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inferibed with the name of Nafcantur flores; et Phyllida folus habeto. kings, and Phyllis fhall be

your own.

NOTES.

"Octavianus till the year of Rome "727, in the feventh Confulfhip "of Octavius, and third of Agrip "pa, when Virgil was 43 years "old.

tion; but La Cerda has propofed of Auguftus was not beftowed on another folution of the riddle, which is not unworthy of our confideration. He rejects the common in-. terpretation, for being too obvious. But perhaps, when Virgil wrote this Eclogue, the ftory of the metamorphofis of the blood of Ajax into a Hyacinth might not be altogether fo trite as it is among us, who have been accustomed to read it in Ovid at school. He propofes a new folution, with rather too much confidence, though it is very ingenious. He produces a coin, which has the image of Auguftus on one fide, with this infcription, CAESAR AVGVSTVS, and on the other flowers, with L. AQVILIUS FLORVS III. VIR. Thefe he fays are the flowers, to which Menalcas alludes, as if he had faid, you ask where the heaven extends only three ells, meaning the Roman Forum and I on the other fide ask you, in what country flowers grow with the names of kings, meaning Auguftus, whofe name we strike on our coin among flowers. He adds a conjecture, that perhaps the name of Florens, a fort of money, was derived from thefe flowers. He then anfwers feveral objections, which he thinks may be made to his interpretation. I do not recite them, because the judicious and learned Ruaeus, has made one, which overturns the whole folution.

This learned man, fays he, did 46 not remember, that the furname

Now the Bucolicks were "published when Virgil was 32." This chronological objection is, I believe, not to be answered. Ruaeus therefore juftly concludes, that we muft have recourfe to the more natural and paftoral interpretation of the Hyacinth. But the authority of Nannius, which he produces, to fhew, that the name of Hyacinthus as well as that of Ajax is expreffed by AÍ, can hardly be admitted. mitted. He reads Hiacinthus inftead of Hyacinthus, and fo by taking ia backwards finds part of the name to be ai. This is ftraining moft extravagantly; and Ruaeus acknowledges, that this reading of Hiacinthus is contra communem Graeciae totius fidem. Ruaeus obferves farther, that Ajax and Hyacinthus were not kings, but the fons of kings, and that Virgil calls them kings, in the fame manner, as he calls Lavinia and Ariadne queens in other places. I fhall not ftay to enquire whether Ajax was actually poffeffed of the crown of Salamis. This is certain, that he commanded their troops at the fiege of Troy; and the chief commanders in that war are generally looked upon as kings. Nor is it neceffary, to prove that the name of Hyacinthus was meant in this paffage, to

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PAL. Non noftrum inter vos tantas componere lites:
Et vitula tu dignus, et hic: et quifquis amores
Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.

PAL. It is not in my power; to decide fo great a controverfy between you: you deferve the 110 cow, and be aifo; and whofoever fhall be diffident in fuccefsful love, or have experience of unsuccessful.

NOTES.

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108. Non noftrum inter vos, &c.] Palaemon declares, that it is not in his power to decide, which has the better, and defires them to make an end of their contention.

·Servius makes a ftop after non; fo that the fenfe will be thus; No: it is my part to decide. In this he is followed by fome other Criticks. Others understand a question to be afked; Is it not my part to decide? Thefe interpretations feem to have this foundation; Menalcas proposes to refign Phyllis to his rival, on condition that he folves the riddle, which Palaemon objects to, because the prize, for which they contend, is a cow. Hold, fays he, you forget that you are contending for a cow, and now offer to stake your mistress. I, who am chofen judge, will not fuffer you to depart from the original terms of your contention, but will decide the controverfy myfelf. This interpretation might be admitted: but Ruaeus and other good judges choose to understand the words in the moft plain fenfe; that Palaemon declares himself unable to decide, which of them has performed beft.

109. Et vitula tu dignus, &c.] Palaeman determines, that each of the fhepherds deferves a cow for his reward, and every one alfo, who fhall give fo juft a representation of the hopes and fears of love. K

111. Claudite

Now, my lads, stop the rills: Claudite jam rivos, pueri: fat prata biberunt.
the meadowvs are fufficiently
moistened.

NOTE S.

