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79. Labor erit facilis Sed tamen alternis facilis labor: arida tantùm Ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola; neve

alternis annis:

80. Tantùm ne pudeat Effuetos cinerem immundum jactare per agros.

te saturare sola

Sic quoque mutatis requiescunt fœtibus arva. Nec nulla intereà est inaratæ gratia terræ. Sæpe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros, Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis Sive inde occultas vires et pabula terræ Pinguia concipiunt; sive illis omne per ignem Excoquitur vitium, atque exudat inutilis humor: Seu plures calor ille vias, et cæca relaxat 91. Seu ille calor ma- Spiramenta, novas veniat quà succus in herbas : gis durat terram, et Seu durat magis, et venas astringit hiantes : 92. Ne tenues pluvia Ne tenues pluviæ, rapidive potentia solis penetrent altiùs; acriorve potentia Acrior, aut Boreæ penetrabile frigus adurat. 95. Adeò ille juvat Multùm adeò, rastris glebas qui frangit inertes, arva multùm, qui frangit Vimineasque trahit crates, juvat arva; neque illum 97. Et ille multum ju- Flava Ceres alto nequicquam spectat Olympo: vat arva, qui perrumpit Et qui, procisso quæ suscitat æquore, terga primo procisso æquore, Rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro : aratro verso rursus in Exercetque frequens tellurem, atque imperat arvis. obliquum: Humida solstitia atque hyemes orate serenas,

terga, quæ suscitat in

NOTES.

having the power of causing them to forget whatever they had done, seen, or heard before. A river in Africa of that name, which flowed under ground for some distance, and then rose to its surface, is supposed to have given rise to this extravagant fable.

79. Labor facilis. The meaning appears to be this: that the above mentioned crops may be sown every other year, notwithstanding their injurious qualities, provided the land be well manured.

80. Arida sola: dry or thirsty soils. 81. Effetos: worn out-exhausted. 82. Fatibus: in the sense of segetibus. 83. Nec nulla gratia est inarala terræ: nor, in the mean time is there no gratitude in the land untilled-left fallow every other year.

The whole of this section contains a number of excellent precepts and instructions for the husbandman. In the first place, he advises the farmer to let his land rest every other year; or, if he cannot do that with convenience, then to change the crops, and to sow wheat after the several kinds which he mentions, but not to sow flax, oats, or poppies for these burn and impoverish the land. He says, notwithstanding this, they may be sown in turn, provided care be taken to recruit and enrich the land by manure. The poet concludes by observing, that if the ground be left fallow, as he at first advised, instead of being sown with any of those grains, it would not be ungrateful-it would

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abundantly repay the farmer for this indulgence.

3.

86. Sive inde, &c. The poet here gives four reasons for the farmer's firing his lands. 1. That they might hence receive an increase of nutriment. 2 That the noxious moisture might be dried up to them. That the close and dense soil might be loosened. And 4. That the loose soil might be rendered closer. This he founds upon the principle of those philosophers who taught that fire was the universal element.

88. Vitium: the bad quality.

90. Spiramenta cæca: secret avenues, or passages, by which moisture is drawn into the new plants.

93. Penetrabile: in the sense of penetrans, penetrating-searching. Rapidi: in the sense of ardentis.

97. Et qui, &c. The poet recommends to the farmer to harrow his ground well, before he commit the seed to it; but if it be hard and obstinate, and lie up in ridges, (terga) so that it will not yield to the harow, then it will be profitable to plough it again crosswise. Proscisso æquore: in breaking up his field. Suscitat: raises upmakes.

99. Exercet, &c. He exercises his land frequently, and commands his fields. This is a metaphor taken from a general training or exercising his troops giving thein commands, and dispensing discipline among them.

100. Solstitia: summers.

Agricolæ hyberno lætissima pulvere farra,
Lætus ager: nullo tantùm se Mysia cultu
Jactat, et ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messes.
Quid dicam, jacto qui semine cominùs arva
Insequitur, cumulosque ruit malè pinguis arenæ ?
Deinde satis fluvium inducit, rivosque sequentes?
Et cùm exustus ager morientibus æstuat herbis,
Ecce, supercilio clivosi tramitis undam
Elicit illa cadens raucum per levia murmur
Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva.
Quid, qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis,
Luxuriem segetum tenerâ depascit in herbâ,
Cùm primùm sulcos æquant sata? quique paludis
Collectum humorem bibulâ deducit arena?
Præsertim incertis si mensibus amnis abundans
Exit, et obducto latè tenet omnia limo,
Unde cava tepido sudant humore lacunæ.

