26. mutavere vias] 'have shifted.' Jupiter the air.' 28. species] the images.' motus 'impressions.' Both words are philosophical terms, for the material action in or on the mind by which what is called knowledge is obtained. 29. nunc] i.e. when it is fine, opposed to dum nubila ventus agebat. 30. 31. ille concentus] 'that delightful carol.' ovantes] 'exulting' [from a root av- from which came the Greek aFow to shout.'] X. [Signs that forebode disasters and troubles; storms, cries of ill-omened birds and beasts, eruptions of volcanoes, mysterious voices, earthquakes, animals speaking, yawnings of the earth, floods, unfavourable sacrifices, lightnings, and comets.] 1. unde serenas ventus agat nubes] 'from what quarter the wind drives before it rainless clouds,' or 'drives clouds away and clears the weather.' This is opposed to what the umidus Auster does. Whether it is to be fine or foul the setting sun gives sure indication. 4. caecos] 'hidden,' 'lurking.' Of sudden and unexpected alarms of war. 5. fraudem]' treachery.' 6-9. Julius Caesar was assassinated on the ides of March B.C. 44, and there was an eclipse of the sun in the following November. Shakespeare has reproduced the story of the marvels that preceded Caesar's murder (J. C. 2, 2): 'There is one within Recounts most horrible sights seen by the watch. And graves have yawned and yielded up their dead; The noise of battle hurtled in the air, And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.' 12 And again in Hamlet (1, 1): 'In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 9. quamquam] 'although' it was not the sun alone which gave such signs, but other things as well. Ovid (Met. 1, 200) alludes to these marvels Cum manus impia saevit Sanguine Caesareo Romanum extinguere nomen, Hunanum genus est, totusque perhorruit orbis. 10. obscenae] 'ill-omened.' importunae 'out of place,' and so also of evil omen. C. quotes Shakespeare (J.C. 1, 3), "And yesterday the bird of night did sit, Even at noonday, upon the market-place, Hooting and shrieking." 11-13. The Cyclopes were fabled to be forging Jove's thunderbolts under Aetna.-Aen. 8, 417 sq. 16-17. vox] This portent had been observed before, as related by Livy (5, 32), announcing the coming of the Gauls; in consequence of which a temple to Aius Locutus was built in the Nova Via. exaudita 'heard in the distance.' ingens 'supernatural.' simulacra 'phantoms,' the phrase is taken from Lucretius (1, 123). 18. sub obscurum noctis] 'just before the darkness of night,' 'in the twilight.' 19. terrae] 'the land in different places,'-hence the plural. 20. ebur aeraque] ivory and bronze figures.' 22. fluviorum] is pronounced as three syllables, cp. tenūïa (9, 5). Eridanus is the poetical name of the Padus or Po. 24. fibrae minaces] 'filaments of ill-omened aspect.' fibrae are parts of the liver which if found in a non-natural or abnormal state in a victim were of evil omen. 26. Wolves approaching cities would be unusual and portentous except at times of unusual cold. 28. cometae] Soon after Julius' death Suetonius tells us that a comet appeared for seven nights, and was believed by the populace to be the soul of Caesar in the heaven. 29-30. paribus] both Roman. iterum for a second time,' i.e. in the war between the Assassins of Julius and Octavian, following on that between Julius and Pompey. Philippi in Macedonia was so called after the father of Alexander the Great. The battle was fought in B.C. 42. 31. nec fuit indignum superis] 'nor did the gods think it too much to allow.' 32. bis...Emathiam...Haemi] Emathia, though properly part of Macedonia, stands for Thessaly, and Haemi campos ['plains at the foot of H.'] for Macedonia. bis means once in each of these places, i.e. at Pharsalus in Thessaly, and at Philippi in Macedonia, cp. G. 1, 33, bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes; where Vergil is alluding to two separate triumphs, one over the East and one over the West. Haemus is a mountain range extending from the Black Sea westward across Thrace, and is used loosely to represent the North of Greece, Macedonia especially. 35. pila] The pilum, a short thick javelin, was the peculiar weapon of the Roman. 