that I could not think it true! Thou far from thy country, ob! Tu procul a patria; nec fit mihi credere; tantunt abfent from me beboldeft, ab Alpinas, ah dura, nives, et frigora Rheni cruel! nothing but the fnows of the Alps and frofts of the Rhine. NOTES: Now this does not feem to have been done till the beginning of the year of Rome 717, when Agrippa and Lucius Gallus were Confuls. In that year, according to Dio, Agrippa the Conful marched into Gaul, to fupprefs a rebellion there, tions of the fnows of the Alps, the frofts of the Rhine, and the danger of Lycoris's feet being cut by the ice. Thus we may conclude, that Lycoris ran away with some officer in this army, which was commanded by Agrippa. 46. Nec fit mihi credere.] "Nec liceat mihi nec poffim. Thus Aen. "VIII. 676. Attia bella cernere 66 erat. Horace, Epod. 17. 25. 66 Neque eft levare tanta fpiritu prae"cordia. It is a manner of speak 66 ing derived from the Greeks, among whom ri fignifies licet. "Thus Homer, Odyff. 11. 157. ἐς τὸν ὅπως ἐστί περῆσαι, quem nonli"cet tranfmittere." RUAEUS. Tantum.]" It is explained three "different ways; I. to be a Noun, "and to be referred to credere; "Utinam liceat non credere tantum, "id eft, rem tantam tamque indig:nam. 2. To be an Adverb, and and was the fecond Roman who croffed the Rhine, for which he had the honour of a triumph decreed him, and at his return had the care of the maritime affairs committed to him. Agrippa declined the triumph; because he did not care to rejoice himself, at a time when Auguftus was unfortunate: this expedition must have been at the beginning of the year, because Agrippa could not otherwife have had time afterwards to build fo great a -fleet, and to form that noble as well as neceffary work of the Julian port, which is mentioned in the note on ver. 161 of the fecond Georgick. Here then is in all probability the precife time, when this Eclogue was written, the beginning of the year of Rome 717, when all the friends of Auguftus, among whom was Gallus, were under continual fa-: tigues, with defending the fea coafts of Italy from the depredations of Pompey; and when one of the Confuls marched with an army beyond the Alps, and croffed the Rhine, which had not been performed before by any Roman, except Julius Caefar, almoft twenty years be-"fubtile, and the third moft eafy." fore. This time of the year agrees alfo exactly with what our Poet men ' to be referred to fit; Utinam fit tantum, Utinam liceat tantum "hoc non credere. As if he should "fay, I do not wifh that Lycoris "might not be perfidious, but I "wifh that I might only not believe "it. 3. To be an Adverb, and to be referred to the fentence of "the following verfe, vides tan" tummodo nives et frigora, &c. "The first interpretation is the "moft weak, the fecond the most 47. Alpinas..... nives.] The Alps are very high mountains, which A Me fine fola vides. Ah te ne frigora laedant! Ab! may not the frofts burt thee! Ab! may not the sharp ice wound thy tender feet. I will go, and fing those verfes, which I compofed in the Chalcidian ftrain with the pipe of the Sicilian Shepard. I am determined to dwell in woods, among the dens of wild beafts, and to carve my paffion on the tender trees: as they grow, my paffion will grow to9. NOTE S. divide Gaul from Italy, and are covered with perpetual fnow. 48. Frigora Rheni.] The Rhine is a great river, which divides Gaul from Germany. Gallus therefore is grieved, that Lycoris fhould have fuch an averfion from him, as to leave a more warm and pleafant country, to follow another over the inhofpitable mountains covered with fnow, into a cold climate, and that even in the winter feafon. 50. Ibo, et Chalcidico, &c.] In this paragraph, Gallus exprefles the various refolutions, which are haftily taken up, and as haftily laid down again by perfons in Love. He refolves to amufe himfelf with poetry: then he will make his habitation in the woods, and carve his paffion on the barks of trees : then he will divert himself with hunting; in the imagination of which exercife he feems to indulge himself largely : then he recollects, that none of thefe diverfions are fufficient to cure his paffion, at laft concludes, that Love is invincible, and that he muft fubmit to that powerful Deity, Chalcidico.... verfu.] Chalcis is a city of the island Euboea, the native place of Euphorion, whofe works Gallus is faid to have tranflated into Latin. See the note on ver. 62. of the fixth Eclogue. 51. Paftoris Siculi.] Theocritus, the famous Sicilian, who wrote Paftorals. We may conclude, from this paffage, that Gallus took the fubject of his Paftorals from Euphorion, and that he imitated the ftile of Theocritus. Modulabor.] Heinfius, according to Burman, found meditabor in two ancient manufcripts. 52. Spelaea.] He uses the Greek word omnia for fpeluncas. 