fhould view thofe myfteries. It is true indeed, that the adventure of Clodius might have convinced even the vulgar, of the folly and fuperftition of fuch an apprehenfion; yet was the attempt itfelf regarded by all as the height of profanation; and if that turbulently frantic nobleman committed, at that time, in Cæfar's houfe, the crimes with which Cicero charges him, Cæfar was in the right to divorce Pompeia: as the reafon he gave for it, viz. that Cæfar's wife was not to be sufpected, ought to be looked upon as the result of that delicacy and fuperiority of genius, which raifed him, even in domeftic matters, above the level of other men.

Ver. 34. Scaliger, from the word " aram," which is found in many of the old MSS. and editions, conjectures, that the worship mentioned in the text, must have been at the conful's house; and infers, that, as none but women of the first rank had admittance there, Delia muft have been a woman of fashion. Brockhufius, on the other hand, fupported by an almoft equal number of editions and MSS. read " aras," and contends, that Tibullus meant by that expreffion, one of the two public temples in Rome dedicated to the "bona dea," alleging, that Delia was a "muliercula imi ordinis.” But fhould not Brockhufius have confidered, that the poets often ufe the plural number for the fingular. Vid. El. ii. Lib. 2.

Lin. I.

According to P. Victor, the "bona dea" had two temples, one in the 12th, and the other in the 13th region of Rome. This flood on that part of the Aventic Hill, which was called Reniuria; and that at the foot of the fame hill, whence, as Broekhufius remarks, it received the appellation of Subfaxana.

Ver. 37. In Helen's fine epiftle to Paris, there is a thought of the fame kind.

Tu modo me fpe&tas oculis lafcive protervis
Quos vix inftantes lumina noftra ferunt,
Et modo suspiras, modo pocula proxima nəbis
Sumis, quoque bibi, tu quoque parte bibis.
Ah quoties digitis, quoties ego tecta notavi

Signa fupercilio pene loquenti Jðari,
Et fæpe extimui ne vir meus illa videret
Non fatis occultis erubuique notis,

30

Which is thus Englished by Dryden. Sometimes you'd figh, fometimes diforder'd ftand, And with unufual ardour prefs my hand, Contrive juft after me to drink the glafs, Nor would you let the least occafion país, Which oft I fear'd, I did not mind alone, And blushing fat for things which you have done. We are not, however, to fuppofe, that Ovid borrowed the thought from Tibullus; for thefe are ftratagems which have been practised by lovers in all ages.

Ver. 40. Brockhufius, whom few commentators have exceeded in the knowledge of ancient cuftoms of no moment, informs us, that the practice of challenging to drink, was a fafhion derived

to Rome from Greece. See the verfes which Stobœus (Serm. xvi.) has preferved, faid to be written by Panyafis the poet, who was either, uncle or coufin-german to Herodotus the hiftorian.

According to Theophraftus, (as Pliny remarks 1. 36. c. 21.) your boon companions of Greece, in their drinking-matches, used the .powder of pumice, which had this recommendatory property, that they ran a risk of their lives, unless they fwallowed after it an immenfe quantity of wine; for fo cold is the puntice, adds he, that a little of it being thrown into must, will stop its ferment. ing.

Ver. 41. "Excufatio quam frequens, tum frivola," exclaims the good Broekhufius.

Ver. 61. Our poet's natural heat of difpofition, transports him to think, that he is again admitted to the guardianship of Delia; and the more to influence her husband to intruft Delia to his care, he makes heaven and Bellona denounce vengeance against any gallant, who fhould make advances to her whilft abroad.

In the description of Bellona's priestess (which refembles what we are told of Baal's priefts in the first book of Kings, c. 18.), our author's language rifes, and fhows, that what Quintilian applied to A cæus, may with equal propriety be faid of Ti builus. Si in lufus et amores defcendat, majo

ribus tamen aptior eft."

The Bellonarii were fortune-tellers; and their high priest, according to Juvenal, was an eunuch They ftrolled about the ftreets, for boding difcales &c. These the fuperftitious were fain to avert, by donations of eggs, and a particular coloured raiment, called zerampelina, which, when hung up in the temple of their goddess, had, it færs the power of averting thofe calamities, with #2# the donor had been menaced. Vid. Juv. L. Lin. 526.

Ver. 68. She mocks all torture.] Literally, t dreads not the twisted lafh, which, according to Brockhufius, was the "flagellum" with whki Bellona ufed to flog her votaries into mačeta, whence they received the appellations of * enthe ati et fanatici."

Ver. 78. E'en were you guilty] In the original, Si tamen admittas, fit tamen illa levis.

This paffage is difficult. We have followed the interpretation of Broekhufius. Vulpius thus eIplairs it. "Conniveat delicto, nec extemplo ve Dfupplicium fumere.

