Rusticus es, Corydon: nec munera curat Alexis, Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! floribus austrum Quem fugis, ah, demens? habitarunt di quoque silvas, 60 Me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori? Quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus, 65 70 contests -- ECLOGA III. THIS Eclogue is principally occupied by a contest in poetical skill between two shepherds, Menalcas and Damon. Such still not uncommon among the Improvisatori of Italy-were carried on in verses, called carmen amoebaeum, from the Greek åuoßaios, answering alternately. And in them no sequence of ideas was necessary on the part of the challenger, but the party challenged was bound to exceed in language or ideas the thoughts first expressed. The introduction, wherein the challenge is given, occupies the first fifty-nine lines, introducing Palaemon as an arbiter. In the course of the amaboean verses, Virgil takes occasion to glorify his friend and patron Pollio, and to sneer at Bavius and Maevius, two envious satirists, who attacked both him and Horace. This Eclogue is said to have been written B. c. 42. PALAEMON. MENALCAS-DAMOETAS-PALAEMON. Men. Dic mihi, Damoeta, cujum pecus? an Meliboei ? 1. Cujus-a-um, an antiquated possessive pronoun, perhaps used here as a mark of rusticity. Men. Infelix o semper, ovis, pecus! ipse Neaeram Dam. Parcius ista viris tamen objicienda memento. Men. Tum, credo, cum me arbustum videre Miconis 10 Dam. Aut hic ad veteris fagos, cum Daphnidis arcum Fregisti et calamos: quae tu, perverse Menalca, Et, cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas, Et, si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses. Men. Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures! Dam. An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille, 15 20 Men. Cantando tu illum? aut umquam tibi fistula cera Juncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas 25 Dam. Vis ergo, inter nos, quid possit uterque, vicissim 30 Men. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum: 3. Ipse referring to Aegeon.-5. Alienus, a hireling, and, as such, caring nothing for the flock, but to profit by them.-7. Viris in its emphatic sense, men of manly minds.-8. Transversa for transverse. The accusative, both singular and plural, of adjectives, is often so used for the adverb, as below, ver. 63; Ecl. iv. 43; Georg. iii. 149; Aen. vi. 288.-9. Sacello, a cave sacred to the Nymphs. See Aen. i. 168.-10. Me. Menalcas ironically transfers to himself the wrong actually done by Damoetas.-13. Calamos sagittas e calamis factas.-16. As neither of the parties seems to be a slave, the force of this line appears to be, What can the masters of flocks do to protect themselves, now that thieves have become so daring?'-18. Lyciscas, the name of a dog. 25. Tu vicisti illum? A strong emphasis in tu and illum. — 27. Imitated by Milton in its harshness their lean and flashy songs, Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.' Est mihi namque domi pater, est injusta noverca; 35 40 45 Si ad vitulam spectas, nihil est, quod pocula laudes. vocaris. Audiat haec tantum-vel qui venit-ecce, Palaemon. 50 Dam. Quin age, si quid habes, in me mora non erit ulla, Pal. Dicite, quandoquidem in molli consedimus Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos; 55 Dam. Ab Jove principium Musae; Jovis omnia plena; Ille colit terras; illi mea carmina curae. 60 37. Who Alcimedon was is unknown. · 38. Facilis expresses the ease with which the skilful workman uses his tools. 39. Pallente. The distinction of colour between the ivy leaves and berries is finely marked.-40. Conon was a celebrated mathematician and astronomer, who lived in the times of the Ptolomies, Philadelphus and Euergetes, B. c. 283–222. Alter. Probably Eudoxus, another celebrated astronomer, who lived about B. c. 366. His work on avoueva was in great repute among Italian agriculturists; hence the allusion to him in this place. 41. Radio. The rod of the mathematician, with which he drew his figures on the sand. - 42. Curvus. Alluding to the stooping posture of a man holding the plough.46. So Horace, Od. i. 12, 7; Ovid, Met. x. 86. About to propose some one as judge, he breaks off in the middle, with the name suppressed, and says-vel, &c.-59. Alternis. A translation of the Greek, di apoiẞaíwv. Camenae, Latin deities, nearly identical with the Muses of the Greeks. - 50. Men. Et me Phoebus amat; Phoebo sua semper apud me Munera sunt, lauri et suave rubens hyacinthus. 65 Men. At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas, Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris. Dam. Parta meae Veneri sunt munera: namque notavi Ipse locum, aëriae quo congessere palumbes. Men. Quod potui, puero silvestri ex arbore lecta 70 Dam. O quoties et quae nobis Galatea locuta est! Si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo? Dam. Phyllida mitte mihi: meus est natalis, Iolla; 75 Men. Phyllida amo ante alias; nam me discedere flevit, Et longum formose, vale, vale, inquit, Iolla. Dam. Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres, 80 Men. Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus haedis, Dam. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Mu sam: Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro. 85 Men. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: pascite taurum, Jam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat arenam. Dam. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet; Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. Men. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi, 90 Dam. Qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga, Men. Parcite, oves, nimium procedere: non bene ripae Dam. Tityre, pascentis a flumine reice capellas: 95 63. Suave. See note on ver. 8.67. See Shenstone's imitation'I have found out a gift for my fair,' &c. -79. Either longum (with protracted sound) inquit, or longum vale. The e in the second vale short, from the hiatus. 80. Triste, used substantively, and equivalent to res tristis. Zumpt, $ 368. Aen. iv. 570.. 84. See Argument. - 90. See Argument. -96. Reice, contracted for rejice-a natural contraction, especially if, as some suppose, such words were all anciently written with one i. Men. Cogite ovis, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, Ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. Dam. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo! Idem amor exitium pecori pecorisque magistro. 100 • Men. His certe neque amor caussa est; vix ossibus haerent. Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. Dam. Dic, quibus in terris-et eris mihi magnus Tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas. Pal. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. 105 110 102. The force of these two lines is: For the disease of your bull there is a remedy; but there is none for that of my sheep. Bad as love is, not it even (neque) is the source of the illness of these lambs. They are certainly under the fascination of the Evil Eye.' This superstition still lingers in some parts of Europe. - 105. One answer to this puzzle is, the bottom of a well. In this country we have a similar puzzle and solution-the latter being the bottom of a coal-pit. There is a tradition, now generally followed, that Virgil's own solution was as follows:-In Mantua there was a profligate citizen who sold his all, and had no territory (spatium) left but his grave, three paces of the vilest earth.' His name was Caelius, Virgil's genitive of which is Caeli. (See Ecl. i. 33.) Ulnas. In the later writers, ulna is equivalent to cubitus, about a foot and a half. Servius explains it as meaning here, the whole width between the outstretched hands-about four feet. 107. Flores. The hyacinth was believed to be marked with the name of Hyacinthus, or of Ajax. Ovid. Met. x. 206; xiii. 389. Inscripti nomina; see Ecl. i. 55. 109. Et quisquis amaros. The meaning seems to be: Not only do both of you, love-inspired, deserve the prize, but all that shall tremble with fear when love is propitious, or suffer under his frown; in short, all true lovers, such as you.' But the passage is a difficult one, and many emendations have been suggested. 111. Palaemon leaves them to see closed the sluices of the irrigating streams. This Eclogue is mainly imitated in Pope's first Pastoral. -- ECLOGA IV. In the multitude of conjectures regarding the subject of this Eclogue, Wagner's views seem preferable. All Italy had been exposed to dreadful calamities; first from the division of the |