218. 'et

- astro,' and the Dog sets, giving way to the retrograde sign; that is, to the constellation Argo, which, in the form of a ship, goes down the sky, stern foremost, immediately after the Dog. The horns of the Bull are tipped with two bright stars. The sun entered Taurus about the middle of April.

220. 'solis aristis, and labor for the bearded ears only; for grain. 221-2. Let the morning Pleiades first be hidden, and the Gnosian star of the burning Crown depart; which occurred late in October, the time that Virgil appoints for sowing wheat. Atlantides'; the seven daughters of Atlas were translated to the firmament as the Pleiades; they are called the morning Atlantides when they are visible just before sunrise. Gnosus was a city of Crete, the birthplace of Ariadne. The crown presented to her on her marriage with Bacchus, was transferred to the heavens as a constellation, and called Ariadne's Crown.' decedat'; that is, depart far enough from the sun, to be visible before his rising. Observe how the poet, marking the seasons by the constellations, is enabled to dignify a humble subject with the most magnificent images. 224. The expression here is highly ornate and poetical. 225. Maiæ; one of the Pleiades.

227-8. vilemque lentis,' and the cheap kidney-bean; and do not despise the cultivation of the Pelusiac lentil. Pelusium was a city of lower Egypt, in which region this vegetable is most abundant.

231-3. The poet, supposing the sun to make his annual journey through the skies for the benefit of the agriculturist, makes a digression to describe the five zones and the solar track. Idcirco,' for this reason; that is, for marking out the time for husbandry; the golden sun governs the great circle of the universe, divided into certain parts through the twelve constellations. 'orbem is the zodiac, or great belt, containing the twelve signs: 'quarum una '; that is, the Torrid zone.

235-6. Around which, on the right and left, the extreme zones (the Frigid) are drawn, congealed with blue ice and dark showers. 238-9. via ordo,' a road is cut between the two Temperate zones for the oblique order of the signs (the Ecliptic) to turn in. The sun's path, turned obliquely to the equator, cuts it at two opposite points. 'per' instead of 'inter.'

240. Mundus,' the heavens, the convexity of which is here described according to the ancients' crude notions of astronomy. The Rhipœan summits are a range of mountains in Russia.

241.premitur devexus,' is depressed and slopes downward.

242-3. This pole (the Arctic) is always over our heads; but black Styx and the Shades below see the other (the Antarctic) under our feet. 244-6. The constellation Draco winds about, passing between the Great and the Little Bear. These constellations are placed so near the north pole, that, in Italian latitudes, they never sink below the horizon. Hence, the Bears fearing to be dipped in the waters of ocean.

247-51. The two opinions held by the ancients respecting the Antipodes are here stated; either, that they are enveloped in eternal night, or that the sun visits them, when he is below our horizon. The evening star, as it appears first after sunset, is poetically said to light up the others. Oriens,' the rising sun, or the day itself. Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the description in the last twenty lines.

252. Hinc'; from this knowledge of the heavens, we can predict the weather, and determine the fit season for farming operations. 254.marmor,' the sea, so called from its glossy surface in a calm. 256. tempestivam,' in proper season.

258. And the year divided equally into four different seasons.

259-61. The wet weather, which the farmers must pass within doors, may be usefully employed. quando' for aliquando': 'multa - datur,' it is permitted to perform carefully many things, which otherwise would necessarily be hurried over under a fair sky.

263. numeros-acervis; the grain was put in stacks, to which numbers were attached by labels, or in sacks, which were numbered. 265. And prepare Amerinan (willow) stays for the flexible vine. Amerina was a city of Italy, where willows grew in abundance. The stays are spoken of, to which the young vines are bound.

266. Now the light basket may be woven with bramble twigs.

268-9.'Quippe — sinunt,' for divine and human laws permit one to do certain things on festal days. Fas' refers to religion; ' jura' to human legislation. rivos deducere'; to drain the fields by digging new ditches, or clearing out old ones.

273-5. Sæpè pomis,' often the driver loads the sides of his slowpaced ass with oil or cheap fruits. lapidem Incusum,' indented stone, with which corn was ground in a hand-mill. Pitch was used for glazing over the inside of vessels, in which wine was kept.

