but to make no additions themselves. To this circumstance it is probably ow ing that we find so many imperfect lines in the Æneid. Virgil died in the possession of a large estate, the half of which he bequeathed to Valerius Proculus, his half-brother, on his mother's side. Of the rest, he gave half to Augustus, and the remainder to Maecenas, Tucca, Varus, and Plotius. Virgil was tall and of a brown complexion, extremely temperate and regular in his habits. His constitution was feeble, and his health often delicate. He was much afflicted with a pain in his head and stomach; and often with the spitting of blood. He was extremely modest, and even bashful to a fault, attended with a hesitation in his speech. Like other great men he had his enemies and detractors: but their aspersions only served to increase his fame, and add new lustre to it. Virgil has been emphatically styled the prince of Latin poets; and it has not been decided whether the palm should be awarded to the Roman or Grecian poet. It is true, Virgil was much indebted to Homer, who may be considered the master; but the pupil had the happy talent of making every thing that passed through his hands, his own. The condition of these two great favorites of the Muses was very different in their lives. Homer, as his name implies, was blind; and so humble was his birth and parentage, that the place of his nativity has not been ascertained. He wrote the Iliad and Odyssey in detached pieces, and recited them in the various cities of Greece, to obtain a subsistence. Virgil wrote under the auspices of one of the greatest of princes, and nothing was wanting that could contribute to his ease and comfort. His friends were the best and the greatest men of the age. He was honored in his life, and lamented in his death. Homer left no friend to point the traveller to his monument; and nearly four centuries rolled away, before his countrymen sufficiently appreciated his merits, to collect his scattered productions, and rescue them from oblivion. The world is indebted to Pisistratus, an Athenian, for the preservation of these inimitable poems; which are, and will ever be, the delight, and, at the same time, the wonder and admiration of civilized man. INTRODUCTION TO THE BUCOLICS. Of the several kinds of poetry, none is more generally admired than the pastoral. Its subjects, the variegated scenes of the country, the innocent employment of shepherds and shepherdesses, possess charms which never fail to please and interest our minds. But this species of poetry is difficult in execution; which may be the reason that there have been so few, who excelled in it. If the poet were to make his shepherd talk like a courtier, a philosopher, or a statesman, we should immediately perceive the impropriety; or were he to make him utter low and vulgar sentiments, we should turn from him with disgust. The medium is the true course. To maintain this, however, at all times, is no easy matter. Theocritus was the only pastoral writer of eminence among the Greeks, and Virgil among the Romans. The former denominated his pastorals Idyllia, the latter Ecloga. Virgil, however, cannot so properly be called an original pastoral writer, as an imitator of Theocritus. Many of his finest touches are taken from the Grecian. He imitated him, however, with judgment, and in some respects improved upon him, particularly in preserving the true character of pastoral simplicity; in which the other on many occasions failed. The word Bucolica is of Greek derivation, and signifies pastoral songs, or the songs of shepherds. Virgil denominated his Bucolica, Ecloga; which is also from a Greek word signifying to choose or select out of. The Eclogues are, then, a selection of choice pieces, such as he thought worthy of publication. He began this part of his works in the twenty-ninth year of his age, and in the year of Rome 713; and finished it in the space of three years. The . Eclogues were so well received by his countrymen, that they were pronounced publicly on the stage. After hearing one of them, Cicero, it is said, did not hesitate to say of him: Magna spes altera Roma. It appears to have been the design of Virgil in writing his pastorals, to celebrate the praises of Augustus, and of some other of his friends at Rome, par. ticularly Mæcenas and Pollio. QUESTIONS. What are the subjects of pastoral poetry? Does this kind of poetry possess any peculiar charms? Is it difficult in execution? At what age did he begin this part of his works? In what year of Rome? How many years did he spend in writing Who among the Greeks was the first pas- the Eclogues?" toral poet of eminence? What did he call his pastorals? In what light are we to consider Virgil, as & pastoral poet? Were they well received by his country men' What was probably the reason of his writing the Eclogues? P. VIRGILII MARONI. BUCOLICA. ECLOGA PRIMA. MELIBUS, TITYRUS. Ar the termination of the civil war, which placed Augustus securely on the Imperia throne, to reward his soldiers for their services, he gave them the lands lying about Mantua and Cremona, dispossessing the former owners. Among the unfortunate sufferers was Virgil himself; who, however, by the interest of Mecenas with the Emperor, received his lands again. In the character of Tityrus, the poet sets forth his own good fortune; and in that of Melibæus, the calamity of his Mantuan neighbors. This is the subject of the pastoral. The scene is laid in a beautiful landscape. A shepherd, with his flock feeding around him, is lying at ease under a wide-spreading beech-tree: the sun is approaching the horizon shadows are falling from the mountains: the air is tranquil and serene: the smoke is ascending from the neighboring villages. This scenery a painter could copy. MEL. TITYRE, tu patulæ recubans sub tegmine fagi, Sylvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avenâ : Nos patriæ fines, et dulcia linquimus arva; Nos patriam fugimus: tu, Tityre, lentus in umbrâ TIT. O Meliboe, Deus nobis hæc otia fecit. MEL. Non equidem invideo: miror magis: NOTES. 