111. Claudite jam rivos, &c.] Some understand, that Palaemon, having given his decifion, now turns to his own fervants, and gives them direction to stop the rills, that have overflowed the meadows fufficiently. But the most general opinion is, that he speaks figuratively, alluding to the comfort, which the meadows, receive from the overflowing rills. Hence Catrou, in his tranflation, gives the metaphor it's proper fenfe ;

Put an end to your difpute: I "have received fufficient pleasure in "hearing you." In those rocky and warm countries, it is cuftomary to refresh their thirfty fields, with rills of water, which they collect together, and then turn the courfe of the water to the field that requires it; as our Poet has beautifully defcribed it in the firft Georgick;

"Et cum exuftus ager morientibus aeftuat herbis,

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Non omnes arbufta juvant, humilefque myricae. Si canimus fylvas, fylvae fint confule dignae. Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas:

NOTES.

be reftored. These prophecies the Poet applies to a child, that was born, or juft ready to come into the world in the Confulfhip of his great friend Pollio. He therefore invokes the Mufes to raise his verfe above the common pitch of paftoral poetry. He invokes the Sicilian Mufes, because Theocritus, the father of paftoral poetry, was a Sicilian.

Majora canamus.] Whilft Virgil was writing his Eclogues and Georgicks, he feems to have had frequent impulfes to write fomething above his prefent fubject. Thus in the beginning of the third Georgick,

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The vineyards and bumble tamarifks delight not all. If we fing of the woods, let the woods be worthy of a Conful.

Now comes the laft age of the Cumaean fong :

tall tree; but it is generally low and fhrubby. It is very common on the banks of the rivers in Italy. This plant was first brought into England, in Queen Elizabeth's time, by Archbishop Grindall, as a fovereign remedy for the fpleen, according to Camden. It is humilefque geneftae, in the Medicean manufcript, according to Pierius.

3. Si canimus fylvas, &c.] The Poet is willing to raise his pastoral verfe above the common ftile, and though he ftill brings his images from the country, yet to make it worthy the perufal of a Roman Conful. Thus Mr Pope, in his fine imitation of this Eclogue ;

"Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin "the fong:

"To heav'nly themes fublimer "ftrains belong.

"The mofly fountains, and the "fylvan fhades,

"The dreams of Pindus, and th "Aonian maids "Delight no more

Sint.] Pierius fays it is funt in moft of the ancient manuscripts.

4 Ultima Cumaci venit, &c.] He now begins the fubject of the Ec logue, which is the Sibylline prophecy of new and happy days, the return of Aftraea, and of the golden age.

Cumaei carminis.] The general opinion is, that there were ten heaK 2

then

the great order of ages begins Magnus ab integro faeclorum nafcitur ordo. again.

NOTES.

then propheteffes, or Sibyls, the Delphian, Erythraean, Cumaean, Samian, Cuman, Hellefpontic, Lybian, Phrygian, Perfian, and Tiburtine. One of thefe, whether the Cumaean or Erythraean, is not 'certain, and fome fay it was the Cuman, came to Tarquin, king of Rome, and offered him nine volumes of prophecies, for which the demanded a great price. When this propofal was rejected by the king, the withdrew, and burned three volumes, and coming again before the king, afked the fame fum for the fix. Being rejected again, fhe did as before, and returned with the remaining three volumes, infifting ftill upon the fame price which the had demanded for the whole. The king imagining there was fomething extraordinary in them, from this unufual conduct of the Sibyl, bought them of her, and caufed them to be laid up among the facred archives of Rome. Two men were appointed to have the care of this treasure: their number was afterwards increafed to ten, and at laft to fifteen. When the Capitol was burnt a little before the Dictatorship of Sylla, these facred volumes perifhed in the fames. The Senate, to remedy this lofs, fent meffengers all over Italy and Greece, to collect as many verfes of the Sibyls, as could be procured. They found about a thoufand, which were brought to Rome, and kept with the greater care, till at laf they were burnt by Stilico, in the

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time of the Emperor Honorius. What these verses were, is not now certainly known; for those which are now extant under the name of the Sibylline Oracles, are not without reafon generally thought to be fpurious. This however we may conclude, from the Eclogue before us, that they foretold the birth of a child, to happen about that time; under whom the world should enjoy peace and happiness. This muft certainly allude to our bleffed Saviour, of whofe birth the prophecies in Ifaiah are fo like many verfes in this Eclogue, that we may reafonably conclude, that thofe truly infpired writings had been feen, by the Sibyls themselves, or at least by Virgil. In the Oration of the Emperor Conftantine to the Clergy, as we find it in Eufebius, there is an Acroftick of the Erythraean Sibyl preferved in Greek verfe, the initial letters of which, taken together, make ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΘΕΟΥ ΥΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ; that is, Jefus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour, the cross:

Ιδρώσει γὰρ χθών κρίσεως σημεῖον ὅτ colar

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