AVer. 86. The focial and benevolent pathons are ry where refplendent in our poet; and thek one measure ought to compenfate for his arous failings. Let it be confidered, that Auguteus himself wrote fome obscene poems: Example, however, is no juftification of vice.

Ver. 89. By the " ftola" and "vitta" mentioned in the original, the good Cyllenius" facerdotuin integritatem, et matronarum pudicitiam, intelligebat." But Broekhuius peremptorily infifts upon it, that Delia was “libertine conditionis," becaufe virgins and matrons" (matronx)" wore the "ftola” and “ vitta.” And yet it is cer

The rites and dances are to genius due!
Eenign Ofiris, ftand confefs'd to view!
Rich unguents drop already from his hair,
His head and neck foft flowery garlands fhare!
O come, fo fhall my grateful incenfe rife,
And cates of honey meet thy laughing eyes!

On thee, Meffala, ('tis my fervent prayer) May heaven bestow a wife, a warlike heir: 70 In whom, increas'd, paternal worth may fhine, Whofe acts may add a luftre to thy line,

And transports give thee in thy life's decline. S

But fhould the gods my fervent prayer deny, Thy fame, my glorious friend, fhall never die.

Long as (thy bounteous work) the well made way

Shall its broad pavement to the fun difplay,
The bards of Alba fhall in lofty rhyme,
Tranfmit thy glory down the tide of time:
They fing from gratitude: nor lefs the clown &
Whom love or business have detain'd in town
Till late, as home he fafely plods along,
Thee chants, Meffala, in his village-fong.

Bleft morn, which still my grateful muse shal fing,

Oft rife, and with you greater bleffings bring.

Vice.

From celebrating the reduction of Aquitain, and mentioning Meffala's triumph on that account, our poet hints at his patron's tranfactions fome years before, in Cilicia, Syria, and Egypt. This gives him an occafion of recounting whatever was most memorable in thefe kingdoms; and as Ofiris was the chief god of Egypt, he enumerates the many favours which Ofiris was fuppofed, by the Egyptian mythology, to have conferred on man; and folemnly invokes his attendance at the genial banquet.

The poem concludes with a wifh, that Meffala's pofterity might refemble him in their actions and reputation; and promifes him immortality from the noble public road which he had lately made at his own expence.

Ver. 1. The deftinies, at every one's birth, were fuppofed irrevocably to determine their after actions, having in their poffeflion the thread of life. Claffic writers abound in imitations of this fort. Catullus, in his beautiful poem, intituled, De Nuptiis Pelei et Thetidos, introduces the fates finging the future glories of Achilles. The "Parca" were three in number; their names were Clotho, Lachefis, and Atropos; Hefiod, in his theogony, calls them the daughters of Jupiter and Themis. Clotho held the distaff, Lachefis 1pun, and Atropos cut the thread.

Ver. 4. Aquitain was the third divifion of old Gaul, and reached from the Garonne to the Pyrenees, and comprehending Guiene, Galcony, &c. Mellala, upon his having reduced to obedience that extensive and important province, triumphed

A. U. G. 721, in the feventh confulfhip of Auguf tus, and third of Agrippa, on the feventh of the calends of October, when Tibullus was thirty-x years of age.

Ver. 7. This is a noble and poetical figure. Atur, (now Ador, or L'Ador), is a river of Ac quitain, that runs into the ocean. Aufonius cals it Aturrus, and Ptolomy Aturius.

Ver. 11. Although no infitution contributed more to the greatnefs of Rome, than the public honours bestowed on its conquerors, yet does ta manity difapprove of their triumphs. Cleopatra deftroyed herself, to avoid attending in chains the triumphal car of Auguftus.

Ver. 13. The triumphal car was drawn by f white horses. Propertius, (1. 4. el. 1. ver attributes this inftitution to Romulus; but hufius feems rather inclined to believe that C lus, after having made himself master of the mous city of Veii, which had held out a ten years fiege, was the first who invented, and put in prac tice this ceremony. Could any ftrefs be laid on the authority of Statius, the custom would appear to be of a much more ancient date. For that poet describes (1. 12. v. 542.) Thefeus triumphing over the Amazons, in a chariot drawn by white horfee. But however this may be, we know that white horfes were held in the highest eftimation of old, fince not only the kings of Perfia used fteeds of that colour in their chariots; but the conquerors, at the facred games of Greece, were drawn by white horfes, when they made their public entries into their feveral cities; and Car tius informs us, that the car, confecrated to Jove, had horfes of that colour.

The triumphal car was ornamented with ivory and gold; but if the reader is curious to inform himself of all that can now be known concerning the vehicles of antiquity, he may confult Schefferus's book on that fubject.

