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Year of Theocritus, before he began his march for the Rome Poet fays expreffly, that these verfes were begun by 715. his command (x). He celebrates his patron in a

moft elegant and polite manner: and as Pollio was
not only a great General; but alfo one of the best
fcholars of his time, he mentions his great actions,
and noble tragedies together, and intreats him to
permit the Poet to mix his ivy with the victorious
bays, that were to crown the head of Pollio (y).
If we take Virgil's own opinion, we fhall judge
this to be one of the fineft of his compofitions: for
the Introduction prepares us to expect fomething
more than ordinary (z); and when he has finished
the fpeech of Damon, he calls upon the Mufes to
relate what Alphefiboeus faid, being unable to pro-
ceed any farther by his own ftrength (a). Indeed
there are a great number of exquifitely beautiful
paffages in this Eclogue: which, as they cannot
eafily escape the obfervation of a reader of any

(x) A te principium; tibi definet: accipe juffis
Carmina coepta tuis.

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And,

Ibid. ver. II, 12.

En erit unquam

Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta,
En erit, ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem
Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno.

Ibid. ver. 7, 8, 9, 10.

Atque hanc fine tempora circum
Inter victrices hederam tibi ferpere lauros.

Ibid. ver. 12, 13.

(z) Paftorum Mufam, Damonis et Alphefiboci,
Immemor herbarum quos eft mirata juvenca,
Certantes, quorum ftupefactae carmine lynces,
Et mutata fuos requierunt flumina curfus.

Ibid. ver. 1, 2, 3, 4

(a) Haec Damon: vos, quae refponderit Alphefiboeus,
Dicite, Pierides: non omnia poffumus omnes.

Ibid. ver. 62, 63.

taste,

tafte, and as most of them are pointed out in the Notes, need not be particularly mentioned in this place,

The year 716 paffed without any publick tranf action of note, except the power which Sextus the fon of Pompey acquired by fea; who became fo famous by his naval exploits, that he was believed to be the fon of Neptune. Nor is it certain, that Virgil compofed any of his Eclogues this year: however, as the Meliboeus is the only Eclogue, of which we cannot ascertain the date; we may form a conjecture, that it was written this year, which muft otherwife have paffed without any apparent exertion of our Poet's genius.

Year of
Rome

7151

716.

The next year began with the march of M. Vip- 717. fanius Agrippa, one of the new Confuls into Gaul; to quiet an infurrection there. Agrippa was fuccessful, and was the fecond Roman, who croffed the Rhine with an army (b). But the depredations of Pompey were fo great, that Caefar was impatient for his return: that he might overfee the maritime bufinefs; and give directions for the building of ships in all the ports of Italy. of Italy. It must have been in

this
year, that Virgil compofed the laft of his Ec-
logues, which bears the title of Gallus; the fubje&
of which is the paffion of that Poet for Lycoris (c),
who had left him to run away with fome foldier,
who marched over the Alps (d). As Agrippa was
the first Roman, after Julius Caefar, who croffed

(b) Dio, lib. 48.

(c) Extremum hunç Arethufa mihi concede laborem. Pauca meo Gallo, fed quae legat ipfa Lycoris, Carmina funt dicenda.

.(d)....

Ecl. X. ver. 1, 2, 3.

Tua cura Lycoris

Perque nives alium, perque horrida caftra fecuta eft.

Ibid. ver. 22, 23.
the

Year of the Rhine with an army: it must have been with Rome that very army; that Lycoris ran away over the 7*7 fnows of the Alps, and the frofts of the Rhine (e).

Caefar in the mean time had bufinefs enough to engage himself, and all his friends, in defending the fea-coaft of Italy against the invafions of Pompey. Among thefe it is highly probable, that Gallus was employed, for we find, that he was detained in arms at the fame time (f). We have feen already that the Silenus was begun, at the command of Varus; and the Pharmaceutria at that of Pollio. Thus the tenth Eclogue feems to have been undertaken, at the request of Gallus. Perhaps he defired Virgil to imitate the firft Idyllium of Theocritus: and the Poet, complying with his direction, represented Gallus himself, as a fhepherd dying for love, like the Daphnis of the Greek Poet (g).

f

(e) Tu procul a patria, nec fit mihi credere, tantum
Alpinas, ah dura, nives, et frigora Rheni
Me fine fola vides.
Ibid. ver. 46, 47, 48.

(f) Nunc infanus amor duri me Martis in armis
Tela inter media atque adverfos detinet hoftes."