53. Tenerifque meos, &c.] This fancy, of cutting letters on the barks of trees, has always obtained among lovers. Thus Theocritus, in his Ἑλένης ἐπιθαλάμιος 5 Γράμματα δ' ἐν φλοιῷ γεγράψεται, ὡς παριών τις Ανγνοίη, Δοριστι, Σέβεν Ανγνοίη, Δοριστές Σέβεν μ' Ἑλένας φυτὸν εἰμί. "And then infcribe this line that "all may fee, "Pay due obedience, I am He"len's tree."" 54. Crefcent illae, &c.] There is fomething very pretty, in this thought of infcribing his paffion on the bark of a young tree; that as B b the In the mean time, I will fur- Interea mixtis luftrabo Maenala Nymphis, tawns. I feem already to go over the rocks and founding groves : NOTES. And eury beech is confcious of your It's trunk is filled, and with records of me. Which, may it live on the brooks margin fet, Flás on it's knotty bark thefe verfes 55 When Paris lives not to Oenone true, Back Xanthus ftreams fhall to the fountains flow. COOPER.. 55. Maenala.] See the note on ver. 22. of the eighth Eclogue. 56. Acres apros.] The wild boar is a very fierce and dangerous animal. Ariftotle, in the fourth chapter of his fecond book concerning the parts of animals, afcribes the fiercenefs, rage, and fury of fuch animals, as bulls and boars, to the thicknefs of their blood, which is found to be very fibrous, and foon coagulates; Τὰ δὲ πολλὰς ἔχοντα λίαν ἕνας καὶ παχείας, καὶ γεωδέστ ήθος, καὶ ἐκστατικὰ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν τερα τὴν φύσιν εστί, καὶ θυμώδη τὸ θερμότητος γὰρ ποιητικὸς ὁ θυμός τὰ δὲ στερεα θερμανθέντα, μᾶλλον θερμαίνει τῶν ὑγρῶν· αἱ δὲ ἴνες στερ ai σε ρὸν καὶ γεώδες, ὥστε γίνονται οἷον τους ἐν τοῖς θυμοῖς· διὸ οἱ ταῦροι καὶ οἱ ρίαι ἐν τῷ αἵματι καὶ ζέσιν ποιοῦσιν κάπροι θυμώδεις καὶ ἐκστατικοί· τὸ γὰρ αἷμα τούτων ινωδέστερον, καὶ τόγε του ταύρου τάχιστα πήγνυται πάν των. εν τω I delight in Shooting Cydonian arrows with a Parthian bow: as if thefe things were a cure 61 for my paffion, or if that god could be appeafed by buman miferies. Now again neither the Hamadryades, nor even verfes pleafe me: farewel again, O ye nobis Ire: libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu 65 woods. Our labours cannot bend him, even though we drink the waters of Hebrus, in the midst of the froft, Εβρον παρ ποταμὸν τετραμμένος, ἐγε γύθεν ἄρκτου. Thus alfo Pope, in his third Paf- Es de Jépei wyμátane was Aldiómestoral; σι νομεύοις, Héтрa Urо BλεμUWY, JEV OJNÉTI NEEVOUXETI ότι λος ὁρατός. Thus alfo Horace; "Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis "Jupiter urget. "Pone fub curru nimium propinqui So Not. and endure the Sithonian fnows Sithoniafque nives hyemis fubeamus aquofae : of the watery winter. even though, when the dying Nec fi, cum moriens alta liber aret in ulmo, bark withers on the lofty elm, Aethiopum verfemus oves fub fidere Cancri, zve fhould feed the fheep of the Omnia vincit amor; et nos cedamus amori. Ethiopians, under the conftel Haec fat erit, Divae, veftrum ceciniffe poetam, 70 lation of Cancer. Love con quers all things, and let us Dum fedet, et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco, Jubmit to Love. This, O Pierian Goddesses, will have been enough for your poet to have fung, whilft he was weaving a basket with flender tavigs: NOTES. So place me where no fun appears, tears: Where woods with whirling tempefts Where no relieving fummers breeze Or place me where the fcorching fun, zone; Yet fearless there I'll gladly rove, Or curfe, or bless my state, Hebrum.] "A very great river of Thrace, now called Marifa; which anciently rolled over gol"den fands. It flows into the Aegean fea; and rifes from the "mountain Rhodope, which is "taken by fome to be part of Hae"mus; and therefore Hebrus is "faid by them to flow from Hae86 mus. ." RUAEUS. 66. Sithionafque nives.] Sithonia is a part of Thrace, a very cold and fnowy country. 68. Aethiopum verfemus oves, &c.] Ethiopia is a large region of Africa, within the torrid zone, lying to the fouth of Egypt, and extending from the Tropick of Cancer to the Equinoctial line. Virgil therefore uses the conftellation of Cancer to exprefs the Tropick. The fun enters Cancer, on the tenth or eleventh of our June, which is the longest day of the year, and naturally the hottest. Verfemus.] Verfo fignifies to "feed, because those who feed "fheep drive them here and there; "for the proper fenfe of verfo is to "drive about, as in the twelfth "Aeneid; Tu currum deferto in gra"mine verfas." 70. Hoc fat erit, &c.] We are come now to the conclufion of the work, wherein the Poet tells us he has performed enough in this humble way of writing, which he figuratively expreffes by weaving baskets: he intreats the Mufes to add a dignity to his low verse, that it may become worthy of Gallus, for whom his affection is continually increafing; and at laft defires his goats to go home, because they have been fed enough, and the evening approaches. 71. Gracili.] He uses this epithet to exprefs the meanness of his writing. Hibifco.] See the note on ver. 30. of the fecond Eclogue. 72. Pierides.] |