40 violets are fwartby and bya- Et nigrae violae funt, et vaccinia nigra : cinths are fartby; they would Mecum inter falices lenta fub vite jaceret. bave fat with me among the willows, under the bending Serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas. vine: Phyllis would have ga Hic gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori: thered garlands for me, and Hic nemus, hic ipfo tecum confumerer aevo. Amyntas would have fung. Here are cool fountains, bere Nunc infanus amor duri me Martis in armis are foft meadows, O Lycoris: here are woods: bere could I have spent all my days with you. Now raging love detains me in the arms of cruel Mars, * NOTES. "Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu "O formose puer, nimium ne crede 39. Et nigrae violae.] This verfe is almost a literal translation of one in the tenth Idyllium of Theocritus; TO Καὶ τὸ ἴον μέλαν ἐπὶ, καὶ α α γραπτά υάκινθος. See the notes on ver. 183. of the fourth Georgick, and on vaccinia nigra leguntur, ver. 18. of the fecond Eclogue. « dangerous roads, in fevere wea "ther, into a frozen climate." RUAEUS. Duri me Martis in armis, &c.] "Gallus afcribes that to his paffion and defpair, which he did out of "duty or ambition. If we may "give credit to the fragment of 42. Hic gelidi fontes, &c.] Gal-an Elegy, which Aldus Manulus now tells Lycoris in the most "tius, the fon, found in a Venetian paffionate manner, how happy they "manufcript, under the name of might both have been in the quiet "Gallus, we fhould know exactly, enjoyment of a paftoral life; wherein what part of the world he was as her cruelty has driven him into the dangers of war, and expofed herself to unneceffary fatigues. 43. Ipfo aevo.] Burman explains thefe words to mean old age. Thus the fense will be this; If you had not been cruel, I. fhould not have died of this tormenting paffion, in the flower of my youth; but should have decayed gradually, as age came on, in the enjoyment of your company. 44. Nunc infanus amor, &c.] "then in arms. Thefe are the "Pingit et Euphratis currentes molé "Hence we learn, that Gallus was at that time in the army of Ven "tidius, who was warring against "the Parthians on the banks of the "Euphrates. But unfortunately it "is certain, that this fragment is " of Tela inter media atque adverfos detinet hoftes. 45 amid darts and adverfe fees "NOTE S. "of later date, and was never "written by Gallus. We may H "however make.a reflection on this "piece. This author, who has "pretended to counterfeit Gallus, "did not want learning. At least "he feems to have formed a good "conjecture, when he placed Gal"lus in the army of Ventidius. This general was really warring "against the Parthians, in the years "of Rome 715, and 716, when "Virgil was compofing this Ec"logue. It is plain alfo from the paffage under confideration, that "Gallus was at that time in an ar"my. Probably it was in the "Eaft, for Gallus afterwards ob"tained the government of Egypt, as a man who knew the coun"try. We may therefore con"jecture, with the falfe Gallus, "that the true Gallus was at that "time warring against the Parthi"ans under Ventidius." CATROU. It appears to me very ftrange, that this learned Critick fhould ground his conjecture on a paffage in an author, whom he himself allows to be fpurious. If Virgil had intended to defcribe Gallus at war with the Parthians, I believe he would have written averfos inftead of adverfos; their averfe manner of fighting being fo very remarkable a circumftance, and what he himself alludes to in the third Georgick; Fidentemque fuga Parthum, ver "fifque fagittis." Thus alfo Ovid; "Teiaque ab averfo quae jacit hof Nor does it feem probable, that Gal- Now Thon far from thy country, ob! Tu procul a patria; nec fit mihi credere; tantum abfent from me beboldeft, ab Alpinas, ah dura, nives, et frigora Rheni cruel! nothing but the fnows of the Alps and frofts of the Rhine. that I could not think it true! NOTES. Now this does not feem to have been done till the beginning of the year of Rome 717, when Agrippa and Lucius Gallus were Confuls. In that year, according to Dio, A grippa the Conful marched into Gaul, to fupprefs a rebellion there, and was the fecond Roman who, eroffed the Rhine, for which he had the honour of a triumph decreed him, and at his return had the care of the maritime affairs committed to him. Agrippa declined the triumph; because he did not care to rejoice himself, at a time when Auguftus was unfortunate: this expedition must have been at the beginning of the year, becaufe Agrippa could not otherwife have had time afterwards to build fo great a fleet, and to form that noble as well as neceffary work of the Julian port, which is mentioned in the note on ver. 161. of the fecond Georgick. Here then is in all probability the precife time, when this Eclogue was written, the beginning of the year of Rome 717, when all the friends of Auguftus, among whom was Gallus, were under continual fatigues, with defending the fea coafts of Italy from the depredations of Pompey; and when one of the Confuls marched with an army beyond the Alps, and croffed Rhine, which had not been performed before by any Roman, except Julius Caefar, almoft twenty years before. This time of the year agrees alfo exactly with what our Poet men the tions of the fnows of the Alps, the frofts of the Rhine, and the danger of Lycoris's feet being cut by the ice. Thus we may conclude, that Lycoris ran away with fome officer in this army, which was commanded by Agrippa. "Net 46. Nec fit mihi credere.] "liceat mihi nec poffim. Thus Aen. "VIII. 676. Actia bella cerneri 66 erat. Horace, Epod. 17. 