(congesta manu) on high hills, often with the additional protection of a river flowing at their feet. Such was Rome itself.-158. Quod supra, the Adriatic Sea. Quod infra; the Tuscan.-160. Marino, Lake Benacus

Aconite.

(Garda) is so large that its storms are like those of the sea.- -161-164. Luorino, etc. Of the ports, the Julian is mentioned as the most remarkable, and especially because it had been completed in B. c. 37, about the time when the Georgics were begun. It consisted of two basins formed by the lakes Lucrinus and Avernus, made accessible from the Bay of Naples (here, Tyrrhenus aestus) by artificial channels connecting the two lakes with each other and with the bay. Agrippa seems to have planned and constructed the new harbor, by the command of Augustus, for the Roman navy, and named it, in honor of the emperor, Portus Julius. Nearly all traces of the work have been obliterated by the volcanic eruption which threw up the cone called Monte Nuovo, in 1538.161. Claustra; an embankment and breakwater protecting the mouth of the channel, and strengthening the natural dike between the Lucrine Lake and the open bay.-162. Indignatum, venting his rage. The sea is personified as resenting the attempt Stridoribus; ablat. of manner.

thus to resist his free movement. 163. Iulia unda for Iulii portus unda. Ponto longe refuso, with the sea cast back afar-struck back by the "breakwater.". -164. Fretis Avernis, with the Avernian waters. Fretis, usually denoting waters of the sea, may have reference here to the changed character of the waters of the lake. 165. Rivos, streams, a synonym here for venas. -166. Ostendit, fluxit, has brought to light, has flowed; i. e., has contributed abundantly in times past to the world's supply of metals. Some suppose that the perfect tense indicates that mining has ceased in Italy, in accordance with a decree of the Senate mentioned in Pliny's Nat. Hist. III, 20, 24. Venis; ablat. of situation. Plurima, agreeing with haec, is substituted for multum qualifying the verb.-168. Malo, hardship, suffering. The Ligurians occupied a mountainous and rugged country, where the spurs of the Alps pass into the northwestern ridges of the Apennines.-171, 172. The allusion here is to the visit made by Augustus to Syria and Egypt, soon after the battle of Actium (B. c. 31), and before the capture of Alexandria and the death of Antony and Cleopatra. Extremis Asiae, the utmost borders of Asia. Augustus seems to have reached the Euphrates.-172. Imbellem, feeble in war; perhaps, submissive; giving up all resistance to the victorious emperor. Avertis Romanis arcibus. It had been the popular apprehension, artfully stimulated by Augustus, that Antony and Cleopatra designed to lead their forces, including all their Eastern allies, to Rome, and to set up a new kingdom on the Seven Hills (arces). Indum; for Orientals in general, especially Parthians, Arabians, and Egyptians.-173. Saturnia tellus; a designation of Italy as the chosen retreat of Saturn, when he was expelled by his son Jupiter from heaven. See Ae. VIII, 319, sqq.-174. Tibi; for thy

180-188]

behoof. Antiquae-artis. Agriculture, res rusticae, had been honored and cherished even from the time of Saturn.

ly named. 183. Bacis. The ground covered with the wild berries of the olcaster, or natural olive, indicates that the soil is favorable to the growth of the species; that is, to the cultivated olive as well as the wild.-188. Feli

Olive and oleaster, or wild olive, gathered near Florence; the olive one third of the

natural size, the oleaster one half.

cem, rich, fruitful. Editus austro, elevated, or facing toward the south; with a southern aspect.-189. Invisam aratris; because clogging or hindering the plow.-190. Hic; sc. campus.-191. Fertilis; with genitive in Vergil only here.- -192. Pateris et auro; hendiadys for pateris aureis.-193. Tyrrhenus. The flute-players employed by the Romans came originally from Etruria or Tuscany. As they lived on their portion of the victims slain at the altar, and led an easy life, they were proverbially pingues.-196. Urentis culta, blighting the plantations; said especially of the vineyards and olive-orchards, to which, according to Varro, 1, 2, 17, 18, 19, and Pliny's Nat. Hist. VIII, 76, goats were very injurious.-197. Longinqua supply loca or arva.- -198. Mantua. See E. I, introduction.200. Deerunt; scanned as a dissyllable.-203. Presso sub vomere; join with pinguis. The richness of the glebe shows itself when turned up from the deep furrow. -206. Tardis fuvencis, with the slowly-moving oxen, or as the oxen move slowly along; either an ablative of manner or ablative absolute.207. Aut unde; for aut ex illo aequore unde. So Forbiger. Iratus; indignant that the ground should lie waste, covered with unproductive woods (nemora ignava).- -209. Cum stirpibus imis. He has not simply cut down the trees, but "grubbed" them up by the roots, preparatory to plowing.- -211. Enituit impulso vomere. See on 203. Some, however, take enituit in the sense of flourish, thrive, under culture. For the perfect, see on G. I, 49.

