful, lest it shew itself too 
 strong witli earl y com . The 
 heavy and the light soil dis- 
 cover themselves evidently 
 bv their weight. It is easy 
 to distinguish the black by 
 the sight ; 
 
 first chapter of the first book, where 
 he tells us, that Hyginus affirmed it 
 "was amaror in the very book, which 
 belonged to the house and family of 
 Virgil himself: and that learned 
 critic is of opinion that the sense is 
 better so, than if we read amaro 
 with Pierius: " Versus istos ex 
 " Georgicis Virgilii plerique omnes 
 w sic legunt : 
 
 " At sapor indicium faciei manifestos: et ora 
 *' Tristia tentantom sensu iorquebit amaro. 
 
 w Hyginus autem non hercle ignobi- 
 " lis grammaticus, in commentariis, 
 " quae in Virgilium fecit, confirmat 
 u et perseverat non hoc a Virgilio 
 <c relictum : sed quod ipse invenerit 
 " in libro, qui fuerat ex domo atque 
 fi familia Virgilii, 
 
 et ora 
 
 " Tristia tentantom sensu torquclit amaror. 
 
 neque id soli Hygino, sed doctis 
 quibusdam etiam viris complaci- 
 tum. Quoniam videtur absurde 
 dici : sapor sensu amaro torquet : 
 quura ipse, inquiunt, sapor sen- 
 sus sit, non alium in semetipso 
 sensum habeat : ac inde sit quasi 
 dicatur, sensus sensu amaro tor- 
 quet. Sed enim quum Favorinus 
 Hygini commentarium legisset: 
 atque ei statim displicita esset in- 
 solentia et insuavitas illius, sensu 
 
 iorquebit amaro : risit, et, Jovem 
 lapidem, inquit, quod sanctissi- 
 mum jusjurandum est habitum, 
 paratus sum ego jurare Virgilium 
 hoe nunquam scripsisse. Sed 
 Hyginum ego dicere verum arbi- 
 tror. Non enim primus finxit 
 hoc verbum Virgilius insolenter : 
 sed in carminibus Lucretii inven- 
 tum est: nee est aspernatus au- 
 toritatem poeta* ingenio et facun- 
 dia prsecellentis. Verba ex quarto 
 Lucretii ha?c sunt, 
 
 " Diluiaquc contra 
 
 " Quum tuimur misceri absinthia, tangit 
 
 " Non verba autem sola, sed versus 
 v prope totos et locos quoque Lu- 
 " cretii plurimos sectatum esse Vir- 
 " gilium videmus." 
 
 It is amaro in the King's, the 
 Bodleian, and in one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts. 
 
 253. Neu.'] It is nee in the Ro- 
 man, the Medicean, and some other 
 manuscripts, and ne in others, ac- 
 cording to Pierius. I find nee in 
 one of the Arundelian, and one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. In the other 
 Arundelian it is heu, which, I sup- 
 pose, is an error of the transcriber, 
 for neu. 
 
 254. Prodit.'] The King's manu- 
 script and La Cerda have promit. 
 
166 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 lu d t u If hL d t U o r di S c?ve e r a t C hc Et quis cui color. At sceleratum exquirere frigus 
 
 pernicious cold ; only pitch -pv«/v« *i • - 
 
 trees, and yews, or black ivy jjimcile est : piceae tantum, taxique nocentes 
 
 sometimes are an indication l 
 
 SrffiSSSigySSS Interdum, aut heder* pandunt vestigia nigrae. 
 
 pare the earth a long while Hig anima(IversiSj terram muko aBte memento 
 
 256. Et quis cui color. At scele- 
 ratum.'] So I read with Heinsius, 
 Schrevelius, Masvicius, and others. 
 Pierius says it is et quis cuive color. 
 Sceleratum, in some very ancient 
 manuscripts; and et quis cuique color 
 at in the Medicean. In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is et quis cui- 
 que color. Sceleratum, in the other, 
 et quis cuique color. At sceleratum. 
 Servius approves of the common 
 reading, which is ct quisquis color. 
 At sceleratum. 
 
 251 . Picece.~] The Picea is our 
 common Fir or Pitch- tree, or 
 Spruce-Fir. 
 
 Taxique nocentes.'] The berries 
 of the Yew are said by Pliny to be 
 poisonous : " Lethale quippe baccis, 
 u in Hispania praecipue, venenum 
 tc inest." Julius Caesar also tells 
 us that Cativulcus poisoned himself 
 with yew : " Cativulcus rex dimi- 
 (i dise partis Eburonum, qui una 
 (e cum Ambiorige consilium inierat, 
 " aetate jam confectus, quum la- 
 <e borem aut belli aut fugse ferre 
 * non posset, omnibus precibus 
 « detestatus Ambiorigem, qui ejus 
 <e consilii auctor fuisset, taxo, cujus 
 ft magna in Gallia Germaniaque 
 " copia est, se exanimavit." The 
 leaves also are said by the ancients 
 to be destructive to horses, which 
 we find to be true in England. The 
 berries have been eaten by myself 
 and many others -with impunity: 
 but this may be owing to the differ- 
 ence of climate; for Dioscorides, 
 who says it is not alike poisonous 
 in all places, affirms that the berries 
 are poisonous in Italy, and the 
 shade hurtful in Narbonne. Per- 
 haps the species may be different ; 
 
 for there is mention of a sort of yew 
 in the Pisa garden, which is more 
 bushy than the common, and has 
 leaves more like a fir, and sends 
 forth such a poisonous smell, when 
 it is clipped, that the gardeners 
 cannot work at it above half an 
 hour at a time. 
 
 258. Hederce nigra*.] The ber- 
 ries of our common ivy are black, 
 when ripe, and therefore we may 
 suppose it to be the ivy here spoken 
 of. There is a white ivy mentioned 
 in the seventh Eclogue : 
 
 Candidior cycnis, hedcra formosior alba. 
 
 We find mention of it also in Theo- 
 phrastus, Pliny, and Dioscorides : 
 but we are not now acquainted with 
 any such plant. 
 
 25$. His animadversis, &c] Hav- 
 ing explained the several sorts of 
 soil, he proceeds to give some in- 
 structions concerning the planting 
 of vines: and speaks of the trenches 
 which are to be made, to receive 
 the plants out of the nursery; of 
 taking care that the nursery and 
 the vineyard should have a like soil; 
 and that the plants should be set 
 with the same aspect, which they 
 had in the nursery. 
 
 Multo ante.] This is the very 
 expression of Theophrastus, who 
 says that *« the trenches must be 
 '« made a long while beforehand 
 " and digged deep : TVjj 2i yv^ovs 
 IC srpoo-opvrlu)/ coq -arXurov fc^ovov x.ocl fix- 
 " Sviipve ccst." In another place he 
 says it should be a year beforehand, 
 with which the other writers agree, 
 who mention any determinate time. 
 Thus Columella : " Sed et scrobes 
 i( et sulci plurimum prosunt, si in 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 16 
 
 Excoquere, et magnos scrobibus concidere 
 montes : 260 
 
 Ante supinatas aquiloni ostendere glebas, 
 Quam laetum infodias vitis genus: optima putri 
 Arva solo: id venti en rant, gelidaeque pruinae, 
 Et labefacta movens robustus jugerafossor. 
 At si quos haud ulla viros vigilantia fugit ; 265 
 Ante locum similem exquirunt, ubi prima pa- 
 retur 
 
 beforehand, and to cut the 
 great hills with trenches ; and 
 to turn up the clods to the 
 northern wind, before you 
 
 Slant the joyful vines : those 
 elds are best which have a 
 loose soil ; this is procured by 
 winds, and cold frosts, and by 
 loosening and digging the 
 ground deep. But those who 
 are completely careful, choose 
 out the same sort of soil to 
 plant the young cuttings 
 
 " locis temperatis, in quibus aestas 
 " non est perfervida, ante annum 
 " riant, quam vineta conserantur." 
 Virgil seems to express that it should 
 be done a year beforehand ; for he 
 says the trenches should be exposed 
 to the north wind and frosts, that 
 is, should lie at least a whole win- 
 ter. Excoquere seems to express its 
 lying a whole summer. Coqnere 
 signifies to bake the earth with the 
 sun, in the first Georgick : 
 
 Pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus ae- 
 stas. 
 
 Mr. Evelyn says, «' the longer you 
 " expose ike mould, and leave the 
 <( receptacles open, (were it for two 
 " whole winters,) it soon would re- 
 " compense your expectation." 
 
 260. Magnos scrobibus concidere 
 monies.] I can hardly forbear think- 
 ing that Virgil wrote magnis, which 
 will make the sense be to cut the 
 hills with great trenches, and agrees 
 with Theophrastus, whose very 
 words Virgil has almost transcribed, 
 as was observed in the preceding- 
 note. But I propose this only as a 
 I conjecture, for it is magnos in all 
 : the copies that I have seen. 
 
 Pierius says, it is circundare in 
 1 the Roman manuscript, instead of 
 J concidere; and that et is left out in 
 ! the Medicean copy; which, in 
 j truth is not very unlike Virgil's 
 ! style: 
 
 . Terram multo ante memento 
 
 Excoquere : magnos scrobibus concidere 
 
 montes : 
 Ante supinatas aquiloni ostendere glebas 
 Quam laetum infodias vitis genus : 
 
 without any conjunction copulative. 
 
 263. Gelidaeque.'] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is geli- 
 dceve ; but I take gelidceque to be 
 the true reading. 
 
 264. Robustus.] I have more 
 than once observed already, that 
 when Virgil speaks of making deep 
 furrows, he expresses it by saying 
 the bullocks must be strong: so 
 here he expresses the depth of the 
 trenches by saying the labourer 
 must be strong. 
 
 9.66. Prima paretur arboribus se- 
 ges.] By prima seges he means the 
 seminarium, or nursery, where the 
 cuttings of the vines are first planted. 
 Dr. Trapp interprets seges, those 
 plants which spring from seed ; but 
 vines are seldom, if ever, propa- 
 gated by seed. Seges is sometimes 
 used by Virgil for a crop ; thus we 
 have lini seges for a crop of flax : 
 but he uses it often also for the 
 field itself; as in ver. 47. of the 
 first Georgick : 
 
 Ilia seges demum votis respondet avari 
 Agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora 
 sensit : 
 
 where seges cannot signify the crop, 
 for it would be absurd to sav, that 
 
163 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 «2^A££S7S2 Arboribus seges, et quo mox digesta feratur I 
 
 the slips may not think their -»*- . . , • 
 
 new mother strange. They Mutatam ignorent subito ne semma matrem. 
 
 ;tJso mark the aspect on the 
 bark, 
 
 Quin etiam caeli regionem in cortice simiant 
 
 a crop of corn stands two summers 
 and two winters, as Dryden has 
 translated it : 
 
 That crop rewards the greedy peasant's 
 
 pains. 
 Which twice the sun, and twice the cold 
 
 sustains. 
 
 In ver. 129- of the fourth Georgick, 
 seges is very evidently used for land, 
 and not a crop, for it is applied to 
 cattle as well as vines : 
 
 ~Necfe?iUis ilia juvencis, 
 
 Nee pecori opportana seges, nee cornmoda 
 Baccho. 
 
 267. Quo mox digesta feratur7\ 
 By these words he means the vine- 
 yard, into which the young vines 
 are to be removed from the nursery, 
 and where they are to continue. 
 
 In the Bodleian manuscript it is 
 egesta, instead of digesta. 
 
 268. Mutatam ignorent suhito ne 
 Semina matrem.~\ In the King's, the 
 Cambridge, the Bodleian, and both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is muiata. 
 I find the same reading in most of 
 the old editions, in Paul Stephens, 
 La Cerda, and several others. Both 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, Hein- 
 sius, Ruaeus, Masvicius, and several 
 other good editors read mutatam. 
 
 " Some years ago, says Pierius, 
 ct all agreed universally to write 
 ** mutata, referring it to semma ; 
 " though in all the ancient man 11 - 
 " scripts it was mutatam agreeing 
 f * with matrem. Virgil's meaning 
 ** is, that a like soil be chosen for 
 ** the nursery and vineyard, lest 
 " the young vines should fare like 
 ie young children, when they are 
 " taken from the breasts of their 
 " mother and given to a strange 
 
 ' ' nurse : for they pine and cry 
 " after the breast to which they 
 " have been accustomed. As for 
 " their interpreting semina mutata, 
 " the removing of the young plants 
 " from one place to another, it is 
 " ridiculous." 
 
 Semina does not always signify 
 what Ave call seeds; but it is fre- 
 quently used by the writers of agri- 
 culture, for cuttings, slips, and 
 layers. 
 
 Matrem is here used to express 
 the earth, in which the cuttings, 
 and young vines are planted. 
 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts we have neu, and in one of 
 Dr. Mead's nee, instead of ne. 
 
 269. Coeli regionem in cortice sig- 
 nanl.] Theophrastus says the posi- 
 tion of trees must be regarded, as 
 to north, east, or south : "HvTn^ il^v 
 hut ray 2gy§g«» ra sr^og fioppoiv, ymi rd 
 ■zrgog %»' Ketf rot -sr^og fitcufttoguct. Co- 
 lumella also advises that all trees 
 should be marked, before they are 
 taken out of the nursery, and adds, 
 that it is of great consequence to 
 preserve the same aspect, to which 
 they have been accustomed : " Hanc 
 " observationem non solum in vi- 
 " tium positione, sed in ulmorum, 
 " cseterarumque arborum praecipio, 
 " et uti cum de seminario eximun- 
 " tur, rubrica notetur una pars, qua? 
 " nos admoneat, ne aliter arbores 
 " constituamus, quam quemadmo- 
 " dum in seminario steterint. PIu- 
 " rimum enim refert, ut earn partem 
 " caeli spectent, cui ab tenero con- 
 " sueverunt." Pliny thinks this 
 care not to be requisite, because 
 the mention of it has been omitted 
 by Cato ; and adds that some affect 
 the very contrary position, in vines 
 
GEORG, LIB. II. 
 
 1G9 
 
 Ut, quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte ca- 
 lores 270 
 
 Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, 
 Restituant : adeo in teneris consuescere multum 
 
 est. 
 Collibus, an piano melius sit ponere vitem, 
 Quaere prius. Si pinguis agros metabere campi, 
 Densa sere : in denso non segnior ubere Bac- 
 chus. 275 
 
 that every slip may stand the 
 same way, that it may still 
 have the same position, with 
 regard to south and north ; 
 such is the force of custom in 
 tender years. Enquire first, 
 whether it is better to plant 
 the vine on hills or on a plain. 
 If you lay out the fields of a 
 rich plain, plant thick ; for 
 vines are not the less fmitful 
 for being close planted. 
 
 and figs; thinking that by this 
 means the leaves grow thicker, to 
 defend the fruit; and that it will 
 not be so ready to drop off. " Non 
 " omisisset idem, si attineret meri- 
 " dianam ceeli partem signare in 
 " cortice, ut translata in iisdem et 
 " assuetis statueretur horis : ne 
 " aquiloniae meridian is oppositse so- 
 " lib us finder entur, et algerent me- 
 " ridianae aquilonibus. Quod e 
 " diverso affectant etiam quidam in 
 " vite ficoque, permutantes in con- 
 fe trarium. Densiores enim folio 
 " ita fieri, magisque protegere fruc- 
 " turn, et minus amittere." This 
 rule, I think, is not observed by 
 our modern planters : though it 
 seems to have been laid down not 
 without some foundation. It is 
 easy to see a very great difference 
 between the north and south side 
 of a tree, after it has been felled : 
 for the annual rings are much closer 
 on the north side, than on the south. 
 Mr. Evelyn says, he " can confirm 
 " this advice of the Poet from fre- 
 " quent losses of his own, and by 
 " particular trials: having some- 
 " times transplanted great trees at 
 " midsummer with success, (the 
 " earth adhering to the roots,) and 
 " miscarried in others, where this 
 " circumstance only was omitted." 
 
 271. Quce.] Both the Arundelian 
 manuscripts, Servius, La Cerda, and 
 Schrevelius read qua. 
 
 Terga.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is terra, which must 
 be an error of the transcriber. 
 
 Axi.'] He uses axis singly for the 
 north, because that pole only is 
 visible to us. 
 
 273. Collibus, an piano, &c] 
 Here the poet shews the different 
 way of planting a plain or a hill. 
 In a plain, the vines are to be 
 planted close, but on a hill they 
 are to be kept at greater distances. 
 He then compares a well planted 
 vineyard to an army drawn up in 
 form of battle. 
 
 Vitem.] The common reading is 
 vites : but I prefer vitem, as I find it 
 in the Cambridge, the Bodleian, and 
 in one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts. Pierius says it is vitem in 
 the Medicean, and in several other 
 ancient manuscripts. Heinsius also 
 reads vitem. 
 
 275. Densa.~\ The adjective densa 
 is put here adverbially for dense. 
 
 In denso non segnior ubere.] Denso 
 is generally thought to agree with 
 ubere : so that the construction must 
 be Bacchus non est segnior in denso 
 ubere. But then what is meant by 
 in denso ubere ? Grimoaldus explains 
 it parvis intervallis positce in ubere 
 laetoque et campestri solo : but then 
 Virgil should have said densus non 
 segnior ubere Bacchus. Ruaeus inter- 
 prets it in denso agro, taking ubere 
 and agro to mean the same ; which, 
 z 
 
, #Q P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^S ch ffic^ ro Sd Sin tumulis acclive solum, collesque supinos; 
 
 •loping hills, 
 
 I believe, cannot be proved. Dr. 
 Trapp says " denso ubere, i. e. dense 
 " consito, thick planted. The con- 
 " text necessarily requires that con- 
 " struction : though none of the 
 u commentators but De La Cerda, 
 * seem to have understood it." But 
 La Cerda does not seem to join 
 denso with ubere; for his explica- 
 tion of the words in question is 
 " nam hsec densitas, et consertio 
 " vitium nihil impediet, quo minus 
 " fertilissime proveniant vina." His 
 note is upon non segnior ubere Bac~ 
 chus '; which he compares with 
 
 Non segnior agris 
 
 Emergitque Ceres, nee segnior ubere 
 Pallas. 
 
 Here is no mention of denso, and it 
 is plain that ubere is the ablative 
 case after the adjective segnior, and 
 not after the preposition in. I take 
 the construction to be Bacchus non 
 est segnior ubere, in denso, where 
 denso is put as a substantive, and 
 means the same, as in denso ordine : 
 which I take to be La Cerda's 
 meaning. 
 
 Uber occurs so frequently in Vir- 
 gil, that it may not be amiss to 
 consider all the senses, in which he 
 has used it. In the fifth iEneid, it 
 is used for the breast of a woman : 
 
 Cressa genus, Pholoe, geminique sub 
 ubere nati. 
 
 And again, in the sixth : 
 
 Infantum que animse flentes in limine 
 
 primo, 
 Quos dulcis vitae exortes, et ab ubere 
 
 raptos 
 Abstulit atra dies. 
 
 The most frequent use of the word 
 is for the dug of any beast. Thus 
 it is used for that of a sheep, in the 
 second Eclogue : 
 
 Bina die siccant ov is ubera : 
 
 And in the third : 
 
 Cogite ovesy pueri : si lac praeceperit 
 aestus, 
 
 Ut nuper, frusta pressabimus ubera pal- 
 mis: 
 
 And in the third Georgick : 
 
 Hinc et amant fiuvios magis, et magis 
 ubera tendunt : 
 
 And again 
 
 Exhausto spumaverit ubere mul« 
 
 ctra: 
 And again : 
 
 ■ Gravido spuerant vix ubere limen : 
 
 And in the third $meid : 
 
 Lanigeras claudit pecudes, atque ubera 
 pressat : 
 
 For that of a goat, in the fourth 
 Eclogue : 
 
 Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta ca- 
 
 pellce 
 Ubera : 
 
 For that of a cow, in the third 
 Eclogue : 
 
 Ego hanc vitulam, ne forte recuses, 
 
 Bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere 
 
 foetus, 
 Depono : 
 
 And in the ninth : 
 
 Sic cytiso pastae distentent ubera vaccce: 
 
 And in the second Georgick : 
 
 Ubera vaccoe 
 
 Lactea demittunt. 
 
 And in the third Georgick : 
 
 Nee tibi foetae 
 
 More patrum, nivea implebunt mul- 
 
 ctralia vaccoe ; 
 Sed tota in dulces consurnent ubera na- 
 
 vos ; 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 171 
 
 Indulge ordinibus 
 
 nee secius omnis in unguem £« t & toTV £'VS. t S 
 
 planted exactly, 
 
 For that of a sow, in the third 
 iEneid : 
 
 — — Inventa sub ilicibus sus 
 Alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera 
 nati: 
 
 For that of a wolf, in the eighth 
 ^Eneid : 
 
 Procubuisse lupam : geminos huic ubera 
 
 circum 
 Ludere pendentes pueros : 
 
 For that of a mare in the third 
 s Georgick : 
 
 — — Depulsus ab vbere matris : 
 And in the eleventh iEneid : 
 
 Hie natam in dumis interque horrentia 
 
 lustra, 
 Armentalis equcr mammis et lacte ferino 
 Nutribat, teneris immulgens ubera labris: 
 
 And of a doe, in the seventh 
 Mneid. : 
 
 Matris ab ubere raptum. 
 
 In the second Georgick, it is used 
 for the fruitfulness of a field : 
 
 — — Fertilis ubere campus. 
 And in the first and third iEneid : 
 
 Terra antiqua, potens armis, atque ubere 
 
 glebce : 
 
 And in the seventh iEneid : 
 
 — ■ — Non vobis rege Latino, 
 Divitis uber agri, Trojaeve opulentia 
 deerit : 
 
 There are only two passages, where 
 uber can be wrested to Ruseus's 
 sense. The first is in this Georgick: 
 
 Si deerunt, rarum, pecorique et vitibus 
 
 almis 
 Aptius uber erit : 
 
 Where it may as well be rendered 
 fruitfulness : « The soil is loose and 
 
 " its fruitfulness will be more fit 
 " for cattle and vines." The other 
 is in the third iEneid ; 
 
 Quae vos a stirpe parentum 
 
 Prima tulit tellus, eadenrvos ubere laeto 
 
 Accipiet reduces : 
 
 Where it may also have the same 
 signification : " that land which pro- 
 u duced your ancestors will receive 
 " you also with a joyful fruitful' 
 " ness :" and therefore the passage 
 now under consideration may be 
 rendered literally, " Bacchus is not 
 " more backward in fruitfulness in 
 " a close planted vineyard." 
 
 277. Secius.] In the Bodleian 
 manuscript it is segnius, and in one 
 of the Arundel ian copies it is serius. 
 
 Omnis in unguem arboribus po- 
 sitis secto via limite quadref] This 
 passage has occasioned some diffi- 
 culty. Several of the commentators 
 think he is speaking of the Quin- 
 cunx, of which number are Gri- 
 moaldus and Ruaeus. La Cerda 
 thinks, with better reason, that he 
 means planting the vines in a 
 square, that is, in the following 
 order. 
 
 The Quincunx has its name from 
 the numeral V: three trees being 
 planted in that form are called the 
 single quincunx. The double quin- 
 cunx is the V doubled, which makes 
 an X, being four trees planted in a 
 z2 
 
172 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONI& 
 
 so that every s pace maysquare 
 with that which crosses it. 
 As in a great war, when the 
 long extended legions have 
 ranged their cohorts, and the 
 squadrons stand marshalled in 
 the open plain, and the armies 
 are drawn up, and the whole 
 field waves all over with 
 gleaming brass, and the hor- 
 rid battle is not yet begun, 
 
 Arboribus positis secto via limite quadret. 
 Ut ssepe ingenti bello cum longa cohortes 279 
 Explicuit legio, et campo stetit agmen aperto, 
 Directaeque acies, ac late fluctuat omnis 
 JEre renidenti tellus, nee dum horrida miscent 
 
 square, with a fifth in the centre. 
 This being often repeated forms the 
 following figure : 
 
 ***** 
 * * * * 
 
 ***** 
 
 Now as Virgil compares the dispo- 
 sition of the trees in a vineyard to 
 an army drawn up in battle array, 
 it is evident, that he must mean 
 the former figure : the latter not 
 being proper for that purpose. The 
 Romans usually allowed three feet 
 square for every common soldier to 
 manage his arms, that is, six feet 
 between each, which is a proper 
 distance for the vines in Italy, ac- 
 cording to Columella, who says the 
 rows should not be wider than ten 
 feet, nor nearer than four : " Sed 
 " de spatiis ordinum eatenus prae- 
 " cipiendum habemus, ut intelligant 
 " agricolae sive aratro vineas culturi 
 " sunt, laxiora interordinia relin- 
 " quenda, sive bidentibus angusti- 
 te ora : sed neque spatiosiora, quam 
 " decern pedum, neque contracti- 
 s( ora, quam quatuor." These dis- 
 tances may indeed agree very well 
 with the warmer climate of Italy ; 
 but, as Mr. Miller justly observes, 
 the dampness of our autumns re- 
 quires our vines to be planted at 
 greater distances. He advises them 
 
 to be planted so, that there may 
 be ten feet between each row, and 
 six feet in the rows, between each 
 vine. 
 
 In unguem is allowed by all the 
 commentators to be a metaphor 
 taken from the workers in marble, 
 who try the exactness of the joints 
 with their nails. It signifies there- 
 fore perfectly or exactly. 
 
 Via signifies the spaces or paths 
 between the rows. 
 
 Limes is the cross path, which, 
 in the square figure, cuts the other 
 at right angles. 
 
 I take the order of the words to 
 be thus : nee seeius via quadret secto 
 limite, arboribus positis in unguem; 
 " and no less let every path, or space 
 " square with the cross path, the 
 " trees being planted exactly." 
 
 279. Ingenti bello. 2 In one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts it is in- 
 genti in bello. 
 
 Cum longa cohortes explicuit legio.] 
 A Roman legion consisted of ten 
 cohorts. These legions marched in 
 a square; but, in time of battle, 
 they were drawn into a longer form, 
 which Virgil beautifully expresses 
 by longa cohortes explicuit legio. 
 
 281. Ac] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is at. In several of 
 the old editions it is et. 
 
 282. Benidenti] In the King's, 
 both the Arundelian manuscripts, 
 and in the old Nuremberg edition, 
 it is renitenii. Pierius found the 
 same reading in some old manu- 
 scripts : but renidenti in the Roman, 
 and some others. This is the only 
 simile in the second Georgick : but 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 173 
 
 Praelia, sed dubius mediis Mars errat in armis. 
 Omnia sint paribus numeris dimensa viarum : 
 Non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem : 
 Sed quia non aliter vires dabit omnibus sequas 
 Terra, neque in vacuum poterunt se extendere 
 rami. 287 
 
 but doubtful Mars fluctuates 
 in the midst of arms. So let 
 your vineyard be divided by 
 an equal number of spaces; 
 not only to delight a vain 
 mind with the prospect but be- 
 cause the earth cannot other- 
 wise afford equal strengtli 
 to all, nor the branches ex- 
 tend themselves at large. 
 
 never did any poet draw one with 
 greater propriety. The rows of 
 vines are compared to the ranks 
 and files of a Roman army, when 
 they are ranged in the most exact 
 discipline, and not yet disordered 
 by fighting. The shining beauty 
 of the clusters is finely represented 
 by the splendor of the brazen arms, 
 and not a word is used, that does 
 not serve to justify the comparison. 
 In both, the design of this order is 
 the same: not only to please the 
 eye with the beauty of so regular a 
 prospect: but because it is most 
 proper for the use, for which they 
 are intended. 
 
 Dryden has translated cum longa 
 cokortes explicuit legio, 
 
 As legions in the field their front display: 
 
 which is the very reverse of Virgil's 
 expression : for, instead of display- 
 ing their front, they are drawn up, 
 in time of battle, with a narrower 
 front, than in their march. 
 
 And equal Mars, like an impartial lord, 
 Leaves all to fortune, and the dint of 
 sword. 
 
 This is a \ery bad translation of 
 dubius mediis Mars errat in armis. 
 Virgil's sense is, that Mars still 
 hovers doubtfully between the two 
 armies, not having yet determined 
 to which side to give the victory, 
 not a man has yet stirred from his 
 place to give the onset. Mr. 
 13 's translation begins : 
 
 As when two mighty armies all in sight, 
 Stretch'd on some open plain, begin the 
 fight. 
 
 But Virgil does not compare his 
 vineyard to two armies: but only 
 to that of the Romans. The design 
 of the Poet is to celebrate the exact- 
 ness of the military discipline of his 
 own country in ranging their sol- 
 diers ; to which the barbarous dis- 
 cipline of their enemies was by no 
 means to be compared. Dr. Trapp's 
 translation comes much nearer the 
 sense of his author, and is almost 
 literal. 
 
 As in war, 
 
 The long extended legion forms in lines 
 Its cohorts; when the marshall'd squa- 
 drons stand 
 In the wide plain, and, the whole army 
 
 rang'd, 
 The ground all fluctuates with the brazen 
 
 gleam ; 
 Nor yet in horrid shock the battle joins, 
 But Mars uncertain, hovers o'er the field. 
 
 284. Numeris.] " The word nu- 
 " merus in the singular, and numeri 
 " in the plural, has a great variety 
 " of significations, and means quan- 
 " tity as well as number; also order, 
 " regularity , exactness, &c. or if it 
 c ' be here taken for number ; it 
 " means the same number of paths 
 <{ crossing one another, to make an 
 " exact square upon the whole : 
 " which must likewise be divided 
 " into squares, and so the distances 
 " must be equal." Dr. Trapp. 
 
 Dimensar\ In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is demensa. 
 
 287. Poterunt se extendere.] " In 
 " the Roman manuscript it is pote- 
 " runt extendere, without the pro- 
 " noun se : as elsewhere, ferro ac- 
 
174 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Perhaps you may desire to 
 know how deep the trenches 
 ought to be. For my own 
 part, I venture my vine in a 
 slight furrow. But trees must 
 be planted deep, and far in 
 the ground : chiefly the JEs- 
 culus, whose root' descends 
 as low towards hell as its 
 branches rise up in the au- 
 to wards heaven. 
 
 Forsitan et scrobibus quae sint fastigia quaeras. 
 Ausim vel tenui vitem committere sulco. 
 Altius ac penitus terra? defigitur arbos : 290 
 JEsculus in primis, quae, quantum vertice ad 
 
 auras 
 iEtherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 
 
 <c cingunt and lateri adglomerant 
 " nostro, without se. But in the 
 " Medicean, and other manuscripts, 
 " se is inserted. Pierius. 
 
 288. Forsitan et scrobibus, &c] 
 The subject of this paragraph is 
 the depth of the trenches. He says 
 the vine may be planted in a shal- 
 low trench, but great trees require 
 a considerable depth; of these he 
 gives the MscuIils for an example, 
 and thence takes occasion to give a 
 noble description of that tree. 
 
 289» Ausim vel tenui vitem com- 
 mittere sulco.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is ter instead of vel. 
 
 The Roman husbandmen seem 
 not to have been well agreed about 
 the depth of their trenches for 
 planting vines. Columella would 
 have them from two to three feet 
 deep, according to the goodness of 
 the soil : but we find in that author, 
 that some of his contemporaries 
 blamed him, thinking he had as- 
 signed too great a depth. Virgil 
 seems to approve of a shallow 
 trench, but he speaks of it with 
 caution. He does not lay it down as 
 an absolute rule, in which all were 
 agreed, but only says that he him- 
 self would venture so to do: in 
 which he seems to hint, that the 
 common practice of his time was 
 different. 
 
 290. Altius ac penitus terras defi- 
 gitur arbos.~\ Pierius says it is aU 
 tior in some ancient manuscripts. 
 Heinsius has embraced this reading; 
 but I take it to be corrupt. Ausim 
 vitem committere ac arbos defigitur is 
 
 such a connection, as, I believe, 
 Virgil would not have made use of. 
 Observe how wretchedly it appears 
 in English: " I would venture my 
 " vine in a slight furrow, and a 
 " taller tree is planted deep in the 
 " ground." The reading would be 
 tolerable, if it was at instead of ac : 
 but no authority is offered for this 
 alteration. But even, if this was 
 admitted, taller in this place, would 
 be a poor and useless epithet. I 
 take altius to have been altered to 
 altior, by some tasteless transcriber, 
 who taking a vine to be a tree, 
 thought there wanted an epithet to 
 make a distinction between vitis 
 and arbos. But vines were not ac- 
 counted trees; but shrubs, or some- 
 thing of a middle nature between 
 trees and shrubs. Thus Columella: 
 " Nam ex surculo vel arbor pro- 
 " cedit, ut olea : vel frutex, ut pal- 
 " ma campestris : vel tertium quid- 
 " dam, quod nee arbor em, nee fru- 
 " ticem proprie dixerim, ut est 
 " vitis." 
 
 221. JEsculus.] See the note on 
 ver. 15. 
 
 Quantum vertice ad auras, &c] 
 This very expression is used of the 
 Quercus, in the fourth iEneid ; 
 
 Ac velut annoso validam cum robore 
 
 quercum 
 Alpini Boreae, nunc bine, nunc flatibus 
 
 illinc 
 Eruere inter se certant; it stridor, et alta 
 Consternunt terram concusso stipite 
 
 frondes : 
 Ipsa haeret scopulis : et quantum vertice 
 
 ad auras 
 JElhtr'iaS) tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 175 
 
 Ergo non hyemes illam, non flabra, neque im- 
 
 bres 
 Convellunt: immotamanet, multosque nepotes, 
 Multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit. 295 
 Turn fortes late ramos et brachia tendens 
 Hue illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram. 
 Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem : 
 Neve inter vites corylum sere : neve flagella 
 
 Therefore no storms, no 
 blasts, nor showers can hurt 
 it ; unshaken it stands, and 
 outlasts many descents, many 
 ages of men. It extends its 
 strong branches and arms ail 
 around, and standing itself in 
 the midst sustains the vast 
 shade. Let not your vine- 
 yards look towards'the setting 
 sun; plant no hazels amongst 
 your vines ; do not take the 
 upper 
 
 293. Non Jlabra.] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is nee 
 
 Jlabra. 
 
 294. Multosque nepotes."] So I 
 read with Heinsius and Masvicius. 
 The same reading is in the Roman 
 manuscript according to Pierius. 
 Others read multosque per annos. 
 
 297. Ipsa.] It is ipsam in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 298. Neve tibi ad solem, &c.] In 
 this passage are several short pre- 
 cepts relating to vineyards, with a 
 beautiful account of the danger of 
 intermixing wild olives with the 
 vines, lest a fire should kindle 
 among them, and destroy the vine- 
 yard. 
 
 Columella, speaking of the aspect 
 of a vineyard, tells us that the an- 
 cients were greatly divided about it. 
 He recommends a south aspect in 
 cold places, and an east aspect in 
 warm places, if they be not subject 
 to be infested with the east and 
 south winds, as on the sea coast of 
 Baetica: in which case, he says, 
 they are better opposed to the 
 
 north, or west : " Caeli re- 
 
 " gionem, quam spectare debeant 
 " vineae, vetus est dissensio, Saserna 
 " maxime probante solis ortum, 
 " mox deinde meridiem, turn oc- 
 " casum, Tremellio Scrofa praeci- 
 " puam positionem meridianam 
 t( censente, Virgilio de industria 
 <e occasum sic repudiante, 
 
 «« Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta ca- 
 " dentem. 
 
 " Democrito et Magone laudantibus 
 " caeli plagam septentrionalem, quia 
 " existiment ei subjectas feracissi- 
 <c mas fieri vineas, qua? tamen bo- 
 " nitate vini superentur. Nobis in 
 " universum praecipere optimum 
 " visum est, ut in locis frigidis me- 
 " ridiano vineta subjiciantur, tepidis 
 " orienti advertantur, si tamen non 
 ft infestabuntur austris, eurisque, 
 " velut orae maritimae in Baetica. 
 " Sin autem regiones praedictis ven- 
 cf tis fuerint obnoxiae, melius aqui- 
 " loni, vel favonio committentur, 
 " nam ferventibus provinciis, ut 
 " iEgypto, et Numidia, uni septen- 
 " trioni rectius opponentur." 
 
 299. Neve inter vites corylum sere.] 
 In the King's manuscript it is cory- 
 los. The hazel has a large, spread- 
 ing root, which would therefore in- 
 jure the vines. This seems to be 
 the reason of roasting the entrails 
 of the goat on hazel spits, as we 
 find in this Georgick : 
 
 Et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad 
 
 aram, 
 Pinguiaque in verubus torrebimus exta 
 
 colurnis. 
 
 The goat was sacrificed to Bacchus, 
 because that animal is highly in- 
 jurious to vines: and its entrails 
 were roasted on hazel spits, because 
 that plant is also destructive to a 
 
176 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 y^cu^Si^fSn^Eto" Summa pete, aut summa destringe ex arbore 
 
 of a tree, so great is the love i ar\r\ 
 
 of earth ; do not hurt your plantaS : 300 
 
 plants with a blunt knife : 
 
 Tan t us amor terrse : neu ferro laede retuso 
 
 vineyard. The hazel was used to 
 bind the vines. See the note on 
 rubea, book i. ver. 266. 
 
 Nevejiagella summa pete.] Virgil 
 is generally understood to mean by 
 fiagella summa the topmost shoots of 
 the tree : but these are mentioned 
 in the words immediately following. 
 Most of the translators therefore 
 have blended them together. I 
 take summa fiagella to mean the 
 upper part of the shoot, which 
 ought to be cut off, and is not 
 worth planting, as Mr. Miller has 
 observed : <e You should always 
 * f make choice of such shoots as 
 * c are strong and well ripened of 
 ™ the last year's growth. These 
 ft should be cut from the old vine, 
 u just below the place where they 
 " were produced, taking a knot of 
 " the two years' wood, which should 
 <c be pruned smooth : then you 
 ■* should cut off the upper part of 
 " the shoot, so as to leave the 
 tc cutting about sixteen inches long. 
 " Now in making the cuttings 
 " after this manner, there can be 
 " but one taken from each shoot ; 
 " whereas most persons cut them 
 <c into lengths of about a foot, and 
 " plant them all, which is very 
 " wrong : for the upper parts of 
 " the shoots are never so well 
 " ripened as the lower part which 
 " was produced early in the spring; 
 " so that if they do take root, they 
 " never make so good plants, for 
 n the wood of those cuttings being 
 " spungy and soft, admits the 
 <c moisture too freely, whereby the 
 " plants will be luxuriant in growth, 
 " but never so fruitful as such 
 <c whose wood is closer and more 
 lc compact." 
 
 300. Summa destringe ex arbore 
 plantas.] So I read with Heinsius : 
 the common' reading is summas de- 
 fringe. Pierius says it is summas de- 
 stringe in some old manuscripts j 
 but summa in the Roman, and other 
 more ancient copies. One of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts has summas^de- 
 stringe : the other and the Cam- 
 bridge copy have summa defringe. 
 The same reading is in the Nuren- 
 berg, and several other old editions. 
 
 Columella says the best cuttings 
 are those which are taken from the 
 body j the next from the branches: 
 and the third from the top of the 
 tree ; which soonest take, and are 
 most fruitful, but soonest grow 
 old : " Optima habentur a lumbis : 
 " secunda ab humeris : tertia sum- 
 " ma in vite lecta, quae celerrime 
 " comprehendunt, et sunt feraciora, 
 " sed et quam celerrime senescunt." 
 
 301. Tantus amor terrce.] The 
 Poet seems by this expression to 
 insinuate that those shoots which 
 grow nearest the earth, contract 
 such a liking to it, that they take 
 better in it. 
 
 Neu ferro lade retuso.] In the 
 
 Bodleian manuscript it is ne ferro 
 
 lade retuso: in the King's it is neu 
 
 ferro lade vetusto : in one of Dr. 
 
 Mead's it is neu ferro lege recuso. 
 
 A blunt knife not only increases 
 the labour of the husbandman, but 
 also tears the vines, and makes 
 wounds that are not so apt to heal, 
 as Columella has observed: " Super 
 " caetera illud etiam censemus, ut 
 (< duris, tenuissimisque et acutissi- 
 " mis ferramentis totum istud opus 
 " exequamur : obtusa enim, et 
 " hebes, et mollis falx putatorem 
 cc moratur, eoque minus operis em- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 177 
 
 Semina : neve oleae sylvestres insere truncos. 
 Nam saepe incautis pastoribus excidit ignis, 
 Qui furtim pingui primum sub cortice tectus 
 Robora comprendit, frondesque elapsus in altas 
 Ingentem caelo sonitum dedit. Inde secutus 
 Per ramos victor, perque alta cacumina regnat, 
 Et totum involvitflammis nemus, et ruit atram 
 Ad caelum picea crassus caligine nubem : 
 Praesertim si tempestas a vertice sylvis 310 
 
 Incubuit, glomeratque ferens incendia ventus. 
 Hoc ubi, non a stirpe valent, caesaeque reverti 
 Possunt, atque ima similes revirescere terra : 
 Infelix superat foliis oleaster amaris. 
 
 nor intermix the truncheon* 
 of the wild olive. For a 
 spark often falls from the 
 unwary shepherds, which 
 being at first concealed under 
 the unctuous bark, lays hold 
 of the stem, and thence 
 getting up into the topmost 
 leaves, sends a great crack- 
 ling up to heaven; then 
 pursues its conquest over 
 the boughs, reigns over the 
 lofty head, and spreads its 
 flame over the whole grove, 
 and thick with pitchy dark- 
 ness drives the black cloud 
 to heaven; especially if a 
 tempest has descended on 
 the woods, and a driving wind 
 rolls the fire along. When 
 this happens, they are de- 
 stroyed down to the root, and 
 can no more arise, or recover 
 themselves from the ground ; 
 but the unblest wild olive 
 with bitter leaves remains. 
 
 Cf cit, et plus laboris affert vinitori. 
 e{ Nam sive curvatur acies, quod 
 *' accidit molli, sive tardius pene- 
 " trat, quod evenit in retuso et 
 w crasso ferramento, majore nisu 
 " est opus. Turn etiam plagse as- 
 " perae, atque inaequales, vites la- 
 " cerant. Neque enim uno sed 
 '* seepius repetito ictu res transigi- 
 " tur. Quo plerumque fit, ut quod 
 " praecidi debeat, perfringatur, et 
 <e sic vitis laniata, scabrataque pu- 
 " trescat humoribus, nee plagee 
 " consanentur. Quare magnopere 
 " monendus putator est, ut pro- 
 " lixet aciem ferramenti, et quan- 
 " turn possit, novaculae similem 
 " reddat." 
 
 302. Neve olece sylvestres insere 
 truncos.~] It seems by this passage, 
 as if it had been a custom to plant 
 wild olives in the vineyards, for 
 supports to the vines. This the 
 Poet justly reprehends, because a 
 spark, lighting accidentally on the 
 unctuous bark of the olive, may set 
 the whole vineyard on fire. May 
 seems to understand this precept 
 of Virgil to relate to the planting of 
 wild olives, not amongst the vines, 
 
 but amongst the cultivated olives : 
 for his translation is thus : 
 
 Nor yet 
 
 Wild olive trees amongst other olives 
 set. 
 
 310. A vertice.] Servius, Gri- 
 moaldus, and, after them, Ruseus, 
 think that by a vertice is meant 
 from the north $ because that pole 
 appears above our heads : hie vertex 
 nobis semper sublimis. But I rather 
 believe it means only from above : 
 for the most furious winds do not 
 come from the north : and in the 
 first Georgick, we have the south 
 wind mentioned to come ab alto: 
 which if it be taken to mean from 
 high, as some understand it, cannot 
 surely be interpreted of the north 
 pole: 
 
 i Namque urget ab alto 
 
 Arboribusque satisque notus, pecorique 
 sinister. 
 
 See the note on book i. ver. 324. 
 
 312. Non a stirpe valent.'] They 
 are the vines, which he says are 
 destroyed for ever; for he men- 
 tions the wild olives immediately 
 afterwards, as recovering them- 
 selves. 
 2jk 
 
178 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Let no man, be he ever so 
 wise, prevail upon you to stir 
 the hard earth, when the 
 north wind blows. Then 
 winter binds up the country 
 with frost, and does not suffer 
 the frozen root of the young 
 plants to take hold of the 
 earth. The best time for 
 planting vineyards is, when 
 in the glowing spring the 
 white bird appears, which is 
 hated by the long snakes : or 
 else about the first cold of 
 autumn ; .when the rapid sun 
 
 Ncc tibi tarn prudens "quisquam persuadent 
 auctor 315 
 
 Tellurem Borea rigidam spirante moveri. 
 Rura gelu turn claudit hyems, nee semine jacto 
 Concretam patitur radicem adflgere terrae. 
 Optima vinetis satio, cum vere rubenti 
 Candida venit avis longis invisa colubris : 320 
 Prima vel autumni sub frigora, cum rapidus sol 
 
 315. Nee tibiy &c] Here we have 
 a precept relating to the time of 
 planting vines ; which is either in 
 the spring or autumn -, from which 
 the Poet beautifully slides into a 
 most noble description of the 
 spring. 
 
 316. Moveri."] So it is in the Ro- 
 man manuscript, according to Pie- 
 rius, who prefers this reading to 
 movere, as it is in the other copies. 
 Heinsius also has moveri. 
 
 319- Optima vinetis satio, cum vere 
 rubenti.] Most of the printed edi- 
 tions have est after satio : but it is 
 wanting in the King's, the Bod- 
 leian, both the Arundelian, and both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Heinsius 
 also and Masvicius leave out est. 
 
 The epithet fuhenii may allude to 
 the red flowers, which appear in the 
 spring : or rather, it may be put 
 for bright, or shining ; for purpureus 
 is used for any bright colour, and 
 the spring has often that epithet. 
 
 320. Candida avis.] The stork, 
 a bird of passage, which comes into 
 Italy in the spring ; or in summer, 
 according to Pliny : " Ciconice 
 '* quonam e loco veniant, aut quo 
 ** se referant, incompertum adhuc 
 ** est. E longinquo venire non du- 
 ft bium, eodem quo grues modo : 
 te illas hyemis, has cestatis adve- 
 " nas." 
 
 Longis invisa colubris.] Pliny tells 
 us* that storks are in such esteem 
 
 for destroying serpents, that, in 
 Thessaly, it is a capital crime to 
 kill them, and the punishment is 
 the same as for murder : " Honos 
 " iis serpentium exitio tantus, ut 
 " in Thessalia capitate fuerit occi- 
 " disse, eademque legibus poena, 
 " quae in homicidam." 
 
 321. Prima vel autumni sub fri- 
 gora.] The time which the Poet 
 means in this place, must be the 
 latter end of autumn, which the 
 Romans reckoned to begin on the 
 twelfth of August. Their winter 
 began on the ninth of November : 
 and therefore we mny understand 
 the first; cold of autumn to mean 
 the end of October, or the begin- 
 ning of November. This agrees 
 with what Columella has said about 
 the time of planting vineyards: 
 that it is either in spring or au- 
 tumn ; in spring, if it be a cold 
 or moist climate, or the soil be fat, 
 or on a plain ; and in autumn, if 
 the contrary. He says the tinfe of 
 planting in the spring is from the 
 thirteenth of February to the vernal 
 equinox: in the autumn, from the 
 fifteenth of October to the first of 
 Dscemher; " Sequitur opus vineae 
 " conserendae, quae vel vere vel au- 
 " tumno tempestivedeponitur. Vere 
 " melius, si aut pluvius, aut frigi- 
 " dus status caeli est, aut ager pin- 
 " guis, aut campestris, et uliginosa 
 C( planicies : rursus autumno si sic- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 179 
 
 Nondum hyemem contingit equis, jam proetcrit 
 
 sestas. 
 Ver adeo frondi nemorum, vcr utile sylvis : 
 Vere tument terra?, et genitalia semina poscunt. 
 Turn pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus 
 
 aether 325 
 
 Conjugis in gremium lsetae descendit, et omnes 
 
 does not yet touch the winter 
 with his horses, and the heat 
 is just gone. The sprine 
 above al seasons is bene'cial 
 to the verdure of the groves, 
 the spring i^ beneficial to the 
 woods : in the spring the 
 lands swell, and require the 
 genial seeds. Then the al- 
 mighty father ..Ether de- 
 scends into the bosom of his 
 joyful spouse with fruitful 
 showers, and 
 
 " ca, si calida est aeris qualitas, si 
 " exilis, atque aridus campus, si 
 ts macer praeruptusve collis : vernae- 
 " que positionis dies fere quadra- 
 " ginta sunt ab Irlibus Februariis 
 " usque in aequinoctium : rursus 
 " autumnalis ab ldibus Octobris in 
 * 4 Calendas Decembres." Observe 
 that our Calendar varies a fortnight, 
 since the time it was settled by Ju- 
 lius Csesar : for the vernal equinox, 
 which is now about the tenth or 
 eleventh of March, was then about 
 the four or five and twentieth. This 
 must always be remembered, when 
 the days of the month are quoted 
 from the ancient Roman authors. 
 
 322. Nondum hyemem contingit 
 equis.] Ruaeus interprets this the 
 tropic of Capricorn. But the sun 
 passes into Capricorn, at the time 
 of the winter solstice, which was 
 about their twenty-fourth or twen- 
 ty-fifth of December. This season 
 could not possibly be called autumn 
 by Virgil. 
 
 Jam prceterit cestas.'] JEstas, sum- 
 mer, seems to be put here for warm 
 weather. See the note on ver. 312. 
 of the first Georgick. 
 
 Ver adeo.] Philargyrius looks 
 upon adeo. as an expletive. Ruaeus 
 interprets it pr&cipue. See the note 
 on adeo, book i. ver. 24. 
 
 324. Vere tument terra.] " The 
 " earth swells," says Theophrastus, 
 " when it is moist and warm, and 
 " enjoys a temperate air : for then 
 " it is yielding, ready to burst, and 
 
 " full of juice :" 'Ogy«e 2' cVasv gW^ 
 fjt,ir^cc. rori yot^ ivhia.yjoTos n xoii tv- 
 
 325. Turn pater omnipotens, fyc] 
 The Poet calls the JEther or sky, 
 the almighty father, or Jupiter: for 
 they are the same in the heathen 
 mythology. Juno also is the earth, 
 which Virgil here calls the wife of 
 the almighty iEther. The earth is 
 rendered fruitful by the showers 
 falling from the sky : which the 
 Poet expresses by iEther descend- 
 ing into the bosom of his wife. 
 The following verses of Lucretius 
 are not much unlike those of our 
 Poet, who seems to have had them 
 before his eye, when he wrote this 
 passage. 
 
 Postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater 
 iEther 
 
 In gremium m atr is Terrai' praacipitavit. 
 
 At nitidas surgunt fruges, ramique vires- 
 cunt 
 
 Arboribus ; crescunt ipsae, fcetuque gra- 
 vantur : 
 
 Hinc alitur porro nostrum genus, atque 
 ferarum : 
 
 Hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus, 
 
 Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undi- 
 que sylvas. 
 
 Hinc fessao pecudes pingues per pabula 
 laeta 
 
 Corpora deponunt, et candens lacteus 
 humor 
 
 Uberibus manat distentis; hinc nova 
 proles 
 
 Artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas 
 
 Ludit, lacte mero mentes percussa no- 
 vellas. 
 
 326. Latce.] In one of the Arun- 
 2 A 2 
 
180 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 IrSfLd^ourfsh^aii her Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, foetus. 
 
 offspring. Then do the lone- A . ..'.., 
 
 i y thickets resound with tune- Avia turn resonant avibus virgulta canons, 
 
 ful birds, and the herds renew 
 
 their love at their stated time.- Et venerem ceitis repetunt armenta diebus : 329 
 
 the teemuig earth brings r 
 
 theiJ'boTomfto^he'wirS Parturit almus ager, zepbyrique tepentibus auris 
 
 zephyrs : 
 
 delian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is late: which is a 
 very elegant reading, and expresses 
 the wide extent of the spring show- 
 ers. Late is a favourite adverb with 
 Virgil, in this sense. Thus we find 
 in the first Georgick : 
 
 Amnis abundans 
 
 Exit, et obducto late tenet omnia limo : 
 
 And 
 
 Omnia ventorum concurrere prselia vidi, 
 Quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus 
 
 imis 
 Sublime expulsam eruerent. 
 
 On the other side, it must be said, 
 that lata is here no insignificant 
 epithet : for the earth may well be 
 said to be glad, at the falling of 
 these fruitful showers. There is 
 an expression something like this 
 in the seventh Eclogue : 
 
 Jupiter et loeto descendet plurimus imbri. 
 
 Here indeed not the earth, but the 
 shower is called joyful : but yet this 
 epithet is added to the shower by a 
 metonymy, for the shower can no 
 otherwise be said to be joyful, than 
 as it makes the earth so. 
 
 328. Turn.] It is cum, in the 
 Cambridge manuscript. 
 
 329. Venerem ceriis repetunt ar- 
 menta diebus.] The brute part of the 
 creation are known to have their 
 stated times of propagating their 
 species. Aristotle, from whom Vir- 
 gil probably took this observation, 
 says the general time for this is the 
 spring. The words, which that 
 great philosopher uses on this sub- 
 ject, will, I believe, not be disagree- 
 able, in this place, to the learned 
 
 reader : BovXirxi ph ovv *i (^ing rvv 
 •zuXiifav, zrifu to* xvrov %%ovov -ztomo-Sxi 
 
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 [AiTxQxXXYi -zrgog to §\qcg. xvm tit £5"<v » 
 rov ixpog eopot, iv v\ roc ■3rXi7fx, xxt zrirwcc, 
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 CCO-f&OV. 7T61UTXI $1 SVtX, TW OftitXV XXI TOf 
 
 toxcv, xxi f&ero7ra(>ov xxi %ttfAwvog } oiot 
 tuv rg Wvhpav ecrrsc yir/i, xxi tmv TTiTti- 
 vuv, a,\foqu7Cog <& [tccXtrx ttxo-xv agxy, 
 xxl toUv <rvvxv^pa7nv6f/kvc>)V tyav rttZuii 
 vroXXx, did rhv xXzxv xxi WTgoQixv, o<rt>v 
 xxi xl xvvio-iig oXiyoftgovixt sitriv, olov vbg 
 xxi xvvog, xxi ruv %itwwv oo~x vrXioyxxig 
 notovvrxi rovg roxovg. We find some- 
 thing like this in Pliny : " Caeteris 
 " animalibus stati per tempora anni 
 " concubitus, homini omnibus ho- 
 " ris dierum noctiumque. Caeteris 
 " satietas in coitu, homini prope 
 '? nulla." Lucretius also mentions 
 the spring as the season for the 
 generation of animals ; 
 
 Nam simul ac species patefacta 'st verna 
 
 diei, 
 Et reserata viget genitalis aura Favoni ; 
 Aerise primum volucres te, Diva, tuum- 
 
 que 
 Significant initum percussae corda tua vi : 
 Inde ferae pecudes persistant pabula laeta, 
 Et rapidos tranant amnes ; ita capta le- 
 
 pore, 
 Illecebrisque tuis omnis natura animan- 
 
 turn 
 Te sequitur cupide, quo quamque indu- 
 
 cere pergis : 
 Denique per maria, ac montes, fiuvios- 
 
 que rapaces, 
 Frondiferasque domos avium, camposque 
 
 virentes, 
 Omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora 
 
 amorem, 
 Efficis ut cupide generatim ssecla propa- 
 
 gent. 
 
 330. Parturit almus ager."] In 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 181 
 
 Laxant arva sinus : superat tener omnibus 
 
 humor : 
 Inque novos soles audent se gramina tuto 
 Credere: nee metuit surgentes pampinus austros, 
 Aut actum caelo magnis aquilonibus imbrem : 
 Sed trudit gemmas, et frondes explicat omnes. 
 Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi 336 
 Illuxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem 
 Crediderim: ver illud erat: ver magnus agebat 
 Orbis, et hybernis parcebant flatibus euri : 
 Cum primae lucem pecudes hausere, virumque ' 
 Ferrea progenies duris caput extulitarvis: 
 Immissaeque ferae sylvis, et sidera caelo. 
 
 all abound with gentle mois- 
 ture: and the herbs can safe- 
 ly trust themselves to the 
 new suns : nor dor s the vine- 
 branch fear the rising south 
 winds, or the shower driven 
 down from heaven by the 
 furious north : but puts forth 
 its buds, and unfolds all its 
 leaves. No other days, I be- 
 lieve, shone, nor was it any 
 other season, at the beginning 
 of the growing world : it was 
 then the spring: spring 
 smiled over all the globe, 
 and the east winds forbore 
 their wintry blasts: when 
 cattle first drew light, and 
 the iron race of men lifted 
 up its head from the hard 
 fields ; and wild beasts were 
 sent into the woods, and 
 stars into the heavens. 
 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts 
 it is parturit alma Venus. 
 
 332. Gramma."] In the King's 
 manuscript it is germina. 
 
 336. Non alios, cVc] I take the 
 Poet's meaning here to be, not that 
 there was a perpetual spring, at the 
 beginning of the world : but that it 
 was the spring season, when cattle 
 and men were created. He assigns 
 this reason for it : the new created 
 beings would not have been able to 
 have sustained the extremities of 
 heat or cold 5 and therefore, it must 
 have been spring, when they were 
 created, that they might have time 
 to grow hardy, before a more incle- 
 ment season should begin. 
 
 Dryden has greatly debased the 
 elegance of these lines, by making 
 use of vulgar, and, in this place, 
 ridiculous expressions: 
 
 In this soft season (let me dare to sing) 
 The world was hatch' d by heaven's im- 
 perial King 
 In prime of all the year, and lioly-days of 
 spring. 
 
 340. Cum prima.] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, and in an 
 
 old Paris edition, printed in 1494, 
 it is turn primum. In the Cambridge 
 manuscript, it is cum primam. Pie- 
 rius says it is cum primes, in the 
 Roman and Medicean manuscripts. 
 Heinsius, Masvicius, and some old 
 editions have cum prima. The 
 common reading is cum primum. 
 
 341. Ferrea.'] Some read terrea, 
 on the authority of Lactantius : 
 but it may as well be supposed, 
 that it is an error in the copy of 
 Lactantius. Virgil seems to have 
 Imitated Hesiod : 
 
 Nyy 
 
 <yug on yivas %?i 
 
 1 ffibvigt 
 
 Duris."] In some of the old edi- 
 tions it is durum. 
 
 Arvis.] In the Bodleian manu- 
 script it is armis. 
 
 Ruseus thinks the Poet here al- 
 ludes to the iron age, and the resti- 
 tution of the earth by Deucalion 
 and Pyrrha, as was related in the 
 note on ver. 62. of the first Geor- 
 gick. But that learned commen- 
 tator seems to have forgotten, that 
 Virgil is here speaking of the very 
 first age of the world. 
 
182 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 hSe c ffiS;?r r S r a C SS?, N ec res hunc tenerse possent perferre laborem, 
 
 if there had not been a rest . n . , 
 
 between cold and heat, and oi non tanta quies iret irigusque caloremque 
 
 if the indulgence of heaven * ox T 
 
 But^rocllZAln^s Inter > et exciperet cali indulgentia terras. 345 
 
 soever you lay down in the Quo(] superestj quaecu nque premes virgulta per 
 
 agros, 
 
 344. Si non tanta quies iret, &c] 
 In the old Nurenberg edition it is 
 " Si non tanta quies inter frigusque 
 " caloremque iret." 
 
 345. Exciperet.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is h<zc pa- 
 reret. 
 
 346. Quod superest, #c] The 
 Poet now proceeds to give direc- 
 tions, about layers: and recom- 
 mends dunging, Eind laying stones 
 and shells at the roots. 
 
 Primes."] ServiuS interprets this 
 demerges, infqdies. Hence mon of 
 the commentators have agreed to 
 understand the Poet to speak of 
 
 rig in general. Mr, B is 
 
 singular in understanding virgulta 
 premere to be meant of layers: 
 
 Now, when you lend the layers to the 
 ground. 
 
 This however I take to be Virgil's 
 sense. We have seen at the begin- 
 ning of this book, that he recom- 
 mends layers, as the best way of 
 propagating vines : Propaghie vites 
 respondent: to this method of pro- 
 pagating therefore it is most pro- 
 bable that he should allude. And 
 besides premere seems more proper 
 to express the laying down a branch, 
 than the planting of a cutting or 
 removing of a young tree. La 
 Cerda interprets virgulta premere, 
 infodere surculos in scrobibus, and 
 endeavours to strengthen it with 
 two quotations, neither of which 
 seem to me to answer his purpose. 
 The first is from Caius : " Quod si 
 " vicini arborem in terra presserim, 
 " ut in meum fundum radices ege- 
 " rit." Caius speaks here plainly 
 
 of layers. He says a tree is the 
 property of that person, in whose 
 ground it strikes root : and there- 
 fore if I lay it down in such a 
 manner, as to make it strike root 
 in my ground, it becomes my tree. 
 Surely this can he understood only 
 of laying down a branch, which 
 extends itself over my ground, and 
 heaping the earth about it, which 
 is expressed by si terra presserim : 
 for I have no right to remove my 
 neighbour's tree, or to take cuttings 
 from it. See the entire passage. 
 " Si alienom plantam in meo solo 
 " posuero, mea erit, ex diverso 
 " si meam plantam in alieno solo 
 " posuero, illius erit. Si modo 
 " utrnque casu radices egerit : an- 
 " tequam enim radices ageret, illius 
 <( permanet, cujus et fuit. His 
 " conveniens est, quod si vicini 
 " arbcrem ita terra presserim, ut in 
 "meum fundum radices egerit: 
 " meam effici arborem. Rationem 
 " enim non permittere, ut alterius 
 " arbor intclligatur, quam cujus 
 " fundo radices egisset. Et ideo 
 " prope confinium arbor posita, si 
 " etiam in vicinum fundum radices 
 te egerit, communis est." The se- 
 cond is from Horace : terra premam, 
 pro infodiam. The words of that 
 poet are, « 
 
 Satis superque me benignitas tua Ditavit. 
 Haud paravero 
 
 Quod aut, avarus ut Chremes, terra pre- 
 mam ; 
 
 Discinctus aut perdam, ut nepos. 
 
 Here indeed terra premere does sig- 
 nify to bury: but the literal mean- 
 ing of the words is to press icith 
 earth, which is more applicable to 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 183 
 
 Sparge fimo pingui, et multa memor occule 
 
 terra : 
 Aut lapidem bibulum, aut squalentes infode 
 
 conchas. 
 Inter enim labentur aquae, tenuisque subibit 
 Halitus : atque animos tollent sata. Jamque 
 
 reperti, 350 
 
 Qui saxo super, atque ingenti pondere testae 
 Urgerent : hoc effusos munimen ad imbres : 
 Hoc, ubi hiuica siti findit canis aestifer arva. 
 Seminibus positis, superest deducere terram 
 
 be careful to spread fat dung, 
 and to cover them with a 
 good deal of earth ; or bury 
 spongy stones or rough shells 
 about their roots. By this 
 means the water will soak 
 through, and a fine vapour 
 will penetrate them ; and the 
 plants will be vigorous. There 
 are some now, who press a 
 great weight of stones or pot- 
 sheards about them ; this is a 
 defence against pouring show- 
 ers, this when the burning 
 dog star cleaves the gaping 
 fields with thirst. When the 
 layers are planted out, it re- 
 mains to draw up the earth 
 
 layers, than to any other way of 
 planting : because in this case a 
 branch is laid down into a trench, 
 and covered over with earth. 
 
 347. Sparge fimo pingui, &;c] We 
 are informed by Columella that the 
 direction about burying stones and 
 shells is taken from Mago the Car- 
 thaginian, who also advises dung- 
 ing, but adds, that grape-stones 
 ought to be mixed with the dung. 
 " Id enirn vitare facile est, per 
 " imum solum juxta diversa latera 
 " fossarum dispositis paucis lapidi- 
 " bus, qui singuli non excedant 
 " quinque lihrale pondus. Hi vi- 
 " dentur, ut Mago prodit, et aquas 
 " hyemis, et vapores aestatis pro- 
 c< pulsare radicibus : quern secutus 
 " Virgilius tutari semina, et muniri 
 " sic prsecipit : 
 
 " Aut lapidem bibulum, aut squallentes 
 " infode conchas : 
 
 " et paulo post : 
 
 " - ■ ■ Jamque reperti, 
 
 " Qui saxo super, atque ingenti pondere 
 
 " testae 
 " Urgerent ; hoc effusos munimen ad im- 
 
 " bres, 
 " Hoc ubi hiulci siti findit canis aestifer 
 
 " arva. 
 
 " Idemque Poenus autor probat vi- 
 " nacea permista stercori depositis 
 
 " seminibus in scrobem vires mo 
 " vere, quod ilia provocent, et 
 " eliciant novas radiculas : hoc per 
 " hyemem frigentem, et humidam 
 lt scrobibus inferre calorem tem- 
 iS pestivum, ac per sestatem viren- 
 " tibus alimentum, et humorem 
 " praebere. Si vero solum, cui 
 ei vitis committitur, videtur exile, 
 " longius aceersitam pinguem hu- 
 " mum scrobibus inferre censet." 
 Mr. Evelyn after mentioning the 
 placing of potsheurds, fiints, or peb- 
 bles, near the root of the stem, adds 
 this caution: " But 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 
 " through it." 
 
 352. Munimen.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is munimine. 
 
 S53. Hoc.] In the same manu- 
 script it is atque instead of hoc. 
 
 354. Seminibus positis,] In this 
 passage the Poet mentions digging 
 the ground, propping the vines, 
 and pruning them. 
 
184. 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 often about the roots, and to 
 exercise the hard drags ; or 
 to turn up the soil with urg- 
 ing the plough, and to bend 
 the striving bullocks amongst 
 the very vineyards ; then to 
 prepare smooth reeds and 
 spears of peeled rods, and 
 ashen poles j and two-horned 
 forks; by the strength of 
 which your vines may learn 
 to rise, and contemn the 
 winds, and climb up the 
 stages to the tops of the elms. 
 Whilst your plants are in their 
 infant state, with young 
 branches, you should spare 
 their tender age ; and whilst 
 the joyful branch spreads it- 
 self in the open air with 
 slackened reins, 
 
 Saspius ad capita, et duros jactarebidentes; 355 
 Aut presso exercere solum sub vomere, et ipsa 
 Flectere luctantes inter vineta juvencos. 
 Turn laeves calamos, et rasae hastilia virgae, 
 Fraxineasque aptare sudes, furcasque bicornes : 
 Viribus eniti quarum, et contemnere ventos 360 
 Assuescant, summasque sequi tabulata per ulmos. 
 Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, 
 Parcendum teneris ; et dum se laetus ad auras 
 Palmes agit, laxis per purum immissus habenis, 
 
 355. Capita.] It is generally 
 agreed that capita means here the 
 root of the tree. Mr. B seems 
 
 to take it for the top : 
 
 High as your plant oft raise the neigh- 
 b'ring soil. 
 
 Bidentes.] The bidens seems to 
 be that instrument with two hooked 
 iron teeth, which our farmers call 
 a drag. It is used to break the 
 surface of the ground, and may be 
 serviceable near the roots of the 
 vines, where the plough coming 
 too near would be apt to injure 
 them. 
 
 359- Fraxineasque.] The conjunc- 
 tion que is wanting in the King's 
 "manuscript. 
 
 Bicornes.] Pierius says it is/«r- 
 casque valentes in the Roman manu- 
 script. We find the same reading 
 in the Cambridge, and in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 361 . Tabulata.'] The tabulata are 
 the branches of elms extended at 
 proper distances, to sustain the 
 vines ; as we find in Columella : 
 " Cum deinde adolescere incipient, 
 " falce forinandae, et tabulata in- 
 <c stituenda sunt : hoc enim nomine 
 " usurpant agricolae ramos truncos- 
 " que prominentes, eosque vel pro- 
 et pius ferro compescunt, vel lon- 
 
 " gius promittunt, ut vites laxius 
 " diffundantur : hoc in solo pingui, 
 " melius iilud in gracili : tabulata 
 " inter se minus ternis pedibus 
 " absint, atque ita formentur, ne 
 * superior ramus in eadem linea 
 " sit, qua inferior : nam demissum 
 " ex eo palmitem germinantem in- 
 " ferior atteret, et fructum de- 
 et cutiet." 
 
 363, Parcendum teneris: et dum se 
 latus ad auras.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is parcendum 
 est teneris j et dum se latus ad auras. 
 In the other it is parcendum est tene- 
 ris : dum sese Icetus ad auras. 
 
 364:. Agit.] It is aget 
 
 the 
 
 Medicean manuscript, according to 
 Pierius. 
 
 Laxis.] It it lapsis in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 Per purum immissus habenis.] This 
 is a metaphor taken from horses. 
 " This expression," says Dr. Trapp, 
 " with submission to Virgil, is a 
 " little harsh, as applied to the 
 " growth of a tree :" but the same 
 metaphor had been used before by 
 Lucretius : 
 
 Arboribus datum 'st %-ariis exinde per 
 
 auras 
 Crescendi magnum immissis certamen 
 
 habenis. 
 
 Per purum in Virgil signifies th« 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 185 
 
 Ipsa acies nondum falcis tentanda, sed uncis 365 
 Carpendse manibus frondes, interque legendae. 
 Inde ubi jam validis amplexse stirpibus ulmos 
 Exierint, turn stringe comas, turn brachia tonde. 
 Ante reformidant ferrum : turn denique dura 
 Exerce imperia, et ramos compesce fluentes. 370 
 Texendse sepes etiam, et pecus omne tenendum : 
 
 the edge of the pruning knife 
 is not yet to be applied; 
 but the young shoots should 
 be nipped with your fingers 
 here and there. But when 
 they have given the elm a 
 strong embrace, then strip 
 the shoots; then prune the 
 boughs. Before this they 
 cannot bear the knife ; but 
 now exercise a severe domi- 
 nion over them, and re- 
 strain the luxuriant branches. 
 Hedges also are to be woven, 
 and all sorts of cattle to be 
 restrained; 
 
 same as per auras in Lucretius. 
 Horace uses it also for the air : 
 
 Pur purum tonantes 
 
 Egit equos. 
 
 365. Ipsa acies nondum falcis ten- 
 tanda.] Pierius reads ipsa acie falcis 
 nondum ttntanda. I find the same 
 reading in one of che Arundelian 
 manuscripts, both Dr. Mead's, and 
 in several printed editions. He says 
 it is ipsa acie nondum falcis in the 
 Roman manuscript, and so it is in 
 the other Arundelian copy, and some 
 printed editions. The King's, the 
 Cambridge, and the Bodleian manu- 
 scripts, Servius, Heinsius, Ruaeus, 
 Masvicius, and several others have 
 ipsa acies nondum falcis tentanda. 
 Quintilian alludes to this passage, in 
 the second book of his institutions: 
 ** Ne illud quidem quod admonea- 
 te mus indignum est, ingenia puero- 
 * rum nimia interim emendationis 
 " severitate deficere : nam et despe- 
 " rant, et dolent, et novissime ode- 
 " runt : et quod maxime nocet, 
 " dum omnia timent, nihil conan- 
 " tur. Quod etiam rusticis notum 
 " est, qui frondibus teneris non 
 <e putant adhibendum esse falcem, 
 " quia reformidare ferrum videntur, 
 " et cicatricem nondum pati posse." 
 Uncis carpendte manibus frondes,"] 
 By uncis manibus, crooked hands, the 
 Poet means nipping the tender 
 shoots with the thumb and finger, 
 which is practised in summer time, 
 before the shoots are grown woody 
 and hard. 
 
 367- Stirpibus.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is viribus, 
 which reading Fulvius Ursinus ob- 
 served also in the old Colotian 
 manuscript. 
 
 370. Ramos compesce fluentes?] 
 Pierius says it is ramos compesce va- 
 lentes in the most ancient Roman 
 manuscript ; and thinks both the 
 precept and expression are taken 
 from the following passage of 
 Varro : ' ' Vites pampinari, sed a 
 w sciente : nam id, quam putare 
 u majus ; neque in arbusto, sed in 
 " vinea fieri. Pampinare est ex 
 ¥ sarmento coles, qui nati sunt, de 
 '.' iis, qui plurimum valent, pri- 
 C( mum ac secundum, nonnunquam 
 <e etiam tertium relinquere, reliquos 
 " decerpere, ne relictis colibus sar- 
 " mentum nequeat ministrare suc- 
 " cum." 
 
 371. Texendce sepes, #c] Here 
 the Poet speaks of making hedges, 
 to keep out cattle, and especially 
 goats, whence he takes occasion 
 to digress into an account of the 
 sacrifices to Bacchus. 
 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts it is etjam pecus omne timen- 
 dum. In the Bodleian it is etiam 
 et pecus omne tuendum. Pierius says 
 it is tuendum in the Roman manu- 
 script. Ruaeus and most of the 
 editors have est after tenendum. 
 Pierius says est is wanting in the 
 Medicean copy. It is left out in all 
 the manuscripts I have collated, and 
 by Heinsius, La Cerda, Masvicius, 
 and several others. 
 
 2b 
 
186 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SJ^^ilSeSbSS Pr*cipue dum frons tenera, imprudensque 
 
 injuries; for, more than cruel •• 1 
 
 winters, and powerful suns, laDOrum I 
 
 do the wild buffalos, and per- ,~ . • t i 
 
 secuting goats insult Cui, super indignas hyemes solemque potentem, 
 
 Sylvestres uri assidue capreaeque sequaces 374 
 
 This expression of weaving a 
 hedge does not seem to mean a 
 green hedge, but a fence made of 
 stakes, interwoven with dry sticks. 
 
 373. Super indignas hyemes.'] 
 Grimoaldus and Ruaeus interpret 
 super, prater: in this sense Dr. 
 Trapp has translated it : 
 
 Besides storms, 
 
 And the sun's heat, the buffalos and 
 
 goats, 
 And sheep, and greedy heifers, hurt thy 
 
 vines. 
 
 La Cerda interprets it, that cattle 
 do more harm to the vineyards, 
 than heat and cold : ** Etiamsi 
 " hyemes indignae, id est magna?, 
 " noceant novellis vitibus, et sol, 
 tf cum potens est, id est, cum est 
 (< aestivus : tamen magis nocumen- 
 " turn accipiunt ab uris, ovibus, 
 " capreis, juvencis." In this sense 
 it is translated by May, 
 
 Wild bulls and greedy goats more harm 
 will do 
 
 Than scorching summers, and cold win- 
 ters too : 
 
 And by Dryden : 
 
 Whose leaves are not alone foul winter's 
 Prey, 
 
 But oft by summer's suns are scorch'd 
 away ; 
 
 And worse titan both, become th' unwor- 
 thy browze 
 
 Of buffalos, salt goats, and hungry cows. 
 
 " I understand," says Mr. B , 
 
 " super in this place, as it is said 
 •* super ccenam, or else it seems to 
 <e me that there would be a disa- 
 u greeable repetition of the same 
 " things in the following lines : 
 
 " Frigoia nee tantitm, &c." 
 
 Accordingly he translates it, 
 
 ' In parching summer, and in winter 
 snows, 
 Wild beasts and wanton goats insult 
 
 the boughs, 
 And sheep and hungry heifers feed 
 the luscious browze. 
 
 But La Cerda has already vindi- 
 cated this passage from the impu- 
 tation of tautology. See the note 
 on ver. 376. 
 
 Indignas is generally thought to 
 signify only great, in which sense 
 it seems to have been used in the 
 tenth Eclogue : 
 
 ■ Indigno cum Gallus amore periret. 
 
 374. Sylvestres uri.] The urus, 
 as described by Julius Caesar, is a 
 wild bull of prodigious strength 
 and swiftness, being almost as big 
 as an elephant: tg Tertium est 
 " genus eorum, qui Uri appellan- 
 tur. Ii sunt magnitudine paullo 
 " infra elephantos 5 specie, et co- 
 " lore, et figura tauri. Magna vis 
 " est eorum, et magna velocitas. 
 " Neque homini, neque ferae, quam 
 " conspexerint, parcunt." He 
 speaks of it, as one of the rare 
 animals which are found in the 
 Hercynian wood, and are not seen 
 in other places: " Hujus Hercy- 
 " niae Sylvae, quae supra demon- 
 e< strata est, latitudo ix dierum iter 
 " expedito patet. Non enim aliter 
 " finiri potest, neque mensuras iti- 
 " nerum noverunt. Oritur ab Hel- 
 " vetiorum, et Nemctum, et Rau- 
 ct racorum finibus, rectaque fluminis 
 " Danubii regione pertinet ad fines 
 (t Daeorum, et Anartium. Hinc 
 " se flectit sinistrorsus, diversis a 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 Illudunt : pascuntur oves : avidseque juvencae. 
 
 187 
 
 them ; and sheep and greedy 
 heifers browze upon them. 
 
 " flumine regionibus, multarumque 
 " gentium fines propter magnitudi- 
 •' nem attingit. Neque quisquam 
 " est hujus Germanise, qui se adisse 
 " ad initium ejus sylvae dicat, quum 
 " dierum iter lx processerit, aut 
 " quo ex loco oriatur, acceperit. 
 " Multa in ea genera ferarum nasci 
 u constat, quae reliquis in locis visa 
 <e non sint : ex quibus quae maxime 
 " difFerant ab caeteris, et memoria 
 <f prodentla videantur, hgec sunt." 
 After these words Csesar describes 
 a bull shaped like a stag, the elk, 
 and the urus, as in the former quo- 
 tation. Servius thinks the uri are 
 so called airo tut o^m, from moun- 
 tains : but it is more probable that 
 the Romans only Latinised the Ger- 
 man name Aurochs or Urochs, for 
 the ancient Germans called any 
 thing wild, vast, or strong, ur ; 
 and ochs, in their language signifies 
 an ox. The uri therefore men- 
 tioned by Virgil cannot be the 
 urus described by Csesar, which 
 was an animal utterly unknown 
 in Italy. To solve this difficulty, 
 La Cerda would have us read tauri 
 instead of uri : but then what shall 
 we do with ver. 532. of the third 
 Georgick ? 
 Quaesitas ad sacra boves Junonis et Uris : 
 
 for here iauris instead of uris cannot 
 stand in the verse. The same com- 
 mentator proposes another solution, 
 to read ursi instead of uri: but 
 this is a mere conjecture. Ruseus 
 interprets sylvesires uri " Bubali 
 " quos vulgus cum Uris confundit. 
 « Plin. 1. viii. 15." This is not a fair 
 interpretation of Pliny's words: 
 that author does not say the com- 
 mon people call the bubalus, urus ; 
 but that they call the urus, bubalus : 
 " Paucissima Scythia gignit, inopia 
 "fhiticum: pauca contermina illi 
 
 " Germania: insignia tamen bourn 
 " ferorum genera, jubatos, bisontes, 
 " excellentique et vi et velocitate 
 " uros, quibus imperitum vulgus 
 u bubalorum nomen imponit, cum id 
 " gignat Africa, vituli potius cervive 
 " quadam simiiitudine." The Bu- 
 balus of Pliny seems to be that 
 which Bellonius describes under the 
 name of Bos Africanus, which he 
 says is less than a stag, of a square 
 make, with reddish shining hair, 
 and horns bending towards each 
 other, in form of a half moon. It 
 is therefore very different from the 
 Buffalo, which is common in Italy, 
 of the milk of which they make 
 those fine cheeses, which they call 
 casei di cavallo; it is larger than 
 the common kine, has a thicker 
 body, a very hard skin, and thick, 
 bending black horns. I do not find 
 that this animal was distinguished 
 anciently by any particular name : 
 and therefore Virgil might probably 
 borrow the name of Urus, which 
 was known to signify the wild 
 bull of the Hercynian forest. La 
 Cerda quotes a passage of S. Isi- 
 dore, to shew that the Bubalus was 
 common in Italy in his time, which 
 was very ancient. The words of 
 S. Isidore are : " Boas anguis Italias 
 " immensa mole : persequitur gre- 
 " ges armentorum et bubalos : et 
 " plurimo lacte irriguis uberibus 
 t( se innectit, et surgens interimit, 
 " atque inde a bourn populatione 
 u boas nomen accepit." It is easy 
 to see that S. Isidore took what he 
 says, in this quotation, from the 
 following passage of Pliny : <{ Fa- 
 " ciunt his fidem in Italia appellatae 
 " boae : in tantam amplitudinem ex- 
 " euntes, ut, Divo Claudio prin- 
 " cipe, occisee in Vaticano solidus 
 " in alvo aspectatus sit infans. 
 " Aluntur primo bubuli lactis succo,, 
 2 b 2 
 
188 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Nor do the colds stiff with 
 hoary frost, nor the burning 
 heats beating upon the scorch- 
 ing rocks hurt them so much 
 as those animals, and the poi- 
 son of their cruel teeth, and 
 the scar inflicted on the bit- 
 ten stem. For this crime 
 alone is the goat sacrificed on 
 all the altars of Bacchus, 
 
 Frigora^nec tantum cana concreta pruina, 376 
 Aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus sestas, 
 Quantum illi nocuere greges, durique venerium 
 Dentis, et admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix. 
 Non aliam ob culpam Baccho caper omnibus 
 aris 380 
 
 <e imde nomen traxere." It is 
 highly probable,, that the good bi- 
 
 shop read bubali in Pliny, instead 
 of the adjective bubuli : and there- 
 fore we cannot infer that the Buffalo 
 was anciently called Bubalus. 
 
 Capreceque sequaces.] It is caprce 
 in the Cambridge, the Bodleian, 
 both the Arundelian, and both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 Servius renders sequaces, persecu- And Dryden : 
 trices. It signifies pursuing with 
 desire ; thus, in the second Eclogue: 
 
 is cestus instead of cestas. See the 
 note on book i. ver. 312. and book 
 ii. ver. 322. 
 
 Servius interprets incumbens sco- 
 pulis, Etiam saxa caloribus penetrans , 
 in which sense he is followed by 
 Ruasus and May : 
 
 And parching suns, that burn the hard- 
 est rocks : 
 
 Nor dog-days' parching heat, that splits 
 the rocks : 
 
 Florentem cytisum scqultur lasciva ca- 
 
 pella, 
 Te Cory don o Alexi : trahit sua quemque 
 
 voluptas. 
 
 376. Frigora nee tantum, fyc] 
 <c He now explains more fully what 
 f* he had said before, and shews 
 ee what are those cruel winters, 
 cc what the powerful suns, what the 
 <c injury of beasts. As if he should 
 ee say, I said that the cattle did 
 <c more harm to vineyards than 
 " cruel winters, or scorching suns : 
 c< for neither the colds stiff with 
 <f hoary frost (here is the cruelty of 
 <e winter), nor the burning heats 
 <e beating upon the scorching rocks 
 " (here is the powerful sun), do so 
 " much harm as those cattle : for 
 " their bite is full of poison, and 
 " may be called a scar, or ulcer, 
 " rather than a bite." La Cerda. 
 
 377. Gravis incumbens scopulis 
 arentibus cestas.] In the Cambridge 
 manuscript it is ardentibus instead 
 of arentibus. In the King's, and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it 
 
 And Mr. B- — : 
 
 Not raging heats that pierce through 
 thirsty rocks : 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Nor summer, when it drys and burns 
 the rocks. 
 
 But what harm is it to the vineyards 
 if the rocks are split or burnt with 
 heat ? I take the poet's meaning to 
 be, that vineyards planted on a 
 rocky soil, which therefore suffer 
 most in dry weather, are not so 
 much injured by the most scorching 
 heat, as by the biting of cattle. 
 The poet mentions vineyards being 
 planted in rocks, in ver. 520. 
 
 Et alte 
 
 Mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. 
 
 380. Non aliam ob culpam Baccho 
 caper omnibus aris cceditur.] In one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts we 
 have causam instead of culpam, but 
 culpam is more poetical. 
 
 This seems to be taken from 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 189 
 
 Cseditur, et veteres ineunt proscenia ludi : 
 Praemiaque ingeniis pagos et compita circum 
 
 and the ancient plays come 
 upon the stage: and the 
 Athenians proposed rewards 
 for wit about the villages and 
 cross-ways j 
 
 Varro, who tells us, that the bite 
 
 of goats poisons the vines and 
 
 olives, for which reason goats are 
 
 sacrificed to Bacchus, by way of 
 
 punishment for their crime : " Quse- 
 
 tt dam enim pecudes culturae sunt 
 
 " inimicae, ac veneno, ut istae, quas 
 
 t{ dixisti, caprce. Eae enim omnia 
 
 " novella sata carpendo corrum- 
 
 " punt, non minimum vites, atque 
 
 " oleas. Itaque propterea institu- 
 
 " turn diversa de causa, ut ex ca- 
 
 " prino genere ad alii dei aram 
 
 hostia adduceretur, ad alii non 
 
 sacrificaretur, cum ab eodem odio 
 
 alter videre nollet, alter etiam 
 
 videre pereuntem vellet. Sic 
 
 factum, ut Libero patri repertori 
 
 vitis hirci immolarentur, proinde 
 
 " ut capite darent pcenas. Contra ut 
 
 c ' Minervse caprini generis nihil im- 
 
 <l molarent, propter oleam, quod 
 
 " earn, quam laeserit, fieri dicunt 
 
 ec sterilem. Ejus enim salivam esse 
 
 Ct fructui venenum." 
 
 381. Proscenia.] " The ancient 
 {e theatre was a semicircular build- 
 " ing, appropriated to the acting of 
 " plays, the name being derived 
 " from Stdopxi, to behold. It was 
 " divided into the following parts, 
 ie 1* The Portions, scalce, sedilia: 
 " the rows of sedilia, or seats, were 
 " called cunei, because they were 
 <l formed like wedges, growing nar- 
 " rower, as they came nearer the 
 c< centre of the theatre, and these 
 " were all disposed about the cir- 
 " cumference of the theatre. 2. The 
 " orchestra, so called from o^iTcr^cci, 
 " 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 
 
 t( the dancers and music. 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 
 <c acted upon an elevated place 
 " which was called the pulpitum, or 
 " stage. 4. The scene was the op- 
 "posite part to the audience; 
 " decorated with pictures and co- 
 {C lumns, and originally with trees, 
 " to shade the actors, when they 
 " performed in the open air : so 
 " called from <txjjv«, a shade. 5. The 
 " poscenium, or part behind the 
 " scenes." Ru^eus. 
 
 382. Ingeniis.~\ It is usually 
 printed ingenles, which seems to be 
 an useless epithet in this place. 
 Ruseus refers it to Theseidae, making 
 the sense to be, " the great Athe- 
 tc nians instituted rewards about the 
 " villages and cross-ways." Servius, 
 Grimoaldus, and La Cerda take no 
 notice at all of ingentes. Mr. B — 
 joins it with pagos, and translates 
 them crowded villages. Dr. Trapp 
 in his note says, " sure it belongs 
 " to pagos," but he seems to omit 
 it in his translation : " And all the 
 " roads and villages around." 
 
 1 have put ingeniis instead of ingen- 
 tes on the authority of Pierius, who 
 says it is ingeniis in all the most 
 ancient manuscripts, which he had 
 seen. The poet here alludes to the 
 ancient custom amongst the Greeks 
 of proposing a goat for a prize to 
 him, who should be judged to excel 
 in satirical verse. Thus Horace : 
 
 Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob 
 hircum. 
 
190 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and rejoicing in their cups 
 danced upon the greasy skins 
 in the soft meadows. The 
 Ausonian husbandmen also, 
 who derive their original from 
 Troy, jest in uncouth verses, 
 and with unbounded laugh- 
 ter ; and put on horrid masks 
 made of barks of trees ; and 
 invoke thee, O Bacchus, :in 
 joyful strains, and hang up 
 little soft images to thee on 
 a lofty pine. 
 
 Theseidae posuere, atque inter pocula lasti 
 Mollibus in pratis unctos saluere per utres. 
 Nee non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni 385 
 Versibus incomptis ludunt, risuque soluto ; 
 Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis : 
 Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta, tibique 
 Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu. 
 
 Hence this sort of poetry came to 
 obtain the name of tragedy from 
 rgecyos, a goat, and a^q, a song. 
 There is a line in Horace not much 
 unlike this of Virgil : it is in his 
 first epistle : 
 
 Quis circura pagos, et circum compita 
 victor. 
 
 Pagos."] Pagus seems to be de- 
 rived from znjyjj, a well; because 
 where they found a well, they be- 
 gan to make their habitations. 
 
 383. Theseidaz.] Tragedy had its 
 beginning among the Athenians. 
 Thespis, an Athenian Poet, who 
 was contemporary with Solon, im- 
 proved it, and is commonly said to 
 have invented it: though it was 
 very rude even in his time, as we 
 find in Horace : 
 
 Ignotum Tragicae genus invenisse Ca- 
 
 moenae 
 Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse poemata 
 
 Thespis, 
 Quae canerent agerentque peruncti faeci- 
 
 bus ora. 
 
 Wlien Tliespis first exposed tlie Tragic 
 
 muse. 
 Rude were the actors, and a cart tJie scene, 
 Wliere gliasily faces stained •with lees of 
 
 •wine 
 Frighted tJie children, and amus'd the 
 
 crowd. 
 
 Lord Roscommon. 
 
 It is even now a custom in Italy, 
 for the country people, as they 
 are carrying the grapes home, to 
 tread them in the cart, and, with 
 faces all besmeared, to throw out 
 
 uncouth jests at those who pass by. 
 This seems to bear a great resem- 
 blance to the original of tragedy, as 
 mentioned by Horace. Theseus was 
 king of Athens, and first brought 
 them out of the fields to live in 
 walled towns. Hence they are 
 called Theseida? by Virgil. 
 
 384. Unctos saluere per ulres7\ 
 The utres were bags made of goats' 
 skins, into which they put their 
 wine, as is now practised in the 
 Levant. These skins were blown 
 up like bladders, and besmeared 
 with oil. They were set in the 
 fields, and it was the custom to 
 dance upon them with one leg, at 
 the feasts of Bacchus. The skins 
 being very slippery, the dancers 
 often fell down, which occasioned a 
 great laughter. 
 
 3S5. Ausonii Troja.'] In the 
 King's manuscript it is Ausonii et 
 Troja. 
 
 388. Vocant.] La Cerda reads 
 canunt. 
 
 389. Oscilla.~\ The learned are 
 divided about the meaning of the 
 word oscilla in this place. Some 
 have recourse to the following fable. 
 Bacchus had taught Icarius, an 
 Athenian shepherd, the use of wine, 
 which he communicated to his 
 neighbours. The country people, 
 being exceedingly delighted with 
 this noble liquor, drank of it to 
 excess, and finding themselves dis- 
 ordered, thought they had been 
 poisoned by Icarius, and killed him. 
 His dog returning home to Erigone, 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 191 
 
 Hinc omnis largo pubescit vinea foetu : 390 
 Complentur vallesque cavae, saltusque profundi, 
 Et quocunque deus circum caput egit honestum. 
 Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus houorem 
 Carminibus patriis, lancesque et liba feremus ; 
 Et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram, 395 
 Pinguiaque in verubus torrebimus exta colurnis. 
 
 Hence every vineyard swells 
 with a large produce; and 
 the hollow valleys, and shady 
 groves are filled, wheresoever 
 the god shews his gracious 
 countenance. Therefore we 
 will honour Bacchus with our 
 country verses according to 
 custom, aud offer chargers 
 and holy cakes ; and the sa- 
 cred goat shall be led by the 
 horns and stand at his altar, 
 and we wili roast the fat en- 
 trails on hazel spits. 
 
 the daughter of Icarius, conducted 
 her to the dead body of his master, 
 on the sight of which she hanged 
 herself. Soon after the Athenians 
 were visited with a great pestilence, 
 and their young women running 
 mad hanged themselves. On con- 
 sulting the Oracle they were told, 
 that they must appease the manes 
 of Erigone. This they performed, 
 by tying ropes to the branches of 
 trees and swinging on them, as if 
 they were hanged : and afterwards, 
 many falling down and hurting 
 themselves, they hung up little 
 images instead of themselves. May 
 thinks it alludes to these images : 
 
 And virgin's statues on the lofty pine 
 Did hang. 
 
 Mr. B . understands it of the 
 
 swinging : 
 
 They ride on swings suspended in the 
 wind. 
 
 And Mr. B- 
 
 And indeed there are not wanting 
 
 some commentators, who tell us, it 
 
 was the custom, at the feasts of 
 
 Bacchus, to swing on ropes, and 
 
 play at see-saw like our children. 
 
 Others say the oscilla were bunches 
 
 of flowers in the form of phalli; 
 
 of this opinion is Grimoaldus : " Et 
 
 *' ad risus excitandos imagunculas 
 
 *< appensas arboribus, instar mem- And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 " brorum virilium ore lingerent." 
 
 Ruaeus says they were little earthen 
 
 images of Bacchus, which were 
 
 thought to bestow fertility which 
 
 way soever their faces turned, as 
 
 they were blown about by the 
 wind. In this he is followed by 
 Dryden : 
 
 In jolly hymns they praise the god of 
 
 wine, 
 Whose earthen images adorn the pine : 
 
 And by Dr. Trapp : 
 
 And hang thy little images aloft 
 On a tall pine. 
 
 393. Suum honorem.] Pierius says 
 it is suos konores in some ancient 
 manuscripts, which seems a more 
 grand expression. 
 
 394. Liba.'] The libum was a sort 
 of holy cake, made of flower, honey, 
 and oil, or, according to some, of se- 
 sasum, milk, and honey. 
 
 395. Ductus cornu.] The victims 
 were led with a slack rope to the 
 altar : for if they were reluctant it 
 was thought an ill omen. Dryden 
 therefore is mistaken when he trans- 
 lates this passage, 
 
 — — — And a guilty goat 
 
 Dragged by the horns be to his altars 
 brought. 
 
 And a hallow'd goat 
 
 Dragged by the horns be to his altar 
 brought. 
 
 And at his altar kill the victim goat, 
 Dragged by the horns. 
 
 396. Verubus colunris."] See the 
 note on ver. 299- 
 
192 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 There is yet another labour 
 which belongs to vines, of 
 which there is no end : for 
 the whole ground is to be 
 ploughed three or four times 
 every year, and the clods are 
 continually to be broken with 
 bended drags : all the grove 
 is to be lightened of its leaves. 
 The labour of husbandmen 
 comes round again, and the 
 year rolls round in the same 
 steps. Arid when the vine- 
 yard shall have lost its latest 
 leaves, and the cold north 
 wind shall have deprived the 
 woods of their glory, even 
 then the diligent countryman 
 extends his care to the fol- 
 lowing year, 
 
 Est etiam ille labor curandis vitibus alter, 
 
 Cui nunquam exhausti satis est : namque omne 
 
 quotannis 
 Terque quaterque solum scindendum, glebaque 
 
 versis 
 iEternum frangenda bidentibus: omne levandum 
 Fronde nemus. Redit agricolis labor actus in 
 
 orbem, 401 
 
 Atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus. 
 Ac jam olim seras posuit cum vinea frondes, 
 Frigidus et sylvis Aquilo decussit honorem ; 
 Jam turn acer curas venientem extendit in annum 
 
 397. Est etiam, fyc] He now re- 
 turns to the vineyards, and shews 
 what labour farther attends the cul- 
 ture of them, in frequent digging, 
 dressing, and pruning. 
 
 399. Versis bidentibus. ~\ I have 
 shewn what instrument the bidens 
 is, in the note on ver. 355. I take 
 the epithet versis in this place to 
 signify bent ; for the drag is like a 
 long-tined pitchfork, with the tines 
 bent downwards, almost with right 
 angles. 
 
 400. Omne levandum fronde ne- 
 mus.] It is usual to thin the leaves, 
 to give the sun a greater power to 
 ripen the fruit; 
 
 402. In se sua per vestigia volvitur 
 annus] Annus is said by some to 
 be derived from annulus 3 a ring: 
 though the contrary seems more 
 probable. The hieroglyphical re- 
 presentation of the year is a serpent 
 rolled in a circle with his tail in 
 his mouth. 
 
 403. Et] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is at : in the King's 
 and in some printed editions it is ac. 
 
 Seras posuit cum vinea frondes.] 
 Columella says the vineyard should 
 begin to be pruned about the begin- 
 ning of our October, if the weather 
 
 be fair and mild, and the equinoc- 
 tial rains have preceded, and the 
 shoots have acquired a just degree 
 of ripeness: for a dry season re- 
 quires the pruning to be later: 
 " Placet ergo, si mitis, ac tempe- 
 " rata permittit in ea regione, quam 
 " colimus, cseli dementia, facta vin- 
 Ct demia, secundum idus Octobris, 
 " auspicari putationem, cum tamen 
 ** equinoctiales pluviae praecesserint, 
 " et sarmenta justam maturitatem 
 " ceperint, nam siccitas seriorem 
 " putationem facit." 
 
 404. Frigidus et sylvis Aquilo de- 
 cussit honorem] " Tins entire line 
 " is taken from Varro Atacinus." 
 Fulv. Ursin. 
 
 405. Curas venientem extendit in 
 annum.] This autumnal pruning is 
 really providing for the next year. 
 Thus Columella: " Quandocunque 
 " igitur vinitor hoc opus obibit, tria 
 " prascipue custodiat. Primum ut 
 11 quam maxime fructui consulat : 
 " deinde, ut in annum sequentem 
 " quam laetissimas jam hinc eligat 
 IC materias : turn etiam ut quam lon- 
 " gissimam perennitatem stirpi ac- 
 " quirat. Nam quicquid ex his 
 " omittitur, magnum affert domino 
 " dispendium." 
 
GEORG. JLIB. II. 
 
 193 
 
 Rusticus, et curvo Saturni dente relictam 
 Persequitur vitem attondens, fingitque putando. 
 Primus Iiumum fodito, primus devecta cremato 
 Sarmenta, et vallos primus sub tecta referto : 409 
 Postremus metito. Bis vitibus ingruit umbra : 
 Bis segetem densis obducunt sentibus herbae: 
 Durus uterque labor. Laudato ingentia rura : 
 
 and persecutes the naked vine 
 with Saturn's hook, and forms 
 it by pruning. Be the first to 
 dig the ground, be the first 
 to ourn the shoots which you 
 have cut off, and be tlie hrst 
 to carry the stakes home; 
 be the last to gather. Twice 
 does shade overgrow the vin es . 
 Twice do weeds, and bushea 
 over-run the ground : both 
 these require great labour. 
 Commend a large farm, 
 
 406 . Rusticus.] Pierius says it is 
 agricola in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 Curvo Saturni dente.] Saturn is 
 represented with a sickle in his 
 hand. The ancient pruning knife 
 seems to have been larger than 
 what we use, and perhaps was the 
 very same instrument with that 
 which they used in reaping. Both 
 are called falx. 
 
 Relictam vitem.~\ I have trans- 
 lated it the naked vine; that part 
 which is left, when all the fruit is 
 gathered, and the leaves are fallen 
 off. Servius interprets it that which 
 the husbandman had left a little be- 
 fore : " scilicet a se paulo ante de- 
 " sertam." In this sense Mr. B — 
 has translated it : 
 
 He seeks the vine which he had just 
 
 forsook. 
 
 Ruseus interprets it nudatam vitem, 
 in which he is followed by Dryden : 
 
 Ev'n then the naked vine he persecutes. 
 
 Dr. Trapp has not translated relic~ 
 tarn : but in his note ne says " re- 
 " lictam ; i. e. aliquandiu neglectam. 
 " Ruaeus renders it by nudatam; 
 " which is very strange." 
 
 407. Persequitur vitem attondens, 
 Jingitque putando.'] In one of Dr. 
 
 Mead's manuscripts it is prosequitur 
 instead of persequitur. 
 
 Grimoaldus, La Cerda, Ruaeus, 
 and some others understand this verse 
 not to mean only pruning, but to 
 consist of two parts. They inter- 
 
 pret vitem attondens to mean the 
 cutting off the roots which grow 
 near the surface of the ground, or 
 day roots, which the Romans called 
 ablaqueatio. Columella speaks of 
 this at large, in lib. iv. c. 8. Dr. 
 Trapp translates it lops. 
 
 410. Metito.~\ Messis and meto 
 are used for the gathering in of any 
 produce ; as well as for harvest and 
 reaping. Virgil applies messis, in 
 the fourth Georgick, to the taking 
 of the honey : duo tempora messis. 
 
 Bis vitibus ingruit umbra.~\ The 
 vines are twice overloaded with 
 leaves : therefore they must be 
 pruned twice in a year. He means 
 the summer dressing, when the 
 young shoots are to be nipped with 
 the fingers; and the autumnal 
 pruning. 
 
 412. Laudato ingentia rura, exi- 
 guum colito.] This is an imitation 
 of the following Verse of Hesiod : 
 
 N? okty/iv a/vs/v, fjt,iyu.Xn B* iv) Qogria 9i- 
 
 The meaning of the Poet seems to 
 be, that you may admire the splen- 
 dor of a large vineyard, but that 
 you had better cultivate a small 
 one: because the labour of culti- 
 vating vines is so great, that the 
 master cannot extend his care over 
 a very large spot of ground. Colu- 
 mella relates a story from Graecinus, 
 in confirmation of this. A man had 
 two daughters, and a large vine- 
 vard, of which he gave a third part 
 2c 
 
194 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 but cultivate a small one. The T? •.,;,»„.!»„ /,a1;.„ XT 
 
 rough twigs also of butchers n«xiguum coJiio. i\ec non etiam aspera rusci 
 
 with the eldest daughter in mar- 
 riage : and yet he gathered as much 
 fruit as he did before. Afterwards 
 he married the younger daughter, 
 with another third for her portion ; 
 and still found that his remaining 
 third part produced as much as the 
 whole had done : which could arise 
 from no other cause, than that he 
 was able to cultivate a third part 
 better than the whole vineyard be- 
 fore it was divided. " Idque non 
 " solum ratione, sed etiam exemplo 
 •' nobis idem Graecinus declarat eo 
 " libro, quem de vineis scripsit, 
 " cum refert ex patre suo saepe se 
 " audire solitum Paridium quendam 
 " Veterensem vicinum suum duas 
 " filias, et vineis consitum habuisse 
 " fundum, cujus partem tertiam 
 " nubenti majori filiae dedisse in 
 " dotem, ac nihilo minus aeque mag- 
 " nos fructus ex duabus partibus 
 " ejusdem fundi percipere solitum. 
 w Minorem deinde filiam nuptui 
 *■ collocasse in dimidia parte reliqui 
 •* agri. Nee sic ex pristino reditu 
 n detraxisse. Quod quid conjicit? 
 * r nisi melius scilicet postea cultam 
 *• esse tertiam illam fundi partem, 
 •* quam antea universam." The 
 same author mentions this precept 
 of the poet with great commenda- 
 tion, and says it was taken from a 
 saying of one of the seven wise 
 men, and that it was a proverb of 
 the Carthaginians, that a jield might 
 io be weaker than ike husbandman. 
 He adds, that, after the expulsion 
 of the kings, seven acres was the 
 allowance to each person, from 
 which they derived more profit, 
 than they did in his time from 
 large plantations : " Nos ad caetera 
 " praecepta illud adjicimus, quod 
 *' sapiens unus de septem in per- 
 " petuum posteritati pronuntiavit, 
 
 " ftirpv uprov, adhibendum modum 
 " mensuramque rebus, idque ut non 
 " solum aliud acturis, sed et agrum 
 " paraturis dictum intelligatur, ne 
 " majorem quam ratio calculorum 
 " patiatur, emere velit : nam hue 
 " pertinet praeclara nostri poeta? 
 u sententia: 
 
 Laudato ingentia rura, 
 
 '* Exiguum colito. 
 
 " Quod vir eruditissimus, ut mea 
 " fert opinio, traditum vetus prse- 
 " ceptum numeris signavit: quippe 
 a acutissimam gentem Pcenos dixisse 
 " convenit, Imbecilliorem agrum, 
 " quam agricolam esse debere : quo- 
 " niam cum sit colluctandum cum 
 u eo, si fundus praevaleat, allidi do- 
 " minum. Nee dubium quin minus 
 " reddat laxus ager non recte cul- 
 " tus, quam angustus eximie. Ideo- 
 " que post reges exactos Liciniana 
 " ilia septena jugera, quae plebis 
 " tribunus viritim diviserat, majores 
 " quaestus antiquis retulere, quam 
 " nunc nobis praebent amplissima 
 " vervacta." 
 
 413. Aspera rusci vimina.~] We 
 learn from Pliny that the rusciis is 
 the same with the oxymyrsine : 
 " Castor oxymyrsinen myrti foliis 
 " acutis, ex qua flunt ruri scopae, 
 " r u scum vocavit." Oxymyrsine 
 signifies sharp-pointed myrtle; and 
 is therefore the same with the xs»- 
 Tge^yp p/v>j, or prickly myrtle of 
 Theophrastus, to which he com- 
 pares the Alexandrian laurel, on ac- 
 count of the berries growing upon 
 the leaves : "ih* 2i xxt rxh vt^l tjj* 
 v l$Y)v Iriv, oiov tj n 'AXi^xvdptuc xxhov- 
 fihn dctQvtij xxt crvKti rU *cu iipxtXf. 
 t?$ fclv out ^as^yjjs h rovrm to 'Hiiti, cri 
 iiri(PvXX6Kei£irov lew, wo-iri^ xxt n xtvrgo- 
 fAvpfivq. aptyoTS^xt yxg rot XMgjro* i%w- 
 <ra> ix tj»? fxyfiOK; r *v QvXhov. DlOSCO- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 195 
 
 Vimina per sylvam, et ripis fluvialis arundo 
 Caeditur, ineultique exercet cura salicti. 415 
 Jam vinctae vites : jam falcem arbusta reponunt; 
 Jam canit extremos efFoetus vinitor antes: 
 Sollicitanda tamen tellus, pulvisque movendus, 
 Et jam maturis metuendus Jupiter uvis. 419 
 Contra, non ulla est oleis cultura : neque illae 
 
 broom must be cut in the 
 woods, and the watery reed on 
 the banks, nor must you neg- 
 lect the uncultivated willows. 
 Now the vines are tied, now 
 the trees no longer require 
 the hook; now the weary 
 dresser sings about the utmost 
 rows ; yet the earth must be 
 turned up, and the dust stir- 
 red, and Jupiter is to be feared, 
 even When the grapes are 
 quite ripe. On the contrary, 
 the olives require no culture, 
 nor do they 
 
 rides plainly enough describes our 
 butcher s broom under the name of 
 ptv^Ttvn aypix, or wild myrtle. He 
 says the leaves are like those of 
 myrtle, but broader, pointed like a 
 spear, and sharp. The fruit is 
 round, growing on the middle of 
 the leaf, red when ripe, and having 
 a bony kernel. Many stalks rise 
 from the same root, a cubit high, 
 bending, hard to break, arid full of 
 leaves. The root is like that of 
 dog's grass, of a sour taste and bit- 
 terish. It grows in wild and craggy 
 places : Mt/g<r/v)j aygix to ph (pvXXov 
 fiV£trivYi lyjn ofiaiov, zrXxTvn^ov 2s, Xoy- 
 %oudi$, o£v in ctKgov. rov £s xxf>7rbv ?(>oy- 
 yvXov, Iv (*t<ra> %i ra znroLXcp zn^Qiey, 
 t(>v$gh iv rS ■zri7ro&t'vtT$xt, t^ovrx ra biros 
 Waioit;. xXavt'x Xvycitciyi zroXXx be r*ig 
 ft£ns xvrUg Dvtr^xv^x, ocrov srvi^zu^ (f>vX- 
 Xeav f&trx' pt'^xv 7rx£X7r\Yi<rtxv dy^co^u, 
 ytvopzvcp ?(>vQv}>v, V7ro7rtx£ov .... tyvirxi 
 h T£x%i<ri roicotq xxi xQHpw'tinrt. The 
 butcher's broom is so called, be- 
 cause our butchers make use of it 
 to sweep their stalls. It grows in 
 woods and bushy places. In Italy 
 they frequently make brooms of it. 
 I suppose it was used to bind their 
 vines in Virgil's time, by its being 
 mentioned in this place. 
 
 414. Sylvam.'] It is sylvas in the 
 King's manuscript. 
 
 416. Jam vinctce vites, &c.J He 
 concludes this passage with shew- 
 ing that the labour of cultivating 
 vineyards is perpetual. He has al- 
 ready mentioned a frequent digging 
 
 of the ground; the summer and au- 
 tumn pruning; and the tying of 
 the vines. Now he observes, that 
 when all this is performed, and the 
 labour might seem to be ended 
 with the vintage, yet the ground is 
 still to be stirred and broken to 
 dust; and that storms are to be 
 feared even when the grapes are 
 ripe. 
 
 In the King's, and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, it is junctcs in- 
 stead of vinctce. 
 
 417. Jam canit extremos effcetus 
 vinitor antes.] It is effectos in the 
 Bodleian, and effectus in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. Pierius says 
 it is 
 
 Jam canit effectos extremus vinitor antes 
 
 in the Roman manuscript ; and ca- 
 nit effcetus extremos in the Lombard, 
 and in the Medicean manuscripts. 
 
 420. Contra, non ulla est, &c/] 
 Having shewed the great labour 
 which attends the care of a vine- 
 yard ; he now opposes the olive to 
 it, which requires hardly any cul- 
 ture. He says the same of other 
 fruit trees, and mentions the wild 
 plants, which are produced abun- 
 dantly ; and thence he infers, that 
 if nature affords us so many useful 
 plants, we ought not to be back- 
 ward in planting, and bestowing 
 our own labour. 
 
 In the Bodleian manuscript it is 
 nonnulla, Servius mentions this read- 
 ing. But it seems to be making 
 2 C 2 
 
196 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 421 
 
 £Krong e hm°ows d ; when* Procurvam expectant falcem, rastrosque te 
 
 once they have taken root 
 
 in the rie'ds, and stood naces 
 
 the blasts. The earth itself 
 
 affords sufficient moisture, Cum semel hagserunt arvis, aurasque tulerunt 
 
 when it is opened with the 
 hooked drag, 
 
 Ipsa satis tellus, cum dente recluditur unco, 
 
 the Poet guilty of a very poor ex- 
 pression to say, Vines require a great 
 deal of culture; but, on the contrary, 
 olives require some. 
 
 Virgil does not say in this pas- 
 sage, that olives require no culture 
 at all j but that they have no occa- 
 sion for any, after they have once 
 taken to the ground, and grown 
 strong. They have no occasion for 
 harrows, and pruning hooks; and 
 need only a little breaking of the 
 ground, and some ploughing. Co- 
 lumella does not greatly differ from 
 the Poet. He says no tree requires 
 so much culture as the vine, or so 
 little as the olive. " Omnis tamen 
 " arboris cultus simplicior, quam 
 " vinearum est, longeque ex omni- 
 " bus stirpibus minorem impensam 
 " desiderat olea, quae prima om- 
 " nium arborum est, nam quamvis 
 " non continuis annis, sed fere al- 
 u tero quoque fructum afferat, exi- 
 " mia tamen ejus ratio est, quod 
 " levi cultu sustinetur, et cum se 
 " non induit, vix ullam impensam 
 "poscit: sed et siquam recipit, 
 " subinde fructus multiplicat : neg- 
 " lecta compluribus annis non ut 
 " vinea deficit, eoque ipso tempore 
 " aliquid etiam interim patrifami- 
 " lias praestat, et cum adhibita cul- 
 " tura est, uno anno emendatur." 
 
 423. Ipsa satis tellus, &c] These 
 two lines have been as variously in- 
 terpreted as any passage in Virgil. 
 Servius takes satis to mean the 
 planted olives ; vomere to be put for 
 per vomerem ; and fruges for corn. 
 Thus according to him, the sense 
 will be this : An olive-yard, when it 
 is ploughed, affords both moisture to 
 
 the planted olives, and yields corn 
 also by means of the share. In this 
 he is exactly followed by Grimoal- 
 dus, except that he interprets dente 
 linco a spade, and he paraphrases it 
 thus : lf Olivetum, si ligone foditur, 
 " ad oleas, cseterasque in eo satas 
 <c arbores irrigandas aptum reddi- 
 " tur, sin aratro quoque vertatur, 
 *' non olivarium modo, sed frumen- 
 " tarium etiam fieri poterit." May's 
 translation is to the same purpose: 
 
 The earth itselfe, when furrow'd by the 
 plough, 
 
 Doth food enough on her, and corne be- 
 stow. 
 
 La Cerda takes dente unco and vo- 
 mere to be only two expressions for 
 the plough-share : he contends that 
 satis is the adverb, and that fruges 
 means the fruit of the olives : "Nam 
 <( tellus ipsa quocunque aratro, quo- 
 " cunque vomere invertatur (adeo 
 " non necessarii rastri) praebet hu- 
 " morem, qui satis ad oleas. IUud 
 " gravida? fruges sunt ipsissimse 
 
 " oleae Male enim aliqui per 
 
 "fruges capiunt frumenta. Male 
 " etiam per vocem satis accipiunt 
 " sata, cum hie sit adverbium." 
 Ruaeus follows Servius as to satis, 
 and Grimoaldus as to dente unco; 
 but he gives quite a new interpre- 
 tation of cum vomere : " Id est sta- 
 " tim atque aperitur vomere, sine 
 " mora, producit fructus. Exag- 
 " geratio, qua? certum et celerem 
 " proventiun indicat." Dr. Trapp 
 approves of this new interpretation : 
 
 The earth itself, when by the biting 
 
 share 
 Upturn'd, sufficient moisture will supply; 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 197 
 
 Sufficit humorem, et gravidas cum vomere 
 
 fruges : 
 Hoc pinguem et placitam paci nutritor olivam. 
 Poma quoque, ut primum truncos sensere va- 
 
 lentes, 426 
 
 Et vires liabuere suas, ad sidera raptim 
 Vi propria nituntur, opisque haud indiga nostras. 
 Nee minus interea fcetu nemus omne gravescit, 
 Sanguineisque inculta rubent aviaria baccis. 430 
 Tondentur cytisi ; taedas sylva alta ministrat, 
 
 and weighty fruits when it is 
 turned up with the share. 
 Thus do thou nurse the fat 
 and peaceful olive. Fruit- 
 trees also as soon as they are 
 ingrafted on strong trunks, 
 and have acquired their pro- 
 per strength, quickly shoot up 
 to the stars, by their own 
 force, and stand in no need 
 of our help. At the same 
 time all the forests bend with 
 fruit, and the uncultivated 
 habitations of birds glow with 
 red berries. The Cytisus is 
 cut, the tall wood afford* 
 torches, 
 
 And full fruit, with the labour of the plough 
 Coeval. 
 
 " For that," says he, " is the mean- 
 44 ing of cum vomere. Hyperb. al- 
 " most as soon as, fyc." As for sa- 
 tis, I think the sense is much the 
 same, whether we take it to be the 
 noun or the adverb. Dente unco I 
 take to mean the bidens or drag, 
 spoken of before, which is used in 
 the culture of olives, according to 
 Columella, to break and loosen the 
 ground, that the sun may not pierce 
 through the chinks, and hurt the 
 roots : " Sed id minime bis anno* 
 " arari debet, et bidentibus alte cir- 
 " cumfodiri. Nam post solstitium 
 " cum terra aestibus hiat, curandum 
 " est, ne per rimas sol ad radices 
 " arborum penetret." I do not find 
 that it was usual to sow corn 
 amongst the olives, but ploughing 
 the ground was universally thought 
 to increase their product : therefore 
 I agree with La Cerda, that fruges 
 means the fruits of the olive, and 
 not corn. I take the sense of these 
 lines to be this ; " If you break the 
 " ground with drags, it will keep 
 * f the sun from drying the roots, 
 " and the earth, being loosened, 
 " will let as much moisture soak to 
 " them as is sufficient : and if you 
 " plough the ground you will have 
 " a greater crop of olives." Mr. 
 
 has translated it in this 
 
 The earth herself the plants supplies 
 
 with juice, 
 If crooked teeth once make her surface 
 
 loose : 
 But floods of oil from swelling berries 
 
 flow, 
 If ploughs unlock her richer soil below. 
 
 Dryden has taken no notice of dente 
 unco in his translation: 
 
 The soil itself due nourishment supplies; 
 Plough but the furrows, and the fruits 
 arise. 
 
 425. Hoc] Hoc seems to relate 
 
 to vomere, as Mr. B observes : 
 
 it is usually interpreted propter hoc. 
 
 426. Poma.'] I take this to belong 
 to fruit-trees in general. Colu- 
 mella, in his chapter De arboribus 
 pomiferis, speaks of figs, pome- 
 granates, apples, pears, mulberries, 
 and several other sorts of fruits. 
 The poet says they require no care 
 but ingrafting ; for that is the sense 
 of truncos sensere valentes. Ad si- 
 dera raptim vi propria nituntur is 
 much the same expression as 
 
 Exiit in calum ramis felicibus arbos. 
 
 429. Nee minus, fyc] Here he 
 speaks of wild trees, which grow 
 in the woods. 
 
 431. Tondentur cytisi.] A consi- 
 derable number of different plants 
 
98 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 f^aSls^SSThiir^ght! 16 Pascunturque ignes nocturni, et lumina fun- 
 dunt. 
 
 have been supposed by different 
 authors to be the cytisus here spoken 
 of: but the Cytisus Maranthce is 
 generally allowed to be the plant. 
 We can gather nothing certain from 
 what Virgil has said about it. He 
 mentions goats as being very fond 
 of it, in the first Eclogue : 
 
 . Non me pascente capells 
 Florentem cytisum, et salices carpetis 
 
 And in the second : 
 
 Torva leaena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse 
 
 capellam : 
 Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva ca- 
 
 pella : 
 Te Corydon, o Alexi : 
 
 which seems to be an imitation of 
 the following lines, in the tenth 
 Idyllium of Theocritus : 
 
 "A a/| rov xutio-ov, o Xvxo$ rav tuya owxu, 
 "A yigavos reagorgo*, tyat V W) riv fiifzd- 
 vy/zxt. 
 
 The Greek Poet also mentions the 
 goats as eating cytisus, in the fifth 
 Idyllium : 
 
 Tai ft\v iftai xvriffov rt xmi alytXot aiytt 
 
 In the ninth Eclogue the cytisus is 
 mentioned as increasing milk : 
 
 Sic cytiso pastae distentent ubera vaccae : 
 
 And in the third Georgick : 
 
 At cui lactis amor, cytisum, lotosque 
 
 frequentes 
 Ipse manu, salsasque ferat praesepibus 
 
 herbas. 
 
 In the tenth Eclogue it is spoken 
 of as grateful to bees : 
 
 Nee lacrymis crudelis amor, nee grdmina 
 rivis, 
 
 Nee cytiso saturantur apes, nee fronde 
 capellae. 
 
 From these passages we collect, 
 that the cytisus was grateful to bees 
 and goats, and productive of milk; 
 but nothing with regard to the 
 description of the plant itself. Let 
 us examine now, what Theophras- 
 tus has said of it, which is very 
 little. In the ninth chapter of the 
 first book of his History of Plants, 
 he says the wood of the cytisus is 
 hard and thick : AtxQ'^ovo-i & xxi rx7g 
 ff.iirqot.ii; .... tovtwv %\ irt crxXn^on^xi 
 
 XXI ■ZS-VXVOTtgXl, XPXHXg, 7T(>lV0Vj 0(>vog, 
 
 xvrirov, <rvxxplvM, IZ'zvov, Xurov. He 
 says the same in the fourth chap- 
 ter of the fifth book, and adds, that 
 it comes nearest to ebony : vvxvotxtx 
 
 uiv ovv doxi7 xxt (ZxevrxTX 7rviog utxi 
 xxi tvivog' ovoz yxQ ski rov voxrog rxvr 
 hetm, xxt *> ph zrv%og dXn. rtig 21 iSgvat/ 
 
 Yi UVTgX h Yj XXI *) 70V ^COfAXTOg If l fli- 
 
 Xxvix. rcSv ci' xXXav o Xonog' -zrvxvov dl 
 xxt Yi Tijg d(>vog f*vri>x, qv xxXovtri wXxf- 
 dgvov xxt 'in fcecXXov t) tov xvria-ov' 
 7rcc(>oiioiX. y«g xvm 2oxi7 77} g€s»» ItlXl. 
 
 This hardness, like ebony, agrees 
 very well with the Cytisus Maran- 
 thce, when the plant is grown old ; 
 for the Turks make the handles of 
 their sabres of it, and the monks 
 of Patmos their beads. In the 
 twentieth chapter of the fourth book 
 he says it kills most other plants, 
 but that it is itself destroyed by 
 the Halimus: XxXinog Tixx\ o xvrnrcg, 
 
 XTTOXXVFl yXQ 7TXT>y 0)g U7Ti7)l. 'kVfcVpU 
 
 tspov 21 rovrov ro ecXtpov, xttoXXvg-i y«g 
 tov xvriercv. It may destroy other 
 plants by drawing away the nou- 
 rishment from them. Dioscorides 
 says it is a white shrub, like the 
 Rhamnus, with branches a cubit 
 long or longer, clothed with leaves 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 199 
 
 Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere ffiflS^bSSSSiSSJ 
 
 o Why should I speak of greater 
 
 CUralll f things r willows, and humble 
 
 _ . . . _ .. . .. hroom afford either browze for 
 
 Quid majora sequarr sauces, humilesque ge- thecattie, 
 nistae, 
 
 like those of fenugreek, or birds- 
 foot trefoil, only less, and having a 
 larger rib. When they are rubbed 
 with the fingers, they smell like 
 rocket, and have a taste like green 
 
 chiches : KvTicerog Sccftvos Wi tevKog 
 •Aoj uq jixuvog. K^xdovg ocvteig rni%vett- 
 ov$ xx$ ftiifyvccg' Trip) ovg rx QvXXx, 
 ofAotec riiXidi, n Xura TfftQvXXat, (aik^otiqx 
 $i kxi $ec%i9 %%ovrx piu'^ovx' iv n ra elix- 
 Tg&WXt To7$ $XKTVX0l$ o^ovrx iv£apov. 
 Iv 21 ry yivcru opotx lf>i&tv$ots %\c*f>o7f. 
 This also agrees with the Cytisus 
 Maranthce : for the leaves are tri- 
 foliated, and smell very like rocket, 
 especially about Naples, and the 
 plant is very hoary in its native 
 soil. Columella speaks only of the 
 use of it, as an excellent fodder, 
 causing abundance of milk, and 
 being useful also to hens and bees. 
 Pliny tells us, that Amphilochus 
 wrote a whole book about the me- 
 dica, and the cytisus : " Unum de 
 " ea, et cytiso volumen Amphilo- 
 " chus fecit confusim." He says it 
 is a shrub, and greatly commended 
 by Aristomachus, the Athenian, as 
 a good fodder : " Frutex est et cy- 
 tc tisus, ab Aristomacho Atheniensi 
 " miris laudibus praedicatus pabulo 
 «' ovium, aridus vero etiam suum." 
 Then he enlarges upon the uses of 
 it in increasing milk, and says it is 
 hoary, and has the appearance of 
 a shrubby trefoil, with narrower 
 leaves : " Cahus aspectu, breviter- 
 " que siquis exprimere similitudi- 
 " nem velit, angustioris trifolii fru- 
 " tex." The Cytisus Maranthce is 
 the Cytisus incanus, siliquis falcatis 
 of C. Bauhin, and the Medicago 
 trifolia, frutescens, incanaof Tourne- 
 fort. 
 
 May translates cytisi, low shrubs, 
 and Dryden, vile shrubs are shorn 
 for browze : but the cytisus was so 
 far from being accounted a vile 
 shrub, that it was in the highest 
 esteem amongst the ancients. Mr. 
 
 B paraphrases these two words, 
 
 tondentur cytisi : 
 
 The Cytisus, with constant verdure 
 
 crown'd 
 Oft feels the hook, and shoots at ev'ry 
 
 wound. 
 
 Tcedas sylva alia minislrat.] 
 Torches were made of any combus- 
 tible wood. Pliny mentions a sort 
 of pine or fir, under the name of 
 tceda, which was chiefly made use 
 of at sacrifices : " Sextum genus est 
 " taeda proprie dicta : abundantior 
 " succo quam reliqua, parcior liqui- 
 ff diorque quam picea, flammis ac 
 " lumini sacrorum etiam grata." 
 
 432. Pascunturque ignes nocturni.] 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is Pascuntur nocturni ignes. 
 
 4:33. Et dubitant homines serere 
 atque impendere curam.] Fulvius 
 Ursinus says this whole verse is 
 wanting in the old Colotian manu- 
 script. 
 
 It is curas in some editions. 
 
 434. Quid majora sequarJ] Here 
 he speaks of the great use of several 
 sorts of trees ; and concludes with 
 giving them the preference to the 
 vine. 
 
 Humilesque genistce.'] Mr. B— 
 
 translates genistce, furze, and says 
 he has taken the liberty to para- 
 phrase a little upon genista?, sepem- 
 que satis et pabula melli sufficiunt, 
 because he has seen so much of 
 the use of that plant in both these 
 respects : 
 
200 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ZtmS f« the ep Ss S ; Aut illae pecori frondem, aut pastoribus urn- 
 
 and food for bees. It is de- , 
 
 bras 435 
 
 lightful to behold Cytorus 
 waving with box, 
 
 Sufficiunt ; sepemque satis, et pabula melli. 
 Et juvat undantem buxo spectare Cytorum, 
 
 The willow, and the furze, an humble 
 plant 
 
 To husbandmen afford no trivial aid ; 
 
 That to the sheep gives food, to shep- 
 herds shade : 
 . This covers with strong lines the wealthy 
 fields, 
 
 And early fother to the bee-fold yields. 
 
 It is certain that furze is frequently 
 ' used as a fence, and the flowers 
 are sought after by the bees: but 
 it is no less certain that the furze 
 was never called genista by any 
 ancient Latin writer. See the note 
 on lentceque genista? , ver. 12. 
 
 435. Aut illce.] Servius says 
 many read et tilice. 
 
 Umbras.] So I read with Hein- 
 sius. Pierius says it is umbras in 
 all the ancient manuscripts. I find 
 it so in all those which I have col- 
 lated. La Cerda, Ruaeus, and se- 
 veral other editors have umbram. 
 
