Humida vela legit. Nunquam imprudentibus imber Nunc caput objectare fretis, nunc currere in undas, Nec minùs ex imbri soles, et aperta serena NOTES. 373. Imprudentibus, &c. Never hath a shower hurt any person unforwarned: that is, a shower always gives such certain signs of its approach, that any who will attend to them, may avoid receiving injury from it. Heyne informs us, that the Medicean, and some other copies, read prudentibus; he, however, prefers the usual reading, imprudentibus. Prudentibus is the easier. 374. Illum surgentem, &c. This sentence is capable of two constructions: 1. The cranes may flee the shower, rising out of the valleys; which is the sense Rumus gives. 2. Davidson takes it to mean that the cranes flee into the valleys, to avoid the rising storm. This is also the opinion of Valpy. 378. Et rana cecinere, &c. This alludes to the fable of the transformation of the Lycians into frogs for reproaching Latona, of which hard treatment, when they croak, they are said to complain. See Ovid. Met. Lib. 6. 380. Ingens arcus: the spacious bow hath drunk; alluding to a vulgar notion that the rainbow drank the water that supplied the clouds. 383. Asia: an adj. from Asius, a lake and town between the river Caystrus and the mountain Tmolus, in the confines of Lydia and Phrygia Major. Caystrus falls into the Egean sea, not far from the once famous city of Ephesus. On its banks the swan abounded. Rimantur: in the sense of frequentant. 385. Infundere largos: to throw eagerly much water upon their backs. Rores: in the sense of aquam. 387. Studio lavandi: through a desire of washing themselves in vain. Incassum may be understood in three senses. 1. Because nothing can add to the whiteness of the swan, the fowl here spoken of. 2. Because they need take no pains to wash themselves, for the impending rain will do it without their labor. 3. Because, according to Servius, water will not wet their feathers. 390. Carpentes: carding their nightly tasks of wool. 392. Fungos: the clots or spungy substance that gathers round the wick of the lamp or candle. Scintillare: to sputter or snap in the burning shell. 393. Nec minùs. Having mentioned the signs of a storm, the poet now enumerates those of fair weather. He makes them in number nine. Ex imbri: after a shower. Soles: days. 395. Acies stellis: Rumus says, lux stellarum. Videtur: in the sense of apparet. 396. Luna surgere obnoxia: nor will the moon seem to rise beholden (or indebted) to the beams of her brother. The moon will rise so clear and bright, that she will scem to shine by her own inherent light, and not by reflecting the rays of the sun. Sol and Luna in heaven, the same as Apollo and Diana on earth, were said to have been the children of Latona. See Ecl. iv. 10. Tenuia nec lanæ per cœlum vellera ferri. 401. Ima loca At nebulæ magis ima petunt, campoque recumbunt; 400 405 410 Quâcunque illa levem fugiens secat æthera pennis, Ecce inimicus, atrox, magno stridore per auras, Insequitur Nisus: quà se fert Nisus ad auras, Illa levem fugiens raptim secat æthera pennis. 410. Tum corvi ter Tum liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces aut quater ingeminant Aut quater ingeminant: et sæpe cubilibus altis, liquidas Nescio quâ præter solitum dulcedine læti, 412. Læti, nescio quâ dulcedine, præter soli- Inter se foliis strepitant: juvat imbribus actis · um morem strepitant Progeniem parvam, dulcesque revisere nidos. 415. Haud equidem Haud equidem credo, quia sit divinitùs illis credo hoc fieri ita, quia Ingenium, aut rerum fato prudentia major : Verùm, ubi tempestas et cœli mobilis humor 419. Densat ea, quæ Mutavere vias: et Jupiter humidus Austris modò erant rara, et relaxat ea, quæ priùs erant Densat, erant quæ rara modò; et, quæ densa, relaxat. densa Vertuntur species animorum, et pectora motus 421. Concipiunt nunc Nunc alios, alios, dum nubila ventus agebat, NOTES. 397. Tenuia vellera: thin white clouds, like fleeces of wool. 399. Halcyones. Ceyx, king of Trachinia, going to consult the oracle of Apollo at Clarus, was shipwrecked in the Egean sea. His wife, Halcyone, seeing his dead body floating near the shore, flung herself upon it in a transport of her passion. Thetis, out of compassion to the lovers, transformed them into the birds called king-fishers: hence dilecta Thetidi. It is said the sea is calm a certain number of days about the winter solstice, that they may more conveniently bring forth their young. Hence those days were sometimes called Halcyon days. 400. Maniplos: bundles of straw-straw in general. 403. Noctua servans: the owl observing the setting of the sun, &c. The meaning of the expression seems to be this: that as the hooting of the owl in general is a sign of foul weather, yet when these signs of fair weather occur, she hoots in vain ; she will be disregarded; or, if any regard her prognostics, they will find themselves disappointed. The owl is the only bird that sings exclusively in the night; hence, seros cantus exercet. 404. Nisus: the falcon, or hawk. Scylla: the lark. See Ecl. vi. 74; also nom. prop. under Nisus. 