(g) It will be objected perhaps by fome, that a longer time is here affigned for Vir-, gil's occupation in writing the Eclogue, than is confiftent with the faith of Hiftory. Both Donatus and Servius affirm, that the Bucolicks were finifhed in three years whereas I have fuppofed him to have begun writing before the death of Julius Caefar, and not to have finished them before the year of Rome 717, a fpace of time containing no less than feven

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Ibid. ver. 44, 45. years. But both thefe Authors are irreconcileable with each other, and in fome measure with themfelves. Donatus fays, that the Bucolicks, on their publication, were fo well received, as to be frequently recited by the fingers on the theatre; and that Cicero himfelf having heard fome of the verfes, called out to have the whole repeated; and when he had heard the whole, cried out in an extafy, that the Author was the fecond great hope of

Rome,

It feems to have been about this time, that Vir- Year of gil began his GEORGICKS; under the patron

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age

write the Bucolicks: "Poftea,

ortis bellis civilibus, inter
" Antonium et Auguftum,
"Auguftus victor Cremonen-

fium agros, quia. pro An-
"tonio fenferant, dedit mi-
litibus fuis. Qui cum non
fufficerent, his addidit agros
"Mantuanis fublatos,
" propter civium culpam, fed
66 propter vicinitatem Cremo-

non

Rome, efteeming himfelf to
be the firft: Bucolica eo fuc-
"ceffu edidit, ut in fcena quo-,
"que per cantores crebra pro-
"nunciatione recitarentur. At
"cum Cicero quofdam, verfus
"audiffet, et ftatim acri ju-
"dicio intellexiffet non com-
"muni vena editos, juffit ab
initio totam Eclogam reci-
"tari: quam cum accurate..
pernotaffet, in fine ait:
Magnae fpes altéra Romae.
Quafi ipfe linguae Latinae
fpes prima fuiffet, et Marocina Cremonae. Amiffis a-
"futurus effet fecunda. Quae
"verba poftea Aeneidi ipfe in-
feruit." Therefore, ac-
cording to Donatus, Virgil
muft have published one at leaft
of his Bucolicks before the end
of the year 711, when Cicero
was murdered.

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Now it has just been fhewn, that the Gallus could not be written before

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nenfium. Unde ipfe in Bucolicis Ecl. IX. 28. Man"tua vae miferae nimium vi

"gris Romam venit: et ufus
"patrocinio Pollionis et Mae-
cenatis, folus agrum, quem
amiferat, recipere meruit.
"Tunc ei propofuit Pollio, ut
"carmen Bucolicum fcriberet,

quod eum conftat triennio
feripfiffe, et emendaffe."
The reader will easily obferve,
that the Civil war here men-
tioned could be no other, than
that with Fulvia, and Lucius
the brother of Mark Anthony,
which was not ended before the
furrender of Perufia, in 714;
and that the ftory of our Au-
thor's being protected at Rome
by Pollio and Maecenas is highly
improbable. Pollio was so far
from being then at Rome, in
favour with Caefar, that he
was at that time at the head of
an army, not far from Man-
tua, with which he had acted
against Caefar. As for Mae-

cenas,

Rome

-717

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Year of age of Maecenas, to whom he dedicated every part Rome of that noble work. Caius Cilnius Maecenas was of that -717. defcended from the ancient kings of Etruria; whose pofterity, after many unfuccefsful wars, were at last incorporated into the Roman State, and admitted into the Equestrian order. He was an Epicurean, and wrote feveral pieces both in profe and verfe, which are now loft. But he is best known as a favourer and patron of learned men, particularly of the two beft of the Roman Poets, Virgil and Hor race (b). He was high in the favour of Caefar, which probably began about this time: for Virgil does not mention his name in any of the Eclogues; and in the next year, we find, that except a few magiftracies which were continued, the adminiftration of publick affairs in Rome, and all over Italy, was committed to him (i). This wife minifter, having well confidered what difficulties the Romans had lately met with for want of corn; what tur mults, and infurrections had been thereby raised cenas, if he had any fhare in to Donatus, he did not begin recommending the Poet to the them later than 711, in which protection of Caefer at that year Cicero was killed; and, time, it is ftrange that his name according to Servius, that he should not be mentioned in any did not finish them earlier than one Bucolick. We fee how 717. irreconcileable thefe old Grammarians are: for if, as they both agree, Virgil wrote his Bucolicks in three years; he muft have finished them, according to Donatus, not later than in 714, and according to Servius, not earlier than 717 or 718. Therefore, if there is any poflibility of reconciling them, it mult be by fuppofing the space of three years to be a miftake; and that, according

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(b) Maecenas, atavis edite
regibus:
O, et praefidium, et dulce
decus meum.

2

Horat. lib. i. Ode I.

(3) Τὰ τε ἄλλα τὰ ἐν τῇ πόλει, τῇ τε λοιπῇ Ἰταλία Γά ϊός τι Μαικήνας, ἀνὴρ ἱππεὺς, και τοίε καὶ ἔπειτα ἐπὶπολυδιώκησεν. 'Lib. 49.

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