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and the fetting fun doubles the Et fol crefcentes decedens duplicat umbras:

increafing shadows: yet am I

fcorched by love; for what Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adfit amori? meafure is there in love? Ab! Ah Corydon, Corydon, quae te dementia cepit... Corydon, Corydon, into what Semiputata tibi frondofa vitis in ulmo eft.

madness art thou fallen! Thy

vine bangs balf pruned on the leafy elm.

NOTES.

the reapers fitting down to their repaft, and the cicadae chirping in the thickets; all which circumstances, having an immediate relation to the country, are mentioned with great propriety. In like manner he now defcribes the clofe of the day by the oxen bringing back the plough, and by the increase of the fhadows. These words aratra jugo suspensa allude to the manner of bringing the plough home, when the labour of the day is over. It is then drawn backward; and as the share does not then enter the ground, the labour of drawing it is inconfiderable; and fo it may be faid to be only juft hung upon the yoak. Horace alfo has alluded to this cuftom of drawing the plough backwards, and mentions it among the pleasures of the country;

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67. Sol crefcentes decedens duplicat umbras.] This defcription of the evening by the length of the fhadows is very fuitable to paftoral poetry.

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Pierius found difcedens in fome ancient manufcripts; but he thinks decedens to be the genuine reading.

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68. Me tamen urit amor. This is a ftrong expreffion of the vehemence of Corydon's love. He has juft obferved, that it is now the cool time of the evening, notwithstanding which he is ftill fcorched by his furious paffion. He feems to tell us, that the fire within him is fo great, that he should not have imagined the cool evening to approach, if he had not feen the oxen returning from their work, and obferved the fhadows to increase.

69. Ah, Corydon, Corydon, &c.] The fhepherd begins at laft to perceive the folly of his paffion; and to lament his error in having ne

glected his neceffary affairs. This verfe is plainly taken from one in the Cyclops of Theocritus;

"Ω Κύκλωψ, Κύκλωψ, πᾶ τας φρέ

νας ἐκπεπότασαι ;

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70. Semiputata tibi frondofa vitis in ulmo eft. Servius has juftly obferved, that here is a double inftance of neglect, the vines are half pruned, and the elms are fuffered The firft Eclogue ends to make long fhoots. Some of the with the fame image. Commentators have thought this

accufation

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Quin tu aliquid faltem, potius quorum indiget ufus, Think rather of fome neceffary

Viminibus mollique paras detexere junco?
Invenies alium, fi te hic faftidit, Alexim.

NOTES.

accufation of neglect cannot relate to the present time, because these complaints of Corydon are uttered in the fummer, which is not the feafon for pruning vines. But there is really a fummer as well as an autumnal pruning and if this fummer pruning is neglected, the vines may well be faid to be but half pruned. This fummer pruning is mentioned by Columella; "Pampinandi autem " modus is erit, ut opacis locis, humidifque et frigidis aeftate vitis "nudetur, foliaque palmitibus de"trahantur, ut maturitatem fruc"tus capere poffit, et ne fitu pu"trefcat." The pruning alfo of the elm or other tree to which the vine clings is fpoken of by the fame. author, who fays it must be done every other year, to keep the vine from being overfhaded. "Arboris

T.

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(C autem perpetua cultura eft, non "folum ante diligenter eandem difCC ponere, fed etiam truncum cir"cumfodere, et quicquid frondis enatum fuerit, alternis annis aut ferro amputare, aut aftringere,

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nè aemula umbra viti noceat.'

رو

71. Quin tu aliquid faltem.] Terence has an expreffion, in the Andria, not much unlike this;

"Ah! quanto fatius eft, te id

CC operam dare,

"Qui iftum amorem ex animo a“moveas tuo, quam id loqui Quo magis libido fruftra incen* datur tua."

business, and weave your offers with foft rushes. You will find another Alexis, if this dif dains you.

72. Detexere. Servius interprets it Multum texere, finire, per ficere; for he fays de in compofition fignifies augmenting.

73. Invenies alium, &c.] Thus Theocritus ;

Ἑυρήσεις Γαλάτειαν ἴσως καὶ καλλίον ἄλλαν.

Here Polyphemus comforts himfelf with the hope of finding another Galatea, even more beautiful than her, who has ufed him with fo much difdain. Corydon mentions only the finding another Alexis, without faying whether more or lefs beautiful. Lord Lauderdale interprets it, that another Alexis will be more kind;

"What if Alexis should difdain thee « ftill,

"If he's not kind, thou'lt meet "with others will."

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cafe; for his interpretation is Alium Alexin, alium puerum formofiffimum, qui te minime fpernat. Pierius found Alexim in the Roman manufcript. He fays the letter after i is erafed in the Lombard manufcript; and in the Oblong one is appears to be written with another hand and ink.

Servius fays, fome will have Alexis in this place to stand for Auguftus; and that we are to understand the Poet to mean, You will find another Emperor, if Auguftus defpifes you for afking for your land. But he justly thinks the plain meaning is the best.

Catrou interprets invenies alium,

you will find another Scholar; "Si "Alexis refufe de t'avoir pour mai

tre, tu trouveras ailleurs un autre "difciple." But in the laft of his notes, he feems almoft ready to give up his belovéd allegorical interpretation, and begins to think there is more paffion in this Eclogue, than is ufual, when we afpire only to have the education of a young perfon; and fufpects that Virgil perhaps gave too much into the depraved tafte of his age. However, he is willing to hope, that he only intended to fhew what fentiments a tender friendship is capable of infpiring.

0

ECLOGA TERTIA.

PALAE MON.

MENALCAS, DAMOETAS, PALAEMON.

boje Jeep are the meta, MEN. DIC mihi, Damocta, cujum pecus ? att

are thefe ? do they

whofe belong to Meliboeus ?

