Ipse dies agitat festos: fususque per herbam, Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus æquor, NOTES. 527. Agitat: in the sense of celebrat. Fusus: in the sense of stratus. 528. Coronant: they fill up to the brim. 531. Palæstra: this may mean either the exercise itself, or the place of exercise. 532. Sabini. An ancient people of Italy, whose young women were seized by the Romans, at certain shows or exhibitions, to which they had been invited. Upon this, the Sabines made war upon them to avenge the atrocious deed. A treaty of amity, however, was concluded between the two parties; and in the event they became one people. Coluere: they religiously observed, or practised. 533. Etruria: the same as Tuscia, Tuscany, a country in Italy, separated from Latium by the Tyber. 534. Scilicet et, &c. What is here said of Rome was literally true in the time of Virgil. It was then in all its glory, and was truly the wonder of the world: Rerum: res hath a variety of significations. Here it evidently means the world, or the whole earth. 535. Una circumdedit. The walls of Rome embraced seven hills, when that city was in the height of its glory. Their names were : Palatinus, Calius, Capitolinus, Aventinus, Esquilinus, Quirinalis, and Viminalis. 536. Antè sceptrum: before the reign of the Dictean king. Jupiter is so called from 541. Sed nos. This is an allegory taken from the chariot race. By confecimus æquor immensum spatiis, the poet may mean that he had run over a plain not measured by stages; or one which did not lie within the limits or bounds of his proposed race or course. In this sense, divested of the figure, it will be: I have now finished my digression into the praises of a country life, it is time to lay aside my pen. Ruæus interprets spatiis by longitudine, and understands by æquor immensum spatiis, a plain immeasurable in length. Each course of chariots in the race was called spatium. This was repeated seven times. Hence spatia, the plural, came to signify the race ground. Cum septimo spatio palmæ appropinquant. The starting place was called carcer, and the turning place meta. QUESTIONS. What is the subject of this book? What is the difference between grafting and inoculation? For what is the propago or layer the best? After the several kinds of trees, and the methods of producing them, what does the poet consider in the next place? How many kinds of soil does he make? What is it considered to be, by the inhabitants upon its banks? Where does it empty? What did the ancients call the bay? What city now stands near the mouth of this river? Of what country was Hemus a river? By whom were they carried? What river did it receive in its course? Who commanded that expedition? What was the object of that expedition? How should the rows be arranged? Among what people did scenic representations originate? Why were the Athenians called Theseida? Who may be considered the inventor of tragedy? What did he make use of as a stage? What was the form of the Roman theatre? Into how many parts was it divided? What was the form of the amphitheatre? What was the original name of Italy? Why were the Romans sometimes called Ausones? What do you understand by the word fasces? How many of these rods were carried before the Roman magistrates? For what is the word fasces used by me ton. ? Who were the Dacii? Where did they inhabit? Where does the river Ister rise? Who were the Penates? How were they represented? Where were their statues placed? What were they sometimes called from that circumstance? For what is the word taken by meton. ? Why was the place of common please, at Rome, called Rostrum ? What was the word Rostrum properly? Who were the Sabines? Did the Romans offer any violence to their young women? What was the event of the affair? How many hills did the walls of Rome encompass? What were they called? How many courses were there in the chariot race? How does the book end? LIBER TERTIUS. THE subject of this book is the raising of cattle. The poet begins with an invocation of some of the rural deities, and a compliment to Augustus. After which, he addresses himself to his friend Mecenas. He then proceeds to give rules for the breeding and management of horses, oxen, sheep, and goats. And, by way of episode and embellishment, he gives us a description of a chariot race, of a battle of bulls, of the force of love, and of a Scythian winter. He enumerates the diseases incident to cattle, and pre scribes their remedies: and concludes by giving an account of a fatal murrain, which once raged among the Alps. 1. Et te, O pastor, TE quoque, magna Pales, et te, memorande, canemus, memorande ab Amphry- Pastor ab Amphryso: vos, sylvæ, amnesque Lycæi. so: Canemus vos, Cætera, quæ vacuas tenuissent carmina mentes, 4. Omnia cætera car- Omnia jam vulgata. Quis aut Eurysthea durum, Sylvæ NOTES. 