cludes both the machine for crushing the fruit and that for pressing out the juice, so the oil-mill, or oil-press, contained both the trapetum (from rpaneiv, to tread the grape) for crushing the pericarp of the olive-berry, and the press (prelum or torcular) for extracting the oil. The latter is illus Olive-oil press. trated in the accompanying woodcut from a wall-picture in Pompeii; probably quite the same as the prelum for pressing grapes. The caldron represented at the left of the cut is used for heating water, to be poured into the press to aid a second flow of oil, after the first and purest has been extracted. -520. Glande; join with laeti; sleek or fat with the acorn, or, by feeding on the acorn. -525. Demittunt implies that the dugs are well filled by the day's pasturage.-527. Ipse; the husbandman himself, as distinguished from the objects that surround him.-527-531. Dies agitat festos. He celebrates the vintage festival, or “thanksgiving," assembling his family, his friends, and his farm-slaves, including the shepherds and herdsmen (pecoris magistris), offering sacrifices and libations on the altar placed in the midst of the company (ignis in medio (est)), and hanging on some elm-tree the prizes (certamina) for the contest with the javelin, which are destined to be given to the shepherds and herdsmen (pecoris magistris), and prizes for those who strip their sturdy limbs for the rustic games of wrestling and of the foot-race (agresti palaestrae). With this vintage festival compare those of spring and harvest-time, Ge. I, 338, sqq.-528. Cratera coronant to be taken literally: they wreathe the wine-bowl. See on Ae. I, 724; and, for an example of the crater, the figure of Bacchus at the head of the notes on this book.- -530. Certamina. I have followed the interpretation of Heyne and Voss in rendering certamina "prizes," rather than "mark" or "target," preferred by most of the recent editors.-631. Nudant. The subject is agrestes or rustici, including others besides the pecoris magistri, but not excluding the latter.-534. Scilicet; with the foregoing verb, as in Ge. I, 282.-534, 535. And by such habits of life in her yeomanry Rome became the strongest and most glorious of republics, and being one city, became sevenfold (urbs septicollis), encircling seven hills with her walls and fortifications. Arces; as in Ae. VI, 783, where we find nearly the same words repeated.- -536. Ante-regis. Before the supremacy of Jupiter in the affairs of men supplanted the happy reign of Saturn. Comp. Ae. VIII, 319, sq. Dictaei. According to the ancient mythology, Jupiter was born on Mount Dicte in Crete.-537. Impia. The slaying of the ox, an animal so patiently toiling for man (see 515), once seemed to be a violation of duty not less criminal than homicide. Cic. de Nat. Deor. II, 63.538. Aureus. On the age of Saturn, see introduction to notes on E. IV, and on the use of aureus, note on E. IV, 9.539. Inflari classica; the trumpets sounded, the blast of trumpets.- -541. Immensum spatiis aequor equivalent to immensis spatiis aequor, a field or race-course of unlimited extent. The book ends with an image from the chariot-race kindred to that which closes the first book. Fruit in glass and terra cotta vessels. (From a wall-painting in Pompeii.) 1-48 I will sing also of the herds and flo ks over which Pales and the Nomian Apollo preside; for this theme promises more of interest and of fame than the thricetold myths of heroes sung by Greek and Roman poets before me (1-9); and I, first of Roman poets to tread this pathway, returning from Helicon (Aonio vertice), with the Muses in my train, shall be the first also to bring back the victorious palm of song to my native Mantua (9-12); and there, by the slowly-winding Mincius, I will rear in honor of Caesar, the deity to whom my successes are due, a votive temple; but my temple shall be no material structure made with bands: it shall be a monument of epic verse; not less glorious than the shrine raised by Augustus himself to Apollo; and it shall be adorned with the images of Apollo and the great ancestors of the Julian house, and with monuments of the achievements of Augustus (13-89); but first (interea), before I touch this higher theme, in obedience to your request, Mecenas, I will complete my present task; reserving for a time the story of Caesar and his Trojan ancestry (40-48). 1, 2. Pales, Pastor ab Amphryso. See on E. V, 35. Apollo tended the flocks of Admetus near the banks of the Amphrysus. -2. Lycaei a favorite haunt of the god Pan. Comp. E. X, 15.- -3. Tennissent; either potential, might have held (comp. Ae. IV, 604, sqq.), or conditional with omission of the protasis si canerem.- 4. Durum, hard, relentless; persistent in imposing labors upon Hercules, in the hope of destroying him.-6. Hylas. See on E. VI, 43, sq. Latonia Delos; an allusion to the love of Jupiter for Latona, and her concealment in Delos, where she gave birth to Apollo and Diana.-7. Umero insignis eburno. When Tantalus, in order to prove that gods had no more insight than men, had served up at a banquet his son Pelops, Jupiter detected the imposition, but not until Ceres had eaten part of one of the shoulders of the child. On restoring him to life, Jupiter replaced this with one of ivory.-8. Acer equis. Neptune presented Pelops with winged (or swift) horses, so that he might easily outstrip Aenomaus, king of Pisa, in the race which he compelled all suitors to run with him, if they would win the hand of his daughter Hippodamia. This and the foregoing allusions to heroic personages are instances of the subjects that had become trite in the hands of preceding poets. Comp. Hor. O. I, 6, 5, sqq.; where, however, the motive for declining such themes is different from that of Vergil here.-9. Humo; from the ground; from the humble level of common men. Virum volitare per ora, to fly continually through the lips of men; to enjoy a world-wide fame; suggested by the last words of the epitaph of Ennius written for his own tomb: Volito vivu' per ora virum.