276-7. Precepts are given respecting lucky and unlucky days. The moon itself (the month) gives different days in various succession favora ble for undertaking particular tasks; alios alio'; Gr. § 207. Rem. 32. 'Orcus,' Pluto, the king of the infernal regions.

278. Eumenidesque satæ,' and the Furies were born on that day. They were three in number, the avengers of crime.

279-80. The giants, whose names are here given, were the sons of Titan and the Earth. fratres'; Otus and Ephialtes, giant sons of Neptune. They made war upon the gods, and attempted to scale the heavens by piling one mountain upon another; but they were cast down by Jupiter's thunderbolts.

281. Thrice they attempted to pile Ossa upon Pelion; two mountains in Thessaly. The line is scanned thus; Ter sunt | conalti im ponere Pelio Ossam.' The slow movement and the recurrence of the hiatus finely adapt the sound to the sense.

234. The seventeenth is a lucky day, both to plant the vine, &c. 2856.licia furtis, to tie the thrums to the web; that is, to begin to weave; the ninth is better for flight, but adverse for thefts. 287. melius se dedêre,' can be better performed.

290-2. 'lentus,' clammy. 'Et-acuto,' some sit up late by the light of a winter fire, and point torches with a sharp knife. The torches were sticks, cut to a point.

295-6. Or boils away the water of the sweet new wine over the fire, and skims with leaves the agitated liquid in the kettle. The wine was boiled down in order to form a kind of sirup. Vulcan, the god of fire, is put for the fire itself. A pleasant picture is here presented of the interior of a cottage on a winter's eve.

297. Ceres,' grain: medio æstu,' at mid-day, when the heat is greatest.

299-300. Ploughing and sowing must be done, when the weather is too hot for the laborer to wear his clothes. hiems-colono,' the winter is an idle time for the farmer. 'Frigoribus,' in the cold weather: ' parto,' what they have obtained.

304. Chaplets on the stern of a vessel indicated the mariner's joy at his return.

309. Whirling the hempen strings of the Balearic sling. The natives of the Balearic isles, Majorca and Minorca, were famous slingers. 311. A noble description of a storm in the harvest time is now given, as an introduction to the passage on the prognostics of the weather. 312.æstas' is here put for the heat of summer.

313. 'vel-ver,' or when the rainy spring draws to a close. 315. The milky grains swell on the green stalk. The latter part of April seems to be intended, when the grain is usually "in the milk." 316-8. The order of construction is, 'Sæpè ego vidi omnia prælia ventorum concurrere, quum agricola induceret messorem flavis arvis, et jam stringeret hordea fragili culmo'; and was already reaping the barley

with its brittle stem. Some commentators interpret this passage as referring to binding up the sheaves with wisps of straw.

319-21. Which tore up far and wide the heavy grain by the very roots, and tossed it on high; in like manner, the tempest would carry off in a dark whirlwind the light straw and flying stubble.

322. agmen aquarum'; a grand expression for the flood of rain.

324. 'ex alto'; interpreted by some, from the sea; more probably referring to the heavens, from on high: other ruit'; the ancients believed, that the atmosphere itself was condensed and became rain.

325. sata,' the planted fields: 'boumque labores'; the cause for the effect; the growing corn.

327-8.fretis spirantibus,' the tossing waves. 'Ipse Pater,' Jupiter. The poet heightens the grandeur of the description, by introducing the Father of the gods, seated in the clouds and directing the storm.

329.Fulmina molitur,' hurls the thunderbolts.

332. Atho'; a promontory of Macedonia. 'Rhodopen'; a mountain in Thrace. 'Ceraunia; mountains in Epirus, from zegavrós, because frequently struck by lightning.

335. metuens hoc,' fearing this; that is, the occurrence of a storm. 336-7. Whither the cold star of Saturn retires, and in what circles of the heavens the planet Mercury wanders. Mercury was born on Cyllene, a mountain of Arcadia.

339. The annual sacrifices to Ceres, offered by husbandmen in the spring of every year, are here described. They were called 'Ambarvalia,quòd victima ambiret arva.' 'operatus,' sacrificing ; Gr. § 162. 17. 343-5. Let all your rustic youth adore Ceres; for whom, mix honey with milk and mild wine; and let the victim-felix,' of happy omen go thrice round the fields of corn.. young

347-50. neque dicat, neither let any one put a sickle to the ripe grain before that, having bound his temples with entwined oak leaves, he performs the uncouth dance, and sings the hymns to Ceres.

