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Sensibus hæc imis, res est non parva, reponas.
PAL. Dicite: quando quidem in molli consedimus herba:
Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos;
Nunc frondent sylvæ, nunc formosissimus annus.
Incipe, Damota: tu deinde sequêre, Menalca.
Alternis dicetis: amant alterna Camenæ.

DA. Ab Jove principium, Musa; Jovis omnia
Ille colit terras; illi mea carmina curæ.

ME. Et me Phoebus amat: Phobo sua semper
Munera sunt, lauri, et suavè rubens hyacinthus.
DA. Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella:
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit antè videri.

plena: 60. O musa, princi61 pium omnium est ab apud 62. Sunt Phobo semJove :

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ME. At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas: Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris.

DA. Parta meæ Veneri sunt munera: namque notavi Ipse locum, aëriæ quo congessere palumbes.

ME. Quod potui, puero sylvestri ex arbore lecta 70 Aurea mala decem misi: cras altera mittam.

DA. O quoties, et quæ nobis Galatea locuta est! Partem aliquam, venti, divûm referatis ad aures.

ME. Quid prodest, quòd me ipse animo non spernis,

Si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo?

[Amynta,
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DA. Phyllida mitte mihi, meus est natalis, Iola.

Cùm faciam vitulâ pro frugibus, ipse venito.
ME. Phyllida amo ante alias: nam me discedere flevit :

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60. Musa. They were nine in number, the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. They were supposed to preside over the arts and sciences. They were born in Pieria in Macedonia, and were said to reside on mount Helicon and mount Parnassus, the former in Beotia, the latter in Phocis.Their names are: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, and Urania.

61. Ille colit: he regards the earth; he regards my verses.

62. Phœbus. The same as Apollo and Sol; the son of Jupiter and Latona. The laurel and hyacinth were sacred to him. Hence they are called sua munera, his own gifts.

See Ecl. IV. 10.

66. Ignis: properly a fire or flame. By meton. love-also the object of love; as in the present case.

67. Ut jam Delia non: so that Delia now is not better known, &c. Diana is some

per apud me sua munera, nempe, lauri

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times called Delia from Delos, the place of her birth. She was the goddess of hunting, and protectress of Dogs. Rumus and Dr. Trapp understand by Delia, not Diana, but a servant of Menalcas by that name.

68. Meæ veneri: for my love-the dear object of my affections.

69. Congessere: in the sense of nidifica

verunt.

71. Aurea: yellow-ripe.

72. Venti, referatis: bear some part of them, O winds, &c. Either because her words were so sweet that they would delight even the ears of the gods: or that the gods might be witnesses to her promises.

74. Quid prodest, &c. Damætas had been just before expressing his joy at the conversation which he had with his mistress. Menalcas now endeavors to go beyond him in sentiments of tenderness and affection; and intimates that he cannot have any enjoyment while Amyntas is absent; nay, unless he share with him his dangers.

75. Retia: plu. of rete: toils, or snares set to take any prey.

76. Phillida: a Greek acc. of Phillis. She was the slave of Iolas, and mistress both to Damætas and Menalcas.

77. Faciam vitulâ: that is, faciam sacra ex vitula: I will make the sacrifice of a heifer for the fruits.

Et, "longum, formose, vale, vale," inquit, Iola.
DA. Triste lupus stabulis; maturis frugibus imbres; 80
Arboribus venti; nobis Amaryllidis iræ.

ME. Dulce satis humor; depulsis arbutus hædis,
Lenta salix fœto pecori: mihi solus Amyntas.

DA. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam.
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86. Pascite taurum illi, Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro. qui jam

ME. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina; pascite taurum, Jam cornu petat, et pedibus qui spargat arenam. *8. Veniat quoque quò DA. Qui te, Pollio, amat; veniat quò te quoque gaudet: gaudet eum te pervenisse. Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum.

92. O pueri, qui legitis flores et fraga nascentia humi, fugite

ME. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mævi. Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos.

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DA. Qui legitis flores, et humi nascentia fraga,
Frigidus, ô pueri! fugite hinc, latet anguis in herbâ.
ME. Parcite, oves, nimiùm procedere: non benè ripa
Creditur ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat.

