poet lying indolently in the shade, and making the woods ring with the sounds of 'beautiful Amaryllis, like the young shepherds in Theocritus. The scenery apparently combines some actual features of the farm in the Mantuan district Quamvis lapis omnia nudus Limosoque palus obducat pascua iunco, with the ideal mountain-land of pastoral song— Maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae. A further inconsistency has been suggested between the time of year indicated by the 'patulae. sub tegmine fagi,' and that indicated by the ripe chestnuts at line 812. The truth of the poem consists in the expression of the feelings of love which the old possessors entertained for their homes, and the sense of dismay caused by this barbarous irruption on their ancient domains: Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit? Barbarus has segetes? En quo discordia civis Virgil's feeling for the movement of his age, which henceforth becomes one of the main sources of his inspiration, has its origin in the effect which these events had on his personal fortunes, and in the sympathy awakened within him by the sorrows of his native district. The ninth Eclogue, written most probably in the same year, and in form imitated from the seventh Idyl—the famous Thalysia-of Theocritus, repeats the tale of dejection and alarm among the old inhabitants of the Mantuan district, Nunc victi, tristes, quoniam fors omnia versat,and touches allusively on the story of the personal danger which Virgil encountered from the violence of the centurion who claimed possession of his land. The speakers in the dialogue are Moeris, a shepherd of Menalcas,-the pastoral poet, who sings of the nymphs, of the wild flowers spread over the ground, and of the brooks shaded with trees,—and 1 See Kennedy's note on the passage. 2 M. Benoist. Lycidas, who, like the Lycidas of the Thalysia, is also a poet : Me quoque dicunt Vatem pastores, sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario videor nec dicere Cinna After the account of the fray, given by Moeris, and the comments of Lycidas, in which he introduces the lines referred to in the previous chapter, as having all the signs of being a real description of the situation of Virgil's farms qua se subducere colles incipiunt— Moeris sings the opening lines of certain other pastoral poems, some his own, some the songs of Menalcas. /Two of these Tityre dum redeo' and 'Huc ades O Galatea '— are purely Theocritean. Two others and Vare tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis, Daphni quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortusindicate the new path which Virgil's art was striking out for itself. There is certainly more reality and substance in this poem than in most of the earlier Eclogues. Lycidas and Moeris speak about what really interests them." The scene of the poem is apparently the road between Virgil's farm and Mantua. There seem to be no conventional and inconsistent features introduced from the scenery of Sicily or Arcadia, unless it be the 'aequor' of line 57 Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor. But may not that be either the lake, formed by the overflow of the river, some distance above Mantua, or even the great level plain, with its long grass and corn-fields and trees, hushed in the stillness of the late afternoon? 1 Compare the lines which Theocritus applies to Lycidas:— Theoc. vii. 37-41. The sixth Eclogue was written probably about the same time and at the same place, the villa of Siron, in which Virgil had taken refuge with his family. It is inscribed with the name of Varus, who is said to have been a fellowstudent of Virgil under the tuition of Siron. But, with the exception of the dedicatory lines, there is no reference to the circumstances of the time. Though abounding with rich pastoral illustrations, the poem is rather a mythological and semi-philosophical idyl than a pure pastoral poem. It consists mainly of a song of Silenus, in which an account is given of the creation of the world in accordance with the Lucretian philosophy; and, in connexion with this theme, (as is done also by Ovid in his Metamorphoses), some of the oldest mythological traditions, such as the tale of Pyrrha and Deucalion, the reign of Saturn on earth, the theft and punishment of Prometheus, &c., are introduced, The opening lines-Namque canebat uti-are imitated from the song of Orpheus in the first book of the Argonautics1, but they bear unmistakable traces also of the study of Lucretius. /There seems no trace of the language of Theocritus in the poem./ Three points of interest may be noted in this song: (1) Virgil here, as in Georgic ii. 475, &c., regards the revelation of physical knowledge as a fitting theme for poetic treatment. So in the first Aeneid, the 'Song of Iopas' is said to be about the wandering moon and the toils of