calves, swine, horses, bulls; traces its progress through earth, sea, and air; and concludes this highly-wrought detail with the miserable death of those who dared to handle the infected fleece or hide.

THOU too, great Pales! and th' Amphrysian swain, Woods and Lycæan streams, ye claim the strain. Themes that detain'd the vacant mind of yore, Trite and familiar now, can please no more. Who knows not stern Eurystheus, and thy fane, 5 Accurst Busiris! fed with strangers slain? Latonian Delos, Hylas' youthful charm, Hippodame, and Pelops' ivory arm?

1 Pales, the goddess of shepherds. Amphrysus, a river of Thessaly, where Apollo fed the herds of King Admetus. Ly cæus, a mountain of Arcadia, famous for sheep, and sacred to Pan.

5 Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, king of Mycena, at the instigation of Juno, imposed on Hercules his twelve labours.

Busiris, a king of Egypt, son of Neptune. He sacrificed all foreigners to Jupiter. When Hercules visited Egypt, Busiris took him to the altar, bound hand and foot. The hero soon liberated himself, and sacrificed the tyrant and his son on the altar.-Stawell.

7 Hylas was beloved by Hercules, and accompanied him in the Argonautic expedition. In attempting to draw water from a fountain he fell in, and was drowned; and thence gave rise to the fable of his having been carried away by the nymphs. See Theocritus, Idyll. 13, and Apollonius Rhodius, book i. 1206.

Delos, one of the Cyclades islands, in the Ægean sea. It is fabled that this island floated till Latona brought forth in it Apollo and Diana, after which time it became fixed.

8 Hippodame was the daughter of Enomaus, king of Elis and Pisa. Either enamoured of the beautiful princess, or afraid, as foretold by an oracle, of being slain by his son-in-law, or by one of his daughter's children, he refused to marry her, unless the suitor could surpass, in a chariot race, his horses begotten by the wind. Thirteen suitors thus perished; but Pelops succeeded, by bribing the charioteer of Enomaus to leave one of the wheels unpinned. Pelops was gifted with an ivory shoulder, to supply the loss of the one devoured by Ceres, when his father Tantalus, in order to try the divinity of the gods, slew him, and served up his flesh at a celestial banquet.

I too will strive o'er earth my flight to raise,
And, wing'd by victory, catch the gale of praise. 10
I first, from Pindus' brow, if life remain,
Will lead the Muses to the Latian plain,
For thee, my native Mantua! twine the wreath,
And bid the palm of Idumæa breathe.

Near the pure stream, amid the green champaign, 15
I first will rear on high the marble fane,

20

Where with slow bend broad Mincio's waters stray,
And tall reeds tremble o'er his shadowy way.
High in the midst great Cæsar's form divine,
A present god, shall consecrate the shrine.
For him my robes shall flame with Tyrian die,
Wing'd by four steeds my hundred chariots fly.
All Greece shall scorn her famed Olympian field;
Here lash the courser and the cæstus wield.
I will myself around my temples twine
The olive wreath, and deck with gifts the shrine.
E'en now, methinks, the solemn pomp I lead,
E'en now I see the sacred heifers bleed,
Now view the turning scenes, and now behold
Th' inwoven Britons lift the purple fold,

25

30

14 Idumæa, or the land of Edom, was famous for palms: Virgil therefore uses Idumæan palms for palms in general, as is common in poetry. Palms were used for crowns in all the games, as we find in the fourth question of the eighth book of Plutarch's Symposiacs; where he inquires why the sacred games had each their peculiar crown, but the palm was common to all. -Martyn.

Dr. Hurd considers the following splendid passage of the dedication of a temple to Cæsar, and of the sacred games and festivities in honour of his divinity, as an allegory of the poet's intention to complete the Æneid, and in the person of Æneas to shadow forth and consecrate the character of Augustus.

29 The ancient scenes were painted on a triangular machine, which was so formed as to turn on an axle or pin: each of its three sides represented a different subject: viz. 1. a city; 2. a palace, or magnificent portico; 3. a wild forest, cave, or meadow. When a comedy was played, the first of these three frontispieces was turned towards the spectators; when a tragedy, the second; when a satirical piece, such as the Cyclops of Euripides, the

There on the ivory gates with gold embost,
Quirinus' blade shall flame o'er India's host;
Here the vast Nile shall wave with war, and there
Columns of naval brass ascend in air.
Niphates here, there Asia's conquer'd tow'rs,
And Parthia's flight conceal'd in arrowy show'rs:
From different nations double trophies torn,

35

And from each shore Rome twice in triumph borne. There breathing forms in Parian marble trace, From sire to son, Jove's long-descending race: 40 Assaracus and Tros shall lead the line,

And Cynthius, architect of Troy divine.

third was exposed to view. These triangular machines were placed under the arches of the theatre. See Vitruv. 1. v. and L'Antiquité expliquée par Montfaucon, tom. iii. p. 235.-Warton. Stawell.

