Jampridem Stimicon laudavit carmina nobis. 55 but Stimicon alfo commended ago. MEN. Candidus infuetum miratur limen Olympi, thofe verses to me a great while MEN. The fhining Daphnis admires the entrance of heaven, NOTES. was murdered. Ruaeus thinks, that the Poet uses this word by choice, becaufe Caefar was received among the celeftial Deities, to whom a perpetual juvenile vigour is afcribed. Perhaps Virgil might make use of this expreffion, to difguife in fome measure his intent of celebrating the late Dictator, before it was quite fafe to declare himself openly on that fide. If that was the cafe, this Eclogue was probably written in the year of Rome 712, before the battle of Philippi. 55. Stimicon.] Servius affirms, "that under the name of Stimicon, "the Poet meant Maecaenas. Í readily agree with Servius; for "Alexander had a relation to Mae46 caenas; he was his flave. As "for Virgil, Maecaenas was his patron, and the protector of his "verfes." CATROU. 、、 " The learned Father is always readyto catch at any little circumftance, that feems to favour his fyftem. Servius does not affert this; but only fays, that fome take Stimicon to be Maecaenas, and others fay that Stimicon was the father of Theocritus. Befides, thefe, words of Servius are of doubtful authority, being wanting in fome copies. Probably Stimicon is only a fictitious name of a fhepherd, as well as Menalcas and Moplus. 56. Candidus infuetum, &c.] Mopfus having lamented the death of Daphnis in five and twenty verfes, Menalcas now celebrates his apotheofis in an equal number. meaner This apotheofts of Daphnis is related in fo fublime a manner, that it is hardly poffible to imagine, that the Poet could intend a perfon than Julius Caefar, who was deified about the time that Virgil was engaged in writing his Eclogues. Dio Caffius informs us, that in the beginning of the year 712, when Lepidus and Plancus were Confuls, the Triumvirs erected a chapel to Caefar in the Forum, in the very place where his body was burnt. They carried about one of his ftatues in the Circenfian games, together with another of Venus. They decreed fupplications to him on the news of any victory... They ordained, that his birth-day fhould be celebrated by all men, with joy and crowns of bay; and that thofe, who neglected this, fhould be fubject to the curfes of Jupiter and Caefar: if they were fenators, or the fons of fenators, they were to pay a large fine. It happened, that Caefar was born on the day that was facred to the Ludi Apollinares: therefore they ordered his birth-day to be celebrated the day before that feftival; because it was forbidden by the Sibylline Oracles, to make that day facred to any other god than Apollo. They ordered alfo, that none of Caefar's relations fhould have his ftatues carried at their fu-nerals, becaufe he was really a god : P 2 his and fees the clouds and fars be- Sub pedibufque videt nubes et fidera Daphnis. neath his feet. NOTES. "merly owed all it's heavenly wor- his chapel alfo was made a fanctu- ડ 2667 "Cantantes fublime ferent ad fydera cygni. "He performs in favour to his brother, what he had promised to "a friend." Thefe arguments do not seem to prove the point, in favour of which they are produced by the learned Critick. There are no difagreements between the opi'nion that Julius Caefar was intended, and the other parts of this Eclogue: on the contrary, what was obfcure, or doubtful in the fong of Mopfus, feems now to be made plain and clear by the verfes of Menalcas. Mopfus gave room to fuf pect, that Caefar was intended; but Menalcas puts it paft all doubt, by celebrating his apotheofis; fince Julius Caefar was the only perfon, to whom divine honours had at that time been decreed by the Romans. We need not enter into the controverfy, whether the Poets were the inventors of the heathen religion: but furely we may affirm, that Virgil would not have prefumed to have exalted his own brother to the rank of a god; an honour, which he did not pretend to bestow on any of his patrons, except Auguftus himfelf, who at that time was mafter of 13 Ergo alacris fylvas, et caetera rura voluptas, NOTES. of the Roman empire, and adopted fon and heir of their new deity Julius Caefar. To conclude, I do not fee how the Poet, performed his promife of exalting his patron Varus to the fkies, by making a god of his own brother. Befides, there never was any fuch promise made to Varus. He only promifes to exalt his name to the skies, if he will but preferve Mantua. The entire paffage alluded to is in the ninth Eclogue, and runs thus ; “Vare, tuum nomen, fuperet modo "Mantua nobis "Mantua, vae miferae nimium vi"cina Cremonae "Cantantes fublime ferent ad fidera "cycni.", Thy name, O Varus (if the kinder Obnoxious by Cremona's neighb'ring above Therefore joy and pleasure poffefs the woods, and all the country, Olympi.] Olympus is a mountain of Theffaly, on the borders of Macedonia. It is of fo great a height, that the Poets have feigned the top of it to reach to heaven, Hence it is frequently ufed for heaven itself; as it evidently is in this place; because, in the next verse, Daphnis is faid to fee under his feet not only the clouds but also the very ftars. 