Circus.-512. carceribus, the barriers, behind which the chariots stood ready to start as soon as they were let fall. The horses in the races during the Carnival at Rome at the present day are started in much the same manner.-Addunt in spatia. Addunt, 'they give themselves to.' Sese is to be repeated from the preceding line. The seven circuits of the Circus which the chariots were to make were termed spatia. Agitatorum laetitia cum septimo spatio palmae adpropinquant, Sen. Ep. 30, 11. The meaning therefore would seem to be, 'they rush along the prescribed course, increasing in speed as they go.' There is a variety of readings here, such as in spatio, se in spatia.-retinacula, i. e. habenas.--audit, obeys. To hear, for to obey, is found in many languages, in the Hebrew for example. Equi frenato est auris in ore, says Horace (Ep. i. 15, 13), when describing a restive horse.--currus, i. e. equi: Cf. iii. 91.

BOOK II.

ARGUMENT.

PROPOSITION and invocation, 1-8. Natural origin of trees, 9-12. Artificial modes of producing them, 22-34. Call to the husbandmen and to Maecenas, 35-46. Remarks on natural trees, 47-60. Modes of propagating trees, 61-72. Inoculation and grafting, 73-82. Various kinds of trees, particularly vines, 83-108. Different soils and regions suited to different trees, 109–135. Praises of Italy, 136–176. Various kinds of soils, 177-235. Modes of ascertaining the quality of the soil, 236-258. Mode of preparing a vineyard, 259-272. Mode of planting the vines, 273-287. Depth at which trees should be planted, 288-297. Miscellaneous precepts on planting, 288-314. Time of planting; eulogy of the Spring, 315345. Further directions about planting, 346-353. Care of

the young vines, 354-370. Protection of the vines. Festival of Bacchus, 371-396. Culture of the vineyard, 397-419. Culture of the olive, 420-425. Culture and uses of other trees, 426-456. Advantages and praises of a country life, 456 to the end.

NOTES.

1-8. The proposition, with the invocation of Bacchus.Hactenus, sc. cecini.-Bacche, i. e. the culture of the vine, over which Bacchus presided. We are perfectly aware (see Mythology, p. 217) that the domain of this god extended beyond the vineyard; but we think that Virgil in this place limited him to it.-silvestria virgulta, the woodland plants, such as forest-trees.—prolem, the offspring; perhaps because he intends to treat of the propagation of the olive.—tarde crescentis, slow-growing; for such the olive really is, particularly when raised from seed. Hesiod, as Pliny tells us (xv.1), said that he that planted an olive rarely lived to gather its fruit; but this is an exaggeration.-Huc, sc. veni; from v. 7. The poet conceives himself to be in a region abounding in vines, and where the operations of the vintage are going on. -pater: see on i. 121. The notes of the commentators here and elsewhere show how little they understood the meaning of pater in the Roman theology.-4. Lenaee. The Greeks gave this god the epithet of ληναῖος, from ληνός, torcular, the vinepress, or vat in which they trod the grapes.-tibi, for thee.-pampineo auctumno, with the viny autumn, i. e. with the grapes which autumn is yielding.-gravidus, like proles, v. 3; the metaphor being taken from the production of mankind. The final us is long, though before a vowel, as being in arsis.-6. Floret, blooms, in allusion to the various hues of the grapes and other fruits.—vindemia, the vintage, i. e. the expressed juice of the grapes.―plenis labris, in the full vessels. The labra were the vessels which received the liquor as it ran from the wine- or olive-press: see Cato 10; Colum. xii. 50, 10, 11.-nudata, etc. The poet, in his enthusiasm, represents himself and the god as entering the winepress 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. In the Geoponics (vi.11.) very minute directions are given about their keeping their feet clean. The practice still prevails in many parts of the south of Europe.-8. dereptis. This emendation of Heinsius, for which he had the support of a few MSS., has been received by Heyne, Wagner and Forbiger. Voss and Jahn retain the common reading, direptis: the latter has a note of five pages on the subject.-cothurnis. Bacchus was usually represented wearing the cothurni or hunting-buskins.

9-21. Some trees are produced by nature alone, others by the aid of human art.-Principio, to begin.-Natura. Here, as in v. 20, we would suppose a personification of nature. Heyne gives the sense thus: "arborum nascentium natura, ratio, est varia.”-nullis, etc. The gen. of homo is here used instead of the abl. Thus Tacitus (Germ. 43), nullo hostium sustinente.- Sponte sua, avтоμáτws. This is opposed to what follows of trees produced by large seeds; those of the plants here enumerated being small and hardly visible: see Varro, R. R. i. 40.—campos, etc., i. e. they grow on the plains and on the banks of rivers.-molle, flexible; equivalent to the following lentae.-glauca, etc.: descriptive of the pale green of the leaves of the sallow. For all these plants, see the Flora. -salicta, i. e. saliceta, for salices.-14. posito, i. q. deposito, i. e. deciso, fallen. For this sense of ponere, see vv. 403, 521.– nemorum, of trees; like silvarum, v. 26.—Jovi, for Jupiter, that is, sacred to him.-habitae oracula, held to be oracles, sc. at Dodona. For these trees also, see the Flora.-17. Pullulat, etc., a dense crop of suckers grows up.' This is the case when, as in the trees here mentioned, the roots instead of going down run along the ground near the surface. These are of course the most injurious to the soil, and nothing therefore can be worse than the planting thick hedge-rows of elms, as is done in many parts of England. Cato (51) calls suckers pulli, and Pliny (xvii. 10) pulluli, likening them to the young of animals.—Parnasia laurus, the Parnasian bay, either as sacred to Apollo, or because, as Pliny says (xv. 30), it attains to great perfection on Mount Parnasus.-se subjicit: see Ec.

