the air (armorum sonitum), and to have heard the sound of trumpets summoning to battle. This portent is explained by some as an exaggerated report of the appearance of the aurora borealis, which is often attended with a crackling sound. — 475. Motibus. The belief of the ancients that earthquakes took place in the Alps from time to time, is confirmed by modern experience, though Heyne suggests that avalanches may have been mistaken for them. 476. Per lucos vulgo; ideoque per multos lucos. Lucos shows that the voice was divine. -477. Simulacra; i. e. the shades of the departed. Modis. Gr. 414 and 3. A. & S. 247 and 2.-478. Obscurum. Gr. 441. A. & S. 205, R. 7 (1). — 479. Infandum (= unutterable horror) calls attention to its peculiar horror. Sistunt; intransitive. The cause of sistunt amnes is given in terrae dehiscunt, the earthquake. Terrae; implying that there were numerous earthquakes. 480. Templis. Gr. 422. I. A. & S. 254, R. 3. Illacrimat sudant. The moisture of the atmosphere explains both. Ebur, aera; i. e. ivory and bronze statues. Gr. 705. III. A. & S. 324. 3. - 482. Fluviorum. Gr. 669. II. 3. A. & S. 306. 1 (3). Rex; because the largest of the rivers of Italy. Eridanus; the Greek name of the Po.-483. Cum-tulit. Cf. A. II. 499. - 484. Extis. The ancients used to derive auguries from the appearance of the exta (i. e. the heart, lungs, and liver) of the victim. Fibrae, according to Varro and Servius, are the extremities of the liver. - 485. Cessavit. Gr. 463. I. A. & S. 209, R. 12 (3).—486. Resonare; sc. non cessaverunt. Lupis. Wolves entering Rome are several times mentioned by Livy as portents. 487. Coelo. Gr. 425 and 3. 4). A. & S. 251.-488. Cometae. Meteors in general are probably meant, as comets do not usually appear in numbers. 489. Ergo; i. e. as foreshadowed by these portents, civil war broke out. Paribus; because they were Romans on both sides. - 490. Iterum; with concurrere. Philippi; a city in Macedonia, on the borders of Thrace, celebrated for the victory gained there in B. C. 42, by Augustus and M. Antony over the republican army of Brutus and Cassius, and for the fact that it was the first place in Europe where St. Paul preached the Gospel, in A. D. 53. —491. Nec-superis = nor was it in the eyes of the gods an undeserved punishment; i. e. for our crimes. Superis. Gr. 384. A. & S. 223.-492. Emathiam... Haemi campos, referring, though not with geographical accuracy, to the sites of the two battles of Pharsalia and Philippi. Emathia, originally the name of a district in the southern part of Macedonia, and afterwards of Macedonia, is here extended so as to cover Thessaly, in the southern part of which was the city of Pharsalus, near which Caesar conquered Pompey in B. C. 48. Haemus is a range of mountains in Thrace, now called the Great Balkan. out. Haemi campos is intended to include the city of Philippi, which was a considerable distance south of the Haemus. 493. Scilicet et= yes, and. — 496. Rastris. See on v. 94. · 497. Grandia...ossa. It was the opinion of the ancients, at least of the poets, that the gener ations of the human race successively degenerated in size and strength. Effossis; i. e. broken into by the plough or harrow. -498. Dii patrii are not the same as Indigeres. The former are the protecting gods of the country, the Lares and Penates, as opposed to those introduced from foreign nations; while the latter are Italian heroes deified after death, as Picus, Janus, Aeneas, etc. Of the former class Vesta is given as an example, and of the latter, Romulus. Et is to be supplied. Romule; the founder and first king of Rome, worshipped after his death as Quirinus. Vesta; the goddess of the hearth, and also of fire. Her worship was introduced into Italy by Aeneas. The fire on the altar in her temple was never allowed to go The priestesses dedicated to her service were called Vestals. — 499. Tuscum Tiberim; so called because rising in the Apennines, in the district of Etruria or Tuscia. Gr. 85. III. 1. A. & S. 79. I. Palatia. The Palatine was the hill of Romulus and his city; and afterwards Augustus took up his residence there. 500. Saltem; as the gods had snatched away Julius Caesar. Juvenem; Octavianus Caesar, afterwards Augustus, who was then about 27 years of age. See on Hor. C. I. 2. 