445 At ille, Verùm ubi nulla fugam reperit fallacia, victus In sese redit, atque hominis tandem ore locutus: Nam quis te, juvenum confidentissime, nostras 446. At ille Aristaus Jussit adire domos? quidve hinc petis? inquit. respondit :0 Proteu, scis, Scis, Proteu, scis ipse: neque est te fallere cuiquam. Sed tu desine velle. Deûm præcepta secuti Venimus huc, lapsis quæsitum oracula rebus. tu ipse 448 Velle fallere me 450. Effatus est hoc Tantum effatus. Ad hæc vates vi denique multâ Ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco: tantum 450 Et, graviter frendens, sic fatis ora resolvit : Magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus 456 457. Illa puella qui- Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina præceps, dem moritura, dum præ- Immanem ante pedes hydrum, moritura puella, ceps per flumina fugeret te, non vidit, ante pedes Servantem ripas altâ non vidit in herbâ. in alta herba, immanem At chorus æqualis Dryadum clamore supremos Implêrunt montes: flêrunt Rhodopeïæ arces, 464. Ipse Orpheus so. Altaque Pangæa, et Rhesi Mavortia tellus, lans ægrum amorem ca- Atque Getæ, atque Hebrus, atque Actias Orithyia. va testudine, canebat te, Ipse, cavâ solans ægrum testudine amorem, O dulcis conjux; canebat Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in litore secum, te secum in solo litore: canebat te, die veniente; Te veniente dic, te decedente canebat. canebat te, die decedente, Tænarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis, NOTES. 443. Fugam escape. Fallacia: wilestricks-stratagems. 447. Neque est cuique: nor is it in the power of any one to deceive you. 449. Quæsitum: to seek divine counsel in my ruined state-my adverse circum stances. A supine in um, put after venimus. 451. Ardentes: in the sense of coruscantes. It is to be connected with lumine glauco. 452. Sic resolvit. The poet now proceeds to the answer of Proteus, in which he tells Aristæus that the cause of his disaster was the injury offered to Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus. The whole story is told in so beautiful a mai.ner, that it does not seem unworthy of the mouth of a god. 453. Non nullius numinis. Davidson renders this: of no mean deity. But the ordinary sense and meaning of the words are to be preferred: of some deity. The two negatives express affirmatively. Besides the punishment of Aristaus was procured by Orpheus and the nymphs, who were in. ferior deities. Rumus and Heyne say ali cujus Dei. Exercent: in the sense of persequuntur. 454. Commissa: in the sense of scelera. Miserabilis, &c. Unhappy Orpheus procures this punishment for thee, by no means proportionate to thy deserts, (and would procure greater,) if the fates did not oppose. This appears to be the plain meaning of the 460 465 passage. It would be a useless labor to enumerate the various opinions of commen. tators upon it. Dr. Trapp observes, the parenthesis, ni fata resistant, is the most difficult passage in Virgil's works. To make any sense of it, we must supply the words: and would procure greater punishment. Ob: equal-proportionate to. Orpheus was the son of Eagrus, king of Thrace, and Calliope, one of the Muses. He was distinguished for his skill in music and poetry. He was one of the Argonauts. It is said there are some hymns of his extant; but there is reason to believe they are spurious. See Ecl. iii. 46. 456. Sævit: and grieves immoderately for. 461. Arces: the Rhodopean mountains. See Geor. iii. 351. 462. Pangaa: neu. plu. sing. Pangaus: a mountain in Thrace, in the confines of Macedonia. Rhesi. See Æn. I. 469. 463. Getœ. See Geor. ii. 462. Orithyia] See Ecl. vii. 51. 464. Testudine. The lyre was called testudo, because anciently it was made of tortoise shell. It is said that Mercury finding a dead tortoise on the banks of the river Nile, made a lyre of it; whence he is called, parens curve lyre. Tænarus, a 467. Ingressus Tanarias. promontory of the Peloponnesus, separating the Sinus Messenicus from the Sinus Et caligantem nigrå formidine lucum Jamque pedem referens, casus evaserat omnes; NOTES. Laconicus, fabled to be the entrance of the infernal regions. Here Orpheus made his descent to hell after his Eurydice. Ostia: the doors, or gates of Pluto. 470. Corda nescia: and hearts knowing not (incapable of) to relent at human prayers. 472. Simulacra: the shades or forms of more dreadful. See Geor. 1. 278. Cerberus: a huge dog with three heads, the door-keeper of Pluto. 