are the theme of the Eclogue. The new-born infant, thus made the subject of this immortal hymn, was probably Caius Asinius Pollio, son of that Pollio whose praises our poet never tires of repeating. The birth of a son to such a friend could not fail to call forth even extravagant congratulations, especially as it occurred in the year of the consulship of Pollio, and at a period when his reputation was at the highest, and when the circumstances of the times seemed actually to be opening a new and happy era.

It is not surprising that early Christian writers, and many even down to our own times, should regard this marvelous "advent hymn," this rapturous vision of coming glories, as bearing a wonderful resemblance to the scriptural prophecies of the coming and the blessed reign of the Messiah. Yet it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that Vergil was inspired with any Messianic foreknowledge, or that he had adopted any of the traditions or beliefs of the Jews. The times, his relations to Pollio, and his own longings for the restoration of peace and the advancement of human happiness, or, at least, of the welfare of his country, are quite sufficient to account for all the glow of enthusiasm with which he hails the birth of the child and the apparent dawn of better times.

The student should compare this Eclogue with the sixteenth epode of Horace, composed a year or two earlier, when Horace was as much depressed by despair as Vergil is now full of hope. Horace then could see no refuge from the prevailing strife and anarchy but in flight far away to the "Fortunate Isles," where he pictures the same blissfulness of primitive life which Vergil now confidently expects to see once more restored to Italy.

This Eclogue is written in a spirit something like that which characterizes the noble hymns of Menalcas and Mopsus in the fifth. It is the hymn of adoring shepherds. And we can almost fancy them gathering around the cradle from which flowers are springing (fundent cunabula flores), and rejoicing with wonder over the child, like the smiling group in Correggio's picture of the nativity.

1. The shepherd poet, inspired by the Sicilian or pastoral Muses (Sicelides Musae), must now rise to a higher theme (maiora canamus). -2. Non omnis. Pastoral strains do not please all. If, however, I have the gift for pastoral songs alone, let those which I compose for a statesman's ear be made worthy of his rank.-3. Silvas. The woods, in general, are symbols of pastoral poetry; vineyards (arbusta, plantations) and tamarisks (myricae) are associated with humble strains.4. Ultima; that is, the tenth. Cumaeum carmen. A prophecy in the books of the Sibyl of Cumae, deposited by Augustus with the rest of those Sibylline books which were considered genuine in the temple of Apollo, erected by him on the Palatine hill. See on Ac. VI, 71. Ab integro, anew, once more. The Series, or cycle, begins (nascitur) de novo.-5. Ordo, here, the Cycle; the "great year," composed of ages or saecula, each of indefinite length, though sometimes reckoned at one hundred and ten years. This series is about to be repeated; begins once more; ab integro nascitur.-6. Virgo refers to Astraea or Justice. She has left the world since its degeneracy from the purity of the golden age, and is now returning. Saturnia. Saturn will return to reign again with Ain or Astraca, as in the primitive times; or, perhaps, it means an age like that of Saturn will come again.-7. Nova progenies, a new generation. The new-born child, endowed with a heavenly nature, shall rule over, or be associated with, a race kindred in spirit to himself; new in its virtues contrasted with the faults of the generation preceding it. Demittitur is to be taken in a figurative sense, meaning, not actually descended from heaven, or born of the gods, but partaking of the character of heavenly beings.-8. Modo indicates that the favor of Lucina is a necessary condition of the fulfillment of these promises. Quo, perhaps an ablative of circumstance in the sense

