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quid quorum, etc., something of WHAT need requires: supply eorum as antecedent.

72. detexere, weave throughout, or carefully.

73.

invenies : "You shall find perhaps a fairer Galatea" (Theocr.). fastidit, disdains.

ECLOGUE III.

The scene represents the Shepherds tending their flocks not far from each other and joining in conversation.

:

1. cujum (§ 21, 2, ƒ, a form rustic or antiquated in Virgil's time) it shows that Damotas is a hireling, or, perhaps, a friend of Ægon. -an, alternative question (§ 71, 2 ; G. 460).

2. Egonis: the name and the verse are taken literally from Theocr. iv. 2. Ægon is Menalcas's rival (v. 4).

3. infelix.... pecus, poor sheep! a luckless flock (ovis, acc. of exclam.). — ipse, Ægon (compare ipse dixit, "the master said "). 4. fovet, wooes: the word is used in Æn. ix. 57 in the sense of constant attendance on the camp.

5. alienus custos — an unfaithful keeper (with no interest in his charge). bis in hora, a bit of extravagance: twice a day would be full enough. The offence of secretly milking cattle was punished by whipping and loss of wages.

6. sucus (root in sugo) = the life-blood, the strength of the sheep and food of the young. — subducitur, is stolen (taken secretly).

7. parcius, not so freely. — viris, contrasted with the pretended effeminacy of Menalcas. — tamen, i. e. though it were true (ironically). - obicienda (§ 1, 3, d), to be flung at.

8. qui te, understand any verb you please. tuentibus, eyeing askance.

transversa

9. faciles, good-natured. — sacello, the nymph's grotto. Io. tum, credo, at the same time, I suppose (ironical, as always when used thus parenthetically): hinting that Damotas was the real mischief-maker. arbustum, see note, i. 40. — videre, i. e.

the nymphs.

II. incidere, hack. mala falce, with malicious knife; vitis novellas (dim.), tender vine-sprouts (notice the alternating order of the words). The falx was a large stout knife, hooked at the end, used for trimming sprouts and foliage.

13. calamos, arrows (reeds), used by shepherds in hunting, or to defend their charge. — perverse, spiteful.

14. puero, i. e. Daphnis.

15. aliqua, somehow (compare vii. 26).

16. quiă, etc., what are masters to do, when thieves (i. e. slaves) venture on such things (as these which follow)? Another rendering gives, "If the knaves are so insolent, what may we expect from their masters ?"

18. excipere insidiis, catch by tricks, i. e, by coaxing it away. lycisca, wolf-hound, said to be a mongrel between dog and wolf.

19. quo . . . ille, whither is that fellow hurrying? referring to the goat ("coge pecus"), or, as some think, the thief.

21. an, implying a previous question: "could I not take my - non redderet, should he not have paid (§ 57, 3, d; G. 266, R3), as my due?

own?"

22. fistula, pipe of several reeds.

23. si nescis, if you did but know it.

25. cantando, etc., you beat him in singing? did you ever so much as own a pipe of reeds joined with wax?

26. triviis, cross-roads: the scene seems to belong to the rustic worship of Proserpine or Hecate, at places where three roads met. The goddess herself was called Trivia.—indocte, ignoramus.

27. stridenti... carmen, mangle a wretched tune on a squeaking straw. Compare Lycidas, 123:

"Their lean and flashy songs

Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."

28. vis experiamur (§ 70, 3, f, R; G. 546, R2), will you try with me? — vicissim, i. e. amabæan or responsive verse.

29. vitulam, heifer (properly, yearling, from the same root as vetus, Tos).- ne recuses (§ 64, 1, b; G. 688, R), i. e. that is why I tell you.

30. binos fetus, twin calves: such a rare phenomenon, that Virgil would never have written it, but in translating from Theocritus, who has twin kids.

31. depono, stake as pledge: the regular word is pono, place the prize in the ring (τιθέναι, κατατιθέναι).

33. injusta, jealous or unfriendly.

34. alter, one or the other.

35. id quod, a stake which, in appos. with pocula.

36. insanire, play the fool.-pocula: bowls or drinking cups, which went in pairs, one for water and one for wine.

37. Alcimedontis, an unknown sculptor.

38. lenta vitis, a pliant vine. - torno, chisel: used instead of scalpro, perhaps on account of the roundness of the bowls. - facili, ready (as a ready hand).

39. diffusos... corymbos: a vine decks with pale ivy the outspread clusters. It seems easiest to consider vitis as meaning an ivy-vine, though it is almost always the grape. (Compare Ovid, Met. iii. 664.) The meaning then is, a vine of ivy on the bowl has concealed under its leaves the darker clusters of berries.

40. in medio, etc.: i. e. two figures (medallions) in a frame of vines. — Conon, an astronomer of Alexandria, of about 200 B.C. alter, probably Archimedes (an associate and friend of Conon), whose name cannot be given in hexameter verse (see introd. note).

41. radio, rod, with which geometric figures were described on a layer of sand. —gentibus, i. e. for everybody's benefit (see next line).— orbem, the circle of the sky with its constellations. A rude but sufficient knowledge of this supplied the place of a "farmer's almanac " (see Georg. i. 204-240, and elsewhere).

42. curvus, bent (over his work).

45. acantho: the acanthus is familiar to us on the Corinthian capital (see Index).