 437. Undantem buxo Cytorum.~\ 
 Servius says Cytorus is a mountain 
 of Macedonia: but, according to 
 Pliny, it belongs to Paphlagonia: 
 " Ultra quern gens Paphlagonia, 
 " quam Pylaemeniam aliqui dixe- 
 " runt, inclusam a tergo Galatia. 
 " Oppidum Mastya Milesiorum, 
 " deinde Cromna. Quo loco He- 
 lc netos adjicit Nepos Cornelius, a 
 " quibus in Italia ortos cognomines 
 " eorum Venetos credi postulat. 
 " Sesamum oppidum, quod nunc 
 " Amastris. Mons Cytorus, a Tio 
 " lxiii M. pass/' Ruaeus says it is 
 a city and mountain of Galatia, on 
 the borders of Paphlagonia. Strabo 
 indeed speaks of a city of that 
 name, but he places it in Paphla- 
 gonia, and neither he, nor Pliny, 
 mention either a town or moun- 
 
 tain of that name in their accounts 
 of Galatia. Cytorus was very fa- 
 mous for box. Thus Theophrastus : 
 
 H oz irv^os (tiy'&u (a\v tv fAiyoiXq. ro 2$ 
 
 QvXXov OfttlOV 'i%il flvpQLVU. QviTui 3' i» 
 to7? "^v^oTg T07roi<; kcc} T£et%jl<rt. xaii yol(> 
 roi Kvra^a, roiovrov, ov sj kMi'tyi ymreti. 
 He immediately adds that Olympus 
 of Macedonia is cold, for it grows 
 there also, though not very large, 
 but the largest and fairest trees of 
 it are in Cyrene : tyv%i*s ^ • "OAvft- 
 
 nos MoiKtoovutos, Kxi yccg ivTxu&ec yi- 
 vovroii. ttXviv ov piyxXoi. ftiyiroi 21 Kott 
 
 xoiwtroi iv Kvgjjv*!. Perhaps Servius 
 read this passage negligently, and 
 finding Macedonia mentioned, put 
 down Cytorus, as a mountain of 
 that country. Pliny says box grows 
 in great plenty on the Fyrenean 
 hills, and on Cytorus, and on Be- 
 recynthus : u , Buxus Pyrenaeis, a 
 " Cytoro montibus plurima, ac Be- 
 " recynthio tractu." La Cerda 
 thinks we should read Cyrenais or 
 Cyrenis, in Pliny, instead of Pyre- 
 nceis, according to the last quotation 
 from Theophrastus. But Robert 
 Constantine, and other learned cri- 
 tics think xvgm is an error in the 
 copies of Theophrastus, and that it 
 should be xv^vot, Corsica. It is cer- 
 tain, that Pliny uses Corsica, where 
 the editions of Theophrastus have 
 xi/g«v*i : " Crassissima in Corsica . . • 
 " Haec in Olympo Macedonia? gra- 
 " cilior, sed brevis." And besides 
 it is not probable, that Theophras- 
 tus, after he had said the box flou- 
 rished most in cold places, would 
 say that it grew fairest and strong- 
 est m Cyrene, a country of the 
 scorching Lybia. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 201 
 
 Naryciseque picis lucos : juvat arva viderc 
 Non rastris, hominum non ulli obnoxia curae. 
 Ipsae Caucaseo steriles in vertice sylvae, 440 
 Quas animosi Euri assidue franguntque ferunt- 
 
 que, 
 Dant alios alias fetus : dant utile lignum 
 Navigiis pinos, domibus cedrumque cupressos- 
 
 que. 
 
 and the groves of Narycian 
 pitch ; it is delightful to see 
 fields that are not obliged to 
 harrows, or any care ofmen. 
 Even the barren woods on the 
 top of Caucasus, which the 
 strong east winds continually 
 tear and rend, give each of 
 them their different produce ; 
 jjive pines for ships, and ce- 
 dars and cypresses for house*. 
 
 438. Naryciceque picis lucos.'] Na- 
 ryx or Narycium was a city of the 
 Locrians, in that part of Italy, 
 which is over-against Greece. They 
 are mentioned in the third iEneid, 
 where Helenus, who reigned in 
 Epirus, advises iEneas to avoid that 
 part of Italy, which is washed by 
 the Ionian sea : 
 
 Has autem terras, Italique hanc littoris 
 
 oram 
 Effuge : cuncta malis habitantur moenia 
 
 Graiis. 
 Hie et Narycii posuerunt moenia Locri. 
 Let not thy course to that ill coastle lent, 
 Which fronts from far th y Epirian conti- 
 nent ; 
 Those parts are all ly Grecian foes pos- 
 sessed : 
 Narycian Locrians here the shores infest. 
 Dryden. 
 Servius reads Maricice. 
 
 439- Non rastris, hominum non 
 ulli obnoxia curce.~\ Almost all the 
 editors point this verse thus : 
 
 Non rastris hominum, non ulli obnoxia 
 curse, 
 
 which is very strange. Fields not 
 obliged to harrows of men, or to any 
 
 care. Mr. B is the first who 
 
 places the comma after rastris, 
 which must certainly be the right 
 pointing. In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts we read non nulli. 
 
 440. Caucaseo.'] Caucasus is a 
 famous ridge of mountains running 
 from the Black Sea to the Caspian. 
 Strabo says it abounds with all sorts 
 of trees, especially those which are 
 
 used in building ships : Evhv^^ov 3' 
 
 VCtV7TtiyYI<rtfAf. 
 
 443. Cedrumque cupressosque.] 
 Pierius found it thus in the Roman, 
 the Medicean, and other very an- 
 cient manuscripts : but he says it is 
 cupressos in the Lombard manu- 
 script, without que, which he takes 
 to be an error of the transcriber. 
 In both the Arundelian manuscripts 
 it is cedrumque cupressumque. In 
 the King's and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 it is cedrumque cupressosque. In the 
 Bodleian, and in the other manu- 
 script of Dr. Mead's it is cedrumque 
 cupressos. In the Cambridge manu- 
 script it is cedrosque cupressosque. 
 Heinsius reads cedrumque cupressos- 
 que: Grimoaldus, La Cerda, and 
 Ruaeus cedrosque cupressosque: and 
 Masvicius cedrumque cupressumque. 
 Most of the editions, which are 
 not here excepted, have cedrosque 
 cupressosque. 
 
 It is much to be questioned, whe- 
 ther the cedar here spoken of is 
 that which is so frequently men- 
 tioned in the Scriptures ; for that 
 has not been observed any where 
 but on mount Lebanon. It seems 
 to have been but little known by 
 the Greek and Roman writers. 
 Theophrastus seems to speak of it 
 in the ninth chapter of the fifth 
 book of his History of Plants; 
 where he says the cedars grow to 
 a great bigness in Syria, so large 
 2 D 
 
202 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Hence the husbandmen have 
 formed spokes for their 
 wheels, and coverings for 
 their waggons, and' have 
 fitted crooked keels to ships. 
 The willows abound with 
 twigs, the elms with leaves : 
 but the myrtle with strong 
 spears, and the cornel is use- 
 ful in war ; the yews are bent 
 into Ityrean bows ; 
 
 Hinc radios trivere rotis, hinc tympana plaustris 
 Agricolae, et pandas ratibus posuere carinas. 445 
 Viminibus salices foecundae, frondibus ulmi : 
 At myrtis validis hastilibus, et bona bello 
 Cornus : Ityraeos taxi torquentur in arcus. 
 
 that three men cannot encompass 
 them : 'Exxm ol t?$ vtos, ourm^ xxi 
 ■arpoTipov Ixift&ij, ^ixtp'igu xxrx tov$ to- 
 Trovg. zv$x fth y«g Xarog, h$x £e Ks- 
 <j(>6<; yinrxi S-xvpxrh, xx^xm^ xxi -nip) 
 Hvfftccv. 'Ev Y.vpici yx(> 'ivn roTs cpivi 
 (tixtyipovrx yinrxi tx oha^x tvis xibptv 
 xxi rS v^/ii xxi t£> -srdftiL' tviXixxvtx 
 ycc^ WiV, a? '(vix pit p&h aiivxorS-xt vpu<i 
 
 xvhpxs -mgiXupOxvuv. These large 
 Syrian trees are probably the ce- 
 dars of Lebanon, which I believe 
 Theophrastus had only heard of, 
 and took to be the same with the 
 Lycian cedars, only larger : for in 
 the twelfth chapter of the third 
 book, where he describes the cedar 
 particularly, he says the leaves are 
 like those of Juniper, but more 
 prickly : and adds that the berries 
 are much alike. Therefore the ce- 
 dar described by Theophrastus can- 
 not be that of Lebanon, which 
 bears cones, and not berries. I 
 take it rather to be a sort of Juni- 
 per, which is called Juniperus major 
 bacca rufescente by Caspar Bauhin, 
 Oxycedrus by Parkinson, and Oxy- 
 cedrus Phcenicea by Gerard. What 
 Pliny and Dioscorides have said of 
 the cedar is very confused. 
 
 446. Viminibus salices fcecundce.~] 
 The twigs of the willows are used 
 to bind the vines, and to make all 
 sorts of wicker works. 
 
 Frondibus ulmi.} The cattle were 
 fed with leaves of elms. Thus Co- 
 lumella : " Est autem ulmus longe 
 " laetior et procerior, quam nostras, 
 " frondemque jucundiorem bubus 
 " prapbet: qua cum assidue pecus 
 '- { alueris, et postea generis alterius 
 
 " frondem dare institueris, fastidi- 
 " urn bubus affert." This use of elm 
 leaves is confirmed by Mr. Evelyn, 
 who says, " 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 de- 
 " crease in August (as also where 
 " the suckers and stolones are su- 
 <c pernumerary, 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 ; remember only to lay 
 <c your boughs up in some dry and 
 " sweet corner of your barn. It 
 " was for this the Poet praised 
 " them, and the epithet was ad- 
 " vised, Fruitful in leaves the elm. 
 " In some parts of Herefordshire 
 " they gather them in sacks for 
 " their swine and other cattle, ac- 
 " cording to this husbandry." 
 
 447. Myrtus validis hastilibus, et 
 bona bello cornus.] Their spears and 
 darts were anciently made of myr- 
 tle and cornel: but Pliny prefers 
 the ash for these uses : " Obedien- 
 " tissima quocunque in opere fraxi- 
 " nus, eademque hastis corylo me- 
 " lior, corno levior, sorbo lentior." 
 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is at bona bello cornus. 
 
 448. Ityrceos taxi torquentur in 
 arcus.] The Ityrtei or Iturai were 
 a people of Ccele Syria, famous for 
 shooting with a bow. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 203 
 
 Nee tiliee laeves, aut torno rasile buxum 4-49 
 Non formam accipiunt, ferroque cavantur acuto. 
 Nee non et torrentem undam levis innatat alnus 
 Missa Pado: nee non et apes examina condunt 
 Corticibusque cavis, vitiosseque illicis alveo. 
 Quid memorandum aeque Bacchei'a dona tu- 
 lerunt ? 454 
 
 the smooth limes also, and 
 the turner s box are shaped, 
 and hollowed with sharp 
 tools. The liaht alder swims 
 also on the rough flood, when 
 it is launched on the Po ; and 
 bees conceal their young in 
 hollow barks, and in the body 
 of a rotten holm-oak. Wha't 
 have the gifts of Bacchus 
 produced in comparison of 
 these ? 
 
 Pierius says that in some ancient 
 manuscripts it is curvantur instead 
 of torquentur. Servius, and some 
 of the old editors, and Schrevelius 
 have curvantur* 
 
 449. Tilice Iceves.] Pliny says 
 mollissima tilia, and tilice. ad mille 
 usus petendce. 
 
 Torno rasile buxum.] Box is well 
 known to he turned into a great 
 variety of utensils. 
 
 451. Alnus.] See the note on 
 ver. 136. of the first Georgick. 
 
 452. Missa Pado.] The Po is a 
 famous river of Italy. Alders are 
 said to grow in abundance on its 
 banks. 
 
 453. Ilicis.] Mr. Evelyn asserts, 
 that the Esculus of the ancients was 
 a species of Ilex: " The acorns of 
 " the coccigera, or dwarf-oak, yield 
 " excellent nourishment for rustics, 
 " sweet, and little, if at all, inferior 
 " to the chesnut, and this, and not 
 " the fagus, was doubtless the true 
 " Esculus of the ancients, the food 
 " of the golden age." But it is 
 plain, that the very tree of which 
 this learned gentleman speaks, was 
 called Ilex by Pliny, for this author 
 says expressly that the Ilex bears 
 the coccus or chermes berry : " Om- 
 " nes tamen has ejus dotes ilex solo 
 " provocat cocco." The same au- 
 thor says the leaves of the Esculus 
 are sinuated, whereas those of the 
 Ilex are not sinuated : " Folia prae- 
 " ter ilicem gravia, carnosa, pro- 
 
 *' cera, sinuosa lateribus." Besides 
 the very name of dwarf-oak shews 
 this sort of Ilex cannot be the an- 
 cient Esculus, which is described as 
 a very large tree. Mr. Evelyn seems 
 to have thought the dwarf-oak or 
 scarlet-oak to be the Esculus, be- 
 cause its acorns are so good to eat : 
 but this is no good proof neither : 
 for Pliny says the acorns of the Es- 
 culus are inferior to those of the 
 common oak: "Glans optima in 
 e: quercu atque grandissima, mox 
 " esculo." 
 
 Alveo.] Servius reads alvo. Pie- 
 rius found alveo in the Roman ma- 
 nuscript, with which he was greatly 
 delighted : " In Romano codice le- 
 " gitur alveo, quod mirifice placet." 
 Alveo is now generally received. 
 
 454. Quid memorandum ceque, &c] 
 Having spoken of the great uses of 
 forest trees, he falls into an excla- 
 mation against the vine, which is 
 not only less useful than those trees 
 which nature bestows on us with- 
 out our care ; but is also the cause 
 of quarrels and murders. He pro- 
 duces a noted instance of the quar- 
 rel between the Centaurs and La- 
 pithae. Ovid has described it at 
 large in the twelfth book of the 
 Metamorphosis. Pirithou9, king 
 of the Lapithaei had married Hip- 
 podamia. At these nuptials Eury- 
 tus, a Centaur, being inflamed 
 with lust and wine, attempted to 
 ravish the bride : which example 
 2 D 2 
 
204 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 don^crlmes^h^vcrSme" Bacchus etadculpam causasdedit: ille furentes 
 
 the Centaurs raging with mur- ^ , . .. . 
 
 der Rhoetus, phoius, and Centauros letho dorauit, Rhoetumque Pho 
 
 Hylaeus threatening the La- " 
 
 piths with a huge goblet. 
 
 lumque, 
 Et magno Hylaeum Lapithis cratere minantem. 
 
 was followed by the rest, who en- 
 deavoured each to seize upon such 
 young ladies as they chose. The- 
 seus rising in defence of the bride 
 slew Eurytus, and, the other guests 
 assisting, all the Centaurs were 
 either slain or put to flight. 
 
 455. Culpam."] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is culpas. 
 
 Furentes Centauros letho domuit.'] 
 " This passage is generally ex- 
 " plained by joining letho with do- 
 <e muit. But it seems to me that 
 " it should be joined with furentes, 
 i{ as it is said fur ens ira, invidia, 
 " atnore, &c. and as Virgil himself 
 ° says in the second iEneid : 
 
 Vidi ipse fur entem 
 
 " Ccede Neoptolemum. 
 
 t( And then the meaning is, dornuit, 
 " he overcame, in the common sense, 
 " as wine is said to overcome any 
 " one, and made them mad to death. 
 " In the other sense Virgil would 
 <( contradict what he said before. 
 " Bacchus et ad culpam causas dedit. 
 " How would Bacchus have been 
 " to blame, for having punished 
 " with death profligate wretches 
 " that would have ravished the 
 " bride from her husband ? This 
 " was a just, and not a blameable 
 " action, but his blame was his 
 " overcoming their reason, and ex- 
 " citing them to that outrage." 
 
 Mr. B . 
 
 We find in Virgil sternere letho 
 and dejicere letho, and therefore I 
 do not doubt but domare letho 
 might be used. But what seems 
 to me the strongest confirmation of 
 Mr. B 's opinion, is that we find 
 
 in Ovid, that neither Rhcetus nor 
 Phoius were slain, but that they 
 both fled : , 
 
 — — Assidue successu caedis ovantem, 
 Qua juncta est humero cervix, sude figis 
 
 obusta. 
 Ingemuit, duroque sudem vix osse re- 
 
 vellit 
 Rhoetus ; et ipse suo madefactus sanguine 
 
 fugit. 
 Fugit et Orneus, Lycabasque, et saucius 
 
 armo 
 Dexteriore Medon et cum Pisenore 
 
 Thaumas : 
 Quique pedum nuper certamine vicerat 
 
 omnes 
 Mermeros ; accepto nunc vulnere tardius 
 
 ibat: 
 Et Pfwlus, et Melaneus, et Abas preda- 
 tor aprorum. 
 
 For through his shoulder, 'who had tri- 
 
 umpJCd long 
 In daily slaughter, Bryasfix'd his prong, 
 Who groning, tugs it out with all hit 
 
 might : 
 And soiVd with Mood, converts his heels to 
 
 flight. 
 So Lycidas, Arnceus, Medon {sped 
 In his right arme) Pisenor, Caumas fled : 
 Wound-tardy Mermerus, late swift of 
 
 pace : 
 Meneleus, Phoius, Abas, us*d to chase 
 The bore. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 457. Cratere minantem.'] Ovid 
 tells us they began to fight with 
 drinking vessels, which is not un- 
 usual in drunken quarrels : 
 
 Forte fuit juxta signis extantibus asper 
 Antiquus crater, quern vastum vastior 
 
 ipse 
 Sustulit iEgidesj adversaque misit in 
 
 ora. 
 Hard by there stood an antique goblet, 
 
 wrought 
 With extant figures : this AZgides caught ,- 
 HurVd at the face of Eurytus. 
 
 Sandy*. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 205 
 
 O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, 
 Agricolas ! quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, 
 Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus. 
 Si non ingentem foribus domus alta superbis 
 Mane sal utan turn totis vomit aedibus undam; 
 Nee varios inhiant pulchra testudine postes, 
 Illusasque auro vestes, Ephyreiaque aera ; 
 Alba neque Assyrio fuscatur lana veneno, 465 
 
 O too happy husbandmen, did 
 they but know their own fe- 
 licity ! to whom the earth 
 herself, far from contending 
 arms, most justly pours forth 
 an easy sustenance. If they 
 have no lofty palace with 
 proud gates, to vomit forth 
 from every part a vast tide of 
 morning visitors ; if they do 
 not gape after pillars adorned 
 with tortoiseshell, or gar- 
 mentsembroideredwith go'd, 
 or Corinthian brass ; if their 
 white wool is not sullied with 
 Assyrian dye, 
 
 And 
 
 Vina dabant animos : et prima pocula 
 
 pugna 
 Missa volant, fragilesque cadi, curvique 
 
 lebetes : 
 Res epulis quondam, nunc bello et cae- 
 
 dibus aptas. 
 Wine courage gives. At first an uncouth 
 
 flight 
 Of flaggons, pots, and bowls, began the 
 
 fight: 
 Late fit for banquets, now for blood and 
 broils. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 458. O fortunatos, &c] The Poet, 
 having just mentioned a scene of 
 war and confusion, changes the 
 subject to a wonderfully beautiful 
 description of the innocent and 
 peaceful pleasures of a country 
 life. He begins with shewing, that 
 the pomp and splendor of courts 
 and cities are neither to be met 
 with in the country, nor in them- 
 selves desirable. He then proceeds 
 to mention the real satisfactions 
 which are to be found in the coun- 
 try : quiet, integrity, plenty, diver- 
 sions, exercise, piety, and religion. 
 
 Cicero, in his defence of Sextus 
 Roscius, says that all sorts of wick- 
 edness proceed from the luxury of 
 cities 5 but that the country life is 
 the mistress of frugality, diligence, 
 and justice: << In urbe luxuries 
 " creatur: ex luxuria existat avari- 
 " tia necesse est : ex avaritia erum- 
 " pat audacia : inde omnia scelera, 
 £t ac maleficia gignuntur. Vita au- 
 
 " tem haec rustica, quam tu agres- 
 iC tem vocas, parsimoniae, diligen- 
 " tiee, justitiae magistra est." 
 
 462. Mane salutantum,] It was 
 the custom amongst the Romans, 
 for the clients to attend the levees 
 of their patrons. 
 
 Totisr\ In the King's manu- 
 script it is notis. 
 
 Vomit.] Pierius says, that in the 
 Medicean manuscript it is vomat, 
 which he thinks sounds more ele- 
 gantly. 
 
 463. Testudine.] Some think 
 that testudine is here used for an 
 arch supported by the pillars, or 
 the shell of a door. But I rather 
 believe it alludes to that custom of 
 the rich Romans, of covering their 
 bed -posts and other parts of their fur- 
 niture with plates of tortoiseshell. 
 
 464. Illusas.] In the Cambridge 
 and Bodleian manuscripts it is in- 
 clusas. Pierius says it is inclusas in 
 some manuscripts, but illusas in 
 the most ancient. .Servius takes 
 notice, that some read inclusas ; but 
 he condemns it. 
 
 Ephyreiaque cera.~) Corinth is 
 sometimes called Ephyre, from 
 Ephyre, the daughter of Epime- 
 theus. It is well known that the 
 Corinthian brass was very famous 
 amongst the ancients. 
 
 465. Neque.] Servius and some 
 others read nee. Pierius says it is 
 neque in the Medicean and some 
 other ancient manuscripts. 
 
206 
 
 P. VIRG1LII MARONIS 
 
 nor the use of the pure oil 
 tainted with perfumes; yet 
 there is no want of secure 
 rest, and a life ignorant of 
 fraud, and rich in various 
 works ; nor of ease in large 
 farms, caves and living lakes; 
 nor of cool valleys, and the 
 rowing of oxen, and soft 
 sleep under trees. There are 
 lawns, and habitations of wild 
 beasts, and a vouth patient 
 of labour, and contented with 
 a little, altars of gods, and ho- 
 noured parents : 
 
 Nec casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi; 
 At secura quies, et nescia fall ere vita, 
 Dives opum variarum : at latis otia fundis, 
 Spelimcae, vivique lacus : at frigida Tempe, 469 
 Mugitusque bourn, mollesque sub arbore somni 
 Non absunt. Illic saltus, ac lustra feramm, 
 Et patiens operum, exiguoque assueta juvenlus, 
 Sacra deum, sanctiquepatres : extrema perillos 
 
 Assyrio veneno.] He means the 
 Tyrian purple, which was obtained 
 from a sort of shell-fish. Tyre was 
 in Coele Syria. The Poet seems to 
 use Assyria for Syria. 
 
 Fuscatur.] So I read with the 
 King's, one of the Arundelian, both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and Hein- 
 sius. The common reading is fu- 
 catur, which signifies barley is 
 coloured : but fuscatur signifies is 
 obscured, imbrowned, or sullied, 
 which I take to be the Poet's 
 meaning. He shews his contempt 
 of spoiling the native whiteness of 
 wool with that expensive colour 3 
 as, in the next verse, he speaks of 
 the pure oil being tainted with per- 
 fumes. 
 
 466. Casia.'] See the note on 
 ver. 213. 
 
 467. At secura quies.] Pierius 
 says it is ac in the Lombard manu- 
 script. But surely the Poet wrote 
 at : for he is here opposing the 
 real, innocent, untainted pleasures 
 of a country life to the noise and 
 luxury of courts and cities. 
 
 Nescia falter e vita.] Pierius says 
 it is vitam in the Roman manu- 
 script, which must make nescia 
 agree with quies, but it is vita in all 
 the rest, which is better. 
 
 468. At.] It is ac in the King's 
 manuscript. Pierius also found ac. 
 
 469. At.] Here again it is ac in 
 the Lombard manuscript, according 
 to Pierius. I find ac also in the 
 
 King's and both Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts : but at seems to be 
 much better in all these places. 
 
 Frigida Tempe.] Tempe is the 
 name of a very pleasant valley in 
 Thessaly. Hence it is not unusual 
 to find Tempe used by the poets 
 for any pleasant place though not 
 in Thessaly. Thus I take it to be 
 used in this place for cool valleys in 
 general. 
 
 471. Illic) It is illis in the 
 Cambridge manuscript, and in some 
 printed editions. Pierius says it is 
 illic in all the ancient manuscripts 
 he had seen. 
 
 Saltus.] Saltus properly signifies 
 open places in the midst of woods, 
 which afford room for cattle to 
 feed. Thus we have in the third 
 Georgick : 
 
 Saltibus in vacuis pascunt; 
 Lustra ferarum.] By the habi- 
 tations of dens or wild beasts the 
 Poet means the diversion of hunt- 
 ing : Thus May : 
 
 And pleasant huntings want not. 
 
 472. Exiguo.] Pierius says it is - 
 exiguo in the Roman manuscript: 
 Heinsius and Masvicius also read 
 exiguo. The common reading is 
 
 
 parvo. 
 
 473. Sanctique patres.] By these 
 words the Poet designs to express, 
 that amongst the uncorrupted coun- 
 trymen their fathers are treated with 
 reverence. Thus Mr. B 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 so: 
 
 Justitia excedens terris vestigia fecit. 
 Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae, 475 
 Quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore, 
 Accipiant; caelique vias, et sidera monstrent : 
 Defectus solis varios, lunaeque labores : 
 Unde tremor terris : qua vi maria alta tumescant 
 Objicibus ruptis, rursusque in se ipsaresidant : 
 Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles 
 Hyberni,vel quaetardismoranoctibusobstet.482 
 Sin, has ne possim naturae accedere partes, 
 Frigid us obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis; 
 Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes ; 
 Flumina araem, svlvasque inglorius : O ! ubi 
 
 when justice left the earth, 
 she took her last step from 
 amongst these people. But 
 in the first place, above all 
 thing*, may the sweet Muse*, 
 whose priest 1 am, being smit- 
 ten with great love of poesy, 
 receive me, and shew me the 
 paths of heaven, and the stars, 
 the various eclipses of the sun, 
 and labours of the moon: 
 what causes the earth to trem- 
 ble ; by what force the deep 
 seas swell, and break their 
 banks, and then again fall 
 back ; why the winter suns 
 make such haste to dip them- 
 selves in the ocean : or what 
 delay retards the slow nights-. 
 But if the chill blood about 
 my heart hinders mc from 
 attaining to these parts of na- 
 ture ; may fields and streams 
 gliding in valleys delight me ; 
 may I love rivers and woods 
 inglorious ; oh ! where there 
 are plains, 
 
 campi. 
 
 486 
 
 And aged sires rever'd. 
 
 I have chosen to make use of the 
 word honoured, because, in our reli- 
 gion, this duty to parents is styled 
 honour. 
 
 Extrema per illos Justitia excedens 
 terris vestigia fecit.] In the Cam- 
 bridge manuscript it isjigit. 
 
 Astraea or Justice was feigned by 
 the poets to have descended from 
 heaven in the golden age. She 
 continued upon earth till the wick- 
 edness of the brazen age gave her 
 such offence, that she left mankind 
 and flew up to heaven. Aratus 
 says, she retired first from cities, 
 into the country, so that this was 
 the last place she left. The Greek 
 Poet speaks largely on this subject. 
 475. Me vero primum, &c] The 
 Poet here declares his natural in- 
 clination to be towards philoso- 
 phy and poetry. He declares him- 
 self to be the priest of the Muses ; 
 I and prays them to instruct him in 
 I astronomy: to teach him the causes 
 ': of eclipses, earthquakes, the ^flux 
 ! and re Mux of the sea, and of the 
 
 unequal length of days and nights. 
 The next wish is, that, if he cannot 
 obtain this, he may enjoy a quiet 
 retirement in the country. 
 
 476. Quarum sacra fero.~\ It is 
 usual with the poets to call them- 
 selves priests of the Muses : Thus 
 Horace : 
 
 Carmina non prius 
 
 Audita Musarum Sacerdos 
 Virginibus ptierisque canto : 
 
 And Ovid : 
 
 Ille ego Musarum purus, Phoebique Sa~ 
 cerdos. 
 
 479* Tumescant."] It is tumescunt 
 in the Lombard manuscript, ac- 
 cording to Pierius : thus I find 
 residunt in the next verse instead 
 of residant, in some of the old 
 editions. 
 
 485. Rigui.'] Pierius says it is 
 rigidi in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 486. Inglorius.'] Philosophy, in 
 Virgil's time, was in great reputa- 
 tion amongst the Romans. Our 
 Poet seems to have had Lucretius 
 in his eye, when he wrote this 
 
203 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 wi2ti?SmS l lSS ! S. , Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacaems 
 
 vel ! oh ! that any one would r r • ■,.,.. ,,.. TX 
 
 place me in the cool valleys of 1 aygeta : o, qui me gelidis in vallibus Haemi 
 
 Haemus, 
 
 passage. He entreats the Muses to 
 teach him the heights of philoso- 
 phy, which that Poet had described 
 with so much elegance. But if he 
 cannot reach so far, he begs, in the 
 next place, that he may have a 
 secure, quiet retirement in the 
 country, though destitute of that 
 glory, which he seeks in the first 
 place. Cowley observes upon this 
 passage, that " the first wish of 
 " Virgil was to be a good philoso- 
 "pher; the second, a good hus- 
 « c Landman, and God, whom he 
 " seemed to understand better than 
 " most of the learned heathens, 
 ft dealt with him just as he did 
 te with Solomon : because he prayed 
 €( for wisdom in the first place, he 
 <e added all things else which were 
 " subordinately to be desired. He 
 " made him one of the best phi- 
 tf losophers, and the best husband- 
 " man, and to adorn and communi- 
 " cate both those faculties, the best 
 " poet : he made him besides all 
 " this a rich man, and a man who 
 " desired to be no richer. for- 
 " tunatus nimium, et bona qui sua 
 l( novit" 
 
 0! ubi campi.~\ I do not take 
 the Poet's meaning to be, that he 
 is enquiring where these places are; 
 which he surely knew. He ex- 
 presses his delight to be in such 
 valleys, rivers, and woods, as are to 
 be met with in Thessaly, Laconia, 
 and Thrace. May is the only 
 translator, who has not supposed 
 this to be a question : 
 
 Then let me (fameless) love the fields 
 
 and woods, 
 The fruitful water'd vales, and running 
 
 floods. 
 
 Those plains, where clear Sperchius 
 
 runs, that mount 
 Where Spartan virgins to great Bacchus 
 
 wont 
 To sacrifice, or shady vales that lie 
 Under high Haemus, let my dwelling be. 
 
 Dryden has so paraphrased these 
 lines, that he has rather imitated 
 than translated Virgil : 
 
 My next desire is, void of care and strife 
 To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life. 
 A country cottage near a crystal flood, 
 A winding valley and a lofty wood. 
 Some god conduct me to the sacred 
 
 Where Bacchanals are sung by Spartan 
 
 maids. 
 Or lift me high to Hemus' hilly crown : 
 Or on the plains of Tempe lay me down : 
 Or lead me to some solitary place, 
 And cover my retreat from human race. 
 
 Mr. B represents the Poet as 
 
 asking the question where these 
 places are : 
 
 O ! where Taygeta are thy sacred shades, 
 Resounding with the songs of Spartan 
 maids ? 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 .. ■ ■ i O ! where are the plains, 
 Sperchius, and Taygeta, by the dames 
 Of Sparta, swoln with Bacchanalian rage 
 Frequented ? 
 
 487- Sperchius.'] Sperchius is a 
 famous river of Thessaly rising 
 from mount Pindus. 
 
 Virginibus bacchata Lacoenis Tay- 
 geta."] Taygetus, in the plural 
 number Taygeta, is a mountain of 
 Laconia near Sparta: it was sa- 
 cred to Bacchus -, and his orgies 
 were celebrated upon it by the La- 
 cedaemonian women. 
 
 488. Gelidis in vallibus H<zmi.] 
 Haemus is a mountain of Thrace. 
 
GEORG. LIB. K. 
 
 209 
 
 Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra ! t^Tlr™^ h«w 
 Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas : 490 SwSS'iSSofSm'JS 
 
 . . , ., r and could cast all fears, and 
 
 Atque metus omnes, et incxorabue latum inexorable fate, 
 
 Servius calls it a mountain of Thes- 
 saly: " Hcemi: montis Thessaliae: 
 " in qua etiam sunt Tempe." See 
 the note on ver. 412. of the first 
 Georgick. It is strange that Dry- 
 ilen should write 
 
 Or lift me high to Hemus' hilly crown, 
 
 for the cool valleys of Hcnrmts. 
 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is gelidis convallibus instead of 
 gelidis in v a Hi bus. 
 
 490. Felix, qui potuit, &c] The 
 commentators generally understand 
 this to be a repetition of what he 
 had said before : only that as he 
 had then given the preference to 
 philosophy • now he seems to make 
 the philosopher and the country- 
 man equal ; for he pronounces them 
 both happy. I take the Poet's 
 meaning to be this. In the para- 
 graph beginning with O fortunatos, 
 &c. he had shewn the happiness of 
 the country life, in opposition to 
 living in courts and cities. In the 
 next paragraph, beginning with me 
 vero, &c. he expressed his earnest 
 desire to become a natural philo- 
 sopher j or, if he could not attain 
 that, a good husbandman. In the 
 paragraph now under consideration, 
 he shews the happiness of the 
 countryman to be like that which 
 was sought after by the Epicurean 
 philosophy. Epicurus was happy 
 in overcoming all fears, especially 
 the fear of death : the countryman 
 is happy in conversing with the 
 rural deities, in being free from 
 troubles, and the uneasy passions 
 of the mind. He lives on the fruits 
 of his own trees, without being 
 troubled with contentions, or law- 
 suits. 
 
 Rerum cognoscere causas.] Epi- 
 curus wrote thirty-seven books of 
 Natural Philosophy, which Dioge- 
 nes Laertius says were excellent : 
 Kcct toe (rvyypoi[£p,o&TK (t%v Eirixovgw tc- 
 <rotvroc koli tyiXix.o&vtx, w» tx fiiXnrx Wt 
 rccdz. Hzp) <pvtriit)$, *£', &C. 
 
 491. Atque metus omnes, &c] 
 Epicurus, in his epistle to Mence- 
 ceus, exhorts his friend to accus- 
 tom himself not to be concerned at 
 the thoughts of death : seeing all 
 good and evil consists in sensation ; 
 and death is a privation of sense : 
 "Zv/iSify dl h ra vopu'fytv ftydlv tr^os ^uxg 
 uvett rov Socvoltov. &7r£i -zrxv ayot&ov nut 
 X.CCX.0V Iv </J<r$yicru. fi^wis o'i Wiv cttir^vt- 
 <riu$, S-ctvoLTo$. In another place of 
 the same epistle he asks him who 
 can be a better man, than he that 
 thinks worthily of the gods, and 
 bears death without terror: 'Emi, 
 rivet, voplfyis uvoti fcgiiTTovoi Toy kclI irsgt 
 SiiJv oFioc oo^oi^ovrog, v.ou mpl Sxvoitov 
 dictTroiVTOs ci(po&6Jg i^ovrog. Lucretius 
 
 extols Epicurus for dispelling the 
 terrors of the mind, and removing 
 the fears of Acheron : 
 
 Tu pater, et rerum inventor: tu patria 
 
 nobis 
 Suppeditas praecepta: tuisqueex,inclute, 
 
 chartis, 
 Floriferis tit apes in saltibus omnia li- 
 
 mant, 
 Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea 
 
 dicta, 
 Aurea perpetua semper dignissima vita. 
 Nam simul ae Ratio tua coepit vociferari 
 Naturam rerum haud Divina mente 
 
 coortam, 
 Diffugiunt Animi terrores ; mcerria mundi 
 Discedunt, to turn video per inane geri 
 
 res. 
 Apparet divum numen, sedesque quietse : 
 Quas neque concutiunt venti, neque nu- 
 
 bila nimbis 
 Adspergunt, neque nix ae?i eoncreta 
 
 pruina 
 2 E 
 
210 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONTS 
 
 and the noise of greedy A- 
 cheron beneath his feet ! 
 Happy also is he, who lias 
 known the rural gods. Pan, 
 and old Sylvanus, and the 
 sister nymphs. Him neither 
 the rods of the people, nor 
 the purple of kings 
 
 Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis 
 
 avan 
 
 i! 
 
 Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes, 
 Panaque, Sylvanumque senem, Nymphasque 
 
 sorores 
 
 Ilium non populi fasces, non purpura regum 495 
 
 Cana cadens violat : semperque innubilis 
 
 aether 
 Integit, et large diffuso lumine ridet. 
 Omnia suppeditat porro natura, neque 
 
 ulla 
 Res animi pacem delibrat tempore in 
 
 ullo. 
 At contra nusquam apparent Achcrusia 
 
 templa. 
 
 Thou, parent of philosophy, hast shown 
 The way to truth by precepts of thy own : 
 For as from sweetest flowers the laVring 
 
 tee 
 Extracts her precious sweets, great soul I 
 
 from thee 
 We all our golden sentences derive ; 
 Golden, and fit eternally to live. 
 For when I hear thy mighty reasons prove 
 This world "was made without the powers 
 
 above ; 
 All fears and terrors waste, and fly apace ; 
 Thro 1 parted heavens I see the mighty 
 
 space, 
 The rise of things, the gods, and happy 
 
 seats, 
 Which storm or vVlent tempest never 
 
 beats, 
 Nor snow invades, but with the purest air, 
 And gaudy light diffused look gay and 
 
 fair: 
 There bounteous Nature makes supplies 
 
 for ease, 
 Their minds enjoy uninterrupted peace : 
 But that which senseless we so grossly 
 
 fear, 
 No hell, no sulphurous lakes, no pools ap- 
 pear. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 Inexorabile.] Pierius says it is 
 ineluctabile in the Roman manu- 
 script. 
 
 492. Strepitumque Acherontis 
 avari.] In the King's and one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 strepitusque. 
 
 Acheron is fabled to be one of 
 
 the rivers of hell; and is put for 
 hell itself. 
 
 493. Fortunatus et illce.] Here the 
 Poet compares the happiness, which 
 results from the innocence of a 
 country life, to that which is ob- 
 tained by philosophy. Cicero in 
 his treatise on old age says the 
 life of a husbandman approaches 
 very near to that of a philosopher : 
 " Mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime 
 " videtur accedere." Columella 
 says it is nearly related to philoso- 
 phy ; " Res rustica sine dubitatione 
 " proxima, et quasi consanguinea 
 " sapientiae est." 
 
 494. Panaque.] Pan is the chief 
 of the rural deities. 
 
 Sylvanumque senem.] See the 
 note on book i. ver. 20. 
 
 Nymphasque sorores.'] There were 
 several sorts of nymphs : the Naiads 
 presided over rivers ; the Nereids 
 over seas ; the Oreads over moun- 
 tains ; the Dryads over woods, &c. 
 
 495. Populi fasces.] The fasces 
 were bundles of birchen rods, in 
 the midst of which was placet! an 
 axe, with the head appearing at the 
 top. They were the ensigns of au- 
 thority, and were carried before 
 the Roman magistrates. We learn 
 from Diogenes Laertius, that Epi- 
 curus avoided public offices out 
 of modesty : 'YxsgSoAJf y«g t7rtiiKuecg, 
 ov2i 7roXiTiiccq 9}^/xto. Cicero also 
 seems to insinuate, that the Epi- 
 curean philosophy persuaded men 
 not to engage in public business : 
 " Nee ulla tamen ei philosophise 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 211 
 
 Flexit, et infidos agitans discordia fratres ; 
 Aut conjurato descendens Dacus ab Istro : 
 
 has moved, nor the discord 
 that reigns between faithless 
 brothers ; nor the Dacian de- 
 scending from the conspir- 
 ing Ister; nor the affairs of 
 
 Non res Roman ae, penturaque regna : neque llle f om ^ 5n " p 1 f a s 7 1 e doorred 
 
 " fiet injuria a nobis. Non enim 
 " repelletur inde, quo aggredi cu- 
 " piet: seil in hortulis quiescet 
 " suis, ubi vult; ubi etiam recu- 
 " bans, molliter, et delicate, nos 
 " ctvocat a rostris, ajudiciis, a curia : 
 ** fortasse sapienter, hac praesertim 
 V republica." Virgil observes, that, 
 if this retirement from public af- 
 fairs is to be accounted a part of 
 happiness, the countryman enjoys 
 it abundantly. He does not seek 
 after magistracies, nor courts ; he 
 has nothing to do with discord, nor 
 concerns himself about foreign con- 
 spiracies. 
 
 497- Conjurato descendens Dacus 
 ab Istro.'] The Danube or Ister is 
 the largest river in Europe : several 
 different nations dwelling on its 
 banks. The ancients called this 
 river Danubius at its beginning, 
 and till it reaches Illyricum; but 
 below that, Ister. Virgil therefore 
 calls it the Ister with great pro- 
 priety, because the Dacians inhabit 
 the lower parts of it, not far from 
 its falling into the Euxine sea. 
 
 The Dacians inhabited those 
 parts which are now called Tran- 
 sylvania, Moldavia, and Walachia. 
 It is said, they had a custom of 
 filling their mouths with the water 
 of this river, before they undertook 
 any war, and swearing that they 
 would not return into their own 
 country, till they had slain their 
 enemies. Therefore Virgil calls it 
 the conspiring Ister, because the 
 Dacians were accustomed to con- 
 spire after this manner on the 
 banks of the river Ister. 
 
 498. Neque ille aut doluit miserans 
 inopem, aut invidit habentl] Epicu- 
 rus placed a great happiness in 
 
 being free from perturbations of 
 the mind, of which pity and envy 
 are not the least. This happiness 
 the husbandman enjoys, for, in the 
 country, nature produces so many 
 necessaries of life, that there can 
 be no objects of pity: and his life 
 is so happy in itself, that he has no 
 temptation to envy any one. Ser- 
 vius, and after him most of the 
 commentators, take Virgil to speak 
 here of a Stoical apathy, in which 
 sense Dryden seems to have trans- 
 lated him : 
 
 Nor envies he the rich their heapy 
 
 store, 
 Nor his own peace disturbs with pity 
 
 for the poor. 
 
 Virgil had no such ill-natured 
 meaning, nor Epicurus neither. 
 Epicurus might be against pity, so 
 far as it ruffled the mind and made 
 it uneasy : but he was far from 
 condemning it in the sense we fre- 
 quently use it, of" relieving the 
 wants and necessities of our neigh- 
 bours. Diogenes Laertius tells us 
 that he was remarkable for piety 
 to his parents, kindness to his bro- 
 thers, gentleness to his servants, 
 and the best natured man in the 
 world : Ilgos iovq -yovzetq iv%et£irix, xeti 
 M -zrpbg Tovq uotXtyovs iV7roitee>, "srgog rl 
 ttvq ciKirctq iifii^orvis .... xe&oXov c)l JJ 
 Trgog 7retvTas ecvrov <pi\xv§QU7rl#. It is 
 not to be supposed that a man of 
 such a character could be backward 
 in supporting those who wanted 
 his assistance: nay the very con- 
 trary appears from the whole tenor 
 of his life. Seneca distinguishes 
 pity from clemency and good-na- 
 ture, and says it differs from them, 
 as superstition does from religion, 
 and is a mark of a vulgar mind ; 
 2 E 2 
 
212 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 / 
 
 XfpSJTSr hSVeJvS Aut dolui t miserans inopem, aut invidit habeuiuj 
 
 the rich. He has gathered ^ . c , 
 
 such fmits as the branches, UJuos rami iructus, quos ipsa volentia rura 500 
 
 such as his own willing farms "* x 
 
 "Quemadmodum religio deos colit, 
 •* superstitio violat : ita clementiam 
 " mansuetudinemque omnes boni 
 " prsestabunt, misericordiam autem 
 <f vitabunt. Est enim vitium pu- 
 " silli animi, ad speciem alienorum 
 " malorum suecidentis. Itaque pes- 
 tc simo cuique familiarissima est." 
 Thus Virgil does not suppose his 
 countryman obdurate to the cries 
 of the poor, but so happy as not to 
 see any of his neighbours so mise- 
 rable, as to be objects of compas- 
 sion. May has very justly trans- 
 lated this passage : 
 
 He sees no poor, whose miserable state 
 
 He suffers for. 
 
 Cowley speaks much to the same 
 purpose in his discourse of agri- 
 culture: " There are as many ways 
 " to be rich, and, which is better, 
 " there is no possibility to be poor, 
 " without such negligence as can 
 " have neither excuse nor pity; 
 ee for a little ground will without 
 *' question feed a little family, and 
 " the superfluities of life, which are 
 <€ now in some cases by custom 
 " made almost necessary, must be 
 '* supplied out of the superabun- 
 *' dance of art and industry, or con- 
 " temned by as great a degree of 
 " philosophy." 
 
 500. Quos raviifructus, &c] No 
 man's memory has been more tra- 
 duced than that of Epicurus. He 
 has been represented as a person 
 wholly given up to luxury and in- 
 temperance. His name is become 
 a proverb, to express a voluptuous 
 person, whose whole pleasure was 
 in eating and drinking. And yet it 
 is certain that he was a great pat- 
 tern of temperance, and recom- 
 mended it to his followers. Dio- 
 
 genes Laertius informs us that he 
 was contented with bread and wa- 
 ter, and, when he had a mind to 
 gratify his appetite, he added a 
 piece of cheese : Ainog ri Qvriv Iv rxTg 
 l7ri<roXx7g, v^xri fiOVOV agKiio&xt , y.xi 
 agTa Xira. xxi vif/efyvi pot T»ga2, (pijo?, 
 xvSj>ioJov, iV orxv (ZovXupxi, 7roXvrtXi- 
 <rot<r$xt dvwpxi. Epicurus himself, 
 in his epistle to Menoeceus, says, 
 that when he speaks of pleasure he 
 does not mean the pleasures of the 
 voluptuous and intemperate, as 
 some have misinterpreted him : 
 but tranquillity of mind and a body 
 void of pain. Not eating, says he, 
 and drinking, not venereal enjoy- 
 ments, not a luxurious table, procure 
 a pleasant life, but sober reasoning, 
 which searches into the causes why 
 some thingsare to be chosen, others to 
 be rejected, and explodes those opi- 
 nions which tend to disturb the mind: 
 ' Orxv ovv XsyayAv voovyiv riXcg vxx^uv, 
 cv rxg rav xtrarav vdovag, xxi rag raov h 
 UTToXxvrit xujthxg Xiyopiv, ug ring xy- 
 voovvrzg xxi ov% opoXoyovvng '» xxxatg 
 IxdifcOftiVOi VOf&l^OVFlV, xXXx to ftfirz xX- 
 
 yiiv Kxrx <rupx, pjre rxgxrritr&xi xxrx 
 
 IpVXW- W yOt-% Tf^rOi XXI XUfAOl <TV))U(>6*- 
 
 Tig, oii^ X7roXxv<nig 7rx/^6>v xxi yvvxixav, 
 cud' 'lyfivav xxi rm aXXav qtx <p'i^ti 
 ncXvriXng r^X7iiZ ) x i rov w$i/y yivvx fii'ov, 
 xXXx vqtpav Xoyitrftbg, xxi rag x'irixg 
 i£i(>ivvav 7rde7ig xigunag xx] (pvyiig, xai 
 rag !)o£xg ll-iXxvwv, aft uv %Xti<,t>g t«s 
 ■fyvfcag xxrxXxpZani So^woog. Virgil 
 says his countryman enjoys these 
 frugal blessings of temperance : be 
 lives upon the fruits of his own 
 trees, and what nature produces all 
 around him. This Cowley calls 
 being a true Epicure : 
 
 When Epicurus to the world had taught, 
 That pleasure was the chiefest good, 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 213 
 
 Sponte tulere sua, carpsit : nee ferrea jura, 
 Insanumque forum, aut populi tabularia vidit. 
 SolKcitant alii remis freta caeca, ruuntque 
 In ferrum ; penetrant aulas et limina regum : 
 Hie petit excidiis urbem, miserosque Penates, 
 Ut gemma bibat, et Sarrano indormiat ostro. 506 
 
 have yielded spontaneously : 
 nor has he seen the hardships 
 of the law, and the mad 
 Forum, or the courts of the 
 people. Some trouble the 
 blind seas with oars, rush into 
 war, and penetrate the courts 
 and palaces of kings. One 
 seeks to ruin cities and mise- 
 rable families, that he may 
 drink in gems, and sleep on 
 Sarran scarlet. 
 
 And was perhaps i' th' right, if rightly 
 
 understood, 
 His life he to his doctrine brought, 
 And in a garden's shade that sovereign 
 
 pleasure sought. 
 Whoever a true Epicure would be, 
 May there find cheap, and virtuous lux- 
 
 urie. 
 
 502. Tabularia.] The Tabula- 
 rium was a place at Rome, where 
 the public records were kept. 
 
 503. Sollicitanl alii, &c] In this 
 passage the Poet shews the prefer- 
 ence of agriculture to the several 
 employments and desires of men. 
 
 506. Sarrano.] Tyre was an- 
 ciently called Sarra. Servius says 
 it had its name from the fish Sar, 
 with which it abounds. " Sarrano 
 " dormiat ostro. Tyria purpura. 
 " Quae enim nunc Tyros dicitur, 
 " olim Sarra vocabatur, a pisce 
 " quodam, qui illic abundat: quem 
 " lingua sua Sar appellant/' Bo- 
 chart observes, that Servius is ge- 
 nerally mistaken in his Phoenician 
 etymologies. He derives Sarra from 
 the Hebrew name ^py Tsor, by 
 which Tyre is called in the holy 
 Scriptures. He thinks Servius had 
 read in Trogus, that Sidon had its 
 name from a fish, and, by a slip of 
 his memory, had said that of Tyre, 
 1 which he had read of Sidon : " Vir- 
 | ■' gilii vetus Scholiastes scholiis suis 
 \ " Punica quaedam interspergit, sed 
 ! " pleraque pessimal notae. Tale 
 | " illud in lib. 2. Georg. Quce nunc 
 I " Tyrus dicitur, olim Sana vocaba- 
 j " tur, a pisce quodam qui illic abun- 
 j *' dat, quem lingua sua Sar appellant. 
 Verum quidem est Romanos ve- 
 
 " teres pro Tyro dixisse Sarram. 
 " Ita in Gellio'legitur, et in Festo, 
 " et in Paulo: et in Fragments 
 " Ennii, Pcenos Sarra oriundos. Un- 
 " de est quod pro Tyrio poeta dixit 
 e< Sarranum ostruin ; et Juvenalis 
 «•' Sarrana aul&a ; et Silius, lib. 6. 
 " Sarranam Junonem, et Sarranam 
 " ccedem; et lib. 7- Sarranum navi- 
 " tarn; et lib. 8. Sarrana numina ; 
 " et lib. 9. Sarranum nomen, et Sar- 
 " ranam manum; et lib. 1 1 . Sarrana 
 c( caslra; et lib. 15. Sarranum muri- 
 " cem ; et lib. 3. Sarranam Leptin ; 
 <c et Columella Sarranam violam, id 
 M est purpuream, quia purpura e 
 "Tyro; et fortasse apud Stepha- 
 " num QoiviKYis ttoXis Xeo^x, unde 
 " gentile Zffgavo?, id ipsum erat 
 " Graecis quod Romanis Sarra et 
 " Sarranus. "Za^x, saltern plurimum 
 " accedit ad Hebrseum T)2f Tsor, 
 tl quo nomine Tyrum appellant sa- 
 " cri Scriptores, sed piscis sar, unde 
 " Sarra, si quidem Servio fides, non 
 " extat ullibi gentium. Et Sarrce 
 " nomen deduci notum est ex He- 
 " brseo Tyri nomine "ll2f Tsor ; in 
 " quo literam tsade, quae medii 
 " est soni inter T et S Graeoi in T 
 " mutarunt, et Romani in S. Ita 
 " factum ut ex eodem -)15? et Tv^og 
 " nasceretur et Sarra, Sed Ser- 
 " vium verisimile est, cum alicubi 
 " legisset quod in Trogo habetur, 
 " Sidonem a pisce dici, titubante 
 " memoria id de Tyro scripsisse 
 et quod de Sidone legerat. Non 
 " dispari errore Origenes Tyrus, 
 " inquit, apud Hebrceos sonat idem 
 " quod nobis venantes. Imo Tyrus 
 
<2\i 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 b^^S^^wSSrS Condit opes alius, defossoque incubat auro. 
 
 other is struck with astonish- TT . . , . , . 
 
 merit at the rostra : another rllC Stupet attOIlltUS rOStHS : hUDC pldUSUS hl- 
 
 is smitten with the double ap- 
 
 Elause of senators and pie- ante HI 
 
 eians in the theatre : others 
 rejoice in spilling their bro- 
 ther's blood, 
 
 Per cuneos, geminatus enim, plebisque, pa- 
 trumque 509 
 
 Corripuit : gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum, 
 
 " rupem sonat; set! Sidon vel a 
 <f venatione vel a piscatione dici- 
 " tur." 
 
 Indormiaf] I follow Heinsius, 
 Ruaeus, and Masvicius. All the 
 manuscripts which I have collated, 
 Servius, La Cerda, Schrevelius, and 
 most of the editors read dormiat. 
 
 538. Hie stupet altonittis rostris.] 
 This seems not to be spoken of the 
 orators themselves, but of their 
 hearers, who are struck with asto- 
 nishment at the force of their elo- 
 quence. Though the Poet may 
 mean also, that this admiring of 
 eloquence may stir up in them a 
 vehement desire of becoming ora- 
 tors. Dryden has made Virgil use 
 abusive language on this occasion : 
 
 Some patriot fools to popular praise 
 
 aspire 
 Of public speeches, which worse fools 
 
 admire. 
 
 Mr. B- 
 
 makes the astonishment 
 relate wholly to the orator himself: 
 
 He in the Rostrum lifts to heaven his 
 
 eyes, 
 Amaz'd, confounded, speechless with 
 
 surprise. 
 
 But why the orator should be af- 
 fected in such a manner, I must 
 own myself at a loss to compre- 
 hend. Dr. Trapp seems to under- 
 stand this expression of the Poet in 
 the same sense with me : 
 
 That doats with fondness on the Ros- 
 trum's fame. 
 
 Hunc plausus, &c] This is ge- 
 nerally understood to be meant of 
 
 dramatic Poets, who are ambitious 
 of a general applause of the whole 
 audience. The Patricians and Ple- 
 beians had their different seats or 
 boxes in the Roman theatre, which, 
 being extended from the centre to 
 the circumference, were consequent- 
 ly narrower at the centre, like so 
 many wedges, whence they were 
 called cunei. See the note on ver. 
 381. Virgil's expression seems to 
 mean the same as if we should now 
 say, others are fond of a general 
 applause from the pit, boxes, and 
 galleries. 
 
 509. Geminatus. .] Pierius found 
 geminatus in the Roman, Medicean, 
 Lombard, and other ancient manu- 
 scripts. It is the same in all the 
 manuscripts, which I have collated, 
 and in most printed editions. Some 
 read geminatur ; others geminaniur. 
 
 510. Gaudent perfusi sanguine 
 fratrum.] In the old Nurenberg 
 
 edition it is patrum. 
 
 We have a passage not much 
 unlike this in Lucretius ; 
 
 Sanguine civili rem conflant : divitias- 
 que 
 
 Conduplicant avidi, caedem ceedi accu- 
 mulantes : 
 
 Crudeles gaudent in tristi funere fratris : 
 
 Et consanguineum menses odere, ti- 
 me ntque. 
 
 By civil wars endeavour to get more ; 
 And, doubling murders, double their vast 
 
 store ; 
 Laugh o'er their brothers' graves, and 
 
 tini'rous guests 
 All hate, and dread their nearest kins-mev's 
 
 feasts. 
 
 Crulch. 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 2L> 
 
 Exilioque domos ct dulcia limina mutant; 
 Atque alio patriam queer unt sub sole jacentem. 
 Agricola incurvo terram dimovit aratro : 
 Hinc anni labor : hinc patriam, parvosque ne- 
 
 potes 
 Sustinet; hinc armenta bourn, meritosque ju- 
 
 vencos. 515 
 
 Nee requies, quin aut pomis exuberet annus, 
 Aut fcetu pecorum, aut Cerealis mergite culmi : 
 Proventuque oneret sulcos, atque horrea vincat. 
 Venit hyems, teritur Sicyon ia bacca trapetis, 
 Glande sues laeti redeunt, dant arbuta sylvae: 520 
 Et varios ponit fcetus autumnus, et alte 
 Mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. 
 Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati: 
 
 and change their habitations 
 and dear houses for exile, and 
 seek countries lying under 
 another sun. The husband- 
 man stirs the earth with his 
 crooked plough; hence the 
 labour of the year, hence he 
 sustains his country and small 
 family; hence his herds of 
 kine, and deserving bullocks. 
 Nor is there any intermission, 
 but the season abounds either 
 with fruit, or young cattle, 
 or sheaves of corn ; and loads 
 the furrows with increase ; 
 and bursts the barns. Win- 
 ter comes ; and the Sicyonian 
 berry is pounded in mills, the 
 swine come home full of mast, 
 the woods yield arbutes ; and 
 autumn suppliesvariousfruits, 
 and the mild vintage is ripen- 
 ed on the open hills. In the 
 mean time his sweet children 
 hang about his neck j 
 
 513. Agricola incurvo, &c.]. In 
 opposition to all these vexations 
 and solicitudes the Poet tells us 
 the husbandman has only the labour 
 of ploughing, which supports his 
 country and his own family. And, 
 to recompense his labours, there is 
 no part of the year which does not 
 produce something to his benefit. 
 To crown all, he tells us he is happy 
 in a virtuous wife and dear chil- 
 dren : he is delighted with the sight 
 of his cattle; and diverts himself 
 with rural sports on holy- days. 
 
 514. Nepotes.~\ La Cerda reads 
 Penates. 
 
 519- Venit liycms7\ Mr. B 
 
 will have hyems, in this place, not 
 to signify the winter^ but a storm. 
 The time of gathering olives is in 
 winter. Columella says the middle 
 time of gathering them is the 
 beginning of December : " Media 
 " est oli vitas pier um que initium 
 ft mensis Decembris." The same 
 author places the beginning of win- 
 ter on the ninth of November: 
 w Quinto Idus Novembris hvemis 
 
 ei initium." Palladius places the 
 making of oil under November. 
 
 Sicyonia bacca.~\ Sicyon was a 
 city of Achaia, not far from the 
 Peloponnesian Isthmus. . It was 
 famous for olives : whence he calls 
 the olive the Sicyonian berry. Thus 
 Ovid : 
 
 Quot Sicyon baccas, quot parit Hybla 
 favos : 
 
 And 
 
 Aut ut olivifera quondam Sicyone fu- 
 gato. 
 
 Trapetis."] The olive mill is de- 
 scribed by Cato, in the twentieth 
 and twenty-second chapters of his 
 book of Husbandry. 
 
 520. Arbuta.] See the note on 
 ver. 148. of the first Georgick. 
 
 522. Apricis saxis.] See the note 
 on ver. 377- 
 
 523. Interea pendent dulces circum 
 oscula nati.] This seems to be put 
 in opposition to those, whom he 
 mentioned before to be punished 
 with banishment from their fami- 
 lies : 
 
216 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 his chaste family preserve 
 their modesty ; his cows trail 
 their milky udders; and his 
 fat kids butt at e.ich other 
 with their horns on the ver- 
 dant grass. The farmer him- 
 self celebrates the festival 
 days, and extended on the 
 grass, whilst the fire burns in 
 the midst, and his compa- 
 nions crown the goblet, 
 makes the libation, and in- 
 vokes thee, O Leneus, and 
 places a mark on an elm, for 
 the herdsmen to throw their 
 swift javelins ; and strips 
 their hardy bodies, for wrest- 
 ling in the rusric ring. Tfiis 
 life the ancient Sabines for- 
 merly led, this Remus and 
 his brother led ; thus strong 
 Etruria grew, 
 
 Casta pudicitiam servat domus : ubera vaccae 
 Lactea demittunt 3 pinguesque in gramine leeto 
 Inter se adversis luctantur cornibus hoedi. 526 
 Ipse dies agitat festos ; fususque per herbam, 
 Ignis ubi in medio, et socii cratera coronant, 
 Te libans, Lenaee, vocat, pecorisque magistris 
 Velocis jaculi certamina ponit in ulmo ; 530 
 Corporaque agresti nudat praedura palaestra. 
 Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini ; 
 Hanc Remus et frater : sic fortis Etruria crevit ; 
 
 Exilioque domos, et dulcia limina mu- 
 tant. 
 
 Lucretius has something like this, 
 in his third book : 
 
 At jam non domus accipiet te Iseta, ne- 
 
 que uxor 
 Optima, nee dulces occurrent oscula nati 
 Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine 
 
 tangent. 
 
 524. Casta pudicitiam servat do- 
 mus^ This is opposed to the fre- 
 quent adulteries, which are com- 
 mitted in cities. 
 
 525. Pinguesque.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts que is left out. 
 
 528. Cratera coronat.] This may- 
 be understood either of crowning 
 the goblet with flowers, or filling 
 it with wine to the brim. This is 
 plainly meant by Virgil as a solemn 
 adoration of Bacchus : but Dryden 
 represents them as drinking the 
 farmer's health : 
 
 The hearth is in the midst ; the herds- 
 men round 
 
 The cheerful fire, provoke his health in 
 goblets crown'd. 
 
 531. Nudatr\ Pierius says it is 
 nudant in the Roman, the Medi- 
 cean, and other very ancient manu- 
 scripts. It is nudant in the King's, 
 the Bodleian, and in one of JDr. 
 Mead's manuscripts: but nudat is 
 more generally received. 
 
 532. Hanc olim, &c] Having 
 shewn the advantages and delights 
 of husbandry; he concludes this se- 
 cond Georgick, with observing that 
 this was the life which their glo- 
 rious ancestors led ; that this was 
 the employment of Saturn, in the 
 golden age, before mankind were 
 grown wicked, and had learned the 
 art of war. 
 
 Veteres Sabinir\ The Sabines 
 were an ancient people of Italy, 
 near Rome. They were famous 
 for religion and virtue: and are 
 thought by some to derive their 
 name ano r» (r£>to$xi, from worship- 
 ping. Thus Pliny: " Sabini, ut 
 " quidam existimavere, a religione 
 " et deorum cultu Sebini appellati." 
 It is customary with the Poets to 
 compare a chaste, virtuous, matron, 
 to the Sabine women. Thus Ho- 
 race : 
 
 Quod si pudica mulier in partem juvans 
 Domum, atque dulces liberos ; 
 
 Sabina qualis, aut perusta solibus 
 Pernicis uxor Appuli. 
 
 But if a icife, more chaste than fair. 
 Such as the ancient Sabines -acre, 
 Such as the hrorvn Apidian dame, 
 Of moderate face, and honest fame. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 533. Hanc Remus et frater.] Ro- 
 mulus and Remus, when they un- 
 dertook to found their new city, 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 8H 
 
 Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, S d st % u s ri J° m of tw^ e the 
 
 Rome, were joined by a great num- 
 ber of shepherds, according to Livy : 
 " Ita Numitori Albana permissa re, 
 " Romulum Remumque cupido 
 *' cepit, in iis locis ubi expositi, 
 " ubique educati erant, urbis con- 
 " dendae : et supererat multitudo 
 ( ' Albanorum Latinorumque : ad id 
 * e pastores qUoque accesserant, qui 
 u omnes facile spem facerent, par- 
 c< vam Albam, parvum Lavinium, 
 " prae ea urbe quae conderetur fore." 
 They were educated themselves 
 amongst the shepherds, and were 
 employed in tending the sheep, 
 according to the same author: 
 " Tenet fama, cum fluitantem al- 
 " veum, quo expositi erant pueri, 
 V tenuis in sicco aqua destituisset, 
 " lupam sitientem, ex montibus qui 
 ". circa sunt, ad puerilem vagitum 
 " cursum flexisse : earn summissas 
 " infantibus adeo mitem praebuisse 
 '.' mammas, ut lingua lambentem 
 " pueros magister regit pecoris in- 
 " venerit. Faustulo fuisse nomen 
 "ferunt; ab eo ad stabula Lau- 
 " rentiae uxori educandos datos . . . 
 " Cum primum adolevit aetas, nee 
 " in stabulis, nee ad pecora segnes, 
 te venando peragrare circa saltus, 
 " hinc robore et corporibus animis- 
 " que sumto, jam non feras tantum 
 " subsistere, sed in latrones prseda 
 " onustos impetum facere, pastori- 
 ". busque rapta dividere." 
 
 Sic fortis Etruria crevit.] Etru- 
 ria, or Tuscany, was bounded on 
 the north and west by the Apen- 
 nines, by the mare infer um, or 
 Tyrrhene sea, on the south, and by 
 the river Tyber on the east. The 
 Etrurians are said to have extended 
 their dominion from the Alps to the 
 Sicilian sea, whence the sea, which 
 washes that coast of Italy, obtained 
 the name of the Tyrrhene, or Tus- 
 can sea. 
 
 534>. Facta est pulcherrima Roma.] 
 The ancient Romans were greatly 
 addicted to husbandry, and are 
 known to have had that art in the 
 greatest esteem. Cato mentions, 
 as an instance of this, that they 
 thought they could not bestow a 
 greater praise on any good man, 
 than calling him a good husband- 
 man : " Et virum bonum cum lau- 
 " dabant, ita laudabant, bonum 
 " Agricolam, bonumque colonum. 
 " Amplissime laudari existimaba- 
 " tur, qui ita laudabatur." Cicero, 
 in his oration for Sextus Roscius, 
 observes that their ancestors, by 
 diligently following agriculture, 
 brought the Commonwealth to the 
 flourishing condition, in which it 
 then was : <f Etenim, qui praeesse 
 " agro colendo flagitium putes, pro- 
 " fecto ilium Atilium, quern sua 
 " manu spargentem semen, qui 
 " missi erant, convenerunt, homi- 
 " nem turpissimum, atque inhones- 
 •' tissimum judicares. At hercule 
 " majores nostri longe aliter et de 
 " illo, et . de caeteris talibus viris 
 " existimabant. Itaque ex minima, 
 " tenuissimaque Republica maximum 
 " et jioreniissimam nobis reliquerunt. 
 " Suos enim agros studiose cole- 
 " bant : non alienos cupide appe- 
 " tebant : quibus rebus, et agris, et 
 " urbibus, et nationibus, rempub- 
 " licam atque hoc impeiium, et 
 " Populi llomani nomen auxeruntS' 
 Columella observes that Quintius 
 Cincinnati! s, who was called from 
 the plough to the Dictatorship, laid 
 down his ensigns of authority, with 
 greater joy, than he took them up, 
 and returned to his bullocks, and 
 little hereditary farm of four acres : 
 that C. Fabritius, and Curius Den- 
 tatus, of whom one had driven 
 Pyrrhus out of Italy, and the other 
 had subdued the Sabines, cultivated 
 2p 
 
S18 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 wiuSSiTSS^AiSbSS Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces. 
 
 thereign of the Dictasan king, 
 
 and before the impious age Ante etiam sceptram Dictssi Keens, et ante 
 
 feasted upon slain bullocks, 
 
 Irapm quam cassis gens est epulata juvencis, 
 
 the seven acres, which they shared 
 with the rest of the people, with a 
 diligence, equal to the valour by 
 which they had obtained them: 
 that the true offspring of Romulus 
 were hardened by rural labour, to 
 bear the fatigues of war, when their 
 country called for their aid; and 
 that they chose their soldiers out 
 of the country rather than out of 
 the city: •* Verum cum plurimis 
 '•' monumentis scriptorum admo- 
 tc near, apud antiquos nostros fuisse 
 " glorise curam rusticationis, ex qua 
 " Quintius Cincinnatus, obsessi 
 '•' Consulis et exercitus liberator, ab 
 " aratro vocatus ad Dictaturam 
 01 venerit, ac rursus, fascibus de- 
 " positis, quos festinantius victor 
 " reddiderat, quam sumpserat Im- 
 " perator, ad eosdem juvencos, et 
 " quatuor jugerum avitum haeredio- 
 *' lum redierit. Itemque C. Fabri- 
 tC cius, et Curius Dentatus, alter 
 «. Pyrrho finibus Italiae pulso, do- 
 " mitis alter Sabinis, accepta quae 
 •• viritim dividebantur captivi agri, 
 " septem jugera non minus indus- 
 " trie coluerit, quam fortiter armis 
 ts quaesierat .... At mehercule vera 
 " ilia Komuli proles assiduis vena- 
 " tibus, nee minus agrestibus operi- 
 " bus exercitata, firmissimis praeva- 
 " luit corporibus, ac militiam belli, 
 *' cum res postulavit, facile susti- 
 " nuit, durata pacis laboribus, sem- 
 " perque rusticam plebem praeposuit 
 « urbanae." Pliny observes that 
 Italy produced a greater quantity 
 of corn in former ages, which he 
 ascribes to the lands, being culti- 
 vated by the hands of generals; 
 and ploughmen who had triumphed : 
 " Quaenam ergo tan tag ubertatis 
 ** ,causa erat ? Ipsorum time mani- 
 
 " bus Imperatorum colebantur agri, 
 " ut fas est credere, gaudente terra 
 " vonrere laureato, et triumphali 
 " aratore : sive illi eadem cura se- 
 " mina tractabant, qua bella, ea- 
 f{ demque diligentia arva dispone- 
 " bant, qua castra: sive honestis 
 ec manibus omnia laetius proveniunt, 
 " quoniam et curiosius fiunt." 
 
 535. Septemque una sibi muro cir- 
 cumdedit arces.] In some editions 
 it is septem quaz. 
 
 " The seven hills of Rome, which 
 " were inclosed within one wall, 
 " were, the Palatinus, now Palazzo 
 " maggiore ; the Quirinalis, now 
 " monie Cavallo ; the Ccelius, now 
 " monte di S. Giovanni Laterano ; 
 " the Capitolinus, now Campidoglio ; 
 <( the Aventinus, now monte di S. 
 " Sabina ; the Esquilinus, now mon- 
 " ie di S. Maria maggiore; and the 
 " Viminalis ; to which seven were 
 " added the Janicidus, now Monto- 
 " rio, and the Vatican." Ru^us. 
 
 536. Dictcei Regis.] Dicte is the 
 name of a mountain of Crete, where 
 Jupiter was educated, and on which 
 a temple was built in honour of 
 him. Hence the Poet calls J upiter 
 the Dictaean king. 
 
 537- Ccsais juvencis.] In the first 
 ages it was thought unlawful to slay 
 their oxen, because they assisted 
 mankind in tilling the ground. 
 Thus Cicero : " Quid de bobus lo- 
 " quar ? quibus cum terras subige- 
 " rentur fissione glebarum, ab illo 
 " aureo genere, ut Poetae loquuntur, 
 " vis nunquam ulla afferebatur." 
 Varro says it was anciently made 
 a capital crime to kill an ox : " Hie 
 " socius hominum in rustico opere, 
 " et Cereris minister. Ab hoc an- 
 " tiqui man us ita abstineri volue- 
 
GEORG. LIB. II. 
 
 819 
 
 Aureus Lane vitam in terris Saturnus agebat. 
 Necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum 
 Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses. 540 
 Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus aequor; 
 Et jam tempus equum fumantia solvere culla. 
 
 gol-'en Saturn led tl is life 
 upon earth. They had not 
 then heard the war' ike sund 
 of tlie crumpet, nor the clat- 
 tering of swords upon hard 
 anvils But we have now run 
 our cour-e ove a va»t plain, 
 and it is now time to release 
 the smoking necks of our 
 horses 
 
 " runt ut capite sanxerint, siquis 
 " occidisset :" and Columella also 
 says that oxen were so esteemed 
 among the ancients, that it was 
 held as capital a crime to kill an 
 ox, as to slay a citizen: " Cujus 
 " tanta fuit apud antiquos venera- 
 " tio, ut tam capitale esset bovem 
 " necasse, quam civem." Virgil 
 seems in this place to have imitated 
 Aratus, who says that in the brazen 
 age men first began to form the 
 mischievous sword, and to eat the 
 labouring oxen : 
 
 'AXX' on Sri xtlxstvoi IriS-vxtruv, el S* iyivovro, 
 Xakxti*) ytnh, ztgorigav oXourt^oi avo^gts, 
 O'izr^uToi xaxoi^yov l%oc.k%ttJ<ruvro (itt,%ot,t- 
 
 (>a.v 
 TLlvob'im, zrgurot Ti fiouv Wafeivr' ugorwgav. 
 
 538. Aureus Saturnus."] The 
 golden age was fabled to have 
 been under the government of Sa- 
 turn. This age terminated with the 
 expulsion of Saturn by Jupiter. 
 
 541. Spatiis.^ See the note on 
 book i. ver. 513. 
 
 542. Fumantia.~\ Pier i us says it 
 is spumantia in the Roman, and 
 other manuscripts. 
 
 2 ft 
 
P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 GEORGICORUM 
 
 LIBER TERTIUS. 
 
 TE quoque, magna Pales, et te memorande, j^^ETo'SKS! 
 
 memorable by Amphrysus ; 
 ye woods and rivers of Ly- 
 
 canemus, 
 
 cxus. Other poems, which 
 
 Pastor ab Amphryso: vos, sylvae, amnesque have employed idle minds, 
 
 Lycaei. 
 Caetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmina mentes, 
 
 1. Te quoque, &c] The Poet, 
 intending to make cattle the subject 
 of his third book, unfolds his de- 
 sign, by saying he will sing of 
 Pales, the goddess of shepherds ; of 
 Apollo, who fed the herds of Ad- 
 metus on the banks of Amphrysus ; 
 and of the woods and rivers of Ly- 
 caeus, a mountain of Arcadia, famous 
 for sheep. He then shews a con- 
 tempt of the fabulous Poems, the 
 subjects of which he says are all 
 trite and vulgar, and hopes to soar 
 above the Greek Poets. 
 
 Pales is the goddess of shepherds. 
 The feast called Palilia, in which 
 milk was offered to her, was cele- 
 brated on the twentieth of April, 
 on which day also Rome was 
 founded by Romulus. 
 
 2. Pastor ab Amphryso.'] Am- 
 phrysus is a river of Thessaly, 
 where Apollo fed the herds of king 
 Ac|metus. 
 
 Lycfti] Lycaeus is a mountain 
 
 of Arcadia, famous for sheep, and 
 sacred to Pan, being accounted one 
 of his habitations. 
 
 3. Ccetera, qua? vacuas tenuissent 
 carmina mentes, omnia jam vulgata.] 
 " Though I do not dislike carmina, 
 " yet in some manuscripts it is car- 
 " mine, in the ablative case. For 
 " he does not mean that other 
 " poems are now grown common, 
 " but all other subjects, which 
 " might be treated in verse, and 
 " are the usual themes of poets. 
 " What these are he immediately 
 "recites." Pierius. 
 
 Fulvius Ursinus observes, that 
 Virgil alludes to particular authors, 
 who had treated severally of these 
 fables. Homer has related the fa- 
 ble of Eurystheus in the eighteenth 
 Iliad. The Busiris of Mnesima- 
 chus is quoted in the ninth book of 
 Athenaeus. Theocritus has spoken 
 of Hylas; Callimachus is referred 
 to in Latonia Debs, and the first 
 
?se 
 
 P. VIRGILI'I MARONIS 
 
 a*e now all become common. 
 Who is unacquainted with 
 cruel Eurystheus, or does not 
 know the altais of the ex- 
 ecrable Busiris ? 
 
 vulgata. 
 
 Omnia jam 
 durum, 
 Aut illaudati nescit Busiridis aras ? 
 
 Quis aut Eurysthea 
 
 Olympic ode of Pindar is to be un- 
 derstood by the mention of Hippo- 
 damia and Pelops. 
 
 4. Omnia jam vulgata.~] In the 
 Bodleian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, it is omnia sunt vul- 
 gata. 
 
 Eurysthea durum.] Pierius says 
 some would read dirum, but durum 
 is the true reading. Dr. Trapp 
 however has translated these words, 
 Eurystheus dire. 
 
 Eurystheus the son of Sthenelus 
 was king of Mycenae, and, at the 
 instigation of Juno, imposed on 
 Hercules his twelve famous labours, 
 which he hoped would have over- 
 powered him. 
 
 5. Illaudati Busiridis arasr\ Bu- 
 siris is generally said to have been 
 the son of Neptune, king of Egypt, 
 and a most cruel tyrant. He used 
 to sacrifice strangers, but Hercules 
 overcame him, and sacrificed both 
 him and his son on the same altars. 
 Diodorus Siculus tells us, that this 
 cruelty of Busiris was a fable in- 
 vented by the Greeks, but grounded 
 on a custom practised by the Egyp- 
 tians of sacrificing red-haired people 
 to the manes of that king, because 
 Typhon, who slew him, was of that 
 colour. Sir Isaac Newton makes 
 Busiris to be the same with Sesac, 
 Sesostris, and the great Bacchus; 
 and adds, that " the Egyptians be- 
 " fore his reign called him their 
 " Hero or Hercules ; and after his 
 " death, by reason of his great 
 * works done to the river Nile, de- 
 1 ' dicated that river to him, and 
 *< deified him by its names Sihor, 
 " Nilus, and Egypius ; and the 
 *' Greeks hearing them lament O 
 4t Sihor, Bou Sihor, called him Osi- 
 
 " ris and Busiris." The same great 
 author places the end of his reign 
 upon the fifth year of Asa, 956 years 
 before Christ. Eratosthenes, as he 
 is quoted by Strabo, affirms not only 
 that this sacrificing of strangers was 
 a fable, but that there never was a 
 king "or tyrant named Busiris. 
 
 In the next place let us consider 
 the objection which the ancient 
 grammarians have made to the use 
 of the word illaudati in this place. 
 Aulus Gellius tells as they said it 
 was a very improper word, and not 
 strong enough to express the detest- 
 ation of so wicked a person, who, 
 because he used to sacrifice strangers 
 of all nations, was not only unwor- 
 thy of praise, but ought to be de- 
 tested and cursed by all mankind : 
 " Nonnulli Grammatici aetatis su- 
 " perioris, in quibus est Cornutus 
 " Annaeus, baud sane indocti neque 
 " ignobiles, qui commentaria in Vir- 
 " gilium composuerunt, .... illau- 
 " dati parum idoneum esse verbum 
 " dicunt, neque id satis esse ad fa- 
 " ciendam scelerati hominis detes- 
 1 ' tationem : qui quod hospites om- 
 " nium gentium immolare solitus 
 <c fuit, non laude indignus, sed de- 
 *' testatione, execrationeque totius 
 " generis humani dignus esset." 
 Aulus Gellius vindicates the use of 
 this word two different ways. In 
 the first place he says, hardly any 
 man is so profligate, as not some- 
 times to do or say something which 
 is praiseworthy : and therefore one 
 who cannot be praised at all must 
 be a most wicked wretch. He adds, 
 that, as to be without blame is the 
 highest pitch of virtue, so to be 
 without praise is the greatest degree 
 of wickedness. He proves from 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 223 
 
 Cui non dictus Hylas puer, et Latonia Delos ? ™£**j$\!^^y§ffl 
 
 Homer, that the greatest praises 
 are contained in words exclusive of 
 imperfection, and therefore that a 
 term which excludes praise is the 
 most proper that can be found for 
 blaming or censuring. He observes 
 also that Epicurus expressed the 
 greatest pleasure by a privation of 
 pain, and that Virgil in like man- 
 ner called the Stygian lake inama- 
 bilis: for as illaudatus signifies a 
 privation of all praise, so inamabUis 
 expresses a privation of all love. 
 " De illaudato autem duo videntur 
 " responderi posse. Unum est ejus- 
 " modi : nemo quisquam tam efferis 
 " est moribus, quin faciat aut dicat 
 t{ nonnunquam aliquid quod lau- 
 " dari queat. Unde hie antiquis- 
 " simus versus vice proverbii cele- 
 " bratus est, 
 
 *' *7sr«v. 
 
 " sed enim qui omni in re atque 
 " omni tempore laude omni vacat, 
 " is illaudatus est : isque omnium 
 " pessimus deterrimusque est: sic- 
 " uti omnis culpa? privatio incul- 
 " patum faci£. Inculpatus autem 
 u instar est absolutae virtutis : illau- 
 " datus igitur quoque finis est ex- 
 " tremss malitiae. Itaque Homerus 
 " non virtutibus appellandis, sed 
 " vitiis detrahendis laudare ampliter 
 " solet. Hoc enim est 
 
 ■ Yiuoa, fAuvris afiuuav. 
 
 « Et item illud, 
 
 EvB-' ovk av /3^/^avra 'fiats ' AyafAtpvovit 
 
 " OuVt xoiravrcotra-avT , ovb* obx WtXavra 
 " paxioSect. 
 
 " Epicurus quoque simili modo 
 " maximam voluptatem detractio- 
 " nem privationemque omnis dolo- 
 
 " ris definivit his verbis : o^cg rov 
 iC [tiyzSovg rZv koovm, *i srxvrog rov ecX- 
 " yovvrog V7rileci^t<rig. Eadem ratione 
 " idem Virgilius inamabilem dixit 
 •• Stygiam paludem. Nam sicut 
 " illaudatum kxtm amoris crri^w* 
 " detestatus est." In the second 
 place he says that laudare signified 
 anciently to name; therefore illauda- 
 tus or illaudabilis signifies one who 
 ought not to be named, as it was 
 formerly decreed by the Asiatic 
 states, that none should ever name 
 the man who had set fire to the 
 temple of Diana at Ephesus. " Al- 
 " tero modo illaudatus ita defen- 
 " ditur. Laudare significat prisca 
 " lingua nominare appellareque* 
 " Sic in actionibus civilibus auctor 
 " laudari dicitur, quod est nominari. 
 " Illaudatus enim est quasi illauda- 
 " bilis, qui neque mentione aut me- 
 " moria ulla dignus, neque unquam 
 " nominandus est. Sicuti quondam 
 " a communi consilio Asia? decre- 
 " turn est, uti nomen ejus, qui 
 " templum Dianae Epjiesiae incen- 
 " derat, ne quis ullo in tempore 
 " nominaret." Some are of opinion 
 that Virgil here reflects on Iso- 
 crates, who composed an Oration 
 in praise of Busiris. But the Ora- 
 tion of Isocrates does not seem so 
 much to be designed in praise of 
 Busiris, as to expose one Poly crates, 
 who had undertaken to praise him, 
 and yet had not said any one thing 
 of him, which deserved commend- 
 ation. Quintilian thinks Poly- 
 crates composed this Oration, ra- 
 ther to shew his wit, than for any 
 other purpose : " Equidem illos qui 
 " contra disputarunt, non tam id 
 " sensisse quod dicerent, quam ex- 
 " ercere ingenia materia? difficul- 
 " tate credo voluisse ; sicut Poly- 
 " cratem cum Busirim laudaret, et 
 " Clytemnestram : quanquam is, 
 
22i 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SJcSfSffiSi^oSSS? Hippodameque, humeroque Pelops insignis 
 eburno, 
 
 " quod his dissimile non esset, com- 
 (C posuisse orationem. quae est habita 
 " contra Socratem, dicitur." There- 
 fore if Virgil designed to reflect on 
 any orator, it must rather have 
 been on Polycrates than on Jso- 
 crates. After all, I believe Virgil 
 intended to express a great abhor- 
 rence of the cruelties ascribed to 
 Busiris, by this negative of praise, 
 as he has called the Stygian lake 
 inamabilis in two different places. 
 The first is in the fourth Georgick : 
 • Tardaque palus inamabilis unda. 
 
 The other is in the sixth iEneid : 
 
 Tristique palus inamabilis unda. 
 
 And in the twelfth iEneid he uses 
 in like manner illcetabile, to express 
 the horrid murmur of a distracted 
 city : 
 
 Attulit hunc illi coecis terroribus aura 
 Commixtum clamorem, arrectasque im- 
 
 pulit aures 
 Confusae sonus urbis, et illrrtabile mur- 
 mur. 
 
 Nor are examples of this way of 
 speaking wanting among other au- 
 thors. Cicero seems to be speaking 
 in praise of Quintus Pompeius, when 
 he calls him a not contemptible 
 orator : <f Q. enim Pompeius, non 
 *' contemptus orator, temporibus illis 
 <( fuit, qui summos honores, homo 
 t( per se cognitus, sine ulla commen- 
 " datione majorum est adeptus." 
 Livy commends Polybius by calling 
 him an author not to be despised: 
 " Hunc regem in triumpho ductum 
 " Polybius, haudquaquam spernen- 
 ff dus auctor tradit." Longinus 
 also, when he extols the sublimity 
 of the style of Moses, calls him no 
 vulgar author: T«vt*j y.oti o rZv 'loi>- 
 
 Imtdi) TV* roy Suov dir/ctftiv Kocrot tJ» 
 ufy'ctv lyva^Hrt, Kct%i(p^nv } tvbvq Iv rJf lia-- 
 Qohr, y^d-^/xg tm vojtav, EiTTtv o 0soj, 
 <pW. ri ; yivz<r§a ty^S, y-eci iyinro. yir- 
 
 go-3*> yH, Kott iyiv&To. Dr. Trapp, in 
 his note on this passage, justly ob- 
 serves that it " is a figure of which 
 ' ' we have frequent instances ; espe- 
 (e cially in the holy Scriptures. 
 " Thus Gen. xxxiv. 7- Which thing 
 (C ought not to be done ; speaking of 
 " a great wickedness. And Rom. ii. 
 " 28. The most flagrant vices axe 
 " called things which are not con- 
 " venient." 
 
 6. Hylas puer.~\ Hylas was be- 
 loved by Hercules, and accompa- 
 nied him in the Argonautic expe- 
 dition. But going to draw water 
 he fell in, which gave occasion to 
 the fable of his being carried away 
 by the nymphs. He is mentioned 
 in the sixth Eclogue : 
 
 His adjungit, Hvlan nautas quo fonte 
 
 relictum 
 Clamassent : ut littus Hyla, Hyla, omne 
 
 sonaret. 
 
 He narrCd the nymph {for who but gods 
 
 coitd tell ? ) 
 Into whose arms the lovely Hylas fell ; 
 Alcides wept in vain for Hylas lost, 
 Hylas in vain resounds through all the 
 
 coast, 
 
 Lord Roscommon. 
 
 The loss of Hylas is the subject 
 of the thirteenth Idy Ilium of Theo- 
 critus. 
 
 Latonia Delos.] Delos is one of 
 the islands in the iEgean sea, called 
 Cyclades. It is fabled that this 
 island floated till Latona brought 
 forth Apollo and Diana there, after 
 which time it became fixed. 
 
 7. Hippodameque humeroque Pe- 
 lops insignis eburno, acer equis.~] 
 Hippodame or Hippodamia was 
 
 / 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 225 
 
 Acer equis? Tentanda via est, qua me quoque agSS^S^Xeir 
 
 from the ground, and having 
 DOSSim gained the victory co be cele- 
 
 bratedin the mouths of men. 
 
 Tollere humo, victorque virum volitare perora. i first of aii, if my Hfe c<>e» 
 
 7 i * but last, returning into my 
 
 Primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita su- °w ,lcountr y. 
 
 persit, 
 
 10 
 
 the daughter of CEnomaus, king of 
 Elis and Pisa. She was a princess 
 of exceeding great beauty, and had 
 many lovers. But it being foretold 
 by an oracle, that CEnomaus should 
 be slain by his son-in-law, he of- 
 fered his daughter to him who 
 should overcome the king in a 
 chariot-race, his own horses being 
 begotten by the winds, and pro- 
 digiously swift. But on the other 
 side, if the unfortunate lover lost 
 the race he was to be put to death. 
 In this manner thirty lost their 
 lives. But this did not discourage 
 Pelops the son of Tantalus, who 
 was greatly in love with her. He 
 accepted the dangerous conditions, 
 and contended with the father. In 
 this race the king's chariot broke, 
 by which accident he lost his life, 
 and Pelops gained the victory and 
 his beauteous prize. 
 
 Tantalus, the father of PelopSj 
 had invited the gods to a banquet, 
 at which, having a mind to try 
 their divinity, he dressed his son, 
 and set his flesh before them. All 
 the gods abstained from this horrid 
 food, except Ceres, who eat the 
 shoulder. Jupiter afterwards re- 
 stored Pelops to life, and gave him 
 an ivory shoulder, instead of that 
 which had been eaten. 
 
 Q. Victorque virum volitare per 
 ora.~\ Thus Ennius : 
 
 - Volito docta per ora virum; 
 
 10. Primus ego in patriam, &c] 
 The Poet, having in the preceding 
 paragraph expressed his contempt 
 of the fabulous subjects of the Greek 
 
 Poets, and shewn a desire of sur 
 passing them, now proceeds to pro- 
 pose to himself a subject worthy of 
 his genius, not founded on fables* 
 but on true history. The historical 
 facts which he designs to celebrate 
 are the victories of the Romans, 
 under the influence of Augustus 
 Caesar. He poetically describes this 
 victory of his over the Greek Poets, 
 by a design of building a temple to 
 Augustus, on the banks of the 
 Mincius, and officiating himself as 
 priest. In the mean time he says 
 he will proceed in the present work, 
 and speak of cattle. 
 
 This boast of Virgil, that he will 
 be the first, who brings the Muses 
 from Helicon into his own country, 
 must be understood of Mantua, not 
 of Italy in general : for this glory 
 belongs to Ennius, who first wrote 
 an epic Poem, after the manner of 
 Homer. Thus Lucretius : 
 
 Ennius ut noster ceeinit, qui primus 
 
 amoeno 
 Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde corc- 
 
 nam 
 Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara 
 
 clueret. 
 
 Though perhaps our Poet might 
 not think Ennius to have succeeded 
 so well, as to be thought to have 
 gained the favour of the Muses ; 
 and therefore flattered himself that 
 he might be the first Roman, who 
 obtained that glory. It must not 
 be omitted in this place, that Virgil 
 designed a journey into Greece, a 
 little before his death. This part 
 therefore probably was written after 
 the Georgicks were finished, 
 2 G 
 
i>26 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 will bring with me the Muses 
 from the top of the Aonian 
 mountain : I first will bring 
 to thee, O Mantua, the Idu- 
 mean palms ? and will erect 
 a marble temple on the green 
 plain, near the water, where 
 Mincius wanders with slow 
 windings, and covers the 
 banks with tender reeds. In 
 the midst shall Caesar stand, 
 and be the god of the temple. 
 In honour of him, will I, be- 
 ing conqueror, and adorned 
 with Tyrian purple. 
 
 Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas : 
 Primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas : 
 Et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponara 
 Propter aquam, tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat 
 Mincius, et tenera praetexit ar undine ripas. 15 
 In medio mihi Caesar erit, templumque tenebit. 
 Iili victor ego, et Tyrio conspectus in ostro 
 
 11. Aonio vertice.] Aonia was 
 the name of the mountainous part 
 of Boeotia, whence all Boeotia came 
 to be called Aonia. In this country 
 was the famous mountain Helicon, 
 sacred to the Muses. 
 
 12. Idumccas palmas.'] Idumsea, 
 or the land of Edom, was famous for 
 palms. He therefore uses Idumaean 
 palms for palms in general, as is 
 common in poetry. Palms were 
 used for crowns in all the games, 
 as we find in the fourth question 
 of the eighth book of Plutarch's 
 Symposiacs : where he enquires 
 why the sacred games had each 
 their peculiar crown, but the palm 
 was common to all. 
 
 In the King's manuscript it is 
 Primus et Idumeas. 
 
 16. In medio mihi Ccesar erit, 
 templumque tenebit.] It was the 
 custom to place the statue of that 
 god, to whom the temple was de- 
 dicated, in the middle of it. The 
 other statues, which he mentions, 
 are to adorn the temple. 
 
 17. 17/?.] " i. e. in illius honor em. 
 " So in the next verse but one, mihi 
 " for in meum konorem." Dr. Tkapp. 
 
 In the Cambridge, and in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts it is illic 
 instead of illi. Pierius found the 
 same reading in the Roman, Medi- 
 cean, and other very ancient manu- 
 scripts. He says that in the Lom- 
 bard manuscript the c has been 
 erased, which he greatly condemns. 
 He interpret* illic to mean Mantua: 
 
 <e illic, hoc est Mantua?, in patria 
 " mea, quo primus ego Musas ab 
 u Aonia deduxero." He thinks 
 however that illi may be put for 
 illic, as in the second iEneid : Illi 
 mea tristia facta : which the ancient 
 grammarians have observed to be 
 put for illic. But notwithstanding 
 the opinion of these ancient gram- 
 marians, I cannot but think that 
 even in that passage of the jEneid 
 illi signifies not there, but to him. 
 Priamus had just reproached Pyr- 
 rhus, as being of a less generous 
 temper than his father Achilles : to 
 which Pyrrhus replies: " Then 
 " you shall go on this errand to 
 ' ' my father Achilles ; and be sure 
 '■ you tell him of my sad actions, 
 " and how Pyrrhus degenerates 
 " from him : 
 
 " Referes ergo haec, et mincius ibis 
 
 " Pelidae genitori : illi mea tristia facta, 
 " Degenerernque Neoptolemum narrare 
 " memento." 
 
 Surely illi relates to Achilles, tell 
 him of my sad actions, not tell there 
 my sad actions, for no place has 
 been mentioned. 
 
 Tyrio conspectus in ostro.] Those 
 who offered sacrifice, amongst the 
 Romans, on account of any victory, 
 were clothed in the Tyrian colour. 
 It is not certain what colour this 
 was. Some call it purple and others 
 scarlet. Perhaps it was a deep 
 crimson ; for human blood is com- 
 monly called purple by the Poets. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 227 
 
 Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus. 
 
 drive a hundred fiur-horoed 
 
 chariots alonjr. the river. For 
 
 -, ., . , , -myr me all Greece shall leave Al- 
 
 Cuncta mini, Alpheum nnquens, lucosque Lvlo- pheus and the g rov?s of m -- 
 
 lorchus, and contend in run- 
 ning, and with the hard 
 c<estus. 
 
 lorchi, 
 Cursibus, et crudo decernet Graecia csestu. 
 
 20 
 
 18. Centum quadrijugos agitabo ab 
 flumina currus.] Varro, as he is 
 
 quoted by Servius, tells us that 
 in the Circensian games, it was 
 anciently the custom to send out 
 twenty-five missus or matches of 
 chariots in a day, and that each 
 match consisted of four chariots: 
 that the twenty-fifth match was set 
 out at the charge of the people, by 
 a collection made amongst them, 
 and was therefore called aerarius: 
 and that when this custom was laid 
 aside, the last match still retained 
 the name of aerarius. It is likewise 
 to the ancient custom of celebrating 
 these games on the banks of rivers, 
 that the Poet alludes by the words 
 ad flumina. 
 
 19. Cuncta mihi, Alpheum linquens , 
 lucosque Molorchi.] The Poet here 
 prophesies that the games which 
 he shall institute, in honour of 
 Augustus, will be so famous, that 
 the Greeks will come to them, and 
 forsake their own Olympic and Ne- 
 meaean games. 
 
 Alpheus is the name of a river of 
 Peloponnesus, arising in Arcadia, 
 passing through the country of Elis, 
 and falling into the sea below the 
 city Olympia, which was famous for 
 the Olympic games, instituted by 
 Hereules in honour of Jupiter. The 
 victors at these games were crowned 
 with wild olive. 
 
 Molorchus was a shepherd of 
 Cleone, a town in Peloponnesus, 
 between Corinth and Argos, near 
 Mantinea. Hercules having been 
 hospitably received by this shep- 
 herd, in gratitude slew the Nemesean 
 or Cleonean lion, which infested that 
 
 country ; and the Nemeasan games 
 were therefore instituted in honour 
 of Hercules. The victors were 
 crowned with parsley, or perhaps 
 smallage, triXivov. 
 
 20. Cursibus.~]. Running was one 
 of the five Olympic games, called 
 the Pentatklum. The others were 
 wrestling, leaping, throwing the 
 quoit, and fighting with the ccestus. 
 
 Decernet.] Pierius says it is de~ 
 ceriet in the Lombard, and some 
 other manuscripts. I find decertet 
 in the King's, one of the Arunde- 
 lian, in both Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, and in some old printed 
 copies. 
 
 Ccestu.] The ccestus was com- 
 posed of leathern thongs fastened to 
 the hands, and filled with lead and 
 iron, to add force and weight to the 
 blow. Thus Theocritus: 
 
 'T/AviofAif AjjSaf rt xcti alyto^u Aios viw, 
 
 Kaw^a xai QoSegov TioXvhtvxta rav\ ȣS^/> 
 
 XtTgas Wtfyvfyivret fiterois (loioiri* Ipeltriv 
 
 Oi S', \irtl ouv enrtigetmv ixuorvv«»ro (iei/eut 
 Xugas, net) zftgt yvtct ftetKgot/s t'/Xi%a* iftav" 
 
 vat 
 *E; (/tffffov ffivuyav, tpovot uXkeiXotvi zrviov* 
 
 rtg. 
 
 And Virgil, in his fifth iEneid : 
 
 Tantorum ingentia septem 
 
 Terga boum plumbo insuto, ferroque ri- 
 gebant. 
 
 * Turn satus Anchisa caestus pater extulit 
 aequos, 
 Et paribus palmas amborum innexuit 
 armis. 
 
 Those who desire to know the man- 
 ner of fighting with this weapon, 
 2 G 2 
 
22S 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 I myself, having my head 
 adorned with leaves of the 
 shorn oHve, will bring pre- 
 sents. Even now I rejoice to 
 lead the solemn pomps to the 
 temple, and to see the oxen 
 slain : or how the scene shifts 
 with achangingface,andhow 
 the interwoven Britons lift 
 up the purple tap strv. On 
 the doors will I describe the 
 battle of the Gangarides, and 
 the arms of conquering Ro- 
 mulus, in gold andsolid ivory : 
 
 Ipse caput tonsse foliis ornatus olivae 
 Donaferam. Jam nunc solemnes ducerepompas 
 Ad delubra juvat, csesosque videre juvencos : 
 Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus ; utque 
 Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni. 25 
 In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto 
 Gangaridum faciam, victorisque arma Quirini : 
 
 may find it described at large, in 
 the twenty^second Idyllium of The- 
 ocritus, and in the fifth JEneid. 
 
 21. Oliva?.'] OllvcB seems to be 
 put here for the wild olive, with 
 which the victors at the Olympic 
 games used to be crowned. 
 
 22. Solemnes ductre pompas.] The 
 pomps were images of the gods, 
 carried in procession to the circus. 
 Thus Ovid : 
 
 Sed jam pompa venit : Unguis animisque 
 favete. 
 Tempus adest plausus: aurea pompa 
 venit. 
 Prima loco fertur passis Victoria pennis : 
 Hue ades; et meus hicfac, Dea, vincat 
 amor. 
 Plaudite Neptuno, nimium qui creditis 
 undis : 
 Nil mihi cum pelago : me mea terra 
 capit. 
 Plaude tuo, miles, Marti : nos odimus 
 arma. 
 Pax juvat, et media pace repertus amor. 
 Auguribus Phoebus : Phoebe venantibus 
 adsit : 
 Artifices in te verle, Minerva, manus. 
 Ruricolae Cereri, teneroque adsurgite 
 Baccho : 
 Pollucem pugiles: Castora placet eques. 
 Nos tibi, blanda Venus, puerisque po- 
 tentibus arcu 
 Plaudimus: inceptisannue, Diva, meis. 
 
 25. Purpurea intexti tollant aulcea 
 Britanni."] This is understood by 
 some to mean, that real Britons 
 held up the tapestry in which the 
 figures of their countrymen were 
 interwoven. Thus May: 
 
 . Or how the Britaines raise 
 
 That purple curtaine which themselves 
 displaies. 
 
 Dryden understands it only of Bri- 
 tish figures, which seem to hold 
 it up : 
 
 Which interwoven Britons seem to raise, 
 And shew the triumph which their shame 
 displays. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 And how th' inwoven Britons there sup- 
 port 
 The purple figur'd tapestry they grace. 
 
 27- Gangaridum.'] The Ganga- 
 rides were Indians living near the 
 Ganges. These people were not 
 subdued at the time, when Virgil 
 wrote his Georgicks. Catrou justly 
 observes that Virgil must have 
 added this and the preceding verse, 
 long after he had first published 
 the Georgicks. This whole alle- 
 gory of the temple seems to have 
 been added by the Poet in the year 
 of Rome 734, when history informs 
 us, that Augustus subdued the In- 
 dians, and the Parthians, and re- 
 covered the eagles which had been 
 lost by Crassus. This was the year 
 before the death of Virgil : whence 
 we may observe, that he continued 
 to correct and improve this noble 
 Poem, till the time of his death. 
 
 Victorisque arma Quirini.] Ruaeus 
 allows that it was debated in the 
 Senate, whether Augustus or Ro- 
 mulus should be the name of him, 
 who before was called Octavianus. 
 But he observes that this happened 
 in the year of Rome 727, three 
 years after the publication of the 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 229 
 
 Atque hie undantem bello, magnumque fluen- 
 
 tem 
 Nilum, ac navali surgentes acre column as. 
 Addam urbes Asi«e domitas, pu!<umque Nipha- 
 
 ten, 30 
 
 Fidentemque fuga Parthum, versisque sagittis, 
 Et duo rapta manu di verso ex hoste trophaea ; 
 
 and here will I represent the 
 Nile waving with war, and 
 g-eatly flowing, a d co umnl 
 rising with na\a' brass. I 
 will add the conquered cities 
 ofAs ; a,andsu' clued Niphates, 
 and the > arthian trust ng in 
 flight, and in arrows shot 
 backward : and the two tro- 
 phies snatched with his own 
 hand from two different ene- 
 mies : 
 
 Georgicks. Hence he concludes 
 that it was a private flattery of 
 Virgil, and had no relation to what 
 was debated in the Senate. But if 
 we agree with Catrou, that this 
 verse was inserted in the year 734, 
 we can have no doubt, but that Vir- 
 gil alluded to the debate already 
 mentioned. 
 
 28. Undantem hello, magnumque 
 fluentem Nilum.] This relates to 
 
 the victory obtained over the Egyp- 
 tians and their allies, commanded 
 by Anthony and Cleopatra, in the 
 year of Rome 724. 
 
 29. Navali surgentes cere colum- 
 nas.] Servius tells us, that Augus- 
 tus, having conquered all Egypt, 
 took abundance of beaks of ships, 
 and made four columns of them, 
 which were afterwards placed by 
 Domitian in the Capitol, and were 
 to be seen in his time. 
 
 30. Pulsumque Niphafen."] Ni- 
 phates is the name of a mountain 
 and river of Armenia. The people 
 of this country were subdued after 
 the decree of the Senate, by which 
 the name Augustus was given to 
 Octavianus : for Horace mentions 
 this as a new victory, and at the 
 same time gives him the name of 
 Augustus : 
 
 Potius nova 
 
 Cantemus Augusti trophaea 
 Caesaris, et rigidum Niphaten, 
 
 M edumque Humeri gentibus additum 
 Victis, minores volvere vortices. 
 
 31. Fidentemque fuga Parthum, 
 
 versisque sagittis.'] The Parthians 
 used to iiy from their enemies, and 
 at the same time to shoot their ar- 
 rows behind them. Thus Ovid : 
 
 Tergaque Parthorum, Romanaque pec* 
 tora dicam ; 
 Telaque,abaversoquae jacithostisequo. 
 Quid fugis ut vincas ; quid victo, Parihe 
 relinques ? 
 
 The manner of the Parthians fight- 
 ing is excellently described by Mil- 
 ton : 
 
 Now the Parthian ki 
 
 "g 
 
 In Ctesiphon hath gather'd all his host 
 Against the Scythian, whose incursions 
 
 wild 
 Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid 
 He marches now in haste ; see, though 
 
 from far, 
 His thousands, in what martial equipage 
 They issue forth, steel bows, and shafts 
 
 their arms ; 
 Of equal dread inflight, or in pursuit; 
 All horsemen, in which fight they most 
 
 excel. 
 
 He saw them in their forms of battle 
 rang'd, 
 
 How quick they wheel'd, and flying be- 
 hind them shot 
 
 Sharp sleet of arrowy show'r against the 
 face 
 
 Of their pursuers, and overcame by 
 flight. 
 
 32. Duo rapta manu diverso ex 
 hoste trophcea.] Servius will have 
 this to mean the Gangarides in the 
 east, and the Britons in the west : 
 but it does not appear from history 
 that Augustus ever triumphed over 
 the Britons, or even made war 
 upon them. La Cerda proposes 
 
230 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 imphed "yirfrom e bSh Bisque triumphatas utroque ab littore gentes. 
 
 shores. There shall stand also r. i <. n •• i «J 
 
 the statues breathing in Pa- btabunt et ram iapicies, spirantia signa. 
 
 rian marble, the offspring of ° 
 
 ^ ar r a a C ce S de a s?end h ed £Sj£ Assaracl proles, deinissseque ab Jove gentis 35 
 
 piter, 
 
 another interpretation. He ob- 
 serves, that rapta manu expresses 
 Augustus Caesar's having obtained 
 these victories in person. Now it 
 appears from Suetonius, that he 
 managed only two foreign wars in 
 person, the Dalmatian and the 
 Cantabrian: " Externa bella duo 
 *■ omnino per se gessit, Dalmati- 
 if cum adolescens adhuc, et, Anto- 
 *' nio devicto, Cantabricum. Re- 
 " liqua per legatos administravit" 
 Ruaeus understands the Poet to 
 speak of the two victories obtained 
 over Anthony, the first at Actium, 
 a promontory of Epirus, on the 
 European shore : the other at Alex- 
 andria, on the African shore ; and 
 that this is meant by utroque ab 
 littore, in the next verse. Catrou 
 thinks this solution of Ruaeus a 
 very judicious one: but yet he 
 thinks he can give a more solid 
 explication of this passage, from 
 Dion Cassius. This author relates 
 that Augustus made war twice on 
 the Cantabrians, and on the Astu- 
 rians, and twice in Asia. He went 
 in person against the Spaniards 
 the first time they revolted, and 
 they were subdued the second time 
 by ' his lieutenant Carisius. He 
 twice subdued the Parthians, and 
 both times commanded his armies in 
 person. Here, says Catrou, are the 
 two trophies obtained by the hand 
 of Augustus, making war in person 
 on two different nations, the Spani- 
 ards and the Parthians. 
 
 33. Bisque triumphatos utroque ab 
 Uttore gentes.] In several of the 
 old printed editions it is a instead 
 of at. 
 
 Servius, Ruaeus, and Catrou, un- 
 
 derstand this to relate to the vic- 
 tories mentioned in the preceding 
 verse. La Cerda thinks the Poet 
 here introduces another picture; 
 and proposes to paint the triumphs 
 of Cgesar, after he had made an 
 universal peace. The two shores 
 therefore mean the whole extent 
 of the Roman dominions, from 
 east to west. 
 
 34. Parii lapidesJ] Paros is an 
 island in the JSgean sea, famous 
 for the finest marble. Hence, in the 
 third yEneid, he calls this island the 
 snow-white Paros, <( niveamque Pa- 
 '* ron." 
 
 35. Assaraci proles, demissaque ab 
 Jove gentis nomina.] Here he com- 
 pliments Augustus, with adorning 
 his temple with the statues of the 
 Trojan ancestors, from whom he 
 was fond of being thought to 
 have descended. The genealogy of 
 this family, according to Homer, 
 from Jupiter to ^Eneas is thus : 
 
 Jupiter 
 Dardanus 
 Ericthonius 
 Tros 
 
 llus Assaracus Ganvmedes 
 
 i 
 
 Capys 
 
 Anchiscs — Venus 
 
 I 
 
 iEneas 
 
 Laomedon 
 
 I | I I I 
 
 Tithonus Priamus Lampus Clytion Hicetaoa 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 231 
 
 Nomina, Trosque parens, et Trojae Cynthius SS^™ fo^* •£$! 
 
 anrttw Detested em y shall ftar the 
 
 uuciui. furies, and the dismal river 
 
 T *J # • fi' -r* • Cocytus, aid the twisted 
 
 Jnviaia mtelix t arias, amnemque severum snakes of ixion, and the rack- 
 
 ■ ing wheel, and the ever roll- 
 
 Cocyti metuet, tortosque Ixionis angues, ing stone. 
 Immanemque rotam; et non exuperabilesaxum. 
 
 Aaodavov ecu zfpurov rixtro ntyiknytpira. 
 
 Zivs. 
 Krifffft $1 Auo%av!*iv y \<ru etlvu"lktos ion 
 'Ey wtViep zfifoXurro, zsrokts (liootuv uvS-p&i- 
 
 'Akk' «$' v*UDUtt,s uxsov zroXutribuKev*!^. 
 Aafiavo; au r'ixeS-' ulov 'Epi%$6viov Ban- 
 ktja. 
 
 Ipua !> 'Egi%&oviof rixtre l^utttriv avaxra. 
 Tpuo; a au TPtTg -UaiSis af&ufiovts i^iyivovrt, 
 Ikog r , ' Affffaouxos rt, xa) avriS-iog Taw- 
 
 Of dti xakkterros yiviro B-vr,reuv avSpuvrm. 
 Tev xa) avtiottyxvro Sto) Au atva%oiuuv, 
 Kakkio; tivtxa oto, 7/ aS-a.va,roi<Ti ftgruti. 
 lkof o' au rixtS-' ulov ufiu/u.ova Aaoft'i^ovra. 
 Aaop,io*uv V apa Tt&uvov r'txiro, Tlpiapiv rt, 
 Aup,<rov rt, Kkvrit* &', 'ixtraova r o%ov 
 
 "Aovtoi. 
 'Afffupcixot Ti KaVuv, o §' tip' 'Ay%l<rnv rixt 
 
 •a tutu. 
 Autxp V 'Ayxi<r>is , Tipta.fjt.oi S* 'inx W E«- 
 
 rooa o*7ov. 
 
 The son of iEneas was called Asca- 
 nius, or lulus, from whence the 
 Julian family derived their name. 
 
 36. TrojcE Cynthius auctor.'] A- 
 pollo was born in Delos, where is 
 the mountain Cynthus. He is said 
 to have built Troy, in the reign of 
 Laomedon. In the sixth iEneid 
 he calls Dardanus the founder of 
 Troy : 
 
 Ilusque, Assaracusque, et Trojce Darda- 
 nus auctor. 
 
 And in the eighth : 
 
 Dardanus, Iliacae primus pater urbis et 
 auctor. 
 
 37. Invidia infelix, &c] Servius 
 seems to understand the Poet's 
 meaning to be, that he will write 
 such great things as to deserve 
 
 envy; but at the same time that 
 the envious shall forbear detract- 
 ing, for fear of punishment in the 
 other world. I rather believe with 
 La Cerda and others, that he speaks 
 of those who envy the glories of 
 Augustus Caesar, of whom there 
 must have been many at that time 
 in Rome. 
 
 This and the two following verses 
 are wanting in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 38. Cocyii.] Cocytus is the name 
 of one of the five rivers of hell. 
 
 Tortosque Ixionis angues, imma- 
 nemque rotam.] Ixion attempted to 
 violate Juno, for which crime he 
 was cast into hell, and bound, with 
 twisted snakes, to a wheel which is 
 continually turning. 
 
 Pierius says it is orbes in the Ro- 
 man manuscript, instead of angues: 
 but this reading would be a tauto- 
 logy, for the wheel is mentioned in 
 the very next verse. 
 
 39. Non exuperabile saxum.] Si- 
 syphus infested Attica with robbe- 
 ries, for which he was slain by 
 Theseus, and condemned in hell 
 to roll a stone to the top of a hill, 
 which always turns back again, be- 
 fore it reaches the top. This punish- 
 ment of Sisyphus is beautifully 
 described by Homer : 
 
 Kai fih tittup iifft7lov xparig fa yi * 
 
 i%ovra, 
 Aaav fiao-raXavra •artkugiov afittporipy^iv. 
 *Hr« i fih, rxtiprrS/nvos x %p 9 U rt irotrU 
 
 TS, 
 
 AS«y ccvu ZSitrxt sror) koipov' cikk' fat 
 
 ftikkoi 
 "Ax^av vxipSakiuv, ror aroirrpi^acxt 
 x(>araii$. 
 
232 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 In the mean while, let us pur- 
 sue the untouched woods and 
 lawns, the hard task wh ch 
 you, Maecenas, have com- 
 manded me to undertake. 
 Without thee my mind be- 
 gins nothing that is lofty ; be- 
 gin then, break slow delays ; 
 Cythaeron calls with loud cla- 
 mours, and the dogs of Tav- 
 getus, and Epidaurus the 
 tamer of horses, and the voice 
 doubled by the assenting wood 
 re-echoes. But afterwards I 
 will attempt to sing the ar- 
 dent fights of 
 
 Interea Dryadum sylvas, saltusque sequamur 
 Intactos, tua. Maecenas, haud mollia jussa. 41 
 Te sine nil altum mens inchoat : en age segnes 
 Rumpe moras : vocat ingenti clamore Cythaeron, 
 Taygetique canes, domitrixque Epidaurus equo- 
 
 rum : 
 Et vox assensu nemorum ingeminata remugit. 45 
 Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas 
 
 Aurtf, ttrur* zTi%o*bi xukiv^trd Xacc; uvou- 
 Autuo oy &•$/ mtraexi wraivo/utvof* xarot 
 "Eppttv ix ftiXiuv, xovii) 0* ix xgarog louou. 
 
 I turn'd my eye, and, as I turn'd, sur- 
 vey'd 
 
 A mournful vision ! the Sisyphyan shade; 
 
 With many a weary step, and many a 
 groan, 
 
 Up the high hill he heaves a huge round 
 stone : 
 
 The huge round stone, resulting with a 
 bound, 
 
 Thunders impetuous down, and smokes 
 along the ground. 
 
 Again the restless orb his toil renews, 
 
 Dust mounts in clouds, and sweat de- 
 scends in dews. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 43. Vocat ingenti clamore Cythce- 
 ron.~] Virgil poetically expresses 
 his earnestness to engage in the 
 subject of the present book, by say- 
 ing he is loudly called upon by the 
 places famous for the cattle of which 
 he intends to treat. 
 
 Cythaeron is a mountain of Bceo- 
 tia, a country famous for cattle. 
 Servius says it is a part of Par- 
 nassus, from which however it is 
 thirty miles distant. 
 
 44. Taygetique canes.] See book 
 ii. ver. 488. This mountain was 
 famous for hunting. 
 
 Domitrixque Epidaurus equorum.] 
 Servius places Epidaurus in Epirus; 
 for which he has been censured by 
 several authors, who place it in Pe- 
 loponnesus. But La Cerda vindi- 
 
 cates Servius, and observes that 
 there was an Epidaurus also In 
 Epirus; which he takes to be the 
 place designed by the Poet, because 
 he has celebrated Epirus, in other 
 passages, as breeding fine horses : 
 
 Et patriam Epirum referat : 
 And 
 
 Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum. 
 
 Ruaeus contends that the Pelopon- 
 nesian Epidaurus is here meant, 
 and affirms that all Argia, of which 
 Epidaurus was a city, was famous 
 for horses. He confirms this by a 
 line in this very Georgick, of which 
 La Cerda has quoted but the half 
 part, where Mycenae, a city also of 
 Argia, is celebrated equally with 
 Epirus : 
 
 Et patriam Epirum referat, fortesque 
 Mycenas. 
 
 I am persuaded that Ruaeus is in 
 the right, by a passage in Strabo, 
 where he says Epidaurus is famous 
 for horses : 'a^xx&x 2' Ui* it pur* 
 
 t»)5 neAoTrevvaVoy Borxiittxc-i o 
 
 tiei vouxi tief^/tXus, xxl jtxXtfx avotg, xxt 
 i7T7rot$ rdig i7r7roQxrxig. 'Eri ol xxt to 
 
 y'iVOS TUV 'tTTTTaV U£l?OV TO 'AgXXOlXOt, XX- 
 
 SeCTTtp xxi to 'AgyoAocov, xxi to 'Ekioxv-' 
 £iov. Strabo cannot well be under- 
 stood to speak in this place of any- 
 other, than the Peloponnesian Epi- 
 daurus, 
 
 46. Mox tamen ardentes accinsar, 
 &c] In the King's manuscript it 
 is etiam instead of tamen. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 233 
 
 Caesaris, et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, 47 
 Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar. 
 Seu quis Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae, 
 
 Caesar, and to transmit the 
 glory of his name through as 
 many years as Caesar is dis- 
 tant from the first origin of 
 Tithonus. If any one studi- 
 ous of the Olympian palm 
 
 Here he is generally understood 
 to mean, that he intends, as soon 
 as he has finished the Georgicks, 
 to describe the wars of Augustus, 
 under the character of iEneas. Mr. 
 
 B is quite of another opinion : 
 
 " This passage," he says, " the 
 " commentators understand of the 
 *'^Eueid; but it is plainly meant 
 « of the fourth Georgick. There 
 " he describes the ardentes pugnas, 
 " the civil wars betwixt the same 
 " people for the sake of rival kings. 
 " In this sense the passage is very 
 " sublime, to promise to introduce 
 " such a matter in talking of bees j 
 " but in one poem to promise an- 
 " other is low 7 , and unworthy of 
 " Virgil, and what never entered 
 " into his imagination." But 
 
 surely Mr. B must be mistaken 
 
 in this piece of criticism, for the 
 whole introduction to this Georgick 
 is a prelude to the JLneid : and I 
 do not see how the fights of the 
 bees can be understood to be a 
 description of the wars of Caesar ; 
 which the Poet expressly says he 
 designs to sing. 
 
 48. Tithoni prima quot abest ab 
 origine Ca>sar.] Servius interprets 
 this passage, that the fame of Au- 
 gustus shall last as many years, as 
 were from the beginning of the 
 world to his time. He thinks Ti- 
 thonus is put for the sun, that is, 
 for Tithan. Others understand 
 the Poet to mean that the fame of 
 Augustus shall last as many years, 
 as were from Tithonus, the son of 
 Laomedon, to Augustus. But to 
 this is objected, that this is too 
 small a duration for the Poet to 
 promise, being no more than a 
 
 thousand years. And indeed the 
 fame of Virgil's Poem, and of Au- 
 gustus, has lasted much longer al- 
 ready. Servius seems to have no 
 authority for making Tithonus sig- 
 nify the sun : nor can we imagine 
 Virgil means the sun, unless we 
 suppose Tithoni to be an erroneous 
 reading for Titani, or Titanis. But 
 I do not know that so much as 
 one manuscript countenances this 
 alteration. It must therefore be 
 Tithonus, the son of Laomedon, 
 and elder brother of Priamus, that 
 is meant. I must own it seems 
 something strange that he should 
 choose to mention Tithonus, from 
 whom Augustus was not descended, 
 when Anchises or Assaracus would 
 have stood as well in the verse. 1 be- 
 lieve the true reason of this choice 
 was, that Tithonus was the most 
 famous of all the Dardan family. 
 It is said that Aurora fell in love 
 with this Tithonus, and carried him 
 in her chariot into Ethiopia, where 
 she had Memnon by him. As for 
 the short space of time between the 
 ages of Tithonus and Augustus, it 
 may be observed that the Poet does 
 not say as many years as Ccesar is 
 distant from Tithonus,, but as many 
 years as Ccesar is distant from the 
 first origin of Tithonus, that is, from 
 Jupiter, the author of the Dardan 
 race, which is going as far back as 
 the Poet well could. 
 
 49. Seu quis, &c] Here the 
 Poet enters upon the subject of 
 this book; and in the first place 
 describes the marks of a good cow. 
 
 Olympiacce palmce] The Olympic 
 games were thought the most ho- 
 nourable : and the victors carried 
 2 11 
 
234 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 breeds horses, or if any one 
 breeds strong bullocks for 
 the plough, let him chiefly 
 consider the bodies of the 
 mothers. The best form for 
 a cow is to have a rough look, 
 a great head, a long brawny 
 neck, and dewlaps hanging 
 down from her chin to her 
 very knees. Her side should 
 be exceeding long: all her 
 
 Sarts large : her feet also, and 
 er ears should be hairy, 
 under her crooked horns. 
 
 Pascit equos ; seu quis fortes ad aratra ju- 
 
 vencos ; 50 
 
 Corpora praecipue matrum legat. Optima torvae 
 
 Forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima 
 
 cervix, 
 Et crurum terms a mento palearia pendent. 
 Turn longo nullus lateri modus : omnia magna : 
 Pes etiam, et camuris hirtae sub cornibus aures. 
 
 palms in their hands, which was 
 esteemed the noblest trophy of their 
 victory. Thus Horace : 
 
 Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olyrnpi- 
 
 cura 
 Collegisse juvat, metaque fervidis 
 Evitata rotis, palmaque nobilis. 
 
 50. Puscit equos.] The ancients 
 were exceedingly curious in breed- 
 ing horses for the Olympic games : 
 and it was thought a great com- 
 mendation to excel in that skill. 
 
 51. Optima torvce forma bovis."] 
 Pliny says they are not to be de- 
 spised for having an unsightly look; 
 " Non degeneres existimandi etiam 
 ". minus laudato aspectu :" and Co- 
 lumella says the strongest cattle 
 for labour are unsightly ; < ' Apen- 
 '.' ninus durissimos, omnemque 
 " difficultatem tolerantes, nee ab 
 " aspectu decoros." 
 
 52. Turpe caput.] Fulvius Ursi- 
 nus observes that Homer has used 
 uvcciSU for great. Servius says turpe 
 signifies great. Grimoaldus also in- 
 terprets it magnum et grande caput. 
 May translates turpe caput also great 
 head. Ruaeus interprets it deforme 
 propter magnitudinem. Dryden has 
 sour headed ; and Dr. Trapp, 
 
 Her head unshap'd and large. 
 
 The prose writers recommend the 
 largeness of a cow's forehead. 
 Thus Varro, latis frontibus : and 
 Columella, frontibus latissimis : and 
 
 Palladius, alta fronte, oculis nigris 
 et grandibus. 
 
 Plurima cervix.] Plurima signi- 
 fies much or plentiful, that is, in 
 this place, long and large. See the 
 note on plurima, ver. 187* of the 
 first Georgick. Varro says cervici- 
 bus crassis ac longis. 
 
 53. Crurum terms a mento palea- 
 ria pendent.] The low hanging of 
 the dewlaps is mentioned also by 
 the prose writers. Thus Varro, 
 a collo palearibus demissis: and Co- 
 lumella, palearibus et caudis am- 
 plissimis: and Palladius, palearibus 
 et caudis maximis. Dryden, instead 
 of knees, has thighs, which I believe 
 are understood to belong only to 
 the hinder legs : 
 
 Her double dew-lap from her chin de- 
 scends : 
 
 And at her thighs the pond'rous" burden 
 ends. 
 
 54. Longo nullus lateri modus: 
 omnia magna."] This length of the 
 body and largeness of all the limbs 
 is commended also by Varro; " Qt 
 " sint bene composite, ut integris 
 " membris oblongae, amplae . . . 
 " corpore amplo, bene costatos, la- 
 " tis humeris, bonis clunibus :" and 
 by Columella ; " Vaccae quoque 
 " probantur altissimae formae lon- 
 " gaeque, maximis uteris." 
 
 55. Pes etiam, et camuris hirtce 
 sub cornibus aures.] Jt has been 
 generally understood that the Poet 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 235 
 
 Nee mihi displiceat maculis insignis et albo, 56 *° r t1 
 
 am 1 displeased if she is 
 
 spotted wjth white, if she re- 
 
 , , • • . i fuses the yoke, and is some- 
 
 Aut juga detrectans, lnterdumque aspera cornu, timesuniucky withherhom, 
 
 means the foot should be large j 
 and the verses are pointed thus : 
 
 Omnia magna : 
 
 Pes etiam : et camuris hirtae sub corni- 
 bus aures. 
 
 Thus May translates : 
 
 All must be great: yea even her feet, 
 
 her eare 
 Under her crooked homes must rough 
 
 appeare : 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 Rough are her ears, and broad her horny 
 feet. 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 All parts huge ; 
 
 Her feet too; and beneath her crankled 
 
 horns 
 Her ears uncouth and rough. 
 
 But La Cerda justly observes that 
 Virgil, who follows Varro in all 
 the other parts of this description, 
 is not to be supposed absolutely to 
 contradict him in this one particu- 
 lar. Besides no one writer speaks 
 of broad feet as any excellence in 
 a cow; and indeed the smallness 
 of this creature's foot, in proportion 
 to the bulk of her whole body, is a 
 great advantage in treading in a 
 deep soil. Varro says expressly the 
 foot must not be broad : " Pedibus 
 <e non latis, neque ingredientibus 
 " qui displodantur, nee cujus un- 
 " gulae divaricent, et cujus ungues 
 f< sint leves et pares." And Co- 
 lumella says, «' Ungulis modicis, et 
 " modicis cruribus." 
 
 The hairiness of the ears is men- 
 tioned by the other authors. Varro 
 and Columella say pilosis auribus. 
 Palladius says the ears should be 
 bristly : aure setosa. 
 
 56. Maculis insignis et albo.] Some 
 take this to signify a white cow 
 spotted with other colours; but 
 the best commentators understand 
 these words to mean a cow spotted 
 with white. May has translated 
 this passage : 
 
 I like the colour spotted, partly white. 
 
 Dryden has, 
 
 Her colour shining black, but fleck'd with 
 white. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates it, 
 
 Nor shall her form 
 
 Be disapproved, whose skin with spots of 
 
 white 
 Is vary'd. 
 
 Varro gives the first place to a 
 black cow, the second to a red one, 
 the third to a dun, the fourth to a 
 white : " Colore potissimum nigro, 
 " dein rubeo, tertio heluo, quarto 
 " albo ; mollissimus enim hie, ut 
 ° durissimus primus." He says also 
 the red is better than the dun, 
 but either of them is better than 
 black and white ; that is, as I take 
 it, a mixture of black and white : 
 " De mediis duobus prior quam 
 " posterior melior, utrique pluris 
 " quam nigri et albi." Columella 
 says the best colour is red or brown : 
 " Colore rubeo vel fusco." Virgil's 
 meaning seems to be, that though 
 white is not esteemed the best 
 colour, yet he does not disapprove 
 a cow that has some white spots 
 in her. 
 
 57. Detrectans."] Pierius says it 
 it detractans in the Roman, the 
 Medicean, and in most of the an- 
 cient manuscripts. I find detractans 
 in the King's and in both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
236 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and resembles a bull ; and if 
 she is tail, and sweeps the 
 gTound with her tail, as she 
 goes along. The proper age 
 for love, and just connubiais, 
 begins after four years, and 
 ends before ten. The rest of 
 their time is neither fit for 
 breeding, nor strong enough 
 for the plough. In the mean 
 time, whilst your herds are in 
 the flower of youth, let loose 
 the males: be early to give 
 your cattle the enjovment of 
 love, 
 
 Et faciem tauro propior ; quaeque ardua tota, 
 Et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda. 
 iEtas Lucinam, justosque pati Hymenaeos 60 
 Desinit ante decern, post quatuor incipit annos : 
 Caetera nee foeturse habilis, nee fortis aratris. 
 Interea, superat gregibus dum laeta juventas, 
 Solve mares : mitte in Venerem pecuaria primus. 
 
 58. Qucrque ardua tota.'] Thus 
 Columella; " Vaccae quoque pro- 
 *' bantur altissin.ae formse :" and 
 Palladius; " Sed eligemus forma 
 " altissima." 
 
 59. Et gradiens ima verrit vestigia 
 cauda.] The length of the tail is 
 mentioned by Varro; " Caudam 
 " profusam usque ad calces :" and 
 by Columella ; " Caudis amplissi- 
 * c mis:" and by Palladius 5 "Caudis 
 *' maximis." 
 