of cuius auspiciis, under whom, under whose auspices.-9. Gens_aurea. "Golden" is applied either to the generation or the period. Thus, Horace, Epode 16, 64: tempus aureum; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 2, 63: aureum genus.10. Lucina, the helper of child-birth, is sometimes called Juno Pronuba, and is sometimes also identified, as here, with Diana. Hence tuus Apollo, thy brother Apollo. -11. Decus hoc aevi, this glory of time; i. e., this glorious (or golden) age. Inibit, will commence, begin. This usage of inire is most frequent in the forms ineunte anno, ineunte aetate, etc.- -12. Magni menses, great months; the saecula or ages of the "great year," or cycle. So Ruaeus, followed by Ludewig. Others take the words to mean simply "the glorious months of the new era.- 13. Te duce, i. e., te consule. While you, Pollio, are chief of the state. Vestigia, traces or remains of past ills. The remnant of the Pompeian party under Sextus Pompeius still threatens Italy with war. A temporary peace was made with him, but not until a year after this Eclogue was written.- -15. Ille refers to the babe. He and his generation, like that of Saturn of old, shall hold familiar converse with the gods. Accipiet, shall receive as a privilege, shall be admitted to. -16. Ipse videbitur elaborates the idea; he shall see gods on the earth in company with their earth-born sons (hero18), such as Castor and Pollux, Bacchus and Hercules, and he himself shall be seen (that is, visited) by them. For the dative of the agent, sce on Ae. 1, 326.- -17. Patriis virtutibus. Raised hereafter to that high dignity which his father now enjoys, he will rule with all his father's ability and patriotism. We must remember that at this time the imperial power is not yet fully developed and permanently established, and the consul is still the highest officer of the great republic both in legal authority and in dignity.18. At calls attention now to the principal thought of the poem; the gradual development of the blessings of the golden age side by side with the growth of the child. Prima munuscula, as first gifts or offerings of nature, first as contrasted with the blessings she will bestow in later years. Nullo caltu, without culture; spontaneously. The idea of the spontaneous production of all things as a characteristic of the golden age, and the absence of all care and toil, are also expressed below in ipsae 21; ipsa, 23; incultis, 29, ipse, 43; sponte sua, 45. This, and the disappearance of all dangerous animals in this fabulous period, the poets love to dwell upon. See Ge. 1, 25–28; Ovid, Metam. I, 89-112. So also Horace, in the kindred description of the "Fortunate Isles," Epode XVI, expresses the same idea by such terms as inarata, imputata, suam, etc.-25. Amomum. This, and all fragrant and precious plants, now confined to particular regions, shall grow spontaneously everywhere.26-30, Nature will reach the next stage of amelioration when the child shall have become a youth, or shall have become old enough to read of his father's achievements. Then the earth without human culture will not only yield flowers, but also crops and fruits.- -27. Quae sit virtus, what manhood is; as exemplified in his father as well as in the other great men (hereum) of Rome, and, perhaps, of Greece.- -30. Roscida mella. Honey was thought to be a kind of dew gathered by bees from trees and shrubs. Hence Ge. IV, 1, aèrii melli.-31-36. There will remain some traces of human ill; men out of avarice will still cross the seas in trade, build walled cities against the liability of war, till the ground for bread. Thus there will be another Argo with its helmsman Tiphys, new wars like that of Troy, new heroes like Achilles and Diomed.- -34. Quae vehat. For the mood, see on Ae. 1, 20.- -36. Troiam. Some city whose fate shall be like that of Troy. -37-45. The third period of the child's life, his mature manhood, shall witness the end of all adventure, strife, and toil. All lands shall of themselves produce all things; even the artificial dyes of garments shall no longer be required; for the fleeces of sheep and the hair of goats (like the plumage of birds) shall be variegated by Nature herself with the richest colors.

42. Mentiri, to counterfeit or imitate.- 44. Mutare, to change in respect to some attribute; here, to dye or color. -46, 47. The Parcae, agreeing (concordes) in the unalterable will of destiny, as they drew out the thread, said to their whirling spindles: Run on, O ages, such (so blessed) as these! Ladewig, however, follows Voss and others in making saecula an accusative after currite, according to the construction in Ae. III, 191, and V, 235. Ladewig also takes numine as an ablative of cause, indicating the ground of concordes; but the meaning "in," or "in respect to," seems more natural.---48. Magnos honores, the great offices of state; especially those of praetor and consul. -49. Incrementum, nearly synonymous with suboles, new offspring; increase of Jove, because it adds one more to the number of his descendants. This is the explanation given by Wagner in his minor edition, and adopted by Forbiger. Here, as in v. 7, the idea of descent from Jupiter or the gods is probably intended to be taken in a figurative sense. The spondaic ending of the verse is in keeping with the idea of majesty. -50. The whole universe gives sign of welcome to the child; behold the world nodding with its ponderous concave mass (convexo pondere).· -51. Terras, etc., are in the same construction as mundum, and are added for description.-52. Ut laetatur. For the dependent question in the indicative, see on Ac. VI, 779.

-53. O mihi maneat, etc. "O may the last hours of life so long be spared to me, and may my power of song (spiritus) be such as shall suffice to sing thy deeds; then, not Thracian Orpheus," etc. The subjunctive of desire takes the place of a condition, and is followed by the apodosis non, etc.. 54. Spiritus is not "the breath of life," but, as not infrequently, intellectual force, poetic inspiration. Tantus is to be supplied after spiritus. Quantum must be taken as a partitive in the neuter gender with eius (spiritus) understood. Dicere, for ad dicenda, depends on sat.- -55, 56. For the construction of the negative particles here, see on E. V, 25, 26.57. Orphei; Greek form of the dative.-58. Arcadia iudice, for iudicibus Arcadiis, “even if the Arcadians should be the arbiters of the contest."- -60-63. The meaning is doubtful. Of the several interpretations offered, the following seems to me the best: "Begin, little one, with thy infant smile to recognize (to show thou knowest) thy mother. Thy mother claims thy love in return for the long-continued suffering that preceded thy birth. Even now begin to smile, and thus to win thy mother's smile. Else will not my hopes of thy happiness be fulfilled; for one on whom his parents have not smiled in infancy, no god ever thought worthy of his table nor goddess of her couch." Such a one can not enjoy that converse with the gods which was mentioned in vv. 15, 16. Dignata. For the construction, sec Ae. 1, 335.