Meliboei ?

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Menalcas and Damoetas reproach each other, and then fing for a wa ger, making Palaemon judge between them. Menalcas begins the contention, by cafting fome reflections on his rival Aegon, and his fervant Damoetas.

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Damoeta.] Vives, according to cuftom, will have this Eclogue allo to be allegorical; and that Virgil here means himself again under th fictitious

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DAM. Non, verum Aegonis: nuper mihi tradidit DAM. No: to Aegon: AeAegon. gon lately intruffed them to my

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fictitious name of Damoetas. He tells us, that the Poet having obtained the favour of Auguftus, Pollio, Maecenas, Gallus, and other men of quality, was envied by feveral learned men, with one of whom he contends here under the name of Menalcas. This rival therefore is fuppofed to begin by afking Virgil by way of contempt, who is the author of this Paftoral? Is it Meliboeus? meaning fome fcribler, Maevius perhaps, or Bavius. Virgil anfwers, it is Aegon, that is fome famous Poet, fuch as Gallus or Cinna. Catrou thinks it "would be hard to guess what au"thors Virgil intended to conceal "under the names of Damoetas, "Menalcas, and Palaemon. Some interpreters, fays he, have thought "that Virgil here represented him"felf, and that under the perfon of an adverfary, he had pointed out one of the Poets who envied "him. But this is afferted without any proof; and befides it is not probable that Virgil would "have given himself fuch a forry character, as either of these two "thepherds. The réproaches, which they give each other alternately, are too sharp for Virgil to care to draw fo much hatred

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"bability, to ground a reasonable "conjecture. I am therefore per"fuaded, that Virgil had no view "in this Eclogue, of any perfon of "note, or of any particular event. "It is natural for Poets, fometimes "to feign fubjects to their liking, "fometimes to adopt fuch as chance "throws in their way. We may "venture to say, that Virgil here "intended to imitate and exceed "Theocritus, without any other "allufion. It is probable alfo, that "the Poet did not write this Ec"logue, till Pollio was advanced "to the highest honours. It is "certain, that Virgil had already "written some rural poems, when "he composed this. Every thing "elfe is uncertain."

I am glad to find, that this learned Commentator has at last rejected the allegorical interpretation, in which I heartily concur with him, and think that the fame arguments might have ferved him with regard to the two firft Eclogues.

The Poet plainly imitates the Neues of Theocritus, which begins with almost the same words;

B. 'EITTÉ

upon himfelf. I fancied at fir. Κ. "that they might be Cebes and Alexander, Virgil's two scholars, "and that the Poet reprefented "himself under the name of Palae"mon. But I found too little pro

3

моя ὦ Κορύδων, τίνος αι βόες ; ή ρα Φιλώνδα ; Οὐκ ἀλλ' Αἴγωνος· βόσκεν δὲ μοι · αυτὰς ἔδωκεν.

મંદ

Cujum pecus.] An old Critick, it feems, ridiculed thefe verfes, thinking cujus, cuja, cujum, not to be Latins F3

" Dic

MEN. O sheep, always an un- MEN. Infelix O femper oves pecus! ipfe Neaeram bappy cattle! whilft be courts

Neaera, and is afraid, that Dum fovet, ac, ne me fibi praeferat illa, veretur ;
She should prefer me before him, Hic alienus oves cuftos bis mulget in hora:
this foreign keeper milks the Et fuccus pecori, et lac fubducitur agnis.
Sheep twice in an hour: and the

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cattle are defrauded of their DAM. Parcius ista viris tamen objicienda memento. nourishment, and the lambs of their milk. DAM. Be more sparing however in your reproaches

on men.

NOTES.

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This question is eafily answered, by producing the authority of Plau tus and Terence. We find in the Curculio, Cuja vox fonat procul? and in the Rudens, Gujanam vax mihi prope hic fonat? and Cuja ad qures. vox mihi advalavit? in the Andria, Cujum puerum appofuifti? dic mihi; and in the Eunuchus ; Quid, virgo cuja eft.

2. Non, verum Aegonis.] This anfwer of Damoetas feems intended to fting Menalcas, who had asked him tauntingly, whofe flock it was that he fed. Aegon's, fays he, that , your wealthy and powerful rival, as appears by what follows. For Menalcas replies with fome fharpness, that Aegon had better mind his no himfelf, than lofe his time in following Neaera, which gives this hireling an opportunity to defraud him.

3. Infelix O femper oves pecus.] Pierius found oves in the Roman manuscript; but in the Lombard copy it had been altered to ovis. Oves is approved by Heinfiús, and feveral other good Editors. La Cerda reads ovis, and fays quis pecus

is put for oves, as labor Herculis for Hercules. Dr Trapp thinks it is improper and abfurd; and Burman justly obferves, that infelix oves pecus is like ignavum fucos pecus in the fourth Georgick,

7. Parcius ifta viris, &c.] Damoetas being ftung with this infinu ation of his defrauding his mafter, reproaches Menalcas with fome fecret tranfaction of his. This draws on fome. fmart repartees, in which the manner of the common people is well imitated. Neither of them juftifies himself but proceeds to throw new reproaches on his ad veríary.

Servius, makes a ftop after parcius, and interprets thus; Do not make any great reproach of this; but know that brave men are guilty of rapine. Dr Trapp's interpretation feems to be much better; "Think not

men (i. e. fuch as have the fpirit " and honour of their fex, whatever "others may do) will bear fuch "affronts as thefe." Catrou is of opinion, that the meaning is no more than this; It is not fit for 66 a. young fhepherd, thus to re"proach a full grown man." Dry: den tranflates it;

“Good words, young Catamite, "at least to men." 8. Novimus

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