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ECLOGUE VII.

1. arguta, shrill rustling: generally referring to the high pitch of a sound.

3. ovīs, acc. plural.

distentas lacte, i. e. towards evening.

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4. ætatibus, § 14, 1, a2. Arcades (compare x. 32): Arcadia, at a distance from the sea in central Peloponnesus, long retained the rustic and old-world simplicity, of which pastoral song is the natural expression.

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5. pares, parati: well-matched in singing (cantare do), and ready in response (respondere: ad respondendum). Improvisation is a common and much prized gift in Italy still.

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6. mihi, dat. of reference. - dum defendo: the tender myrtle had to be protected, in Italy, from the late frosts of spring. — defendo, present, (§ 58, 2, e; G. 220, R1).

7. vir gregis, the father of the flock.—deerraverat : observe the contraction of the two vowels. - atque, and lo!

8. contra, in turn.

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9. ades, be at hand, i. e. come. - caper . . . hædi, i. e. I have seen to their safety.

10. si quid... potes, if you can linger awhile.

II. ipsi, of themselves; juvenci, i. e. your cattle (so that you will not have to look for them). —potum, supine of a lost verb of which poto is the frequentative, and potus the participle.

12. prætexit, has fringed.

13. examina (ex-agmen), i. e. the young swarms. 14. quid facerem, what was I to do?- neque

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i. e. though I had no milkmaid (like my neighbors) to make things snug at home, yet I could not miss this noble rivalry.

16. et, and on the other hand (connecting the two arguments for staying and going). — Corydon, etc., a loose but not uncommon sort of apposition with certamen.

17. posthabui, I put off my serious cares for their sport.

19. alternos . . . volebant, the Muses [that inspired them] chose to rehearse alternate strains. (For remarks on this style of responsive versification, see notes on Ecl. iii.)

21. Libethrides, Libethra was the name of a fountain in Helicon, the seat of the Muses.

22. Codro, sc. concessisti.

23. versibus, governed by proxima (carmina).

fell in the form of dew, and was gathered by bees.

This makes

clearer the notion that the cicada fed on dew. Wild honey found in hollow trees might possibly be thought to be exuded from the tree itself. — sudabunt, distil (here followed by a cognate accusative).

31. priscæ ... fraudis, the old taint of wickedness. — suberunt, lurk.

32. temptare: it was the depraved desire of wealth, the ancients thought, which first led men to brave the perils of the sea (see Hor. Od. i. 3, 9). Thetim, a sea-nymph, mother of Achilles : here, the sea.

34. Tiphys, the pilot of the Argo: there must still be some attempts at adventure and conquest, until the age reaches its perfection. An immediate reign of peace would be too sudden a shock to Roman notions.

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35. altera bella, a second series of wars like the first. Achilles, the type of a youthful hero.

37. hinc (like inde), then (after that); jam, at length. — firmata: matured.

38. vector, passenger (merchant).

40. rastros: the rastrum was a heavy pronged hoe, with two or more teeth.

41. robustus, sturdy.

42. mentiri colores, to put on false colors.

43. suave rubenti, sweetly blushing.

44. mutabit vellera, shall vary his fleece: murex is purple: luto, yellow; sandyx, scarlet, —in each case the dye being used for the color.

46. sæcla (acc. after currite, § 52, 1, b; G. 331), spin such ages! so sang to their spindles the Destinies, accordant with the firm decree of Fate.

47. Parcæ: these were three ancient Italian divinities presiding over birth (root as in pario), Nona, Decuma, and Morta. They were easily identified with the Greek Moîpai, destinies, who allotted the doom of each man at his birth.

49. deum suboles: it is said that the family of Pollio claimed descent from Apollo. incrementum, progeny (root in creo and cresco). Observe the force and weight of this spondaic verse.

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50. mundum, the system of the universe, of which the earth is the visible centre. The heavens, "with their rounded weight," are represented as moved (nutantem) at the coming of the age of gold.

44. si quis pudor: the beasts ought to be ashamed of feeding with such an appetite, while their keeper is impatient for the evening.

45. muscosi, mossy, i. e. among cool and moss-grown rocks.

46. arbutus, the arbute, or "strawberry-tree,” affords a berry used as food by the poor: its leaves are scanty, and its shadow thin (rara).

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47. solstitium, midsummer heat (midwinter is bruma). cori, dative of reference: lit, ward off the heat from the flock;jam venit, is just coming: jam refers to the past, and so with the present tense expresses the beginning of an action.

48. gemmæ: the buds upon the vine-branch show the beauty as well as the heat of summer: here again Corydon is the truer poet. 50. postes: the picture of the well blackened door-posts of the poor hut, which was the earliest style of habitation, corresponds to the later atrium (ater), or main hall of the Roman house (see Ecl. i. 83, note). Thyrsis matches the preceding midsummer picture by a suggestion of winter.

51. tantum: we heed no more the wintry blast than the wolf the number of the flock, &c., or spring torrents the banks which confine them in summer. The swift cold streams that flow from the Alps are liable to violent freshets, which make a frequent image in Virgil. 53-60. Here are described the sympathy of Nature in the presence and absence of the loved one.

