nor fhall they be infected with the noxious difcafes of neighbouring cattle. O fortunate old man, bere amongst well known rivers and facred Springs you fhall enjoy the cool shade. On 55 one fide the bedge that bounds, your farm, where the Hyblean bees are always feeding on the flowers of the willows, shall

put it paft all difpute. Burman obferyes, that fome point thefe, verfes thus;

"Non infueta graves tentabunt pa"bula; foetas "Nec mala vicini pecoris contagia "laedent:"

but he condemns it. If we adinit this pointing, the tranflation muft run thus; "Your pregnant fheep "fhall not be in danger from unac"cuftomed food; nor fhall your "dams be infected with the noxious "diseases of neighbouring cattle." 52. Flumina nota.] The Po and the Mincius.

54. Vicino ab limite fepes.] The hedge which divides your land from your neighbour's.

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255. Hyblaeis apibus.] A figurative expreffion to denote the beft bees; for Hybla, a town of Sicily was famous for honey.

The flowers of willows are catkins; they abound in chives, the fummits of which are full of a fine yellow duft, of which the bees are faid to make their wax,

57. Alta.] Heinfius, according to Burman, found alte in one manufcript.

Frondator.] A pruner of vines; for the other fruit-trees ftand in no need of pruning, unless any one would fancy Tityrus to have wallfruit, or efpaliers. Olive-trees are the worfe for pruning, as our Poet himself tells us in the fecond Georgick;

"Contra non ulla eft oleis cultura; neque illae

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"Procurvam expectant falcem, raftrofque tenaces."

But vines must be well pruned every year;

"Eft etiam ille labor curandis viti"bus alter,

Cui nunquam exhaufti fatis eft:

namque omne quotannis Terque quaterque folum fcinden"dum, glebaque verfis "Aeternum frangenda bidentibus, "omne levandum « Fronde nemus.

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tyrus: I believe therefore, that he defigns to express the pleasure of the pruner, in enjoying the cool breezes, and finging to them; for otherwife his work would be very hot, where the fun-beams being ftrongly reflected upon him, would give him no great inclination to fing.

60. Ante leves ergo, &c.] Tityrus, acknowledging the greatness of his happinefs, declares, that it is impoffible for him ever to forget the obligations, which he owes to Auguftus.

In aethere. La Cerda would would fain read in aequore, if he could find the authority of any manufcript; because the Poet seems here to oppofe the fea, rather than the fky, to the earth. Heinfius however, according to Burman, did find in in aequore one of his manufcripts: but this is not a fufficient ground to alter the text, the fenfe being very good as it is,

61. Freta.] It properly fignifies a frith or ftreight, but is often ufed by the Poets for the fea.

Nudos.] Burman finds nudo in tore in a Venetian manufcript. Lord Lauderdale has tranflated it according to this reading:

land. "Firft nimble deer on empty air fhall feed,

And feas leave to the naked thore "their breed.”

62. Per

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fooner fhall the banished Parthi an drink of the Arar, and the

63. Aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim.] Tityrus is here fpeaking of impoffibilities; that beafts fhould feed in the fky, and fifhes on the land; that the Parthians fhould extend themfelves to the river Arar, or the Germans to Tigris, which could not be effected any otherwise, than by a conquest of the whole Roman Empire, which lay between those two rivers. Many Criticks have cenfured Virgil, as being guilty of a notorious geographical error in this place, reprefenting Tigris as a river of Parthia, and Arar as a river of Germany. They tell us, that Parthia is bounded on the weft by Media, on the north by the Cafpian, on the eaft by Bactriana, and on the fouth by the defarts of Carmania; fo that all the large country of Media and part of Affyria lie between the Parthians and the Tigris. The Arar, which is now called the Soane, is well known to be a river of France, feveral miles diftant from the Rhine, the well known boundary of the ancient Germany. It has been a commond anfwer to this, that Tityrus Speaks with a paftoral fimplicity;

exchanging their countries,

and that it is not necessary to reprefent a fhepherd as an exact Geogra pher. Others fay that Virgil loves to add the greater dignity to his verfe," by enlarging the bounds of countries as much as poffible. Catrou folves the difficulty by faying that it was hardly poffible for the Parthian to change country with the German; but that it was abfolutely impoffible for the German to drink the water of the Tigris in the country of the Parthians, and for the Parthian to drink the water of the Soane in Germany but this is little better than a quibble. For my own part, I fee no great difficulty in understanding this paffage according to the most obvious meaning of the words. The Parthians had at that time extended their empire even beyond the Tigris, and had made fuch conquefts, that they were become formidable to the Romans. Strabo tells us expressly, that the border of the Parthians began from the Euphrates; the country on the other fide, as far as to Babylon, being under the dominion of the Romans, and the Princes of Arabia; the neighbouring people joining either with the Romans or Parthians, according as they were nearer to one or the other; Όριον δ ̓ ἐστὶ τῶν Παρθυαίων αρχής Εὐφράτης καὶ ἡ περαία· τὰ δ ̓ εντός ἔχουσι Ρομαῖοι καὶ τῶν Αράβων οἱ φύλ λαρχοι, μέχρι Βαβυλωνίας, οἱ μὲν μᾶλλον ἐκείνοις,αἱ δὲ τοῖς Ρωμαίοις προ

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τέχοντες

εἐχοντες οἷσπερ καὶ πλησιόχωροι εἰσίν. It was not far from the banks of the Euphrates, that Surena, the Parthian General defeated Craffus: fo that Tigris must have been within the bounds of the Parthian empire. The extent and fituation of this em pire has been with great beauty and juftnefs defcribed by Milton, in the third book of his Paradife Regained;

Here thou behold'st

Affyria and her empire's ancient (6 bounds,

"Araxes and the Cafpian lake, "thence on

As far as Indus Eaft, Euphrates Weft, "And oft beyond; to South the "Perfian bay,

"And inacceffible th' Arabian “drouth:

"Here Ninevee, of length within "her wall

Sev'ral days journey, built by Ninas old, "Of that firft golden monarchy

the feat,

And feat of Salmanaffar, whofe

"fuccefs: Ifrael in long captivity ftill

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"There Babylon the wonder of all "There Babylon the wonder of all 3. tongues,

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« As ancient, but rebuilt by him "who twice "Judah and all thy father David's "houfe

Led captive, and Jerufalem laid ss wafte,

"Artaxata, Teredon, Tefiphon, "Turning with eafy eye thou mayft "behold.

"All these the Parthian, now fome ages paft,

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"By great Arfaces led, who founded firft

"That empire, under his dominion "holds,

"From the luxurious kings of Antioch won."

It remains now to fhew, how the Soane can be faid to belong in any manner to Germany. It is paft all controverfy that the Rhine was always accounted the boundary between Germany and Gaul. It was the eastern limit of Gaul, according to Strabo ; Τὴν Κηλτικήν ταύτην ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς δύσεως ορίζει τα Πυρηνανα ὅρη τῆς ἑκατέρωθεν θαλάττης, της τε εντὸς καὶ τῆς εκτὸς προσαπτόμενα ἀπὸ δὲν ἀνατολῶν ὁ Ρήνος παράλληλος

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