of prose will admit. Some of these seem to be archaic forms and 'constructions retained by a traditional poetic dialect, as, for example, the omission of prepositions.* Some of them are directly copied from the Greek, as many cases of synecdochical accusative. The greatest number, however, are due to both these causes combined, as the Infinitive constructions.

In reading, it should be borne in mind that poetry requires a more precise, vivid, and picturesque use of words than prose, and that often the force of an image cannot be given without an accurate translation of the words in their strict original meaning, instead of giving (as is often done) a weak paraphrase. For example, the words præruptus aquæ mons (Æn. i. 103) mean not merely a mountainous wave, but a precipice (or steep broken hill) of water. The learner will do well to try in every case to see just what image was in the poet's mind, and not be satisfied with a loose conception or translation.

PASTORAL POEMS.

ECLOGUE I.

THE scene represents Tityrus, late in a sunny afternoon, reclining at the roadside by his cottage near Mantua, with Amaryllis near by, busy in household cares, while Melibaus passes, driving his goats from the farm of which he has been dispossessed by the soldiers.

a

Verse 1. Tityre: this, with most of the other proper names, is Greek, borrowed from Theocritus. It is the Doric form of the word Satyr, also signifying goat; and is a conventional name for " shepherd or rustic minstrel."-patulæ (root in pateo), wide-spreading, a characteristic of the beech. [It is a common position in Latin poetry for words belonging together, or contrasted words, to be in corresponding parts of the verse, as before the Cæsura and at the end as patulæ . . fagi; tenui : avena; fines. . arva.]

recubans (root CUB in -cumbo), reclining (backward).—tegmine (root in tego), shelter. Notice in all Latin and Greek poetry that,

* So in English. "The trumpet spake not to the armèd throng is not antiquated for poetry; although we should not write in a letter, 'He spake to me,' or say, 'The British soldier is armed with the English rifle."" Matthew Arnold, Last Words, p. 21.

on account of the climate, the coolness of shade and water are especial objects of delight; while hardihood is more often shown by the endurance of heat than of cold. —fagi, beech. This tree is very common in the mountain slopes of northern Italy, where herds were driven in summer. [The same root (BHAG) is found in the Greek nyós, the Latin fagus, and the English beech; also (since its bark was used as writing-material) in book. The word is probably connected with the meaning EAT (payeîv), from its edible nuts.]

2. silvestrem, woodland, which makes the shelter of cattle at midday (=pastoral, compare iv. 3).—tenui avena, on the thin oat-straw (or rather reed), which made a delicate sort of pipe or whistle. Several reeds of different lengths were fastened together with wax, making a rude musical instrument now called Pandean Pipes, - first made, it was said, by the god Pan from the reed into which the nymph Syrinx had been transformed (hence the plant Syringa, and syringe). The hollow reed has given its name to the vibrating tongue of wood or metal which takes its place in modern instruments. -Musam, the muse, or goddess (patron saint) of song, used for song itself. The pastoral muse belonged especially to Sicily (iv. 1). -meditaris, practise (μeλerâv).

3. nos, emphatic by being expressed at all; here, also, by its position and repetition. — patriæ fines (compare v. 68), our native bounds: the patria consisting merely of the native village, or perhaps farm. Local attachments are commonly strong in proportion to the ignorance of other places. [The acc. plur. form in ēs, in place of is, was coming into use in Virgil's time. The two forms are found indifferently with him.]—linquimus, are leaving (present of continued action). — arva (root in aro), tilled fields.

4. fugimus, a stronger word than linquimus, denoting the hurry and confusion of flight, here opposed to the easy repose of Tityrus. - lentus, at ease: as the reverse of braced or strained to toil.

5. formosam, shapely; i. e. her charms are coupled with her name in the song. [Observe the force of the termination osus, originally onsus.] The ancients especially prized beauty of form and tall stature (cf. Anab. iii. 2, 25). — resonare, reëcho: the effect of song in the groves (same root as in the English sound). — doces: the contrast is heightened by the peaceful and happy occupation of Tityrus, singing the charms of his love. - Amaryllida (Gr. acc. § 11, iii. 6, d), a favorite Greek name, meaning bright-eyes.

6. Melibœe, a Greek name, meaning cow-tender.—deus, a god: as we should say, guardian-angel. The gods of the ancient my

thology were so numerous, and so near to mankind, that the name often has about the same dignity as that of saints in modern times. The reference is to Augustus, who was, however, not deified until after his death in A.D. 14.—otia, freedom from care, the reverse of negotium, business or trouble. The plural seems to be the blessings of ease.

=

7. namque (poet. for etenim), for, I tell you; the enclitic que connects it with the preceding words, while nam introduces the reason with some emphasis. — ille, illius, observe the emphasis. mihi, in my regard (dat. of reference). -aram (obj. of imbuet), altar, for lesser sacrifices: the altare, high altar for burnt offerings (Ecl. v. 66), was dedicated only to the higher deities, but this distinction is not always observed.

8. nostris: Tityrus speaks as the steward of his master's farm. — imbuet, shall stain (with its blood).—agnus, the offering of a humble estate: the richer might sacrifice a calf, and the poorer a pig, fowl, or fruit.

9. errare, to stray, or graze at large. The poets allow the infinitive much more freely than prose writers, see §70, 3, c; G. 546, R.*

10. quæ vellem, what I will (imperf. by seq. of tenses, § 58, 10, a; G. 511, R2). — calamo, reed (like avena), strictly, a stalk of grain. [In this and similar lines, observe the beauty of movement given by the alternate dactyls and spondees.]