 6l. Desinit ante decern, post qua- 
 tuor incipit annos.] Varro says it 
 is better for the cow not to admit 
 the bull till she is four years old ; 
 and that they are fruitful till ten, 
 and sometimes longer: " Non 
 " minores oportet inire bimas, ut 
 !'■ trimae pariant, eo melius si qua- 
 " drimae. Pleraeque pariunt, in 
 " decern annos, quaedam etiam in 
 " plures/' Columella says they 
 are not fit for breeding after ten, 
 nor before two : " Cum excesserint 
 " annos decern, foetibus inutiles 
 " sunt. Rursus minores bimis iniri 
 " non oportet. Si ante tamen con- 
 " ceperint, partum earum removeri 
 " placet, ac per triduum, ne la- 
 " borent, ubera exprimi, postea 
 " mulctra prohiberi." Palladius 
 says they breed from three to ten : 
 " iEtatis maxime trimae, quia usque 
 " ad decennium foetura ex hisproce- 
 " det utilior. Nee ante aetatem tri- 
 " mam tauros his oportet admitti." 
 
 63. Superat gregibus dum lata ju- 
 
 ventas, solve mares.] Pierius says 
 it is juventas in the Medicean, and 
 in most of the ancient manuscripts. 
 The common reading is juvenilis. 
 
 Servius takes this passage to 
 relate to the females ; but the Poet 
 speaks here of putting them early 
 to breed, whereas he had before 
 said that a cow should not breed 
 before she was four years old, 
 which is rather a later age than 
 is generally prescribed. I take the 
 keta juventas, and the mitte in Ve- 
 nerem pecuaria primus to relate to 
 the males, which he would have 
 early admitted to the females. Pal- 
 ladius says the bulls should be 
 very young, and gives the marks 
 of such as are good : " Nunc tauros 
 " quoque, quibus cordi est armenta 
 " construere, comparabit, aut his 
 " signis a tenera aetate summittet. 
 " Ut sint alti, atque ingentibus 
 " membris, aetatis mediae, et magis 
 " quae juventute minor est, quam 
 " quae declinet in senium. Torva 
 lc facie, parvis cornibus, torosa, 
 '* vastaque cervice, ventre sub- 
 " stricto." Columella says a bull 
 ought not to be less than four, or 
 more than twelve years old : " Ex 
 " his qui quadrimis minores sunt, 
 " majoresque quam duodecim an- 
 " norum, prohibentur admissura : 
 " illi quoniam quasi puerili aetate 
 " seminandis armentis parum ha- 
 " bentur idonei : hi, quia senio 
 " sunt erToeti." 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 2S7 
 
 Atque aliam ex alia generando suffice prolem. 
 Optima quoeque dies rniseris mortalibus aevi 6*6 
 Prima fugit: subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus : 
 Et labor et durae rapit inclementia mortis. 
 Semper erunt, quarum mutari corpora malis. 
 Semper enim refice : ac, ne post amissa requiras, 
 Anteveni, et sobolem armento sortire quotannis. 
 Nee non et pecori est idem delectus equino. 
 Tu modo, quos in spem statues summittere 
 
 gentis, 
 Praecipuum jam inde a teneris impende laborem. 
 Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis 75 
 
 and secure a succession of 
 them by generation. The 
 best time of life flies hrst 
 away from miserable mortals ; 
 diseases succeed, and sad old 
 age ; and labour, and the in- 
 clemency of severe death car- 
 ries them away. There will 
 always be some, whose bodies 
 you will choose to have 
 changed. Therefore conti- 
 nually repair them : and, 
 that you may not be at a loss 
 when it is too late, be before- 
 hand ; and provide a new 
 offspring for the herd every 
 year. Nor does it require 
 less care to choose a good 
 breed of horses. But bestow 
 your principal diligence, from 
 the very beginning, on those 
 which you are to depend upon 
 for the increase of their spe- 
 cies. The colt of a generous 
 breed from the very first 
 
 65. Suffice."} In one of the 
 Arundel ian manuscripts it is confice. 
 
 69. Semper erunt, quarum mutari 
 corpora malis.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is enim in- 
 stead of erunt. In the same manu- 
 script, as also in the King's and in 
 the Cambridge manuscripts, and in 
 some of the old printed editions, it 
 is mavis instead of malis. Pierius 
 reads mavis ,- but he says it is malis 
 in the ancient copies, and thinks 
 this reading more elegant. 
 
 Columella says the best breeders 
 are to be picked out every year, and 
 the old and barren cows are to be 
 removed, and applied to the labour 
 of the plough : " Sed et curandum 
 " est omnibus annis in hoc aeque, 
 lc atque in reliquis gregibus pecoris, 
 " ut delectus habeatur : nam et 
 " enixae, et vetustae, quae gignere 
 " desierunt, summovendae sunt, et 
 " utique taurae, quae locum fcecun- 
 " darum occupant, ablegandae, vel 
 " aratro domandae, quoniam la- 
 " boris, et operis non minus, quam 
 " juvenci, propter uteri sterilitatem 
 " patientes sunt." 
 
 70. Semper enim.] 
 " itaque" Servius. 
 
 For semper 
 
 71. Anteveni, et sobolem.'] " In 
 " the Medicean, and in the Lorn- . 
 " bard manuscripts it is ante veni 
 " sobolem, without et. In some 
 " copies it is anteveni, in one word." 
 Pierius. 
 
 72. Nee non, &c] The Poet now 
 proceeds to speak of horses, and 
 begins with describing the charac- 
 ters of a colt, which is to be chosen 
 to make a good stallion. 
 
 73. Statues.] So it is in the Ro- 
 man, and some other manuscripts, 
 according to Pierius. Grimoaldus, 
 La Cerda, and others read statuis. 
 
 75. Continuo.] It signifies from 
 the very beginning. Thus in the first 
 Georgick : 
 
 Continuo has leges, aeternaque foedera 
 
 certis 
 Imposuit natura locis, quo tempore pri- 
 
 mum 
 Deucalion vacuum lapides jactavit in 
 
 orbem. 
 
 That is, immediately from the very 
 time that Deucalion threw the stones : 
 and 
 
 Continuo in sylvis magna vi flexa do- 
 
 matur 
 In burim, et curvi formam accipit ulmus 
 
 aratri. 
 
5238 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S ^"on^iS^enS Altius ingreditur, et mollia crura reponit. 
 
 pasterns. He is the first that -pj . . n 
 
 dares to lead the way, and .rnmus el ire viam, et fiuvios tentare minaces 
 
 venture through threatening 
 
 That is, at the very first, whilst it is 
 young, the elm is bent: and 
 
 Continuo ventis surgentibus aut freta 
 
 ponti 
 Incipiunt agitata tumescere. 
 
 That is, immediately, as soon as the 
 winds are beginning to rise. In like 
 manner it signifies in this place 
 that a good horse is to be known 
 from the very first, as soon almost 
 as he is foaled. Virgil follows 
 Varro in this : " Qualis futurus sit 
 " equus, e pullo conjectari potest." 
 
 Generosi.] La Cerda reads gene- 
 rosus, in which he seems to be sin- 
 gular. 
 
 76. Altius ingreditur.] Servius in- 
 terprets this " cum exultatione qua- 
 " dam incedit." Thus also Gri- 
 moaldus paraphrases it : ' ' Primum 
 " omnium pulli animus ferox, et 
 " excelsus existimabitur ab incessu 
 « sublimi, videlicet, si cum exulta- 
 " tione quadam excursitet." In this 
 they are followed by May, who 
 translates it walke proudly : and by 
 Dr. Trapp, who renders it with 
 lofty port prances. Dryden has pa- 
 raphrased it in a strange manner : 
 
 Of able body, sound of limb and wind, 
 Upright he walks, on pasterns firm and 
 
 straight ; 
 His motions easy, prancing in his gait. 
 
 I rather believe the Poet means 
 only that the colt ought to have 
 long, straight legs, whence he must 
 necessarily look tall as he walks. 
 Thus Columella: " aequalibus, at- 
 " que altis, rectisque cruribus." 
 
 Mollia crura reponit."] In the 
 Cambridge manuscript it is refiectit 
 instead of reponit. 
 
 I believe the Poet means by repo- 
 nit the alternate motion of the legs. 
 The epithet mollia may signify ei- 
 
 ther the tenderness of the young 
 colt's joints, as May has translated 
 it: 
 
 — Their soft joynts scarce knit : 
 
 or that those which are naturally 
 most flexible are best; which Dry- 
 den seems to express by his motions 
 easy; and Dr. Trapp by his pliant 
 limbs. Ennius has used the same 
 words to express the walking of 
 cranes : 
 
 Perque fabam repunt, et mollia crura re- 
 ponunt. 
 
 Grimoaldus has paraphrased it thus : 
 " Deinde, si non dure, non inepte, 
 " non crebra crurum jactatione 
 " procurrat : sed qui alterno, et 
 e * recte disposito crurum explicatu 
 " faciles, apteque flexibiles tibias 
 " reponat." 
 
 77- Primus et ire viam, &c] 
 Servius understands this of the 
 colt's walking before his dam : but 
 it seems a better interpretation, 
 that he is the first, amongst other 
 colts, to lead the way. Thus Gri- 
 moaldus paraphrases it : " Turn 
 " etiam, si praeire caeteros, viaeque 
 ' ' palustris dux, et anteambulo fieri 
 " gestiat." Most of the commen- 
 tators understand this passage in 
 the same sense. 
 
 Varro says it is a sign that a 
 colt will prove a good horse, if he 
 contends with his companions, and 
 is the first amongst them to pass 
 a river : " Equi boni futuri signa 
 " sunt, si cum gregalibus in pabulo 
 " contendit, in currendo, aliave 
 " qua re, quo potior sit : si cum 
 " flumen transvehundum est, gregi 
 " in primis praegreditur, ac non 
 « respectat alios." Columella 
 speaks much to the same pur- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 239 
 
 Audet, et ignoto sese coramittere ponti 
 
 and trust himself on an un- 
 known bridge : nor is he 
 
 Nec vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix, SdR, ? f ft ™ in noises - m 
 
 pose: " Si ante gregem procurrit, 
 w si lascivia et alacritate interdum 
 " et cursu certans aequales exupe- 
 " rat, si fossam sine cunctatione 
 " transilit, pontem,flumenque traris- 
 " cendit." 
 
 78. Ponti.] « Ponto. In the Ro- 
 " man, the Lombard, and in some 
 " other manuscripts it is ponti : for 
 " what have horses to do with the 
 " sea ? but with rivers and bridges 
 " they are often concerned. Though 
 (t in Calabria and Apulia they try 
 " the mettle of their horses, by 
 " driving them down to the sea, 
 " and observing whether they look 
 " intrepid at the coming in of the 
 " tide, and therefore accustom the 
 " colts to swim. It is ponto how- 
 " ever in the Medicean copy." 
 Pierius. 
 
 I find ponto in the King's, the 
 Cambridge, one of the Arundelian, 
 and in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts ; in the old Nurenberg edi- 
 tion, and in an old edition printed 
 at Paris in 1494. But ponti is ge- 
 nerally received. Columella, who 
 follows our Poet, mentions a bridge, 
 not the sea, in the quotation at the 
 end of the note on the preceding 
 verse. May reads ponto : 
 
 And dare themselves on unknowne seas 
 to venture. 
 
 Dryden reads ponti : 
 
 To pass the bridge unknown : 
 
 And Dr. Trapp: 
 
 Unknown bridges pass. 
 
 79- Nec vanos horret strepitus.~\ 
 In the King's and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is varios in- 
 stead of vanos. I find the same 
 
 reading also in some of the old 
 printed editions. 
 
 Columella says a good colt is in- 
 trepid, and is not affrighted at any 
 unusual sight or noise : " Cum vero 
 " natus est pullus, confestim licet 
 " indolem aestimare, si hilaris, si in- 
 " trepidus, si neque conspectu, no- 
 " vaeque rei auditu terretur." 
 
 Illi ardua cervix.] Quintilian cen- 
 sures Virgil for interrupting the 
 sense with a long parenthesis: 
 " Etiam interjectione, qua et Ora- 
 " tores et Historici frequenter utun- 
 " tur, ut medio sermone aliquem 
 "inserant sensum, impediri solet 
 " intellectus, nisi quod interponitur, 
 " breve est. Nam Virgilius illo 
 " loco quo pullum equinum descri- 
 " bit, cum dixisset, Nec vanos horret 
 " strepitus compluribus insertis, alia 
 « figura quinto demum versu redit, 
 
 " Turn siqua sonum procul anna de- 
 
 M dere, 
 " Stare loco nescit." 
 
 But I do not see that the sense is 
 here interrupted. By nec vanos 
 horret strepitus, the Poet means that 
 a good colt is not apt to start at the 
 rustling of every leaf, at every little 
 noise, that portends no danger. 
 But by turn si qua sonum, &c. he 
 means that the colt shews his mettle 
 by exulting at a military noise, at 
 which he erects his ears, bounds, 
 paws, and is scarce able to contain 
 himself. It not only is unnecessary, 
 but would even be dull poetry, to 
 give a regular, orderly description 
 of a horse from head to tail. Pal- 
 ladia is very methodical in what 
 he says on this subject : " In ad- 
 u missaria quatuor spectanda sunt, 
 u forma, color, meritum, pulchri- 
 " tudo." This is very well in prose, 
 
240 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and beautiful grey 
 is white 
 
 caput, brevis alvus, obesaque 
 
 and his head is small, his belly A rrruf nmnu a 
 
 short, and his back broad : and ArgUlUmque 
 hisspritely breast swells luxu- 
 riantly with rolls of brawn : terga I gQ 
 the best colour is a bright bay, 
 
 the worst Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus : lionesti 
 
 Spadices, glaucique; color deterrimus albis, 
 
 but had Virgil proceeded in the 
 same manner, we might perhaps 
 have commended his exactness, but 
 should never have admired his poe- 
 try. Dr. Trapp says, " These words 
 « illi ardua cervix to glaucique 
 « should be in a parenthesis f but, 
 as his translation is printed, the pa- 
 renthesis includes only what is said 
 of the colour. 
 
 By ardua is meant that the colt 
 carries his head well, not letting it 
 hang down. Horace has the same 
 epithet, when he describes a good 
 horse : 
 
 Regibus hie mos est ; ubi equos mercan- 
 
 tur, apertos 
 Inspiciunt : ne si facies, ut ssepe, decora 
 v Molli fulta pede est, emptorem inducat 
 hiantem, 
 Quod pulchrae clunes, breve quod caput, 
 ardua cervix. 
 
 80. Argutumque caput.] May 
 translates this short-headed, Dryden 
 sharp-headed, Dr. Trapp his head 
 acute. I have rendered it his head 
 is small, which agrees with what 
 Varro has said, " caput habet non 
 " magnum:" and Columella, "Cor- 
 " poris vero forma constabit exiguo 
 " capite :" and Palladius, " Pul- 
 " chritudinis partes hae sunt, ut sit 
 " exiguum caput et siccum." Ho- 
 race commends a short head: " breve 
 " quod caput." 
 
 81. Luxuriatque toris animosum 
 pectus.'] The tori are brawny swell- 
 ings of the muscles. Varro says 
 the breast should be broad and full : 
 " pectus latum et plenum." Colu- 
 mella says it should be full of 
 brawny swellings of the muscles: 
 " musculorum toris numeroso pec- 
 
 " tore." Palladius says it should 
 be broad : u pectus late patens." 
 Virgil's description of the breast is 
 more expressive than any other, 
 and he adds the epithet animosum 
 to shew that this luxuriance of 
 brawn in the muscles denotes the 
 spirit ani fire of the horse. But 
 the translators have unhappily 
 agreed to leave out this noble epi- 
 thet. May has only broad and full 
 breasted: Dryden only, brawny his 
 chest, and deep : and Dr. Trapp, his 
 chest with swelling knots luxuriant. 
 
 82. Spadices.] It is very difficult 
 to come to an exact knowledge of 
 the signification of those words, by 
 which the ancients expressed their 
 colours. Spadix signified a branch 
 of a palm, as we find it used by 
 Plutarch in the fourth question of 
 the eighth book of his Symposiacs : 
 Kat roi ot>x.a> /tot fAvvsptovivuv Iv roYg 'At- 
 rix.o7g ot.nyvux.ag svxy%o$, on Tsr^arag h 
 A>jA» &Yi<nvg aymoc z?oim, «5T£e-xa« 
 x-Xcedov tcv hgov QotviKOg, y xoct S^-«^«| 
 
 wopcLo'Svi. We learn from Aulus 
 Gellius, that the Dorians called a 
 branch of a palm plucked off with 
 the fruit, Spadix; and that the 
 fruits of the palm being of a shining 
 red, that colour came to be called 
 phoeniceus and spadix : " Phceni- 
 tc ceus quem tu Graece <p«w«ov dix- 
 " isti, noster est, et rutilus, et spa- 
 " dix phcenicei o-vvavvpog, qui factus 
 " Graece noster est, exuberantiam 
 " splendoremque significat ruboris, 
 " quales sunt fructus palmae arboris 
 " non admodum sole incocti, unde 
 " spadicis et phcenicei nomen est : 
 " spadica enim Dorici vocant avul- 
 " sum e palma termitem cum fruc- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 341 
 
 Et gilvo. Turn si qua sonum procul arma dedere, 
 
 and dun. And then if the 
 noise of arms is heard from far, 
 
 " tu." Plutarch also, in the place 
 just now cited, gives us to under- 
 stand that the colour in question 
 was like the beautiful redness of a 
 human face : l O yovv fixo-tXivg, as <px~ 
 <rtv, ayxTrfcxq dixCpi^ivras rov Tli(>i7ruTYi- 
 rtKtv tyiXorotyov NixoXxov yXvxvv ovtx tS 
 tiSu, pxoivov al ra> ^kh rav orvpxToi;, 
 oteiirXiav ol to "STpotrwrov i7ri(p6m'<rrovT<><; 
 
 lf>V%[AXTO$ , TXq {Ciyl<TU,$ KXI XXXXlTX*; 
 
 *M (pcivnt&ccXciVM NixeXuovg avopxtrs. 
 
 Hence it appears plainly that the co- 
 lour which the ancients called phce- 
 niceus, or spadix, was a bright red, 
 but we do not know that any horses 
 are exactly of such a colour : though 
 the ancients might as well apply red 
 to horses, as we to deer. The co- 
 lours which come nearest to it seem 
 to be the bay, the ches?iui, and the 
 sorrel. Perhaps all these mignt be 
 contained under the same name, for 
 the ancients do not seem to have 
 been so accurate in distinguishing 
 such a variety of colours, as the 
 moderns. I have translated the 
 word spadix, bay, in this place, be- 
 cause it seems to approach to the 
 colour of the spadix, as the ancients 
 have described it, and because the 
 word bay seems to be derived from 
 fixU, or fixiov, which is sometimes 
 also used for a branch of a palm, as 
 we find in the twelfth chapter of 
 St. John's Gospel : "EXxQov rx (Zxix 
 
 ruv (potviKM, kxi ItiixB-ov tU VTrxvr^rtv 
 ciina, Kxt zxgxfyv, 'Qo-xwol. Bx'ig and 
 fixiov are interpreted by Hesychius 
 
 Glauci.^ The commentators are 
 not agreed about the interpretation 
 of this word. I do not well under- 
 stand what Servius means by 
 " Glauci autem sunt felineis oculis, 
 " id est quodam splendore perfusis." 
 Surely he cannot think the Poet is 
 speaking of the colour of a horse's 
 
 eye. Grimoaldus puts rutili for 
 glauci. But rutilus is reckoned 
 among the red colours by Aulus 
 Gellius : " Fulvus enim, et flavus, 
 '* et rubidus, et phceniceus, et ruti- 
 " lus, et luteus, et spadix appella- 
 " tiones sunt nifi coloris, aut acuen- 
 '• tes eura quasi incendentes, aut 
 " cum colore viridi miscentes, aut 
 " nigro infuscantes aut virenti sen- 
 " sim albo illuminantes." And in- 
 deed our Poet himself has added it 
 as an epithet to fire in the first 
 Georgick : 
 
 Sin maculae incipient rutilo immiscerier 
 igni. 
 
 And in the eighth iEneid : 
 
 His informatum manibus, jam parte po- 
 ll' ta 
 
 Fulmen erat, toto genitor quae plurima 
 caelo 
 
 Dejicit in terras, pars imperfecta mane- 
 bat. 
 
 Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosa? 
 
 Addiderant, rutili tres ignis et alitis 
 Austri. 
 
 Thus rutilus seems to be much the 
 same colour with spadix : but I be- 
 lieve it cannot be proved that glau- 
 cas was ever used to express any 
 sort of red colour. La Cerda says 
 that as spadix signifies a bright bay, 
 so glaucus signifies darker bay, such 
 as the leaves of willows have. But 
 if he means by baius the same co- 
 lour that we call bay, I cannot ima- 
 gine by what strength of fancy that 
 learned commentator can imagine 
 the leaves of willows to be of any 
 sort of bay. Ruaeus concludes from 
 what Aulus Gellius has said con- 
 cerning glaucus, that it means what 
 the French call pommele ardois, that 
 is, a dappled grey. May translates 
 this passage : 
 
 Let his colour be 
 
 Bright bay or grey : 
 21 
 
242 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S n hreSs h hS««fSd Stare loco nescit: micatauribus,ettremitartus; 
 
 all his joints quiver, 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 his colour grey, 
 
 For beauty dappled, or the brightest bay : 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Best for colour is the bay, 
 
 And dappled. 
 
 But I am afraid dappled determines 
 no colour ; but may be applied to 
 bay, as well as to grey. Let us 
 now examine what is to be found 
 in the ancient writers concerning 
 this colour. Homer's common epi- 
 thet for Minerva is blue-eyed : yXxv- 
 x.co7ctg 'a&jvu. In this case glaucus 
 seems to be used for a bluish grey. 
 Virgil himself uses it to express the 
 colour of willow-leaves, in the se- 
 cond Georgick : 
 
 Glauca canentia fronde salicta. 
 
 And in the fourth Georgick : 
 
 Et glaucas salices : 
 
 And of reeds, in the tenth iEneid : 
 
 Quos patre Benaco, velatus arundine 
 
 glauca 
 Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu, 
 
 The colour of willows and reeds is 
 a bluish green, approaching to grey. 
 Much of the same colour are the 
 leaves of the greater Celandine, 
 which Dioscorides calls vnnyXavxu : 
 XtXidovtov yzyx kxvXov xvir^t ■srvi%vx7ov, 
 i) xxi yu^ovx. l<r%vbv e%ovrx ■srxpxtyvabxg 
 <pi>XXav yi<rrxg' tyvXXx oy.oi.oc /ixr^x^ico, 
 
 TpvtyipCOTiPX ylV TOt TX TCV %iXl$OVlOV XXI 
 
 v7royXuvitci tkv %poxv. Plutarch speak- 
 ing of the different colours of the 
 moon in an eclipse, according to 
 the different times of the night, 
 says that about day -break it is of a 
 bluish colour: which occasioned 
 the Foets and Empedocles to call 
 the moon yXxvxaxtg : 'AAA' ovk 'l<riv, 
 Z <plXz QeigvuKYi, -&o\Xoig rxg IkXuttovo-xs 
 
 %Poxg xyitQuv. Kxt dtxigove-iv xvrxg 
 
 OVTUg 61 yo&YiycCTIKo) KXTX VgOVflV KXl 
 
 agxv xtyo^iQovrzg ctv city to~t;ipxg sxAs<wjj, 
 (pxinrxt yzXxivx (tuvwg x^i Tg/rjjs apxg 
 x.ui viyio-itxg' xv ^£ yxr'ti, rovro §>j ro \-7tt- 
 (poivi<r<rov tycri, y.xi zrvp >ccii T&vpaTrov 
 U7ro ol foooyYig apxg xxi nytTitxg, xvtrx- 
 rxi to IgvSviyx. xxi r'zXog Jj^jj "srpog %u 
 XxyZxvii %poxv xvxvoitdii xxi ftX^OTrw, 
 city' qg sv xxi yxXifX, yXxvxto7riv xvrhv « 
 ■zrowrcc} xxi 'l-yxi^oxXm ecvxxxXovvTXl. 
 
 The colour which Plutarch means 
 in this passage seems to be a bluish 
 grey. Aulus Gellius seems to con- 
 found green and blue together, for 
 he says that when Virgil mentioned 
 the green colour of a horse, he might 
 as well have expressed it by the 
 Latin word cceruleus, as by the 
 Greek word glaucus. " Sed ne vi- 
 " rifiis quidem color pluribus ab 
 " illls, quam a nobis, vocabulis di- 
 " citur. Neque non potuit Virgi- 
 " lius colorem equi significare viri- 
 (< dem volens, cseruleum magis di- 
 " cere equum quam glaucum : sed 
 " maluit verbo uti notiore Graeco, 
 " quam inusitato Latino. Nostris 
 cc autem Latinis veteribus caesia 
 u dicta est quae a Graecis yXxvxumg, 
 "■ ut Nigidius ait de colore caeli 
 <f quasi cselia." From all these 
 quotations I think it appears, that 
 the ancients meant by glaucus a 
 colour which had a faint green 
 or blue cast. Now as no horse 
 can be properly said to be either 
 blue or green, we may conclude 
 that the colour meant by Virgil is 
 a fine grey, which has a bluish 
 cast. But I do not see how Ruaeus 
 could gather from Aulus Gellius, 
 whose words I have related at 
 length, that this grey was dappled. 
 It must however be allowed that 
 the dappled grey is the most beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 Albis.~\ S. Isidore informs us 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 213 
 
 Coliectumque 
 ignem : 
 
 premens volvit sub 
 
 nnrihiie an d snorting he rolU the col- 
 nai iuus ]ected fire under hJs nogtHIfc 
 
 85 
 
 that albus and candidus are very 
 different: candidus signifying a 
 bright whiteness, like snow: and 
 albus a pale or dirty white : " Can- 
 " didus autem et albus invicem sibi 
 " differunt. Nam albus cum quo- 
 " dam pallore est, candidus vero, 
 " niveus et pura luce perfusus." 
 I am not perfectly satisfied with 
 this distinction : for Virgil himself 
 frequently uses albus exactly in the 
 same sense as he uses candidus. In 
 the second Georgick he uses it for 
 the whiteness of the finest wool : 
 
 Alba neque Assyrio fuscatur lana veneno. 
 And again in the same Georgick : 
 
 Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges. 
 And in the third Georgick : 
 
 Continuoque greges villis lege mollibus 
 albos. 
 
 And in the third iEneid : 
 
 Nigram hyemi pecudem, Zephyris felici- 
 bus albam. 
 
 In the seventh iEneid it is used for 
 the whiteness of the teeth of a lion : 
 
 Ille pedes tegmen torquens immane le- 
 
 onis, 
 Terribili impexum seta, cum dentibus 
 
 albis 
 Indutus capiti. 
 
 And of a wolf in the eleventh : 
 
 '■ Caput ingens oris hiatus 
 
 Et mala? texere lupi cum dentibus albis. 
 
 In the fifth iEneid it is used for the 
 whiteness of bones blanched on a 
 rock: 
 
 Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat, 
 Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus 
 albos. 
 
 In the seventh iEneid, for the 
 whiteness of hairs in old age : 
 
 In vultus sese transform at aniles, 
 
 Et frontem obscoenam rugis arat : induit 
 
 albos 
 Cum vitta crines. 
 
 And again in the ninth : 
 
 Omnia longaevo similis, vocemque, colo- 
 
 remque 
 Et crines albos. 
 
 In the second Eclogue we have 
 both candidus and albus in the same 
 signification : 
 
 Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus 
 
 esses : 
 O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori. 
 Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra le 
 
 guntur. 
 
 In the fourth Georgick lilies are 
 called alba ; and surely no one will 
 say that flower is of a dirty white, 
 or not sufficiently bright, to deserve 
 the epithet of candidus. 
 
 Albaauc circum 
 
 Lilia. 
 
 And in the twelfth JEneki the 
 blushes of the beautiful Lavinia are 
 compared to ivory stained with 
 crimson, or lilies mixed with roses. 
 And here the lilies are called alba, 
 which being compared to the fair 
 complexion of this lady, I hope will 
 not be supposed to be of a dirty 
 white : 
 
 Accepit vocem lacrymis Lavinia matris, 
 Flagrantes perfusa genas : cui plurimus 
 
 ignem 
 Subjecit rubor, et calefacta per ora cu- 
 
 currit. 
 Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro 
 Si quis ebur, vel mixta rubent ubi lilia 
 
 multa 
 Alba rosa : tales virgo dabat ore colore*. 
 
 2 i 2 
 
244 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 o H nhUrr g VtVh h iiid e r nd ^ nces Densa juba, et dextroj aetata recumbit in armo. 
 
 But what I think will put it past 
 all dispute, that Virgil made no 
 difference of colour between albus 
 »nd candidus, is that, in the eighth 
 iEneid, the very same white sow, 
 which in ver. 45. he called alba, 
 is called Candida in ver. 82. and is 
 said also in this last verse to be of 
 the same colour with her pigs, to 
 which the epithet albo is applied : 
 
 Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus, 
 Triginta capitum foetus enixa, jacebit ; 
 Alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera 
 nati. 
 
 Ecce autera subitum, atque oculis irsira- 
 
 bile monstrum : 
 Candida per sylvam cum fcetu con color 
 
 albo 
 Procubuit, viridique in littore conspicitur 
 
 stis. 
 
 I have dwelt so long on this sub- 
 ject, because almost all the com- 
 mentators have agreed to approve 
 of this distinction, which I believe 
 I have sufficiently shewn to be 
 made without any good foundation. 
 What led them into this error seems 
 to be, that it would otherwise ap- 
 pear an absurdity in Virgil, to dis- 
 praise a white horse in his Geor- 
 gicks, and in his twelfth iEneid, to 
 mention it as a beauty in the horses, 
 which drew the chariot of Turnus, 
 that they were whiter than snow : 
 
 Poscit equos, gaudetque tuens ante ora 
 
 frementes, 
 Pilumno quos ipsa decus dedit Orithyia ; 
 Qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus au- 
 
 But they did not observe one parti- 
 cular, Avhich might have saved them 
 the trouble of making this distinc- 
 tion. These very horses, which 
 are said to be whiter than snow, 
 have the epithet albis bestowed on 
 them, a few lines after : 
 
 • Bigis it Turnus in albis. 
 
 Virgil however does not contradict 
 himself; for though he admires the 
 beauty of these snowy horses, yet 
 there was no necessity, that he 
 should approve the same colour in 
 a stallion. White was esteemed by 
 the ancients, as a sign of less na- 
 tural strength, than was discovered 
 by other colours. 
 
 83. Gilvo.] S. Isidore explains 
 gilvus, to be the colour of honey, 
 but whitish : " Gilvus autem meli- 
 " nus color est subalbidus." I take 
 this to be what we call dun. May 
 translates it flesh-colour: Dryden 
 dun : and Dr. Trapp sorrel. 
 
 Turn si qua sonum procul arma 
 dedere, stare loco nescit.] We find 
 some expressions like this of Virgil, 
 in that noble description of a horse, 
 in the book of Job : " He paweth 
 " in the valley, and rejoiceth in his 
 " strength : .... he swalloweth the 
 " ground with fierceness and rage : 
 u neither belie veth he that it is the 
 " sound of the trumpet. He saith 
 <e among the trumpets, Ha, ha ; and 
 "he smelleth the battle afar off, 
 " the thunder of the captains, and 
 " the shouting." 
 
 84. Micat auribus.~\ Pliny says 
 the ears discover the spirit of a 
 horse, as the tail does that of a 
 lion : " Leonum animi index cauda, 
 " sicut et equorum aures : namque 
 ■* et has notas generosissimo cuique 
 " natura tribuit." 
 
 85. Collectumque premens volvit 
 sub naribus ignem.] It is fremens 
 instead o£ premens in the Cambridge 
 manuscript. Pierius says it has 
 been altered to fremens in the Me- 
 dicean copy, but it was premens 
 before, as he finds it also in other 
 copies which he looks upon to be 
 the most correct. 
 
 Wide nostrils and frequent snort - 
 ings are great signs of mettle in a 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 S45 
 
 At duplex agitur per lumbos spina, cavatque 
 Tellurem, etsolido graviter sonat ungula cornu. 
 Talis Amyclaei domitus Pollucis habenis 
 
 A double spine runs along hi* 
 loins ; and his hoof turns up 
 the ground, and sounds deep 
 with solid horn. Such was 
 Cyllarus, who wa3 tamed by 
 the reins of Amyclean Pollux j 
 
 horse. Thus it is expressed in the 
 book of Job : " The glory of his 
 n nostrils is terrible." Varro says 
 the nostrils should not be narrow : 
 " Naribus non angustis." Colu- 
 mella says they should be open: 
 "naribus apertis:" with which 
 Palladius also agrees, who says, 
 ■' naribus patulis." 
 
 86. Detisa juba, et dextro j aetata 
 recumbit in armo.~\ Thus Varro; 
 " Non angusta juba, crebra, fusca, 
 * subcrispa, subtenuibus setis im- 
 " plicata in dexteriorem partem cer- 
 "vicis:" and Columella; "Densa 
 '* juba, et per dextram partem pro- 
 « fusa." 
 
 87. Duplex spina.~\ In a horse, 
 that is in good case, the back is 
 broad, and the spine does not stick 
 up like a ridge, but forms a kind 
 of furrow on the back. This seems 
 to be what is meant by duplex spina, 
 which is also mentioned by Varro ; 
 " Spina maxime duplici, sin minus 
 " non extanti :" and by Columella; 
 " Spina duplici." 
 
 88. Sonat. ,] It is quatit in the 
 Roman manuscript, according to 
 Pierius. 
 
 89- Talis Amyclcei domiUis Pollu- 
 cis habenis Cyllarus.'] Amyclae was 
 a city of Laconia, where Castor 
 and Pollux were educated. 
 
 Servius thinks that Pollux is put 
 here for Castor, by a poetical li- 
 cence. Pollux being famous for 
 fighting with the cestus, not for the 
 management of horses, which was 
 Castor's province. Most of the 
 commentators give up this passage 
 as a slip of the Poet's memory, 
 Pollux being allowed to be the 
 horseman by the general consent of 
 
 antiquity. Thus Homer in the ele- ' 
 venth Odyssey : 
 
 K«) Afdw Ctiov <rw Ivvha^iov zva^axoirii. 
 "H 'p v<xo Tuvha^tu xj«Tijfl^«v' iyunara 
 
 Katrroga 9-' \-7r<7rabtt.(tn xu) vtv\ ayaS-ev II«- 
 
 Xvhivxtx. 
 With graceful port advancing now I 
 
 spied 
 Leda the fair, the god-like Tyndar's 
 
 bride: 
 Hence Pollux sprung who wields with 
 
 furious sway 
 The deathful gauntlet, matchless in the 
 
 fray; 
 And [Castor glorious on th' embattled 
 
 plain 
 Curbs the proud steed, reluctant to the 
 
 rein. 
 
 Mb. Pope. 
 
 To the same purpose Theocritus is 
 quoted in his Atoarxov^oi. 
 
 'TftviofAis brfoxs *t KM aiyio%u Atos vtu, 
 Kufoget xai tpo&ttjov llaXvhiixtet •av\ IgiS-i- 
 
 It Tt t Kx/rrog, ai'iru 
 
 Here Theocritus does not seem 
 however to make any distinction 
 between the two brothers as fight- 
 ing, the one on horseback, the 
 other on foot. The difference he 
 seems to make is taken from their 
 weapons, Pollux using the cestus, 
 and Castor the spear. Indeed he 
 calls Castor T^yjnyAe, but he im- 
 mediately introduces him fighting 
 on foot, as well as his brother. 
 Creech, in his translation of the two 
 first verses, represents them both as 
 horsemen, and using the cestus: 
 
 Fair Leda's sons, and mighty Jove's I 
 
 sing, 
 Castor and Pollux, glories of the ring. 
 
24G 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARON1S 
 
 MSSa^&SS* Cyllarus, et quorum Graii meniinere poetae, 
 
 None toss their whirlbats with so brave 
 
 a force, 
 None guide so well the fury of their 
 
 horse. 
 
 Horace also is quoted in opposition 
 to Virgil ; for he plainly says, that 
 Castor delighted in horses, but Pol- 
 lux in the cestus : 
 
 Castor gaudet equis : ovo prognatus eo- 
 
 dem 
 Pugnis. 
 
 But here Horace seems to have for- 
 gotten the story; for, according to 
 the old fable, Castor and Pollux 
 did not come out of the same egg, 
 but Castor and Clytemnestra out of 
 one, and Pollux and Helen out of 
 the other. Seneca also;, in his Hip- 
 polytus, expressly declares Cyllarus 
 to be the horse of Castor : 
 
 Si dorso libeat cornipedis vehi, 
 Fraenis Castorea nobilior manu 
 Spartanum poteris Sectere Cyllarum : 
 
 As does Valerius Flaccus, in his 
 first book of Argonautics : 
 
 ■i Castor durn quaereret Hellen, 
 
 Passus Amyclaea pinguescere Cyllaron 
 herba : 
 
 And Claudian, in his fourth Con- 
 sulship of Honorius : 
 
 Si dominus legeretur equis, tua posceret 
 ultro 
 
 Verbera Nereidum stabulis nutritus 
 Arion. 
 
 Ser\iretque tuis contempto Castore frae- 
 nis 
 
 Cyllarus : 
 
 And Martial, in the twenty-first 
 Epigram of the eighth book : 
 
 Ledaeo poteras abducere Cyllaron astro : 
 Ipse suo cedet nunc tibi Castor equo. 
 
 These are all the passages, which I 
 remember to have seen produced 
 
 against Virgil, to prove that Cyl- 
 larus was the horse, not of Pollux, 
 but of Castor. But there are not 
 wanting some testimonies to prove 
 that both the brothers were horse- 
 men. Pindar, in his third Olympic 
 ode, calls them swW«/> Tv^x-^ui. 
 It is related by several historians, 
 that in the war between the Ro- 
 mans and the Latins, who endea- 
 voured to restore Tarquin the 
 Proud, Castor and Pollux both 
 assisted the Romans on horseback. 
 Florus says the battle was so fierce, 
 that the gods are reported to have 
 come down to see it; but that it 
 was looked upon as a certain truth, 
 that Castor and Pollux were there, 
 on white horses, and that the ge- 
 neral vowed a temple to them for 
 their service : <{ Ea dernum atro- 
 " citas fuit praelii, ut interfuisse 
 " spectaculo deos fama tradiderit, 
 " duos in candidis equis Castorem 
 cc atque Pollucem nemo dubitarit. 
 i( Itaque et Imperator veneratus est, 
 " nactusque victoriam templa pro- 
 " misit : et reddidit plane quasi 
 " commilitonibus deis stipendium." 
 Thus we see it was an article of 
 faith, among the ancient Romans, 
 that they both fought on horseback. 
 In like manner Ovid also represents 
 them both mounted on white horses, 
 and both using spears at the hunt- 
 ing of the Calydonian boar : 
 
 At gemini, nondum caelestia sidera, fra- 
 
 tres, 
 Ambo conspicui nive candidioribus alba 
 Vectabantur equis: ambo vibrata per 
 
 auras 
 Hastarum tremulo quatiebant spicula 
 
 niotu : 
 
 Though he had a little before, ac- 
 cording to the received opinion, 
 said one was famous for the cestu?, 
 and the other for horses : 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 247 
 
 Martis equi bijuges, et magni currus Achillis. Mar^and the chariot of great 
 
 Tyndaridae gemini, spectatus caestibus 
 
 alter, 
 Alter equo. 
 
 Statius, in his poem on Domitian's 
 horse, mentions Cyllarus, as serving 
 the two brothers alternately : 
 
 Hunc et Adrastaeus visum extimuisset 
 
 Arion. 
 Et pavet aspiciens Ledasus ab aede pro- 
 
 pinqua 
 Cyllarus : hie domini nunquam mutabit 
 
 habenas ; 
 Perpetuis fraenis, atque uni serviet astro. 
 
 Stesichorus also, according to Sui- 
 das, says that Mercury gave Phlo- 
 geus and Harpagus, and Cyllarus 
 to Castor and Pollux : "Zmn^c^es 
 (pnri rov 'Egft^v Siduxzvou ro7g Aiofkov- 
 poig &Xoyzov, x.oc.1 Agirxyov axzeis, t'ucvov 
 
 nodctgycis x.cci KvXXcc^ov. Pliny men- 
 tions the charioteers of both the 
 brothers : ' ' Sunt qui conditam earn 
 " ab Amphito et Telchio, Castoris 
 tc ac Pollucis aurigis putent." From 
 these quotations I think it appears, 
 that those are in the wrong, who 
 suppose Cyllarus to belong only to 
 Castor. It seems to me, that both 
 the brothers had an equal property 
 in the horses, and therefore, that 
 they might as well be ascribed to 
 Pollux as to Castor. Propertius 
 speaks of the horse of Pollux, 
 without any mention of Castor : 
 
 Potaque Pollucis nympha salubris equo. 
 
 91. Martis equi bijuges.'] Servius 
 and others say the horses of Mars 
 are Fear and Terror. Others con- 
 tend that these are the companions, 
 and not the horses of that deity. 
 Those who think they are the 
 horses of Mars, seem to have fallen 
 into that error, by misunderstand- 
 ing the following passage in the 
 fifteenth Iliad: 
 
 "fij ipa.ro' KUt 'p' 'lifffovi xiXtro AtTftov rt 
 Ztvyvufctv. 
 
 I believe they took As^av and <Po£ov 
 to be joined with <Wov?, whereas 
 they are certainly the names of the 
 persons whom Mars commanded to 
 harness the horses, as Mr. Pope 
 has justly translated it: 
 
 With that, he gives command to Fear 
 
 and Flight 
 To join his rapid coursers for the fight. 
 
 Besides, in the thirteenth Iliad, Ho- 
 mer mentions <poQo$, or terror, not 
 only as the companion, but as the 
 son of Mars : 
 
 O/oj os (ZgoroXotye; "Apyt zsoXi^ovhi fiirtiirtf 
 Tail ol <&oQos <piXos vios af/a, xpoltipos xa'i 
 
 arapQhs 
 Eccnro, oV tQoGvio'i raXuQgovcL zffip rfoXi- 
 
 So Mars armipotent invades the plain, 
 (The wide destroyer of the race of man,) 
 Terror, his best-lov'd son, attends his 
 
 course 
 Arm'd with stern boldness, and enor- 
 mous force : 
 The pride of haughty warriors to con- 
 found, 
 And lay the strength of tyrants on the 
 ground. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Hesiod, in his Qioyovtoc, mentions 
 both Jear and terror, as the sons of 
 Mars and Venus : 
 
 Kvra^" A^vi'i 
 
 'Pivorogw KuS-zgna <l?o€ov x,au Aupov 'irtzrtv, 
 Auvovg, o'It* avSgav ztukivolj x.Xoviou<ri <pd~ 
 
 Xccyya;, 
 'Ev zfoXi/ico x,puotvri, <ruv "Agw ■atroXut'opS-M, 
 'Agpovt'/iv B-', %v Kdlfios vxipSvpos Ss<r* 
 
 In the 'Acrvrk 'H^oocXzovg, of which 
 Hesiod is supposed to be the au- 
 thor, we find the golden, swift-footed 
 horses of Mars mentioned, and fear 
 
248 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ISSa^SSlSSS Talis et ipse jubam cervice effudit equina 
 
 over his neck, and fled swiftly 
 at the approach of his wife, 
 and filled lofty Pelion with 
 loud neighings. But if such 
 a horse should be oppressed 
 with a sickness, or grow slug- 
 gish with years, 
 
 Conjugis adventu pernix Saturnus, et altum 
 Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto. 
 Hunc quoque, ubi aut morbo gravis, aut jam 
 segnior annis 95 
 
 and terror besides, standing by his 
 chariot : 
 
 'Ev 5* "Agios $>.6<tv(>oia zsohuKiii "ffrarat 
 XguffW !» %i xa) ccvtos hagipogog euXio; 
 
 •k'Xfthv h %ztgi<r<rw %x uv > "sfgvXiiirc't xs~ 
 
 Xiuuv, 
 A'ifiuri Qoivixotis, act) £uov; ha^uv, 
 A'tip^u IftGivOiws' zvccgx, Ti Aiif&os ri <S>o°c; 
 
 vt 
 "Eg'c&o'xv, tifiivat z?o\tfiov xxraSuftivcct o\i- 
 
 And at the latter end of the same 
 book, they are represented lifting 
 Mars into his chariot, after Hercules 
 had wounded him, and whipping 
 the horses : 
 
 TaJ 2e *e£oy xa) LttfMS lurgoxa* ayiM, xou 
 
 'JtfVOUf 
 
 "HXaretv eci^' iyyus, xa) *** %3-ovos tv(>oo- 
 
 h'ws 
 'Es ViQgov S-?,xa,v z?oXv$a.i$x\ov' atyct S* 
 
 %<rura 
 "tertovs p.a.o'rti'TW, "xovro 0*1 pax^a* "OXv/n- 
 
 9T0V. 
 
 Magni currus Achillis.~\ It is 
 Achilli in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, which reading is received 
 also by Heinsius and Masvicius. 
 Homer celebrates Xanthus and Ba- 
 lius, the horses of Achilles, as im- 
 mortal, and makes them born of 
 the Harpy Podarge, by the West 
 wind: 
 
 Ti5i xa) Avre/Jti^uv utuyt %vyov uxiag 
 
 tictevst 
 SavS-ov xa.) BaA/av, ru apct, -Bvoiyin zriri- 
 
 ffS-nv. 
 Tevj tnxi ZtQvfcy avip,u t 'Aprvict TLabugy*, 
 Bo<rxof/.ivri Xttftavi zsttoa. peat uxtuvoTo. 
 
 Then brave Automedon (an honour'd 
 
 name) 
 The second to his lord in love and fame, 
 
 In peace his friend, -and partner of the 
 
 war, 
 The winged coursers harness'd to the 
 
 car. 
 Xanthius and Balius, of immortal breed, 
 Sprung from the wind, and like the wind 
 
 in speed. 
 Whom the wing'd Harpye, swift Podarge 
 
 bore, 
 By Zephyr pregnant on the breezy shore. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 92. Talis et ipse jubam, &c] 
 Philyra was the mistress of Saturn, 
 who, to avoid being discovered by 
 his wife Ops, coming upon them 
 unexpectedly, turned himself into 
 a fine horse. The consequence of 
 this armour was, that Philyra was 
 delivered of Chiron, half a man 
 and half a horse. 
 
 Effudit.] It is effundit in the 
 King's and in both the Arundelian 
 manuscripts. Heinsius also and 
 Masvicius read effundit. Pierius 
 says it is effundit in the Roman, 
 and some other manuscripts. In 
 others it is fudit. But he justly 
 prefers effudit in the preterperfect 
 tense, because the order of the nar- 
 ration seems to require that tense, 
 for the next verb is implevit. 
 
 94. Pelion.~\ It is the name of a 
 mountain of Thessaly, where Chiron 
 dwelt. 
 
 95. Hunc quoque, &c] Having 
 given this beautiful description of 
 the characters of a good stallion, 
 the Poet now observes, that if the 
 horse happens to be sick, or if he 
 grows old, he is to be confined at 
 home, and restrained from the com- 
 pany of the mares. The age there- 
 fore and spirit of the horse is to be 
 diligently considered. Hence the 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 249 
 
 Deficit, abde domo; nee turpi ignosce senectae. JL^&SSS a 5i ^ffi! 
 
 -, , , . . TT r !i The old horse is cold in love« 
 
 Frigidus in Venerem senior, trustraque iaborem andvamiy tuggs at the un- 
 
 & x grateful labour, 
 
 Poet slides into a tine description 
 of a chariot race, and an account 
 of the inventors of chariots, and 
 riding on horseback. 
 
 Jam segnior annis.] Jam is want- 
 ing in the King's manuscript. Pi- 
 erius says it is segnior (Etas in the 
 Roman manuscript, but he justly 
 prefers annis. In the old Nuren- 
 berg edition it is annus. 
 
 96. Abde domo.] " For in domo; 
 '* for, if he had intended to speak 
 " adverbially, he would have said 
 " domi. Thus he says, in the 
 u fourth JLneid, Non Libyce, non 
 " ante Tyro," Servius. 
 
 Nee turpi ignosce senectce.] " Ci- 
 (C cero, in his Cato major, both 
 " praises and dispraises old age. 
 <f Wherefore this passage may be 
 " understood in two senses: either 
 " do not spare his base old age, or 
 tc spare his not base old age, that is, 
 " hide him and spare his old age, 
 <f which is not base, because it comes 
 " naturally" Servtus. 
 
 The latter of these interpreta- 
 tions is generally received, because 
 it is more agreeable to the practice 
 of the ancients, and the good tem- 
 per of Virgil to use an old horse 
 well, in regard to the services he 
 has done in his youth. Ennius, as 
 he is quoted by Cicero, in his Cato 
 major, compares himself to a good 
 horse, who has often won the prize 
 at the Olympic games, but being 
 worn down with age, enjoys his 
 rest : 
 
 Sicut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe su- 
 premo 
 
 Vicit Olympia, nunc senio confectu' 
 quiescit. 
 
 Plutarch condemns Cato for selling 
 his old worn-out servants, and 
 urges against him the contrary 
 
 practice of treating horses. Ho- 
 race, when he prays to Apollo, 
 that he may enjoy a not inglorious 
 old age, uses the very words of 
 Virgil, in this passage : 
 
 Frui paratis, et valido mihi, 
 Latoe, dones : et precor, integra 
 Cum mente, nee turpem senectam 
 Degere, nee cithara carentem. 
 
 Ovid, lamenting the misfortunes 
 which attended his old age, says it 
 fares otherwise with an old victo- 
 rious horse, who is suffered to 
 graze quietly in the meadows : 
 Ne cadat, et multas palmas inhonestet 
 adeptas, 
 Languidus in pratis gramina carpit 
 equus. 
 
 May's translation is according to 
 the first interpretation : 
 
 Yet when disease or age have brought 
 
 to nought 
 This horse's spirit, let him at home be 
 
 wrought, 
 Nor spare his base old age. 
 
 Dryden follows the latter inter- 
 pretation, and adds a large para- 
 phrase : 
 
 But worn with years, when dire diseases 
 
 come, 
 Then hide his not ignoble age at home : 
 In peace t* enjoy his former palms and 
 
 pains, 
 And gratefully be kind to his remains. 
 
 Dr. Trapp also follows the latter 
 interpretation : 
 
 When weaken'd by disease, or years, he 
 
 fails, 
 Indulge him, hous'd; and mindful of 
 
 the past, 
 Excuse his not dishonourable age. 
 
 97. Frigidus in Venerem senior. J 
 In the King's manuscript it is fri- 
 gidus in Venerem est senior. 
 
 2 K 
 
250 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 ;w.heSSS3£iK Ingratum trahit: et, si quando ad proelia ven- 
 
 as a great firesometimes rages f,,rr, ^ e f GO 
 
 without force, amongst the lUHl est, ifo 
 
 •tubble. Therefore chiefly TT ., ..,. . ..... 
 
 observe their spirit and Ut quondam in stipulis magnus sine vinous ignis 
 
 Incassum furit. Ergo animos sevumque notabis 
 
 93. Prcelia."] La Cerda thinks 
 the Poet speaks of the horse's 
 unfitness for war : but surely he 
 means the battles of Venus, not 
 those of Mars. In the same sense 
 he uses bella in the eleventh 
 JSneid. 
 
 At non in Venerem segnes, nocturnaque 
 bella. 
 
 99. Quondam."] It is not always 
 used to signify any determinate 
 time. Here I take it to mean only 
 sometimes, as it is used also in the 
 fourth Georgick : 
 
 Frigidus ut quondam sylvis immurmurat 
 Auster ; 
 
 And in the second iEneid : 
 
 Nee soli poenas dant sanguine Teu- 
 
 cri: 
 Quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia 
 
 virtus, 
 Victoresque cadunt Danai. 
 
 And again : 
 
 Adversi rupto seu quondam turbine venti 
 Confligunt. 
 
 And in the fifth iEneid : 
 
 Entellus vires in ventum effudit, et ultro 
 Ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pon- 
 
 dere vasto 
 Concidit : ut quondam cava concidit, aut 
 
 Erymantho, 
 Aut Ida in magna, radicibus eruta pinus. 
 
 And in the seventh : 
 
 Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere 
 turbo. 
 
 And again : 
 
 Ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubila 
 
 c yg ni 
 
 Cum sese a pastu referunt : 
 
 And in the ninth : 
 
 Qualis in Euboico Baiarum littore quon* 
 
 dam 
 Saxea pila cadit : 
 
 And in the twelfth : 
 
 Postquam acies videt Iliacas, atque ag- 
 
 mina Turni, 
 Alitis in parvae subito collecta figuram : 
 Quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus 
 
 desertis 
 Nocte sedens, serum canit importuna per 
 
 umbras. 
 
 99. Stipulis^ Pierius says it is 
 stipula in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 100. JEvumJ] Aristotle says the 
 best age of a horse is from three 
 years old to twenty: though both 
 horse and mare will begin to couple 
 at two, and the horse will continue 
 to thirty- three and the mare to 
 above forty : "in-sres Til o%tvuv xg%iTxi 
 dtZTKS, xxt o%sv&rxi, axrri xxi yivvxv. rx 
 fAivroi zxyovx xxrx rovrovg rovg %povov$, 
 Wuttu xx) xe-Ssyixaregx, ag <f hrt to 
 -zs-Xuirrcv, r^ums oyjiva xx) e^iverxi. 
 xx) avxo > ilia<ri dl xh( eni to /ZsXtioitxtov 
 rx ixyovx ytvvxv [M%%u; Irav . et'xotnv. 
 'Offivu de. times «pp>jv ftz%£is 8t»k 
 rgixxovrx xxi rgiav. *> dl &t)Xetx o^ivirxt 
 x%f>iS trav na-trx^xxovrx, are e-vy&xlnt 
 <r%u$ov dtx fiiov ymoSxi mv o%iixv. Z>j 
 yuQ aq eirt ro ts-oXv plv xpfav -zsre^i 
 T(>ix>covTX srivn em, jj de %Xiix ■sr'Keiu 
 rcJv Tiro-xgccKOVTx. ij&j lie rtg e£/Wgr 
 Yviroq xxi e&eptxovTx -zshre em. Varro 
 says they should not be younger 
 than three, nor older than ten. 
 " Horum equorum, et equarum 
 " greges qui habere voluerunt, ut 
 " habent aliqui in Peloponneso, et 
 " in Appulia, primum spectare 
 " oportet aetatem, quam preecipi- 
 " unt. Videndum ne sint minores 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 251 
 
 Prsecipue: hinc alias artes, prolemque parentum, 
 Et quis ciiique dolor victo, quae gloria palmae. 
 Nonne vides, cum prascipiti certamine campum 
 Corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere currus, 
 Cum spes arrectae juvenum, exultantiaque 
 haurit 105 
 
 Corda pavor pulsans : illi instant verbere torto, 
 Et proni dant lora: volat vi fervidus axis. 
 
 age : and then their other qua- 
 lities, and their offspring, and 
 how they lament being over- 
 come, and how they rejoice 
 at victory. Do not you see in 
 the rapid race, when the cha- 
 riots have seized the plain, 
 and pouring from the bar- 
 riers rush along, when the 
 hopes of the young men are 
 elevated, and thrilling fear 
 rends their beating hearts : 
 they ply the twisted lash, and 
 hang over their horses with 
 slackened reins : the fervid 
 axle flies swift along. 
 
 " trimae, majores decern annorum." 
 Columella says the best age of a 
 horse is from three to twenty j of 
 a mare from two till ten : IC Marem 
 " putant minorem trimo non esse 
 '* idoneum admissurse : posse vero 
 u usque ad vigesimum annum pro- 
 " generare, foeminam bimam recte 
 " concipere, ut post tertium annum 
 " enixa foetum educet, eamque post 
 " decimum non esse utilem, quod 
 <f ex annosa matre tarda sit, atque 
 " iners proles." 
 
 101. Prolemque parentum.] I have 
 ventured to differ from the general 
 interpretation of these words. They 
 are understood to mean, that you 
 are to consider the sire of the colt, 
 that you may know whether he is 
 of a good breed. Thus Grimoaldus 
 paraphrases them: " Post, parentes 
 " cujusmodi sint, considerabis, ut- 
 ** pote quos plerumque sequitur sua 
 " soboles." La Cerda explains 
 them " quibus parentibus geniti :" 
 and Ruseus, " quorum parentum 
 f< sint soboles." Dryden translates 
 them " note his father's virtues :" 
 and Dr. Trapp " their lineage." I 
 believe the Poet means by prolem 
 parentum, that we are to observe 
 what colts the horse produces. May 
 seems to have understood the pas- 
 sage in this sense, for he translates 
 it " his brood." 
 
 102. . Dolor.] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is color. 
 
 103. Nonne vides, &c] It is 
 
 easy to see that Virgil had Homer's 
 chariot race in his view. He has 
 not indeed adorned his description 
 with a variety of incidents, which 
 are so justly admired in the Greek 
 poet. They would have been use- 
 less ornaments in this place, where 
 only the force and swiftness of the 
 horses at that game require to be 
 described. It is not any particular 
 race, but a general description of 
 that exercise which the Poet here 
 intends : and the noble and poeti- 
 cal manner in which he relates it, 
 can never be too much admired. 
 
 Pracipiti certamine.] Pierius 
 found conamine, instead of certa- 
 mine, in some ancient manuscripts: 
 but he thinks it had been written 
 at first as a paraphrase, and had 
 afterwards slipped into the text. 
 
 We find the same words repeated 
 in the fifth iEneid : 
 
 Non tam praecipites bijugo certamine 
 campum 
 
 Corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere cur- 
 rus. 
 
 105. Exultantiaque haurit corda 
 pavor pulsans.~\ These words are 
 also repeated in the fifth iEneid, 
 ver. 137, 138. They are much more 
 expressive than those which Homer 
 has used on the same occasion : 
 
 — — VLi.fa.ctin Vt S-Vftot iKdLffTou 
 N/x»j UfAvuv. 
 
 107. Proni dant lora.'} Thus in 
 the fifth Mneid : 
 2 K 2 
 
252 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Now low, now aloft, they 
 seem to be carried on high 
 through the plains of air, and 
 to mount up to the skies. No 
 stop, no stay, but a cloud of 
 yellow sand arises ; and they 
 are wet with the foam and 
 breath of those which follow. 
 
 Jamque humiles, jamque elati sublime videntur 
 Aera per vacuum ferri, atque adsurgere in 
 auras. 109 
 
 Nee mora, nee requies : at fulvae nimbus arenae 
 Tollitur: humescuntspumis,flatuque sequentum. 
 
 Nee sic immissis aurigae undantia lora 
 Concussere jugis, pronique in verbera 
 pendent. 
 
 107* Fervidus axis."] Thus Ho- 
 race : 
 
 — Metaque fervidis 
 
 Evitata rotis. 
 
 108. Jamque humiles, &c] Thus 
 Homer : 
 
 110. FuIvcb nimbus arena tollitur.} 
 Thus Homer : 
 
 — — 'TW £e arigvaiffi xoviti 
 
 And again : 
 
 — — Oi V tffirovro kovsovtss znVmo. 
 
 111. Humescunt spumis, flatuque 
 sequentum.'] Thus also Homer : 
 
 Tlvoiiji V EvpnXoio (MraQqiiov ivgiz r upuu 
 
 Mr. Pope, in his translation of the 
 passage in Homer, which Virgil 
 here imitates, has greatly improved 
 his author's original, by borrow- 
 ing beauties from the copy. 
 
 At once the coursers from the barriers 
 
 bound, 
 The lifted scourges all at once resound ; 
 Their heart, their eyes, their voice they 
 
 send before ; 
 And up the champain thunder from the 
 
 shore. 
 Thick, where they drive, the dusty 
 
 clouds arise, 
 And the lost courser in the whirlwind 
 
 flies : 
 
 Loose on their shoulders the long manes 
 
 reclin'd, 
 Float in their speed, and dance upon the 
 
 wind: 
 The smoking chariots rapid as they 
 
 bound, 
 Now seem to touch the sky, and now 
 
 the ground. 
 While hot for fame, and conquest all 
 
 their care, 
 (Each o'er his flying courser hung in air,) 
 Erect with ardour, pois'd upon the reign, 
 They pant, they stretch, they shout along 
 
 the plain. 
 
 The smoking chariots rapid as they 
 bound, is taken from volat vi fervi- 
 dus axis ; for Homer says no more 
 than simply the chariots. Each o'er 
 his flying courser hung in air and 
 pois'd upon the rein are not in the 
 Greek, but are taken from proni 
 dant lora. Erect with ardour is 
 taken from spes arrecta juvtnum, 
 for Homer only says, the charioteers 
 stood upon their seats. Had Mr. 
 Pope favoured us with a translation 
 of this passage of Virgil, I believe 
 every impartial reader would have 
 given the preference to the Latin 
 Poet. But as we cannot shew 
 Virgil in the English language 
 with equal advantage; I shall re- 
 present the passage in Homer, 
 under the same disadvantages of a 
 literal translation : " They all at 
 ** once lifted up their whips over 
 " the horses, and lashed them with 
 " their reins, and earnestly encou- 
 " raged them with words. They 
 " run swiftly over the plain, and 
 " are soon distant from the ships. 
 " The scattered dust rises under 
 " their breasts, like a cloud or 
 f< storm, and their manes float wav- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 25$ 
 
 Tantus amor laudum, tantas est victoria curae. 
 
 Jungere equos, rapidisque rotis insistere victor. 
 Fraena Pelethronii Lapithae, gyrosque dedere 
 
 So great i§ the love of praise, 
 
 so great is the desire of vic- 
 
 , . , . . n tory. Ericthonius was the 
 
 Primus .brictnonius currus et quatuor ausus 1 1 5 first who dared to join four 
 
 horses to ?. chariot, and to sit 
 victorious over the rapid 
 wheels. The Pel'ethronian 
 Lapithae mounting the horses' 
 backs invented bridles and 
 managing, 
 
 " ing in the wind. The chariots 
 " now approach the foodful earth, 
 '5 and now leap up on high, and 
 " the drivers stand upon their seats, 
 " and every one's heart beats with 
 " desire of victory, each encou- 
 " rages his horses, and they fly 
 " along the plain, raising up the 
 " dust." The reader will now 
 easily observe how much more 
 animated Virgil's description is, 
 than that of Homer. The chariots 
 do not barely run over the plain, 
 but they seize it, they pour from the 
 barriers and rush along, and the 
 fervid axle flies. They do not only 
 leap up on high, but seem to be 
 carried on high through the plains of 
 air, and to mount up to the skies. 
 The drivers do not only stand upon 
 their seats, but their hopes are ele- 
 vated, and they hang over their 
 horses with slackened reins. Nor do 
 their hearts merely beat with desire 
 of victory, but thrilling fear rends 
 their beating hearts. 
 
 113. Ericthonius.] The first in- 
 ventors of things are very doubt- 
 fully delivered down to us by the 
 ancients. Cicero, in his third book 
 de Natura Deorum, ascribes the 
 invention of the quadriga to the 
 fourth Minerva : " Minerva prima 
 " quam Apollinis matrem supra 
 ** diximus : secunda orta Nilo, 
 " quam JEgyptii Saitse colunt: 
 '* tertia ilia quam Jove generatam 
 " supra diximus : quarta Jove nata 
 " et Coryphe, Oceani filia, quam 
 "Arcades Coriam nominant, et 
 " quadrigarum inventricem ferunt." 
 Ericthonius however is generally 
 allowed to have been the inventor 
 
 of chariots, to hide the deformity 
 of his feet. The commentators 
 tell a ridiculous story of his being 
 produced by a vain endeavour of 
 Vulcan to enjoy Minerva, who 
 resisted his attempts : and derive 
 his name from «g<$ strife, and jfiin 
 the earth. They make him the 
 fourth king of the Athenians. But 
 Sir Isaac Newton suspects this 
 Ericthonius to be no other than 
 Erectheus, and to be falsely added 
 as a different king of Athens, to 
 lengthen their chronology. I ra- 
 ther believe the Ericthonius here 
 meant is the son of Dardanus and 
 father of Tros j because Pliny men- 
 tions him with the Phrygians, to 
 whom he ascribes the invention of 
 putting two horses to a chariot, as 
 Ericthonius invented the putting 
 four. '* Bigas primum junxit 
 " Phrygum natio, quadrigas Eric- 
 " thonius." 
 
 114. Rapidis.] Pierius says it is 
 rapidus in the Roman manuscript. 
 I find the same reading in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. Ser- 
 vius also and Heinsius read rapidus. 
 
 115. Frcena Pelethronii Lqpitha, 
 gyrosque dedere.] Servius says Pe- 
 letronium is the name of a town 
 of Thessaly where the breaking 
 of horses was first invented. This 
 interpretation is generally received, 
 and therefore I have adhered to it 
 in my translation. But Pliny 
 makes Pelethronius the name of a 
 man, and says Bellerophon invented 
 the backing of horses, Pelethronius 
 bridles and the furniture of horses, 
 and the Centaurs of Thessaly the 
 fighting on horseback : " Equo 
 
254 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 under tau a g rm S ttf Jiv'^tS Impositi dorso, atque equitem docuere sub armis 
 pSn^'proudiy.^'ISke Tre Insultare solo, et gressus glomerare superbos. 
 
 these labours, alike do the , 
 
 masters require a young ikquus uterque labor; seque juvenemque ma- 
 gistri 
 
 <e vein Bellerophontem, frsenos et 
 " strata equorum Pelethronium, 
 ct pugnare ex equo Thessalos, qui 
 " Centauri appellati sunt, habi- 
 " tantes secundum Pelium mon- 
 " tern." Ovid however plainly uses 
 Pelethronium in the sense which 
 Servius has given it : 
 
 Vecte Pelethronium Macareus in pectus 
 
 adacto 
 Stravit Erigdupum. 
 
 Gyrus signifies properly a wheeling 
 about. Thus it is used, in the 
 seventh iEneid, for the wheeling 
 round of a top : 
 
 Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere 
 
 turbo, 
 Quem pueri magna in gyro vacua atria 
 
 circum 
 Intenti ludo exercent. 
 
 In the tenth iEneid, when Mezen- 
 tius throws several darts at iEneas, 
 and then takes a great round, as it 
 is expressed by volat ingenti gyro. 
 
 ' Dixit, telumque intorsit in hostem 
 
 Inde aliud super atque aliud figitque vo- 
 
 latqiie 
 Ingenti gyro. 
 
 It is used in the same manner, in 
 the eleventh iEneid, to express 
 Camilla's flying from Orsilochus, 
 and wheeling round, till she comes 
 behind him : 
 
 Orsilochum fugiens, msgnumque agitata 
 
 per orbem 
 Eludit gyro interior, sequiturque sequen- 
 
 tem. 
 
 In this place therefore it signifies 
 the managing a horse, and teaching 
 all the proper rounds and turns. 
 May has translated this passage, 
 
 The Peletronian Lapithes first found 
 
 The use of backing horses, taught them 
 bound, 
 
 And run the ring ; taught riders t' exer- 
 cise 
 
 In martial ranks. 
 
 Dryden's translation is, 
 
 The Lapithae to chariots, add the state 
 Of bits and bridles ; taught the steed to 
 
 bound, 
 To run the ring, and trace the mazy 
 
 round. 
 To stop, to fly, the rules of war to 
 
 know : 
 T' obey the rider ; and to dare the foe. 
 
 Dr. Trapp's is, 
 
 The Lapithas first, mounting on their 
 backs, 
 
 Added the reins ; and taught them un- 
 der arms, 
 
 Graceful to form their steps, to wheel, 
 and turn, 
 
 Insult the ground, and proudly pace the 
 plain. 
 
 116. Equitem!] Aulus Gellius 
 contends that eques signifies the 
 same with equus, and quotes a verse 
 of Ennius where eques was evi- 
 dently used for a horse : 
 
 Denique vi magna qua drupes eques atque 
 
 elephanti 
 Projiciunt sese. 
 
 Without doubt, it is the horse, that 
 paws, curvets, and prances, but the 
 Poet might very well apply these 
 actions to the man who rides the 
 horse, and makes him perform 
 them. 
 
 118. jtEquus uterque labor."] That 
 is, the labours of driving chariots, 
 and managing the single horse are 
 equal. 
 
GEORG. LIB. HI. 
 
 255 
 
 Exquirunt, calidumque animis, et 
 
 acrem. 
 Quamvis saepe fuga versos ille egerit hostes, 120 
 Et patriam Epirum referat, fortesque Mycenas ; 
 Neptunique ipsa deducat origine gentem. 
 
 *>iircihnc one that is full of mettle, and 
 tuiaiuus eagei> in running. Though 
 he may often have turned his 
 enemies to flight ; and may 
 boast of Epirus or strong My- 
 cenae for his country; and 
 may derive his family from 
 the very original of Neptune. 
 
 119. Calidum.] In one of the 
 Anindelian manuscripts it is calidis. 
 
 120. Quamvis scepe fuga, &c.] 
 That is, let the horse's qualifica- 
 tions have been ever so good, let 
 him have come from the best coun- 
 try in the world, let him be de- 
 scended from the noblest race, yet 
 he must still be in the flower of his 
 age ; or else good judges will never 
 make choice of him, either for 
 riding, or racing. In like manner 
 must we be careful, not to choose 
 an old horse for a stallion. 
 
 121. Epirum.'] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is Cyprum. 
 Epirus was famous for horses. See 
 note on book i. ver. 59. 
 
 Fortesque Mycenas.] Mycenae was 
 a city of Argia, a region of Pelo- 
 ponnesus, in which Agamemnon 
 reigned. This country was famous 
 for good horses. Thus Horace : 
 
 Plurimus in Junonis honorem 
 
 Aptum dicit equis Argos, ditesque My- 
 
 122. Neptunique ipsa deducat ori- 
 gine gentem] In both the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts it is ipsam instead 
 of ipsa. Pierius says it is nomen 
 instead of gentem in the Roman 
 manuscript. I have found mentem, 
 in an old edition, printed at Venice, 
 in 1475. 
 
 Neptune is said to have smitten 
 the earth with his trident, and 
 thereby to have produced a fine 
 horse, to which the Poet alludes, 
 in the first book : 
 
 — — Tuque o, cui prima frementem 
 
 Fudit equum tellus, magno percussa tri- 
 
 denti, 
 Neptune. 
 
 There is another fable, that Ceres, 
 to avoid the addresses of Neptune, 
 took upon her the form of a mare : 
 but Neptune discovering her, turned 
 himself into a horse, and enjoyed 
 her, after which she was delivered 
 of a fine horse, which some say 
 was the famous Arion. Dryden, in 
 his translation, seems to make Vir- 
 gil allude to both fables : 
 
 But once again the batter'd horse beware, 
 The weak old stallion will deceive thy 
 
 care: 
 Though famous in his youth for force 
 
 and speed, 
 Or was of Argos or Epirian breed, 
 Or did from Neptune's race or from 
 
 himself proceed. 
 
 I suppose by himself he must mean 
 Neptune himself, who was the na- 
 tural father of the horse, according 
 to the latter fable. May adheres 
 to the former : 
 
 Though nere so nobly born, though oft 
 in game 
 
 They won the prize, and for their coun- 
 try claime 
 
 Epire, or fam'd Mycenae, or else tooke 
 
 Their birth at first from Neptune's tri- 
 dent's stroke : 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 If youth and strength he want, th' at- 
 tempt is vain ; 
 
 Though oft victorious he has turn'd the 
 foes 
 
 To flight, and boasts Epirus, fam'd for 
 steeds, 
 
 Or brave Mycenae, as his native soil, 
 
 And ev'n from Nejptune't breed his race 
 derives. 
 
256 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 «SA h h2fare e ve^ X dai?nt Ki s animadversis, instant sub tempus et omnes 
 
 about the tima 
 tion, and 
 
 7 
 
 genera- 
 
 123. His animadversis, &c] The 
 Poet having already described the 
 excellency of those two noble 
 creatures, the bull and the horse, 
 now acquaints us with the method 
 of preparing them, for the propa- 
 gation of their species ; the male 
 is to be well fed, to make him 
 plump and lusty, but the female is 
 to be kept lean, by a spare diet, 
 and much exercise. 
 
 This passage is commonly under- 
 stood to relate only to horses and 
 mares. Thus Grimoaldus para- 
 phrases it : ce Postquam mores equo- 
 tc rum, et annos deprehenderint 
 
 f< agricolae Insuper armen- 
 
 " tarii diligentes dedita opera et de 
 e{ industria equas emacerabunt." 
 Thus also May translates it : 
 
 These things observ'd, at covering time, 
 
 they care 
 To make their stallion strongly fat and 
 
 faire. 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 These things premis'd, when now the 
 
 nuptial time 
 Approaches for the stately steed to climb; 
 
 Instructed thus, produce him to the fair; 
 And join in wedlock to the longing mare. 
 
 But La Cerda contends, that this 
 whole passage relates to bulls and 
 cows, which opinion he confirms by 
 the Poet's mentioning the asilus and 
 the calves soon after. To me it 
 appears that this precept relates to 
 both species, for, at ver. 49. where 
 Virgil begins his subject, he pro- 
 fesses to treat of horses and bullocks 
 together : 
 
 Seu quis, Olympiacae miratus praemia 
 
 palmae, 
 Pascit equos, seu quis fortes ad aratra 
 
 juveneos 
 Corpora praecipue matrum legat. 
 
 He then proceeds to describe the 
 good qualities of a cow : 
 
 Optima torvae 
 
 Forma bovis : 
 
 And immediately afterwards sub- 
 joins those of a horse : 
 
 Nee non et pecori est idem delectus 
 
 equino. 
 Tu modo quos in spem statues submit- 
 
 tere geniis, 
 Praecipuum jam inde a teneris impende 
 
 laborem. 
 
 After his long description of the 
 good qualities of a horse, he now 
 comes to consider the generation 
 of these animals, and seems to me 
 to blend both species together. In 
 the passage now under considera- 
 tion, the fatiguing the females 
 with running before copulation, 
 and in the next passage, the re- 
 straining them from leaping, seems 
 most applicable to mares ; and the 
 mention of the calves, and the asi- 
 lus soon after, and the time as- 
 signed for the copulation, evidently 
 belong to cows. 
 
 123. Instant sub tempus, &c] 
 Varro says he used to feed his bulls 
 well for two months before the 
 time : ' ' Tauros duobus mensibus 
 fC ante admissuram herba, et palea, 
 " ac foeno facio pleniores, et a fce- 
 " minis secerno." Columella also 
 says the bull should be well fed s 
 <s Pabulum .... tauris adjicitur, 
 " quo fortius meant." He says 
 the same of horses : u Eoque tem- 
 " pore, quo vocatur a foeminis, ro- 
 " borandus est largo cibo, et ap- 
 " propinquante vere ordeo, ervoque 
 ** saginandus, ut veneri supersit, 
 " quantoque fortior inierit, firmiora 
 " semina prsebeat futurae stirpi :" 
 and Palladius also : " Hoc mense 
 " [Martio] saginati, ac pasti ante 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 257 
 
 Impendunt curas denso distendere pingui, 124 
 Quem legere ducem, et pecori dixere marittim : 
 Pubentesque secant herbas, fluviosque minis- 
 
 trant, 
 Farraque, ne blando nequeat superesse labori, 
 Invalidique patrum referant jejunia nati. 
 Ipsa autem macie tenuant armenta volentes : 129 
 Atque ubi concubitus primes jam nota voluplas 
 
 bestow all their care in plump- 
 ing the leader and husband of 
 the herd with firm fat : and 
 cut tender grass for him, and 
 give him plenty of water, and 
 com ; lest he should be defi- 
 cient in his pleasing labour, 
 and lest the puny race should 
 betray the weakness of their 
 fathers. But as for the fe- 
 males, they purposely make 
 them lean : and when now 
 the new known desire solicits 
 their first enjoyment, 
 
 " admissarii generosis equabus ad- 
 " mittendi sunt." 
 
 125. Dixere.'] It is duxere in the 
 Cambridge manuscript, and in an 
 old edition, printed at Venice, in 
 1482. 
 
 126. Pubentes.] The King's, the 
 Cambridge, the Bodleian, one of 
 the Arundelian, and both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts have florentes, 
 Most of the old editions have the 
 same reading. Pierius says it is 
 <pubentes in some ancient manu- 
 scripts; which reading is admitted 
 also by Heinsius, Masvicius, Ruaens, 
 and several other good editors. La 
 Cerda has florentes, but he thinks 
 pubentes better: "Melius legas 
 " pubentes. Nam prata magis con- 
 " veniunt, quae delicatis et mollibus 
 " herbis abundant, quam proceris." 
 This agrees with what Columella 
 says of the feeding of horses, who 
 recommends tender grass, rather 
 than that which is ripe : " Gregi- 
 " bus autem spatiosa et palustria, 
 " nee non montana pascua eligen- 
 V da sunt, rigua, nee unquatn sic- 
 " canea, vacuave magis, quam stir- 
 (i pibus impedita, frequenter moUi- 
 " bus potius quam proceris herbis 
 " abundantia." 
 
 127. Nequeat.] Pierius says it is 
 nequeat in the Roman and other 
 rnost ancient manuscripts. The 
 Kings, one of the Arundelian, and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts have 
 
 nequeant. The same reading is ad- 
 mitted by Paul Stephens, Schreve- 
 lius, and several of the old editors, 
 but nequeat is generally received. 
 
 129. Made tenuant armenta.] 
 This precept of making the females 
 lean, is delivered also by the prose 
 writers. Varro says he fed his 
 cows sparingly for a month : 
 " Propter foeturam hsec servare sc- 
 " leo, ante admissuram mensem 
 <c unum, ne cibo, et potione se im- 
 " pleant, quod existimantur facilius 
 " macrae concipere." Columella 
 says the cows are fed sparingly, 
 lest too great fatness should make 
 them barren: '* Sed et pabulum 
 " circa tempus admissuree subtra- 
 " hitur fceminis, ne eas steriles red- 
 " dat nimia corporis obesitas." 
 
 130. Ubi concubitus primos jam 
 nota voluptas sollicitat.] The critics 
 are not agreed about the sense of 
 this passage. Servius says that the 
 word nota is put to signify that the 
 mares had been covered before, be- 
 cause the first time a young mare 
 is covered she ought not to be lean : 
 iC Dicendo nota per transitum tetigit 
 " rem ab aliis diligenter expressam. 
 " Nam equa? pullae cum primum 
 " coeunt, si macrae sunt, et debili- 
 " tantur, et debiles creant: post 
 <e primum autem partum tenues 
 " esse debent." But I do not find 
 this distinction made by the writers 
 on husbandry. Rueeus savs primos 
 
 2 L 
 
258 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^7driJe d S; h T S dd tS Sollicitat, frondesque negant, et fontibus ar- 
 cent. 
 
 springs, 
 
 and jam nota are inconsistent, un- 
 less prinios relates, not to the first 
 covering, but to the beginning of 
 the year : " Pugnant hsec verba, 
 " primos et jam nota. Nisi juxta 
 " alios intelligamus primos, non 
 " omnino de primo concuhitu ; sed 
 " tanturn de primo et novo anni 
 (f cuj usque redeuntis." Accord- 
 ingly his interpretation is, " Et 
 " cum voluptas prius cognita suadet 
 " novum coitum." Dr. Trapp 
 translates Rusens's note, and adds 
 te and that is very untoward." Gri- 
 moaldus interprets it, " ubi primum 
 " coire cupient :" and La Cerdn, 
 " ubi jam sollicitantur voluptate ad 
 t( coitum," taking no notice either 
 of primos or jam nota. Thus also 
 May translates it : 
 
 And when they have an appetite 
 
 To venery. 
 
 Dry den follows Ruaeus : 
 
 When conscious of their past delight, 
 
 and keen 
 To take the leap, and prove the sport 
 
 agen. 
 
 Dr. Trapp translates jam nota, but 
 takes no notice of concubitus pri- 
 mos : 
 
 ■=- — i When now the known delight 
 Solicits their desires. 
 
 Mr. B , in his preface to the 
 
 XTeorgioks, prefixed to the second 
 book, gives quite a new interpreta- 
 tion of this passage. " Mr. Dryden," 
 says he, rt very unlearnedly applies 
 " nota voluptas to the mare, not 
 " considering that Virgil speaks 
 " here in the person of a groom or 
 '' farmer, very well acquainted with 
 " the passion those creatures are 
 " most subject Co 3 and therefore 
 
 " nota voluptas relates to the far- 
 " mer's knowledge, beyond all 
 " manner of doubt ; and it is worth 
 " observation, through all the 
 " Georgicks, that though the piece 
 (C is what the grammarians call 
 " Didactic, yet the style is generally 
 ee Epic." He then gives his own 
 translation of the passage now be- 
 fore us, in the following words : 
 
 As for the herd, they strive to keep them 
 
 bare, 
 And pinch, and draw them down with 
 
 scanty fare ; 
 And when the -well known passion of their 
 
 race 
 Solicits instantly the first embrace, 
 Then they forbid them wandering in the 
 
 woods, 
 Cropping the browze, and haunting 
 
 lonely floods : 
 Oft in the scorching sun they waste their 
 
 force, 
 And urge them panting in the furious 
 
 course : 
 Then groans the floor, to pounded sheaves 
 
 resign'd, 
 And empty straws are spurn'd against 
 
 the wind. 
 
 The whole difficulty, about inter- 
 preting this passage, seems to have 
 risen from not considering, that 
 voluptas signifies not only what we 
 call pleasure, but also a desire of en- 
 joying. In this sense it is plainly 
 used in the second Eclogue: 
 
 Torva lesena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse 
 
 capellam : 
 Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva ca- 
 
 pella : 
 Te Coridon, o Alexi : trahit sua quem- 
 
 que voluptas: 
 
 And in the tenth iEneid : 
 
 Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, xo- 
 luptas ? 
 
 where Ruaeus interprets vivendi vo- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 259 
 
 Saepe etiam cursu qiialiunt, et sole fatigant, w!ih y ro?nin*, ak lnd hc £tiS2 
 
 _ ., them in the sun, when the 
 
 Cum graviter tunsis gemit area irumbus, et cum floor groans heavily with 
 
 O n ° threshing, and when 
 
 luptas, cupido vitce > and Dryden 
 translates it j 
 
 What joys, alas ! could this frail being 
 
 give, 
 That I have been so covetous to live ? 
 
 Voluntas therefore, in the passage 
 now under consideration, signifies 
 the desire which now first begins 
 to be known by the young mare, 
 and requires the care of the farmer, 
 to keep her from growing fat. 
 This would still be more evidently 
 the sense of the passage, if we were 
 to read nata instead of ?iota, as it 
 is in the Cambridge manuscript. 
 
 131. Frondesque negant, et f anti- 
 bus arcent.] Tiiis is put in opposi- 
 tion to 
 
 Pubentesque secant herbas, Jluviosquc mi- 
 nistrant. 
 
 Pierius says that in some ancient 
 manuscripts it is frondibus, instead 
 of fontibus; which he justly con- 
 demns. 
 
 133. Cum graviter tunsis, &c] 
 Pierius found tonsis in some manu- 
 scripts : I find the same reading in 
 the Cambridge manuscript, and in 
 some of the oldest printed editions. 
 The time here mentioned agrees 
 better with cows than with mares. 
 The beginning of the Roman har- 
 vest was about the latter end of 
 their June ; and therefore we can- 
 | not suppose their threshing time to 
 ! have been earlier than July. Now 
 I this was the very time, when they 
 ; allowed the bull to be admitted to 
 I the cows. Varro says the time for 
 I this was from the rising of the 
 1 Dolphin to about forty days after- 
 ! wards : " Maxime idoneum tempus 
 I " ad concipiendum a Delphi ni ex- 
 " ortu, usque ad dies quadraginta, 
 
 " aut paulo plus. Quae enim ita 
 " eonceperunt, temperatissimo anni 
 " tempore pariunt. Vactae enim 
 " mensibus decern suntpraegnantes." 
 This rising of the Dolphin men- 
 tioned by Varro, cannot be the 
 morning rising, which began on 
 the twenty-seventh of December, 
 according to Columella: " Sexto 
 " Calendas Januarias Delphinus in- 
 " cipit oriri mane:" or on the 
 fourth of January according to 
 Pliny : " Pridie Nonas Delphinus 
 '? matutino exoritur." It must be 
 the evening rising, which was on 
 the tenth of June, according to both 
 Columella and Pliny : " Quarto 
 " Idus Delphinus vespere exoritur." 
 Therefore the time allotted by 
 Varro is from the tenth of June to 
 about the twentieth of July. The 
 barley harvest was reckoned to be- 
 gin about the latter end of June, 
 or the beginning of July. Thus 
 the cows might be employed in 
 treading out the barley, before the 
 bull was admitted to them. Colu- 
 mella expressly mentions July as 
 the proper time: i( Mense Julio 
 " fceminae maribus plerumque per- 
 " mittendae, ut eo tempore concep- 
 " tos proximo vere adultis jam pa- 
 " bulis edant. Nam decern men- 
 " sibus ventrem perferunt." Pal- 
 lad ius also assigns the month of 
 July as the proper season : " Hoc 
 " tempore maxime tauris submit- 
 " tendae sunt vaccee, quia decern 
 <f mensium partus sic poterit ma- 
 " turo vere concludi." But the 
 time for covering mares is much 
 earlier, and by no means agrees 
 with the time of harvest. Accord- 
 ing to Varro, it is from the vernal 
 equinox to the solstice, that is, 
 from the twenty-fourth or twenty- 
 2 L2 
 
260 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 the empty chaff is tossed to 
 the rising zephyrs. This they 
 do that the use of the genial 
 field may not be blunted with 
 too much indulgence, and 
 overspread the sluggish fur- 
 rows , but that it may gree- 
 dily devour the joy, and re- 
 ceive it into the inmost re- 
 cesses. Again the care of 
 the sires begins to cease, and 
 that of the dams to begin. 
 When they rove about, in a 
 state of pregnancy, and are 
 near their time, let no one 
 suffer them to draw the yokes 
 of the heavy waggons, or 
 leap across the way, and run 
 swiftly 
 
 Surgentem ad zephyrum palese jactantur inanes. 
 Hocfaciunt, nimio ne luxu obtusior usus 135 
 Sit genitali aryo, et sulcos oblimet inertes : 
 Sed rapiat sitiens Venerem, interiusque recondat. 
 Rursus cura patrum cadere, et succedere ma- 
 
 trum 
 Incipit. Exactis gravidas cum mensibus errant, 
 Non illas gravibus quisquam juga clucere 
 
 plaustris, 140 
 
 Non saltu superare viam sit passus, et acri 
 
 fifth of their March to the twenty- 
 fourth or twenty-fifth of June : 
 " Horum fceturae initium admis- 
 " sionis facere oportet, ab aequi- 
 " noctio verno ad solstitium, ut 
 " partus idoneo tempore fiat. Duo- 
 <( decimo enim mense, die decimo 
 " aiunt nasci." According to Co- 
 lumella,, the time is about the ver- 
 nal equinox: " Generosis circa 
 " vernum cequinoctium mares jun- 
 " gentur, ut eodem tempore, quo 
 " conceperint, jam lastis et her- 
 " biuis campis post anni messem 
 " parvo cum labore fcetum educcnt. 
 " Nam mense duodecimo partum 
 " edunt." Palladius sets down 
 March as the season : " Hoc mense 
 ce saginati, ac pasti ante admissarii 
 " generosis equabus admittendi 
 " sunt." 
 
 135. Hocfaciunt, &c] In these 
 lines the modesty of the Poet is 
 very remarkable. His expressions 
 are glowing and poetical ; and at 
 the same time not offensive to the 
 chastest ear. Some of his com- 
 mentators however have heen care- 
 ful lo explain in the clearest manner 
 what their author took care to veil 
 decently with figures. Drydeu's 
 translation is abominably obscene, 
 for whicli he has been justly cor- 
 rected by Mr. B . Dr. Trapp, 
 
 through fear of offending in the 
 same manner, lias comprised these 
 three in two very dull lines: 
 
 Lest too much luxury and ease should 
 
 close 
 The pores, and dull the hymeneal soil. 
 
 136. Sit.'} In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is sint, which cannot 
 be right. 
 
 Arvo.~\ In an old edition, printed 
 at Venice, in 1475, it is auro. 
 
 Et sulcos.] IntheBasii edition 
 of 1586. It is sulcosque. 
 
 137. Rapiat Venerem.'] Thus 
 Horace : 
 
 Venerem incertam rapientis. 
 
 138. Rursus cura patrum, &c] 
 The Poet having given us full 
 instructions about the care of the 
 male, now tells us that after con- 
 ception, the whole care is to be 
 transferred to the female. He then 
 takes occasion to mention the Asi- 
 lus, which is a terrible plague to 
 the cows in Italy. 
 
 140. Non illas gravibus quisquam 
 juga ducere plaustris . . . sit passus.] 
 Thus Varro: "Cum conceperunt 
 " equae, videndum ne aut laborent 
 " plusculum, &c." 
 
 Id one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is gravidis instead of gravibus. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 261 
 
 Carpere prata fuga, fluviosque innare rapaces. 
 Saltibus in vacuis pascant, et plena secundum 
 Flumina,muscus ubi, etviridissimagramine ripa: 
 Speluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra. 
 Est lucos Silari circa, ilicibusque virentem 146 
 Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo 
 Romanum est, CEstron Graii vertere vocantes ; 
 
 over the meadows, and swim 
 the rapid streams. Letthem 
 feed in open lawns, and near 
 full rivers ; where the banks 
 are mossy, and green with 
 grass ; and let there be caves 
 to shelter, and rocks to shade 
 them. About the groves of 
 Silarus, and Albumus, green 
 with holm-oak?, there is great 
 plenty of a sort of flying in- 
 sects, which the Romans call 
 Asilus, but the Greeks have 
 formed the name GEstros for 
 it : 
 
 143. Saltibus.] See the note on 
 verse 471. of the second Georgiek. 
 
 Pascant.] In one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts it is pascunt. 
 
 Plena secundum fluminai] The 
 Poet recommends full rivers, that 
 the pregnant cattle may not strain 
 themselves with stooping to drink. 
 
 144. Viridissima gramine ripaj 
 Thus Varro, speaking of cows, 
 " Eas pasci oportet in locis viri- 
 " dibus, et aquosis." 
 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is genuine instead of gramine. 
 
 146. Est lucos. - ] Seneca reads 
 Et lucum. 
 
 Silari.] Silarus was the name 
 of a river, which divided the coun- 
 try of the Picentini, from that of 
 the Lucani. Is now called Selo. 
 
 Circa,] Seneca reads juxta. 
 
 Ilicibusque virentem.] The epithet 
 virentem is very proper ; for the 
 holm-oak, or ilex, is an evergreen. 
 
 147. Plurimus.] "This plurimus" 
 says Dr. Trapp, " may seem odd : 
 " for Asilus is plainly understood 
 " as agreeing with it. And then 
 " Asilus, cui nomen Asilo looks 
 " strange. But we must recur to 
 " the sense j which is the same, as 
 " if it had been Plurima musca cui 
 " nomen Asilo:' Asilus cui nomen 
 Asilo is La Cerda's interpretation, 
 which, I must acknowledge, seems 
 a little strange. But surely pluri- 
 mus agrees with velitans', which 
 is used here as a noun substantive. 
 Thus Servius interprets this pas- 
 
 sage : " Ordo talis est, circa lucos 
 " ~Silari fluminis Lucania, et Albur- 
 " num ejus montem est plurimus vo- 
 "litans: ac si diceret, est multa 
 ( ' musca. Volitans autem modo 
 " nomen est, non participium." 
 
 147- Alburnum.] Albumus was 
 the name of a mountain near the 
 river Silarus. 
 
 Cui nomen Asilo.] Asilo is here 
 put in the dative case, after the 
 manner of the Greeks. Thus we 
 find in the fourth Georgick : 
 
 Est etiam flos in pratis, cuimomen Amelia 
 Fecere Agricolaa : 
 
 And in the first iEneid : 
 
 At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen 
 
 liilo 
 Additur : 
 
 And in the ninth : 
 
 Fortemque ma mi fudisse Numa« 
 
 num 
 Cui Remulo cognomen crat. 
 
 148. Romanum est.] Est is left 
 out in the King's, in one of the 
 Arundelian, and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 CEstron Graii vertere vocantes.] 
 Servius understands these words to 
 mean, that the Greeks called this 
 insect Jc-Tgos, from its whizzing 
 noise: for he thinks it cannot be 
 the Poet's meaning, that the Greeks 
 translated it from the Latin, be- 
 cause the Greek is the more ancient 
 language: "Vertere ex soni si- 
 " militudine, onomatopoieam fc- 
 
262 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 L?nf& e rwithwhTchwhS; Asper, acerba sonans ; quo tota exterrita sylvis 
 
 herds being terrified fly out 
 of the woods ; 
 
 " cere. Non enim possumus acci- 
 " pere, ex Latina lingua mutavere, 
 u cum constet Gnecam prim am 
 '* fuisse." It is probable however, 
 that this insect might have been 
 first taken notice of by the ancient 
 inhabitants of Italy. For that 
 country was anciently celebrated 
 for the finest kine: and Timaeus, 
 as he is quoted by Varro, informs 
 us, that the ancient Greeks called 
 bulls IrxXovg, and thence called the 
 country Italy, because it abounded 
 with the finest bulls and calves : 
 " Vide quid agas, inquam, Vacci. 
 " Nam bos in pecuaria, maxima 
 " debet esse auctoritate : prsesertim 
 " in Italia, quae a bubus nomen 
 " habere sit existimata. Grsecia 
 " enim antiqua, ut scribit Ti- 
 " maeus, tauros vocabant nocXolg, a 
 " quorum multitudine, et pulchri- 
 " tudine, et fcetu vitulorum Italiam 
 " dixerunt." To this we may add, 
 that Seneca understood the Poet to 
 mean, that Asilus was the ancient 
 name, but that the Greek name 
 cestrus or cestrum was then received 
 instead of it : " Hunc quern Graeci 
 " cestrum vocant, pecora peragen- 
 " tern, et totis saltibus dissipantem, 
 e< asilum nostri vocabant. Hoc 
 ' ' Virgilio licet credas : 
 
 *' Et lucum Silari juxta, ilicibusque vl- 
 
 M rentem 
 " Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen 
 
 " asilo 
 " Romanum est, cestrum Grceci vertere 
 
 " voca?ites, 
 " Asper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita 
 
 " sylvis 
 " Diffugiunt armenta. 
 " Puto intelligi istud verbum interisse." 
 
 Varro calls this insect Tabanus : 
 " Itaque quod eas sestate talani 
 " concitare solent, et bestiola; quae- 
 " dam minutaj sub cauda, ne con- 
 
 (t citentur, aliqui solent includere 
 i( septie." And Pliny informs us, 
 that it is called both Tabanus and 
 Asilus: " Reliquorum quibusdam 
 " aculeus in ore, ut asilo, sive ta- 
 " banum dici placet." 
 
 The history of this insect has 
 been delivered in so confused a 
 manner by authors, that I could 
 meet with no satisfaction about it, 
 till I was favoured by Sir Hans 
 Sloane, Bart, with the persual of 
 a book in titled Esperie?ize } ed Osser- 
 vazioni intorno alV Origine, Sviiuppi, 
 e Costumi di varj Insetti, con altre 
 speitanti alia Naturale, e Medica 
 Storia,fatte da Antonio Vallisnieri, 
 Publico Professore primario di Me- 
 dicina Teorica nelV Universita di 
 Padoa: printed at Padua, in 1723, 
 in 4to. This curious author informs 
 us, from his own observation, that 
 the Assillo, as he calls it, is a flying 
 insect, in shape somewhat resem- 
 bling a wild bee or wasp, without 
 any sting, or proboscis in the 
 mouth. It has two membranace- 
 ous wings, with which it makes 
 a most horrible whizzing. The 
 belly is terminated by three long 
 rings, one less than another, from 
 the last of which proceeds a for- 
 midable sting. This sting is com- 
 posed of a tube, through which the 
 egg is emitted, and of two augres, 
 which make way for the tube to 
 penetrate into the skin of the 
 cattle. These augres are armed 
 with little knives, which prick 
 with their points, and cut with 
 their edges, causing intolerable pain 
 to the animal, that is wounded by 
 them. But this pain is not all 5 
 for at the end of the sting, as at 
 the end of a viper's tooth, and of 
 the sting of wasps, bees, and hor- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 263 
 
 Diffugiuntarmenta;furit mugitibus aether 150 S&tgS* ' furiously 
 
 nets, issues forth a venomous li- 
 quor, which irritates, and inflames 
 the fibres of the wounded nerves, 
 and causes the wound to become 
 fistulous. This fistula seems to be 
 kept open by the egg", after the 
 manner of an issue. 
 
 The egg is hatched within the 
 fistula, and the worm continues 
 there, till it is ready to turn to a 
 chrysalis, receiving its nourishment 
 from the juice, which flows from 
 the wounded fibres. These worms 
 remain nine or ten months under 
 the skin, and then being arrived 
 almost to perfection, they come 
 out of their own accord, and creep 
 into some hole, or under some 
 stone, and there enter into the 
 state of a chrysalis, in which con- 
 dition they lie quiet for some time, 
 and at last come forth in the form 
 of the parent fly. 
 
 149. AsperJ] I take this word 
 to be designed to express the sharp- 
 ness of the sting. 
 
 Acerba sonans.] This relates to 
 the horrible whizzing of this ani- 
 mal. 
 
 Quo tola exterrlta sylvis, &c] 
 Homer represents the suitors, who 
 had long fought with Ulysses, on 
 Minerva's raising up her shield, 
 flying like oxen from the cestrus. 
 
 A^ tot 'AS-nvutn (pS-itriftSgoTOS AiyiV av- 
 
 'T-v^aS-sv \% h(>o<pm' tuv $1 Qgivts ItfroiyS-iv. 
 0< a l<pi§ovTo f&tTcc f&iyxgov fiosg as o\yi- 
 
 To\i (juv t ccloXo? oifgos l<po^nB-us fdovwriv 
 il^n lv slotgivyj, I'ts t vip.a.Ttt. (jckk^o, -ars- 
 
 XtVTCCl. 
 
 Now Pallas shines confess'd; aloft she 
 
 spreads 
 The arm of vengeance o'er their guilty 
 
 heads ; 
 The dreadful JEgis blazes in their eve : 
 
 Amaz'd they see, they tremble, and they 
 
 fly: 
 Confus'd, distracted, thro' the rooms 
 
 they fling, 
 Like oxen madded by the breeze's 
 
 sting, 
 When sultry days, and long, succeed 
 
 the gentle spring. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Vallisnieri relates, that as four 
 oxen were drawing a very heavy 
 carriage, one of them being stricken 
 in the back by an Assillo, all four 
 ran so furiously, that being come to 
 a river's side, they threw them- 
 selves in headlong. The same 
 author tells us, that in a fair of 
 cattle, on the mountains of Reggio, 
 the oxen hearing the noise of 
 some of these animals, though 
 they were tied, and had their 
 keepers by them, began first to 
 roar, then to toss, and wreathe 
 themselves about in a strange man- 
 ner: at last they broke loose, did 
 a vast deal of mischief, drove all 
 the people out of the fair, and fled 
 away themselves with horrid bel- 
 lowings. 
 
 He observes that these insects 
 sometimes infest horses, that live 
 in mountainous places, and feed at 
 large, in the groves and fields : 
 but not those which are kept in 
 stables and curried. This confirms 
 what Varro relates, that some keep 
 their oxen in the stalls, to preserve 
 them from these insects. Rubbing 
 the cattle well preserves them from 
 this plague: for, as Vallisnieri tells 
 us, they are never found in the 
 legs, or other parts, where the 
 cattle can reach with their tongue 
 or their tail j but on the back and 
 flanks, and sometimes about the 
 shoulders and on the neck. 
 
264 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and the woods, and the banks 
 of dry Tanagrus. With this 
 monster did Juno formerly 
 exercise severe wrath, when 
 she studied a plague for the 
 Inachian heifer. Do you also 
 take care to drive it from the 
 pregnant cattle, and feed 
 your herds, when the sun is 
 newly risen, or when the 
 stars lead on the night; for 
 it is most severe in the noon- 
 day heat. After the cow has 
 brought forth, all the care is 
 transferred to the calves : and 
 first they mark them with 
 burning irons, to distinguish 
 theirsorts; which they choose 
 to keep for breeding, which 
 they keep consecrated to the 
 altars, and which to cleave 
 the ground, 
 
 Concussus, silvaeque, et sicci ripa Tanagri. 
 Hoc quondam monstro horribiles exercuit iras 
 Inachise Juno pestem meditata juvencae. 
 Hunc quoque, nam mediis fervoribus acrior 
 
 instat, 
 Arcebis gravido pecori, armentaque pasces 155 
 Sole recens orto, aut noctem ducentibusastris. 
 Post partum, cur a in Vitulos traducitur omnis : 
 Continuoque notas, et nomina gentis inurunt : 
 Et quos aut pecori malint submittere habendo, 
 Aut aris servare sacros, aut scindere terrain, 160 
 
 151. Sicci ripa Tanagri.] The 
 Tanagrus or Tanager, now called 
 Negro, is a river of Lucania, rising 
 from the mountain Alburnus. 
 
 Dryden's translation makes these 
 words an extravagant rant : 
 
 Tanagrus hastens thence: and leaves 
 his channel dry. 
 
 152. Hoc quondam monstro, &c] 
 lo the daughter of Inachus was be- 
 loved by Jupiter, who, to conceal 
 her from Juno, turned her into a 
 cow. But Juno discovering the 
 deceit sent an oestrus to torment Io, 
 with which being stung she fled 
 into Egypt, where being restored 
 to her former shape, she was mar- 
 ried to king Osiris, and after her 
 death was worshipped as a goddess, 
 under the name of Isis. 
 
 155. Pecori.] In both Dr, Mead's 
 manuscripts it is pecorique : but 
 the que is injudiciously added, to 
 avoid a synaloepha. See the note 
 on book i. ver. 4. 
 
 156. Astris.] In the Cambridge 
 manuscript, and in some of the old 
 printed editions, it is austris. 
 
 157- Post partum, &c] The 
 Poet having first described the care 
 that is to be taken of the sire be- 
 fore copulation, then of the dam 
 
 during her pregnancy, now tells us, 
 that all our care is to be bestowed 
 on the young ones, as soon as 
 they are brought into the world, 
 and begins with the calves. Fierius 
 reads 
 
 Post partum in vitulos cura traducitur 
 omnis : 
 
 but he says it is 
 
 Post partum cura in vitulos traducitur 
 omnis 
 
 in the Roman, the Medicean, the 
 Lombard, and some other manu- 
 scripts. He says also, that in the 
 oblong manuscript, which Poinpo- 
 nius Laetus called his delicice, it is 
 deducitur, instead of traducitur ; but 
 he thinks the common reading is 
 best. 
 
 158. Contmuo.] See the note on 
 ver. 75. 
 
 Notas et nomina gentis inurunt.] 
 The burning marks upon cattle is 
 a very ancient custom, to which 
 we find frequent allusions. 
 
 159. Malint.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is malit ; in 
 the other it is malunt. 
 
 160. Sacros.'} The King's, the 
 Bodleian, one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts, most of the old edi- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 £65 
 
 Et campum horrentem fractis kivertere glebis. ^? h KencbSs m ¥he ™! 
 Caetera pascuntur virides armenta per herbas : 
 
 ...j herd graze i 
 meadows : 
 
 tions, and Paul Stephens, have sa- 
 cris. Pierius reads sacris ; but he 
 says it is sacros in the Roman and 
 Medicean manuscripts, which he 
 thinks a good reading, He adds, 
 that it was sacros in the Lombard 
 manuscript, but had been altered 
 to sacris. Sacros is generally re- 
 ceived, and is more poetical. 
 
 162. Cater a pascuntur virides ar- 
 menta per herbas.'] This is gene- 
 rally understood to mean, that the 
 cattle which are not designed efcher 
 for breeding, sacrifices, or labour, 
 have no mark set upon them, and 
 so are suffered to graze undis- 
 tinguished. Thus Grimoaldus pa- 
 raphrases it : " At haec quidem 
 " animalia domi, et ad manum 
 " servant, et custodiunt, caetera, 
 " quae neque sunt admissurse ido- 
 " nea, nee sacrifices apta, nee agri- 
 " culturae accommodata, in agris, 
 " pratisque, sine ulla domandi cura, 
 " libere vagari sinunt." Thus also 
 Dryden translates it: 
 
 The rest for whom no lot is yet decreed, 
 May run in pastures, and at pleasure 
 feed: 
 
 and Dr.-Trapp : 
 
 The rest promiscuous, and unnoted feed 
 On the green meadows. 
 
 " Unnoted/' says he, " for that is 
 "manifestly implied; though not 
 " expressed. Catera pascuntur, &c. 
 " subaud. indiscriminatim. Those 
 " of which he was speaking before 
 " were to have marks set upon 
 " them : and these by the word 
 "catera are set in opposition to 
 " them." La Cerda observes, that 
 this is the general interpretation 
 received by all the commentators; 
 with which however he declares 
 
 himself not to be satisfied. He is 
 at a- loss to understand, what 
 fourth sort is meant, that is not 
 intended either for breeding, sacri- 
 fice, or labour; unless any one 
 should pretend it is designed for 
 the shamble. But then, says he, 
 these are bred at home, and not 
 suffered to feed at large. He then 
 proposes a new interpretation, that 
 by armenta the Poet means cow- 
 calves. This he confirms by a pre- 
 ceding passage in this Georgick, 
 where we are told that the bull is 
 to be well fed, but the cow to be 
 kept lean : 
 
 Ipsa autem macie tenuant armenta vo- 
 lentes. 
 
 Here, says he, the cows are called 
 armenta, as distinct from the bulls. 
 It is therefore this learned com- 
 mentator's opinion, that the Poet 
 would have the bull-calves kept at 
 home, and brought up with great 
 care, but that he has no regard for 
 the cow-calves, and allows them to 
 ramble at large in the meadows. 
 I take neither of these interpreta- 
 tions to be the Poets meaning. 
 The first is sufficiently refuted al- 
 ready by La Cerda : and the other 
 seems to labour under some diffi- 
 culties. The cow-calves are surely 
 as much to be preserved for breed- 
 ing, as the bull-calves: and our 
 Poet himself seems, in another 
 place, to think the greatest regard 
 is to be had to the cows : 
 
 Seu quis fortes ad aratra juvencos ; 
 
 Corpora praecipue matrum legat. 
 
 I have thought therefore of an- 
 other interpretation, which seems 
 to me to express the Poet's true 
 meaning. He has just told us, the 
 2 M 
 
266 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 hut those which you would 
 form for the design and use of 
 agriculture, you must teach 
 Whilst they are yet but calves ; 
 •nd begin to tame them, 
 whilst their young minds are 
 tractable, whilst their age is 
 governable. And first hang 
 loose collars of slender twigs 
 about their necks ; and when 
 their free necks have been ac- 
 customed to servitude, match 
 bullocks of 
 
 Tu quos ad studium, atque usum formabis 
 
 agrestem, 
 Jam vitulos hortare, viamque insiste domandi, 
 Dum faciles animi juvenum, dum mobilis aetas. 
 Ac primum laxos tenui de vimine circlos 166 
 Cervici subnecte ; dehinc, ubi libera colla 
 Servitio assuerint, ipsis e torquibus aptos 
 
 calves are to be distinguished into 
 three classes, in ver. 159, 160, and 
 l6l. I take a new sentence to be- 
 gin with ver. 163. Cceteru pascuntur, 
 &c. The rest of the herd, that is, 
 those which are designed for breed- 
 ing, or sacrifice, may feed at large 
 in the meadows, for they need no 
 other care, than to furnish them 
 with sufficient nourishment, till 
 they arrive at their due age. But 
 those, which are designed for agricul- 
 ture, require more care : they must 
 be tamed, whilst they are hut calves, 
 and tractable in their tender years. 
 According to this interpretation, 
 the Poet has mentioned how all 
 the three sorts are to be treated, 
 and has not omitted two of them, 
 as La Cerda imagines: "Dixit 
 u destinandos alios ad sobolem, 
 " alios ad sacra, alios ad agricul- 
 " turam : nunc, omissis primis et 
 c< mediis, loquitur de extremis, qui 
 "• servantur ad agriculturam." 
 
 163. Tu quos ad studium, &c] 
 Dryden's translation represents the 
 Poet speaking after a manner most 
 strangely figurative. He talks of 
 sending the calf to school, keeping 
 him from seeing the bad examples 
 of the world, and instructing him 
 with moral precepts. For all this 
 he has not the least countenance 
 from his author, except it be in the 
 words studium and juvenum : 
 
 Set him betimes to school ; and let him 
 
 be 
 Instructed there in rules of husbandry : 
 
 While yet his youth is flexible and green ; 
 Nor bad exajnplcs of the world has seen. 
 Early begin the stubborn child to break ; 
 
 Thy flattering method on the youth pur- 
 sue: 
 
 Join'd with his school-fellozvs by two and 
 two. 
 
 E'er the licentious youth be thus re- 
 
 strain'd, 
 Or moral precepts on their minds have 
 
 gain\l. 
 
 164. Jam vitulos hortare.] Colu- 
 mella says they ought not to be 
 younger than three, or older than five 
 years: " Verum neque ante ter- 
 " tium, neque post quintum annum 
 " juvencos domari placet, quoniam 
 " ilia aetas adhuc tenera est, haec 
 " jam prsedura." That author gives 
 a particular account of the manner 
 in which the ancients tamed their 
 bullocks, too long to be here in- 
 serted. The reader may consult the 
 second chapter of the sixth book. 
 
 166. Laxos.~\ In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is lapsos. 
 
 l6? '. Dehinc.'] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is delude. 
 
 168. Ipsis e torquibus.] This 
 particular instruction, of fastening 
 the bullocks by the collars, may 
 seem superfluous to those, who are 
 not informed, that it was a custom 
 among the ancients, to yoke the 
 bullocks together by the horns. 
 This is mentioned by Columella, as 
 being in use in his days, in some 
 of the provinces ; though, he says, 
 it was justly condemned by most 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 267 
 
 Junge pares, et coge gradum conferre juvencos. 
 Atque illis jam saepe rotae ducantur inanes 170 
 Post terrain, et summo vestigia pulvere signent. 
 Post valido nitens sub pondere faginus axis 
 Instrepat, et junctos temo trahat aereus orbes. 
 
 equal strength together, and 
 take care to fasten them by 
 the collars, and make them 
 step togetlur. And now let 
 them often draw empty wheels 
 along the ground, and mark 
 the top of the dust with their 
 footsteps. Afterwards let the 
 beechen axle labouring groan 
 under a heavy load, and let 
 the brazen pole draw the join- 
 ed wheels. 
 
 writers of agriculture: " Nam illud, 
 " quod in quibusdam provinciis 
 ". usurpatur, ut cornibus illigetur 
 " jugum, fere repudiatum est ab 
 " omnibus, qui pra?cepta rusticis 
 " conscripserunt, neque immerito : 
 " plus enim queunt pecudes collo 
 " et pectore conari, quam cornibus. 
 u Atque hoc modo tota mole cor- 
 " poris, totoque pondere nituntur : 
 " at ilia, retractis et resupinis capi- 
 " tibus excruciantur, aegreque terrae 
 " summam partem levi admodum 
 " vomere sauciant." 
 
 " In the most ancient oblong 
 " manuscript, it is de torquibus; in 
 " the Lombard manuscript, it is 
 <c ipsis et torquibus aptos." Pierius. 
 In the King's manuscript it is ex 
 torquibus, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 it is cum. torquibus. 
 
 Aptos.] The critics agree, that 
 aptos, in this place, signifies the 
 same as aptatos or tigatos ; for it is 
 derived from £Vr<y, to bind. 
 
 169. Junge pares.] Varro says 
 you must yoke bullocks of equal 
 strength, lest the stronger should 
 wear out the weaker : " Ut viribus 
 " magnis sint, ac pares, ne in opere 
 " firmior imbecilliorem conficiat." 
 Columella also delivers the same 
 precept: " Item custodiendum est, 
 *' ne in corporatione, vel statura, 
 " vel viribus impar cum valentiore 
 "jungatur: nam utraque res in- 
 " feriori celeriter affert exitium." 
 
 170. Roice ducantur inanes.] In 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it 
 is ducuntur. 
 
 By empty wheels is meant either 
 empty carnages, or wheels without 
 
 any carriage laid upon them. Varro 
 mentions drawing empty carts: 
 " Quos ad vecturas item instituen- 
 " dum, ut inania primum ducant 
 " plaustra." Columella advises, 
 that they should first draw only 
 a branch of a tree, with sometimes 
 a weight added to it, then be put 
 to a cart, and, when they are quite 
 tame, to a plough : " Per haec 
 " blandimenta triduo fere mansues- 
 " cunt, jugumque quarto die acci- 
 iC piunt, cui ramus illigatur, et 
 " temonis vice trahitur : interdum 
 C: et pondus aliquod injungitur, ut 
 " majore nisu laboris exploretur 
 " patientia, post ejusmodi experi- 
 {t menta vacuo plostro subjungendi, 
 " et paulatim longius cum oneribus 
 ec producendi sunt. Sic perdomiti 
 " mox ad aratrum instituantur, sed 
 c< in subacto agro, ne statim difficul- 
 " tatem operis reformident, neve 
 " adhuc tenera colla dura proscis- 
 " sione terrae contundant." 
 
 171. Summo vestigia pulvere sig- 
 nent.] These words are used to ex- 
 press the lightness of the carriage, 
 which the untamed bullocks are 
 first put to draw. The weight is 
 to be so inconsiderable, that it will 
 not cause them to make deep im- 
 pressions in the dust. 
 
 172. Valido nitens sub pondere.} 
 After they have been tried with 
 empty carriages, they are to be put 
 to draw such as are heavy, as we 
 have seen just now, in the quota- 
 tion from Columella. 
 
 173- Junctos temo trahat aereus or- 
 bes.] Pierius found vinctos, in the an- 
 cient manuscripts, instead of junctos. 
 
 2 M 2 
 
268 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^"SrockfnoE !X U £ Interea pubi indomits non gramina tantum, 
 
 fed with crass, or the tender xt l • r l i 1 
 
 leaves of willows, or marshy Nee vescas salicum frondes, ulvamque palus- 
 trem, 175 
 
 •edge, 
 
 Brazen is frequently tised to sig- 
 nify strong. Dr. Trapp translates 
 cereus, bound with brass : 
 
 Then let the beachen axis, bound with 
 
 Move slow, and groan beneath the pon- 
 d'rous load. 
 
 175. Ulvamque paluslrem.] " It 
 " is sijlvam in v the Roman manu- 
 " script: but uluam is generally 
 " received." Pierius. 
 
 It is not certain what plant is 
 the ulva of the ancients: I have 
 interpreted it sedge ; which is a ge- 
 neral name for large weeds, that 
 grow in marshes, and near the 
 banks of rivers. Most writers sup- 
 pose the ulva to be much like the 
 alga, or sea-wrack ; and that they 
 differ chiefly in this ; that the alga 
 grows in salt water, and the ulva 
 in fresh. But this, I think, is cer- 
 tain; that there is no fresh-water 
 plant, which resembles the sea- 
 wrack, and at the same time agrees 
 with what the ancients have said 
 of their ulva. Caesalpinus supposes, 
 and not without reason, that the 
 ulva is the same with the iypha, 
 which we call cafs-lall, or reed- 
 mace. It is a very common weed 
 with us, and in Italy also, in stag- 
 nant waters: it grows to a consi- 
 derable height, and bears a head 
 at the top of the stalk, which when 
 ripe affords a great deal of down. 
 In the passage now under consi- 
 deration, it is called a marshy plant, 
 " ulvamque paluslrem." In the 
 eighth Eclogue it is described as 
 growing near a rivulet : 
 
 Propter aquas rivum viridi procumbit in 
 ulva. 
 
 In the second iEneid Sinon men- 
 
 tions his lying hid amongst the 
 ulva, in a muddy lake : 
 
 Limosoque lacu, per noctem, obscurus in 
 
 ulva, * 
 
 Dcliiui. 
 
 The caVs-lail grows only where 
 there is mud, and is tall enough 
 to conceal any person. In the 
 sixth JEneid it is represented as 
 growing by a muddy river' 6 side, 
 and the colour is said to be glau* 
 cous, or bluish green, which agrees 
 also with the cat's-tail : 
 
 Tandem trans fluvium incolumes vatem- 
 
 que virurnque 
 Informi limo, glaucaque exponit in ulva, 
 
 Ovid makes frequent mention of 
 the ulva. as a marshy plant. In the 
 fourth book of the Metamorphosis, 
 a pool is described as being re- 
 markably clear, by the negative 
 quality of not having any ulva 
 in it: 
 
 Videt hie stagnum lucentis ad 
 
 imum 
 Usque solum lymphae : non illic canna 
 
 palustris, 
 Nee steriles ulvac y nee acuta cuspide 
 
 juuei. 
 
 In the sixth book, it is called icfe- 
 lighlful to the- marshes : 
 
 Agrestes illic fruticosa legebant 
 
 Vimina cum juncis, gratarnquc paludibus 
 ulvarii. 
 
 We find it mentioned also as a 
 water plant, in the eighth book : 
 
 r- Tenet ima lacunas 
 
 Lenta salix, ulvaeque leves : 
 
 And in the fourteenth : 
 
 Lasva de parte canori 
 
 jEolidae tumulum, et loca fata palustri* 
 bus ulvis 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 269 
 
 Sed frumenta manu carpessata: nee tibi fcetae, 
 More patrum, nivea implebunt mulctraria 
 
 vaccae ; 
 Sed tota in dulces.consument ubera natos. 
 Sin ad bella magis studium, turmasque feroces, 
 
 but gather corn for them 
 with your hand ; and let 
 not your fruitful cows, as in 
 the da\s of our fathers, fill 
 the pails with snowy milk; 
 but It them speid a'l iheir 
 udders on their heloved off- 
 spring. But if y ur study 
 bends rather to war, and 
 fierce troops, 
 
 Littora Cumarum, vivactsque antra Si- 
 bylla? 
 Intrat. 
 
 In the eighth book, he speaks of a 
 bed being made of the ulva : 
 
 In medio torus est de mollibus 
 
 ulvis 
 Impositus lecto, sponda, pedibusque 
 
 salignis. 
 
 This agrees with what Matthiolus 
 tells us, that the poorer people in 
 Italy make their beds of the down 
 of the cat's-tail, instead of feathers : 
 and the same author informs us, 
 that there is hardly a standing 
 water in Italy, which does not 
 abound with cat's-tail. 
 
 176. Frumenta manu carpes sata.] 
 Servius interprets this farrago, that 
 is, a mixed provender of wheat bran, 
 and barley meal. Grimoaldus also 
 paraphrases it farra suppeditabis et 
 ordea. La Cerda is of the same 
 opinion: which he strengthens by 
 a quotation from Varro, where he 
 tells us, a calf of six months old 
 is to be fed with wheat bran, bar- 
 ley meal, and tender grass : " Se- 
 " mestribus vitulis objiciunt fur- 
 " fures triticeos, et farinam ordea- 
 " ceam, etteneramherbam." Ruaeus 
 differs from the other commenta- 
 tors: he understands the Poet to 
 mean young corn. This he con- 
 firms by the words carpes sata, 
 which plainly express the gather- 
 ing of the tender blade; and by 
 ver. 205, where he forbids giving 
 farrago to the cattle before they are 
 tamed. Hence he concludes, either 
 that Virgil contradicts Varro, or 
 
 else that he means that the farrago 
 should be given sparingly to the 
 cattle, before they are tamed, and 
 plentifully afterwards. Dryden fol- 
 lows Ruaeus: 
 
 Their wanton appetites not only feed 
 With delicates of leaves, and marshy 
 
 weed, 
 But with thy sickle reap the rankest land : 
 And minister the blade, with bounteous 
 
 hand; 
 
 Dr. Trapp is of the same opinion : 
 
 Meanwhile with grass alone, and leaves, 
 
 and sedge 
 Feed not thy untam'd bullocks; but 
 
 with corn 
 Cropped in the blade. 
 
 Nec tibi foetae, &c] The people 
 in the earliest ages lived much 
 upon milk; and therefore defrauded 
 their calves of great part of their 
 natural nourishment. This practice 
 Virgil condemns, and advises those, 
 who breed calves, to let them suck 
 their fill. 
 
 177. Mulctraria.] So I read with 
 Heinsius, and some of the oldest 
 editors. I find the same reading 
 in the King's, the Cambridge, and 
 both Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Pi- 
 erius found mulctraria also in the 
 Roman, the oblong, and some other 
 manuscripts. In the Medicean and 
 some others he found multralia. He 
 found mulgaria also in some of the 
 most ancient copies ; and observes, 
 that in the Lombard manuscript 
 multraria had been slightly erased, 
 and mulgaria substituted for it. 
 
 179. Sin ad bella, &c] The 
 
270 
 
 P. VIRG1LII MARONIS 
 
 or to whirl along the Alphe- 
 an streams of Pisa, and to 
 drive the flying chariots in 
 the grove of Jupiter; the 
 first labour of the horse is to 
 see the spirit and arms of war- 
 riors, and to endure the trum- 
 pets, and to bear the rattling 
 wheel, and to hear the sound- 
 ing bridles in the stable ; then 
 to rejoice more and more at 
 the kind applauses of his mas- 
 ter, and to love the sound of 
 clapping his neck. Let him 
 hear these, when he is first of 
 ail weaned from his dam, and 
 let him yield his mouth to 
 soft bits, whilst he is weak, 
 and yet trembling, and yet 
 of tender years. But when 
 three summers are past and 
 the fourth is begun, 
 
 Aut Alphea rotis praelabi flumina Pisa?, ISO 
 Et Jo vis in luco currus agitare volantes; 
 Primus equi labor est, animos atquearma videre 
 Bellantum,lituosque pati, tractuque gementem 
 Ferre rotam, et stabulo fraenos audire sonantes. 
 Turn magis atque raagis blandis gaudere ma- 
 gistri 185 
 
 Laudibus, et plausse senitum cervicis amare. 
 Atque hasc jam primo depulsus ab ubere matris 
 Audiat, inque vicem detmollibus ora capisiris 
 Invalidus, etjamque tremens, etjam inscius a?vf. 
 At, tribus exactis, ubi quarta accesserit aestas, 
 
 Poet now proceeds to give an ac- 
 count of the breeding of horses. 
 
 180. Alphea.] See ver. 10. 
 Pisce.~} Strabo tells us, that it 
 
 has been questioned, whether there 
 ever was such a city as Pisa, affirm- 
 ing it to have been the name only 
 of a fountain : Tm$ 21 sroXiv pli oi>- 
 ciuiocv yiyovzvxi Hi'crxv (puriv. uvcti yocp 
 
 x.xte7G$eti B7o~xv, Kvx.r,Tiov -zrhnrioii tso- 
 Xiwg pciyi'ms t£v oktco. It is con- 
 fessed however, that it was an- 
 ciently the name of a country in 
 that part of Elis, through which 
 the river Alpheus flowed, and in 
 which stood the famous temple of 
 Jupiter Olympius. 
 
 181. Et Jovis in luco.'] In one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is si 
 instead of et. 
 
 The commentators seem to have 
 passed over this grove of Jupiter in 
 silence. We learn however from 
 Strabo, that it belonged to the tem- 
 ple of Jupiter 01} r mpius. He says 
 the Olympian temple is in the Pisean 
 region, not quite three hundred 
 stadia from the city Elisj that it 
 has a grove of wild olives before it, 
 in which is a place for races : Aa-rov 
 
 £' i?h iimh -rnpl Tsj? 'OXv(Z7Tiecs xcti t?s 
 g<5 rev; 'Hteiovg olttuvtm f^irocTrrao-t^g. 
 
 'Ef( a lv 7% nutroiTidi to Upov <,ahUvg 
 ths "HA^o; iXoiTTOvg it Tf>ixx.o<riovg 2i- 
 £%ov. %-p^oKiiTXi $ ciXtrog ay^itXetiav h a» 
 foidtcv. TrxQctppiTl? o 'AA<ps*os Ik ?vg 'Ag- 
 xccdioig piav tig t*jv T^t^vtaxxw B-oiXoar- 
 <ret,v fu&TX^v ov<nag } tuu p.urr,p£>plcig. 
 
 185. Lituos.] I have translated 
 lituos trumpets for want of a proper 
 English word. The tuba is gene- 
 rally thought to have been the same 
 instrument with our trumpet: but 
 the liiuus was different from it, 
 being almost straight, only turning 
 a little in at the end : the cor nit 
 and the buccinum were bent almost 
 round. 
 
 184. Stabulo fraenos audire so- 
 nantes.] In one of Dr. Mead's ma- 
 nuscripts it is stabulis. 
 
 Varro also says the colts should 
 be accustomed to the sight and 
 sound of bridles: " Eademque 
 " causa ibi fraenos suspendendum, 
 " lit equuli consuescant et videre 
 " ecram faciem, et e motu audire 
 " crepitus." 
 
 ISO. Invalidus.] In the King's 
 manuscript it is invalidusquc . 
 
 Et jam.] So I read with Hein- 
 sius. Pierius fonnd the same read- 
 ing in some ancient copies. The 
 common reading is etiam. 
 
 190. At tribus exactis.^ In the 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 271 
 
 Carpere mox gyrum incipiat,gradibusque sonare i*^ 1 ^^^ 
 
 with regular steps, 
 
 King's manuscript it is ac instead 
 of«/. 
 
 Varro says some would break a 
 horse at a year and half old : but 
 he thinks it is better to stay till he 
 is three years of age: l( Cum jam 
 " ad manus accedere consuerint, 
 cc interdum imponere iis puerum 
 " his, aut ter pronum in ventrem, 
 " postea jam sedentem, haec facere 
 " cum sit trimus: turn enim maxi- 
 ' f me crescere, ac lacertosum fieri. 
 " Sunt qui dicant post annum et 
 " sex menses equulum domari posse,, 
 " sed melius post irimum, a quo 
 "tempore farrago dari solet." Co- 
 lumella makes a distinction between 
 those which are bred for domestic 
 labour, and those which are bred 
 for races; he says the former should 
 be tamed at two years, and the lat- 
 ter not till he is past three : w Equus 
 " bimus ad usum domesticum recte 
 " domatur, certaminibus autem ex- 
 " pleto triennio, sic tamen ut post 
 " quartum demum annum labori 
 " committatur." 
 
 Ubi quarta accesserit cestas.] cc Al- 
 c< most all the ancient manuscripts 
 " have cetas, except only that most 
 " ancient one, which we call the 
 " Roman, in which we find ubi 
 " quarta acceperit cestas. But Ser- 
 " vius acknowledges &tas, and ex- 
 
 " plains it quartus annus But 
 
 " for my part I neither dislike ac- 
 " ceperit nor cestas, as we have the 
 i( testimony of so ancient a manu- 
 (£ script, which I think may be de- 
 " pended upon in whole words, 
 " though it is often very corrupt in 
 " letters." Pierius. 
 
