Lye. O Meeris, whither LYC. UO te, Moeri, pedes? an, quo via du are you travelling to the city, cit, in urbem? Mox. O Lycida:, we have NO. O Lycida, vivi pervenimus; advena noftri, lived to fee the time, 1. Quo to Moeri pedes, &c.] This Eclogue is a dialogue between two fhepherds, Lycidas and Moeris, who are fuppofed to meet on the road to Mantua, and difcourfe con-' cerning the violence of the foldiers, to whom the neighbouring lands had2. Vivi pervenimus.] been given. The gurig of Theocritus begins much after the fame, logue and contends, that Moeris,. in this place, is Virgil's father. Without doubt ducunt muft here be underflood; as if he had faid. "Quo te pedes ducunt? an in urbem, quo via ducit ?" deftands thefe words to Mocris had lived long manner fome thepherds, as they old when this at he was are travelling, happen to meet with the goatherd Lycidas, with whom they join company, and entertain each other with finging. Moeri. Servius tells us, that Moeris is the perfon who had the care of Virgil's farm, procurator; and that one Arrius a Centurion had refused to admit Virgil into a quiet poffeffion of his lands, and was near killing him, upon which the Poet returned to Rome, requiring his domefticks in the mean time to carry matters as fair with Arrius as poffible. This ftory is generally affented to by the Commentators. But Catrou finds here a confirmation of his former fyftem, mentioned in the notes on the firft Ec Servius unmean, that that he was happened. Hence Catrou infers, that he mult needs be the old father of Virgil. But furely they rather mean that Moeris laments, not that he has lived fo many years; but that it is a wonder he fhould be alive, in the midst of such violence and outrage, Noftri..... agelli.] This expreffion of our farm is thought by Catrou, to be a confirmation, that Moeris is the father of Virgil; "Would a farmer, (fays he) a mercenary speak in this manner? "could he call another perfon's land "his own, noftri agelli ?" I an fwer he would: nothing is more common among fervants, than to fpeak after that manner: the coachman fays my horses, and the cook 5 Quod nunquam veriti fumus, ut poffeffor agelli Incipiunt, mollique jugum demittere clivo, and melancholy, because fortune overturns all things, we are fending thefe kids to bim, and may they do bim no good. LYC. Surely I bad beard, that, where the bills begin to decline, and to leffen. by an easy defcent, NOTES. my kitchen. Thus, in the Andria, when Davus afks Myfis, whofe child it is, fhe answers your's, meaning that it is his mafter's; " Da. "Unde eft? dic clare. My. A "vobis." And again; "Da. "Cedo cujum puerum hic appofu"ifti? dic mihi. My. Tu nefcis! "Da. Mitte id quod fcio: dic, "quod rogo. My. Veftri. Da. Cujus veftri? My. Pamphili." Thus alfo, in the Adelphi, Geta tells his miftrefs, it is plain, that Aefchinus has forfaken her, which he expreffes by faying, he has for-. faken us; Illum alieno animo a "nobis effe, res ipfa indicat." And a little afterwards the fame fervant fpeaks to Hegio in the fame ftyle, when he means his miftrefs, and her daughter; fore, that Moeris, who appears to be an upper fervant, that had in a good meafure the management of the farm, fhould call his mafter's land our land. 7. Certe equidem audieram, &c.] Lycidas expreffes his furprize at what Moeris tells him; because he had heard, that his mafter Menalcas had faved his eftate by his poetry. Mocris anfwers, that there was fuch a report indeed: but poetry is found not to avail any thing in thefe times of rapine and violence. It is the general opinion, that Virgil defcribes the fituation of his, own eftate, which extended from the hills to the river Mincius. The old beech-tree feems to be a circumftance too particular, to belong to a general, or feigned defcription. In the first Eclogue, he defcribes the lands of Tityrus, as being partly rocky and partly marfhy: which agrees very well with what is faid here. In the third Georgick he mentions his own eftate, as lying on the banks of the Mincius. See the note on tua rura, ver. 47. of the firft Eclogue. 8. Mollique jugum demittere clivo. See the note on molli clivo, ver. 293. of the third Georgick. quite down to the water, and Ufque ad aquam et veteris jam fracta cacumina fagi, The broken taps of the old beechOmnia carminibus veftrum fervafle Menalcan. 10 tree, your Menalcas bad faved all by bis tueries: MOE. Audieras, et fama fuit; fed carmina tantum Moz. You beard it, and there was fuch a report: 9fam fralia.] Catrou is very fond of altering this to confracla, on the authority of Quintilian, who quotes this paffage in the fixth chap ter of his eighth book, But Pierius obferves, that it is confracta, only in fome copies of Quintilian: and in the edition now lying before me, I find jam fracta. Heinfius found veteres, jam fracta cacumina, fagos, in the Medicean manufcript, which. reading Burman has admitted into the text. 10. Omnia carminibus, &c.] The Daphnis was probably the poem, which had recommended Virgil to the favour of Auguftus; as was obferved, in the note on ver. 52. of that Eclogue. Veftrum. . Menalcan.] Catrou thinks that this expreffion confirms his opinion, that Moeris is the father of Virgil. He fays it could hardly be used but to a father with regard to his fon; or to one friend with regard to another and concludes that Lycidas would not have dared to fpeak thus to a mercenary concerning his mafter. But furely this learned Critick forgets, that Davus, in the Andria, takes a like liberty in fpeaking to his master's friend; and that alfo in the prefence of his matter 10 Onofter Chremes cr Ut, cum narrat fenex.... "Vefter noftro, effe iftam amicam 66 gnati, non credat tamen." Menalcan.] It has been obferved already, that if Virgil ever intended himself, under any feigned name in thefe Eclogues, it was under that of Menalcas. We may add here, that it is more probable, that Menalcas is Virgil in this Ec logue, than that he has defcribed himself under any other character, in any of the preceding Eclogues. 