1. Pales. The goddess of shepherds, and of feeding cattle. She was worshipped with milk. Her feasts were called Palilia, and were celebrated on the 12th of the calends of May. 2. Amphryso. A river of Thessaly, where Apollo fed the flocks of Admetus, when he was driven from heaven for having killed the Cyclops. See Ecl. iv. 10. Sylvæ, et amnes Lycai: the groves and streams of Arcadia. Lycaus: a mountain in Arca dia, evidently taken for the whole country, by synec. 3. Carmina: by meton. the argument, or subjects of song. Heyne reads carmine, connecting it with vacuas. In this case, it is to be taken in its usual sense. Tenuissent in the sense of delectavissent. Ruæus says, omnia argumenta. 4. Eurysthea. Eurystheus, was king of Mycena. Instigated by Juno, he imposed upon Hercules, who had been given up to Aut illaudati nescit Busiridis aras? 5 mina, que tenuissent vacuas mentes, jam vulgata sunt. 10 Cui non dictus Hylas puer, et Latonia Delos, NOTES. him at the command of an oracle, the severest labors: they were twelve in number, and go under the name of the twelve labors of Hercules. 5. Busiridis. Busiris, a king of Egypt, who sacrificed to his gods the strangers who visited him. He was slain by Hercules. Illaudati: impious-infamous. This kind of negatives express, generally, more than the mere want of a good quality. They imply the possession of a contrary one. Detestati, says Heyne. 6. Hylas. See Ecl. vi. 43. Lalonia: an adj. from Latona, the daughter of Caus, one of the Titans, and mother of Apollo and Diana, whom she brought forth at a birth on the island Delos: hence called Latonian Delos. 7. Hippodame. She was the daughter of Enomaus, king of Elis, and Pisa: who having learned from an oracle that he was to be slain by his son-in-law; in order to avoid it, he proposed to the suitors of his daughter, a chariot race, upon this condition, that the one who got the victory should have his daughter; but if vanquished should be slain. After thirteen had lost their lives, Pelops won the beauteous prize, by bribing Myrtillus, the charioteer of Enomaus, to place the chariot upon a frail or brittle axle, It broke during the race, and Enomaus was so much bruised by the fall, that he died of his wounds. Thus the oracle was fulfilled. Pelops was the son of Tantalus, king of Phrygia; who, as the fable goes, invited the gods to a banquet, and having a mind to try their divinity, dressed his own son, and set before them. All abstained from so horrid a repast except Ceres, who took a piece of the child's shoulder. Jupiter afterwards restored him to life, and gave him an ivory one in its room. Hence in signis eburno humero: famed for his ivory shoulder. For this horrid deed, Tantalus, after death, was doomed to perpetual hun 15 ger and thirst; and compelled to abstain from both meat and drink, which were placed before him, by way of aggravation. 8. Acer equis. This may allude to his victory over Enomaus; or it may mean no more than that he was skilled in the management of horses; which is the sense of Ruæus. 11. Aonio vertice: from the Aonian mount, Helicon. This was a mountain in Beotia, originally called Aonia, sacred to the muses. 12. Primus referam: I, the first, will bring to thee, O Mantua, Idumæan palms-noble palms. The palm-tree abounded in Idumæa, a country of Syria; so called from Edom, a son of Esau, who settled there. Virgil was not the first who introduced the Greek poetry into Italy; and, therefore, to do away, or prevent any objection, he mentions Mantua, the place of his birth. He was, however, the first who brought it to any degree of perfection. 13. Ponam Templum. The poet appears to mean, that he will not only imitate the Greeks, but he will surpass them; and in honor of his victory, he will build a temple, and institute games. Through the whole, under color of honoring himself, he very artfully compliments Augustus, his prince and patron. Ponam: in the sense of extruam. 