353. statuit'; ordained by a constant law.

Continuò,'

354. Quo-austri,' with what prognostic the tempestuous winds should subside. austri,' the south winds; here put for any high wind. 356. The signs of rising wind are now enumerated. immediately freta ponti'; a circumlocution for pontus.' 357-8.aridus fragor,' a dry crackling noise, like that of trees breaking, or of their dry branches rubbing against each other. 359. misceri,' are lashed by the waves.

360-1. When the cormorants fly back swiftly from the midst of the sea, (from their former position far out at sea,) then the wave with difficulty refrains from swallowing up the curved ships; the outline of a ship with its rostrum 'forms a very graceful curve.

367. And long trains of flame grow white behind them. 369. summa,' on the surface; Gr. § 205. Rem. 17.

370. The signs of coming rain are now described. 'Borea-trucis,' from the region of fierce Boreas; that is, from the north.

371. The habitation of the winds is put for the winds themselves, or rather, for the quarters of the compass whence they blow. 'tum' is understood before omnia.'

372-3.natant,' are inundated. 'imprudentibus,' persons unaware of its approach. The prognostics of a coming shower are so plain, that every one is forewarned.

375. Aëriæ'; so called, because they usually fly high; but, on the approach of rain, they descend to the valleys.

376. patulis-auras,' snuffed in the air with distended nostrils. 378. veterem querelam,' ancient moan. The countrymen in Lycia, who mocked at Latona, the mother of Apollo, were changed into frogs, whose croaking was supposed to express grief at this change.

380. Angustum terens iter,' wearing by its frequent passage the nar

row pathway to its subterraneous cell. bibit'; the rainbow was supposed to drink up water through each of its extremities.

382.exercitus,' a multitude:''densis,' numerous.

383-7. In this order; Jam videas varias volucres,' &c. 'EtCaystri,' and those (swans) which, in the standing pools of sweet water from the Cayster, turn up the ground for food around the Asian meadows. The Cayster is a river of Asia Minor, and the marshy country near mount Tmolus, which receives its overflowing waters, was called 'Asia palus. The first syllable of Asia, an adjective, is long; of 'Asia,' a quarter of the globe, is short: Dulcibus stagnis,' of fresh water, in distinction from salt marshes. 'largos rores,' water in large drops; every one has noticed the peculiar appearance of water running off the oily plumage of water-fowl. Hence, incassum,' they vainly endeavour to wash themselves. caput-fretis,' plunge their heads into the water: 'gestire,' express delight. A flock of noisy ducks about a horse-pond will convince the reader of the fidelity of this description.

390. nocturna-pensa,' carding their night-task of wool. 391-2.testâ ardente,' a lamp. The sputtering of the flame of a lamp shows the humidity of the air, and may therefore indicate rain. 'putres fungos'; what we call "a thief in the wick."

393-4. The signs of returning fair weather are now described. No less will you be able, from the tempest, to foresee and know by certain signs, that sunny weather and a clear, open sky are at hand; that is, by observing the tempest itself.

395. Nor does the light of the stars then appear dim,

396. Nor does the moon seem to rise dependent on the rays of its brother, the sun; that is, it is so bright, that it appears to shine by its own lustre, and not merely by reflection from the sun.

397. Nor do light flocks of wool seem to be carried over the heavens. The cloud denominated cirrus has "the appearance of a distended lock of white hair, or of a bunch of wool pulled out into fine pointed ends." Tenuia,' a trisyllable, as if spelttenvia.'

399-400. alcyones,' king-fishers. The fable is, that when the body of Ceyx, the son of Lucifer, who had perished by shipwreck, was brought to his wife Halcyone, in her grief she threw herself into the sea. The compassionate gods changed them both into king-fishers, and their love continuing while in this state, their approach was made to betoken the tranquillity of the seas. Hence they were loved by the sea-nymphs. 'non- maniplos,' the unclean swine forget to toss about in their mouths the unbound wisps of straw.

402-3. And the owl, watching the sunset from the high summit of a tree,does not utter her late song; nequidquam' for 'non.'

