Olive twig and fruit. on Ae. I, 3. -436. Satis, for the plantations on E. I, 55.437, 438. Iuvat spectare, videre. Que connects vi propria and haud indiga as modifiers of nituntur.- -429-432. At the same time, the wild lands and woods yield their fruits and dark juicy berries, and other things needful to man, all without any labor on his part. 431. Tondentur cytisi. The cytisus is a kind of shrub-clover, the leaves of which are valuable food for cattle, and the flowers for bees. See E. I, 79. The use of the taedae is here added: to make the evening fire on the open hearth, and thus afford a cheerful light for the cottage.- 434. Quid maiora sequar? Why should I speak of more imposing things, or of the grand trees of the woods? Even the lowly (humiles) plants and shrubs, such as the willow and the broom, are beneficent. 435. Пllae, even they; in apposition with the subject. See or orchards. Pabula melli, See In saying that these objects Evergreen cypress. are delightful to behold, the poet implies, as the context shows, that they also yield some substantial blessing to man, without being indebted to his labor (hominum non obnoxia curae).- -437. Mount Cytorus abounded in boxtrees, remarkable for their size; thus, "to carry box-wood to Cytorus" became a proverb of the same significance as "carrying corn to Byzantium," or "coals to Newcastle." The box is an evergreen, growing from fifteen to twenty feet in height.- -438. Naryciae picis; the Bruttian pitch, gathered from the trees of the forest of Sila, by the colonists of Narycian Locri settled in that region. See on Ae. III, 399.440. Ipsae; even unpromising as they would seem to be, fruitless, and often shattered and stripped by the furious winds.- 441. Ferunt. Limbs and fragments are scattered by the tempest. 443. The last syllable of the line is elided by synapheia.444. Hinc; equivalent to ex his.-446. Frondibus ulmi. The leaves of the elm, as well as other trees and shrubs, were used for fodder.- -447. Myrtus. See on I, 306. Validis hastilibus; supply fecunda. Comp. Ae. III, 23, 46. Bona bello, good for war; because its tough and fine-grained wood is excellent for arrows. -448. Cornus. The European cornel is kindred to the American "dogwood." Its fruit has the appearance of cherries. Ituraeos; used here as a general epithet. The Arabs of Ituraea, like the Cretans and Parthians, were skillful archers. 449. Nec; to be taken with non in the next line. Leves, rasile; of the appearance and feeling of the wood after being turned in the lathe.- -450. Ferro acuto especially the chisel and auger. 451. Torrentem undam; descriptive of the Po, as insano vertice in Ge. I, 481. Alnus. See illustration, page 28. The European alder, unlike our American shrub of that species, is large enough to be hollowed out for canoes, and was much used in ancient times for that purpose. A canoe, or "dug-out," about thirty feet long, was taken out of Lake Morat, in Switzerland, and is now in the museum at Avenche. It belongs, no doubt, to pre-historic times. The following is a pen-sketch of it made a few years ago, on a visit to the museum at that place.452. Missa Pado, hurried along on, or "shooting" down the Po. Pado is an ablat. of route.- -453. Corticibus, etc. The bark of trees, and also partially decayed trunks of holm European cornel twig. Log canoe found in Lake Morat, and now in the museum at Avenche. oaks, served for hives. The latter may have been suggested by the habit of wild bees of selecting hollow trees for their homes. See Ge. IV, 33, 34. Alveo is scanned in this verse as a dissyllable. 454. Join Aeque with memorandum. Baccheia dona; the gifts of Bacchus; the vine and its prod uct. 455. Farentis. The Centaurs often brought fatal conflicts upon themselves under the maddening influence of wine; notably on the occasion of their attempt to seize upon Hippodamia, the bride of Pirithous, when many of them were slain by Pirithous and the other Lapithae, and by Theseus, his friend and guest.- 456. Leto; ablat. of means. 457. Magno cratere. See figure of Bacchus, page 24, and Comp. Ae. IX, 346. 