1. Fagi: gen. of Fagus, the beech-tree. It is glandiferous. 2. Sylvestrem musam. A pastoral song. Avena: properly oats. By Met. the straw; and hence an oaten, or oat-straw pipe. Meditaris: you practice or exercise. 3. Arva. neu. plu. properly cultivated fields: from the verb aro. 4. Tu lentus: thou at ease in the shade, dost teach the woods, &c. Amaryllida, a Greek acc. of Amaryllis. See 31. infra. 6. Deus. A god, namely Augustus, who hed reinstated him in his possessions; and whom the Romans had deified. Hac otia : this rest or ease. Otium is opposed to labor in signification. undique 14. Namque modò connixa gemellos, spem gregis, ah! reliquit eos hic inter densas corylos, in nuda silice. dicere Spem gregis, ah! silice in nudâ connixa reliquit. Sæpe malum hoc nobis, si mens non læva fuisset. 17. Memini quercus De cœlo tactas memini prædicere quercus : tactas de cœlo sæpe præ- Sæpe sinistra cavâ prædixit ab ilice cornix. Sed tamen, ille Deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. 20. Ego stultus puta- TIT. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Melibœe, putavi vi urbem, quam dicunt Stultus ego huic nostræ similem, quò sæpe solemus Pastores ovium teneros depellere fœtus. Romam esse similem huic nostræ Mantuæ, Sic canibus catulus similes, sic matribus hædos 25. Hæc Roma extulit Verùm hæc tantùm alias inter caput extulit urbes, MEL. Et quæ tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi ? NOTES. 16. Hoc malum nobis. There seem to be required here, to make the sense complete, the words: and I might have understood it; si mens, &c. If my mind had not been foolish. 18. Sinistra cornix: the ill-boding crow. The Romans were very superstitious. They considered every thing as ominous. The flight of some kinds of birds, the croaking of others, the darting of a meteor, a peal of thunder, were signs of good or bad luck. Those that appeared on their left hand, for the most part, they considered unlucky. Hence sinister and lævus caine to signify unlucky, ill-boding, &c. And those that appeared on their right hand, they considered to be lucky. Hence, dexter came to signify fortunate, lucky, &c. The best reason that can be given, why they used sinister and lavus, sometimes in a good, at other times in a bad sense, is, that they occasionally interpreted the omens after the manner of the Greeks, who considered those that appeared in the eastern part of the heavens to be lucky; and turning their faces to the north, as their custom was, they would be seen on the right hand. The Romans, on the contrary, turned their faces to the south in observing the omens; and consequently, their left hand would be toward the east, corresponding to the right hand of the Greeks. Ilice: the holm-oak. 19. Qui sit Deus: who may be that God of yours-of whom you speak? Da nobis: tell me. Nobis in the sense of mihi. 20. Romam. Rome, a city of Italy, situated on the river Tiber, founded by Romulus 753 years before Christ. Mantua was a city of the Cis-Alpine Gaul, now Lombardy, situated on the eastern bank of the river Mincius, which falls into the Po. 22. Fatus. This word signifies the young of any thing or kind, whether animate or 15 22 25 30 inanimate. We have introduced it into our language without any variation. Teneros fœtus ovium, simply, our lambs. 23. Sic canibus, &c. This passage Servius thus explains: I thought before that Rome resembled Mantua and other cities, as I knew whelps and kids resemble their dams or mothers, differing only in size. In this I was mistaken: I find it to be of a different species from other cities, as the cypress differs from the shrub. 24. Componere: in the sense of comparare. 25. Extulit caput: hath raised its head. A figurative expression,butextremely beautiful. 26 Viburna, plu. of viburnum, a species of shrub. Some take it for a withy, others for the wild-vine. 23. Libertas. Virgil here speaks of him self as being an old man, having a hoary beard, and as having been a slave. Neither of which was the case. But it was not necessary for him to describe himself in all his circumstances. That would have been too plain, and would have taken from the beauty of the pastoral. Inertem: indolentinactive. Sera: late in life. 29. Candidior barba: my gray, or hoary beard. The comp. is here plainly to be taken in the sense of the pos.Tondenti: to me shaving it. 31. Amaryllis-Galatea. Some think these are to be taken allegorically; the former for Rome, the latter for Mantua. But this is not necessary; nor will it be easy to support the allegory throughout. It is better to take them literally, for the names of the poet's mistresses. Servius thinks nothing in the Bucolics is to be taken allegorically. Dr. Trapp thinks Virgil insinuates that his old mistress Galatea was in favor of Brutus, and his new one Amaryllis in favor of Augustus; and by changing mistresses, he de |