Tityrus hinc aberat, ipfae te, Tityre, pinus, 66 66 NOTES. Tityrus was abfent. The very pine trees, Tityrus, the very 40 fountains, thefe very vineyards exire called for your return. TIT. What could I do? I bad no other way to get out of fervitude, Perhaps there is a defect in this part of the copy; for he could hardly fail after this, to explain Arbufta to mean the people. The other interpreters have not adopted this, thinking, I believe, the allegory too far ftrained. Befides, can it be imagined that so modest a man as Virgil would prefume to reprefent Caefar, with the Senate and people of Rome, bewailing his abfence? There is a great beauty in the repetition of ipfe in these lines, which is not eafily imitated in English: but La Cerda's observation, that all the three genders are found here, ipfi, ipfae, ipfa, is very trifling, and more worthy of a schoolboy, than of a man of his learning. at Mantua laments his abfence. "Meliboeus, who was acquainted "with the grief of Amaryllis, "though not with the caufe, now "discovers it from the difcourfe of Tityrus; and reproves him gent"ly, as not being ardent in his "love. Tityrus juftifies himself, "by faying, that he had no other way to recover his loffes, than by "going to Rome." It feems to me very evident, that there is not any thing more myfterious in this paffage, than that Galatea had been an imperious and expenfive mistress to Tityrus, and kept him from growing rich, by draining him of his money, as faft as he got it. When he was grown older and wifer, he began to have an affection for Amaryllis, upon which Galatea forfook him. He now found a material difference; for Amaryllis loved him difinterestedly; fo that his present condition may be called liberty, and his former accounted fervitude. Befides it may reafonably be imagined, that Amaryllis, having a real concern for the welfare of Tityrus, though fhe was uneafy during his abfence, had herself perfuaded him to go to Rome, in hopes to get fome relief from the tyranny of the foldiers, to whom the lands about Mantua were given. 39. Ipfae te Tityre, &c.] Ser-Rome, where he faw Auguftus, that vius thinks that by Pinus is meant deity spoken of before, who reftored Caefar, and by Fontes the Senate. him to his poffeffions. 40. Arbufta.] The Arbufta were large pieces of ground planted with elms or other trees, at the distance commonly of forty feet, to leave room for corn to grow between them. These trees were pruned in fuch a manner, as to ferve for stages to the vines, which were planted near them. The vines fastened after this manner to trees were called arbustivae vites. See the twelfth chapter of Columella de arboribus. 41. Quid facerem, &c.] Tityrus anfwers the charge against him of unkindness to Amaryllis, by faying that he had no other way to get out of fervitude, than by going to B We nor could i elfenbere find gods Nec tam praefentes alibi cognofcere divos. NOTES. 42 and we find praefens used in the fame sense in the ninth Aeneid, where Nifus invokes the moon, in the following words: "Tu Dea tu praefens noftro fuccurre labori." We learn from Appian, that when the lands were divided among the foldiers, great numbers, both young and old, and women with their children, flocked to Rome, and filled the Forum and temples with their lamentations, complaining that they were driven from their lands and houses, as if they had been This cannot be understood in the conquered enemies. Kai a wóλis latter fenfe; the moon never having lived upon earth. The fame author ἠξίουν τὴν Ἰταλίαν απασαν ἐπικείμασες, that there is a propriety. θαι τὸ ἔργον, ἢ ἐν ἄλλαις διαλαχεῖν, τῆς τε γῆς τιμὴν τοὺς δωρουμένους ήτουν, καὶ ἀργύριον οὐκ ἦν, ἀλλὰ συνιόντες ἀνὰ μέρος ἐς τὴν Ρώμην δι τε νέοι και γέροντες, ἤ αἱ γυναῖκες ἅμα τοῖς παιδίοις ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἤ τὰ ἱερὰ, ἐθρήνουν, οὐδὲν μὲν ἀδικῆσαι λέγοντες, Ἰταλίως ται δὲ ὅντες ἀνίστασθαι γῆς τε καὶ ἑστίας οἷα δορύληπτοι. ~ 42. Praefentes divos.] La Cerda interprets this propitios faventefque though he fays he is not difpleafed with thofe, who turn the fenfe to that manner of speaking, by which a god is faid to be prefent, to whom facrifices are offered before his death. Thus Horace ; bitur Auguftus, adjectis Britannis "Imperio, gravibufque Perfis." in uring the word Divos here ; Di fignifying the eternal Gods; but Divi εhole who have been taken from mankind. But Deus has already been ufed for Auguftus in this very Eclogue; Erit ille mihi femper Deus ; and in the frft Aeneid, Juno calls herfelf Divorum regina; as the is called alfo Diva by Aeneas, in a folemn invocation, in the twelfth Aeneid': Et Pater omnipotens ; et tu, Sa"turnia Funo, Jam melior, jam Diva precor.' 43. Juvenem.] Auguftus was "about twenty-two years old, when the divifion of the lands was made among the foldiers. Servius fays, he is here called juvienis, because the Senate had published a decree for bidding 66 rum iftum extulit, ut tu judicares, "precibus effe impetrandam falu"tem talibus viris, mifericordia66 que unius, vix etiam nunc viri, 66 tutos fore nos, haud ulla alia re. -Hic ipfe puer, quem Caefa"ris nomen incitare videtur in Cae"faris interfectores. Hanc ego “civitatem videre velim, aut putem ullam, quae ne traditam 66 quidem atque inculcatam liber tatem recipere poffit ? plufque ti"meat in puero nomen fublati regis, 86 quem confidat fibi.". for whom my altars fmoak every year for twelve days. From 45 bim firft I received this anfwer ; Feed your berds as before, my lads, and yoke your bullocks. used to be worshipped together with the Lares, as appears