405. Scylla dat pœnas. Scylla is punished 415 420 for the purple lock. Dare-reddere-pendere -solvere pœnas, vel supplicium, to be punished. These are phrases. In like manner : afficere pœnâ vel suppliciô—capere—sumere petere pœnas, vel supplicium, to punish. 410. Presso guttere: with their throats compressed. This would render the sounds more clear and shrill. 416. Ingenium: discernment, or mental capacity. Major prudentia fato, &c. A greater knowledge or foresight in the course and order of things, than inen have. This passage, as it is commonly rendered, is unintelligible. To take fato in the ablative, governed by major, Dr. Trapp observes, is complete nonsense; and yet this is the opinion of Heyne, and Valpy who follows him: and it is very little better to take it for the agent or means by which this greater knowledge was obtained. It is perfectly easy as rendered above. Ruæus says: rerum prudentia, quæ potentior est fato; which is with difficulty understood. 417. Mobilis humor: the moving vapor of heaven. Vias is here used in the sense of modus, or qualitates. Tempestas: the weather-temperature of the weather. 418. Jupiter humidus: the air moistened by the south winds. Jupiter is here put poetically for the air; which passing over the sea that lay to the south of Italy, became moist, or impregnated with vapor. 420. Motus: motions-affections. Concipiunt: hinc ille avium concentus in agris, Si verò Solem ad rapidum Lunasque sequentes Sol quoque, et exoriens, et cùm se condit in undas, NOTES. 425. Crastina hora: simply, to-morrow. 427. Colligit revertentes ignes: when first the moon collects the reflected, or returning rays, (ignes;) if she embrace, &c. The poet here mentions three prognostics of the weather from the moon. 1. If the new moon be obscured by dusky air, (nigrum aëra.) look for rain. 2. If she be red, look for wind. 3. If, on the fourth day, she be bright, expect the remainder of the month to be fair weather; whence the common saying: pallida Luna pluit; rubicunda flat; alba serenat. 432. Auctor: sign-prognostic. 437. Glauco. Glaucus was a fisherman of Anthedon, in Beotia, by some said to have been the son of Neptune and the nymph Naïs. As he was fishing, he observed the fish that he caught, as he laid them on the grass, to receive fresh vigor, and immediately to escape from him by leaping into the sea. From this circumstance, he imagined there must be some extraordinary virtue in the grass; whereupon he tasted it, and found himself suddenly moved with a desire to live in the watry element; and leaping into the sea, he was made a sea-god by Oceanus and Tethys. Panopea: a nymph of the sea, the daughter of Nereus and Doris. Melicerta. Melicerta, or Melicertes, was the son of Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamas, king of Thebes; who fleeing from her husband, who had slain her son Learchus, leaped into the sea with Melicerta in her arms, both of whom were changed into sea-gods, and worshipped. Inoo: an adj. from Ino, agreeing with Melicerta. Melicertes was sometimes called Palæmon. Sce Æn. v. 823. 440. Astris surgentibus. When the stars appear in the evening at the approach of darkness, in the language of poetry, they are said to rise: so when they disappear at the approach of day, they are said to set. 442. Medio refugerit orbe. Most commentators take orbis here for the face or disc of the sun; and understand by the words medio refugerit orbe, when he shall disappear with half his orb or disc, the other half remaining visible. Ruæus says: latuerit mediâ sui parte. Valpy says, "When the rising sun appears bordered by clouds, the centre alone remaining visible." Davidson translates the whole passage thus: "When he (the sun) shall chequer his new-born face with spots, hidden in a cloud, and coyly shun the sight with half his orb." Servius seems to understand the words to imply that the centre of the sun retired, as it were, from view, by appearing hollow like the cavity of the hand, while the edge was concealed in a cloud. I know not that philosophers have noticed any such appearances of the sun; I am sure they must be very rare. Besides, this half concealment of the sun does not come up to the obvious meaning of conditus in nubem, which certainly means that he was wholly concealed from sight. By taking medio orbe, for, in the middle of his course, or diurnal revolution, which may very well be done, the passage will be rendered intelligible and easy. Thus: when the sun, in his ascent above the horizon, shall have passed behind fleecy clouds, and Aboribusque satisque Notus, pecorique sinister. 458. At si orbis solis At si, cùm referetque diem, condetque relatum, 461. Denique Sol dabit signa tibi, quid serus vesper 445 450 453 460 Denique, quid Vesper serus vehat, unde serenas Cùm caput obscurâ nitidum ferrugine texit, Tempore quanquam illo tellus quoque, et æquora ponti, Signa dabant. Quoties Cyclopum effervere in agros NOTES. be sometimes concealed by them from sight; and when he shall have approached the meridian, and finished half his course, he shall be wholly concealed from sight by the increased and condensed vapor in the atmosphere, then rain is to be expected. Imbres: in the sense of pluvia. 