Brockbat

Ver. 16.Tarbella.] This is a town in Galcony, it

refent called Tarbe. Charles Stevens fays, that is the " Aquæ Tarbellæ” of Aufonius, and proably the " Aqua Augufta" of Ptolomy. Ibid. Siintoigne Shore.] A maritime province of quitain.

ane;

Ver. 18. Where rub the Garonne, and th' impetu

er. 22. Fair Cydns.] A noble river of Cilicia, ch Curtius thus defcribes: "Non spatia aquai, fed liquore memorabilis ; quippe leni tractu, ontibus labens, puro folo excipitur; nec tortes incurrunt, qui placide manantis alveum turt; itaque incorruptus, idemque frigidiflimus, pe multa riparum amanitate inumbratus, ubifontibus fuis fimilis, in mare evadit." lib. 3. So excellent a geographer is Tibullus; but robably was an eye-witnefs of what he dees. Vide his life.

er. 25. Taurus.] So Broekhufius interprets the Arat in the original; "Ducta tralatione," he," a porca, quæ grandioribus glebis latior ent inter fulcos."

his is a vaft range of mountains, which reachemicircularly from fea to fea, divides Cilicia Pamphilia, Pifidia, and the other furrounding doms. Both Cilicia and Taurus are thus actely defcribed by Xenophon in his Anabafis. αδινοι κατεβαινεν εις πεδιον μέγα, καλον καὶ επίρρυτον δένδρων παντοδαπων εμπλεον και αμπέλων δι και μιν και μελίνην και κέγχρον και πυρους και κριθας, | 1. Όρος δε αυτό περιέχει οχυρόν, και ύπζηλον παντη λαττης εις θαλατταν. Then the army defcendito a fpacious plain, which was beautiful and watered, producing not only vines in great ty, but every other kind of fruit trees, and corn I forts. This plain was furrounded from fea 2, by a range of lofty mountains, of very dift accefs.

Then the Perfians were mafters of Afia, fays great Baron Montefquieu, they permitted e who conveyed a fpring to any place, which not been watered before, to enjoy the benefit t for five generations; and as a number of ms flowed from Mount Taurus, they fpared Expence in directing the courfe of their waters. i thus, at this day, without knowing how they e brought thither, ftreams are found in great abers in the fields and gardens of Cilicia. L'Ffp. des Loix. Ter. 28. Palatine was a province of Syria. Syrians abftained both from fish and pigeons

Ver. 29. Although every nation may be fuppofed to have contrived and ufed veffels of one kind or another, to pass their great rivers, &c. yet the Phoenicians were the first who greatly improved the art of fhip-building, and who made diftant voyages for commerce. Tyre, in particular, was for a long time the mart of the world; and even in the time of Tibullus, notwithstanding it had been ravaged, and almost destroyed by Alexander, that city had few rivals in trade. See a truly poetical defcription of its grandeur in one of Dr. Young's Odes.

This was a

The houfes in Tyre were built very high, whence Tibullus calls them towers. circumftance which had more than once endangered the destruction of this city by earthquakes; as Strabo informs us, lib. 16. The reafon affigned by Brockhufius, why the tyrants made their houfes fo lofty, is, that they might command a diftant profpect of the fea. But might not alfo this be done for the fake of more accurately obferving the motions of the heavenly bodies? efpecially if, with Mr. Glover, we look upon astronomy as the child of commerce. See Mr. Glover's elegant poem, intituled, London. The truth, however, I believe is, that building on a rock in a limited compass, the Tyrians fupplied, like us in London, the want of room, by multiplication of ftories.

Ver. 31. The annual overflowing of the Nile was a phenomenon which long puzzled the naturalifts; and a variety of hypothefis were formed to explain the caufes of it; all of which Diodorus Siculus has judiciously refuted in the end of the frf books of his Univerfai Hiftory, except that of Agathargines the Cnidian, which afcribes the rifing of the Nile in fummer, to the rains that fall in Ethiopia, the country where the Nile hath its fource.

The overflowing and courfe of the Nile, is thus explained by Mr. Thomson, in a manner no leis poetical than just.

The treasures thefe, hid from the bounded fearch Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp,

Rich king of floods, o'erflows the fwelling Nile!
From his two fprings, in Gojam's funny realm,
Pure welling out, he through the lucid lake
Of fair Dambea rolls his infant ftream.
There by the Naiads nurs'd, he fports away
His playful youth, amid the fragrant ifles
That with unfading verdure fmile around:
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks,
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky,

• Viz. The Vapours.

Winds in progreffive majefty along; [maze,
Through fplendid kingdoms now devolves his
Now wanders wild o'er folitary tracts
Of life-deferted fand; till, glad to quit
The joylefs defert, down the Nubian rocks
From thundering fteep to fteep, he pours his urn,
And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave.