DA. Tityre, pascentes à flumine reice capellas:
Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo.
ME. Cogite oves pueri: si lac præceperit æstus,
Ut nuper, frustrà pressabimus ubera palmis.

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DA. Eheu, quàm pingui macer est mihi tauros in arvo! Idem amor exitium pecori est, pecorisque magistro. ME. His certè neque amor causa est: vix ossibus hæ bus, cur sint tam macra. Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos.

102. Neque est amor certè causa his meis ovi

NOTES.

79. Longum, formose, &c. These are not the words of Phillis, addressed to Iolas, but of Menalcas; and first addressed to Menalcas by Phillis. They made a deep impression on his mind-they stole his affections. O beautiful youth, said she, farewell -farewell, a long time. Stabulis: sheepfolds. By meton. the sheep. Triste is to be supplied with each member of the sentence following, as also the verb est.

82. Arbutus: the strawberry tree, so called from the resemblance of its fruit to a strawberry. Depulsis: the words à lacte are understood.

82. Satis. The dat. plu. a substantive from the part. pass. of the verb sero, I sow. It signifies any thing sown or planted-standing corn. Depulsis hadis: to the weaned kids. Dulcis is to be supplied in each member of the sentence; as also the verb est.

85. Pierides. The Muses are so called from Pieria, the place of their birth. See 60. supra.

86. Pollio. A noble Roman, the friend and patron of Virgil. See next Ecl. Nova: good-excellent.

88. Veniat quò gaudet, &c. May he also arrive at those honors to which it delighteth him that thou hast arrived. Pollio was in vested with the consulate in the year of Rome 714, and in the foilowing year he received a triumph. He was also a poet and historian; and considered among the most

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learned men of his time. See Ecl. IV. 12. 89. Amomum. An aromatic fruit of great value. The Assyrian was considered the best. Rubus: the blackberry bush.

90. Qui Bavium non odit. Bavius and Mævius were two contemptible poets, and very inimical to Virgil and Horace. These two lines are wonderfully satirical. Let the same persons yoke oxen and milk hegoats. But this would be a useless, as well as a ridiculous employment.

93. Frigidus: deadly, by meton. or cold, descriptive of the nature of the snake.

95. Creditur. It is not easy to translate impersonal verbs always literally. They frequently occur in sentences, when such a version would be very awkward English. This is the case here. Menalcas is cautioning his sheep not to proceed too far; and adds as a reason for so doing, that it is not well to trust to the bank. To give force to this caution, he mentions the case of the ram that had just recovered of a fall from it into the river, and was then drying his fleece.

96. Reice. Imp. of the verb reicio, by syncope for rejicio: drive back.

98. Præceperit: if the heat should dry up the milk-should take it before us, then in vain, &c.

103. Quis oculus: es my tender lambs.

meos.

what evil eye bewitchMihi: in the sense of

DA. Dic quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, Tres pateat cœli spatium non ampliùs ulnas.

ME. Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum Nascantur flores et Phyllida solus habeto.

PA Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. Et vitulâ tu dignus, et hic: et quisquis amores Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros. Claudite jam rivos, pueri: sat prata biberunt.

NOTES.

105. Spatium cæli pateat. Damætas here proposes a very intricate riddle. Various have been the conjectures to solve it. It is most generally thought that the place in tended is the bottom of a well, from whence the space of the heavens appears no broader than its mouth, which in the general may be taken for three ells.

107. Flores nascantur inscripti. Without solving the riddle of Damotas, Menalcas proposes this one, and it is an equal match for his. The solution of it is all conjecture. It is generally supposed that the hyacinth is the flower alluded to. Nomina inscripti: inscribed as to the names of kings or with the names of kings. See Fel. I. 55.

108. Non nostrum: it is not in my power

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109. Et tu es dignus vitulâ, et hic.

110. Quisquis aut metuet dulces amores, aut

110 experietur amaros amo

res.

to settle, &c. Est is to be supplied. Palmmon declares his inability to determine the controversy between them; but pronounces them both worthy of the prize.

110. Metuet dulces: shall fear successful love-shall fear that it would not be lasting. Experietur amaros: shall experience disap pointed love-love not returned or reciprocated.

