68 accipit 171. Huic buri temo Omnia quæ multò antè memor provisa repones, 169. Continuò in syl- Continuò in sylvis magnâ vi flexa domatur 178. Cum primisrebus Area cum primis ingenti æquanda cylindro, area cst æquanda in- Et vertenda manu, et cretâ solidanda tenaci: genti Ne subeant herbæ, neu pulvere victa fatiscat: Tum variæ illudunt pestes. Sæpe exiguus mus Sub terris posuitque domos, atque horrea fecit. Aut oculis capti fodêre cubilia talpæ. 184. Bufo inventus est Inventusque cavis bufo, et quæ plurima terræ cavis, et plurima mon- Monstra ferunt: populatque ingentem farris acervum stra, quæ Curculio, atque inopi metuens formica senectæ. NOTES. 167. Omnia quæ memor: all which things, being provided long before hand, you should be mindful to lay up. 168. Divini ruris. The country is here called divine, either on account of its innocence and happiness, or because it was originally the habitation of the gods. Gloria: reward. Ruæus says, laus; for divini, he says, beati. tom. 171. Stirpe: from the back part, or bot172. Binæ aures: two mould or earth boards, one on each side of the temo, or beam. The poet here mentions the several parts of the plough. The buris, or bura, was the part which the ploughman held in his left hand-the plough tail. The dentale, the chip, or part of the plough to which the vomer, or share, is fastened. Duplici dorso: with a double back. Some understand duplex in the sense of latus; but there is no need of this. The plough, which the poet is describing, is altogether of a singular kind to us. It had two mould-boards; two chips or share-beams we might supposed it to have had, one on each side of the temo, or main beam, which, being joined together, might not improperly be said to form a double back. Stira: the handle, which the ploughman holds in his right hand. 173. Et levis tilia. Tilia, the linden, or lime-tree. It is a light wood, and therefore more suitable for the plough. 174. Quæ torqueat: which may turn the lowest wheels from behind-may turn the extreme or hinder part of the plough. The plough here described we inay suppose run 170 175 180 186 upon wheels, which is the reason of the poet's calling it currus, a carriage. Ruæus says: quibusdam in regionibus aratrum instruitur rotis; but commentators are by no means agreed as to the form and construction of this plough of the poet. 175. Fumus explorat. Wood seasoned in the way here mentioned will be less liable to crack or split, than if seasoned in the usual way, in the sun and open air. 180. Victa pulvere: overcome with dryness, should crack. Pulvere. Ruæus says: siccitate, quæ creat pulverem. 181. Tum: in the sense of prætereà. 183. Talpæ capti oculis. Tulpa, the mole, a small animal, supposed to have no eyes, and living chiefly under the ground. 184. Bufo: the toad. Monstrum, properly signifies any thing contrary to the ordinary course of nature; also, any mischievous animal, whether man or brute; which is the meaning here. 186. Curculio: the weavel; a mischievous animal among grain. 187. Contemplator item, &c. Observe in like manner when the nut-tree in the woods clothes itself abundantly with blooms. Of the nut-tree, there are several kinds. The one bere meant is supposed to be the Armygdala, or almond-tree, because its flowers or blossoms were supposed to be an indication of the fertility of the year. Plurima: an adj. sup. agreeing with nut. This construction frequently occurs, and is more elegantly translated by its corresponding adverb. Induet in florem, et ramos curvabit olentes: 194. Equidem vidi multos serentes medi 190 care semina, et priùs quàm serent, perfundere ea nitro et nigra amurca, ut Et nitro priùs et nigrâ perfundere amurcâ, NOTES. 189. Fatus: in the sense of flores. 190. Magno calore. Calor here seems to mean the sweat and heat of the laborer or thresher, rather than the heat of the summer. 191. At si umbra: but if the boughs abound in a luxuriancy of leaves, in vain, &c. The meaning seems to be this: that if the blossoms upon the tree shall exceed the leaves, then you may expect a plentiful crop. But if, on the contrary, the leaves be the most numerous, you may expect a scanty crop-a crop rich only in husks and chaff. Umbra: in the sense of rami. 195 196. Quamvis semina properata exiguo igni maderent; tamen vidi ea lecta diu, et spectata multo labore, degenerare; ni 199. Sic vidi omnia fatis ruere in pejus, ac 200 sublapsa referri retrò. 