6

404-5. liquido,' serene: Nisus,' a hawk. Scylla,' a bird called ciris, by some thought to be the lark. The fable is, that Nisus was king of Megara, and the father of Scylla. She cut from his head the purple hair, on which his safety and that of his kingdom depended, and carried it to Minos, who was then besieging the city, and with whom she was in love. But he drowned her as a punishment for her parricidal act. The gods changed her into a ciris and her father into a hawk, the latter bird always pursuing and devouring the former. 407. stridore,' whizzing of the wings.

408. 'quâ' for 'quâcumque': 'ad auras,' in the open air.

410. presso gutture,' with compressed throat, thus uttering liquidas voces,' clear or distinct sounds, unlike their hoarse notes, which portend a tempest.

412-3. Rejoicing with I know not what pleasure more than usual, they rustle among the leaves; they are pleased, the shower being ended — 416. autmajor, or some extraordinary knowledge of things is theirs by fate. Touching upon the philosophical question, Virgil declares he does not believe, that these birds and animals have received

any special gift of divination from the gods. He thinks their actions are guided mechanically.

418-9. Have changed their courses (condition,) and the air, wet with south winds, condenses what was just before rare, and rarefies what was dense. Jupiter,' for the air, as in Ecl. VII. 60.

420-1. species animorum,' images or notions in their minds: 'motus,' affections. alios, alios'; Gr. § 207. Rem. 32. The theory seems to be, that a change in the quality of the air affects the feelings of animals, producing either joy or sorrow, which they express by movements and cries, thus indicating the alteration in the atmosphere.

424. Signs of the weather are described, drawn from sun and moon. 426. neque serene,' nor will you be led astray by the deceptive appearance of a clear night.

428. If she encloses darkened air within her dimmed horns; that is, if the brightness of her horns is obscured by a heavy atmosphere.

430. If she should shine with a red light.

431. Phoebe'; the moon, as the sister of Phoebus, the sun.

432. But if on her fourth rising, when four days old, for this is an infallible sign.

434-5. et mensem'; the whole remainder of the month.

437. Divinities of the sea. Glaucus was a fisherman, who, observing that his fish gained strength by touching a certain herb, tasted it himself from curiosity; whereupon, he immediately leaped into the sea, and became a divinity of that element. Panopea was a sea-nymph. 'Inoo (filio) Melicertæ,' Melicertes, the Inoan son; that is, the son of Ino, who was the daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamas, king of Thebes. Flying from her husband's fury, she jumped into the sea with her son, and they both became sea deities. He was also called Portumus and Palæmon.

440. Both those which he brings in the morning, and those which appear, rohen the stars are about to rise,

--

near sunset.

441-2. When, at his first rising, he appears spotted, and, placed in a cloud, withdraws half his orb from sight.

443. urget,' is at hand: ab alto,' from the sea. 444. satis, to the planted fields: sinister,' injurious. 445-7. sub lucem'; at the dawn of day': 'aut- cubile,' or when Aurora (the dawn) rises pale, leaving the saffron-colored couch of Tithonus. Aurora, the goddess of morning, loved Tithonus, the son of Laomedon, and, when he was old, restored him to youth again.

449-51. crepitans salit,' describing the rattling noise and rebounding of hail on the roof. Hoc magis,' it will also be more profitable to remember this, when, having traversed Olympus (the heavens,) he is now going down.

454-5. 'immiscerier' for 'immisceri'; Gr. § 322. 6. If the spots turn to a bright red, you may expect a storm of both wind and rain."

457-8. convellere funem,' to unmoor. 'quum relatum,' both when he brings on the day, and when he hides it again; that is, both at sunrise and sunset.

460. 'Aquilone,' the north wind, which causes a dry and pure air. 462. The south wind is personified, as having command over the weather, and meditating whether he should cause rain.

466. Mentioning the extraordinary paleness of the sun, which followed the death of Julius Cæsar, the poet passes by an easy transition to an episode of astonishing grandeur, describing the other prodigies, which accompanied that great event in the annals of Rome.

467. obscurâ ferrugine,' a dusky redness.

468. Impiaque sæcula'; the age, for the men of that age; called impious, because they permitted Cæsar to be slain.

470. Obscœnique,' ill-boding.

471-2. How often have we seen the heaving Etna break forth from