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The Sheep allo ftand round Stant et oves circum: noftri nec poenitet illas: bim: I am not ashamed of.

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NOTES.

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fhepherd." He adds, that Virgil introduces his own perfon, by ufing noftri, whereas tui would have been fufficient; "Et quod ait nof "tri, mifcuit fuam perfonam, ut "frequenter facere confuevit; nam "erat integrum, Tui nec poenitet illa

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La Cerda explains it in

the following manner; "He fays "the fheep abftained from food, " and stood weeping round Gallus, "whom he exhorts not to be a"fhamed of fheep and cattle, for two reafons: 1. Becaufe fheep are not afhamed to lament the "love of Gallus: in which place noftri has this fenfe; they do not despise either thee or me: "either thee bewailing thy own "paffion, or me celebrating it. "2. Becaufe Adonis alfo, who was "beautiful, and beloved by Venus,

two trees facred to Apollo, the god of verfe; and by Maenalus and Ly-, caeus, two mountains of Arcadia, facred to Pan, the god of fhepherds, and inventor of the rural pipe, Some have injudiciously cenfured Virgil, for defcending to speak of hills and rocks, after he had mentioned trees. It is true, that trees are above ftones, in the scale of nature: but however it is very evident, that the Poet does. not fall, but rife in his expreffion. Trees are allowed by the philofophers to have a fort of life, which is called vegetative: but ftones are faid to be inanimated. It is therefore more marvellous, to afcribe" fenfe to ftones than to trees. Not only the bays and tamarifks mourn for Gallus, but even the woody mountain Maenalus; and not only that woody mountain, but even the bleak rocks of Lycaeus. Thus the was a feeder of fheep." De Magreatest wonder is plainly referved rolles feems to understand noftri n for the laft. Catrou has neglected poenitet illas to mean, that the fheep the epithet gelidi here: but all our partook with him in his distress; "Les tranflators have carefully preferved it." brebis fe font amaffées autour de 16. Stant et oves, &c.] Virgil" luy, et ont pris part à fon afficinow reprefents Gallus as a fhepon. Divin poëte ne mefprile herd, and makes an apology to that eminent perfon, for defcribing him under that character.

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nec

point les larmes des troupeaux; "le bel Adonis luy-mefme les a "bien gardez le long des rivieres." Ruaeus renders it literally, neque contemnunt nos. W. L. gives a different fenfe to the whole paffage. By the flocks ftanding round Gallus, he understands the Bucolicks, which he himself made. By noftri ne poenitet illas, he takes Virgil to mean, that he himself had treated this kind

of

Nec te poeniteat pecoris, divine poeta.

NOTES.

nor do thou be afhamed of carsle, O divine poet.

"Along the ftreams his flock Ado"nis fed;

of poetry in fuch a manner, that it
then
need not be ashamed to have fallen
into his hands, in which fenfe Vives"
alfo takes it. He rightly interprets
nec te poeniteat, &c. to mean, that

きんぎ

And yet the queen of beauty bleft "his bed."

-

though Gallus was fo excellent a Dr Trapp feems to follow La Cerdas poet, that he might even be called divine, yet he need not be afhamed to be accounted a Bucolic poet. Accordingly his tranflation is as follows;

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Round him ftood the fheep,' "For they too fympathize with bu

"" man woe:

"Them, heav'nly poet, blush not
" thou to own":
"Ev'n fair Adonis, did not fcorn
to tend

"Along the river's fide, his fleecy
"charge."

Catrou follows the fame interpreta-
tion; « Ses brebis attriftées étoient
"autour de lui; car enfin elles pren-
"nent part à nos afflictions. N'ayez
"donc pas de honte, tout Poëte
"illuftre que vous êtes, de vous
"voir travesti en Berger. Adonis
"luy-même ne dédaigna pas de con-
"duire un troupeau.'
"" Burman
declares himself to be of the fame
opinion, in the following note on
this paffage;
The Scholiaft on
"Horace Lib. 1. Od. 28. will
"have this to be an Hypallage, for

66

nos illarum non poenitet: but I am "not of his opinion; and take the "fenfe to be, they are contented " with us fhepherds, and do not "defire any other. Thus Terence, "Phorm. I. iv. 20. Noftri nofmet "poenitet, and the common expreffion fuae quemque fortunae poenitet, which Horace, I. Sat. 1. "expreffes by neminem contentum A a 3 " vivere

Even Adonis fed his feep on Et formofus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis. the banks of the rivers.

NOTES.