101. Farra sunt lætissima hyberno pulvere: ager est lætus

104. Quid dicam de

105 eo, qui

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111. Quid dicam de illo, qui, ne culmus procumbat gravidis aristis, depascit

113. Quique deducit 115 humorem collectum instar paludis bibulâ arenâ

Nec tamen (hæc cùm sint hominumque, boumque labores
Versando terram experti) nihil improbus anser,
Strymoniæque grues, ét amaris intuba fibris,
Officiunt, aut umbra nocet. Pater ipse colendi

NOTES.

101. Farra: in the sense of segetes. 102. Mysia. There were two countries of this name: the one in Europe, and bounded on the north by the Danube; the other in Asia Minor, near the Propontis and Hellespont. The latter is here meant. Mysia delights herself so much in no cultivation, as in moist summers and dry winters-no culture renders her so fruitful, as to have moist, &c.

103. Gargara: neu. plu. A part of mount Ida, the country near which was much famed for its fertility.

104. Quid dicam, &c. What shall I say of him, who, the seed being sown, closely plies his fields, and breaks down the clods or ridges (cumulos) of his barren soil? For malè pinguis; Rumus says, malè compacto; and Valpy, too rich and adhesive. Ruit: in the sense of frangit.

106. Sequentes rivos: in the sense of fluentes rivulos.

108. Ecce, elicit aquam, &c. Lo! he leads down a stream of water from the brow of a hilly tract. Estuat: is parched, or burned.

110. Scatebris: with its streams, or rills. Temperat: Ruæus says, humectat.

114. Quique deducit. The probable meaning of this passage is: that the husbandman, for the purpose of watering his fields in the dry season, should form reservoirs or ponds, by collecting into them the water that fell in the rainy season. He had already advised the plan of bringing water from the higher grounds upon his fields. But where that could not be done, he advises to substitute the reservoir or pond, as the only alter

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121. Colendi terram

native. This appears to be the opinion of Heyne. Humorem: in the sense of aquam. 115. Incertis mensibus: in the variable months-those months when the weather is most changeable.

118. Nec tamen, &c. Though the farmer be never so careful in the culture of his land, the poet reminds him not to stop there. After the crop is put into the ground, it still requires his attention. For the foul or greedy goose, the Thracian cranes, the succory, or endive, as also the shade, injure it. The two negatives, nec-nihil, amount to an affirmative.

120. Strymonia: an adj. from Strymon, a river in the confines of Macedonia and Thrace, where cranes abounded.

121. Pater ipse voluit: father Jupiter himself willed that the way of cultivating the earth should not be easy. He was fabled to have been the son of Saturn and Ops; and called the father of gods, and king of men Saturn, who received the kingdom of the world from his brother Titan, on the condition of his raising no male offspring, devoured his sons as soon as they were born; but his mother, regretting that so fair a child should be destroyed, concealed him from his father, as she also did Neptune and Pluto, and intrusted him to the care of the Corybantes, or Curetes, who educated him on mount Ida, in Crete. As soon as he came to mature years, he made war against the Titans, who had made his father a prisoner. He was victorious and set him at liberty. But growing jealous of his son's power, he conspired against him; whereupon Jupiter expelled him from his kingdom, and he fled

138. Appellans Pleiadas

Haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusque per artem
Movit agros, curis acuens mortalia corda:

Nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno.

- Ante Jovem nulli subigebant arva coloni:

Nec signare quidem, aut partiri limite campum
Fas erat in medium quærebant: ipsaque tellus
Omnia liberiùs, nullo poscente, ferebat.
Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris,
Prædarique lupos jussit, pontumque moveri,
Mellaque decussit foliis, ignemque removit,
Et passim rivis currentia vina repressit:
Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artes
Paulatim, et sulcis frumenti quæreret herbam,
Et silicis venis abstrusum excuderet ignem.
Tunc alnos primùm fluvii sensêre cavatas:
Navita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit,
eas Pleïadas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton.
Tum laqueis captare feras, et fallere visco,
Inventum; et magnos canibus circumdare saltus.
Atque alius latum fundâ jam verberat amnem

NOTES.

for safety to Italy, where Janus was king. After this, Jupiter divided the empire of the world with his two brothers, reserving to himself the empire of heaven and earth. The Giants, the offspring of the earth, to avenge the death of the Titans, whom Jupiter slew, rebelled against him. Piling mountains, one upon another, they hoped to scale heaven itself, and attack Jupiter in person. He, however, completely vanquished them, and inflicted on them the severest punishment for their crimes. He married his sister Juno, who was very jealous of him, and sometimes very troublesome. His power was the most extensive of any of the gods. His worship was general, and surpassed that of any of the gods in dignity and solemnity. He had several celebrated oracles, but that at Dodona, in Epirus, and at Ammon, in Lybia, perhaps took the lead. He had several names, chiefly derived from the places where he was worshipped, and from his offices and functions. He was called Hospitalis, because he was the protector of strangers; Optimus, because he was the best; Maximus, because he was the greatest; Olympius, because he was worshipped at Olympia, &c. Jupiter, is sometimes put for the air, or weather.