41. Saeclo. Gr. 386. A. & S. 224. 502. Luimus perjuria. See on Hor. C. III. 3. 22. Laomedonteae is used reproachfully, implying guilt. Cf. A. IV. 542. Luimus... invidet... queritur. Gr. 467. 2. A. & S. 145. I. 2. –505. Quippe - nefas because among them (ubi apud quos; sc. homines) right and wrong have been inverted; i. e. have exchanged places. Quippe assigns the reason why heaven grudges Caesar to so thankless a sphere. Bella... facies; sc. sunt.—506. Aratro. Gr. 387. A. & S. 226. The abl., however, is possible.-507. Dignus = fitting, suitable. Abductis; i. e. to serve as soldiers. - 508. Conflantur = are forged. 509. Euphrates; i. e. the Parthians dwelling on the banks of the Euphrates, against whom Antonius was then engaged in war. See on E. I. 63. · -510. Ruptis - legibus = breaking the laws that bound them together. - 511. Arma ferunt: are in arms. Impius is emphatic, as most of the wars of the time were connected directly or indirectly with the civil conflict. 512. Carceribus. The carceres were a range of stalls at the end of the circus, with gates of open wood-work, which were opened simultaneously to allow the chariots to start. - 513. Addunt in spatia they give themselves to the course, bound onward over the course; supplying sese from the preceding line. The plu. spatia is employed because the match included more than one circuit. -514. Currus; i. e. equi. THE GEORGICS. Book II. THE main subject of the Second Book is the culture of trees, especially the vine. But there is no great regularity in the mode of treatment. Virgil opens with an enumeration of the different ways of propagating trees, natural and artificial, so as to give some notion of the magnitude of the theme; then shows how art can improve upon nature, and recurs again to the manifoldness of his subject, dwelling especially on the innumerable varieties of vines. Without much relevancy he talks of the trees which are indigenous to different countries, and thence digresses into a eulogy of Italy, which he does not fit with any practical application. The question of the aptitudes of various soils is treated far more widely than the subject of the book requires, embracing the choice of corn and pasture land, as well as of ground for planting vines and other trees. For the next 160 lines the poet seems to be thinking exclusively of the vine, or of the trees planted in the arbustum as its supporters. He does not distinguish between the different modes of rearing the vine, but in general appears to assume that the arbustum will be the means adopted. He speaks of the vine and its supporters almost indifferently, as objects more or less of the same culture, so that, while keeping the former prominently before him, he feels himself at liberty to use general language, or even to confine his language to the latter, as metrical convenience or poetical variety may suggest; a manner of speaking which renders this part of the book peculiarly difficult. The olive, which was put prominently forward in the programme of the book, is actually disposed of in a very few lines, as requiring hardly any culture at all, while the other fruit-trees are dismissed even more briefly. The remaining trees receive a very hasty recommendation to the cultivator, backed however with an assurance that they are even more useful to man than the vine. In the celebrated digression which concludes the book, the laborious aspect of a country life, elsewhere so prominent, is studiously kept out of sight, and we hear only of ease, enjoyment, and plenty. The beauties of this book have always been admired, and deservedly so. They are most conspicuous in the digressions; but the more strictly didactic part contains innumerable felicities of expression, though it may be doubted whether in general they do not ob scure the practical meaning as much as they illustrate it. ARGUMENT. I. Subject of Second Book; and invocation of Bacchus, god of the vine and of fruit-trees generally (1-8). II. Trees and plants; their modes of propagation (9−34) :· 1. Natural mode (1021), viz.: spontaneous growth (10-13); by seed (14-16); from root of parent trunk (17-19). 