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proper time of the year for the husbandman to commence his labors. The modes of agriculture are to be adapted to the climate and the na ture of the soil. The mythical history of the art is given, and some instruments of husbandry are described. The various seasons and the labors appropriate to each are treated at length. Many signs and prog. nostics of the weather are mentioned, and then comes a magnificent digression respecting the prodigies, which preceded and followed the death of Julius Cæsar. The book closes with a prayer to the gods for the safety of Augustus, and the restoration of tranquillity and the arts of peace to the empire.

1-4. Agriculture, the proper treatment of trees and vines, the management of cattle, and the care of bees are the several topics of the four books, into which Virgil has divided his work. What may make the cornfields joyous with abundant crops, under what constellation it is proper, O Maecenas, to turn up the earth, and to join the vines to the elms, &c., I will now begin to sing. The poets reckoned the seasons of the year by the constellations, which severally rise or set first after the sun. 'boum'; Gr. § 83. 4. Rem. 1., and §84. Exc. 1: 'qui pecori,' what is the management proper for the other cattle that are to be kept: ' experientia'; the knowledge gained by experience.

5-6. Ye, Obrightest lights of the world, who conduct the year gliding along the sky. The most probable opinion is, that the sun and moon are here invoked, the copula et' being understood before Liber.'

7. Liber, et alma Ceres;' properly invoked here, because the former presides over vineyards, and the latter over agriculture and the fruits of the earth.

8-9. arista, grain. 'Pocula Achelota;' the waters of the Achelous, a river of Ætolia, are here put for water in general. By the aid of these deities, man had risen from his primitive state, from feeding on acorns and water, to the discovery and use of grain and wine.

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10. præsentia,' propitious: Fauni!; the Fauns were sylvan deities. 11-3. Ferte pedem,' approach. Neptune, the god of the sea, contending with Minerva which should give a name to Athens, the gods decreed, that this honor should belong to the one who would make the most useful present to man. Neptune produced the horse, by striking the earth with his trident. Minerva created the olive, and to her the victory was adjudged. 'cui- equum,' for whom the earth first brought forth a neighing horse.

14. cultor nemorum'; Aristaus is intended, who lived at Cea, an island in the Ægean sea. He taught men the use of honey and cheese. 17-8. O Tegaan Pan, so called from Tegea, a city of Arcadia, sacred to Pan. 'tua- curæ,' if you have any regard for your Manalus that is, since you delight in the mountains of Arcadia, that abound with flocks, assist me now, while I sing of pastures and herds.

19. puer monstrator'; Triptolemus, the inventor of the plough. 22. And ye who support the new fruits produced without seed; that is, those which first grew spontaneously, in opposition to satis,' in the next line, the sown fields.

24-5. Augustus is now invoked, to whom the poet gives his choice, whether he will be a god of earth, sea, or heaven. And you, especially, Cæsar, whom it is doubtful which assembly of the gods is about to receive; whether you prefer the care of cities, &c.

23. materna myrto'; the myrtle was sacred to Venus, to whom was ascribed the origin of the Julian family.

30. 'tibi-Thule,' and remote Thule shall be subject to thee; Thule, probably the Shetland Isles, was thought by the ancients to be the extreme part of the earth towards the north.

31. And Tethys purchase thee, as her son-in-law, with all her waters. Those admitted to divine honors usually married a goddess. So it is

here proposed, that Augustus should marry a sea-nymph, richly endowed by her mother Tethys.

33-5. Where a place lies open between Virgo and the pursuing Scorpion; already the eager Scorpion himself draws back his claws for thee, and leaves thee more than a fair part of the heavens. In the ancient division of the Zodiac, the Scorpion came next to Virgo, his claws extending over the space where Libra now is. This constellation is represented as eagerly making room for Augustus.

39. Proserpina, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was carried off by Pluto to the infernal regions. Her mother long sought for, and at length discovered her, but could only obtain permission, that she should live alternately six months on the earth, and six in Tartarus. sequi curet,' does not wish to follow her mother back.

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41. Taking pity with me (as I do) on the husbandmen ignorant of the way, unskilful in their task.