484. Cantu. Most copies have vento. But it is extremely difficult to make any sense of that. Davidson reads cantu, and informs us that Pierius found cantu in several ancient MSS. This makes the sense those wanting life. Luce: in the sense of easy, and the passage intelligible. vita. 475. Corpora: and bodies of gallant heroes deprived of life. Corpora is here used to denote the airy vehicle, or form, which the ancients assigned to departed spirits. This is the meaning here. 479. Cocyli. Cocytus, a river of Italy, of no great magnitude, feigned by the poets to be a river of hell. Its banks abounded in reeds. Inamabilis : in the sense of odiosa; and undâ for aquâ.. 480. Circum alligat: surrounds—confines. The parts of the verb are frequently separated by Tmesis, for the sake of the verse. Styr. A fabulous river of hell, around which, the poets say, it flowed nine times. It may therefore be said to restrain the shades, and prevent them from returning to the upper regions. See Geor. iii. 551. Interfusa: flowing between them and the upper regions of light. 482. Tartara: properly the lowest part of hell-the place in which the impious are punished, according to the poets. Intima: in the sense of profundissima. Letum, or Lethum, seems here to be used for the place, or regions of the dead in general. 483. Eumenides. The furies were three in number, and represented with their hair entwined with serpents, to render them Commentators have shown a good deal of ingenuity in attempting to render this Ruæus passage intelligible with vento. says: Orbis rote Ixioniæ quievit flante vento Valpy that the wind relaxed, contrario. by which the wheel was carried round: or it stood to the wind. Heyne hath a long note upon it. He thinks vento should be taken in the abl. The wind, by which the wheel was carried round, subsiding, the wheel ceased to revolve: Vento,quo aliàs circum agibatur rota, Or, by subsidente, subsideret motus rota. ventus, may be understood the air or wind, occasioned by the revolution of the wheel: or lastly, says he, rota orbis may be taken simply for the wheel: rota substitit vento: the impulse of the wind ceasing, venti impulsu cessante, the wheel stopped. The fable represents all the infernal regions charmed with the music of Orpheus. The furies, the depths of Tartarus, Cerberus with his triple mouth, the wheel of Ixion, all stopped to listen to it. Ixionii: an adj. from Ixion, agreeing with orbis. Ixion was sentenced to be bound to a wheel, that kept perpetually in motion. Rota orbis: the rotation, or revolution of the wheel; or simply for rota. See Geor. iii. 38. 486. Veniebat: was just coming to the upper regions of light. 20 489. Dementia quidem ignoscenda, si Manes 492. Rupta sunt 490 Ponè sequens; namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem. Cùm subita incautum dementia cepit amantem, Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes. Restitit, Eurydicenque suam jam luce sub ipsâ, Immemor, heu! victusque animi, respexit: ibi omnis Effusus labor; atque immitis rupta tyranni Fœdera: terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. Illa, quis et me, inquit, miseram, et te perdidit Orpheu? Quis tantus furor? en iterum crudelia.retrò Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus! Jamque vale feror ingenti circumdata nocte, 498. Non ampliùs tua Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu! non tua, palmas. conjux. Dixit: et fugit Dixit: et ex oculis subitò, ceu fumus in auras diversa ex oculis Orphei Commixtus tenues, fugit diversa: neque illum 494. Illa Eurydice in quit: quis perdidit et me miseram, et te, Orpheu! quis tantus furor est hic? 503. Passus est Orpheum Prensantem nequicquam umbras, et multa volentem 507. Perhibent illum per septem totos menses 487. Legem condition. NOTES.. 488. Subita dementia: a sudden frenzy, which put the lover off his guard; or caused him to forget the condition upon which his Eurydice was suffered to return. 489. Ignoscenda quidem: pardonable indeed, if, &c. Orpheus looked back to behold his loved Eurydice. This was the fatal error, and not to be blamed in a lover. Even Eurydice herself did not blame him, for it proceeded from love to her. Ovid says: Jamque iterum moriens non est de conjuge quicquam questa suo: quid enim sese queretur amatam? Manes, here, is put for the infernal gods. 490. Sub ipsa luce: in the very region of light. 