his candour (t), and his piety (u). Propertius ce lebrates the writings of our Poet, declares that his verfes are worthy of Apollo, and fhews the great expectation, that there was of the Aeneis, by faying that Virgil was about a work, which was to exceed the Iliad (w). Ovid alfo, fpeaking to Auguftus,

Fufcus, et haec utinam Vifcorum laudet uterque ;
Ambitione relegata te dicere poffum,

Pollio; te Meffala tuo cum fratre; fimulque
Vos Bibuli, et Servi; fimul his te, candide Furni;
Complures alios, doctos ego quos et amicos
Prudens praetereo: quibus haec, fint qualiacumque,
Arridere velim: doliturus, fi placeant fpe.
Deterius noftra.

Sat. lib. I. 10.

(t) Plotius, et Varius Sinueffae, Virgiliufque
Occurrunt: animae quales neque candidiores
Terra tulit; neque queis me fit devinctior alter.
O, qui complexus, et gaudia quanta fuerunt;
Nil ego contulerim jucundo fanus amico.

(u) Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit:
Nulli flebilior, quam tibi Virgili

Tu fruftra pius, heu non ita creditum
Pofcis Quintilium Deos.

Sat. lib. 1. 5.

Lib. 1. Ode 24.

(w) Me juvet hefternis pofitum languere corollis,
Quem tetigit jactu certus ad offa deus:
Actia Virgilium cuftodis littora Phoebi,
Caefaris et fortes dicere pofte rates,
Qui nunc Aeneae Trojani fufcitat arma,
Jactaque Lavinis moenia littoribus.
Cedite Romani fcriptores, cedite Graii:
Nefcio quid majus nafcitur Iliade.
Tu canis umbrofi fubter pineta Galefi
Thyrfin, et attritis Daphnin arundinibus:
Utque decem poffint corrumpere mala puellam,
Miffus et impreffis hoedus ab uberibus.

Year of
Rome

735.

735.

Year of guftus, calls Virgil his happy author of the Aeneis (x): Rome In another place, he calls that poem the brightest work of all Italy (y); and in a third, he declares, that the Paftorals, Georgicks, and Aeneids of Virgil will be read as long as Rome fhall continue fovereign of the world (2); which prophecy has been abundantly verified; for the works of Virgil ftill maintain their fuperiority; though the Roman Empire has been diffolved above a thousand years. I fhall conclude the life of our great Poet with the following lines of the celebrated Vida ;

Extulit os facrum foboles certiffima Phoebi
Virgilius, qui mox veterum fqualore fituque
Deterfo, in melius mira omnia retulit arte,

Felix, qui viles pomis mercatus amores:
Huic licet ingratae Tityrus ipfe canat.
Felix, intactum Corydon qui tentat Alexin
Agricolae domini carpere delicias.
Quamvis ille fua laffus requiefcat avena,
Laudatur faciles inter Hamadryadas.
Tu canis Ascraei veteris praecepta poëtae,
Quo feges in campo, quo viret uva jugo.
Tale facit carmen docta teftudine, quale
Cynthius impofitis temperat articulis.

Lib. 2. Eleg. 34.

(x) Et tamen ille tuae felix Aeneidos auctor
Contulit in Tyrios arma virumque toros,.
Nec legitur pars ulla magis de corpore toto,
Quam non legitimo foedere junctus amor.
Phyllidis hic idem, teneraeque Amaryllidis ignes
Bucolicis juvenis luferat ante modis.

Trift. 1. 2.

(y) Et profugum Aenean, altae primordia Romae,
Quo nullum Latio clarius extat opus.

Art. amat lib. 3.

(z) Tityrus, et fegetes, Aeneiaque arma legentur
Roma triumphati dum caput orbis erit.

Amorum, lib. 1.

Vocem animumque deo fimilis: date lilia, plenis, Year of

Pierides, calathis, tantoque affurgite alumno.

Unus hic ingenio praeftanti gentis Achivae

Divinos vates longe fuperavit, et arte,

Aureus, immortale fonans: ftupet ipfe, pavetque
Quamvis ingentem miretur Graecia Homerum.
Haud alio Latium tantum fe tempore jactat.
Tunc linguae Aufoniae potuit quae maxima virtus
Effe fuit, caeloque ingens fe gloria vexit
Italiae: fperare nefas fit vatibus ultra :

Chelfey, 5 June,

1749.

Rome 735.

PUBLII

VIRGILII

MARONIS BUCOLICORUM

MEL.

ECLOGA PRIM A.

TITYR U S.

MELIBOEUS, TITYRUS.

TIT

ITYRE, tu patulae recubans fub Mt. You, Tityrus, lying
ander the fhade of a spreading
tegmine fagi
beech,

NOTES.

the inhabitants, both old and young, to flock in great numbers to Rome to feek for redrefs. We may gather, from a paffage in the ninth Eclogue, that Cremona was one of the cities given to the foldiers, and that Mantua, happening to be fitu ated near Cremona, the inhabitants of that territory were involved in the calamity of their unhappy neighbours. It is faid that among the reft, Virgil being difpoffeffed of his eftate, went to Rome, where being prefented to Auguftus he was gra

A

ciously