48. si ad vitulam spectas: this admits of two interpretations. 1. If you will cast your eye on the heifer (present for future), you will have no reason to praise your cups. This is possible, but grammatically unnatural, and incongruous with the sense. Another and better is (2) If you have an eye to the heifer (i. e. a wish to win her), you have no occasion to praise your cups (for I will not stake a heifer against cups). It is no use talking about goblets: they are not to be compared in value.

49. numquam, merely not at all. Menalcas suspects Damotas of disparaging his stake, in order to evade the contest.

50. audiat: the intended subject does not appear. It is instantly changed to the person coming in sight, who is as yet unknown, but who proves to be Palæmon. - hæc, this contest.

51. efficiam ne, I will stop you from (§ 65, 1, R; G. 557). 52. quin age, well then, come! — si quid habes, if you can do any thing (in song). —in me, on my part.

53. nec fugio, in reference to effugies, v. 49.

54. sensibus. . . reponas, let it sink deep in your thought: the senses being regarded as avenues to the soul, or judging faculty.

56. omnis ager, etc., i. e. it is the season when all nature is fruitful in production, why not we too (in song)?

ses.

57. formosissimus annus, i. e. the fairest season of the year. 59. alternis (neut. plur.), in alternate strains. - Camenæ, MuThe Camena were fountain nymphs, with powers of soothsaying their name (originally Casmena) was derived from carmen (casmen,§ 1, 3, e). When the Romans adopted the Greek mythology, retaining however the names of their native divinities, they identified those nymphs with the Grecian Muses, with whom they had in reality very little in common.

Here begins the real Amæbæan, though the preceding has been somewhat like it. Notice that the second poet generally follows in a strain similar to the first, but always extends or intensifies the idea if he can (compare Ecl. vii.). The sudden changes of subject, especially towards the end, are characteristic, and show the zeal of the contestants, - the challenger always seeking some new

theme, in the hope of baffling his adversary.

60. ab Jove: compare Theocr. xvii. 1, Aratus, Phan. 2. Musæ, an invocation (considered by Heyne as genitive). — Jovis omnia plena: this sort of pantheism had come to be the prevailing style of thought among philosophers (see the Hymn of Cleanthes to Zeus): it is frequently found in Virgil (see G. iv. 220–227).

61. colit, cherishes (with showers: compare G. ii. 326). 62. et me, I too have a patron, Phœbus.

63. lauri, hyacinthus: these plants were the delight of Apollo; the first being the nymph Daphne, who fled from his pursuit (Ovid, Met. i. 452), and the second a beautiful youth accidentally killed by him with a discus (Id. x. 162).

64. mālo petit, pelts me with an apple: apples were sacred to Venus, and gifts of love; the parings are still used in All-hallow Eve divination. Compare "Comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." (Observe the quantity of mālo.)

66. at mihi, i. e. but my flame (the boy Amyntas) is not so coy. 67. Delia, perhaps Menalcas's mate (contubernalis): perhaps better understood as Diana (the moon), well known to dogs. Compare “I'd rather be a dog, and bay the moon."

68. parta, etc., I have secured a gift for my love, i. e. a wild pigeon's nest.notavi locum, I have marked the spot. Compare Shenstone:

"I have found out a gift for my fair;

I have found where the wood-pigeons breed."

69. congessere, have built: sc. nidum. The wood-pigeon is sacred to Venus.

70. quod potui, the best I could. I have made a gift already; you are only intending it.-silvestri, i. e. growing wild in the pasture.

71. aurea mala, golden apples, i. e. ripe and ruddy (not 26 oranges," which were unknown to the ancients). other ten.

altera,

73. referatis, etc., i. e. to secure the fulfilment of her promise. This and the next couplet each contain a complaint as well as a gratulation. The second is stronger in both respects.

75. si dum tu, etc., i. e. they are separated, even when engaged together in the chase. To tend the nets of the huntsman was a service of special compliment, but Menalcas complains that he is thus deprived of sharing with the boy the more dangerous business of the hunt.

76. natalis: these two couplets jeer at the rival Iollas. The birthday was usually celebrated in love and good cheer with a festival in honor of the genius or patron divinity. In the joys of the season Phyllis is to share.

77. faciam pro frugibus, offer sacrifice for the crops. In mockery, Iollas who is the rival of Damotas, and whose slave Phyllis is -is bidden to the more ascetic rites of the ambarvalia (see G. i. 343; Tibull. ii. El. 1). This festival was celebrated by each farmer on his own land in the month of May; the regular sacrifice was the suovetaurilia (swine, sheep, and bull), but in the private sacrifice a single victim was often substituted. This victim was driven in solemn procession three times round the boundaries of the estate, the husbandmen and their servants following with dancing and singing, and the offering of libations to Mars, Ceres, Bacchus, the Lares, and other rural deities, and in this way the memory of the boundary was kept fresh from year to year. Similar customs at this season are kept up to this day in some European countries.

78. Phyllida, etc.: Menalcas retorts in the same strain, still addressing Iollas, that Phyllis has given her heart to him. me discedere, a forced use of this construction (§ 70, 5, b; G. 542, 533).

79. longum vale, a lingering farewell. (In the second vale, e is not elided, but shortened before the vowel, by Greek usage.)

80. triste (§ 47, 4, c; G. 202, R1), baneful, “a sad thing" (observe the chiastic arrangement and the division by the Cæsura). frugibus, grain, "fruits of the earth.”

82. sǎtīs (sero), to the growing crops. — depulsis (sc. ab ubere), weaned.

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