Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

gravis incumbens pressing heavily on'; 3. 350 turbidus et torquens flaventes Hister harenas 'rolling turbid'; 4. 19 tenuis fugiens...rivus; 369 saxosusque sonans Hypanis 'rocky roaring'; 425 rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos; Aen. 3. 7 lenis crepitans 'gently rustling.'

The ‘Eleusinian mother is Δημήτηρ (=γῆ μήτηρ ‘Mother Earth') in whose honour the Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated, and who is identified with Ceres.

164. iniquo...] 'hoes of cruel weight,' i.e. which are able remorselessly to smash the clods; cf. line 94. rastrum, though originally the scraping instrument' (from rado), clearly differed from a modern hoe in being very heavy, so that the back could be used almost as a hammer.

166. arbuteae...] These are special instances of the more important'articles of wattle-work. mystica vannus Iacchi: the fan of Iacchus' is called 'mystic' because it was carried in procession at the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries ; Wagner says that it was signum animarum per mysteria purgandarum.

167. omnia...] 'all which thou shalt heedfully provide and store up long beforehand': for the future of command cf. 72 n. Cf. Hes. W. 457 τῶν πρόσθεν μελέτην ἔχεμεν οἰκήια θέσθαι. memor, i.e. taking heed to my precepts.

168. si te digna...] Notice that te is acc. after manet, and not connected with digna. After digna supply divino rure. The 'divine country' has a 'glory' (divini gloria ruris) which it can bestow, but this glory is only bestowed in a fulness which is worthy of the giver (digna divino rure) when it has been won by hard work.

Others render' deserved (by you)' or 'worthy of you.'

169. continuo in silvis] Cf. 60 n.

170. in burim] 'for a plough-stock.' Virgil says that the elm, when thus bent so as to form a plough-stock, 'receives the shape of the curved plough,' because the buris (yúns) is the essential part of a plough, and indeed in itself formed a plough, so that Hesiod speaks of a plough formed by a plough-stock only (avróyvov apaтpov), which he recommends the farmer to have by him as well as a plough composed of various parts (πηктоν аратроν Hes. W. 433). In Italy now the heavy piece of wood which forms the plough-stock is still called aratolino.

On the following page are three sketches-Fig. 1 is the plough given in Smith's Dict. of Antiquities, which is a mere reproduction of Martyn's, published in 1740; Fig. 2 shows a

2

FIG. 1.-1, buris; 2, temo; 3, dentale; 4, culter; 5, vomer; 6, 6,

[blocks in formation]

rough 'plough-stock'; Fig. 3 is a sketch suggesting how this rough plough was improved into Virgil's more elaborate

one.

In Fig. 1 the buris cannot possibly be said to have the shape of a plough, and certainly could not by itself be used for ploughing, whereas in Fig. 3 the buris is practically a plough in itself. Again the union of the temo to the buris in Fig. 1 seems essentially weak; the duplex dorsum of 172 (where see note) is not given at all; nor is there any stiva. On the other hand, in Fig. 3

(1) the general arrangement by which the dentalia and aures would form a duplex dorsum is clear; and

(2) the stiva is clearly shown in some such position as it must have occupied if it was 'to turn and guide the plough at the bottom,' being in some way morticed or fastened into the buris at its lower part, so that the ploughman by leaning on it could guide the plough. In Fayam Towns and Papyri, Plate IX., a photograph is given of a Roman plough in which the stiva seems merely a low projection at the end of the plough-stock, but the attitude of the Arab, who is photographed using it, is in consequence so bent that work would be impossible. An ancient Arab plough in the Museum at Berne is in essential points at one with Fig. 3.

[ocr errors]

171. huic a stirpe...] to this from the stock a pole stretching eight feet (is fastened),' i.e. from the upper end of the stirps which form the stock or body of the plough: aptatur is to be supplied from next line. temo=iσroßocús Hes. W. 431.

172. binae aures, duplici...] 'two mould-boards, sharebeams with double ridge are fastened on.' What the 'ears' are is sufficiently clear from the illustration: the dentalia are so called because they carry the dens or 'share' (cf. 262 vomeris obtunsi dentem), being two pieces of wood fastened to the buris below the aures, with which they form a continuous line, converging to a point on to which is fitted the share. If any one will make a small model of the plough, he will at once see that when joined to the buris the aures and dentalia do exactly form a double ridge.'

dentale Avμa Hes. W. 430.