ECLOGUE V.

Tuis Eclogue represents two shepherds, equally skilled in music, accidentally meeting, and under the shelter of a grotto entertaining each other with responsive songs. Their common theme is the divine shepherd Daphnis, whose passion is sung by Theocritus in the first Idyl. But they treat not, like the Sicilian poet, of Daphnis pining away and dying under the scourge of Venus, but of Daphnis dead and already raised to Olympus as a god. There is little doubt that in the elegy which Mopsus sings on the death of Daphnis, and in the hymn describing his deification, with which Menalcas responds, Vergil has in mind the assassination and apotheosis of Caesar. For this variety of the Amoebaean song, see on E. III, 58.

1. Under the name of Menalcas, in this Eclogue, as well as in the ninth, Vergil represents himself. Boni, skilled, here followed by the infinitives influre and dicere. Adjectives not unfrequently have this construction in poetry. -2. Calamos levis, the syrinx or Pandacan pipe made of light reeds.

Alconis

4. Maior, supply natu. 5. Incertas, Auctuating, trembling. Zephyris motantibus, with the shifting Zephyrs; join with incertas.- -5, 6. Sub umbras, and the dative antro, stand in coordinate relation to succedimus. Comp. Ae. I, 627.- -7. Sparsit. See on E. IV, 52.- -9. Amyntas might as well vie with Apollo as with me. The young singer does not like to be compared with Amyntas as a rival.- -10. Ignis, loves; stories of the love of Phyllis.—10, 11. Phyllis, Alconis, Codri, all pastoral names, having no reference to the historical personages of Greece who bore the same. is an objective genitive; the others are probably intended to be subjective. -11. Habes, as in E. III, 52.- -13, 14 Immo, etc., nay (not those), but rather these strains which I lately wrote out, and while composing (modulans) marked in turn (first in words and then in musical notes, etc. This interpretation, which is generally adopted, makes alterna refer to the strains carmina) of alternating poetry and music, noted on the beech one after the other successively, just as Mopsus had composed and performed them. The pipe, of course, did not accompany the voice in our sense, but was used for preludes and interludes.-15. Then talk about Amyntas.- -16-18. Menalcas apologizes for his rash comparison of the two.-19. Desine with the accusative, as in E. VIII, 62, IX, 66. Puer, a frequent designation of shepherds. So below v. 54.- 20-44. A pastoral elegy on the death of the divine shepherd Daphnis, who is intended to represent the murdered Caesar.

21. Testes Nymphis, supply fuistis. "Ye were witnesses to the Nymphs," of the tears they shed.- 23. Crudelia. The stars are supposed to control human destiny for good or evil. To Venus and her descendants they have been unpropitious in bringing such a fate upon the greatest of the line. Mater refers to Venus, the mother or ancestress of the Julian family.-24. Non alli, no herdsmen. On those days of mourning all common avocations were forgotten.- -25, 26. Nec-nec. These particles repeat separately the general negative contained in nulla, which qualifies both verbs alike. Comp. the Greek form ovdels, OUTE-OUTE. So the negatives in E. IV, 55, 56.- -26. Graminis herbam, the blades of grass. Herba is properly a collective term.28. Both the mountains and woods reecho the voices of African lions mourning thy death.- -27. Poenos, Carthaginian, African, as an epithet. See on E. I, 55, and Ae. V, 312.-28. Loquuntur, for dicunt. Nature says that the wild beasts moaned by repeating their cries with her own echoes.