from this paffage of Horace; "Te multa prece, te profequitur 66 mero "Defufo pateris; et Laribus tuum "Mifcet nomen, uti Graecia Caftoris "Et magni memor Herculis." That the Lares were worfhipped monthly, he proves from the following paffage of Tibullus: "At mihi contingat patrios cele- feems to understand these words in a double sense; as if they fignified both plowing the ground, and propagating the fpecies: exercete terram et fobolem. La Cerda is not difpleased with the first of these interpretations, thinking jugo may be underftood: but he is of opinion, that this is not the fenfe here. He explains fubmittite to mean producite ad ppaftum tauros. "This, fays he, 44. Bis fenos cui noftra dies alta-agrees with the preceding words ria fumant.] These twelve days are "pafcite boves, as if it had been with good reason supposed by the Commentators to be one dayoin every month. moServiusvfays they were either the Kalendswor Ides -La Cerda: obferves, that Auguftus faid, both the cows and bulls may be brought out to pasture. "In this fenfe of profert or producit the word is ufed by Lucretius; B 2 "At MEL. O fortunate old man, MEL. Fortunate fenex, ergo tua rura manebunt? then your farms will remain "This manner of expreffion is bor"rowed from the Greeks: for we « find in Pindar, χθῶν ἠρινα φύλλ κι ἀναπέμπει, Tellus verna folia fub"mittit, and in Libanius, navne σε τὸ ἄνθος.” These quotations however do not feem full to his purpofe; nor does that, which Ruaeus helps him to from Lucretius: to have ufed fubmittere in this fenfe; "Caftrare oportet agnum non minorem quinque menfium, neque ante quam calores, aut frigora fe "fregerunt. Quos arietes fub"mittere volunt, potiffimum eli66 gunt ex matribus, quae geminos parere folent." This is not very unlike an expreffion in the third Georgick; 66 "Et quos, aut pecori malint fub "mittere habendo." Cicero certainly uses it for fending a fucceffor, in his Oration de Provinciis Confularibus; "Huic vos nón fubmittetis? hunc diutius manere "patiemini?" as does Juftinian alfo, in the second book of Inftituti"Laetificos nequeat foetus fummit- ons: " Sed fi gregis ufum fructum tere tellus." In thefe and many other paffages, which might be brought from the fame Poet, fubmitto fignifies indeed. to bring forth; but furely there is great difference between bringing forth, as an animal does it's young, or as the earth does flowers, which is the fenfe of Lucretius, and bringing forth the cattle to pafture. These quotations rather confirm the fecond fense given by Servius, exercete for bolem. Erythraeus interprets the paflage under confideration, Sup plere, fuccefforem mittere; that is, upply the herd with new bulls. This interpretation is not without authority to support it. Varro feems ཆ་ "quis habeat, in locum demortu<c orum capitum ex foetu fructuarius fubmittere debet, ut et Juliano vifum eft, et in vinearum demortuarum vel arborum locum alias "debet fubftituere." Thefe quotations fufficiently teftify, that fubmitto may fignify to fubftitute: but yet I cannot help thinking, with Ruaeus, that it is more natural, in this place, to understand it fubmittite tauros jugo. 47. Fortunate fenex, ] Melibocus congratulates Tityrus on his happiness in enjoying his own eftate, though fmall. It is evident from the repetition of the word fenex in this paffage, that Virgil did not intend, under the Et tibi magna fatis: quamvis lapis omnia nudus, 48 and large enough for you; though 66. NOTES. the name of Tityrus, to defcribe himself, who was under thirty years of age, when he wrote this Eclogue. 47. Tua rura.] It is the general opinion, that Virgil here defcribes his own eftate, which does not feem to have been very fertile; but partly rocky and partly fenny. Ruaeus is of opinion, that the lands afcribed to Tityrus cannot be fuppofed to be barren; fince there is fo frequent mention of his flocks, paftures, and fhades. He would therefore haye this description relate to the other lands about Mantua, and thus interprets the words of Meliboeus; "You are permitted to cultivate your own lands; though the reft "of the country, fo fruitful before, " is now deformed by the calamity "of war." This is one of the most forced interpretations of that learned Commentator; who in other places condemns the allegorical expofitions of others as trifling and yet in this place he would perfuade us, that by a land full of rocks and marshes, the -Poet means a country laid waste by armies. The words of Meliboeus feem very plain and natural. He congratulates his friend, that he is in poffeffion of an eftate that is his own; which though neither large nor fruitful, abounding with ftones and marshes, yet is fufficient to afford him a decent fupport. It is not neceffary to understand the words in the ftrictest sense, that it confifted entirely of naked rocks and rushes, without any good herbage. We find thefe hills were not fo barren, : naked rocks, but that they afforded room for fome vines, by the mention of a pruner in this very paffage. Tityrus alfo was not without apples and chefnuts, as appears from the latter end of this Eclogue; where he mentions alfo his having 'plenty of milk; and he has already told us, that he used to fupply Mantua with many victims and cheefes. We have many rocky lands in England, that are far from being incapable of culture; and our fens are well known not to be wholly void of pafturage. Virgil might probably be fond of defcribing his own eftate in his poems. The lands affigned to Menalcas, in the ninth Eclogue, may well be understood not to be different from these of Tityrus. |