Tum, casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! floribus austrum 50 55 Quem fugis, ah, demens? habitarunt di quoque silvas, 60 Te Corydon, o Alexi: trahit sua quemque voluptas. Me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori? Quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus, 65 70 invention of the syrinx, see Ovid, Met. i. 689.-53. The last syllable of pruna is left before honos, forming what is called a hiatus. The pause that occurs here accounts for this violation of the ordinary rule. From the strong expression of feeling involved in Heu, heu, the former is not elided, ver. 58. And in ver. 65, while o is left, it is shortened, as in the Greek in similar circumstances. ECLOGA III. THIS Eclogue is principally occupied by a contest in poetical skill between two shepherds, Menalcas and Damon. Such contestsstill not uncommon among the Improvisatori of Italy-were carried on in verses, called carmen amoebaeum, from the Greek μoßatos, answering alternately. And in them no sequence of ideas was necessary on the part of the challenger, but the party challenged was bound to exceed in language or ideas the thoughts first expressed. The introduction, wherein the challenge is given, occupies the first fifty-nine lines, introducing Palaemon as an arbiter. In the course of the amaboean verses, Virgil takes occasion to glorify his friend and patron Pollio, and to sneer at Bavius and Maevius, two envious satirists, who attacked both him and Horace. This Eclogue is said to have been written B. C. 42. PALAEMON. MENALCAS-DAMOETAS PALAEMON. Men. Dic mihi, Damoeta, cujum pecus? an Meliboei ? Et succus pecori et lac subducitur agnis. Dam. Parcius ista viris tamen objicienda memento. 5 Men. Tum, credo, cum me arbustum videre Miconis 10 Atque mala vitis incidere falce novellas. Dam. Aut hic ad veteris fagos, cum Daphnidis arcum Fregisti et calamos: quae tu, perverse Menalca, Et, cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas, Men. Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures! Et, si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses. Non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum 15 Et cum clamarem: Quo nunc se proripit ille? Dam. An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille, 20 1. Cujus-a-um, an antiquated possessive pronoun, perhaps used here as a mark of rusticity.-3. Ipse: referring to Aegeon.-5. Alienus, a hireling, and, as such, caring nothing for the flock, but to profit by them.-7. Viris: in its emphatic sense, men of manly minds.-8. Transversa for transverse. The accusative, both singular and plural, of adjectives, is often so used for the adverb, as below, ver. 63; Ecl. iv. 43; Georg. iii. 149; Aen. vi. 288.-9. Sacello, a cave sacred to the Nymphs. See Aen. i. 168.-10. Me. Menalcas ironically transfers to himself the wrong actually done by Damoetas.-13. Calamos: sagittas e calamis factas.-16. As neither of the parties seems to be a slave, the force of this line appears to be, 'What can the masters of flocks do to protect themselves, now that thieves have become so daring?'-18. Lyciscas, Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon Men. Cantando tu illum? aut umquam tibi fistula cera Juncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas 25 Dam. Vis ergo, inter nos, quid possit uterque, vicissim 30 35 Men. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum : Dam. Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, 40 45 Si ad vitulam spectas, nihil est, quod pocula laudes. the name of a dog.-25. Tu vicisti illum? A strong emphasis in tu and illum.-27. Imitated by Milton in its harshness -'their lean and flashy songs, Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.' -37. Who Alcimedon was is unknown.-38. Facilis expresses the ease with which the skilful workman uses his tools.-39. Pallente. The distinction of colour between the ivy leaves and berries is finely marked.-40. Conon was a celebrated mathematician and astronomer, who lived in the times of the Ptolemies, Philadelphus and Euergetes, B. C. 283-222. Alter. Probably Eudoxus, another celebrated astronomer, who lived about B. c. 366. His work on Pavóμeva was in great repute among Italian agriculturists; hence the allusion to him in this place. 41. Radio. The rod of the mathematician, with which he drew his figures on the sand.-42. Curvus. Alluding to the stooping posture of a man holding the plough.-46. So Horace, Od. i. 12, 7; C Audiat haec tantum-vel qui venit—ecce, Palaemon. 50 Dam. Quin age, si quid habes, in me mora non erit ulla, Pal. Dicite, quandoquidem in molli consedimus herba. Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos; 55 Dam. Ab Jove principium Musae; Jovis omnia plena; Ille colit terras; illi mea carmina curae. 60 Men. Et me Phoebus amat; Phoebo sua semper apud me Munera sunt, lauri et suave rubens hyacinthus. Dam. Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri. 65 Men. At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas, Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris. Dam. Parta meae Veneri sunt munera: namque notavi Ipse locum, aëriae quo congessere palumbes. Men. Quod potui, puero silvestri ex arbore lecta Dam. O quoties et quae nobis Galatea locuta est! 70 Men. Quid prodest, quod me ipse animo non spernis, Amynta, Si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo? Dam. Phyllida mitte mihi : meus est natalis, Iolla; Cum faciam vitula pro frugibus, ipse venito. 75 Men. Phyllida amo ante alias; nam me discedere flevit, Et longum formose, vale, vale, inquit, Iolla. Ovid, Met. x. 86.-50. About to propose some one as judge, he breaks off in the middle, with the name suppressed, and says-vel, &c.—59. Alternis. A translation of the Greek, di μoßaiwy. Camenae, Latin deities, nearly identical with the Muses of the Greeks.-63. Suave. See note on ver. 8.-67. See Shenstone's imitation 'I have found out a gift for my fair,' &c. -79. Either longum (with protracted sound) inquit, or longum vale. The Dam. Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres, 80 Men. Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus haedis, Dam. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Mu sam: Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro. 85 Men. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: pascite taurum, Jam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat arenam. Dam. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet; Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. Men. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi, 90 Dam. Qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga, Dam. Tityre, pascentis a flumine reice capellas : Men. Cogite ovis, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, Ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. 95 Dam. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo! Idem amor exitium pecori pecorisque magistro. 100 Men. His certe neque amor caussa est; vix ossibus haerent. Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. Dam. Dic, quibus in terris — et eris mihi magnus Tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas. 105 e in the second vale short, from the hiatus.-80. Triste, used substantively, and equivalent to res tristis. Zumpt, § 368. Aen. iv. 570.84. See Argument.-90. See Argument.-96. Reice, contracted for rejice -a natural contraction, especially if, as some suppose, such words were all anciently written with one i-102. The force of these two lines is: For the disease of your bull there is a remedy; but there is none for that of my sheep. Bad as love is, not it even (neque) is the source of the illness of these lambs. They are certainly under the fascination of the Evil Eye.' This superstition still lingers in some parts of Europe.-105. One answer to this puzzle is, the bottom of a well. In this country we have a similar puzzle and solution-the latter being the bottom of a coal-pit. There is a tradition, now generally followed, that Virgil's own solution was as follows:-In Mantua, there was a profligate citizen who sold his all, and had no territory |