123. Movit: in the sense of coluit. 124. Gravi veterno. Veternus, or veternum, is a disease causing a stupor both of mind and body, something like the lethargy. Torpere gravi veterno, is highly metaphorical. Veterno: in the sense of otio, vel desidia, says Ruæus.

131. Removit ignem: he removed fire from the sight of men, and concealed it in the veins of the flint. Prometheus is said to have stolen it from heaven, because it was

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found necessary to man. Decussit: he shook off the honey from the leaves, i. e. he caused the honey to cease.

133. Ut usus extunderet: that experience, by observation, might find out the various arts by degrees.

134. Sulcis: by agriculture-by the plough. 136. Cavatas alnos: simply, boats; because, at first, they were made of the alder

tree.

138. Pleïadas: acc. plu. of Greek termination. They are seven stars in the neck of Taurus, and are called Pleiades, from a Greek word signifying, to sail; because by their rising, they indicated the proper time to put to sea. They were sometimes called Atlantides, from Atlas, a king of Mauritania, whose daughters they were fabled to be, by the nymph Pleione. The Romans sometimes called them Vergilia. Their names were, Electra, Alcynoë, Celano, Sterope, Taygeta, Maia, and Merope. Hyadas. These are seven stars in the front of Taurus, so called from a Greek word signifying, to rain. They were fabled to have been the daughters of Alias and Ethra. Refusing consolation for the death of their brother Hyas, who was slain by a lion, Jupiter, taking pity on them, changed them into as many stars. Their names are Ambrosia, Eudoxa, Pasithoë, Cirone, Plexauris, Pytho, and Syche. Arelon. A constellation near the north pole, called the Ursa Major. Lycaon was a king of Arcadia, whose daughter Calisto, out of jealousy, was transformed by Juno into a bear; and Jupiter, for his regard to her, translated her in that form to heaven, and made her the constellation Arcton.

Alta petens, pelagoue alius trahit humida lina.
Tum ferri rigor, atque argutæ lamina serræ ;
(Nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum)
Tum variæ venêre artes. Labor omnia vincit
Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas.

Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere terram
Instituit: cùm jam glandes atque arbuta sacræ
Deficerent sylvæ, et victum Dodona negaret
Mox et frumentis labor additus; ut mala culmos
Esset rubigo, segnisque horreret in arvis
Carduus: intereunt segetes, subit aspera sylva,
Lappæque, tribulique: interque nitentia culta
Infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenæ.
Quòd nisi et assiduis terram insectabere rastris,
Et sonitu terrebis aves, et ruris opaci

Falce premes umbras, votisque vocaveris imbrem :
Heu, magnum alterius frustrà spectabis acervum,
Concussâque famem in sylvis solabère quercu.

Dicendum, et quæ sint duris agrestibus arma:
Queis sinè, nec potuere seri, nec surgere messes.
Vomis, et inflexi primùm grave robur aratri,
Tardaque Eleusinæ matris volventia plaustra,
Tribulaque, traheæque, et iniquo pondere rastri :
Virgea prætereà Celei vilisque supellex,
Arbuteæ crates, et mystica vannus Iacchi.

NOTES.

142. Petens alta: seeking the deep parts of the sea, or river. Altum, when it is used for the sea, properly signifies the channel, or the deepest part of it; while pelagus properly signifies that part of the sea near the land.

143. Tum rigor ferri; then the hardening of iron, and the blade of the grating saw, were invented.

145. Improbus labor: constant, persevering labor overcomes all difficultics. Duris rebus: in poverty. Egestas: in the sense of necessitas. Venêre in the sense of in

ventæ sunt.

148. Arbuta: the fruit of the arbute tree. Dodona: a famous grove in Epirus, abounding in mast trees. See Ecl. ix. 13.

150. Labor: in the sense of morbus, disease. Mala rubigo esset: that the noxious mildew should consume the stalks. Esset, for ederet.

152. Segnis carduus: the useless thistle wave, or look rough. Sylva. See 76, supra. 153. Lappa: burrs, a species of herb. Tribuli: the brambles-land-caltrops. Infelix: noxious—irjurious.

154. Dominantur: bear rule-have the ascendency.

157. Premes umbras: you should trim off the limbs (of the trees) of a shaded field, &c. Umbras: in the sense of ramos, by

meton.

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144. Primi homines

160. Dicendum est nobis, et quæ

162. Primùm vomis, et

grave

159. Solabere famem, &c. The poet assures the farmer that, unless he follow the directions just given, he will behold the abundant crops of his neighbor, while his will fail him, and he be under the necessity of allaying the craving of nature upon nothing better than acorns.

