But Jofeph Scaliger is of opinion, that Julius Caefar was the Daphnis of our Poet. To this opinion Ruaeus fubfcribes, and thinks this Eclogue was written, when fome plays or facrifices were celebrated in honour of Julius Caefar. This learned Critick obferves, that it could not be Saloninus, the pretended fon of Pollio, who is faid to have died young, and therefore could not yoak tigers to his chariot, and inftitute dances to Bacchus: nor Quintilius Cremonenfis, who did not die till the year 730, long after all the Eclogues were finished. As for the notion of Flaccus, he thinks it improbable, that a Poet, fo remarkable for his modefty, fhould celebrate his own brother, an obfcure perfon, in fo fublime a manner. Catrou allows, that feveral paflages in this Eclogue agree perfectly well with Julius Caefar; but at the fame time he finds feveral others to be inexplicable, fuppofing he was the fubject of the poem. He He allows alfo, that it appears more noble to make a hero the subject, than an obfcure young man, brought up in the country: but he apprehends that this is the real truth; which he fupports by the following 1. The author of Virgi's life affirms in exprefs words, that he lamented the death of his brother Flaccus, under the name of Daphnis: "Amifit.... Flaccum "jam adultum, cujus exitum fub "nomine Daphnidis deflet."

arguments.

2.

This tradition was fpread fo far, that

we find in the old Commentators the two verfes quoted above, which confirms this opinion. This learned Jefuit profeffes fo great a regard for old traditions, that he is determined to interpret the prefent Eclogue according to this authority. But perhaps fome readers may not be fo fond of old traditions, as to depend on the authority either of that diftich, or of the life of Virgil afcribed to Donatus. I fhall add one obfervation, that Daphnis could not be that Quintilius Varus, to whom the fixth Eclogue is generally fuppofed to be addreffed; for he was flain by the Germans, feveral years after the death of Virgil. Úpon the whole it feems most probable, that Virgil defigned to celebrate, either merely the Sicilian fhepherd Daphnis, whofe death Theocritus laments, in his first Idyllium; or elfe Julius Caefar, which laft I think is the general opinion. Cru deli funere may be referred to either of them; for Daphnis is faid to have died for love, and Julius Caefar was murdered. The lamentation of the Nymphs is moft applicable to the Sicilian Daphnis.

21. Vos coryli teftes et flumina.] This apoftrophe to the inanimated beings is very poëtical and beautiful. The fame figure is ufed alfo by the orators: thus Cicero, in his oration for Milo; "Vos enim Al"bani tumuli, atque luci, vos, in

quam, imploro atque obteftor, volque Albanorum obrutae arae, "facrorum populi Romani fociae, ❝ et

"et aequales."

Thus Philips;

"When in her widow'd arms, de

"void of breath, She clafp'd her son."

23. Mater.] Ruaeus is of opion that Rome is here meant ; the Poet calling that city the mother of Julius Caefar.

"It is certain, that Julius Cae'far had no mother alive, at the ' time of his murther.. Those therefore, who will at all adventures have him to be the perfon intended, have recourfe to interpretations more ingenious than true. Some fancy, that under the figure of this mother, who holds her fon in her arms, we are to understand Calpurnia, the wife of Caefar. Others that Rome is defigned under this allegory. Others again that Venus is here represented, who was the mother of the whole Julian race. It is eafy enough to perceive, without any other proofs, that thefe are fupplements to truth, where truth itfelf is wanting. With regard to Virgil's brother,

called both the gods and the conftellations cruel.

"it is probable that his mother was 66 yet alive, and made her cries be "heard even to heaven." CATROU.

But, with this learned Critick's leave, I may venture to fay, that not one of the interpretations mentioned by him is more obfcure than his favourite fyftem. That Virgil ever had fuch a brother, or if he had, that his mother was alive to lament his death, is very far from being certain. For my own part, rather believe, that Venus is the mother here mentioned; and I am confirmed in this opinion, by an almost parallel paffage in the fifteenth book of the Metamorphofes. Ovid there reprefents Venus to be terrified at the approach of Caefar's death; fhe difcovers all the fears and tenderness of a mother; confiders the injury as offered to herfelf; intercedes with the gods for his preservation; fmites her own breast, and endeavours to hide him in the fame cloud, in which she had preferved Paris and Aeneas; and as foon as he is killed, comes into the fenate-house invifible, keeps his foul from being mixed with common air, and carries it up to the sky, where it kindles, and becomes a star.

the

Quod ut aurea vidit "Aeneae genitrix; vidit quoque "trifte parari "Pontifici letum ; et conjurata arma moveri ; "Palluit: et cunctis, ut cuique erat obvia, divis; 0 3

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66

Afpice

"Infidiae, quantaque caput cum "fraude petatur,

"Quod de Dardanio folum mihi "reftat Iulo.