 The King's, the Cambridge, the 
 Bodleian manuscripts, and the old 
 Nurenberg edition have cetas* Both 
 the Arundelian, both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, several of the old edi- 
 tions, Heinsius, Masvicius, Ruaeus, 
 
 and most of the later editors read 
 cestas. La Cerda reads cetas; but 
 he thinks cestas not amiss, which he 
 says is a phrase used by Virgil, 
 twice in the first iEneid, and once 
 in the fifth. The first of these pas- 
 sages is not to our purpose, for he 
 does not use cestas for a year, but 
 only for a summer : 
 
 Tertia dum Latio regnantern viderit 
 
 Ternaque transierint Rutulis hyberna 
 subactis. 
 
 Here three summers are joined to 
 three winters, in order to express 
 three years. The second and third 
 passages appear to me to come up 
 to the point: though some critics 
 contend that they mean only the 
 summer season : 
 
 Nam te jam septima portat 
 
 Omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus 
 
 And 
 
 Septima post Trojee excidium jam vertitur 
 aestas. 
 
 Here cestas cannot, without great 
 violence, be construed to signify 
 the summer season. It was winter 
 when iEneas was at Carthage : 
 
 Indulge hospicio, causasque innecte mo- 
 
 randi : 
 Dum pslago desccvit liyems, et aquosus 
 
 Orion ; 
 Quassataeque rates, et non tractabile coe- 
 
 lum. 
 
 And 
 
 Nunc hyemem, inter se luxu,quam longa, 
 fovere. 
 
 And 
 
 Quin etiam hyhcrno moliris siderc clas- 
 
 sem, 
 Et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per 
 
 altum. 
 
272 
 
 P. VIRGILII MAEONIS 
 
 and let him bend the alter- 
 nate foldings of his legs; and 
 let him -eem to labour ; then 
 let h m rival the winds in 
 swiftness; and flying through 
 the plains, as if unbri led, let 
 him scarce riut his footsteps 
 on the top of the sand» As 
 when the strong north wind 
 rushes from the Hyperborean 
 coasts, and dissipates 
 
 Compositis, sinuetque alterna volumina crurum ; 
 Sitque laboranti similis: turn cursibus auras 
 Provocet, ac per aperta volans, ceu liber ha- 
 
 benis, 
 iEquora, vix summa vestigia ponat arena. 195 
 Qualis Hyperboreis Aquilo cum densus ab oris 
 
 The passage from Carthage to Sicily 
 is very short, and the games in 
 honour of Anchises, were cele- 
 brated on the tenth day after the 
 arrival of ^Eneas in Sicily. Iris 
 therefore, in the form of Beroe, 
 could not mean it was the summer 
 season, when these games were ce- 
 lebrated; since it has been evi- 
 dently proved that it was the winter 
 season, or, at most, early in the 
 spring. 
 
 JEsias however, in the passage 
 now under consideration, may mean 
 only the summer, which is the very 
 same, as if he had said*a?i?ws. The 
 time for covering mares, according 
 to Varro, as I have quoted him, in 
 the note on ver. 133, is from the 
 vernal equinox to the summer sol- 
 stice : and the mares, according to 
 the same author, bring forth in 
 eleven months and ten days. The 
 time therefore of a colt's coming 
 into the world is from the beginning 
 of March to the beginning of June. 
 The summer was reckon eel to begin 
 a little before the middle of May. 
 Thus the fourth summer of a colt's 
 life will be when he is completely 
 three years old. 
 
 191. Gyrum.~\ See the note on 
 ver. 115. 
 
 193. Cursibus. ~\ In the old Nu- 
 remberg edition it is cruribus. 
 
 194- Provocet.~\ In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is ad- 
 vocet. 
 
 196. Hyperboreis-.'] The Hyper- 
 boreans are a people of whom not 
 
 only the seat, but even the existence 
 is called in question. The mention 
 of them is very ancient, for we find 
 Herodotus denying that there were 
 any such people; and not without 
 reason, if by Hyperborean be meant* 
 as he understands the word, a peo- 
 ple who lived beyond the rising of 
 the north wind. But others, as 
 Strabo tells us in his first book, 
 call those Hyperboreans, who live 
 in the most northern parts of the 
 
 world : Tov ya.% 'Hge^orou /znlKvxg 
 r ~f7ripQo£tovs tlvxi Qvte-xvTog .... Ei o 
 u-^x, tov 'HqoSotov tovt i^pviv xItixg~§xi 
 
 OTl T0V$ 'YTripQofiiOVS TiVTOVS V7TiXxZi Ag- 
 
 yi<r$xi, 7TX(> oi$ Boezxg ov %nl. xxl 
 ya.p it 01 7Toir,Tcct fAvSixaTigov ovra tyxeh, 
 ol T itZYiyovftivoi to vyilg xv axovo-xuv, 
 'X7TifiQofiiovg BoptioToirovg (fixo-l XiyiaSxi. 
 In his seventh book he treats them 
 as fabulous : Aix $z nro uyvotxv t&>v 
 tottm Tovreui, ol rx Tikxix opy, xxi tov? 
 'Y7TiP<>opiiov<; [tvSoTroiovvTig. Jn his 
 eleventh book he tells us that the 
 ancient Grecians called all the 
 northern nations Scythians and 
 Celto- Scythians ; but that the 
 most ancient of all called those 
 which lie to the north of the Black 
 Sea, the Danube, and the Gulph of 
 Venice, Hyperboreans, Sauromata 3 , 
 and Arimaspians : "Attxvtxs filv fa 
 rovg vpoirQoppcvs, xotvaig of Txlxiot ruv 
 'EXXvivvv o-vyye^oKpUs , ZxvSat? xxi KsA- 
 roo-xvB-xg \xoL\ovv. Oi 2' \rt nPOTiPoi 
 
 ItilXoVTiq, TOVC, plv V7T££ TOV Ev^UVOV, XXI 
 
 "ifpov, xxi 'A^pi'ov xxrontovirug , Ytt££- 
 Zoeiovg zteyov, xxi H.xv^opxTxs, text 
 
 ' A^pxmovg. Pliny mentions the 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 973 
 
 Incubuit, Scythiaeque hyemes atque arida differt a»8cythian storms and dry 
 
 Hyperboreans as fabulous, and 
 places their supposed habitation at 
 the very pole ; " At per oram ad 
 " Tanaim usque Maeotae, a quibus 
 " lacus nomen accepit : ultimique 
 " a tergo eorum Arimaspi. Mox 
 " Riphaei montes, et assiduo nivis 
 " casu pinnarum similitudine, Pte- 
 " rophoros appellata regio : pars 
 et mundi damnata a natura rerum, 
 " et densa mersa caligine : neque in 
 " alioquam rigor is opere gelidisque 
 " Aquilonis conceptaculis. Pone eos 
 " montes, ultraque Aquilonem, gens 
 " felix, si credimus, quos Hyperbo- 
 ** reos appellavere, annoso degit 
 " aevo, fabulosis celebrata miraculis. 
 " Ibi creduntur esse cardines mun- 
 " di, extremique siderum ambitus, 
 " semestri luce et una die solis aver- 
 " si : non, ut imperiti dixere, ab 
 " aequinoctio verno in autumnum. 
 " Semel in anno solstitio oriuntur 
 " iis soles ; brumaque semel occi- 
 «• dunt." We find here that the 
 Arimaspians lived to the northward 
 of the river Tanais, and the lake 
 Maeotis. They inhabited therefore 
 the country which is now called 
 Muscovy. On the north part of 
 this country were situated the Ri- 
 phaean mountains, where the snow 
 is continually falling, in the shape 
 of feathers, by which perhaps were 
 meant the mountains of Lapland, 
 on the north side of which the Hy- 
 perboreans were supposed to inha- 
 bit. Virgil also mentions the Hy- 
 perboreans and the Tanais together, 
 in the fourth Georgick : 
 
 Solus Hyperloreas glacies, Tanatmque 
 
 nivalem 
 Arvaque Riphaeis nunquam viduata pru- 
 
 inis 
 Lustrabat. 
 
 We find in the foregoing passage of 
 Pliny, that the Ripheean mountains 
 
 were imagined to be the source of 
 the north wind, and that the Hy- 
 perboreans dwelt still farther north- 
 ward : which opinion, however ab- 
 surd, seems to have been the origin 
 of their name. These Hyperbo- 
 reans were said to live to a great 
 age, in wonderful felicity, and to 
 dwell in woods and groves, without 
 diseases or discord. This is true of 
 the Laplanders, as all travellers tes- 
 tify. I shall content myself with 
 quoting the authority of my learned 
 friend Dr. Linnaeus of Upsal, who 
 travelled thither in 1732, and was 
 pleased to send me an excellent ac- 
 count of the plants of that country, 
 under the title of Flora Laponica, 
 printed at Amsterdam, in 1737, in 
 8vo. Speaking of a dwarf sort of 
 birch, which is greatly used in the 
 Lapland ceconomy, he takes occa- 
 sion to extol the felicity of the Lap- 
 landers. He says they are free from 
 cares, contentions, and quarrels, and 
 are unacquainted with envy. They 
 lead an innocent life, continued to 
 a great age, free from myriads of 
 diseases, with which we are afflicted. 
 They dwell in woods, like the birds, 
 and neither reap nor sow : " O fe- 
 " lix Lappo, qui in ultimo angulo 
 " mundi sic bene lates contentus et 
 " innocens. Tu nee times annonae 
 " charitatem, nee Martis praelia, 
 " quae ad tuas oras pervenire ne- 
 " queunt, sed florentissimas Europae 
 " provincias et urbes, unico mo- 
 " mento, saepe dejiciunt, delent. 
 " Tu dorm is hie sub tua pelle ab 
 " omnibus curis, contentionibus, 
 " rixis liber, ignorans quid sit in- 
 u vidia. Tu nulla nosti, nisi to- 
 " nantis Jovis fulmina. Tu ducis 
 cc innocentissimos tuos annos ultra 
 " centenarium numerum cum faeili 
 " senectute et summa sanitate. Te 
 2 N 
 
274 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 clouds; then the tall corn, 
 and waving fields shake with 
 gentle blasts, and the tops of 
 the woods rustle, and the long 
 waves press towards the shore; 
 tlie wind flies swift along, 
 sweeping the fields and .seas 
 at the same time in his flight. 
 Such ahorse will either sweat 
 at the goals and largest ring* 
 of the Elean plain, 
 
 Nubila : turn segetes aliee, campique natantes 
 Lenibus horrescunt flabris, summaeque sonorem 
 Dant sylvae, longique urgent ad littorafluctus. 
 Ille volat,sirnul arva fuga, simui sequora verrens. 
 Hie vel ad Elei metas et maxima campi 202 
 
 "■ latent myriades morborum nobis 
 " Europaeis communes. Tu vivis 
 " in sylvis, avis istar, nee sementem 
 " facis, nee metis, tamen alit te 
 " Deus optimus optime. Tua or- 
 " namenta sunt tremula arbor um 
 " folia, graminosique luci. Tuus 
 " potus aqua chrystallinae pelluci- 
 " ditatis, quae nee cerebrum insania 
 te adfieit, nee strumas in Alplbus 
 u tuis producit. Cibus tuus est vel 
 " verno tempore piscis recens, vel 
 " aestivo serum lactis, vel autum- 
 C( nali tetrao, vel hyemali caro re- 
 " cens rangiferina absque sale et 
 Ct pane, singula vice unico constans 
 " ferculo, edis dum securus e lecto 
 " surgis, dumque eum petis, nee 
 " nosti venena nostra, quae latent 
 ft sub dulci melle. Te non obruit 
 '* scorbutus, nee febris intermittens, 
 " nee obesitas, nee podagra, fibroso 
 " gaudes corpore et alacri, animo- 
 " que libero. O sancta innocentia, 
 " estne hie tuus thronus inter Fau- 
 " nos in summo septentrione, inque 
 " vilissima habita terra ? numne 
 " sic praefers stragula haec betulina 
 " mollibus serico tectis plumis ? 
 '* Sic etiam credidere veteres, nee 
 " male." The learned reader will 
 compare this with the latter part of 
 the twelfth chapter of the fourth 
 book of Pliny's Natural History. 
 
 1,97- Scylhioe] See the note on 
 book i. ver. 240. 
 
 Arida dijfert ?iubila.] Thus Lu- 
 cretius : 
 
 — Venti vis verberat incita pontum 
 Ingentesque ruit naves, et nubila differt. 
 
 In the most northern countries the 
 mists hang about the tops of the 
 
 mountains, till they are dispelled 
 by the north wind. Thus M. de 
 Maupertuis observed under the 
 arctic circle : " Je ne scai si c est 
 " parce que la presence continuelle 
 " du soleil sur l'horizon, fait elever 
 " des vapeurs qu' aucune nuit ne 
 " fait descendre; mais pendant les 
 " deux mois que nous avons passe 
 " sur les montagnes, le ciel etoit 
 " toujours charge, jusqu' a ce que 
 " le vent de Nord vint dissiper les 
 " brouillards." 
 
 198. Turn.] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is cum; in one of the 
 Arundelian, and in one of Dr, 
 Mead's manuscripts it is dum. 
 
 200 Langi.] Pierius says it is 
 longe in the Medicean, and some 
 other ancient manuscripts. 
 
 201. Ille.} In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is ipse. 
 
 Arva.] It is anna in the King's 
 manuscript; which must be an 
 error of the transcriber. 
 
 202. Hie vel ad.] " In the Lom- 
 " bard manuscript, and in another 
 " very ancient one, it is hie vel ad, 
 " as we read in the common copies. 
 " In the Roman manuscript it is 
 " hinc et ad Elei. In the oblong 
 " manuscript also it is et, not vel." 
 Pierius. 
 
 Elei campir\ Servius tells us, 
 that Elis is a city of Arcadia, where 
 the chariot- races were celebrated : 
 but it is certain that the Olympic 
 games were celebrated, not at Elis, 
 but at Olympia. The Pisaeans, in 
 whose country Olympia was situ- 
 ated, had many contentions with 
 the Eleans, about the government 
 of the Olympic games ; but at last, 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 275 
 
 Sudabit spatia, et spumas aget ore cruentas: 
 Belgica vel molli melius feret esseda collo. 
 
 and will champ the bloody 
 foam ; or will better bear the 
 Belgic chariots with his obe- 
 dient neck. 
 
 the Eleans prevailing, the whole 
 country between Achaia, Messenia, 
 and Arcadia, came to be called 
 Elis. The reader will find a long 
 account of this in the eighth book 
 of Strabo's Geography. The plains 
 of Elis therefore are not the plains 
 about the city of Elis, as Servius 
 erroneously imagines, but the plains 
 about Olympia, in the region of 
 Elis. 5 
 
 203. Spatia] See the note on 
 book i. ver. 513. 
 
 204. Belgica vel molli melius feret 
 esseda collo.] This is generally un- 
 derstood to mean, that the horse 
 will be better for drawing common 
 carriages : thus Dryden translates 
 it : 
 
 Or, bred to Belgian "waggons, lead the 
 
 way; 
 Untir'd at night, and cheerful all the 
 
 day. 
 
 But I think it is plain that the 
 Poet speaks only of the generous 
 horse, which is fit either for the 
 races or war : 
 
 Sin ad bella magis studium, turmasque 
 
 feroces, 
 Aut Alphaea rotis praelabi flumina Pisae, 
 Et Jovis in luco currus agitare volantes. 
 
 Here is no mention of domestic 
 labour, but only of chariots and 
 war. La Cerda observes that the 
 esseda were used by private per- 
 sons, in travelling, as well as in 
 war; as appears from one of Ci- 
 cero's Epistles: " Hie Vedius venit 
 cc mihi obviam cum duobus essedis, 
 " et rheda equis juncta, et lectica, 
 e( et familia magna." There is an- 
 other passage of the same kind in 
 the second Philippic oration : " Ve- 
 " hebatur in essedo tribunus plebis." 
 But Virgil shews that he does not 
 
 mean the common chariots, or esseda, 
 by adding the epithet Belgica, or 
 perhaps bellica, as it is in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, for we 
 do not find the chariots of war 
 ascribed to the Gauls, but to the 
 Britons. Cicero mentions them in 
 some of his Epistles to Trebatius, 
 who was in Britain with Caesar: 
 " Tu qui caeteris cavere didicisti, 
 u in Britannia ne ab essedariis de- 
 "■ cipiaris,caveto:" and "InBritan* 
 '* nia nihil esse audio, neque auri, 
 " neque argenti. Id si ita est, 
 " essedum aliquod suadeo rapias, et 
 " ad nos quam primum recurras :" 
 and " Sed tu in re militari multo 
 " es cautior, quam in advocationi- 
 " bus: qui neque in oceano natare 
 " volueris, studiosissimus homo na- 
 " tandi, neque spectare essedarios." 
 Caesar does not once mention the 
 essedum, in his war with the Belgce: 
 but we find them taken notice of, 
 as soon as he approaches the Bri- 
 tish shore : " At barbari, consilio 
 " Romanorum cognito, praemisso 
 " equitatu, et essedariis, quo ple- 
 " rumque genere in praeliis uti con- 
 " suerunt, reliquis copiis subsecuti, 
 " nostros navibus egredi prohibe- 
 Cl bant." A little afterwards we 
 find him describing the manner in 
 which the Britons fought with these 
 esseda, as if he had not met with 
 them in his other wars. I must 
 therefore confess, I do not under- 
 stand why Virgil calls them Belgica; 
 and would willingly read Bellica, 
 according to Dr. Mead's manuscript, 
 if I did not think it too presump- 
 tuous to alter the text, which has 
 been generally received, upon the 
 authority of a single manuscript. 
 
 Molli.] " Domito : ut mollia colla 
 " reflectunt." Servius. 
 ' " I take molli for domito, in op- 
 2 N 2 
 
276 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Then at last when they are 
 tamed, let their ample bodies 
 be distended with plentv of 
 mixed provender ; for if they 
 are high fed before they are 
 tamed, they will be too full 
 of mettle, and refuse to bear 
 the tough whips, and to obey 
 the biting curbs. But no in- 
 dustry, that you can use, 
 more confirms their strength, 
 than to keep them from ve- 
 nery, and the stings of blind 
 lust: whether you delight 
 more in hulls or in horses: 
 and therefore the bulls are 
 removed to a distance, and 
 into solitary pastures, behind 
 the obstacle of a mountain, 
 and beyond broad rivers ; or 
 are kept shut up within at 
 full stalls. For the female by 
 being seen consumes their 
 strength, and wastes them by 
 degrees, 
 
 Turn derhum crassa magnum farragine corpus 
 Crescere jam domitis sinito : namque ante do- 
 
 mandum 206 
 
 Ingentes tollent animos, prensique negabunt 
 Verbera lenta pati, et duris parere lupatis. 
 Sed non ulla magis vires industria firmat, 
 Quam Venerem et caeci stimulos avertere 
 
 amoris : 210 
 
 Sive bourn, sive est cui gratiorusus equorum. 
 Atque ideo taurus procul, atque in sola relegant 
 Pascua, post montem oppositum, et trans flu- 
 
 mina lata : 
 Aut intus clausos satura ad praesepia servant. 
 Carpit enim vires paullatim, uritque videndo 
 
 te position to reluctanii," &c. Dr. 
 Trapp. 
 
 205. Turn.] It is iu in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 208. Lenla.~\ In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is dura. 
 
 Lupatis. .] The curb is said to 
 have been called lupatum, because 
 it had unequal iron teeth, like the 
 teeth of wolves. This strongly ex- 
 presses the mettle of a headstrong 
 horse, that he cannot be governed 
 by such severe curbs, as we find 
 used by the ancients. It is here 
 put in opposition to mollibus capis- 
 tris, mentioned before, by which 
 perhaps is meant what we call a 
 snaffle bit, as Dryden translates it : 
 
 And then betimes in a soft snaffle wrought. 
 
 209. Sed non ulla magis, &c.]} 
 Having just mentioned the strength- 
 ening of horses with rich food, the 
 Poet takes occasion to tell us that 
 nothing preserves the strength 
 either of horses or bulls so much 
 as keeping them from venery. 
 Hence he slides into a beautiful 
 account of the violent effects of 
 
 lust on all the animated part of 
 the creation. He first begins with 
 bulls, describes their fighting for 
 the female, and the various passions, 
 with which the vanquished bull is 
 agitated. 
 
 Firmatr\ Pierius says it is servat 
 in some ancient manuscripts : but 
 that it is Jirmat in much the greater 
 number. 
 
 211* Equorum.] Columella ad- 
 vises, that the good horses should 
 be kept separate from the mares, 
 except at the time designed for 
 covering : " Equos autem pretiosos 
 " reliquo tempore anni removere 
 " oportet a foeminis, ne aut cum 
 " volent, ineant, aut si id facere 
 " prohibeantur, cupidine sollicitati 
 " noxam contrahant. Itaque vel 
 " in longinqua pascua marem pla- 
 " cet ablegari, vel ad praesepia 
 " contineri." These last words are 
 almost the same which Virgil has 
 used, with relation to bulls : 
 
 Atque ideo tauros procul, atque in sola 
 relegant 
 
 Pascua. 
 
 Aut intus clausos satura ad praesepia 
 
 servant. 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 277 
 
 Fsemina : nee nemorum patitur meminisse, 
 nee herbse. 216 
 
 Dulcibus ilia quidem illecebris, et saepe superbos 
 Cornibus inter se subigit decernere amantes. 
 Pascitur in magna sylva formosa juvenca : 
 Till alternantes multa vi praelia miscent 220 
 Vulneribus crebris : lavit ater corpora sanguis, 
 Versaque in obnixos urgentur cornua vasto 
 Cum gemitu, reboant sylvaeque et magnus 
 
 Olympus. 
 Nee mos bellantes una stabulare : sed alter 
 Victus abit, longeque ignotis exulat oris, 225 
 Multa gemens ignominiam, plagasque superbi 
 Victoris; turn quos amisit inultus amores; 
 Et stabula aspectans regnis excessit avitis. 
 Ergo omni cura vires exercet, et inter 
 Dura jacet pernix instrato saxa cubili, 230 
 
 and makes tlicm forget the 
 groves and pastures. She 
 also with sweet allurements 
 often impels the proud lovers 
 to contend with their horns. 
 The beauteous heifer feeds in 
 the spacious wood, whilst they 
 mutually engage with great 
 force in battle with frequent 
 wounds ; the black gore dis- 
 tains their bodies ; their horns 
 are violently urged against 
 each other, with vast roar- 
 ing, and the woods and great 
 Olympus rebellow. Nor do 
 the warriors use to dwell to- 
 gether; but the vanquished 
 retires, and becomes an exile 
 in unknown distant coasts, 
 grievously lamenting his dis- 
 grace, and the wounds of the 
 proud victor, and his loves 
 which he has lost unrevenged, 
 and casting his eye back atthe 
 stalls, departs from his here- 
 ditary realms. Therefore 
 with all diligence he exer- 
 cises his strength, and obsti- 
 nately makes his bed on the 
 hard stones, 
 
 21 6. Meminisse nee herbce.] " In 
 " the oblong manuscript it is neque, 
 " which seems softer." Pierius. 
 
 219. Sylva.] Servius says that 
 some would read Sila, a mountain 
 of Lucania; which alteration he 
 justly thinks unnecessary. 
 
 220. Illi alternantes multa vi prce- 
 I'm miscent.'] Thus in the twelfth 
 JLneid : 
 
 Illi inter sese multa vi vulnera miscent, 
 Cornuaque obnixi infigunt, et sanguine 
 
 largo 
 Colla armosque lavant: gemitu nemus 
 
 omne remugit. 
 
 It is tollunt instead of miscent in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 226. Multa.'] It is generally 
 thought to be put adverbially : but 
 La Cerda is of another opinion, 
 who thus paraphrases this passage: 
 " Gemit doletque multa, videlicet 
 " ignominiam amissae gloriae, ac- 
 " Cephas plagas, amores perditos." 
 
 230. Pernix] So I read with 
 Servius, who explains pernix perse- 
 verans, and derives it a pernitendo. 
 Pierius says it is pernix in all the 
 manuscripts which he had seen, 
 and speaks of pernox as an inno- 
 vation. The King's, and one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, most 
 of the old editions, Paul Stephens, 
 La Cerda, Heinsius, and Masvicius, 
 have pernix. The Cambridge, the 
 Bodleian, the other Arundelian, 
 and both Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 have pernox. Ruaeus contends, that 
 it ought to be pernox, and affirms 
 that pernix has no where the sig- 
 nification which Servius assigns to 
 it, but always means swift, as per- 
 nix Saturnus, and pedibus celerem et 
 pemicibus alis. He says it cannot 
 be supposed that Virgil would call 
 his wearied bull swift, and there- 
 fore he reads pernox with the two 
 Scaligers. Grimoaldus also reads 
 
278 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and feeds on rough leaves and 
 sharp rushes ; and tries him- 
 self, and practises his horns 
 against the trunk of a tree ; 
 and pushes against the wind, 
 and spurning the sand pre- 
 pares to figtit. Afterwards, 
 when his strength is collected, 
 and his force regained, he 
 marches on, and rushes head- 
 long on his unsuspecting ene- 
 my. 
 
 Frondibus hirsutis, et carice pastus acuta : 
 Et tentat sese, atque irasci in cornua discit 
 Arboris obnixus trunco : ventosque lacessit 
 Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnam proludit arena. 
 Post, ubi collectum robur, viresquereceptae, 235 
 Signa movet, praecepsque oblitum fertur in 
 hostem. 
 
 pernox. La Cerda says all the old 
 copies read pernix, which he ex- 
 plains laboriosus, obstinatus, perti- 
 nax, and derives from the old verb 
 pernitor, with Servius. If pernox 
 be admitted, our translation must 
 be, " and makes his bed all night 
 " on the hard stones." 
 
 231. Carice acuta.'] This plant 
 has so little said of it by the Roman 
 writers, that it is hard to ascertain 
 what species we are to understand 
 by the name carex. It is here called 
 sharp, which, if it be meant of the 
 end of the stalk, is no more than 
 what Ovid has said of the juncus, 
 or common rush; <c acuta cuspide 
 "junci:" it is mentioned but once 
 more by Virgil ; 
 
 ■ Tu post carecta latebas : 
 
 From which passage we can gather 
 no more, than that these plants 
 grew close enough together for a 
 person to conceal himself behind 
 them. Catullus mentions the carex 
 along with the juncus, as being used 
 to thatch a poor cottage : 
 
 Hunc ego juvenes locum, villulamque 
 
 palustrem, 
 Tectam vimine junceo, caricisque mani- 
 
 plis, 
 Quercus arida, rustica conformata securi 
 Nutrivi. 
 
 Columella mentions the carex to- 
 gether with fern, and tells what 
 season is best to destroy them : 
 " Filix quoque, aut carex ubicun- 
 " que nascitur, Augusto mense 
 
 * f recte extirpatur, melius tamen 
 " circa Idus Julias ante caniculae 
 " exortum." Since therefore it is 
 difficult to determine what the carex 
 is, from what the ancients have 
 said of it; we must depend upon 
 the authority of Anguillara, who 
 assures us that about Padua and 
 Vincenza they cali a sort of rush, 
 careze, which seems to be the old 
 word carex modernized. Caspar 
 Bauhinus says it is that sort of 
 rush which he has called Juncus 
 acittus pankula sparsa. It is there- 
 fore our common hard rush, which 
 grows in pastures, and by way 
 sides, in a moist soil. It is more 
 solid, hard, and prickly at the point, 
 than our common soft rush, which 
 seems to be what the ancients called 
 juncus. 
 
 232. Irasci in cornua, &c.J Thus 
 also in the twelfth ^Eneid : 
 
 Mugitus veluti cum prima in praelia 
 
 taurus 
 Terrificos ciet, atque irasci in cornua 
 
 tentat, 
 Arboiis obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit 
 Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnam proludit 
 
 234. E/.] Pierius says it is aut 
 in the Roman manuscript, hut he 
 does not approve of it. 
 
 235. Receptee.'] Fulvius Ursinus 
 says it is refects in the old Colotian 
 manuscript. Heinsius acknow- 
 ledges the same reading, in which 
 be is followed bv Masvicius. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 2?y 
 
 Just as when a wave begins 
 to whiten far off in the mid- 
 
 Fluctus uti medio coepit cum albescere ponto 
 
 Longius, ex altoque sinum trahit ; utque volutus from^hede^p' and !Sung"o 
 
 237. Flucius uti medio.] So I find 
 it in both the Arundelian, and in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 Pierius found the same reading in 
 the Roman, the Medicean, the 
 Lombard, and other very ancient 
 manuscripts. In the oblong ma- 
 nuscript he found Fluctus uti in 
 medio, which he seems to approve : 
 it is the same in the King's manu- 
 script. Dr. Mead's other manu- 
 script has fluctus aut in medio, where 
 out no doubt is an error of the 
 transcriber for lit. In the Cam- 
 bridge and Bodleian manuscripts it 
 is Fluctus ut in medio, which reading 
 is received in almost all the printed 
 editions. We have almost the same 
 line in the seventh iEneid : 
 
 Fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere 
 vento. 
 
 This simile seems to be taken 
 from the fourth Iliad : 
 
 O^vvt ifizfftrvrtgov Z,^v^ov uToxtvwccvrot, 
 liovru /u.iv ret -u^uto. xoguo-fftrctf, avrag 
 
 tTtiret 
 Kigffu pyyvvpivov pzyxXa. (igiftii) a(L<$t 1i 
 
 T «X£«J 
 
 Kv^tov lev xogvQovTUi, kwotfrvu V aXes 
 
 XI j tot l-recffffursgai Aa.va.rn kUvvto <p«- 
 
 kayyt; 
 Y\U)Xi(^'iu>$ zsoXiu.0^1. 
 
 As when the winds, ascending by de- 
 grees, 
 First move the whitening surface of the 
 
 seas, 
 The billows float in order to the shore, 
 The wave behind rolls on the wave 
 
 before, 
 Till, with the growing storm, the deeps 
 
 arise, 
 Foam o'er the rocks, and thunder to the 
 
 skies, 
 So to the fight the thick battalions 
 
 throng, 
 Shields urg'd on shields, and men drove 
 
 men along. 
 
 Mr. Popi. 
 
 238. Longius, ex altoque sinum 
 trahit.] The comma is generally 
 placed at the end of the preceding 
 verse, which makes the interpreta- 
 tion of these words very difficult. 
 But I think all the difficulty is re- 
 moved by placing the comma after 
 longius. Virgil is here comparing 
 the bull's first preparing himself to 
 renew the fight, to a wave begin- 
 ning to whiten and swell, at a great 
 distance from the shore, in the 
 middle of the sea I hen as the 
 wave rolls towards the land, with 
 a dreadful roaring among the rocks, 
 and falls upon the shore like a huge 
 mountain 3 so the bull comes fu- 
 riously roaring against his unsus- 
 pecting enemy, and impetuously 
 rushes upon him. 
 
 Sinum trahit is, I believe, a sin- 
 gular expression ; and I do not find 
 it explained by the commentators. 
 Sinus usually signifies some sort of 
 cavity, as the bosom of any person, 
 or a bay : it is used also to signify 
 a waving line, like the motion of a 
 snake. The Poet seems to conceive 
 a wave to be a hollow body, and 
 therefore calls the inner part of it 
 its sinus or bosom. Thus in the 
 eleventh ^Eneid, he speaks of a 
 wave pouring its bosom over the 
 farthest part of the shore : 
 
 Qualis ubi alterno procurrens gurgite' 
 
 pontus, 
 Nunc ruit ad terras, scopulosque super- 
 
 jacit undam 
 Spumeus, extremamque sinu perfundit 
 
 In the seventh iEneid, where we 
 have a simile, not much unlike 
 that now under consideration, we 
 have altius undas erigit, which I 
 take to mean the same with ex alto 
 sinum trahit. 
 
280 
 
 P. VIRGILIi MARONIS 
 
 the land, makes a dreadful 
 roaring among the rocks, and 
 falls like a huge mountain: the 
 bottom of the water boils with 
 whirlpools, and tosses the 
 black sand on high. Every 
 kind also of living creatures, 
 both men and wild beasts, 
 and the inhabitants of the 
 seas, cattle, and painted birds, 
 rush info fury and flames : 
 lust is the same in all. At no 
 other time does the lioness 
 forgetting her whelps wander 
 over the plains with greater 
 •fierceness; nor do the shape- 
 less bears make such havoc 
 in the woods ; then is the 
 boar fieree,and the tyger most 
 dangerous. Then alas ! it is 
 ill wandering in the desert 
 fields of Lvbia. Do you not 
 see how the horse trembles 
 all over, if he does but snuff 
 the well-known gales i 
 
 Ad terras, immane sonat per saxa, neque ipso 
 Monte minor procumbit: at ima exaestuat unda 
 Vorticibus,nigramque alte subjectat arenam. 241 
 Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque fera- 
 
 rumque, 
 Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictseque volu- 
 
 cres, 
 In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem. 
 Tempore non alio catulorum oblita leasna 245 
 Seevior erravit campis : nee funera vulgo 
 Tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere 
 Per sylvas: turn saevus aper, turn pessima tigris. 
 Heu ! male turn Lybiag solis erratur in agris. 
 Nonne vides, uttota tremor pertentet equorum 
 Corpora, si tantum notas odor atlulit auras? 251 
 
 Fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere 
 
 vento : 
 Paalatim sese tollit mare, et altius undas 
 JErigit, inde imo consurgit ad sethera 
 
 fundo. 
 
 239. Neque.] Pierius says it is 
 neque in the Lombard manuscript, 
 which he approves. Heinsins also 
 has neque. In most editions it is 
 nee. 
 
 240. At.] In the King's manu- 
 script it is ac. 
 
 241. Forticibus.] Heinsius and 
 Masvicius read verticibus, which 
 Pierius also observed in the Roman 
 and Medicean manuscripts. 
 
 Subjectat.~] Pierius found sub- 
 vectat in the Roman manuscript, 
 which he seems to approve. 
 
 242. Omne adeo genus, &c] Hav- 
 ing spoken of the fury which lust 
 causes in bull?, he takes occasion 
 to mention the violent effects of it 
 in other animals, and also in man- 
 kind. 
 
 ]n this whole paragraph, the Poet 
 seems to have had before him the 
 eighteenth chapter of Aristotle's 
 
 sixth book of the History of Ani- 
 mals. 
 
 248. Sylvas.] It is sylvam in one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts, and 
 in some printed editions. 
 
 249. Heu ! male turn Lyb'uz, &c] 
 Aristotle speaking of bears, wolves, 
 and lions, says they are dangerous 
 to those that come near them, not 
 having frequent fights between 
 themselves, because they are not 
 gregarious : Toy uvtov dl r^aTrov xxt 
 
 i7Ti TOV aypi6>V. KXt y«£ 0,(>Z.TOi, xect 
 
 Xvy.tn, kx) hiovris x,ccte7roi ro7g -zrhriG-tct- 
 
 fyv(Tl yiVOVTXl STl^i TOV KXlgOV TOVTOV. 
 
 ■zrpbg txXXvMvs $ qrrov fioc^ovrxi, oix ra 
 (til uyiXxiov iivc&i pv^iy ray toiovtm Zauy. 
 
 Lybia is the Greek name for 
 Africa, according to Pliny : " Afri- 
 " cam Grseci Lybiam appellavere." 
 This country abounds with the 
 fiercest wild beasts. 
 
 249. Erratur.} Pierius says it 
 is versatur in a very ancient manu- 
 script, and erravit in the Medicean. 
 
 Agris.] It is arms in the Cam- 
 bridge, the Arundelian, and one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 281 
 
 Ac neque eos jam fraena, virum neque verbera 
 
 saeva, 
 
 Non scopuli, rupesque cavae, aut objecta retar- 
 
 dant 
 Flumina, correptosque unda torquentia montes. 
 Ipse ruit, dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus, 255 
 Et pede prosubigit terram, fricat arbore costas 
 
 And now neither bridles, nor 
 the severe scourges of the 
 riders, not rocks and caverns, 
 and rivers interposed, that 
 whirl mountains along with 
 their torrents, can restrain 
 them. Even the Sabellian 
 boar rushes, and whets his 
 tusks, and tears the ground 
 with his feet, and rubs his 
 sides backwards and forwards 
 against a tree, 
 
 252. Ac] It is at in the old 
 Nurenberg edition. 
 
 Frcena, virum neque verbera sceva.] 
 The comma is usually placed after 
 virum; 1 have ventured to place it 
 after fr&'ia. 
 
 253. Non.] It is nee in the 
 King's manuscript. 
 
 254. Correptosque unda torquentia 
 montes~] The common reading is 
 correptos without que: but Pierius 
 found correptosque in the Medicean, 
 the Roman, the Lombard, and other 
 ancient manuscripts. The same 
 reading is in the King's, the Cam- 
 bridge, the Bodleian, and both the 
 Arundelian manuscripts. Heinsius, 
 Schrevelius, Masvicius, and some 
 others also admit que. 
 
 255. Ipse ruit, &c] Aristotle 
 speaking of the wild boars says, 
 that at this time they rage horribly, 
 and fight one with another, making 
 their skins very hard by rubbing 
 against trees, and by often rolling 
 themselves in the mud, and letting 
 it dry, make their backs almost im- 
 penetrable ; and fight so furiously 
 that both of them are often killed : 
 Kxt ol vi$ ol xy^toi y i x\i7roorxroi, i xximp 
 ecTJinrxroi -sripl rov xxtpov tovtov ovn$ , 
 dix Tvv oyplxv, XXI ss-pog xXXvi\ov$ fih 
 ■srotoZvTZg /^d^xg B-xvf/.xfceg Sagaxi^ovris 
 ixvrovsy kxI -srotovvng to o^ipftx aq -3tX- 
 y^vrxrov ix -stxpxg-kivw , zrpog ret divo'px 
 diXTf>^ovri<; xxt t£> nyX*) [toXvvovTts 7roX- 
 
 XxXi$, xxl %/lflXlVOVTi? ZXVTOVg. fiX^OVTXl 
 
 ol ^rpo<; a\Xvj\ov$ l^iXxvvovng I« rav rvo- 
 (pofiuw ovru o-Qoo'peisj a<n ttoAAcoc*? 
 
 kp.tyl'vippk x7ro$vK<r)cov<n*. La Cerda 
 contends that the Poet is here 
 speaking of the wild boar, contrary 
 to the opinion of Servius and the 
 other commentators. But I believe 
 they are in the right; for Virgil 
 had spoken before of the wild boar ; 
 "turn scevus aper :*' and here he 
 says even the Sabellian boar rages ; 
 " ipse Sabellicus sus :" that is, not 
 only the wild boar, but even the 
 tame one rages at this time; and, 
 to make his description the stronger, 
 he ascribes to the tame boar, what 
 Aristotle has said of the wild one. 
 
 256. Et pede prosubigit.] In the 
 old Paris edition of 1494, it is Et 
 pedihus subigit. 
 
 Fricat arbore costas atque June at- 
 que illinc, humerosque ad vulnera 
 durat.] So I read with the Bod- 
 leian, one of the Arundelian, and 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 Pierius found the same reading in 
 the Roman, the Medicean, and 
 other ancient manuscripts. It is 
 the same in the old Nurenberg edi- 
 tion, in an old edition by Jacobus 
 Rubeus, printed at Venice in 1475, 
 in the old Paris edition of 1494, 
 and some other old editions. The 
 common reading is thus, fricat ar- 
 bore castas, atque hinc atque illinc 
 humeros ad vulnera durat. I take 
 atque hinc atque illinc to belong to 
 fricat arbore costas; for the boar 
 rubs his sides backwards and for- 
 wards against a tree; but the hu- 
 meros ad vulnera durat, the harden- 
 2o 
 
262 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and hardens his shoulders 
 against wounds. What does 
 the young man, in whose 
 bones cruel love excites the 
 mighty fire? In the dead of 
 night he swims the seas tossed 
 with bursting storms; over 
 whom the vast gate of hea- 
 ven thunders; and whom the 
 seas dashed on the rocks 
 
 Atque hinc atque illinc, humerosque ad vulnera 
 
 durat. 
 Quid juvenis, magnum cui versat in ossibus 
 
 ignera 
 Durus amor ? nempe abruptis turbata procellis 
 Noctenatat caeca serusfreta: quern super ingens 
 Porta tonat cseli, et scopulis illisa reclamant 261 
 
 ing his shoulders against wounds, 
 relates to the rolling in mud, and 
 baking it upon his skin, so as to 
 make a sort of coat of armour, as 
 we read just now, in the quotation 
 from Aristotle. 
 
 258. Quid juvenis , &c.] Here 
 the Poet no doubt alludes to the 
 well known story of Leander and 
 Hero. But with great judgment 
 he avoids mentioning the particular 
 story, thereby representing the 
 whole species, as ready to encoun- 
 ter the greatest dangers, when 
 prompted by lust. Dryden was not 
 aware of this, who, in his transla- 
 tion, has put all the verbs in the 
 preterperfect tense, and even men- 
 tions Sestos, the habitation of 
 Hero: 
 
 What did the youth, when love's un- 
 erring dart 
 
 Transfix' d his liver; and inflam'd his 
 heart? 
 
 Alone, by night, his wat'ry way he 
 took ; 
 
 About him, and above, the billows 
 broke : 
 
 The sluices of the sky "were open spread ; 
 
 And rolling thunder rattled o'er his 
 head. 
 
 The raging tempest calVd him back in 
 vain; 
 
 And every boding omen of the main. 
 
 Nor could his kindred ; nor the kindly 
 force 
 
 Of weeping parents, change his fatal 
 course. 
 
 No, not the dying maid, who must de- 
 plore 
 
 His floating carcase on the Sestian 
 shore. 
 
 Cui.] It is cum in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 261. Porta tonat call, &c] The 
 commentators are greatly divided 
 about the meaning of the gate of 
 heaven. Servius interprets it the 
 air full of clouds, through which 
 the passage lies to heaven : " Aer 
 t( nubibus plenus, per quem iter in 
 " caelum est." Grimoaldus para- 
 phrases it according to this inter- 
 pretation : " Cum interim aer (per 
 " quem iter est factum) nubibus 
 " erat obsitus." La Cerda's note 
 on this passage deserves to be tran- 
 scribed entire, and I shall here pre- 
 sent the reader with a translation of 
 it: " By the gate of heaven Turne- 
 " bus understands the hemisphere : 
 " Manutius the air full of clouds, 
 " through which the passage lies 
 " to heaven. Others interpret it 
 " the east and west, of which no- 
 " tion I speak in another place: 
 " others a cloud, which is not 
 " much amiss ; for as that noise is 
 " made in a cloud, which bursts 
 " out together with the thunder, 
 " it seems to have the appearance 
 " of a gate opening to let out the 
 " fire. You may take it for the 
 ** north, where is the hinge of 
 "heaven, which the Greeks call 
 " KoXoi, and by the help of imagin- 
 " ation, may be called a gate and 
 " a threshold. Ovid will invite 
 " you to this interpretation, who 
 *' makes Leander, in his Epistle, 
 " address himself to Boreas, which 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 283 
 
 7n • , n n n v/m(oi! forbid : nor can his miserable 
 
 iEquora ; nee misen possunt revocare parentes, parent > s recall him , 
 
 " blows from that quarter of the 
 <f heavens, as withstanding his at- 
 " tempt. But 1 have ventured to 
 " differ from all others, in explain- 
 " ing this passage of Virgil. Vir- 
 " gil, Ennius, Homer have spoken 
 " of the gate of heaven according 
 r * to the following notion : the an- 
 " cients feigned Jupiter to be in a 
 'f certain temple of heaven, espe- 
 " cially when he thundered and 
 " lightened. Thus Varro, in Satyra 
 " Bimarco : 
 
 " Tunc repente ccelitum 
 
 " Altum tonitribus templum tonescit : 
 
 '* for so we must read, and not ccz- 
 " lum: and Lucretius, lib. i. 
 
 " Cceli tonitralia templa. 
 
 " And lib. vi. 
 
 *« Fumida cum cadi scintittant omnia tern- 
 « pla. 
 
 " Terence, in Eunucho, 
 
 f Qui templa cceli summa sonitu 
 
 " concutit. 
 
 " Hence I gather, that gates may 
 " be imagined in heaven, temples 
 " being feigned already : so that 
 ?' we may understand that those 
 " gates of the temples opened to 
 '« let out the thunderbolts. Hence 
 " Silius, lib. i. 
 
 Tonat alii regia cceli. 
 
 f< Therefore they understand by 
 " templum cceli ; sometimes a parti- 
 " cular part of the heavens, as it 
 " were the pal act of Jupiter; some- 
 ** times the whole heaven, which 
 "I rather believe; certainly it is 
 <c natural, that they should ascribe 
 " doors to this temple. Not very 
 " different from this is the fiction 
 " of Homer, in the eighth Iliad : 
 
 t( Avre/iarai Ti zvuXcti ftvxov ev^uveu, us 
 '* T>jf Wirirgwrrcu piyus ovgxvos, cilXu/u,- 
 " 'H/ih avuKXTvat zrvxtvev vtffos, j& ixi* 
 
 " Heav'n gates spontaneous open to the 
 
 ** pow'rs, 
 " Heav'n's golden gates, kept by the 
 
 M winged hours, 
 " Commission'd in alternate watch they 
 
 " stand, 
 " The sun's bright portals, and the skies 
 
 ** command; 
 " Close, or unfold, th' eternal gates of 
 
 " day, 
 " Bar heav'n with clouds, or roll those 
 
 ?* clouds away. 
 
 Me. Pope. 
 
 " As Virgil uses porta cceli, so Ca- 
 " tullus cceli janua, and before them 
 " both Ennius; Mi soli cceli maxi- 
 "ma porta patet : and before all 
 " Homer ; uvropotrcti 21 7rvXeci pvxov 
 " cfyxvov." Ruaeus highly approves 
 of this interpretation. But Catrou 
 thinks it means the east and west, 
 and will have Virgil here be sup- 
 posed to express, that the storm 
 came from the west, because Sestos 
 is to the westward of Abydos : 
 " Ces expressions, porta tonat cceli, 
 " meritent attention. Par la porte 
 " du Ciel il faut entendre, ou celle 
 " par ou le soleil entre sur l'horison, 
 11 et e'est l'Orient : ou celle par 
 " oii il en sort, et e'est l'Occident. 
 <e Ici Virgile semble vouloir dire, 
 " que Torage venoit d'Occident, 
 " puisque Sestos est occidental, en 
 " egard a Abydos." This is being 
 very minute indeed : but I believe 
 Virgil would not have used the 
 gate of heaven, to express the west, 
 when it might as well have sig- 
 nified the east, without adding some 
 epithet, to make his meaning evi- 
 dent. Besides, it is the north wind 
 that would have withstood Lean- 
 der's intent; and Ovid, as La 
 2o2 
 
284 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 must^e S^coSequen^S Nec moritura super crudeli funere vlrgo. 
 thes^ottffounMso«icchi°, Quid Lynces Bacchi variae, et genus acre lupo- 
 
 and the fierce kind of wolves, 
 and dogs? What do the 
 timorous stags, what fierce 
 
 war do they wage i 
 
 rum, 
 Atque canum ? quid, quas imbelles dant praelia 
 
 cervi 
 
 Cerda rightly observes, supposed 
 the. north wind to oppose his 
 passage : 
 
 At tu de rapidis immansuelissime ventis, 
 Quid mecum certa praelia ments ge- 
 ris? 
 In me, si nescis, Borea, non aequcra, 
 saevis. 
 Quid faperes, esset ni tibi notus arrior? 
 Tam gelidus cum. sis, non te tamen, im- 
 probe, quondam 
 Tgnibus Actseis incaluisse negas. 
 Gaudia rapturo si quis tibi claudere vellet 
 
 Aerios aditus : quo paterere modo ? 
 Parce precor; facilemque move modera- 
 tius auram. 
 Imperet Hippotades sic tibi triste ni- 
 hil. 
 
 To conclude; as Virgil did not de~ 
 sign to give a minute account of 
 Leander's particular action it can- 
 not be imagined, that he would 
 have taken pains to let his readers 
 know, that the west wind was op- 
 posite to those who would sail from 
 Abydos ; if that had been true. 
 But, in reality, it is the north wind, 
 or Boreas, which was always reck- 
 oned to blow from Thrace; and 
 Sestos is known to have been on 
 the Thracian shore. 
 
 26l. Scopulis illisa reclamont 
 azquora.'] Catrou interprets this of 
 the waves pushing back Leander 
 from the coast of Sestos ; " Les 
 " flots repoussoient Leandre de la 
 " cote de Sestos, vers Abydos sa 
 (C patrie." But surely the Poet's 
 meaning is, that the waves dashing 
 violently on the rocks in a storm 
 ought not to prevent any one from 
 venturing out to sea. 
 
 263. Virgo.'] This word is not 
 
 used by the Poets in so strict a 
 sense, as we use the word virgin. 
 Thus Pasiphae is called virgo, in 
 the sixth Eclogue, in two places : 
 
 Ah, virgo infelix, quae te dementia 
 cepit { 
 
 And 
 
 Ah, virgo infelix, tu nunc in montibus 
 erras. 
 
 264. Lynces Bacchi varice.'] The 
 ounce, the tiger, and the leopard, 
 are said to be the animals, by which 
 the chariot of Bacchus was drawn. 
 Thus Ovid : 
 
 Ipse racemiferis frontem circumdatus 
 
 uvis, 
 Pampineis agitat velatam frondibus 
 
 hastam. 
 Quern circa tigris, simulacraque inania 
 
 hjiieum, 
 Pictarumque jacent fera corpora panihe- 
 
 rarum. 
 
 The difference between these ani- 
 mals not being commonly well 
 known, I shall here set down the 
 marks by which they are distin- 
 guished. The tiger is as large, or 
 larger than a lion, and marked 
 with long streaks. The leopard is 
 smaller than the tiger, and marked 
 with round spots. The ounce or 
 lynx is of a reddish colour, like a 
 fox, marked with black spots: the 
 hairs are gray at the bottom, red 
 in the middle, and whitish at the 
 top; those, which compose the 
 black spots, are only of two colours, 
 having no white at the top. The 
 eyes are very bright and fiery ; and 
 the ears are tipped with thick 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 285 
 
 Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis equarum : 
 Et mentem Venus ipsa dedit, quo tempore 
 
 Glauci 
 Potniades malis membra absumpsere quadrigae. 
 Illas ducit amor trans Gargara, transque so- 
 
 nantem 269 
 
 Ascaniura: superant monies, et flumina tranant. 
 
 But the rage of mares far ex- 
 ceeds all the rest , and Venus 
 herself inspired them, when 
 the Potnian mares tore Glau- 
 cus in pieces with their jaws. 
 Lust leads them beyond Gar- 
 garus, and beyond roaring 
 Ascanius: rhey climb over 
 the mountains, and. swim, 
 through the rivers ; 
 
 shining hairs, like black velvet. 
 It is an animal of exceeding fierce- 
 ness. 
 
 265. Quid, quce imbelles dant 
 prcelia cervi?~\ In the Cambridge, 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and several of the old printed edi- 
 tions, it is quidque. 
 
 Our great Harvey, who had par- 
 ticularly studied these animals, and 
 had perhaps better opportunities of 
 being acquainted with their nature, 
 than any man, observes, in his trea- 
 tise of the Generation of Animals, 
 that stags are very furious about 
 rutting time, and assault men and 
 dogs, though at other times they 
 are very timorous, and run away 
 at the barking of the smallest dog : 
 <c Eodem tempore, furore libidinis 
 " saeviunt ; canes, hominesque ad- 
 " oriuntur : alias vero timidi valde, 
 '* et imbelles sunt ; ac vel a mi- 
 " nimae caniculae latratu, sese con- 
 " tinuo in fugam proripiunt." The 
 same author observes, that after 
 the stag has impregnated all his 
 females, he grows exceedingly ti- 
 morous : "Mas,postquam foemellas 
 " suas implevit, defervescit ; si- 
 " mulque timidior factus, ac maci- 
 " lentior, gregem deserit; vagatur 
 " solus ; avideqne pascitur, ut at- 
 " tritas vires resarciat ; nee fcemi- 
 " nam aliquam postea toto anno 
 << aggreditur.'' 
 
 266. Scilicet ante omnes.] Having 
 digressed, to give an account of the 
 mischievous effects of lust on the 
 
 whole animal creation ; he now re- 
 turns to speak of horses, which 
 seem all this while to have been 
 forgotten. Here he describes the 
 extraordinary venereal fury of 
 mares; and then corrects himself, 
 for having spent so much time in 
 excursions about this passion. 
 
 Furor est insignis equarum.] Aris- 
 totle says, that mares are the most 
 libidinous of all female animals : 
 that this fury of theirs is called 
 ix7rop<x.nh, whence that word is ap- 
 plied, by way of reproach, to las- 
 civious women : Tw $i SviXuav agpj- 
 Ttx.a>s s%ovcrt sr^os rov <rvvovx<rpov, [tot- 
 "hisu. f&h (7T7ro<;, Z7TSiTct fiovg. ai piv citv 
 tXTToi ut SiljXuou i7r7T6^ecvov<rtv . cS^gy xect 
 
 fiVi TKV fiXoKjrtPufltXV TO 0V6[*U CCVTM g7T<- 
 (p'lpeVG-lV, U7T0 fAOVOV TUV ZwUi TV.V Iff) TUP 
 
 oDcoXciis-m, %%£ to u<P£ol)io-toi£t<rSoti. 
 
 267. Glauci Potniades malis mem- 
 bra absumpsere quudrigce.] Potnia 
 was a town of Bceotia, near Thebes. 
 Of this town was Glaucus the son 
 of Sisyphus, who restrained the 
 four mares, which drew his cha- 
 riot, from the company of horses, 
 in order to make them more swift 
 for the race. Venus is said to have 
 been so highly offended at this 
 violation of her rites, that she raised 
 such a fury in the mares, that they 
 tore their master limb from limb. 
 
 269. Gargara] See the note on 
 book i. ver. 102. 
 
 270. Ascanium.'] This is the 
 name of a river of Bithynia. But 
 Gargarus and Ascanius seem to be 
 
286 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SS£SKJmSS "S Continuoque avidis ubi subdita flamma medullis, 
 
 marrow, especially in the -r T • i ■>. .. 
 
 spring, for in me spring the V ere mams, quia vere calor redit ossibus, lllae 
 
 heat returns into their bones, ° x 7 
 
 Sew^StttsSSoS ° re omnes versa; in Zephyrum stant rupibus 
 therocks ' altis, 273 
 
 put here for any mountain and 
 river. 
 
 271. Continuo.] See the note on 
 ver. 75. 
 
 272. Quia vere calor redit,'] VI- 
 erius says it is quia vere redit calor, 
 in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 273. Ore omnes versce in Zephy- 
 rum.'] The impregnation of mares 
 by the wind is mentioned by a 
 great variety of authors. Homer 
 speaks of the horses of Achilles, as 
 being begotten by the west wind. 
 See the quotation from Homer, in 
 the note on magni currus Achillis, 
 ver. Q1. 
 
 Aristotle says, that at the time 
 the mares have this fury upon 
 them, they are said to be impreg- 
 nated by the wind : for which rea- 
 son, in the island of Crete, they 
 never separate the mares from the 
 stallions. When they are thus af- 
 fected, they leave the rest, and run, 
 not towards the east or west, but 
 towards the north or south, and 
 suffer no one to come near them, 
 till either they are. quite tired down, 
 or come to the sea. At this time 
 they emit something, which is called 
 Hippomanes, and is gathered to be 
 used as a charm : Aiyovreci 21 xui 
 l^otvif^ovo-B-at 7T&£i tov ko&ipov rovrov. 2to 
 h Kgjfnj ovx i%eu'i>6Vff-i ra. hftucc Ik rav 
 Sqteiav, orciv 21 tovto Ttrd^an., Biov<riv 
 he rm aXXiJv Yfrv&t. eV< 21 to 7roiSog, 
 ©Treg hri vcov teysTcti to tcX7C^av. Szovtri 
 
 21 OVTi 7rpOS 60, OUTi 7TP0$ 2vO~fAU,<; ) uXXX 
 VPOg U.PKTOV, »j VOTOV. OTO&V 2& ifATrzo-y TO 
 
 ■ztcjS-o?, ovhztcc \Scri 7rAjjc-<flf£s<v, £&>? otv >j 
 airiiftUGrk 2 to. tov 7ro'vov, jj ttpIs B-ctXxtrcrxv 
 sXSwo-i, tots o bcQccXXova-i ri. x.ocXovo~i 
 2i Keti tqvto, wo-fti^ \x\ rov Ttxrop'ivov, 
 
 tiriropetvtg. sV* 21 oiov jj kcmtpIcx.. kcu 
 fyrovo-i rovro pxXiroi icoivTm ot %ip) 
 rut; (px^pxKuxs. Varro affirms it is 
 a certain truth, that about Lisbon 
 some mares conceive by the wind, 
 at a certain season, as hens con- 
 ceive what is called a wind egg, 
 but that the colts conceived in 
 this manner do not live above three 
 years : " In foetura res incredibilis 
 " est in Hispania, sed est vera, 
 " quod in Lusitania ad ocean um, 
 ft in ea regione ubi est oppidum 
 " Olysippo, monte Tugro, quaedam 
 " e vento concipiunt certo tempore 
 " equae, ut hie gallinee quoque so- 
 " lent, quarum ova vxm^x appel- 
 " lant." Columella says great care 
 must be taken of the mares about 
 their horsing time, because if they 
 are restrained, they rage with lust, 
 whence that poison is called Ixko- 
 fixn$, which excites a furious lust, 
 like that of mares : that there is 
 no doubt, but that in some coun- 
 tries the females burn with such 
 vehement desires, that if they can- 
 not enjoy the male, they conceive 
 by the wind, like hens : and that 
 in Spain, which runs westward 
 towards the ocean, the mares have 
 frequently foaled, without having 
 had the company of a stallion, but 
 these foals are useless, because they 
 die in three years : " Maxime ita- 
 " que curandum est praedicto tem- 
 pore anni, ut tam fceminis, quam 
 " admissariis desiderantibus coe- 
 " undi fiat potestas, quoniam id 
 " praecipue armentum si prohibeas, 
 " libidinis extimulatur furiis, unde 
 ' ' etiam veneno inditum est nomen 
 " i7rxofcecns, quod equinae cupidini 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 287 
 
 Exceptaiitque leves auras : et saepe sine ullis andrecriwthegentiebreeze 
 
 " similem mortalibus amorem ac- 
 " cendat. Nee dubium quin aliquot 
 " regionibus tanto flagrent ardore 
 " coeundi foeminse, ut etiam si 
 " marem non habeant, assidua et 
 " nimia cupiditate figurantes sibi 
 u ipsae venerem, cohortalium more 
 " avium, vento concipiant. Quae 
 " enim poeta licentius dicit: Scili- 
 " cet ante omnes, &c. Cum sit no- 
 " tissimum etiam in Sacro monte 
 " Hispaniae, qui procurrit in occi- 
 " dentem juxta oceanum, frequen- 
 t( ter equas sine coitu ventrem per- 
 € t tulisse, foetumque educasse, qui 
 *' tamen inutilis est, quod triennio 
 " prius quam adolescat, morte ab- 
 <c sumitur. Quare, ut dixi, dabimus 
 " operam, ne circa aequinoctium 
 " vernum equae desideriis naturali- 
 " bus angantur." Pliny mentions 
 Lisbon as a place famous for mares 
 conceiving by the west wind: 
 " Oppida memorabilia a Tago in 
 " ora, Olisippo equarum e favonio 
 " vento conceptu nobile." In an- 
 other place he says, it is well 
 known, that in Portugal, about 
 Lisbon and the river Tagus, the 
 mares turn themselves against the 
 west wind, are impregnated by it, 
 and bring forth colts of exceeding 
 swiftness, but dying at three years 
 old : " Constat in Lusitania circa 
 " Olyssiponem oppidum et Tagum 
 i( amnem, equas Favonio flante ob- 
 ft versus animalem concipere spiri- 
 " turn, idque partum fieri, et gigni 
 " pernicissimum ita, sed triennium 
 " vitae non excedere." These quo- 
 tations are sufficient to shew, that 
 it was generally believed by the 
 ancients that mares were impreg- 
 nated by the western wind. We 
 see that even the gravest prose 
 writers assert the truth of this, 
 and that they even bring forth 
 
 colts, which live three years. Virgil 
 however is very cautious : he does 
 not mention the colts ; but sup- 
 poses only a false conception, 
 within which bounds Aristotle alone 
 contains himself, of all the writers 
 whom we have just now quoted. 
 The west wind, or Zephyrus, was 
 always reckoned to lead on the 
 spring, and to infuse a genial 
 warmth through the whole crea- 
 tion. Pliny says this wind opens 
 the spring, beginning usually to 
 blow about the eighth of February; 
 and that all vegetables are married 
 to it, like the mares in Spain : 
 " Primus est conceptus, flare in- 
 " cipiente vento Favonio circiter 
 <e fere sextum Idus Februarii. Hoc 
 *' enim maritantur vivescentia e 
 " terra, quo etiam equae in His- 
 " pania, ut diximus. Hie est ge- 
 " nitalis spiritus mundi, a fovendo 
 " dictus, ut quidam existimavere. 
 " Flat ab occasu aequinoctiali, ver 
 " inchoans. Catulitionem rustici 
 " vocant, gestiente natura semina 
 ' ' accipere, eaque animam inferente 
 " omnibus satis." Thus also our 
 Poet, in the second Georgick : 
 
 Parturit almus ager : Zephyrique tepen- 
 tibus auris 
 
 Laxant arva sinus : superat tener om- 
 nibus humor. 
 
 How far the mares are really af- 
 fected, we must leave to be decided 
 by the philosophers of Spain and 
 Portugal. But that hens will lay 
 eggs without the assistance of the 
 cock, is a well known fact: and it 
 is as well known, that such eggs 
 never produce a living animal. 
 These fruitless eggs are called by 
 us wind eggs, as Varro calls them 
 v7rwA[uoe, : and thus Aristotle uses a 
 like expression with regard to the 
 njares, IZocnpovvSou. 
 
288 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS- 
 
 r/beSJg Conjugiis vento gravidas, mirabile dictu ! 275 
 
 i wind, c< „ i i ii 
 
 wonderful to te!I ! without 
 the stallion's assistance, 
 impregnated bv the wmu, r, 
 
 they fly over hiiis, and rocks, oaxa per, et scopulos, et depressas convalies 
 
 and dales j not towards thy * - -* 
 
 SS^h^norto^ Diffugiunt; non, Eure, tuos, neque solis ad 
 
 ortus ; 
 
 277. Non, Eure, tuos, &c] Here 
 Virgil widely differs from Aristotle; 
 who says expressly that they run, 
 neither towards the east, nor west, 
 but towards the north or south. 
 Hence some of the critics have 
 taken great pains to draw the phi- 
 losopher and the poet into the same 
 opinion. In order to this, some 
 have supposed the poet's meaning 
 to be that they run, not towards 
 the east, but towards the north, 
 west, and south. Thus Grimoal- 
 dus paraphrases it: "Non orien- 
 " tern solem versus, sed in septen- 
 " trionem, in occidentem, et in 
 e( austrum nebulosum atque plu- 
 " viosum." Thus also La Cerda : 
 " Quin uno excepto Euro, nam 
 tr cum hoc nullus est illis amor, 
 " alios quoque amant ventos. Cur- 
 " runt enini versus Septentrionem, 
 " unde flant Boreas et Caurus : 
 " currunt versus Austrum, his enim 
 " ventis maritantur." This last 
 commentator, not content with 
 straining Virgil, lays hold on Aris- 
 totle in the next place, and compels 
 him to sav the verv same. Instead of 
 
 SiOVFt 01 ovri ■srftbs'iu, OVTl So^og 2'J(Tfioig } 
 aXXcc. zr£og u^Krov, jj vorov , he would 
 fain read Biovrt 21 ov sr^og 'ia 3 uXXoi, zr^bg 
 2v<rpag, j) uqktov, « vorov. He might, 
 with as little violence, have made 
 Aristotle say £sov<r; 21 ov 7r£og 'ia, 
 etXXec <7t£o<; 2v<rfAcig, ov -Tt^og cigKrov « 
 vorov, which would have exactly 
 agreed with the most obvious 
 meaning of Virgil's words. Virgil 
 says expressly, that they turn to 
 the west; "ore omnes versae in 
 " Zephyrum ;" which seems the 
 most probable, if he spake of the 
 marcs of Lisbon j for the nearest 
 
 sea to them is the western ocean, 
 and we have heard Aristotle say, 
 that they run towards the sea. As 
 for the mares which Aristotle men- 
 tions, they seem to have been those 
 of Crete, and probably fed about 
 mount Ida, the most celebrated 
 place in thai island. This being 
 admitted, we need but consider, 
 that as Crete extends in length, 
 from east to west, and as Ida is in 
 the middle of the island, the run- 
 ning directly to the sea, and to the 
 north or south, is exactly the same 
 thing. 
 
 The Eurus, according to Pliny, 
 is the south-east: " Ab oriente 
 " aequinoctiali Subsolanus, ab 
 " oriente brumali Vulturnus: ilium 
 " Apelioten, hunc Eurum Grseci 
 " appellant." According to Aulus 
 Gellius, Eurus is the east, and the 
 same with the Subsolanus and Ape- 
 liotes : " Qui ventus igitur ab 
 " oriente verno, id est, aequinoctiali 
 " venit, nominatur Eurus, ricto 
 " vocabulo, ut isti irvftx>Xoyix.oi aiunt, 
 f ' dire Tf5 zv fa*, is alio quoque a 
 " Graecis nomine dxvXidrng , a Ko- 
 " manis naulicis Subsolanus cog- 
 
 " nominatur Hi sunt igitur 
 
 " tres venti crientales, Aquilo, Vul- 
 " turnus, Eurus: quorum medius 
 u Eurus est." 
 
 278. Boream.~] Boreas is fre- 
 quently used to signify the north : 
 but strictly speaking, it is the north- 
 east. Pliny says the north wind is 
 called Septentrio, and by the Greeks 
 Aparctias, and that the Aquilo, called 
 by the Greeks Boreas is the north- 
 east : " A Septentrionibus septem- 
 " trio, interque eum et exortum 
 " solsutialem Aquilo, Aparctias 
 
GEORG. LIB. Ilf. 
 
 289 
 
 In Boream, Caurumque, aut unde nigerrimus f^^ uruSt 0T whtnce 
 Auster 
 
 <e dicti et Boreas." I believe there 
 is an error in the copies of Pliny, 
 and that instead of interque eum et 
 exortum solstitialem we should read 
 juxtaque eum ad exortum solstitialem : 
 for the exortus solstitialis is the 
 north-east ; and therefore, accord- 
 ing to the common reading Boreas 
 will be in the north-north-east ; 
 whereas Pliny is evidently speaking 
 of the compass, as divided only 
 into eight points : " Veteres qua- 
 " tuor omnino servavere, per toti- 
 " dem mundi partes, ideo nee Ho- 
 " merus plures nominat, hebeti ut 
 <c mox judicatum est ratione : se- 
 " cuta setas octo addidit, nimis sub- 
 f< tili et concisa: proximis inter 
 '• utramque media placnit, ad bre- 
 " vera ex numerosa additis quatuor. 
 (C Sunt ergo bini in quatuor caeli 
 " partibus." Aulus Geliius says 
 expressly, that Boreas is the north- 
 east : " Qui ab aestiva et solstitial! 
 " orientis meta venit, Latine Aqui- 
 (c lo, Boreas Grsece dicitur: eum- 
 " que propterea quidam dicunt ab 
 " Homero xtfynytnTw appellatum. 
 <e Boream autem putant dictum 
 " Jirl rig 0MJS, quoniam sit violenti 
 " flatus et sonori." 
 
 Caurum.~\ Caurus, or Coras, ac- 
 cording to Pliny, is the north-west : 
 r - Ab occasu gequinoctiali Favonius, 
 " ab occasu solstitiali Corus ; Ze- 
 
 "- phyron et Argesten vocant 
 
 " Huic est contrarius Vulturnus . . 
 " . . Ventorum frigidissimi sunt 
 st quos a Septentrione diximus spi- 
 te rare, et vicinus iis Corus." Aulus 
 Geliius makes Caurus the south- 
 west, for he places it opposite to 
 Aquilo : " His oppositi et contrarii 
 11 sunt alii tres occidui : Caurus, 
 " quern solent Grseci d^yzwv vocare, 
 '< is adversus Aquilonem flat." But 
 
 I believe Geliius is mistaken, for 
 Virgil, in ver. 356, represents Cau- 
 rus as an exceeding cold wind : 
 
 Semper hyems, semper spirantes frigora 
 Cauri. 
 
 It will not perhaps be unaccept- 
 able to the reader, if in this place I 
 shew what names the ancients gave 
 to the points of the compass, as 
 they are mentioned by Pliny. I 
 have already observed that this au- 
 thor divided the compass into eight 
 parts. These I think were evi- 
 dently the north, north-east, east, 
 south-east, south, south-west, west, 
 and north-west. For in lib. xviii. 
 c. 34. where he is speaking of de- 
 scribing the parts of heaven in a 
 field, he says the meridian line is 
 to be cut transversely through the 
 middle by another line, which will 
 shew the place of the sun's rising 
 and setting at the equinox, that is, 
 due east and west. Then two other 
 lines must be drawn obliquely, from 
 each side of the north to each 
 side of the south, all through the 
 same centre, all of equal length 
 and at equal distances : " Diximus 
 " ut in media linea designaretur 
 " umbilicus. Per hunc medium 
 " transversa currat alia. Ha3C erit 
 '* ab exortu aequinoctiali ad occa- 
 " sum aequinoctialem. Et limes, 
 " qui ita secabit agrum, decumanus 
 " vocabitur. Ducantur deinde aliae 
 " duae linese in decusseis obliquae, 
 t( ita ut a septentrionis dextra laeva- 
 " que ad austri dextram laevamque 
 e< descendant. Omnes per eundem 
 " currant umbilicum, omnes inter 
 " se pares sint, omnia intervalla 
 " paria.'* The next line to the 
 north, towards the east, that is in 
 the north-east, is called Aquilo, arid 
 2 P 
 
290 
 
 P.*VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ?thcord d rSn densallthcsky Nascitur, et pluvio contristat frigore caelum, 
 
 arises 
 with 
 
 by the Greeks Boreas : " Ita caeli 
 " exacta parte, quod fuerit lineae 
 '* caput septentrioni proximum a 
 " parte exortiva, solstitialem habe- 
 " bit exortum, hoc est, longissimi 
 " diei, ventumque Aquilonem, Bo- 
 " ream a Graecis dictum." The 
 point opposite to this, that is, the 
 south-west, is named Africus, and 
 by the Greeks Libs : " Ex ad verso 
 " Aquilonis ab occasu brumali Afri- 
 " cus flabit, quern Graeci Liba vo- 
 " cant." The wind which blows 
 from the east point is called Stib- 
 solanus, by the Greeks Apeliotes ; 
 opposite to which is the Favonius, 
 called Zephyrus by the Greeks : 
 " Tertia a septentrione linea, quam 
 fi per latitudinem umbrae duximus, 
 " et decumanam vocavimus, exor- 
 " turn habet aequinoctialem, ven- 
 " tumque Subsolanum, Graecis Ape- 
 
 " lioten dictum Favonius ex 
 
 <( adverso ejus ab aequinoctiali oc- 
 " casu, Zephyrus a Graecis nomina- 
 " tus." Between the east and the 
 south rises the Vulturnus, the Greek 
 name of which is Eurus ; and op- 
 posite to this, between the north 
 and west is the Corus, or, as the 
 Greeks call it, Argestes : " Quarta 
 " a septentrione linea, eadem austro 
 " ab exortiva parte proxima, bru- 
 " malem habebit exortum, ventum- 
 " que Vulturnum, Eurum a Graecis 
 
 " dictum Ex adverso Pultur- 
 
 " ni ftabit Corus, ab occasu solsti- 
 " tiali et occidentali latere septen- 
 " trionis,a Graecis dictus Argestes." 
 In lib. ii. c. 47. he says the south is 
 called Auster, by the Greeks Notus, 
 the north Septem trio, by the Greeks 
 Aparctias : « A meridie Auster et 
 <r ab occasu brumali Africus, Noton 
 
 " et Liba nominant A sep- 
 
 " tentrionibus Septem trio, interque 
 " eum et [or rather, as was observed 
 " before, juxtaque eum ad] exortum 
 
 " solstitialem Aquilo, Aparctias dicti 
 " et Boreas." 
 
 278. Nigerrimus Auster.] The 
 south wind is called black, because 
 of the darkness it occasions, by 
 means of the thick showers, which 
 it brings with it. Thus in the fifth 
 ^Eneid : 
 
 •Ruit sethere toto 
 
 Turbidus imber aquis, densisque nigerri- 
 mus Austris. 
 
 2"°. Pluvio contristat frigore cce- 
 lum.] The south was always ac- 
 counted a rainy wind. Thus in the 
 first Georgick ; 
 
 Quid cogitet humidus Auster : 
 
 And 
 
 -Jupiter humidus Austris 
 
 Densat erant qua? rara modo. 
 
 And in the third ; 
 
 Vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus 
 Austris. 
 
 And in the ninth iEneid : 
 
 -Jupiter horridus Austris 
 
 Torquet aquosam h)'emem. 
 
 But I think it seems not quite so 
 plain, that it ever was accounted a 
 cold wind. I have sometimes in- 
 clined to think, that we ought to 
 read sidere instead of frigore, with 
 the Roman and Cambridge manu- 
 scripts : but that will not fully an- 
 swer our purpose, for w r e have an- 
 other instance of the south wind's 
 being called cold by Virgil. It is in 
 the fourth Georgick, where he says, 
 
 Frigidus ut quondam sylvis immurmu- 
 rat Auster. 
 
 Macrobius endeavours to solve this 
 difficulty, by saying the south-wind 
 is cold at its origin, and is only ac- 
 cidentally warm, by passing through 
 
XV//./ 
 
 SEPTET 
 
 TBioy: 
 
 APARCTIAS 
 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 291 
 
 Hinc demum, Hippomanes vero quod nomine Sfr^iS^if 18 * 
 dicunt 280 
 
 the torrid zone. But this is a very 
 trifling solution. For what signifies 
 the coldness of this wind at its ori- 
 gin, when it is warm with regard 
 to us ? Besides, if I am not much 
 mistaken, the ancients had no no- 
 tion of its coming from the pole, 
 but thought it arose in Africa, which 
 was the most southern part of the 
 world, that they knew : Libi/a de- 
 vexus in Austros, says our poet him- 
 self in the first Georgick. And 
 Pliny speaks of a rock in the Cy- 
 renaic province, which is in Africa, 
 that is sacred to the south wind $ 
 " Quin et in Cyrenaica provincia, 
 " rupes qusedam Austro traditur 
 " sacra, quam profanum sit attrec- 
 " tari hominis manu, confestim 
 *' austro volvente arenas." Ruaeus 
 will have frigus in this place to 
 stand only for a rainy season, as 
 hyems is also used frequently. This 
 I believe is only a conjecture of his 
 own. The only way I can find to 
 extricate us from this difficulty, is 
 by observing that the south wind 
 was not always accounted warm. 
 Columella speaks of its blowing in 
 January and February, and bring- 
 ing hail : " XVII. Cal. Feb. Sol in 
 " Aquarium transit, Leo maneinci- 
 " pit occidere, Africus, interdum 
 
 " Auster cum pluvia Cal. Feb. 
 
 " Fidis incipit occidere, ventus euri- 
 " nus, et interdum Auster cum gran- 
 
 " dine est Nonas April. Fa- 
 
 " vonius aut Auster, cum grandine." 
 Now it appears from the same au- 
 thor, that the time, when the mares 
 are seized with this fury is about 
 the vernal equinox : ¥ Generosis 
 " circa vernum cequinoctium mares 
 
 " jungentur Maxime itaque cu- 
 
 " randum est prcedicto tempore anni, 
 " ut .... desiderantibus coeundi 
 
 " fiat potestas, quoniam id praecipue 
 " armentum si prohibeas, libidinis 
 M extimulatur furiis." Virgil there- 
 fore speaking of the south-wind 
 about the beginning of our March 
 calls it cold at that season, with 
 great propriety. 
 
 280. Hippomanes vero quod nomine 
 dicunt.] Servius speaks of an herb 
 mentioned by Hesiod, under the 
 name of Hippomanes 3 but I be- 
 lieve there is an error in the copy 
 of Servius, which I make use of, 
 for Fulvius Ursinus represents Ser- 
 vius as quoting Theocritus: " Putat 
 " Servius intelligendum hoc loco 
 " de Hippomane planta, cujus me- 
 " minitTheocritus. ,, I do not find 
 the mention of any such plant in 
 Hesiod, but it is spoken of in the 
 Pharmaceutria of Theocritus : 
 
 'Ifftfof&uvis furov let z?u£ 'Agxutri. refit 
 
 Iff) zrutrat 
 Ka,f zau\oi ftaivovrai av iagia. xctt Soui 
 
 Hippomanes, a plant Arcadia bears ; 
 This makes steeds mad, and this excites 
 the mares. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 The Scholiast upon Theocritus, as 
 I find him quoted by Fulvius 
 Ursinus, tells us that Cratevas de- 
 scribed the plant Hippomanes, as 
 having the fruit of the wild cu- 
 cumer, and the leaves of the prickly 
 
 poppy : Kqcitzvccs (pca-i TO <pyT0J» t%UV 
 
 XOCgTTOV 6)$ G-IKVOV Uy^tOV. ftiXoCVTigOV ^S 
 
 to (pvAAov axnn^ pviKMoq uxecy^a^tg. It 
 is plain however, that Virgil does 
 not here speak of the plant. Servius 
 thinks he adds vero nomine, to in- 
 sinuate, that the plant is errone- 
 ously called Hippomanes, and that 
 it belongs properly to the slime he 
 is speaking of. The Poet might 
 perhaps allude to the tubercle said 
 to be found on the forehead of a 
 2 p 2 
 
29<2 
 
 P. VIRGIL1I MARONIS 
 
 which the shepherds properly 
 call Hippomanes. The Hip- 
 pomanes is often gathered by 
 wicked stepmothers, who mix 
 herbs with it, and baleful 
 charms. But in the mean 
 while, time, irreparable time, 
 flies away, whilst we, being 
 drawn away by love, pursue 
 so many particulars. Enough 
 of herbs ; there remains an- 
 other part of our care, to ma- 
 nage the woolly flocks, and 
 the shaggy goats. This is a 
 labour : hence, ye strong hus- 
 bandmen, hope for praise. 
 
 Pastores, lentum destillat ab inguine virus. 
 Hippomanes, quod saepe malse legere novercae, 
 Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba. 
 Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus, 
 Singula durn capti circumvectamur amore. 285 
 Hoc satis armentis : superat pars altera curae, 
 Lanigeros agitare greges, hirtasque capellas : 
 Hie labor: hinc laudem fortes sperate coloni. 
 
 young colt, when he is just foaled, 
 which is by some called Hippo- 
 manes, and was sought for in 
 incantations,, as we find in the 
 fourth iEneid : 
 
 Quaeritur et inascentis equi cle fronte 
 revulsus 
 
 Et matri praereptus amor. 
 
 Pliny says the mare licks this 
 tubercle off, as soon as the colt is 
 foaled ; otherwise she does not 
 love him, nor will she admit him 
 to suck her : " Et sane equis amo- 
 " ris innasci veneficium, Hippo- 
 ** manes appellatum, in fronte, 
 " caricae magnitudine, colore ni- 
 " gro : quod statim edito partu 
 " devorat fceta, aut partum ad 
 " ubera non admittit, si quis prae- 
 " reptum habeat." Aristotle also 
 mentions it in the eighth book of 
 his History of Animals ; but he 
 treats it as an old woman's story : 
 Ta 7)1 i7r7Topocns xxhovftivov l^i^virott 
 ph, o>Wsg Xzyirai, rolg 7ra>Xot$' at Hi 
 t7T7roi TregiteifcovF&i y -M KotB-cugoviroci, 
 TTiQiT^ayovriv avro. ra al In tpvSivo pivot 
 TttTrharcii ftoLXKcv V7ro rcSy ywxtzcov fco&i 
 
 twv nig tus hrofbu,!. Virgil there- 
 fore, who had Aristotle in his eye 
 throughout this passage, says that 
 this slime is properly called Hip- 
 pomanes, in contradistinction to 
 that fictitious tubercle, which has 
 usurped that name. 
 
 281. Destillat.'] It is generally 
 printed distillat: but Pierius says 
 
 it is destillat in the Roman, the 
 Medicean, the Lombard, and other 
 ancient manuscripts. Heinsius also 
 admits destillat. 
 
 283. Miscuerunt.] It is miscuerint 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in the Roman manuscript, ac- 
 cording to Pierius. This line is 
 also in the second Georgick : 
 
 Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercce, 
 Miscueruntque Jterbas, et non innoxia 
 
 verba. 
 
 286. The Poet, having now done 
 with bulls and horses, proceeds to 
 speak of sheep and goats. But 
 being aware of the great difficulty 
 in making such mean subjects shine 
 in poetry, he invokes Pales to his 
 assistance. 
 
 288. Hie] Pierius says it is hinc 
 in the Medicean, and in most of 
 the ancient manuscripts, though 
 many of them have hie. The King's, 
 both the Arundelian, and both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts have hinc. The 
 Cambridge and the Bodleian copies 
 have hie, which reading is admitted 
 also by Heinsius, and most of the 
 editors. 
 
 Laudem.'] It is laudes in the 
 King's and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 Sperate.] It is sperare in the old 
 edition printed at \ T enice, by Jaco- 
 bus Rubeus, in 1475, and in that 
 by An to ni us Bartholomew in 1476. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 293 
 
 Nee sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere mag- 
 num 
 Quamsit,etangustishunc addere rebus honorem. 
 Sed me Parnassi deserta per ardua dulcis 291 
 Raptat amor : juvat irejugis, qua nulla prior um 
 Casta] iam molli devertitur orbita clivo. 
 Nunc veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore so- 
 nandum. 
 
 Nor am I at all ignorant, how 
 difficult it is to raise this sub- 
 ject with lofty expressions, 
 and to add due honour to so 
 low an argument. But sweet 
 love carries me away through 
 the rugged desartsof Parnas- 
 sus ; I delight in parsing over 
 the hills, where no track of 
 the ancients turns with an 
 easydescenttoCastalia. Now, 
 O adored Pales, now must I 
 raise my strain. 
 
 289- Nee sum animi dubius, &c] 
 This passage is an evident imitation 
 of the following lines of Lucretius : 
 
 Nunc age, quod superest, cognosce, et 
 
 clarius audi. 
 Nee me animi fallit quam sint obscura, 
 
 sed acri 
 Percussit thyrso laudis spes magna 
 
 meum cor, 
 Et simul incussit suavem mi in pectus 
 
 amorem 
 Musarum: quo nunc instinctus, mente 
 
 vigenti 
 Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante 
 Trita solo : juvat integros accedere fon- 
 
 tes, 
 Atque haurire: juvatque novos decer- 
 
 pere flores: 
 Insignemque meo capiti petere inde 
 
 coronam, 
 Unde prius nulli velarint tempora Musae. 
 
 291. Parnassi deserta per ardua.] 
 Parnassus is a great mountain of 
 Phocis, sacred to Apollo and the 
 Muses. Near it was the city Del- 
 phi, famous for the temple and 
 oracle of the Pythian Apollo. At 
 the foot of this mountain was the 
 Castalian spring, sacred to the 
 Muses. 
 
 293. Devertitur.'] In many co- 
 pies it is devertitur: but Pierius 
 says it is diver titur in all the ancient 
 manuscripts which he has seen. 
 
 Molli clivo.] Clivus is used both 
 for the ascent and descent of a hill. 
 Servius understands it in this place 
 to signify a descent : " facili itinere 
 " et descensioner This interpreta- 
 tion seems to agree best with 
 
 Virgil's sense; for he speaks of 
 passing over the mountain; and 
 therefore he must descend again, 
 to come to the Castalian spring. 
 Grimoaldus however takes it to 
 mean an ascent: " per quae nemo 
 t( veterum Poetarum f'aciii ascensu 
 " trajicerepotuithactenus." Of the 
 same opinion is La Cerda : " Est 
 " Castalius fons Musarum, non in 
 " ipso vertice Parnassi. sed ad ima, 
 " icleo tantum per mollem quendam 
 " clivum ascensus est ad ilium." 
 Dr. Trapp follows this interpre- 
 tation : 
 
 By soft ascent 
 
 Inclining to the pure Castalian stream. 
 
 We find an expression like this in 
 the ninth Eclogue : 
 
 Qua se subducere colles 
 
 Incipiunt, moUique jugum demiftere clivo, 
 Usque ad aquam, et veteris jam fracta 
 cacumina fagi. 
 
 Here molli clivo plainly signifies an 
 easy descent; and thus it is under- 
 stood by La Cerda himself : ' ' A 
 " clivo quopiam molli leniterque 
 <{ subducto usque ad aquam Mincii 
 " fluminis, et fagum, cui prae senio 
 '.' fracta cacumina/' Thus also Dr. 
 Trapp translates this passage : 
 
 Where the hills begin 
 
 To lessen by an easy soft descent, 
 Down to the water, and the stunted 
 beech. 
 
 294. Pales.] See the note on 
 ver. 1. 
 
294 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 It^tiSggSSS* Incipiens stabulis edico in mollibus herbam 295 
 summer SSSiJflnfthafthe Carpere oves, dum mox frondosa reducitur 
 
 hard ground should be strew- 
 ed with a good quantity SestaS '. 
 
 Et multa duram stipula filicumque maniplis 297 
 
 Sonandum.] It is canendum in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 295. Incipiens, &c] In this pas- 
 sage the Poet treats of the care of 
 sheep and goats, during the winter 
 season. 
 
 Stabulis in mollibus.] Servius in- 
 terprets mollibus warm: " clemen- 
 " tioribus et aeris temperati ; vel 
 " propter plagam australem, vel 
 " propter suppositas herbas anima- 
 " libus.'' In this he is followed by 
 Dr. Trapp : 
 
 First, I ordain, that in warm huts the 
 
 sheep 
 Be fodder'd. 
 
 I rather choose, with La Cerda, to 
 give mollibus its usual sense soft, 
 because he immediately tells us 
 that the hard ground should be 
 littered with straw and brakes. 
 Thus also May translates it : 
 
 ■ But first I counsell to contaiue 
 
 Your sheep within soft stals to feed at 
 home. 
 
 Besides, Columella expressly says, 
 that this litter is used, that the 
 sheep may lie soft: " Deturque 
 " opera, nequis humor subsistat, 
 " ut semper quam aridissimis fili- 
 " cibus, vel culmis stabula con- 
 " strata sint, quo purius et mollius 
 i( incubent fcetse." It is not very 
 usual with us, to house our sheep, 
 notwithstanding our climate is less 
 mild than that of Italy. But Mr. 
 Mortimer observes, that " in Glou- 
 " cestershire they house their sheep 
 " every night, and litter them 
 (t with clean straw, which affords a 
 " great advantage to their land by 
 
 <e the manure, and they say makes 
 " their wool very fine." 
 
 Herbam carpereJ] Cato says the 
 sheep should be foddered with the 
 leaves of poplars, elms, and oaks : 
 " Frondem populneam, ulmearn, 
 " querneam caedito, per tempus 
 " earn condito, non peraridam, 
 " pabulum ovibus/' Varro men- 
 tions fig-leaves, chaff, grape-stones, 
 and bran: " His quaecunque ju- 
 " bentur, vescuntur, ut folia ficul- 
 " nea, etpalea, etvinacea: furfures 
 " objiciuntur modice, ne parum, 
 " aut nimium saturentur." Co- 
 lumella speaks also of elm and 
 ash leaves : " Aluntur autem com- 
 *' modissimerepositisulmeis,vel ex 
 " fraxino frondibus." 
 
 296. Dum mox frondosa reducitur 
 astas.] The meaning of this is, 
 that the sheep are to be housed, till 
 the warm weather has produced a 
 sufficient quantity of fresh food for 
 them in the open fields. We can- 
 not suppose that summer is to be 
 taken here in a strict sense; for 
 that season began on the ninth of 
 May : and surely they never housed 
 their sheep till that time. 
 
 297- Duram humum.] He calls 
 the ground hard, because it was 
 usual to pave their sheep-cotes 
 with stone : " Horum prapsepia 
 " ac stabula, ut sint pura, majorem 
 " adhibeant diligentiam quam hir- 
 " tis. Itaque faciunt lapide strata, 
 " ut urina necubi in stabulo con- 
 " sistat." 
 
 Stipula filicumque maniplis.] For 
 filix see ver. I89. of the second 
 book. 
 
 The writers of agriculture are 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 £95 
 
 Sternere subter humum, glacies ne frigida laedat 11^*1^?%$^*^ 
 
 i»«- ii i • c l J not hurt the tender cattle, 
 
 Molle pecus, scabiemque terat, turpesque pocta- and bring the scab and foui 
 
 gouts. 
 
 gras. 
 
 particularly careful, to give instruc- 
 tions about keeping the sheep clean 
 and dry in their cotes. Thus Cato: 
 " Pecori et bubus diligenter sub- 
 " sternatur, ungulae curentur .... 
 " Stramenta si deerunt, frondem 
 " iligneam legito, earn substernito 
 " ovibus bubusque." Varro says 
 the pavement should be laid slop- 
 ing, that it may easily be swept 
 clean ; because wet spoils the wool 
 and disorders the sheep. He adds 
 that fresh litter should be often 
 given them, that they may lie soft 
 and clean : " Ubi stent, solum 
 " oportet esse eruderatum, et pro- 
 " clivum, ut everri facile possit, ac 
 le fieri purum : non enim solum ea 
 " uligo lanam corrumpitovium, sed 
 " etiam ungulas, ac scabras fieri 
 " cogit. Cum aliquot dies stete- 
 " runt, subjicere oportet virgulta 
 " alia, quo mollius requiescant, 
 ic purioresque sint : libentius enim 
 " ita pascuntur." 
 
 298. Glacies ne frigida Icedat molle 
 pecus."] Columella says that sheep, 
 though they are the best clothed 
 of all animals, are nevertheless the 
 most impatient both of cold and 
 heat : " Id pecus, quamvis ex om- 
 <f nibus animalibus vestitissimum, 
 " frigoris tamen impatientissimum 
 ee est, nee minus aestivi vaporis." 
 
 299. Scabiem.~] See ver. 441. 
 
 Turpesque podagras.] I have ven- 
 tured to translate podagra the gout, 
 though I have not been informed 
 that our sheep are ever subject to 
 such a distemper. The Poet cer- 
 tainly means some kind of tumour 
 in the feet : and probably it is the 
 same distemper with that, which 
 Columella has described under the 
 
 name of clavi. He says they are 
 of two sorts : one is, when there is 
 a filth and galling in the parting of 
 the hoof; the other, when there is 
 a tubercle in the same place, with a 
 hair in the middle, and a worm 
 under it. The former is cured by 
 tar ; or by alum and sulphur mixed 
 with vinegar ; or by a young pome- 
 granate, before the seeds are formed, 
 pounded with alum, and then co- 
 vered with vinegar; or by verde- 
 gris crumbled upon it ; or by burnt 
 galls levigated with austere wine, 
 and laid upon the part. The tu- 
 bercle, which has the worm at the 
 bottom, must be cut carefully round, 
 that the animalcule be not wounded, 
 for if that should happen, h> sends 
 forth a venomous sanies, which 
 makes the wound incurable, so that 
 the whole foot must be taken off: 
 and when you have carefully cut 
 out the tubercle, you must drop 
 melted suet into the place : ' ' Clavi 
 " quoque dupliciter infestant ovem, 
 " sive cum subluvies atque inter- 
 " trigo in ipso discrimine ungulae 
 " nascitur, seu cum idem locus tu- 
 " berculum habet, cujus media fere 
 " parte canino similis extat pilus, 
 " eique subest vermiculus. Sub- 
 " luvies, et intertrigo pice per se 
 " liquida, vel alumine et sulfure, 
 " atque aceto mistis rite eruentur, 
 " vel tenero punico malo, prius 
 " quam grana faciat, cum alumine 
 " pinsito, superfusaque aceto, vel 
 <c aeris aerugine infriata, vel com- 
 (< busta galla cum austero vino le- 
 " vigata, et superposita : tubercu- 
 ic lum, cui subest vermiculus, ferro 
 <e quam acutissime circumsecari 
 " oportet, ne, dum amputatur etiam, 
 
£96 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Then leaving the sheep, I 
 order the leafy arbutes to suf- 
 fice the goats : and that they 
 should have fresh water, and 
 that the cotes should be turn- 
 ed from the winds opposite 
 to the wincer sun, being ex- 
 posed to the south; when 
 cold Aquarius now sets, and 
 pours forth his water at the 
 end of the year. Nor are 
 these to be tended by us with 
 less care, nor are they less 
 useful ; though the Milesian 
 
 Post hinc digressus jubeo frondentia capris 300 
 Arbuta sufficere, et fluvios preebere recentes; 
 Et stabula a ventis hyberno opponere soli 
 Ad medium conversa diem ; cum frigidus olim 
 Jam cadit, extremoque irrorat Aquarius anno. 
 Has quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae, 305 
 Nee minor usus erit : quamvis Milesia magno 
 
 ({ quod infra est, animal vulnere- 
 <c mus : id enim cum sauciatur, ve- 
 «« nenatam saniem mittit, qua re- 
 * c spersum vulnus ita insanabile fa- 
 ec eit, ut totus pes amputandus sit : 
 (C et cum tuberculum diligenter cir- 
 " cumcideris, candens sevum vul- 
 " neri per ardentem taedam instil- 
 e< lato." Perhaps Virgil means the 
 first sort, and therefore gives this 
 disease the epithet turpis. 
 
 300. Frondentia arbuta.] In the 
 first book, Virgil uses arbuium for 
 the fruit, and in the second, arbutus 
 for the tree: but here arbutum is 
 used for the tree. The epithet 
 frondentia is a plain proof, that in 
 this place he means the tree, which 
 is an ever-green, and therefore sup- 
 plies the goats with browze in win- 
 ter, of which season Virgil is now 
 speaking. Columella mentions the 
 arbutus among those shrubs which 
 are coveted by goats : " Id autem 
 " genus dumeta potius, quam cam- 
 " pestre situm desiderat : asperisque 
 " etiam locis, ac sylvestribus optime 
 " pascitur. Nam nee rubos aver- 
 et satur, nee vepribus offenditur, et 
 " arbusculis,. frutetisque maxime 
 " gaudet. Ep sunt arbutus, atque 
 " alatrrnus, cytlsusque agrestis. 
 rt Nee' minus llignei, querneique 
 ft frutices, qui in altitudinem non 
 ci prosiliunt." 
 ' 303. Cum frigidus olim jam cadit, 
 &c.] In one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts it is dum instead of 
 
 In this place, as Ruaeus well ob- 
 serves, Virgil must mean that year 
 which began with March, for Aqua- 
 rius was reckoned to rise about the 
 middle of January, and to set about 
 the middle of February. Aquarius 
 is represented pouring water out of 
 an um, and was esteemed a rainy 
 sign. 
 
 305. Hce .... tuendcB."] Servius 
 
 reads hcec tuenda, and says the 
 
 Poet uses the neuter gender figura- 
 tively. In this he is followed by 
 several of the oldest editors. But 
 Heinsius, and almost all the late 
 editors read has .... tuenda?, which 
 reading I find also in all the manu- 
 scripts, which I have collated. In 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it 
 is nee instead of hce. 
 
 306. Nee minor usus erit.] Goats 
 are of no less value than sheep : for 
 they are very fruitful, and yield 
 abundance of milk, which is very 
 little, if at all inferior to that of the 
 ass, in nourishing weak, and re- 
 storing wasting bodies. They are 
 kept with very little expence, for 
 they will feed on briars, and almost 
 any wild shrubs. The kids are 
 very good meat: they climb the 
 steepest rocks and precipices: 
 though their feet do not at all seem 
 to be made for that purpose. 
 
 . Quamvis Milesia r magno vellera 
 mutentur.] Miletus was a city on 
 the borders of Ionia and Caria, fa- 
 mous for the best wool, of which the 
 Milesian garments were made, which 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 297 
 
 Vellera mutentur, Tyrios incocta rubores. 
 Densior hinc soboles; hinc largi copia lactis. 
 Quam magis exhausto spumaverit ubere mulc- 
 tra ; 309 
 
 Laeta magis pressis manabunt flumina mammis. 
 Nee minus interea barbas incanaque menta, 
 
 fleeces being stained with 
 Tyrian dye sell for a large 
 price. These are more fruit- 
 ful, these afford a greater 
 plenty of milk. The more the 
 pail froths with their exhaust- 
 ed udders, the larger streams 
 will flow from their pressed 
 dugs. Besides, the beards and 
 hoary chins, 
 
 were greatly esteemed by the ladies, 
 for their delicate softness. 
 
 In magna mutentur the Poet 
 alludes to the ancient custom of 
 changing one commodity for an- 
 other, before the general use of 
 money. 
 
 307. Tyrios incocta rubores.] See 
 the note on Tyrio conspectus in 
 ostro, ver. 17. 
 
 308. Densior hinc soboles.] Co- 
 lumella says a goat, if she is of a 
 good sort, frequently brings forth 
 two, and sometimes three kids at a 
 time: " Parit autem si est generosa 
 " proles, frequenter duos, nonnun- 
 " quam trigeminos." 
 
 309. Quam magis."] Pierius says 
 it is quo magis in the Roman, and 
 other ancient manuscripts. 
 
 310. Flumina.~\ So I read, with 
 Heinsius, and Ruaeus. Pierius says 
 it is ubera, in the Roman, the Lom- 
 bard, and other very ancient manu- 
 scripts. He seems to think ubera 
 the true reading; and that the 
 transcribers, observing ubere in the 
 preceding line, were afraid of re- 
 peating ubera in this; and therefore 
 substituted flumina. La Cerda also 
 thinks, that those who redid, flumina, 
 deprive this passage of a great ele- 
 gance. I find ubera in the King's, 
 the Bodleian, both the Arundelian, 
 and both Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 In the Cambridge manuscript, and 
 in most of the latter editions, it is 
 
 flumina, which appears to be no 
 inelegant reading. Pierius also al- 
 lows that flumina is a metaphorical 
 hyperbole, very proper in this 
 
 place, to express an extraordinary 
 abundance of milk. 
 
 311. Barbas incanaque menta Ci- 
 nyphii iondent hirci.] Cinyphus, ac- 
 cording to Strabo, is a river of 
 Africa. According to Pliny, Cynips 
 is the name both of a river and a 
 country : ° Augylae ipsi medio fere 
 ? spatio locantur ab ^Ethiopia, quae 
 ' c ad occidentem vergit, et a regione 
 " quae duas Syrtes interjacet, pari 
 " utrinque intervallo, sed littore 
 " inter duas Syrtes, ccl. M. pass. 
 " Ibi civitas CEensis, Cynips fluvius 
 V ac regio." This country seems 
 to be that which is now called 
 Tripoly, (Ea being one of the three 
 cities, which were joined to make 
 the city Tripolis. This country 
 was famous for goats with the 
 longest hair ; whence these animals 
 are often called Cinyphian. Thus 
 Martial : 
 
 Cujus livida naribus caninis 
 Dependet glacies, rigetque barba, 
 Qualem forficibus metit supinis 
 Tonsor CinypMo Cylix marito : 
 
 And 
 
 Non hos lana dedit, sed olentis barba 
 mariti : 
 CinypMo poterit planta latere sinu. 
 
 Some grammarians take Cyniphii 
 hirci to be the nominative case, and 
 tondent to be put for tondentur. 
 But the general opinion is, that 
 Cinyphii hirci is the genitive case ; 
 and that pastores understood is the 
 nominative case before the active 
 verb iondent. Perhaps Cinyphii is 
 the nominative case to tondent : and 
 2 o 
 
298 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and shaggy hairs of the Ciny- 
 phian goats are shorn, for the 
 use of the camps, and for 
 coverings to miserable mari- 
 ners. But they feed in the 
 woods, and on the summits of 
 Lycseus, and browse on the 
 prickly brambles, and the 
 bushes that love high places. 
 And the she-goats remember 
 to return to their cotesof their 
 own accord, and carry their 
 kids with them, and can 
 scarce step over the threshold 
 with their swelling udders. 
 Therefore, as they take less 
 care to provide against want, 
 you must be the more careful 
 to defend them from ice and 
 snowy winds; and joyfully 
 supply them with food, and 
 twiggy pasture : nor must you 
 shut up your stores of hay 
 during the whole winter. 
 But when the warm weather 
 rejoices with inviting Ze- 
 phyrs, 
 
 Cinyphii tondent hirci, setasque comantes, 
 Usum in castrorum, et miseris velamina nautis. 
 Pascuntur vero sylvas et summa Lycaei, 314? 
 Horrentesque rubos, et am antes ardua dumos. 
 Atque ipsa? memores redeunt in tecta, suosque 
 Ducunt, et gravido superant vix ubere limen. 
 Ergo omni studio glaciem ventosque nivales, 
 Quo minor est illis curae mortalis egestas, 
 Avertes; victumque feres, et virgealaetus 320 
 Pabula; nee tota claudes fcenilia bruma. 
 At vero, zephyris cum laeta vocantibus aestas, 
 
 then this passage should be thus 
 translated : " the Cinyphians shave 
 " the beards and hoary chins of the 
 goat." This sense is admitted by 
 Grimoaldus : " Libyci pastores ab- 
 " radunt hirquinas barbas, &c." 
 Cinyphius is used for the people 
 by Martial : 
 
 Stat caper JEolio Thebani vellere Phryxi 
 Cultus : ab hoc mallet vecta fuisse soror. 
 
 Hunc nee Cinyphius tonsor violaverit, 
 et tu 
 Ipse tua pasci vite, Lyoee, velis. 
 
 Pierius says it is kircis in the Ro- 
 man, and in some other ancient 
 manuscripts. 
 
 313. Usum in castrorum, et miseris 
 velamina nautis.] Varro says that 
 goats are shorn for the use of 
 sailors, and engines of war : " Ut 
 " fructum ovis e lana ad vestimen- 
 ' ' turn : sic capra pilos ministrat ad 
 " usum nauticum, et ad bellica tor- 
 " menta, et fabrilia vasa." 
 
 314. Lycasi.] Ly casus is a moun- 
 tain of Arcadia. It seems to be put 
 here for mountains in general. 
 
 315. Horrentesque rubos.] Rubus 
 is the bramble or blackberry bush; 
 for Pliny says they bear a fruit like 
 mulberries: " Rubi mora ferunt." 
 
 31 6. Suosque ducunt.] Servius 
 interprets suos their young; in 
 
 which he is followed by most of 
 the commentators and translators. 
 But La Cerda thinks it means their 
 pastors. 
 
 319- Minor.] Servius reads minor. 
 It is minor also in the Cambridge, 
 the Bodleian, both the Arundelian, 
 and in one of Dr. Meads manu- 
 scripts. In the other manuscript 
 of Dr. Mead it is minus, which is 
 admitted by Heinsius, and most of 
 the editors. But the frequent re- 
 petition of s in this line induces me 
 to believe, that Virgil rather wrote 
 minor, to avoid a disagreeable sibi- 
 lation. In the old Nurenberg edi- 
 tion it is minor. In the King's 
 manuscript it is major, which can- 
 not be right. 
 
 The sense of this passage seems 
 to be, that as goats give us so little 
 trouble, browsing upon any wild 
 bushes, which sheep will not touch ; 
 as they wander over the rocks and 
 precipices, where other cattle can- 
 not tread; as they come home of 
 their own accord, without requiring 
 the care of a shepherd ; we ought 
 in justice to take care of them, 
 and allow them a sufficient quan- 
 tity of food in winter. 
 
 322. At vero, &c] In this pas- 
 sage we are informed how sheep 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 2V9 
 
 In saltus utrumque gregem atque in pascua 
 
 mittes. 
 Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura 
 Carpamusj dum mane novum, dum gramina 
 
 canent, 525 
 
 Et ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba. 
 Inde, ubi quarta sitim c<eli collegerit hora, 
 
 you shall send both your 
 flocks into lawns and into 
 pastures. Let us take the 
 cool fields at the first rising 
 of Lucifer, whilst the morn- 
 ing is new, whilst the grass 
 is hoary, and the dew upon 
 the tender herbs hmost grate- 
 ful to the cattle. And then 
 when the fourth hour of hea- 
 ven shall have brought on 
 thirst, 
 
 and goats are to be managed, when 
 the weather begins to grow warm. 
 
 Zephyris cum Iceta vocantibus 
 cestas.~] The west wind, called by 
 the Romans Favonius, and by the 
 Greeks Zephyrus, was thought to 
 introduce the spring. Thus Pliny : 
 <c Tertia a septentrione linea, quam 
 <{ per latitudinem umbrae duximus, 
 <c et decumanam vocavimus, exor- 
 " turn habet aequinoctialem, ven- 
 cc tumque Subsolanum, Graecis Ape- 
 se lioten dictum. In hunc salubri- 
 {i bus locis villa? vineaque spectent. 
 te Ipse leniter pluvius, tamen est 
 " siccior Favonius, ex ad verso ejus 
 " ab aequinoctiali occasu, Zephyrus 
 " a Gr<ecis nominatus. In hunc 
 " spectare oliveta Cato jussit. Hie 
 " ver inchoat, aperitque terras tenui 
 " frigore saluber. Hie vites pu- 
 " tandi, frugesque curandi, arbores 
 " serendi, poma inserendi, oleas 
 " tractandi jus dabit afflatuque nu- 
 " tricium exercebit." 
 
 I have translated cestas warm 
 weather in this place. He means 
 by this word, from the beginning 
 of the spring, to the autumnal equi- 
 nox. See the note on ver. 296. 
 
 323. Mittes.~] Fulvius Ursinus 
 says it is mittet in some ancient 
 manuscripts, which he takes to be 
 the true reading. 
 
 324. Luciferi.'] The planet Ve- 
 nus, when she appears in the even- 
 ing, is called Vesper or Hesperus ; 
 in the morning she is called Luci- 
 
 fer. Columella approves of the 
 time of feeding and watering, men- 
 tioned by the Poet: " Dl tempori- 
 " bus autem pascendi, et au aquam 
 " ducendi per aestatem non aliter 
 " sentio, quam ut prodidit Maro : 
 " Luciferi primo, &c." 
 
 325. Dum mane novum, &c] 
 Here the Poet follows Varro: 
 
 " ^Estate prima luce exeunt 
 
 " pastum, propterea quod tunc 
 " herba roscida meridianam, qua? 
 " est aridior, jucunditate prasstat." 
 
 326. Herba.] Most of the editors 
 have est after herba : I find it also 
 in both Dr. Meads manuscripts. 
 It is wanting however in the King's, 
 the Cambridge, the Bodleian, and 
 both the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 Heinsius also and Masvicius leave 
 out est. 
 
 This verse is also in the eighth 
 Eclogue. 
 
 327. Ubi quarta sitim cceli colle- 
 gerit hora.] The L'oet is thought to 
 mean such hours, as divide the ar- 
 tificial day into twelve equal parts. 
 Thus, at the equinox, the fourth 
 hour will be at ten in the morning : 
 but at the solstice, it will be at half 
 an hour after nine in Italy, where 
 the day is then fifteen hours long, 
 according to Pliny : " Sic fit, ut 
 " vario lucis incremento in Meroe 
 " longissimus dies xii horas aequi- 
 " noctiales, et octo partes unius 
 " horse colligat, Alexandria? vero 
 " xiv horas. In Italia quindecim. 
 
 2 S 2 
 
soo 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^iM^tSSth^ Et cantu q uerulffi nimpent arbusta cicadae; 
 to" drink C tS n running w°a°ter Ad puteos, aut alta greges ad stagnajubeto 
 
 in oaken troughs.at the wells, , , , 
 
 or at the deep pools; but in Currentem ilignis potare canahbus undam ; 330 
 
 the heat of noon let them ° r 
 
 seek the shady valley, iEstibus at mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem, 
 
 " In Britannia xvii." In England, 
 according to this interpretation, the 
 fourth hour will be about nine. 
 
 Grimoaldus seems to understand 
 the Poet to mean by the words now 
 under consideration, when the fourth 
 hour has gathered the drought of the 
 air : " cum hora post exortum so- 
 " lem quarta siccitatem aeris con- 
 f ' traxerit, roremque calore absump- 
 " serit." In this sense May trans- 
 lates it : 
 
 That dew away 
 
 Tane by the fourth houres thirsty sun. 
 
 But I rather believe, with La Cerda, 
 that Virgil's meaning is, when the 
 fourth hour of the day has made the 
 cattle thirsty. Ovid uses sitim colli- 
 gere not for gathering up the dew, 
 but for growing thirsty : 
 
 Jamque Chimaeriferae, cum sol gravis 
 
 ureret arva, » 
 
 Finibus in Lyciae longo dea fessa Iabore, 
 Sidereo siccata sitim collegit ab aestu. 
 
 Dr. Trapp's translation is according 
 to this sense : 
 
 But when advancing day, 
 
 At the fourth hour, gives thirst to men 
 and beasts. 
 
 Dryden comprehends both inter- 
 pretations : 
 
 But when the day's fourth hour has 
 
 drawn the dews, 
 And the sun's sultry heat their thirst 
 
 renews. 
 
 328. Et cantu queruloz rumpetit 
 arbusta cicada?.] This line is an 
 imitation of Hesiod, if Hesiod is the 
 author of the 'AmU 'HgocxXiovs : 
 
 r Hfios Se %\osgZ xvuvoVrtgo; ^e't« rsrn^ 
 "Azxircti. 
 
 It has been usual to render cicada 
 grasshopper, but very erroneously : 
 for the cicada is an insect of a very 
 different sort. It has a rounder and 
 shorter body, is of a dark green co- 
 lour, sits upon trees, and makes a 
 noise five times louder than a grass- 
 hopper. They begin their song as 
 soon as the sun grows hot, and con- 
 tinue singing till it sets. Their 
 wings are beautiful, being streaked 
 with silver, and marked with brown 
 spots. The outer wings are twice 
 as long as the inner, and more va- 
 riegated. They are very numerous 
 in the hot countries, but have not 
 been found on this side the Alps 
 and Cevennes. The proper Latin 
 name for a grasshopper is locusta. 
 
 Tithonus the son of Laomedon, 
 king of Troy, was beloved by Au- 
 rora, and obtained of her an ex- 
 ceeding long life. When he had 
 lived many years, he at length 
 dwindled into a cicada: thus Ho- 
 race : 
 
 Longa Tithonum minuit senectus. 
 
 The Poet is thought to allude to 
 this fable, when he uses the epithet 
 querulw. 
 
 330. Ilignis canalibus.]. Ilex is 
 the ever-green or holm oak. Pie- 
 rius says it is lignis for ligneis in 
 the Roman manuscript: I find in 
 lignis in the King's manuscript. 
 
 331. Mstibus at mediis umbrosam 
 exquirere vallem.'] " In the Lombard 
 " manuscript it is cestibus aut mediis: 
 " in some other ancient copies ac 
 " mediis: in the Lombard acquirere, 
 " which I do not like. But I am 
 " not displeased with at instead of 
 l( out ; for thus there are four pre- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 301 
 
 Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus 
 Ingentes tendat ramos : aut sicubi nigrum 
 Ilicibus crebris sacra nemus accubet umbra. 
 Turn tenues dare rursus aquas, et pascere 
 
 rursus 335 
 
 Solis ad occasum : cum frigidus aera vesper 
 Temperat, et saltus reficit jam roscida luna, 
 Litoraque Alcyonen resonant, acalanthida 
 
 dumi. 
 
 where some large old oak of 
 Jupiter extends its spreading 
 boughs, or where some dusky 
 grove of thick holm-oaks let* 
 fall fts sacred shade. Then 
 let them have clear water 
 again, and be fed again at the 
 setting of the sun ; when 
 cool Vesper tempers the air, 
 and the dewy moon now re- 
 freshes the lawns, and the 
 shores resound with halcyons, 
 and the bushes with gold- 
 finches. 
 
 " cepts to be observed every day ; 
 " to feed them in the morning, to 
 " give them drink at the fourth 
 (i hour, to shade them at noon, and 
 " to feed them again in the even- 
 " ing." Pierius. 
 
 I find ac in some old editions: 
 it is aut in the King's manuscript, 
 et in one of Dr. Mead's, and ut in 
 the old Venice edition of 1482. 
 But at is generally received. 
 
 This precept of shading the sheep 
 at noon is taken from Varro : t( Cir- 
 " citer meridianos aestus, dum de- 
 " fervescant, sub umbriferas rupes, 
 <{ et arbores patulas subjiciunt, 
 " quoad refrigerato aere vespertino, 
 te rursus pascant ad solis occasum." 
 We find an allusion to this custom, 
 in the Canticles : « Tell me, O thou 
 " whom my soul loveth, where thou 
 (l feedest, where thou makest thy 
 " flock to rest at noon." 
 
 338. Litoraque Alcyonem reso- 
 nant.] See the note on dilectce The- 
 tidi Alcyones, book i. ver. 399. 
 
 Acalanthida dumi.] Most editors 
 agree in reading et Acanthida dumi: 
 but Pierius affirms, that it is acalan- 
 thida in all the manuscripts, which 
 is admitted by Heinsius and Mas- 
 vicius. In the King's, and in one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is 
 alklanthida; in both the Arunde- 
 lian copies, it is athalantida ; in the 
 old Nurenberg edition it is achan- 
 
 tida. Acalanthis is seldom to be met 
 with in authors: Suidas mentions 
 it as the name of a bird : 'AxcthccvSk, 
 ildog o^viov. It is thought to be the 
 same with dxa&ts, which seems to 
 be derived from uxen&ct, a prickle, 
 because it lives amongst thorns, 
 and eats the seeds of thistles. 
 Hence in Latin it is called carduelis, 
 from carduus, a thistle, in Italian 
 cardello or cardellino, and is by us 
 a thistle-finch, and, from a beautiful 
 yellow stripe across its wing, a gold- 
 finch. Some take it to be a night- 
 ingale, others a linnet. May trans- 
 lates it a linnet : 
 
 Kings-fishers play on shore, 
 
 And thistles' tops are fill'd with linnets' 
 store. 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 When linnets fill the woods with tuneful 
 sound, 
 
 And hollow shores the halcyon's voice re- 
 bound. 
 
 La Cerda thinks it is what they call 
 in Spanish silguero, and Ruaeus says 
 it is the chardoneret, both which 
 names belong to the bird, which 
 we call a goldfinch. Thus also 
 Dr. Trapp translates it : 
 
 The shores halcyone resound 
 
 And the sweet goldfinch warbles thro ' 
 the brakes. 
 
 As the Poet describes the evening 
 
302 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Sa r toSi d y^ y of'S?JSS= Quid tibi P astores Lib y ffi > q uid P ascua versa 
 
 herds of Libya, 
 
 by the singing of this bird, it is not 
 improbable, that he might mean the 
 nightingale : but as I do not find 
 any sufficient authority to translate 
 acalantkis a nightingale, I have ad- 
 hered to the common opinion, in 
 rendering it a goldfinch. 
 
 339. Quid tibi pastores, &c] 
 Having just mentioned the care of 
 keeping sheep and goats within 
 doors, he takes occasion to digress 
 poetically into an account of the 
 African shepherds, who wander 
 with their flocks over the vast de- 
 sarts, without any settled habita- 
 tion. 
 
 Libya was used by the ancients, 
 to express not only a part of Africa, 
 adjoining to Egypt, but also all that 
 division of the world, which is 
 usually called Africa. It is gene- 
 rally thought, that the Poet in this 
 place, means the Numidians, or 
 Nomades, so called from vopi) pas- 
 ture, who used to change their ha- 
 bitations, carrying their tents along 
 with them, according to Pliny: 
 <c Numidae vero Nomades, a per- 
 <e mutandis pabulis : mapalia sua, 
 " hoc est domus, plaustris circum- 
 " ferentes." Sallust also gives an 
 account of the origin of these Nu- 
 midians, and describes their mapa- 
 lia or tents. He tells us that, ac- 
 cording to the opinion of the Afri- 
 cans, Hercules died in Spain, upon 
 which his army, that was composed 
 of divers nations, dispersed and 
 settled colonies in several places. 
 The Medes, Persians, and Arme- 
 nians, passed over into Africa, and 
 possessed those parts, which were 
 nearest the Tyrrhene sea. The 
 Persians settling more within the 
 ocean, and finding no timber in 
 their own country, and having no 
 opportunity of trading with Spain, 
 on account of the largeness of the 
 
 sea between them, and of their not 
 understanding each others lan- 
 guage, had no other way of making 
 houses than by turning the keels of 
 their vessels upwards, and living 
 under the shelter of them. They 
 intermarried with the Gcetuli, and 
 because they often changed their 
 seats, according to the difference of 
 pasture, they called themselves Nu- 
 midians. He adds that even in his 
 time the wandering Numidians 
 made their houses or tents with 
 long bending roofs, like hulks of 
 ships, which they call mapalia. 
 " Sed postquam in Hispania Her- 
 " cules, sicut Afri putant, interiit: 
 " exercitus ejus compositus ex gen- 
 " tibus variis, amisso duce, ac pas- 
 " sim multis sibi quisque imperium 
 " petentibus, brevi dilabitur. Ex 
 " eo numero Medi, Persag, et Ar- 
 " menii, navibus in Africam trans- 
 " vecti, proximos nostro mari locos 
 " occupavere. Sed Persae intra 
 " Oceanum magis : hique alveos 
 " navium inverses pro tuguriis ha- 
 " buere : quia neque materia in 
 " agris, neque ab Hispanis emundi, 
 " aut mutandi copia erat. Mare 
 {c magnum, et ignara lingua com- 
 " mercia prohibebant. Hi paulatim 
 " per connubia Gsetulos secum mis- 
 " cuere, et quia saepe tentantes agros, 
 " aha, deinde alia loca petiverant, 
 " semetipsi, Numidas appellavere. 
 " Caeterum adhuc aedificia Numi- 
 " darum agrestium, quae mapalia 
 " illi vocant, oblonga, incurvis la- 
 " teribus tecta, quasi navium cari- 
 " nae sunt." The Numidians there- 
 fore being famous for feeding cattle, 
 and having no settled habitation, 
 the Poet is supposed to use Libya 
 or Africa for Numidia. But perhaps 
 he might allude to the ancient in- 
 habitants of Africa ; who were the 
 Gaztuli and the Libyes, and lived 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 303 
 
 Prosequar, et raris habitata mapalia tectis ? 340 
 Saepe diem noctemque, et totum ex ordine 
 
 mensem 
 Pascitur, itque pecus longa in deserta sine ullis 
 Hospitiis : tantum campi jacet : omnia secum 
 Armentarius Afer agit, tectumque, Laremque, 
 
 and their thinly inhabited 
 cottages i Their fl ock s often 
 graze both day and night, 
 for a whole month together, 
 and go through long desarts, 
 without any fixed abode s so 
 far do the plains extend: the 
 African shepherd carries his 
 all with him, his house, his 
 gods, 
 
 upon cattle, being governed by no 
 law, but wandering up and down, 
 and pitching their tents where 
 night overtook them. We learn 
 this from the Carthaginian books, 
 ascribed to king Hiempsal, as they 
 are quoted by Sallust : e ' Sed qui 
 " mortales initio Africam habuerint, 
 " quique postea accesserint, aut quo 
 " modo inter se permixti sint ; quan- 
 tC quam ab ea fama, quae plerosque 
 u obtinet, diversum est ; tamen uti 
 " ex libris Punicis, qui regis Hiemp- 
 " salis dicebantur, interpretatum 
 ' e nobis est ; utique rem sese habere 
 " cultores ejus terrae putant; quam 
 " paucissimis dicam : caeterum fides 
 " ejus rei penes autores erit. Afri- 
 " cam initium habuere Ga?tuli, et 
 " Libyes, asperi incultique ; queis 
 " cibus erat caro ferina at que humi 
 " pabulum, uti pecoribus. Hi ne- 
 te que moribus, neque lege, aut im- 
 " perio cujusquam regebantur : va- 
 " gi, palantes, quas nox coegerat 
 " sedes habebant." The nations, 
 which in the most ancient times 
 dwelled on the east of Egypt, seem 
 to have been shepherds, as we may 
 gather from many passages in the 
 history of Abraham and his de- 
 scendants. The religion and cus- 
 toms of these people were very op- 
 posite to those of the Egyptians, 
 who were often invaded by them. 
 Hence we find in the history of 
 Joseph, that every shepherd was an 
 abomination to the Egyptians. When 
 the children of Israel departed out 
 of Egypt, the inheritance which 
 God gave them, was in the country 
 
 inhabited by these shepherds : who 
 being expelled by Joshua, invaded 
 the lower Egypt, easily conquered 
 it, and erected a kingdom, which 
 was governed by a succession of 
 kings of the race of these shepherds. 
 They were afterwards expelled by 
 the kings of the upper Egypt, and 
 fled into Phoenicia, Arabia, Lybia, 
 and other places, in the days of 
 Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David, 
 This seems to be the most ancient 
 account of the inhabitants of Libya; 
 whom therefore we find to have 
 been originally shepherds. 
 
 I am not ignorant that this sys- 
 tem is contrary to the opinion of 
 some chronologers, who make the 
 invasion of Egypt by the shepherds 
 much more ancient, and suppose 
 that king of Egypt, with whom 
 Abraham conversed, to have been 
 of that race. But, as Sir Isaac 
 Newton observes, it is plain that 
 Egypt was not under the govern- 
 ment of the shepherds in the time 
 of Joseph, but were either driven 
 out before that time, or did not 
 invade Egypt till after the depar- 
 ture of the children of Israel : 
 which latter opinion seems most 
 probable, as the best authorities 
 place the time of their expulsion a 
 little before the building of the 
 temple of Solomon. 
 
 343. Campir\ In one of the 
 Arundelian, and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, it is campis. 
 
 344. Laremque.'] It is laboremque 
 in the Roman manuscript, accord- 
 ing to Pierius. But laremque is 
 
304 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 his arms, his Amyclean dog, 
 and his Cretan quiver. Just 
 as when the fierce Roman 
 under arms takes his way un- 
 der a heavy load, and pitches 
 his camp against an enemy 
 before he is expected. But 
 quite otherwise, where are 
 the Scythian nations, and the 
 water of Maeotis, and where 
 the turbid Ister rolls the yel- 
 low sands; and where Rho- 
 dope returns, being extended 
 under the middle of the pole. 
 
 Armaque, Amydaeumque canem, Cressamque 
 pharetram. 345 
 
 Non secus ac patriis acer Romanus in armis 
 Injusto sub fasce viam cum carpit, et bosti 
 Ante expeclatum positis stat in agmine castris. 
 At non, qua Scythiae gentes, Meeotiaque unda, 
 Turbidus et torquens flaventes Ister arenas : 350 
 Quaque redit medium Rhodope porrecta sub 
 
 axem, 
 
 certainly the right reading: for it 
 was customary with these shepherds 
 to carry their gods about with 
 them. Thus we find in the book 
 of Genesis, that Rachel had stolen 
 her father's gods, and carried them 
 with her in her flight. 
 
 34>5. Amyclceumque canem.] Amy- 
 clae was a city of Laconia, which 
 region was famous for the best 
 dogs. Thus in ver. 405. we have 
 veloces Sparta catulos. Varro also 
 mentions the Laconian dogs in the 
 first place: " Item videndum ut 
 <( boni seminii sint : itaque a re- 
 " gionibus appellantur Lacones, 
 " Epirotici, Sallentini." 
 
 346. Non secus ac patriis, &c.~| 
 The Poet here compares the A- 
 frican loaded with his arms and 
 baggage to a Roman soldier on an 
 expedition. We learn from Cicero, 
 that the Romans carried not only 
 their shields, swords, and helmets, 
 but also provision for above half 
 a month,, utensils, and stakes : 
 " Nostri exercitus primum unde 
 tl nomen habeant, vides : deinde 
 " qui labor, quantus agminis : ferre 
 f( plus dimidiati mensis cibaria : 
 <( ferre, si quid ad usum velint : 
 " ferre vallum : nam scutum, gla- 
 " dram, galeam, in onere nostri 
 <( inilites non plus numerant, quam 
 " humeros, lacertos, manus." 
 347- Injusto,] It is used for very 
 
 great : as iniquo pondere rastri, and 
 labor improbus urget. 
 
 Hosti.'] Some read hostem. 
 
 348. Agmine.'] Pierius tells us, 
 that Arusianus Messus reads ordine. 
 
 349. At non qua Scythice, &c] 
 From Africa, the Poet passes to 
 Scythia, and describes the man- 
 ners of the northern shepherds. 
 The description of winter, in these 
 cold climates, has been justly ad- 
 mired as one of the finest pieces of 
 poetry extant. 
 
 Scythia? gentes.] The ancients 
 called all the northern nations Scy- 
 thians. 
 
 Maotiaque unda.] So I read with 
 Heinsius and Masvicius. The com- 
 mon reading is M&oticaque unda. 
 Pierius says it is Mceotia in the 
 Roman, the Medicean, and most 
 of the ancient manuscripts. I find 
 Mceotia in the Cambridge and Bod- 
 leian manuscripts. 
 
 The lake Maeotis, or sea of Azof, 
 lies beyond the Black Sea, and re- 
 ceives the waters of the Tanais, now 
 called Don, a river of Muscovy. 
 
 350. Ister.] He seems to mean 
 Thrace and the adjoining coun- 
 tries ; for it is only the lower part 
 of the Danube that the ancients 
 called Ister; as was observed in 
 the note on ver. 497- of the second 
 Georgick. 
 
 351. Quaque redit medium Rho- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 305 
 
 Illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta ; neque ullee 
 Aut herbae campo apparent, aut arbore frondes; 
 Sed jacet aggeribus niveis informis, et alto 
 Terra gelu late, septemque assurgit in ulnas. 355 
 Semper hyems, semper spirantes frigora cauri. 
 Turn sol pallentes baud unquam discutit umbras ; 
 
 There they keep their herds 
 shut up in stalls; and no 
 herbs appear in the fields, no 
 leaves on the trees ; the earth 
 lies deformed with heaps of 
 snow, and deep frost, and 
 rises seven ells in height. 
 There is always winter, al- 
 ways north-west winds blow- 
 ing cold. And then the sun 
 hardly ever dispels the pale 
 shades ; 
 
 dope porrecta sub axon.] " Rhodope 
 " is a mountain of Thrace, which 
 " is extended eastward, and is there 
 " joined with Haemus ; then part- 
 " ing from it, it returns to the 
 ** northward." Ru^us. 
 
