Page images
PDF
EPUB

Nor am I void of beauty for Nec fum adeo informis: nuper me in littore vidi, 25 I lately faw myself on the boar,

66

[ocr errors]

NOTES.

poftea concipiunt, fiunt vegrandes, atque imbecillae. Ovis praegnans eft diebus CL. itaque fit partus "exitu autumnale cum aër eft mo"dice temperatus, et primitus ori“tur herba imbribus primoribus "evocata." The fetting of Arcturus was then reckoned to be at the latter end of May or beginning of June; and the fetting of the Eagle at the latter end of July. Therefore the time of yeaning, which is the only poffible time to have beeft ings, must be from the latter end of October, or beginning of November to the latter end of December; and that it is in the winter season is confirmed alfo by Columella, who fays a lamb is the only animal, that is conveniently brought into the world in winter: " Solufque ex om"nibus animalibus bruma nafcitur." Hence it appears, that lac novum cannot fignify coloftra, which is to be had only in winter; because it was certainly made ufe of in facri fices, which were offered in the beginning of fummer, as were those at the obfequies of Polydore and Anchifes mentioned already. To these we may add the Ambarvalia, which were celebrated a little before harvest, when there was no coloftra to be met with. The Poet may perhaps allude to the extraordinary fertility of the fheep in Italy, which, as he has told us himself in the fe

I

cond Georgick, breed twice in a

year ..

Bis gravidae pecudes."

that

But even theh, we can hardly understand him to mean beeftings in this place; unless we imagine, Corydon contrived fo well, as to have one or other of his fheep yean almost every day. This however must be obferved, that whether we underftand beeftings in this place, or milk warm from the dug, which last I think much the most probable, yet thofe Editors are greatly miftaken, who place the comma after aeftate, pointing the verfe thús:

"Lac mihi non aeftate, novum non "frigore defit."

By this they would infinuate the Poet's meaning to be, that Corydon boafts of having milk in the fummer, and even new milk in winter; as if the wonder was, that he fhould have it in winter: whereas it has been abundantly shewn, that winter was the very time for having new milk, in whatsoever fenfe, it may be taken.

Servius mentions fomebody under the name of Virgilio-maftix, by which I fuppofe he means Bavius or Maevius, who cenfured this verfe, after having pointed it wrong himfelf, after this manner;

"Lac mihi non aeftate novum,

non frigore: defit :”

that is, fays he, femper mihi deeft. I mention this only to fhew what fort of Criticks they were, who cenfured Virgil.

Frigore.]

Cum placidum ventis ftaret mare: non ego Daphnim, when the calm fea was not dif turbed by the winds. I fhould not fear Daphnis,

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

in the eightieth, "Hear, O thou "fhepherd of Ifrael, thou that "leadeft Jofeph like a fheep." We find an allufion alfo to this custom, in the tenth chapter of Saint John's Gofpel: "He that entreth not by

the door into the fhéepfold, but "climbeth up fome other way, the

fame is a thief and a robber: but "he that entreth in by the door,

σε

Συρίσδεν δ' ὡς οὔτις ἐπίσταμαι ὧδε “ is the thepherd of the fheep. Το

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

"him the porter openeth, and the "fheep hear his voice, and he calleth "his our beep by name, and leadeth "them out. And when he putteth

[ocr errors]

forth his own fheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow "him, for they know his voice. And

"but will flee from him; for they "know not the voice of ftrangers."

[ocr errors]

24. Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracyntho.] Amphion and Zethus the fons of Jupiter and Antiope the daughter of Afopus, built the walls of Thebes, which had feven gates, and fortified them with towers, according to Homer;

Si quando armenta vocabat.] This" a ftranger will they not follow, expreffion of calling the cattle feems to be taken from the manner of the ancient fhepherds, who did not drive their fheep before them, as the custom is now; but went first calling them, and playing on their pipes; and the fheep readily followed them. We have frequent allufions to this cuftom in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, in the book of Exodus, Mofes is faid to lead the flock of Jethro his father-in-law. In the twenty-third Pfalm we read, "The Lord is my fhepherd: there

can I lack nothing. He "shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth befide the wa