205 202. Si forte remisit brachia, ruit et sublapsus refertur retrò, atque alveus rapit illum in præceps prono amni. 206. Quàm iis vectis per ventosa æquora in suam patriam, quibus Pontus et ostriferi fauces Abydi 198. Humana vis: human care. In the sense of homines. Unless men should select with the hand, &c. Ruœus says, hominum industria. 201. Adverso flumine: against the cur rent. Gellius, takes atque in the sense of statim. 203. Atque. Ruæus, on the authority of Davidson and Heyne take it in its usual signification as a conjunction, supposing an refertur retrò. And carries him headlong ellipsis of the words: ille ruit ac sublapsus channel or bed of a river; here, the river in down the stream. Alveus: properly the general: the current, or impetus of the water; by meton. 193. Serentes: part. of the verb, sero, taken as a substantive: Sowers. The poet here gives the husbandıman to understand that the greatest care is to be taken in selecting his seeds; that it is sometimes useful to impregnate them with other qualities to prevent them from degenerating; and Lucidus Anguis: a constellation called Drasometimes to soak and steep them over a co. The poet here intimates that it is the slow fire, in order to hasten their sprouting duty of the farmer to observe the stars, and and coming forward. And although care the various signs of the weather; and that be taken in the selection, they will be found he will find it as useful to him in the course nevertheless to degenerate: and all that of his business, as it is to the mariner. remains for him to do, is, to select every year with his own hand the fairest and best straits, which separate Europe from Asia: 207. Fauces Abydi. The Hellespont or seeds; and in this way only he may keep called ostriferi, because abounding in Oys 205. Hædi. Two stars in the shoulder of Auriga, a constellation in the heavens. his crops from degenerating to any great extent. This advice is worthy the attention of every farmer. ters. Abydus: a city on the Asiatic shore, over against Sestus. Tentantur: in the sense of navigantur. 208. Die: for Diei. The gen, of the fifth declension was sometimes thus written. Somni, is elegantly put for noctis. Ubi Libra fecerit. Libra is one of the signs of the 194. Perfundere: this may either mean to sprinkle them (semina) them into. Ruœus says, spargere. over with, or put 195. Fallacibus. The pods or ears are called fallacious, because they are sometimes large, when there is very little in September; at which time he is on the equa them. Fatus: the grain or produce. zodiac, which the sun enters the 23d of tor, and makes the days and nights equal. Et medium luci atque umbris jam dividit orbem 210 213. Tempus est tegere Tempus humo tegere, et jamdudum incumbere rastris, et segetem lini et Ce- Dum siccâ tellure licet, dum nubila pendent. reale papaver humo 214 Dum licet tibi Vere fabis satio: tum te quoque, Medica, putres facere id, tellure sicca, Accipiunt sulci; et milio venit annua cura : Candidus auratis aperit cùm cornibus annum 215. Satio fabis est in Taurus, et averso cedens canis occidit astro. et dum vere: tum At si triticeam in messem robustaque farra 225. Multi cœpere se- Multi ante occasum Maiæ cœpêre: sed illos rere ante Expectata seges vanis elusit aristis. Si verò viciamque seres, vilemque faselum, NOTES. 211. Bruma: properly the shortest day of winter, or the winter solstice: this is its meaning here. By synec. it is sometimes put for the whole winter. The meaning is, that the farmer may extend his sowing as late as the winter solstice, which is about the 21st of December. Intractabilis: in the sense of duræ, vel asperæ. 212. Cereale: an adj. from Ceres. The poppy was so called, most probably, because it was consecrated to her. Her statues were generally adorned with it. Necnon: in the sense of quoque. 213. Incumbere rastris: to ply the harrows. The poet is speaking of sowing, or committing to the earth the several crops: which could not be done til after the ploughing. Besides it requires dry weather to use the harrow: to which reference is made in the following line. But the plough may be used in wet weather. Heyne reads aratris. But he informs us that Heinsius, Pierius, and others read rastris, which the sense seems to require. 214. Pendent: in the sense of suspensa sunt. 215. Medica. A species of grass, or plant, brought into Greece by the Medes in the time of the Persian wars. Hence called medica, now lucerne. It made the best provender for cattle, and when sown, it is said to last in the ground thirty years. 