Beneath the solid orb's vast convex bent, See earth, and sea, and highest heaven rejoice; 60 "O reach so far my long life's closing strain! Contend, he'd own his song surpass'd by me. 66 65 Know, then, dear boy, thy mother by her smile : Enough ten months have given of pain and toil. 71 Know her, dear boy,-who ne'er such smile has known, Nor board nor bed divine 'tis his to own." ECLOGUE V.-DAPHNIS. ARGUMENT. THE triumvirs having resolved to open the A. U. C. 712 with performing divine honours to the memory of Julius Cæsar, the Daphnis (which refers to this deification) must probably have been written about the beginning of the year: but as Brutus 65, 67, 68 On Orpheus and Linus, as coeval with this prophecy, and the worship then more particularly paid to Pan, see Penn, ib. p. 94-99. 70 On the peculiar propriety of the "smile," as applied to Attia, the mother of Augustus, and the niece of Julius Cæsar (through whom alone flowed the traditionary descent of the former from the smiling goddess Venus), see Penn, ib. p. 363-369 and Cassius were still at the head of considerable armies, and Virgil had already smarted under the effects of civil fury, he cautiously veils the name of his hero under that of a Sicilian herdsman. Mopsus laments his death, and Menalcas celebrates his apotheosis. If ever Virgil intended in his Eclogues to introduce himself, it is probably as the latter. Phillips has imitated this poem in his third Pastoral, entitled "Albino," on the death of the Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne. Menalcas. AND why not, Mopsus, since we're met You skill'd to pipe, and I to trill the lay- 5 Mopsus. The elder you, my friend, Just what you please prescribe, and I obey: Whether, where zephyrs 'mid the branches play, We court the checker'd shade; or choose yon cave, Where thinly bunch'd the wild vine's tendrils wave. Men. None but Amyntas or our hills may try To match your art in sylvan minstrelsy. 10 Mops. And he would strive e'en Phoebus to outvie. Men. Begin, then, Mopsus; if or love's fierce flame By beauteous Phyllis felt, or Alcon's fame, Or Codrus' tuneful strife inspire your reed- Which on the beech's rind in measured verse Then bid Amyntas bear the palm away! Men. Far as the willow olives pale o'erpass, 20 Or glowing rose-beds dim the spiked grass, 21 The saliunca is a plant not certainly known at present. It may be the same as the nardus Celtica, French spikenard, or a species of valerian growing abundantly on the mountains between Italy and Germany, and also about Genoa, near Savona. This the Tyrolese peasants are said still to call "seliunck;" whence the saliunca of Virgil and Pliny, and the dλovyyia of Dioscorides. So far dost thou, Amyntas, in my thoughtMops Hush, shepherd! see, we've gain'd the grot we sought. wat dink "The nymphs their Daphnis wail'd, by fate aus tere 25 To death consign'd: ye hazels, witness bear, The cooling wave; morove his flock to drink Mall lions, melting at the scene (AS Wept o'er hills and savage woodlands tell), First Daphnis o'er th' Daphthy doom 30 their sad farewell. tiger's mane 36 Strapp'd the strong harness; first the bacchant train To lead their orgies to the god enjoin'd, And the slight thyrsus with soft foliage twined. "As vines of trees, and grapes of vines the pride, And bulls of herds and corn of champaign wide, 41 So thou of thine now naught of thee remainsPales and Phoebus both have fled the plains. Where to the furrow bulky grain we gave Darnel and barren, wild-oals idly wave. And, for the daffodil and violet's bloom, Thistles and briers in rank luxuriance gloom. 45 28 Mother: i. e. Venus. Compare Ov. Met. xv. on the same subject. 36 Servius informs us that Julius Cæsar first brought the solemnities of Bacchus to Rome. This De la Rue, arguing from a passage in Livy, denies. Perhaps he restored them, after they had been abolished for their enormities, on a purer and more magnificent scale. 38 Thiasus is a solemn singing and dancing used at festivals. The thyrse was a spear twisted round with branches of vine and ivy, and borne in the hands of the bacchanals. 47 The paliurus has been a subject of some controversy among Scatter the ground with leaves; around each spring "Pride of the woods, I Daphnis here am laid: Fair was my flock; but fairer I, who fed." 999 Men. Sweet to the ear, blest bard, thy tuneful reed, As sleep to wearied shepherds on the mead: 55 Nor with your reed alone your master's fame name. Yet shall my simple strain, in turn, arise- 60 modern writers. By Theophrastus and Pliny it is called a shrub. Columella recommends it for a quick-hedge, as one of the strongest thorns; whence Martyn concludes it to be the rhamnus folio subrotundo, fructu compresso C. B., now cultivated under the name of "Christ's-thorn ;" which grows abundantly in desert places in Italy, and is very common in the hedges. 54 This imitates and surpasses a similar passage in the eighth Idyl of Theocritus (who supplies many parallels to the present Eclogue), and is itself copied by Phillips in his fourth Pastoral. Not half so sweet are midnight winds that move And with a tinkling sound their caverns fill. 63 Of your favourite Daphnis we will sing the apotheosis. It is probable that Julius Cæsar (as a learned man, and a patron of letters) admired Virgil, whose estate lay near Mantua, in his beloved province of Cisalpine Gaul. The verses of Menalcas, it may be observed, correspond, after the Amoebæan fashion, with those of Mopsus, being each thirty in number. Mops. What boon more grateful can my song repay? Worthy young Daphnis of thy happiest lay; And oft that lay, how ravishingly sweet, 65 Men. "Surprised, bright Daphnis hails the untried world, And views the clouds and stars beneath him whirl'd. Hence Rapture, bounding 'mid the groves and plains, O'er Pan, the shepherds, and the Dryads reigns! Peace, peace mild Daphnis loves: with joyous cry O shine serene! Four altars, lo! we raise; ( 71 76 80 85 69 Untried. Compare Pope's fourth Pastoral: "But see where Daphne, &c. 71 Rapture is opposed to Mopsus's "That day no shepherd," &c.; and "Pan and the shepherds" to the desertion of "Pales and Phoebus." This passage is imitated by Phillips: "For this the golden skies," &c. A similar double copying occurs again below, v. 83, &c. 75 Peace, peace, &c. Besides his warlike character, Julius Cæsar, as an eloquent orator, a judicious historian, a merciful conqueror, a forgetter of injuries, a grave and wise man, might fairly be represented as a "lover of peace." 80 Julius Cæsar was born on the day of the ludi Apollinares. 85 The "Ariusian wine was brought from Chios, hod. Scio, and was esteemed the best of all the Greek wines. It is said by Tournefort to be called "nectar" to this day by the inhabitants |
