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D. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis sit rustica, musam : Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro.

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M. Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: pascite taurum, Jam cornu petat, et pedibus qui spargat arenam.

D. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet. Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum."

M. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi; Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos.

D. Qui legitis flores, et humi nascentia fraga; Frigidus, o pueri fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba.

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M. Parcite, oves, nimium procedere; non bene ripae

Creditur ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat.

D. Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas;

Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo.

M. Cogite oves, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, Ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis.

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D. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo! Idem amor exitium pecori, pecorisque magistro.

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M. His certe neque amor causa est: vix ossibus haerent. Nescio quis, teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos.

D. Dic, quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, Tris pateat coeli spatium non amplius ulnas.

M. Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum Nascantur flores,° et Phyllida solus habeto.

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m This was a sweet-smelling plant; but what the true Amomum of the ancients was has not been determined.

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—inscripti nomina regum Nascantur flores-is supposed to al

P. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites:
Et vitula tu dignus, et hic: et quisquis amores
Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.
Claudite jam rivos, pueri: sat prata biberunt.

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lude to the Lillium martagon already mentioned. By the fancy of the poets, the dark spots on the red petals of the flower were sometimes imagined to represent the letters AI; which letters were interpreted to express an exclamation of sorrow for the death of Hyacinthus, by Apollo, who metamorphosed him into a flower, after he was killed by Zephyrus; and AI also expresses the half of the * name of Ajax, who is supposed to be the person here alluded to.

ECLOGA IV.

POLLIO.

SICELIDES Musae, paulo majora canamus;
Non omnes arbusta juvant humilesque myricae ; b

a Octavius Cæsar and Antony, after dividing the Roman Republic, became the rivals of each other, and were proceeding to extremities, when a reconciliation took place, which was ratified by the marriage of Antony with Octavia, the half-sister of Octavius Cæsar, who at this time happened to be a widow, and pregnant by her late husband Marcellus. Pollio appeared on the part of Antony, and Mæcenas on the part of Cæsar, and arbitrated the difference between them. This reconciliation was the cause of universal joy. The Sibylline oracles had foretold, that a child was to be born about this time, who should rule the world and establish perpetual peace. Virgil here supposes the child with which Octavia was pregnant to be the glorious infant, under whose rule mankind was to be made happy, and the golden age to return, when fraud and violence were to be no more. This is the subject of this Ecogue, which is dedicated to Pollio, who was the particular admirer and patron of Virgil. Pollio was consul in the year 714, A. V. C. when this reconciliation took place; from which fact, connected with some internal evidence in the Eclogue itself, there is good reason to believe that this was the year in which it was composed.

b Tamarir. Of this genus there are four species; this is most probably Tamarix gallica.

Si canimus sylvas, sylvae sint consule dignae.

d

Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas;
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et virgo; redeunt Saturnia regnà;
Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto.
Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,
Casta, fave, Lucina: e tuus jam regnat Apollo.f
Teque adeo decus hoc aevi, te consule, inibit,
Pollio; et incipient magni procedere menses.
Te duce, si qua manent, sceleris vestigia nostri
Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras.
Ille Deum vitam accipiet, Divisque videbit
Permixtos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis;
Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem.
At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu,
Errantes ederas passim cum baccare, & tellus,

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Among the ancients it is supposed there were ten heathen prophetesses or sibyls, Delphian, Erythræan, Cumæan, Samian, Cuman, Hellespontic, Lybian, Phrygian, Persian, and Tiburtine.

d Hesiod says, the golden age was under the reign of Saturn in Heaven.

The goddess presiding over child-birth, who, by the Greeks, was called Lucina and Diana, and by the Romans, Juno Lucina.

f Tuus jam regnat Apollo. Apollo was the brother of Diana, which seems to be the reason why tuus is here used, thy own Apollo.

g What this plant was has not been accurately ascertained; but Martyn is of opinion, it is the same as the Verbascum phæniceum of Linnæus.

Mixtaque ridenti colocasia1 fundet acantho.i
Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae
Ubera; nec magnos metuent armenta leones.
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores.
Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet; Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum.
At, simul heroum laudes, et facta parentis
Jam legere, et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus:
Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista,

Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva;

Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella.
Pauca tamen suberunt priscae vestigia fraudis,
Quae tentare Thetim ratibus, quae cingere muris
Oppida, quae jubeant telluri infindere sulcos.

Alter erit tum Tiphys,' et altera quae vehat Argo"

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h Colocasia is the Cyamus nelumbo. See Elements of Botany, illustrative of the Linnæan system, Class xiii. Order 7.

The Acanthus here, is the Mimosa nilotica of Linnæus; the flowers of which, Theophrastus says, were used in garlands, fig. 16. k. Thetis was said to be the daughter f Nereus and Doris. She was married to acus, by whom she had Achilles. Thetis is used here for the sea itself.

1 Tiphys was the pilot of the ship Argo.

m The Argo was the first long ship with sails, built by the Greeks. Before that time they are said to have used only round vessels of burden, and always kept within sight of the shore but now they began to launch more into the open sea, and to guide their ships by the stars.

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