Dira per incautum serpant contagia vulgus. Non tam creber agens hyemem ruit æquore turbo, 470 Quam multæ pecudum pestes: nec singula morbi Corpora corripiunt; sed tota æstiva repente, Spemque gregemque simul, cunctamque ab origine gentem. Castella in tumulis, et lapidis arva Timavi, vent the contagion from spreading. Non tam creber agens, &c.] After these diseases, to which the sheep are subject, our poet adds, that the distempers of cattle are innumerable. Hence he takes occasion to speak of a great plague, by which all the country about the Alps was laid waste. I do not think that creber agens hyemem turbo is to be understood to mean, that many whirlwinds precede one single storm, but that the sea is tossed by many whirlwinds, each of which precedes a storm. That a violent storm is usually preeeded by a whirlwind, is most certain; therefore to enter into a debate whether the whirlwind is to be accounted a forerunner of a storm, or a part of the storm itself, would be a mere logomachy. 475 before, he calls a serpent pestis acerba boum. Estiva.] "Estiva are the shady places in which the cattle avoid the heat of the sun in summer." Servius. Tum sciat, &c.] "The sense is this: if any one knows what sort of places these were, when they were full of cattle, he may now see them empty, though it is a long time since the pestilence." Servius. Aërias Alpes.] The Alps are called aëria, from their great height: they divide Italy from France and Germany. Norica.] Noricum was a region of Germany, bordering on the Alps. Great part of it is what we now call Bavaria. lapidis arva Timavi.] Some read Iapygis; but Iapygia was a part of the kingdom of Naples, far distant from the Alps, of which Virgil is here speaking. Quam multæ pecudum pestes.] The poet cannot mean that pes--lapidis is certainly the true tilences or murrains are as common among the cattle as storms on the sea. Pestis is a more general word, and includes all the several great misfortunes that attend them. Thus a little meaning; for Iapidia was in the Venetian territory, where the river Timavus flows. This part of Italy is now called Friuli.— Timavus is a river of Carniola : it is now called Timavo. Hic quondam morbo cæli miseranda coorta est Tempestas, totoque autumni incanduit æstu, Et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum, 480 Corrupitque lacus, infecit pabula tabo. Nec via mortis erat simplex: sed ubi ignea venis Omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, Rursus abundabat fluidis liquor, omniaque in se Ossa minutatim morbo collapsa trahebat. 485 Sæpe in honore deum medio stans hostia ad aram, Lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta, Sitis.] A parching heat and thirst attends all malignant fevers. Infula.] The infula was a sort of diadem or fillet, with which the heads of the victims were bound. Ruæus says the vitta were the ornaments which hung down from the infula. Nec responsa potest consultus reddere vates.] The entrails of the victims were thought not to discover the will of the gods, unless they were sound. Jejuna sanie.] In these morbid bodies the liquids were al most wasted, and, instead of 490 495 blood, there came out only a corrupted matter. Hinc canibus blandis rabies venit.] The madness to which dogs are subject, is attended with most dreadful consequences. Their bite communicates the madness not only to other animals, but to mankind also. The most terrible of all the symptoms of this distemper is the hydrophobia, or dread of water; the patient, however thirsty, not being able to drink any sort of liquor without being thrown into the most horrid convulsions. Tussis anhela sues, ac faucibus angit obesis. Tum vero ardentes oculi, atque attractus ab alto Faucibus angit obesis.] Swine are subject to coughs, and inflammatory swellings in the throat; whence the poet with great propriety uses the word angit, angina being the Latin name for a quinsey. Labitur infelix studiorum, &c.] Having briefly made mention of dogs and swine, he now speaks more largely of the violent effects of this distemper on horses. Pede terram crebra ferit.] The most violent diseases of horses are frequently attended with an unusual stamping on the ground. Demissæ aures.] The hanging down of the ears is mentioned by Columella as a symptom of pain in a horse's head. Incertus sudor.] By a doubtful sweat, he either means a sweat of which it may be doubted whether it is a good or a bad symptom, or else a sweat that comes and goes uncertainly and irregularly. Morituris frigidus.] A cold 500 505 sweat is universally known to be a bad symptom. Ater pellis.] The dryness of the skin is inconsistent with the sweating just mentioned. We must therefore understand the poet not to mean that all these symptoms were found in every horse, but that they were variously affected. The cold sweat is a sign of a diminution of the vital powers; and the dryness and hardness of the skin shew that there is a great inward heat, and an obstruction of the matter, which ought to be perspired through the pores of the skin. Ardentes oculi.] Thucydides, in his description of the plague at Athens, says they were at first seized with a heat and heaviness in the head, with a redness and inflammation of the eyes. Imaque longo ilia singultu tendunt.] Thucydides says that most of them had sobs or hickups, attended with strong convulsions. Sanguis, et obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. 510 515 Non umbræ altorum nemorum, non mollia possunt 520 Dii meliora piis, &c.] This was a frequent form among the ancients of expressing their abhorrence of any great mischief, by wishing it from themselves to their enemies. Discissos nudis laniabant dentibus artus.] Perhaps by naked teeth, the poet may intend to express the horrid grinning of the horse in the agonies of death. Ecce autem duro fumans, &c.] As the poet had before spoken of bulls and horses together, when he treated of their generation, and the ways of managing them; so now he joins them in distress, and describes the misery of the bull immediately after that of the horse. This passage is wonderfully poetical. He represents the bull dropping down under the yoke, and the unhappy farmer leaving the plough in the middle of the field. Hence he slides into a beautiful digression concerning the wholesome simplicity of the food of these animals, which he opposes to the luxurious and destructive diet of mankind.He represents the mortality among the kine to have been so great, that they were forced to use buffaloes for the sacrifices of Juno, to bury the corn in the ground with their hands, and to draw their waggons themselves, for want of cattle. 530 Quid labor aut benefacta juvant? quid vomere terras 525 Nec gregibus nocturnus obambulat; acrior illum Alta ad donaria.] "Donaria are properly the places where the gifts to the gods are laid up. Hence the word is transferred to signify temples. For thus pulvinaria also are used for temples, whereas they are properly the cushions or couches which used to be spread in temples." Servius. Ergo @gre, &c.] The poet describes the great mortality of cattle by saying the people were forced to scratch the earth with their nails, in order to sow, or rather set their corn, scarce being able to drag the harrows 535 540 over the fields, and that they strained their own necks with the yokes. Contenta.] This is generally interpreted, not contented, but strained. Non lupus insidias explorat, &c.] The poet having already mentioned the destruction which was made among the cattle, now represents this wasting pestilence as extending itself through earth, sea, and air: he observes that physic was of no service, and that even the divine masters of the art failed. |