The tapestry of the purple curtain of the theatre seemed to be supported by the inwoven figures of the newly conquered Britons.

In the year of Rome 727, the Britons had sent ambassadors to Cæsar, to supplicate for peace.-Voss.

33 This alludes to the victory obtained over the Egyptians and their allies, commanded by Antony and Cleopatra, in the year of Rome 724.

Servius tells us that Augustus, having conquered all Egypt, made of the beaks of ships four columns, which were afterward placed by Domitian in the capitol, and were to be seen in his time.-Martyn.

Niphates, the name of a mountain and river of Armenia. Milton has excellently described the flying fight of the Par thians.

How quick they wheel'd, and, flying, behind them shot
Sharp sleet of arrowy show'r against the face

Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight.

37 Catrou relates from Dion Cassius that Augustus made war twice on the Cantabrians, and on the Asturians, and twice in Asia. He went in person against the Spaniards the first time they revolted; and they were subdued the second time by his lieutenant Carisius. He twice subdued the Parthians, and both times commanded his armies in person.-Martyn.

39 Paros, an island in the Ægean sea, famous for its marble quarries.

41 Virgil here compliments Augustus with adorning his temple with the statues of his Trojan ancestors. Homer has traced the

Envy shall dread Ixion's snaky coil,
Styx, the vast wheel, and rock's eternal toil.
Meanwhile, be mine to search where Dryads

rove

The pathless lawn, and unfrequented grove;
Thy arduous task, Mæcenas! thou inspire,
And fill thy poet's breast with added fire.

45

55

Haste, haste! Citharon lifts her mighty voice:
Away! Taygeta's deep-mouth'd hounds rejoice; 50
The neighing steeds o'er Epidaurus bound,
Rock rings to rock, and woods to woods resound.
Ere long, my voice, attun❜d to loftier lays,
Shall swell th' adventurous song to Cæsar's praise,
His glowing battles consecrate to fame,
And spread from age to age the Julian name.
Who for th' Olympian palm the courser rears,
Or breeds to bear the yoke resistless steers,
With prescient care the destined mother trace,
And form'd like her expect the promised race.
If her large front and neck vast strength denote:
If on her knee the pendulous dewlap float;
If curling horns their crescent inward bend,
And bristly hairs beneath the ear defend;

60

If length'ning flanks to boundless measure spread; 65 If broad her foot, and bold her bull-like head;

descent from Jove to Eneas. Apollo was born in Delos, in which is the mountain Cynthus: he is said to have built Troy in the reign of Laomedon.-Martyn.

43 Ixion attempted to violate Juno, for which crime he was cast into hell, and bound with twisted snakes to a wheel con tinually turning.

Sisyphus infested Attica with robberies, for which he was slain by Theseus, and condemned in hell to roll to the top of a hill a stone which always revolves before it reaches the sum mit.-Martyn.

49 Citharon, a mountain of Boeotia, famous for cattle.

51 Epidaurus, a town of Peloponnesus, noted by Strabo for excellent horses.

66 Virgil's directions here are probably good, where strong cattle for labour only were to be obtained; but the object of the modern breeding farmer is different wholly: he wants cows and

If snowy spots her mottled body stain,
And her indignant brow the yoke disdain,

With tail wide sweeping, as she stalks, the dews; Thus, lofty, large, and long, the mother choose. 70 Choose with like care the courser's generous breed,

And from his birth prepare the parent steed.

75

His colour mark, select the glossy bay,
And to the white or dun prefer the gray.
As yet a colt he stalks with lofty pace,
And balances his limbs with flexile grace?
First leads the way, the threat'ning torrent braves,
And dares the unknown arch that spans the waves.
Light on his airy crest his slender head,
His belly short, his loins luxuriant spread;
Muscle on muscle knots his brawny breast,
No fear alarms him, nor vain shouts molest.
But at the clash of arms, his ear afar

80

Drinks the deep sound, and vibrates to the war: Flames from each nostril roll in gather'd stream, 85 His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam; O'er his right shoulder, floating full and fair, Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads its pomp of

hair:

Swift works his double spine, and earth around
Rings to his solid hoof that wears the ground.

90

oxen which will fatten in a short time, and on little food, and such as will afford beef of good quality. The cow for this purpose should be extremely delicate and feminine in character, and should be rather small than large.-T. A. Knight.

83 See the spirited description of a war-horse in Oppian's Cynegetics.

"He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shoutings." See the sublime description in Job.

89 The words of Varro. The spine sinks, and disappears in a furrow.-Stawell