or (2ndly), what seems more probable, that it is merely a refinement upon the adulation which the poet had previously lavished upon him (Ecl. i.) The actual apotheosis of Augustus, when by a public decree of the Senate he was formally enrolled amongst the gods, did not take place until the year U.c. 727; i. e. till after his death. Vid. Tac. Ann. i. 11. The title of Augustus was not conferred on Cæsar Octavianus until the year U.c. 727, by the advice of Munatius Plancus ; this is the reason why it never occurs in the Georgics.

24. Tuque ADEO, i. e. et tu potissimum, "and thou especially." The particle adeo serves to impart force and emphasis to the words with which it is joined; especially to pronouns, as tu, hic, ille, ipse; to adverbs of time, as nunc, jam, tunc; to numeral adjectives, and the cognate adjectives multus and omnis; and finally to the particle sic (vid. En. iv. 533).—WAGn. (Leipsic, 1845.) See Wagner's Quæst. Virg. xxiv.

25. Urbisne invisere. Manso regards urbis as the genitive, and connects thus: velisne invisere curam urbis (Roma) terrarumque, "whether thou mayest choose to take upon thee the guardianship of our city and of the earth." Wagner, in his last edition (Leipsic, 1845), takes the same view. The substance of his note is this: "The proper expression would be invisere (¿popâv) urbem; but as the deity, who INVISIT urbem, is also understood CURARE res urbis, Virgil, as a poet, has had the hardihood to use the phrase INVISERE CURAM urbis." Heyne regards urbis as the archaic accusative plural for urbes, and observes that strictly the idea should have been expressed thus: urbesne invisere (i. e. inspicere, èpopâv) terrasque curare velis; but that the poet chose rather to employ velis with a double construction, viz. (1) an velis invisere urbes, et (2) an velis (i. e. præferas) curam terrarum, "whether thou mayest choose to preside over cities, and mayest prefer the guardianship of the earth." Forbiger supports this view. Compare Hor. Od. i. 2, 49, where ames seems to be similarly employed with a double construction:

kic magnos potius triumphos,

Hic ames dici Pater atque Princeps.

Anthon regards the construction as an instance of the figure zeugma, the verb invisere being used in its proper sense (i. e. as inspicere) when connected with urbes, and only in the sense of suscipere when connected with curam : "whether thou mayest choose to be the tutelary god of cities (i. e. to be one of the beol woλioûxoi), and to take upon thee the care of the earth.”

26. Maximus (i. e. permagnus) orbis, scil. terrarum, "the wide world," i. e. the earth; not the celestial sphere, which would be inconsistent with the preceding TERRARUM curam.—WAGNER. See Ecl. i. 67; iv. 17.

27. Auctorem frugum, “the author of fruits;" i. e. of all the productions of the earth. Comp. supra verse 22. Tempestatumque_po tentem, "and lord of the weather;" compare Æn. i. 80, iii. 528. Tempestates here denotes not merely the changes of the seasons, but also the variations of the weather as affecting agriculture. The word cannot here denote "storms," for as they are destructive to agriculture, the deity who presides over them could not well be addressed as auctor frugum.-HEYNE.

28. Cingens materná tempora myrto, "encircling thy temples with thy mother's myrtle." Magnificum phantasma! imagine Cæsar

Octavianus standing, and the WORLD placing a crown of myrtle upon his head!-HEYNE. Materna......myrto. The myrtle was sacred to Venus, the mother of Æneas, and grandmother of Iulus, and therefore the progenitrix of the Gens Julia, into which Cæsar Octavianus had been adopted by Julius Cæsar; hence the epithet maternâ.

29. An deus immensi venias maris, "or whether thou wilt become a god of the boundless sea." Immensi maris=tóvтov àæeípovos. Venias, i. e. futurus sis.—FORB.

30. Ultima Thule, "farthest Thule.” It is now sufficiently well understood that this name denotes the Shetland Islands north of Great Britain.-HEYNE. Thule was an island in the most northern part of the German Ocean, called ultima on account of its remote situation, and its being regarded as the limit of geographical knowledge in this quarter. By some it is supposed to coincide with Mainland, one of the Shetland Isles; by others, with Iceland.-ANTHON. Tacitus (Agric. 10) mentions that Thule was in sight of the Roman fleet, when Agricola sailed round Britain and conquered the Orkney Islands. What the poet means is, that if Cæsar chose to become the god of the ocean, even the remotest island would at once acknowledge his sway.