"vivere fua forte. The fheep are "delighted with our finging, and "nów do not difdain to join with "us in lamenting our misfortune, ❝and do you alfo accept of their "mournful, fong, and do not think "them unworthy of your love,

fince Adonis himself thought. it "not beneath him to feed them."

If the reader likes any of thefe interpretations, he is welcome to admit them but they do not feem at all fatisfactory to me. I believe the Scholiaft on Horace, as he is quoted by Burman is in the right, and that we are to understand nofiri nec poenitet illas to be an Hypallage for nos non poenitet illarum, a figure which moft of the Criticks allow to be

ufed on other occafions. The fenfe

will then be clear and fignificant. Virgil intends to celebrate the paffion of Gallus for Lycoris, in imitation of a beautiful Idyllium of Theocritus on the paffon of Daphnis. Accordingly he places him in Arcadia, reproaches the nymphs of the poetical fountains, for having noglected the protection of this fa-: mous poet, and reprefents the trees and rocks of Arcadia as condoling him. He then defcribes him as a Thepherd, furrounded by his heep, and immediately makes an apoftro phe to his friend, with an excufe for having reprefented him under fo low

a

z chiaraater, by wijich perhaps he may

mean a writer of Paftorals. We have feen already, in the fixth Eclogue, that all the Roman pocts before Virgil, thought it beneath them to write

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differently expreffed. In the fixth Here then is the very fame thought Eclogue the Poet fays his Mufe did not blufh to dwell among the woods and here he fays he is not afhamel of his fheep, and therefore hopes his

that he reprefents him under the fame feigned character with himfelf. W fhall find, in the courfe of this Ec logue, that Gallus was at that time not only a good poet, but also a man that as Virgil here puts himself up of war: whence we may infer, fomething more than a mere coul on a level with him, our Poet was try farmer, as the old Grammarians would have us imagine."

friend Gallus will not take it amis,

Theocritus has reprefented the cattle as mourning at the feet of Daphnis ;

Πολλοὶ οἱ παρ ποσσὶ βοές, πολλοί

δὲ τε ταυροί,

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Venit et upilio, tardi venere bubulci: 3:
Uvidus hyberna venit de glande Menalcas.

NOTES.

"A thoufand heifers, bulls, and

66 cows, and fteers, "Lay round his feet, and melted into tears." CREECH.

22

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Tardi venere bubulci,] Servius reads fubulci, understanding it to mean fwine herds, and interprets tardi foolish. Pierius found fubulci alfo in the Roman, Medicean, and

18. Et formofus oves, &c.] Thus fome other manufcripts. But he

Theocritus ;

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thinks we ought to read bubulci, be cause this verse answers to that of

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All ofk, whence art thou in Omnes, unde amor ifte, rogant, tibi Venit A

pation ? A

pollo came, and faid, why art

pollo.

tbou mad, O Gallus: thy care Galle, quid infanis? inquit: tua cura Lycoris,

Lycoris

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Ηνθον τοὶ βῶται, τοὶ ποιμένες, από Ἦνθ ̓ Ἑρμᾶς πράτισος απ' ὥριος, εἶπε

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Πάντες ανηρώτευν τὶ πάθος κακὸν.

The Criticks differ about the point ing of this verfe: fome read

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22. Tua cura Lycoris, &c.] It has already been obferved, in the note on ver. 2. that it is generally agreed, that the Lycoris mentioned in this Eclogue is no other than the calls her a whore, and a freed woman famous actrefs Cytheris. Servius of Volumnius, and affures us, that

"Omnes unde amor ifte rogant tibi her forfaking Gallus, and following

"venit? Apollo, "Galle quid infanis?"

Others,

"Omnes unde amor ifte rogant:

tibi venit Apollo,"

But the moft judicious feem to prefer

1

"Omnes unde amor ifte rogant

tibi venit Apollo,"

Venit Apollo.] Apollo is the first of the deities, who come to Gallus, because he is the god of poetry. In Theocritus, Mercury is the firft

Anthony into Gaul, is the fubject of the poem under confideration. La Cerda follows this narration of Servius, and fays Lycoris is that in famous whore, with whom Anthony was fo captivated, who is allo called Citheris and Volumnia, and whom Cicero calls the mimic wife of Anthony, whom the followed into Gaul, even in the midft of the rage of civil war. This, fays he, is meant by Perque nives alium, & Catrou justly cenfures Servius, as being guilty of a chronological error. He obferves, that Anthony that time in the Eaft, and that he had abandoned Cytheris before the death

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