216. Milio. The milium was a species of grass, or plant, which required to be sown every year. Hence annua cura. Now called millet. 218. Cum candidus Taurus. Taurus is a sign of the ecliptic. The sun enters it about the 21st of April. The year was commonly thought to be opened by Aries, or the 215 220 225 month of March: but Virgil dissents from the received opinion, and assigns it to Taurus, or the month of April; because, as the etymology of the word implies, all nature seems to be released from the fetters of winter, and vegetation opens and shoots forth. Canis cedens, &c. The dog giving way to the retrograde sign, sets. Sirius (commonly called the dog star) is a star in the mouth of the great dog, a constellation in the heavens. Averso Astro. Astrum here is the constellation or sign Argo, which immediately follows the dog, and sets after him. It rises with its stern foremost, and in that manner goes through the heavens, contrary to the ordinary motion of a ship. The epithet averso, inverted, or turned about, is very proper. 221. Eoe Atlantides. The morning Pleïades; that is, when they set in the morning, or go below the horizon about the rising of the sun. This is called their cosmical setting. See 138. supra. 222. Corona. The Corona is a constellation in the heavens called Ariadne's Crown. Gnossia: an adj. from Gnossus, a town in the island of Crete, where Minos reigned, whose daughter Ariadne was carried off by Theseus, and left in the island Naxus, where she married Bacchus. At the time of their nuptials, among the other presents she received from the gods, was a Corona or crown from Venus; which Bacchus translated to the heavens. Ardentis: in the sense of splendentis. 225. Maia. The name of one of the Pleiades, by synec. put for the whole of them. 227. Viciam. The vicia is a species of pulse called the vetch. Faselum: the faselus was a kind of pulse, common and Nec Pelusiacæ curam aspernabere lentis; Idcirco certis dimensum partibus orbem NOTES. cheap, which is the meaning of vilis, in his place. 228. Lentis. The lens was a kind of pulse, which abounded in Egypt, and particularly t Pelusium, a town situated near the eastern mouth of the Nile. Hence the adj. Pelusiaca. 229. Bootes cadens: the Bootes setting will give, &c. Bootes, a star in the constellation of the same name, near the north pole. It sets acronically, or with the sun, about the beginning of November; and cosmically, or at the time of his rising, about the beginning of March. The former is here meant. Mittet: in the sense of dabit. 232. Duodena astra. Astronomers divide the ecliptic, or the circle in which the sun appears to move, into 12 equal parts, called signs, and each of these signs into 30 equal parts called degrees. A space 8 degrees in breadth on each side of this circle is called the zodiac, because it contains the 12 constellations, which take the names of certain animals: as Aries, Taurus, &c. It also contains the orbits of the planets. Geographers divide 233. Quinque sona. the surface of the earth into five grand portions called zones: one of which they denominate the torrid or burning; two the temperate; and two the frozen zones. The torrid is that portion of the earth's surface included between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. In every part of which the sun is vertical twice in every year. The ancients supposed it to be uninhabitable on account of its great heat. Those parts of the earth's surface that lie between the two tropics and polar circles, are denominated the temperate zones. The two frozen zones embrace those parts between the polar circles and the voles. 230 235 71 231. Idcirco aureus Sol regit orbem dimensum certis partibus per duodena astra mundi. 234. Quarum una sona est semper rubens 235. Circùm quam duæ extremæ sonæ trahuntur dextrâ lævâque,concretæ 237. Inter has duas, mediamque zonam, duse aliæ concessæ sunt ægris 240 mortalibus munere Divûm; et via secta est per ambas, quâ 244. Hìc (ad sublimem polum) Maximus anguis elabitur circùm polum 245 sinuoso flexu, extendens que 235. Trahuntur: are extended-stretched out. called obliquus, because it makes an angle 239. Obliquus ordo: the ecliptic. It is with the equator. The quantity of the angle is 230 28. ward the arctic circle. See Ecl. i. 66. Ri 240. Scythiam: a vast country lying tophœas arces: the Riphæan mountains. An extensive range stretching along the north of Europe, and covered with perpetualsnow. Utas. In