6

x. 74.-20. Hos Natura, etc., these (viz. sponte, by seed, by suckers) are the ways given by Nature,' i. e. the natural ones. In these ways the shrubs and the forest-trees propagate themselves and flourish.

22-34. The artificial modes of propagation. For these, see Terms of Husbandry.-Sunt alii, sc. modi, v. 20.—usus, experience: cf. i. 133.-via, on its way, as it advanced.-Hic plantas, etc., propagation by planting out the suckers.-abscindens, i. q. avellens. Some MSS. read abscidens, but that would give quite an erroneous idea, for scidere is to cut with a knife, etc., and suckers are pulled up, while scindere is merely to separate anything forcibly.―tenero de corpore. Either the poet here, as elsewhere, takes the liberty of joining the adj. with the subst., to which it does not properly belong, or he means the root in opposition to the trunk, which was hardened by exposure to the air.-sulcis, the holes or trenches dug to receive them.—hic stirpes, etc. A second mode, that of planting pieces cut off the trees. It was chiefly the olive that was propagated in this manner. Stirpes, sudes and valli all mean the same thing, the pieces cut from the parent stock.-Quadrifidas, cleft in four.-acuto robore, with its end pointed.-26. Silvarum, etc. A third method, by layers. Silvae, trees: see v. 15.-plantaria, i. q. plantas.—sua terra, in their own soil, i. e. that in which the parent plant is growing. -28. Nil radicis, etc. The fourth method, by cuttings. These, unlike the first and third kind, require no root.--putator, the pruner or gardener. It may be simply the person who makes the cuttings.-referens, bringing home with him: see i. 275. Heyne takes referens mandare to be simply mandare.—summum cacumen, a shoot taken from the upper part of the tree, i. e. its branches. There is probably an opposition intended to the suckers of v. 23.-30. Quin et, etc. A fifth method, by planting merely cleft pieces of the trunk, as in the case of olives, myrtles, mulberries and others.-31. Truditur, pushes itself, a mid. voice: it may however be taken passively. e sicco ligno, from the dry wood. Pliny (xvi. 84) tells us that olivewood wrought and made into hinges for doors has been known to sprout when left some time without being moved. Voss,

by siccum lignum, would understand the trunk as opposed to the root and branches.-32. Et saepe, etc. The sixth and last method, that of grafting.-impune, without detriment.--Vertere, sc. se.—mutatam, changing its nature.--prunis, etc. It is doubtful whether he means here that the cornel was grafted on the plum, or the plum on the cornel. Martyn, followed by Jahn and Forbiger, maintains the former; but to this it is objected, that our poet himself (Aen. iii. 649) speaks with contempt of the cornel, which Homer (Od. v. 241) and Columella (x. 15) describe as only food for swine; and it is therefore hardly likely that the Romans, however capricious their taste might be, would go to the trouble of grafting it. The only objection to the other interpretation is, that corna would be used for cornos; but, as Wunderlich observes, the poet a little further on (v. 426) uses poma for pomi. We adopt this interpretation.-lapidosa, as having a large stone.-rubescere. This term may be used in speaking of the purple plum, which is red before it ripens.

35-46. Since then art can do so much, there is every inducement for country-gentlemen to pay their attention to the cultivation of trees. He calls on them in general, and on Maecenas in particular, to attend to his precepts.-generatim, according to their kinds.―terrae, the lands.—Juvat, etc. Even mountains may be made productive. Ismarus in Thrace bears vines, and Taburnus in Samnium is famed for its olives. Juvat, it is profitable.-Ismarus: see Ec. vi. 30.-39. decurre. The metaphor here is taken from navigation, and not from the chariot-races of the Circus.-laborem, course or task.volans, running before the wind. Some MSS. read volens.-pelago (dat.), on the sea.-da vela, set sail, as Aen. ii. 136; not "fave canenti," as Heyne explains it.-42. cuncta, the whole science of the planting and cultivation of trees.-opto, i. e. volo: cf. Aen. i. 76.-primi litoris, the first part (i. e. the edge) of the shore. The adj. seems properly to belong to

V. 42. Πληθὺν δ ̓ οὐκ ἄν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι, οὐδ ̓ ὀνομήνω

Οὐδ ̓ εἴ μοι δέκα μὲν γλῶσσαι, δέκα δὲ στόματ ̓ εἶεν,

Φωνὴ δ' ἄῤῥηκτος, χάλκεον δέ μοι ἦτορ ἐνείη.—Hom. Il. ii. 488.