25. "Neque eft levare tanta fpiritu prae"cordia. It is a manner of fpeak 66 ing derived from the Greeks, "among whom ri fignifies licet. "Thus Homer, Odyff. 11. 157. σε τὸν ὅπως ἐστί περῆσαι, quem nonli"cet tranfmittere." RUAEUS. Tantum.]" It is explained three "different ways; 1. to be a Noun, " and to be referred to credere; "Utinam liceat non credere tantum, id eft, rem tantam tamque indig nam. 2. To be an Adverb, and to be referred to fit; Utinam fit "to tantum, Utinam liceat tantum "hoc non credere. As if he should t fay, I do not wish that Lycoris "might not be perfidious, but I "with that I might only not believe "it. 3. To be an Adverb, and 66 to be referred to the fentence of "the following verfe, vides tan"tummodo nives et frigord, &c. "The firft interpretation is the "moft weak, the fecond the most "fubtile, and the third moft eafy." 47. Alpinas..... nives.] The Alps are very high mountains, which E 2 Ab! may not the frofts burt sharp thee! Abt may not the swiaty ce wound thy tender feet. BUCOLIC. ECL X. : I will go, and fing those erfes, which I compofed in the Chalcidian ftrain with the pipe of the Sicilian Shepherd. I am determined to dwell in woods, among the dens of wild beafts, and to carve my paffion rs on the tender trees: as they grow, my paffion will grow too. NOTES. divide Gaul from Italy, and are covered with perpetual fnow. 48. Frigora Rheni.] The Rhine is a great river, which divides Gaul from Germany. Gallus therefore is grieved, that Lycoris fhould have fuch an averfion from him, as to leave a more warm and pleafant country, to follow another over the inhofpitable mountains covered with fnow, into a cold climate, and that even in the winter feafon. 1 50. Ibo, et Chalcidico, &c. In this paragraph, Gallus exprefles the various refolutions, which are haftily taken up, and as haftily laid down again by perfons in Love. He refolves to amufe himself with poetry then he will make his habitation in the woods, and carve his paffion on the barks of trees: then he will di-: vert himself with hunting; in the imagination of which exercife:he feems to indulge himself largely; then. he recollects, that none of these diverfions are fufficient to cure his paffion, at laft concludes, that Love is invincible, and that he must sub4mit to that powerful Deity.. $ Chalcidico.... verfu.] Chalcis is a city of the ifland Euboea, the native place of Euphorion, whofe works Gallus is faid to have tran#flated into Latin. See the note 1 on ver. 62. of the fixth Eclogue. 51. Paftoris Siculi.] Theocritus, the famous Sicilian, who wrote Paftorals. torals. We may conclude, from this paffage, that Gallus took the fubject of his Paftorals from Euphorion, and that he imitated the ftile of Theocritus. Modulabor.] Heinfius, according to Burman, found meditabor in two ancient manufcripts. 52. Spelaea. He uses the Greck word anaia for fpeluncas. 53. Tenerifque meos, &c.] This fancy, of cutting letters on the barks of trees, has always obtained among lovers. among lovers. Thus Theocritus, in his Exéns Dadápios; pappaτa ♪ er how yeypáfierai, ὡς παριών τις Αυγνοίη, Δοριστές Σέβεν μ' Ἑλίνας φυτὸν εἰμί. In the mean time, I will fur Interea mixtis luftrabo Maenala Nymphis, vey all Maenalus, in company Aut acres venabor apros; non me ulla vetabunt with the Nymphs, or bunt the fierce wild boars : nor shall any Frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare faltus. cold reftrain me from furround- Jam mihi per rupes videor lucofque fonantes ing with dogs the Parthenian lawns. I feem already to go over the rocks and founding groves to ᎥᎩ 550 When Paris lives not to Oenone true, Back Xanthus ftreams fhall to the fountains flow. COOPER. T 55. Maenala.] See the note on ver. 22. of the eighth Eclogue. 56. Acres..... apras, The wild boar is a very fierce and dangerous animal. Ariftotle, in the fourth chapter of his fecond book concerning the parts of animals, af cribes the fiercenefs, rage, and fury of fuch animals, as bulls and boars, to the thickness of their blood, which is found to be very fibrous, and foon coagulates; Τα δὲ πολλὰς ἔχοντα λίαν ἵνας καὶ παχείας, καὶ γεωδέσ τερα τὴν φύσιν εστι, καὶ θυμώδη τὸ ήθος, καὶ ἐκστατικὰ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν Θερμότητος γὰρ ποιητικὸς ὁ θυμός τὰ δὲ στερεα θερμανθέντα, μᾶλλον θερμαίνει τῶν ὑγρῶν· αἱ δὲ ἄνες στερ ρὸν καὶ γεώδες, ὥστε γίνονται οἷον του ρίκι ἐν τῷ αἵματι καὶ ζέσιν ποιοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς θυμοῖς· διὸ οἱ ταῦροι και οι γαρ αἷμα τούτων ἰνωδέστερον, καὶ τόχε κάπροι θυμώδεις καὶ ἐκστατικοί· τὸ του ταύρου τάχιστα πήγνυται πάν τάχιστα πήγονταν τον των. . σε 57. Parthenios.] Parthenius is a mountain of Arcadia, fo called, according to Servius, a Twy warde wys, from the virgins who ufed to hunt there. 59. Partha |