- -10-12. He who is first among his townsmen to become distinguished in poetry, may be said, in a figure, to have brought the Muses from Helicon to his native city (in patriam); and also "bringing back the palms" may be said figuratively of the approbation and fame won by the successful poet.-11. Aonio vertice. See on E. VI, 64, sq.- -12. Idumaeas Pan. Coin of Augustus, struck in memory of the victory of used as a general appellative. See on Ge. I, 8.-13. Templum. Votive monuments, such as temples and statues, were erected both by victors in the Grecian games and by Roman generals successful in war. Here the poet fancies himself returning victorious from a poetic contest in the Pythian games, his forthcoming Georgics having won the prize, and then, under the allegory of erecting a votive temple to Augustus, his patron deity, composing an heroic poem that shall embody his praises. This, however, he proposes to himself to achieve at some future day. See 46.-16. In medio. The statue of Augustus, as the tutelary god, is to be placed on a pedestal against the back wall of the interior, behind the altar, in the usual position facing the entrance; so that the statue is conspicuous to worshipers standing in front of the temple, when the portal is thrown open. The illustration is from a coin of Augustus, representing, of course imperfectly, the statue of Apollo thus placed.-17. Illi; dativus commodi; for him, or in his honor. Tyrio in ostro. The magistrate who conducted any of the public games wore the official toga bordered with a broad stripe of purple. Tyrio, as Idumaeas, above.- 18. Centum; probably for an indefinite and large number. See on Ae. IV, 510. Quadriingos ourrus. See illustration at the end of notes on Ge. bk. I. Agitabo. As the conductor of the games, he does indirectly what is done strictly by the charioteers.-19, 20. All the Greeks (cuncta Graecia) wont to compete in the Olympian games on the Alpheus, and in the Nemean games near the woods of Molorchus, shall on this occasion desert those famous contests, and prefer to take part in mine. Interpreted allegorically with reference to the proposed epic, this may mean that the poet will combine in his work traditions and imagery of Grecian poetry with those of the Italian or Latin. Mihi; as illi, above.- -20. Crudo caestu. See illustrations, n. on Ae. V, 364.-21. Tonsae, clipped or plucked; namely, from the twig; for the wreath is formed of the leaves alone.- -22. Dona; such as the caesos iuvencos presently mentioned. Iam nunc, even now, in imagination or anticipation. Pompas. The procession moved first to the temples (ad delubra) to receive certain images of the gods, and then conveyed them on couches or feretra to the Circus Maximus, the place of the great public games. -24. Vel ut, etc., or (as another part of the festivities, it delights me to see) how the scene divides, when the fronts are turned. This refers to the theatrical spectacles, which usually formed a part of public games. The poet imagines that even now the shifting of the scenery of the stage, and the rise and fall of the curtain, are going on before him. The scenery was of three kinds : 1. The permanent scaena, formed by the back wall of the stage, built in the form of a palace front of two or three stories, with a terraced and battlemented roof. 2. A kind of revolving scenery (versilis), consisting of painted tablets or canvases spread over the three sides of two immense rotary prisms, located at the two extremities of the scaena. The sides or faces of these prisms, representing parts of different scenes, are here termed frontes. 3. Drawing or sliding scenery (ductilis), made, as with us, in sections, and coming together so as to conceal the permanent scaena or stage-wall, and to form new sceres independent of it. By all possible combinations of the revolving and sliding scenes with each other and with the wall-scene, a variety of scenery sufficient for all the wants of the drama could be produced. The language here suggests that the faces or frontes of the prisms are shifted, and that the sliding scenery (here scaena) moves asunder (discedat), sometimes, at least, in sight of the audience.- -25. Tollant aulaea Britanni. The ancient pictured curtain, corrosponding to our drop-scene," was a lifting curtain, being drawn up from beneath the front part of the stage through a groove. Among its decorations were powerful figures like "Telemones," represented in the painting as themselves raising the curtain. Captive barbarians were naturally chosen by artists for this purpose; and here Vergil, in anticipation of the conquest of Britain, imagines British captives to be thus painted on the aulaea. The illustrations on page 52 give two views of the ruins of the Roman theatre at Arles, in the south of France, excavated a few years ago. The first is taken from the rear of the stage, on the right-hand side, showing the two remaining columns of the scaena, or permanent scene, and fragments of the right wing of the stage. Beyond is the audience-room, or cavea, including the area of the orchestra, and the cunei, or wedge-shaped divisions of stone seats. The second view, taken from one end of the right wing, shows the remains of the low front wall of the stage, and between this and the scaena the hollow space which was covered by the wooden stage, or proscaenium. At the farther side are the arched entrances to the orchestra and to the stage. In the fragments of the front wall is easily distinguished a part of the channel or groove for the aulaea. -26-33. It is probable that this passage was inserted after the completion of the entire poem, and perhaps soon after the battle of Actium (B. c. 31), when there was a general and confident expectation, shared of course by Vergil, that Augustus would now complete his work, not only by capturing Alexandria and Egypt, and Antony and Cleopatra, but by bring 66 |