491. Victus animi: not master of his affections. Effusus: in the sense of perditus est. 493. Fœdera: the terms, or conditions. Avernis sing. Avernus; plu. Averna: a lake of Campania, in Italy, by the poets placed in the infernal regions; also, by meton. put for the regions themselves. Fragor. Servius takes fragor to mean the joy and exultation of the shades at the return of Eurydice among them: a shout-a certain dismal and hollow sound. 495. Furor: force, or violence. It is plain that furor is not to be taken here in its usual sense. It is probable that it refers to the force or power which prevented her from following her husband, which she must have felt previous to her second death, or return to the shades. This is the opi nion of Vossius. 495 500 505 496. Condit: in the sense of claudit. 497. Feror circumdata: I am carried away, encompassed by thick darkness, and stretching, &c. 500. Diversa: in the sense of, in diver sam partem. It agrees with illa. 502. Prætereà: in the sense of posteà. Portitor Orci: Charon. He was fabled to be the son of Erebus and Nox. It was his business to ferry the souls of the deceased over the rivers Styx and Acheron, to the place of the dead. Hence he is called por titor orci. The fable of Charon and his boat seems to have originated from the Egyptians, who had a custom of carrying their dead across a lake to a place, where sentence was to be passed upon them; and according to their good or bad actions in life, they were honored with a splendid burial, or left unnoticed in the open Orci: Orcus here signifies the regions of the dead in general-hell. air. 503. Objectam paludem: the intervening river-Styx. Orpheus had already re-crossed the Styx, and was approaching the regions of light, when Eurydice was taken from him, and hurried back to the shades. The infernal river, therefore, lay between him and the regions of the dead, to which Eurydice was carried a second time in the Stygian boat. 506. Illa: she-Eurydice, lifeless, was crossing, &c. 508. Strymonis: gen. of Strymon, a river of Macedonia, on the borders of Thrace. 509. Hæc: these misfortunes of his. Mulcentem tigres, et agentem carmine quercus. Hæc Proteus: et se jactu dedit æquor in altum; Quàque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit. NOTES. 510. Agentem: in the sense of ducentem. 511. Philomela: the nightingale. See Ecl. vi. 78. This is a most exquisite simile, not more generally admired than beautifully conceived. To heighten the picture, the birds are not only implumes, without feathers, but they are taken from the nest; not only so, they are drawn from it by the hands of a cruel, hard-hearted ploughman. In reading it, an emphasis should be placed upon durus and detraxit. It may be observed that the poplar shade is very judiciously selected by the poet to heighten the image; because the leaves of the poplar tree, trembling with the least breath of air, make a kind of melancholy rustling. See Ecl. vi. 78. 512. Queritur: laments her lost young. 514. Miserabile carmen: mournful song. Integrat: in the sense of renovat. 516. Venus: love-person loved. 517. Tanaïm: Tanaïs, a large river of Europe. It flows through the ancient Scythia, and falls into the Palus Maotis, or sea of Azoff, forming a part of the boundary line between Europe and Asia. Hodie, the Don. 518. Viduata: free from-destitute of. Riphais. See Geor. i. 240. 520. Dona irrita. This alludes to the condition, on which Pluto consented to the return of Eurydice to life. The event proved the favor to be a useless, and unavailing one to him. Querens: lamentingbemoaning. Ciconum. The Cicones were a people of Thrace near mount Ismarus, where the feasts of Bacchus were celebrated. Quo munere spreto. The Thracian women, as the fable goes, were much in love with Orpheus. None, however, was able to 510 make any impression upon his mind except Eurydice. After her death, they renewed their suit, which was rejected. To this circumstance the words, quo munere spreto, may refer: which (whose) offer being despised. They may, however, refer to his total indifference to all female charms, and his disregard of marriage. In this sense, Mr. Davidson takes them. It is said, verse 516, supra.: Nulla Venus, et nulli Hymenai flexere animum. See Ecl. iii. 46. Heyne reads sprete, but the sense determines in favor of spreto. This disregard and indifference of Orpheus to the charms of the Thracian women, so enraged them, that during their revellings at a feast of Bacchus, they set upon him, tore him in pieces, and strowed his limbs over the Thracian fields. 521. Nocturni. The orgies of Bacchus were usually celebrated in the night; hence the epithet nocturnus, applied to Bacchus. 523. Marmorea: in the sense of candida. 