160. Arma: implements, tools, &c. necessary to the farmer. Et: in the sense of quoque.

163. Tarda volventia: the slow-moving wagons of mother Ceres. Elusina: an adj. from Eleusis, a city of Attica, where she was worshipped. Inflexi: in the sense of curvi.

164. Tribula. This was a kind of sledge or carriage, used among the ancients to thresh their corn with. It was pointed with iron. and drawn over the grain by oxen. Trahea This was an instrument something like the tribulum, and made use of for the same purpose; a sledge.

164. Iniquo: Rumus says, magno.

165. Vilis virgeaque supellex: the cheap or common wicker-baskets. Celei: Celeus was the father of Triptolemus, whom Ceres, it is said, instructed in the art of tillage and husbandry. See Ecl. v. 79.

166. Arbuteæ crates: hurdles of the arbute tree. Vannus: a sieve, or winnowing machine. It is called mystica, mystic, because used in the mysteries of Bacchu Iacchi: Iacchus, a name of Bacchus.

Omnia

quæ multò antè memor provisa repones, Si te digna manet divini gloria ruris.

169. Continuò in syl- Continuò in sylvis magnâ vi flexa domatur vis flexa ulmus domatur In burim, et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri. magna vî in burim, et Huic à stirpe pedes temo protentus in octo, accipit

171. Huic buri temo Binæ aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso. protentus à stirpe in octo Cæditur et tilia antè jugo levis, altaque fagus, pedes aptatur ; binæ Stivaque, quæ currus à tergo torqueat imos; aures, et dentalia cum Et suspensa focis explorat robora fumus. duplici dorso aptantur. Possum multa tibi veterum præcepta referre, Ni refugis, tenuesque piget cognoscere curas. 178. Cum primis rebus Area cum primis ingenti æquanda cylindro, cst æquanda in- Et vertenda manu, et cretâ solidanda tenaci: Ne subeant herbæ, neu pulvere victa fatiscat: Tum variæ illudunt pestes. Sæpe exiguus mus Sub terris posuitque domos, atque horrea fecit: Aut oculis capti fodêre cubilia talpæ.

area

genti

184. Bufo inventus est Inventusque cavis bufo, et quæ plurima terræ

cavis, et plurima mon- Monstra ferunt: populatque ingentem farris acervum

stra, quæ

Curculio, atque inopi metuens formica senecta.
Contemplator item, cùm se nux plurima sylvis

NOTES.

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172. Bina aures: two mould or earth boards, one on each side of the temo, or beam. The poet here mentions the several parts of the plough. The buris, or bura, was the part which the ploughman held in his left hand-the plough tail. The dentale, the chip, or part of the plough to which the vomer, or share, is fastened. Duplici dorso: with a double back. Some understand duplex in the sense of latus; but there is no need of this. The plough, which the poet is describing, is altogether of a singular kind to us. It had two inould-boards; two chips or share-beams we might supposed it to have had, one on each side of the temo, or main beam, which, being joined together, might not improperly be said to form a double back. Stiva: the handle, which the ploughman holds in his right hand.

173. Et levis tilia. Tilia, the linden, or lime-tree. It is a light wood, and therefore more suitable for the plough.

174. Que torqueat: which may turn the lowest wheels from behind-may turn the extreme or hinder part of the plough. The plough here described we may suppose run

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upon wheels, which is the reason of the poet's calling it currus, a carriage. Ruæus says: quibusdam in regionibus aratrum instruitur rolis; but commentators are by no means agreed as to the form and construction of this plough of the poet.

175. Fumus explorat. Wood seasoned in the way here mentioned will be less liable to crack or split, than if seasoned in the usual way, in the sun and open air.

180. Victa pulvere: overcome with dryness, should crack. Pulvere. Ruæus says: siccitate, quæ creat pulverem.

181. Tum in the sense of prætereà.

183. Tulpa capti oculis. Talpa, the mole, a small animal, supposed to have no eyes, and living chiefly under the ground.

184. Bufo: the toad. Monstrum, properly signifies any thing contrary to the ordinary course of nature; also, any mischievous animal, whether man or brute; which is the meaning here.

186. Curculio: the weavel; a mischievous animal among grain.

187. Contemplator item, &c. Observe in like manner when the nut-tree in the woods clothes itself abundantly with blooms. Of the nut-tree, there are several kinds. The one here meant is supposed to be the Armygdala, or almond-tree, because its flowers or blossoms were supposed to be an indication of the fertility of the year. Plurima: an adj. sup. agreeing with nux. This construction frequently occurs, and is more elegantly translated by its corresponding adverb.

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