P. VIRGILII MARONIS BUCOLICA. ECLOGA PRIMA. MELIBUS, TITYRUS. Ar the termination of the civil war, which placed Augustus securely on the Imperial throne, to reward his soldiers for their services, he gave them the lands lying about Mantua and Cremona, dispossessing the former owners. Among the unfortunate sufferers was Virgil himself; who, however, by the interest of Mecenas with the Emperor, received his lands again. In the character of Tityrus, the poet sets forth his own good fortune; and in that of Melibous, the calamity of his Mantuan neighbors. This is the subject of the pastoral. The scene is laid in a beautiful landscape. A shepherd, with his flock feeding around him, is lying at ease under a wide-spreading beech-tree: the sun is approaching the horizon: shadows are falling from the mountains: the air is tranquil and serene: the smoke is ascending from the neighboring villages. This scenery a painter could copy. MEL. TITYRE, tu patulæ recubans sub tegmine fagi, Sylvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avenâ : Nos patriæ fines, et dulcia linquimus arva; Nos patriam fugimus: tu, Tityre, lentus in umbrâ TIT. O Melibœe, Deus nobis hæc otia fecit. Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus : illius aram MEL. Non equidem invideo: miror magis: NOTES. 1. Fagi: gen, of Fagus, the beech-tree. It is glandiferous. 2. Sylvestrem musam. A pastoral song. Avena: properly oats. By Met. the straw; and hence an oaten, or oat-straw pipe. Meditaris: you practice or exercise. 3. Arta. neu. plu. properly cultivated fields: from the verb aro. 4. Tu lentus: thou at ease in the shade, dost teach the woods, &c. Amaryllida, a Greek acc. of Amaryllis. See 31. infra. 6. Deus. A god, namely Augustus, who had reinstated him in his possessions; and whom the Romans had deified. Hac otia: this rest or ease. Otium is opposed to labor in signification. 5 8. Sæpe tener agnus ab nostris 9. Ille permisit meas boves errare, et me ipsum ludere carmina, 10 quæ undique 14. Namque modò connixa gemellos, spem [totis gregis, ah! reliquit eos hic inter densas corylos, in nuda silice. : Spem gregis, ah! silice in nudâ connixa reliquit. dicere 20. Ego stultus puta- Romam esse similem huic TIT. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Melibœe, putavi Stultus ego huic nostræ similem, quò sæpe solemus Pastores ovium teneros depellere fœtus. : Sic canibus catulus similes, sic matribus hædos MEL. Et quæ tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi ? NOTES 16. Hoc malum nobis. There seem to be required here, to make the sense complete, the words: and I might have understood it; si mens, &c. If my mind had not been foolish. 18. Sinistra cornix: the ill-boding crow. The Romans were very superstitious. They considered every thing as ominous. The flight of some kinds of birds, the croaking of others, the darting of a meteor, a peal of thunder, were signs of good or bad luck. Those that appeared on their left hand, for the most part, they considered unlucky. Hence sinister and laevus came to signify unlucky, ill-boding, &c. And those that appeared on their right hand, they considered to be lucky. Hence, dexter came to signify fortunate, lucky, &c. The best reason that can be given, why they used sinister and lavus, sometimes in a good, at other times in a bad sense, is, that they occasionally interpreted the omens after the manner of the Greeks, who considered those that appeared in the eastern part of the heavens to be lucky; and turning their faces to the north, as their custom was, they would be seen on the right hand. The Romans, on the contrary, turned their faces to the south in observing the omens; and consequently, their left hand would be toward the east, corresponding to the right hand of the Greeks. Ilice: the holm-oak. 19. Qui sit Deus: who may be that God of yours-of whom you speak? Da nobis: tell me. Nobis: in the sense of mihi. 20. Romam. Rome, a city of Italy, situated on the river Tiber, founded by Romulus 753 years before Christ. Mantua was a city of the Cis-Alpine Gaul, now Lombardy, situated on the eastern bank of the river Mincius, which falls into the Po. 22. Fatus. This word signifies the young of any thing or kind, whether animate or 15 22 25 30 inanimate. We have introduced it into our language without any variation. Teneros fœtus ovium, simply, our lambs. 23. Sic canibus, &c. This passage SerRome resembled Mantua and other cities, vius thus explains: I thought before that dams or mothers, differing only in size. In as I knew whelps and kids resemble their this I was mistaken: I find it to be of a different species from other cities, as the cypress differs from the shrub. 24. Componere: in the sense of comparare. figurative expression,butextremely beautiful. 25. Extulit caput: hath raised its head. A of shrub. Some take it for a withy, others 26 Viburna, plu. of viburnum, a species for the wild-vine. self as being an old man, having a beard. are to be taken allegorically; the former for 35 Nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi : TIT. Quid facerem? neque servitio me exire licebat, Hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti : NOTES. licately hints at his changing political sides, and in consequence thereof leaving Mantua, and going to Rome. From the circumstance of Augustus depriving the Mantuans of their lands, we may infer that they were generally in favor of the Republic, and Virgil might have been of that party, till all hope of liberty was lost, and prudence dictated a change of politics. Galatea reliquit, is for reliqui Galateam, by Euphemisinus. After he had left Galatea, and transferred his affections to Amaryllis, be obtained liberty and property: that is, after he had changed political sides. 33. Peculi. By apocope for Peculii. This word properly denotes the property of a slave that which his master suffers him to possess, and call his own. In this sense, it is peculiarly proper, as Virgil here speaks of himself as having been in that humiliating condition. 35. Urbi. The city Mantua. 