524. Eagrius: an adj. from Eagrus, a king of Thrace, and father of Orpheus. Gurgite: in the sense of fluvio, vel alveo. Hebrus. It is the principal river of Thrace. With its tributary streams, it waters a considerable extent of country. It falls into the head of the Archipelago. Into this river the furious Bacchanals cast the head of Orpheus, which, as it floated down the current, continued to repeat the name of Eurydice. 527. Referebant: repeated-echoed. 528. Dedit: in the sense of immisit. 529. Torsit spumantem: he threw the foaming water over his head. Dr. Trapp observes, that although this episode be admirable in itself, it is obvious to observe that 530. At Cyrene non At non Cyrene: namque ultrò affata timentem: 530 dedit se in altum mare: Nate, licet tristes animo deponere curas. namque affata est timen- Hæc omnis morbi causa: hinc miserabile Nymphæ, tem filium ultrò dicens: 532. Hæc est omnis Cum quibus illa choros lucis agitabat in altis, Exitium misêre apibus. Tu munera supplex causa morbi apibus tuis Tende, petens pacem, et faciles venerare Napæas. 535 Namque dabunt veniam votis, irasque remittent. Sed, modus orandi qui sit, priùs ordine dicam. 538. Primùm delige Quatuor eximios præstanti corpore tauros, quatuor Qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycæi, 540. Earum cervice Delige, et intactâ totidem cervice juvencas. intactâ jugo Quatuor his aras alta ad delubra Dearum 541. His victimis con- Constitue, et sacrum jugulis demitte cruorem, Corporaque ipsa boum frondoso desere luco. Post, ubi nona suos aurora ostenderit ortus, stitue 545. Tanquam inferias Inferias Orphei, lethæa papavera mittes, Orphei 548. Est haud mora illi Placatam Eurydicen vitulâ venerabere cæsâ, Et nigram mactabis ovem, lucumque revises. Haud mora: continuò matris præcepta facessit; Ad delubra venit, monstratas excitat alas, Quatuor eximios præstanti corpore tauros Ducit, et intactâ totidem cervice juvencas. 554. Hic verò aspi- Pòst, ubi nona suos aurora induxerat ortus, ciunt monstrum subi- Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit. tum, ac mirabile dictu, Hic verò subitum, ac dictu mirabile monstrum nempe, apes stridere in Aspiciunt; liquefacta boum per viscera toto Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis, Immensasque trahi nubes; jamque arbore summâ toto utero 557. Immensasque nubes earum NOTES. it is introduced a little inartificially. For it is not to be supposed that Proteus, having been made a prisoner, and speaking by constraint, would tell this long story to entertain Aristæus, who had thus offered violence to him. It would have been enough for him, to inform Aristæus that his misfortunes were occasioned by the death of Eurydice, without relating all the circumstances consequent upon it. But it may be said, this relation is more to the point than is usually imagined. These circumstances greatly aggravate the guilt of Aristæus, and so it was proper enough, if not necessary, to relate them. However the case may be, I would not, says he, lose this episode to be the author of all the best criticisms that were ever written upon it. Sub vertice: in the sense of super verticem. 532. Hinc: hence, for the cause or reasons, which Proteus had just mentioned. 533. Illa: Eurydice. Agitabat: in the sense of ducebat. 535. Tende: in the sense of offer. Napaas: Nymphs of the groves, from a Greek word, signifying a grove. Faciles: easy to be appeased. 539. Summa viridis: the tops of verdant 540 545 550 555 Lyceus. This was a mountain in Arcadia, where it is said, Aristaus sometimes resided. Erimios: in the sense of insignes. 541. Dearum: the Nymphs. See Ecl. ii. 46. 542. Demitte: let out the sacred blood from their throats. 543. Desere: in the sense of relinque. 545. Mittes: you shall offer Lethean poppies, as a sacrifice to Orpheus: i. e. to appease the Manes of Orpheus. Inferia: properly were offerings, or sacrifices to the gods below for the dead-to the Manes. The porpy was usually offered in sacrifice on such occasions, because its property is to cause sleep, or forgetfulness: sleep being a lively emblem of death. Lethaa: an adj. from Lethum: of Greek origin. 549. Excitat: in the sense of erigit.Monstratas: in the sense of præscriptas. 550. Præstanti: in the sense of pulchro. The prep. è is understood. 553. Mittit: in the sense of offert. 554. Monstrum: in the sense of prodigium. 555. Liquefacta: in the sense of putrefacta. 556. Stridere: to hum or buzz-effervere: in the sense of erumpere. 557. Trahi: to be borne along. |