 353. Neque ullce aut herbce campo 
 apparent, aut arbore frondes. .] Thus 
 also Ovid : 
 
 Orbis in extremi jaceo desertus arenis : 
 Fert ubi perpetuas obruta terra nives. 
 
 Non ager hie pomum, non dulces edu- 
 cat uvas : 
 Non salices ripa, robora monte virent. 
 
 355. Septemque assurgit in ulnas.] 
 It has been much controverted, 
 what measure we are to assign to 
 the ulna. Some will have it" to be 
 the measure from one long finger 
 to the other, when both arms are 
 extended, which we call an ell. 
 Thus Dr. Trapp translates it : 
 
 ■ Ridgy heaps of snow 
 
 Sev'n^lls in height, deform the country 
 round. 
 
 Others are of opinion that it means 
 no more than a cubit, or foot and 
 half, being the measure from the 
 elbow to the end of the long finger. 
 This they confirm by the etymology 
 of ulna from Mvn. Thus Dryden 
 translates it : 
 
 The frozen earth lies buried there, below 
 A hilly heap, sev'n cubits deep in snow: 
 
 and before him., May : 
 
 The hidden ground with hard frosts 
 
 evermore, 
 And snow seven cubites deepe is co- 
 
 ver'd o'er. 
 
 356. Cauri7\ See the note on 
 ver. 278. 
 
 357. Turn sol pollentes, &c] This 
 and the following lines are an imi- 
 tation of Homer's description of the 
 habitation of the Cimmerians : 
 
 'H££/ xcti vt<p$\y xw.a'hupiihvot. ovoi zfor 
 
 airovs 
 'HiXios <px'&wv ItfiSigzzrui axrivzirtrtv, 
 Ov$ oTtor av <?ii%y<ri zf^o; ovgavov a?t- 
 
 OvB-' orav a^p IvriyotTctv art ougc&voSev tstga- 
 
 v^d.'ffyi'rui. 
 'AXk' Ivri w^ oXoh rerarcci 2uXo7trt (Zgoroicri. 
 
 There in a lonely land and gloomy cells, 
 The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells ; 
 The sun ne'er views th* uncomfortable 
 
 seats, 
 When radiant he advances, or retreats : 
 Unhappy race! whom endless night hi' 
 
 vades, 
 Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round 
 
 in shades. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 The habitation of the Cimmerians 
 was near the Bosphorus, to the 
 north-west, being part of the coun- 
 try here designed by Virgil. It 
 cannot be imagined however, that 
 Homer, in the passage just now 
 cited, supposes that Ulysses sailed 
 in one day from the island of Circe 
 to the Bosphorus. It is more pro- 
 bable that he means the people 
 mentioned by Ephorus, as he is 
 quoted by Strabo, who were said 
 to have their habitation near the 
 lake Avernus, under ground, where 
 they lived all the day long, without 
 seeing the sun, not coming up till 
 after sun-set. They conducted those 
 2 R 
 
306 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 neitheT when being carried by 
 his horses he mounts the sky ; 
 nor when he washes his head- 
 long chariot in the red waves 
 of the ocean. Sudden crusts 
 grow over the running river; 
 and the water now sustains 
 iron wheels on its back, 
 
 Nec cum invectus equis altum petit sethera, nee 
 
 cum 
 Praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit aequore currum. 
 Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae, 
 Undaque jam tergo ferratos sustinet orbes, 361 
 
 who came to consult the infernal 
 oracle, being a sort of priests to the 
 Manes. Kxt rovro y^aqlov UXovraviov 
 ri v7rzhdi{t£xvov, xxi rovg Kiftftzgiovg 
 ivrxvS'x hzyzrSxi. xxi zWz7rtebv ye 01 
 •ZF^oSve-dfAmi xxi ixxorofizvoi rovg xx- 
 rxy^oviovg dxipovag, ovruv ruv vty-qyov- 
 (tzvav rx rolx^z h^zav, z^yoXxZnxorav rov 
 
 T07T6V *E$0£0g ^S roTg Kif/.Ui- 
 
 Pioig -grpoaroixuSv <p^<rh xvrovg h xxrx~ 
 yziotg oixiotig oikiiVj etg xxaovtiv ctgyiX- 
 hxg 3 xxt dtx rlvav hpyypxrav zrx£ «A- 
 >J{Kovg rz Qoirxv, xxi rovg %zvovg z'tg ro 
 
 fAXVrilOV ^'lyjioSxi, TTOXlt V7T0 yitg ibpypk- 
 
 vov, £?v S' d,%o f&zrxXXztxg xxt rm pxv- 
 rzvop'zwv, xxi rov fixcriXzag X7to<iil%xvrog 
 avrolg trvvrx^zig. Ehxi M roTg srzp) to 
 X^fyi^ov zB-og -zsrxr^tov, fiv$zvx rov qhiov 
 cpxv, uXXx rm vvxrog s|a> sropzvZ<&xi 
 ruv yjxtrpxrm. xxi Six rovro rov zroin~ 
 rhv srzpi xvrm z'mziv, ag xpec 
 
 ovoi zsor avrov; 
 
 'KiXtes <p</AS-uv iiribigxirai. 
 
 359. Oceani rubro <equore.~\ The 
 waves of the ocean seem to be 
 called red in this place, on account 
 of the reflection of the setting sun. 
 It is however very frequent amongst 
 the poets, to call the sea purple. 
 Thus also our Foet, in the fourth 
 Georgick : 
 
 Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta 
 In mare purpureum violentior influit 
 amnis. 
 
 Cicero, in a fragment of the second 
 book of Academics, preserved by 
 Nonius, describes the waves of the 
 sea as growing purple, when it is 
 cut by oars : <c Quid ? mare nonne 
 " cseruleum? at ejus unda, cum 
 
 " est pulsa remis, purpurascit." In 
 the fourth book, he mentions the 
 sea as being purple on the blowing 
 of Favonius : " Mare illud quidem, 
 " nunc Favonio nascente, purpu- 
 " reum videtur." 
 
 360. Concrescunt subitce currenti 
 in flumine crustce.~\ In is wanting 
 in the King's manuscript. 
 
 This is meant of the sudden 
 freezing of the rivers in the north- 
 ern countries. 
 
 361. Undaque jam tergo, &c] 
 Ovid also speaks of the freezing of 
 the Danube so hard, that carriages 
 were drawn, where ships had 
 sailed : 
 
 Quid loquar, ut vincti concrescant frigore 
 rivi, 
 Deque lacu fragiles effodiantur aquae ? 
 Ipse, papyrifero qui non angustior amne 
 
 Miscetur vasto multa per ora freto, 
 Caeruleos ventis latices durantibus Ister 
 Congelat, et tectis in mare serpit aquis. 
 Quaque rates ierant, pedibus nunc itur : 
 et undas 
 Frigore concretas ungula pulsat equi. 
 Perque novos pontes subter labentibus 
 undis 
 Ducunt Sarmatici barbara plaustra 
 boves. 
 
 Strabo mentions the freezing of the 
 lake Maeotis so hard, that the lieu- 
 tenant of Mithridates overcame the 
 Barbarians in a battle fought on 
 the ice, in the very place where, in 
 the following summer, he van- 
 quished them in a sea fight : Ol 11 
 irotyoi 7?xg xvroig roiovroi ring zitrtv hri 
 rS <?opxri rm hlpvqg r*ig Mxianoog, a<? 
 h XOiQia, tv a yzipmog o rov MiSgidoirov 
 r^xmyog hixt<n rovg $xt£>*povg Intro- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 307 
 
 Puppibus ilia prius patulis, nunc hospita plau- 
 
 stris. 
 iEraque dissiliunt vulgo, vestesque rigescunt 
 Indutas, caeduntque securibus humida vina, 
 Et totag solidam in glaciem vertere lacunae, 365 
 Stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. 
 
 and what before admitted 
 broad ships, now is made a 
 road for carriages ; and brass 
 frequently bursts in sunder, 
 their clothes freeze on their 
 backs, and they cleave the 
 liquid wine with axes, and 
 whole pools are turned into 
 solid ice, and rigid icicles 
 harden on their uncombed 
 beards. 
 
 f&x%a>v i7Ct Tft> TCotycd, rovg etvrovg Kocrd- 
 wvpciysicreu Sz^ovg, Xv&vrog rov TTolyov. 
 363. Mraque dissiliunt.'] Era- 
 tosthenes, as he is quoted by Strabo, 
 speaks of a copper or brazen vessel 
 being placed in a temple of iEscu- 
 lapius, in memory of its having 
 been bursten by frost : *0 £' 'Egare- 
 c$hvi<; Kott rovr) ro y^dppx. wepty'i^ircM 
 ro gv ra AtrKMKiiif rm Ylot,vriKot,7Cot,izav , 
 27TI tjj Qocyucvi %«sA«£*j vfy'ec diet rov 
 vrciyov, 
 
 Ei ns a.£ uvB-gattw p.n zs'eiB-trat ola, zfct,£ 
 
 'AfJUV 
 Ttvirai, us rmli yveorco l§&/v ifigietv' 
 Hi» ov% awS-fifict B-tou xaXov, aXk' ttffttt- 
 
 Kit/twos ftsyaKov 3-jfo' hgivs 'Xt^utios. 
 
 164. Cceduntque securibus humida 
 vina.] This freezing of wine has 
 by some been supposed to be only 
 a poetical fiction. But Ovid, who 
 was banished into these countries, 
 mentions it: 
 
 Udaque consistunt formam servautia 
 testae, 
 Vina : nee hausta meri, sed data frusta 
 bibunt. 
 
 Captain James, who, in his voyage 
 to discover the north-west passage, 
 wintered in Greenland in 1631 and 
 1632, says their vinegar, oil, and 
 sack, which they had in small casks 
 in the house, was all hard frozen. 
 Captain Monck, a Dane, who win- 
 tered there in 1619 and 1620, re- 
 lates that no wine or brandy was 
 strong enough to be proof against 
 the cold, but froze to the bottom, 
 and that the vessels split in pieces, 
 
 so that they cut the frozen liquor 
 with hatchets, and melted it at the 
 fire, before they could drink it. M. 
 de Maupertuis, who, with some 
 other Academicians, was sent by 
 the king of France, in 1736, to 
 measure a degree of the meridian 
 under the ^arctic circle, says that 
 brandy was the only liquor, which 
 could be kept sufficiently fluid for 
 them to drink : " Pendant un froid 
 " si grand, que la langue et les 
 te levres se geloient sur le champ 
 " contre la tasse, lorsqu'on vouloit 
 " boire de l'eau-de-vie, qui e"toit 
 *' la seule liqueur qu'on put tenir 
 " assez liquide pour la hoire, et ne 
 " s'en arrachoient que sanglantes." 
 And a little afterwards he tells us, 
 that the spirit of wine froze in 
 their thermometers. 
 
 The epithet humida does not 
 seem to be an idle epithet here, as 
 many have imagined. The Poet 
 uses it to express the great severity 
 of the cold ; that even wine, which 
 above all other liquors preserves 
 its fluidity in the coldest weather 
 in other countries, is so hard frozen 
 in these northern regions, as to 
 require to be cut with hatchets. 
 Ovid also, in the verses quoted at 
 the beginning of this note, uses the 
 epithet uda, on the same occasion. 
 
 365. Et totce solidam in glaciemr] 
 <( In the Roman manuscript it is 
 fe Et totce in solidam : but solidam 
 cc in glaciem is much more elegant/' 
 
 PlERIUS. * 
 
 366. Stiriaque impexis induruit 
 horrida barbis.] Thus Ovid : 
 
 2 it 2 
 
308 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 In the mean while it snows 
 incessantly over all the air : 
 the cattle perish : the large 
 bodies of oxen stand covered 
 with frost : and whole herds 
 of deer lie benumbed under an 
 unusual weight, and scarce 
 the tips of their horns appear. 
 These are not hunted with 
 dogs, or ensnared with toils, 
 or affrighted with crimson 
 feathers: butthey are stabbed 
 directly, whilst they vainly 
 strive to move the opposing 
 hill, and make' aloud braying, 
 and are carried home with a 
 joyful noise. The inhabitants 
 themselves live in secure rest 
 in caves which they have 
 digged deep in the ground; 
 and roll whole oaks and elms 
 to the hearth, and set them 
 on fire. Here they spend the 
 night in sport, 
 
 Interea toto non secius aere ningit ; 
 Intereunt pecudes, stant circumfusa pritinis 
 Corpora magna boum; confertoque agminecervi 
 Torpent mole nova, et summis vix cornibus ex- 
 tant. 370 
 Hos non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis 
 Puniceaeve agitant pavidos formidine pennae : 
 Sed frustra oppositum trudentes pectore montem 
 Comminus obtruncant ferro, graviterque ru- 
 
 dentes 
 Caedunt, et magno laeti clamore reportant. 375 
 Ipsi in defossis specubus secura sub alta 
 Otia agunt terra, congestaque robora, totasque 
 Advolvere focis ulmos, ignique dedere. 
 Hie noctem ludo ducunt, et pocula laeti 
 
 Saepe sonant moti glacie pendente capilli, 
 Et nitet inducto Candida barba gelu. 
 
 367. Aere.~] In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is cequore. 
 
 369. Confertoque agmine cervi."] 
 Pierius says it is confecto in the 
 Roman manuscript. It is conserto 
 in the King's manuscript. 
 
 The Poet mentions herds of 
 deer, because those animals do not 
 live solitary, but in herds. 
 
 371. Non cassibus.] In one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts it is 
 nee cassibus. 
 
 372. Puniceceve agitant pavidos 
 formidine pennce.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is puniceaque. 
 In the King's manuscript it is pe- 
 cudes instead of pavidos. 
 
 It was the custom to hang up 
 coloured feathers on lines, to scare 
 the deer into the toils. 
 
 3/3. Sed frustra.] Pierius says 
 it is et frustra in the Roman manu- 
 script. 
 
 376. In defossis specubus.] Pom- 
 ponius Mela, speaking of the Sar- 
 matae, says they dig holes in the 
 
 earth for their habitations, to avoid 
 the severity of winter : " Sarmatae 
 " auri et argenti, maximarum pes- 
 " tium, ignari, vice rerutn com- 
 " mercia exercent : atque ob saeva 
 " hyemis admodum assiduae, de- 
 " mersis in humum sedibus, specus 
 " aut suffossa habitant, totum brac- 
 " cati corpus j et nisi qua vident, 
 " etiam ora vestiti/' And Tacitus 
 also says the Germans used to 
 make caves to defend them from 
 the severity of winter, and conceal 
 their corn:: u Solent et subterra- 
 " neos specus aperire, eosque insu- 
 " per multo fimo onerant, suffu- 
 " gium hyemi, et receptaculum 
 " frugibus.'' 
 
 377. Totasque.] Pierius says que 
 is left out in many ancient manu- 
 scripts. I find the same reading, 
 in the King's, the Bodleian, and in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in some of the old printed 
 editions. 
 
 379. Pocula Icsti fermento atque 
 acidis imitantur viiea sorbis.] Kuaeus 
 interprets this passage to mean beer 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 309 
 
 Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis. 380 j; a Ve m S e barmlndfo^^ 
 
 vices, 
 
 and cyder. Fermcntum, he says, sig- 
 nifies the fermentation of barley, 
 wheat, or oats ; when by a certain 
 medicated heat the grain swells, 
 and grows acid, which are the two 
 effects of fermentation ; which is 
 therefore named from ferveo, as it 
 were fervimentum: and thus beer 
 is made. The other liquor is ex- 
 pressed from acid berries and fruits 
 squeezed, such as apples, pears, 
 cornels, services : and is called 
 cyder, &c. Dr. Trapp interprets 
 fermentum yest or barm, which, he 
 thinks, is put for the liquor which 
 it makes. But if fermentum means 
 what we call yest or barm, I 
 should rather think the Poet speaks 
 only of one sort of liquor, made 
 of the juice of services, fermented 
 with yest: not of two sorts, as 
 Dr. Trapp translates this passage; 
 
 And beer and cyder quaff, instead of 
 wine. 
 
 Yest alone will not make any pota- 
 ble liquor. But let us see what the 
 ancients did really mean by the 
 word fermentum. We shall find 
 this in Pliny, who plainly enough 
 describes it to be what we call 
 leaven : for he says it is made of 
 dough, kept till it grows sour : 
 te Nunc fermentum fit ex ipsa 
 <c farina quae subigitur, prius quam 
 " addatur sal, ad pultis modum 
 " decocta, et relicta donee acescat." 
 I must acknowledge, that it is 
 somewhat difficult to conceive what 
 sort of liquor could be made of 
 this leaven. Perhaps instead of 
 fermento, we ought to read fru- 
 mento, which will remove all the 
 difficulty. It is certain that not 
 only the northern people, but other 
 nations also used drink made of 
 corn. Thus Pliny ascribes this 
 
 liquor to the western people, and 
 to the Egyptians : " Est et Occi- 
 " dentis populis sua ebrietas, fruge 
 " madida: pluribus modis per Gal- 
 " lias Hispaniasquenominibus aliis, 
 <c sed ratione eadem. Hispaniae 
 " jam et vetustatem ferre ea genera 
 u docuerunt. iEgyptus quoque e 
 " fruge sibi potus similes excogi- 
 ' ' tavit : nullaque in parte mundi 
 " cessat ebrietas." The same au- 
 thor tells us that various liquors 
 are made of corn, in Egypt, Spain, 
 and Gaul, under different names: 
 " Et frugum quidem haec sunt in 
 " usu medico. Ex iisdem fiunt et 
 " potus, zythum in iEgypto, caelia 
 " et caeria in Hispania, cervisia in 
 " Gallia, aliisque provinciis." Ta- 
 citus, in his book De Moribus Ger- 
 manorum, says expressly, that the 
 common drink of that people was 
 made of corn, corrupted into a 
 resemblance of wine : te Potui hu- 
 " mor ex hordeo aut frumento, in 
 " quandam similitudinem vini cor- 
 " ruptus." Strabo mentions drink 
 being made of corn and honey in 
 Thule : ILeg' clg cil <nros xoti ftzXt y/y- 
 
 HTCCt, XOti TO TTOftcC iVTivSiV 6%UV. 
 
 As for the drink made of ser- 
 vices, I do not find it mentioned by 
 any Roman writer, except Palla- 
 dius, who speaks of it only by 
 hearsay : (( Ex sorbis maturis, sicut 
 " ex pyris, vinum fieri traditur et 
 te acetum." We find in the same 
 author, that in his time wines 
 were made of several sorts of fruit: 
 " Hoc mense [Octobri] omnia, qua? 
 " locis suis leguntur, ex pom is vina 
 tc confides." He mentions perry, 
 or the wine made of pears, and 
 describes the manner of making it: 
 <l Vinum de pyris fit, si contusa, 
 (C et sacco rarissimo condita pon- 
 " deribus comprimantur, aut pree- 
 
310 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^ttSW&FS Talis Hyperboreo septem subjecta trioni, 
 
 north pole, and are pierced 
 by the Riphaean east wind : 
 
 Gens effraena virum Riphaeo tunditur euro, 
 
 <e lo." He speaks also of cyder : 
 " Vinum et acetum fit ex malis, 
 " sicut ex pyris ante praecepi." 
 
 381. Hyperboreo.] See the note 
 on ver. 196. 
 
 Septem subjecta trioni.] This Tme- 
 sis, as the grammarians call it, or 
 division of septemtrio into two 
 words, is not unfrequent. Thus 
 Ovid : 
 
 — ■ Scythiam, septemque trionem 
 Horrifer invasit Boreas : 
 
 And 
 
 Gurgite caeruleo septem prohibete triones: 
 And 
 
 Interque triones 
 
 Flexerat obliquo plaustrum temone 
 Bootes. 
 
 Nay we often find triones without 
 septem. Thus our Poet in the first 
 and third iEneids : 
 
 Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas, geminos- 
 que triones. 
 
 Thus also Ovid: 
 
 Turn primum radiis gelidi caluere trio- 
 nes: 
 
 - . Interque triones 
 
 Flexerat obliquo plaustrum temone 
 Bootes. 
 
 The triones or septem triones are the 
 two northern constellations, com- 
 monly known by the names of the 
 greater and lesser bear, in each of 
 which are seven stars placed nearly 
 in the same order, and which were 
 fancied by the ancients to repre- 
 sent a waggon, and were therefore 
 called «ftet%cu and plaustra : whence 
 we also call the seven stars in the 
 rump and tail of the great bear 
 Charles's wain. MYms and Varro, 
 as they are quoted by Aulus Gel- 
 lius, tell us that triones is as it 
 
 were terriones, and was a name by 
 which the old husbandmen called 
 a team of oxen : " Sed ego quidem 
 " cum L. iElio et M. Varrone sen- 
 " tio, qui triones rustico certo vo- 
 " cabulo boves appellatos scribunt, 
 " quasi quosdam terriones, hoc est 
 " arandae colendaeque terrae idoneos. 
 " Itaque hoc sidus, quod a figura 
 *' posituraque ipsa, quia simile 
 " plaustri videtur, antiqui Graeco- 
 " rum & t uotj-xv dixerunt, nostri quo- 
 " que veteres a bubus junctis sep- 
 te tentriones appellarunt, id est, a 
 " septem stellis, ex quibus quasi 
 " juncti triones figurantur." 1 be- 
 lieve that Virgil, by using trioni in 
 the singular number, and adding 
 the epithet Hyperboreo, means the 
 lesser bear, under which are situ- 
 ated those who live within the 
 arctic circle. Dr. Trapp seems to 
 understand our Poet in this sense : 
 
 Such is th' unbroken race of men, who 
 
 live 
 Beneath the pole. 
 
 Dryden has introduced the Dutch 
 in this place, and bestowed the epi- 
 thet unwarlike upon them, which 
 is not in the least countenanced ei- 
 ther by history, or the words of his 
 author : 
 
 Such are the cold Ryphean race, and 
 
 such 
 The savage Scythian, and unwarlike 
 
 Dutch. 
 
 382. Riphao tunditur euro7\ It 
 has been already observed, that the 
 Riphaean hills are probably that 
 great ridge of mountains which di- 
 vides Lapland from the northern 
 part of Muscovy. 
 
 Why the poet mentions the east 
 wind in this place, as blowing on 
 the Hyperboreans from the Riphae- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 S1I 
 
 Et pecudum fulvis velatur corpora setis : 
 Si tibi Lanicium curae ; primum aspera sylva, 
 Lappaeque tribulique absint : fuge pabula 
 lseta; 385 
 
 and have their bodies covered 
 with the yellow spoils of 
 beasts. If wool is your care-; 
 in the first place avoid prickly 
 bushes, and burrs, and cal- 
 trops ; and shun the fat pas- 
 tures: 
 
 an hills, seems not very clear. It 
 has already been observed, that 
 those people were supposed to dwell 
 on the north side of those hills, 
 which was imagined to be even be- 
 yond the rising of the north wind. 
 Strabo seems to treat the Riphaean 
 hills themselves as a fabulous in- 
 vention : Aict e& rtiv eiymo&v rm ronm 
 rovravj cl ik 'Vittoucc, og», xxi rovs 'Xtts^- 
 
 Pliny speaks of them as joining to 
 Taurus : <f Taurus mons ab Eois 
 " venienslittoribus,Chelidoniopro- 
 " montorio disterminat. Immen- 
 " sus ipse, et innumerarum gentium 
 " arbiter dextero latere septentrio- 
 (C nalis, ubi primum ab Indico mari 
 " exurgit, laevo meridianus, et ad 
 " occasum tendens : mediamque 
 " distrahens Asiam, nisi opprimenti 
 " terras occurrerent maria. Resi- 
 " lit ergo ad septentriones, flexus- 
 €< que immensum iter quaerit, velut 
 " de industria rerum natura subinde 
 '* sequora opponente, hinc Phceni- 
 <c cium, hinc Ponticum, illinc Cas- 
 " pium et Hyrcanium, contraque 
 " Maeoticumlacum. Torquetur ita- 
 " que collisus inter haec claustra, et 
 ** tamen victor, flexuosus evadit 
 u usque ad cognata Riphceorum mon- 
 " Hum juga, numerosis nominibus 
 " et novis quacunque incedit insig- 
 " nis." And in another place he 
 says, " Subjicitur Ponti regio Col- 
 u chica, in qua juga Caucasi ad 
 " Riphaos montes torquentur, ut 
 " dictum est, altera latere in Eu- 
 " xinum et Maeotin devexa, altera 
 " in Caspium et Hyrcanium mare." 
 383. Pecudum fulvis velatur cor- 
 pora setis. 2 I read velatur with Hein- 
 
 sius and Masvicius : the common 
 reading is velantur. Pierius says it 
 is velatur in the Roman manuscript, 
 and in another of great antiquity, 
 where n has been interlined by 
 some other hand. 
 
 Ovid mentions the Getae as being 
 clothed with skins : 
 
 Hie mihi Cimmerio bis tertia ducitur 
 sestas 
 Littore pellitos inter agenda Getas. 
 
 Tacitus also, speaking of the north- 
 ern people, says, u Gerunt et fe- 
 " rarum pelles, proximi ripae negli- 
 " genter, ulteriores exquisitius, ut 
 u quibus nullus per commercia cul- 
 " tus." 
 
 384. Si tibi, &c] The poet here 
 gives directions about taking care 
 of the wool: he observes, that 
 prickly places and fat pastures are 
 to be avoided ; and then gives di- 
 rections about the choice of the 
 sheep, and particularly of the rams : 
 
 Si.'] It is sit in the old Nuren- 
 berg edition. 
 
 Aspera sylva."] All prickly bushes 
 are injurious to sheep, by rending 
 their fine wool, and wounding their 
 flesh, which he mentions soon after 
 amongst their diseases : (< secue- 
 " runt corpora vepres." 
 
 385. Lappceque trubulique.'] See 
 the note on book i. ver. 153. 
 
 Fuge pabula lata.} The wool is 
 thought not to be so good, if the 
 cattle are very fat. Columella men- 
 tions the hungry lands about Parma 
 and Modena, as feeding the most 
 valuable sheep : " Nunc Gallicae 
 '* pretiosiores habentur, earumque 
 *' prsecipue Altinates : item quae 
 
312 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SSwelS'yS? fffiE Continuoque greges villis lege mollibus albos. 
 
 which are white with soft T11 ... •■•■■• 
 
 wool. Nay, though the ram Ilium autem, quamvis anes sitcandidus ipse, 
 
 should be of the purest white, * r ' 
 
 S hifmoisfpai^r'eiect Ni S ra subest udo tantum cui lingua palato, 
 
 ^ fl ^rf te hi? SKj Rejice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pullis 
 
 with dusky spots ; 
 
 " circa Parmam et Mutinam macris 
 (f stabulantur campis." 
 
 386. Continuo.] See the note on 
 ver. 75. 
 
 Greges villis lege mollibus albos.] 
 Varro mentions the softness of the 
 wool, as essential in a good sheep : 
 " De forma, ovem esse oportet cor- 
 " pore amplo, quae lana multa sit 
 " et molli, villis altis et densis toto 
 c< corpore, maxime circum cervicem 
 **■ et collum, ventrem quoque ut 
 " habeat pilosum, itaque quae id 
 " non haberent, majores nostri api- 
 <e cas appellabant, et rejiciebant." 
 Columella says the whitest are most 
 esteemed ; <( Color albus cum sit 
 " optimus, tuin etiam est utilissi- 
 " mus ; quod ex eo plurimi fiunt, 
 <f neque hie ex alio." Palladius 
 also observes, that regard is to be 
 had to the softness of the wool : 
 <e Eligenda est vasti corporis, et 
 u prolixi, velleris, ac mollissimi, la- 
 tf nosi, et magni uteri." 
 
 388. Nigra subest udo tantum cui 
 lingua palato.] Aristotle affirms, 
 that the lambs will be white, or 
 black, or red, according to the co- 
 lour of the veins under the tongue 
 of the ram : Aivku, dl ret tKyovec yiv&lott 
 xxi piXotiva, lotv V7T0 Ty rov kp^iov yXarlvi 
 Xivzcti <pXzQz$ dxriv n ft'zXctivxi. tevzes 
 fth, le\v tevKoe,), [tiXaivx, £e, \o\t f/AXxivxi. 
 iotv tfe ctfttyoripcu, oif&tyorigot. srv\fa ^S, 
 lotv srvfaL Varro also, from whom 
 Virgil took this observation, gives 
 a caution to observe if the tongue 
 of a ram be black, or speckled, be- 
 cause the lambs wll be of the same 
 colour : " Animadvertendum quo- 
 " que linguane nigra, aut varia sit, 
 e( quod fere qui ea habent, nigros 
 
 " autvarios,procreantagnos." Co- 
 lumella, who quotes our poet on 
 this occasion, enlarges on what he 
 has said. He observes, that it is 
 not enough for the fleece of a ram 
 to be white, but his palate and 
 tongue must be white also. For if 
 these parts of the body are dark or 
 spotted, the lambs will be dark and 
 spotted too. He adds, that it is the 
 same with black and red rams ; and 
 that if any regard is had to the 
 wool, the marks of the male parent 
 are chiefly to be observed : " Itaque 
 " non solum ea ratio est probandi 
 " arietis, si vellere candido vestitur, 
 " sed etiam si palatum, atque lin- 
 f< gua concolor lanee est. Nam cum 
 " hae corporis partes nigrae aut ma- 
 (t culosae sunt, pulla vel etiam varia 
 (( nascitur proles. Idque inter cae- 
 (< tera exicnie talibus numeris signi- 
 " ficavit idem, qui supra : Ilium 
 
 tc autem, quamvis aries, &c 
 
 fe Una eademque ratio est in ery- 
 u thraeis, et nigris arietibus, quo- 
 " rum similiter, ut jam dixir, neutra 
 " pars esse debet discolor lanae, 
 (< multoque minus ipsa universitas 
 " tergoris maculis variet. Ideo 
 ' ' nisi lanatas oves emi non oportet, 
 <e quo melius unitas coloris appa- 
 ff reat : quae nisi praecipua est in 
 " arietibus, paternae notae plerum- 
 " que natis inhaerent." Palladius 
 also affirms, that if the tongue of 
 the ram is spotted, the same de- 
 fect will appear in his offspring : 
 " In quibus non solum corporis 
 " candor considerandus est, sed 
 ' e etiam lingua, qua* si maculis fus- 
 " cabitur, varietatem reddit in so- 
 " bole." 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 313 
 
 Nascentum : plenoque alium circumspice 
 campo. 390 
 
 Munere sic niveo lanae, si credere dignum est, 
 Pan deus Arcadia? captam te, Luna, fefellit, 
 In nemora alta vocans : nee tu aspernata vo- 
 
 cantem. 
 At cui lactis amor, cytisos, lotosque frequentes 
 Ipse manu, salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas. 
 
 and search all over the plain 
 for another. Thus Pan the 
 god of Arcadia, if we may 
 give credit to the story, de- 
 ceived thee, O Moon, being 
 captivated with asnowy offer- 
 ing of wool ; nor did you de- 
 spise his invitation to come 
 into the lofty woods. But 
 those who desire to have 
 milk, must give them with 
 their own hands plenty of 
 cytisus and water-lilies, and 
 lay salt herbs in their cribs. 
 
 390. Nascentum."] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is nascentis. 
 
 Pleno.] In the King's manuscript 
 it is piano. 
 
 391 • Munere sic niveo, &c] This 
 and the following line are trans- 
 posed, in both Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 Servius accuses Virgil of having 
 changed the story, for it was not 
 Pan, but Endymion, who was said 
 to be beloved by the Moon, on ac* 
 count of his milk white sheep, with 
 which he bribed her to his embraces. 
 But I do not remember to have 
 read in any of the ancient authors, 
 that Endymion had any occasion to 
 take pains to seduce the Moon. On 
 the contrary, she fell in love with 
 him, as he lay asleep on the moun- 
 tain Latmos, or, as Cicero relates 
 the fable, threw him into a sleep on 
 purpose that she might have that 
 opportunity of enjoyinghim: "En- 
 " dymion vero, si fabulas audire 
 " volumus, nescio quando in Latmo 
 " obdormivit, qui est mons Cariae, 
 " nondumopinorexperrectus. Num 
 " igitur eum curare censes, cum 
 " Luna laboret, a qua consopitus pu- 
 " tatur ut eum dormientem osculare- 
 " tur ?" This cannot therefore be 
 the fable, to which Virgil alludes. 
 Macrobius affirms, that Virgil took 
 this fable of Pan and the Moon 
 from the Georgicks of Nicander, 
 which are now lost. The fable it- 
 self is variously related. Probus 
 
 tells us, that Pan being in love with 
 the Moon offered her the choice of 
 any part of his flock : that she 
 choosing the whitest, was deceived, 
 because they were the worst sheep. 
 But surely, if the whitest sheep 
 were the worst in the flock, it would 
 not have answered Virgil's purpose 
 to have alluded to the fable. I 
 rather believe the fable, which our 
 poet meant, was as Philargyrius 
 and some others have related it -, 
 that Pan changed himself into a 
 ram as white as snow, by which 
 the Moon was deceived, as Europa 
 was by Jupiter, in the form of a 
 white bull. 
 
 394. At cui lactis amor, &c] This 
 paragraph informs us, that those 
 who feed sheep for the sake of 
 their milk, must afford them great 
 plenty of proper nourishment. 
 
 Cytisum.] See the note on book 
 ii. ver. 431. 
 
 Lotos.] I have ventured to trans- 
 late this water-lilies on the credit of 
 Prosper Alpinus. See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 84. The great white 
 water lily grows in rivers and deep 
 ditches. 
 
 395. Ipse.,"] Pierius says it is Me 
 in the Roman and Medicean ma- 
 nuscripts, but he justly prefers ipse, 
 as being more emphatical. I find 
 Me in the King's and both the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, and some 
 of the oldest printed editions. 
 
 Salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas.] 
 2s 
 
314 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 This makes them fonder of 
 drinking, and more distends 
 their udders, and gives an 
 obscure relish of salt to their 
 mil k . Many restrain the kids 
 from their dams as soon as 
 they aregrown big, and fasten 
 muzzles with iron spikes 
 about their mouths. What 
 they have milked at sun- 
 rising and in the dav time, 
 they press at night ; but what 
 they milk in the night and 
 at sun-setting, the shepherd 
 carriesatday-break in baskets 
 to the town, or else they mix 
 it with a small quantity of 
 salt, and lay it up for winter. 
 Nor let your care of dogs be 
 the last ; but 
 
 Hinc et amant fluvios magis, et magis libera ten- 
 dunt, 396 
 
 Et salis occultiim referunt in lactesaporem. 
 
 Multi jam excretos prohibent a matribus hcedos, 
 
 Frimaque ferratis praefigunt ora capistris. 
 
 Quod surgente die jnulsere, horisque diurnis, 
 
 Nocte premunt ; quod jam tenebris et sole ca- 
 dente, 401 
 
 Sub lucem exportans calathis adit oppida pastor ; 
 
 Aut parco sale contingunt, hyemique reponunt. 
 
 Nee tibi cura canum fuerit postrema ; sed una 
 
 Columella does not approve the 
 giving of marsh herbs to sheep that 
 are in health ; he recommends salt 
 to be given them when they are 
 sick, and refuse their food and 
 drink. " Jucundissimas herbas esse, 
 " quae aratro proscissis arvis nas- 
 te cantur : deinde quae pratis uli- 
 *f gine carentibus : palustres, syl- 
 (C vestresque minime idoneas ha- 
 " beri: nee tamen ulla sunt tarn 
 " blanda pabula, aut etiam pascua, 
 <c quorum gratia non exolescat usu 
 <e continuo, nisi pecudum fastidio 
 " pastor occurrerit prsebito sale, 
 ** quod velut ad pabuli condimen- 
 " turn per aestatem canalibus lig- 
 f< neis impositum cum e pastu re- 
 fe dierint oves, lambunt, atque eo 
 " sapore cupidinem bibendi. pas- 
 " cendique concipiunt." 
 
 398. Jam.] It is etiam in the 
 King's and in both the Arundelian 
 manuscripts. 
 
 399. Ferratis capistris. - ] These 
 muzzles, of which the poet speaks, 
 are not such as confine the mouth 
 of the lamb or kid, for then it could 
 not eat. They are iron spikes fast- 
 ened about the snout, which prick 
 the dam, if she offers to let her 
 young one suck. 
 
 402. Calathis.] Servius interprets 
 
 calathis brazen vessels, in which 
 they used to carry milk and new 
 cheese to town. But it was cer- 
 tainly a vessel not at all fit to carry 
 milk : for it was made on purpose 
 for the whey to run through and 
 leave the curd behind, in order to 
 make cheese, as we find it de- 
 scribed by Columella : " Nee tamen 
 " admovenda est flammis, ut qui- 
 " busdam placet, sed baud procul 
 " igne constituenda, et confestim 
 " cum concrevit, liquor in fiscellas, 
 " aut in calathos, vel forrnas trans- 
 " ferendus est. Nam maxime re- 
 <( fert primo quoque tempore serum 
 " percolari, et a concreta materia 
 " separari." 
 
 404. Nee tibi cura canum, &c] 
 Immediately after sheep and goats, 
 the Poet makes mention of dogs; 
 some of which are necessary to de- 
 fend the folds against robbers and 
 wolves, and others are of service in 
 hunting. 
 
 Hesiod also advises us to take 
 good care to have our dogs well 
 fed, least the man that sleeps by day 
 should deprive us of our goods: 
 
 Kai xuvx x*g%xgohvr* xopu*. ph <pifia 
 
 ff'irov. 
 M>» ztori tr vfAt^oxeiros avwj «*« AS£*V**-*' 
 
 tXrireu. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 315 
 
 Veloces Spartae catulos, acremque Molossum 
 Pasce sero pingui s nunquam custodibus illis 
 Nocturnum stabulis furem, incursusque lupo- 
 
 407 
 
 rum, 
 
 Aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Iberos. 
 
 feed with fattening whey the 
 swift hounds of Sparta, and 
 the fierce mastiff of Molossia ; 
 trusting to those guards you 
 need never to fear che nightly 
 robber in your fold, nor the 
 incursions of wolves, nor the 
 re3tless Spaniards coming 
 upon you by stealth. 
 
 405. Veloces Spartae catulos.] The 
 dogs of Sparta were famous, thus 
 we have seen already Taygetique 
 canes and Amyclceumque canem. I 
 take these Spartan dogs to be what 
 we call hounds, for we find they 
 were used in hunting} and Aristo- 
 tle says they have long snouts, and 
 a very quick scent : A<« o<rm d pv 
 
 KTtj(>i$ flOtXfp), 0109 TUV AstXUViXliv xvvi- 
 
 iiiuv, ortp^oivTiKu. We may observe 
 also that Aristotle calls them xvvidtx, 
 and Virgil catuli, whence we may 
 judge that they were a smaller sort 
 of dogs, than those which were 
 used for the defence of the folds. 
 
 Acremque Molossum.] This dog 
 has its name from Molossia, a city 
 of Epirus. I take it to be that sort 
 which we call a mastiff. Aristotle 
 says there are two sorts of Molos- 
 sian dogs : that, which is used for 
 hunting, is not different from the 
 common sort; but that, which is 
 used by the shepherds, is large, and 
 fierce against wild beasts : To 2' h 
 tjj MoXorrtx, ygvo? rm xvvZv, to f&lv Sjj- 
 
 giVTlXOV Clidlv ^IXtpi^it TTftOS TO 7TX^BC T«$ 
 
 scXXotg. to £' axoXovBov ro?$ TT^oQdirois ra 
 fiiy'&u, xeci Ty dvcigt'ot Ttj Trgo? t« Sjjg/a. 
 There is frequent mention of the 
 loud barking of these dogs. Thus 
 Lucretius : 
 
 Irritata canum cum primum magna Mo- 
 lossum 
 
 Mollia ricta fremunt duros nudantia 
 dentes : 
 
 And Horace : 
 
 Simul domus alta Molossis 
 
 Personuit canibus. 
 
 Columella speaks of two sorts of 
 
 dogs, one to guard the house, and 
 the other to defend the folds. That 
 which he recommends for the house, 
 seems to be the mastiff, or molossus. 
 He says it should be of the largest 
 size, should bark deep and loud, 
 that he may terrify the thieves with 
 his voice as well as with his look, 
 nay and sometimes without being 
 seen affright them with a horrid 
 growling : Ci VilJse custos eligendus 
 f* est amplissimi corporis, vasti la- 
 " tratus, canorique, ut prius auditu 
 " maleficum, deinde etiam con- 
 t( spectu terreat, et tamen nonnun- 
 M quam ne visus quidem horribili 
 " fremitu suo fuget insidiantem." 
 
 408. Iberos.'] The Iberi have by 
 some been supposed to be a people 
 of that name who anciently dwelt 
 in Pontus. But we find in Pliny 
 that these Iberians were some of 
 the people, who settled in Spain : 
 " In universam Hispaniam M. Var- 
 " ro pervenisse Iberos et Persas, et 
 " Phcenicas, Celtasque et Pcenos 
 " tradit." The same author soon 
 after informs us, that all Spain was 
 called Iberia from the river Iberus ' 
 " Iberus amnis navigabili com- 
 u mercio dives, ortus in Cantabris 
 " haud procul oppido, Juliobrica, 
 " ccccl. M. pass, fluens, navium per 
 " eclx. M. a Varia oppido capax, 
 " quern propter universam Hispa- 
 " niam Graeci appellavere Iberiam." 
 The Iberus is now called the Ebro, 
 and has the city of Saragossa on its 
 banks. The Spaniards were so fa- 
 mous for their robberies, that the 
 Poet makes use of their name, in 
 this place, for robbers in general 
 
 2 s 2 
 
316 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 With dogs you will often 
 course the timorous wild 
 asses, with dogs you will hunt 
 the hare and hind. Often- 
 times also with the harking 
 of your dogs you will rouse 
 the wild boar from his muddy 
 habitations : and with their 
 noise drive the vast stag over 
 the lofty mountains into the 
 to'ls. Le^rn also to burn the 
 odorous cedar in your folds, 
 
 Saepe etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros, 
 Et canibus leporem, canibus venabere damas. 
 Saepe volutabris pulsos sylvestribus apros 411 
 Latratu turbabis agens, montesque per altos 
 Ingentem clam ore premes ad retia cervum. 
 Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum, 
 
 It cannot be supposed, that he 
 means literally the Spaniards them- 
 selves ; for those people were too 
 far removed from Italy, to be able 
 to come by night to rob their sheep- 
 folds. La Cerda has taken much 
 pains to justify his countrymen, by 
 shewing that it was anciently very 
 glorious to live by rapine. 
 
 40!). Timidos.] It is tumidos in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 Onagros.'] The Onager or wild 
 ass is an animal of Syria, frequent 
 about Aleppo and Apamia. The 
 skin of it is very hard, and is 
 dressed into that sort of knotty 
 leather, which we call chagriu. 
 Varro says the wild asses are very 
 numerous in Phrygia and Lycaonia, 
 and are easily made tame : " Unum 
 f< ferum, quos vocant Onagros, in 
 ■ f Phrygia et Lycaonia sunt greges 
 
 ft multi Ad seminationem 
 
 'f onagrus idoneus, quod e fero fit 
 " mansuetus facile, et e mansueto 
 " ferus nunquam." We find that 
 their flesh was in great esteem 
 amongst the ancients. Pliny men- 
 tions it as a singular taste in Mae- 
 cenas, that he preferred the colts of 
 the tame ass to those of the wild 
 one : " Pullos earum epulari Mae- 
 " cenas instituit, multum eo tem- 
 '* pore praelatos onagris : post eum 
 " interiit autoritas saporis," The 
 same author speaks of the wild 
 asses of Africa, as excelling all 
 others in taste: <( Onagri in Phry- 
 " gia et Lycaonia praecipui. Pull is 
 (< eorum ceu proestantibus sapore, 
 " Africa gloriatur, quos lalisiones 
 
 " appellant." Virgil has been cen- 
 sured for mentioning the hunting 
 of these animals, of which there 
 were none in Italy. Varro indeed 
 seems to speak as if there was no 
 sort of asses in Italy, except the 
 tame: " Alterum mahsuetum, ut 
 u sunt in Italia omnes." But, as 
 we have just now been told that 
 Maecenas preferred the flesh of the 
 tame ass to that of the wild one, 
 we may conclude, that the wild 
 asses were in Italy in Virgil's 
 time. 
 
 411. Volutabris.] This word pro- 
 perly signifies the muddy places in 
 which the swine delight to roll. 
 Thus Varro : " Admissuras cum fa- 
 1 ' ciunt, prodigunt in lutosos limites, 
 " ac lustra, ut volutentur in luto, 
 <e quse est illorum requies, ut la- 
 " vatio hominis." 
 
 414. Disce et odoratam.'] The 
 Poet now proceeds to shew the in- 
 juries to which cattle are subject : 
 and begins with a beautiful account 
 of serpents. 
 
 Odoratam cedrum.] I have ob- 
 served already, in the note on book 
 ii. ver. 433. that the cedar of the 
 Greek and Roman writers is not 
 the cedar of Lebanon, but a sort of 
 Juniper. Thus May translates this 
 passage : 
 
 But learne to burne within thy sheltering 
 
 roomes 
 Sweet Juniper. 
 
 This tree was accounted good to 
 drive away serpents with its smoke. 
 Palladium says that serpents are 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 317 
 
 Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore clielydros. 
 Saepe sub immotis praesepibus aut mala tactu 
 
 and to drive away the stink- 
 ing chciydri with the strong 
 smell of galbanum. Often 
 under the neglected mangers 
 either the 
 
 driven away by burning cedar, or 
 galbanum, or women's hair, or 
 hart's horns : " Propter serpentes, 
 " qui plerumque sub praesepibus 
 u latent, cedrum, vel galbanum, 
 " vel mulieris *apillos, aut cervina 
 " cornua frequenter uramus." 
 
 415. Galbaneo nidore.] Galbanum 
 is the concreted juice of a plant 
 called Ferula. It is probably taken 
 from more than one species. Her- 
 man, in his Paradisus Batavus. has 
 given us a figure and description of 
 a plant, under the name of Ferula 
 Africana Galbanifera, ligustici foliis 
 et facie, which being wounded 
 yields a juice in all respects agree- 
 ing with the Galbanum. " Acredine 
 " aromatica sat penetranti gustan- 
 f. tium linguam perstringit. Sau- 
 u ciata lac fund it viscid um sed di- 
 •' lutius et paucum, in lachrymam 
 " Galbano omnibus notis respon- 
 <c dentem concrescens. E trimuli 
 tf quadrimulive caulis geniculis sua 
 tf sponte nonnunquam emanat." 
 Dioscorides says it is the juice of a 
 sort of Ferula, growing in Syria, 
 that it has a strong smell, and 
 drives away serpents with its fume ; 
 XxXGctni ottos \?h Neifivixog iv ILvqiu, 
 
 yivvoftivov 00-f.iYi fiupuot, 
 
 3?ig/<8i ts Svftiuftiwi 'htux.ii. Pliny has 
 almost the same words : " Dat et 
 ** Galbanum Syria in eodem Amano 
 " monte e ferula .... Sincerum si 
 t( uratur, fugat nidore serpentes." 
 Columella also recommends the 
 smoke of Galbanum, to drive away 
 serpents: "Cavendumque ne a ser- 
 '• pentibus adflentur, quarum odor 
 *f tam pestilens est, ut interimat 
 " universes: id vitatur saepius in- 
 xt censo cornu cervino, vel galbano 
 " vel muliebricapillo; quorum onir 
 
 " nium fere nidoribus prsedicta 
 " pestis submovetur." 
 
 Graves.'] Servius reads gravi, 
 making it agree with galbaneo ni- 
 dore; which is not amiss: lor the 
 smell of galbanum is very strong. 
 But the ancient manuscripts have 
 graves, which is generally admitted 
 by the editors. And indeed this is 
 a propher epithet for the chelydri, 
 on account of their offensive smell, 
 as will be seen in the next note. 
 
 Clielydros.] In the King's manu* 
 script it is chel'mdros. 
 
 S. Isidore makes the chelydros 
 and chersydros to be the same : 
 " Chelydros serpens, qui et chersy- 
 '* dros dicitur, qui et in aquis et in 
 " terris moratur." But the chersy- 
 dros is described by our Poet ten 
 lines below. Lucan also makes 
 the chersydrus and chelydrus two 
 different sorts of serpents : 
 
 Natus et ambiguae coleret qui Syrtidos 
 arva 
 
 Chersydros, tractique via fumante che- 
 lydri. 
 
 The Chelydrus seems to be that sort 
 of serpent, of which we find fre- 
 quent mention among the Greek 
 writers under the name of drives. 
 Nicander says the dryinus is called 
 also hydrus and chelydrus, and that 
 it has a strong smell. Galen says 
 the bite of them is very venomous, 
 and the smell so very offensive, that 
 it causes those who attempt to de- 
 stroy them, to think the most 
 agreeable smells stinking. iEtius 
 says this serpent stinks so griev- 
 ously, as even to discover the place 
 where it lurks. Thus we see that 
 Virgil might well give these ser- 
 pents the epithet graves. 
 
 416. Sub immotis prasepibus.] 
 
18 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ▼iper of dangerous touch con- 
 ceals itself, and affrighted 
 flies the light ; or that snake, 
 the dreadful plague of kine, 
 which uses to creep into houses 
 and shady places, and spread 
 his venom on the cattle, keeps 
 close to the ground; be quick 
 ■with stones, shepherd; be 
 quick with clubs j 
 
 Vipera delituit, caelumque exterrita fugit : 
 Aut tecto adsuetus coluber succedere et umbrae, 
 Pestis acerba boum, pecorique adspergere virus, 
 Fovit humum. Cape saxa manu : cape robora, 
 pastor, 4-20 
 
 Pierius says it is ignotis in the Ro- 
 man manuscript^ but he justly 
 prefers immoiis. 
 
 Columella recommends in a par- 
 ticular manner the diligent sweep- 
 ing and cleansing of thesheepcotes, 
 not only to free them from mud and 
 dung, but also from noxious ser- 
 pents: " Stabula vero frequenter 
 " everrenda, et purganda, humor- 
 tc que omnis urinae deverrendus 
 " est, qui commodissime siccatur 
 <c perforatis tabulis, quibus ovilia 
 " consternuntur, ut grex super- 
 " cubet : nee tantum cceno aut 
 61 stercore, sedexitiosis quoque ser- 
 " pentibus tecta liberentur." Jm- 
 motis therefore in this place means 
 such places as have not been duly 
 swept and cleansed. 
 
 417- Vipera.] Servius thinks that 
 the vipera is so called quod vi pariat ; 
 others, with better reason, think it 
 is so called quod vivum pariat. And 
 indeed this animal differs from most 
 other serpents, in bringing forth 
 its young alive; whereas the rest 
 lay eggs. It is known in England 
 under the name of viper or adder. 
 The bite of it is very venomous; 
 though it seldom, if ever, proves 
 mortal in our climate. The most 
 immediate remedy for this bite is 
 found to be olive oil applied in- 
 stantly to the injured part. See 
 Phil. Trans, no. 443. p. 313. and no. 
 444. p. 394. 
 
 418. Coluber pestis acerba 
 
 boum.] I take the serpent here 
 meant, to be that which Pliny 
 calls boas. This author affirms that 
 they grow sometimes to a prodi- 
 
 gious bigness, and that there was 
 a child found in the belly of one 
 of them, in the reign of Claudius. 
 He adds, that they feed on cow's 
 milk, whence they have obtained 
 their name. The words of Pliny 
 are quoted in the note on book ii. 
 ver. 374. 
 
 420. Fovit.] Pierius says it is 
 fodit in some ancient manuscripts. 
 Foveo properly signifies to foment, 
 cherish, or embrace. In the twelfth 
 iEueid it is used to express the 
 fomenting of a wound : 
 
 Fovit ea vulnus lympha longasvus lapis. 
 
 In the second Georgick, it is used 
 for chewing medicinally: 
 
 . Animos et olentia Medi 
 
 Ora fovent illo. 
 
 In the fourth Georgick it is used 
 for holding water in the mouth till 
 it is warm : 
 
 Prius hanstu sparsus aqaarum 
 
 Ora fove. 
 
 In the first iEneid, it is used for 
 embracing : 
 
 Haec oculis, hsec pectore toto 
 
 Haeret et interdum gremio fovet; 
 
 And in the eighth : 
 
 . Niveis hinc atque hinc Dira 
 
 lacertis 
 Cunctantem amplexu molli fovet. 
 
 Hence it signifies the assiduous 
 attendance of a lover on his mis- 
 tress, in the third Eclogue : 
 
 . Ipse Neaeram 
 
 Dum fovet. 
 
GEORG. LIB. Ill, 
 
 319 
 
 Tollentemque minas et sibila colla tumentem 
 Dejice: jamquefuga timidum caput abdidit alte, 
 Cum medii nexus, extremaeque agmina caudae 
 Solvuntur, tardosque trahit sinus ultimus orbes. 
 Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis, 
 Squamea convolvers sublato pectore terga, 426 
 Atque notis longum maculosus grandibus alvum : 
 Qui dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus, et dum 
 Vere madent udo terrae, ac pluvialibus austris, 
 Stagna colit,ripisque habitans, hie piscibus atram 
 Improbus ingluviem ranisque loquacibus explet. 
 Postquam exusta palus, terraeque ardore dehis- 
 cunt, 432 
 
 and, whilst he rues threat- 
 ening, and swells his hissing 
 neck, knock him down : and 
 now he is fled, and hides his 
 fearful head ; and his middle 
 folds, and the last wreaths of 
 his tail are extended, and hi* 
 utmost spires are slowly drag- 
 ged along. There is also that 
 grievous snake in the Cala- 
 brian lawns, raising his breast, 
 and waving his scaly back, 
 and having his long belly 
 marked with large spots, 
 who, so long as any rivers 
 burst from their springs, and 
 whilst the lands are moist 
 with the dewy spring and 
 rainy south winds, frequents 
 the pools, and making his 
 habitation in the banks, gree- 
 dily crams his horrid maw 
 with fishes and loquacious 
 frogs. But after the fen » 
 burnt up, and the earth gapes 
 with heat, 
 
 Thus also, in the ninth ^Eneid, it 
 signifies the keeping close of an 
 army within their trenches : 
 
 Non obvia ferre 
 
 Arma viros ; sed castra fovere. 
 
 In much the same sense it seems 
 to be used here, for a serpent's 
 keeping close to the ground, under 
 the muck of an un cleansed sheep- 
 cote. Besides it is usual for ser- 
 pents to lay their eggs under dung, 
 in order to be hatched. 
 
 Cape saxa manu.~\ The rapidity 
 of this verse finely expresses the 
 necessary haste on this occasion, to 
 catch up stones and sticks to en- 
 counter the serpent. This is one 
 of the many beautiful passages, 
 which Vida has selected from our 
 poet : 
 
 At mora si fuerit damno, properare ju- 
 
 bebo. 
 Si se forte cava extulerit male vipera 
 
 terra 
 Tolle moras, cape saxa manu, cape ro- 
 
 bora pastor ; 
 Ferte citi flammas, date tela, repellite 
 
 pestem. 
 
 422. Timidum.'] It is tumidum in 
 the Bodleian manuscript, in the old 
 
 Nurenberg edition, and in the 
 Venice edition of 1475. 
 
 425. Est etiam ille malus, &c.} It 
 is universally agreed, that the Poet 
 here describes the Chersydrus, which 
 is so called from %t£<ro$ earth, and 
 vhu^ water, because it lives in both 
 these elements. The form and na- 
 ture of this serpent are no where 
 so well described, as in this passage 
 of our Poet. 
 
 428. Ulli.~] It is ullis in the 
 King's manuscript. 
 
 431. Explet r\ Pierius says it is 
 implet in many of the ancient manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 432. Exusta."] It is generally 
 read exhausta. Pierius found exusta 
 in the oblong, the Lombard, and 
 some other ancient copies. It is 
 exusta in the Bodleian manuscript, 
 and in several of the oldest edi- 
 tions. Heinsius also, and after him 
 Masvicius read exusta. I believe 
 that Virgil wrote exusta, and that 
 his transcribers have altered it to 
 exhausta, imagining it to be suf- 
 ficient to say the fens are exhausted, 
 those watery places not being easily 
 burnt up. But whosoever is con- 
 versant in fenny countries, must 
 
320 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 he leaps on the dry ground, 
 and rolling his flaminp eyes 
 rages in the fields, being ex- 
 asperated bv thirst, and ter- 
 rified with the heat. May I 
 never at such a time indulge 
 myself in sleeping in the open 
 air, or lie upon the grass on 
 the edge of a wood ; when 
 renewed by casting its slough, 
 and glittering with youth, it 
 leaves its young one's or eggs 
 at home, and slides along, 
 raising itself up to the sun, 
 and brandishes its three- 
 forked tongue. I will also 
 teach you the causes and 
 signs of their diseases, The 
 filthy scab afflicts the sheep, 
 when a cold rain, 
 
 Exilit in siccunij et flammantia lumina torcpcns 
 Saevit agris, asperque siti atque exterritus aestu. 
 Ne mihi turn molles sub dio carpere somnos, 435 
 Neu clorso nemoris libcat jacuisse per herbas : 
 Cum positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventa 
 Volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens, 
 Arduus ad solem et Unguis micat ore trisulcis. 
 Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo. 
 Turpis oves tentat scabies, ubi frigid us imber 
 
 know that in dry seasons no lands 
 are more scorched up than the fens. 
 In the first Georgick we have, 
 
 Et cum exustus ager morientibus aestuat 
 herbis. 
 
 This whole 432d verse is wanting 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 433. Exilit.'] Pierius says it is 
 exiit in the Lombard and Medicean 
 manuscripts. I find the same read- 
 ing in on* of the Arnndelian and 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 But exilit is generally received. 
 
 Torqtiens.~\ It is Unquens in the 
 King's manuscripts : et also is there 
 wanting between siccum and flam- 
 mantia. 
 
 434. Exterritus .] Fulvius Ur- 
 sinus says it is exercitus in the old 
 Colotian manuscript, which is no 
 inelegant reading. 
 
 435. Ne.] It is nee in one of the 
 Arundelian and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, and in an old quarto 
 edition printed at Paris in 1494. 
 
 Dio.] It is divo in the King's, the 
 Bodleian, one of the Arundelian, 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in several of the old editions. 
 In the other Arundelian copy it 
 is clivo. 
 
 437-] In one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts, after this verse, follows 
 
 Lufoica convolvens sulluio pcelore terga, 
 
 which is a repetition of ver. 426. 
 there being only lubrica put for 
 squamea. 
 
 The Poet now describes the dis* 
 eases, to which sheep are subject. 
 
 441. Turpis oves tentat scabies] 
 Columella observes, that no ani- 
 mal is so subject to the scab as 
 sheep. He adds, that it usually 
 arises on their being injured by 
 cold rain or frost; or after shear- 
 ing, if they are not well washed, or 
 if they are permitted to feed in 
 woody places, where they are 
 wounded with brambles and briars; 
 or if they are folded where mules, 
 or horses, or asses have stabled ; 
 or if they are lean for want of suf- 
 ficient pasture, than which nothing 
 sooner brings the scab. " Oves 
 " frequentius, quani ullum aliud 
 " animal infestantur scabie, quae 
 " fere nascitur, sicut noster me- 
 " morat poeta, 
 
 Cum frigidus imber 
 
 " Altius ad vivum persedit, et horrida 
 
 " cano 
 " Bruma gelu : 
 
 " vel post tonsuram, si remedium 
 ie praedicti medicaminis non adhi- 
 ' c beas, si aestivum sudorem mari, 
 " vel flumine non abluas, si tonsum 
 " gregem patiaris sylvestribus ru- 
 " bis, ac spinis sauciari : si stabulo 
 " utaris, in quo mula?, aut equi, aut 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 351 
 
 Altius ad vivum persedit, et horrida cano 442 
 Bruma gelu ; vel cum tonsis illotus adhaesit 
 Sudor, et hirsuti secuerunt corpora vepres. 
 Dulcibus idcirco fluviis pecus omne magistri 
 Perfundunt, udisque aries in gurgite villis 446 
 Mersatur, missusque secundo defluit amni. 
 Aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus amurca, 
 
 and winter stiff with hoary 
 frost, have pierced them to 
 the quick : or when their 
 sweat not being washed off 
 after shearing has stuck to 
 them, and rough thorns have 
 torn their bodies. On this 
 account the shepherds wash 
 all their cattle in sweet ri- 
 vers, and the ram is plunged 
 in the river, and sent to float 
 a:ong the stream. Or else 
 they anoint their shorn bodies 
 with bitter lees of oil, 
 
 (e asini steterunt : praecipue tamen 
 " exiguitas cibi maciem, macies 
 ** autem scabiem facit." 
 
 Ubi.2 Pierius says it is cum in 
 the Roman manuscript. 
 
 445. Dulcibus idcirco fluviis, &c.] 
 Columella says, that a sheep, as 
 soon as it is sheared, should be 
 anointed with a mixture of the 
 juice of lupines, the lees of old 
 wine, and the dregs of oil in equal 
 quantities; and be washed four 
 days afterwards in the sea, or in 
 rain water salted: and quotes the au- 
 thority of Celsus, who affirms that 
 a sheep treated after this manner 
 will be free from the scab for a 
 whole year; and that the wool 
 will be the longer and softer for 
 it. " Verum ca quandocunque de- 
 * tonsa fuerit, ungi debet tali me- 
 " dicamine, succus excocti lupini, 
 t( veterisque vini faex, et amurca 
 " pari men sura miscentur, eoque 
 <e liquamine tonsa ovis imbuitur, 
 •* atque ubi per triduum delibato 
 tf tergore medicamina perbiberit, 
 <( quarto die, si est vicinia maris, 
 ' ' ad littus deducta mersatur : si 
 w minus est, caelestis aqua sub dio 
 u salibus in hunc usum durata 
 " paulum decoquitur ; eaque grex 
 " perluitur. Hoc modo curatum 
 " pecus anno scabrum fieri non 
 " posse Celsus affirmat, nee dubium 
 " est, quin etiam ob earn rem lana 
 " quoque mollior atque prolixior 
 <( renascatur." Thus Columella re- 
 commends the salt water as a pre- 
 
 servative "against the scab; but 
 Virgil advises the use of sweet 
 river water, as a cure after the 
 distemper has seized them. 
 
 448. Aut tonsum tristi, &c] We 
 have seen already in the preceding 
 note, the composition which Colu- 
 mella prescribes against the scab. 
 The same author adds Hellebore to 
 his liniment, when it is to be applied 
 to a sheep in which the disease is 
 already begun : ' e Facit autem com- 
 " mode primum ea compositio, 
 " quam paulo ante demonstravi- 
 *• mus, si ad faecem et amurcam, 
 " succurrque decocti lupini misceas 
 '« portione aequa detritum album 
 n Elleborum." It must be allowed 
 that the ointment which Virgil here 
 describes is an excellent composi- 
 tion. 
 
 Amurca.] The lees of oil are 
 much in use in Italy, and other 
 countries where oil is made. We 
 find it recommended by Cato for 
 many purposes. We find the vir- 
 tues of it collected by Dioscorides. 
 It is, says he, the dregs of oil. Be- 
 ing boiled in a copper vessel to the 
 consistence of honey, it is astrin- 
 gent, and has the other effects of Ly- 
 cium. It is applied to the tooth- 
 ache and to wounds with vinegar 
 and wine : it is added to medicines 
 for the eyes, and to those which 
 obstruct the pores. It is the better 
 for being old. It is applied with 
 success to ulcers of the anus and 
 pudenda. If it is boiled again with 
 2 T 
 
322 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 SjhS?,£di5En"puc?23 Etspumas miscent argenti, vivaque sulphura, 
 
 fatwax,andsquill,andstrong TJ • • . . ' 
 
 hellebore, and black wtu- Idaeasque pices, et pingues unguine ceras, 450 
 Scillamque, Helleborosque graves, nigrumque 
 bitumen. 
 
 verjuice to the consistence of honey 
 it draws out rotten teeth. It heals 
 the scab in cattle, being made into 
 a liniment with the decoction of 
 lupines and chamaeleon. It is of 
 great service to anoint the gout and 
 pains of the joints with dregs of 
 oil. A skin with the hair on 
 smeared with it, and applied to the 
 dropsy, diminishes the swelling : 
 AfAo^yn, v7r6<rTci$pi'/i vrrh \Xxixg rm bc- 
 &XiQoftzvYi$. q rig tyr&iio-x Iv ys&X'xJn xv~ 
 
 7Tg/&» f6iX(>l (AiXlTCO^OVg G-VG-rdtrias, FTVtyit. 
 
 •aroiovo-x ■srgog x xxi to Xvxtov. lx7n^io-crov 
 oi xxi zrpo? ooovlxXyixg xxi rpxi/uxlx. 
 
 im^ld (AZV'A fMT 0%0Vg H OIVOV Yl OUtOftiXl- 
 
 rog. fttyvvleti (& xxi offixXpuxxig o*vvx- 
 
 fAZFl Xxi Zp.TVXXO'TlXxig. -ZoClXcClOVUll/) T£ 
 
 fizXriav yinrxi. zyxXvo-ftx rz zd(>x xxi 
 xidoia xxi ^rpxig ziXxuftivxig sVri %%A- 
 crifAoq. IxQxXXzi 21 xxi rovg zffix^f&zvovg 
 edovlxg <rvv optyxxim z^B-zTo-x ##§< f«£- 
 Xireo^ovg <rv<£\x<rzag, xxi ■z?ip j nrXa.o~bu<rx. 
 "fytapxg rz xrnwv <rvv S-zgfiM atpz-fyyipxri 
 
 XXI %XUXlXZ0VT0g XXTX^IO^ZVY) §ZPX7CZVZl. 
 
 j* £g xvzfynrog xxi zipoo-tyxrog srohxy^ixovg 
 xxi x^&^rixovg eotyiXzi. §zpjav\ xxrxvrXn- 
 Gu<rx ly^tofAivvi oi zig xadiov xxi iTriQtft&vq 
 Z7ri raiv vbpo7tixw, o-lzXXzi rov oyxov. 
 
 449- Spumas argenti.] Some have 
 supposed the poet to mean quick- 
 silver, grounding their opinion on 
 the following passage of Calpur- 
 nius : 
 
 -Vivi quoque pondere melle 
 
 Argenti coquito. 
 
 But quicksilver was never called 
 spuma argenti, by which name the 
 ancients seem to understand what 
 we call litharge. It arises in the 
 purification of silver, as is plainly 
 enough described by Pliny : " Fit 
 
 " in iisdem Metalliset quaevocatur 
 " Spuma argenti. Genera ejus tria 
 <e .... Omnisautem fit excocta sua 
 " materia ex superioricatino deflu- 
 " ens in inferiorem, et ex eo sub- 
 u lata veruculis ferreis, atque in 
 <e ipsa flamma con voluta veruculo, 
 " ut sit modici ponderis. Est au- 
 " tern, ut ex nomine ipso intelligi 
 " potest, fervescentis et futurae ma- 
 " teriae spuma. Distat a scoria, 
 " quo potest spuma a faece distare. 
 " Alterum purgantis se materiae, 
 " alterum purgatae vitium est." 
 
 Vivaque sulpliura.] So Servius and 
 most of the commentators agree 
 that it should be read. Pierius 
 found et sulphura viva in the Ro- 
 man, Medicean, and Lombard ma- 
 nuscripts. I find the same reading 
 in the King's, the Cambridge, the 
 Bodleian, and in both the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts. It is ac sulphura 
 viva in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, and in several of the oldest 
 printed editions. 
 
 Sulphur is without doubt a good 
 ingredient in this composition. 
 
 450. Idccasque pices.'] Pitch is 
 called Idaean, because pitch-trees 
 abound on mount Ida. Pitch is of 
 two sorts, arida or sicca, which we 
 call properly pitch; and liquida, 
 which we call iar. I believe it is 
 the pix liquida or tar, which the 
 poet means. Pliny says it is an ex- 
 cellent remedy for the scab in 
 cattle : " Praestantissimum ad ca- 
 ie num et jumentorum scabiem." 
 
 Ceras.] Wax seems to be added 
 chiefly to give to the medicine the 
 consistence of an ointment. 
 
 451. Scillam.] The squill or sea 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 313 
 
 Non tamen ulla magis prsesens fortuna laborum Jcfrf^to^y^S^m." 
 
 a. the distemper increases, and 
 
 CSt 3 gains strength by being co- 
 
 -. . _ . . .. vered; whilst the shepherd 
 
 l^uam si quis rerro potuit rescindere summum refuses to apply his healing 
 
 x l hands to the wound, 
 
 Ulceris os : alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo ; 454 
 Dum medicas adhibere manus ad vulnera pastor 
 
 onion is a bulbous root, like an 
 onion, but much larger. It is 
 brought to us from Spain. 
 
 Helleborosque graves.] There are 
 two kinds of Hellebore, the black 
 and the white. I take it to be the 
 white Hellebore, that Virgil means. 
 Columella expressly mentions the 
 white Hellebore, as we have seen 
 already in the quotation from that 
 author, in the note on ver. 448. 
 Dioscorides however ascribes the 
 power of curing this sort of diseases 
 to the black Hellebore : ®t£etmvu 
 
 xeti zri'crcrvis xxi Kidgtvov IXoclov xotTU%£io- 
 pmg. The white Hellebore is 
 known to be serviceable in diseases 
 of the skin, if it be externally ap- 
 plied; but it is too rough to be 
 taken inwardly, as the black sort is. 
 Hence perhaps Virgil added the 
 epithet graves, to express the white 
 Hellebore. 
 
 Bitumen.] Bitumen, or, as the 
 Greeks called \t,Asphaltus, is a fat, 
 sulphureous, tenaceous, inflamma- 
 ble substance, issuing out of the 
 earth or floating upon water, as at 
 Pitchford in Shropshire, and in the 
 island Barbadoes in America, whence 
 it is brought hither under the name 
 of Barbadoes tar. Sometimes it is 
 found hardened into a substance 
 like pitch. The most esteemed is 
 that which is found in Judaea, and 
 is called Bitumen Judaicum, or Jews- 
 pitch. This is seldom if ever 
 brought hither : what is generally 
 sold for it being little different from 
 common pitch. Pliny mentions a 
 mixture of bitumen and pitch as 
 
 good for the scab in sheep: "Est 
 " et Pissasphaltos, mixta bitumini 
 ** pice, naturaliter ex Apollionata- 
 <e rum agro. Quidam ipsi miscent, 
 " praecipuum ad scabiem pecorum 
 " remedium." 
 
 452. Non tamen ulla, &c] It has 
 not without reason been said by the 
 writers of Virgil's life, that our 
 poet had studied physic. The 
 respect with which he mentions 
 the physician lapis, and the many 
 medicines occasionally mentioned 
 in his works, greatly favour this 
 tradition. He has just mentioned 
 an ointment, compounded with 
 greater skill, and described with 
 greater propriety of expression, 
 than any that we meet with in the 
 other writers of agriculture. He 
 now adds with much judgment that 
 no application is of so much service, 
 as to lay open the ulcer, and give 
 a free discharge to the corroding 
 matter. 
 
 453. Rescindere.] It properly sig- 
 nifies to open ; in which sense it is 
 used also in the twelfth iEneid : 
 
 Ense secent lato vulnus, telique late- 
 
 bram 
 Rescindant penitus. 
 
 In the same manner it seems to 
 have been used by Lucretius : 
 
 Proptereaque solere vias rescindere nos- 
 
 tris 
 Sensibus. 
 
 454. Alitur vitium, vivitque te* 
 gendo7\ Thus also Lucretius : 
 
 Ulcus enim vivescit, et inveterascit 
 alendo. 
 2 T 2 
 
32* 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and sitting still begs the 
 Gods to assist him. Moreover 
 when the pain, reaching to 
 the very bones of the bleating 
 sheep, rages, and a parching 
 fever consumes their limbs, it 
 has been of service to avert 
 the kindled heat, and pierce 
 the vein spouting with blood 
 between the under parts of 
 the foot ; ju-t as the Bisaltae 
 use, and the fierce Gelonian, 
 when he flies to Rhodope, and 
 to the deserts of the Getae, 
 and drinks milk mixed with 
 horse's blood. If you ever 
 see one of your sheep stand 
 at a distance, or often creep 
 under the mild shade, or 
 lazily crop the ends of the 
 grass, or lag behind the rest, 
 or lie down, as she is feeding, 
 in the middle of the plain, 
 and return alone late at night ; 
 immediately cut off the faulty 
 sheep, 
 
 Abnegat, aut meliora Deos sedet omnia poscens. 
 Quin etiam ima dolor baiantum lapsus ad ossa 
 Cum furit, atque artus depascitur arida febris ; 
 Profuit incensos aestus avertere, et inter 
 Ima ferire pedis salientem sanguine venam : 460 
 Bisaltse quo more solent, acerque Gelonus, 
 Cum fugit in Rhodopen, atque in deserta 
 
 Getarum, 
 Et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino. 
 Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius um- 
 brae, 
 Videris, aut summas carpentem ignavius berbas, 
 Extremamque sequi, aut medio procumbere 
 campo 466 
 
 Pascentem, et serae solam decedere nocti ; 
 Contjnuo culpam ferro compesce, prius quam 
 
 456. Et.'] Pierius says it is aut In 
 the Roman manuscript. 
 
 Omnia.'] It is omina in the Ro- 
 man manuscript, according to Pie- 
 rius. It is omina also in the Ve- 
 nice edition in fol. 1475. La Cerda 
 reads omina. 
 
 46*1. Bisaltce.] The Bisaltce were 
 a people of Macedon. 
 
 Gelonus.] See bookii. ver. 115. 
 
 462. Rhodopen.] Rhodope is a 
 mountain of Thrace, 
 
 Getarum.] The Getce or Dacians 
 dwelt near the Danube. 
 
 463. Lac concretum cum sanguine 
 potat equina.] This custom of 
 drinking milk and horse's blood 
 is ascribed to the Massagetse, a peo- 
 ple of Scythia, by Dionysius. 
 
 Tows Ti pir awroXiw }$, vrigqv xiXahovres 
 
 'Agct^eu 
 TAa.gffa.yira.1 vaiavffi, &oun> purygts ei'trjav. 
 'Av££6f els fi'/ir air os iyu, f&nB-' off]is ira.~go$ 
 ' ' E[A9CtX«.iroc,t' fjcocXa. yw(> <r\ Ka,xo%iu'ari£ot 
 
 aXXoov 
 Ov yo\^ <r<p)v ffiroio [AtXttp^ovos is"<v i$w$y), 
 ObTt f*h evl' elves pireihrifttoi. «XX» yug 
 
 A'/pan fiio-yevjis ktvxoy ycckec, ^ouret ti- 
 
 SgVTflW. 
 
 Pliny mentions the Sarmata as mix- 
 ing millet with the milk of mares, 
 or the blood drawn out of their legs : 
 <f Sarmatarum quoque gentes hae 
 " maxime pulte aluntur, et cruda 
 " etiam farina equino lacte vel san- 
 <c guine e cruris venis admixto." 
 The same is said by other authors, 
 of different nations inhabiting those 
 parts. 
 
 464. Aui.] It is ut in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 Succedere.] In one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts it is succumbere. 
 
 Scepiusr] In the King's manu- 
 script it is mollius. 
 
 465. Ignavius.] Pierius found 
 segnius in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 467. Et.] The conjunction is 
 omitted in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 Serce nocti.] Pierius says it is 
 sera node in the ancient manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 468. Continuo culpam ferro com* 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 325 
 
 before the dreadful contagion 
 spreads itself over the un- 
 
 _ T , , wary flock. The whirlwind 
 
 Non tarn creber agens nyemem ruit aequore which brings on a storm, 
 
 Dira per incautum serpant contagia vulgus. 
 
 turbo, 
 
 470 
 
 pesce.] Most of the printed editions, 
 and all the manuscripts which I 
 have collated, have continuo ferro 
 culpam, which seems very unhar- 
 monious. Servius reads continuo cul- 
 pam ferro, which order of the words 
 Pierius also found in the Roman, 
 the Medicean, and other very an- 
 cient manuscripts. I have found 
 the same order in two old editions 
 in folio, printed at Venice in 1475 
 and 1476, and in an old edition of 
 the Georgicks in octavo, printed at 
 Paris in 1495. The same is ad- 
 mitted also by La Cerda and Hein- 
 sius. 
 
 Servius interprets culpam ferro 
 compesce to mean, that the shepherd 
 by killing an infected sheep avoids 
 being guilty himself of a crime, in 
 suffering it to live to the damage 
 of the whole flock : " Atqui habere 
 " morbum culpa non est : sed hoc 
 " dicil, occidendo earn, tuam cul- 
 " pam compesce, id est, vita cri- 
 " men in quod potes incidere, si, 
 " dum uni parcis, fuerit totus grex 
 " ejus contagione corruptus." Gri- 
 moaldus is of the same opinion: 
 <( Haec inquam signa et indicia, 
 " quae febrim solent antecedere, si- 
 " mul atque perceperis, crimen vi- 
 " tabis, in quod poteris incidere, si 
 " dum uni parcis, fuerit totus grex 
 '"■ ejus contagione corruptus/' La 
 Cerda gives the same interpretation : 
 " Illud culpam ferro compesce refer- 
 " tur ad earn culpam, quae reside- 
 " bit in pastore, nisi utatur ferro." 
 Ruaeus seems to think that by cul- 
 pam is meant the disease of the 
 sheep : " hujus morbum coerce sta- 
 " tim ferro." But Virgil is not here 
 speaking of any partial disease, 
 which might be restrained by being 
 
 cut out, but of a general disorder 
 which spreads itself over the whole 
 body, making the sheep loath its 
 food, and lag heavily behind the 
 flock. I am persuaded therefore, 
 that by culpam he means the in- 
 fected sheep, and by ferro compesce, 
 that it should be killed, to prevent 
 the contagion from spreading. 
 Thus in the second Georgick, he 
 uses ramos compesce, to express the 
 pruning of trees, to hinder the too 
 luxuriant spreadingof the branches: 
 
 ■ Turn denique dura 
 
 Exerce imperia, et ramos compesce flu- 
 
 entes. 
 
 All the translators have concurred 
 in understanding culpam compesce $ 
 to be meant of killing the sheep. 
 Thus May : 
 
 Straight kill that sheepe 
 
 Before th' infection through th' whole 
 flocke doe creepe : 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 Revenge the crime, and take the traitor's 
 head, 
 
 E'er in the faultless flock the dire con- 
 tagion spread : 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Delay not, kill th' infected ; e'er thro' all 
 Th' unwary flock the dire contagion 
 spread. 
 
 470. Non tarn creber agens, &c] 
 After these diseases, to which the 
 sheep are subject, our Poet adds 
 that the distempers of cattle are 
 innumerable. Hence he takes oc- 
 casion to speak of a great plague, 
 by which all the country about the 
 Alps was laid waste. 
 
 " The words agens hyemem," says 
 Dr. Trapp, u are commonly ex- 
 
326 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and rushes upon the main, is 
 notso frequent, as the plagues 
 of cattle are many ; nor do 
 these diseases prey on single 
 bodies, but sweep off whole 
 folds on a sudden, both lambs 
 and sheep, and the whole 
 flock, entirely. This any one 
 may know, who sees the lofty 
 Alps, and the Noric castles on 
 the hills, and the fields of 
 lapidian Timavus, and the 
 realms of the shepherds even 
 now after so long a time de- 
 serted, and the lawns lying 
 •waste far and wide. Here 
 formerly a most miserable 
 plague arose by the corruption 
 of the air, 
 
 Quam multae pecudum pestes: nee singula morbi 
 Corpora corripiunt ; sed tota aestiva repente, 
 Spemque gregemque simul, cunctamque ab 
 
 origine gentem. 
 Turn sciat, aerias Alpes, et Norica siquis 
 Castella in tumulis, et Iapidis arva Timavi, 475 
 Nunc quoque post tanto videat desertaque regna 
 Pastor um, et longe salt us lateque vacantes. 
 Hie quondam morbo caeli miseranda coorta est 
 
 " plained by tempestatem Jerens. 
 " And then it should be rendered 
 " not in but before a storm. But 
 " I rather understand it, agens for 
 * c agitans hijemem, or aerem in 
 " hyeme, \. e. procella. Surely a 
 " multitude of whirlwinds do not 
 " precede a storm ; but are them- 
 " selves one, or at least parts of 
 '* one." 
 
 I do not think that creber agens 
 hyemem turbo is to be understood to 
 mean, that many whirlwinds pre- 
 cede one single storm, but that the 
 sea is tossed by many whirlwinds, 
 each of which precedes a storm. 
 That a violent storm is usually 
 preceded by a whirlwind is most 
 certain : therefore to enter into a 
 debate,, whether the whirlwind is 
 to be accounted a forerunner of a 
 storm, or a part of the storm itself, 
 would be a mere logomachy. 
 
 471. Quam multce pecudum pestes.] 
 The Poet cannot mean that pesti- 
 lences or murrains are as common 
 among the cattle, as storms on the 
 sea. Pestis is a more general word, 
 and includes all the several great 
 misfortunes that attend them. Tims 
 a little before, he calls a serpent 
 Pestis acerba bourn. 
 
 472. /Estiva.'] " /Estiva are the 
 " shady places, in which the cattle 
 " avoid the heat of the sun in sum- 
 <e mer; thus Statius : 
 
 " Et turibrosi patucre cestiva Lyccei." 
 
 Servius. 
 
 473. Spemque gregemque. - ] Ser- 
 vius interprets this, agnos cum ma- 
 tribus, which is generally received. 
 
 474. Turn sciat, &e.] " The sense 
 " is this, if any one knows what 
 " sort of places these were, when 
 " they were full of cattle, he may 
 " now see them empty, though it 
 Ci is a long time since the pesti- 
 " lence." Servius. 
 
 Aerias Alpes.] The Alps are 
 called aerice, from their great 
 height : they divide Italy from 
 France and Germany. 
 
 Norica.~\ Noricum was a region 
 of Germany, bordering on the Alps, 
 Great part of it is what we now 
 call Bavaria. 
 
 Iapidis arva Timavi.] Some read 
 Iapygis; but Iapygia was a part of 
 the kingdom of Naples, far distant 
 from the Alps, of which Virgil is 
 here speaking. Iapidis is certainly 
 the true meaning : for lapidia was 
 in the Venetian territory, where 
 the river Timavus flows. This part 
 of Italy is now called Friuli. 
 
 Schrevelius and Masvicius read 
 arm a instead of arva. 
 
 Timavus is a river of Carniola : 
 it is now called Timavo. 
 
 478. Hie] It is hinc in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 Virgil is generally thought to 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 327 
 
 Tempestas, totoque autumni incanduit aestu, Sat 5 lutumn° URh a11 the 
 
 speak in this place of the plague 
 which broke out in Attica, in the 
 first year of the Peloponnesian war, 
 which has been so accurately de- 
 scribed by Hippocrates, Thucydides, 
 and Lucretius. This last author, 
 whom our Poet seems to emulate, 
 derives this plague from Egypt : 
 
 Haec ratio quondam morborum, et mor- 
 
 tifer ajstas 
 Finibu' Cecropiis funestos reddidit agros, 
 Vastavitque vias, exhausit civibus urbem. 
 Nam penitus veniens iEgypti e finibus 
 
 ortus, 
 Aera permensus multum, camposque 
 
 natantes, 
 Incubuit tandem populo Pandionis: 
 
 omnes 
 Inde catervatim morbo mortique daban- 
 
 tur. 
 
 A plague thus rais y d, laid learned Athens 
 
 •waste ; 
 Thro' ev\y street, thro' all the town it 
 
 passed, 
 Blasting both man and least with poisonous 
 
 wind : 
 Death fled before, and ruin staWd behind. 
 From Egypt's burning sands the fever 
 
 came, 
 More hot than those that rais'd the deadly 
 
 flume. 
 At length the raging plague did Athens 
 
 seize, 
 The plague ; and death attending the dis- 
 ease. 
 Tlxen men did die by heaps, by heaps did 
 
 fall, 
 And the whole city made one funeral. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 But Thucydides says it began first 
 in that part of Ethiopia, which bor- 
 ders upon Egypt, then it fell upon 
 Egypt and Libya, and into the 
 greatest part of the Persian terri- 
 tories ; and then it suddenly in- 
 vaded the city of Athens : *Hg£«™ 
 
 Ti to fClf zr^arov, ag xiyirect, i% A&io- 
 wets tk vnrcg AiyvKTOv, stthtos, 9e xeci 
 U Alyvierw Kdi AtQvqv xxt£yi, xki % 
 TW Boto-tXzag yqv rm zroXXw. k $i tw 
 'A&qro/w ztoMv i$6fxtvoc,ia>s Wzmrt. But 
 
 Virgil seems to make his pestilence 
 much more ancient than that of 
 Athens, for he mentions Chiron, 
 who lived at least five hundred 
 years before Plippocrates, who flou- 
 rished about the beginning of the 
 Peloponnesian war. Besides, Thu- 
 cydides mentions the plague' of 
 which he speaks, as not proceeding 
 even to the Morea; but depopu- 
 lating only Athens, and the most 
 populous cities in that neighbour- 
 hood : Ku: \$ ftlv IItXo7rovwirov ewe 
 
 £7r?AS-gv, o, Tt xxi U%MV i'tTTiiv, sVsVg/^flST* 
 2s 'A&jsws f>iiV {tOtXlfet, &7TilTeC OS XOCi TO>V 
 
 ciXhwv %6jptav tc& ■zirtXvctvS'gWTroTeCTot. It 
 does not seem therefore, that this 
 pestilence invaded the Alpine coun- 
 tries, which were not so very popu- 
 lous, abounding only with large 
 pastures. However, as Virgil no 
 doubt had some view to the pesti- 
 lence described by Thucydides and 
 Lucretius, I shall lay the parallel 
 places in those authors before the 
 reader. 
 
 479- Totoque autumni incanduit 
 astu.] Servius interprets this, " It 
 " burnt in the first part of the au- 
 ec tumn, which always makes a 
 " pestilence grievous." In this he 
 is followed by Grimoaldus, La 
 Cerda, and almost all the commen- 
 tators. In this sense May translates 
 it: 
 
 Hence by corruption of the ayre so 
 
 strong 
 A plague arose, and rag'd all autumne 
 
 long: 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 During th' autumnal heats th' infection 
 grew. 
 
 Dr. Trapp seems to understand the 
 Poet to mean that the plague raged 
 with such heat, as is usual in au- 
 tumn : 
 
328 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and destroyed all kinds of 
 cattle, all kinds of wild beasts, 
 and poisoned the lakes, and 
 infected the pasture* with its 
 venom. Nor didthey die after 
 the common manner, but 
 when the burning drought 
 insinuating itself into all the 
 veins had contracted the mi- 
 serable limbs, the corrupted 
 moisture oozed out, and con- 
 verted all the tainted bones 
 into its substance. Often- 
 times, in the midst of a sacri- 
 fice to the gods, 
 
 Et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne 
 
 ferarum ; 480 
 
 Corrupitque lacus : infecit pabula tabo. 
 Nee via mortis erat simplex : sed ubi ignea 
 
 venis 
 Omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, 
 Rursus abundabat fluidus liquor; omniaque in 
 
 se 
 Ossa minutatim morbo collapsa trahebat. 4S5 
 Saepe in honore Deum medio stans hostia ad 
 
 aram, 
 
 'Twas here, long since, a plague from 
 
 tainted air 
 Rose, and with all the fires of autumn 
 
 bura'd. 
 
 481. Corrupitque lacus.] It is cor- 
 ripuit in the King's and in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Pierius 
 reads corripuit, but he says it is cor- 
 rupil in the Medicean, and in some 
 other ancient manuscripts. Corrupit 
 is generally received. 
 
 482. Nee via mortis erat simplex.] 
 The commentators agree that these 
 words mean, that they died after an 
 unusual manner. Thus Dryden 
 translates them, Strange death! 
 
 483. Silis.] A parching heat and 
 thirst attends all malignant fevers. 
 Thus Lucretius : 
 
 Intima pars homini vero flagravit ad 
 
 ossa: 
 Flagravit stomacho flamma, ut fornaci- 
 
 bus intus : 
 
 And 
 
 Insedabiliter sitis arida. 
 
 Thucydides mentions a most into- 
 lerable thirst, and inward burning, 
 insomuch that those who were 
 seized with the plague could not 
 bear their clothes, nor so much as 
 any linen thrown over them ; that 
 
 they ran into the cold water, that 
 some who were neglected threw 
 themselves into wells, and that 
 those who drank largely did not 
 fare the better for it : To, 21 itrog 
 evrug txxuro an ftwtt rat ■zsxvv ternar 
 tuxriav xxi civcIom* rxg IxtZaXetg , fiyr 
 xXXo ft n yvpcvbv un%io*&eti, iflis-aL ts xv 
 U vhu^ "fyvfr^oi c-Qxg xvrovg pt7rrur. 
 
 KXl TTOXXOI TOVTO T6>V ifli\tlf*iv6i)V Xvfya- 
 7TUV XXI i$pX<retV i$ ty^iXTX, XTtXVTOi T*J 
 
 ^/-^jj %vn%ofiivoi. xxl Iv rS otto/at xx$si- 
 
 fqXU TO, TS TrXiOV XXI iXxTFCI ZrOTOV. 
 
 486. Scepe in honore Deum } &c.J 
 He comes now to relate particular 
 instances of the dire effects of this 
 pestilence. The victims dropped 
 down dead suddenly before the al- 
 tars : or if they lived to bear the 
 knife of the sacrificer, their flesh 
 would not burn ; nor could the au- 
 gurs divine any thing from the in- 
 spection of their entrails. He then 
 mentions the effects of this disease 
 on calves, dogs, and swine. 
 
 Thucydides says that prayers to 
 the gods and enquiries at the oracles 
 were of no service, and at last were 
 laid aside : "Oo-x n v-fa U^oTg ixirsv- 
 e-Xf, ij [ixvrtUtg xxt reTg roiovrttg i%$- 
 o-xrro, -xruvrx avo>q>t\tj qv. nXivrHrng ts 
 xvrSr a-x'ifnrxi , xnro rev kxkov itxce- 
 
 fum. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 399 
 
 Lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta, 
 Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros. 
 Aut si quam ferro mactaverat ante sacerdos, 
 Inde neque impositis ardent altaria fibris; 490 
 Nee responsa potest consul tus reddcre vates : 
 Ac vix supposiii tinguntur sanguine cultri, 
 Summaque jejuna sanie infuscatur arena. 
 Hinc lastis vituli vulso moriuntur in herbis, 
 Et dulces animas plena ad praesepia reddunt. 
 Hinc canibus b'andis rabies venit, et quatit 
 aeirros 496 
 
 the victim standing before the 
 altar, whilst the woolly fillet 
 is encompassed with a snowy 
 garland, drops down dying 
 amongst the delaying minis- 
 ters. Or if the 'priest hap- 
 pened to stab any one, before 
 it died, then the entrails be- 
 ing la'd on the altars would 
 not burn, nor could the augur 
 give answers when he was 
 consulted; but the knives 
 with which they are stuck, 
 are scarce tinged with blood, 
 and the surface of the sand 
 is but just stained with thin 
 gore. Hence the calves .fre- 
 quently die in the plentiful 
 pastures, and give up their 
 sweet breath at full cribs. 
 Hence the gentle dogs run 
 mad, 
 
 Aram."] It is aras in several of 
 the old editions. 
 
 487- Lanea.] Pierius reads linea; 
 but he says it is lanea in the Me- 
 dicean, the Lombard, and in some 
 other ancient manuscripts. I find 
 laurea in some of the old editions ; 
 but lanea is generally received. 
 
 Infula.'] The Infula was a sort 
 of diadem or fillet, with which the 
 heads of the victims were bound. 
 Ruseus says the vittce were the 
 ornaments which hung down from 
 the Infula. 
 
 488. Ministros.] Pierius says it 
 is magistros in the Roman manu- 
 script. 
 
 489. Mactaverat.'] It is macta- 
 verit in the King's manuscript. 
 
 Sacerdos.'] Dryden has grossly 
 translated this word holy butcher. 
 
 491. Nee responsa potest consulius 
 reddere vates.] The entrails of the 
 victims were thought not to dis- 
 cover the will of the gods, unless 
 they were sound. 
 
 492. Ac.] It is aut in the King's, 
 both the Arundelian, one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in several 
 of the oldest editions. In some of 
 them it is at. 
 
 ^ 493. Jejuna sanie. In these mor- 
 bid bodies, the liquids were almost 
 
 wasted, and, instead of blood, there 
 came out only a corrupted matter. 
 
 496. Hinc canihus blandis rabies 
 venit.] The madness to which dogs 
 are subject, is attended with most 
 dreadful consequences. Their bite 
 communicates the madness, not only 
 to other animals, but to mankind 
 also. The most terrible of all the 
 symptoms of this distemper is the 
 Hydrophobia, or dread of water : the 
 patient, however thirsty, not being 
 able to drink any sort of liquor, 
 without being thrown into the most 
 horrid convulsions. The reader 
 may find the description of several 
 cases, in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions. The best remedy for this 
 disease was communicated to the 
 Royal Society by Mr. Dampier, 
 and has since been received by the 
 College of Physicians into their 
 Dispensatory, under the name of 
 Pidvis Antilissus, being a composi- 
 tion of black pepper and the ash- 
 coloured ground liver- wort, in equal 
 quantities. The dose of this pow- 
 der is four scruples. The person, 
 who has the misfortune to be bitten, 
 ought to bleed immediately, and 
 wash the place carefully, where the 
 bite was received, with salt water ; 
 and it is no bad precaution, to 
 2 U 
 
330 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Se d wh?e t iiSIsw ^^^il a t k > e rt Tussis anhek sues, ac faucibus angitobesis. 
 
 mg 
 merits their swelling throats. 
 
 The conquering horse is 
 seized, unhappy in his toils, 
 and forgetful of his food, and 
 
 loaths the springs, and stamps 
 frequently on the ground with 
 his foot : his ears hang down j 
 a doubtful sweat breaks out, 
 which grows cold when they 
 are dying; 
 
 Labitur infelix studiorum, atque immemor 
 herbas 
 
 Victor equus, fontesque avertitur, et pede 
 terram 
 
 Crebra ferit : demissse aures : incertus ibi- 
 dem 500 
 
 Sudor, et ille quidem morituris frigidus; ater 
 
 destroy all the clothes which were 
 worn at the time, when the acci- 
 dent happened. It should be taken 
 fasting, for several mornings, m 
 warm milk, beer, ale, broth, or 
 other such like convenient vehicle. 
 It must be taken before the symp- 
 toms of madness appear ; for other- 
 wise it will be ineffectual. See 
 the Philosophical Transactions, No. 
 237. p. 49. or Lowthorp's Abridg- 
 ment, vol. iii. p. 284. 
 
 Thucydides does not mention 
 any thing of the dogs running 
 mad : he only says they were more 
 obnoxious to this distemper than 
 other animals, because of their 
 greater familiarity with men : Oi Jg 
 Kvn$ (AsLX'Kov xiT&YiO-tv Tsra^iT^oy rov mtto- 
 
 497- Faucibus angil obesis.] Swine 
 are subject to coughs, and inflam- 
 matory swellings in the throat; 
 whence the Poet with great pro- 
 priety uses the word angit, angina 
 being the Latin name for a quinsey. 
 
 498. Labitur infelix studiorum., 
 &c] Having briefly made mention 
 of dogs and swine ; he now speaks 
 more largely of the violent effects 
 of this distemper on horses : 
 
 Infelix studiorum.] Thus we have 
 rictus animi, fortunatus laborum, 
 Iceta laborum, &c. 
 
 Immemor herbce.~] Some render 
 this unmindful of victory, taking 
 herbas to express those herbs, which 
 were used by the ancients to de- 
 
 note conquest. But I rather be- 
 lieve, that Virgil means only pasture. 
 Thus in the eighth Eclogue ; 
 
 Immemor herbarum quos est mirata 
 juvenca. 
 
 Dry den has introduced both senses : 
 
 The victor horse, forgetful of his food, 
 The palm renounces, and abhors the 
 Hood. 
 
 499. Pede terram crebra ferit.] 
 " In the Lombard manuscript it is 
 " crebro ferit, nor need we be 
 tf afraid of the false quantity, for 
 " Carisius acknowledges the adverb 
 " tertio for a dactyl, and sero is in 
 " the measure of a trochee in Statius." 
 
 PlERIUS. 
 
 The most violent diseases of 
 horses are frequently attended with 
 an unusual stamping on the ground. 
 
 500. Demissoe aures.] The hang- 
 ing down of the ears is mentioned 
 by Columella, as a symptom of pain 
 in a horses head: " Capitis dolo- 
 " rem indicant lachrymae, quae pro- 
 " fluunt, auresque flaccidas, et cer- 
 " vix cum capite aggravata, et in 
 " terram summissa." 
 
 Incertus sudor. ~\ By a doubtful 
 sweat, he either means a sweat of 
 which it may be doubted whether 
 it is a good or a bad symptom, or 
 else a sweat that comes and goes 
 uncertainly and irregularly. 
 
 501. Morituris frigidus.] In the 
 Cambridge, one of the Arundelian, 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 !31 
 
 Pellis, et ad tactum tractanti dura resistit. 
 Haec ante exitium primis dant signa diebus, 
 Sin in processu coepit crudescere morbus, 504 
 Turn vero ardentes cculi, atque attractus ab alto 
 Spiritus, interdum gemitu gravis, imaque longo 
 Ilia singultu tendunt : it naribus ater 
 
 their skin grows dry, and 
 feels hard and rough. These 
 were the symptoms at the 
 beginning, but when the dis- 
 ease began to increase, their 
 eyes were inflamed, and their 
 breath was fetched deep, and 
 sometimes loaded with a 
 groan, and their long sides 
 heaved with sobs ; black blood 
 gu.-hes out of their nostrils, 
 
 and one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is moriturus. 
 
 A cold sweat is universally known 
 to be a bad symptom. 
 
 Ater pellis.] The dryness of the 
 skin is inconsistent with the sweat- 
 ing just mentioned. We must 
 therefore understand the Poet, not 
 to mean that all these symptoms 
 were found in every horse, but 
 that they were variously affected. 
 The cold sweat is a sign of a di- 
 minution of the vital powers ; and 
 the dryness and hardness of the 
 skin shew that there is a great 
 inward heat, and an obstruction of 
 the matter, which ought to be per- 
 spired through the pores of the 
 skin. 
 
 502. Et ad tactum.~] In the Ro- 
 man manuscript it is at; and in 
 the Lombard it is ir actum, accord- 
 ing to Fieri us. 
 
 503. Bant] It is dat in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 505. Ardentes oculi.] Thucydi- 
 des, in his description of the plague 
 at Athens, says they were at first 
 seized with a heat and heaviness in 
 the head, with a redness and in- 
 flammation of the eyes : n^eurov ph 
 TiJs x&pctX'Hs Sigpoti ir%v£ttt Kott ruv oty- 
 
 Zxvi. Thus also Lucretius : 
 
 Principio, caput incensum fervore gere- 
 
 bant : 
 Et dupliceis oculos suffusa luce rubenteis. 
 
 First fierce unusual heats did seize the 
 
 head ; 
 The glowing eyes, with Mood-shot learns 
 
 looked red, 
 
 Like Hazing stars, approaching fate fore- 
 shew y d, 
 
 Creech. 
 
 Attractus ab alto spiritus.] In the 
 King's manuscript, it is abstractus. 
 
 Thucydides speaks of their fetch- 
 ing their breath with difficulty, and 
 with a strong smell : 7Mv[aca uro7Fov, 
 
 506. Imaque longo ilia singultu 
 tendunt. Thucydides says that most 
 of them had sobs or hickups, at- 
 tended with strong convulsions: 
 
 Avy| ri To7g vXitortv h%7ri7rrt xsvti, 
 <?7rurpw httutovtrx fa-%v(>ov. Thus Lu- 
 cretius : 
 
 Intolerabilibusque malis erat anxius an- 
 
 gor 
 Assidue comes, et gemitu commista 
 
 querela, 
 Singultusque frequens noctem persaspe, 
 
 diem que 
 Compere assidue nervos et membra 
 
 coactans, 
 Dissolvebat eos, defessos ante, fatigans. 
 
 To these fierce pains ivere join'd continual 
 
 care, 
 And sad complainings, groans, and deep 
 
 despair 
 Tormenting, vexing sols, and deadly sighs, 
 Which raised convulsions, Iroke the vital 
 
 ties 
 Of mind and limls. 
 
 507. It naribus ater sanguis, &c] 
 In one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 it is autem instead of ater. 
 
 Thucydides says their inner 
 parts, their throat and tongue, dis- 
 charged blood : xect rat. tvrog, « n <?«'- 
 (>vy% x.oii *i yXu<rcr», sjJSvj alfietrddn W> 
 Thus Lucretius : 
 2 u 2 
 
332 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and their rough tongue 
 cleaves to their clotted jaws. 
 At first it was of service to 
 drench them with the Le- 
 nzean liquor : tliis seemed 
 the on'y hope to preserve 
 them from death : but after- 
 wards even this was their 
 destruction : and being re- 
 cruited with rage they 
 burned : and, (oh ! may the 
 gods give a better mind to 
 the pious, and that error to 
 their enemies !) when they 
 were in the nangs of death, 
 they tore their own mangled 
 flesh with their naked teeth. 
 
 Sanguis, etobsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. 
 Profuit inserto latices infundere cornu 
 Lenoeos; ea visa sal us morientibus una. 510 
 Mox erat hoc ipsum exit'*), furiisque refecti 
 Ardebant, ipsique suos, jam niorte sub aegra, 
 Dii meliora piis, erroremque hostibus ilium ! 
 Discissos nudis laniabant dentibus artus. 
 
 Sudabant etiam fauces intrinsecus atro 
 Sanguine, et ulceribus vocis via septa 
 
 co'ibat ; 
 Atque animi interpres manabat lingua 
 
 cruore, 
 Debilitata raalis, motu gravis, aspera 
 
 tactu. 
 
 The month and jaws wevcfdled with clotted 
 
 Hood ; 
 The throat with ulcers : the tongue could 
 
 speak no more, 
 But overjloxv'd, and drown'd in putrid 
 
 gore, 
 Grew useless, rough, and scarce could make 
 
 a moan. 
 
 Creech. 
 
 509. Profuit inserto latices, &c] 
 Wine was frequently given to horses 
 by the ancients. Virgil says this 
 was found of service at first, but 
 afterwards it proved destructive to 
 them, throwing them into a fury, 
 by increasing their spirits. Dryden 
 understands our author to mean, 
 that the wine was of service at the 
 beginning of the distemper, but was 
 destructive, if given too late : 
 
 A drench of wine has with success been 
 
 us'd; 
 And thro' a horn the gen'rous juice in- 
 
 fus'd : 
 Which timely taken op'd his closing 
 
 jaws ; 
 But if too late, the patient's death did 
 
 cause. 
 For the too vig'rous dose too fiercely 
 
 wrought ; 
 And added fury to the strength it brought. 
 Recruited into rage he grinds his teeth 
 In his own flesh, and feeds approaching 
 
 death. 
 
 The sense is very good; but I be- 
 
 lieve it is not that which Virgil 
 meant. 
 
 513. Dii meliora piis, &c.^] This 
 was a frequent form among the an- 
 cients of expressing their abhorrence 
 of any great mischief, by wishing it 
 from themselves to their enemies. 
 Something like this is in the eighth 
 JEneid : 
 
 Quid memorem infandas caedes ? quid 
 
 facta tyranni 
 Effera ? Dii capiti ipsius generiqiie re- 
 
 scrvent. 
 
 Errorem.] Pierius says it is ar- 
 dorem in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 514. Discissos nudis laniabant den- 
 tibus artus.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is Diffisws. 
 
 " The word nudis seems to imply, 
 " that by tearing their flesh, they 
 *' at the same time tore the gums 
 " from their teeth, ut fozditatem ex- 
 <f primer et, adjecit nudis; says a 
 " commentator in the Varior. And 
 "■ what he means I know not." 
 Dr. Trapp. 
 
 This commentator is Phylargy- 
 rius. I take his meaning to be, 
 that the gums being ulcerated, and 
 rotted away from their teeth, was a 
 filthy sight ; which every one must 
 allow that has seen it. 
 
 Though perhaps by naked teeth 
 the Poet may intend to express the 
 horrid grinning of the horse in the 
 agonies of death : for Lucretius has 
 used the same expression for the 
 grinning of dogs : 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 333 
 
 Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus 515 
 Concidit, et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem, 
 Extremosque ciet gemitus : it tristis arator, 
 Moerentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum, 
 Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra. 
 Non umbrae altorum nemorum, non mollia pos- 
 sunt 520 
 Prata movere animum, non qui per saxa volu- 
 
 tus 
 Purior electro campum petit amnis ; at ima 
 Solvuntur latera, atq ue oculos stupor urget inertes, 
 Ad terramque fluit devexo pondere cervix. 
 Quid labor aut benefacta juvant? quid vomere 
 
 But lo, the bull smoking un- 
 der the weight of the plough 
 drops down, and casts out of 
 his mouth blood mixed with 
 foatn, and gives his last 
 groans : the melancholy 
 ploughman yws away, un- 
 yoking t lie steer that grieves 
 at his brother's death, and 
 leaves the forsaken plough 
 in the middle of his toil. But 
 he can receive no pleasure 
 from 'he sha^ e of the lofty 
 woods, nor from the sort 
 meadows, no, nor from the 
 river, which rolling over the 
 ro ks Hows clearer than am- 
 ber through the plain : his 
 Hanks grow flabby, a dead- 
 ness seizes his heavy eyes, and 
 his unwieldy neck hangs 
 drooping to the ground. 
 What do his toils and good 
 services now avail ? or what 
 benefit is it to him to have 
 
 terras 
 
 525 
 
 Mollia ricta fremunt duros nudaniia 
 denteto. 
 
 515. Ecce autem duro fumans, 
 &.c] As the Poet had before spoken 
 of bulls and horses together, when 
 he treated of their generation, and 
 the ways of managing them ; so 
 now he joins them in distress, and 
 describes the misery of the bull im- 
 mediately after that of the horse. This 
 passage is wonderfully poetical. He 
 represents the bull dropping down 
 under the yoke, and the unhappy 
 farmer leaving the plough in the 
 middle of the field. Hence he slides 
 into a beautiful digression, concern- 
 ing the w r holesome simplicity of the 
 food of these animals, which he op- 
 poses to the luxurious and destruc- 
 tive diet of mankind. He repre- 
 sents the mortality among the kine 
 to have been so great, that they 
 were forced to use buffaloes for the 
 sacrifices of Juno, to bury the 
 corn in the ground with their hands, 
 and to draw their waggons them- 
 selves, for want of cattle. 
 
 517^ Extremosque ciet jremitus : 
 it tristis aralor.] The pause in this 
 verse is too beautiful, not to be ob- 
 
 served. The departure of the 
 mournful ploughman, and the grief 
 of the surviving bullock, for the 
 death of his partner, are exceedingly 
 moving. The slow measure of the 
 next line, consisting of spondees, is 
 no less worthy of observation. 
 
 519. Relinquit .] It is reliquit in. 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and 
 in several of the oldest editions. 
 
 520. 2Vo» umbrae, &c] This re- 
 lates to the surviving bullock, who 
 is represented as inconsolable. He 
 receives no satisfaction from shady 
 woods, fine meadows, and clear 
 streams : but he falls away, his 
 eyes grow stupid and heavy, and 
 his neck hangs down, not being 
 able to support his head. 
 
 Non mollia possunt prata movere 
 animum.] Pierius has Non gramma 
 possunt grata movere animum; but 
 he says the common reading is in 
 all the ancient manuscripts. 
 
 522. At.] It is et in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 524. Pondered] It is vertice in 
 the King's manuscript. 
 
 525. Quid labor, &c] These six 
 lines are not without reason admired 
 
334 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 turned the heavy clods with 
 the share? he never suf- 
 fered by the Massic gifts of 
 Bacchus, or by luxurious ban- 
 quets. His food was leaves 
 and plain grass, and his drink 
 the clear springs, and rivers 
 exercised with running. Nor 
 did care ever disturb his 
 wholesome rest. At no other 
 time do they say that kine 
 were wanting for the sacri- 
 fices of Juno, and that the 
 chariots were drawn by un- 
 equal buffaloes to the high 
 temples. Therefore with dif- 
 ficu!ty they till the earth with 
 harrows, and set the corn 
 with their very nails, and 
 draw the rattling waggons 
 over the high mountains with 
 strained necks. 
 
 Invertisse graves? atqui non Massica Bacchi 
 Munera, non illis epulse nocuere repostae: 
 Frondibus et victu pascuntur simplicis herbae. 
 Pocula sunt fontes liquidi, atque exercita cursu 
 Flumina^nec somnos abrumpitcura salubres. 530 
 Tempore non alio dicunt regionibus illis 
 Quaesitas ad sacra boves Junonis, et uris 
 Imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus. 
 Ergo aegre rastris terram rimantur, et ipsis 
 Unguibus infodiunt fruges, montesque per 
 altos 535 
 
 Contenta cervice trahunt stridentia plaustra. 
 
 by Scaliger, who declares he had 
 rather have been the author of 
 them, than to have had the favour 
 of Croesus or Cyrus. 
 
 526. Massica Bacchi munera.'] 
 See the note on book ii. ver. 143. 
 
 528. Victu.] Pierius says it is 
 victum, in the Lombard manuscript, 
 which he thinks no inelegant read- 
 ing. 
 
 529. Alque.~\ Schrevelius reads 
 aid. 
 
 530. Abrumpit.~\ Some read ab- 
 ntpit. 
 
 531. Tempore non alio, &c] Ser- 
 vius, and after him many others 
 imagine that the Poet here alludes 
 to the famous story of Cleobis and 
 Biton, the sons of a priestess of 
 Juno at Argos, who, when the 
 beasts were not ready at the time 
 of the sacrifice, yoked themselves, 
 and drew their mother to the tem- 
 ple. The priestess hereupon en- 
 treated the goddess, to reward the 
 piety of her sons with the greatest 
 good that could befal men : which 
 she granted by causing them to be 
 found dead in their beds the next 
 morning. The reader will find this 
 story related by Herodotus, by Plu- 
 tarch in his treatise of Consolation, 
 addressed to Apollonius, and by 
 
 Cicero, in his first book of Tusculan 
 Questions. But 1 do not find any 
 mention of a scarcity of cattle by 
 means of any plague; but only that 
 the mules or bullocks were either 
 not ready soon enough, or were 
 tired as they drew the chariot. 
 Besides, the scene of this story is 
 laid at Argos, whereas Virgil is 
 speaking of the Alps. 
 
 532. Uris.'] See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 374. 
 
 533. Alia ad donaria.] " Dona- 
 " ria are properly the places where 
 " the gifts to the gods are laid up. 
 " Hence the word is transferred to 
 " signify temples. For thus puhi* 
 " naria also are used for temples, 
 " whereas they are properly the 
 f( cushions or couches, which used 
 " to be spread in temples." Servius. 
 
 534. Ergocegre, ike] The Poet 
 describes the great mortality of 
 cattle, by saying the people were 
 forced to scratch the earth with 
 their nails, in order to sow or ra- 
 ther set their corn, scarce being 
 able to drag the harrows over the 
 fields, and that they strained their 
 own necks with the yokes. 
 
 536. Contenta.] This is gene- 
 rally interpreted not contented, but 
 strained. 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 Non lupus insidias explorat ovilia circum, 
 
 335 
 
 The wolf docs not now ex- 
 erci e his wile* arcund tlie 
 folds, 
 
 It will not, I believe, be disa- 
 greeable to the reader, if I now lay 
 before him an abstract of the ac- 
 count of the disease which raged 
 among the kine in England, in the 
 year 1714. This account was drawn 
 up by Mr. Bates, then surgeon to 
 his majesty's household, who was 
 appointed, together with four jus- 
 tices of the peace, by the lords jus- 
 tices, to enquire into this distemper, 
 and by him communicated to the 
 Royal Society. It is printed in the 
 Philosophical Transactions, No. 358. 
 p. 872. Jones's Abridgment, vol. v. 
 p. 48. 
 
 This Gentleman observes, that 
 all cows have naturally a purga- 
 tion by the Anus for five or six 
 weeks in the spring, from what the . 
 cow-keepers call the frimness of 
 the grass ; during which time they 
 are brisk and lively, their milk 
 becomes thinner, of a bluish colour, 
 sweeter to the taste, and in greater 
 plenty. But the spring preceding 
 this distemper, was unusually dry 
 all over Europe. Hence there was 
 but little grass, and that so dry, and 
 void of that frimness which it has 
 in other years, that Mr. Bates could 
 not hear of one cow-keeper, who 
 had observed his cows to have that 
 purgation in the same degree as 
 usual : and very few who had ob- 
 served any at all. They all agreed 
 that their cows had not given above 
 half so much milk that summer 
 as they did in others ; that some of 
 them were almost dry; that the 
 milk they did give was much 
 thicker, and yellower than in other 
 years. It was observed by the 
 whole town, that very little of the 
 milk then sold would boil without 
 turning ; and it is a known truth, 
 that the weakest of the common 
 purges deprive a cow entirely of 
 
 her milk ; from all which circum- 
 stances he thinks it evident, that 
 the want of that natural purgation 
 was the sole cause of this disease ; 
 by producing those obstructions, 
 which terminated in a putrefaction, 
 and made this distemper contagious. 
 The symptoms of this distemper 
 were, that they first refused their 
 food ; the next day they had husk- 
 ish coughs, and voided excrements 
 like clay ; their heads swelled, and 
 sometimes their bodies. In a day 
 or two more, there was a great 
 discharge of a mucous matter by 
 their nose, and their breaths smelled 
 offensively. Lastly a severe purg- 
 ing, sometimes bloody, which ter- 
 minated in death. Some cows died 
 in three days, and others in five or 
 six, but the bulls lived eight or 
 ten. During their whole illness, 
 they refused all manner of food, 
 and were very hot. 
 
 Of sixteen cows which he dis- 
 sected,, the five first had herded 
 with those that were ill, and the 
 symptoms of this distemper were 
 just become visible; in these, the 
 gall-bladders were larger than usual, 
 and filled with bile of a natural 
 taste and smell, but of a greener 
 colour. Their sweet-breads were 
 shrivelled, and some of the glands 
 obstructed and tumefied. Many of 
 the glands in their mesenteries 
 were twice or thrice their natural 
 bigness. Their lungs were a little 
 inflamed, and their flesh felt hot. 
 All other parts of the bowels ap- 
 peared as in a healthful state. The 
 next six that he opened had been 
 ill about two days: in them the 
 livers were blacker than usual, and 
 in two of them there were several 
 bags, filled with a petrified sub- 
 stance like chalk, about the bigness 
 of a pea. Their gall-bladders were 
 
336 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 nor 
 about ' 
 
 rtSjftwkJTi&w 1 * Nec gregibusnoctumusobambulat; acrior ilium 
 
 twice their natural bigness, and 
 filled with a greener bile than the 
 first. Their sweet -breads were 
 shrivelled, some of their glands 
 very large and hard, and of a 
 blackish colour. The glands in 
 their mesenteries were many of 
 them five times as big as naturally, 
 and of a blackish colour. Their 
 lungs were inflamed, with several 
 bags forming. Their intestines 
 were full of red and black spots. 
 Their flesh was very hot, though 
 not altered in colour. The five 
 last that he opened were very near 
 dying; in them he found the liver 
 to be blackish, much shrivelled 
 and contracted, and in three of 
 them there were several bags, as 
 big as nutmegs, filled with a chalky 
 substance. Their gall-bladders 
 were about three times as big as 
 usual, and filled with a deep green 
 bile. Their sweet-breads were 
 shrivelled and contracted, many of 
 their glands very large and hard, 
 and of a black colour. The glands 
 in their mesenteries were many of 
 them distended to eight or ten 
 times their natural bigness, were 
 very black, and in the pelvis of 
 most of those glands in two cows 
 there was a yellow putrefaction, of 
 the consistence of a sandy stone. 
 Their intestines were of the colour 
 of a snake, their inner coat exco- 
 riated by purging. Their lungs 
 were much inflamed, with several 
 bags containing a yellow purulent 
 matter, many of them as big as a 
 nutmeg. Their flesh was extreme 
 hot, though very little altered in 
 colour. These were the general 
 appearances; but in some other 
 dissections, he observed the follow- 
 ing remarkable particulars. In one 
 the bile was petrified in its vessels, 
 and resembled a tree of coral, but 
 
 of a dark yellow colour, and brittle 
 substance. In another there were 
 several inflammations on the liver, 
 some as large as a half-crown, 
 cracked round the edges, and ap- 
 peared separating from the sound 
 part, like a pestilential carbuncle. 
 In a third, the liquor contained in 
 the Pericardium, appeared like the 
 subsidings of lime-water ; and had 
 excoriated, and given as yellow a 
 colour to the whole surface of the 
 heart and Pericardium, as lime- 
 water could possibly have done. 
 
 All the medicines that were ap- 
 plied proved ineffectual, and the 
 method by which the contagion 
 was at last suppressed was this : 
 they divided their cows into small 
 parcels, by which means they lost 
 only that parcel in which the con- 
 tagion happened ; for otherwise the 
 disease would spread from one in- 
 fected cow, through a whole herd. 
 They also brought all their cows 
 to be burned or buried with quick 
 lime, to encourage which, trie king 
 allowed them a reward, out of his 
 own civil list, for every cow so 
 brought, which amounted in the 
 whole to 6774/. Is. Id. The num- 
 ber of bulls and cows lost by this 
 disease were five thousand four 
 hundred and eighteen, in the coun- 
 ties of Middlesex, Essex, and Surry; 
 and of calves, four hundred and 
 thirty-nine. 
 
 537. Non lupus iusidias explorat, 
 &c] The Poet having already 
 mentioned the destruction which 
 was made among the cattle, now 
 represents this wasting pestilence 
 as extending itself through earth, 
 sea, and air : he observes that 
 physic was of no service, and that 
 even the divine masters of the art 
 failed. To complete the horror of 
 this pestilence, he represents Tisi- 
 
GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 337 
 
 Cura domat ; timidi damns, cervique fugaces 
 Nunc interque canes, et circum tecta vagan- 
 
 tur, 540 
 
 Jam maris immensi prolem, et genus omne na- 
 
 tantum 
 Littore in extreme-, ceu naufraga corpora, fluctus 
 Proluit: insolitae fugiunt in flumina phocoe. 
 Interit et curvis frustra defensa latebris 
 Vipera, et attoniti squamis astantibus hydri. 545 
 Ipsis est aer avibus non aequus, et illae 
 Praecipites alta vitam sub nube relinquunt. 
 Praeterea jam nee mutari pabula refert, 
 Quaesitaeque nocent artes : cessere magistri 
 
 care subdues him : the timo- 
 rous deer andfl ying staj^s now 
 wander among the dogs, and 
 about the houses. Now the 
 waves cast upon the shore 
 the offspring of the vast 
 ocean, and all sorts of fishes, 
 like shipwrecked bodies; and 
 unusual sea calves fly into 
 the rivers. The viper pe* 
 rishes, in vain defended by 
 its winding den; and the 
 water ?nakes abtonished with 
 erected scales. The air no 
 longer agreed even with the 
 bird.-., but down they fell, 
 leaving their lives under the 
 lofty clouds. Moreover, it 
 was of no service now to> 
 change their pasture, and the 
 arts of medicine were injuri- 
 ous : the masters themselves 
 failed, 
 
 phone, one of the Furies spreading 
 death and destruction all around, 
 the cattle falling by heaps, their 
 hides useless, and the wool spread- 
 ing the infection in those who 
 presumed to weave it into garments. 
 Thucydides says, that the pesti- 
 lence, which he describes, was more 
 dreadful, than can be expressed by 
 words, and was more grievous than 
 could be borne by human nature, 
 which shewed it plainly to be none 
 of the common sort of diseases. 
 For even beasts and birds of prey, 
 which use to feed on human car- 
 cases, would hardly touch the 
 bodies of those, who lay unburied, 
 and if they tasted them, they died 
 themselves : Tivofuvov yug Kpuro-tv 
 boyov to lilioq tks vorov, ret n uXXoi 
 XStXixaTZ^as t) ksctm tkv civ$(>a7ruocv Qv- 
 a-iv -sr£o<ri7rwTiv Iku^oi, kcci lv raids g^jj- 
 hatrt fAuXifec uXXo ri "ov *) rav ^vvrpotpw 
 n. ra> yap tpvioe. Kxi TlTpa.'Xt&u, orcc 
 av§PQ7rM ct.7Fri.Toci, -zroXXav aroityM yty- 
 yapivav, » cv -zs-goT-fa, ij yiviroipivoe, Sa- 
 (pSupro. Thus also Lucretius : 
 
 Mullaque humi cum inhumata jacerent 
 
 corpora supra 
 Corporibus, tamen alituum genus atque 
 
 ferarum 
 
 Aut procul absiliebat, ut acrem exiret 
 
 odorem : 
 Aut ubi gustarat, languebat morte pro- 
 
 pinqua. 
 Nee tamen omnino temere illis solibus 
 
 ulla 
 Comparebat avis, nee noctibu' saecla 
 
 ferarum 
 Exibant sylvis : languebant pleraque 
 
 morbo, 
 Et moriebantur. 
 
 541. Jam maris immensi prolem.'] 
 The Poet here openly contradicts 
 Aristotle, who says, that a pesti- 
 lential disease does not seem ever 
 to invade fishes,' as it often does 
 men, horses, oxen, and other ani- 
 mals, both tame and wild : No<m^a 
 
 Oi AoiftCOOiS [4.SV h OVOiVl To7$ tfcSvtri (pc&l- 
 
 nroci Z{A7rt7rrov, oiov he) tojv u&pomat 
 
 VVftfoOthu "ZS-oXXeCKlg, XCCt TCOV fyoTOXW* 
 KClCt T£Tg<*5T<$&>V, iU 'iTTTTOVg KCil fioVS KOU 
 
 rm ciXXm tig ivtoc %ou yuipot xctt uyptec Z' 
 and that the animals of the rivers 
 and lakes are not subject to the 
 plague : ToTg £g 'zrorctpioig xx) Ai>a- 
 vxtotg, "Xoiuuhig [&ZV ovDl T0VT61S oveiivi 
 yinrxi. 
 
 543. In flumina.'] In the King's 
 manuscript it is ad flumina. Pie- 
 rius found the same reading in the 
 Lombard manuscript. 
 
 549- Qucesitceque nocent artes.] 
 2 x 
 
S38 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 tXSS&Slff&'Si Fbillyrides Chiron, Amythaoniusque Melam- 
 ofAmythaon * pus. 550 
 
 Thucydides says the physicians at 
 first could be of no service to the 
 sick, because they did not know 
 the nature of the distemper, but 
 died themselves above all others, 
 because of their greater communi- 
 cation with the sick : Oure y«*g ixr^oi 
 
 Hgvavv to -zs-^utov ^spoi7Tivovrig ayvoioc, 
 uXX xvrot f&xXirx &vw%ov oVai kxi px- 
 Xvrx TrgOG-iio-otv, ovri xXXn unS^amlx 
 
 t£^v*j rihfui'et. And afterwards he 
 says, those who were taken care of, 
 and those who were not, died alike : 
 that there could be found no re- 
 medy that was of service : that 
 what did good to one did harm to 
 another : "eSwotkov $1, o't ph, upiXilx, 
 
 Ot ^S KXI -Z3-CCVV SiPXTTlVOfAiiOl. 2V XI Owiiv 
 
 xasT£$">} ixpx, a;? unity, o, n xgK* srgfc- 
 Qipovrxs atyiXiTv. to yu.% ru fjyvsvgyxoy 
 «AAov rouTo Kxx7rn. Thus also Lu- 
 cretius : 
 
 Nee requies erat ulla raali, defessa jace- 
 
 bant 
 Corpora, mussabat tacito Medicina ti- 
 
 more x 
 
 And again, 
 
 Nee ratio remedi communis certa da- 
 
 batur. 
 Nam quod alis dederat vitales aeris auras 
 Volvere in ore licere, et caeli templa 
 
 tueri : 
 Hoc aliis erat exitio, lethumque parabat. 
 
 Thus also Mr. Bates, in the ac- 
 count above mentioned, says, " se- 
 " veral physicians attempted the 
 ft cure, and made many essays for 
 " that purpose; but the dissections 
 " convinced me of the improbabi- 
 <e lity of their succeeding, with 
 " which I acquainted their Excel- 
 " lencies. However they having 
 t( received a Recipe and directions 
 " from some in Holland, said to 
 " have been used there with good 
 
 " success, gave me orders to make 
 " trial of it : but the effect was not 
 f< answerable to my expectation, 
 " for in very many instances I was 
 " not sensible of the least benefit 
 " . . . I think there is no one method 
 u in practice, but what was tried 
 " on this occasion, though I cannot 
 " say that any of them was attended 
 " with an appearance of success ; 
 " except that of bleeding plen- 
 " tifully, and giving great quan- 
 " tities of cooling and diluting 
 " liquids. But by this method, the 
 " instances of success were so few, 
 " that they do not deserve any fur- 
 " ther mention/' 
 
 550. Phillyrides Chiron, Amythao- 
 niusque Melampus.~] Chiron was 
 the son of Saturn and Philyra, as 
 was observed in the note on ver. 92. 
 When he was grown up, he retired 
 to the woods, and having there 
 learned the nature and virtues of 
 plants, he became an excellent phy- 
 sician j and the herb Centaury had 
 its name from this famous Centaur. 
 He instructed JSsculapius in phy- 
 sic, Hercules in astronomy, and 
 Achilles in music. He was a prac- 
 tical astronomer, and is thought, 
 together with Musceus, to have 
 framed the first sphere that was 
 ever made among the Greeks, for 
 the us& of the Argonautic expedi- 
 tion, in which he had two grand- 
 sons engaged. He is supposed by 
 Sir Isaac Newton to have been 
 about eighty-eight years old at 
 that time. 
 
 Melampus was the son of Amy- 
 thaon and 'Dorippe. He was said 
 to be famous for augury, and to 
 understand the voices of birds and 
 other animals. He was also a most 
 famous physician, and had a tern- 
 
GEORG. LIB, III. 
 
 339 
 
 Saevit et in lucem Stygiis emissa tenebris 
 Pallida Tisiphone, morbos agit ante metumque, 
 Inque dies avidum surgens caput altius effert. 
 Balatu pecoruni, et crebris mugitibus amnes, 
 Arentesque sonant ripae, collesque supini. 555 
 Jamque catervatim dat stragem, atque aggerat 
 
 ipsis 
 In stabulis turpi dilapsa cadavera tabo : 
 Donee humo tegere, ac foveis abscondere dis- 
 
 cunt. 
 Namneque erat coriisusus: nee viscera quisquam 
 Aut undis abolere potest, aut vincere flamma: 560 
 
 The pale Tisiphone, being 
 sent into the light from the 
 Stygian darkness, rages: she 
 drives diseases and Tear be- 
 fore her, and rising, uprears 
 her devouring head higher 
 every day. The rivers, and 
 withering banks, and bending 
 hills resound with the bl eat- 
 ings of sheep, and frequent 
 lowings. And now she de- 
 stroys them by multitudes, 
 and heaps up in the stalls the 
 rotting carcases: till at last 
 they found the way to cover 
 them with earth, and bury 
 them in pits. For even their 
 hides were of no use; nor 
 could any one cleanse their 
 entrails with water, or purge 
 them with fire. 
 
 pie erected to him, with the insti- 
 tution of solemn feasts and sacri- 
 fices. He assisted Bias in taking 
 away the oxen of Iphiclus, and 
 cured the daughters of Proetus of 
 their madness. 
 