111. Claudite. This is a beautiful line: shut up your streams, O swains, the meads have drunk enough. It is a metaphor taken from rivers refreshing the meadows through which they pass; to music and poetry, delighting the ear, the fancy, and the judg ment. It implies that it was time to cease their song; they had given sufficient proofs of their skill in music.

QUESTIONS.

What is the subject of this pastoral?
Does Virgil here imitate Theocritus?
Who is to be understood under the cha-
racter of Damætas? Who under that of
Menalcas? Who under that of Palemon?

Who was Conon? Who was Archimedes?
What did he do against the Romans?
What became of him afterwards?
Who was Orpheus? Whom did he marry?

What did he do to recover his lost Eurydice?

What became of him at last?

In what consists the carmen amabæum? Who were the Muses? How many were they in number? What were their names? Who was Diana? Where was she born? Over what did she preside?

ECLOGA QUARTA.

POLLIO.

VIRGIL'S design in this pastoral is to celebrate the birth of a son of Pollio, as appears from verse 17; on which account he dedicated it to that noble Roman. But it is evident that he ascribes to the son of his friend, what cannot be attributed, with any propriety, to a being merely human. On examination, it will be found that there are several expressions and passages, which remarkably correspond with the prophecies and predictions of the Messiah, contained in the scriptures of the Old Testament; and particularly with those of the prophet Isaiah. That the poet was inspired is not pretended. We are assured, on the most credible testimony, that about this time there was a general expectation of the Messiah's appearance. This was partly from the dispersion of the Jews over the Roman empire, who carried with them their scriptures; and partly from the Sibylline oracles then much in repute. What, therefore, was generally said, and was the common opinion concerning the Messiah, the poet applies to the son of Pollio It was not fulfilled in him. For he died on the ninth day after his birth. It was, how ever, actually fulfilled in about forty years afterwards, when the Savior appeared. Some suppose that the poet hath in view Marcellus, the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, whose birth corresponds with the consulship of Pollio. Augustus adopted him, and designed him for his successor in the empire. This is the same Marcellus whom Virgil highly compliments in the sixth book of the Encid. He died soon after he arrived at manhood.

SICELIDES Musæ, paulò majora canamus.
Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesque myricæ.
Si canimus sylvas, sylvæ sint consule dignæ.
Ultima Cumai venit jam carminis ætas :

NOTES.

1. Sicelides: an adj. from Silicia, the island of Sicily, the country of Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry. Hence Sicelides Musa, pastoral muses.

2. Arbusta-myrica. Trees and shrubs seem to be put here for pastoral subjects, or the style and manner in which they are sung, by meton. Myrica: a shrub called the tamarisk. The poet here proposes to write in a style different from the usual style of pastoral; for that does not please every ear. A more elevated strain he will now attempt.

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3. Sylvas: the woods. By meton. pastoral or rural subjects. If we sing of pastoral subjects, those subjects should be worthy of a consul's ear.

4. Ultima alas: the last age of the sibylline prophecy hath now arrived-the last age, which was the subject, &c. I would here observe that the last days-the latter days, or times, are common expressions in the scriptures to denote the age of the Gospel, which is the last dispensation of grace. Cumai: an adj. from Cuma, a city of Campania, in Italy, famous for having been the

residence of a sibyl. There were severs! others of the same name; but the most distinguished were, a city of Æolis, in Asia Minor, and a city of Eubea, an island in the Egean sea: hodie, Negropont. The residence of this sibyl was a cave or vault dug into a rock. Justin Martyr informs us, that he visited the spot, and was shown a kind of chapel in the rock, into which the inhabitants told him (as they received it from their forefathers) she retired whenever she gave out her oracles. He also mentioned several other particulars. Onuphrius tells us, that the cave or residence of the sibyl remained in the same state Justin Martyr described it, until 1539, when it was entirely destroyed by an earthquake which shook all Campania. See Prideaux's Con. Part 2. Lib. 9. The sibyls were women said to have been endued with the spirit of prophecy, and to have foretold the destinies of states and kingdoms. They lived at different periods of time, and in different countries. They took the name of Sibyllæ. or Sibyls, from the first, who was thus en dued, her name being Sibylla. Varro enu

Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna:
Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto.
Tu modò nascenti puero, quo ferrea primùm
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,
Casta, fave, Lucina: tuus jam regnat Apollo.