42. 'Ingredere,' enter upon thy office as a deity. Here concludes the invocation, which is very grand and highly wrought. The poet now enters upon his main topic.

43-4. gelidus humor'; the cold water produced by the melting of the snow: et-resolvit,' and the friable soil opens itself to the west wind. The frost giving way in Spring, leaves the surface of the earth loose and crumbling.

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45. Depresso aratro,' with the plough sunk deep in the earth; the more the plough enters the ground, the heavier the task of the cattle. 48. 'bis-sensit,' which has twice felt the sun, and twice the winter's cold; that is, which has remained fallow two years.

50. Before ploughing, the cultivator is advised to consider the climate and the nature of the soil. 'scindimus,' break up.

51-2. Let it be our care to study beforehand the winds, the changeable nature of the weather, the modes of cultivating used by our predecessors, and the nature of the grounds.

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55-6. Arborei fœtus,' fruit trees: 'injussa Gramina,' spontaneous pasturage.

56-9. Tmolus was a mountain of Phrygia, famous for saffron. The Sabæans were a people of Arabia; molles,' an epithet often applied to Asiatic nations, rendered effeminate by a hot climate and a rich soil. The Chalybes were a people, as some say, of Pontus, - others, of Spain; called 'nudi,' because the heat of their forges obliged them to work without clothes. Eliadum-equarum,' Epirus sends the mares that are victorious at the Olympic games, which were held in Elis, a district of the Peloponnesus. palmas equarum,' by enallage, for equas victrices,' as the palm-branch was the badge of victory.

60. Continuò,' from the first, Nature, by a fixed law, bound particular places to produce their peculiar fruits, and these only.

62. See note to Ecl. VI. 41.

65-6. glebas-æstas,' and let the dusty summer bake the dormant clods with its full heat.

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68. It will be enough to turn it up with a shallow furrow about the time when Arcturus rises; which was then early in September. suspendere,' to plough lightly, to loosen the soil.

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69-70. Illic, in the former case: 'herbæ,' weeds: 'hîc,' in the lat

ter case.

71-2. You will also allow,—'tonsas novales,' the newly cultivated land, whence the crops have been taken off, -to lie idle alternate years, and the exhausted ground to harden by disuse.

in another year.

73. mutato sidere,' the season being changed, 74–6. ‘Unde priùs sustuleris lætum,' &c. where you formerly harvested the grateful pulse with its shaking pod, or the small fruit of the vetch, and the brittle stalks and rustling leaves of the bitter lupine.

78.Lethæo somno;' Lethe was a fabulous river of the infernal regions; if any one drank of it, he lost all memory of past events.

79-80. But yet the task for the soil is easy, if you plant in alternate years; only be not ashamed to saturate the dry soil with rich manure. 82.mutatis fœtibus'; what we call rotation of crops.

85. The rapidity of this verse, consisting of dactyles, finely expresses the swiftness of the flame spreading over the stubble.

89-90. Or this heat opens many passages and obstructed pores, through which nourishment may come to the young plants.

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92-3. tenues' here seems to mean penetrating: 'penetrabile,' is taken actively, having the same signification.

94. Multum adeò; adeò' has an intensive force; very much. 95. The wicker crate, in husbandry, was a lighter sort of harrow. 96. The goddess of husbandry smiles upon such labors.

97-8. The operation of cross-ploughing is here prescribed. And he who, turning the plough again in an oblique direction, breaks down the ridges which he raises on the furrowed land.

99. 'imperat'; compels the fields, as it were, to become fruitful. 100. Pray for rainy summers and fair winters; ' solstitium' signifies only the summer solstice.

102-3. The sense is, that no tillage, or application of human labor, is found so profitable in Mysia and Gargara, -two regions of Asia Minor, celebrated for their fertility, as this peculiarity of climate; wet summers and dry winters.

104-5. comminus Insequitur,' refers to breaking up the clods, after the seed is sown: malè pinguis arenæ,' over rich mould, that tends to form itself into lumps: 'ruit,' in an active sense, levels.

108-9. Behold, he draws water from the brow of a hill by a descending murmur ';

channel: 'illa

"And liquid lapse of murmuring stream." MILTON.

110.scatebris, bubbling streams.