54. strata: under every tree its own fruit lies strown about (sua, quãque). Monro reads quaeque.

57. vitio aeris, compare Æn. iii. 239, "corrupto cæli tractu." 58. Liber: Bacchus himself grudges to yield the shade of vines to the hillsides. Liber was an old Italian god of fertility (cf. liberi, children), identified in later time, without any special cause,. with the Grecian Bacchus, god of wine, inspiration, and dramatic poetry.

60. Juppiter: the primitive name of this deity (Dyaus=Zevs) signified the clear vault of the sky; and his traditionary attribute continued to be the disposal of the weather, hence the patron of the vine: thunder was the special symbol of his power. The rainfall is figured as the glad espousal of sky and earth (compare G. i. 418, ii. 419). Here Jupiter is, in a manner, confounded with the rain itself.

61. populus, the poplar, said to have been the transmuted form of the nymph Leuke who was borne away by Pluto. Its leaves

were gathered by Hercules for a wreath on his return from the infernal regions.

62. myrtus: the myrtle loves the sea-shore, which was Venus's birthplace. — laurea: Daphne, a nymph beloved of Apollo, was changed into a laurel which was sacred to him.

63. illas: the hazel.

68. pinus: see note, Ecl. i. 39.

70. ex illo, etc., i. e. ever since this match, Corydon has his true value as a singer.

ECLOGUE VIII.

1. Musam, the song (obj. of dicemus).

2. quos est mirata, at whom the heifer gazed as they strove (certantis, acc.). The charm of song is constantly represented as powerful over the lower animals. Naturalists give authentic instances, in the case of birds, mice, and even (it is said) spiders, as well as animals nearer to man; but none of the somewhat grotesque character described by the ancients. This particular animal, the lynx, belongs to the fable of Orpheus, not to any Italian scene. 4. mutata, i. e. in direction. — requierunt cursus, stayed their

course.

6. tu, is the subj. of superas; mihi depends on liceat. The two are put together from the Latin fondness of contrasting persons. - Timavi: this was a stream flowing into the Adriatic near Trieste. The expedition of Pollio was against the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe, and he is supposed to be on his return to Rome. superas, pass beyond; jam gives the idea of at last or by this time. Compare note, Ecl. vii. 47.

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7. legis oram, coast the shore. en gives force to the question. Compare ecquis.

10. tua carmina: see note to iii. 86. The sock (soccus) and buskin (coturnus) are still emblems of comedy and tragedy respectively, originally so on account of the characters that wore them.

II. a te, i. e. from Pollio came the first incentive to song. Which Eclogue is meant as the first is uncertain, and again on the other hand this one is not the last, although it has every appearance of an Epilogue. It has been supposed, not improbably, that this was the close of the first edition of the Eclogues. desinam (preserved from elision by the pause; most editions have desinet) to thee I will cease.

dat. decori, v. 32.—tulerunt, bore away=abstulerunt, an imitation of the Greek φέρω.

35. Pales (sometimes masculine), deity of the flocks: the root is found in pasco, probably also in the name Palatium. The day of her festival, the Palilia (April 21), was taken as the anniversary of the founding of Rome. — Apollo: who had been keeper of the flocks to Admetus, and so was a patron of shepherds.

36, 37. grandia . . . avenæ, worthless sorrel and sterile wild oats spring up in the furrows to which we have often committed the large (select) barley-grains. This plural, hordea, was ridiculed by Bavius and Mævius in the line

"Hordea qui dixit, superest ut tritica dicat." Grain was carefully selected for sowing (G. i. 197-199): it was even thought that unless such care were taken it would degenerate into worthless weeds.

38. purpureo: properly purple or red; but sometimes used of the brilliancy of color. The narcissus is white; but one sort has a purple calyx.

40. spargite, etc.: i. e. strew the ground with flowers, and plant shade-trees about the fountain at his grave. A favorite burial-place was near a shaded running stream, to keep the friend's “memory green." ―inducite, draw the shadows over (a poetical view of the matter).

47. dulcis, fresh, i. e. not brackish, nor medicated, as is very common in that country. — restinguere (§ 57, 8, a; G. 423), to quench the thirst in summer at a leaping brook.

48. magistrum: perhaps Daphnis, whose muse is praised by Theocritus.

49. alter ab illo, second to him.

50. quocumque modo, i. e. with such skill as I

sim, in my turn.

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51. tollemus ad astra, uplift to the stars, i. e. celebrate his admission among the gods.

53. an quicquam, why! can any boon be greater?

54. ipse, himself as opposed to the song. cantari dignus, § 65, 2, ƒ; G. 424, R1. —ista carmina, these strains of yours, written long ago, and probably improved and polished since.

56. candidus, in glory : the word means a brilliant white, like the garments of the gods. -miratur, gazes on the threshold of Olympus, strange to his eyes.

58. alacris voluptas, eager delight, showing itself in ges

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