31. Tethys, the daughter of Ourănos and Gaia (i. e. of Cœlus and Terra), and wife of Oceanus, to whom she bare the Oceanides or Oceannymphs, vid. Hesiod. Theog. 136, 337. The meaning of the verse is, that if Cæsar should become god of the sea, Tethys would willingly give him one of her daughters in wedlock. It was usual for deified mortals to be united in marriage to goddesses, as Hercules to Hebe. Omnibus undis, "with all her watery domain ;" i. e. by transferring to Cæsar the entire sovereignty of the ocean, as a dowry with her daughter. Emat. Some think that this word contains an allusion to the Roman nuptial ceremony called coemptio, but more properly it is referred to the dowry of the bride. The idea is, that Tethys will actually give Cæsar the whole empire of her waters to obtain him as a son-in-law, if she cannot obtain him on other terms. Heyne, in his note on this passage, refers to the nuptial gifts (rà ědva) of the Heroic age. But as these were gifts presented by the bridegroom to the parents of the bride, as compensation for the loss of their daughter, the poet cannot have alluded to this custom in the present passage. Tethys. The final syllable is here lengthened by the arsis.

32. Novum...sidus, 'a new sign," a new constellation in the zodiac. Tardis...mensibus, “to the slow months;" i. e. the summer months, which are called "slow," because the days being longer then than during the rest of the year, these months seem to be of longer duration than the others. The signs here alluded to, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, represent the summer months.

33. Qua locus, &c., "where a place lies open for thee between Erigone and the following Claws;” i. e. between Virgo and the Scorpion. The constellation Libra, the seventh sign of the zodiac, situated between Virgo and Scorpius, was not universally received by the ancient astronomers; and Virgil therefore, though he makes mention of LIBRA elsewhere (vid. Geo. i. 208), adroitly avails himself of this circumstance to place at the disposal of Octavianus the space between Virgo and Scorpius, in case he should choose to add himself as a new sign to the zodiac.

Servius states that the Egyptian astronomers acknowledged twelve signs of the zodiac, but the Chaldeans only eleven; and that the latter represented the claws (chele) of the Scorpion as occupying the place of

Libra. To this Ovid alludes, Met. ii. 195. On some of the ancient zodiacs the balance (Libra) was held by the Virgin; on others it was represented hanging from the outstretched claws of the Scorpion, in reference to which position we read in Manil. iv. 203, librantes noctem chela: and on some gems and medals it is held by a man who is thought to represent Octavianus. Erigone was the daughter of Icarius, who, having hospitably entertained Bacchus, was instructed by him in the art of making wine, of which he gave a portion to some shepherds of Attica, who becoming intoxicated in consequence, and supposing themselves poisoned, beat him to death. His daughter Erigone hanged herself through grief, and was changed by Bacchus into the sign Virgo, and her favourite dog Mora into the constellation Canicula. Vid. Ovid. Met. x. 451. Erigone is also represented as Astræa, Virgo, Aiên.

Chela, xnλal, "the claws" of the Scorpion, which on the Farnese globe are represented stretched out, and supporting the balance. But in the present passage chelas is not to be understood in its literal sense, but as used by synecdoche for scorpium (and xnλal is used similarly by Aratus); for it was the space between the Virgin and the Scorpion that the poet places at the disposal of Octavian. Between the Virgin and the CLAWS of the Scorpion, if we suppose these to have stretched out into the place of Libra, there was evidently no room for his accommodation. "Hunc igitur locum, ubi justitia regnat, poeta Augusto vindicat, tacite his verbis ipsius justitiam et æquitatem celebrans.”—HEYNE. Sequentes, "following" the Virgin; Scorpius being behind Virgo.