444. Sinister: injurious-hurtful. 452. In vultu: in the sense of per vultum. 454. Immiscerier: by Paragoge, for immisceri, to be mingled with sparkling light. Igni: lumine, says Ruæus. 456. Fervere. This verb forcibly expresses the violence of the storm. All things are confusion and wild disorder. Turbari, says Ruæus. 462. Cogitet: in the sense of præparet. Serenas: in the sense of siccas. 467. Obscura ferrugine: with a dark red color-a color resembling blood. 468. Sæcula. Sæculum is properly an age; by meton. the inhabitants or men of that age. Impra sæcula the same as impii homines. 470 475 470. Obscœni canes: foul dogs-dogs of bad omen-howling frightfully. The ancients considered any thing of this kind inauspicious. Importunæ : inauspicious. Cujus cantus erat mali ominis. 471. Quoties vidimus: how often have we seen Etna rising in waves, its furnaces being burst, &c. Undantem, expresses very forcibly the violence and agitation of the flames pent up in the mountain, rising by turns against its sides, which, no longer able to resist the shock, open a passage; when, in an instant, it covers the adjacent country with lava. The Cyclops were the servants of Vulcan, and said to be the sons of Calus and Terra. They were so called from their having but one eye, which was in the middle of their forehead. Their business was to assist Vulcan in forming the thunder-bolts of Jupiter, and the arms of the gods, and celebrated heroes. Their forges were under Etna. The most noted of them were Brontes, Steropes, and Pyracmon. When Ulysses visited Sicily, Polyphemus, say the Vox quoque per lucos vulgò exaudita silentes NOTES. poets, was their king. Diodorus informs us that the Cyclops were the first inhabitants of Sicily, of a gigantic stature, and of a fierce and savage nature. They dwelt chiefly about mount Etna. 477. Simulacra: spectres, or ghosts, pale in a wonderful manner, were seen, &c. 478. Obscurum: an adj. of the neu. taken as a sub. in the sense of obscuritatem. Ruæus interprets it by crepusculum. 480. Mæstum ebur: the mournful ivory (ivory statues) wept. Era: brass-statues made of brass. 481. Insano vortice: with its rapid current -eddies. 482. Eridanus: the river Po. It is here called the king of rivers, because the largest in Italy. It rises in Piedmont, and running an easterly course, after receiving a number of tributary streams, falls into the Gulf of Venice by several mouths. 483. Tristibus extis. One mode of consulting the omens, was an examination of the entrails of the victim. If any defect or singularity appeared, it was thought to be portentous. Tristibus: ominous-baleful. 485. Altè. Heyne reads allæ, agreeing with urbes. 488. Cometa. Plutarch informs us that a very bright comet appeared at Rome for several days about the time of Caesar's death. To this the poet refers in Ecl. ix. 47. Suetonius says: Ludis, quos primo consecratos ei hæres Augustus edebat, stella crinita per septem dies continuos fulsit, exoriens circa undecimam horam: creditumque est animum esse Cæsaris in cœlum recepti. 489. Ergò therefore-on account of the death of Caesar, which was the cause of the civil war. 490. Philippi iterum: Philippi hath seen the Roman armies again, &c. It is agreed that Virgil here alludes to the two famous battles, one fought between Cæsar and Pompey; the other, between Brutus and Cassius on one side, and Augustus and Anthony on the other. But history informs us that the former was fought on the plains of Pharsalia, in Thessaly, the latter at Philippi, in the confines of Thrace, more than two hundred miles distant. To explain this apparent inconsistency, there have been many attempts. The most probable solution is, that the poet does not mean that both these battles were fought on the same spot. This would contradict history. He would not commit such a blunder. We are told that the city Theba Thessalice, or Phthotica, which was in sight of Pharsalia, was called also Philippi. And though historians, for sake of distinction, called the one Philippi, and the other Pharsalia, the poet might, without any impropriety, call them both by the common name of Philippi. Ruæus has one conjecture which may be deserving of notice: that the adverb iterùm may refer, not to Philippi, but to the Roman armies: Philippi saw the Roman armies again engage for the empire of the world, though not for the first time. They had engaged for a similar purpose before on the plains of Pharsalia. This appears to solve the difficulty. 492. Emathiam-Lalos campos Hami. Here is an apparent difficulty. Hæmus is a mountain in Thrace; and neither of the battles was fought in Emathia or Macedonia, properly so called. But the language of poetry does not always conform to historical or geographical exactness. We are told that the ancient Emathia was considered by the poets to extend as far east as the river Nessus, including a considerabic part of Thrace beyond Philippi; and to the south comprehending all Thessaly, and consequently Pharsalia, or the Pharsalian |