24. Non-ulli paftos, &c.] Mofchus, in his Epitaph on Bion, introduces the herds mourning for his death, and refufing to feed;

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καὶ αἱ βόες αἱ ποτὶ ταύροις Πλαζόμεναι γοάοιι, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντε νέμεσθαι.

Thus alfo Philips;

"No joyous pipe was heard, no "flocks were seen,

"Nor fhepherds found upon the "graffy green;

"No cattle graz'd the field, nor "drunk the flood,

"No birds were heard to warble thro' the wood."

"Nothing can be more elegantly "expreffed, fays Catrou, than this "Fural grief. It might happen "literally at the death of Virgil's

brother: but with regard to "Caefar, it can be understood on"ly in figure, and in metaphor." But in oppofition to this, a paffage is quoted from Suetonius; where we are told, that this very thing happened juft before Caefar's death. The hiftorian tells us, that the horfes, which that great man had confecrated, when he paffed the Rubicon, and had fed at large ever fince, were observed to abftain from their food; "Proximis diebus e

ແ quorum greges, quos in trajici"endo Rubicone fumine confe66 craret, ac vagos et fine cuftode dimiferat, comperit pertinaciffime

"pabulo

amnem

"pabulo abftinere, ubertimque "flere.” This is a strong argument in favour of their opinion, who think Julius Caefar was intended under the name of Daphnis. 25. Nulla.] La Cerda obferves, that the ufing of two negatives in this place, nulla neque is a Grecifm; because in Greek two negatives make the negation stronger, whereas in Latin they make an affirmative. Some would read ulla here instead of nulla. But the best Criticks approve of nulla, and allow it, with La Cerda, to be a Grecifm. We find nulla used in like manner by Propertius, in the nineteenth Elegy of his second Book;

"Nullus erit caftis juvenum corruptor in agris, "Qui te blanditiis non finat effe "probam

"Nulla neque ante tuas orietur rixa "feneftras,

"Nec tibi clamatae fomnus a66 marus erit.'

Tibullus indeed makes ufe of ulla nec, in the first Elegy of his fourth Book;

"Ulla nec aëreas volucris perlabitur

66 auras, "Nec quadrupes denfas depafcitur "afpera fylvas."

26. Quadrupes.] I have followed Ruaeus in rendering it a horfe,

the cool ftreams nor did any 25 borse tufte of the river, or touch a blade of grass.

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they were heard any where, but in their own habitations in Africa. Nor does there feem to be any occafion for that appearance of exactness, in placing the fcene in Sicily; fince even that island lies at such a distance from Africa, as to make it a most abfurd imagination, that the roaring of lions could be heard fo far. According to Strabo, the very shortest paffage from Lilybaeum, the nearest promontory of Sicily, to Carthage is fifteen hundred ftadia; and he speaks of it as a moft incredible story, that a very quick-fighted man is faid to have difcovered from thence the setting out of the Carthaginian fleet from their port; Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ Λιλυβαίου τουλαχισ του δίαρμα ἐπὶ Λιβύην χίλιοι καὶ πελακόσιοι περὶ Καρχηδόνα καθ' ὅ δὴ λέγεταί τις τῶν ὀξυδορκούντων ἀπὸ τίνος σκοπῆς ἀπαγγέλλειν τὸν ἀριθμόν τῶν ἀγομένων ἐκ Καρχηδόνος σκα Our Tois iv Anubai. The roaring of the Carthaginian lions therefore must have been heard above 170 of our measured miles. But we will be as favourable as we can to this fyftem, and take for Carthage the neareft land of Africa, which is the promontory of Mercury, the diftance of which from Lilybaeum is 700 ftadia, or 80 of our miles, Even then the lions must have roared as loud as fo many pieces of artillery, to be heard in any part of Sicily. Therefore this placing of

that even the Libyan lions lamented thy death. Daphnis taught men to yoak tigers to a chariot :

the fcene in Sicily is of no fervice to Catrou's fyftem; fince it is impoffible, either that the groans of the family could be heard in Africa, or the roaring of the lions, fo far as Sicily. Thus the fcene may as well be laid near Mantua, one impoffibility being as good as another. For my own part, I take the Poet's meaning to be, that the death of Daphnis, caused fo universal a grief, that even the wild beafts in the defarts lamented him, a thought, which has been fhewn already to be taken from Theocritus.

29. Daphnis et Armenias, &c.] "This plainly alludes to Caefar; "for it is certain, that he first of "all brought the folemnities of Li"ber pater to Rome." SERVIUS.

Ruaeus calls the authority of Servius in queftion; and afirms, that

the folemnities of Bacchus were

known at Rome long before. He therefore thinks, it may rather be faid, that they were afterwards celebrated with greater magnificence by Julius Caefar, because he obtained a fignal victory over the fons of Pompey at Munda, on the very day of the Liberalia, on which day Pompey is faid to have gone out to war four years before. These difficulties have given room to Catrou, to triumph over thofe, who will have Julius Caefar to be intended under the name of Daphnis. "The "defire, fays he, of finding Julius "Caefar in this place, has made

"Servius

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"Servius invent a fact which never "exifted. This Commentator pretends, that Caefar first inftituted "at Rome the feafts of Bacchus. He is greatly mistaken, for we "find mention of them in almost "all the Latin authors, and particularly in Livy. Since the time of Servius, they have' contented themselves with faying, that perhaps Caefar added a luftre to thefe feafts. This is gueffing; for is it inftituting the feafts of Bacchus, "to adorn them with new ceremonies? Inftituit Daphnis thiafos inducere Baccho. But fince leave "is taken to guess, why may not I alfo guefs, that Virgil's bro"ther was the first, who eftablished the feafts of Bacchus in his vil lage. We know it was a coun"try folemnity; that the peasants "celebrated it with sports, and that ❝ they composed ruftic fongs in ho"nour of this god. Certainly we may sform conjectures on the circum"ftances, when the foundation is "grounded upon proof." But Catrou does not argue very fairly, when he quotes the authority of Livy, to prove that the feafts of Bacchus were known in Rome before Caefar's time. What we find in Livy is in his thirty-ninth book, where he gives a large account of most abominable debaucheries, and horrid crimes, that were perpetrated in the Bacchanalia, which occafioned the Senate to abolish thefe folemnities, above a century before Caefar's time. This is no proof that they

;

were not used in Caefar's time perhaps he might restore them, and therefore be faid to inftitute them. We know that Mark Anthony, Caefar's great favourite, affected to imitate Bacchus, being drawn in a chariot, crowned with ivy, and holding a thyrfe. See the note on ver. 7. of the fecond Georgick. But however, if conjectures have been formed, in order to reconcile this paffage with Julius Caefar's actions; it is by no means to be inferred from thence, that we are. at liberty to form what conjectures we please about Virgil's brother. Some paffages in this Eclogue, can hardly be applied to any other perfon than Julius Caefar, whence it is not unreasonable to suppose, that this had fome relation to him, though it cannot be abfolutely verified by any Hiftorian now extant. It feems very probable, that Caefar might perform fome ceremonies in honour of Bacchus, as it was on one of his feftivals, that he obtained the fignal victory over the fons of Pompey at Munda. This victory appeared fo confiderable, that, according to Plutarch, "When he came back "from the fight, he told his friends,

that he had often fought for "victory, but this was the first "time that he had ever fought for "life." The victory was obtained on the feaft of the Dionyfia, in Plutarch's words, TM TWY ALQUEív topτn, which the Romans called Liberalia; for thus Hirtius fpeaks of the very fame battle; " "Ipfis Liberalibus