24. Non ulli paftos, &c.] Molchus, in his Epitaph on Bion, introduces the herds mourning for his death, and refufing to feed;

καὶ αἱ βόες αἱ ποτὶ ταύροις Πλαζόμεναι γοάοντι, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντι νέμεσθαι.

Thus alfo Philips;

"No joyous pipe was heard, no "flocks were feen, "Nor fhepherds found upon the "graffy green;

"No cattle graz'd the field, nor "drunk the flood,

"No birds were heard to warble "thro' the wood."

"Nothing can be more elegantly "expreffed, fays Catrou, than this "rural grief. It might happen "literally at the death of Virgil's "brother: but with regard to "Caefar, it can be underftood on

ly in figure, and in metaphor." But in oppofition to this, a paffage is quoted from Suetonius; where we are told, that this very thing happened just before Caefar's death. The hiftorian tells us, that the horfes, which that great man had confecrated, when he paffed the Rubicon, and had fed at large ever fince, were observed to abftain from their food; "Proximis diebus e

quorum greges, quos in trajici"endo Rubicone Дumine confe

craret, ac vagos et fine cuftode dimiferat, comperit pertinaciffime ❝ pabulo

amnem

"pabulo abftinere, ubertimque "flere." This is a ftrong argument in favour of their opinion, who think Julius Caefar was infended under the name of Daphnis. 25. Nulla.] La Cerda obferves, that the ufing of two negatives in this place, nulla neque is a Grecifm; because in Greek two negatives make the negation ftronger, whereas in Latin they make an affirmative. Some would read ulla here inftead of nulla. But the best Criticks approve of nulla, and allow it, with La Cerda, to be a Grecism. W find nulla ufed in like manner by Propertius, in the nineteenth Elegy of his fecond Book;

25

no one drove the well fed kine to the cool fireams: nor did any borfe tafte of the river, or touch a blade of grass.

which is the moft generous and useful of all quadrupeds. The word is ufed in feveral other places by Virgil; and in almost every one of them it plainly fignifies a horse. Thus we read in the third Aeneid;

4

661

"Nec tibi clamatae fomnus a"marus erit."

Tibullus indeed makes ufe of ulla nec, in the firft Elegy of his fourth Book;

"Ulla nec aëreas volucris perlabitur

:

auras,

"Nec quadrupes denfas depafcitur "afpera fylvas."

26. Quadrupes.] I have followed Ruaeus in rendering it a horse,

And in the eleventh ;

Τήνου μαν θῶες, τῆνον λύκοι ὠρύ

σαυτό,

Τήνον χώ κ δρυμοῖο λέων ἄν ἔκλαυσε

.

θανόντα.

"For him the wolves, the pards, "and tygers moan'd; "For him with frightful grief the "lions groan'd." CREECH.

Ruaeus feems to think, that this mention of the African lions alludes to the victories obtained by Julius Caefar, in Africa, over Cato, Scipio, and Juba. Catrou feems under a great difficulty, to make this paffage fuit with his fyftem, "It will be "thought furprizing, fays he, that "the death of a country-man fhould be lamented fo far as "Africa. I allow it; but Virgil

had already obtained friends, and "reputation in all places, where "Rome had colonies, armies, and

66

governors. Without doubt, this "favourite of Maecenas and Octa"vian received condolances from "all parts. Befides, Sicily, where "the fcene of this Eclogue feems "to have been laid, was not very "far diftant from Africa. It might "therefore be feigned poëtically, "that the groans of an afflicted "family were heard even to Africa," This feems very extravagant; and Virgil does not fpeak of the groans of the afflicted family; but only fays the mountains and woods ecchoed the lamentations of the lions. He does not give the leaft hint, that