"

ters of comfort." Thus alfo in the feventy-feventh; "Thou led"deft thy people like sheep by the

" hand of Moses and Aaron:" and

Τὴν δὲ μετ ̓ Αντιόπην ἴδον Ασωποῖο θύγατρα,

Ἡ δὴ καὶ Διος ἔυχετ' ἐν ἀγκοίνησιν

[ocr errors]

ιαύσαι

Καὶ δ ̓ ἔτεκεν δύο παιδ Αμφίονά τε
Ζηθόν τε,

Οι

[ocr errors]

πρῶτοι Θήβης ἔδος ἔκλισαν πdos ezταπύλοιο,

Пúpywσav T'èxeì où μev árúpywróv y2 ἐδύναντο

[blocks in formation]

even in your judgment, unless Judice te, metuam, fi nunquam fallat imago. our image is deceitful.

NOTES.

Ναιέμεν ευρύχορου Θήβην, κρατερώ περ' Δίρκας, χλοιροτρόφου & πεδίον

ἐόντε.

"There mov'd Antiope with
"haughty charms,
"Who bleft th' almighty thun-

"d'rer in her arms;
"Hence fprung Amphion, hence

"brave Zethus came, "Founders of Thebes, and men

"of mighty name; "Tho' bold in open field, they yet "furround

"The town with walls, and mound

"inject on mound, "Here ramparts stood, there tow'rs "rofe high in air, "And here thro' fev'n wide portals POPE.

"rufh'd the war."

Πρόπαρ Ισμηνοῦ καλαδεύει.

[blocks in formation]

The story of his extraordinary fkill in mufick, and his receiving from Mercury a harp, by the found of which he caused rocks and ftones to follow him in order, and form the walls of Thebes, feems to have been invented fince the time of Ho-" -mer. Euripides mentions the coming of the Gods to the nuptials of Harmonia, when the walls of Thebes were raised by a harp, and a tower by the lyre of Amphion, between Dirce and Ifmenus;

· Αρμονίας δὲ ποῖ ̓ εἰς ὑμεναίους Ἤλυθον ουρανίδαι, φόρμιγγι τε τεί χεα Θήβας,

Τᾶς Ἀμφιονίας τε λύρας υπο πύργος ανέστα

Διδύμων ποταμῶν πόρον ἀμφὶ μέσον

[ocr errors]

Ducere quo vellet. Fuit haec fa"pientia quondam "Publica privatis fecernere, facra “profanis; "Concubitu prohibere vago, dare “jura maritis, "Oppida moliri,leges incidere ligno. "Sic honor et nomen divinis vati"bus atque "Carminibus venit.”

[blocks in formation]

O tantum libeat mecum tibi fordida rura

O that you

would but bave

a mind to live with me in the defpifed farms

NOTES.

[ocr errors]

But men as lawless, and as wild as Pliny alfo enumerates it among the

they,

[blocks in formation]

Propertius mentions the ftones of Cithaeron, a mountain of Boeotia, being drawn by mufick to form the walls of Thebes ;

[ocr errors]

st

Saxa Cithaeronis Thebas agitata

[ocr errors]

per artem

“ Sponte fua in muri membra co"iffe ferunt."

[ocr errors]

fprings or fountains of. Boeotia; Praeterea fontes in Boeotia, Oedipodia, Pfammate, "Dirce, Epigranea, Arethufa, Hippocrene, "Aganippe, Gargaphie." Euripides mentions Dirce, as a fpring near Thebes

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

and in many other places of his Phoeniffae. Therefore it can hardly be doubted, that Virgil calls Amphion Dircaean from this famous fountain of Boeotia, because he built the walls of the Boeotian Thebes.