 Hence we may observe, that Vir- 
 gil did not suppose the pestilence 
 here described to be the same with 
 that at Athens, but several years 
 more ancient, even before the Ar- 
 gonautic expedition. For we have 
 seen already, that Chiron was an 
 old man at the time of that expe- 
 dition, lphiclus, whose oxen Me- 
 lampus took away, was the twin- 
 brother of Hercules, who was an 
 Argonaut. The age of Proetus is 
 pot very certain ; only thus much 
 we may affirm, that he lived many 
 years before the Argonautic expe- 
 dition, Chiron therefore and Me- 
 lampus were contemporaries, and 
 this pestilence happening in their 
 time, was before the Argonautic 
 expedition, not less than five hun- 
 dred years before the famous plague 
 of Athens. 
 
 May has injudiciously represented 
 these two great physicians, as no 
 better than cow-leeches; 
 
 All arts are hurtful, leeches do no good ; 
 Not learned Chiron, nor Melampus sage; 
 
 In which he is followed byDryden: 
 
 The learned leeches in despair depart : 
 And shake their heads, despairing of 
 their art. 
 
 555. Arentesque.] Pierius says it 
 is horrentesque in the Roman ma- 
 nuscript. 
 
 556. Jamque catervatim dat stra- 
 gem.'] Thus Lucretius : 
 
 Incubuit tandem populo Pandionis : om- 
 nes 
 
 Inde catervatim morbo mortique da- 
 ban tur. 
 
 Aggerat.] In the King's manu- 
 script it is aggregat. 
 
 558. Foveis.] It is fossis in the 
 King's manuscript. Pierius found 
 the same reading in the oldest ma- 
 nuscripts ; and thinks it better than 
 foveis. He observes that fossce are 
 the trenches or great ditches, which 
 surround fortified places, and thence 
 convey a more ample image of this 
 mortality than fovea, which are 
 only pits to catch wolves, or for 
 other such like mean uses. 
 
 Discunt.] So I read with Hein- 
 sius, Paul Stephens, Masvicius, and 
 others. The King's manuscript 
 also has discunt. The common 
 reading is discant. 
 
 2x2 
 
340 P. VIRGILII MARONIS GEORG. LIB. III. 
 
 Nor could their fleeces cor- 
 rupted w ith sores and filth be 
 shorn, nor couid any one 
 touch the putrid wool : but 
 if any tried the odious cloth- 
 ing; then carbuncles, and a 
 filthy sweat overspread their 
 stinking limbs : and in a short 
 time the sacred fire consumed 
 their infected members. 
 
 Nec tondere quidem morbo illuvieque peresa 
 Vellera, nec telas possunt attingere putres. 
 Verum etiam invisossi quis tentarat amictus ; 
 Ardentes papulae, atque immundus olentia sudor 
 Membra sequebatur : nec longo deinde mo- 
 ranti 565 
 
 Tempore contactos artus sacer ignis edebat. 
 
 563. Verum etiam.'] Pierius says 
 it is quin etiam in the Roman ma- 
 nuscript. 
 
 564. Ardentes papulce.] I have 
 translated these words carbuncles; 
 which are enumerated among the 
 symptoms of a pestilence. Dr. 
 Hodges, who was a physician at 
 London, in the time of the great 
 plague in 1665, and has left us the 
 most authentic account of that dis- 
 ease, describes the carbuncle to be 
 a small pimple, which on the wast- 
 ing or evacuation of its liquor, be- 
 comes a crusty tubercle, something 
 like a grain of millet, encompassed 
 with a circle as red as fire, rising 
 at first with an itching, and after- 
 wards being accompanied with a 
 vehement pain and intense heat : 
 " Est pustula minutula, cujus II- 
 " quore utpote paucissimo ocyus 
 " absumpto, vel evacuato, tubercu- 
 " lum se exerit crustosum* granulo 
 tc milii haud absimile, furtim pro- 
 " repens, circulo rubicundissimo, 
 " velut igneo cincta, cum pruritu 
 " imprimis, dein cum vehementi 
 " dolore, et ardore intensissimo 
 " orta, a lixivio venefico causti- 
 tf cante.'' Servius also interprets 
 ardentes papula, carbunculi. Dry- 
 den seems to have been led by the 
 
 sound of the word papula, to place 
 the seat of these carbuncles in the 
 people's paps. 
 
 Inunundus sudor] Servius inter- 
 prets this morbus pedicularis, in 
 which he is followed by May ; 
 
 Hot carbuncles did on their bodies grow, 
 And lice-engendering sweat did overflow : 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 Red blisters rising on their paps appear, 
 And flaming carbuncles; and noisome 
 
 sweat, 
 And clammy dews, that loathsome lice 
 
 beget. 
 
 But I do not find any sufficient au- 
 thority for this interpretation. 
 
 566. Contactos artus.] In the 
 King's manuscript, and in some of 
 the old editions, it is contractos. 
 
 Sacer ignis.] By this seems to 
 be meant an Erysipelas, or St. An- 
 thony's fire. Thucydides mentions 
 small pustules, and creeping tetters 
 among the svmptoms of the plague: 
 
 Kei} to ftlv £%a$tv ccXTOf/tvu trwpx, cvx 
 uyxv Sti^yJov qv, ovrs %X6)f>h, cthX t»7rsg- 
 
 sXxio-i* typ&wos- Thus also Lucre- 
 tius : 
 
 Et simul ulceribus, quasi inusiis omne 
 
 rubere 
 Corpus, ut est per membra sacer cum 
 diditur ignis. 
 
P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 GEORGICORUM 
 
 LIBER QUARTUS. 
 
 PROTINUS aerii Mellis caslestia dona 
 Exequar, hanc etiam, Maecenas, aspice partem. 
 Admirandatibi levium spectacula rerum, 
 Magnanimosque duces, totiusque ordine gentis 
 
 Next I shall pursue the ce- 
 lestial gift of aerial honey: 
 and do you, O Maecenas, 
 vouchsafe to read this also. 
 I shall lay before you the 
 wonderful actions of these 
 small animals, the bravery of 
 their leaders, and the 
 
 1 . Protinus aerii Mellis, &c] The 
 Poet has devoted the whole fourth 
 book to Bees, in which he treats of 
 the surprising customs and manners 
 of this wonderful insect. 
 
 Virgil calls honey aerial and ce- 
 lestial, because it was the opinion 
 of the ancient philosophers, that it 
 was derived from the dew of hea- 
 ven. Aristotle says it comes from 
 the dew of the air, especially at the 
 rising of the constellations, and the 
 falling of the rainbow, MzXi 2s rl 
 "ZT17TT0V Ix. rov ui^og, kcu [idXtret reov 
 ar^M dvoiToXc&is, not} orxv xetrxtncyi^ v 
 %<?. Pliny has almost translated 
 these words of Aristotle, but he 
 seems to have read initio? for J^ig : 
 " Venit hoc ex aSre, et maxime 
 *' siderum exortu, praecipueque ipso 
 " sirio explendescente fit." This 
 author adds, that it is a doubt 
 whether it is the sweat of heaven, 
 or some saliva of the constellations, 
 or an excretory juice of the air 5 
 ** sive ille est caeli sudor,, sive qua?- 
 
 " dam siderum saliva, sive purgan- 
 " tis se aeris succus." This hea- 
 venly dew they thought was re- 
 ceived by the flowers, and thence 
 gathered by the bees. This is cer- 
 tain, that there is a juice to be 
 found at the bottom of all flowers, 
 and that this liquor has a sweet 
 taste like honey, even in such 
 plants as afford the most bitter 
 juices, not excepting the Aloe itself. 
 It does not seem to fall from the 
 air, but rather to exude from some 
 fine secretory vessels adapted to 
 this purpose. It is highly probable, 
 that this sweet liquor is the matter 
 from which the bees extract their 
 honey. 
 
 4. Totiusque ordineT] In the 
 Bodleian, both the Arundelian, and 
 in both Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it 
 is totiusque ex ordine. Pierius found 
 the same reading in several ancient 
 manuscripts. It is admitted also 
 by Paul Stephens, and several of 
 the old editors. 
 
342 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SSSJA^SSSffi Mores > et studia > et P°P ul <>s> et praelia dicam. 
 
 whole state. Mv subject is t , • i 1 • ^ • i • • 
 
 smaii, but my giory win not In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria, si quern 
 
 be small; if the adverse . u . ... a n 
 
 deities permit, and Apoiio Numma Jaeva sinunt, auditque vocatus Apollo. 
 
 hears my invocation. . ■ * x. 
 
 6\ Al7\ It is ac in the King's 
 manuscript, which is admitted also 
 by Paul Stephens. 
 
 7. Numina lava.] In the King's 
 manuscript it is lata. 
 
 The commentators are divided 
 about the sense of the word lava, 
 which is sometimes taken in a good 
 sense, and sometimes in a bad one. 
 Servius takes it in a good sense ; 
 and supports his opinion by another 
 passage, where intonuit Itevum sig- 
 nifies a prosperous omen. In this 
 he is followed by May : 
 
 Nor thinke the glory slight, 
 
 Though slight the subject be, to him, 
 
 whom ere 
 Tfe' invoked Gods, and pieas'd Apollo 
 
 hear: 
 
 And Addison : 
 
 A trifling theme provokes my humble 
 
 lays, 
 Trifling the theme, not so the Poet's 
 
 praise, 
 If great Apollo, and the tuneful Nine 
 Join in the piece, to make the work 
 
 divine : 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 Slight is the subject, but the praise not 
 
 small, 
 If heav'n assist, and Phoebus hear my 
 
 call. 
 
 Aulus Gellius understands Virgil to 
 mean unpropitious by Iceva; " Prop- 
 " terea Virgilium quoque aiunt, 
 " multae antiquitatis hominem sine 
 * c ostentationis odio peritum, nu- 
 " mina keva in Georgicis deprecari, 
 *' significantem quandam vim esse 
 " hujuscemodi Deorum in laedendo 
 *•' magis quam in juvando poten- 
 
 " tern In istis autem diis, 
 
 " quos placari oportet uti mala a 
 
 " nobis vel a frugibus natis amo- 
 " veantur, Averruncus quoque ha- 
 " betur et Robigus." Grimoaldus 
 also has paraphrased the passage 
 before us according to this inter- 
 pretation : " Id quod praestare me 
 " posse reor, dummodo Dii adversi 
 " placabuntur, ita ut ne obsint, et 
 <e Apollo Poetarum amicus, a me 
 " invocatus adesse voluerit, ita ut 
 " prosit." This is also approved by 
 La Cerda and Ruaeus. Dr. Trapp's 
 translation also is in this sense : 
 
 Small the argument : not small 
 
 The glory ; if the unpropitious pow'rs 
 Oppose not, and Apollo hears our pray'r. 
 
 " The word Iceva/* says this learned 
 Gentleman, " may signify either 
 " propitious, or the direct contrary. 
 (t If the former, sinunt must mean 
 " permit by assisting; if the other, 
 " permit by not hindering. The 
 "latter is certainly, upon all ac- 
 " counts the better." 
 
 The Romans generally esteemed 
 omens appearing on the left hand, 
 as good : but this rule did not obtain 
 universally among their augurs ; for 
 Cicero in his first book de Divina- 
 tione, informs us, that a raven on 
 the right hand, and a crow on the 
 left, were looked upon as sure 
 omens : " Quid augur, cur a d extra 
 " corvus, a sinistra comix faciat 
 " ratum T In his second book he 
 speaks of thunder from the left 
 being accounted prosperous in the 
 Roman augury, and observes, that 
 the Greeks and Barbarians preferred 
 the right hand, but the Romans 
 the left: " Quae autem est inter 
 " angures conveniens et conjuncta 
 t( constantia ? ad nostri augurii 
 " consuetudinem dixit Ennius, 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 S43 
 
 Principio secies apibus statioque petendae, 
 
 In the first place a seat and 
 station are to be sought for 
 the bees. 
 
 " Cum tonuit lsevum bene terapestate 
 " serena. 
 
 " At Homericus Ajax apud Achil- 
 " lem querens de ferocitate Troja- 
 " norum nescio quid, hoc modo 
 " nuntiat : 
 
 *' Prospera Jupiter his dextris fulgoribus 
 " edit. 
 
 " Ita nobis sinistra videntur; Graiis 
 st et Barbaris dextra meliora. Quan- 
 iC quam haud ignoro, quae bona 
 <e sint, sinistra nos dicere : etiam si 
 <c dextra sint. Sed certe nostri si-' 
 tr nistrum nominaverunt, externi- 
 " que dextrum, quia plerumque 
 *' melius id videbatur." Thunder 
 from the left was, I believe, always 
 accounted a good omen by the 
 Romans. Thus we have just now 
 seen that it was so accounted by 
 Ennius : and Virgil has mentioned 
 Intonuit Icevum as a good omen in 
 the second and in the ninth iEneid. 
 Pliny tells us, that the East was 
 accounted the left hand of heaven, 
 which was divided by the augurs 
 into sixteen points j that the eight 
 eastern points were called the left, 
 and the eight western points the 
 right; and that the thunder which 
 came from the eastern points was 
 accounted prosperous, but that 
 which came from the north-west 
 was esteemed the worst : " Laeva 
 " prospera existimantur, quoniam 
 
 " laeva parte mundi ortus est 
 
 <e In sedecim partes ccelum in eo 
 " respectu divisere Thusci. Prima 
 " est a septentrionibus ad aequi- 
 " noctialem exortum : secunda ad 
 <c meridiem, tertia ad aequinoctia- 
 " lem occasum, quarta obtinet quod 
 " reliquum est ab occasu ad sep- 
 " tentriones. Has iterum in qua- 
 u ternas divisere partes, ex quibus 
 
 *• octo ab exortu sinistras, totidem 
 " e contrario appellavere dextras. 
 <( Ex his maxime dirae quae septen- 
 " trionem ab occasu attingunt." 
 Notwithstanding these arguments, 
 I believe Virgil has never used 
 lavus in a good sense, except in 
 the two places quoted above, where 
 it relates to thunder. In the first 
 Eclogue he plainly uses it in a bad 
 sense : 
 
 Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non 
 
 loeva fuisset, 
 De ccelo tactas memini praedicere quer- 
 
 cus; 
 
 where Servius himself interprets 
 lava, stulta, c&ntraria. We find 
 the same expression in the second 
 
 jEneid : 
 
 Et si fata Deum, si mens non Iceva 
 fuisset, 
 
 Impulerat ferro Argolicas violare late- 
 bras. 
 
 Upon this passage Servius observes, 
 that l&vum signifies adverse, when 
 it relates to human affairs, but 
 prosperous, when it relates to the 
 heavenly. But this criticism does 
 not seem to agree with a passage 
 in the tenth iEneid : 
 
 Non secus ac liquida si quando nocte 
 
 cometae 
 Sanguinei lugubre rubent: ac Sirius 
 
 ardor, 
 Me sitim morbosque ferens mortalibus 
 
 aagris 
 Nascitur, et Icevo contristat lumine coelum. 
 
 Thus threafning comets, when by night 
 
 they rise, 
 Shoot sanguine streams, and sadden all the 
 
 skies : 
 So Sirius flashing forth sinister lights 
 Pale human kind with plagues, and with 
 
 dry famine frights. 
 
 DRYDEy. 
 
 Here l<Evum is applied to the baleful 
 light of Sirius or the Dog-star, 
 
344 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 where the winds have no en- 
 trance, for winds hinder them 
 from earning home their 
 food, and where no sheep or 
 wanton kids may insu t the 
 flowers, and where no heifer 
 wandering in the pain may 
 shake off the dew, and bruise 
 the rising hertx. And let 
 painted lizards with scaly 
 backs be far from the rich 
 hives, and bee-eaters and 
 other birds, and Procne, 
 whose breast is stained by 
 bloody hands. 
 
 Quo neque sit ventis aditus, nam pabula venti 
 Ferre domum prohjbent, neque oves hoedique 
 
 petulci 10 
 
 Floribus insultent, aut errans bucula campo 
 Decutiat rorem, et surgentes atterat herbas. 
 Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti 
 Pinguibus a stabulis, meropesque, aliaeque vo- 
 
 lucres, 
 Et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis. 15 
 
 "which is sent by the Gods, as 
 much as thunder and lightning. 
 To conclude, I think it difficult to 
 assign a true reason, why the 
 ancients used right and left in 
 these different senses. Those which 
 Plutarch has given are by no means 
 satisfactory : and upon the whole, 
 I rather believe that by numina lava 
 the adverse deities are here meant. 
 
 8. Principio sedes apibus, &c] In 
 this paragraph the Poet treats of a 
 proper station for the bees, and 
 enumerates what are to be avoided, 
 and what are convenient for them. 
 Statio.'J In this word the Poet 
 alludes to military discipline, which 
 figure he almost constantly pre- 
 serves. Pliny pursues this metaphor, 
 saying, " Interdiu statio ad portas 
 " more castrorum, noctu quies in 
 " matutinum, donee una excitet 
 " gemino aut triplici bombo, ut 
 <e buccino aliquo." 
 
 13. Picti squalentia terga lacerti.] 
 Lizards are scaly four-footed ani- 
 mals, with long tails. There are 
 many sorts of them, one of which 
 is the most celebrated under the 
 name of crocodile, or alligator. The 
 green lizard is the most common 
 in Italy : that which we have in 
 England is smaller, and of various 
 colours : it is commonly called an 
 eft or newt. We have also a 
 
 water eft, which is frequently seen 
 in standing waters. 
 
 14. Meropesque.'] Pierius found 
 meropes without que in the Medi- 
 cean manuscript : it is the same in 
 one of Dr. Mead's copies. 
 
 The Merops, Apiaster, or Bee- 
 eater, is shaped like a kingfisher. 
 It is about the size of a blackbird. 
 Its feet are exactly like those of the 
 kingfisher, as is also its bill, only 
 it bends a little more downward. 
 The top of the head is reddish -, the 
 neck and shoulders green, with a 
 mixture of red. It is yellow under 
 the chin, and its breast and belly 
 are blue. It feeds on bees and 
 other insects. It is found in Italy, 
 but lias been observed to be most 
 frequent in the island of Candy or 
 ancient Crete. It builds in caverns, 
 and is a bird of passage. May 
 translates meropes woodpeckers ; Ad- 
 dison woodpecks; Dryden the tit- 
 mouse and the pecker's hungry brood; 
 and Dr. Trapp the idoodpecker. Bee- 
 eater would not have sounded very 
 elegantly in verse, but they might 
 have preserved the original word 
 merops. However, it is certainly 
 wrong to call it by the name of 
 another well known bird, to which 
 it does not bear any resemblance. 
 
 15. Manibus Procne pectus signata 
 cruentis.] It is Progne in the King's, 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 34.5 
 
 Omnia nam late vastant, ipsasque volantes 
 Ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam. 
 At liquidi fontes, et stagna virentia musco 
 Adsint, et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus, 
 Palmaque vestibulum, aut ingens oleaster 
 umbret. 
 
 m- 
 20 
 
 For these make wide waste, 
 and carry away the bees 
 themselves, a grateful food 
 to their cruel young. But let 
 them have clear springs, and 
 pools green with moss, and a 
 small rivulet running through 
 the grass : and let a palm or 
 vast wild olive overshade the 
 entrance, 
 
 both the Arundelian, one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in several 
 of the printed editions. But the 
 most correct reading seems to be 
 Procne, as it is in the Roman, and 
 others of the most ancient manu- 
 scripts, according to Pierius. The 
 same author found Procne also in 
 some ancient inscriptions at Rome. 
 Procne and Philomela, according 
 to the fable, were the daughters of 
 Pandion, king of Athens. Procne 
 was married to Tereus, king of 
 Thrace, by whom she had a son 
 named Itys. Tereus afterwards vi- 
 olated Philomela, and cut out her 
 tongue, to prevent her telling her 
 sister : she found means however 
 to discover his wickedness, to re- 
 venge which the two sisters mur- 
 dered Itys, and gave his flesh to his 
 father to eat. When the banquet 
 was over, they produced the head 
 of the child, to shew Tereus in 
 what manner they had entertained 
 him. He being highly enraged, 
 pursued them with his drawn 
 sword, and was changed into a 
 Hoopoo. Philomela becameanight- 
 ingale, and Procne a swallow, which 
 has the feathers of its breast stained 
 with red, to which the Poet here 
 alludes. Thus also Ovid : 
 
 Neque adhuc de pectore cadis 
 
 Excessere notae, signataque sanguine 
 pluma est. 
 
 The swallow is known to feed on 
 insects. Hence the Poet mentions 
 it among those animals, which are 
 dangerous to bees. 
 
 18. Liquidi fontes.~] Varro often 
 inculcates this precept, that bees 
 should have clear water near them: 
 " Quae prope se loca habeat ea ubi 
 " pabulum sit frequens, et aqua 
 " pura :" and " Cibi pars, quod 
 " potio, et ea iis aqua liquida, unde 
 et bibant esse oportet:" and " In 
 " qua diligenter habenda cura, ut 
 " aqua sit pura, quod ad mellificium 
 " bonum vehementer prodest." 
 
 20. Palma.'] The palm is of 
 several sorts ; but that which is 
 cultivated in Italy is, I believe, 
 chiefly the xlate tree. Pliny says 
 Judaea is most famous for palms, 
 which grow also in Italy, but do 
 not bear fruit. He adds that they 
 do not grow spontaneously in Italy, 
 but only in the hotter countries : 
 i{ Judaea inclyta est vel magis pal- 
 
 " mis Sunt quidem et in 
 
 tl Europa, vulgoque Italia, sed ste- 
 " riles. . . . Nulla est in Italia sponte 
 " genita, nee in alia parte terrarum, 
 " nisi in calida: frugifera vero nus- 
 " quam nisi in fervida." 
 
 Oleaster i] See the note on book 
 ii. ver. 182. 
 
 Inumbretr\ f In the Roman and 
 " some other very ancient manu- 
 " scripts it is inumbret, but more 
 et have obumbret." Pierius. 
 
 In the Bodleian manuscript it is 
 adumbret. In- the King's, the Cam- 
 bridge, both the Arundelian, and 
 in both Dr. Mead's manuscripts it 
 is obumbret; which is admitted also 
 by most of the old editors, and by 
 Paul Stephens, Schrevelius, and La 
 
 2 Y 
 
346 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 that when their new kings 
 lead the first swarms in the 
 spring, and the youth comes 
 sporting out of their hives, 
 the neighbouring bank may 
 invite them to retire from 
 the heat, and the tree may 
 receive them in its leafy shel- 
 ter. Whether the water is 
 standing or running, throw 
 willows across, and cast great 
 stones in it : that they may 
 have frequent bridges to rest 
 upon, where they may ex- 
 pand their wings to the sum- 
 mer sun; if at any time those 
 which tarry late have been 
 dispersed or plunged into the 
 water by the boisterous 
 south-east wind. Round 
 these places let green Casia, 
 
 Ut, cum prima novi ducent examina reges 
 Vere suo, ludetque favis emissa juventus, 
 Vicina invitet decedere ripa calori; 
 Obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbos. 
 In medium, seu stabit iners, seu profluet hu- 
 mor, 25 
 Transversas salices, et grandia conjice saxa : 
 Pontibus ut crebris possint consistere, et alas 
 Paudere ad aestivum solem ; si forte morantes 
 Sparserit, aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit 
 
 Eurus. 
 Hsec circum casiae virides, et olentia late 30 
 
 Cerda. Heinsius, Ruaeus, and Mas- 
 vicius read inumbret. 
 
 22. Ludetque.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is laudetque. 
 
 23. Decedere.] Pierius says it is 
 discedere in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 26. Transversas salices, et grandia 
 conjice saxa.] Varro would have a 
 small stream drawn near the apiary, 
 not above two or three fingers deep, 
 with several shells or small stones 
 standing a little above the surface 
 of the water, that the bees may 
 drink: "Eamquepropinquam,quae 
 " praeterfluat, aut in aliquem locum 
 " influat, ita ut ne altitudine ascen- 
 " dat duo aut tres digitos ; in qua 
 " aqua jaceant testae, aut lapilli, ita 
 " ut extent paulum, ubi assidere et 
 " bibere possint." Dryden seems to 
 understand the Poet to mean, that 
 the willows are to be thrown into 
 the standing water, and great stones 
 into a running stream : 
 
 With osier floats the standing water 
 
 strow : 
 Of massy stones make bridges of it flow. 
 
 29- Immerserit.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts and in some 
 of the old editions it is immiserit. 
 
 30. Casus.] See the note on book 
 
 ii. ver. 2 IS. to which I shall add in 
 this place an argument, to prove 
 that the casia is not rosemary, as 
 some have supposed. Columella, 
 speaking of the plants which ought 
 to grow about an apiary, mentions 
 casia and rosemary as two different 
 plants : " Nam sunt etiam remedio 
 " languentibus cythisi, turn deinde 
 " casice, atque pini, et rosmarinus." 
 
 Olentia late serpylla.] Serpyllum, 
 in Greek ggsrvAAov, is derived from 
 %2%ea to creep, because part of it 
 falling on the ground sends forth 
 roots, and so propagates the plant. 
 It was frequent with the Romans 
 to change the Greek aspiration into 
 S : thus from 'i^xa they formed 
 serpo, from sy*vXX»v serpyllum, from 
 v$ sus, from fat semi, from i se, 
 from e| sex, from «ttt« septem, from 
 vTTig super, &c. 
 
 The ancients mention two sorts 
 of serpyllum, one of the gardens, 
 and the other wild. Our serpyllum, 
 or mother of thyme, or wild thyme, 
 which is common on ant hills in 
 England, and grows wild all over 
 Europe, is probably that which 
 Pliny calls the wild, and Dioscori- 
 des the garden serpyllum. The 
 plant very much resembles thyme 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 347 
 
 Serpylla, et graviter spirantis copia thymbras 
 Floreat, irriguumque bibant violaria fontem. 
 Ipsa autem, seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis, 
 Seii lento fuerint alvearia vimine texta, 
 
 34 
 
 and far smelling wild thyme, 
 and plenty of strong scented 
 savoury flower, and let beds 
 of violets drink the copious 
 spring. But whether your 
 bee-hives are made of hollow 
 cork sewed together, or of 
 bending twigs interwoven, 
 
 both in appearance and smell, and 
 is certainly proper to be planted 
 near bees. 
 
 31. Graviter spirantis copia thym- 
 bra.] The thymbra of the ancients 
 is generally thought to be some 
 species of satureia, or savoury. To 
 this opinion however it is objected, 
 that Columella mentions thymbra 
 and satureia as two different plants: 
 <( Eademque regio foecunda sit fru- 
 " ticis exigui, et maxime thymi, 
 " aut origani, turn etiam thymbra, 
 " vel nostratis cunilae, quam satu- 
 
 " reiam rustici vocant Sa- 
 
 (< poris praecipui mella reddit thy- 
 " mus. Thymo deinde proxima 
 " thymbra, serpyllumque, et origa- 
 " num. Tertiae notae, sed adhuc 
 " generosae, marinus ros, et no- 
 " stras cunila, quam dixi satureiam." 
 He makes them also different in his 
 poem on the culture of gardens : 
 
 Et satureia thymi referens, thymbraeque 
 saporem. 
 
 Thus thymbra and satureia, accord- 
 ing to this author, are different, and 
 satureia is the same with what he 
 calls cunila nostras. But in his ele- 
 venth book he mentions a foreign 
 sort of cunila, transmarina cunila, 
 which perhaps may be the same 
 with the thymbra. I believe cunila 
 was the common Latin name for 
 what the Greeks called thymbra, 
 and that the cunila nostras or satu- 
 reia was our winter savoury, and the 
 cunila transmarina, for which they 
 also retained the Greek name thym- 
 bra, was the thymbra Gr&ca J. B. 
 which is called also thymbra legitima 
 by Clusius. This last plant is said 
 
 to be still called thymbri, thrybi, and 
 tribi, by the Cretans, in whose 
 country it grows. The former 
 grows wild in Italy. Both of them 
 have a strong aromatic smell, like 
 thyme. 
 
 32. Violaria.] This word signi- 
 fies places set with violets. 
 
 33. Ipsa autem, &c] Here the 
 Poet speaks of the structure of the 
 hives, and of the avoiding of some 
 things which are offensive. 
 
 Corticibus.] The bark of the 
 cork tree was called cortex by way 
 of eminence. Thus Horace : " Tu 
 " cortice levior." Pliny says the 
 Greeks not inelegantly called this 
 tree the bark tree. " Non infacete 
 " Graeci corticis arborem appellant." 
 We learn from Columella, that it 
 was this bark, which was used for 
 bee-hives : f< Jgitur ordinatis sedi- 
 " bus, alvearia fabricanda sunt pro 
 " conditione regionis : sive ilia fe- 
 " rax est suberis, haud dubitanter 
 " utilissimas alvos faciemus ex cor- 
 " ticibus, quia nee hyeme rigent, 
 " nee candent aestate, sive ferulis 
 '■' exuberat, iis quoque cum sint 
 " naturae corticis similes, e quibus 
 " commode vasa texuntur." Varro 
 says that those bee-hives which are 
 made of cork are the best : " Op- 
 " timse fiunt corticeae, deterrimae 
 <c fictiles, quod et frigore hyeme, 
 " et aestate calore vehementissime 
 " hie commoventur." 
 
 34. Lento vimine.] Columella 
 having mentioned the excellence of 
 bee-hives made of cork or ferula, 
 as he was just now quoted, adds, 
 that the next in goodness are those 
 made of basket-work ; but if nei- 
 
 2 Y 2 
 
S48 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 let them have narrow en- 
 trances; for winter coagu- 
 lates the honey with cold, and 
 heat melts and dissolves it. 
 The force of both these is 
 equally dangerous to the bees, 
 nor is it m vain that they di- 
 ligently smear the small 
 chinks in their houses with 
 wax, and stop the openings 
 with fucus and flowers ; 
 
 Angustos habeant aditus ; nam frigore mella 35 
 Cogit hyems, eademque calor liquefacta remittit. 
 Utraque vis apibus pariter metuenda: neque illae 
 Nequicquam in tectis certatim tenuia cera 
 Spiramenta linunt, fucoque et floribus oras 
 
 ther of these are conveniently to be 
 bad, he recommends timber hol- 
 lowed, or cut into planks; and 
 agrees with Varro, that those made 
 of earthen ware are the worst, be- 
 cause they are too obnoxious to the 
 extremities of heat and cold : '" Si 
 " neutrum aderit, opere textorio 
 " salicibus connectuntur: vel si nee 
 " haec suppetent, ligno cavatae ar- 
 " boris, aut in tabulas desectae fa- 
 " bricabuntur. Deterrima est con- 
 " ditio fictilium, quae et accendun- 
 " tur aestatis vaporibus, et gelantur 
 " hyemis frigoribus." Varro also 
 mentions all these sorts : " Alii fa- 
 tc ciunt ex viminibus rotundas; alii 
 tc e ligno ac corticibus, alii ex ar- 
 " bore cava, alii fictiles, alii etiam 
 " ex ferulis quadratas, longas pedes 
 <{ circiter ternos, latas pedem, sed 
 " ita uti cum parum sit qua com- 
 " pleant, eas coangustent, ne in 
 " vasto loco et inani despondeant 
 " animum/' Virgil mentions only 
 cork and basket-work, the first of 
 which is undoubtedly the best, 
 though not used in England, where 
 it is less plentiful than in Italy, 
 which abounds with cork trees. 
 
 35. Angustos habeant aditus.'] 
 Thus also Varro : " Media alvo, in 
 " qua introeant apes, faciunt fora- 
 " mina parva, dextra ac sinistra;'' 
 and Columella : " Foramina, qui- 
 " bus exitus aut introitus datur, 
 <l angustissima esse debent." 
 
 37. Utraque vis apibus pariter me- 
 tuenda.] The extremes of heat and 
 cold are injurious to bees, as we 
 have seen in some of the preceding 
 notes, where the earthen hives are 
 
 mentioned. Varro also observes 
 that the greatest care must be taken, 
 lest the bees should be destroyed 
 by heat or cold: te Providendum 
 " vehementer, ne propter aestura 
 " aut propter frigus dispereant." 
 
 38. Cera spiramenta linunt.'] The 
 cera or wax is properly that sub- 
 stance of which the honeycomb is 
 formed. Thus Varro : " Favus est, 
 t( quern fingunt multicavatum e 
 " cera, cum singula cava sena la- 
 " tera habeant, quot singulis pedes 
 " dedit natura." The propolis or 
 bee-bread is a glutinous substance, 
 which is found about the door of 
 the hives ; " De his Propolim vo- 
 f< cant, e quo faciunt ad foramen 
 " introitus protectum in alvum 
 " maxime restate." The erithace 
 is that with which they glue the 
 honeycombs together, to keep any 
 air from coming in between : 
 " Extra ostium alvei obturant om- 
 " nia, qua venit inter favos spiri- 
 lC tus, quam e^^aV/jv appellant Grae- 
 
 " ci Erithacen vocant, quo 
 
 " favos extremos inter se congluti- 
 '• nant, quod est aliud melle, pro- 
 l( poli." It seems to be this eri- 
 thace therefore, which Virgil means 
 under the several appellations of 
 cera, fuco, floribus, and gluten. 
 
 39. Fuco et floribus.] The fucus 
 is properly a sort of sea- weed which 
 was anciently used in dying, and 
 in colouring the faces of women. 
 Hence all kind of daubing obtained 
 the name of fucus. 
 
 By floribus the Poet does not 
 mean strictly, that the bees plaster 
 their hives with flowers, but with 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 349 
 
 Explent, collectumque hsec ipsa ad munera glu- 
 ten, 40 
 Et visco et Phrygian servant pice lentius Idae. 
 Saepe etiam efFossis, si vera est fama, latebris 
 Sub terra fovere larem, penitusque repertse 
 Pumicibusque cavis, exesaeque arboris antro. 
 Tu tamen e laevi rimosa cubilia limo 45 
 Unge fovens circum, etraras superinjice frondes. 
 Neu propius tectis taxum sine, neve rubentes 
 
 and for these purposes gather 
 and preserve a glue more te- 
 nacious than bird-lime or . 
 Idaean pitch. Often also, if 
 fame be true, they have che- 
 rished their families in ca- 
 verns, which they have digged 
 underground : and have been 
 found in hollow pumice- 
 stones, and in the cavity of a 
 hollow tree. Do you also 
 smear their gaping chambers 
 with smooth mud all round, 
 and cast a few leaves upon 
 them. And do not suffer a 
 yew tree near their houses, 
 nor bum reddening 
 
 a glutinous substance gathered 
 from flowers. 
 
 41. Phrygian . . . pice . . . Ida.] 
 Hence it appears, that it was not 
 the Cretan but the Phrygian Ida 
 which was famous for pitch trees. 
 
 43. Sub terra.] Pierius says it is 
 sub terram in some manuscripts, sub 
 terras in the Medicean. I find sub 
 terram in the King's manuscript, 
 and in an old edition in quarto, 
 printed at Paris in 1494 • sub terras 
 in one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 Fovere larem.'] The common 
 reading is fodere : but it seems to be 
 a tautology to say fodere effossis la- 
 tebris. I choose therefore to read 
 fovere, with the Medicean and 
 King's manuscripts. The same 
 reading is admitted also by Hein- 
 sius and Masvicius. 
 
 44. Antro.] Fulvius Ursinus says 
 it is alvo in his ancient manuscript. 
 Pierius also says it is alvo in several 
 copies ; but he prefers antro. 
 
 45. E Icevl] The common read- 
 ing is et: but Servius, Heinsius, 
 and Masvicius read e. It is e also 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 and in most of the old editions. 
 
 CubiUa.] It is cubicula in the 
 Bodleian manuscript. 
 
 Limo.] Higinius, as he is quoted 
 by Columella, directs us to stop 
 
 the chinks with mud and cow-dung: 
 " Quicquid deinde rimarum est, 
 " aut foraminum, luto et fimo bu- 
 " bulo mistis illinemus extrinsecus, 
 t{ nee nisi aditus quibus commeent 
 " relinquemus." 
 
 46. Raras superinjice frondes .] 
 Higinius also advises to cover the 
 hives with boughs and leaves, to 
 defend them from cold and bad 
 weather: <c Et quamvis porticu 
 " protectet vasa, nihilo minus con- 
 " gestu culmorum, et frondium 
 " supertegemus, quantumque res 
 ic patietur, a frigore et tempestati- 
 u bus muniemus." 
 
 47. Taxum.] The yew has al- 
 ways been accounted poisonous. 
 See the note on book ii. ver. 257. 
 
 In the ninth Eclogue the Poet 
 mentions the yews of Corsica, as 
 particularly injurious to bees : 
 
 Sic tua Cyrnaeas fugiant examina taxos. 
 
 It does not appear from other wri- 
 ters, that Corsica abounded in yews: 
 but the honey of that island was 
 infamous for its evil qualities. 
 
 Neve rubentes ure foco cancros.~\ 
 It is well known that crabs, lob- 
 sters, &c. are turned red by the fire. 
 It was customary among the Ro- 
 mans to burn crabs to ashes, which 
 were esteemed a good remedy for 
 burns and scalds. 
 
350 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 crabs in the fire: nor trust 
 them near a deep fen, or 
 where there is a strong smeH 
 of mud, or where the hollow 
 rocks resound, and return the 
 image of your voice. More- 
 over, when the golden sun 
 has driven the winter under 
 ground, and has opened the 
 heavens with summer light; 
 they immediately wander 
 over the lawns and groves, 
 and crop the purple flowers, 
 and lightly skim the rivers. 
 Hence delighted with I know 
 not what sweetness, they che- 
 rish their offspring and young 
 brood. Hence they artfully 
 build new wax, and form the 
 clammy honey. Hence when 
 you shall see a swarm issuing 
 from their cells fly aloft in 
 the clear air, and like a dark 
 cloud be driven by the wind ; 
 observe them. They always 
 seek the sweet waters and 
 leafy 
 
 Ure foco cancros, altae neu crede paludi ; 
 Aut ubi odor coeni gravis, aut ubi concava pulsu 
 Saxa sonant, vocisque offensa resultat imago. 50 
 Quod superest, ubi pulsam hyemem sol aureus 
 
 egit 
 Sub terras, eselumque sestiva luce reclusit ; 
 Illee continuo saltus sylvasque peragrant, 
 Purpureosque metunt flores, et flumina libant 
 Summa leves. Hinc nescio qua dulcedine 
 
 laetse 55 
 
 Progeniem nidosque fovent : hinc arte recentes 
 Excudunt ceras, et mella tenacia fingunt. 
 Hinc ubi jam emissum caveis ad sidera caeli 
 Nare per aestatem liquidam suspexeris agmen, 
 Obscuramque trahi vento mirabere nubem ; 60 
 Contemplator : aquas dulces et frond ea semper 
 
 48. Altce neu crede paludi.] In 
 fens there are no stones for the 
 bees to rest upon : hence it appears 
 that such places must be very dan- 
 gerous to these insects. 
 
 49. Ubi odor cceni gravis."] Ill 
 smells are esteemed very pernicious 
 to bees : and none can be more 
 offensive than that of stinking mud. 
 
 50. Vocisque.] In the old Nuren- 
 berg edition it is vocique. 
 
 51. Quod superest, &c] This 
 passage relates to the swarming of 
 bees, and the manner of making 
 them settle. 
 
 Ubi pulsam hyemem, &c] The 
 time of the bees going abroad ac- 
 cording to Higinius, as he is quoted 
 by Columella, is after the vernal 
 equinox: " Nam ab aequinoctio 
 " verno sine cunctatione, jam pas- 
 " sim vagan turret idoneos ad fcetum 
 " decerpunt flores." Therefore by 
 winter's being driven away, and the 
 heavens being opened by summer 
 light, we must understand the Poet 
 
 to mean that time, when the spring 
 is so far advanced, that the bees are 
 no longer in danger from cold 
 weather. 
 
 53. Continuo.] See the note on 
 book iii. ver. 75. 
 
 Peragrant.] ' It is pererrant in 
 the old Paris edition in quarto, 
 printed in 1498. 
 
 Pur pureos flores.] I have already 
 observed, that purple is frequently 
 used by the Poets to express any 
 gay bright colour. 
 
 55. Nescio qua dulcedine Icetce.] 
 Thus in the first Georgick : 
 
 Nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine 
 laetae. 
 
 57. Fingunt.] Servius, La Cerda, 
 and many of the old editors, read 
 
 figunt. The same reading is in one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 58. Hinc] It is hie in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 59. Mstatem7\ It is cestivam in 
 the King's manuscript. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 351 
 
 Tecta petunt : hue tu jussos adsperge sapores, ft^S e SSS c ST£f : Sr- 
 
 , ,, .,1 • im .ected; bruised baum, and the 
 
 Trita melisphylla, et cermthae ignobile gramen vulgar herb of honey wort. 
 
 63. Melisphylla. ~\ Servius, the old 
 Nurenberg edition, Paul Stephens, 
 La Cerda,and others read meliphylla, 
 which reading I find also in the 
 King's manuscript. But in all the 
 other manuscripts, which I have 
 collated, and in most of the printed 
 editions, it is melisphylla. 
 
 Melisphyllon seems to be a con- 
 traction of melissophyllon, by which 
 name we find the plant described 
 by Dioscorides, who says also, that 
 some call it melittcena. He says it 
 is so called because the bees delight 
 in this herb : it has stalks and 
 leaves like black horehound, only 
 they are bigger and narrower, not 
 so rough, and smelling like the 
 citron ; MeTucvo'^uAAov, % zvioi [AtXir- 
 zetivo&v Ktc^cvtrt, eiioi rh qdeo&ett ry -zs-oet 
 recg pnXtTrctg. "Eoixi £& uvrtig rol (pvhhct 
 nut ret xxv^icc rvj Ts-^on^f^iv^ fiuXhwT^, 
 pzi^ovei dl TctvTX xott XtTrron^oc, ovx tbru 
 cadet, otpvTot, 21 KiTpof&tXv). This de- 
 scription agrees very well with the 
 Melissa or Baum, which is a com- 
 mon herb in the English gardens. 
 Varro informs us, that the Latin 
 name for this plant is apiastrum: 
 " Hos circum villam totam alveari- 
 " um fecisse, et hortum habuisse, 
 " ac reliquum thymo, et cythiso 
 " obsevisse, et apiastro, quod alii 
 " f&iXiQvXXov, alii ft,sXi<rro(pvXX6v, qui- 
 tc dam fMhivov appellant." Colu- 
 mella however speaks of apiastrum 
 and meliphyllum, as of two different 
 herbs : " Sunt qui per initia veris 
 " apiastrum atque, ut ille vates ait, 
 " trita meliphylla et caerinthae ig- 
 ie nobile gramen aliasque colligant 
 " similes herbas, quibus id genus 
 " animalium delectatur, et ita alvos 
 " perfricent, ut odor et succus vasi 
 " inhaereat." Palladius seems to 
 make citreago the same with melis- 
 
 sophyllon, for under the title of 
 April he mentions citreago as an 
 herb in which bees delight : " Vasa 
 " autem, quibus recipiuntur, per- 
 " fricanda sunt citreagine, vel her- 
 ' ' bis suavibus, et conspergenda im- 
 " bre mellis exigui." And under 
 the title of June, he seems to men- 
 tion melissophyllon for much the 
 same purpose : '.' Ubi globos apium 
 " frequentiores videris, uncta manu 
 (C succo melissophylli,ve\ apii reges 
 " requiras." Perhaps instead of apii 
 we should read apiastri, and then 
 he will agree with Columella, in 
 making melissophyllon and apiastrum 
 different. It is not improbable 
 however that he meant baum by 
 citreago, for, according to Mat- 
 thiolus, the Italians call that plant 
 cedronella, and according to Cae- 
 salpinus citronella, from the affinity 
 between the smell of it, and that 
 of a citron. Pliny also has been 
 cited in contradiction to Varro, as 
 making a distinction between apias- 
 trum and melissophyllon, because he 
 mentions them both in the twelfth 
 chapter of the twenty-first book : 
 " Harum ergo causa oportet serere 
 " thymum, apiastrum, rosam, vio- 
 " las, lilium, cytisum, fabam, ervi- 
 " Hum, cunilam, papaver, conyzam, 
 " casiam, melilotum, melissophyl- 
 " lum, cerinthen." But it may be 
 observed, that Pliny more than 
 once has mentioned the same plant 
 under different names, one Greek, 
 and the other Latin. For as his 
 work was a compilation, he some- 
 times sets down what the Greek 
 authors have said under the Greek 
 name, and the account given by 
 the Latin authors under the Latin 
 name, though they are one and 
 the same plant. But with regard to 
 
352 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S^^S^'JJSSd Tinnitusque cie, et Matris quate cymbala cir- 
 
 Makealsoatinklirv 
 
 the 
 
 about. 
 
 cum. 
 
 64, 
 
 the plant now under consideration, 
 he plainly enough shews in other 
 passages, that melissophyllon and 
 apiastrum are the same. In the 
 eleventh chapter of the twentieth 
 book, he tells us that, according to 
 Hyginus, apiastrum and melisso- 
 phyllon are the same : " Apiastrum 
 " Hyginus quidem melissophyllon 
 ce appellat;" and in the ninth chap- 
 ter of the twenty-first book he says 
 expressly, that the Latin name of 
 melissophyllon is apiastrum: " Me- 
 ee lissophyllon, quod Apiastrum, 
 " meliloton, quod sertulamCampa- 
 " nam vocamus." I do not remem- 
 ber that apiastrum occurs any where 
 in this author, except in the pas- 
 sages just now quoted. We may 
 conclude from what has been said, 
 that apiastrum was a name which 
 the Romans had formed in imitation 
 of piXir<ro(pvXX6v , both names sig- 
 nifying the bee-herb. May has 
 translated it mill foile, which is the 
 English name of millefolium or 
 yarrow; but this cannot be the 
 plant intended. Addison also trans- 
 lates it milfoil. Dryden has used a 
 word which I have not seen else- 
 where, melfoil; but it is a very just 
 translation of piXiQvXtov. Dr. Trapp 
 has rightly rendered it baum. 
 
 Cerinthce ignobile gramen.] The 
 name of this plant is derived from 
 xng/*y, a honey-comb, because the 
 flower abounds with a sweet juice, 
 like honey. La Cerda says we may 
 see how this herb delights the bees, 
 in Aristotle, lib. 9- Hist. But what 
 the philosopher has there said does 
 not appear to me to be concerning 
 the plant cerinthe, but to relate to 
 the erithace, spoken of already in 
 the note on ver. 38. He says they 
 have, besides their honey, another 
 
 sort of food which some call cerin- 
 thum, which is not so good, and 
 has a sweetness like that of a fig : 
 "Eft dl etvruYs x.cc) aXXtj r^ttyi), Sj» kx- 
 Xoveri rm$ xwivSov ; sV< 2s tovto v7Footi- 
 TigoVj Kxi yXvxvrviTcc o-vkwIyi &%ov. Now 
 Pliny assures us that the cerinthum, 
 which he says is also called sanda- 
 raca, is the same with the erithace; 
 u Praeter haec convehitur erithace, 
 " quam aliqui sandaracam. alii ce- 
 '•* rinthum vocant." Aristotle also 
 mentions sandaraca in such a man- 
 ner, thatwe may imagine it to be the 
 same with that which he had before 
 spoken of under the name of cerin- 
 thum : for he says it is a substance 
 approaching in hardness to wax, 
 and serves the bees for food : Tge^jj 
 2s x^uvrcti ftekirt xm) Ssqovs xxt yjii- 
 [tvvos. riB'ivrect 2s xa.) csAAjjv Tge^>>jv sp- 
 
 ($>£$ TO) X^Z TKV G-fcA'/JgOTJJ'ttS, 5JV OVOf&OC- 
 
 £ovtri nng <rscvcix(>cixYiv. Thus we see 
 that the cerinthum or sandaraca of 
 Aristotle is not the name of an 
 herb, as La Cerda and others have 
 imagined; but of a substance col- 
 lected by the bees, to serve them 
 for sustenance. Cerinthe however 
 is certainly the name of an herb, 
 which grows common in Italy, 
 whence the Poet calls it ignobile 
 gramen. Theophrastus says no 
 more of it, than that it flowers in 
 summer. Dioscorides does not 
 mention it. But Pliny has given 
 us a description of it. He says it 
 is a cubit high, its leaf white and 
 bending, its bead hollow, and 
 abounding with a juice like honey ; 
 and the bees are fond of its flower : 
 <c Est autem cerinthe folio candido, 
 " incur vo, cubital is, capite concavo, 
 <e mellis succum habente. Horum 
 " floris avidissimae sunt." There 
 are several species of cerinthe de- 
 
€ EmOTTMIE 
 

 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 353 
 
 Ipsae consident medicatis sedibus ; ipsae 2SSjfSS.S85fi 
 
 T i_ i j into the inmost chambers af- 
 
 lntima more suo sese m cunabula condent. ter their manner. But if 
 
 they shall go out to battle, 
 
 Sin autem ad pugnam exiermt, nam saepe duobus ^J^^jj often vio,en «y 
 
 scribed by modern authors : but I 
 believe that of the ancients is the 
 Cerinihe flavo flore asperior C. B. or 
 yellow flowered honey wort. It is 
 one of the most common herbs all 
 over Italy and Sicily. In our gar- 
 dens it grows to the height of a 
 foot and a half or two feet. The 
 stalks are about the thickness of 
 one's finger, round, smooth, whit- 
 ish, and divided into several 
 branches. The leaves embrace the 
 stalk and branches with their bases, 
 and diminish gradually to a point : 
 they are of a bluish colour, marked 
 with white spots, set on both sides 
 with prickles, and neatly indented. 
 The flowers hang in bunches from 
 the tops of the branches. The em- 
 palement is divided into five seg- 
 ments neatly indented about the 
 edges : the petal is long, tubular, 
 and of a yellow colour. The sum- 
 mits are of a dark colour, and are 
 sustained by yellow chives, each 
 flower is succeeded by two seeds. 
 May, and after him all the other 
 translators have rendered eer'inihe, 
 honey-suckle, Philargyrius says it 
 derives its name from Cerinthus, a 
 city of Boeotia, where it grows in 
 great plenty. But I believe the 
 name is rather derived from joj^oj, 
 wax. 
 
 64. Tinnitusque cie.] The mak- 
 ing of a tinkling noise with brasen 
 utensils is used among us, to cause 
 the swarms of bees to settle. Aris- 
 totle mentions this custom, and 
 questions whether they hear or not, 
 and whether it be delight or fear 
 that causes the bees to be quieted 
 with these noises : Ae^om dl %cci£U» 
 
 rcvvrsg (poctriv dfyotfyiv ecvreig tU to o^cjj- 
 voq y orgccKotg ts Kent i^ocpoig. eV< fchroi 
 adnXov oXag ure cckovovtiv, urz pM, xccc 
 ■zriripov « S<' tioovqv rovro vroiovo-iv , jj (fix 
 (po&ov. Varro ascribes it entirely to 
 fear : " Cum a mellario id fecisse 
 * f sunt animadversae, jaciundo jn 
 " eas pulverem, et circumtinniendo 
 " acre, perterritas quo voluerit per- 
 <f ducet." Columella also is of the 
 same opinion : <( Quod si est abdi- 
 " turn specu, fumo elicitur, et cum 
 ** erupit, aeris strepitu coercetur. 
 " Nam statim sono territum, vel in 
 " frutice, vel in editiore sylvae 
 " fronde considet, et a vestigatore 
 " praeparato vase reconditur." Pliny 
 ascribes the effect of these noises 
 on the bees to pleasure : " Gaudent 
 " plausu atque tinnitu aeris, eoque 
 <e convocantur." 
 
 Matris quale cymbala.~] The 
 priests of Cybele, the mother of 
 the gods, used to beat brasen drums 
 or cymbals, in the sacrifices to that 
 goddess. 
 
 65. Ipse consident medicatis sedi- 
 bus.] Thus Varro says the place 
 where we would have the bees to 
 settle must be rubbed with erithace 
 and baum : " Quocirca examen ubi 
 " volunt considere, eum ramum, 
 " aliamve quam rem oblinunt hoc, 
 " admixto apiastro." 
 
 67. Sin autem, &c] These beau- 
 tiful lines describe in a very poetical 
 manner the fighting of the bees. 
 Nothing can be more lively and 
 animated than this description. We 
 here find represented the ardour of 
 the warriors, the sound of the 
 trumpets, the glittering of armour, 
 2z 
 
354 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^SngTerSSvVSg^e Regibus incessit magno discordia motu, 
 
 beforehand the tumultuous /-«>• • i • • -i • i u 
 
 disposition of the populace, Continuoque animos vulgi, et trepidantia bello 
 
 and their hearts beating with • _ . 
 
 S^SiJSSilfflta? Corda llcet lon § e P^sciscere: namque mo- 
 
 gish, and a voice is heard ranrps *7A 
 
 that imitates the broken idiiLCb /U 
 
 sounds of trumpets. Then tit x« mi ■ • • . 
 
 hastily they assemble, and Martius me aeris rauci canor mcrepat, et vox 
 
 brandish their wings, and ' ... 
 
 sharpen their stings with Auditur fractos sonitus lmitata tubarum. 
 
 their beaks, and fit their 
 
 SS'bSSWS^SS Turn trepidae inter se coeunt, pennisque corus- 
 
 and provoke the enemy with 
 
 loud shouts. Therefore as Cantj 
 
 soon as they find the weather 
 
 SSe?'Sw t iSif 1 toth°frem Spiculaque exacuunt 'rostris, aptantque lacertos, 
 r^ise g ts te heard e abo e ve g m e thl Et circa regem atque ipsa ad praetoria densas 75 
 
 sky : they are gathered into •».-.' . , .. , 
 
 a vast orb, and fail headlong, Miscentur, magnisque vocant clamonbus nostem. 
 
 as thick as hail from the air, ° x 
 
 mkrThSlftSdvS; Er g°> ubi ver nactae sudum, camposque patentes, 
 SrSd'their gutterm^Sgs' Erumpunt portis ', concurritur; aethere in alto 
 
 having mighty seuls in little ■*-.»* •, 
 
 bodies : and being resolved Fit sonitus, magnum mixtae fflomerantur in 
 
 not to yield, till the dread- ° & 
 
 ful victor has compelled ei- ovVinm 
 
 ther one side or the other to U1 ut - ill > 
 
 turn eir ac s m ig t. p ra ecipitesque cadunt : non densior aere gran- 
 do, 80 
 
 Nee de concussa tantum pluit ilice glandis. 
 
 Ipsi per medias acies, insignibus alis, 
 
 Ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant. 
 
 Usque adeo obnixi non cedere, dum gravis aut 
 hos, 
 
 Aut hos versa fuga victor dare terga subegit. 85 
 
 the shouts of the soldiers, the fury words are thus pointed j concurritur 
 
 of the battle, and the bravery of the cethere in alto : Jit sonitus. 
 
 leaders. In the Kings manuscript we find 
 
 69. Trepidantia bello corda.'] Tre~ ab alio, 
 
 pidare signifies not only to fear and 81. Nee] It is non in the King's 
 
 tremble, as it is commonly inter- manuscript. 
 
 preted, but also to hasten. In the 83. Ingentes animos angusto in 
 
 ninth JEneid it is used in this pectore versant.] This line seems 
 
 sense . to be an imitation of that of 
 
 «,../., Homer: 
 
 Ne trepidate meas, Teucn, defendere 
 
 naves. Tuhu$ ret (juzfe ph tvv Vifjutf, «XX« p«- 
 
 X*irys. 
 75. Pretoria.] The Prcetorium 
 
 is a camp in the general's tent. 85. Subegit.] Some read coegit ; 
 
 78. Concurritur ; (sthere in alto but Pierius found subegit in ail the 
 
 Jit sonitus.] In some editions these ancient manuscripts. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 355 
 
 Hi motus animorum, atquehsec certamina tanta 
 Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescent. 
 Verum ubi ductores acie revocaveris ambos, 
 Deterior qui visus, eum, ne prodigus obsit, 
 Dcde neci ; melior vacua sine regnet in aula. 90 
 Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens, 
 Nam duo sunt genera, hie melior, insignis et ore, 
 Et rutilis clarus squamis ; ille horridus alter 
 Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum. 
 Ut binae regum facies, ita corpora plebis ; 9S 
 Namque alias turpes horrent ; ceu pulvere ab 
 
 alto 
 Cum venit, et sicco terram spuit ore viator 
 Aridus ; elucent alias, et fulgore coruscant 
 Ardentes auro, et paribus lita corpora guttis. 
 Haec potior soboles : hinc caeli tempore certo 100 
 Dulcia mella premes ; nee tantum dulcia, quan- 
 tum 
 Et liquida, et durum Bacchi domitura saporem. 
 
 These violent commotion*, 
 these fierce encounters, will 
 cease, if you do but scatter a 
 little dust among them . But 
 when you have recalled both 
 leaders from the battle, de- 
 stroy him that appears the 
 worst, lest he prove injurious 
 by wasting the honey ; and 
 let the better king reign in 
 his court without him . There 
 are two sorts; the better 
 glows with spots of gold, has 
 a more beautiful person, and 
 shines with bright scales : the 
 other is filthy through sloth, 
 and ingloriously drags a large 
 belly after him. And as 
 there are two forms of kings, 
 so also do the bodies of their 
 people differ. For some cf 
 them have a nasty roughness, 
 like a parched traveller, com- 
 ing alongadu6ty road, and 
 spitting the dirt out of liis dry 
 mouth : the others shine, and 
 glitter with brightness, being 
 spangled with gold and equal 
 spots. This is the best sort. 
 From these at certain seasons 
 you shall squeeze sweet ho* 
 ney, and not only sweet, but 
 >ure, and fit to mend the 
 taste of wine. 
 
 87. Pulveris exigui jactu.] This 
 precept of scattering dust among 
 the warring bees is taken from 
 Varro. See the note on ver. 64. 
 
 Quiescent.'] Pierius says it is 
 quiescunt in the present tense, in the 
 Medicean and in most of the ancient 
 manuscripts. I find quiescunt in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts, 
 and quiescant in the Bodleian. 
 
 88. Verum ubi ductores.] In this 
 paragraph the Poet teaches how to 
 distinguish the best sort of bees. 
 
 Ambos.] Some read ambo. 
 
 91. Squalentibus. 1 Servius de- 
 rives squalentibus from squamis, and 
 renders it splendentibus. 
 
 92. Duo sunt genera.] Aristotle 
 says there are two sorts of kings ; 
 the best is red, but the other is 
 various, and twice as big as the 
 good bee : Elo-} $e ygyjj rm pifarrM 
 
 ityipovwv. o ph fiehriav -zTvppos. c d' erg- 
 gas [tzhas koc) ■zroixiXartgog. to dl fieyi* 
 $o$ diTrXcto-iog rtg Xepws ptXiTTVis. 
 
 Melior.'] In the King's manu- 
 script it is melior que. 
 
 95. Plebis.] It is gentis in the 
 Bodleian manuscript, and in most 
 of the printed editions. I lind 
 plebis in the King's, the Cambridge, 
 both the Arundelian^ and in both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Several 
 of the oldest editors, Heinsius, and 
 Masvicius read also plebis. 
 
 97. Sicco terram.] The common 
 reading is terram sicco. Heinsius 
 reads sicco terram. Pierius found 
 the same order of words in several 
 ancient manuscripts, 
 
 101. Premes.] It is premens in 
 the King's and in one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts. 
 2 z 2 
 
366 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 But when the swarms fly du- 
 biously, and sport in the air, 
 and disdain their combs, and 
 quit their cool habitations, re- 
 strain their wandering minds 
 from their vain play. Nor is 
 it any great difficulty to hin- 
 der them: do but clip the 
 wings of their monarchs : if 
 they are kept at home, none 
 will dare to attempt their 
 airy 
 
 At cum incerta volant, cseloque examina ludunt, 
 Contemn untquefavos, etfrigida tecta relinquunt; 
 Instabiles animos ludo prohibebis inani. 105 
 Nee magnus prohibere labor : tu regibus alas 
 Eripe : non illis quisquam cunctantibus altum 
 
 103. At cum incerta volant, &c] 
 This paragraph treats of the means 
 to prevent the bees from leaving 
 their situation. 
 
 104. Frigida tecta.] By cool or 
 cold hives Servius understands empty; 
 " Melle vacua, inoperosa, contra 
 " fervet opus." La Cerda observes 
 that the Greeks and Romans used 
 coldness for inactivity. This seems 
 to be the received interpretation. 
 May translates it cold: 
 
 Forsaking their cold hives. 
 
 Addison renders it. 
 
 And leave the cooling hive. 
 Dryden's translation is, 
 
 And loath their empty hives* 
 According to Dr. Trapp it is, 
 
 '■' ■ ■ And quit their vacant hives. 
 
 He thinks they are called cold, be- 
 cause they grow cool by being left; 
 €( Frigida tecta relinquunt; for they 
 te become frigida by being relicta.'" 
 It is in summer that the bees swarm, 
 and as they are to be defended from 
 the extremities of heat and cold, 
 the hives may in this sense be ac- 
 counted cool in summer and warm 
 in winter. 
 
 106. Tu regibus alas eripe.] In 
 the King's manuscript it is rigidus 
 instead of regibus. 
 
 Dr. Trapp treats this precept of 
 clipping the king's wings as im- 
 practicable, and makes himself 
 merry on the occasion : " But how 
 (f shall one catch them ?* says he ; 
 
 " or if one could seize them, 
 '* would it not be difficult to hold 
 " and handle them, so as to cut 
 f< their wings? And would not their 
 " majesties be apt to dart out their 
 " royal stings ; and with them their 
 " royal lives ? No commentator 
 " takes the least notice of this 
 u strange difficulty ; nor can I 
 " imagine what Virgil means. As 
 u if a master-bee were to be singled 
 " out, laid hold of, and shorn, with 
 (t as much ease as the bell-weather 
 " of a flock of sheep." This pre- 
 cept however has been laid down 
 also by Columella; " Qui tamen 
 " et ipse spoliandus est alis, ubi 
 <f saepius cum examine suo conatur 
 " eruptione facta profugere : nam 
 te velut quadam compede retinebi- 
 " mus erronem ducem detractis 
 tf alis, qui fugee destitutus praesidio* 
 *f finem regni non audet excedere, 
 " propter quod ne ditionis quidem 
 " suae populo permittit longiu9 
 " evagari." Nor did Pliny think 
 it unworthy to be inserted in his 
 Natural History : " Si quis alam 
 " ei detruncet, non fugiet examen." 
 Columella informs us how we may 
 take hold of the king of the bees 
 with impunity : namely, by per- 
 fuming the hand with baum, which 
 will cause the bees not to fly. away 
 or resist : " Succo prsedictarum her- 
 C( barum, id est melissophylli vel 
 ff apiastri manu illita, ne ad tactum 
 " diffugiant, leviter inferes digitos, 
 ' ( et diductas apes scrutaberis, donee 
 " auctorem pugnee, quern elidere 
 " debes, reperia3." Dryden's trans- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 357 
 
 Ire iter, aut castris audebit vellere signa. 
 Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti, 
 Et custos furum atque avium cum falce sa- 
 ligna 110 
 
 Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi. 
 Ipse thy mum pinosque ferens de montibus altis 
 Tecta serat late circum, cui talia curae ; 
 Ipse labore manum duro terat; ipse feraces 
 Figat humo plantas, et amicos irriget imbres. 115 
 Atque equidem, extremo ni jam sub fine la- 
 borum 
 
 journey, or move the standard 
 from the camp. Let garden* 
 breathing with saffron flower* 
 invite them, and let the 
 defence of Hellespontiac Pri- 
 apus, the guard of thieves and 
 birds with his wooden sword 
 
 E reserve them. Let him who 
 as the care of bees bring 
 thyme and pines from the 
 lofty mountains, and make 
 large plantations of them 
 round the hives: let him 
 harden his hand with labour, 
 let him plant fruitful trees in 
 the ground, and bestow 
 friendly showers upon them. 
 And now indeed, were I not 
 just striking sail toward the 
 end of my labours, 
 
 lation of the passage under con- 
 sideration is very singular 5 
 
 The task is easy : but to clip the wings 
 Of their high-flying arbitrary kings : 
 At their command the people swarm 
 
 away, 
 Confine the tyrant, and the slaves will 
 
 stay. 
 
 108. Vellere signa.] In one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is tollere: 
 but vellere signa was used by the 
 Romans, to express the moving of 
 their camp. For when they pitched 
 their camp they struck their ensigns 
 into the ground before the general's 
 tent -, and plucked them up, when 
 they decamped. Thus in the ele- 
 venth Mneld : 
 
 ' Ubi primum vellere signa 
 
 Annuerint superi, pubemque educere 
 castris. 
 
 109. Croceis halantes floribus nor- 
 th] Saffron flowers seem to be put 
 here for odorous flowers in general. 
 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts there is olentes instead of 
 halantes. 
 
 111. Hellespontiaci servet tutela 
 Priapi] The Poet does not mean 
 that a statue of Priapus should be 
 set up to defend the bees : but that 
 they should be invited by such gar- 
 dens, as may deserve to be under 
 the protection of that deity. 
 
 Priapus was worshipped princi- 
 pally at Lampsacum, a city on the 
 Hellespont. 
 
 112. Thymum.] The thyme of 
 the ancients is not our common 
 thyme, but the thymus capitatus, 
 qui Dioscoridis C. B. which now 
 grows in great plenty upon the 
 mountains in Greece. The Attic 
 honey was accounted the best, be- 
 cause of the excellence of this sort 
 of thyme, which grows about 
 Athens. Thus our Poet : 
 
 Cecropiumque thymum. 
 
 That also of Sicily was very fa- 
 mous, to which Virgil also alludes 
 in the seventh Eclogue : 
 
 Nerine Galatea thymo mihi dulcior Hy- 
 blae. 
 
 This sort of thyme has a most 
 fragrant smell and agreeable taste ; 
 whence the Poet justly ascribes the 
 fragrance of honey to this plant : 
 
 »■ " Redolentque thymo fragrantia 
 
 mella. 
 
 It is known among us under the 
 name of the true thyme of the an* 
 dents. 
 
 Ferens.] In the King's manu- 
 script it is feres. 
 
 116. Atque equidem extremo, &c] 
 
358 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 5£,t?S?3^JK.S3 Velatraham, et terris festinem advertere pro- 
 
 might sing what care wa» 
 
 required to cultivate rich ram \ 
 
 gardens, and the roses of . . 
 
 twice fertile pxstum: and Porsitan et pmgues hortos quae cura colendi 
 
 how endive, and banks green Jr o t. 
 
 ^g t the e riS , , delightindrink ' Ornaret, canerem, biferique rosaria Passti; 
 
 Quoque modo potis gauderent intuba rivis, 120 
 
 The Poet having mentioned the 
 advantage of gardens with respect 
 to bees, takes occasion to speak of 
 them cursorily ; but in such beau- 
 tiful terms, that every reader must 
 wish that Virgil had expatiated on 
 this subject. 
 
 117. Vela traham, &c] A meta- 
 phor taken from sailing, as in the 
 first Georgick -, 
 
 — — Ades et primi lege littoris orara : 
 
 And 
 
 —— pelagoque volans da vela patenti. 
 
 118. Pingues hortos.'] It will not 
 perhaps be disagreeable to the 
 reader, if in this place I make some 
 little enquiry into the gardens of 
 the ancients. Those of the Hes- 
 perides, those of Adonis, Alcinous, 
 Semiramis, and Cyrus, have been 
 celebrated with large praises. We 
 may easily apprehend, what sort of 
 gardens the most magnificent ones 
 of ancient Greece were, by the de- 
 scription which Homer has left us 
 of that of Alcinous. The whole 
 garden was of no larger extent 
 than four acres : and yet it is called 
 by Homer a large garden or or- 
 chard : 
 
 'EicroffS-tv ^ euiktis piyas o£%urot %yx, 1 
 T%vt>ayvo$. 
 
 Our English word orchard, or per- 
 haps rather, as Milton writes it, 
 orchat, seems to be derived from 
 the Greek word c^x XTC ^> which 
 Homer here uses to express the 
 garden of Alcinous : and indeed it 
 
 seems rather to have been an or- 
 chard than what we call a garden. 
 It consisted of pears, apples, pome- 
 granates, figs, olives, and vines. 
 Round these were beds of herbs 
 and flowers, and the whole was 
 fenced in with a hedge. The gar- 
 den which Laertes cultivated with 
 his own royal hands, seems to 
 have been much of the same sort. 
 The Romans seem to have pro- 
 ceeded much farther in their taste 
 of gardening in Virgil's time. We 
 here find not only fruit-trees, and 
 roses, lilies, and daffodils, with 
 some pot-herbs 3 but also rows of 
 elms and planes for shade. Colu- 
 mella speaks of inclosing them 
 with walls as well as with hedges : 
 and a few years afterwards, we find 
 them arrived to a degree of magni- 
 ficence, equal to the finest modern 
 gardens : as the reader may see in 
 the fifth book of the Epistles of the 
 younger Pliny. 
 
 119. Biferique rosaria Pasti.2 
 " Paestum is a town of Calabria, 
 " where the roses blow twice in a 
 a year." Servius. 
 
 120. Quoque modo potis gauderent 
 intuba rivis.] Pierius says this verse 
 Is read differently in the Lombard 
 manuscript : 
 
 Quoque modo positis gauderent intyba 
 fibris. 
 
 The plant which Virgil means in 
 this place is endive, that being the 
 name of the garden nye, whereas 
 the wild sort is our succory. See 
 the note on book i. ver. 120. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 359 
 
 Et virides apio ripse, tortusque per herbam 
 Cresceret in ventrem cucumis : nee sera coman- 
 tem 
 
 and how the cucumber creep- 
 ing along the grass swells into 
 a belly : nor would I have 
 
 121. Virides apio ripce."^ Apium 
 is allowed by all to be the Latin 
 name for what the Greeks called 
 o-'iXmv. Theophrastus speaks of se- 
 veral sorts : the <riXivcv e^esgov, which 
 is generally thought to be our com- 
 mon parsley ; the <We<rePuvov, which 
 seems to be what we call Alexan- 
 ders ; the Iteicoixivov, which is what 
 we call smallage ; and the cgg©<rsA<vov, 
 or mountain parsley. Virgil is ge- 
 nerally thought by apium to mean 
 the first sort, that being principally 
 cultivated in gardens. But I ra- 
 ther believe he means the smallage, 
 of which an agreeable sort has been 
 brought from Italy under the name 
 of celeri, and is now cultivated al- 
 most every where. The smallage 
 or celeri delights in the banks of 
 rivulets, and therefore our Poet says 
 virides apio ripce, and potis gaude- 
 rent rivis. Columella must also 
 mean the same herb under the name 
 of apium, without any epithet, when 
 he says it delights in water, and 
 should be placed near a spring: 
 " Apium quoque possis plantis se- 
 " rere, nee minus semine, sed prae- 
 " cipue aqua laetatur, et ideo secun- 
 (t dum fontem commodissime poni- 
 " tur." Apium is thought to be 
 derived from apes, because bees are 
 fond of that plant. 
 
 Tortusque per herbam cresceret in 
 ventrem cucumis •.] - In the King's 
 manuscript, and in the old Paris 
 edition, printed in 1494, it is herbas, 
 instead of herbam. 
 
 The Poet gives a beautiful de- 
 scription of the cucumber in a few 
 words. The winding of the stalk 
 along the ground, and the swelling 
 of the fruit, excellently distinguish 
 these plants. 
 
 122. Sera comantem narcissum.~\ 
 Sera is here put adverbially, which 
 is frequent in Virgil. Pierius how- 
 ever found sero in the Lombard 
 and Medicean manuscripts : I find 
 the same reading in the King's, the 
 Bodleian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 We have no reason to doubt, but 
 that the narcissus of the ancients is 
 some species of that which we now 
 call narcissus or daffodil. Theo- 
 phrastus says it has its leaves spread 
 on the ground like the asphodel, 
 but broader, like those of lilies : its 
 stalk is void of leaves, and bears 
 at the top a herbaceous flower, and 
 a large dark coloured fruit inclosed 
 in a membranaceous vessel of an 
 oblong figure. This fruit falling 
 down sprouts spontaneously, though 
 some gather it for sowing. The 
 roots also are planted, which are 
 large, round, and fleshy. It flowers 
 very late after the rising of Arctu- 
 rus, and about the vernal equinox : 
 o ^6 Ne&gx.itro'og, » to tet'giov' cl [aIv yeco 
 rovra, oi §' hcttvo xxXtviri. ro fdv \tc\ tj? 
 y*j QvhXov arQodihadts 'i%u, -z^Xecrvri^ov 
 £g zroXv, xetBcixi^ v xgivavtoc. tov M 
 xxvXh aQvXXoy plv, -aroadv £s, xctt \% 
 eix^ov ro tfivS-os' xcu iv vftwi rtvt xo&ding 
 h uyyiia xccfwov (tiyxv iv ficiXx. xoct ftU 
 bocvoc ry %£oi$, o-%tpccrt £s srgo^cij. 
 euros S* bc7rt7rTM -zroiii fi\etrn<riv ccvto- 
 ftccrov. cv (ih eiXXoc xoct o-v^Xiyovres 
 ■zrqyvvovo-i, xoct rh $i£ecv <pvnvovinv. t%et 
 ettyev o-oegxadn, ^oyyyAnv, piycLhw. o-^/iov 
 Ct crtpod^a. pira, yc\% 'AgxTot/gov n ccvSncrts, 
 xoct OTgj irtipegtcAv. Dioscorides says 
 it has leaves like those of the leek, 
 but smaller and narrower : the stalk 
 is hollow, without leaves, above a 
 span high, supporting a white 
 flower, which is yellow on the in- 
 
360 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 SSriSrd2ffoSJ, cet or e the Narcissum, aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi, 
 
 stalks of fhebendingacanthus, 
 
 side, and sometimes purple; the 
 root is white, round, and bulbous. 
 The Fruit is in a membranaceous 
 vessel, dark-coloured and long. 
 The best sort grows in mountainous 
 places, of a good smell, the others 
 have a smell of leeks: Hcc^xirtrog' 
 mot xcct rovro ag zri^i to xgivov Xzlgiov 
 hceiXia-ecv. rot ft,h QvXXce, sr^jko-oi iotxv 
 
 ht7FTo\ ^S XOtl piKgOTZQCt XOtTO, ZTOXlt, XXI 
 
 eivangcc. xctvXov xsvov, aQvXXov, piita 
 m&eifMig. Itf ov ItvB-og Xivkov. z<ra&zv 2g 
 xp6xu%g, IV biav ?s irof>Qv(>6tidU' pt£& 
 ^g Xtvxn, hdoSiv rgoyyvXi), /SoX^oU^g. 
 Kot(>7rbg ag lv vpht, piX»g, Tr^pvxyg' 
 <pi>irxt o xccXXifog ev ogetvolg ronroig, iva- 
 itig, o 2g Xomog 7r£et<rttyi. Pliny says 
 the narcissus is a sort of purple 
 lily, with a white flower, and a 
 purple cup : it differs from lilies, in 
 that its leaves come from the root : 
 the best sort grows in the moun- 
 tains of Lycia. There is another 
 sort with a herbaceous cup. All 
 of them flower late; namely, after 
 the rising of Arcturus, and about 
 the autumnal equinox : u Sunt et 
 " purpurea lilia, aliquando gemino 
 " caule, carnosiore tantum radice, 
 <c majorisque bulbi, sed unius. Nar- 
 " cissum vocant hujus alterum ge- 
 <e nus flore candido, calyce purpu- 
 <s reo. Differentia a liliis est et 
 fS haec, quod narcissis folia in radice 
 iC sunt, probatissimis in Lycia? mon- 
 <e tibus. Tertio generi caetera ea- 
 <c dem, calyx herbaceus. Omnes 
 " serotini. Post Arcturum enim 
 " florent, ac per gequinoctium au- 
 " tumnum." And in another place 
 he says, there are two sorts of nar- 
 cissus used in medicine ; one with 
 a purple, and the other with a her- 
 baceous flower: " Narcissi duo ge- 
 <e nera in usu Medici recipiunt, 
 <e uriura purpureo flore, et alterum 
 <c herbaceum." From what these 
 ancient authors have said, we may 
 
 gather a pretty good description of 
 their narcissus. The roots are large, 
 round, and fleshy, according to 
 Theophrastus; white, round, and 
 bulbous, according to Dioscorides. 
 They all agree, that the leaves pro- 
 ceed from the root, and that the 
 stalk is naked. According to Theo- 
 phrastus, the leaves are like those 
 of Asphodel; according to Dios- 
 corides, like those of leeks, but 
 smaller and narrower, in which they 
 agree very well. The flower, ac- 
 cording to Theophrastus, is green- 
 ish, according to Dioscorides white, 
 and either yellow or purple within ; 
 according to Pliny, it is white, with 
 either a purple or greenish cup. 
 What Dioscorides calls the inside, 
 is what Pliny calls the cup ; for the 
 flowers of the daffodil form a cup 
 in the middle, which is sometimes 
 different, sometimes of the same 
 colour with the rest of the flower. 
 The fruit, according to both the 
 Greek authors, is membranaceous, 
 long, and of a dark colour. Hence 
 we may be sure, that some species 
 of our daffodil is the narcissus of 
 the ancients : and probably the nar- 
 cissus albus circulo purpureo C. B. 
 and the narcissus albus circulo cro- 
 ceo minor C. B. may be the two 
 sorts. The last of these seems to 
 be the flower, into which the youth 
 Narcissus was changed, according 
 to Ovid : 
 
 — — Croceum pro corpore florem 
 Inveniunt, foliis medium cingentibus 
 albis. 
 
 There seems to be but one difficulty 
 attending this determination: the 
 species of daffodil known among us, 
 flower early in the spring, and sel- 
 dom later than in May; whereas 
 Theophrastus, Virgil, and Pliny, 
 place their season in September. 
 
GEORG. UB. IV. 361 
 
 Pallentesque hederas, et amantes littora myrtos. S£^S?£S'J£S£ myrtleB 
 
 But to this it may be answered; 
 that in Greece, these flowers may 
 appear much later in the year. Bus- 
 bequius says he was presented with 
 daffodils near Constantinople in 
 December; and that Greece 
 abounds with hyacinths and daffo- 
 dils of a wonderful fragrance: 
 " Unum diem Hadrianopoli com- 
 * morati progredimur Constantino- 
 <f polim versus jam propinquam, 
 " veluti extremum nostri itineris 
 <f actum confecturi. Per hasc loca 
 <f transeuntibus ingens ubique flo- 
 " rum copia offerebatur, Narcisso- 
 " rum, Hyacinthorum et eorum 
 " quas Turcae Tulipam vocant : 
 " non sine magna admiratione nos- 
 <c tra, propter anni tempus, media 
 " plane hieme, floribus minime 
 (C amicum. Narcissis et Hyacinthis 
 " abundat Graecia miro fragrantibus 
 " odore." Tournefort found the 
 yellow daffodil common on the 
 banks of the Granicus, in Decem- 
 ber, and another sort about the 
 same time, near Ephesus. 
 
 123. Flexi vimen acanthi.] I have 
 already mentioned the acanthus, in 
 the note on book ii. ver. 11 9. It 
 has_been there observed that there 
 are two sorts of acanthus : one an 
 Egyptian tree, and the other a gar- 
 den herb, which the Poet means in 
 this place. The acanthus of Theo- 
 phrastus is the Egyptian tree, of 
 which we have spoken already. 
 The herb acanthus is described by 
 Dioscorides. He says the leaves 
 are much longer and broader than 
 those of lettuce, divided like rocket, 
 blackish, fat, and smooth : the stalk 
 is two cubits high, of the thickness 
 of one's finger, smooth, encom- 
 passed near the top at certain dis- 
 tances with long, prickly leaves, 
 out of which proceeds a white 
 flower: the seed is long and yellow: 
 
 the roots are long, mucous, red, and 
 glutinous: "Akocv^oc' « lp7rdx.(iv§u: 01 
 de [MXccpCpvXXov , nctihiPU'tct, (p'vncci h 
 irctgotdu'troig, xcc) h teiTPO^i<ri, koc) rt\»g- 
 
 7roXXa> noil (AcocgOTiPot, S-gidxKog, lo-fciir- 
 fAivot cog tu, Tt>v iifoftov, v7rof&iXccyet, A<- 
 •kocpu,, hiicc' xetvXov telov, di7r^vv, nai- 
 %og %(x,k.tvXov he diccfvi^ciraiv vrpog t*j ko- 
 Pvtyy TrtgtuXvif&fMvov (pvhXct^iots wriv, 
 emit xtrrx^iotg, VTroftfaiiriv , ux.oivSdidio'iv' 
 e| e&v to uv$o$ Trpciiirau tevxov' C7viejA.a, 
 
 V7T0[6VlKtS , f&ttlXlVOV. SvPCTOilVvs Oi *l X.i- 
 
 QctXv. fyZcu %\ vmuri yXt<r%(>oci , fAi%a- 
 2us, 'ipTrvpoiy [ActK^cci. The acantha 
 of Dioscorides is generally allowed 
 to be that plant which is cultivated 
 in gardens, under the name of 
 acanthus sativus or brank-ursine. 
 Most botanists also are of opinion, 
 that it is the acanthus of Virgil: 
 but the chief difficulty is, to shew 
 the reason, why he calls it flexi vi- 
 men acanthi. These words seem to 
 express a twining plant. I believe 
 we must entirely depend upon a 
 passage of Vitruvius, for the solu- 
 tion of this difficulty. This famous 
 author tells us, that a basket co- 
 vered with a tile having been acci- 
 dentally placed on the ground over 
 a root of acanthus, the stalks and 
 leaves burst forth in the spring, 
 and spreading themselves on the 
 outside of the basket, were bent 
 back again at the top, by the cor- 
 ners of the tile. Callimachus, a fa- 
 mous architect, happening to pass 
 by, was delighted with the novelty 
 and beauty of this appearance, and 
 being to make some pillars at Co- 
 rinth, imitated the form of this 
 basket surrounded with acanthus, 
 in the capitals. It is certain that 
 there cannot be a more lively image 
 of the capital of a Corinthian pillar, 
 than a basket covered with a tile, 
 and surrounded by leaves of brank- 
 3 A 
 
362 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 fhebft^Swer/ofVbanf, Namquesub CEbaliaememinimeturribusaltis 125 
 Qua niger humectat flaventia culta Galesus 
 Corycium vidisse senem : cui pauca relicti 
 
 where black Galesus moistens 
 the yellow fields, I saw a 
 old Corycian who had a few 
 
 ursine, bending outward at the top. 
 To this Virgil may allude in the 
 words now under consideration. 
 But then we must not translate 
 them with Dryden, 
 
 The winding trail 
 
 Of bear's foot, 
 
 by 
 
 trailing 
 
 for it 1 
 plant. 
 
 124. Pallentesque hederas.~] In 
 some of the old editions it is pollen- 
 tes without que. See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 258. 
 
 Amantes littora myrios.~] Myrtles 
 delight in growing near the sea- 
 shore. Thus in the second Geor- 
 gick: 
 
 Littora myrtetis laetissima. 
 
 125. (Ebalice.] " (Ebalia is La- 
 " conia, whence Castor and Pollux 
 " are called by Statius (Ebalidce 
 " Fr aires." Servius. 
 
 The poet means Tarentum by the 
 lofty towers of (Ebalia, because a 
 colony from Laconia, under the con- 
 duct of Phalantus, came to Calabria 
 and augmented the city of Taren- 
 tum. 
 
 126. Niger. ~] Schrevelius, follow- 
 ing Erythraeus, reads piger. 
 
 Galesus.^] Galesus is a river of Ca- 
 labria, which flows near Tarentum. 
 
 127. Corycium.] Some think that 
 Corycius is the name of the old man 
 here spoken of. But it seems more 
 probable, that it is the name of his 
 country: for Corycus is the name 
 of a mountain and city of Cilicia. 
 Pompey had made war on the Ci- 
 licians, of which people some being 
 received into friendship, were 
 brought by him, and planted in 
 Calabria, about Tarentum. Virgil's 
 
 old man may therefore reasonably 
 be supposed to be one of Pompey's 
 Cilicians, who had these few acres 
 given him near Tarentum, and per- 
 haps improved the culture of gar- 
 dens in Italy, from the knowledge 
 he had obtained in his own country. 
 127. Relicti.'] Servius interprets 
 this word forsaken and contemptible; 
 which interpretation he confirms by 
 observing that no land could be 
 more contemptible, than that which 
 is fit neither for wines, corn, nor 
 pasture. Thus also Grimoaldus 
 paraphrases it, * f cui rus erat par- 
 " vum atque desertum." La Cerda 
 contends that it means hereditary, 
 observing that relinquere is a word 
 used in making wills, and confirms 
 this interpretation by a passage in 
 Varro, which he thinks the Poet 
 here designs to imitate. That au- 
 thor speaking of two brothers, who 
 had a small farm left them by their 
 father, uses the word relicta. Ruaeus 
 however renders it deserti. May 
 also follows Servius : 
 
 Few akers of neglected ground undrest. 
 
 Addison also translates it, 
 
 A few neglected acres. 
 
 Dryden is of the same opinion, 
 Lord of few acres, and those barren too. 
 
 Dr. Trapp follows La Cerda, 
 A few hereditary acres : 
 
 " Left him," says he, " by his rela- 
 " tions. This adds much to the 
 « c grace of the narrative. The little 
 f < land he had, and which he so 
 " improved, was his own : he paid 
 " no rent for it." This interpreta- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 363 
 
 acres of forsaken ground : nor 
 was his land rich enough for 
 
 Jugera ruris erant ; nee fertilis ilia juvencis, 
 
 « T i the plough, nor good for pas- 
 NeC peCOl'l ODDOrtUna SegeS, neC COmmOda ture, nor proper for wines. 
 r rr ° Yet he planting a few pot- 
 
 Baccho. 
 Hie rarum tamen in dumis olus, albaque cir 
 
 Yet he planting a few pot- 
 herbs among the bushes, and 
 white 
 
 cum 
 
 130 
 
 tion has its beauty, but I believe 
 it is not Virgil's meaning. The old 
 Corycian, being one of the Cilicians 
 settled in Calabria by Pompey, his 
 land there could not be hereditary. 
 Nor could the person here spoken 
 of be the son of one of those Cili- 
 cians, born in Calabria, because he 
 calls hira an old man. Those peo- 
 ple had not been brought over 
 above forty years, when Virgil was 
 writing his Georgicks, and not quite 
 fifty years, when the Poet died. 
 And he speaks of his seeing this 
 old man, as of a thing that had 
 passed long ago. We must there- 
 fore, with Servius, translate relicti, 
 forsaken. The land was neither fit 
 for vineyards, corn, nor pasture, 
 and therefore the Calabrians neg- 
 lected it. But this old man knew 
 how to make use of it, by con- 
 verting it into a garden, and apiary. 
 Virgil therefore shews the Romans, 
 that a piece of land might be fit 
 neither for corn, which is the subject 
 of his first book, nor vines, of which 
 he treats in his second, nor cattle, 
 which take up the third; and yet 
 that by the example of this foreigner, 
 they might know how to cultivate 
 it to advantage. 
 
 129. Seges.~\ See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 9,66. 
 
 130. Hie.'] Pierius says it is hinc 
 in the Lombard manuscript. 
 
 In damis.~\ Ruaeus, and after him 
 Dr. Trapp, think in dumis is put 
 for in loco prius dumoso. 
 
 Albaque circum lilia.~\ The white 
 lilies are those, which were most 
 celebrated and best known among 
 the ancients. Theophrastus speaks 
 
 of red lilies only by hear-say : EjVeg 
 $)} xacSet7rt£ (ponrh inoc Koti tto^v^u p 
 Thus our Poet celebrates them here 
 for their whiteness, and also in the 
 twelfth iEneid : 
 
 Mixta rubent ubi Lilia multa 
 
 Alba rosa. 
 
 In the tenth Eclogue he mentions 
 the largeness of lilies : 
 
 Florentes ferulas et grandia lilia quas- 
 sans. 
 
 This may be meant either of the 
 flower, which is very large, or of 
 the whole plant, which, according 
 to Pliny, exceeds all other flowers 
 in tallness : te Nee ulli florum ex- 
 " celsitas major, interdum cubito- 
 " rum trium." This author has 
 given an excellent description of 
 the white lily, in the words imme- 
 diately following. He says the neck 
 is always languid, and unable to 
 sustain the weight of the body, 
 which elegantly describes the bend- 
 ing down of the flower. It is of 
 a remarkable whiteness, the leaves 
 [that is, the petals] being streaked 
 on the outside, growing gradually 
 broader from a narrow origin, in 
 form of a cup, of which the brims 
 bend outward, having slender 
 threads, and saffron summits in the 
 middle : " Languido semper collo, 
 " et non sufEciente capitis oneri. 
 <e Candor ejus eximius, foliis foris 
 " striatis, et ab angustiis in latitu- 
 " dinem paulatim sese laxantibus, 
 " effigie calathi, resupinis per am- 
 " bitum labris, tenuique filo et 
 " semine, stantibus in medio crocis. 
 " Ita odor colorque duplex, et alius 
 3 a2 
 
364 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 vS.STescSp^r Lilia > verbenasque premens, vescumque papaver, 
 
 " calycis, alius staminis, differentia 
 " angusta." By crocis I take this 
 author to mean the yellow apices or 
 summits ; and by tenuijilo et semine 
 perhaps he means the stile and 
 ovary. The lilies were planted by 
 the old Corycian for the sake of his 
 bees: for Pliny mentions them 
 among the flowers in which those 
 insects delight; " Verum hortis 
 " coronamentisque maxime alvearia 
 •' et apes conveniunt, res praecipui 
 " qusestus compendiique cum favit. 
 " Harum ergo causa oportet serere 
 " thymum, apiastrum, rosam, vio- 
 " las, HHum." Virgil also speaks 
 of them in the sixth iEneid, as 
 being the delight of bees : 
 
 Ac veluti in pratis, ubi apes sestate 
 
 serena 
 Floribus insidunt varus, et Candida cir- 
 
 cum 
 Lilia funduntur. 
 
 Thick as the humming lees, that hunt the 
 
 golden dew ; 
 In summers heat on tops of lilies feed, 
 And creep 'within their bells, to suck the 
 
 Dbyden. 
 
 131. Verbenas.'] The Verbena, 
 from whence our English name 
 Vervain is derived, was a sacred 
 herb among the Romans. We read 
 in the first book of Livy how this 
 herb was used in the most ancient 
 league, of which the memory was 
 preserved among them : that be- 
 tween Tullus Hostilius, the third 
 king of Rome, and the Albans. 
 The form was this: The Fetialis 
 said to Tullus, Do you command me, 
 O king, to strike a league with the 
 Pater patratus of the people of Alba ■? 
 when the King had commanded 
 him, he proceeded thus, King, I 
 demand the Sagmina of you. The 
 King answered, Take it pure. Then 
 the Fetialis brought the pure herb 
 
 from the tower. .... The Fetialis 
 was M. Valerius, and he appointed 
 Sp. Fusius to be the Pater patratus, 
 touching his head and hair with the 
 Vervain : " Fcedera alia aliis legi- 
 " bus, caeterum eodem modo omnia 
 " fiunt. Turn ita factum accepi- 
 " mus : nee ullius vetustior foederis 
 " memoria est. Fetialis regem 
 " Tullum ita rogavit: Jubesne me 
 te rex cum patre pairato populi Albani 
 C( foedus feri're ? jubente rege, Sag- 
 " mina, inquit, te, rex, posco. Rex 
 " ait, Puram tollito. Fetialis ex arce 
 tC graminis herbam puram attulit. 
 " . . . . Fetialis erat M. Valerius, is 
 ' « patrem patratum Sp. Fusium fecit, 
 " verbena caput capillosque tan- 
 '< gens." Pliny says expressly, that 
 by sagmina and verbence were meant 
 the same thing, namely, the herb 
 from the tower, plucked up with 
 its earth : and that it was used by 
 the ambassadors, when they were 
 sent to reclaim any thing that had 
 been carried away by the enemies ; 
 and that one of them was therefore 
 called Verbenarius : " Interim for- 
 " tiusaugeturautoritas: quae quanta 
 " debeatur etiam surdis, hoc est 
 <e ignobilibus herbis perhibebitur. 
 " Siquidem autores imperii Rbmani 
 " conditoresque immensum quid- 
 <e dam et hinc sumpsere, quoniam 
 " non aliunde sagmina in remediis 
 " publicis fuere, et in sacris legati- 
 " onibusque verbense. Certe utro- 
 " que nomine idem si^iincatur, hoc 
 " est, gramen ex arce cum sua terra 
 ' « evulsum : ac semper et legati 
 " cum ad hostes clarigatumque mit- 
 " terentur, id est, res raptas clare 
 " repetitum, unus utique Verbena- 
 ' ' rius vocabatur." In another place 
 he calls it Hierabotane, Peristereon, 
 and Verbenaca ; and there adds, that 
 it was used in brushing the table of 
 Jupiter, and in purifying houses, 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 365 
 
 Regiim aequabat opes animis ; seraque revertens 
 Nocte domum, dapibus mensas onerabat in- 
 
 emptis. 
 Primus vererosam, atque autumnocarpere poma; 
 Et cum tristis hyems etiamnum frigore saxa 135 
 Rumperet, et glacie cursus fraenaret aquarum, 
 
 equalled in his mind the 
 wealth of kings : and return- 
 ing home late at night, loaded 
 his table with unbought dain- 
 ties. He was the first to ga- 
 ther roses in the spring, and 
 fruits in autumn: and when 
 sad winter even split the rocks 
 with cold, and with ice re- 
 strained the course of the ri- 
 vers, 
 
 He says there are two sorts of it, 
 one full of leaves, which is called 
 the female, and the male with 
 fewer leaves. The branches of both 
 are many, slender, a cubit long, and 
 angular. The leaves are like those 
 of the oak, but smaller, narrower, 
 and more deeply divided. The 
 flower is glaucous. The root long 
 and slender. It grows in watery 
 places. Some do not distinguish 
 them, reckoning only one sort, be- 
 cause both of them have the same 
 effects : " Nulla tamen Romanae no- 
 <{ bilitatis plus habet quam Hiera- 
 " botane. Aliqui Peristereon, nos- 
 " tri Verbenacam vocant. Haec est 
 " quam legatos ferre ad hostes in- 
 " dicavimus. Hac Jovis mensa 
 " verritur, domus purgantur, lus-» 
 " tranturque. Genera ejus duo 
 " sunt : foliosa, quam foeminam 
 "putant: mas rarioribus foliis. Ra- 
 M muli utriusque plures, tenues, 
 " cubitales, angulosi. Folia minora 
 te quam Quercus, angustioraque, di- 
 " visuris majoribus, flos glaucus, 
 f< radix longa, tenuis. Nascitur ubi- 
 " que in planis aquosis. Quidam 
 " non distinguunt, sed unum om- 
 " nino genus faciunt, quoniam utra- 
 " que eosdem effectus habeat." The 
 vervain was used in incantations, 
 to which the Poet alludes in the 
 eighth Eclogue : 
 
 Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria 
 
 vitta : 
 Verhenasque adole pingues, et mascula 
 
 thura. 
 
 It was thought to be good against 
 Serpents and venomous bites, and 
 
 was recommended as a sovereign 
 medicine for a great variety of dis- 
 eases. 
 
 131. Tremens^ It has been ob- 
 served, in the note on book ii. ver. 
 346, that virgulta premere properly 
 signifies the increasing of a plant 
 by layers. But here premens must 
 be understood of planting in general. 
 Dryden seems to understand it 
 bruising. 
 
 Yet lab'ring well his little spot of ground, 
 Some scatt'ring pot-herbs here and there 
 
 he found. 
 Which cultivated with his daily care, 
 And hruis'd with vervain, were his fru- 
 gal fare. 
 Sometimes white lilies did their leaves 
 
 afford, 
 With wholesome poppy ^flowers, to mend 
 his homely board. 
 
 This whole passage is erroneously 
 translated; for the Poet does not 
 speak of bruising vervain, but of 
 planting it. Th^ vervain and lilies 
 do not seem to have been planted 
 for pot-herbs, but the vervain for 
 medicinal uses, and the lilies for 
 the bees : nor were the lilies planted 
 for the sake of their leaves, but of 
 their flowers. The poppies also 
 were not planted for their flowers, 
 but for their seeds. 
 
 Vescumque papaver7\ See the 
 notes on book i. ver. 78 and 212. 
 
 135. Etiamnum7\ The common 
 reading is etiam nunc. I follow 
 Heinsius. 
 
 " In some manuscripts it is etiam- 
 (t 7ium t which word is frequently 
 " used by Pliny; from the Greek 
 11 hi **i vvv" Pierius. 
 
366 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 in that very season he could 
 crop the soft acanthus, accus- 
 ing the slow summer, and the 
 loitering zephyrs. He there- 
 fore was the first to abound 
 with pregnant bees, and plen- 
 tiful swarms; and to squeeze 
 the frothing honey from the 
 combs: he had limes and 
 plenty of pines j and as many 
 fruits as shewed themselves 
 in early blossom, so many did 
 lie gather ripe in autumn. 
 He also transplanted into rows 
 the far-grown elms, 
 
 Ille comam mollis jam turn tondebat acanthi, 
 iEstatem increpitans seram, zephyrosque mo- 
 
 rantes. 
 Ergo apibus foetis idem atque examine multo 
 Primus abundare, et spumantiacogerepressis 140 
 Mella favis : illi tilias, atque uberrima pinus ; 
 Quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos 
 Induerat, totidem autumno matura tenebat. 
 Ille etiam seras in versum distulit ulmos, 
 
 137. Hie comam mollis jam turn 
 tondebat acanthi.^ " Achilles Sta- 
 <c tius observes, that this verse is 
 " read in all the ancient manuscripts 
 " of Virgil thus : 
 
 " Hie comam mollis jam tondebat Hy» 
 " acinthi. 
 
 " and the like number, that is, a 
 <f short syllable being made long, 
 " after the fourth foot, is used by 
 « Virgil himself, in the sixth 
 <c Eclogue : 
 
 " Mollifultus Hyacintlw: 
 
 " and by Catullus : 
 
 " Jam veniet virgo, jam dlcetur Ilyme- 
 
 "and 
 
 ** Turn Thetis humanos non despexit Hy- 
 " menceos." 
 
 La Cerda. 
 
 I have not met with this reading 
 in any of the manuscripts that I 
 have collated. Addison translates 
 this verse ; 
 
 He then would prune the tend'rest of his 
 trees. 
 
 But the acanthus here spoken of is 
 an herb, and by comam is meant 
 the leaves. The epithet mollis is 
 added, to express the softness and 
 tenderness of these leaves. Thus 
 
 also this herb is called by Theo- 
 critus vy£og "Ax.otv6og. Or it may 
 serve to distinguish this acanthus 
 from another species, which grows 
 wild, and has very prickly leaves. 
 
 139. Ergo apibus foetis.'] The 
 Foet always takes care in his di- 
 gressions, not to forget the principal 
 subject. Therefore he mentions in 
 this place the benefits, which ac- 
 crued to the old Corycian, from this 
 extraordinary care of his garden, 
 with regard to his bees. 
 
 141. Tilia?.] Columella says 
 limes are hurtful to bees: tc At 
 " Tiliae sola? ex omnibus sunt no- 
 " centes." 
 
 Pinus.'] Columella also men- 
 tions the pine, as agreeable to bees : 
 " Post haec frequens sit incrementi 
 "majoris surculus, et rosmarinus, 
 tc et utraque cythisus. Est enim 
 ' ' sativa, et altera suae spontis, item- 
 " que semper virens Pinus." 
 
 144. Ille etiam, &c] Most of the 
 commentators and translators seem 
 not to have rightly apprehended the 
 meaning of this passage. The Poet 
 plainly designs to express the great 
 skill of his old acquaintance, in re- 
 moving large trees. Every one of 
 the trees here mentioned has an 
 epithet added to it, to signify its 
 being well grown. The elms are 
 called sera, that is, late, old, or for 
 grown: the pears are called hard; 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 367 
 
 Eduramque pyrum, et spinosjam pruna feren- %^^*gg%* £g 
 
 i A C to bear plumbs, and the plane- 
 
 teS, X'kO tree wBtnit spread a shade 
 
 . . ., over those who drank under 
 
 Jamque mmistrantem platanum potantibus urn- it. 
 bras. 
 
 the thorns are said to be already 
 bearing plumbs ; and the planes are 
 expressly said to be already so large, 
 as to spread a shade, sufficient to 
 cover those who sit under them. 
 May seems to have understood the 
 Poet's meaning : 
 
 He could to order old grown elms trans- 
 pose, 
 
 Old peare trees hard, and black thorne 
 bearing sloes, 
 
 The plaine tree too, that drinking shade 
 bestowes. 
 
 Dr. Trapp's translation is not very 
 deficient : 
 
 He too in ranks dispos'd the late grown 
 
 elms, 
 And the hard pear-tree, and the plumb 
 
 ev'n then 
 Laden with fruitage; and the plane 
 
 which yields 
 To Bacchus' sons its hospitable shade. 
 
 But Addison has quite lost the sense 
 of his author : 
 
 In rows his elms and knotty pear-trees 
 bloom, 
 
 And thorns ennobled now to bear a 
 plumb ; 
 
 And spreading plane-trees, where su- 
 pinely laid 
 
 He now enjoys the cool and quaffs be- 
 neath the shade : 
 
 And Dryden : 
 
 He knew to rank his elms in even rows ; 
 For fruit the grafted pear-tree to dispose : 
 And tame to plumbs the sourness of 
 
 the sloes. 
 With spreading planes he made a cool 
 
 retreat, 
 To shade good fellows from the summer's 
 
 heat. 
 
 145. Eduram.] See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 65. 
 
 Spinosjam pruna forentes.] "The 
 " plumb-tree is called spinus 3 in the 
 <e masculine gender ; for thorns 
 " [sentes] are called hoe spinas'* 
 Servius. 
 
 I have translated spinos in this 
 place thorns, because the plumb is 
 a thorny tree ; and because our wild 
 sort, which bears the sloes, is called 
 the black thorn. 
 
 146. Platanum."} See the note 
 on book ii. ver. 70. 
 
 Umbras.] Schrevelius, Paul Ste- 
 phens, and some others read um- 
 bram. Pierius found umbras in all 
 the ancient manuscripts. It is um- 
 bras in all those which I have 
 collated. 
 
 Before we leave these verses, 
 wherein the Poet speaks of trans- 
 planting great trees, it may not be 
 improper to set down what our 
 famous Evelyn has said on this 
 subject. 
 
 " A great person in Devon plant- 
 " ed oaks as big as twelve oxen 
 " could draw, to supply some de- 
 " feet in an avenue to one of his 
 " houses: as the Right Honourable 
 u the Lord Fitz-Harding, late Trea- 
 " surer of his Majesty's Household, 
 u assured me ; who had himself 
 " likewise practised the removing of 
 " great oaks by a particular address 
 et extremely ingenious, and worthy 
 u . the communication. Choose a 
 " tree as big as your thigh, remove 
 " the earth from about him; cut 
 fe through all the collateral roots, 
 " till with a competent strength 
 " you can enforce him down upon 
 " one side, so as to come with your 
 ' ' ax at the top root ; cut that off, 
 " redress your tree, and so let it 
 
368 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 finedTn^ pa n^ a ow^p C a°ce", Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis 
 LTi£?fJfor othSswtreat Praetereo, atque aliis post me memoranda relin- 
 
 of after me. 
 
 quo. 
 
 " stand covered about with the 
 " mould you loosened from it, till 
 " the next year, or longer if you 
 cf think good, then take it up at a 
 <{ fit season ; it will likely have 
 (C drawn new tender roots apt to 
 H take, and sufficient for the tree, 
 *' wheresoever you shall transplant 
 (X him. Some are for laying bare 
 <f the whole root, and then dividing 
 " it into four parts, in form of a 
 te cross, to cut away the interjacent 
 " rootlings, leaving only the cross 
 tc and master-roots that were spared 
 "to support the tree; and then 
 ** covering the pit with fresh mould 
 " (as above) after a year or two, 
 " when it has put forth, and fur- 
 ■f nished the interstices you left 
 f f between the cross-roots, with 
 " plenty of new fibres and tender 
 " shoots, you may safely remove 
 " the tree itself, so soon as you 
 " have loosened and reduced the 
 <e four decussated roots, and short- 
 " ened the top roots ; and this ope- 
 " ration is done without stooping 
 " or bending the tree at all : and 
 " if in removing it with as much 
 " of the clod about the new roots 
 <c as possible, it would be much 
 "better." 
 
 147. Equidem.^] In the King's 
 manuscript, and in the old Nuren- 
 berg edition, it is quidem. 
 
 Exclusus. ,] It is disclusus in some 
 old editions : but all the ancient 
 manuscripts have exclusus. 
 
 148. Aliis.] Servius says the Poet 
 means here Gargilius Martialis. 
 This author is often quoted by Pal- 
 ladius ; but I do not remember that 
 he is mentioned by Columella. 
 Hence I conclude,, that he did not 
 
 exist in the days of Virgil, and 
 therefore could not be particularly 
 meant by our Poet, unless he had 
 the gift of prophecy, as some have 
 imagined. Columella, in his tenth 
 book, has endeavoured to supply, 
 what Virgil has omitted, concern- 
 ing gardening. His poem begins 
 thus: 
 
 Hortorum quoque te cultus, Sylvine, 
 
 docebo, 
 Atque ea, qua? quondam spatiis exclusus 
 
 iniquis, 
 Cum caneret laetas segetes, et munera 
 
 Bacchi, 
 Virgilius nobis post se memoranda reli- 
 
 quit. 
 
 Among the moderns, Rapin, a 
 learned Jesuit, has written a fine 
 poem on gardens, in four books. 
 He also professedly treads in the 
 footsteps of Virgil : 
 
 Vatibus ignotam nam me novus incitat 
 
 ardor 
 Ire viam, magno quae primum ostensa 
 
 Maroni, 
 Extremo cum vela trahens sub fine labo- 
 
 rum, 
 Italia? pingues hortos quae cura colendi 
 Ornaret, canere agricolis, populoque pa- 
 
 rabat. 
 Fas mihi divini tantum vestigia vatis 
 Posse sequi ; summoque volans dum 
 
 tendit Olympo, 
 Sublimem aspicere, et longe observare 
 
 tuendo. 
 
 Post me memoranda.'] " In some 
 " manuscripts it is post hcec memo- 
 " randa : but the Lombard and 
 " some others have post commemo- 
 te randa. In the Medicean and some 
 f< others it is post me memoranda, 
 " which reading seems to have been 
 " admitted by Columella." Pierius. 
 
 I find post memoranda in one of 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 369 
 
 Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Jupiter ipse 
 Addidit, expediam : pro qua mercede canoros 
 Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque sera secutae, 151 
 Dictseo caeli regem pavere sub antro. 
 Solae communes natos, consortia tecta 
 Urbis habent, magnisque agitant sub legibus 
 aevum; 
 
 Now I shall proceed to shew 
 what manners Jupiter has 
 added to the bees ; for what 
 reward they, following the 
 loud sounds, and tinkling 
 brass of the Curetes, fed the 
 king of heaven under the 
 Dictaean den- They alone 
 have children in common, and 
 the united buildings of a city, 
 and pass their hves under 
 established laws: 
 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, post 
 hac memoranda in one of Dr. Mead's, 
 and post commemoranda in the Bod- 
 leian, and in the other Arundelian 
 and Dr. Mead's manuscripts. Ruaeus, 
 and most of the editors, has post 
 commemoranda. But it is post me 
 memoranda in the King's, and in 
 the Cambridge manuscripts, which 
 reading is admitted also by Hein- 
 sius, Paul Stephens, Masvicius, and 
 others. 
 
 149. Nunc age, &c] Here the 
 Poet begins to speak of the polity 
 of the bees, by which all their 
 actions contribute to the public 
 good. He tells us in this passage, 
 that Jupiter bestowed this extraor- 
 dinary economical genius on the 
 bees, as a reward for the service 
 they did him, when an infant, 
 by feeding him with their honey, 
 in the cave where he was concealed 
 from the devouring jaws of his 
 father Saturn. 
 
 160. Addidit.] This word ex- 
 presses, that these manners did not 
 originally belong to the bees, but 
 were added by the favour of Ju- 
 piter. 
 
 Pro qua mercede.] Servius inter- 
 prets this, for what favour or labour. 
 La Cerda interprets mercede merit, 
 because merces and mercor are de- 
 rived from mereor. This interpre- 
 tation, he says, is the only one that 
 agrees with this passage, for the 
 Poet is speaking of the merit, by 
 which the bees were admitted to 
 assist the Curetes in nursing Ju- 
 
 piter. But, as was just now ob- 
 served, the Poet seems rather to 
 mean, that he will speak of the 
 reward which they had for their 
 service. 
 
 Canoros Curetum sonitus crepitan- 
 tiaque (Era.] According to the fable, 
 Saturn intended to have devoured 
 the infant Jupiter, to avoid which, 
 he was concealed among the Cu- 
 retes, the clangor of whose brasen 
 armour and cymbals, as they danced, 
 would drown his cries : thus Lucre- 
 tius : 
 
 Dictaeos referunt Curetas, qui Jovis ilium 
 
 Vagitum in Creta quondam occultasse 
 feruntur, 
 
 Cum pueri circum puerum pernice cho- 
 rea 
 
 Armati in numerum pulsarent aeribus 
 aera, 
 
 Ne Saturnus eum malis mandaret adep- 
 tus, 
 
 iEternumque daret matri sub pectore 
 vulnus. 
 
 These represent those armed priests, who 
 
 strove 
 To drown the tender cries of infant Jove ; 
 By dancing quick they inade a greater 
 
 sound, 
 And heat their armour, as they danced 
 
 around ; 
 Lest Saturn should have found and eat the 
 
 boy, 
 And Ops for ever mourn'd her prattling 
 
 joy- 
 
 Creech. 
 
 152. Dictceo sub antro^j 
 
 DictcB or Dictceus mons is a mountain 
 of Crete, where Jupiter was said 
 to be concealed. 
 
 154. Magnisque agitant.] In one 
 3b 
 
3?0 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and they alone have a coun- 
 try of their own. and certain 
 habitations : and being mind- 
 ful of the future winter, they 
 labour in summer, and lay up 
 what they get for the public 
 use. For some are employed 
 in getting food, and by agree- 
 ment labour in the fields : 
 some within the house lay 
 tears of daffodils, and tough 
 glue from the barks of trees, 
 for the foundations of the 
 combs; and then suspend the 
 tenacious wax: others bring 
 up the growing young, the 
 hope of the nation: others 
 work the purest honey, and 
 distend their cells with liquid 
 nectar. There are some to 
 whose lot is fallen the guard- 
 ing of the gates: and these 
 by turns consider the waters 
 and clouds of heaven, or un- 
 lade the burdens of those who 
 return, or forming a troop 
 
 Et patriam solae et certos novere penates ; 155 
 Venturasque hyemis memores, aestate Iaborem 
 Experiuntur, et in medium quaesita reponunt. 
 Namque aliae victu invigilant, et foedere pacto 
 Exercentur agris : pars intra septa domorum 
 Narcissi lacrymam, et lentum de cortice glu- 
 ten i 6 o 
 Prima favis ponunt fundamina : deinde ten aces 
 Suspendunt ceras : alias spem gentis adultos 
 Educunt foetus : aliae purissima mella 
 Stipant, et liquido distendunt nectare cellas. 
 Sunt, quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti : 165 
 Inque vicem speculantur aquas, et nubila caeli : 
 Aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto 
 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and in 
 some of the printed editions, it is 
 magnis agitant, without que. 
 
 155. Et patriam sola et certos no- 
 vere penates."] " In some manu- 
 t( scripts we read a patriam sola, et 
 " certos novere penates. For a is 
 " not always an interjection of la- 
 " menting, but sometimes signifies 
 *' admiration. But that a is written 
 " without an aspiration has been 
 <f elsewhere proved from Probus. 
 tc In the Lombard manuscript, there 
 " is no et in the second place ; but 
 " it is read Et patriam soke certos 
 " novere penates. But those who 
 " take away et here, deprive the 
 " verse also of all its elegance." 
 
 PlERIUS. 
 
 156. Laborem,] In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is labores. 
 
 157. In medium.] See the note 
 on book i. ver. 127. 
 
 158. Victu.] Victu is here put 
 for victui. 
 
 Pacto.] In the King's manuscript 
 it is parco. 
 
 159. Intra.] In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is inter. 
 
 Septa.] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is tecta. 
 
 160. Narcissi lacrymam.] I have 
 spoken of the Narcissus, in the note 
 on ver. 122. It has there been ob- 
 served that the flowers of Narcissus 
 or daffodil form a cup in the middle. 
 These cups are supposed to contain 
 the tears of the youth Narcissus, 
 who wept to death. To this Milton 
 alludes in his Lycidas ; 
 
 Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, 
 To strew the laureat herse where Lycid 
 lies. 
 
 Lentum de cortice gluten] Pierius 
 found ledum in the Lombard and 
 some other ancient manuscripts. 
 The same reading is in the King's 
 manuscript. 
 
 165. Portas cecidit.] In one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts it is 
 portam tendit. 
 
 167. Aut onera accipiunt> &c] 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 ,.• 
 
 Ignavum fucos pecus a prassepibus arcent. 
 Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. 
 Ac veluti, lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis 170 
 Cum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras 
 Accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt 
 iEra lacu ,* gemit impositis incudibus iEtna. 
 Illi inter sese magna vi brachia tollunt 
 In numerum 3 versantque tenaci forcipe fer- 
 rum. 175 
 
 Non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis, 
 
 drive out the drones, a slug- 
 gish race, from the hives. 
 The work, glows, and the 
 fragrant honey is scented with 
 thyme. AswhentheCyclopt 
 hasten to form thunder-bolts 
 out of the stubborn mass ; 
 some receive the air and 
 drive it out again from bel- 
 lows made of bull hides: 
 others plunge the hissing 
 brass in water : iEtna groans 
 with the weight of their an- 
 vils. They lift their arms 
 with great force in tuneful 
 order ; and turn the iron with 
 their griping tongs. Just so, 
 if I may compare great 
 things with small, 
 
 This and the two following lines 
 are repeated in the first iEneid. 
 
 168. Ignavum fucos pecus a pr<z- 
 sepibus arcent.] The drones are a 
 sort of bees without stings, which 
 do not assist the others in their 
 labour. On this account it is ge- 
 nerally thought, that they are ex- 
 pelled by the labouring bees. Some 
 affirm that the drones are the 
 males, and that, after the work of 
 generation is over, they are driven 
 from the hive by these amazons. 
 
 Ruaeus renders fucos, guespes; but 
 I believe guespes signify wasps. The 
 drones are called bourdons. 
 
 In one of the Arundelian manu- 
 scripts it is urgent instead of arcent. 
 
 169. Thymo.] See the note on 
 ver. 112. 
 
 Fragrantia.] Pierius found fia- 
 grantia in the Lombard manuscript. 
 The same reading is in both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 170. Ac veluti, &c] The Poet 
 compares the labour of the bees to 
 that of the Cyclops, in forming 
 thunder-bolts; and then speaks of 
 the various offices which are assign- 
 ed to these political insects in their 
 republic, and the cautions which 
 they use in defending themselves 
 against rising winds. . 
 
 173. JEtna.] It is antrum in one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 175. In numerum.] That is, in a 
 certain order, making a sort of har- 
 mony with the regular strokes of 
 their hammers of different weights. 
 We learn from Jamblichus, that the 
 sound of the smith's hammers 
 taught Pythagoras to invent the 
 monochord, an instrument for mea- 
 suring the quantities and propor- 
 tions of sounds geometrically. This 
 philosopher, observing that the di- 
 versity of sound was owing to the 
 size of the hammers, suspended four 
 equal strings, sustaining weights of 
 twelve, nine, eight, and six pounds. 
 Then striking alternately the strings 
 which sustained the twelve and six 
 pounds, he found that the diapason 
 or octave was formed by the pro- 
 portion of two to one. The twelve 
 and eight pound weights taught 
 him that the diapente or fifth was 
 in the proportion of three to two j 
 and the twelve and nine pounds 
 that the diatessaron or fourth was 
 as four to three. The whole pas- 
 sage is too long to be here inserted : 
 therefore I must refer the curious 
 reader, for farther satisfaction, to the 
 twenty-sixth chapter of Jamblichus, 
 de vita Pythagoras. 
 
 176. Non aliter, si parva licet com- 
 ponere magnis.] This comparison 
 of the bees to the labouring Cyclops, 
 has by some been thought very im- 
 
 3 B 2 
 
372 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 does an innate desire of grow- 
 ing rich prompt the Athenian 
 bees, each of them in then- 
 proper office. Theelderhave 
 the care of their towns, repair 
 the combs, and erect the ar- 
 tificial edifices. But the 
 younger return wearied 
 home, late at night,with their 
 thighs laden with thyme. 
 They feed also at large on 
 arbutes, and hoary willows, 
 and casia, and glowing saf- 
 fron, and fat limes, and deep 
 coloured hyacinths. 
 
 Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi, 
 Munere quamque suo. Grandsevis oppida cura?, 
 Et munire favos, et daedala fingere tecta. 
 At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores, 180 
 Crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim, 
 Et glaucas salices, casiamque, crocumque ru- 
 
 bentem, 
 Et pinguem tiliam, et ferrugineos hyacinthos. 
 
 proper, as being rather ridiculous 
 than great. But Mr. Pope is of 
 another opinion, who, in his post- 
 script to the translation of the 
 Odyssey, judiciously observes, that 
 there is a great difference between 
 the actions of irrational beings, and 
 the low actions of such as are ra- 
 tional, when they are represented 
 in a pompous style. <s One may 
 " add, that the use of the grand style 
 " on little subjects, is not only ludi- 
 <c crous, but a sort of transgression 
 " against the rules of proportion 
 " and mechanics : it is using a 
 " vast force to lift a feather : I be- 
 u lieve, now I am upon this head, 
 " it will be found a just observa- 
 " tion, that the low actions of life 
 (< cannot be put into a figurative 
 i( style without being ridiculous, 
 " but things natural can. Meta- 
 " phors raise the latter into dignity, 
 " as we see in the Georgicks ; but 
 " throw the former into ridicule, as 
 " in the Lutrin. I think this may 
 " be very well accounted for ; 
 " laughter implies censure ; inani- 
 '• mate and irrational beings are 
 " not objects of censure ; therefore 
 " these may be elevated as much 
 ** as you please, and no ridicule 
 " follows : but when rational be- 
 tf ings are represented above their 
 " real character, it becomes ridicu- 
 " lous in art, because it is vicious 
 " in morality. The bees in Virgil, 
 " would be ridiculous by having 
 
 fC their actions and manners repre- 
 "' sen ted on a level with creatures 
 " so superior as men; since it 
 " would imply folly or pride, which 
 " are the proper objects of ridicule." 
 
 177. Cecropias.'] The Poet calls 
 the bees Cecropias, from Cecrops 
 king of Attica, where the honey 
 was famous. 
 
 178. Grandcevis oppida cures.] 
 This passage is taken from Aris- 
 totle, who observes, that the older 
 bees work within doors, and thence 
 become more hairy j but that the 
 younger sort go abroad, and there- 
 fore are smoother : Tav 2s (i&irluv 
 cu [&lv 'zs-gicrQvri^at to. ihtco l^yd^ovrxif 
 x&i Ssccruxi im diet to iitru fciniy. cu 2s 
 vzcti zfcahv (pigova, kcci ittrt Mion^ut. 
 
 179. Fingere.^ In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is fgere. 
 
 181. Crura thymo plente.'] The 
 hairiness of the bees' legs serves to 
 retain the juices which they gather 
 from flowers. 
 
 Arbuta.] See the notes on book i. 
 ver. 148, and on book iii. ver. 300. 
 
 182. Glaucas salices.] See the 
 note on book ii. ver. 13. 
 
 Casiam.] See the note on book 
 ii. ver. 213. 
 
 Crocumque ruhentem7\ The petal 
 of the saffron flower is purple, but 
 the three divisions of the style, which 
 are the only part in use, are of the 
 colour of fire. 
 
 183. Pinguem tiliam.] See the 
 note on book ii. ver. 449. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 373 
 
 Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus. andliuSauheLmftilife: 
 
 Ferrugineos hyacinthos.] There 
 are many flowers commonly known 
 in gardens under the name of Hya- 
 cinth, but none of them agree with 
 the description which we find of 
 this flower among the poets, who 
 represent it as having the letters A 
 I inscribed on its petals. Thus 
 Moschus, in his epitaph on Bion, 
 calls upon the Hyacinth to take 
 more marks of A I on its petals : 
 
 Nt/v vdxivfa Xuku t« era. y^dfJt,fJt>a\» J zui 
 
 ztXtov A I, A I, 
 AuftGctn ffoTi wireiXoifft' xotXos TiSvttM 
 
 fAiXtJtrus. 
 
 The poets feign that the boy Hya- 
 cinthus, who was unfortunately 
 killed by Apollo, was changed by 
 that deity into a Hyacinth, which 
 therefore was marked with these 
 notes of lamentation to express 
 Apollo's grief. Thus Ovid : 
 
 Semper eris mecum, memorique haerebis 
 
 in ore. 
 Te lyra pulsa manu, te carmina nostra 
 
 sonabunt : 
 Flosque novus scripto gemitus imitabere 
 
 nostros. 
 
 ■ Thou shalt "with me abide 
 And ever in my memory reside. 
 Our harp and^jverse thy praises sliall re- 
 sound: 
 And in thy flowre my sorrow shall be 
 found. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 It is also feigned, that the same 
 flower arose from the blood of Ajax, 
 when he slew himself ; those letters 
 being half the name of that hero. 
 Thus Ovid : 
 
 Rubefactaque sanguine tellus 
 
 Purpureum viridi genuit de cespite 
 
 florem, 
 Qui prius OEbalio fuerat de vulnere 
 
 natus. 
 Litera communis mediis pueroque viro- 
 
 que 
 Inscripta est foliis: haec nominis, ilia 
 
 querela. 
 
 The bloud that fell, 
 
 A purple flowre ingendercd on the ground : 
 Created first by Hyacinthus' wound. 
 The tender leaves indifferent letters paint ; 
 Both of his name, and of t/ie gods com- 
 plaint. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 To this Virgil seems to allude in 
 the third Eclogue : 
 
 Die quibus in terris inscripti nomina re- 
 gum 
 
 Nascantur flores ; et Phyllida solus ha- 
 beto. 
 
 Nay tell me first, in what new region 
 springs 
 
 A flower that bears inscribed the names of 
 kings : 
 
 And thou shalt gain a present as divine 
 
 As Phoebus self for Phillis shall be thine. 
 Dryden. 
 I must not forget to observe, that the 
 vaccinium mentioned by our Poet 
 in the second and tenth Eclogues 
 is not different from what in 
 other places he calls hyacinthus: 
 the latter being the Greek name, 
 and the former a Latin name de- 
 rived from it. For the iEolians, 
 who affected to change the v into 
 the diphthong ov, as $vydrq£ into 
 S-ovyccrvigj wrote ovctKtv6tov and oveexmtov 
 for the diminutive vccxhOtov; and 
 evctxmtov in Roman letters is vacci- 
 nium. This opinion is confirmed 
 by a line in the tenth Eclogue $ 
 
 Et nigras violae sunt et vaccinia nigra ; 
 
 which is a literal translation of a 
 line in the tenth Idyllium of Theo- 
 critus : 
 
 K«2 <ro 't'tv p'tKccv tvji, xai a. <ygct<r% uaxtvdes. 
 
 Here Virgil himself translates vdxtv~ 
 fog vaccinium. The form of the 
 Hyacinth is particularly described 
 by Ovid : 
 
 Ecce cruor, qui fusus humi signaverat 
 
 herbam, 
 Desinit esse cruor : Tyrioque nitentior 
 
 ostro 
 
374 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ■SSSJSS^SSt'dSy! Mane ruunt portis; nusquam mora: rursus 
 
 and when 
 
 easdem 
 
 185 
 
 Flos oritur, formamque capit quam lilia, 
 
 si non 
 Purpureus color huic, argenteus esset in 
 
 illis. 
 Non satis hoc Phoebo est ; is enim fuit 
 
 auctor honoris. 
 Ipse suos gemitus foliis inscribit ; et A I, 
 
 AI 
 Flos habet inscriptum, funestaque litera 
 
 ducta est. 
 
 Behold! the bloud which late the grass 
 
 had dide, 
 Was now no lloud : from whence aflowre 
 
 full blown 
 Far brighter than the Tyrian scarlet 
 
 shone: 
 Which seemed the same, or did resemble 
 
 right 
 A lillie : cltanging but the red to white. 
 Not so contented (for the youth received 
 That grace from Phoebus) in the leaves he 
 
 weav'd 
 The sad impression of his sighs: A I! 
 
 AI! 
 They now in funeral characters display. 
 Sandys. 
 
 We here learn, that the flower in 
 question was shaped like a lily, was 
 of a red colour, and was marked 
 with the letters A I. I have more 
 than once mentioned the difficulty 
 of precisely determining the colours 
 mentioned by the ancients. Ovid 
 calls the flower of the Hyacinth 
 Tyrio nitentior ostro, and purpureus. 
 Virgil calls it in this place ferrugx- 
 neus, and in the third Eclogue he 
 calls it suave rubens ; and in the 
 eleventh iEneid he speaks of its 
 great brightness : 
 
 Qualem virgineo demessum pollice florem 
 Seu mollis violae, seu languentis Hya- 
 
 cinthi ; 
 Cui neque fulgor adhuc, necdum sua 
 
 forma recessit. 
 
 Hence we can only gather, that the 
 colour of this flower is a deep shin- 
 ing red. I take the epithet ferru- 
 
 gineos in this place only to express 
 the deepness of the colour. Thus 
 in the first Georgick it is used to 
 signify the dusky redness of the sun, 
 after the murder of Julius Ceesar : 
 
 Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine 
 texit. 
 
 See the note on book i. ver. 467. 
 In the sixth iEneid the boat of 
 Charon is called ferruginea, where 
 no doubt it means dusky : 
 
 Et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba. 
 
 In the ninth JSneid the son of Ar- 
 cens is said to be 
 
 Ferrugine clarus Ibera ; 
 
 that is, adorned with a deep purple 
 garment dyed in Spain : and in the 
 eleventh book it is joined with the 
 Tyrian colour : 
 
 Ipse peregrina ferrugine clarus et ostro. 
 