the sun; the origin of man and beast, water and fire,' etc. The revelation of the secrets of Nature seems to float before the imagination of Virgil as the highest consummation of his poetic faculty. (2) We note here how, as afterwards in the Georgics, he accepts the philosophical ideas of creation, side by side with the supernatural tales of mythology. He seems to regard such tales as those here introduced as part of the religious traditions of the human race, and as a link which connects man with the gods. In the Georgics we find also the same effort to reconcile, or at least to combine, the conceptions 1 i. 496. of science with mythological fancies. In this effort we /I recognise the influence of other Alexandrine poets rather than of Theocritus. (3) The introduction of Gallus in the midst of the mythological figures of the poem, and the account of the honour paid to him by the Muses and of the office assigned to him by Linus, are characteristic of the art of the Eclogues, which is not so much allegorical as composite. It brings together in the same representation facts, personages, and places from actual life and the figures and scenes of a kind of fairy-land. In the tenth Eclogue Gallus is thus identified with the Daphnis of Sicilian song, and is represented as the object of care to the Naiads and Pan and Apollo. While Pollio is the patron whose protection and encouragement Virgil most cordially acknowledges in his earlier poems, Gallus is the man among his contemporaries who has most powerfully touched his imagination and gained his affections. The Eclogue composed next in order of time is the 'Pollio.' It was written in the consulship of Pollio, B.C. 40, immediately after the reconciliation between Antony and Octavianus effected by the treaty of Brundisium, and gives expression to that vague hope of a new era of peace and prosperity which recurs so often in the poetry of this age. In consequence of the interpretation given to it in a later age, this poem has acquired an importance connected with Virgil's religious belief second only to the importance of the sixth Aeneid. Early Christian writers, perceiving a parallel between expressions and ideas in this poem and those in the Messianic prophecies, believed that Virgil was here the unconscious vehicle of Divine inspiration, and that he prophesies of the new era which was to begin with the birth of Christ. And though, as Conington and others have pointed out, the picture of the Golden Age given in the poem is drawn immediately from Classical and not from Hebrew sources, yet there is no parallel in Classical poetry to that which is the leading idea of the poem, the coincidence of the commencement of this new era with the birth of a child whom a marvellous career awaited. The poem begins with an invocation to the Sicilian Muses and with the declaration that, though the strain is still pastoral, yet it is to be in a higher mood, and worthy of the Consul to whom it is addressed. Then follows the announcement of the birth of a new era. The world after passing through a cycle of ages, each presided over by a special deity, had reached the last of the cycle, presided over by Apollo, and was about to return back to the Golden or Saturnian Age of peace and innocence, into which the human race was originally born. A new race of men was to spring from heaven. The first-born of this new stock was destined hereafter to be a partaker of the life of the gods and to rule over a world in peace with the virtues of his father.' Then follow the rural and pastoral images of the Golden Age, like those given in the first Georgic in the description of the early world before the reign of Jove. The full glory of the age should not be reached till this child should attain the maturity of manhood. In the meantime some traces of 'man's original sin' ('priscae vestigia fraudis') should still urge him to brave the dangers of the sea, to surround his cities with walls, and to plough the earth into furrows. There should be a second expedition of the Argonauts, and a new Achilles should be sent against another Troy. The romantic adventures of the heroic age were to precede the rest, innocence, and spontaneous abundance of the age of Saturn. Next the child is called upon to prepare himself for the 'magni honores'-the great offices of state which awaited him; and the poet prays that his own life and inspiration may be prolonged so far as to enable him to celebrate his career. There seem to be no traces of imitation of Theocritus in this poem. The rhythm which in the other Eclogues reproduces the Theocritean cadences is in this more stately and uniform, recalling those of Catullus in his longest poem. The substance of the poem is quite unlike anything in the Sicilian idyl. Though this substance does not stand out in the clear light of reality, but is partially revealed |