=

potius, rather.- totis agris

11. equidem, I'm sure.—magis: (§ 55, 3, f; G. 384, 6), throughout the fields.

12. usque adeo turbatur, to such a degree confusion prevails (impers. passive).—capellas, she-goats (dimin. form, for the regular capra).―ipse, contrasted with undique.

13. protenus, farther on: i. e. I cannot (as usual) find a shelter near at hand. -æger, sick at heart. —duco, lead (by a cord). 14. modo, just now. gemellos (dim. of geminos), twin-kids. 15. silice in nuda, on the bare flint by the roadside, where they must presently die. conixa (for enixa on account of the hiatus), bringing forth with difficulty. The sufferings of the dumb creatures add to the pathos. reliquit, has abandoned. Notice how this word, at the end of the line, contrasts with spem gregis, at the beginning.

16. malum hoc, this misfortune (exile). — læva, dull or warped ("left-handed," compare Fr. gauche).—si

would have been a warning, had not, etc.

fuisset: i. e. it

* The references are to Allen and Greenough's, and Gildersleeve's Latin Grammars.

17. de cælo tactas, struck by lightning (the usual phrase). — prædicere: for tense, see § 58, 11, b; G. 277, R. quercus: the blasting of the olive, it is said, was understood to predict barrenness; that of the oak, exile. [Thunder and lightning were good signs, when nothing was blasted by the stroke. The most important omens were from lightning or from birds. These were interpreted very variously by the different Italian nations: the Romans made only two classes of auguries from lightning; the Etruscans eleven. Auguries from birds were either from their song (oscines) or from their flight (alites).]

18. This line is probably taken from ix. 15.

19. qui sit (more euphonious than quis sit), what god it is. da (for dic; so accipe for audi), tell me.

20. urbem: the great city was what first struck his rustic fancy, and so he begins with that, leaving the question quite unnoticed. 21. stultus ego, fool that I was. — huic nostræ, Mantua, some three miles from Andes, Virgil's birthplace.*

22. depellere, drive down to market from the upland.

23. sic... noram, so I had known puppies like dogs, and kids like their dams (similīs, acc. plur.).

25, 26. verum hæc, etc., i. e. those do not differ in kind; but Rome is of another nature from Mantua, differing as cypress from osier. — viburna, a tough shrub (wayfaring tree), used to twine in wattles or bind faggots.

27. Melibœus here catches his neighbor's wonder, and forgets his question.

28. libertas: here we see how little Virgil keeps to the circumstances of his own case, the allegory being mixed, rather unskilfully, with the real facts. He was a yeoman, the free owner of a little farm. Tityrus was a slave, tending flocks for a noble proprietor, who lived, like most land-owners, in Rome. A thrifty slave might generally buy his freedom in five or six years. respexit, regardea me= took pity on me. - inertem, idle as I was, and so not entitled to it.

candidior, whiter and whiter.

tondenti, as I clipped it: the slave could not shave his beard till emancipated.-cadebat, began to fall (§ 62, 2, a, R1; G. 564).

* The relation in which the smaller places (fora, vici, and conciliabula) stood to the civitas (municipium or colonia) was the same as that of the smaller towns of Attica to Athens. Mantua was not the capital of the territory, but included the territory. The citizens were not classed as urban and rural; but the vicus was an integral part of the civitas, and the village proprietor was politically a member of the city organization.

30. post, adverbial.tempore, abl. of difference.

31. Amaryllis, Galatea, the successive partners (contubernales) of Tityrus. The condition of slavery permitted no lawful marriage. These names have been thought to stand, allegorically, for Mantua and Rome. — habet, present, because the bond still continues.

33. peculi (§ 10, 4, b), savings, generally out of the produce of the cattle. Strictly, all that a slave had might be regarded as his master's. In practice, however, he was permitted and encouraged to save his earnings and certain perquisites, to buy his freedom. His peculium, indeed, was his property in the view of Roman law.

34. quamvis multa, no matter how many. · victima, i. e. sold to the priests for sacrifice, apparently a profitable branch of the shepherd's trade. (Victima usually signifies a larger victim; hostia, a smaller. The use of the singular is like our "many a one.")

35. ingratæ, stingy, as giving him a scanty price; or ungracious, as expressing the lonesome and dreary feeling which the rustic would have in town, contrasted with his friendly neighborhood.— pinguis caseus, i. e. cream-cheese.

37. mirabar, I used to wonder.

38. suā in arbore (cf. vii. 54), i. e. on the tree where they grew.

39. ipsæ pinus, etc., the very pines, these very watersprings and orchards, which are playfully represented as sharing in the grief of Amaryllis. The pine here mentioned is probably the stone-pine, planted for its large edible seeds, as well as for shade: valuable also as furnishing wax and food for bees. The arbusta are the plantations of young elms, on which vines were trained in festoons from tree to tree, as in the vineyards of Italy now.

41. quid facerem? what was I to do? (§ 57, 3, d; G. 2583). To leave home and go to Rome was his only chance of freedom (at length answering the question of v. 19).

42. præsentis (acc. plur.), i. e. propitious (compare "a very present help").— alibi, elsewhere than at Rome (belonging to licebat).

43. juvenem: Octavianus (Augustus), who was only twenty-two at the time of distributing the lands.

44. bis senos dies, twelve days, i. e. the first day of every month (kalends), when offerings were regularly made to the Lares, or household gods. Virgil means that he will join with the worship of his own Lares that of young Cæsar's genius or guardian spirit