unus ex vobis

cumque esset mihi fu

ror, jaccret

42. Hic,

sunt gelidi

Martis inter

and half goat. He fell in love with Cyparissus, the favorite of Apollo, who was changed into a tree of that name. Agresti honore capitis: with the rustic honor of his head-with a garland of leaves upon his head. Honore: in the sense of corona.

25. Florentes ferulas: blooming fennel. There are two kinds of ferula, or fennel, the small, or common, and the large, or giant fennel. This last grows to the height of six or seven feet. The stalks are thick, and filled with a fungous pith, which is used in Sicily for the same purpose as tinder is with us, to kindle fire. From this circumstance, the poets feigned that Prometheus stole the heavenly fire and brought it to earth in a stalk of ferula. Some derive the name from ferendo, because its stalk was used as a walking-stick; others derive it from feriendo, because it was used by school-masters to strike their pupils with on the hand. Hence the modern instrument, or ferula, which is used for the same purpose, though very different from the ancient one, and capable of giving much greater pain.

27. Rubentem: stained with the red berries of alder, and with vermilion. Ebuli. Ebulum is the plant called dwarf elder. It grows about three feet high, and bears red berries. In England it has obtained the name of dane-wort; because it was fabled to have sprung from the blood of the Danes, at the time of their massacre. It is chiefly found in church-yards. Minio. Minium is the native cinnabar. It was the vermilion of the ancients; it is our present red-lead. 28. Modus: in the sense of finis.

29. Rivis: with streams, or rills of water. 30. Saturantur: are satisfied.

25

30

35

40

31. Arcades. This address of Gallus to the Arcadians is tender and pathetic, especially that part of it where he wishes he had been only a humble shepherd like

them.

32. Hæc: these my misfortunes.

33. O quàm molliter: O how softly then my bones, &c.; alluding to a superstitious notion of the ancients that the bodies of the dead might be oppressed by the weight of the earth cast upon them. Accordingly they crumbled it fine, and cast it lightly into the grave, using the words, sit tibi terra levis : may the earth be light upon thec.

34. Olim: hereafter. This word refers to future as well as to past time. Mihi: in the sense of mea, agreeing with ossa.

36. Vinitor: a vine-dresser. It seems to be used here in the sense of vindemiator, a gatherer of grapes--a vintager.

38. Furor. This word properly signifies any inordinate passion, such as love, anger, rage, fury, and the like; by meton. the object of such passion-the person loved.— Fuscus: black. The verb sit is to be supplied.

39. Vaccinia: whortle-berries, or bil-berries. Mr. Martyn takes the word for the flower of the hyacinth.

41. Serta: garlands of flowers.

43. Consumerer, &c. I could spend my very life here with you in this pleasant retreat, gazing upon the beauty of your person. Ruæus says: traducerem omnem ætatem tecum. But consumerer may be used in the sense of the Greek middle voice. Virgil was fond of the Greek idiom.

44. Nunc insanus amor, &c. The meaning of this passage appears to be: in this

cises.

pleasant place, if you had consented, we
might have both lived happy and secure.
But now,
on account of your cruelty, we
are both unhappy and miserable. Through
despair, I expose myself to the dangers and
hazards of war; and in the mean time your
love of a soldier hurries you to distant
countries, over the snows of the Alps, &c.
Gallus here supposes Cytheris to accompany
her lover, and to undergo the fatigues and
hardships incident to a military life. Me.
This passage would be much easier, if we
could read te in the room of me. The sense
naturally leads to such reading; but we
have no authority for making the substitu-
tion. Martis. Mars was esteemed the god
of war. He was the son of Jupiter and
Juno, as some say; others say, of Juno
alone. His education was intrusted to Pri-
apus, who taught him all the manly exer-
In the Trojan war, he took a very
active part, and was always at hand to as-
sist the favorites of Venus. His amours
with that goddess have been much celebra-
ted by the poets. Vulcan, her husband,
being informed of their intrigue, made a net
of such exquisite workmanship, that it could
not be perceived. In this net he caught the
two lovers, and exposed them to the ridicule
of the gods. He kept them in this situation
for a considerable time, till Neptune pre-
vailed upon him to set them at liberty.
The worship of Mars was not very general
among the Greeks, but among the Romans
he received the most unbounded honors.
His most famous temple was built by Au-
gustus, after the battle of Phillippi, and de-
dicated to Mars Ultor. His priests were
called Salii, and were first instituted by
Numa. Their chief office was to keep the
sacred ancyle, or shield, which was supposed
to have fallen from heaven. Mars was
sometimes called Gradivus, Mavors, and
Quirinus; by meton. put for war in general
-a battle-a fight, &c.

45. Adversos in the sense of infestos.
46 Tantùm. only-nothing beside.

57. Alpinas: an adj. from Alpes, a very high range of mountains separating Italy from France, Switzerland, and Germany, and covered with almost perpetual snow. Rheni: the river Rhine. It rises in the mountains of Switzerland, and runs a northerly course, forming the boundary between France and Germany, and falls into the German sea near the Hague. Its length is near six hundred miles. Dura: in the sense of crudelis. Sola: Lycoris was alone, as respected Gallus.

49. Plantas: in the sense of pedes. Aspera: sharp. The whole of this address to his mistress is extremely tender and pathetic.

50. Quæ condita sunt, &c. Which were composed by me in elegiac verse. Chalcidico: an adj. from Chalcis, a city of Eubœa, (hodie, Negropont,) the birth-place of Euphorion, an elegiac poet; some of whose verses, it is said, Gallus turned into Latin verse. To this, Ruæus thinks, the poet refers. However this may be, it cannot be made from the words without straining them. They simply imply that Gallus wrote some verses or poems in the same kind of verse, or measure, in which Euphorion wrote.

51. Modulabor: in the sense of canam. 52. Certum est, &c. It is certain-I am resolved, that I had rather suffer in the woods any dangers and hardships than follow after Lycoris. These, or words of the like import, seem to be necessary to make the sense complete. Spelaa dens, or haunts of wild beasts; from the Greek. 53. Incidere: to cut, or inscribe.

55. Manala: neu. plu. a mountain in Arcadia. In the sing. Manalus. Lustrabo: in the sense of circumibo. Mixtis nymphis. The meaning is, that he was in company with the nymphs; or that they, in confused and irregular order, pursued their course.

56. Acres: fierce-dangerous. Vetabunt. in the sense of prohibebunt.

57. Parthenios. Parthenius was a moun