14. Erral: meanders-winds. 18. Centum. I will drive a hundred fourhorse chariots along the river. The poet takes the definite number 100 for an indefinite number; or he alludes to the Circensian games, when in one day there were twenty-five races of four chariots each, making the exact number here mentioned. These were in imitation of the Olympic games, and were on the margin of a river. Illi: for him-in honor of Cæsar. 19. Cuncta Græcia. The meaning is, that all Greece would leave their own games, Cursibus et crudo decernet Græcia cæstu. 20 Ipse, caput tonsæ foliis ornatus olivæ, Dona feram. Jam nunc solemnes ducere pompas 25 24. Vel videre ut scena Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus, utque discedat, 28. Atque hic sculpam Nilum undantem bello Purpurea intexti tollant aulæa Britanni. In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto and come to these, as far excelling in grandeur and magnificence. Alpheum: a river of Elis, in the Peloponnesus, near the city Olympia. Hence the games there celebrated were called Olympic. The river here, by meton. is put for the games themselves. They were instituted by Hercules, in honor of Jupiter, as near as their date can be ascertained, in the summer of the year of the world, 3228, and before Christ, 776. They were celebrated every fifth year; or after an entire revolution of four years; which was denominated an Olympiad. This formed a very important era in the history of Greece. : Lucos Molorchi: the groves of Molorchus by meton. the Nemaa certamina, or Nemean games. These were instituted in honor of Hercules, on account of his killing the lion in the Sylva Nemaa, near Cleonæ, a city of the Peloponnesus. Molorchus was 'the name of the shepherd who entertained the hero, and at whose request he slew the Nemean lion. Besides these, there were other games called Pythia, instituted in honor of Apollo, on account of his killing the serpent Python. Hence he derived the name Paan, from a Greek word signifying to pierce or wound. There were also games called Isthmia. These were instituted by Theseus, king of Athens, in honor of Neptune. They derived their name from the circumstance of their being celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth. Mihi: for me-in honor of me. 20. Crudo: because the castus, or gauntlet, was made of raw hide: or simply, cruel, -bloody. See Æn. v. 379. 22. Pompas. These were images of the gods carried in procession before the people at the Circensian games-the procession itself. Feram dona: in the sense of proponam præmia. 24. Ut: in the sense of quomodo. Scena: that part of the stage where the actors were -the curtain, or hanging, behind which they retired from the audience. It was raised up when the actors were upon the 30 stage, and let down when they retired from it. It appears to mean the same thing with aulaa in the following line. See Geor. ii. 381. 25. Intexti. The Britons (the victories of Julius Cæsar over them) supposed to be painted on, or interwoven in, the curtains; which, by a figure of speech, they might be said to hold, or lift up. 27. Gangaridûm. The Gangaridæ were a people of India, near the Ganges. Quirini. This is one of the many reasons we have for believing that Virgil continued to revise the Georgics until his death. It was debated in the senate, whether Octavius should be complimented with the name of Augustus, or Romulus, who was also called Quirinus. But this debate did not take place till three years after the publication of the Georgics; and was seven years before his victory over the Gangarida. The poet must, therefore, have added this line at least ten years after the first publication, or in the year of Rome, 734. 27. Faciam: in the sense of sculpam. 28. Magnum: Ruæus takes it in the sense of longè. Copiosè, says Heyne. Undantem: swelling and waving with war, as it did with its waters. This is a metaphor, beautiful and grand. The poet here alludes to the victory obtained by Augustus over Anthony and Cleopatra, and the capture of Alexandria, the principal city of Egypt, near the mouth of the Nile. It was built by Alexander the Great. All Egypt soon followed the fate of Alexandria, its capital. 