458-542. Episode and conclusion: No life so happy as that of the husbandman; it is, indeed, without the splendor and luxury of the metropolis, yet blessed with undisturbed peace (secura quies), exempt from fraud (nescia fallere), rich in resources (dives opum), surrounded with the beauty and the bounties of nature, and retaining the traditions of primitive industry, frugality, religion (sacra deorum), filial reverence (sancti patres), and justice (458-474); in such a life, next to the study of the deep truths of nature, the poet himself would seek repose (475-489); such a life is, indeed, not less to be desired than that of the philosopher; for it, too, is exempt from the anxieties of public station and from the common passions, the avarice, the ambitions, strifes, and turmoil of the world; content with the rewards of rustic labor, the pleasant things of the woods and fields, the joys of the country fireside, the manly sports, the life of the olden time (490-540); concluding lines (541, 542). 460. Iustissima; giving the husbandman just return for labor. Cicero says: The earth repays with interest what she receives. De Sen. 15.- -461. Si non, etc. Foribus superbis; join with alta, as ablat. of manner.-462. Salutantum undam. The palaces of the Roman nobility were thronged at an early hour in the morning, usually for two hours, by clients and friends, either in token of respect, or to obtain advice and assistance. Totis aedibus. The atrium and the other apartments accessible to visitors are crowded during the "levee," and thus from the whole mansion pours the crowd, passing out through the vestibule and portal. 463. Nec inhiant, and if they do not stare at. Illi (agricolae) is the subject. The meaning seems to be, that country people have no such splendid mansions to admire either as owners or visitors. Testudine; join with varios. The door-posts or jambs, and also the walls of apartments, were sometimes inlaid with tortoise-shell.-464. Inlusas, embroidered. See cut, Notes on Aeneid, p. 35.- -465, 466. Neque, etc. The dative illis is again implied, as in 462. 466. Casia probably means, here, the oriental aromatic cinnamon that was mixed with oil, for anointing the hair and the person. The simple country people used the pure olive-oil for this purpose, unmixed with exotic perfumes. -469. Frigida Tempe; a frequent synonym for any delightful valley. 471. Saltus ac lustra ferarum refer to the chase. 473. Extrema, last; in her abode upon earth, after abandoning all other classes of men; for, in the iron age, she (Astraea or Justice) departed to heaven, forsaking at last even the dwellings of husbandmen. Comp. Ae. I, 292, sq. Per illos; sc. agricolas.- 475. Primum. The study of the philosophy of nature would be his first choice; but if that be denied to him, then the life of the husbandman. Ante omnia; join with dulces. Comp. E. II, 62. Musae; as the guides to contemplation. 476. Quarum sacra fero, whose sacred symbols I bear; as if he were leading a sacrificial procession; hence, "whom I serve as priest." So Horace, as a poet, calls himself Musarum sacerdos. See Hor. O. III, 1, 3.- 479-482. The interrogative clauses depend on monstrent, as objects co-ordinate with the foregoing accusatives.- 479, 480. Qua vi, etc., describes the flow and ebb of the tides.481, 482. See n. on Ae. 1, 745, sq. Cassia. 483. Sin introduces the alternative to primum, etc., 475.- 484. Circum praecordia join with frigidus (flowing coldly). The power and acuteness of the mind are conceived by Vergil to depend upon the state of the blood. Empedocles taught that the soul was in the blood about the heart, or, as Cicero understands him, that it was the blood itself. Cic. Tusc. I, 19.486. Ubi; supply sunt. Where are these places sung by other poets? Are they, indeed, inaccessible to me? Vergil longed to visit the regions immortalized by Grecian poets.487. Bacchata. Comp. Ae. III, 125.488. O, qui; fully expressed: 0, ubi est qui.490, 492. Potuit, subiecit, the perfect definite, here, not essentially different from the present tense. Vergil adopts the sentiment of the Epicureans and of Lucretius, who taught that, in ascertaining the fundamental laws of naturethat is, the causes of things-they had risen superior to the fear of death, of a future state, and of the retributions dreaded by ordinary mortals.495. Populi fasces, purpura regum; symbols respectively of the highest offices in Rome, and of the splendor of foreign kingdoms; neither of these excites the ambition (flexit) of the secluded husbandman.