Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis. Hæc super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam, Et super arboribus: Cæsar dum magnus ad altum Fulminat Euphratem bello, victorque volentes Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo. Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat Parthenope, studiis florentem ignobilis otî: Carmina qui lusi pastorum: audaxque juventâ, Tityre, te patulæ cecini sub tegmine fagi. NOTES. 558. Confluere: to collect together to swarm. Demittere: to hang from the flexile boughs, like a bunch of grapes. Dependere in modum uvæ, says Ruæus. 562. Affectat viam he prepares his way to heaven. By the splendor of his actions, he lays the foundation for divine honors. These he afterward received by a decree of the Senate. From this passage, it is inferred, that Virgil continued the care of the Georgics as long as he lived; for the time here mentioned was only the year before his death. At that time, in the year of Rome 734, Augustus was at the head of the Roman army on the banks of the Euphrates, and forced Phraates, king of the Parthians, to restore the Eagles, which they had taken from Crassus, the Roman consul, in a former war. The neighboring nations, and even the Indians, awed by the splendor of his actions, made a voluntary submission to him. 564. Parthenope: the eity Naples. It was founded by the Chalsidenses, and by them called Parthenope, from the circumstance of their finding the tomb of one of the Sirenes, of that name; who, because she was unable to allure Ulysses on shore with her music, killed herself. They how 560 563. Illo tempore dulcis Parthenope alebata me ever demolished it afterward, because it proved an injury to Cuma, which they built in the neighborhood. They re-built it at the command of an oracle, and called it Neapolis, or the New City. Studiis: flourishing, in the studies of inglorious ease. Otium, very properly denotes the peaceful, and retired life of a philosopher: which the poet modestly calls inglorious, (ignobilis) in comparison of a public life. Every other occupation besides war and public affairs, received from the Romans, the name of OtiOr, ignobilis may here mean private, retired, without noise and show. This is the sense in which Dr. Trapp understands it. Rumus says, privati otii. Otium is properly opposed to labor, in signification. Oti: by apocope for otii. um. Au 565. Lusi: in the sense of cecini. dar: in the sense of confidens. Virgil was about twenty-nine years of age when he began his Eclogues, and finished them when he was about thirty-three. Mr. Wharton imagines these four last lines are spurious. He thinks the book naturally concludes with the words: Viamque affectat Olympo For, says he, nothing can be a more complete and sublime conclusion, than this compliment to Augustus. QUESTIONS. What is the subject of this book? Why does the poet call honey aërial? What places are proper for placing the hives? What direction is given for recalling the swarms, when flying away? Is this practised by bee-masters at the present day? What is the character of the poet's description of a battle between two disccrdant swarms? The poet represents the leaders under the appellation of kings: Is that strictly correct? To which of the sexes do they belong? How many different words does the poet use for the hive? What are they? Was Virgil remarkable for this diversity of style? Is the bee a very sagacious animal ? Whence did they receive, according to the poets, this extraordinary sagacity? What was this in consideration of? How is this fable interpreted? Why was the goat transferred to heaven, and made a constellation? To whom were his horns given? What property was added to these? Was the opinion of the ancients concerning the production of the bee, incorrect? Is that opinion now exploded? How many kinds of bees are there in the hive? Of what sex are the Drones ? There is only one female bee in the hive. and what is she called? What is her employment? Of what sex are the laboring bees? Is the bee-hive a piece of exquisite workmanship? What does the poet emphatically call the hives? Where was the city Canopus situated? Why does the poet call the Egyptians, Gens fortunata? Where does the Nile take its rise? By how many mouths does it empty? What does it form towards its mouth? How is the water of the Nile conducted to the different parts of Egypt? How high must it rise for that purpose? If it fall short of that, what is expected? What did the Romans call any people living in a hot climate? In what sense may the Nile be said to have pressed upon the borders of Persia? Who was Aristœus? What is the character of this episode respecting him? Is the production of the bee, as here related, fabulous? What is said of the music of his lyre? What effect had it upon the shades below? What effect had it upon Pluto himself? Why did he descend to the realms of Pluto? What was the issue of it? What was the probable origin of the fable of Charon and his boat? What does Dr. Trapp observe concerning this episode of Aristeus? Is there reason to believe that Virgil continued to revise his Georgics as long as he lived? What is that reason? INTRODUCTION TO THE ENEID. THE Æneid is a heroic, or epic poem. It takes its name from Eneas, the son of Anchises and Venus. By his father, he was allied to the royal family of Troy. He was also the son-in-law of Priam; whose daughter, Creüsa, he had married. Æneas is the hero of the poem. Its subject is his removal into Italy with a colony of Trojans, and their settlement in that country. Virgil was forty years of age when he commenced the Æneid. He had just finished the Georgics: and Augustus, now thirty-three years old, had undisturbed possession of the Roman empire. And nothing appeared to interrupt the universal repose, so desirable after the long civil wars that had desolated the fairest portions of it. It was at this