NOTES.

merates ten: The Delphica, Erythraa, Cumaa, Samia, Cumana, Hellespontica, Libyca, Persica, Phrygia, and the Terburtina. Of these, the one most noted was the Cumaan. She seems to have been the same that the Greeks called Erythræa, from the circumstance of her being born at Erythree in Ionia, of the Lesser Asia; from whence she removed to Cuma, in Italy. Carminis: in the sense of vaticinii.

5. Magnus ordo. Some suppose that the poet here hath reference to the great Platonic year; of which Claudius says, Ch. 1 of the sphere: Omnia, quæcunque in mundo sunt, eodem ordine esse reditura, quò nunc cernuntur. This would embrace the period of 25,920 of our years; when the equinoxes will have made the circuit of the ecliptic, and the same stars, which describe the equator, tropics, and polar circles, by the diurnal motion of the earth, will describe them over again. Ruæus, however, is of a different opinion, and very justly understands by magnus, great and illustrious; implying that the period of which the poet spake as then commencing, should be distinguished by great and illustrious characters. Seclorum, by syncope for sæculorum. Soculum properly signifies the period of a hundred years. It is also used to denote an indefinite period, as in the present instance.

6. Virgo. The poet here means Astræa, the goddess of justice, the daughter of Jupiter and Themis. See nom. prop. under Astræa. Saturnia regna: the reign of Saturn. According to fable, Saturn was the son of Calus and Terra, or Vesta. Cœlus confined in Tartarus all his sons, except Saturn; who with the assistance of his mother, banished his father, and set his brothers at liberty. He succeeded to the kingdom by the consent of his brother Titan, on the condition that he should raise no male offspring. He accordingly devoured his sons as soon as they were born. But when Jupiter was born, his wife Rhea, or Ops, unwilling to see all her sons perish, concealed him; giving to her husband a stone in room of the child, which he devoured, without discovering the cheat. In the same way she preserved Neptune and Pluto.

Titan being informed that his brother had broken the terms of their contract, made war upon him, and made both him and his wife prisoners; they were, however, soon

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8. Tu modò, casta Lucina, fave nascenti puero, sub quo ferrea gens primum desinet, ac aurea gens surget toto 10 mundo.

set at liberty by Jupiter. But Saturn did not long remain mindful of this favor. He conspired against him to dethrone him, and possess the empire himself. Upon this, Jupiter banished him from heaven. He came to Italy, which was afterwards called Latium, from the circumstance of its being the place of his concealment; from the verb lateo. Janus, who was then king, received him with hospitality, and made him partner in his kingdom. Saturn employed his time in civilizing his subjects, teaching them agriculture, and the several arts and sciences. His reign was so mild, so beneficent and virtuous, that it came to be denominated the Golden Age, to intimate the happiness and tranquillity which then were enjoyed. The Silver Age succeeded, when men began to degenerate, and their peace to be disturbed by feuds and animosities. The Brazen Age followed, when avarice and licentiousness took possession of the heart. To this succeeded the Iron Age, when the world became sunk into a general and total depravity. These four ages are much spoken of by the poets, but particularly the first. By this time men had become so wicked and degenerate, that they were all destroyed by a deluge, which took place in the reign of Deucalion, king of Thessaly. He and his wife Pyrrha were the only survivors.

8. Fave nascenti puero: favor, or be propitious to the infant boy. Nascens does not refer here so much to his birth, as to his infant years. As Lucina had safely brought the child into the world, it is the desire of the poet that she should continue her attention and regard to him during the dangers of infancy.

9. Gens: in the sense of atas.

10. Casta Lucina. Lucina was the goddess supposed to preside over child-bearing, and called Lucina from lux, because through her means children were brought to see the light. This office was attributed both to June and Diana; the latter of whom is the one here meant, as appears from Tuus jam regnat Apollo: now thy Apollo reigns.— This hath led some into a singularity. By Apollo they would understand Augustu and by Lucina his sister Octavia. Virg was fond of complimenting his prince, but there can be no necessity of such an interpretation here. Ruæus understands it of Apollo himself, who may be said to reig,

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