 It is probable that all these several 
 epithets, purpureus, suave rubens, 
 ferrugineus, mean a sort of crim- 
 son, the colour of human blood, 
 the Hyacinth being feigned to have 
 risen from the blood of Hyacinthus, 
 and afterwards from that of Ajax, 
 
 Having said thus much of the 
 Hyacinth of the Poets, it will be 
 time to consider what flower will 
 agree with the description which 
 they have given of it. 
 
 Various sorts of flowers have 
 been proposed, by the botanical 
 critics, for this Hyacinth, the dis- 
 cussing of all which would be too 
 tedious in this place. Some insist 
 on the lark's-spur, which does not 
 seem to me to bear any resemblance 
 of a lily, nor do the letters inscribed 
 appear, till the flower has been 
 
/' 
 
 H ¥.\ c ji r^ t m v s : P © E T I C I" s . 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 375 
 
 Vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis 
 Admonuit, turn tecta petunt, turn corpora curant. 
 Fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum. 
 Post, ubi jam thalamis se composuere, siletur 
 
 the evening admonishes them 
 to return at length from feed- 
 ing in the fields, then they 
 seek their habitations, and 
 then they take care of their 
 bodies. They make a mur- 
 muring noise, and hum about 
 the sides and entrance of the 
 hives. Afterwards, when they 
 are laid down on their beds, 
 they are silent 
 
 curiously dissected. Others propose 
 the red lily, but this, as was ob- 
 served before, was a flower little 
 known among; the ancients, nor is 
 the colour right. Others mention 
 Xyris, or stinking Gladdon, the 
 flowers of which are not sufficiently 
 beautiful. Others, with more pro- 
 bability, think the Gladiolus or 
 Corn-flag to be the flower in ques- 
 tion ; but I have never been able 
 to discover in that flower the letters 
 A I. I am pretty well satisfied, that 
 the flower celebrated by the Poets, 
 is what we now are acquainted with 
 under the name of Lilium floribus 
 reflexis, or Martagon, and perhaps 
 may be that very species which we 
 call Imperial Martagon. The flowers 
 of most sorts of Martagons have 
 many spots of a deeper colour; and 
 sometimes I have seen these spots 
 run together in such a manner, as 
 to form the letters A I, in several 
 places, which I have caused to be 
 represented in the figure. 
 
 The translators have grievously 
 erred in translating the names of 
 the plants here spoken of. May 
 translates arbuta, wildings; and ca- 
 siam, cinnamon, and renders ferrugi- 
 neos very improperly pale, and glau- 
 cas, green. 
 
 They feed upon 
 
 Wildings, green willows, saffron, cinna- 
 mon, 
 Pale hyacinths, and fruitful linden trees. 
 
 Addison omits the arbuta, and in- 
 serts the balmy reed instead of them ; 
 he translates casiam, lavender ; and 
 hyacinthos, violets .- 
 
 On lavender, and saffron buds they feed, 
 On bending osiers, and the balmy reed ; 
 From purple violets and the teile they 
 
 bring 
 Their gathered sweets, and rifle all the 
 
 spring. 
 
 Dryden's translation is not more 
 exact. 
 
 He spoils the saffron flow'rs, he sips the 
 
 blues 
 Of vi'lets, wilding blooms, and willow 
 
 dews. 
 
 Dr. Trapp has succeeded much bet- 
 ter, only he has fallen into a com- 
 mon error of taking the casia to be 
 lavender. 
 
 They suck the Arbutus, and willows grey, 
 Sweet lavender, and crocus 1 yellow flow'r, 
 The purple hyacinth, and gummy lime. 
 
 184. Omnibus una quies, &c.j| 
 This passage is taken from Aristotle, 
 who says, that in the morning they 
 are all silent, till one of them calls 
 the rest up with two or three hums: 
 then they all go out to work. And 
 when they return, they are at first 
 tumultuous, but grow more quiet 
 by degrees, till at last one flies 
 buzzing round the rest, as if it com- 
 manded silence, upon which they 
 are all immediately quiet: "O^ixi 
 Til o-ia>7ra<riv ', iag civ yJcc \yiiqv\ fiop&vroto'ct 
 Tig *t rgig' Tort $ Itt sgyov aQ^oui 7cirovTccr, 
 Kctt IhQoucxi TToiXit, Sapv&ovcri to irparov 
 Kxret pix.gov 1? jjTTflv, sag ccv pta •nrsqi'M- 
 rofihvi fiop'oKo-y, a>Wsg o~n[Acctvov<ri& xeJiv- 
 duv. ut \\cMrivqg <riwnra<ri. 
 
 187. Turn.] In the old Nuren- 
 berg edition it is dum, 
 
 188. Limina.] In the old Nuren- 
 berg edition it is lumina. 
 
376 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 all night, and a sweet sleep 
 possesses their wearied limbs. 
 But when rain impends, they 
 do not depart far from their 
 hives, nor do they tmst the 
 sky, when east winds ap- 
 proach : but drink the water 
 in safety near the walls of 
 their city, and try short ex- 
 cursions ; and take up little 
 stones, as boats that totter on 
 the tossiag wave take bal- 
 last: with these they poise 
 themselves through the emp- 
 ty clouds. But of all the 
 properties of bees this most 
 of all will cause your wonder, 
 
 In noctem, fessosque sopor suus occupat ar- 
 tus. 190 
 
 Nee vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt 
 Longius, aut credunt caelo adventantibus Euris ; 
 Sed circum tutae sub mcenibus urbis aquantur, 
 Excursusque breves tentant, et saepe lapillos, 
 Utcymbae instabilesfluctu jactantesaburram, 195 
 Tollunt : his sese per inania nubila librant. 
 Ilium adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem, 
 
 190. Sopor suus.~\ Servius inter- 
 prets this ipsis aptus. 
 
 194. Scepe lapillos, &c.] This is 
 taken from Aristotle : "Oretv ell olve- 
 (tog jj f/kyxg-, (p'zgovtri Xt'6ov t<$ Ixvroug, 
 
 Sgf&OL 7c£og TO ffViVfAX. 
 
 197- Ilium adeo placuisse, &c] 
 The Poet's account of the genera- 
 tion of bees is by no means consist- 
 ent with the doctrine of the modern 
 philosophers, who assert with great 
 probability, that no animal, nor 
 even plant, is produced without a 
 concurrence of the two sexes. How- 
 ever the doctrine of equivocal ge- 
 neration was so generally admitted 
 by the ancients, that it is no wonder 
 the Poet should assent to it. We 
 find this opinion related by Aristo- 
 tle, in his fifth book of the history 
 of animals. " There are various 
 ft opinions," says the philosopher, 
 <( concerning the generation of bees. 
 " For some deny that they either 
 <e copulate or bring forth their 
 " young, thinking that they gather 
 " their produce. Nor are these 
 u agreed about the flower from 
 c< which they gather them : but 
 " some will have it to be from the 
 " honey- wort, some from the reed, 
 <e and others from the olive ; which 
 <( last, in favour of their opinion, 
 " urge that there are more swarms 
 " of bees in proportion as the olive- 
 " trees are fruitful. Some are of 
 
 " opinion, that only the drones are 
 " produced after this manner j but 
 te that the bees are produced by 
 
 " the leaders Others will 
 
 " have it, that they are produced 
 " by copulation, and affirm that the 
 " drones are the males, and the 
 " bees the females :" Tlig dl rw 
 yivitriv ruv fctXirrm ov rov cevrov r^owov 
 7rdvTZ$ v7roXxp&oivov<nv. ol fxkv y«g <pet<riv 
 ov t/ktuv, oticfe o%tvi<r6eti recg ftsXtrrxg, 
 xXXx (pipit rov yovov. Keti Qigziv ol fdv 
 u7ro rov eiv6ov$ rov KetXvvrgov y ol 5e 
 U7T0 rov otvdovg rov Kc&Xciftov, uXXot $1 
 U7to rov clvDovg rm Ixxictg, y,cu <nnfx.ilov 
 Xtyovtriv, on civ IXuiav (po^a. yzvqroct, 
 rori xx) Irftot utpUvrcti •xXiitrrx' ol de 
 <P<zirt rov fjt.lv rZv K'Sitywav <p'i^iiv ecvroig 
 yovov, u7ro rtvog vMg rav ei(>v[Av6)v } rov Is 
 rav (AiXirrav rUruv rovg vyifiovecg. . . 
 ol £g (p&xriv o%ivi<r6ott, xou 
 zivxi uppivetg fjt.lv rovg wrffivag, SnXn'xg <ti 
 retg fciXirrxg. Pliny has almost 
 translated the words of Aristotle. 
 But he has added, that the bees 
 certainly sit like hens, and that the 
 young bee at its first appearance is 
 a worm : " Quod certum est, gal- 
 " linarum modo incubant. Id quod 
 te exclusum est, primum vermiculus 
 " videtur candidus, jacens transver- 
 " sus, adhaerensque ita ut pascere 
 " videatur." But the modern phi- 
 losophers have been more happy in 
 discovering the nature of these 
 wonderful insects. The labouring 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 377 
 
 Quod nee concubitu indulgent, nee corpora 
 
 segnes 
 In venerem solvunt, aut foetus nixibus edunt ; 
 Verum ipsae e foliis natos et suavibus herbis 200 
 Ore legunt: ipsae regem parvosque Quirites 
 Sufficiunt, aulasque et cerea regna refingunt. 
 Saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas 
 Attrivere, ultroque animam sub fasce dedere: 
 Tantus amor florum, et generandi gloria mel- 
 
 lis. 205 
 
 Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi 
 Excipiat, neque enim plus septimaducitur aestas, 
 
 that they do not copulate, or 
 enervate their bodies by lust, 
 or labour to bring forth their 
 young. But they themselves 
 gather their young from 
 leaves and sweet herbs. They 
 themselves also produce their 
 king, and their small citizens : 
 and repair their p;ilaces and 
 waxen realms. Often also, 
 whilst they wander over the 
 hard rocks, have they bat- 
 tered their wings, and volun- 
 tarily yielded up their lives 
 under their burthens: so 
 great is their love of flowers : 
 such their glory in making 
 honey. Therefore, though 
 their age has but a narrow 
 bound, for they do not live 
 above seven years, 
 
 bees do not appear to be of either 
 sex: the drones are discovered to 
 have the male organs of genera- 
 tion ; and the king is found to be 
 of the female sex. This king, or 
 rather queen, is wholly employed 
 in the increase of the family, laying 
 several thousand eggs every sum- 
 mer, from each of which is hatched 
 a small white worm, which in due 
 time changes either to a bee or a 
 drone. The kings, the labouring 
 bees, and the drones, are all promis- 
 cuously hatched from these eggs : 
 and the same order of nature has 
 lately been observed in the wasps. 
 
 198. Concubitu.'] Concubitu is 
 used for concubitui, as before victu 
 for victui. 
 
 200. Verum ipsce e foliis natos.'] 
 So I read with Heinsius, all the ma- 
 nuscripts that I have collated, and 
 most of the editors. In several of 
 the oldest editions it is verum ipsce 
 natos foliis. Paul Stephens and 
 Schrevelius read verum ipsce foliis 
 natos without e, which reading Pi- 
 erius also admitted ; who observes, 
 that in some manuscripts it is ipsa 
 natos foliis; and ipsce e foliis in the 
 Roman copy, which he thinks an 
 elegant reading. La Cerda reads 
 ipsce foliis natos. 
 
 By foliis perhaps the Poet means 
 the petals or leaves of flowers; for 
 Aristotle speaks wholly of flowers. 
 
 202. Refingunt.'] Servius and 
 Pierius read refigunt, but this last 
 commentator thiuks refingunt better, 
 as he found it in the Roman, the 
 Medicean, and in some other of the 
 older manuscripts. It is refigunt in 
 the Cambridge, the Bodleian, one 
 of the Arundelian, and one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, which reading 
 is admitted by most of the oldest 
 editors, and by Grimoaldus, Paul 
 Stephens, La Cerda, Schrevelius, 
 and others. But Heinsius, Ruseus, 
 Masvicius, and most of the later 
 editions have refingunt. 
 
 203. Scepe etiam duris, &c] 
 These three lines seem to be mis- 
 placed : for here they interrupt the 
 sense. They seem to come in more 
 properly after ver. 196. I am in- 
 debted for this observation to the 
 learned Sir Daniel Molyneux, Ba- 
 ronet, F.R. S. 
 
 206. Angusti.] Some read an- 
 gustus; but Pierius found angusti in 
 all the manuscripts that he could 
 procure. 
 
 207. Neque enim plus septima du- 
 citur cesias.] Aristotle says that 
 bees live six years, and that some 
 
 3 c 
 
378 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 fmmortaVand ffi?f«SSS At g enus immortale manet, multosque per annds 
 
 their family subsists for many o^ ^ c a i a 
 
 years, and they can number otat iortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum. 
 
 grandfathers of grandfathers. . 
 
 Besides neither Egypt, nor JPraeterea regem non siciEgyptus, et ineens 210 
 
 great Lydia, nor the people GJ r 
 
 of the Parthians, nor the Me- 
 dian Hydaspes 
 
 Lydia, nee populi Parthorum, aut Medus Hy- 
 daspes 
 
 last seven ; but if a swarm subsists 
 nine or ten years, it is thought very 
 happy : Btog 21 tZv piXnTuv '£tv '{%• 
 zvtai 21 mm ftiXtTTwv text Itttx stjj £anv. 
 
 'E7r<«l> 21 FfMlVOS 2iX ( UiVYj lTi\ ZVViX (J 2iKX, 
 
 tu 2okiH 2ixyiyiVKcr6xt. Columella says 
 that no swarms can be brought to 
 live above ten years : " Durantque, 
 " si diligenter excultse sunt, in an- 
 " nos decern, nee ullum exarren 
 " hanc setatem potest excedere, 
 *' quamvis in demortuarum locum 
 " quotannis pullos substituant. 
 te Nam fere decimo ab internitione 
 " anno, gens universa totius alvei 
 " consumitur." 
 
 210. PrcEterea regem, &c] In 
 this paragraph the Poet compares 
 the obedience of the bees to their 
 king with that of the most servile 
 nations, the Egyptians, Lydians, 
 Parthians, and Medes ; which be 
 takes from Aristotle. " The kings," 
 says the philosopher, " never go 
 " abroad to feed or on any other 
 <c occasion, without being accom- 
 " panied by the whole multitude : 
 " and if, when they are abroad, the 
 " king happens to stray, they all 
 " search after him with the utmost 
 " diligence, till they find him. We 
 ". have been informed also, that, 
 <( when he is unable to fly, the peo- 
 " pie carry him, and that they all 
 " depart when he dies : or if they 
 " do tarry, that they make only 
 " combs and not honey: and that 
 *■' nothing can hinder them all from 
 " departing in a short time :" O; 2t 
 fiece-iXtig cv ttztovtxi 'i\a , Ixv pin piTX 
 oXov tov torjAov, out Z7rt fiottxw, out xX- 
 Xag' Qxiri 21 xxi Ixv XTCoyrXxvy&Vi o d<picr- 
 fiog } uvofcnvovtrct? fUiTxSziv lug av zvputi 
 
 tov qyipovx ty\ oo-py XiyiTXi oi y.xi 
 
 tyiqiG&Xl XVTOV V7T0 TOV \<TfA.0V 0X00) ZTZTi- 
 <r6xt ftl) 2vVYlTSil, KXt ixv X7fOXXVTXt } 
 
 X7roXXvo-6xi tov xtpitrpov' Ixv £' x^x 
 
 %£0V0V TtVX 2lCt{&ZlVCJ<ri, KXt JMJg/flS OV 7T01- 
 
 vic-an, (Jt/iXi ovx, iyyivi<r6xi, kxi uvretg 
 
 tx%v x7roXXvo-8xi. But notwithstand- 
 ing the general opinion concerning 
 the allegiance of these insects, 
 Swammerdam, a Dutch writer, con- 
 tends that their government is a 
 republic, which subsists by mutual 
 affection, without any despotic or 
 monarchical power: "Non tamen 
 " sicco pede praeterire potuimus 
 " Rempublicam Apum, quae solo 
 (C amore, sine ulla potestate despo- 
 " tica aut monarchica, continetur." 
 The French Academicians, under 
 the reign of Louis XIV. remarked 
 with much complaisance, that 
 among the bees the privilege of 
 generation belongs only to the royal 
 family; all the subjects being con- 
 demned to barrenness. Many ob- 
 servations equally useful might be 
 made on the economy of these in- 
 sects, I wonder none of our own 
 writers will contend for a mixed go- 
 vernment among them ; or be polite 
 enough to shew the happiness of be- 
 ing under a female administration. 
 
 JEgyptus.~] The Egyptians were 
 remarkable adorers of their mo- 
 narchs ; many of the heathen gods 
 being the deified kings of that 
 people. 
 
 Ingens Lydia. ] Lydia was a re- 
 gion of Asia minor, famous for 
 their rich king Croesus, and their 
 golden river Pactolus. 
 
 211. Populi Parthorum."] F»r- 
 thia wa9 a region of Asia, bounded 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 379 
 
 Observant. Rege incolumi mens omnibus una 
 
 est: 
 Amisso rupere fidem ; constructaque mella 
 Diripuere ipsse, et crates solvere favorum. 
 Ille operum custos: ilium admirantur, et om- 
 
 nes 215 
 
 Circumstant fremitu denso, stipantque fre- 
 
 quentes ; 
 Et saepe attollunt humeris, et corpora bello 
 
 are 10 obsequious to their 
 king. Whilst the king is 
 6afe, they remain united: but 
 when he is dead, they dissolve 
 their society, pull down the 
 fabric of their honey, and 
 tear in pieces the structure 
 of their combs. He is the 
 guard of their works: him 
 they adTiire, and surround 
 with frequent shoutings, and 
 crowd about him : and often 
 carry him on their shoulders, 
 and for his sake expose their 
 bodies in war, 
 
 on the west by Media, on the 
 north by Hyrcania, on the east by 
 Ariana, and on the south by the 
 deserts of Carmania. These people 
 are reported to have been so sub- 
 missive to their king, as to kiss 
 his foot, and to touch the ground 
 with their mouths, when they ap- 
 proached him. 
 
 Medus Hydaspes.'} The Hydaspes, 
 of which we find such abundant 
 mention among the ancient writers, 
 was a river of India. But here 
 Virgil seems to speak of a Median 
 river of the same name, which 
 however I do not find mentioned 
 by any of the ancient geographers. 
 Servius says expressly it is a river 
 of Media, but on what authority I 
 do not know. La Cerda says that 
 the Poet justly calls this river Me- 
 dian, because it washes Media be- 
 fore it empties itself into the In- 
 dus. If this were true, it would 
 have been a river of too much con- 
 sequence, to be passed over in si- 
 lence, as it must flow through a 
 greater extent of land than the In- 
 dus itself. But no such river seems 
 to be known by any geographer, 
 either ancient or modern. Ruaeus 
 says that Virgil is singular in plac- 
 ing this river in Media, which I 
 believe is true. But Catrou, in his 
 note on this passage, says the Hy- 
 daspes was a river of Persia, and 
 
 gives us a caution, not to confound 
 this river with the Indian Hydas- 
 pes : l( L'Hydaspe £toit un fleuve 
 " de Perse, peu eloigne* de la ville 
 " de Susa, Tune des capitales de la 
 tl Perse. 11 ne faut pas confondre 
 " ce fleuve Hydaspe avec un autre 
 " de meme nom, -qui fut dans les 
 (< Incles, le terme des conqu&tes 
 " d 'Alexandre.'' I wish this learned 
 Father had favoured us with some 
 good authority to support what he 
 says. The river meant by him 
 seems to be the Choaspes, which 
 perhaps Virgil might, with a poe- 
 tical liberty, call the Hydaspes of 
 the Medes. This river rising in 
 Media flows through Susiana, near 
 the city Susa, one of the capitals of 
 the Persian empire. The water of 
 it was so very famous, that accord- 
 ing to Plutarch, the Persian kings 
 would drink of no other. Err« tuv 
 
 ciM6z$, on to rov "Xcoi<r7Cov f&ovov vlta^ 
 
 otxovphviv. The reader may find in 
 Xenophon abundant instances of 
 the extraordinary obedience which 
 was paid by the Medes and Persians 
 to their monarch. 
 
 212. Mens omnibus una est.] Est 
 is wanting in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts. 
 
 216. Frequentes.] It is frementes 
 in the Bodleian manuscript. 
 3c2 
 
380 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and seek a glorious death by 
 wounds. Some be" 
 these appearances, 
 lowing these examples 
 
 l s!m? bSn d g e fedS Objectant, pulchramque petunt per vulnera 
 
 earances, and fol- 
 
 mortem. 
 
 His quidam signis, atque hsec exempla secuti 
 
 219- His quidam s'tgnis, &c] The 
 Poet observes, that some philoso- 
 phers, considering the great saga- 
 city of these insects, have supposed 
 them to partake of the divine mind; 
 and hence takes occasion to speak 
 of the Platonic system of a soul 
 animating the universe. 
 
 At the latter end of the second 
 book our Poet declares himself an 
 admirer of Epicurus; and in this 
 place he plainly follows the doc- 
 trines of Plato, in which he has 
 been accused of inconsistency. But 
 let it be observed, that he has not 
 shewn himself attached to the whole 
 Epicurean philosophy. The doc- 
 trine of that philosopher, which 
 Virgil adopts, is, that happiness con- 
 sists in a constant tranquillity of 
 mind ; and that a wise man ought 
 to lay aside the fear of death. He 
 had indeed in his younger days been 
 a more strict follower of Epicurus, 
 as we may gather from the sixth 
 Eclogue. But perhaps in his riper 
 years he might, as well as his friend 
 Horace, lay aside some of those 
 doctrines. The belief of a divine 
 mind governing the universe, and 
 of a future state, plainly appears 
 in this Georgick, and in the sixth 
 u3Eneid. It may be objected, that 
 he does not here propose the Pla- 
 tonic system as his own opinion, 
 because he says only that some 
 have advanced this doctrine. But 
 then it must be considered, that he 
 has put the same sentiments in the 
 mouth of Anchises, in the Elysian 
 fields, which he would not have 
 done, if he had not thought them to 
 be true. I know it will be replied, 
 that the commentators are almost 
 unanimously of opinion, that Virgil 
 
 himself declares what he has said 
 of the future state, in the sixth 
 iEneid, to be a fiction, which he 
 plainly expresses by the passage of 
 iEneas through the ivory gate. 
 But it seems improbable, that the 
 Poet should bestow so much pains 
 in composing that fine account of 
 the infernal regions; should take 
 an opportunity of making so de- 
 licate a compliment to Augustus 
 and the Roman people, and at last 
 conclude with giving them to un- 
 derstand, that there was no truth 
 in what he had been saying. The 
 transparent gate of horn was that 
 through which the true shades were 
 sent; and the opake gate of ivory 
 served for the passage of false vi- 
 sions : 
 
 Sunt geminae somni portee ; quarum al- 
 tera fertur 
 
 Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus 
 umbris : 
 
 Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto ; 
 
 Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia 
 manes. 
 
 Two gates of sleep there are : the one of 
 
 horn, 
 Through which with ease the real phantoms 
 
 pass ; 
 With polished elephant the oilier shines, 
 Through which the Manes send false 
 
 dreams to light. 
 
 Dr. Tkafp. 
 
 JLneas therefore being a solid body, 
 and no real shade, was not sent out 
 at the gate appropriated to true 
 visions, but at that through which 
 false visions, being bodies of a 
 more dense substance than the true, 
 were accustomed to pass : 
 
 His ubi turn natum Anchises unaque 
 
 Sybillam 
 Prosequitur dictis, portaque emittit ebur- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 381 
 
 Esse apibus partem divinae mentis, et haustus 220 
 iEtherios dixere. Deum namque ire per omnes 
 Terrasque, tractusque maris, caelumque pro- 
 fund urn. 
 Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne fera- 
 
 rum, 
 Quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas. 
 Scilicet hue reddi deinde ac resoluta refer ri 225 
 
 have said that the bees are 
 endowed with a part of the 
 divine mind, and with aethe- 
 rial influences. For their opi- 
 nion is that the Deity passe* 
 through the who e earth, the 
 extent of the sea, and the 
 height of heaven. Thathence 
 the flocks, the herds, men, 
 and all sorts of wild beasts, 
 n.:y all creatures, at their 
 birth draw in their lives. 
 That all of them, when dis- 
 solved, are hither returned : 
 
 Here then the sire Anchises with his son, 
 And his prophetic guide, in such discourse 
 Confers ; and sends them through the iv'ry 
 gate. 
 
 Dr. Tkapp. 
 
 Had he been let out at the horn 
 gate, the whole must have been 
 taken for a vision, though a true 
 one : but iEneas being yet a living 
 body, and no proper inhabitant of 
 those regions, had been admitted, 
 before the separation of his soul 
 from his body, to converse with 
 spirits, not in a vision, but in reality. 
 The opake gate was therefore 
 the most proper for the passage of 
 a soul, whilst yet encumbered with 
 a terrestrial body. ' 
 
 220. Partem divince mentis!] Ho- 
 race uses an expression like this, 
 for the human soul : 
 
 Quin corpus onustum 
 
 Hesternis vitiis mentem quoque praegra- 
 
 vat una, 
 Atque affigit humo divince particulam 
 
 auras. 
 
 221. Deum namque ire per omnes, 
 &c] We are informed by Plutarch, 
 in his second book of the opinions 
 of philosophers, that all of them, 
 except Democritus, Epicurus, and 
 the rest, who assert the doctrine 
 of a vacuum and atoms, held the 
 universe to be animated : 0/ ph «AAoi 
 7ca>wi$ iff^/vftov rov 7c.oo-f.10v xcci irpovolot 
 
 SlOlXOVfAiVOV. AYifAOK^tTOS Si KOi) 'liwtXOV- 
 
 po? xoii otoi tu aTopu iwyovVTCtt xeci to 
 
 xivov, ovti Sf#tyv%0Vj ours Trgovoietdioixtt- 
 o-^ut) (pve-u Sz nvt othoya. This opi- 
 nion of the soul of the universe is 
 farther inculcated by our poet in 
 the sixth iEneid : 
 
 Principio, caelum, ac terras, camposque 
 
 liquentes, 
 Lucentemque globum lunae, Titaniaque 
 
 astra 
 Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per 
 
 artus 
 Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore 
 
 miscet. 
 Know first, that heav'n and earth's c6m- 
 
 pactedframe, 
 And flowing waters, and the starry 
 
 flame, 
 And both the radiant lights, one common 
 
 soid 
 Inspires, and feeds, and animates the 
 
 whole. 
 This active mind infus'd through all the 
 
 space, 
 Unites and mingles with the mighty mass. 
 Djryden. 
 
 Thus also iEschylus : 
 
 ZiVi l?iv alStig, %i»S a"i yjj, £iy$ V ov£u.vof t 
 Zius <roi zrccvju : 
 
 And Lucan, 
 
 Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque 
 moveris. 
 
 224. Arcessere vitas."] Pierius 
 found accersere in some ancient ma- 
 nuscripts. In one of Dr. Mead's it 
 is accessere. The King's manuscript 
 has vitarn instead of vitas. 
 
 225. Ac resoluta.] In the King's 
 manuscript it is ad resoluta : in one 
 of Dr. Mead's it is cere soluta. 
 
382 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 that there is no place for 
 death, that they fly alive 
 among the stars, and rise up 
 to the nigh heaven. If at any 
 time you would open their 
 august mansion, and the ho- 
 ney preserved in their trea- 
 suries, first gargle your mouth 
 with water and spirt it out, 
 and drive in persecuting 
 smoke with your hand. 
 
 Omnia : nee morti esse locum, sed viva volare 
 Sideris in numerum, atque alto succedere caelo. 
 Si quando sedem augustam, servataque mella 
 Thesauris relines ; prius haustu sparsus aquarum 
 Ora fove, fumosque manu praetende sequaces. 
 
 226. Nee morti esse locum.'] Ac- 
 cording to Plutarch, it was the opi- 
 nion of Pythagoras and Plato, that 
 the soul did not die, but that, when 
 it left the body, it returned to the 
 kindred soul of the universe : the 
 Stoics thought the souls of the igno- 
 rant perished with their bodies ; and 
 that those of the wise endured till 
 the conflagration. Democritus and 
 Epicurus were of opinion, that the 
 soul and body died together : Py- 
 thagoras and Plato held, that the 
 irrational part perished, but not the 
 rational ; the soul being (though 
 not God himself, yet) the work of 
 the eternal God : Ilv6xyo^xg, TIXoctm, 
 uty^xprov sivxt rhv ^v%vv' Ifyovcxv yap 
 lU to rov -zrxvTog •vj'v^v xvx^copuv "z^p\g 
 to opoyivis' ol XrcSixoi, Ifyovrxv tZv <ra- 
 f&eiTM vxotyzpir&Xi, tw plv ao-fon^'ipx* 
 clpx roTg o-vyKgipcari yivi<r6xi' {txvtw 
 Se sivxt rav aKxdivrav) rhv til lo-^v^orl- 
 
 (>XV, oYot 1ft ZTlp\ TOV$ 0~0$0V$ X.XI piftPl 
 
 t?s ixwvpooo-iois. AypoxgiTog, *E^tKOvP t og, 
 
 (p6xPT>)V, T» 0-COfiXTl GrVWtOt.tyfolpO[A,i))W- 
 
 TlvQxyopxg, nXccrav, to ph XoytKoVy 
 aty&xprov, (xxi yag t\i tyvyjvi ov $ih 
 aAA' 'i^yov tov aid to v S'goy vttx^uh) to 
 ^g xXoyov, tydxprov. 
 
 227. Succedere.'] Pierius found 
 se condere in the Roman manu- 
 script. 
 
 228. Si quando, &c] In this pa- 
 ragraph the Poet speaks of the two 
 seasons of taking the honey, and of 
 the passionate temper of the bees. 
 
 Augustam.] Most editors read 
 angustam, as Pierius found it in the 
 Lombard and in some other manu- 
 scripts. It is angustam also in all 
 the manuscripts which I have col- 
 
 lated, except one of Dr. Mead's. 
 But Servius, Grimoaldus, Paul Ste- 
 phens, Heinsius, Schrevelius, and 
 Masvicius read augustam. It is au- 
 gustam also in the old Nurenberg 
 edition, and in two old editions 
 printed at Venice in folio, in 1475 
 and 1476. 
 
 229. Prius haustu sparsus aqua- 
 rum ora fove.] This passage is very 
 variously read. Servius, Grimo- 
 aldus, Heinsius, Ruaeus, Masvicius, 
 and some others, approve the read- 
 ing which I have followed. Both 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts have haustus 
 and ore fove, which are admitted by 
 the three old editions quoted in the 
 preceding note, and by Paul Ste- 
 phens, La Cerda, and Schrevelius. 
 Servius says sparsus is used for spar- 
 gens, one participle for another, 
 which is not unusual among the 
 poets. The construction therefore 
 will be Prius fove ora haustu aqua- 
 rum spargens, First gargle your mouth 
 with water spirting it. The same 
 commentator observes that some 
 read orefave, an expression used by 
 the ancients to command a religious 
 silence, as ore favete omnes in the 
 fifth iEneid, and favete Unguis in 
 Horace. According to this inter- 
 pretation the sense will be, First 
 sprinkling them with a draught of 
 water, observe silence. In one of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is ore 
 fare, which I suppose was intended 
 for orefave. 
 
 230. Fumosque manu prcetende se- 
 quaces.] It is a custom to drive bees 
 with smoke. Columella speaks 
 largely on this subject. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 383 
 
 Bis gravidos cogunt foetus, duo tempora messis, 
 Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum 
 Pleias, et oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes : 
 Aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi piscis aquosi 
 
 Twice do they compress the 
 plenteous honey; there are 
 two;seasons of taking it ; one 
 as soon as the Pleiad Taygete 
 has shewn her beauteous face 
 to the earth, and has spumed 
 the despised waters of the 
 ocean : or when the same 
 star, flying from the constel- 
 lation of the watery fish, 
 
 231. Fce'tus.'] The commentators 
 agree, that by this word not the 
 young bees but the honey is meant. 
 
 Duo tempora messis.] The Poet 
 seems to follow Aristotle, who says 
 there are two seasons of making 
 honey, in spring and in autumn : 
 Tj] cil rov [tiXiTog l^ycurlcx. dirlot xctt^ot 
 iWiVj i*g xxi ftzT07ra>£ov. Varro men- 
 tions three seasons 5 the first at 
 the rising of the Pleiades, the se- 
 cond about the latter end of sum- 
 mer, before the whole constellation 
 Bootes rises, the third after the set- 
 ting of the Pleiades : " Eximendo- 
 " rum favorum primumputant esse 
 " tempus vergiliarum exortu ; se- 
 " cundum sestate acta, ante quam 
 " totus exoriatur Arcturusj tertium 
 " post vergiliarum occasum." Co- 
 lumella mentions the twenty-second 
 or twenty-third of April, and the 
 twenty-ninth of June : u Tertio 
 " calendas Julii ventosa tempestas. 
 " His diebus eadem quae supra. 
 <c Sed et viciam in pabulum secare 
 u oportet . . . alvos castrare, quas 
 " subinde nono quoque aut decimo 
 et die ad calendas Maias considerare 
 " et curare oportet." Pliny speaks 
 of May and July : " Dies status in- 
 <e choandi, ut quadam lege naturae, 
 " si scire aut observare homines ve- 
 " lint, trigesimus ab educto exa- 
 " mine : fereque Maio mense in- 
 " cluditur haec vindemia. Alterum 
 " genus est mellis aestivi, quod ideo 
 " vocatur horaeum, a tempestivitate 
 t% praecipua, ipso sirio explendes- 
 " cente post solstitium diebus tri- 
 " ginta fere." Palladius places the 
 time of taking the honey in June. 
 
 232. Taygete."] Taygete was one 
 
 of the Pleiades : see the notes on 
 book i. ver. 138, and 221. 
 
 The Pleiades rise with the sun on 
 the twenty-second of April, accord- 
 ing to Columella : " Decimo calen- 
 " das Maias Vergilise cum sole ori- 
 ie untur." 
 
 I cannot help observing in this 
 place, that Addison, in his transla- 
 tion, has given warmth and lustre 
 to the Pleiades : 
 
 Twice in the year their flow'ry toils 
 
 begin, 
 And twice they fetch their dewy harvest 
 
 in; 
 Once when the lovely Pleiades arise, 
 And add fresh lustre to the summer skies; 
 And once when hast'ning from the wat'ry 
 
 sign 
 They quit their station, and forbear to 
 
 shine. 
 
 And yet, in his letter from Italy, 
 he represents them as a northern 
 constellation : 
 
 We envy not the warmer clime, that 
 lies 
 
 In ten degrees of more indulgent skies, 
 
 Nor at the coarseness of our heaven re- 
 pine, 
 
 Tho' o'er our heads the frozen Pleiads 
 shine. 
 
 But the Pleiades do not shine 
 over our heads, but over those of 
 the Egyptians and Indians. I be- 
 lieve the Pleiades being called the 
 seven stars, occasioned this inge- 
 nious author to mistake them for 
 the seven stars called Charles's 
 wain, which do indeed shine over 
 our heads, and may be called frozen, 
 being so near the pole. 
 
 233. Oceani amnes.'] Thus Ho- 
 mer : poos aiKimcic. 
 
 234. Aut eadem, &c] It has 
 
384 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 tS d oV m Sn n The?l h re Tristior hybernas caelo descendit in undas. 235 
 
 wrathful above measure, and T11 . . -. . ■■, 
 
 if they are offended they Ilhs ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum 
 
 breathe venom into their 
 
 stings, and leave their hidden Morsibus insph'ant, et spicula caeca relinquunt 
 
 darts fixed to the veins, and jr ? xr tl 
 
 wJun^tUtiheySict. the Adfixa? venis, animasque in vulnera ponunt. 
 
 been already observed, in the note 
 on book i. ver. 221, that the morn- 
 ing setting of the Pleiades is about 
 the latter end of October, or begin- 
 ning of November. 
 
 Sidus fugiens ubi piscis aquosi7\ 
 The commentators are greatly di- 
 vided about the constellation, which 
 the Pleiades are here said to avoid. 
 Servius affirms it is the southern 
 fish, that receives the water of Aqua- 
 rius in his mouth, in which he is 
 followed by May : 
 
 Againe when slie the southern fish doth 
 
 To winter seas descending heavily : 
 
 Catrou says it is the constellation 
 Piscis: " fuyant la presence du 
 te signe des poissons." He observes 
 in his note, that the Pleiades set be- 
 fore the Fish arise : "Les Pleiades 
 " se couchent avant que le signe 
 " des poissons se leve." La Cerda 
 was of the same opinion, but he 
 says he will not dispute with any 
 one, who shall suppose it to be the 
 Dolphin. Ruseus contends that the 
 Hydra is meant, which seems to 
 follow the Pleiades, and hang over 
 them. Dryden says it is the Scor- 
 pion : 
 
 Again when their affrighted quire sur- 
 veys 
 
 The wat'ry Scorpion mend his pace he- 
 hind, 
 
 With a black train of storms and winter 
 wind, 
 
 They plunge into the deep, and safe 
 protection find. 
 
 The setting of the Pleiades is con- 
 fessed to mean the latter end of Oc- 
 tober or beginning of November, 
 perhaps the eighth, for on that day 
 
 Columella says they set in the morn- 
 ing, and, according to the same au- 
 thor, winter begins the next. This 
 agrees very well with their descend- 
 ing into the wintery waters. Now 
 we may reasonably suppose, that 
 the constellation which they avoid, 
 is one that rises in the morning 
 about the same time, or soon after 
 they set. The Scorpion, according 
 to Columella, rises on the thirteenth 
 of December : " Idibus Decembris 
 *■* Scorpio totus mane exoritur." 
 This is in favour of Dryden, only 1 
 can see no reason for calling the 
 Scorpion by the name of piscis a quo- 
 sus. The Scorpion is no fish, nor 
 is its usual habitation in the water. 
 The Dolphin rises on the twenty- 
 seventh of December : " Sexto ca- 
 " lendas Januarias Delphinus in- 
 " cipit oriri mane." The sun does 
 not enter Aquarius till the middle 
 of January, nor Pisces till the mid- 
 dle of February. The Dolphin 
 therefore seems to be the constel- 
 lation meant, as it rises sooner 
 after the setting of the Pleiades, 
 than any other fish delineated on the 
 sphere. As for the Hydra, which 
 Ruseus thinks is the constellation 
 intended, I cannot think Virgil 
 would call it a fish. 
 
 236. litis ira modum supra est.~] 
 He now assigns a reason for spirting 
 w r ater and smoking them : because 
 otherwise, being animals of strong 
 resentment, they would revenge 
 their quarrel on the person who 
 should offer to assail them. 
 
 Pierius found super instead of su- 
 pra in some ancient manuscripts. 
 
 238. Adjixae venis.'] Pierius found 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 385 
 
 Sin duram metues hyemem, parcesque futuro, 
 Contusosque animos, et res miserabere fractas; 
 At suffire thymo, cerasque recidere inanes 241 
 Quis dubitet ? nam ssepe favos ignotus adedit 
 Stellio, et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis, 
 
 But if youare afraid of a hard 
 winter, and would provide 
 for futurity, and take pity on 
 their broken strength, and 
 ruined affairs, yet who would 
 hesitate to fumigate them 
 with thyme, and cut away 
 the «mpty wax? for often 
 the skulking lizard has eaten 
 the combs, and the chambers 
 are full of beetles that avoid 
 the light, 
 
 adfixa venis in a very ancient manu- 
 script, and adnixce venis in the ob- 
 long one. It is affixa in venis in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts, 
 and adfixa in venis in the other, 
 making affixa to agree with spicula, 
 which is not amiss. 
 
 Animasque in vulnera po?iunt.] So 
 I read with one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts, and Heinsius. Pierius 
 found the same in the Roman, and 
 other manuscripts. The common 
 reading is vulnere. 
 
 It is said to be a vulgar error, that 
 bees lose their lives with their stings. 
 
 239. Sin duram metues-, &c] The 
 Poet now proceeds to speak of the 
 manner in which those hives should 
 be treated, where the honey is not 
 taken, but left to support the bees 
 in winter, and mentions the plagues 
 that infest them. 
 
 Metues.] Pierius found metuens 
 in some ancient manuscripts. It is 
 metuens also in the King's manu- 
 script. 
 
 240. Contusosque.~\ In the King's 
 manuscript it is concussosque. 
 
 Miserabere.~\ In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is miserabile. 
 
 241. At suffire thymo.] Pierius 
 found aut in some of the old manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 The sense seems to be, though 
 you think fit not to benefit yourself 
 by depriving them of their honey, 
 yet it will be worth the while to 
 take some pains about preserving 
 them. 
 
 This fumigation is recommended 
 also by other authors. Varro says 
 
 it should be twice or thrice in a 
 month, during the summer : u . Ver- 
 " no tempore et aestivo fere ter in 
 " mense mellarius inspicere debet 
 " fumigans leviter eas, et a spurci- 
 " tiis purgare alvum, et vermiculos 
 ' c ejicere." 
 
 Cerasque recidere inanes.] Servius 
 seems to understand the Poet to 
 mean, that some wax should be cut 
 into small pieces, and given the bees 
 for nourishment ; in which he is fol- 
 lowed by May : 
 
 Give them cut waxe. 
 
 But he is certainly to be understood 
 of taking away the superfluous wax, 
 lest the empty cells should afford 
 room for noxious animals. Thus 
 Columella : " Higinius quidem in 
 ' ' eo libro, quern de apibus scripsit ; 
 " Aristomachus, inquit, hoc modo 
 " succurrendum laborantibus exis- 
 " timat : Primum, ut omnes vitiosi 
 <e favi tollantur, et cibus ex integro 
 " recens ponatur : deinde ut fumi- 
 " gentur." 
 
 242. Ignotus stellio.'] The stellio 
 is a small spotted lizard, called also 
 a swift. The Poet calls it ignotus, 
 because of its creeping into holes 
 and corners. 
 
 Adedit.'] Pierius found adhcesit in 
 the Roman manuscript, which he 
 takes to be a corrupt reading. 
 
 243. Et.] Et is left out in some 
 editions ; but Pierius says it is re- 
 tained in all the ancient manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 Lucifugis blattis.] The blatta is an 
 insect something like a beetle: some 
 N 3 D 
 
S86 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 the drone also that sits, with- 
 out labouring, at the repast 
 belonging to another, or the 
 fierce hornet has engaged 
 theni with unequal arms, or 
 the dreadful race of moths, 
 or the spider hated by Mi- 
 nerva hangs her loose nets at 
 their doors. The more they 
 are exhausted, the more 
 pains will they take to repair 
 the ruins of their falling fa- 
 mily, and will fill up their 
 cells, and form their combs 
 of flowers. But, seeing life 
 afflicts bees also with our mis- 
 fortunes, if their bodies shall 
 languish with a sad disease, 
 which you may know by cer- 
 tain signs ; immediately the 
 sick change their colour; a 
 horrid leanness deforms their 
 countenances ; then they 
 carry the bodies of the dead 
 out of their houses, 
 
 Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus, 
 Aut asper crabro imparibus se immiscuit armis ; 
 Aut dirum tineae genus, aut invisa Minervae 246 
 Laxos in foribus suspendit aranea casses. 
 Quo magis exhaustae fuerint, hoc acrius omnes 
 Incumbent generis lapsi sarcire ruinas, 
 Complebuntque foros, et floribus horrea texent. 
 Si vero, quoniam casus apibus quoque nostros 
 Vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo, 
 Quod jam non dubiis poteris cognoscere signis ; 
 Continuo est eegris alius color : horrida vultum 
 Deformat macies ; turn corpora luce carentum 
 
 take the cock-roch to be the blatta. 
 They are called lucifugce, because 
 they do not appear by day-light. 
 
 245. Crabror\ The hornet is an 
 insect like a wasp, but twice as big. 
 
 Imparibus armis.~\ This insect is 
 too large and strong for the bees to 
 encounter with it. 
 
 Immiscuit.'] In one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is miscuit. 
 
 246. Dirum tinece genus.] Many 
 read durum: but Pierius found dirum 
 in most of the ancient manuscripts. 
 In the King's, the Bodleian, and in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts 
 it is durum. But dirum is generally 
 received. Either of these readings 
 seems to be good. 
 
 The tinea is the moth, that eats 
 garments and many other things. 
 
 Invisa Minervce aranea.] Arachne, 
 a Lydian maid, disputed with Mi- 
 nerva the preference in weaving 
 tapestry. Arachne performed her 
 work to admiration. But as she 
 had represented in it the crimes of 
 several of the Gods, Minerva in a 
 rage destroyed it: at which Arachne, 
 being grieved, hanged herself. The 
 Goddess in compassion changed her 
 to a spider. This fable is related in the 
 fifth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. 
 
 Servius and other grammarians 
 observe, that we ought to write 
 araneus, in the masculine gender: 
 but both Virgil and Ovid use ara- 
 nea. 
 
 248. Quo magis exhaustce, &c] 
 It has been observed by the writers 
 on Agriculture, that if the bees have 
 too much honey left them, they will 
 be idle ; whereas if you leave them 
 but little, they will be diligent in 
 repairing their loss. 
 
 251. Si vero, &c] He speaks of 
 the diseases of bees, and the reme- 
 dies for them, whence he takes oc- 
 casion to give a beautiful description 
 of a plant, which he calls Amellus. 
 
 According to Pierius, the oblong 
 manuscript has sin instead of si. 
 
 254>. Horrida vultum deformat 
 macies.'] In one of the Arundelian 
 manuscripts it is di format. 
 
 Varro observes, that a rough look 
 is a sign that the bees are sick, un- 
 less it is about the time of their be- 
 ginning to work; for then they look 
 rough with labour, and grow Jean : 
 " Minus valentium signa si sunt pi- 
 " losae et horrida?, ut pulverulentae, 
 " nisi opificii eas urget tempus : turn 
 " enim propter laborem^sperantur, 
 (e ac macescunt." 
 
GEORG. LIB, IV. 
 
 387 
 
 Exportant tectis, et tristia funera ducunt. 
 Aut illae pedibus connexae ad limina pendent, 
 Aut intus clausis cunctantur in aedibus omnes, 
 Ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae. 
 Turn sonus auditur gravior, tractimque susur- 
 rant, 260 
 
 Frigidus ut quondam sylvis immurmuratauster; 
 Ut mare sollicitum stridet refluentibus undis, 
 iEstuat ut clausis rapid us fornacibus ignis. 
 Hie jam galbaneos suadebo incendere odores, 
 
 and make mournful proces- 
 sions. Or else they hang at 
 the entrance with clinging 
 feet, or all of them loiter 
 within their closed up doors, 
 being faint with hunger, and 
 sluggish with contracted cold. 
 Then a deeper sound is heard, 
 and they make a drawling 
 hum; as when a cold south 
 wind sometimes rustles in the 
 woods, or the troubled sea 
 murmurs at the reflux of the 
 waters, or as fire roars in 
 a pent up furnace. In this 
 case I would advise to bum 
 strong scented galbanum, 
 
 256. Tristia funer a ducunt.] Ari- 
 stotle only says the bees bring out 
 those which die in the hive : T«$ §' 
 
 \%ea. Pliny says they accompany the 
 dead bodies after the manner of a 
 funeral procession : " Quin et mor- 
 '« bos suapte natura sentiunt. Index 
 " eorum tristitia torpens, et cum 
 " ante fores in teporem solis pro- 
 " motis aliae cibos ministrant, cum 
 '■ defunctas progerunt, funeranti- 
 " umque more comitantur exe- 
 " quias." Dryden has amplified 
 what the Poet says of the funeral 
 procession : 
 
 And crowds of dead, that never must 
 
 return 
 To their lov'd hives, in decent pomp are 
 
 borne : 
 Their friends attend the herse, the next 
 
 relations mourn. 
 
 257. Pedibus connexce.~\ " I do 
 " not think that a cluster is meant 
 " in this place,, which is afterward 
 " mentioned as a sign of joy : it 
 " seems rather to be meant of a few 
 " bees, which being either dead or 
 " faint, hang by their feet about the 
 " entrance." Ru^eus. 
 
 260. Tractimquei] In the Bodleian 
 manuscript it is tractuque. 
 
 Frigidus ut quondam, &c.] For 
 the ep'ithetfrigidus, see the note on 
 
 book iii. ver. 279- For quondam, 
 see the note on book iii. ver. 99* 
 
 These three similies are taken 
 from the fourteenth Iltad : 
 
 Ovn S-etXuirffns xvfta rotrov /ZoeiM wort %i£ffo* 
 Tlovr'ohv o(wi/Ai.vov zrvity fiogiu a&tyuvn, 
 Ollre zffugos Toffffog yt zifor) (&t>o(Ms uidoftUoio, 
 Ougiios lx $w<w$ on r ugtro xaUf&tv tlXtiv, 
 Out avtftos riffffos yt, zcfor) ^^vffh w\^ixe- 
 
 flOlfflV 
 
 'Kvutt, offn piikurret ftkya. (igiftsron %u*.i- 
 irulvm. 
 
 Not half so loud the bellowing deeps re- 
 sound, 
 
 When stormy winds disclose the dark 
 profound ; 
 
 Less loud the winds, that from th' iBolian 
 hall 
 
 Roar through the woods, and make whole 
 forests fall ; 
 
 Less loud the woods, when flames in tor- 
 rents pour, 
 
 Catch the dry mountain, and its shades 
 devour. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 Here, as Mr. Pope observes, Virgil 
 has beautifully softened these simi- 
 lies, and, by a kind of parody, ap- 
 plied them to the buzzing of a bee- 
 hive. 
 
 Sijlvis.~\ Pierius found sylvas in 
 the Lombard manuscript. 
 
 262. Ut.] Pierius found aut in 
 the Medicean manuscript. It is aut 
 also in the King's manuscript. But 
 ut is certainly the true reading. 
 
 264. Hie."} In the King's, and in 
 
 3 D 2 
 
388 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and to put in honey through 
 canals of reed, softly persuad- 
 ing the weary bees, and in- 
 viting them to their well 
 known food. It will be of 
 service also to add the taste 
 of pounded galls, and dried 
 roses, or wine thickened over 
 the fire, or raisins from the 
 Psythian vine, and Cecropian 
 thyme, and strong smelling 
 centaury. 
 
 Mellaque arundineis inferre canalibus, ultro 265 
 Hortantem, et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem. 
 Proderit et tunsum gallae admiscere saporem, 
 Arentesque rosas, aut igni pinguia multo 
 Defruta, vel psythia passos de vite racemos, 
 Cecropiumque thymum, et grave olentia cen- 
 taurea. 270 
 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is 
 'kinc. 
 
 Galbaneos odores.] See the note 
 on book iii. ver. 415. 
 
 Columella has mentioned Galba- 
 num and the other medicines here 
 spoken of, which he seems to borrow 
 from Virgil: "Nee non etiam ille 
 * morbus maxime est conspicuus, 
 se qui horridas contractasque carpit, 
 " cum frequenter aliae mortuarum 
 " corpora domiciliis suis efferunt, 
 " aliae intra tecta, ut in publico 
 " luctu, mcesto silentio torpent. Id 
 fC cum accidit, arundineis infusi ca- 
 " nalibus ofFeruntur cibi, maxime 
 <e decocti mellis, et cum galla vel 
 te arida rosa detriti. Galbanum 
 " etiam, ut ejus odore medicentur, 
 " incendi convenit, passoque et de- 
 " fruto vetere fessas sustinere." 
 
 265. Mella.] We learn from the 
 passage just now cited from Colu- 
 mella, that the honey should be 
 boiled. 
 
 267. Tunsum.] It is tonsum in 
 the Bodleian, and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in several 
 of the old editions. 
 
 Gallce.] The gall is an excres- 
 cence or nest of an insect, formed 
 on the oaks in Italy, after the same 
 manner that oak-apples are in Eng- 
 land. All parts of the oak, espe- 
 cially the galls, are astringent 3 they 
 are very proper therefore for the 
 purging, to which bees are subject 
 in the spring, occasioned by their 
 feeding greedily upon spurge after 
 
 their winter penury, according to 
 Columella : " Maximus autena an- 
 " nuus earum labor est initio veris, 
 " quo tithymalli floret frutex, et 
 " quo sameram ulmi promunt : 
 " namque sicut novis pomis, ita his 
 " primitivis floribus illectae, avide 
 '* vescuntur post hybernam famem, 
 "nil alioquin citra satietatem, tali 
 " nocente cibo, quo se cum affatim 
 " repleverint, profluvio alvi, nisi 
 '* celeriter succurritur, intereunt : 
 " nam et tithymallus majorum quo- 
 " que animalium ventrem solvit, jet 
 " proprie ulmus apium." 
 
 Admiscere.'] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is immiscere. 
 
 268. Arentesque.'] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is ardentesque, 
 which is manifestly wrong. 
 
 269. Psythia passos de vite race- 
 mos.] See the note on book ii. ver. 
 93. 
 
 270. Cecropiumque thymum.] See 
 the notes on ver. 112, and 177- 
 
 Grave olentia centaur ea.] Lu- 
 cretius has tristia centaurea. This 
 herb was so called from the centaur 
 Chiron, who was said to be thereby 
 cured of a wound accidentally in- 
 flicted by an arrow of Hercules, ac- 
 cording to Pliny : " Centaurea cu- 
 " ratus dicitur Chiron cum Hercu- 
 " lis excepti hospitio pertractanti 
 " arma, sagitta excidisset in pedem, 
 " quare aliqui Chironion vocant." 
 There are two sorts of centaury, 
 the greater and the less, which have 
 no other similitude, than in the 
 
ASTM A T T :i £ T § 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 389 
 
 Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello ^^^SuSfSSS^ 
 
 __ . , p-t ^.'l U U people call Amellus : the herb 
 
 Fecere affncolae, iacilis quaerentious neroa. is very easy to be found, for 
 
 ° x . the root, which consists of a 
 
 Namque uno ingentera tollit de cespite sylvam, ^^JJ*$™* m 
 
 Aureus ipse ; sed in foliis, qua? plurima circum S^^SSSf ag0,de,l 
 
 bitterness of their taste. The 
 greater is cultivated in gardens, the 
 less grows wild in England in many 
 places, and is the best known. 
 
 271. Est etiam. flos in pratis, &c] 
 I think we may venture to affirm, 
 that the plant here described is the 
 Aster Atticus, or purple Italian Star- 
 wort. But let us see how Virgil's 
 description agrees with the Aster At- 
 ticus. Ray says it is common in 
 the uncultivated valleys of Italy, 
 Sicily, and Narbonne. "Nascitur 
 " incultis et asperis convallibus, in 
 " Italia, Sicilia, et Gallia Narbo- 
 " nensi passim obvius.'' There- 
 fore it is very easy to be found, fa- 
 cilis qucerentibus herba. The root 
 coiisists of a great bunch of fibres, as 
 I have rendered uno de cespite, for I 
 take cespes in this place not to sig- 
 nify the earth or turf, but radix ces- 
 pitosa, a root whose fibres are thick 
 matted together so as to form a kind 
 of turf. Non de terra, sed de radice, 
 says Phylargyrius. From this root 
 arise a vast number of stalks, which 
 Virgil poetically calls a great wood, 
 ingentem sylvam. The flower is of 
 that sort which botanists calls a ra- 
 diated discous flower: the disk is 
 yellow, and the ray purple. To 
 make this plain to those who are 
 not acquainted with botany, I have 
 added a figure of this plant. A, re- 
 presents the yellow disk, which Vir- 
 gil calls the flower itself: aureus 
 ipse. B, represents the rays or pur- 
 ple leaves which surround the flower; 
 foliis, quae plurima circumfunduntur, 
 vioke sublucet purpura nigrce. 
 
 Cui nomen amello.] He uses the 
 dative case here after the manner of 
 
 the Greeks; as in other places, 
 " Cui nomen Iulo," and " Cui Re- 
 " mulo cognomen erat." 
 
 272. Fecere agricolce.] The Poet 
 tells us Amellus is a rustic name, 
 not that by which it was known at 
 Rome, and among the writers of 
 natural history. 
 
 273. Uno.] It is imo in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and in se- 
 veral old printed editions, and in 
 most manuscript copies, according 
 to Pierius : but uno is generally re- 
 ceived, as the true reading. 
 
 274. Aureus ipse, &c] Virgil 
 plainly speaks of the flower, as be- 
 ing golden or yellow, which Colu- 
 mella mistook, not being acquainted 
 with this herb himself 5 for he 
 makes it a yellow shrub with pur- 
 ple flowers : " Optime tamen facit 
 " amelli radix, cujus est frutex lu- 
 " teus, purpureus flos/' Ruaeus 
 rightly interprets this description of 
 Virgil : " Quippe uno e cespite eri- 
 " gitmagnamcopiamcaulium : au- 
 <( reus ipse est, sed purpura violae 
 " nigricantis sublucet in foliis, quae 
 <f multa in orbem ambiunt floscula." 
 But our translators have greatly 
 erred : for May represents the leaves 
 of the stalk as being purple : 
 
 For from one roote he spreads a wood 
 
 of boughes, 
 Whose many leaves, although the flower 
 
 be gold, 
 Black violets dimme purple colour hold. 
 
 Addison has very much deviated 
 from the sense of his author : 
 
 A mighty spring works in its root, and 
 
 cleaves 
 The sprouting stalk, and shews itself in 
 
 leaves : 
 
390 
 
 witha great number of leaves, 
 which are purple, like violets. 
 The altars of the gods are 
 often adorned with wreaths 
 of these flowers. It has a 
 bitterish taste. The shep- 
 herds gather it in the open 
 valleys, and near the winding 
 stream of the river Mella. 
 Boil the roots of this herb in 
 the best flavoured wine, and 
 place baskets full of them be- 
 fore the door of the hive. But 
 if the whole stock shall fail 
 any one on a sudden, and he 
 shall not know how to repair 
 his loss by a new family, it 
 will be time to unfold the 
 memorable discovery of the 
 Arcadian master, 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae. 275 
 Saepe deum nexis ornatae torquibus arae. 
 Asper in ore sapor. Tonsis in vallibus ilium 
 Pastores, et curva legunt prope flumina Mellae. 
 Hujus odorato radices incoque Baccho, 
 Pabulaque in foribus plenis apppne canistris. 
 Sed si queni proles subito defecerit omnis, 
 Nee, genus unde novae stirpis revocetur, habebit, 
 Tempus et Arcadii memoranda inventa magistri 
 
 i 
 
 The flow'r itself is of a golden hue, 
 The leaves inclining to a darker blue. 
 The leaves shoot thick about the flow'r, 
 
 and grow 
 Into a bush, and shade the turf below. 
 
 Bryden took the folia qua plurima 
 circumfunduntur to be the branches 
 of the plant : 
 
 For from one root the rising stem be- 
 stows 
 
 A wood of leaves, and vVlet purple 
 boughs : 
 
 The flow'r itself is glorious to behold, 
 
 And shines on altars like refulgent 
 gold. 
 
 Dr. Trapp supposes the stem to be 
 golden, and the leaves to be purple : 
 
 For from one turf a mighty grove it 
 
 bears : 
 Its stem of golden hue, but in its leaves, 
 Which copious round it sprout, the purple 
 
 teint 
 Of deep-dy'd violets more glossy shines. 
 
 275. Viola nigra.] The com- 
 mon violet. It is called black, from 
 its dark purple colour. Thus Theo- 
 critus : text to 'Uv p&Xxv hri. 
 
 277. Tonsis in vallibus.'] Servius 
 interprets this non sylvosis. " Unde," 
 says he," estcontra intonsi montes." 
 La Cerda takes it to mean after 
 mowing: " Cum valles jam sunt 
 " tonsae, et deraessae segetes." Ser- 
 vius's sense agrees best with the 
 account which Ray gives of the 
 place where it grows. Ruaeus fol- 
 lows La Cerda, rendering this pas- 
 
 sage in praiis demessis. Dr. Trapp 
 adheres to this interpretation. 
 
 . the swains, 
 
 In new mow'd vales, near Mella's wind- 
 ing stream 
 Gather this herb. 
 
 Though perhaps it may mean in 
 valleys where cattle have grazed ; for 
 iondeo is used for grazing j as 
 (< Tondent dumeta juvenci." 
 
 278. Flumina Mella.] One of the 
 Arundelian manuscripts, and the 
 Cambridge manuscript have it 
 Amelia. La Cerda reads Mela. 
 There are several rivers of this 
 name; but that which Virgil means 
 here is a river of Lombardy. 
 
 280. Appone.] Pierius tells us 
 that it is expone in the Roman, and 
 some other manuscripts. 
 
 281. Sed si quern proles, &c] The 
 Poet having already spoken of the 
 ways of driving noxious animals 
 from the bees, and of the method of 
 curing their diseases, now proceeds 
 to describe the manner after which 
 the total loss of them may be re- 
 paired, which he tells us was prac- 
 tised by the Egyptians. 
 
 Si quern."] Pierius found siquidem 
 in the Medicean and other ancient 
 manuscripts. I find it also in the 
 Bodleian, and in one of the Arunde- 
 lian manuscripts, and in some printed 
 editions. 
 
 283. Arcadii magistri] The Ar- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 391 
 
 Pandere, quoque modo csesis jam saepe juvencis ^^p&S^^i 
 Insincerus apes tulerit cruor, altius omnem 285 Jo", i'Xii mentk^tiU 
 
 . . whole story at large, tracing 
 
 Expeuiam prima repctens ab origine famam. jtback from its first source. 
 
 r r I © For where the happy nation 
 
 Nam qua Pellsei gens fortunata Canopi ofPeii*ancano P us 
 
 cadian master is Aristoeus. See the 
 note on ver. 317- 
 
 287. Nam qua Pellcei &c] These 
 seven verses have greatly exercised 
 the skill of the commentators, who 
 have given very different interpre- 
 tations of them. La Cerda con- 
 tends, that the Poet, in the three 
 first lines, describes Egypt ; and in 
 the rest, Persia. That the three 
 first relate to Egypt, is universally 
 agreed : the difficulty consists in 
 solving the other. He takes the 
 amnis devexus ab Indis to be the In- 
 dus, to which Ptolomy has assigned 
 seven mouths, as well as to the Nile. 
 Now as the Indus does without 
 doubt descend from the Indians pro- 
 perly so called, as it really presses 
 the borders of Persia, and as it has 
 seven mouths, he thinks it agrees 
 better with the Poet's description 
 than the Nile, between which and 
 Persia all Arabia is interposed . As 
 for ver. 291, he gets clear of that by 
 endeavouring to prove it not to be 
 genuine, and excluding it from the 
 text. Hardouin also understands 
 the Poet to speak of the Indus, but 
 retains the verse which La Cerda 
 rejects. He observes, that there 
 was an island called Prasiane, 
 formed by the mouths of the Indus, 
 as the Delta was by those of the 
 Nile. He derives the name of Pra- 
 siane from 7r%eco-ioq, viridis, and thence 
 imagines, that Virgil meant this 
 island by viridem JEgyptum. Huet 
 opposes his learned countryman, 
 and understands the whole passage 
 to relate to Egypt. As for the Nile 
 being derived from India, he tells 
 us it was the universal opinion of 
 the ancients, that this river rose in 
 
 India, which he confirms by the au- 
 thority of Alexander, who thought 
 he had found the source of the Nile, 
 when he arrived at the Indus. Ru- 
 aeus also rejects the Indus, inter- 
 preting the whole passage concern- 
 ing the Nile, deriving it from the 
 Ethiopians, who were called In- 
 dians by the ancients. He inter- 
 prets 
 
 Quaque pharetratoe vicinia Persidis urget 9 
 " where the countries bordering 
 " on the quivered Persians touch 
 " Egypt." These countries, he says, 
 are Arabia, Syria, &c. all which are 
 comprehended by the poet under the 
 name of Persia, because they were 
 all subdued by Cyrus, and his son 
 Cambyses. Catrou proposes a new 
 solution of this difficult passage. He 
 supposes Virgil to mean the whole 
 course of the Nile, the lower Egypt 
 in the three first verses, the upper 
 Egypt in the two next, and the source 
 of the Nile in the two last, conclud- 
 ing with ver. 294, which plainly 
 shews that the Poet intended to de- 
 scribe only one country. For my 
 own part, I take Virgil, by all that 
 he has here said, to mean only a de- 
 scription of the Delta, or lower 
 Egypt. Canopus is the west angle 
 of that triangular region, Pelusium is 
 the east angle, being nearest to Per- 
 sia, and the south angle is the point, 
 where the Nile is divided, to form the 
 Delta. I shall endeavour to explain 
 what has been said, in the following 
 notes on the particular expressions. 
 Pellcei Canopi.~\ Strabo tells us, 
 that this city was so called from Ca- 
 nopus the pilot of Menelaus, who 
 died there, and that it is a hundred 
 and twenty stadia distant from Alex- 
 
392 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 ^tLfw^CS-' Accolit effiiso stagnantem flumine Nilum, 
 
 ing waters, and is carried 771. • •-•!•- n »■ 
 
 round about its own fields in xL-t circum pictis venitur sua rura iaselis ; 
 
 painted galleys ; and where 
 
 evlnlvom ^e^un-bumt !^ Q ua( l ue pharetratse vicinia Persidis urget, 290 
 ^^sl^iSJ Et viridem ^Egyptura nigra foecundat arena, 
 
 green Egypt with black ooze, 
 
 andria : KoLya£o$ §' eV i 5roA<$ lv zlxoa-i xxi 
 Ixxrh trrx^ioig uirh '' 'AXt^xv^^tixg 5re£»j 
 tovcriv, lirwvpog KxvaGov rov Mivthdov 
 xv£i(>vqrov, cctoB-ccvovtos xvrobi. Pella, 
 according to the same author, was 
 accounted the metropolis of Mace- 
 donia, being the birth-place both of 
 Philip and Alexander: T>jv 21 nix- 
 Xxv 6>Wgg {*i)T(>07roXiv yiymvxi ruv Mx- 
 xidovm tkv 0<A<Woy xxi 'Ate^xvcigov 
 •srxr^bx. The city Canopus gives 
 name to one of the most considerable 
 mouths of the Nile, being the near- 
 est to the city, which Alexander 
 built in Egypt, and called from his 
 own name Alexandria. Therefore 
 Virgil describes the west side of 
 the Delta, by calling it the Pellaean 
 Canopus, on account of the neigh- 
 bourhood of Alexandria. 
 
 Gens fortunata.~] The inhabitants 
 of this part of Egypt are called hap- 
 py on account of the great fertility 
 of their country. 
 
 288. Accolit effuso stagnantem 
 flumine Nilum.~\ Strabo tells us, 
 that when the Nile overflows, the 
 whole country is covered with water, 
 except their habitations, which are 
 built either upon natural hills, or 
 upon banks raised by art, which at 
 that time have the appearance of so 
 many islands: 3 Ev 21 rx7$ xvxQc$<ri<ri 
 rev Ns/Aov, xxXv7rri7Xt varx, xxi rnhx- 
 yt£u, ttA^v t« o'ikvioiw xvtxi 2' hri 
 XoQav ecvroQvoZv, « ^Ufjcdruv tdgvvroii, 
 TroXiig rt x$-io\oyoi xxi xwjaxIj VYi<rj£ov<rxi 
 xxrx tkv yro'pyaQiv o-^/iv. 
 
 290. Pkaretratce vicinia Persidis.] 
 The Persians were famous for rid- 
 ing, hunting, and shooting arrows. 
 We are not to understand the Poet 
 in this place, as speaking of Per- 
 sia strictly so called, which was 
 
 bounded on the west by Susiana 
 and Media, on the north by Parthia, 
 on the east by Caramania, and on 
 the south by the Persian gulph, but 
 of the empire of those people ex- 
 tended by Cyrus. Xenophon tells 
 us that great monarch left behind 
 him an empire bounded on the east 
 by the mare erythrceum, on the north 
 by the Black sea, on the west by 
 Cyprus and Egypt, and on the 
 south by Ethiopia : Kxi he. rcvrov rw 
 upy/N aqiQw xvra 7r%o$ ia ftiv, n tpvogcc 
 SxXXTTX' 7Cg0g ItgXTOV 21, Ev|g<*oj 
 7rovrog. Tr^og gWgg#v 21, Kvjrgej xxi A'i- 
 yv7TTcg. vrgog f£,i<ryf£&(>ixv 21 Ai§io7rlx* 
 Here then we see plainly how the 
 Nile may press the borders of Per- 
 sia, since the Persians had extended 
 their dominion as far as to Egypt. 
 The Poet had before spoken of the 
 west side of the Delta under the 
 name of Canopus: and now he 
 expresses the east side, or Pelusian 
 mouth of the Nile, as bordering on 
 the empire of the Persians. Catrou 
 finds some colonies of Persians 
 seated on each side of the Upper 
 Egypt, which he thinks the Poet 
 means in this verse. 
 
 291. Viridem 2Egyptum.~\ Har- 
 douin thinks the epithet viridis, 
 applied to Egypt, is cold and in- 
 animated : this being added to an- 
 other observation, that Virgil does 
 not use to be guilty of such tau- 
 tology, as to make a double de- 
 scription of the same place, he con- 
 cludes, that the Poet must speak of 
 two different countries. Then find- 
 ing mention in Pliny of a triangular 
 island at the mouth of the Indus, 
 he ventures to affirm, that Virgil 
 meant this island by viridem IE- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 Et diversa ruens septem discurrit in ora 
 
 393 
 
 and pouring along divides it- 
 self into seven mouths : 
 
 gyptum, because it resembled the 
 Tower Egypt or Delta, in its trian- 
 gular shape, and that the epithet 
 mridis is only a translation of Pra- 
 siane. But viridis is by no means a 
 cold epithet for Egypt, being very 
 proper to express the great fertility 
 of that country, when overflowed 
 by the Nile. As for the island 
 Prasiane, Pliny does not say it is 
 triangular. I do not find any 
 mention of it, except in the twenti- 
 eth chapter of the sixth book, where 
 he says it is a very large island, and 
 that there is another near it named 
 Patale : " Amplissimam insulam 
 " efficiens, quae Prasiane nominatur, 
 u et aliam minorem quae Patale." 
 As for Patale, he says in the next 
 chapter, that it is triangular : " Sed 
 " ante sunt aliae, Patale, quam sig- 
 " nificavimus, in ipsis faucibus Indi 
 " triquetra figura ccxx. M. pass. 
 ** latitudine." But he no where 
 says any thing of its greenness or 
 fertility. And to me it appears a 
 great violence to make Virgil call 
 two Indian islands green Egypt, be- 
 cause one of them resembles it in 
 shape, and the other is derived from 
 a Greek word signifying green; 
 which etymology, however, is not 
 very certain, since the learned 
 father himself confesses in another 
 place, that Prasiane is derived from 
 the name of the inhabitants, who 
 were called Prasii : " Prasiane, a 
 " Prasiis, Indi amnis accolis, quo- 
 " rum ditionis fuit, nomen invenit." 
 As for the imaginary tautology, it 
 has been observed already, that 
 Virgil does not describe the same 
 place twice ; but only distinguishes 
 Egypt, by describing the two sides 
 of the triangle, within which it is 
 contained. 
 
 Nigra are?ia.] La Cerda thinks 
 these words are a proo£ that Virgil 
 
 did not mean Egypt, because the 
 soil of the Nile is ooze, and not 
 sand. But arena is frequently used 
 for any sort of soil ; and besides it 
 has been observed by travellers of 
 the best credit, that the natural soil 
 of Egypt is sand. 
 
 292. Septem discurrit in ora."] 
 The seven mouths of the Nile are 
 so very famous, and so frequently 
 spoken of, that it may seem un- 
 necessary to say any thing here 
 concerning them. But as the sense 
 of this passage very much depends 
 on a right understanding of the 
 form of the lower Egypt, I shall 
 follow the description given of it 
 by Strabo. This famous geogra- 
 pher observes, that the Nile flows 
 directly northward, from the borders 
 of Ethiopia, till it comes to the 
 Delta, where being divided as from 
 a vertex, it makes a triangular 
 figure : the sides of the triangle are 
 two channels of the Nile, running 
 down on each side of it to the sea ; 
 that on the right hand to Pelusium, 
 and that on the left to Canopus and 
 Heraclium : and the base is the 
 sea- coast between Pelusium and 
 Heraclium. Thus the island is en- 
 compassed by the sea, and two 
 channels of the Nile ; and is called 
 Delta, because it resembles the 
 Greek letter A : 'Ano ya,^ rm Afoio- 
 7rixwv ngpovav, pz7 lie iv§iiu$ 7r^og ap- 
 terous NiiXog, ia<z rov KteXovptvov y^u- 
 piov AiXrec. ilr \tc\ Kogvtyw o-fcitppivoq 
 NiTXog, cog (pna-iv nXccrav, cog ocv r^- 
 y&ivov xopvtpliv kftoriXii rov ronov rovrov' 
 •xXivpag 7)1 rov r^iycovov roc, o-fc^optivce, 
 6<p iKotripet DiTSpoif Kot^Kovra ^X^ rvjg 
 ^ccXdrr^g , ro ph h Oi\ioi rv,g Kara. ITjj- 
 Xovtriov. ro £' h a^itrri^a, r^g Kara Kot- 
 va&oVj Kcti ro ctX^f/ov 'HqcZkXuov, ttpotu- 
 yopivopivov' fiairiv el rqv vragaXi'av rv,v 
 pira%v rov TlviXovtrtov' xcu rov 'Hp^oc- 
 xXilov' Tiyon *b\ v vvirog '{*. n rv.g &et* 
 3 E 
 
394 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 S^ffinffiS*^ Us q ue coloratis amnis devexus ab Indis : 293 
 
 they choose out a small place, r\ • • i ±. •* i ^ 
 
 that is contracted within a Omnis in hac certain regio jacit arte salutem. 
 
 narrow compass for this pur- . . 
 
 pose: Lxiguus primum, atque ipsos contractus ad usus 
 
 Xxttvis, xxi rwv fevf&xT&tv otpQolv rov 
 woTxpov. xxi kxXutxi AzXrx, diet, riiv 
 opoioTnTx rov <r%vpotTo$. A little af- 
 terwards he sets down the names 
 of the seven mouths of this river : 
 Miru <}l o-Topcx, to KxvaZixov zo~ti ro BoX- 
 QlTiXOV' ifax 10 ?Zi<osvviTixoy XXI to <Pccr- 
 vtxov Ta oi <PxtvixZ orvva,7tra to 
 
 Mivdqo-iov ilTX TO TxVlTlXOV, XXI TiXlV- 
 
 tccIov rov HaXovc-ixxov. I wonder 
 none of the commentators have 
 proposed the Ganges, as the river 
 here meant ; for Virgil himself, in 
 the ninth yEneid, describes it as 
 having seven mouths like the Nile : 
 
 ■ Medio dux agmine Tur- 
 
 nus 
 Vertitur arma tenens, et toto vertice 
 
 supra est. 
 Ceu septem surgens sedatis amnions altus 
 Per taciturn Ganges: aut pingui flu- 
 
 mine Nilus, 
 Cum refluit campis, et jam se condidit 
 
 alveo. 
 
 293. Coloratis amnis devexus ab 
 Indis.'] Huet, to solve the difficulty 
 of the Nile's being said to flow 
 from the Indians, has discovered, 
 that the ancients imagined the 
 source of the Nile to be in India 
 properly so called, which doctrine 
 he supports by a relation, that 
 Alexander thought he had found it 
 in India. But this was far from 
 being a received opinion in Virgil's 
 time. For Strabo informs us, 
 that Alexander himself was con- 
 vinced of his error. When Alex- 
 ander, says he, saw crocodiles in 
 the Hydaspes, and Egyptian beans 
 in the Acesine, he fancied he had 
 found the source of the Nile, and 
 prepared a fleet in order to invade 
 Egypt that way. But he soon 
 found it was impossible to put it in 
 execution. For there are many 
 
 rivers and dangerous channels be- 
 tween, and above all the ocean, into 
 which all the rivers of India empty 
 themselves, and then there is Aria- 
 na, and the Persian and Arabian 
 gulphs, and all Arabia and Troglo- 
 dytica : 'AXi%xvdpov ^ h ph t£> 'y^os- 
 
 CT7TVI XgOXOtillXoVS WOVTX, \t ^6 T« 'Axl- 
 
 <t7v*j xvoifcovs Aiywrriovs, ivgnxhxi cio- 
 \xi Tag tov Nu'Xov Trqyag, xxi Trxgx- 
 rxivxfycrQxi gtoXov tig t>jv A'iyv7rrov, ag 
 
 TU 7T0TX[AU TOVTOt ^%^t 6Xi7ci "TCXlMTO- 
 
 f/Avov' (Aixpbv S' vrregov yvuvoUf aiOTi ou 
 dvvxrxt o 'ttXTTiTi. Miorov yxg p&iyxXoi 
 TTOTccpo}, xxi ^uvx yuQgx. 'Clxixvog [th 
 
 7T£WT0V, tU $V ixSldoXCIV 01 'h^tXOt %XVTlg 
 TTOrXpOt. S7TUTX, « 'AglXV*!, XXI Ilsg- 
 
 cixog xoXnog, xxi o 'A^oiGiog, xxi xvt*i j» 
 3 Af>x£tx, xxi « TguyXadvrtxt. But 
 there is no occasion to have re- 
 course to so absurd an opinion, if 
 any did entertain it, since it is easy 
 to prove that the Ethiopians, from 
 whose country the Nile is allowed 
 to descend, were frequently called 
 Indians by the ancients. Thus our 
 Poet himself, in the eighth ^Eneid, 
 mentions Indians among the nations 
 that assisted Anthony and Cleo- 
 patra : 
 
 Omnis eo terrore iEgyptus et 
 
 Indus, 
 Omnis Arabs, omnes verterunt terga 
 Sabaei. 
 
 Here the Indians are generally al- 
 lowed to be the Ethiopians, for it 
 does not appear, that there were 
 any oriental Indians in that army. 
 
 294. Omnis regio."] By these 
 words the Poet plainly shews that 
 he has been speaking only of one 
 country. 
 
 295. Exiguus primum, &c] It 
 was the general opinion of anti- 
 quity, that bees were produced from 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 395 
 
 Eligitur locus : hunc angustique imbrice tecti 
 Parietibusque premunt arctis, et quatuor addunt, 
 Quatuor a ventis obliqua luce fenestras. 
 Turn vitulus, bima curvans jam cornua fronte, 
 Quaeritur ; huic geminae nares, et spiritus oris 
 Multa reluctanti obstruitur, plagisque perempto 
 Tunsa per integram solvuntur viscera pellem. 
 Sic positum in clauso linquunt, et ramea costis 
 Subjiciuntfragmenta,thymum,casiasquerecentes. 
 Hoc geritur, zephyris primum impellentibus 
 undas, 305 
 
 Ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante 
 Garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo. 
 
 this they stra'ten with a 
 narrow roof, and confined 
 walls: and add four windows 
 receiving an oblique light 
 from the four quarters. Then 
 they seek a steer of two years 
 that just bends his horns : and 
 whilst he struggles mightily 
 they close up both his nos- 
 trils, and the breath of his 
 mouth; and when he is 
 bruised to death, his crushed 
 bowels putrify, the skin re- 
 maining entire. Being thus 
 placed, they leave him shut 
 up: and put sprigs under 
 him, thyme and fresh casia. 
 This is done when the ze- 
 phyrs first begin to stir the 
 waters, before the meadows 
 blush with new colours, be- 
 fore the chattering swallow 
 hangs her nest upon the 
 rafters. 
 
 the putrid bodies of cattle. Varro 
 says they are called fiovyovett by the 
 Greeks, because they arise from 
 putrified bullocks : " Denique ex 
 " hoc put re facto nasci dulcissimas 
 <e apes mellis matres, a quo eas 
 " Graeci fiovyovetg appellant." And 
 in another place he mentions their 
 rising from these putrid animals, 
 and quotes the authority of Arche- 
 laus, who says bees proceed from 
 bullocks, and wasps from horses : 
 " Apes nascuntur partim ex apibus, 
 " partim ex bubulo corpore putre- 
 <l facto. Itaque Archelaus in epi- 
 " grammate ait eas esse 
 
 " BOOS (pdlVOflUttS ZtttfOlVllAlM TtKVCC. 
 
 " Idem : 
 
 *' totfcov ph ff<p%Ki5 ytno\, (tot^m Ti uU 
 
 " Xtfffeu." 
 
 Above all, we have the authority of 
 the holy Scriptures, that bees will 
 proceed from the putrid carcase of 
 an animal. For, as we read in the 
 fourteenth chapter of the book of 
 Judges, " Samson went down, and 
 " his father, and his mother, to 
 u Timnath, and came to the vine- 
 " yards of Timnath : and behold a 
 
 " young lion roared against him. 
 u And the Spirit of the Lord came 
 " mightily upon him, and he rent 
 " him as he would have rent a kid 
 " . . . . and after a time .... he 
 " turned aside to see the carcase 
 " of the lion, and behold there was 
 "- a swarm of bees, and honey in 
 " the carcase of the. lion." It is 
 not however to be imagined, that 
 insects are generated from a putre- 
 faction. The truth is, such car- 
 cases are a proper receptacle for 
 tfyeir young; and therefore the 
 female parent chooses there to lay 
 her eggs, that the warmth of the 
 fermenting juices may help to hatch 
 them. 
 
 301. Obstruitur.] Fulvius Ursi- 
 nus says it is obsuitur in the old 
 'Colotian manuscript. 
 
 304. Thymum.] See the note on 
 ver. 122. 
 
 Castas.] See the note on book 
 ii. ver. 213. 
 
 205. Zephyris primum impellenti- 
 bus undas.] This wind is said by 
 Pliny to begin to blow about the 
 eighth of February. See the note 
 on book iii. ver. 273. 
 
 307- Hirundo.] The time of the 
 3 E2 
 
396 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 In the mean time the mois- 
 ture, growing warm in his 
 tender bones, ferments ; and 
 animals, wonderful to behold, 
 are formed, at first without 
 feet, but in a little while hav- 
 ing also buzzing wings, and 
 continually more and more 
 try the thin air : till at last 
 they burst out like a shower 
 pouring from the summer 
 clouds ; or like arrows driven 
 from the impelling string, 
 when the light Parthi- 
 ans enter into the battle. 
 What god, O ye Muses, who 
 invented this art for us? 
 whence did this new expe- 
 rience of men take its rise ? 
 The shepherd Aristaeus flying 
 from Peneian Tempe, 
 
 Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus humor 
 iEstuat, et visenda modis animalia miris, 309 
 Trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis 
 Miscentur, tenuemque magis magis aera carpunt; 
 Donee, ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber, 
 Erupere ; aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae, 
 Prima leves ineunt si quando prcelia Parthi. 
 Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit 
 artem? 315 
 
 Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit? 
 Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Penei'a Tempe, 
 
 swallows coming is said by Colu- 
 mella to be about the twentieth or 
 twenty-third of February: (< De- 
 iC cimo Calendas Martii leo desinit 
 " occidere,venti septentrionales,qui 
 t( vocantur ornithiae, per dies tri- 
 " ginta esse solent, turn et hirundo 
 " advenit :" and " Septimo Ca- 
 " lendas Martii ventosa tempestas, 
 " hirundo conspicitur." Pliny says 
 it is on the twenty-second : " Oe- 
 " tavo calendas Martii hirundinis 
 Cl visus." 
 
 311. Tenuemque magis magis.'] 
 The King's, the Bodleian, one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and most 
 of the old editions have tenuem 
 magis ac magis. In the other of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is tenu- 
 emque magis ac magis, where que is 
 redundant. 
 
 Carpunt."] Pierius found capiant 
 in an old manuscript, which reading 
 is countenanced by frigus captabis * 
 opacum, and by captavit naribus 
 auras. 
 
 312. Ut.] It is et in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 313. Erupere; aut ut.~\ Pierius 
 found eripuere in some ancient ma- 
 nuscripts, and in others erupere 
 velut. The last reading he thinks 
 more sweet, and the former more 
 numerous. In one of the Arun- 
 
 delian manuscripts it is velut, and 
 in one of Dr. Mead's vel ut. 
 
 314. Parthi.] See the note on 
 book iii. ver. 31. 
 
 315. Quis deus, &c] The Poet 
 concludes the Georgicks with the 
 fable of Aristaeus, which includes 
 that of Orpheus and Eurydice. This 
 paragraph contains the complaint 
 of Aristaeus for the loss of his bees, 
 and his mother's permission to him 
 to enter the sources of the rivers. 
 
 Extudit.] In the Bodleian, one of 
 the Arundelian, and in both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, it is excudit. 
 
 317. Pastor Aristeeus.] I have 
 already said something of Aristaeus, 
 in the notes on ver. 14. of the first 
 Georgick ; but as the fable of him 
 takes up so considerable a part of 
 the fourth, I shall say something 
 more of him in this place. 
 
 It is generally agreed, that he was 
 the son of Apollo, though Cicero, 
 in one of his orations against Verres, 
 makes him the son of Bacchus : 
 " Aristaeus, qui, ut Graeci ferunt, 
 " Liberijilius, inventor olei esse di- 
 " citur, una cum Libero patre apud 
 " illos eodem erat in templo conse- 
 " cratus." And yet Cicero himself, 
 in his third book de Natura Deorum, 
 allows him to be the son of Apollo : 
 " Aristaeus, qui olivae dicitur in- 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 397 
 
 Amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque, 
 Tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis, 
 Multa querens, atque hac affatus voce parentem : 
 Mater Cyrene, mater, quae gurgitis hujus 321 
 
 his bees, as Is reported, being 
 lost by disease and famine, 
 stood mournful at the sacred 
 head of the rising stream, 
 grievously complaining; and 
 thus addressed his parent : O 
 mother, Cyrene, O mother, 
 who inhabitest the bottom of 
 this spring, 
 
 " ventor, Apollinis filius." He was 
 born in Libya, whither Apollo trans- 
 ported his mother, in order to enjoy 
 her, according to Pindar: Nvv $' tv- 
 Qvtelftm -zroTvict croi AiQvcc t'i\ixa.i iwcXtct 
 vvp(pocv ^a) (Acer iv h x^vrUts zr^aty^m . . 
 
 .... roQi -zretfi* ri^iron piyiv 
 
 h •zroAy;egvG-ft> A&vag. He married 
 Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus, 
 by whom he had Acteon. After the 
 death of this son, being informed 
 by the oracle of Apollo, that he 
 should receive divine honours in 
 the island Cea, he removed thither, 
 where, offering sacrifice to Jupiter, 
 he obtained the ceasing of a plague, 
 and was therefore honoured by them 
 as a god after his death. He is 
 said also to have visited Arcadia, 
 Sardinia, Sicily, and Thrace, in all 
 which countries he was adored, for 
 having taught mankind the uses of 
 oil and honey, and the manner of 
 curdling milk. The scene of the 
 fable, as it is here related by Virgil, 
 is placed in Thessaly. 
 
 Pene'ia Tempe.] Tempe, as was 
 observed in the note on book ii. 
 ver. 469, is used by the poets to 
 express any pleasant plain ; but 
 here the epithet Pene'ia plainly de- 
 termines, that the real Thessalian 
 Tempe is meant. The river Peneus 
 rises in Pindus, a great mountain 
 of Thessaly, and flows through the 
 delightful plains of the Thessalian 
 Tempe. Thus Ovid : 
 
 Est nemus Haemonise, praerupta quod 
 
 undique claudit 
 Sylva ; vocant Tempe : per quae Peneus 
 
 ab imo 
 Effusus Pindo spumosis volvitur undis ; 
 Dejectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos 
 
 Nubila conducit, summasque aspergine 
 
 sylvas 
 Impluit; et sonitu plus quam vicina 
 
 fatigat. 
 
 A pleasant grove within /Enwnia grows, 
 CalVd Tempe; which high ragged cliffs 
 
 inclose, 
 Through this Peneus, poured from Pin- 
 
 dus, raves, 
 And from the bottom rowles, with foaming 
 
 waves, 
 That by steep downfalls tumbling from on 
 
 hie, 
 Ingender mists, which smoke-like, upward 
 
 fie, 
 That on the dewy tops of trees distill, 
 And more than neighbouring woods with 
 
 noises fill. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 Theocritus also mentions the beau- 
 tiful Peneian Tempe and Pindus 
 together : 
 
 " H xura, TiivuZ xaXa Tifitfict, h Ka.ru. 
 Tliihef. 
 
 319. Ex tremi7\ Pierius found 
 extremum in some ancient manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 Caput."] Some understand this of 
 the mouth of the river ; but that 
 was near Tempe, where Aristaeus 
 was supposed to dwell. He for- 
 sook the plains, and retired to the 
 springs of the river, and. the moun- 
 tain Pindus. 
 
 321. Mater Cyrene.] Virgil makes 
 Cyrene the daughter of Peneus 3 
 but Pindar makes her the daughter 
 of Hypseus, king of the Lapithse, 
 son of the Naiad Creusa, by Peneus: 
 
 xcv^u, 3-' 'Y-^sos ii>(>vQiei' 05 Act7ri6c6v vsrsg- 
 07rXav Twrcixis qv fioto-iXivq, l| 'Zlxictiov 
 yivo$ qgag "hivrigos, ov xtn Tliv^ov xXezv- 
 vx7$ Iv -KrvyjMt Nui$ ii>$£civ6t7<rx Umtov 
 
398 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 why did you bear me de- 
 tested by the fates, and yet 
 6prung from the glorious race 
 of gods, if, as you pretend, 
 Thymbraean Apollo is indeed 
 my father? or whither is 
 your love for me fled? why 
 did you bid me hope for hea- 
 ven ? See, I lose, whilst you 
 are my mother, even this 
 glory of mortal life, which 
 trying all things I had scarce 
 struck out from the diligent 
 care of fruits and cattle.. But 
 proceed, and with your own 
 hand root up my happy 
 groves : set hostile fire to my 
 stalls, and destroy my har- 
 vests : burn down my plant- 
 ations, and exercise a strong 
 bill against my vines ; if you 
 have taken such great offence 
 at my praise. But his mother 
 heard the voice under the 
 bed of the deep river: the 
 Nymphs were carding the 
 Milesian wool,dyed with a full 
 sea-green colour, around her ; 
 both Drymo and Xanthe, and 
 Ligea and Phyllodoce, 
 
 Ima tenes, quid me prseclara stirpe deoruro, 
 Si modo, quern perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus 
 
 Apollo, 
 Invisum fatis genuisti ? aut quo tibi nostri 324 
 Pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare jubebas? 
 En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem 
 Quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia 
 
 solers 
 Omnia tentanti extuderat, te matre relinquo. 
 Quin age, et ipsa manu felices erue sylvas : 
 Fer stabulis inimicum ignem, atque interfice 
 
 messes : 330 
 
 Ure sata, et validam in vites molire bipennem ; 
 Tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis. 
 At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti 
 Sensit : earn circum Milesia vellera Nymphae 
 Carpebant, hyali saturo fucata colore : 335 
 
 Drymoque, Xanthoque, Ligeaque, Phyllodoce- 
 
 que, 
 
 >&%u HLgzotcr truer iv Teticcg Svyciriiff. Al- 
 most the whole ninth Pythian ode 
 is taken up with the account of 
 Cyrene, of which I shall give an 
 abstract. This beautiful young lady 
 was educated by her father, in the 
 valleys of Pindus. Her whole de- 
 light was in hunting wild beasts, 
 which greatly tended to the secu- 
 rity of her father's cattle. Apollo 
 happened to see her lighting with 
 a lion, and fell in love with her, in 
 consequence of which he carried her 
 into Africa, where she was delivered 
 of our Aristseus, and gave her name 
 to the famous city Cyrene. 
 
 323. Thymbrceus Apollo.] Apollo 
 had this surname from Thymbra, 
 a town of Troas, where he had a 
 famous temple. 
 
 328. Extuderat] In the King's, 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts, 
 
 and in some of the old editions, it 
 is excuderat: in both Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts it is excuterat. 
 
 SSI. Bipennem.] The bipennis is 
 a sort of bill with two edges. 
 
 334. Sensit.'] Pierius found senlit 
 in some ancient manuscripts. 
 
 Milesia vellera.~] See the note on 
 book iii. ver. 306. 
 
 335. Hyali.] This colour is a sea- 
 green, or glass colour, vxtos signify- 
 ing glass. 
 
 336. Drymoque, &c] The poets 
 seem fond of making long catalogues 
 of nymphs ; as may be seen in He- 
 siod, Homer, and others. 
 
 Ruaeus gives the following ety- 
 mology of their names: Drymo 
 from ^gVjKo?, a wood of oaks ; Xantho 
 from |*v0?, yellow or golden ; Ligea 
 from )uyuec, canorous; Phyllodoce 
 from <pvh.tov, a leaf, and ^fi^o^xi, I 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 S99 
 
 Csesariem effusae nitidam per Candida colla : 
 Nessee, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque, 
 Cydippeque, et flava Lycorias; altera virgo, 
 
 having their shining hair dif- 
 fused over their snowy necks ; 
 Nesxe, and Spio, and Thalia, 
 and Cymodoce, and Cydippe, 
 and golden Lycorias, the one 
 a virgin, 
 
 take; Nesaee from vwag, an island; 
 Spio from er?rg<ov, a den; Thalia 
 from Mxxet, I flourish; Cymodoce 
 from x.vpo&, a wave, and %%opxi 3 
 I take ; Cydippe from Kidog, glory, 
 and JWo?, a horse ; Lycorias from 
 Xwosy a wolf; Clio from xXeia, I 
 praise ; Ephyre from Qv^a, I water; 
 Opis from aty, vTrog a countenance ; 
 Dei'opea from $ws, ardent, and o^, 
 onog, a voice. Dryden has added 
 epithets to several of these names, 
 which are not warranted either by 
 the original, or their etymologies : 
 
 Spio with Drymo brown, and Xanthe 
 
 fair, 
 And sweet Phyllodoce, 
 Opis the meek, and Deiopeia proud, 
 Nisea lofty, 
 Thalia joyous, Ephyre the sad. 
 
 Grimoaldus has given a large 
 paraphrase on all these names, which 
 it may not be amiss to translate : 
 ' ' In the first place Drymo, so called 
 " from a grove of oaks. Then 
 " Xantho, named either from a 
 " yellow colour, or from a river of 
 " Troy of the same name, which is 
 tc called also Scamander. After- 
 <e wards Ligea, who had her name 
 tc from the sound of flowing waters, 
 <f or from a tree or herb, called by 
 " the Greeks Ligeon. Then Phyl- 
 " lodoce, so called from receiving 
 " leaves. And Nesaea, who had 
 * e her name either from spinning, 
 " swimming, or washing. Speio 
 " also, so called from dens and ca- 
 " verns of rivers. Thalia also, 
 " named from greenness, joy, and 
 u mirth. And Cymodoce, so called 
 " from receiving and quieting 
 " waves. Also Cydippe, a riding 
 " virgin, who had her name from 
 
 <c the excellence and glory of her 
 tc horses. Also Lycorias, who was 
 " married, and had the manners of 
 " a wolf. And Clio, who uses to 
 " bring praise and glory to men. 
 " And her sister Beroe, who retain- 
 " ed the name of an old woman of 
 " Epidaurus, into whom Juno 
 " changed herself, to persuade Se- 
 " mele, to entreat of Jupiter, that 
 " he would appear to her with his 
 f « full glory. Ephyre also was pre- 
 11 sent, from whom the city Corinth 
 " took its ancient name. Opis 
 " also, a nymph full of care and 
 u consideration. There was Asian 
 t( Deiopeia also, a warlike and 
 " strong virago. And lastly Are- 
 " thusa, a huntress, and companion 
 " of Diana, who took her name 
 " from a Sicilian fountain, who 
 (( throwing away her arrows fled 
 " from Alpheus pursuing her." 
 
 S36. Phyllodoce.] In both the 
 Arundelian, and in one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, it is Phyledoce. In Dr. 
 Mead's other manuscript it is Phil- 
 lidoce. 
 
 338. Nescee, &c.] This verse is 
 omitted in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts : and in some others, accord- 
 ing to Pierius, and Fulvius Ur- 
 sinus. 
 
 Cymodoce.] In one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts it is Cynodoce. 
 
 33Q. Cydippeque etjlava Lycorias.] 
 In the King's, the Cambridge, one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts, and 
 in the old Nurenberg edition it is 
 Cydippe et flava Lycorias. Pierius 
 found Cydippeque et flava Lycorias 
 in the Lombard manuscript, which 
 he thinks is Virgil's manner. This 
 reading is generally admitted. 
 
400 
 
 P. VIRGILI1 MARONIS 
 
 the other having fust expe- 
 rienced the first labours of 
 Lucina ; and Clio and her sis- 
 ter Beroe, both daughters of 
 Oceanus : both begirt with 
 gold, both with painted skins ; 
 and Ephyre, and Opis, and 
 Asian Deiopeia, and Arethusa 
 having at length laid her 
 shafts aside. Among whom 
 Clymene was relating the vain 
 care of Vulcan, and the de- 
 ceits of Mars, and his sweet 
 thefts, and enumerated the 
 frequent amours of the gods 
 down from Chaos. Whilst 
 the nymphs were hearkening 
 to this song, as they turned 
 the soft work, again the la- 
 mentati ons o f Aristaeus struck 
 his mother's ears ; and all 
 were astonished in their glassy 
 seats : 
 
 Altera turn primos Lucinae experta labores : 340 
 Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambse, 
 Ambae auro, pictis mcinctae pellibus ambse ; 
 Atque Ephyre, atque Opis, et Asia Deiopea ; 
 Et tandem positis velox Arethusa sagittis. 
 Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat in an em 345 
 Vulcani, Martisque.dolos, et dulcia furta: 
 Aque Chao densos divum nmnerabat amores. 
 Carmine quo captae, dum fusis mollia pensa 
 Devolvunt; iterum maternas impulit aures 
 Luctus Aristsei, vitreisque sedilibus omnes 350 
 
 343. Et Asia Deiopea.] Paul Ste- 
 phens and Schrevelius read atque 
 Asia Deiopea. Some read atque Asia 
 et Deiopeia, making Asia and Deio- 
 peia two nymphs. But I believe Asia 
 is an adjective, meaning that she be- 
 longed to the Asian fen: see the 
 note on book i. ver. 3S3. 
 
 344. Tandem positis velox Are- 
 thusa sagittis.'] The nymph Are- 
 thusa, according to the fable, was 
 the daughter of Nereus and Doris, 
 and one of Diana's companions. 
 Being pursued by the river god Al- 
 pheus, she was changed into a foun- 
 tain by Diana. 
 
 345. Curam Clymene narrabat in- 
 anem Vulcani, &c] This story of 
 the amour of Mars and Venus, and 
 their being caught in a net by Vul- 
 can, is sung by Demodocus, in the 
 eighth Odyssey. The Poet calls 
 Vulcan's care vain, either because 
 it did not hinder the lovers from 
 enjoyment, or perhaps because, ac- 
 cording to the song in Homer, the 
 discovery of Mars seemed to be en- 
 vied by the gods : 
 
 'Egftqv £e zTgotriuViv aval; Aio$ vlo$ 'AtcX- 
 
 Xav. 
 'Egfttia Ato$ viz, oiccxrogz, 2urog zduv. 
 'H£« xzv iv Szcruoifft B-'tXois K(>a<rz{>o7<ri -art- 
 
 Zff6z)$ 
 
 Etftuv Iv XiKT^onri vttLqa xgvtrfi 'AQgoYirii ; 
 
 Toy o' ri/AtiStT zrftirct ^iicxrogo; 'A^yzifovrtis. 
 Ai yxg touto yzvoiro, ava.% IxctTr/SoX' 'AjtoX- 
 
 XoV 
 Azfffio) ij.iv <r(ns Toffirot dffzigovzs af&<p)$ %%0izv, 
 'TpzTs S' zlffooourz S-zo), "sroiam tz S-'zaivai, 
 Alra,^ zyuv zv^oif&i zsxga. Xi UIT ^ 'A^oS/ttj. 
 fl fls zipar iv Tz y'z\w$ wgr aixvurotai SzeT- 
 
 ffn. 
 
 He who gilds the skies, 
 
 The gay Apollo thus to Hermes cries. 
 
 Wou'dst thou enchain'd like Mars, oh 
 Hermes, lie 
 
 And bear the shame like Mars, to share 
 the joy ? 
 
 O envied shame ! (the smiling youth 
 rejoin'd,) 
 
 Add thrice the chains, and thrice more 
 firmly bind ; 
 
 Gaze all ye gods, and ev'ry goddess gaze, 
 
 Yet eager I would bless the .sweet dis- 
 grace. 
 
 Loud laugh the rest. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 347. Aque Chao.] According to 
 Hesiod, Chaos was before the other 
 gods ; and from him the rest were 
 generated : 
 
 "Hroi ftzv ■sr^aritflu, Xdog y'zvzr. 
 
 'Ek Xdzo; §' 'EgzSos <rz pzkxtvd rz Nt»| 
 \y'zvov\o. 
 
 Numerabat^] It is narrabat in one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and in 
 the old Venice edition of 1476 and 
 1482. 
 
 350. Vitreisque sedilibus.] In the 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 401 
 
 Obstupuere : sed ante alias Arethusa sorores 
 Prospiciens, summa flavum caput extulit unda, 
 Et procul: O gemitu non frustra exterrita tan to, 
 Cyrene soror; ipse tibi tua maxima cura 
 Tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam 355 
 Stat lachrymans, et te crudelem nomine dicit. 
 Huic percussa nova mentem formidine mater, 
 Due age due ad nos; fas illi limina divum 
 Tangere, ait : simul alta jubet discedere late 
 Flumina, qua juvenis gressus inferret : at ilium 
 Curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda, 361 
 Accepitque sinu vasto, misitque sub amnem. 
 Jamque domum mirans genetricis, et humida 
 regna, 
 
 but Arethusa looking for- 
 wards beyond the other sis- 
 ters, raised her golden head 
 above the top of the water ; 
 and called from afar ; O sister 
 Cyrene, not in vain astonished 
 at so great a wailing ; your 
 own Aristaeus, your greatest 
 care, stands grievously la- 
 menting, by the spring of 
 your father Peneus, and call3 
 you cruel by name. Hence 
 the mother having her mind 
 smitten with a new dread, 
 cries, Come, bring him, bring 
 him to us; it is lawful for 
 him to touch the thresholds 
 of the gods. At the same 
 time she commands the deep 
 river to open wide, for the 
 youth to enter : and the wa- 
 ter stood round him heaped 
 up like a mountain, and re- 
 ceived him into its vast bo- 
 som, and admitted him under 
 the river. And now admiring 
 the habitation of his mother, 
 and the watery realms, 
 
 King's manuscript it is vitreis quoque 
 sedibus. 
 
 352. Flavum."] Pierius reads pla- 
 cidum: but he is better pleased with 
 flavum, which he found in most of 
 the ancient manuscripts. 
 
 355. Penei genitoris.] We have 
 seen already, that Peneus,, according 
 to Pindar, was the grandfather of 
 Cyrene. 
 
 357- Huic.'] In one of the Arun- 
 delian, one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts, and in some old printed edi- 
 tions, it is hinc. 
 
 359. Discedere.] It is descendere 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 36l. Curvata in montis faciem.] 
 Thus Homer : 
 
 Thus also Ovid : 
 
 Cum mare surrexit; cumulusque im- 
 
 manis aquarum 
 In montis speciem curvari, et crescere 
 
 visus. 
 
 363. Jamque domum, &c] This 
 paragraph contains the entrance of 
 Aristaeus within the earth, and his 
 
 astonishment at the sight of the 
 sources of the several rivers. 
 
 Servius observes, that what is 
 here said is not by a poetical liberty, 
 but is taken from the sacred mys- 
 teries of the Egyptians. For on 
 certain days sacred to the Nile, 
 some boys, born of holy parents, 
 were delivered to the nymphs by 
 the priests. Who, when they were 
 grown up and returned back, related 
 that there were groves under the 
 earth, and an immense water con- 
 taining all things, and from which 
 every thing is procreated. Whence, 
 according to Thales, Oceanumque 
 patrem rerum. 
 
 Homer makes the ocean to be 
 the source of all rivers : 
 
 fixtiuppurao f^iya aQ'ivoi uxiu.- 
 
 'E£ ov-xig zfdvrts zrorafio) ku) zsSL<tc& S-«- 
 
 Ka.) zrciffui xfivut kbc) tp^ilara ftoixga vxov- 
 civ. 
 
 TW eternal ocean, from whose fountains 
 
 flow 
 The seas, the rivers, and the springs he- 
 low. 
 
 low, 
 
 3 * 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
402 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 and the lakes shut up in dens, 
 and the sounding groves, he 
 went along, and astonished at 
 the vastmotion of the waters, 
 he surveyed all the rivers gl'd- 
 ing under the earth in differ- 
 ent places. Phasi- and Lycus, 
 and the head whence great 
 Enipeus first breaks forth, 
 whence father Tyber, and 
 whence the floods of Anio, 
 and Hypanis sounding over 
 the rocks, and Mysian Caicus, 
 
 Speluncisque lacus clausos, lucosque sonantes, 
 Ibat, et ingenti mota stupefactus aquarum, 365 
 Omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra 
 Spectabat diversa locis, Phasimque, Lycumque, 
 Et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus, 
 Unde pater Tiberinus, et unde Aniena fluenta, 
 Saxosumque sonans Hypanis, Mysusque Caicus, 
 
 But Plato, whom Virgil seems to 
 follow here, as he did before con- 
 cerning the soul of the world, sup- 
 poses all the rivers to rise from a 
 great cavern, which passes through 
 the whole earth, and is called by 
 the poets Barathrum, and Tartarus : 
 *Ev n rcov ^xa-^drm ittg ySfe, xKKag rs 
 [Aiyirrov rwy%dm ov, x.x) 2iXft7Ti^lg T6- 
 
 %og i'tTCi Xsyav ccvto, 
 
 Tyke fidk% $%i (ioi^trjov vvo %0ovos l/]t /3j- 
 
 o kou cbxXoOi kxi laiivog Keel xXXoi -zroXXot 
 rm TzroiYiTav ToigTot^ov x.ix.XviKot,eriv. This 
 opinion of Plato is largely opposed 
 by Aristotle, in his second book of 
 Meteorology ; To 2s lv Oxfian yi- 
 yqxppkvov zrigi ts rZv 'z?6TX(aojv xxi tjJs 
 SxXxilng, udvveiTov \<£\i. The doctrine 
 however of a subterraneous abyss 
 of waters has been of no small use 
 to some modern philosophers in the 
 construction of their theories. 
 
 367. Phasimque Lycumque.] These 
 rivers, according to Strabo, are two 
 of the most famous of Armenia, and 
 fall into the Black sea : Jlorxpo} dl 
 ■zrXuovg piv iia-tv lv Ty %apc&. yvapifjuas- 
 rxlci 21 Qxcrtg ph xxi Avxog, tig rhv 
 IIovTixtjv hc.7Tt7rloi1tg SxXxtIxv. ('Egxro- 
 c6'iv/ig §' xvri rev Avxov rt'9n<ri Qi^fnoaovlx 
 cvx, tv.) iig tw Kxftixv 21 Kvgog, xxi 
 'A^lm' *U 2t rh 'E^vQ^xv o n Ev- 
 tyqxrvtg, xxi o Tiygig. 
 
 36S. Primum se erumpit Enipeus."] 
 Pierius found primum se rumpit in 
 the Roman manuscript: and pri- 
 
 mum erumpit in that oblong one, 
 which Pomponius Lsetus used to 
 call his darling; also in the Medi- 
 cean it had been altered from the 
 same reading. I find primus erupit 
 in the King's manuscript, primum 
 erupit in one of Dr. Mead's, and pri- 
 mum se erupit in the Cambridge ma- 
 nuscript, and in the old Venice edi- 
 tion of 1475. 
 
 Pierius found Enipheus in some 
 old manuscripts. It is Enitheus in 
 one of Dr. Mead's. 
 
 Enipeus is a river of Thessaly 
 flowing through Pharsalus, and fall- 
 ing into Peneus, according to Strabo : 
 
 'O 2' 'Evnrtvg xno rig 'Ofyvog -zsrx^x <J>atg- 
 cxXov hvtig, tig rov A7ri2xvov ■&xfo&xXXu J 
 o 2' tig rov n-/jv£;ov. 
 
 Homer calls this river the divine 
 Enipeus, and the beautiful streams 
 of Enipeus : 
 
 4>>5 Vi Kgydrto; yvvn 'if/.uivxi A/aX/«"«a, 
 "H z3o\a.fx.ov tigdtrffur 'Evivrijos Suoio 
 °Os -aroXu xaXXiff]o$ zfora.fi.ut If) yaTa* 
 'Irto-r 
 
 Kxl §' W 'EwstJnjj zfuXitrxiro xaXa piifytt. 
 
 369. Pater Tiberinus.'] The Ty- 
 ber, on the banks of which Rome 
 is built. 
 
 One of Dr. Mead's manuscripts 
 has caput instead of pater. 
 
 Aniena fluenta.] The Anio is a 
 river of Italy. 
 
 370. Hypanis.] The Hypanis is 
 a river of Scythia. 
 
 Mysusque Caicus.] The Caicus 
 rises in Mysia. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 403 
 
 Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu 371 
 Eridanus ; quo non alius per pinguia culta 
 In mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis. 
 Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta 
 Perventum ; et nati fletus cognovit inanes 375 
 Cyrene ; manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes 
 Germanse, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis. 
 
 and Eridanus having the face 
 of a bull with gilded horns ; 
 than which no river rushes 
 more violently through the 
 fruitful fields into the sinning 
 sea. After he was arrived 
 under the roof of the cham- 
 ber hanging with pumice 
 stones, and Cyrene knew the 
 vain lamentations of her son ; 
 her sisters in order pour pure 
 water on his hands, and bring 
 smooth towels: 
 
 371. Gemina auratus taurino cor- 
 nua vultu Eridanus.] The Eridanus, 
 called also the Po, is a great and fa- 
 mous river of Italy. It is common 
 with the poets to represent great 
 rivers with the face of a bull. 
 
 373. In mare purpureum.] Vic- 
 torinus, according to Servius, ima- 
 gined the Poet to mean the Red 
 sea : a monstrous supposition, that 
 a river should rise in Italy, and have 
 its outlet near India. Purple is an 
 epithet frequently given to the sea 
 by the ancients. See the note on 
 book iii. ver. 359. 
 
 Effluit.] I follow Heinsiusj 
 though injluit is the common read- 
 ing. Pierius found effluit in the 
 Roman and other most ancient ma- 
 nuscripts. 
 
 374. Postquam est, &c] This 
 paragraph contains the reception of 
 Aristaeus by his mother, her instruc- 
 tions, and the character of Proteus. 
 
 375. Perventum et nati fletus.] In 
 the king's manuscript it is Perven- 
 tum nati flentes ; where Jlentes is ma- 
 nifestly a mistake. 
 
 Inanesr\ Servius says these la- 
 mentations were vain, because they 
 were moved by things easy to be re- 
 paired, in which he is followed by 
 Grimoaldus and LaCerda. Ruseus 
 interprets inanes, immoderatos : but 
 on what authority I do not know. 
 
 376. Manibus liquidos dant ordine 
 fontes.] Dare aquam manibus is a 
 frequent Latin expression. Thus 
 our Poet again in the first iEneid : 
 
 Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cere- 
 
 remque canistris 
 Expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia 
 
 villis. 
 
 377. Tonsisque ferunt mantelia 
 villis.] It is commonly spelt man- 
 tilia: but Heinsius and Masvicius 
 read mantelia, which I find also in 
 the Bodleian, and in one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. Vossius also 
 prefers mantelia, and observes that 
 this word is written mantelum, man* 
 tellum, and mantelium. He also 
 quotes a comment of the Servius of 
 Fabricius, for it is not in that of 
 Daniel, which I have by me, wherein 
 Servius observes, that Varro called 
 them mantelia, as it were manutenia, 
 and that Plautus used mantelium, 
 and IjUciMus mantelia : " Varro ap- 
 '* pellat mantelia, quasi manutenia. 
 " Cseterum Plautus hujus singulare 
 " mantelium posuit in Captivis : 
 
 " Nee his sycophantiis, nee fucis ullum 
 
 *' mantelium inveniam. 
 ** Lucilius autem mantelia dicit ; 
 '* Mappas, mantelia, merum- 
 
 " que, 
 
 " quae Grseci /tt«v£v#vocant." Vos- 
 sius farther observes, that there is 
 probably an error in this note of 
 Servius, and that it should be manu- 
 teria, rather than manutenia, be- 
 cause Varro derives it a tergendo, 
 and not a tenendo ; "Mantelium 
 ft quasi manuterium, ubi maims 
 " terguntur," says Varro. 
 
 Mantelium certainly signifies a 
 towel, and it seems to have been 
 3 f2 
 
404 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 some load the tables with 
 viands, and place full cups ; 
 the altars blaze with Pan- 
 chasan fires Then, says the 
 mother, take these goblets of 
 Mseonian wine : let us make 
 a libation to Oceanus. At 
 the same time she prays to 
 Oceanus, the father of all 
 things, and to the sister 
 nymphs, of whom a hundred 
 preserve the groves, a hun- 
 dred the rivers. Thrice she 
 poured liquid nectar on the 
 burning fire ; thrice the rising 
 flame shone up to the top of 
 the roof. With which omen 
 being confirmed, she thus 
 began : There is a prophet 
 in the Carpathian gulph of 
 Neptune, 
 
 Pars epulis onerat mensas, et plena reponunt 
 Pocula. Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arse. 
 Et mater, cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi; 380 
 Oceano libemus, ait, simul ipsa precatur 
 Ocean unique patrem rerum, Nymphasque so- 
 
 rores, 
 Centum quae sylvas, centum quae flumina servant. 
 Ter liquido ardentem perfudit nectare Vestam ; 
 Ter flamma ad summum tecti subjecta reluxit. 
 Omine quo firmans animum, sic incipit ipsa, 386 
 Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, 
 
 made of some woolly or nappy sort 
 of cloth, which nice people had 
 shorn or clipped, for the greater 
 smoothness and delicacy. Our nap- 
 klns were probably of the same sort 
 formerly, the word seeming to have 
 been derived from nap. 
 
 379- Panchceis ignibus.] Panchsea 
 is a country of Arabia felix, fa- 
 mous for frankincense. Thus our 
 Poet in the second Georgick : 
 
 Totaque thuriferis PanchaTa pinguis are- 
 nis. 
 
 380. Mac-nil carchesia Bacchi.] 
 Servius interprets McEonii, Lydii. 
 Philargyrius adds, that Lydia was 
 anciently called Mseonia, and that 
 the mountain Tmolus, famous for 
 good wine, is id, that country. 
 Strabo mentions a.. country called 
 Catacecaumene, which is otherwise 
 called Mysia and Mseonia, and was 
 remarkable for affording no other 
 tree than that sort of vine from 
 which the catacecaumenian wine is 
 obtained, which yields to none in 
 elegance : Mztoc, til rocvr Wh K#T«s«g- 
 
 ■zrivrxKOFicov ^oChiuv-, ■zsr'hd.rot; dl rzTf>ctx.o- 
 <rlav, tin Mvtriav %(>y) xctXtTv, iirt Mso- 
 victv' XiyiTxi yu.% otfAtyoTZpus' oo7rctvlx 
 
 Xoylftav UQiTYl XiiTTOftiVOV. 
 
 The carchesium was an oblong 
 sort of cup, a little flatted about the 
 middle, and having the handles 
 reaching from top to bottom. 
 
 382. Oceanumque patrem rerum,~\ 
 This expression is according to the 
 philosophy of Thales, who was of 
 opinion, that all things were ori- 
 ginally derived from water. Homer 
 makes Oceanus the father of all the 
 gods: 
 
 'rtKiavov rt 3-iZv yivariv, xu.) (wri^a TnSvt. 
 
 384. Perfudit nectare Vestam.] In 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts it is 
 perfundit. 
 
 Nectar is here used for wine, as 
 in the fifth Eclogue : 
 
 Vina novum fundam calathis Arvisia 
 nectar. 
 
 The ancients had two Vesta's, one 
 the mother of Saturn, who is the 
 same with the earth j and the other 
 the daughter of the same deity, who 
 presides over hearths. See the note 
 on book i. ver. 498. 
 
 387. Carpathio.] Carpathus, now 
 called Scarpanto, is an island of the 
 Mediterranean, over against Egypt, 
 from which the neighbouring sea 
 was called Carpathian, 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 405 
 
 Caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus sequor 
 Et juncto bipedum curru metitur equorum. 
 Hie nunc Emathiae portus patriamque revisit 390 
 Pallenen : hunc et nymphae veneramur, et ipse 
 Grandaevus Nereus: novit namque omnia vates, 
 Quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura tra- 
 
 hantur. 
 Quippe ita Neptuno visum est: immania cujus 
 Armenta, et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas. 395 
 Hie tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem 
 
 blue Proteus, who measures 
 the great sea with fishes, and 
 with his chariot drawn by 
 two-legged horses. He now 
 rev sits the ports of Ematlna, 
 and his own country Pallene j 
 him we nymphs reverence, as 
 does also aged Nereus; for 
 the prophet knows every 
 thing, what is, what was, and 
 what is to come. For so 
 Neptune has thought fit : 
 whose monstrous herds, and 
 ugly sea calves he feeds under 
 the gulph. Him, my son, you 
 must f rst take in chains, that 
 he may 
 
 3S8. Proteus.] It does not ap- 
 pear certainly from ancient history, 
 who this Proteus really was. Ho- 
 mer makes him an Egyptian. He- 
 rodotus represents him as a king of 
 Egypt. Some suppose him to have 
 been a sophist, others a tumbler, 
 &c. Sir Isaac Newton, finding him 
 to have been contemporary with 
 Amenophis or Memnon, takes him 
 to have been only a viceroy to Ame- 
 nophis, and to have governed some 
 part of the lower Egypt, in his ab- 
 sence. The poets however have 
 made him a sea-god, and servant 
 to Neptune. This whole fable of 
 Proteus is an imitation of the fourth 
 Odyssey, where Homer represents 
 Menelaus consulting this deity, by 
 the advice and with the assistance 
 of his own daughter Eidothea. 
 
 389- Et juncto.] It is evincto in 
 one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 Bipedum equorumi] These ficti- 
 tious sea-horses are supposed to re- 
 semble horses in their foreparts with 
 two legs, and to end in a tail like 
 fishes. Therefore Virgil calls them 
 both fishes and horses. 
 
 390. Emathice.] See the note on 
 book i. ver. 489. 
 
 391. Pallenen.'] Pallene is a pen- 
 insula of Macedon. Virgil makes 
 this the native country of Proteus, 
 though it has been already observed, 
 
 Homer calls him an Egyptian. He 
 might perhaps be born in Macedon, 
 and then travel into Egypt; for ac- 
 cording to Herodotus, he was an 
 obscure person in that country. 
 
 Veneramur.] It is venerantur in 
 the King's and in one of the Arun- 
 delian manuscripts, and in the old 
 Paris edition of 1494, 
 
 393. Sint.] It is stmt in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 Fuerint7\ It is fuerant in one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 Trahantur.] It is trahuntur in 
 the King's manuscript. 
 
 394. Ita Neptuno visum est.~] 
 Homer makes Proteus a servant of 
 Neptune : 
 
 , A6ava.rot Xlgorths Alyvvrrios o$ rt $-xXa<r- 
 
 Ild<r'/is fiiv&sx oTSs. Tioirt^duvoi v7toby,us. 
 
 Proteus a name tremendous o'er the 
 
 main, 
 The delegate of Neptune's wat'ry reign. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 396. Vinclis capiendus7\ Homer 
 says he must be seized, in order to 
 make him discover what is required 
 of him : 
 
 Tovy' i'Ittus av luvato Xa^W^eva? KiXx- 
 
 "Os *iv toi il'T'/io'iv oSov xat fjcir^a xtXtufav 
 Uo<rrov0' a>s l<ri zffovrov \"kiuoia,i l%6ubivra,. 
 Watch with insidious care his known 
 abode ; 
 
406 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 discover the whole cause of 
 the disease, and give you 
 good success. For without 
 force, he will not give you 
 any advice, nor can )Ou win 
 him by prayers : when you 
 have taken him, use violence 
 and chains ; against these his 
 tricks will be vain. When 
 the sun has scorched the mid- 
 dle of the day, when the 
 herbs wither, and the shade 
 is grateful to the cattle, then 
 I myself will lead you to the 
 seniors retirement, where he 
 withdraws from the waters ; 
 that you may easily attack 
 him whilst he is overcome 
 with sleep. But when you 
 hold him fast with your 
 hands and chains; then will 
 he deceive you with various 
 forms and appearances of 
 wild beasts. 
 
 Expediat morbi causam, eventusque secundet. 
 Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque ilium 
 Orando flectes : vim duram et vincula capto 
 Tende : doli circum haec demum frangentur 
 
 inanes. 400 
 
 Ipsa ego te, medios cum sol accenderit aestus, 
 Cum sitiunt herbae, et pecori jam gratior umbra 
 
 est, 
 In secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis 
 Se recipit ; facile ut somno aggrediare jacentem. 
 Verum ubi correptum manibus, vinclisque te- 
 
 nebis; 405 
 
 Turn variae el u dent species atque ora ferarum. 
 
 There fast in chains constrain the various 
 
 god: 
 Who bound obedient to superior force, 
 Unerring will prescribe your destin'd 
 
 course. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 399- Flectes.] Pierius found vinces 
 in the Medicean manuscript. It is 
 the same in the King's, the Cam- 
 bridge, the Bodleian, and in both 
 the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 401. Medios cum sol accenderit 
 cestus7\ It is accederit in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 The heat of the day is mentioned 
 also by Homer : 
 
 *H[/a>S S* ri'tXtog pitrov ovgccriv a/ttpiStGrixu. 
 
 When through the zone of heav'n the 
 
 mounted sun 
 Hath journey'd half, and half remains to 
 
 run. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 403. Senis.] Thus Homer : 
 
 — — — — .— eXofuta ro7o yigovros. 
 
 405. Verum ubi correptum, &c] 
 These changes of Proteus are evi- 
 dently taken from Homer : 
 
 n«vT« $1 yivopivo; zruono'ircu otrif it) yaTav 
 'EfsTfTa ytvovrai, xou v}wg, xui SifTilaXs 
 
 'Akk' art xiv $w a aires amignrai itritrfit, 
 
 Tolas iuv olSv xt xartuvn^'ivra Tbyo-fa, 
 
 Kott rort o*h c^iff^ai <re /3»jj, i.Zffccl rt y'%- 
 
 £ovru 
 "H^us. 
 
 Instant he wears, elusive of the rape, 
 The mimic force of every savage shape : 
 Or glides with liquid lapse a murm'ring 
 
 stream, 
 Or wrapt in flame, he glows at ev'ry 
 
 limb. 
 Yet still retentive, with redoubled might 
 Through each vain passive form con- 
 
 strain his flight. 
 But when, his native shape resum'd, he 
 
 stands 
 Patient of conquest, and your cause 
 
 demands, 
 The cause that urg'd the bold attempt 
 
 declare, 
 And sooth the vanquish'd with a victor's 
 
 pray'r. 
 The bands relax'd, implore the seer to 
 
 say 
 What Godhead interdicts the wat'ry way. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 406. Eludent.] So I read with the 
 Cambridge and one of Dr. Mead's 
 manuscripts, with most of the old 
 editions, and Heinsius and Masvi- 
 cius. Pierius found Indent in the 
 Roman manuscript, eludunt in the 
 old oblong one, eludent in the Lom- 
 bard, the Medicean, and most of the 
 ancient ones. It is illudent in both 
 the Arundelian, and in the other 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 407 
 
 Fiet enim subito sus horridus, atraque tigris, 
 Squamosusque draco, et fulva cervice leaena : 
 Aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit, atque ita 
 
 vinclis 
 Excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit. 410 
 Sed quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, 
 Tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla ; 
 Donee talis erit mutato corpore, qualem 
 Videris, incepto tegeret cum lumina somno. 
 Hflecait, et liquid urn ambrosieediffunditodorem; 
 Quo totum nati corpus perduxit: at illi 416 
 Dulcis compositis spiravit crinibus aura, 
 Atque habilis membris venit vigor. Est specus 
 
 ingens 
 Exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento 
 Cogitur, inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos ; 
 Deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis. 421 
 
 Intus se vasti Proteus tegit objice saxi. 
 Hie juvenem in latebris aversum a lumine 
 
 Nympha 
 Collocat : ipsa procui nebulis obscura resist it. 
 
 For on a sudden he will be- 
 come a bristly boar, and a fell 
 tyger, and a. scaly dragon, and 
 a' lion with a yellow mane: 
 or else he will make a roar* 
 ing like fire, to escape the 
 chains, or glide away in the 
 fo m of flowing water. But 
 the more he varies himself 
 into all shapes, do you. my 
 son, so much tlie more 
 straiten the binding chains: 
 till he shall transform his body 
 into the same shape that you 
 saw him have when he first 
 vent to sleep. Having said 
 thus, «he poured the liquid 
 odour of Ambrosia upon her 
 son, anointing his whole body 
 with it ; whence a fragrant 
 gale breathes from his hair, 
 and strong vigour is infused 
 into his limbs. There is a 
 great den in the hollow side 
 of a mountain, where much 
 water is driven in by the 
 wind, and is divided into 
 many bays, sometimes a most 
 safe station for mariners in 
 distress. Within this place 
 Proteus hides himself behind 
 a vast rock. Here the Nymph 
 places the young man in am- 
 bush concealed from the 
 light, and stands herself at a 
 distance involved in a cloud. 
 
 manuscript of Dr. Mead, which is 
 admitted by La Cerda, Schrevelius, 
 and Ruaeus. Many read illudunt. 
 
 407. Alra.] Id est sceva, says 
 Servius. 
 
 411. Vertet.] It is veriit in one 
 of the Arundelian, and in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 415. Hcec ait] This paragraph 
 contains the seizing of Proteus. 
 
 Ambrosice.] Pierius found am- 
 brosia, in the ablative case, in some 
 manuscripts. 
 
 DiffundiW] Pierius says it is de- 
 promit in the Roman manuscript. I 
 find diffudit in the King's, both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts, and in some 
 printed editions. 
 
 416. Perduxit] Pierius found per- 
 fudit in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 417- Aura.] It is auras in the 
 Roman manuscript, according to 
 Pierius. 
 
 421. Deprensis.] It is depressis in 
 the Cambridge manuscript. 
 
 422. Intus.] In some copies it is 
 inter. 
 
 Vasti.] In the old Nurenberg 
 edition it is casti. 
 
 Objice.] In all the manuscripts 
 that I have collated, and in many of 
 the printed editions, it is obice. 
 
 423. Aversum alumine.] In one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, it is aver- 
 sum lumine without a. Pierius found 
 the same reading in most of the an- 
 cient manuscripts. 
 