Summer. Norden in his travels relates the ceremony at prefent practifed at Grand Cairo, at the opening the great canal of that city for the admiffion of the waters of the Nile. If the people express their gratitude by every inftance of licentious joy, the government, it would feem from that traveller, is not profufe upon the occafion, though, indeed, Alpinus makes it a very fplendid affair.

De Medicin. Egypt.

Norden alfo affirms, that notwithstanding the annual overflowing of the Nile, there is no country which requires more culture than the land of Egypt. No rains fall there in fummer. Hence our poet fays,

Arida nec pluvio fupplicat herba Jovi.

This line, Seneca, through miftake, attributes to Ovid and indeed, as Broeki ufius well obferves, Ovid much better fuited the falfe epigrammatic turn of this philofopher, than our poet.

The Greeks honoured Jupiter Pluvius with a particular devotion. The friends of Polynices, who had united to restore that prince to the throne of Thebes, fwore at the altar of this deity, that they would effectuate their purpofe, or die in the attempt. See Paufan. in Corinth, who alfo informs us, in his Boeotia, that the worship of this deity was performed in the open air. According to Strabo, the Indians alfo worshipped Jupiter Pluvius, together with the river Ganges, and the "Genii Indigites." He was alfo honoured at Rome in a fingular manner. It is faid too, that in a great drought, the Romans cragged into their city a certain large ftone, which lay originally near the temple of Mars, beyond the Por ta Capena ;" and as rain immediately fell, the ftone obtained the name of the "Saxum manale," and the ceremony itfelf was called " Aquælicium." See Feftus. Was this ftone a natural hygrometer? Even in our days, and in Romish countries, the catholic priefts, in times of drought, feldom venture to lead forth their faints in proceffion till they have obferved the fall of the mercury.

..

Ver. 35. The best comment on this and the twenty-five following lines, are two paffages, one from the first book of Diodorus Siculus, and the other from the Thalia of Herodotus. That from Diodorus is as follows; ira de Tavra (fays that curious and faithful hiftorian) τον Κρόνον αρξαι, και γήμαντα την αδελφην Ριαν, γένεσαι καλα μεν τινας των pubokogor Origin was low, &c. The other from Herodotus has thus been tranflated. Apis, whom

the Greeks called rapor, was the calf of a en uncapable of bearing another, and no otherwic be impregnated than by thunder, as the Egy tians affirmed. The marks that distinguished in from all others were thefe. His body was h and black, except one fquare of white on the f head: He had the figure of an eagle on his ba a double lift of hair on his tail; and a fearate under his tongue. επί δε τη γλώσση κανθαροι.

When this ftrange god manifefted him: among the Egyptians, they put on their r apparel, and feafted fplendidly; and when difappeared, their mourning was as extreme.

Ver. 37. Virgil and Ovid attribute the inve tion of the plough to Ceres. Mythologifs the is the fame with lus, the fifter and wife Ofiris Triptolemus, whom Ceres infras. taught the natives of Greece and Asia the am husbandry. Those of ancient Italy were inftrut ed in it by Saturn; and the Spaniards had ar their teacher in agriculture one Hebades.

Bre

Ver. 65. The god mentioned in the text nius, or that power, who, as the Romans iraga was the guardian of a man, from the hor birth to his death; hence called by the Gra Daiμor pusajoys Biou. These gods the a reprefent fometimes in the form of me, fometimes in that of a boy, and fometiratt of an old man, crowned with leaves of p On feveral coins of Trajan and Adrian, holds in his hand a "patera," over an ar adorned with flowers; and, from his left, down a whip. The offerings prefented t deity, as Dart juftly obferves, were general falted cake (or mola), flowers, wine, and in cenfe

Ver. 76. Nothing, fays Mr. Dart y raises a higher idea among the modasi te ancient Roman greatness, than their pat

When Auguftus Cæfar perceived that i ferent roads leading to Rome were, through a glect, become of difficult paffage, he took himself the reparation of the "via flamina,” a far as Arminium, and enjoined the seratury ~ mend the other roads. This happened A L 727. as Dio Caffius, in the fifty-third book of history informs us. The way which fell to fhare of Meffala, was a branch of the Latir m which that excellent Roman either paved or repaired; for, from the fituation of Tra and Alba, it could not be the “via valera" Pighius conjectured. See Bergerius, Li Roman Military-ways.

B

Meffala's road must have been efterm ftrong and durable work, fince Martial, t prefent that perpetuity of fame, to which, poet, he thought himself entitled, alludes t these words:

Et cum rupta fitu Meffala faxa jacebunt.

B. &E.