even the vineyards refound, be Ipfa fonant arbufta: Deus, deus ille, Menalca. isa god, be is a god, O Menalcas. NOTES. La Cerda incaedui, fylvofi, non re- 66 Tonfifque ferunt mantilia Puraque in vefte facerdos "Setigerae foetum fuis, intonfam 66 que bidentem "Attulit, admovitque pecus fla"grantibus aris.' "Ora puer prima fignans intonfa It is ufed alfo for fhearing, clipping, " juventa" in the first sense: and many paffages in the latter; as in the third Geor-1 gick; "Nec minus interea barbas inca 66 naque menta "Cinyphii tondent hirci, fetafque 6c comantes:" and 66 or cutting the young fhoots or branches of herbs and trees. Thus in the fourth Georgick we read "Ille comam mollis jam tum ton"debat acanthi :" and in the second Georgick, « Tondentur cytifi.” Garlands are faid, in this fenfe to be Vel cum tonfis illotus ad- tonfae; as in the third Georgick: "haefit "Sudor :" and "Aut tonfum trifti contingunt cor66 pus amurca:" and "Nec tondere quidem morbo illu- and "vieque perefa "Vellera, nec telas poffunt attin66 gere putres:" 66 Tonfa coma preffa corona." A tree, which has not been topped, and in the fourth Georgick, and is faid to be intonfa, as in the ninth firft Aeneid; Aeneid; "Confurgunt Not fo much as one of these paffages confirms the interpretation which Servius and La Cerda give of intonfi montes. A plant divested of it's branches or leaves may be faid indeed to be tonfa or fhorn; but we do not find any one inftance of tonfa being applied to the earth, when the trees, which grew upon it are felled. We ought therefore to understand intonfi montes to mean thofe barren hills, on which no flocks are fed, no grafs is mown, and no corn is reaped. Thus in the first Georgick tondeo is used to express the feeding of cattle; 65 Ob be thou good and favourable to thy people! behold four altars: In the first Georgick it fignifies the mowing of a meadow; "Nocte leves ftipulae melius, nocte arida prata "Tondentur." In the fame Georgick, Servius himself interprets tonfas novales, agros meffos, or corn fields that have been reaped; "Alternis idem tonfas ceffare no"vales "Et fegnem patiere fitu durefcere campum.' In the fourth Georgick, the Poet, fpeaking of the Amellus, fays, "Tonfis in vallibus illum Here Servius interprets tonfis, non fylvofis; and compares it with the intonfi montes now under confideration. This indeed is the only paffage, that can ftrengthen the interpretation of Servius. But, as tonfis in vallibus may very eafily be underftood to mean in vallies where cattle have grazed; this fingle paffage, of doubtful interpretation, is not fuf "Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta ficient to confirm the opinion of Servius and La Cerda with regard to lo two for thee, O Daphnis, and Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duoque altaria Phoebo. two altars for Phoebus. NOTES. 64. Deus, deus ille, Menalca.] Menalcas in a kind of rapture, hears the mountains, rocks, and woods re-eccho to him, that Daphnis is really a god. It has been obferved already, that Virgil had probably read the prophecies of Isaiah. The lines now before us have a great refemblance to the twenty-third verse of the forty-fourth chapter of that fublime Prophet; "Break "forth into finging, ye moun"tains, O foreft, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath re"deemed Jacob." Pope has imitated the paffage under confideration, in his Meffiah; of thofe numerous apotheofes of the "A God, a God! the vocal hills 65. Sis bonus, O felixque tuis.] He invokes the new god to be pro "ing Deity." Thus Theocritus, in the Συρακούσιαι; "Inad võv, Qix' "Adwvi, xì és véur' Thus also our Poet, in the first Sis felix, noftrumque leves quae- 66 have been fuffered to place Daph- and in the twelfth ; "nis among the gods. We muft "not be furprized at thefe apo theofes of fhepherds. We find "examples of them in all the "Poets, who have written Bucolic verfes." The learned Critick would have done well, if he had obliged us with a few examples, out "Vos O mihi Manes En quatuor aras, &c.] "I have "made, fays he, four altars, aras: "two for you, O Daphnis, and two altars aras for Apollo, which " are Pocula bina novo fpumantia lacte quotannis, To thee will I offer yearly two. veffels frothing with new milk, NOTES. "fimulacra tenebant." And a little afterwards, speaking of the very fame altar; are altaria. For we know, that " Condenfae, et divum amplexae arae were confecrated both to "fupernal and infernal deities; but "that altaria belonged only to the "fupernal deities, being fo called "ab altitudine. Thefe he afcribes "to Apollo as to a god; but to "Daphnis he raises only aras: be"cause, though he calls him a god, << yet it is manifeft, that he was a "mortal." SERVIUS. La Cerda is of opinion, that the Poet fpeaks here without any diftinction of ara and altare, because at firft he comprehends all the four under aras. But Servius was aware of this: he allows that they are all called arae. He looks upon ara as a name for altars in general; but he takes altare to be a peculiar fort ara, confecrated only to the celeftial gods. There does indeed of feem to have been some diftinction "Aedibus in mediis, nudoque fub Ingens ara fuit, juxtaque veter "rima laurus "Incumbens arae, atque umbra "complexa Penates. "Hic Hecuba, et natae nequic66 quam altaria circum, Praecipites atra ceu tempeftate "columbae, Altaria ad ipfa trementem "Traxit." In the fourth Aeneid, an altar, con- "Stant aras circum, et crines ef- "Ipfa mola, manibufque piis al- In the firft Eclogue, he calls the altars, on which he offers facrifice to Auguftus Caefar, in his life-time altaria; "Hic illum vidi juvenem, Meli- If the altars erected to Auguftus, who, from his adoption by Julius Caefar, was named Divi filius, were called altaria; much more might thofe be fo called, which were raised in honour of the father, who was fuppofed to be already in heaven. 66. Duoque Στασῷ δ ̓ ὀκτῶ μὲν γαυλὼς τῷ Πανὶ offered, in the funeral obfequies for Polydorus; "Inferimus tepido spumantia cym"bia lacte." In the fifth Aeneid, a libation is made of two cups of wine, two of new milk, and two of facred blood to the Manes of Anchifes; "Hic duo rite mero libans carche"fia Baccho "Fundit humi, duo lacte novo, duo "fanguine facro." |