-213. Rorem; here, rosemary, a shrub four or five feet high. 215, 216. Negant alios, etc.; they boast that no other lands, etc.; a figurative way of saying that soils of such a kind are more favorable than any others to the breeding of snakes. Dulcem; in its literal sense; they were supposed to feed on sweet, though venomous herbs. See Ae. II, 471.-217. Quae; supply terra.- -219. Suo; not due to human toil.- -221. Ulmos. Sec on E. II, 70. -222. Oleo; a better authorized reading than oleae.223. Facilem pecori; i. e., easily yielding pasturage.-225. Vacuis, deserted; but only in a relative sense. Acerrac was much less populous than it would have been but for the frequent overflowing of the Clanius; this discouraged husbandry, and therefore checked the prosperity of the city, which depended upon the region subject to the inundations of the river. Non aequus, unfriendly.-226. Quamque; supply terram.-227. In this order: Si requires (num) rara sit, etc.- -232. Pedibus, etc.; you will level the earth thrown back into the hole by trampling upon it. 233. Si deerunt; supply arenae; if it shall come short, or be insufficient. Deerunt is scanned as a dissyllable, derunt. Comp. 200.- -234. (Se) posse negabunt. Comp. 215.-235. Scrobibus, etc., is an epexegetical repetition of the idea.-236, 237. Terga, proscinde. Comp. G. 1, 97.- 239. Frugibus; in its generalsense. Comp. G. I, 22. -240. Nec Baccho, etc. It neither keeps up the quality or kind (genus, nomina) of the grape, nor of the other fruits raised upon it; making them all degenerate. Sua. See H. 449, 2; B. 280, R. 2; G. 295, R.; M. 490, b. 247. Tristia," wry," is proleptic, emphasiz ing torquebit. Sensu, taste; join with torquebit; will distort with the taste of it; literally, by the sensation of it. Conington prefers the reading amaro for amaror, making sensu = sapore. -249. Iactata tractata; moved about in the hand or with the fingers.250. Habendo, in handling; dum habentur.-251. Umida-alit. A moist soil stimulates the growth of herb

Rosemary.

age, and, if taken for fruit-trees, will be apt to produce excess of foliage. Ipsa, of itself; without being enriched or watered.-252. Illa, that land; that which I must use for crops. -253. Praevalidam, too strong; too stimuSo Ruaeus; others, lating. See on 251. Primis aristis, in the first ears. surgentibus primis aristis.- -254. Tacitam; i. e., without any manifestation of its quality by means of experiments such as have just been mentioned.256. Quis cui color (sit); a double interrogative; literally, what color is to what (soil). Frigus; for frigida terra.-258. Pandunt vestigia. By their very presence they reveal the signs or effects of cold; for they are among the trees and plants that thrive on cold ground.

259-419. Planting and culture of the vine: Preparation of the trenches (scrobibus) and directions for transplanting from the nursery (259-272); difference in intervals between vines on hill-sides and on level ground (278-287); the vine must not be planted so deep as the tree on which it is to be trained (288-297); miscellaneous precepts and precautions (298-814); the best season for vine-planting is the spring; the season of reviving nature, the season with which the world must have begun (815-845); care of the roots (346-358); after-culture (354-870); protection from cattle, especially from goats so destructive to the vine that they are the favorite victims for sacrifice to Bacchus (371-896); plowing and hoeing, thinning of the foliage of the supporting trees, summer and autumn pruning, clearing the ground of rubbish, housing the stakes in winter, and the preparation of broom and willow ties, all require attention (397419).