2. Artificial mode (22-34), viz.: by suckers (22-23); by stocks or settings (24, 25); by layers (26, 27); by the trunk cut into "lengths" (30, 31); by engrafting (32-34). III. Invocation, and detailed directions as to peculiar kinds of treatment necessary for different trees and plants (35-82): 1. Introductory address to husbandmen, and invocation of Maecenas (35-46). 2. Means of improving trees of natural growth (47-60). 3. How to employ artificial means of propagating (61 - 82). IV. The differences in trees and plants (83-135): 1. Variety of species (83 - 108). 2. Soils suited to different kinds (109-113). 3. Trees peculiar to certain countries (114-135). V. Episode in praise of Italy (136-176). VI. Soils; their nature, capabilities, and indices (177-258): — 1. Soils suited to the olive (179-183); to the vine (184194); to cattle rearing (195-202); to corn crops (203-211); to almost no production (212-216); to any purpose (217-225). 2. Index to loose or close soil (226-237); to salt and bitter (238-247); to the rich and fat (248-250); to the moist (251-253); to the heavy and light (254, 255); to the black (255); to the cold (256–258). 1. Directions for the preparation of the ground and for planting (259-353): trenches (259-264); nursery (265-268); setting of slips (269–287); depth of trenches (288-297); miscellaneous cautions (298– 314; time for planting (315 – 322); praises of spring 323-345); manuring and airing of young plants (346-353). 2. General culture and treatment after planting (354-419): soil at roots to be kept open, fine, and fresh (354 357); props (358-361); pruning (362-370); hedges (371-396); ploughing of vineyard and other operations (397-419). VIII. Various other trees and plants (420-457): the olive (420-425); fruit-trees (426-428); wild forest-trees (429-457). IX. Blessings and happiness of a country life (458-542). 1. Hactenus; sc. cecini. Arvorum cultus is the general subject of Book I.-2. Bacche. Bacchus had the charge not only of the vine, but of fruit-trees generally. Silvestria ... virgulta means those barren forest-trees, such as the elm, poplar, etc., which were planted to act as props whereon to train the vine shoots; so that there may be a special propriety in tecum. Virgulta (for virguleta, a number of twigs, hence applied to bushes, or low or young trees), here seem to be taken as the type of such trees as the husbandman cultivates.-4. Huc; sc. veni, from v. 7. Pater is applied to Bacchus as the god of fertility, and because he conferred benefits on man with the kindness and generosity of a father. Lenaee; an epithet of Bacchus, signifying god of the wine-press. Tuis muneribus. Virgil fancies himself surrounded by the gifts of autumn, of which he is going to sing.-5. Tibi = for thee. See on I. 14. Here it seems to express the acknowledgment of nature to its author and sustainer. Pampineo... autumno with the viny autumn ; i. e. with the grapes which autumn is yielding. Gr. 414 and 2. A. & S. 247 and I. Gravidus. Gr. 669, V.; 672. 3. A. & S. 309 (1); 310. I. 6. Floret (= blooms); in allusion, according to Forb., Voss, and Keightley, to the various hues of the grapes and other fruits. Vindemia the vintage. Labris. Gr. 422. I. A. & S. 254, R. 3. -7, 8. The poet, in his enthusiasm, represents himself and the god as entering the wine-press together and treading out the grapes. In the East (see Isaiah lxiii. 1 − 3), and in Greece and Italy, the grapes were trodden out by men with bare feet. The practice still prevails in many parts of the south of Europe. - 8. Cothurnis. Bacchus was usually represented wearing the cothurni or hunting buskins.-9. Arboribus... creandis. See on G. I. 3. Natura = the law of nature, the natural mode. — 10. Hominum. Gr. 396. III. 2. 3). A. & S. 212, R. 2. Ipsae and sponte sua are a tautology. 11. Veniunt. See on I. 54- - 12. Curva, by calling attention to the bends of the river, shows that the trees grow along its side. -13 Canentia; in allusion to the white down that covers the under side of the leaf. Fronde. Gr. 428. A. & S. 211, R. 6. Salicta. See on E. I. 55.-14. Posito; i. e. casually from the trees. Surgunt. Gr. 461 and 1. morum arborum nemorensium. A. & S. 209, R. 11.-15. Ne- |