-27,

-29-31. Daphnis taught men to yoke tigers to the chariot, and to perform the sacred rites of Bacchus. That is, he taught men to domesticate beasts before untamed, so as to till the ground and cultivate the vine. Some understand this to be an allusion to the civil reforms of Caesar; and it may well include his great plans of internal improvement.- 29. Armenias-tigres. According to the myth of Bacchus, that god, when feturning from his conquest of India, was drawn in his triumphal chariot by tigers.-30. Inducere, not for ducere, to lead the dances, but for eioáyew, to introduce.-31. These words describe the thyrsus, or staff carried by the worshipers of Bacchus; a long slender rod (lentas hastas) wreathed with grape-leaves and ivy. Mollibus. Comp. Ae. VII, 390.-34." (So) art thou all the glory of thy companions."- -35-39. Since the death of Daphnis the fields and gardens have gone to waste; Pales, the goddess of herdsmen, and Apollo (once the herdsman of Admetus) have forsaken the fields. Pales and Apollo are associated again in Ge. III, 1.—36. supplied in v. 37, after nascuntur is. The antecedent, his, is to be "Strow the ground where his ashes lie, with leaves and flowers; plant leafy shade-trees around the (neighboring) fountains." The custom of scattering flowers on the tomb seems to be referred to in spargite-foliis, and that of rearing trees around favorite fountains in inducite umbras.45-52. Menaleas is enraptured with the divine song of Mopsus, yet will also modestly make his offering of

praise. 46. Quale agrees with the antecedent instead of sopor, on account of the moter. The second "quale" agrees with restinguere taken substantively such (or so sweet) as quenching our thirst, etc.- -48. Magistrum, that is, Daplinis.- 49. Alter ab illo, the next to him; for such you have proved yourself by this song.- -50. Quocumque modo, in some fashion, no matter how far short of you. -52. Daphnin takes the Greek ending here on account of the meter. The termination im is usually preferred in words of this class. -53. Tali munere, than such an offering of praise as you now propose. -54. Puer refers to Daphnis.-54, 55. Ista carmina, those hymns of yours; such songs or strains as those you now promise: whether precisely the same which Stimicon has heard, or something new and similar.- -5680. Daphnis enters the abode of Olympus above the stars. Because he is thus exalted, joy possesses the world which loved him; the woods and fields, Pan, the herdsinen, the rustic Nymphs, all rejoice; now under his divine influence peace and safety prevail, and as a god we shall worship him for ever. -56. Candidus, divinely fair. Ladewig and some others translate "robed in white." Insuetum, not seen before. Miratur, beholds with wonder. -60, 61. Characteristics of the golden age. 63. Intonsi, unshorn; rough with woods.- -64. Deus-Menalca! Thus shout the woods and mountains to Menalcas.- -65. Sis felix. Comp. Ae. I, 330.- -65, 66. Four altars are supposed to have been raised at the same time, two to Daphnis and two to Apollo, because the annual rites in honor of Caesar and Apollo were celebrated at the same period, those of Caesar on the 12th of July, and those of Apollo on the 13th. Caesar's birth-day was on the 13th; but, as the Sibylline books were said to prohibit any other ceremonial on the day set apart for the rites of Apollo, the senate decreed that those of Caesar should be celebrated on the 12th.- -66. Altaria is in apposition with the second duas, and equivalent to " quae sunt altaria." It describes the particular kind of ara, namely, an altar on which victims could be slain. Only fruits or bloodless offerings could be made on the altars of deified men, like Daphnis.

-67, 68. Bina, duos. Both signify "two annually.". -69. In primis, above all, especially. Multo Baccho. Comp. Ge. II, 190.- -70. Messis, by metonomy for aestas.- -71. Nectar, in apposition with vina. Wine from the Greek islands was not imported into Italy until about B. c. 54; hence, novum. 72, 73. The song and dance shall accompany the festival.-74, 75. Haec, etc. These honors shall be thine both at the feast of the vintage, when we give thanks to Bacchus and the attendant Nymphs, and at the ceremonial of blessing the fields, when we lead the victimis round the fields and sacrifice to Ceres. The latter rites are called the ambarvalia. See Go. I, 339-45. -76-78. See on E. I, 60, and comp. Ae. I, 609.- -80. Damnabis-votis, you also (like other gods) shall hold (men) bound by rows; that is, by pledges of sacrifice made to you as to other deities in time of trial. See on Ae. V, 237.-81-84. If Menalcas was charmed with the hymn of Mopsus, so is the latter with that of his friend. What present can he make him meet for such lofty strains?-85-89. They exchange gifts in token of mutual esteein.- -85. Ante, first; before you have made up your mind. 86, 87. In the person of Menalcas, Vergil quotes words from the first verses of his second and third Eclogues, to indicate that he had used this pipe in composing and singing them.- -87. Haec docuit, this taught me, this gave me the melody for, or inspired me with "Formosum Corydon," etc.This herdsman's staff, so prized by me that I would not give it even to the lovely Antigenes, I give to thee.- -90. Paribus nodis, with knots equally distributed. It was a staff made, perhaps, of a slender thorn sapling, with knots distributed quite equally along its length, and shaved down and polished. Aere. The pedum had a bronze or copper pike at one end bound on by a ring of the same metal.

-88.