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34. Ipse......ardens Scorpios, "the blazing Scorpion himself;" i. e. even the Scorpion, so fiery a constellation; or ipse may be rendered willingly." Wagner thinks ipse is here employed in opposition to the pronoun tibi, to render the style more animated and emphatic; as avròS Hom. II. viii. 385; vid. Quæst. Virg. xvi. §ii. μ’. Tibi jam contrahit brachia, "is already contracting (i. e. drawing back) his arms for thee;" so eager is he to afford thee ample room. Ardens, i. e. lucens, splen dens, "bright," "blazing;" the epithet being adapted to the constellation and not to the animal: thus verse 138, claramque Lycaonis Arcton; verse 205, lucidus Anguis; and verse 217, candidus Taurus. Compare also verse 222, ardentis stella corona. Anthon translates it "the fiery Scorpion," adopting the opinion of Voss, who considers that the epithet contains an allusion to the ancient popular belief that those born under the influence of this constellation were of impetuous and warlike tempera

ments.

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35. Scorpios is the Greek form of the nominative, which Heinsius, on the authority of the Med. and other MSS., substituted for Scorpius, which is the common reading. Cæli justá plus parte, than an adequate portion of the heavens." Some contend that Coli justá plus parte means "the disproportionate share of the heavens," which the Scorpion had theretofore occupied. Reliquit is the reading of the Med. and Rom. MSS., and of nearly all the other copies of high character, and has been adopted in the text by Wagner and Forbiger. The common reading is relinquit, which is retained by Heyne, Voss, and Jahn, as being more consistent with the preceding present tense contrahit; but vid. Quæst. Virg. vi. § ii. b.

36. Quidquid eris, "whatever thou wilt choose to be;" i. e. whether thou wilt choose to become one of the terrestrial, or one of the marine, or one of the celestial deities; for the poet will not allow that Cæsar Octavianus would feel disposed to assume the sovereignty of the infernal regions, notwithstanding the praises which Grecian poets have lavished

upon Elysium. Sperant. The common reading here is sperent, for which Wagner has substituted sperant, on the authority of the Med, and Rom. MSS. Either reading might be defended; but the indicative serves to express the idea more emphatically and positively: "for neither does Tartarus expect thee as its king." Tartara, the heteroclite plural of Tartarus. This name properly denotes that part of the infernal regions wherein the wicked were supposed to be punished (see note on Geo. iv. 482). Here, however, it is used as a general designation for the Nether world.

37. Dirus, "unnatural," "inordinate." From deivds.

38. Elysios...campos, "the Elysian plains." Elysium was that part of the Nether world where the blessed were supposed to dwell in the enjoyment of unalloyed happiness; compare Æn. vi. 638-641. Quamvis, &c., "however Greece may celebrate the Elysian plains." Miretur, i. e. celebret.-HEYNE. Græcia, poet. for poetæ Græci; thus Græcia is used for scriptores Græci by Juvenal, Sat. x. 174, Græcia mendax.

39. Proserpina, Пepoepóvn, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres (Hes. Theog. 912), and consort of Pluto, who seized upon her whilst gathering flowers in the fields of Enna in Sicily, and carried her to the lower regions. Her mother is fabled to have travelled over all countries and seas in search of her. Nec repetita, &c., " and Proserpina, though demanded back, be not disposed to follow her mother;" i. e. "notwithstanding that Proserpina, though at first detained in the lower world against her inclinations, has now become so attached to those regions as to feel no longer any desire to leave them." Comp. Lucan. vi. 699, cœlum matremque perosa Persephone. Anthon and others suppose that Virgil here alludes to some version of the fable regarding Proserpina different from the common one; since, according to the latter, that goddess was detained in the lower regions against her will.

40. Da facilem cursum, "O grant me a favourable course;" i. e. grant that I may successfully accomplish the arduous task I have undertaken; a metaphor derived from navigation. Atque audacibus adnue cœptis, "and favour my bold undertaking." Adnuere is properly "to intimate assent or approbation by nodding the head towards one."

41. Ignaros viæ, "ignorant of the route." This, too, is a metaphorical expression, and seems to be also derived from navigation. Compare En. iii. 202:

Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere cœlo,

Nec meminisse VIE mediá Palinurus in undâ.