austros: simply, to the south. ginary points in the heavens directly in a 242. Hic vertex. The poles are two imaline with the axis of the earth. On the equator these points are in the horizon. In north pole is visible; while the south pole all places on the north of the equator, the will be depressed below the horizon. Illum: the south pole. 244. Maximus anguis. (Draco.) the keeper of the garden of the The dragon, Hesperides, after he was killed by Hercules, was translated to heaven, and made a constellation near the north pole. With his flexure of his body einbraces Ursa minor: tail he touches Ursa major, and with the the greater and lesser bears: bere called Arctos. This will be seen by looking upon a celestial globe. touched in the waters of the ocean. 246. Arctos metuentes: fearing to be The always equal to the latitude of that place. clevation of the pole at any given place is Consequently all those stars that are nearfrom the equator in degrees, will not set beer the pole than the distance any place is low the horizon at that place, but continue to revolve about the pole. This is the case with the two constellations hert mentioned, in the latitude of Italy. homines, aut 247. Illic, (ad austra- Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox lem polum) ut perhibent Semper, et obtentâ densantur nocte tenepræ. Aut redit à nobis Aurora, diemque reducit; Nosque ubi primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis, Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper. Hinc tempestates dubio prædicere cœlo Possumus; hinc messisque diem, tempusque serendi, Et quando infidum remis impellere marmor Conveniat; quando armatas deducere classes, Aut tempestivam sylvis evertere pinum. Nec frustrà signorum obitus speculamur et ortus, Temporibusque parem diversis quatuor annum. 259. Si quando frigi- Frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber : dus imber continet agri- Multa, forent quæ mox cælo properanda sereno, colam domi, tunc tempus Maturare datur: durum procudit arator datur maturare multa, quæ mox forent properanda, cœlo sereno: Vomeris obtusi dentem; cavat arbore lintres : NOTES. 248. Densantur: is thickened-rendered still more dark, night being extended, or lengthened out. At the poles there are six months day, and six months night, alternately. from us. 249. Aurora: Aurora returns to them, She was goddess of the morning, the daughter of Titan and Terra. She fell in love with Tithonus, the son of Laomedon, king of Troy, by whom she had Memnon, who came to assist Priam against the Greeks, and was slain by Achilles. She obtained for her lover immortality; but forgot, at the same time, to ask for perpetual youth and beauty. At last he grew old and infirm; and requested her to remove him from the world; but as that could not be done, she is said to have changed him into a grasshopper: which, as often as it grows old, renews its age. By meton. elegantly put for the morning. 250. Oriens: in the sense of Sol. 255. Deducere: to launch the armed fleets. Marmor: in the sense of mare. 256. Tempestivam: seasonable-denoting the time proper for cutting the pine. Everlere: in the sense of cædere. 250 255 260 265 270 dug out of the solid body of trees-troughs -bowls, &c. 263. Signum: in the sense of notas. Acervis. Acervus is a heap or pile of any thing -a heap of grain. Here, probably, it is taken for the sacks or bags that contained the grain. 265. Amerina retinacula: osier strings, to fasten the limber vine. Amerina: an adj. from Ameria, a town in Umbria, a spacious country in Italy, where osiers abounded. 266. Rubea virga: with the osier or wicker twig. Rubea: an adj. probably from Rubi, a town of Campania, near which the virga, or wicker abounded. Dr. Trapp understands it in this sense, and as a reason for so doing, he observes that rubeus, from rubus, the bramble, is no where found. Heyne is of the same opinion. 267. Torrete: dry. Fruges: grain-corn. 269. Fas et Jura sinunt exercere, &c. There is a difference of signification between fas and jus. The forner implies a divine law, or what may be done, or is permitted to be done, by the laws of God. The latter a natural right or a law founded in reason-common law. Deducere rivos: to drain the water from his fields. 261. Maturare: to do in season-or, at leisure. 262. Dentem: the edge of his dull or plunt share. Lintres. These were vessels 272. Balantum: gen. plu. of the pres. part. of balo, here used as a substantive-sheep. |