29. Navali ære: with naval brass. Augustus is said to have made four columns out of the brazen beaks of the ships, taken from Cleopatra and Anthony; to which the poet here seems to allude. 30. Niphaten: Niphates, a mountain of Armenia, taken for the inhabitants of that country by meton. Armenios fugatos, says Ruæus. 32. Duo trophaa. Probably those two victories obtained by Augustus over Antho Bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes. Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, Nomina; Trosque parens, et Troja Cynthius auctor. ern. NOTES. ny, the one at Actium, in Epirus, on the northern shore of the Mediterranean, the other at Alexandria, in Egypt, on the southHence the propriety of utroque litore. Rapta manu: obtained by valor, or by his own hand-where he commanded in person. Diverso hoste, and triumphatas gentes, mean the same; and probably we are to understand the Asiatic and African troops that composed the army of Anthony in these two battles. This is the opinion of Ruæus. Some understand the passage as referring to the Gandarida, a people of Asia, and to the Britanni, situated in Europe, in different quarters of the world. But Augustus did not conquer the Britons. 34. Parii lapides: Parian marble. Parii: an adj. from Paros, one of the Cyclades, famous for its shining marble. Spirantia signa: figures, or statues to the life. They shall be of such exquisite sculpture, that one could scarcely distinguish them from real life-they should almost breathe. 35. Proles Assaraci: the offspring of Assaracus, and the names of the family, &c. The poet here, as in other places, compliments the Cæsars with divine descent. According to him, it may be thus traced: Dardanus was the son of Jupiter and Electra; Erichthonius, the son of Dardanus; Tros, the son of Erichthonius; Ilus and Assaracus, sons of Tros; Ilus begat Laomedon, the father of Priam, and Assaracus begat Capys, the father of Anchises; of Anchises and Venus sprang Æneas, the father of Ascanius, or Iülus, the father of the Julian family. 36. Cynthius: Apollo. He was born on the island Delos, where was a mountain by the name of Cynthus; hence he was called Cynthius. He and Neptune, it is said, built the walls of Troy in the reign of Laomedon. See Ecl. iv. 10, and Geor. i. 502. 37. Infelix. This epithet is added to envy, because it is the principal source of unhappiness to men. 38. Cocyli: Cocytus, a fabulous river of hell, flowing out of Styx. Ixionis: Ixion, the father of the Centaurs. For making an attempt upon Juno, he was cast down to hell, and bound with twenty snakes to a wheel, which kept constantly turning, as a punishment for his crime. The poets say, that Jupiter substituted a cloud in the form of Juno, and of it he begat the Centaurs. Upon his return to the earth, he boasted of his amour with the queen of the gods, and was punished for it by Jupiter in this exemplary manner. The truth is, the Centaurs were a people of Thessaly. They dwelt in a city by the name of Nephele. That being the Greek word for a cloud, gave rise to the story of their being the offspring of a cloud. They were the first who broke and tamed the horse. Ixion was their king. The poet here intimates in a very delicate manner the unhappy end of those who envied Augustus the glory due to his illustrious deeds; who dared refuse to submit to his authority; and who meditated a renewal of the civil wars. 39. Saxum. Sisyphus, a notorious robber, was slain by Theseus, king of Athens, and for his punishment, he was sentenced to hell; there to roll a stone to the top of a hill, which always rolled back before he could reach it. This made his labor perpetual. Non exsuperabile: not to be gotten to the top of the hill. 41. Tua haud mollia jussa: thy difficult commands. Virgil, at the request of Mæcenas, wrote the Georgics; to which circumstance he here alludes a subject new, and which had not been handled or treated of by any preceding writer. Sequamur: we will enter upon. 43. Citharon: a mountain in Beotia, abounding in pasture, and herds of cattle. Taygeti: Taygetus, a mountain in Laconia, famous for hunting. Epidaurus. There were several places by that name. The one here intended, is probably in Argolis, on the eastern shore of the Peloponnesus, near the Sinus Saronicus, that part being celebrated for its horses. The meaning is, that he shall now treat of those animals that abounded in the above mentioned places |