42. Ingredere, "enter upon thy career." This is a strong and forcible expression, by which one is urged "to enter upon some important undertaking. Compare especially Æn. viii. 511–513.-WAGN. Some less correctly connect ingredere vocari, comparing the Ciceronian phrases ingredior dicere, ingredior scribere, &c.; but Heyne makes it=incipe, supplying canere or some such word, and referring to En. iv. 107, xi. 704. Votis...vocari. Compare En. i. 290, vocabitur hic quoque votis.

43-99. THE FIRST PART.—What is necessary to be done before sowing: 1, of Ploughing, verses 43-70; 2, of Refreshing the Land, vss. 71-93; 3, of Crumbling the Soil, vss. 94-99.

43-46. The operation of ploughing should be commenced in the very beginning of spring.

43. Vere novo, "in the new spring;" i. e. "in the very beginning of

spring." "Eapos véov ioraμévow, Od. xix. 519. Compare n. i. 430, æstate nová. Among the Romans spring commenced when the wind Favonius or Zephyrus began to blow (i. e. between the Nones and the Ides of February), and extended to about the middle of May. The operation of ploughing, however, generally commenced with the first return of genial weather, sometimes even in the middle of January; vid. Colum. ii. 4, xi. 2; Plin. xviii. 65. Gelidus...humor, "the cold snow," "the frozen moisture." literally Canis montibus, 66 on the hoary mountains;" canis, i. e. nive obductis, "snow-clad ;" comp. Geo. ii. 376, iii. 442.

44. Putris gleba, "the crumbling soil," gleba being employed poetically for ager or solum, as in Æn. i. 531, potens armis atque ubere GLÆBE. Putris (qu. pede tritus), i. e. tepore et humore emollita, rendered soft and friable by the heat and moisture under the influence of the western breeze. Compare verse 215 and note, Zephyro...se...resolvit, "unbinds itself beneath the influence of the Zephyr," having been previously fettered, as it were, by the chains of winter.-WAGN. Compare Hor. Od. i. 4, 10, flore, terra quem ferunt solutæ, and Geo. ii. 330 sq. This sentence is a prolepsis for Zephyro se gleba resolvit, ita ut putris fiat; see note on Geo. ii. 219. Zephyrus, Zépupos, the "West wind," of which the Latin name was Favonius. Its blowing marked the commencement of the Italian spring; see note on verse 43.

45. Depresso aratro, "beneath the deep-sunk plough;" i.e. by reason of the plough being sunk deep into the earth, the hand of the ploughman pressing down with his weight upon the stiva; Ecl. iii. 43. The terms employed in this and the next verse indicate a stiff and heavy soil, which requires great labour in tillage, and may be contrasted with verse 68. where, in reference to poor land, we read tenui sat erit suspendere sulco, -Voss. Jam tum, 66 even then;" i. e. even at this early period of the year. Compare Geo. ii. 405; Æn. vii. 643, viii, 349, x. 533. Taurus, simply for bos. The Romans never employed "bulls" for ploughing; see Ecl. i. 46. Mihi; i. e. "according to my counsel." This is what grammarians call the dativus ethicus, the effect of which is to indicate that the person represented by the pronoun feels an interest in the subject spoken of; vid. Ecl. viii, 6; Geo. ii. 252, iv. 354; Æn. i. 136, 261; Hor. Epist. i. 3, 15.

47-49. The most abundant crop may be expected from land which has received four ploughings, so as to have been exposed twice to the heat, and twice to the cold.

The connexion is so strikingly interrupted by these three verses, 47, 48, 49, that Wagner thinks the poet wrote them on the margin of his manuscript after the completion of this book or of the entire poem, and that they were thence subsequently introduced into the text. The same opinion he entertains respecting several other verses; see note on Geo. iv. 203-205.

47. Illa seges, "that land;" seges being here=ager, as in Ecl. ix. 48, Astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus; see note on verse 1.

48. Bis quæ solem, bis frigora sensit, "which has twice felt the sun, and twice the cold." In Italy the land was usually ploughed three times (tertiabatur), the soil being in general stiff and heavy (Colum. ii. 4, 4; Varr. Res Rust. i. 29 sq.) The first ploughing (proscissio), when the land was broken up from the sod or stubble, took place in the beginning of spring; the second (iteratio), when the land was cross-ploughed, in obliquum verso aratro, verse 98, in the succeeding summer; and the third (tertiatio) towards the end of autumn, a short time before the