moment, when the minds of the Roman people were turned from the desolating scenes of war to the milder arts of peace, that the poet conceived the plan of writing the Æneid, a poem second only to the Iliad, for the entertainment and instruction of his countrymen. There are some, who think the principal object of the poet was to flatter the pride and vanity of the Roman people, and especially Augustus, who was now raised to the highest temporal power. This part of his works is by far the noblest, though not the most perfect and finished. It was his intention to have revised it before he published it to the world; but he died leaving it incomplete, as appears by several imperfect lines found in different parts of it. He bequeathed the whole to Augustus, who put the manuscript into the hands of Tucca and Varus for publication, with an injunction not to alter, in any way, the manuscript, nor to fill up the imperfect lines. In the first six books, Virgil imitates the Odyssey of Homer; in the last six, he follows the Iliad; and it is probable that we should not have had the Eneid, if we had not, at the same time, the Odyssey and the Iliad also. Homer may be considered the master, Virgil the pupil; but it must, at the same time, be acknowledged, that the Roman excelled the Grecian in many instances, particularly in propriety and judgment.. Paris, the son of Priam, an accomplished prince, visited the court of Menelaus, by whom he was received with the greatest cordiality. Here he became enraptured with the beautiful Helen, the wife of his host, and conceived the base purpose of taking her with him to Troy. Taking advantage of the absence of her husband, he put his plan into execution. This atrocious deed excited a general indignation through the states of Greece; and, after sending an embassy to Troy upon the subject, to no purpose, it was determined, as the last resort, to declare war against Priam, and with the united forces of the Grecian princes, to avenge the perfidious act. After a siege of ten years, the city was taken by stratagem, and rased to the ground. Æneas, in the fatal night, after performing prodigies of valor, retired some distance from the city, bearing his aged father upon his shoulders, and leading his little son by the hand. He was followed by great numbers of his countrymen, who had escaped the flames and the sword. At Antandros, a small town in the neighborhood of Troy, he built him a fleet of twenty ships, and having furnished himself with all things necessary for his enterprise, set sail in search of a new settlement. He visited Thrace. Here he founded a city which he called Enos. He abandoned his undertaking at the direction of the ghost of his friend. Thence he sailed to Crete, the land of Teucer, one of the founders of the Trojan race. Here he attempted a settlement, but through the unhealthiness of the climate, was compelled to relinquish it, after losing a great number of his companions. In the midst of his distress, he is informed in a vision, that Italy, the birth place of Dardanus, was the land destined to him by the gods. Upon this information he left Crete; and, after various fortunes by sea and land, he arrived in Italy in about seven years after his departure from his native land. He was kindly received by Latinus, king of Latium, who proposed to bestow upon him his daughter Lavinia, the heiress of his kingdom. Turnus, king of the Rutuli, a brave and valiant prince, had long sought her in marriage. He opposed her connexion with Æneas. This occasioned a bloody war, in which most of the Italian princes were engaged, on one side or the other. It ended in the death of Turnus, which closes the Æneid. Eneas afterwards married Lavinia, and succeeded Latinus in his kingdom. He built a city, which he called Lavinium, in honor of his wife. This he made the seat of his government. He was succeeded by Ascanius, or Iülus, who reigned thirty years, when he built Alba longa, to which he removed with his Here the government was administered by a line of Trojan princes for three hundred years, till Romulus arose, who founded the city of Rome. After Romulus, the royal line was broken, and the government transferred to Numa Pompilius, a Sabine. court. The three first books are not arranged in the order of time. The second book, which relates the downfall of Troy, and is the basis of the poem, is the first in time. The third, which relates the voyage of Eneas, till after his departure from Sicily for Italy, follows. The first, which relates the dispersion of his fleet, and his arrival in Africa, with his kind reception by Dido, succeeds the third. The rest are all in the order of time. But this change, so far from being a defect in the poem, is an advantage, and shows the judgment of the poet. He was enabled thereby to make his hero relate the downfall of his country, and the various fortunes of his long and eventful voyage. The poet hath contrived to introduce into his poem the outlines of the Roman history, and a number of interesting episodes, which add to the whole beauty and entertainment. For further particulars, see the introduction to the several books. What kind of poem is the Eneid? What is its subject? QUESTIONS. What was the age of Virgil, when he began the Eneid? How long was he engaged in it? Who was then at the head of the Roman empire?' What was the state of that empire? What probably was the principal object of the poet in writing the Eneid? Do some suppose a different object? Under whose inspection was it published? What did Æneas do in the fatal night? flow many ships had he? What place did he first visit? From Crete, to what place did he direct his course? How many years elapsed before he arrived in Italy? Why was he directed to go to Italy? Who succeeded him in the government? Do the books of the Enied follow each What books are not placed in this order? Book Beginery of of the first Bost 21 |