 424. Resistit.] Some read recessit; 
 but all the ancient manuscripts, ac- 
 cording to Pierius, have resistit. It 
 
403 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARON1S 
 
 Now rapid Sinus, scorching 
 the thirsty Indians, blazed in 
 the heavens, and the tiery sun 
 had finished half his course : 
 the herbs were parched, and 
 the rays boiled the hollow ri- 
 vers to mud being heated 
 with dry channels: when 
 Proteus went to his accus- 
 tomed den from the waves : 
 the watery race of the vast 
 sea rolling about him, scat- 
 tered the bitter spray far 
 about. The sea calves spread 
 themselves asleep on the 
 floor. He, like a herdsman 
 on the mountains, when even- 
 ing brings home the calves 
 from feeding, and the lambs 
 sharpen the wolves with loud 
 bleatings, 
 
 Jam rapidus, torrens sitientes Sirius Indos, 425 
 Ardebat caelo; et medium sol igneus orbem 
 Hauserat : arebant herbae, et cava flumina siccis 
 Faucibus ad limum radii tepefacta coquebant. 
 Cum Proteus consueta petens a fluctibus antra 
 Ibat : eum vasti circum gens humida ponti 430 
 Exultans rorem late dispersit amarum. 
 Sternunt se somno diversae in litlore phocae. 
 Ipse, velut stabuli custos in montibus olim, 
 Vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit, 
 Auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni, 435 
 
 is resistit in all the manuscripts that 
 I have seen. 
 
 425. Jam rapidus, &c.] Here the 
 Poet uses a beautiful circumlocution, 
 to express the middle of one of the 
 hottest days in summer. Sirius, a 
 star of the first magnitude in the 
 mouth of the dog, rises about the 
 time of the sun's entering into Leo, 
 towards the latter end of July, 
 making what we call the dog days. 
 He shews it to be the time of noon, 
 by saying the sun had finished the 
 middle or half of his course. All 
 these words, rapidus, torrens, siti- 
 entes, Indos, ardebat, igneus, are ex- 
 pressive of great heat. He enlarges 
 the idea, by representing the grass 
 burnt up, and the rivers boiled to 
 mud. It was the violent heat that 
 caused Proteus to retire into his 
 cave, where he would be the more 
 easily surprised, being fatigued and 
 glad to sleep. 
 
 427- Arebant7\ It is ardebant in 
 the King's manuscript. 
 
 431. Dispersit.] It is commonly 
 read dispergit: but Pier i us found 
 dispersit in the Medicean and other 
 manuscripts. I find dispersit in the 
 King's, both the Arundelian, and in 
 both Dr. Mead's manuscripts. This 
 
 reading is admitted also by Hein- 
 sius and Masvicius. 
 
 Amarum.] The sea water is really 
 bitter as well as salt. Homer has 
 used the same epithet : 
 
 432. Diversce.] So Pierius found 
 it in the Roman and other manu- 
 scripts of greater note. In one of 
 the Arundelian manuscripts, in the 
 old Nurenberg edition, and in Schre- 
 velius, it is diverso. But diversce is 
 received by Heinsius, and most of 
 the good editors. 
 
 433. Ipse, velut stabuli custos, &c] 
 This simile also is in Homer : 
 
 As|st«; h ftiffffoi<ri youth; u>; Kutfi p.f,Xuv. 
 
 Repos'd in sleep profound 
 
 The scaly charge their guardian god 
 
 surround : 
 So with his batt'ning flocks the careful 
 
 swain 
 Abides, pavilion 'd on the grassy plain. 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 434. Reducit.'] It is reduxit in 
 one of the Arundelian manuscripts. 
 
 435. Auditisque.~] So Pierius 
 found it in the Roman and Medi- 
 cean manuscripts. It is the same 
 in the Cambridge manuscript. All 
 the other copies have auditique. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 409 
 
 Considit scopulo medius, numerumque recenset. 
 Cujus Aristaeo quoniam est oblata facultas ; 
 Vix defessa senem passus componere membra, 
 Cum clamore ruit magno, manicisque jacentem 
 Occupat. Ille suae contra non immemor artis, 
 Omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum, 441 
 Ignemque, horribilemque feram, fluviumque li- 
 
 quentem. 
 Verum ubi nulla fugam reperit pellacia, victus 
 In sese redit, atque hominis tandem ore locutus : 
 Nam quis te, juvenum confidentissime, nostras 
 Jussit adire domos ? quidve hinc petis ? inquit. 
 
 At ille : 446 
 
 sits in the midst on a rock, 
 and reviews his number. As 
 soon as Aiistaeus had got this 
 opportunity, scarce suffering 
 the old deity to compose his 
 wearied members, he rushes 
 upon him with a great shout, 
 and binds him. He on the 
 other side, not forgetful of 
 his wonted art, transforms 
 himself into all sorts of won- 
 derful shapes, a fire, a dread- 
 ful wild beast, and a flowing 
 river. But when his deceit 
 found no escape, being con- 
 quered, he returned to his 
 own form, and at lengthspoke 
 with human voice : Who, O 
 most presumptuous youth, 
 who commanded you to ap- 
 proach my habitation? or 
 what do you want here ? says 
 he.-, To- which he answered, 
 
 Heinsius and most of the editors 
 read auditisque. 
 
 436. Considit.] Pierius reads con- 
 sedit, and mentions considit, as being 
 only in the Roman manuscript. It 
 is consedit in both the Arundelian, 
 and in both Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts j conscendit in the King's, 
 but considit in the Bodleian and 
 Cambridge copies ; which last is 
 admitted by Heinsius, and most of 
 the editors. 
 
 439. Cum clamore ruit magno, 
 &c] Thus Menelaus in Homer : 
 
 B«AX<y*sv, ova yigav o~o\'ws itikfihto 
 
 'AX\' %roi zr^urtffra Xiav yivtr yvyivuos, 
 Aurxg etftirx o~gdxuv y xxi zvd$xXi$ t $« 
 
 ftiyxs ffv$. 
 Tivtro 3' vygov tft&g, xxi o"tvb'(>t6v v\pi9firtiXov. 
 'Hf&tTg o* uffTtfAtpius %%o(&iv rtrXnort 3-u/u.a. 
 *AXX* ort ov £ dvix% o yi^uv oXoipdix tfoufy 
 Kx) rors S>j (a Witireriv xvagop,$vos vrgoo-'euxsv, 
 Tig vv rat 'Argios uu Stuv ffufttygxcro-xro 
 
 fiovXxs, 
 
 "Otp^x ft 'iXots dixevret Xo%*iffdf*ivos ; rio 01 
 
 Rushing impetuous forth we strait pre- 
 pare 
 A furious onset with the sound of war, 
 
 And shouting seize the god : our force t' 
 evade 
 
 His various arts he soon resumes in aid : 
 
 A lion now, he curls a surgy mane ; 
 
 Sudden, our bands a spotted pard re- 
 strain ; 
 
 Then arm'd with tusks, and lightning 
 in his eyes, 
 
 A boar's obscener shape the god belies : 
 
 On spiry volumes there a dragon rides : 
 
 Here, from our strict embrace a stream 
 he glides : 
 
 And last, sublime his stately growth he 
 rears, 
 
 A tree, and well dissembled foliage 
 wears. 
 
 Vain efforts ! with superior pow'r com- 
 press'd 
 
 Me with reluctance thus the seer ad- 
 dressed ; 
 
 Say, son of Atreus, say what god inspir'd 
 
 This daring fraud, and what the boon 
 desir'd ?" 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 439- Manicisque.] It is vinclisque 
 in the King's manuscript. 
 
 443. Pellacia.] The common 
 reading is fallacia. 1 have restored 
 pellacia, on the authority of Hein- 
 sius. Pierius also found pellacia in 
 some manuscripts. In the second 
 iEneid we find 
 
 ■■ Invidia. postquam pellacis Ulyssei. 
 3 G " 
 
410 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 You know, O Proteus, you 
 know yourself; nor is it in 
 any one's power to deceive 
 you . But do you cease to do 
 so : I came by the command 
 of the gods, to consult you 
 about mv ruined affairs. When 
 he had thus spoken, the seer, 
 with great violence, rolled his 
 eyes flashing with bluish 
 light j and grinding his teeth, 
 thus opened his mouth to re- 
 veal the fates. It is not with- 
 out some deity that you are 
 punished : you suffer for a 
 great crime : Orpheus, not 
 miserable for any desert of 
 his, calls for these punish- 
 ments on you, unless the 
 fates resist, 
 
 Scis, Proteu, scis ipse: nequeesttefallerecuiquam. 
 Sed tu desine velle : deum preecepta secuti 
 Venimus hinc lapsis quaesiturr. oracula rebus. 
 Tantum effatus ; ad hsec vates vi denique multa 
 Ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco, 451 
 Et graviter frendens, sic fatis ora resolvit : 
 Non te nullius exercent nu minis irae. 
 Magna luis commissa : tibi has miserabilis Or- 
 pheus 
 Haudquaquam ob meritum, poenas, ni fata re- 
 
 sistant, 
 
 455 
 
 447- Scis, Proteu, scis ipse.] Thus 
 also Menelaus. 
 
 Neque est te fallere cuiquam. ] A 
 Graecisra, for nee licet cuiquam; 
 thus in the second Eclogue, nee sit 
 mihi credere. Thus also Horace, 
 quod versu dicere non est. 
 
 449. Venimus, hinc lapsis.] This 
 reading was found by Pierius in 
 the Roman and other ancient ma- 
 nuscripts. It is the same in one 
 of the Arundelian, and in both Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts. It is admitted 
 also by Heinsius, Masvicius, and 
 several of the old editors. 
 
 450. Tantum effatus, &c] The 
 Poet now proceeds to the answer of 
 Proteus, wherein he tells Aristseus, 
 the cause of his disaster was the 
 injury offered by him to Eurydice, 
 the wife of Orpheus. This whole 
 story is told by Virgil in so beau- 
 tiful a manner, that it does not 
 seem unworthy of the mouth of a 
 deity. 
 
 453. Non te nullius.] Servius 
 interprets this non humilis sed magni; 
 but the Nymphs, who were of- 
 fended with Aristseus, were not 
 great deities : and as for Orpheus 
 and Eurydice, they were no deities 
 at all. 
 
 454. Magna luis commissa.] La 
 Cerda reads lues, and interprets it 
 nam commissa quidem est magna lues 
 tuarum apum, deletceque omnes ingenti 
 occidione. But luis is generally un- 
 derstood to be a verb, which seems 
 to be the best interpretation. 
 
 Orpheus.'] He was the son of 
 (Eagrus, a king, or, according to 
 Servius, a river of Thrace, by the 
 muse Calliope. Some will have 
 him to be the son of Apollo : but 
 I believe Virgil was not of that 
 opinion 3 because, in the fourth 
 Eclogue, he derives the poetical skill 
 of Linus from his father Apollo, 
 and that of Orpheus from his 
 mother Calliope : 
 
 Non me carminibus vincet nee Thracius 
 
 Orpheus, 
 Nee Linus : huic mater quamvis, atque 
 
 huic pater adsit, 
 Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo. 
 
 Not Titration Orpheus' self should me 
 
 excels 
 Nor Linus: tho' his mother him should 
 
 aid, 
 His father him: Calliope inspire 
 Orpheus, Apollo dictate Linus'' verse. 
 
 Dr. Tbapp. 
 
 He is highly celebrated for his extra- 
 ordinary skill in music and poetry, 
 and was one of the Argonauts. 
 
 455. Haudquaquam ob meritum.] 
 Some refer these words to pxnas, 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 411 
 
 Suscitat; et rapta graviter pro conjuge saevit. 
 Ilia quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, 
 Immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella 
 Servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba. 
 At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supre- 
 mos 460 
 Implerunt montes : flerunt Rhodopeiae arces, 
 Altaque Pangaea, et Rhesi Mavortia tellus, 
 Atque Getae, atque Hebrus, et Actias Orithyia. 
 Ipse cava solans aegrum testudine amorem, 
 Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in littore secum, 465 
 
 and grievously rages for his 
 ravished wife. Whilst she 
 fled hastily from you along 
 the river's side, the dying 
 maid did not see a cruel wa- 
 ter snake before her feet, that 
 was guarding the banks in 
 the high grass. But the choir 
 of her sister Dryads filled the 
 tops of the mountains with 
 their cries : the rocks of Rho- 
 dope wept, and high Pangaea, 
 and the martial land of Rhe- 
 sus, and the Getae, and He- 
 brus, and Attic Orithyia. He 
 assuaging his love-sick mind 
 with his hollo w lyre, lamented 
 thee, sweet wife, thee on the 
 solitary shore, 
 
 in which sense they are understood 
 by May : 
 
 — — To thee this punishment 
 Though not so great as thou deserv'st is 
 sent. 
 
 Others refer them to miserabilis 
 Orpheus. Thus Dryden : 
 
 For crimes, not his, the lover lost his 
 life: 
 
 And Dr. Trapp : 
 
 Orpheus, unhappy by no guilt of his. 
 
 461. Rhodope'ice arces.] Rhodope 
 and Pangaea are mountains of 
 Thrace. 
 
 462. Pangaa.] Some copies have 
 Panchaia, but it is an absurd read- 
 ing ; for Panchaia belongs to Ara- 
 bia, whereas Orpheus was con- 
 fessedly a Thracian. 
 
 Rhesi Mavortia tellus.] Mars was 
 said to be horn in Thrace. Rhesus 
 was the son of Mars, and king of 
 Thrace in the time of the Trojan 
 war, which was after the death of 
 Orpheus. 
 
 463. Getce.] The Getae were a 
 people dwelling in the neighbour- 
 hood of Thrace. 
 
 Hebrus.] A river of Thrace. 
 Et Actias Orithyia.] Some read 
 atque instead of et. 
 
 Orithyia was the daughter of 
 
 Erectheus, king of the Athenians. 
 She was ravished by Boreas, and 
 carried into Thrace. 
 
 464. Cava testudine.] The Poet 
 calls the lyre cava testudo, because 
 the ancient lyres were really made 
 of the shells of tortoises. It was a 
 received story among the ancients, 
 that Mercury, finding accidentally 
 a dead tortoise on the banks of the 
 Nile, made a lyre of it : whence 
 Horace calls him curves lyrce paren- 
 tern. To this story the same Poet 
 also alludes, in the eleventh ode of 
 the third book : 
 
 Tuque, Testudo, resonare septem Cal- 
 
 lida nervis, 
 Nee loquax olim, neque grata ; 
 
 And in the third Ode of the fourth 
 book: 
 
 O Testudinis aureae 
 Dulcem quae strepitum, Pieri, temperas ! 
 
 O mutis quoque piscibus 
 Donatura cygni, si libeat, sonum ! 
 
 See the Philosophical Transactions, 
 numb. 282. pag. 1267- Jones's 
 Abridgment, vol. iv. pag. 474. 
 
 465. Te, dulcis conjux, 8$c] There 
 is something wonderfully pleasing 
 in the repetition of te in these lines. 
 
 But Dryden has 
 translation: 
 3 G 2 
 
 omitted it in his 
 
412 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 thee when day approached, 
 thee when it disappeared. 
 He also approached the jaws 
 of Taenarus, the lofty gates of 
 Pluto, and entering the grove 
 gloomy with black horror, he 
 approached the Manes, and 
 the tremendous king, and the 
 hearts that know not how to 
 relent at human prayers. But 
 the thin shades being stirred 
 up by his song from the lowest 
 mansions or Erebus moved 
 along, and ghosts, deprived 
 of light: innumerable as 
 birds when they hide them- 
 selves in the leaves by thou- 
 sands, at the approach of 
 evening, or driven from the 
 hills by a wintery storm : mo- 
 thers and husbands, and the 
 departed bodies of magnani- 
 mous heroes, boys and un- 
 married girls, and youths laid 
 on funeral piles before the 
 faces of their parents, whom 
 the black mud and squalid 
 reeds of Cocytus, and the lake 
 hateful with stagnant water 
 incloses around, and Styx nine 
 times interfused restrains. 
 But the very habitations, and 
 deepest dungeons of death 
 were astonished, and the fu- 
 ries having their locks twisted 
 with blue snakes, and gaping 
 Cerberus restrained his three 
 mouths, and the whirling of 
 Ixion's wheel rested at his 
 singing. 
 
 Te veniente die, te decedente canebat. 
 Taenurias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis, 
 Et caligantem nigra formidine lucum 
 Ingressus, Manesque adiit, regemquetremendum, 
 Nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda. 
 At cantu commotee Erebi de sedibus imis 471 
 Umbrae ibant tenues, simulachraque luce ca- 
 
 rentum : 
 Quam multa in foliis avium se millia condunt, 
 Vesper ubi, aut hybernus agit de montibus imber : 
 Matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita 475 
 Magnanimum heroum, pueri, innuptsequepuellae, 
 Impositique rogis juvenes ante ora parentum, 
 Quos circum limus niger, et deformis arundo 
 Cocyti, tardaque palus inamabilis unda 
 Alligat, et novies Styx interfusa coercet. 480 
 Quin ipsae stupuere domus, atque intima Lethi 
 Tartara, caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues 
 Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora, 
 Atque Ixionii cantu rota constitit orbis. 
 
 On thee, dear wife, in deserts all alone, 
 He call'd, sigh'd, sung, his griefs with 
 
 day begun, 
 Nor were they finish'd with the setting 
 
 sun, 
 
 467. Tanarias fauces.] Taenarus 
 is a promontory of Peloponnesus, 
 fabled to be the entrance into the 
 infernal regions. 
 
 469. Manes."] This word is used 
 for departed souls, for the places 
 where they dwell, and also for the 
 infernal deities. 
 
 471. Erebi."] Erebus, according 
 to Hesiod, was the son of Chaos j 
 
 'E* Kaios 3' "EgtSos re ftikccivd <rt Nv| 
 ty'movro : 
 
 but according to some, it is the 
 name of the profoundest mansion 
 of hell. 
 
 472. Ibant.] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is stant. 
 
 473. Foliis.] The common read- 
 ing is sylvis; but Pierius found/oZiis 
 in all the ancient manuscripts. I 
 find foliis in one of the Arundelian, 
 and in one of Dr. Mead's manu- 
 scripts. Heinsius also reads foliis. 
 
 479. Cocyti.] Cocytus and Styx 
 are rivers of hell. 
 
 480. Inamabilis.] Some read in- 
 nabilis, as I find it in the King's and 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 But inamabilis seems to be the true 
 reading, and i9 generally received. 
 
 481. Stupuere.] It is obstupuere 
 in one of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 482. Implexce.] Pierius found 
 amplexm in the Lombard and other 
 manuscripts, and innexce in the Ro- 
 man. It is amplexce in the King's 
 manuscript, and in the old Nuren- 
 berg edition. 
 
 484. Cantu.] The usual reading 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 413 
 
 Jam que pedem referens casus evaserat omnes, 485 
 Redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras, 
 Pone sequens ; namque hanc dederat Proserpina 
 
 legem : 
 Cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem, 
 Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes. 
 Restitit, Eurydicenque suam jam luce sub ipsa, 
 Immemor heu ! victusque animi respexit. Ibi 
 
 And now returning he had 
 escaped all dangers ; and his 
 restored Eurydice was coming 
 to the upper air following be- 
 hind; for Proserpina had 
 given those conditions : when 
 a sudden madness seized the 
 unwary lover, pardonable 
 however, did the Manes know 
 how to pardon. He stopped, 
 and now, even attheconhnes 
 of light, thoughtless alas! 
 and deprived of understand- 
 ing, he looked back at his 
 Eurydice, there all his labour 
 vanished, and the conditions 
 of the cruel tyrant 
 
 omnis 
 
 491 
 
 Effusus labor, atque immitis rupta tyranni 
 
 is vento, which I do not find any of 
 the commentators can make tolera- 
 ble sense. Servius says cum is un- 
 derstood,, and therefore the meaning 
 is, that Ixion's wheel stood still 
 with its wind, that is, with the 
 cause of its volubility. Philargyrius 
 thinks vento is put for ventu, and 
 that for adventu, and so the sense 
 will be, the wheel stood still at 
 his approach. La Cerda interprets 
 vento, in aere, in the air. Ruaeus 
 strains it to flante vento contrario, a 
 contrary wind blowing. If the 
 reader approves of any of these 
 interpretations, he is welcome to 
 restore vento. For my own part, I 
 find them so unsatisfactory, that I 
 have thought it necessary to read 
 cantu, which Pierius found in several 
 manuscripts, and seems to approve j 
 only he is weighed down by the 
 authority of Servius, who reads 
 vento. But surely Servius was not 
 infallible. 
 
 The story of Ixion is, that he 
 was condemned to a perpetual 
 turning upon a wheel in hell, for 
 attempting to violate the chastity 
 of Juno. 
 
 485. Jamque pedem referens, £Vc] 
 The Poet proceeds to relate the 
 return of Eurydice to light, the 
 unhappy impatience of Orpheus to 
 gaze at her, his lamentations for 
 
 his second loss, and the miserable 
 death of that great poet, which 
 concludes the speech of Proteus. 
 
 487. Namque hanc dederat Pro- 
 serpina legem.2 The condition of 
 not looking at his wife, till they 
 were quite retired from the infernal 
 dominions, is inferred, though not 
 directly expressed by the Poet. Ovid 
 has mentioned it more at large : 
 
 Hanc simul et legem Rhodopeius accipit 
 
 heros, 
 Ne flectat retro sua lumina ; donee 
 
 Avernas 
 Exierit valles ; aut irrita dona futura. 
 Given Orpheus with this law ; till thou 
 
 the hound 
 Of pale Avernus passe, if lack thou cast 
 Thy careful eyes, thou loosest what thou 
 
 hast. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 488. Subita.] Pierius found subito 
 in the Roman, and in some other 
 manuscripts. 
 
 489. Ignoscenda quidem. ] Ovid 
 says Eurydice herself did not blame 
 him, because his error proceeded 
 from love of her : 
 
 Jamque iteium moriens non est de con- 
 juge quicquam 
 
 Questa suo : quid enim sese quereretur 
 amatam ? 
 
 Nor did she, dying twice, her spouse re- 
 prove : 
 
 For wliat could she complain of but his 
 
 love? 
 
 Sandys. 
 
414 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 Sce b heaS^tt^Sn Fcedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. 
 
 lake. Then she; Who is it, O tii • ... .... 
 
 Orpheus, that has destroyed ilia, quis et me, mquit, miseram, et te perdidit 
 
 miserable me, and thee also I * * * * 
 
 What great madness was this? Omhpil ? 
 
 Lo, again the cruel Fates call V T UCU » 
 
 rn y SmLV^s^AnS Quis tantus furor? en iterum crudelia retro 495 
 
 now adieu: I am carried away -,-, .. 
 
 encompassed with thick dark- rata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus. 
 
 ness, and stretching out my x 
 
 being S loSger^yout/the Jamque vale : feror ingenti circumdata nocte, 
 h a ii d s'ig a ht d a SfflreiSfway, nS Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu ! non tua, palmas. 
 
 smoke mixing with the thin T .. . _. . , 
 
 air: nor did she see him catch- UlXlt, et eX OCUllS SUDltO, CeU IUQ1US in aiiraS 
 
 mg in vain at shadows, and 
 
 S^no^t&S^ Commixtustenues,fiigitdiversa: neque ilium 
 pL he oU S r^he h w?thSdhfg Prensantem nequicquam umbras, et multa vo- 
 
 lake. What should he do? 
 
 whither should he .betake ientem 501 
 
 himself, having twice lost his 
 
 Sdtfm^he 01 ^ 1 ^ Dicere praeterea, vidit: nee portitor Orci 
 T£ h aTrwdy^It^shtvJr^g Amplius objectam passus transire paludem. 
 
 in the Stygian boat. It is ,~ . , « - .. . r - 
 
 said, that he lamented seven vJuicl laceret i quo se rapta bis conmge rerret r 
 
 whole continued months un- x l *» o 
 
 i! T £lS.UfiAT w&teTS Q uofletu Manes, qua numina voce moveret? 505 
 Ilia quidem Stygia nabatjamfrigidacymba. 
 Septem ilium totos perhibent ex ordine menses 
 Rupe sub aeria deserti ad Strymonis undam 
 
 493. Fragor .] Servius under- And again, 
 
 stands fragor to mean an exultation Earth trembled ftom her entrails, as 
 
 of the shades at the return of Eu- again 
 
 rydice, and quotes a passage of In P an S s » and nature 8*™ a second 
 
 Lucan in confirmation of his opi- Sky lfwW, and mutt'ring thunder, some 
 
 mon : sa d drops 
 
 Gaudent a luce relictam Wept at completing of the mortal sin 
 
 Eurydicen, iterum sperantes Orphea Original. 
 
 „.,»,- . . „ Stagnis auditus Avernis.] Pierius 
 
 But I think fragor is not used for a found gt . &% auditus Avemi fa the 
 
 sound of joy: at least I am sure RomaQ manuscript It is the same 
 
 Virgil never uses it in that sense in one of Dr Mead . 8# In the other> 
 
 but for some great crash, or hornd and in one of the Arunde ii a n copies 
 
 noise. I take it in this place to it ig st ^ auditur Avern i i n the 
 
 mean a dismal sound given by the M p aris edition of im> and in 
 
 earth, or perhaps a clap of thunder, some otherg< it ig stagnis auditm A _ 
 
 to signify the greatness of the mis- veml In the old Nurenbur g edi- 
 
 fortune. Milton has a thought t i 0Q it \ 8 sta gnu auditur Avernis. 
 like this, on our first parents tast- 504 Rapta bis con j uge j Pieriug 
 
 ing the forbidden fruit : gays it ig bis rapfa con j uge> j n some 
 
 Ejarth felt the wound, and nature from f t h e ancient manuscripts. 
 
 o- i.. her *l eat , n u , c 508. Strymonis] Strvmon is a ri- 
 
 Sjshing thro' all her works gave signs of . _ , y . J *f , , n 
 
 w ° e ver of Macedon, on the borders ot 
 
 That all was lost. Thrace. 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 415 
 
 Flevisse, et gelidis haec evolvisse sub antris, 
 Mulcentem tigres, et agentem carmine quer- 
 cus. 510 
 
 Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbra 
 
 and that he sung his misfor- 
 tunes under the cold caves, 
 appeasing tygers, and leading 
 oaks with nu song. So the 
 mourning nightingale,under a 
 poplar shade. 
 
 509. Flevisse,] Pierius found 
 jiesse sibi in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 Antris.~\ Pierius says it is astris 
 in the Roman and in some other 
 manuscripts. 
 
 511. Qualis populea, &c] This 
 simile is no less justly than gene- 
 rally admired, as one of the most 
 beautiful that ever came from the 
 mouth of a poet. None that ever 
 attempted to translate it, seem to 
 come up to the original. May's is 
 not worth repeating. Dryden's is 
 not contemptible : 
 
 So close in poplar shades, her children 
 gone, 
 
 The mother nightingale laments alone : 
 
 Whose nest some prying churl had found, 
 and thence 
 
 By stealth convey'd th' unfeather'd in- 
 nocence. 
 
 But she supplies the night with mourn- 
 ful strains, 
 
 And melancholy musick fills the plains. 
 
 Dr. Trapp's translation is thus : 
 
 As when, complaining in melodious 
 
 groans, 
 Sweet Philomel, beneath a poplar shade, 
 Mourns her lost young, which some 
 
 rough village hind 
 Observing, from their nest, unfledg'd, 
 
 has stole : 
 She weeps all night : and perch'd upon a 
 
 bough, 
 With plaintive notes repeated fills the 
 
 grove. 
 
 Lee also has attempted it, in the 
 last act of his tragedy of Theodo- 
 sius : 
 
 As in some poplar shade the nightingale 
 With piercing moans does her lost young 
 
 bewail, 
 Which the rough hind, observing as they 
 
 lay 
 
 Warm in their downy nest, had stol'n 
 
 away ; 
 But she in mournful sounds does still 
 
 complain, 
 Sings all the night, tho' all her songs are 
 
 vain, 
 And still renews her miserable strain. 
 
 To these 1 shall add another trans- 
 lation, which was made by a lady, 
 and has not yet I believe appeared 
 in print: 
 
 So Philomel, beneath a poplar shade, 
 Laments her young by some rude hand 
 
 betray'd. 
 All night in mournful notes she seeks 
 
 relief, 
 And the wide woods re-echo to her grief. 
 
 Populea.] The poplar is judici- 
 ously chosen by the Poet, on this 
 occasion, because the leaves of this 
 tree trembling with the least breath 
 of air, make a sort of melancholy 
 rustling. 
 
 Philomela.] Servius thinks the 
 Poet puts the nightingale here for 
 any bird : but surely what the Poet 
 says here could not be applied to any 
 other bird. 
 
 We have already seen the story of 
 Philomela and Procne, in the note 
 on ver. 1 5. There is a different story 
 of Philomela, which is related by 
 Mr. Pope, in a note on the nine- 
 teenth Odyssey, in the following 
 manner : M Pandareus, son of Me- 
 " rops,had three daughters, Merope, 
 " Cleothera, andAedon: Pandareus 
 " married his eldest daughter Aedon 
 " to Zethus, brother of Amphion, 
 '• mentioned in the eleventh Odys- 
 " sey ; she had an only son named 
 " Itylus ; and being envious at the 
 " numerous family of her brother- 
 
416 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 laments her lost young, which 
 some hard-hearted plough- 
 man observing, has taken 
 from their nest unfeathered ; 
 but she wails all night, and 
 sitting on a bough continues 
 her melancholy song, and fills 
 the places all around with her 
 complaints. No love, no mar- 
 riage rites could bend his 
 mind. Alone he surveys the 
 Hyperborean ice, and snowy 
 Tanais, and the plains never 
 free from Riphaean frosts; 
 lamenting his ravished Eury- 
 dice, and the fruitless gift of 
 Pluto. The Ciconian dames 
 enraged at his neglect of 
 them, 
 
 Amissos queritur foetus ; quos durus arator 
 Observans, nido implumes detraxit : at ilia 
 Flet noctem, ramoque sedens, miserabile carmen 
 Integrat, et mcestis late loca questibus implet. 515 
 Nulla Venus, non ulli animum flexere Hymenaei. 
 Solus Hyperboreas glacies, Tanai'mque nivalem, 
 Arvaque Riphseis nunquam viduata pruinis 
 Lustrabat, raptam Eurydicen, atque irrita Ditis 
 Dona querens : spretae Ciconum quo munere 
 
 matres, 
 
 520 
 
 " in-law Amphion, she resolves to 
 " murder Amaleus, the eldest of 
 " her nephews ; her own son Itylus 
 " was brought up with the children 
 " of Amphion, and lay in the same 
 " bed with this Amaleus. Aedon 
 " directs her son Itylus to absent 
 " himself one night from the bed, 
 " but he forgets her orders j at the 
 " time determined she conveys her- 
 " self into the apartment, and raur- 
 " ders her own son Itylus, by mis- 
 c ' take, instead of her nephew Ama- 
 " leus : upon this, almost in dis- 
 " traction, she begs the gods to re- 
 fi move her from the race of hu- 
 tr man-kind; they grant her prayer, 
 " and change her into a nightin- 
 " gale." Aedon is the Greek name 
 for a nightingale, and is therefore 
 the same with Philomela. It is to 
 this story that Homer alludes in 
 the nineteenth Odyssey : 
 
 'it; V on YluvSugiov xoigv\ %Xugws urduv 
 Kukov aiftyaiv %a.oo$ vUv Wapkvoto, 
 Atvhgiwv tv ■arerdkoio'i xtzfa^ofjuvn zruxivoTffiv, 
 "H ts S-xpa r^wruffa %Ut z?o\u?i%icc Quint, 
 Tlouo* oXotpugo/iivt] "iruXev tpikov, ov "stoti 
 
 Krsm %i utp^Yia,;, xou^oi Z^hio avetx]os. 
 
 As when the months are clad in flow'ry 
 
 green, 
 Sad Philomel, in bow'ry shades unseen, 
 To vernal airs attunes her varied strains, 
 And Itylus sounds warbling o'er the 
 
 plains : 
 
 Young Itylus, his parent's darling joy ! 
 
 Whom chance misled the mother to de- 
 stroy : 
 
 Now doom'd a wakeful bird to wail the 
 beauteous boy. 
 
 Mr. PorE. 
 
 Virgil seems also to allude to the 
 same story in this place, the grief of 
 the nightingale being for the loss 
 of her young. According to the 
 other fable, Philomela was not a 
 mother. 
 
 514, Sedens.~\ It is canens in one 
 of Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 516. Non ulli.'] The common 
 reading is nullique ; but Heinsius 
 and Masvicius read non ulli. Pie- 
 rius found non ulli in the Roman, 
 Medicean, and other ancient manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 517. Hyperboreas glacies.] See 
 the note on book iii. ver. 196. 
 
 Tanavn.] The Tanais or Don is 
 a river of Muscovy, which empties 
 itself into the lake Maeotis, and di- 
 vides Europe from Asia. 
 
 518. Riphceis.'] See the notes on 
 book iii. ver. 196, 382. 
 
 520. Spretce Ciconum quo munere 
 matres.] In the Bodleian manu- 
 script, and in many printed edi- 
 tions, we read spreto, which Pierius 
 also found in some ancient manu- 
 scripts. But the King's, the Cam- 
 bridge, both the Arundelian, and 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 Inter sacra deum, nocturnique orgia Bacchi, 
 
 417 
 
 tore the young man in pieces, 
 even at the sacred rites of the 
 gods, and nocturnal orgies of 
 Bacchus, 
 
 both Dr. Mead's manuscripts have 
 spretce, which is admitted also by 
 most of the old editors, and by Paul 
 Stephens, Heinsius, La Cerda, 
 Schrevelius, and Masvicius. 
 
 The Cicones were a people of 
 Thrace, living near the mountain 
 Ismarus, and the outlets of the river 
 Hebrus. 
 
 Some authors have related, that 
 the Thracian women had a more 
 just cause of resentment against 
 Orpheus j his being guilty of an un- 
 natural vice, and even of teaching 
 it to the Thracians. With this he 
 is charged by Ovid : 
 
 Omnemque refugerat Orpheus 
 
 Foemineam Venerem : seu quod male 
 
 cesserat illi ; 
 Sive fidem dederat. Multas tamen ardor 
 
 habebat 
 Jungere se vati : multae doluere repulsae. 
 Tile etiam Thracum populis fuit auctor, 
 
 amorem 
 In teneros transferre mares : citraque 
 
 juventam 
 jEtatis breve ver, et primos carpere flores. 
 
 But it is not probable, that this vice 
 should have its rise in Thrace, as it 
 is known to be the growth of warmer 
 climates. Nor is such a guilt con- 
 sistent with the extraordinary pas- 
 sion of Orpheus for his Eurydice. 
 Our Poet himself has been accused 
 of the same unnatural inclinations, 
 but, I think, without any good 
 reason. The principal argument is 
 taken from the second Eclogue, 
 where the Poet describes the pas- 
 sion of Corydon for Alexis. Here 
 he is supposed to mean himself 
 under the name of Corydon, which 
 however cannot be proved. Nor is 
 it at all to be wondered at, that he 
 should describe his shepherds as 
 subject to that vice, which is still 
 too common in the country where 
 he lived. A poet must represent 
 
 mankind as they are, given up to 
 various follies, vices, and passions. 
 Therefore he makes the shepherds 
 subject to such passions, as he else- 
 where sufficiently shews that he 
 does not approve. And at the close 
 of that very Eclogue, Corydon be- 
 gins to discover his folly, and re- 
 pent of it : 
 
 Ah Corydon, Corydon, quae te dementia 
 cepit ! 
 
 Dryden endeavours to vindicate his 
 author from this censure, but at the 
 same time takes pains to shew that 
 he was averse from the fair sex, 
 which, if true, would strengthen 
 the accusation . He adds, that there 
 is hardly the character of one good 
 woman in all his poems. But not- 
 withstanding these concessions of 
 his celebrated translator, 1 shall 
 venture to affirm, that Virgil had 
 other thoughts of women. He has 
 indeed represented Dido under no 
 very advantageous character. But 
 this was not with any design of 
 casting a slur upon the sex, but on 
 the Carthaginians, the most invete- 
 rate Cnemies of the Roman people. 
 And, on the other side, Virgil never 
 fails of setting conjugal love in a 
 beautiful light. In the passage be- 
 fore us, we have a husband ven- 
 turing even to the infernal regions, 
 to fetch back his wife, totally in- 
 consolable for the loss of her, and 
 invoking her with his dying lips. 
 His hero, the great iEneas, leaves 
 his father and son, and rushes 
 through the flames of Troy, and the 
 victorious enemies, to seek his lost 
 Creusa, and continues his pursuit of 
 her, till her ghost appears, and ex- 
 horts him to desist. Thus, though 
 our Poet condemns impure and idle 
 passions, yet he applauds the love 
 of women, when it does not deviate 
 3 H 
 
418 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 #3£&ri$i3ml Discerptum latos juvenem sparsere per agros. 
 
 whilst (Eagrian Hebrus bore np . , 
 
 his head, and roiled it down 1 urn quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum 
 
 the middle of the tide, his . ^^ 
 
 vo^ande^n his cold tongue Gurgite cum medio portans CEagrius Hebrus 
 
 Volveret, Eurydicen vox, ipsa et frigida lingua, 
 
 from virtue : and this, I hope, will 
 not be imputed to him as a crime. 
 The virgin Camilla is far from a 
 bad character ; and the description 
 of Lavinia shews, that the Poet was 
 by no means insensible of the 
 charms of beauty, when supported 
 by modesty. To conclude this di- 
 gression, I shall beg leave to ob- 
 serve, that had our Poet been 
 thought fond of the vice of which 
 he is accused by the defaming pens., 
 of some later writers ; those of his 
 own and the next succeeding ages, 
 would never have celebrated him as 
 a pattern of modesty and virtue. 
 Ovid indeed, who was under the 
 displeasure of Augustus Caesar, on 
 account of the obscenity of his 
 verses, excuses himself by the ex- 
 ample of Virgil, who described the 
 flames of Amaryllis and Phillis, and 
 the unlawful commerce of iEneas 
 and Dido : 
 
 Et tamen ille tuae felix JSneidos author 
 Contulit in Tyrios arma virumque toros. 
 
 Nee legitur pars ulla magis de corpore 
 
 toto, 
 Quara non legitime- foederejunctusamor, 
 
 Phyllidis hie idem, tenereeque Amaryl- 
 lidis ignes 
 Bucolicis juvenis luserat ante modis. 
 
 Had this contemporary poet known, 
 and he could not but have known it 
 if it had been true, that Virgil de- 
 scribed his own impure thoughts 
 under the fictitious name of a shep- 
 herd, he would not have failed to 
 mention it on this occasion. But 
 we find that Ovid had not the least 
 suspicion of any such thing, and 
 therefore charged him only with the 
 mention of such passions as are ac- 
 cording to nature, however criminal 
 they are in other respects. 
 
 521. Nocturnique orgia Bacchi."] 
 Some read nocturnaque, which seems 
 to be approved by Pierius. But he 
 found nocturnique in the Medicean 
 and other ancient manuscripts, 
 which last reading is generally re- 
 ceived . 
 
 The Orgies were a mad solem- 
 nity sacred to Bacchus, which was 
 celebrated with a kind of drunken 
 fury. The word is derived from 
 *e,y*>fury. It was in one of these 
 drunken fits, it seems, that Orpheus 
 was torn in pieces. 
 
 524. CEagrius Hebrus.'] The He- 
 brus is called GEagrian, from CEa- 
 grus the Thracian king or river 
 mentioned before to be the father 
 of Orpheus. 
 
 525. Eurydicen.~\ The repetition 
 of the name of Eurydice, in this and 
 the following verses, is exceedingly 
 beautiful. 
 
 The reader will not be displeased 
 perhaps, if I give him the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing, that Orpheus soon 
 after found his Eurydice in the 
 happy mansions of the other world, 
 where he could gaze on her inces- 
 santly, without any fear of losing 
 her, as it is beautifully described by 
 Ovid: 
 
 Umbra subit terras : et quae loca viderit 
 
 ante, 
 Cuncta recognoscit. Quaerensque per 
 
 arva pic-rum 
 Invenit Eurydicen, cupidisque amplecti- 
 
 tur ulnis. 
 Hie modo conjunctis spatiantur passibus 
 
 ambo: 
 Nunc praecedentem sequitur, nunc prae- 
 
 vius anteit : 
 Eurydicenque suam jam tuto respicit Or- 
 pheus. 
 His ghost retires to under shades : once 
 
 more 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 419 
 
 Ah miseram Eurydicen anima fugiente vocabat: 
 Eurydicen toto referebant flumine ripae. 
 Haec Proteus, et se jactu dedit aequor in altum : 
 Quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice 
 
 torsit. 
 At non Cyrene : namque ultro affata timentem : 
 Nate, licet tristes animo depellere curas. 531 
 Haec omnismorbi causa : hinc miserable Nymphae 
 Cum quibus ilia choros lucis agitabat in altis, 
 Exitium misere apibus. Tu munera supplex 
 Tende petens pacem, et faciles venerare Napaeas. 
 Namque dabunt veniam votis, irasque remittent. 
 Sed, modus orandi qui sit, prius ordine dicam. 
 Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros, 
 Qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycaei, 
 Delige, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas. 540 
 Quatuor his aras alta ad delubra dearum 
 Constitue, et sacrum jugulis demitte cruorem : 
 Corporaque ipsa bourn frondoso desere luco. 
 Post, ubi nona suos Aurora ostenderit ortus ; 
 
 ah ! poor Eurydice, as his life 
 departed, and all the rocks re- 
 peated Eurydice through the 
 whole river. Thus spake 
 Proteus; and threw himself 
 into the deep sea, and as he 
 went, the water foamed about 
 his head. But Cyrene did not 
 plunge into the sea : for she 
 came and spoke to her trem- 
 bling son, and bid him lay 
 aside his vexatious cares. 
 Hence, says she, is all the 
 cause of your disaster : hence 
 the Nymphs, with whom she 
 was dancing in the thick 
 
 f roves, have sent a miserable 
 estruction on your bees. But 
 do you in a suppliant manner 
 offer gifts, and ask peace, and 
 worship the favourable wood 
 Nymphs. For prayers will 
 move them to pardon, and 
 they will remit their anger. 
 But first I will tell y ouin order, 
 in what manner they must 
 be entreated. Pick out four 
 chosen bulls of the largest 
 size, that now graze on the 
 summit of green Lycaeus, 
 and as many heifers un- 
 touched by the yoke. Raise 
 four altars for them at the 
 high temples of the goddesses, 
 and let out the sacred blood 
 from their throats, and leave 
 the bodies of the cattle in the 
 shady grove. Afterwards 
 when the ninth morning has 
 appeared rising, 
 
 He sees and knows what he had seen before. 
 Then through the Elysian fields among the 
 
 blest 
 Seekes his Eurydice. Now repossest 
 With strict imbraces, guided by one minde, 
 They walke together : oft he comes hehinde, 
 Oft goes before : now Orpheus safely may 
 His following Eurydice survay. 
 
 Sandys. 
 
 529- Vertice.] Some read vor~ 
 tice. 
 
 530. At non Cyrene.] Proteus 
 having delivered his oracular an- 
 swer, Cyrene advises her son to 
 offer sacrifices to the offended 
 Nymphs, and to appease the manes 
 of Orpheus and Eurydice. Aristaeus 
 follows the instructions of his 
 mother, and is surprised to see a 
 swarm of bees come out of the 
 carcases of the sacrificed oxen. 
 
 531. Deponere.] In one of Dr. 
 Mead's manuscripts it is depellere. 
 
 535. Napceas.] The Napcece have 
 their name from van-v a grove ; they 
 are the same with the Dryades. 
 
 537. Qui.2 It is quis in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts, and in 
 most of the old editions. 
 
 538. Eximios praestanti corpore.~] 
 Pierius found eximio prcestantes cor- 
 pore in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 La Cerda observes that eximios 
 is no superfluous epithet, being a 
 sacerdotal word, and derived from 
 eximere, to pick or choose. 
 
 540. Intacta.] Pierius found in- 
 tactas in the Roman manuscript. 
 
 543. Corporaque.] In the King's 
 manuscript it is corpora quceque. 
 
 544. Ostenderit.] In one of the 
 3 H 2 
 
420 
 
 P. VIRGILII MARONIS 
 
 you shall offer Lethaean pop- 
 pies to the manes of Orpheus, 
 and worship appeased Eury- 
 dice with a slain calf, and sa- 
 crifice a black sheep, and re- 
 visit the grove. Without 
 delay, he immediately obeys 
 his mother's commands: he 
 comes to the ' temple, and 
 raises the altars as directed, 
 he leads four chosen bulls of 
 the largest -ize, and as many 
 heifers untouched by the 
 yoke. Afterwards as soon 
 as the ninth morningappeared 
 rising ; he offers to the manes 
 of Orpheus, and revisits the 
 grove. And now they behold 
 a sudden sight, and wonder- 
 ful to relate, bees humming 
 in the putrid bowels of the 
 victims through all their bel- 
 lies, and bursting out of their 
 sides; then forming thick 
 clouds ; and settling on the 
 top of a tree, and hanging like 
 a cluster of grapes from the 
 bending boughs. Thus did I 
 sing of the management of 
 fieids, of cattle, and of trees : 
 whilst great Caesar thunders 
 in war at deep 
 
 Inferias Orphei lethsea papavera mittes, 54?5 
 Placatam Eurydicen vitula venerabere caesa, 
 Et nigram mactabis ovem, lucumque revises. 
 Haud mora ; continuo matris prsecepta facessit : 
 Ad delubra venit ; monstratas excitat aras ; 
 Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros 550 
 Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas. 
 Post ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus, 
 Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit. 
 Hie vero subitum ac dictu mirabile monstrum 
 Aspiciunt, liquefacta bourn per viscera toto 555 
 Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis ; 
 Immensasque trahi nubes: jamquearbore summa 
 Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis. 
 Haec super arvorum cultu pecor unique cane- 
 bam, 
 Et super arboribus : Caesar dum magnus ad 
 altum 560 
 
 Arundelian manuscripts it is indux- 
 erit. 
 
 54<5. Inferias'] The infer ice were 
 sacrifices offered to the Manes. 
 
 Lethcea papavera.] See the note 
 on book i. ver. 78. 
 
 546 and 547.] These two lines 
 are transposed in both the Arunde- 
 lian, both Dr. Mead's manuscripts, 
 in the old Nurenberg edition, those 
 of Paul Stephens, Schrevelius, and 
 others, 
 
 550. Ad delubra venit] In one 
 of the Arundelian manuscripts it 
 is at delubra petit. 
 
 552. Intacta.] It is intactas in 
 the old Venice edition of 1482. 
 
 Induxerat.'] It is induxerit in one 
 of the Arundelian, and in one of 
 Dr. Mead's manuscripts. 
 
 556. Et ruptis.] It is eruptis in 
 the King's, and in the Cambridge 
 manuscripts. 
 
 558. Uvam.] See the note on 
 book ii. ver. 60. 
 
 559. Hcec svper, &c] Virgil 
 having now finished this noble 
 Poem, takes care to inform the 
 reader of the time when it was 
 written, and of the name of the 
 author, asserting it to himself, that 
 no future plagiary might pretend 
 to so great an honour. 
 
 560. Caesar dum magnis, &c] 
 These lines are a fresh argument, 
 that Virgil continued the care of 
 his Georgicks, as long as he lived, 
 for the time here mentioned is the 
 year before his death. It was then 
 that Augustus Caesar was at the 
 head of the Roman legions in 
 person, on the banks of the Eu- 
 phrates, and compelled Phraates to 
 restore the Eagles, which the Par- 
 thians had taken from Crassus, and 
 drew the neighbouring nations, and 
 
GEORG. LIB. IV. 
 
 421 
 
 Fulminat Euphraten bello, victorque volentes 
 Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo. 
 Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat 
 Parthenope, studiis florentem ignobilis oti : 
 Carminaqui lusipastorum, audaxquejuventa565 
 Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi. 
 
 Euphrates, and being con- 
 queror gives laws through 
 the willing people, and affects 
 the way to heaven. At that 
 time did sweet Parthenope 
 nourish me Virgil, nourishing 
 in the studies of ignoble ease : 
 who recited the verses of 
 shepherds, and, being bold in 
 youth, sung thee ? Tityrua, 
 under the covering of a 
 spreading beech. 
 
 even the Indians, to make a volun- 
 tary submission to him. See the 
 notes on ver. 27, 30. book iii. 
 
 563. Alebat.] In the King's ma- 
 nuscript it is habebat. 
 
 564. Parthenope.'] This was the 
 
 name of an ancient city, which when 
 rebuilt was called Naples. 
 
 565. Audaxque juventa.] Accord- 
 ing to Servius, Virgil was twenty- 
 eight years old when he wrote his 
 Eclogues. 
 
- 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
ADDENDA, 
 
 The following Remarks were sent me, after the publication of the 
 Georgicks, by the learned Edward King, Esq. in two Letters dated 
 from Bromley in Kent, Nov. 20, 1740, and May 11, 1743. 
 
 GEORGICK i. 38. It is the 
 cheapest and best way of improving 
 land in the old husbandry; but 
 it must be ploughed more than 
 four times. 
 
 97- Mr. B — 's remark is wrong 
 in another particular; for when 
 these chinks are thus filled up, and 
 then corn sowed, there will not be 
 fine mould enough to cover the 
 seed. Virgil does not speak of sow- 
 ing in this place. 
 
 208. When Libra has made the 
 day and hours of sleep equal. 
 
 247. 
 
 Illic, ut perbibent, aut intempesta silet 
 
 nox 
 Semper, et obtenta densentur nocte te- 
 
 nebrae. 
 
 Mr. B not content with having 
 
 observed, and kept to the beauty of 
 the first line in his translation, in- 
 judiciouslyobserves a palpable dark- 
 ness in the second ; thus it is, says 
 he, wove closer with thickening let- 
 ters than any other line in the Latin 
 language that I can recollect. I sup- 
 pose he means chiefly the letter e, 
 (or his observation is nothing ;) and 
 he has used one too many mdensen- 
 tur. But to my ear the night would 
 be full as dark, and more still, if 
 four of the e's were not in the verse : 
 thus 
 
 Et circumfusa densantur nocte tene- 
 brae. 
 
 357. The limbs of the trees being 
 
 dry increases the friction and noise, 
 when they rub against each other, 
 and makes this aridus fragor. There 
 would be no fragor if the trees 
 were wet ; for that would take off 
 the friction. 
 
 388. I prefer rauca voce, which 
 is the opposite to liquidas voces, ver. 
 410. Angelus Politianus, in his to- 
 kens of wet weather, has latrant 
 corvi, which I have often heard. 
 
 403. Virgil here speaks of the 
 signs of fair weather. Nequicquam 
 translated in vain, and applied to 
 the owl's singing, suits but ill with 
 Virgil's exactness; for that would 
 be making him say, that the owl's 
 singing, which is a sign of foul 
 weather, is a vain omen, because it 
 will be fair : it is saying that one 
 sign of foul weather, is not a sign of 
 foul weather. But Virgil has not 
 been guilty of any thing like this in 
 his tokens of foul or fair weather.* 
 He says before Nee fratris radiis ob- 
 noxialuna: which in the familiar 
 English expression is, The moon 
 rises as bright as day. It seems to 
 me therefore, that there should be a 
 stop at nequicquam, and then the 
 sense will run thus -, The owl from 
 the top of the roof observes (or waits) 
 the setting of the sun in vain, because 
 the night will be poetically as bright 
 as day. Seros cantus is peculiar to 
 the owl; I know no bird besides, 
 that sings only in the night. The 
 nightingales with us sing in the day- 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 time from about the middle of May, 
 to the time they leave us. This 
 perhaps has not been attended to, 
 because her voice in the day-time is 
 drowned in the neighbouring cho- 
 rus. Thus most will readily say 
 that blossoms are antecedent to 
 leaves, but upon examination will 
 find, that leaves are equally forward 
 (at the same time) in proportion to 
 their full growth, with blossoms in 
 respect to the fruit that follows them, 
 as in the peach, nectarine, almond, 
 &c. The glaring appearance of the 
 bloom takes up all the common at- 
 tention j as the chirping, whistling, 
 discord notes of various other birds 
 divert the undistinguishing ear from 
 attending to the single part of the 
 musical nightingale. We are only 
 apt to consider her solo part per 
 arnica silentia Luna, and with the 
 best poets listen to her chiefly, when 
 she does fiere noctem,\ J irg. sing dark- 
 tins, Milt. 
 
 416. By the fate of things a greater 
 prudence; and this carries on the 
 Epicurean principle. 
 
 419. Aut qua densa relaxat ; 
 for it is impossible that both should 
 happen in the same instant. 
 
 462. I never could be reconciled 
 to quid cogitet humidus Auster. I 
 hnd rather read cogat et or concitet 
 (contra omnes codices) than cogitet. 
 
 48-0. Mcestum illacrymat ebur. O- 
 vid's mille modis Jacrymavit ebur, and 
 Tibullus's lacrymas fudisse tepentes, 
 are nothing more than what is 
 common in moist weather : but 
 Virgil expressly refers the weeping 
 into a prodigy by mcestum. 
 
 Georg. ii. 10. Those that rise 
 from suckers, or from scattered 
 seeds. There is no occasion, I think, 
 to resort to the old opinion of spon- 
 taneous generation. 
 
 20. Hos natura modus primum de- 
 dit, are. those which rise sponte sua. 
 
 22. I cannot construe this line 
 
 without reading Sunt alii queis ipse 
 viam sibi repperit usus. The alii 
 (viz. modi) queris, &c. answers what 
 went before, His genus omne. 
 
 59. This relates to the seminibus 
 jactis. The apples produced from 
 kernels do not taste like the apples 
 that produced the kernels. 
 
 60. So the kernels of a bunch of 
 grapes produce turpes racemos. I 
 never saw a vine raised from a ker- 
 nel ; but a curious friend of mine 
 informed me he had seen in Barba- 
 does vines raised from the kernel 
 of raisins. 
 
 78. Aut rursum. Perhaps this 
 means, that the same stocks, which 
 were inoculated, upon the buds 
 failing, are again cut for ingraft- 
 ing. 
 
 97. These mountains rise, or 
 grow still higher, with vineyards 
 of these grapes upon them. 
 
 149. It would somewhat abate 
 Virgil's compliment to his own 
 country, if, with Mr. B — we were 
 to attribute the Ver assiduum only to 
 foreign grasses. 
 
 153. 
 
 Nee rapit immensos orbes per hum urn 
 
 neque tanto 
 Squameus in gyrum tractu se colligit 
 
 anguis. 
 
 Here Mr. B says the beginning 
 
 and ending of the first line are 
 snatched up like the motion of that 
 frightful creature ; and the immen- 
 sos orbes betwixt makes the dreadful 
 circle. No doubt of it, Virgil de- 
 signed it should : but leaves this to 
 the sound, and immensos orbes are 
 full as like a square as a circle. 
 
 251, 252, 253. This wish is, that 
 in moist soils the rank grass should 
 not be too prevalent, Ne sit ilia 
 terra, qua major es herbas alit, nimium 
 fertilis, viz. majoribus herbis, with 
 the inexpugnabile gramen, as Ovid 
 calls it. He would not wish his 
 crop should not be pravalida, for it 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 was like to be too rank, there is a 
 remedy prescribed, Georg. 1. 112. 
 Luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in 
 herba. 
 
 279- I am well satisfied this does 
 not mean two armies, dubius mediis 
 Mars errat in armis; 1 think it sig- 
 nifies, that the ranks were so very 
 regular, that Mars mistook' the 
 middle ranks one for another. Me- 
 diis armis is as medias acies. 
 
 Ipsi per medias acies insignibus alis. 
 
 357. Pressovomere signifies deep 
 ploughing. Mr. Dryden translates 
 it loosens it (the earth) above; but 
 that would be by pressing the han- 
 dles, not by pressing the share. 
 
 408. Contains a double precept: 
 1. That you should be early in 
 cutting off the shoots. 2. That they 
 should not be burnt in the vineyard. 
 If they were burnt there, they would 
 scorch the vines, or perhaps totally 
 consume them. The burning small- 
 coal in our woods greatly damages 
 the trees that are to be left. 
 
 441. Mr. B- — — says the storm 
 roars through the line. To me it 
 sounds whistling. Quas animos Eur 
 assidue is strong sibilation. 
 
 I believe Virgil in some instances 
 designed the sound should answer 
 the sense j but not in near so many 
 
 as Mr. B imagined he did. I 
 
 shall mention no more, as I find you 
 have avoided following him where 
 he is wrong. 
 
 455. Mr. B — s remark amounts 
 to nothing; for his reasoning re- 
 turns to what he objected against. 
 Though Rhoetus and Pholus were 
 not slain, yet in general may be 
 said hostes domare letho, though all 
 are not killed. 
 
 458. fortunatos nimium ! Nimium 
 is greatly. It has in this place the 
 sense of plurimum or maxime;, as in 
 Claudian, nimium dilecte Deo ! 
 
 508. Hie stupet attonitus rostris. 
 I believe he means those who set 
 up for politicians, who received the 
 
 news of the Senate from the rostra. 
 See Middleton's Life of Cicero. It 
 does not relate to those who studied 
 the law, or were concerned in law- 
 suits j for that was mentioned be- 
 fore, ver. 501. 
 
 519. I am of Mr. B— 's mind, 
 that hyems does not signify winter. 
 If winter was the middle time of 
 gathering, there certainly was a 
 previous one. The subsequent lines 
 put this out of doubt, Varios pon'U 
 foetus Autumnus. 
 
 Georg. iii. 52. I think none of 
 the quotations expound turpe caput. 
 But if it is like the bull's, which 
 Virgil recommends, ver. 58. it will 
 be turpe. The curling of the hair 
 upon the head will retain more dust 
 and chaff than is lodged upon a 
 smooth headed cow; so that the 
 meaning is rather rough or shock- 
 headed than large. A cow with a 
 large long neck and a great head 
 would be a monstrous unproportion- 
 al e figure. 
 
 I take plurima cervix to be thick 
 necked. Virgil says omnia magna ; 
 that is, proportionally so. 
 
 85. But what ignis is this } It is 
 either the smoke of his nostrils, or 
 the remarkable flame colour of the 
 fine membrane within them. The 
 action of neighing throws the blood 
 over the membrane, and makes the 
 flame colour appear more red and 
 lively; and this answers every pare 
 of the verse, viz. premens collectum 
 ignem volvit sub naribus. This I 
 take to be the glory of his nostrils. 
 
 87. Duplex spina } a kind of fur- 
 row thrown up on each side of the 
 spine, by which the spine itself 
 would not be seen, but each furrow 
 would look like a spine, 
 
 100, 101. I take this to mean his 
 own qualifications, and those of his 
 brothers and sisters, et quis cuique 
 dolor victo, quaz gloria palmce, or it 
 may be the offspring of his father 
 *a2 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 or grandfather, in wnich sense the 
 civilians are used to consider pa- 
 rentes. Our countrymen value stal- 
 lions at this rate. It may be too 
 late to choose a horse for a stallion, 
 by observing the excellencies of his 
 colt : it may be better abdere domo ; 
 as ver. 95. 
 
 106. Verbere tor to rather describes 
 the manner of lashing, than the 
 whip or lash. 
 
 118. JEque juvenemque magistri 
 exquirvnt. Juvenem rather signifies 
 a young man, than a young horse : 
 cequus uterque labor and <zque juve- 
 nem exquirunt relate to what went 
 immediately before, which is break- 
 ing horses for the chariot or riding. 
 
 ISO. Dryden and B have ma- 
 nifestly mistaken this. I shall only 
 add to your just observation upon 
 this line, a representation of this 
 desire in Proserpina, Claud, de Rapt. 
 Proserp. 
 
 Jam vicina toro plenis adoleverat annis 
 Virginitas: tenerum jam pronuba flam- 
 ma pudorem 
 Sollicitat; mistaque tremit formidine 
 votum. 
 
 134. The surgens zephyrus, I be- 
 lieve, means the spring, as in G. 
 ii. 330. 
 
 ■ Zephyrique tepentibus auris 
 
 Laxant arva sinus. 
 
 147. I should be glad to read 
 
 ■ Ilicibusque virentem 
 Pluribus. 
 
 It seems forced to make volitans a 
 substantive. 
 
 162. Ccetera pascuntur virides ar- 
 menta per herbas. He may properly 
 mean cows kept for the pail, which 
 require a different management 
 from the rest. 
 
 219. This line is much below 
 Virgil, is a very bad one, and breaks 
 the context to no purpose. 
 
 391. I must beg leave to differ 
 from your opinion on this line - } for 
 though the aries was candidus ipse, 
 
 yet the blackness of his tongue, 
 which the Moon did not examine, 
 was a reason against choosing him. 
 Candidus ipse is the principal parts 
 of him, as aureus ipse, G. iv. 274. 
 
 409- Timidos agitabis onagros: 
 Tumidos is a good reading, accord- 
 ing to the accounts we have of the 
 wild ass's being more than a match 
 for the tyger in fighting. 
 
 471. He seems to mean, that the 
 plagues of different cattle were more 
 numerous than the storms before 
 winter 3 as ver. 480. 
 
 Et genus omne ncci pecudum dedit, 
 omne ferarum. 
 
 482. Nee via mortis erat simplex : 
 I take this to mean that the manner 
 of their death was various ; ver. 496. 
 
 — — Canibus blandis rabies venit, et 
 quatit aegros 
 
 Tussis anhela sues. 
 
 Speaking of the horse, ver. 501. 
 
 Aret 
 
 Pellis, et ad tactum tractanti dura re- 
 sistit. 
 
 According to your note on this verse, 
 horses were differently affected. 
 
 513. I cannot help thinking er- 
 rorem ilium signifies some mistake 
 in the practice or application, and do 
 somewhat incline to Dryden's inter- 
 pretation ; for if the giving wine 
 was always bad in its consequence, 
 he would hardly have said profuit. 
 But there may be another interpre- 
 tation, which will favour my opinion, 
 viz. that wine, which was of ser- 
 vice to some of them, (or which 
 was sometimes of service,) increased 
 the distemper of others to madness, 
 (or at other times increased the dis- 
 temper to madness.) And this 
 comes to what Lucretius says in his 
 sixth book, and is in your note upon 
 ver. 549. And the critics agree, 
 that Virgil had Lucretius in his 
 eye, when he wrote this account of 
 the murrain. The difficulty was 
 to know when to apply this me- 
 dicine, and the misapplication of it 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 is what Virgil deprecates : Errorem* 
 que hostibus ilium. Either of these 
 interpretations naturally introduces 
 the exclamation of this line : Let 
 the gods deal better with good men, 
 and let their enemies only suffer by 
 such a mistake. 
 
 536. I fancy contenta signifies 
 yoked, which is a natural significa- 
 tion of the word, from the manner 
 of using oxen in a team, at the time 
 when Virgil wrote. And it conveys 
 a melancholy idea, when we consi- 
 der men drawing the waggon, in 
 the place of oxen. Stridentia plau- 
 stra I would translate creaking wag- 
 gons ; the stridor I imagine to pro- 
 ceed from the inequality of the mo- 
 tion, and the inequality of the mo- 
 tion from the weakness of those who 
 drew them, in proportion to the 
 weight they drew. 
 
 I had marked several lines that 
 
 Mr. B had taken notice were an 
 
 echo to the sense. He seemed to 
 
 me too fond of attributing to the 
 sound, Virgil's great care of convey- 
 ing the idea of the thing spoken of, 
 by strength of expression . Much of 
 this depends upon fancy 3 but I will 
 mention an instance or two, in which 
 
 I think Mr. B carries this much 
 
 too far. 
 
 Georg. iv. 82. Directs acies is 
 just the reverse of turbatce acies ; 
 
 Extemplo turbatce acies versique Latini 
 Rejiciunt parmas. 
 
 ^Sn. xi. 618. 
 
 85. In the common translations, 
 it is left uncertain, which side the 
 conqueror will oblige to yield. But 
 surely he would hardly endeavour 
 to demolish his own party. There- 
 fore it comes to this sense, dum txut 
 has aut hos, that is of the other 
 party, victor subegit dare terga, ob- 
 nixi4amen sunt non cedere. 
 
 203. Sir Daniel Molyneux's ob- 
 servation I think is quite right. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 Thefolbwing Remarks were sent me by the Reverend and learned 
 Dr. William Greenwood, dated from Warwick, May 14, 1748. 
 
 GEORGICK i. 32. Anne novum— 
 This passage receives great light 
 and beauty from the Farnese grove, 
 and some gems, &c. representing 
 the Zodiac. The ancients were at 
 a loss how to have the balance sup- 
 ported, and therefore it was origi- 
 nally held up by Scorpius; who 
 extended his claws for that purpose 
 out of his own proper dominions, 
 and thus took up the space of two 
 signs in the Zodiac. But under 
 Augustus, or a little after his death, 
 they made Scorpius contract his 
 claws, and introduced a new per- 
 sonage to hold the balance. On 
 the Farnese globe it is supported 
 by Scorpius ; and in several gems 
 and medals of later date, it is held 
 by a man : probably intended for 
 Augustus himself. Vide Spence's 
 Polymetis, p. 170. pi. 24. and pi. 25. 
 fig. 3. 
 
 How does your remark in the 
 notes, that Augustus was born un- 
 der Libra, agree with Suetonius, 
 who says he was born under Capri- 
 corn ? In Aug. §. 94. 
 
 Suetonius, in the section referred 
 to, does indeed speak of the birth of 
 Augustus being in December ; Au- 
 gustum natum mense decimo, et 
 ob hoc Apollinis filium existima- 
 tum ; and at the latter end that he 
 was born under Capricorn; Num- 
 mumque argenteum nota sideris 
 Capricorni, quo natus est, percus- 
 serit. In that section Suetonius seems 
 to relate what various authors had re- 
 ported: but in §, 5. where he plainly 
 
 speaks in his own person, he expressly 
 declares, that Augustus was born on 
 the ninth of the calends of October, 
 which is certainly under Libra; Na- 
 tus est Augustus, M. Tullio Cice- 
 rone, et Antonio Coss. ix. Cal. Oc- 
 tobr. paullo ante solis exortum. 
 This is confirmed by §. 100. where we 
 are told that Augustus died on the 
 fourteenth of the Calends of Septem- 
 ber, in the seventy-sixth year of his 
 age, wanting five and thirty days; 
 Obiit in cubiculo eodem quo pater 
 Octavius : duobus Sextis, Pompeio 
 et Appuleio Coss. xiv. Cal. Septem- 
 bris, hora diei nona, septuagesimo 
 et sexto aetatis anno, diebus quin- 
 que et triginta minus. 
 
 42. Ingredere — I should rather 
 think with Catrou, that Virgil in- 
 serted this passage, when he revised 
 his Georgicks : and not when he 
 first composed or published them. 
 
 152. Aspera sylva — In your trans- 
 lation you say, A prickly wood of 
 burrs and caltrops : whereas I take 
 them all to be of the nominative 
 case, as they certainly are in Georg. 
 iii. 384. where the very same words 
 are used : and therefore they should 
 likewise be construed thus, prickly 
 brambles, and burrs, and caltrops. 
 
 I did not take lappaeque tribulique 
 to be the genitive case, as appears, I 
 think, by the comma after sylva. It 
 might indeed have been translated 
 more literally thus ; A prickly wood 
 arises, both burrs and Caltrops. 
 
 195. Grandior — Catrou places the 
 full stop at the end of the next 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 verse, and makes the sense run 
 
 thus; that the legumes may be larger, 
 and boil better with a very little fire. 
 
 211. Sub extremum — Virgil can- 
 not possibly mean the last by ex~ 
 tremum, because it would contradict 
 his epithet, intractabilis ; which im- 
 plies that this season is unfit for bu- 
 siness. But as there are two ex- 
 tremes, and extremus is sometimes 
 used to signify the first, as well as 
 the last; if it can be allowed to 
 have that construction in this place, 
 the sense will be very clear and 
 consistent : that the time of sowing 
 barley is from the autumnal Equinox 
 to the first heavy rains of the winter 
 Solstice, when the inclemency of the 
 weather will put a stop to all works 
 of this kind. 
 
 227. Faselum — I will not pretend 
 to say what the Faselus was : but 
 by these directions I think it can- 
 not be the very same as our kidney- 
 bean. For this is one of the ten- 
 derest plants we have in the natu- 
 ral ground ; and the least able to 
 bear the severe cold, either when 
 it is young or old. It is therefore 
 sown the latest in the spring of all 
 legumes : and as the seed will be 
 melted in the ground, if much rain 
 falls before it is come up ; so the 
 plant itself will be cut off by the 
 first sharp frost in April or May, 
 though it is ever so nourishing, or 
 in October, when it is at its full 
 growth. 
 
 255. Deducere classes — I think we 
 should understand deducere classes, 
 to bring back the fleets ; and thus 
 the same opposition will be con- 
 tinued that was in a preceding 
 verse. Hence we learn when to sow, 
 and when to reap; when to venture 
 out to sea, and when to retire into 
 port again. 
 
 268. Quippe etiam — 1 observe the 
 commentators give reasons why 
 some of these works may be done 
 upon a holiday; but do not take 
 
 any manner of notice of the rest. 
 Now since they are only to be jus- 
 tified by charity or necessity, all 
 the following passages must be 
 considered in that light. So that 
 husbandmen are allowed, rivos de- 
 ducere, to let out the flashes of wa- 
 ter which are brought upon the 
 fields by sudden showers and land 
 floods : they may, segeti prcetendere 
 sepem, secure the fences of their 
 corn, when by the omission it would 
 be exposed to immediate damage 
 from trespassing cattle : they may, 
 insidias avibus moliri, guard against 
 the feathered robbers, who make 
 no distinction of days, but are al- 
 ways pilfering the seeds whenever 
 they can come at them ; and they 
 may, gregem fluvio mersare salubri, 
 bathe the flock in the river, if it 
 is required for the health of the 
 sheep. But why they should then 
 burn the thorns, which may be 
 conveniently done at any time; or 
 carry oil and fruits to town, for 
 which there were probably other 
 market days ; though so correct a 
 writer as Virgil had undoubtedly 
 his reasons for it, yet I must own 
 myself at a loss to discover. Un- 
 less for the latter there might be 
 the same necessity, as there is to 
 cry milk and mackerel in London 
 upon a Sunday : and if this could 
 be proved, we may easily suppose 
 they might be permitted to return 
 with some other loading for back- 
 carriage. And if the former ap- 
 peared to be any thing like our 
 burning of charcoal, this would be 
 a work that might be continued, 
 though not begun, upon a day that 
 was esteemed sacred. 
 
 Georg. ii. 97. Amminea was near 
 to Falernus, and Pliny says, Prin- 
 cipalis datur Ammineis propter firmi- 
 tatem, 1. xiv. 2. Expressions very 
 like these of Virgil. So that these 
 thre« lines may be thus rendered ; 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 There are also Amminean vines, which 
 yield the best bodied wines: to which 
 the Tmolian, and Phanaan, and 
 smaller Argitis must give the prefer- 
 ence ; though the two first are reck- 
 oned prime wines, and the last none 
 can rival, &c. Or suppose the 98th 
 verse to be in a parenthesis, which 
 would be more poetical, and then 
 the construction will run thus; 
 There are also Amminean vines, which 
 yield the best bodied wines, (to which 
 the Tmolian and Phancean, though 
 reckoned prime wines, must give the 
 preference,) and there is the smaller 
 Argitis, which none, &c. 
 
 206. Tardis— I think the epithet 
 tardis alludes to the largeness of 
 the loads, which occasioned the 
 bullocks to move more slowly. So 
 that the whole verse gives one a 
 strong idea of the quantity of corn 
 both in number and weight of 
 loads, that is produced upon such 
 land. 
 
 321. Prima — I do not know any 
 passage more crowded with fine 
 expression, than these two lines. 
 But in my opinion the beauty of it 
 is greatly tarnished by supposing 
 that cestas means nothing more than 
 heat. The ancient and natural di- 
 vision of the year was into summer 
 and winter : and to which many 
 authors allude both in prose and 
 verse. But since between the ex- 
 tremities of heat and cold in these 
 seasons, there were intermediate 
 spaces of moderate weather, the 
 two others of spring and autumn 
 were added; which at their begin- 
 ning and end generally partake of 
 the qualities of the preceding and 
 following season. So that Virgil 
 points out in the most poetical 
 manner the very particular time in 
 autumn that is most proper for this 
 work. For, says he, one of the best 
 times for planting vineyards is, 
 upon the coming in of the first cool 
 weather in autumn, before you 
 
 touch upon winter, and when the 
 summer is quite gone. 
 
 389, 392. Oscilla — caput — Mr. 
 Spence in his Polymetis, p. 129. 
 hath cleared up these passages by 
 a gem in the great Duke's collec- 
 tion at Florence, pi. 20. fig. 2. 
 which represents a tree with seve- 
 ral little heads of Bacchus hanging 
 upon it, that turn every way. 
 
 Georg. iii. 10. Before I had read 
 Catrou I was of opinion, and am 
 very glad to be supported by him 
 in it, that all this following passage 
 to the 40th verse is a most masterly 
 allegory, whereby the Poet pro- 
 mises to perform and publish the 
 ^neid after his return from Greece. 
 And if we take it in this light, it 
 will greatly heighten the many beau- 
 ties that are to be found in these 
 lines. The Eneide was the temple : 
 Augustus was the divinity, for 
 whom it was formed, and to whom 
 it was dedicated : his ancestors, as 
 they are the principal actors in the 
 one, so are they represented as the 
 capital statues to adorn the other : 
 and his victories, like basso re- 
 lievos, were to embellish the work. 
 
 37. Invidia — I cannot forbear ob- 
 serving Virgil's genteel manner of 
 reflecting upon the factious and dis- 
 contented, that were enemies of 
 Augustus ; ' by representing them 
 under the figure of envy, trembling 
 for fear of the severest tortures, 
 that the poets have allotted to the 
 most enormous offenders. 
 
 81. — honesti. I think honesti re- 
 lates only to the outward appear- 
 ance, and that those colours are 
 most graceful and pleasing to the 
 eye : for otherwise it is true as the 
 English proverb says, A good horse 
 is never of a bad colour. 
 
 81, 86. Luxurial tor is pectus — 
 Densa Juba. It must be remem- 
 bered that Virgil describes the fine 
 horse for the menage to be trained 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 cither for war, or the chariot: 
 an English jockey will never agree 
 with him, that a brawny chest and 
 a thick mane are beauties in a 
 horse. 
 
 132. Cursu — As Virgil, according 
 to your observation, seems to intend 
 these precepts for both species, I 
 think cursu qua Hunt refers to the 
 exercise proper for the mares, and 
 sole fatigant , &c. for the cows. 
 
 299- Turpesque podagras. Many 
 farmers, particularly in Warwick- 
 shire, call this distemper, the Fouls : 
 which, considering the part af- 
 fected, is a literal translation of 
 Virgil. 
 
 400. Quod surgente — 1 think Vir- 
 gil, in his short manner of hinting 
 a direction, plainly points out to us 
 which milk is best for cheese, and 
 which for butter. What you milk 
 in the morning and the daytime, 
 is to be pressed into cheese at 
 night: and what you milk in the 
 evening and the night, is to be 
 made into butter j and either car- 
 ried, sub lucem, very early in the 
 morning to market in baskets, be- 
 fore the sun will have power to 
 melt it, or seasoned with a little 
 salt and laid up for use in the win- 
 ter. This construction will render 
 the passage very clear and expres- 
 sive, and remove the difficulties, 
 which have so much puzzled the 
 commentators in explaining the 
 meaning of the word, Calathis. 
 
 478. Hie quondam — It appears 
 plain to me that the Poet is speak- 
 ing only of a pestilential distemper 
 that many years ago invaded the 
 Alpine countries; but in what pe- 
 riod of time cannot fairly be col- 
 lected, neither is it material, not- 
 withstanding the names of Chiron 
 and Melampus are mentioned $ for 
 these I take to be used in general 
 for the most eminent physicians. 
 And as all raging plagues are at- 
 tended with many like circum- 
 
 stances, it is no wonder that hi* 
 relation should very much agree 
 with those, which Thucydides and 
 Lucretius have given us of the 
 plague at Athens : though proba- 
 bly he might take several hints 
 from them to heighten the descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 500. Incertus sudor — That incertus 
 means it was doubtful whether a 
 sweat was a good or bad symptom, 
 and that at first they could not 
 guess at the event of it, is evident 
 I think from the words that follow; 
 where he tells us when it comes 
 to be a bad one: for when it grows 
 cold, it is the forerunner of certain 
 death, and consequently till that 
 fatal turn, there might be some 
 hopes of a recovery. 
 
 553. Inque dies — This represent- 
 ation, of the fury's growing larger 
 every day, is one remarkable in- 
 stance, among many others, of the 
 strength of Virgil's imagination : 
 and is intended to point out to us 
 the gradual increase of a pestilen- 
 tial infection till it arrives at the 
 full height. There are two other 
 instances of growing figures in the 
 ^Sneid, the one of Fame, lib. iv. 
 ver. 1*5. and the other of Alecto, 
 1. vii. ver. 448. 
 
 558. Donee humo—\ cannot sup- 
 pose that before this they did not 
 know how to bury any offensive 
 carcases- but I take the meaning 
 of this passage to be, that they at- 
 tempted to make some profit from 
 them, after they were dead; till they 
 learnt by experience there was no- 
 thing for them to do, but to bury 
 them. For, as it follows after- 
 wards, neither the hides, nor the 
 wool, nor the flesh were found to 
 be of any service : but on the con- 
 trary some of them produced the 
 rrost dreadful effects upon those 
 that ventured to make use of them. 
 I cannot conclude this note without 
 making a short remark of the great 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 conformity between the directions 
 of Virgil and those of his Majesty's 
 order in Council ; and the reasons 
 for them both. Here is advice to 
 kill and bury, because no remedy 
 was found to have any good effect, 
 and the infected skins and carcases 
 proved of such fatal consequences. 
 For the immediate killing, see ver. 
 468. for the burying, ver. 558. for 
 the insufficiency of medicines, ver. 
 548. and for the hurtfulness of the 
 infected skins and carcases, ver. 
 559. 
 
 Georg. iv. 153. Solce — I wonder 
 that the commonwealth of ants 
 should escape the observation, or 
 the memory of this accurate writer: 
 for many of these particulars are as 
 justly applicable to them, as to the 
 monarchy of bees. 
 
 179. Dadala — This word gives 
 one a stronger idea than to be 
 barely rendered, artificial: as it 
 seems to resemble the works of 
 
 these little animals to the famous 
 labyrinth built by Daedalus in Crete. 
 372. Eridanus — All travellers 
 agree that the Po is not a rapid 
 river: neither is it likely that it 
 should be so. For the force of a 
 current is occasioned by its fall from 
 a chain of mountains, or running 
 down a steep descent of country : 
 but the Po, very soon after its 
 source, flows on through the vale 
 of Piedmont; and afterwards tra- 
 verses all the rich vale of Lom- 
 bardy. These are the pinguia culta 
 which Virgil speaks of: and there- 
 fore very probably he means that 
 no river, which runs through so 
 long a tract of fertile plains, is 
 more violent than the Po. So that 
 I think, if Dr. Trapp instead of the, 
 had said, 
 
 Thro* such fertile fields, v. 444. 
 
 his translation would have come 
 something nearer to the spirit of 
 the original. 
 
I NDEX. 
 
 ABIES, the yew- leaved fir-tree, ii. 
 68. 
 
 Abydos, famous for oysters, i. 207. 
 
 Acalanthis considered, iii. 33$. 
 
 Acanthus considered, ii. 119. iv. 123. 
 
 Acerrae, ii. 225. 
 
 Achelous, a solemn word used for 
 water, i. 9- 
 
 Acheron, ii. 492. 
 
 Acinus explained, ii, 60. 
 
 Aconite, a poisonous herb, ii. 152. 
 
 Adder or Viper, iii. 417^ 
 
 Adeo signifies chiefly, i. 24. ii. 322. 
 
 Aduro applied to cold, i. 93. 
 
 JEmixthm, see Emathia. 
 
 ^stas means warm weather, iii. 322. 
 
 iEstiva explained, iii. 472. 
 
 African shepherds, their manners, 
 iii. 339. 
 
 Africus the south-west, iii. 278. 
 
 Alburnus, iii. 147. 
 
 Albus not a different colour from 
 candidus, iii. 82. 
 
 Alcinous, his gardens, ii. 87. 
 
 Alder- trees gave the first hint to- 
 wards navigation, i. 136. their 
 proper soil, ii. 109, 110. grow on 
 the banks of the Po, ii. 451. 
 
 Alexander's error concerning the 
 source of the Nile, iv. 293. 
 
 Alienis mensibus explained, ii. 149. 
 
 Alpheus, iii. 18. 
 
 Alps, iii. 474. 
 
 Altum used for the air, i. 443. sea, 
 i. 324, 443. 
 
 Ambarvalia described, i. 335, 338. 
 
 Amellus described, iv. 251, 271- 
 
 Ameria famous for willows, i. 265. 
 
 Amphrysus, a river of Thessaly, 
 iii. 2. 
 
 Amurca, iii. 448. 
 
 Amyclae, iii. 89. famous for dogs, 
 
 iii. 345. 
 Anio, a river of Italy, iv. 369. 
 Antipodes, i. 231. 
 Aonia, iii. 11. 
 
 Aparctias the North, iii. 278. 
 Aparine, i. 153. 
 Apeliotes the East, iii. 278. 
 Apiaster, iv. 14. 
 Apiastrum, iv. 63. 
 Apium considered, iv. 121. 
 Apollo, why called Thyinbraeus, iv. 
 
 323. 
 Apples, the various sorts of them, 
 
 ii. 87. 
 Aquarius, iii. 303. 
 Aquilo the North-East, iii. 278. 
 Arachne changed to a spider, iv.246. 
 Arbutus, i. 148, 166. iii. 300. why 
 
 called horrida, ii. 69. 
 Arcturus, when it rises, i. 67. a. 
 
 stormy sign, i. 204. when it sets, 
 
 i. 228. 
 Ardua explained, ii. 66. 
 Arethusa* iv. 344. 
 Argestes, iii. 278. 
 Argilla explained, ii. 180. 
 Arimaspians, the ancient inhabitants 
 
 of Muscovy, iii. 196. 
 Arista explained, i. 220. 
 Aristaeus, i. 14, 15. iv. 315, 317. 
 Ascanius, a river of Bceotia, iii. 270. 
 Ash used to make spears, ii. 447. 
 Asia palus, i. 383. 
 Asilus, an insect injurious to kine, 
 
 iii. 138, 148, 149. 
 Asius campus, i. 383. 
 Aspect of a vineyard, ii. 298. 
 Asphaltus, iii. 451. 
 Ass wild, iii. 409- 
 Astraea, ii. 473. 
 * b2 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Athenian*, vthv called Theseidse, ii. 
 
 383. 
 Athos, i. 332. 
 Atlantides i- 138. 9,11. 
 Atque used for statim, i. 203. 
 A vermis, ii. l6l. 
 Augustus complimented, i. 24, 28, 
 
 42. iii. 35. his wars, iii. 32. the 
 
 genealogy of his family, iii. 35. 
 Aures, parts of a plough, i. 172. 
 Aurora, i. 447- borealis, i. 474. 
 Auster, the South, iii. 278. wby 
 
 called cold, iii. 279. 
 Autumn, when it begins, i. 311. 
 Avulsio explained, ii. 53. 
 Asof, iii. 349- 
 
 B. 
 
 Bacchus, peculiarly called pater, ii. 
 4. the inventor of wine, ibid. 
 worshipped jointly with Ceres, i. 
 
 7, 344. 
 Bactra, ii. 138. 
 Balearides, i. 309- 
 
 Balius, one of the horses of Achilles, 
 
 iii. 91. 
 Balsam, ii. 119. 
 Barbadoes tar, iii. 451. 
 Barley, when sown, i. 208. 
 Barren fields, how cured, i. 84. 
 Bavaria, iii. 474. 
 Bavius, i. 210. 
 
 Baum, good for bees, iv. 62. 
 Bay, i. 306. ii. 18. 
 Beans, i. 74. when sown, i. 215. 
 Bear, the constellation, i. 138. 
 Beaver, i. 58. 
 Bees, a proper station for them, iv. 
 
 8. their swarming, iv. 51. fight- 
 ing, iv. 67. difference, iv. 88, 92. 
 how kept at home, iv. 103. how 
 their wings may be clipped, iv. 106. 
 their polity, iv. 149 compared to 
 the Cyclops, iv. 170. their gene- 
 ration, iv. 197, 295. sex, iv. 197. 
 life, iv. 207. loyalty, iv. 210. 
 passionate temper, iv. 228, 236. 
 plagues, iv. 239- diseases and re- 
 medies, iv. 251. how the loss of 
 them may be repaired, iv. 281. 
 
 Bee bread, iv. 38. 
 
 Bee-eater, iv. 14. 
 
 Bee-hives, how made, iv. 33. 
 
 Beech is not the Esculus, ii. 15. 
 preferred by the ancients to the 
 chesnut, ii. 71. 
 
 Benacus, ii. 160. 
 
 Bidens, an instrument of agricul- 
 ture, ii. 355. 
 
 Bipennis, iv. 331. 
 
 Birds to be scared away, i. 118. 
 
 Bisaltse, iii. 46l. 
 
 Bite of a mad dog, how cured, iii. 
 496. 
 
 Biton, iii. 531. 
 
 Bitumen, what it is, iii. 451. 
 
 Blatta, an insect, iv. 243. 
 
 Blight, i. 151. 
 
 Blood of horses drunk by the Scy- 
 thians, iii. 462. 
 
 Boars, their manner of fighting, iii. 
 265. 
 
 Boas, a sort of serpent, iii. 418. 
 
 Bootes, i. 228. 
 
 Boreas, the north-east, iii. 278. 
 
 Bows made of yew, ii. 437- 
 
 Box, ii. 437, 449- 
 
 Brambles used to bind vines, i. 266. 
 
 Brass, how made, ii. 165. 
 
 Broom, ii. 12. 
 
 Bruma the winter solstice, i. 211. 
 
 Bull, when to be admitted to the 
 cow, iii. 133. 
 
 Bulls, the fighting of these animals 
 described, iii. 209* 
 
 Bullocks, how tamed, iii. 157, 168, 
 &c. 
 
 Burdock, i. 153. 
 
 Burgundy trefoil, i. 215. 
 
 Burning the fields, i. 84. 
 
 Burr, i. 153. 
 
 Busiris, iii. 4. 
 
 Butcher's broom, ii. 41S. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cado, used to express the ceasing 
 
 of the wind, i. 354. 4 
 Ceestus, iii. 20. 
 Caieus, a river of Mvsia, iv. 370. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Calathus explained, iii. 402. 
 
 Callisto, i. 138. 
 
 Caltrop, i. 153. 
 
 Calves, how to be treated, iii. 157- 
 
 Camiili, ii. 169. 
 
 Canopus, where situated, iv. 287. 
 why called Pellaean, ibid. 
 
 Capistrura ferratum explained, iii. 
 399. 
 
 Carbuncle described, iii. 564. 
 
 Carchesium explained, iv. 380. 
 
 Carex considered, iii. 231. 
 
 Carpathus, an island of the Medi- 
 terranean, iv. 387. 
 
 Casia explained, ii. 213. iv. 30. 
 
 Castalian spring, iii. 291. 
 
 Castor, a drug, i. 58. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, iii. 89. 
 
 Catacecaumenian wine, iv. 380. 
 
 Caucasus, ii. 440. 
 
 Caudex explained, ii. 78. 
 
 Cavea of the Roman theatre, ii. 381 . 
 
 Caurus, the north-west, iii. 277, 
 278. 
 
 Cayster or Caystrus, i. 384. 
 
 Cedar of the Greeks different from 
 that of Lebanon, ii. 443. good to 
 drive away serpents, iii. 414. 
 
 Celeus, i. 165, 212. 
 
 Centaurs, their fight with the La- 
 pithae, ii. 454, 455, 457. 
 
 Centaury, iv. 270. 
 
 Ceraunia, i. 332. 
 
 Ceres, the inventor of agriculture, 
 i. 122. worshipped jointly with 
 Bacchus, i. 7, 344. why called 
 Eleusina mater, i. 163. ^why pop- 
 pies were consecrated to her, i. 
 212. the sacrifice to her de- 
 scribed, i. 335. wine offered to 
 her, i. 344. wreaths of oak worn 
 in honour of her, ibid. 
 
 Cerinthe, iv. 63. 
 
 Cerinthurn, ibid. 
 
 Chalybes, i. 58. 
 
 Chagrin, iii, 409. 
 
 Chaones, a people of Epirus, i. 8. 
 
 Chaonia, a name of Epirus, ibid. 
 
 Chaos, the original of the gods, iv. 
 347. 
 
 Chelydrus, a sort of serpe*nt, iii. 415. 
 
 Cherries, ii. 18. 
 
 Chersydrus, a sort of ierpent, iii. 
 
 425. 
 Chesnut, ii. 15. its fruit not esteemed 
 
 by the ancients, ii. 71. 
 Chian wines famous among the an- 
 cients, ii. 98. 
 Chiron, the son of Saturn and Phi- 
 
 lyra, iii. 92. when he lived, iii. 
 
 478. his studies, iii. 550. 
 Choaspes, iv. 211. 
 Cicada explained, iii. 328. 
 Cicones, iv. 520. 
 Cimmerians, iii. 357. 
 Cinyphus, or Cinyps, a river and 
 
 country of Africa, where Tripoly 
 
 now stands, iii. 311. 
 Circensian games, iii. 18. 
 Citron, a fruit of Media, ii. 126. its 
 
 taste, ii. 109, 126. a remedy for 
 
 poison, ii. 109, 130. a stinking 
 
 breath, ii. 109, 134. the plant 
 
 described, ii. 109. 
 Clanius, ii. 214. 
 Cleaver, i. 153. 
 Cleobis, iii. 531. 
 Clitumnus, ii. 146. 
 Clivers, i. 153. 
 Clivus explained, iii. 293. 
 Cneoron, the same with Casia, ii. 
 
 213. 
 Cocytus, iv. 479- 
 Cold, the effects of it in the northern 
 
 regions, iii. 349, 360, &c. 
 Colligere sitim explained, iii. 327. 
 Colt, his good signs, ii. 77, 78, 79, 
 
 &c. 
 Compass of the ancients, iii. 278. 
 Continuo explained, iii. 75. 
 Cork-tree, its bark called cortex by 
 
 way of eminence, iv. 33. 
 Corn, the proper soil for it, ii. 177, 
 
 203. 
 Cornel used to make spears, ii. 447. 
 Cornelian cherry, ii. 34. 
 Corn -flag not the hyacinth of the 
 
 poets, iv. 183. 
 Corsica infamous for its bad honey, 
 
 iv. 47. 
 Corus. See Caurus. 
 Corycus, iv. 127. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Cotton, ii. 120. 
 
 Country life* its pleasures in oppo- 
 sition to those of courts and ci- 
 ties, ii. 458. compared to that of 
 a philosopher, ii. 490. 
 
 Cow described, iii. 49- 
 
 Cranes, i. 120. 
 
 Crates explained, i. Q5 t 166. 
 
 Crowns made of the Esculus, ii. 15. 
 
 Cucumber beautifully described, iv. 
 
 isi. 
 
 Cuoei, ii. 381, 508. 
 
 Cunila, iv. 31. 
 
 Curbs, why called Lupata, iii. 208. 
 
 Curetes, the preservers of Jupiter, 
 iv. 150. 
 
 Currus signifies a wheel- plough, i. 
 173. 
 
 Cuttings, ii. 28. of vines how to be 
 chosen, ii. 299, 300. 
 
 Cylinder, an instrument of agricul- 
 ture, i. 178. 
 
 Cyllarus, iii. 89- 
 
 Cypress, why called Idaean, ii. 84. 
 a native of Crete, ibid. 
 
 Cyrene, iv. 321. 
 
 Cythaeron, iii. 43. 
 
 Cytisus, ii. 431. 
 
 Cy torus, ii. 437- 
 
 D. 
 
 Dacians, ii. 497. iii. 462. 
 
 Daffodil considered, iv. 122, 160. 
 
 Danube, ii. 497. 
 
 Darnel, i. 154. 
 
 Darts, of what wood made, ii. 447. 
 
 Days, lucky and unlucky, i. 276, 
 
 277, 284. 
 Decii, ii. I69. 
 
 Dedueere rivos explained, i. 269. 
 Delos, iii. 6. 
 Delphi, iii. 291. 
 Delta or lower Egypt described, iv. 
 
 287, 292. 
 Densum explained, ii. 227. 
 Dentale explained, i. 172. 
 Deucalion, i. 60. 
 Diacodium, i. 78. 
 Dicte, a mountain of Crete, ii. 536. 
 
 iv. 152. 
 
 Dies, the genitive case, i. 208. 
 
 Dii patrii and Indigetes explained, 
 
 i. 498. 
 Dodona, i. 8. 
 Dogs, how to be treated, iii. 404, 
 
 the different sorts of them, iii. 
 
 405. their madness, iii. 496. 
 Dolphin, when it rises, iii. 133. iv. 
 
 234. 
 Don, a river of Muscovy, iv. 517. 
 Donaria explained, iii. 533. 
 Dragon, a northern constellation, i. 
 
 205, 244. 
 Draining a wet soil, i. 104. 
 Drones, the male bees, iv. 168. 
 Dryads, i. 10. ii. 49I. 
 Dunging, ii. 346, 347- 
 Dwarf-oak not the Esculus, ii. 453. 
 
 Ebony, ii. 116. 
 
 Edurae explained, ii. 65. 
 
 Egyptians adored their kings, iv. 
 210. 
 
 Elaeagnus, ii. 182. 
 
 Eleusina mater, i. 163. 
 
 Elis, i. 59. iii. 202. 
 
 Elms, four sorts of them, ii. 83. 
 used to prop vines, ii. 18. feed 
 cattle, ii. 446. 
 
 Emathia, the ancient name of Thes- 
 saly, Macedon, and Epirus, i. 489* 
 
 Endive, not the wild but the garden 
 Intybum, i. 120. iv. 120. 
 
 Endymion beloved by the Moon, 
 iii. 391. 
 
 Enipeus, a river of Thessaly, iv. 
 368. 
 
 Eniteo explained, ii. 211. 
 
 Eose explained, i. 221. 
 
 Eous, the morning star, and one of 
 the horses of the sun, i. 288. 
 
 Ephyre, a name of Corinth, ii. 464. 
 
 Epicurus admired, ii. 490. his writ- 
 ings, ibid, wrote against the fear 
 of death, ii. 491. avoided public 
 offices, ii. 495. his notion of 
 happiness, ii. 498. his temper, 
 ibid, a pattern of temperance, ii. 
 500. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Epidaurus, iii. 44. 
 
 Epirus, whence so called, i. 59. 
 famous for horses, ibid. iii. 321. 
 called Chaonia, i. 8. 
 
 Equinox autumnal, i. 211. 
 
 Erebus, iv. 471. 
 
 Ericthonius, the inventor of cha- 
 riots, iii. 95, 113. 
 
 Eridanus, i. 4S2. 
 
 Erigone, is the sign Virgo, i. S3. 
 
 Erithace, iv. 38. 
 
 Esculus considered, ii. 15, 453. 
 
 Esseda, a sort of chariots 'used by 
 the Britons, iii. 204. 
 
 Ethiopians called Indians, iv. 293. 
 
 Etruria, ii. 533. 
 
 Eurus, the South-East, iii. 277. 
 278. 
 
 Eurystheus, iii. 4. 
 
 Eximius, a sacerdotal word, iv. 
 538. 
 
 Fair weather, signs of it, i. 393. 
 
 Falernus, ii. 96. 
 Fallow of two years, i. 48, 83. 
 
 every other year, i. 79, 33. 
 Fan for corn, i. 166. 
 Far, i. 73. 
 Fasces carried before the Roman 
 
 magistrates, ii. 495. 
 Fauns, i. 10. 
 
 Favonius, iii. 323. the West, iii. 278. 
 Fear, not the horse but the com- 
 panion of Mars, iii. 91. 
 Feeding the corn, i. 104, 112. 
 Fens very subject to be scorched, 
 
 iii. 432. 
 Fermentum explained, iii. 379. 
 Fern, ii. 189- 
 
 Ferrugineus considered, iv. 183. 
 Ferrugo explained, i. 467. 
 Festivals, what works were lawful 
 
 to be done on them, i. 267, 269, 
 
 270, 272. 
 Fir, ii. 257. 
 Fishes not subject to the plague, 
 
 iii. 541. 
 Fishing, i. 141, 142- 
 Flax, i. 77. when sown, i. 212. 
 
 Flints beneficial to vines, ii. 189. 
 Floor, how to be made, i. 176, 178. 
 Foveo considered, iii. 420. 
 Fragor considered, iv. 493. 
 Frankincense peculiar to Arabia, i. 
 
 57. ii. 117, 139. 
 Friuli, iii. 474. 
 Fucus, iv. 38, 39. 
 Fumigation of bees, iv. 241. 
 
 Galbanum, iii. 415. iv. 264. Ga- 
 
 lesus, iv. 126. 
 Galls, what they are, iv. 267. - 
 Gangarides, iii. 27. 
 Ganges, ii. 137. 
 Gardens, a digression concerning 
 
 them, iv. 116. of the ancients, 
 
 iv. 118. 
 Gargarus, i. 102, 269. 
 Gate of heaven considered, iii. 26l. 
 Geloni, ii. 115. 
 
 Genista considered, ii. 12, 434.^ 
 Georgicks, when written, i. 500, 
 
 509. iii. 27. iv. 560. 
 Germans lived in caves in winter, 
 
 iii. 376. 
 Getae, iii. 462. iv. 463. 
 Gilvus explained, iii. 83. 
 Gladdon stinking, not the hyacinth 
 
 of the Poets, iv. 183. 
 Gladiolus, not the hyacinth of the 
 
 Poets, ib. 
 Glans explained, i. 305. 
 Glaucus, i. 437. iii. 267- a colour, 
 
 considered, iii. 82. 
 Goats injurious to vines, ii. 196. 
 
 why sacrificed to Bacchus, ii. 380. 
 
 the care of them, iii. 295, 322. 
 
 their value, iii. 306\ &c. 
 Gods in general invoked, i. 21. 
 Goose, injurious to corn, i. 119. 
 
 dung burning the grass a vulgar 
 
 error, i. 119. 
 Goose-grass, i. 153. 
 Grafting, ii. 32, 69, 73. distin- 
 guished from inoculating, ii. 73. 
 Granum gnidium, ii. 213. 
 Gyrus explained, iii. 115. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 H. 
 
 Haemus, ii. 488. 
 
 Halcyon days, i. 398. 
 
 Harpye, impregnated by the west 
 
 wind, iii. 91. 
 Harrowing, i. 94. 
 Harvest, the time of it among the 
 
 Romans, iii. 133. 
 Hazel destructive to vineyards, ii. 
 
 299. used to bind vines, i. 266. 
 Heat of the weather beautifully de- 
 scribed, iv. 425. 
 Hebrus, iv. 463. why called CEa- 
 
 grian, iv. 524. 
 Helicon, where situated, iii. 11. 
 Hellebore of two sorts, iii. 451. 
 Hermus, ii. 137. 
 
 Hippocrates described the plague at 
 Athens, iii. 478. when he flou- 
 rished, ibid. 
 Hippomanes explained, iii. 266, 
 
 273, 280. 
 Hippodame, iii. 7. 
 Honey dropped from trees in the 
 golden age, i. 131. why called 
 aerial and celestial, iv. 1. whence 
 produced, ibid, when to be taken, 
 iv. 228, 231. 
 Honey- wort considered, iv. 63. 
 Hordea censured by Bavins and 
 
 Maevius, i. 210. 
 Hornet, iv. 245. 
 Horreo explained, i. 151. 
 Horse first produced by Neptune, 
 i. 10. what country most famous 
 for them, i. 59. described, iii. 72. 
 how to be treated when old, iii. 
 95, 96. their best age, iii. 100. 
 how to be bred, iii. 179. when to 
 break them, iii. 190. their pesti- 
 lence, iii. 498. 
 Husbandry nearly related to phi- 
 losophy, ii. 493. preferable to 
 other employments, ii. 503, 513. 
 Husbandry, greatly esteemed by the 
 
 ancient Romans, ii. 534. 
 Hyacinth of the poets considered, 
 
 iv. 183. 
 Hyades, i. 138. 
 Hyaltis explained, iv. 335. 
 
 Hydaspes, iv. 211. 
 
 Hylas, iii. 6. 
 
 Hypanis, a river of Scythia, ir. 
 
 370. 
 Hyperboreans, iii. 196. 
 
 Iacchus, a sacred name of Bacchus, 
 
 i. 166. 
 Iapidia, iii. 474. 
 Iapygia, ibid. 
 Iberi, iii. 408. 
 
 Ida famous for pitch -trees, iv. 41. 
 Idumaea famous for palms, iii. 12. 
 Jews-pitch, iii. 451. 
 Ilex not the Esculus, ii. 453. 
 Illaudatus considered, iii. 4. 
 Imprudens explained, i. 373. 
 Indigetes explained, i. 498. 
 Indignus explained, ii. 373. 
 Inferiae, iv. 545. 
 Infula, what it was, iii. 487. 
 Inhorreo explained, i. 314. 
 Ino, i. 437. 
 Inoculating, ii. 73. 
 Inserere arborem explained, ii. 50. 
 Intybum, not endive but succorv, 
 
 i. 120. 
 Invisere expressive of divinitv, i. 
 
 25. 
 lo, iii. 152. 
 I sis, ibid. 
 Ismarus, ii. 37- 
 Ister, ii. 497- iii. 350. 
 Italy, whence so called, iii. 148. 
 famous for kine, ibid, praised, ii. 
 136. 
 Ityraeans, ii. 448. 
 Jujube tree, ii. 84, 182. 
 Julian family, whence derived, iii. 
 
 35. 
 Juno, the earth, ii. 325. 
 Jupiter, the author of tillage, i. 
 118, 121. not the inventor of it, 
 i. 122. vEther or Sky, ii. 325. his 
 grove, iii. 181. 
 Jvory, the best from India, i. 57. 
 Ivy, ii. 258. 
 Ixion, iv. 484. , 
 
INDEX. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kidney-beans, i. 227. when to be 
 
 sown, i. 228. 
 Kids, a stormy sign, i. 205. 
 Kine, a disease among them in 
 
 England, iii. 536. 
 
 L. 
 
 Laconia famous for dogs, iii. 345. 
 Lactans and lactens explained, i. 
 
 315. 
 Lseva numina considered, iv. 7. 
 Lago di Como, ii. 159. Garda, ii. 
 
 160. 
 Lapithae, the inventors of riding, 
 
 iii. 95, 115. 
 Laplanders, their manners, iii. 196. 
 Lappa, i. 253. 
 Larius, ii. 159. 
 Lark's-spur, not the hyacinth of 
 
 the poets, iv. 183. 
 Lavender falsely supposed to be the 
 
 Casia, ii. 213. 
 Laurel, i. 306. 
 Laurocerasus, ibid. 
 Laurus is not the laurel, but the 
 
 bay, ibid. 
 Layers, ii. 26. 
 League, the most ancient among 
 
 the Romans, iv. 131. 
 Lees of oil, their uses, iii. 448. 
 Lego, a term in naval affairs, ii. 44. 
 Legumen explained, i. 74. 
 Lentils, why called Pelusian, i. 228. 
 
 when to be sown, ibid. 
 Leopard described, iii. 264. 
 Lethe, i. 78. 
 Leucothea, i. 437. 
 Libations, ii. 101. 
 Libra not anciently accounted one 
 
 of the signs of the Zodiac, i. 33. 
 Libs, the south west, iii. 278. 
 Libum explained, ii. 394. 
 Ligurians, ii. 168. 
 Lilies, iv. 130. 
 Lily, red, not the hyacinth of the 
 
 poets, iv. 183. 
 Lime, ii. 449. iv. 141. 
 
 Litharge, iii. 449. 
 
 Lituus explained, iii. 183. 
 
 Lizards, iv. 13. 
 
 Lolium, i. 154. 
 
 Lopping, i. 118. 
 
 Lotus considered, ii. 84. iii. 394. 
 
 Lucern, i. 215. 
 
 Lucifer, iii. 324. 
 
 Lucky days, i. 2/6, 284. 
 
 Lucretius described the plague at 
 
 Athens, iii. 478. 
 Lucrinus, ii. 16 J. 
 Lupatum, why so called, iii. 208. 
 Lupines, i. 75. 
 Lust, its violent effects, iii. 209, 
 
 242. 
 Lybia, the Greek name for Africa, 
 
 iii. 249, 339. 
 Lycaeus, a mountain of Arcadia, iii. 
 
 2, 314. 
 Lycus, a river of Armenia, iv. 367. 
 Lydia, iv. 210. 
 Lynx described, iii. 264. 
 Lyre of the ancients, iv. 464. 
 
 M. 
 
 Maeonia, iv. 380. 
 
 Maeotis, iii. 349. 
 
 Maevius, i. 210. 
 
 Majorca, i. 309. 
 
 Male used for non, i. 105. 
 
 Malt liquor used by the ancients, 
 
 iii. 379. 
 Manes explained, iv. 469. 
 Mantelium explained, iv. 377. 
 Mantua, ii. 198. 
 Mareia, ii. 91. 
 Mareotis, ibid. 
 Mares, at what time to be covered, 
 
 iii. 133. violently affected by 
 
 lust, iii. 266. impregnated by the 
 
 wind, iii. 266, 273. 
 Marii, ii. 169. 
 Mars, his horses, iii. 89. 
 Marsi, ii. 167. 
 Martagon, the hyacinth of the poets, 
 
 iv. 183. 
 Massicus, famous for wine, ii. 143. 
 Maturare explained, i. 261. 
 
 *c 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Matuta, i. 43?. 
 
 Maw-seed, i. 78. 
 
 Medes remarkably obedient to their 
 
 kings, iv. 211. 
 Medica, i. 215, 216. 
 Medic fodder, i. 215. 
 Melampus, iii. 550. 
 Melicerta, i. 437. 
 Melisphyllon, iv. 63. 
 Melissa, ibid. 
 
 Mella, a river of Lombardy, iv. 278. 
 Merops, iv. 14. 
 Metals, plenty of them in Italy, ii. 
 
 165. 
 Methymna, ii. 90. 
 Meto used for gathering any sort 
 
 of produce, ii. 410. 
 Miletus, famous for wool, iii. 306. 
 Milk, iii. 394. 
 Minerva, the discoverer of the olive, 
 
 i. 18. ii, 181. 
 Minorca, i. 309. 
 Maesia, i. 102. 
 Moles are not blind, i. 183. 
 Mollibus stabulis explained, iii. 295. 
 Molorchus, iii. 19. 
 Monk's-hood, a poisonous herb, ii. 
 
 152. 
 Monochord, how invented, iv. 175. 
 Montfaucon corrected, i. 344. 
 Moon seduced by Pan, iii. 391. 
 Moth, iv. 246. 
 
 Mox signifies hereafter, i. 24. 
 Mycenae famous for horses, iii. 121. 
 Myrtle sacred to Venus, i. 28. ii. 
 
 64. why called cruenta, i. 306. 
 
 Paphian, ii. 64. its proper soil, 
 
 ii. 112. used to make spears, ii. 
 
 447. delights in growing near the 
 
 shore, iv. 124. 
 Mysia, i. 102. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nabca, ii. 84. 
 Naiads, ii. 494. 
 
 Narcissus considered, iv. 122, 160. 
 Narycium, ii. 438. 
 Naryx, ibid. 
 
 Navigation, the first hint of it, i. 
 136. 
 
 Nectar, used for wine, iv. 384. 
 
 Negro, a river of Italy, iii. 151. 
 
 Nemeaean games, iii. 19. 
 
 Neptune, the first producer of a 
 horse, i. 12, 13. iii. 122. 
 
 Nequicquam explained, i, 192, 403. 
 
 Nereids, ii. 494. 
 
 Nettle tree, not the lotus of the 
 ancients, ii. 84. 
 
 Nightingale, a beautiful simile 
 drawn from the singing of this 
 bird, iv. 511. 
 
 Nile, where it rises, iv. 287, 292, 
 293. 
 
 Niphates, iii. 30. 
 
 Nisus and Scylla, i. 405. 
 
 Noricum, iii. 474. 
 
 Notus, the south, iii. 278. 
 
 Novalis explained, i. 71. 
 
 Numidians, their origin and man- 
 ners, iii. 339. 
 
 Nux signifies a walnut-tree, i. 187- 
 
 Nymphs, ii. 494. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oak, sacred to Jupiter, ii. 67. 
 
 Oats wild, not a degeneracy of 
 corn, i. 154. 
 
 Occatio, i. 94. 
 
 Oceanus, the father of the Gods, 
 iv. 382. 
 
 (Ebalia, iv. 125. 
 
 (Estros. See Asilus. 
 
 Oil, when made, ii. 519. the uses 
 of its lees, iii. 448. 
 
 Oleaster, ii. 182. 
 
 Olive, discovered by Minerva, i. 18. 
 ii. 181. its various sorts, ii. 85. 
 proper soil, ii. 177, 179. requires 
 but little culture, ii. 420. a slow 
 grower, ii. 3, 181. propagated 
 by dry pieces of the trunk, ii. 30. 
 truncheons, ii. 63. time of ga- 
 thering, ii. 519. wild, ii. 182. 
 not to be planted in vineyards, 
 ii. 302. 
 
 Olympic games, where held, i. 59. 
 iii. 19. the victors carried palms, 
 iii. 49. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Onager, or wild ass, iii. 409. 
 
 Opium, i. 78. 
 
 Orchestra, ii. 381. 
 
 Oreads, ii. 494. 
 
 Orgies of Bacchus, iv. 521. 
 
 Orithyia, iv. 463. 
 
 Ornus, ii. 71, 111. 
 
 Orpheus, iv. 454. 
 
 Oscilla explained , ii. 389. 
 
 Osier, ii. 12. 
 
 Osiris, i. 19. 
 
 Overflowing the ground, i. 104. 
 
 Ounce described, iii. 264. 
 
 Oxen not killed by the ancients, ii. 
 
 537. 
 Oxymyrsine, ii. 413. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paestum, famous for roses, iv. 119. 
 
 Pagus, its etymology, ii. 382. 
 
 Palaemon, i. 437. 
 
 Palatium explained, i. 499. 
 
 Pales, iii. 1. 
 
 Palilia, a Roman feast, iii. 1. 
 
 Paliurus, ii. 84. 
 
 Pallas, the discoverer of the olive- 
 tree, ii. 181. 
 
 Pallene, iv. 191. 
 
 Palm, of several sorts, iv. 20. why 
 called ardua, ii. 66. a slow grower, 
 ibid, abounds in Idumaea, iii. 12. 
 used for crowns, ibid, carried by 
 the victors in the Olympic games, 
 iii. 49. 
 
 Pan, i. 16. ii. 494. his amour with 
 the moon, iii. 391. 
 
 Panchaea, iv. 379. 
 
 Pangaea, iv. 462. 
 
 Panopea, i. 437. 
 
 Parnassus, iii. 291. 
 
 Paros, iii. 34. 
 
 Parthenope, the ancient name of 
 Naples, iv. 564. 
 
 Parthia, iv. 211. 
 
 Parthians, iii. 31. their submission 
 to their kings, iv. 211. 
 
 Passum explained, iii. 93. 
 
 Pasture, the proper soil for it, ii. 
 177. 
 
 Pears, the various sorts of them, 
 
 ii. 88. 
 Peletronium, iii. 115. 
 Pelion, iii. 94. 
 Pella, the metropolis of Macedonia, 
 
 iv. 287. 
 Pelops, iii. 7. 
 Penates, i. 498. 
 
 Peneus, a river of Thessaly, iv. 317. 
 Pentathlum, iii. 20. 
 Pernix considered, iii. 230. 
 Persia, the bounds of it, iv. 290. 
 Persians remarkably obedient to 
 
 their kings, iv. 211. 
 Pestis explained, iii. 471. 
 Phanaea, ii. 98. 
 Pharsalia, the battle there, i. 489. 
 
 its situation, ibid. 
 Phasis, a river of Armenia, iv. 367. 
 Philippi, the battle there, i. 489. 
 Philippi, not the Thessalian Thebes, 
 
 ibid. 
 Philomela, her story, iv. 15, 511. 
 Philyra, the mother of Chiron, iii. 
 
 92. 
 Pisa, iii. 180. 
 
 Pitch, why called Idaean, ii. 450. 
 Pitch-tree, ii. 257. 
 Plague among the cattle described, 
 
 iii. 470. 
 Plane-tree, ii. 70. 
 Planting by suckers, ii. 23, 65. 
 
 sets, ii. 24, 64. layers, ii. 26, 
 
 63, 65. cuttings, ii. 28, 63. dry 
 
 pieces of the trunk, ii. 30. trun- 
 cheons, ii. 63. 
 Platanus, ii. 70. 
 Pleiades, i. 138, 221. when they 
 
 rise, iv. 232. set, iv. 234. 
 Pliny quotes Virgil erroneously, ii. 
 
 72. 
 Plough described, i. I69, 175. 
 Ploughing, when to begin, i. 43, 
 
 64. 
 Plurimus used for very much, or 
 
 plentifully, i. 187- ii. 183. iii. 52. 
 Po, ii. 452. 
 Podarge, iii. 91- 
 Poles, i. 231, 240. 
 Pollux, iii. 89. 
 Pomps, iii. 22. 
 *c2 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Pomum explained, i. 274. ii. 59* 
 
 Poplar, three sorts of it, ii. 13. 
 sacred to Hercules, ii. 66. remark- 
 able for the tremblingof its leaves, 
 iv. 511. 
 
 Poppies, i. 78. when sown, i. 212. 
 why called cereales, ibid. 
 
 Portunus, i. 437. 
 
 Poscenium explained, ii. 381. 
 
 Position of trees to be regarded, ii. 
 269. 
 
 Potnia, iii. 267. 
 
 Praetorium, iv. 75. 
 
 Premere virgulta explained, ii. 346. 
 iv. 131. 
 
 Priapus, where worshipped, iv. 111. 
 
 Procne, her story, iv. ] 5. 
 
 Prodigies at Caesar's death, i. 466. 
 
 Propagatio explained, ii. 26. 
 
 Propago, ibid. 
 
 Properare explained, i. 26l. 
 
 Propolis, iv. 38. 
 
 Proscenium explained, ii. 381 . 
 
 Proscindo explained, i. 97- 
 
 Proteus, his character, iv. 374, 388 3 
 391, 394, 405. 
 
 Purple of Tyre, ii. 465. 
 
 Putris explained, i. 215. ii. 204. 
 
 Pyrrha, i. 62. 
 
 Pythagoras, the inventor of the 
 monochord, iv. 175. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quash, whence derived, i. 74. 
 Quicken-tree, ii. 71. 
 Quincunx explained, ii. 277- 
 Quondam interpreted, iii. 99. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rain, the signs of it, i. 370. 
 Rarum explained, ii. 227. 
 Rastrum used for a harrow, i. 95, 
 
 164, 213. 
 Red, that colour applied to the sea, 
 
 iii. 359' 
 Remus, ii. 533. 
 Relicti considered, iv. 127. 
 
 Reponit explained, iii. 76~ 
 
 Rhaetia, ii. 95. 
 
 Rhesus, iv. 462. 
 
 Rhodope, i. 332. iii. 351, 462. iv. 
 
 461. 
 Riding, by whom invented, iii. 95, 
 
 115. 
 Riphaean mountains, iii. 196, 382. 
 Rivers, whence they arise, iv. 363. 
 Robigo explained, i. 151. 
 Robur signifies timber, i. 162. 
 Roman soldiers, how loaded on a 
 
 march, iii. 346. 
 Rome, on what day founded, iii. 1. 
 
 its seven hills, ii. 535. 
 Romulus, ii. 533. 
 Rosemary used in sprinkling, ii. 
 
 213. 
 Rudis explained, ii. 211. 
 Ruit explained, i. 324. 
 Ruscus, ii. 413. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabelli, ii. 167. 
 
 Sabines, ii. 532. 
 
 Saecula explained, i. 468. 
 
 Saffron, i. 56. 
 
 Sagmina, iv. 131. 
 
 Saltus explained, ii. 471. 
 
 Sandaraca, iv. 63. 
 
 Sarmatae, live under ground in 
 
 winter, iii. 376. 
 Sarra, an ancient name of Tyre, ii. 
 
 506, 
 Satureia, iv. 30. 
 Saturn turns himself into a horse, 
 
 ii. 95. 
 Savoury, iv. 30. 
 Scab, the cause of it in sheep, iii. 
 
 441. medicines to prevent or cure 
 
 it, iii. 447, 448. 
 Scarlet oak, not the Esculus, ii. 
 
 453. 
 Scene of the Roman theatre, ii. 381. 
 Schetland, the ancient Thule, i. 30. 
 Scipiades, ii. 170. 
 Scorpion, the sign, why called 
 
 ardent, i. 34. 
 Scyila, i. 405. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Scythian, a name for all the north- 
 ern nations, iii. 196, 349. shep- 
 herds, their manners, iii. 349. 
 
 Sea, why called purple, iii. 359. iv. 
 373. 
 
 Seges usually signifies the field, i. 1, 
 48. ii. 266. iv. 129. 
 
 Selo, a river of Italy, iii. 146. 
 
 Semen used for cuttings, slips, and 
 layers, ii. 268. 
 
 Seneca censures Virgil unjustly, i. 
 216. quotes him erroneously, ii. 
 95. 
 
 Septem trio, the north, iii. 278. the 
 bear, iii. 381. 
 
 Seres, ii. 121. 
 
 Serpyllum, iv. 30. 
 
 Sets, ii. 24. 
 
 Sheep, fruitful in Italy, ii. 150. go 
 150 days with young, ibid, how 
 they are to be treated, iii. 295. 
 322. their diseases, 298, 299. 
 
 Shells to be buried at the roots of 
 vines, ii. 346, 347. 
 
 Shepherds assisted Romulus and 
 Remus in founding Rome, ii. 533. 
 ancient of Canaan and Africa, iii. 
 339, 344. Scythia, iii. 349. 
 
 Shrub, how it differs from a tree, ii. 
 21. 
 
 Sicyon, ii. 519. 
 
 Silarus, iii. 146. 
 
 Siler, ii. 12. 
 
 Silk, ii. 121. 
 
 Sinus explained, iii. 39. 
 
 Sisyphus, iii. 238. 
 
 Slow months explained, i. 32. 
 
 Smut is not Robigo, i. 151. 
 
 Soils how to be distinguished, ii. 
 226. 
 
 Solstice, winter, i. 211. 
 
 Solstitium signifies only the summer 
 solstice, i. 100. 
 
 Soul of the world, iv. 221, 226. 
 
 South wind, why called black, iii. 
 278. cold, iii. 279- 
 
 Spadix considered, iii. 82. 
 
 Spatium explained, i. 513. 
 
 Spears, of what wood made, ii. 447. 
 Spelt, i. 73. 
 
 Sperchius, ii. 487. 
 
 Spring, when it begins, i. 43. the 
 season for the generation of ani- 
 mals, ii. 329. 
 
 Spruce-fir, ii. 257. 
 
 Spuma argenti explained, iii. 449. 
 
 Squill or sea-onion, iii. 451. 
 
 Stags, the effect of lust on them, 
 iii. 265. 
 
 Star of Julius Caesar, i. 488. 
 
 Stiva explained, i. 173. 
 
 Stones to be buried at the roots of 
 vines, iii. 346, 347. 
 
 Stork, when it comes into Italy, ii. 
 320. 
 
 Storm described, i. 311. 
 
 Strawberry-tree, i. 148. 
 
 Stringere explained, i. 305, 317. 
 
 Strymon, a river of Macedon, iv. 
 508. 
 
 Styx, iv. 479- 
 
 Subsolanus, the east, iii. 278. 
 
 Succiditur explained, i. 297. 
 
 Succory, i. 120. 
 
 Suckers, ii. 23. 
 
 Suculae, an improper name for the 
 Hyades, i. 138. 
 
 Sun, its prognostics, i. 438. pale- 
 ness after Caesar's death, i. 466. 
 
 Surculus, ii. 28. 
 
 Swallow, injurious to bees, iv. 15. 
 when it first appears, iv. 307. 
 
 Swift, a sort of lizard, iv. 242. 
 
 Swine, subject to disorders of the 
 throat, iii. 497. 
 
 Sylvanus, i. 20. ii. 494. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tabularium, ii. 502. 
 
 Tabulatum explained, ii. 36l. 
 
 Taburnus, ii. 38. 
 
 Taburo, ibid. 
 
 Taeda, ii. 431. 
 
 Taenarus, iv. 467. 
 
 Tanagrus, a river of Italy, iii. 151. 
 
 Tanais, a river of Muscovy, iv. 
 
 517. 
 Tarentum, ii. 193. iv. 125. 
 "Tares, i. 75. 
 Tares, when to be sown, i. 228. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Tar, iii. 450. 
 
 Taurus, when the sun enters that 
 
 sign, i. 217. 
 Taygeta, ii. 4. iii. 444. 
 Te mo explained, i. 87. iv. 171. 
 Tempe, ii. 469. iv. 317. 
 Tempestates signifies storms, i. 27, 
 
 252. 
 Tempestivus explained, i. 256. 
 Terror, not the horse but the com- 
 panion of Mars, iii. 91. 
 Tethys, i. 31. 
 Thasus, ii. 91. 
 Theseidae explained, ii. 383. 
 Thistle, i. 151. 
 Thucydides, his description of the 
 
 plague at Athens, iii. 478. 
 Thule is Shetland, i. 30. 
 Thymbra, iv. 30. 
 Thymbraeus, a name of Apollo, iv. 
 
 323. 
 Thyme of the ancients, iv. 112. 
 
 wild, or mother of thyme, iv. 30. 
 Thymelaea is the same with Casia, 
 
 ii. 213. 
 Tiger described, iii. 264. 
 Timavus, iii. 474. 
 Tithonus, i. 447. iii. 48. turned to 
 
 a Cicada, iii. 328. 
 Tmolus, famous for saffron, i. 56. 
 
 wine, ii. 98. 
 Tondeo used for the grazing of 
 
 cattle, i. 71. 
 Tophus explained, ii. 214. 
 Torches of the ancients, i. 292. 
 Tragedy, its etymology, ii. 382. ori- 
 ginal, ii. 383. 
 Trahea, a threshing instrument, i. 
 
 164, 298. 
 Transplanting of great trees, iv. 146. 
 Tree, how it differs from a shrub, 
 
 ii. 21. 
 Trenches for vines, ii. 288, 289. 
 Trepidare explained, iv. 69. 
 Tribulum, a threshing instrument, 
 
 i. 164, 298. 
 Tribulus, the name of a plant, and 
 
 an instrument used in war, i. 
 
 153. 
 Triones, whence derived, iii. 381. 
 Tripoly in Africa, iii. 311. 
 
 Triptolemus, i. 19. 
 
 Triticum is a bearded corn, i. 219. 
 
 Troy, when and by whom founded, 
 
 iii. 36. 
 Truncheons explained, ii. 63. 
 Truncus explained, ii. 63, 78. 
 Tuscany, ii. 533. 
 Tyber, i. 499. iv. 369. 
 Tyre anciently called Sarra, ii. 506. 
 Tyrian purple, ii. 465. iii. 17. 
 
 Uber explained, ii. 275. 
 
 Vellere signa explained, iv. 108. 
 
 Verbena considered, iv. 131. 
 
 Vergiliae, i. 138. 
 
 Veru distinguished from Pilum, ii. 
 168. 
 
 Vesevus the same with Vesuvius, ii. 
 224. 
 
 Vasta, two of them among the an- 
 cients, iv. 384. 
 
 Vetches, i. 75. when to be sown, 
 i. 228. 
 
 Vinaceum explained, ii. 60. 
 
 Vines, the various sorts of them, ii. 
 91, &c. not accounted trees, ii. 
 290. how best propagated, ii. 63. 
 when to be planted, ii. 321. 
 pruned, ii. 403. their proper si- 
 tuation, ii. 109. soil, ii. 177, 184, 
 189. distance, ii. 277. 
 
 Vineyard compared to a Roman 
 army, ii. 252. 
 
 Viper or adder, iii. 417. 
 
 Virgil vindicated against Pliny, i. 
 100. Quintilian, iii. 79. Seneca, 
 i. 216. his description of a cha- 
 riot race preferred to Homer's, 
 iii. 111. a follower both of Epi- 
 curus and Plato, iv.219. unjustly 
 suspected of an unnatural vice, 
 iv. 520. 
 
 Virosus not always used for poison- 
 ous, i. 58, 129. 
 
 Vitta, what it was, iii. 487- 
 
 Ulna considered, iii. 355. 
 
 Ulva considered, iii. 175. 
 
 Unedo, i. 148. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Unlucky days, i. 276, 277. 
 
 Volsci, ii. 168. 
 
 Voluptas explained, iii. 130. 
 
 Ursa major, i. 338. 
 
 Urus, ii. 374. 
 
 Uva explained, ii. 60. 
 
 Vulcan used for a large fire, i. 295. 
 
 Vulturnus, the south-east, iii. 278. 
 
 W. 
 
 Water said to be first produced by 
 
 Neptune, i. 13. 
 Wax, iv. 38. 
 Weeding, i. 118. 
 West wind called Favonius and Ze- 
 
 phyrus, iii. 322. 
 Willow described, ii. 13. four sorts 
 
 of it, ii. 84. where the best grow, 
 
 i. 265. their proper soil, ii. 10& 
 
 110. use, ii. 446. 
 Wind rising, the signs of it, i. 
 
 356. 
 Wine, rivers of it in the golden age, 
 
 i. 132. offered to Ceres, i. 344. 
 
 its ill effects, ii. 454. frozen in 
 
 the northern regions, iii. 364. 
 
 made of fruits, iii 79. given to 
 
 horses by the ancients, iii. 509. 
 Winter, when it begins, ii. 519. 
 
 Wolfs-bane, a poisonous herb, ii. 
 
 152. 
 Wool, not so good on fat cattle, iii. 
 
 385. softness of it essential in a 
 
 good sheep, iii. 386. 
 
 X. 
 
 Xanthus, one of the horses of 
 
 Achilles, iii. 91. 
 Xyris, not the hyacinth of the poets, 
 
 iv. 183. 
 
 Yews love a cold situation, ii. 109. 
 reputed poisonous, ii. 257- iv. 47. 
 used to make bows, ii. 434. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zea, i. 73. 
 
 Zephyrus, iii. 273, 322. the west, 
 
 iii. 298, 322. 
 Zizyphus, ii. 84. 
 Zodiac, i. 33, 231, 238. 
 Zones, i. 231, 233. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
8 
 
 L :