Audiat haec tantum vel qui venit, ecce, Palaemon: Do but let bim be judge, who is coming along; ob! it is Par laemon. NOTES. "Et fuccincta comas, hirfutaque vertice pinus; "Grata Deum matri.-"Adfuit huic turbae metas imitata " cupreffus." A hill there was a plaine upon that bill; Which in a flowrie mantle flourisht stille Yet wanted fhade. Which, when the Gods defcent Sate downe, and toucht his well tun'd A fhade receiv'd. Soft linden, fmooth-rinde beech, unmarried bayes, The brittle bafel, afh, whofe fpeares we prayfe, Unknottie firre, the folace shading planes, Rough chefnuts, maple flect with dif ferent granes, Streame-bordering willow, lotus loving lakes, Tough boxe whom never fappie Spring for fakes The flender tamarisk, with trees that beare, A purple figge, nor myrtles abfent were. The wanton ivy wreath'd in amorous twines, Vines bearing grapes, and elmes fupporting vines, Straight Service trees, trees dropping pitch, fruit red Arbutus; thefe the rest accompaned. I will take care, that your Efficiam pofthac ne quemquam voce laceffas, 511 tongue shall never be faucy to any one again. Prized by the mother of the Gods :- Menalcas had affirmed that his cups were of far greater value, than the cow which his adverfary had offered. Here Damoetas, anfwers, that he would ftake two cups, in no degree inferior to his; but at the fame time, declares, that they are far inferior in value to the cow, which he of To this fable Milton alludes, in the fered at firney are far inferior beginning of his feventh book; But drive far off the barbarous "diffonance. Of Bacchus and his revellers, the 66 race Of that wild fout, that tore the "Thracian bard. In Rhodope, where woods and Heinfius found fequaces inftead of fequentes, in one of his manufcripts; But fequentes is certainly better, which represents the trees in the very action of following Orpheus. *** 02 Species..... laudes.] Pierius found fpectas and laudas, in the Lombard manufcript, and fpectas in the Medicean. 49. Nunquam hodie effugies, &c.] Damoetas had firft provoked Menalcas to a trial of skill: but now Menalcas challenges him; and that he may not get off, accepts of the wager, on his own terms. Appeals to a neighbour, who happened to pafs by, and proposes him for judge of the controverfy between them. We muft obferve, that Damoetas had closed his fpeech, with a con teinpt of the cups which Menalcas had offered, affirming, that they were by no means to be put in competition with a good cow. Menalcas anfwers brifkly, that this fhall not ferve him, for an excufe; for though his father, and particularly his ftepmother, would require an exact account of all the cattle from his hands; yet he was fo fure of victory, that he would venture a good cow, that Damoetas might have no pretence to decline the controverfy, or to fay that the prize "Verum id quod multo tute ipfe was not worth contending for. 47. Necdum illis, &c.] Here Dambetas repeats the very words of Menalcas, that he may not allow him any fuperiority. 48. Si ad vitulam fpectes, &c.] In this line Damoetas anfwers that of Menalcas, fatebere majus. DAM. Quin age, fiquid habes; in me mora non on your Veniam quocunque vicaris.] La Cerda interprets this ad quemcunque vel locum, vel judicem, vel conditionem. I take the meaning of it to be, I will engage with you own terms; that is, I am fo fure of victory, that I will venture to take a cow, that you may have no excufe. 50. Audiat haec tantum.] Lacon, in the fifth Idyllium of Theocritus, wishes for a friend to come and judge between him and his antagonist; ̓Αλλὰ τὶς ἄμμε Tis spiver; and end wod ὧδε Λύκωπας. Palaemon.] Palaemon Rem"mius, a famous grammarian, an "der Tiberius, boasted that Virgil had prophefied of him, when he "made choice of Palaemon to be judge between two poets." CATROU. 51. Voce.] Some understand voce to be meant of finging but others, with better reafon, think it alludes to the reproachful words that have been used. 53. Nec quenquam fugio:] This is a direct answer to what Menaldas had faid;"Nunquam hodie effugies," to hear us with the fritet at- Senfibus haec imis (res eft non parva) reponas. vention; for it is no trifling PAL. Dicite: quandoquidem in molli confedimus PAL Begin then, fince we W 55 affair. herba. are feated on the foft grafs; and Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos: now every field, now every tree brings forth. Now the woods Nunc frondent fylvae, nunc formefiffimus annus. are green, now the feafon is Incipe, Damoeta: tu deinde fequere, Menalca. most beautiful. Begin, Da mortes,and do you follow, Menalcasi NOTE S. and agreeable, the fields fhew a fine verdure, the fruit-trees are full of bloffoms, the woods are all covered with green leaves. The har mony of the numbers is as delicate, as the feafon itself, which is here painted by the mafterly hand of our Poet. 56. Parturit.] This word does not neceffarily fignify the trees bearing fruit, for we fee it is applied alfo to the grafs of the field. Thus in the fecond Georgick, the Poet fpeaking of the fpring, fays,id "Parturit almus ágers zephyrique La tepentibus auris arva finus " which can be understood only of the firft appearance of the grafs and corn 57. Frondent.] Frondes fignifies not merely the leaves, but the ane nual fhoots of a tree. Therefore frondent fylvae means, that the trees are full of young fhoots, and con fequently cloathed with leaves. 58. Incipe Damoeta, &c.] Thus Theocritus, in the ninth Idyllium, Baxxiáudio AáQui, tù d' vidas ap πρῶτος, Ωδῶς ἄρχει πρῶτος, ἐφελάσω Μενάλκας. Alternis dicetis amant alterna Camenae. 4443 You fhall fing alternately, the DAM. Ab Jove principium Mufae: Jovis omnia Mujes love alternate finging. plena: "Palac 59. Alternis dicetis.] mon, as being judge, orders the "rivals to exercise themselves in "the Amebean way. We fhall foon "fee, that all it's laws are ftrictly "obferved. I am not furprized, "that this fort of poetry fhould be “fo pleaning to the Mures; for it "has fomething particularly agree"able in it. Father Sanadon, in a collection of poems, on the "birth of the Prince of the Aftufias, has revived this fort of Ec"lague, and compofed one worthy "of the time of Virgil." CATROU. Some copies have alterni inftead of alternis. Camenae. So Varro thinks it fhould be written: we generally find Camoenae. It is a name used for the Muses, and, according to Varro, derived from carmen. 60. Ab Fove principium, &c.] Damoetas being willing to open his fong in fuch a manner, that it shall be impoffible for his antagonist to furpafs it, begins with Jupiter himfelf, whom he claims for his patron. Menalcas, in his turn, lays claim to the patronage of Apollo, which he enforces, by faying he is always E provided with gifts fuitable to that deity. DAM. Ye Mufes, begin from 60 Jupiter, all things are full of Jupiter: Ab Fove principium Mufae.] Servius fays thefe words are capable of two interpretations, either The beginning of my fong is from Jupiter; or, O Mufes, let us begin from Jupiter. La Cerda underftands it in the former fenfe; but Ruacus juftly prefers the latter, because we have a parallel paflage in the feventeenth Idyllium of Theocritus, where the Mufes are invoked in like manner; 3 Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, καὶ εἰς Δία λήγετε, Μοῖσαι. "Begin with Jove, my Muse, and "end with Jove." The old tranflation by W. L. is in fome measure according to the first interpretation; "Their first commence from Jove "the Mufe's take." The Earl of Lauderdale follows the latter; "Almighty Jove my Mufe fhall "first revere." And Dryden; From the great father of the "My Mufe begins." And Dr Trapp |