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111-2. Quid,'' dicam understood; what shall I say of him, who, lest the stalk should bend down under the heavy ears, feeds down the lux uriance of the grain, while it is in the tender blade.

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115. incertis mensibus'; in the months of spring and autumn, when the weather is changeable.

117. cava lacunæ,' cavities, into which the superfluous water is drained off, and where it steams under the hot sun.

118-21. Nec,'' nihil'; Gr. § 277. Rem. 4. Still, when these labors of men and cattle have done their part in preparing the ground, more remains to be done; the mischievous goose, the Strymonian cranes, and succory with its bitter roots sometimes do harm, or the shade is hurtful. The cranes were said to come from the river Strymon, on the borders of Thrace.

122. One writer remarks, that the ancients must have preserved some tradition respecting the primeval curse, that man should eat bread in the sweat of his brow.' This passage is one instance of Virgil's skil fully wrought transitions to another subject. A digression follows respecting the golden and silver ages; see note to EcĬ. IV. 4. 123.movit,' caused to be moved.

124. sua regna,' men, who were his subjects: 'veterno,' sloth. 125. Ante Jovem'; that is, in the Saturnian age, as Saturn was the father of Jupiter.

127. in quærebant,' they obtained their wealth in common; there was no distinction of property.

129. Ille, Jupiter, who, in the beginning of the silver age, interposed difficulties, that men might improve themselves by toil.

131. 'removit'; he did not wholly deprive men of fire, but concealed

it, so that art and industry were requisite for obtaining it.

133. That experience by frequent thinking might strike out various arts. The diction is very pregnant and forcible.

136. The art of navigation was then invented.

138. The Pleiades were seven stars on the neck of the Bull, so called from lew, to sail, because the time of their rising, about the vernal equinox, was esteemed in those days the proper season for navigation. The Hyades were seven stars on the forehead of the Bull, so called from vw, to rain, because their rising and setting was thought to be attended with showers. Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, was transformed through the jealousy of Juno into a bear; Jupiter translated her to the skies, into the constellation which we call the Great Bear. 'claram,' bright: Lycaonis, filiam' understood.

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139-42. Hunting and bird-catching were then invented. Inventum,' 'est' understood: 'Atquelina,' one person now whips the broad river with his net, seeking its deep places, and another drags his wet lines in the sea.

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143. Tum,' venit' understood: 'ferri rigor,' for 'ferrum rigidum.' 147. Ceres instructed men in agriculture.

149. ' et to Ecl. IX. 13.

150-3. 'ut

negaret,' and Dodona denied them sustenance; see note

tribulique,' that noxious mildew should eat the stalks, and the barren thistle should bristle in the fields; the grain-crops perish; a prickly growth succeeds them, burrs and caltrops. Esset'; Gr. § 181: Lappæque'; the final syllable lengthened by cæsura; Gr. § 309. 2. 155-6. For unless you diligently work the earth by the frequent use of the harrow: 'ruris opaci,' thick foliage.

158. Alas! you will look in vain upon the great heap of another; that is, you will vainly envy the rich harvest of some neighbour, who has attended to those cares, which you have neglected.

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160. I must also speak of the instruments, which belong to the hardy husbandmen: Dicendum'; Gr. § 274. Rem. 8: 'arma '; Gr. § 206. (3.) 161. nec - messes,' the grain can neither be sown nor made to grow. 163. And the slow rolling carts of the Eleusinian mother; that is, the ordinary carts of a farm, which Virgil dignifies by alluding to their use in the festal rites of Ceres, which goddess was chiefly honored at Eleusis. The wagons, in which her image was carried round the fields, had wheels formed of a solid disc of wood, that turned with the axle.

164. 'Tribula,' threshing machines, loaded planks, that were drawn over the grain by oxen: traheæ,' sledges: iniquo,' unwieldy.

165. And, moreover, the cheap wicker furniture of Celeus; that is, the lighter implements of husbandry. Celeus, a king of Eleusis, having hospitably received Ceres, was instructed by her in agriculture. "Celei is a trisyllable.

166.mystica vannus Iacchi'; the winnowing fan, called mystical, because used in the Eleusinian rites, and carried about in the solemn procession in honor of Bacchus.

