Thus mighty things I measured by the mean! 30 35 Tit. Freedom: who, though her visit late she paid, Approach'd at length my long-neglected shed; When ripening age now clad with gray my chin, And Amaryllis ruled the heart within. That heart, I own, while Galatea sway'd, Hopeless was freedom, profitless my trade: Though many a victim issued from my fold, And to sad Mantua many a cheese I sold; Yet unproductive were my thriftiest pains, And ne'er return'd I burthen'd with my gains. Mel. Oft have I wonder'd, why with sorrowing cries 40 45 Thou, Amaryllis, didst invoke the skies; 50 Yearly to whom twelve days shall flame my shrine. 30 Implying, with delicate flattery, a difference in kind, as well as in magnitude.-Servius. 46 The arbusta, here rendered (perhaps too generally) "bow ers," were "large pieces of ground planted with elms, or other trees, at the distance commonly of forty feet, to leave room for corn to grow between them. These trees were pruned in such a manner as to serve for stages to the vines which were planted near them."-Martyn. 50 Octavius was now about twenty-two years of age. 51 On one day in each month, probably the ka nds or the ides: along with the lares, perhaps, who (as Tibullu forms ta, were honoured by a monthly worship. 55 First, to my suit propitious, there he spoke; 60 Here by the neighbouring hedge that bounds your farm, Whose willow-flowers allure the busy swarm, 70 Mel. We, we meanwhile to Afric's thirsty sands, Oäxes' stream and Scythia's waste of lands, 66 75 56, 57 This sterility seems only to have been partial on Virgil's lands; as we read previously of fattened "victims” and rich "cheeses," and subsequently of a "vine-pruner," home-grown apples and chestnuts," and "thickened curds." The country round Mantua is, indeed, moist; as the Mincio flows from the Benacus (hod. Lago di Garda), and expands near that city into a broad lake before it falls into the Po, which frequently overflows its banks. 61 The Po and the Mincio. 71, 72 On the geography of this passage Martyn has a long note, proving that at this time both the Parthians had extended their conquests westward even beyond the Tigris, and the Germans also (on the invitation of the Sequani, hod. Franche Comté) had spread themselves in the same direction as far as the Arar, or the Sâone. Or Britain sunder'd from the world, must go! See, for whose use our cherish'd harvests grow! 81 85. At measured distance, now dispose thy vines! -Hence, my poor goats, once happy creatures, hence No more shall I, in rustic indolence, From some green cave your frolic sports survey, 90 Tit. Yet here with me one night, I ask not much, Forget your woes upon this leafy couch: Here 'mid ripe apples and soft chestnuts piled, And thicken'd curds, your anguish be beguiled! 95 Curling from distant roofs the smokes rise slow, And the tall hills their lengthening shadows throw. 94 Mitia (poma) may also mean "mild" by nature, as opposed to the harsher species; or by cultivation, as opposed to crabs. So likewise molles (castanea) may signify "ripe," or "fresh," or smooth," as distinguished from the hirsute or "roasted." ECLOGUE II.-ALEXIS. ARGUMENT. FROM the fifth Eclogue, vv. 104, 105, it may be inferred that the Alexis, as well as the Palemon, preceded in the dates of their composition the Daphnis, which itself appears to have been written A. C. 42, A. Ú. C. 712. The former was probably written before the death of Julius Cæsar, which took place on March 25, A. U. C. 710, and gained his approbation.—See Eclog. v. 64. 5 ALEXIS, beauteous, and his lord's delight, Was loved by Corydon, in hope's despite. Oft 'mid the solitary beechen glade, As with his pipe the pensive shepherd stray'd, These simple lays he pour'd to hill and grove: "And cannot aught my plaint, Alexis, move? Unpitying youth! thy frowns my death will prove. Now herds for cooling shade their meads forsake : Now the green lizard lurks within the brake; And for the mowers, all faint with summer airs, 10 Wild thyme and garlic Thestylis prepares: While, as I trace thee o'er the sun-struck ground, The copses wild with hoarse cicadas sound. 9 The "green lizard" is very common in Italy, and is said to be found also in Ireland. It is larger than our common eft or swift.-Martyn. 11 With these herbs the Roman farmers were accustomed to recruit the spirits of their labourers when exhausted by the heat. Garlic, indeed, as we learn from Pliny, formed an ingredient in many rustic medicaments. 13 The cicade (Ital. cigale) sing or chirp most in hot weather and in the middle of the day. Of Amaryllis happier had it been Still to endure the wayward scorn, or spleen; 15 Though he so dusky dark, and thou so fair! Trust not too much that hue, which charms the sight: 1 The hyacinth we pluck, the privet slight; Though that, sweet boy! be dark, and this all snowy white. 20 -Still am I scorn'd; nor dost thou ask, or know, Nor breathed Amphion notes more soft than mine 26 30 19 Of the ligustrum all that we know is, that its flowers were white and valueless. It is perhaps the "privet;" as that is called by the Italians guistrico, which seems to be a corruption of the Latin word: though Martyn, in opposition to Pliny (who pronounces it to be probably a tree growing in Egypt and in watery places), seems rather to incline to the convolvulus major, or greater bindweed. 25 Amphion and Zethus, the sons of Jupiter and Antiope, built the walls of Thebes, according to Homer. That they did it by 'the instrumentality of a magical harp received from Mercury, as averred by Euripides, Horace, Propertius, &c., appears to have been the figment of a later age. 26 The ancient shepherds used to go before their flocks, playing on the pipe, which call they readily followed. To this custom allusion is made in the sacred writings.-See Psalm xxiii. lxxvii. lxxx. and John x. 27 Thus the herdsman, and even the Cyclops, in Theocritus, speak of their personal appearance; the latter with the additional mention of the calm smooth sea, in which he had viewed it reflected. |