11. Audieras et fama fuit, &c.] This paffage feems to confirm what the old grammarians have related; that Virgil was refused entrance into "Omnia apparata jam funt in his farm, after he had obtained the tus. grant from Auguftus. Servius in terprets Noftra valent, Lycida, tela inter Martia; quan 15 Chaonias dicunt, aquila veniente, columbas. but, my Lycidasy our verfes bave just as much power amidst the arms of Mars, as Chaonian pigeons are faid to bame at the approach of an eagle. But if a crow on the left-band bad not warned me from a bollow bolmoak, to cut off the new difpute on any terms, neither thy Moe ris, nor Menalcas bimself bad been alive. LYc. Alas, could fuch a crime enter into the mind of any one NOTES. terprets it thus; Fame indeed has " "published the good-will of Auguftus; but the neceffity of the "Actian war has obftructed it." Hence we may obferve, that this ancient Commentator is not very exact with regard to hiftorical facts: for the contention about the diftribution of the lands was in 713, all differences between Auguftus and Anthony were adjusted in 714, and the fight at Actium was not till 723. Thus Servius fuppofes Virgil's affairs to have been obftructed by a difpute, which happened nine or ten years afterwards." 13. Chaonias...... columbas.] There were famous pigeons in the Dodonean grove, that uttered oracular refponfes. Dodona was in Epirus, which was anciently called Chaonia. Virgil therefore ufes Chaonian pigeons poëtically, for pigeons in general. 15. Siniftra... cornix.] There is much difpute among the Criticks, whether this crow on the left-hand is to be accounted a good or a bad omen. But this difference may eafily be reconciled, by admitting that the omen is lucky in one fenfe, and unlucky in another. That the crow foreboded mifchief, no lefs than the death of Menalcas and Moeris, muft be allowed in that fenfe therefore it was unlucky. But as this omen ferved to warn them of the danger, and thereby to caufe them to efcape it, it may be faid to be lucky in this fenfe. It was not Virgil's intent however, by this expreffion, to affirm that the crow was either lucky or unlucky; but that the augury was certain. Thus much. we are told by Cicero, that a raven on the right-hand, and a crow on the left, made an augury certain; "Quid augur, cur a dextra corvus, "a finiftra cornix faciat ratum ?" See the note on ver. 7. of the fourth Georgick. 16. Nec tuus, &c.] This line very much confirms the ftory, of Virgil's life being in danger, from the fury of the intruder into his eftate. Moeris plainly declares, that his own life and that of Menalcas too were near being loft, if they had not prudently avoided the impending danger. Ipfe Menalcas. Moeris feems to speak here of Menalcas, as if he was his fuperior; which makes againft Catrou's fyftem: Would old Moeris have spoken of his fon, as of more confequence than himself? 17. Heu cadit in quemquam, &c.] Lycidas expreffes his aftonishment and 10 were deft deprived for Pene fimul tecum folatia rapta, Menalca! comfort with shee, O Menalcas? Who bould fing the Nymphs? Quis caneret Nymphas quis humum florentibus who fould Brew the ground herbis with flowering berbs, or cower Spargeret? aut viridi fontes induceret umbra? 20 she fountains with a grech padi p and concern for this attempt on the as if he had faid, who elfe has fung life of Menalcas, whom he repre-of the grief of the Nymphs, of the fents as the only paftoral poet. Then fcattering of flowers, and of coverboth he and Moeris take occafion to ing the fountains with fhade, in horehearfe fome fragments of poems, nour of Julius Caefar. It must be written by Menalcás. allowed, that there really feems to be a repetition here of fome remarkable paffages in the fifth Eclogue. Quis caneret Nymphas feems to allude to La Cerda quotes fome verfes of Phocas the Grammarian, on this injury offered to Virgil, which feem not unworthy to be repeated: Jam Maro pulfus erat: fed viri- If Virgil fpeaks of himself here, under the feigned name of Menal cas, which is highly probable, it cannot but be obferved, that he does it with great modefty. For though he mentions his death as a lofs; y yet it is the lofs only of a country poet, of one who had not attempted to rife to the greater forts of poetry, being the firft Roman, who had condefcended to write Paftorals. 19. Quis caneret Nymphas, &c.] La Cerda, after Beroaldus, is of opinion, that thefe two lines allude to the fubject of the fifth Eclogue; Extinctum Nymphae crudeli funere Quis humum florentibus berbis fpar- 20. Viridi fontes induceret umbra.] "The place alluded to is that in "Ecl. V. inducite fontibus umbras. "There the conftruction of in ducere is very plain; but here it is fomewhat fingular. To make an Hypallage of it (which generally fpeaking is at beft a very "harth, figure) we fhould read un "brae, not umbra; and then it "would be fontes induceret umbrae, "for umbram inducere fontibus. But without |