173. iugo] for a yoke.' The dative is 'Predicative, expressing that which a thing serves as,' Roby. iugum, Švyós, 'yoke' are all the same word.

altaque fagus stivaque] 'a tall beech (is cut) and a plough-handle' is put for a tall beech is cut for a plough

handle.' Most call the curious phrase fagus stivaque an instance of hendiadys, but it seems better to explain stivaque as 'explanatory' of fagus. Various alterations have been suggested, such as transposing lines 173 and 174, or altering stivaque to stivae, but they are all conjectural and do not improve the text. For stiva éxétλŋ see 170 n.

174. currus] The plough in motion is not unnaturally called 'a car.' Some deduce from this word that Virgil is thinking of a wheeled plough, but, though wheeled ploughs were well known, the context precludes a reference to one here. The reading cursus has almost no authority.

175. et suspensa...] This line doubtless refers to all the 'timber' used in the plough, and not merely to the 'linden' and beech' of 179. After giving a description of all the wood to be used, Virgil adds that it is all to be hung up over the hearth that the smoke may 'search out its strength,' i. e. thoroughly season it.

It is usual now to season timber by stacking it for some considerable time, but Virgil's method is more rapid, and artificial seasoning by means of a current of hot air is now in use at Woolwich Arsenal.

176-203. There are many old rules which I can relate, unless you think them too trivial to deserve attention. Firstly, the threshing-floor must be made level and very hard, to prevent weeds coming up and the surface breaking into cracks which harbour destructive vermin, mice, moles, toads, weevils, and ants. Observe also that if the almond-tree sets its blossom well, there will be great heat and a great harvest, but if it is simply covered with leaves without fruit, then the ears of corn will yield badly. Some when sowing them steep the seed of beans in lees to make the produce bigger and easier to cook. Without careful selection each year all seeds will degenerate, so universal a rule is it that all things tend naturally to become worse.

176. possum...ni refugis] = 'I can...(and will) relate... unless you shrink back.'

177. tenuesque...] and it wearies (you) to learn such trivial cares.'

178. cum primis] lit. 'with the first things,' 'firstly,' cf. in primis or imprimis. The threshing-floor was usually an open spot in the field itself.

179. creta] Said on the authority of Varro to be here= argilla 'white clay.'

[ocr errors]

180. neu pulvere victa fatiscat] and lest it crack crumb

[ocr errors]

ling into dust.' Kennedy seems rightly to explain pulvere victa as overcome by dust,' and so crumbling into dust.' To render lest it crack conquered by heat,' taking pulvere as 'hot dusty weather,' seems impossible.

181. tum...] and then plagues of all sorts make sport of you.' After inludant some such dat. as tibi is to be understood.

saepe exiguus mus] Virgil is fond of occasionally placing a monosyllable at the end of a line to give special effect. Here the effect is humorous, the emphatic position in which mus is placed giving a dignity which is amusingly in contrast with the size of the creature, cf. Horace's famous line A. P. 139 parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. In 247 intempesta silet nox the position of nox gives a sense of awe, as in Aen. 1. 65 divom Pater atque hominum rex. In 313 ruit imbriferum ver is probably an accommodation of sound to sense describing the heavy downfall of rain, cf. Aen. 5. 481 procumbit humi bos. 182. posuitque...]'has set up his houses and built his barns. Notice again how Virgil's humour breaks out in this dignified description of a mouse's hole.

183. oculis capti] 'robbed of sight.' The expression is found in prose.

184. cavis] 'in holes'; cf. 127 n.

185. monstra] 'strange creatures' or 'beasts.' The word does not at all suggest size as our 'monster' does; cf. 3. 152 monstro of the gadfly.

186. inopi...] 'the ant provident for helpless age,' i.e. that lays up store for winter; Virgil speaks of the ant as if it were a human being. Cf. Proverbs vi. 6 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, ...which...provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest'; also xxx. 25.

187. contemplator] Mark the dignity of the word, and cf. 4. 61. It is borrowed from Lucretius (2. 114) and is strongly didactic in tone, this form of the imperative being especially used in laws.

nux] Possibly the almond (nux Amygdalina), which with its mass of pink blossoms is a striking feature of spring in Italy. But nux by itself (like the Italian noce) ought to be 'the walnut' (iuglans = glans Iovis) and J. Sargeaunt (The Trees, etc., of Virgil) says that ramos curvabit picturesquely describes the drooping catkins' or male-flowers.

·

se... induet in florem] A beautiful variation from the ordinary construction se induere flore 'clothe itself with

« PreviousContinue »