-496-502. The perfects are aoristic. See on Ge. I, 49.496. Infidos-fratres. The allusion is probably not to the Roman civil strifes, but to the enmity of Tiridates and Phraates, whose rival claims to the throne of Parthia were well known at Rome, and afforded, therefore, an apt example of the evils of the anibition for royal power.- -497. Coniurato Histro. On the north bank of the Danube dwelt the warlike Dacians, who were now threatening to descend from their mountain homes, and invade the empire by crossing the frozen river. The Danube is used figuratively, like the Euphrates in Ge. I, 509, for the people dwelling near it. The wars with the Dacians actually commenced in B. c. 34, and were nearly continuous for twenty years. They were often renewed in later times. Coniurato does not necessarily imply any confederacy with other tribes; simply, all their chiefs and warriors, united in the uprising. --- 498. Res Romanae perituraque regna, Roman affairs and tottering kingdoms. Formerly, the Roman Senate, through its proconsuls and commissioners, and, lately, Augustus with his counselors and generals, have been largely occupied in "settling the affairs" of old monarchies that were, or were supposed to be, on the eve of dissolution. Such now were Egypt and Armenia, and, in the mind of the poet, perhaps, Parthia.-499. Doluit inopem. The poverty-stricken are found in the city rather than the country. -501, 502. The perfects as in 496, sqq.- -502. Tabularia. The office of the public records, connected with the temple of Saturn at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, was resorted to by those who desired to consult the documents deposited there.-503. Sollicitant alii freta carries the notion of troubling the deep in the eager pursuit of gain, just as the foregoing class disturb the Forum (insanum forum) with angry litigations and mad ambition for office. 604. In ferrum; meton. for in bellum. Penetrant, etc., refers to the arts and intrigues of courtiers.- -505. Petit exscidiis, assails with destructive forces. So bello petiisse Penatis, Ae. III, 603. Some, however, make exscidiis in the dative. Urbem; probably intended in a general sense; but there may be, as some think, an allusion to the rumored purpose of Antony to attack the city of Rome.—508. Hic-rostris. One class is charmed with eloquence (rostris), and thus incited to practice it. _Stupet is followed here by the ablative; in Ae. II, 31, by the accusative. Hunc. Another class is roused to emulation, when gazing admiringly (hiantem) at the men of world-wide fame as they enter the theatre, and are greeted with the redoubled plaudits of the whole Roman people (plebisque patrumque). Such a reception was that of Maecenas, described by Horace, Ó. II, 17, 25: Cui populus frequens Lactum theatris ter crepuit sonum. -509. Per cuneos, over or along the benches. See illustration, Ge. III, 25. The stone scats are divided into wedge-like sections by the transverse passage-ways or alleys. Geminatus enim, repeated, indeed; equivalent to ut qui geminatus sit. -512. 510. Gaudent, etc.; another class, stained with the fratricidal blood of civil war, and rejoicing in it. Supply alii. In alluding so freely to the civil wars as fratricidal and impious, Vergil and Horace were in no danger of offending Augustus, because their frequent praises of him as the savior of the country leave it to be inferred that his opponents alone were the guilty assailants of the public peace, and that the part taken in the conflict by him was necessitated by his duty to the republic. Thus Horace does not hesitate to say (0. I, 35, 33), Heu, heu, cicatricum et sceleris pudet fratrumque, and always to characterize the civil wars as impious.Alio, here, foreign. As a consequence of supporting the defeated factions in those strifes many are obliged to flee to foreign lands.- 513. Agricola, etc.; contrasted with the above-mentioned classes of men.- -514. Labor; meton. for the fruit of labor; his toilful gain. Supply est. Parvos Penatis meton. for a humble home or family.-515. Meritos. The oxen have well deserved their food.-516-518. Nec requies, etc. The year fails not to make bountiful returns either of fruits, or of grain, or of the increase of the flock, one or all.- -519. Sicyonia. The neighborhood of Sicyon was well known as an olivc-growing region. As with us the "cider-mill" in |