58. Alacris.] Some read alacres, making it agree with fyluas. This chearfulnefs of the country feems to be opposed to that paffage of Mopfus; Non ulli paftos, &c. Philips has thus imitated the paffage before us; P 3 "Fot Pan, and the shepherds, and the Panaque, paftorefque tenet, Dryadefque puellas. Dryad nymphs. No longer does Nec lupus infidias pecori, nec retia cervis the wolf lie in wait for the 60 freep, nor do the nets spread any Ulla dolum meditantur: amat bonus otia Daphnis. fare for the flags: the good Daphnis is a lover of peace. NOTES. 61. Amat bonus otia Daphnis.] Catrou ufes this paffage for an argument to prove, that Daphnis is not Julius Caefar. "It is difficult, fays he, to make this love of peace fall upon a warrior and a conqueror. This is not praifing "Caefar by a circumftance that "diftinguifhes him." It must be acknowledged, that Julius Caefar is moft admired for his fkill and fuccefs in war he is known to have been the greatest general of his own, and perhaps of any other age. But this was not the only excellence for which that great man was admired by his contemporaries; for he was known to fhine no less in peace than war. His own writings are a standing monument of his capacity as a Hiftorian. Cicero, in his book de Claris Oratoribus, mentions him as one of the best Orators, and commends his Commentaries as a pattern of good writing: "Caefar "autem rationem adhibens, con"fuetudinem vitiofam et corrup tam, pura et incorrupta confue"tudine emendat. Itaque cum ad "hanc elegantiam verborum La"tinorum, quae etiam fi orator "non fis, et fis ingenuus civis Ro 66 manus, tamen neceffaria eft, ad"jungit illa oratoria ornamenta di"cendi: tum videtur tanquam ta"bulas bene pictas collocare in "bono lumine. Hanc cum ha"beat praecipuam laudem in com"munibus, Ipfi laetitia voces ad fidera jactant NOTE S. "munibus, non video cui debeat" "tracta. Sed dum voluit alios "habere parata, unde fumerent, qui vellent fcribere hiftoriam, in"eptis gratum fortaffe fecit, qui "volunt illa calamiftris inurere; "fanos quidem homines a fcribendo "deterruit. Nihil enim eft in "hiftoria, pura et illuftri brevitate " dulcius." The fame great Orator, in his defence of Q. Ligarius, though he himself had joined with Pompey, acknowledges however, that Caefar fought in his own defence, that his army contended only for their own rights and their general's dignity; that, when he had gained a compleat victory, he fhewed fuch clemency, that none of his enemies were put to death, but thofe who fell in battle; and that he had a memory for every thing but injuries: "Quando hoc quifquam ex te Caefar audivit, aut tua quid aliud arma voluerint, nifi a te contumeliam propulfare! Quid 66 Even the uncultivated moun tams lift up the found to bear en with joy: the very rocks return the fongs: egit tuus ille invictus exercitus, nifi ut fuum jus tucretur, et dig"nitatem tuam? ... Cognita vero clementia tua, quis non eam "victoriam probet, in qua occiderit "nemo, nifi armatus? "Sed parum eft me hoc memi"niffe: fpero etiam te, qui oblivifci "nihil foles, nifi injurias, &c." And, in one of his letters to Caecina, he extols his gravity, juftice, and wifdom; " In quo admirari "foleo gravitatem, et juftitiam, et "fapientiam Caefaris." It would be endlefs, to quote authorities to the fame purpose. fame purpose. These few, which have been taken from the writings of one, who was of a contrary party, are fufficient to fhew, that Caefar excelled in peace as well as war. We are to confider, that he is fpoken of in this Eclogue, un-, der the feigned character of a fhepherd. It would have been abfurd,, to have commended him as a great warrior: and therefore the Poet mentions only the milder part of his character. Surely we ought not to wonder, that Virgil should choose to celebrate this eloquent orator, this judicious hiftorian, this merciful conqueror, this forgetter of injuries, this grave, juft and wife man, as a lover of peace; Amat bonus otia Daphnis. 62. Laetitia.] Heinfius, according to Burman, found laetitiae in one manufcript. 63. Intonfi montes.] Servius interprets this fylvofi, incaedui; and |