259. His animadversis; having taken note of all these kinds of soil.260. Excoquere; of thorough preparation of the ground, as in G. I, 66. Mag-261. Ante; nos montis, the broad mountain-slopes; ample for vineyards.repeated like post in E. I, 68, 70.262. Genus, offspring; the young plant taken from the nursery. 262, 263. Putri solo; ablat. of description; fields 263. Id venti curant, this of crumbling soil. Optima; predicate after sunt.

(crumbling or rotten soil) the winds secure.- -264. Movens. Comp. G. I, 123.266, 267. The sense seems to be correctly given by Ruaeus: They choose beforehand two similar spots; one for the nursery, where the young plants (seges) may be prepared or "started" (paretur), and one for the vineyard, to which (quo) the nursery-plants may be transferred and planted in rows (digesta) when thus prepared. According to this interpretation, we supply similem locum before quo; the repetition being analogous to alium -alium. -268. Mutatam subito matrem, the sudden change of mothers; or change from one mother to another; that is, from the soil of the nursery to that of the vineyard. -269. Quin etiam. In addition to this care in regard to similarity of soils. Caeli regionem, the quarter of the sky; or point of the compass to which each side of the young vine in the nursery has been exposed. -272. Restituant; supply arbores or vites; or take as the object of the verb -273, 274. Collithe three foregoing clauses. Consuescere = consuetudo.bus-prius. Ascertain first whether the hilly portions of your farm or the levels afford the best soil for vineyards.- -274. Metabere; "lay out"; that is, for a vineyard.-275. Denso is joined by some editors with ubere, in the sense either of densely-planted ground or of compact and rich soil. Others make in denso an adverbial phrase equivalent to the foregoing densa, and qualifying satus understood. In this case, ubere must be joined with non Begnior, not less thriving in richness of product. That is, if the vine be planted on fertile lands (pinguibus agris), it will not be less productive closely (in denso) planted, than it would be in more open rows on a poorer soil. 276. Tumulis; ablat. cause of acclive.-277. Indulge ordinibus, open the ranks; let the rows stand farther apart each way. Nec setius, nor any the less (than when you plant more densely on the plain). It is assumed that the arrangement must be exact and the lines perfectly true in the vineyard closely planted; for otherwise it would be difficult to cultivate the in

tervals with the plow; but the want of this regularity would also be a great disadvantage, even when the trees are planted in wider spaces, as on the hill-side. 277, 278. Omnis, etc.; in this order: omnis via, arboribus secto limite positis, in unguem quadret; let each pathway match perfectly with the rest, your trees being planted (by planting your trees) in lines well marked out. This, on the whole, seems to me the simplest interpretation among the many that have been given. Vineyards were so laid out that the vines stood in perfectly straight rows, forming regular alleys (vias) from ten to fifteen feet wide, intersecting each other both in rectangles and diagonally. This can be effected either by arranging the trees in equal squares, thus:

or in quincunx, thus:

Both of these plans are employed in our American orchards. The ancient Italians preferred the order of the quincunx. In unguem, for the more usual form ad unguem; a term employed by workers in marble, who tested the smoothness of the seams by drawing the nail over the surface; hence, figuratively, to perfection, with perfect exactness.- -278. Arboribus, here, seems to mean the vines with their supporting trees. Secto limite, in the line marked out, or in precise or exact line; an ablative of manner; by some, however, joined with via as an abl. of description, and by others taken as an abl. absolute. The poet seems to have in mind two conditions of perfect regularity: 1, the rows must be straight; 2, the distances between the individual trees must be so laid out that each tree may "range" with all the four rows to which it belongs. Thus, all the alleys are made to agree with perfect accuracy (quadrant in unguem); or, to use a phrase of kindred meaning, coincide to a hair's breadth.-279-284. The poet here compares the equally measured spaces (paribus numeris dimensa) of the vineyards, and the perfect regularity thus produced in the lanes and rows of trees, to the beautiful order of the Roman legion when drawn out in battle array. The earlier arrangement of the legion by maniples had given way, fifty years before Vergil's time, to the arrangement by cohorts. The two plans are illustrated by the following diagrams:

A LEGION IN ORDER OF BATTLE BY MANIPLES.

ooooo

(Each maniple contained from 100 to 120 men.)