[ocr errors]

2

The opinions of authors are various concerning the fituation of Aracynthus. Strabo fays exprefsly it is in Aetolia: Κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰτολίαν ἦν Ωλενος, ὧν ἐν τῷ Αιτωλικῷ καταλόγῳ ou TỰ μέμνηλαι Όμηρος· ἴχνη δ' αυτῆς λείπεται μόνον ἐγγὺς της Πλευρῶνος ὑπὸ τῶ ΑραDirce is the name of a celebrated. This author defcribes thofe fpring near Thebes. Strabo places countries in fo exact a manner, it in the plain, wherein Thebes is that we cannot eafily misunderstand fituated, through which alfo the ri-him. He fays Aetolia is divided from vers Afopus and Ifmenus flow: Acarnania by the river Achelous, Ο γὰρ Ασωπὸς καὶ ὁ Ισμηνὸς διὰ τοῦ which rifes in the mountain Pindus, πεδίου ρέουσι τοῦ πρὸ τῶν Θηβῶν and flows from North to South, toli dè xai ǹ Aípun ¿púvn, zal Horta through the Agraci, a people of

1

D Z

Aetolia,

and humble cottages, το pierce Atque humiles habitare cafas, et figere cervos, the fags,

NOTES.

Aetolia, and the Amphilochi. The Acarnanians inhabit the Weft fide, as far as the Ambracian bay, near the Amphilochi, and the temple of -Actian Apollo: the Aetolians extend toward the Eaft, to the Ozolae Locri, Parnafus, and the Oetearis: Αιτωλοὶ μὲν τοίνυν καὶ ̓Ακαρνᾶνες ἡμεροῦσιν αλλήλους, μέσον ἔχοντες τὸν ̓Αχελῶον ποταμὸν, ρέοντα ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων καὶ τῆς Πίνδου πρὸς νότον, δια τε Αγραίων Αιτωλικοῦ ἔθνους, καὶ Αμφιλόχων. Ακαρνάνες μὲν τὸ προς ἑσπέραν μέρος ἔχοντες τοῦ ποταμοῦ μέχρι τοῦ ̓Αμβρακικοῦ κόλπου, τοῦ κατὰ Ἀμφιλόχους, καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ̓Ακτίου Απόλλωνος. Αἰτωλοὶ δὲ τὸ πρὸς ἕω μέχρι τῶν Ὀζόλων Λοκρών, καὶ τοῦ Παρνασοῦ καὶ τῶν Οἰταίων. Dionyfius agrees with Strabo in the fituation of Aracynthus; but he feems to fpeak of Aetolia and Acarnania, as of one country, under the name of Aetolia: for after having fpoken of Dodona, he fays the country of the Aetolians lies next, under the mountain Aracynthus, and that 'the river Achelous runs through the middle of it.

2

[blocks in formation]

tain in Acarnania ; efpecially confidering that we read in Strabo, that there were frequent controverfies between the Acarnanians and Aetolians concerning their borders: Ἥπερ καὶ τὴν Παραχελῶιτιν καλού μένην χώραν, ἣν ὁ ποταμὸς ἐπικλύζει, περιμάχητον ἐποίει τὸ παλαιὸν, τους ὅρους συγχέουσα ἀεὶ, τοὺς ἀποδεικ νυμένους τοῖς Ακαρνάσει καὶ τοῖς Αιτωλοῖς· ἐκρινοντο γὰρ τοῖς ὅπλοις, οὐκ ἔχοντες διαιτητὰς ἐνίκων δ ̓ οἱ πλέον δυνάμενοι. Vibius Sequefter places it in Attica ; and adds, that fome place it in Arcadia; which per haps, according to Brodaeus and La Cerda, ought rather to be read Acarnania ; σε Aracynthus in At

66

tica, quidam in Arcadia d « cunt.” Probably Vibius might

place it in Attica, merely on the authority of Virgil, taking Actan to mean Attico. A like reafon perhaps might induce Stephanus to fay it is in Boeotia, and Servius to affirm it is a Theban mountain. This is certain, that when Strabot enumerates the mountains of Boe otia, he does not mention any thing like Aracynthus. La Cerda is of opinion, that we muft abide by the authority of Stephanus and Servius, in making Aracynthus a Boeotian or

"

Theban mountain. I would rather imagine, that there was fome ancient ftory, now loft, of Amphion's feeding his herds on the mountains of Aetolia; or that fome mountain of Boeotia was formerly called Aracynthus, it being well known, that

many

« PreviousContinue »