36. inanis] 'empty,' both because no head is in the helmets, and because all the inside fittings would have rolled out. 37. grandia] 'big,'-the warriors who fought at these battles may be assumed to have been stout and stalwart men; but there is no need to imagine Vergil to be referring emphatically to the degeneracy of the human type going on from generation to generation. XI. [In these noble lines the poet with well-grounded pride dilates upon the beauty and fertility of Italy, its manly race of inhabitants, and its historical greatness; and compares its civilised glories with the barbaric riches and mythological renown of other lands.] 1. 'The land of the Medes most luxuriant in forests.' silvae 13 is genitive of respect L. P., p. 193 E. Others (among whom is Conington) take silvae as nom. in apposition to terra. The land of the Medes' stands for Persia or the East generally. 2. auro turbidus] discoloured by gold dust.' There were gold mines in the neighbourhood of Mount Tmolus, and the Hermus and Pactolus were supposed to carry down much in their course. Pliny enumerates the gold-bearing rivers-the Tagus, the Po, the Hebrus, the Pactolus, the Ganges (H.N. 33, 11). 3. Bactra] Balk, a northern province of Persia. 4. Panchaia] i.e. Arabia, from an island of fabulous wealth feigned to be near the coast of Arabia. turiferis it may be remarked that the ancients made the mistake, which in modern times has been often made, of imagining that a country from which articles of luxury came was necessarily a rich country. 5-6. Referring to the story of the fire-breathing bulls yoked by Jason in Colchis. satis dentibus] abl. abs, 'when the teeth were sown ;' or as others explain dat. 'for sowing the teeth for seeds.' 8. Massicus] 'Massic,' i.e. of Mount Massicus, a mountain in North Campania celebrated for its vineyards. 9. oleae armentaque] Observe the hiatus or non-elision of the diphthong. The prevalence of the olive and its great beauty must strike any traveller in Italy. 10. hinc] 'from this land.' arduus 'with head erect.' 11. The Clitumnus in Umbria was supposed to impart their whiteness to the cattle for which its banks were famous. Prop. 2, 19, 5, qua formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco Integit, et niveos abluit unda boves. 11-13. Con. remarks that the white bulls did not lead the way in the triumphs, but came before the triumphal car. ad templa deum the procession went to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline. 14. alienis mensibus] i.e. in months properly belonging to winter. 16. rabidae] 'fierce,' [cp. rab-o, rab-i-o, rab-i-es.] 18-19. tanto tractu] 'with as vast a train as he does in other lands.' 21. praeruptis oppida saxis] The Etruscan cities were 14 for the most part built on high peaks, as may be seen for instance on the road from Rome to Tivoli. 23. The mare superum or the Adriatic, the mare inferum or the Tyrrhenian sea. 24. lacus tantos] 'those vast lakes.' Lari the Larius or Lake of Como is not the largest, being surpassed by Lago Maggiore [Lacus Verbanus]. 25. Benace] The Benacus or Lago di Garda is a very tempestuous lake, often rising with waves almost as great as those at sea. 26-30. These lines describe what was called by its constructor Agrippa the Portus Julius. It was formed by the uniting of the two lagoons Avernus and Lucrinus, and building up a strong sea-wall (claustra) between the latter and the bay of Naples, with a channel to admit ships. This sea-wall still in part remains, but the channel to the sea, and indeed most of the Lucrine, has been choked up by an earthquake. Agrippa called the harbour thus made Julian, in compliment to the Julian Gens, to which Augustus belonged by adoption. refuso 'thrown back by the sea-wall.' 30. haec eadem] 'this land too.' 31. ostendit.......fluxit] 'has ere now shown in its veins or produced in copious stream.' Vergil is said to use the past tense because the mines of Italy were no longer worked. Their use was forbidden by the Senate as soon as the Romans had subjected other countries from which metals could be drawn. The motive apparently was the idea of not exhausting the wealth of Italy while it could be supplied by other countries. Pliny asserts that Italy was second to no country in mineral wealth (H.N. 33, 78). 32-4. Vergil enumerates the hardiest and most warlike tribes of Latium and its neighbourhood. The Marsi were settled round lake Facinus; Sabelli is used as an equivalent for Sabini; the Ligurians inhabited the mountainous district on the north coast of the Tyrrhenian sea; the Volsci a people of South Latium. verutos armed with the verutum |