36. Non unquam, &c. Never did my right hand return home heavy with money. -Mihi: in the sense of mea. 40. Arbusta: the groves themselves, &c. There is a great beauty in the personification of inanimate things; or attributing to them the actions of real life. The Arbusta were large pieces of ground set with elms or other trees, commonly at the distance of about 40 feet, to leave room for corn to grow between them. They were sometimes pruned, and served for stages to the vine. The verb vocabant is to be repeated with each of the 40 45 37. Mirabar, quid tu mœsta, Amarylli, vocares Deos ei cui patereris 54. Hinc sepes, quæ 50 dividit tuum agrum ab vicino limite, semper depasta quoad florem salicti Hyblæis apibus, sæpe suadebit tibi inire levi susurro somnum 55 apum. nominatives preceding, and to govern the pronoun te. 42. Præsentes: propiticus or favorable.Alibi: in any other place-any where else. -Cognoscere: to experience, or find. 43. Hic. Here, at Rome.-Juvinem: Octavius, who was then about twenty-two years of age; afterward by a decree of the senate called Augustus.-Cui nostra: for whom our altars smoke,--in honor of, &c. 46. Pueri. Swains. The word puer properly signifies a boy, in opposition to a girlalso a male slave or waiter. 49. Obducat omnia pascua, &c. Ruæus understands this not of Virgil's own lands, but of the lands of his neighbors. Dr. Trapp very justly rejects this interpretation. The poet is felicitating himself on his good fortune under the character of an old man. And, though his farm was covered over partly with rocks and stones, and partly with a marsh; yet no unusual or improper pasture should injure his (graves fætas) pregnant ewes; nor any noxious contagion of a neighboring flock should infect or hurt them. -Fata: the female of any kind big with young-a breeder. 52. Inter flumina nota. The Mincius and Po. 55. Sæpes depasta florem, &c. This construction frequently occurs among the poets, and is in imitation of the Greeks; who sometimes placed the noun or pronoun in the acc. case, omitting the governing prep. Fed upon as to, or with respect to, its flower of willow, &c.-Hyblæis: an adj. from Hy Sæpe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro. TIT. Ante leves ergo pascentur in æthere cervi, 60 65. At nos expulsi Aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, hinc, alii nostrum ibi- Quàm nostro illius labatur pectore vultus. mus ad sitientes Afros, MEL. At nos hinc alii sitientes ibimus Afros, pars nostrum veniemus Pars Scythiam, et rapidum Cretæ veniemus Oaxem, ad Scythiam, 68. En unquam mi- Et penitùs toto divisos orbe Britannos. videns patrios En unquam patrios longo pòst tempore fines, rabor NOTES. bla, a town and mountain in Sicily, famous for honey.-Vicino limite: from the neighboring field. Hinc: on the one hand. It is opposed to the Hinc in line 57. infra; which is to be rendered: on the other hand. 57. Ad auras: to the air-aloud, so as to pierce the air. 60. Antè. The ante in this line is merely expletive; the sense is complete without it. 61. Destituent: in the sense of relinquent. 62. Antè, pererratis, &c. Parthus, by Synec. for the Parthians collectively. They were a people descended from the Scythians, and possessed that part of Asia, which is bounded on the west by Media, on the north by the Caspian sea, on the east by Bactriana, and on the south by the deserts of Carmania. In process of time, they became very powerful, and were the most formidable enemies of the Persians: and from their frequent conquests over that people, are sometimes confounded with them. Germania. An extensive country in Europe, put, by meton. for the inhabitants of that country. Ararim. A river of France arising from mount Vogesus (hodie Vauge) and running in a southern direction, falls into the Rhodanus at Lyons, and along with it, into the Mediterranean. It is famous for the bridge built over it by Julius Cæsar. Its present name is the Soane. Tigrim. This is a very rapid river of Asia, rising in Armenia, and taking a southerly direction, passing by Mesopotamia and Assyria, unites with the Euphrates, and with it falls into the Sinus Persicus. The Araris is not in Germany properly so called. But it is well known that the Germans extended their conquests beyond that river, and effected settlements among the Sequani, and other nations of Gaul. Nor is the Tigris in Parthia proper. But the Parthians extended their conquests as far west as the Euphrates. Not far from this river they vanquished Crassus, the Roman general. The meaning of this passage, which hath so much 65 divided the opinions of commentators, appears to be this: that these two nations, the Germans and the Parthians, shall exchange countries with each other (finibus amborum pererratis) sooner than (ante quam) the image of that youth should be effaced from his breast. But the former could never be; therefore, the latter would remain. Pererratis, in the sense of permutatis. 65. Sitientes: thirsting or parched. This epithet is peculiarly proper for the inhabitants of Africa, the greater part of which lies between the tropics. 66. Scythiam. The Scythians were brave and warlike people, leading a wandering life. They extended their conquests over a very considerable part of Europe and Asia. Hence the term Scythia came to be used indefinitely, to denote any part or the whole of the northern parts of Europe and Asia. Oaxis: a river of Crete; a large island in the Mediterranean. It is celebrated for having been the birth-place of Jupiter, and for its having once had a hundred cities. Veniemus, in the sense of ibimus. 68. En unquam. Alas! shall I ever wonder, beholding, &c. Germanus, Ruæus and Davidson connect aliquot aristas with mea regna. But Dr. Trapp takes post aliquot aristas to mean after some years; and construes mea regna with culmen tuguri. It is true, arista may be taken for years. But aliquot aristas does not very well answer to the longo tempore pòst, mentioned just before. And if it did, it would be only a useless repetition. But connect aliquot aristas with mea regna, as in the ordo; any impropriety of this kind is removed; and we have a beautiful representation of Melibœus's possessions; which consisted in a few acres of land, lying adjacent to liis cottage, the roof of which just rose above the corn that was planted around it, and might not improperly be said to be concealed among it, or behind it. Tuguri, by apocope, for tugurii. Congestum cespiti : covered over with turf. |