167. All which things, provided long beforehand, you will carefully keep in store.

169-75. This difficult passage, containing the description of a plough, has exercised the ingenuity of all the commentators, no two of whom agree in its interpretation. I give the version which appears to me the most literal and intelligible, without vouching its correctness. The 'buris' is the crooked beam, forming the trunk of the plough, to which the other portions are attached. The 'temo' is the draught-pole, or long beam, to the sides of which the cattle are fastened. The aures' are the two side-boards, which widen the furrow and throw up the ridge. The dentalia' must be understood as the ploughshare itself, with its projecting tooth, dens,' or point. The duplici dorso' refers to the two legs of the ploughshare from behind, by which it is fastened to the wood-work. The 'stiva' is the handle, or part which the ploughman grasps. The currus imos' may be considered as the machine itself, depressed in the earth. The whole passage may then be rendered

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as follows; In the first place, the elm in the woods is forcibly bent into a plough-beam, and takes the form of the curved plough. To its lower part are attached the draught-pole, extending a length of eight feet, two earthboards, and the ploughshare with its double back. The light lime-tree, also, is felled beforehand for the yoke, and the tall beech, and the plough handle is cut out, which may direct from behind the depressed carriage; and the smoke seasons the wood suspended over the fire.

178-9. Above all, the threshing-floor is to be made level with a large rolling stone, to be worked over by hand, and consolidated with binding chalk. The ancients made their threshing-floors in the open air.

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180. pulvere'; the effect for the cause, the dust for the hot and dry weather which creates it; lest weeds should spring up, or it should open into chinks, when overcome with dryness.

181. Tum - pestes,' then various plagues may do secret injury. 183-6.capti oculis,' deprived of sight: Inventus

bufo,' and the toad is found in hollow places: 'Curculio,' the weevil: inopi metuens senecta,' fearing a needy old age.

187-8. The poet instructs the farmer how to judge of the coming harvest. Contemplator'; the imperative, from the deponent verb, 'contemplor': 'nux,' the walnut tree: se plurima induet in florem,' shall blossom plentifully.

189. If the fruit-blossoms of this tree abound more than the leaves, the grain shall follow equally abundant.

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190. Magna

tritura; a great threshing; that is, an abundant

harvest, which will give much labor to the thresher.

192. pingues paleâ,' rich only in chaff.

193. Virgil now gives directions about selecting and preparing the seed before it is sown. Steeping the seed is an expedient often practised by farmers at the present day.

195. That there might be a fuller growth in the deceitful pods; that is, in those which looked better than they were.

196. 'properata,' being forced, accelerated by this process: 'maderent,' were steeped.

197. lecta diu et spectata,' long picked out and examined.

1989. ni legeret,' unless the industry of men yearly culled out the largest seeds by hand.

200-3. Degenerate and full into decay; Gr. § 324. 29: 'adverso flumine,' against the stream: Atque,' in the same sense as 'statim.'

204-5. Farmers ought to observe the rising and setting of the constellations, that is, the seasons of the year, no less than sailors. Arcturus is a large star, near the tail of the Great Bear. Hædi,' two stars in the shoulder of Auriga. Anguis,' the constellation Draco. The young reader may need to be informed, that the ancients divided the stars into numerous groups, called constellations, over which they drew fanciful figures of men, animals, &c., and then applied corresponding names. These divisions are still used.

206-7. As by those carried'in patriam,' homeward· -over stormy seas, by whom the Euxine and the straits of oyster-bearing Abydus are visited. Abydus, famous for oysters, is on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont.

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208. Libra,' the constellation where the sun is at the autumnal equinox: die,' the old form of the genitive; Gr. § 90. Exc. in Dec.: 'somni,' for noctis.'

211. 'extremum' may refer to either end of a thing; it here means the beginning; even to the first shower of the impracticable winter solstice; intractabilis,' that in which nothing can be done.

212. Cereale papaver'; the poppy was sacred to Ceres. 214. dum

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pendent'; before the clouds are dissolved in rain. 215-6. Vere sulci, in the spring comes the sowing of beans; then, also, the friable furrows receive thee, Medic plant; so called because first brought from Media; now denominated lucern.

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