I shall now confider fome paffages,

"luftraffent oculis omnia;" and Dr Trapp tranflates this paffage,

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Now all the work "Throughout with curious eyes they "would have trac'd."

66

L.

feventh,

66 protinus omne "Contremuit nemus,"

protinus may be understood to mean either valde, longe, or ftatim; Ruaeus interprets it in the latter fenfe Dr Trapp tranflates it fuddenly. I fhould rather interpret it, the whole foreft trembled greatly, or "throughout;" or emphatically, all the whole foreft trembled. In the ninth Aeneid, Turnus boafting of his fuperiority over the Trojans, fays,

paffage, happy, had he but made his play abfolutely or entirely equal to the night, and continued it till morning.

in all the places where Virgil has Having thus confidered the word made ufe of it, I can by no means aflent to Servius and his followers, who interpret it porro tenus or continuo, which Servius himself fays is peculiar to Virgil. And as there is not any one paffage, where it may not be rendered otherwife, we may justly reject this fingular interpreta

That is, emphatically, let every man of the Tufcans add himself to the number. Servius indeed tells us, that fome interpret protinus, licet in this place. Ruaeus interprets it ftatim but the fenfe, which I have here given it, feems the most natural. There remains, I think, but one paffage more to be confidered. It is alfo in the ninth book; where the Poet is fpeaking of the numbers flain by Euyalus and Nifus. Among thefe he mentions Sarranus, who had spent

nion of Nonius Marcellus, that it is in this place an emphatical ad, verb, and means valde or omnino, in which fenfe it may well be, under+ flood in many paffages of our Poet.

13. Duco.] La Cerda would have us underftand duco in this place to mean carrying on the fhoulders. To con firm this interpretation, he quotes feveral authors, who mention the fhepherd's taking up the fheep on his fhoulders. But all, or most of them, are Chriftians, and allude to the parable of the Good Shepherd in the Golpel which only fhews the

frequency

I remember, that the oaks blafte ed from beaven often foretold me this calamity; only my mind was diffracted. Often did the finiftrous crow foretel it from a bollow bolm-oak. But tell me,

Tyrus, who this God is. ·T:20 TIT. I foolishly thought the folemus. be like this of ours, Melbous city, which they call Rome, to

frequency of this cuftom. However not even one of these uses duce to exprefs carrying on the fhoulders, It certainly fignifies to lead or draw. In the first sense it is used in the fecond Georgick, ver. 395. and 'in the latter fenfe in many places, Ruaeus renders it traho. Dryden tranflates it,

to which we shepherds often use to drive the tender offspring of our fheep. Thus I knew whelps were like dogs, and kids like goats =

1533, printed by Rob. Stephens, and
in fome other printed editions. Per-
haps it was ftuck in here by fome
tranfcriber, who took it from the
ninth Eclogue, where we read, i
"Ante finiftra cava praedixit, ab
"ilice cornix.”

19. Qui.] Some read quis.
20. Urbem quam dicunt, &c.] Ti

sc along.'

who the deity is, deviates, with a paftoral fimplicity, into a defcription of Rome.

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21. Huic noftrae.] Mantua, near which Virgil was born. 23. Sic canibus, &c.]

means,

He

that Rome differs from other cities, not only in magnitude, but alfo in kind, being, as "it were, another world, or a fort of heaven in which he faw the god Caefar. For in comparing a whelp to a dog, or a kid to goat, we only exprefs the diffe-.. rence of magnitude, not of kind, But, when we fay a lion is bigger than a dog, we exprefs the dif "than "ference of kind as well as of mag

66

What great cause bad to fee Rome ?

TIT, Liberty which, bough I was forbful, looked upon me at laft;

juft as a kid is to be compared "with it's dam: for though it was is greater, yet I took it to be only "a city: but now I find, that it differs alfo in kind: for it is a manfion of deities. That this is "his meaning, is plaint from

1

Et quae.] Some read Ecquae. 28. Libertas.] The Commentators generally understand Tityrus to have been a flave; because he makes mention here of his being grown old before he obtained his li berty. But it is very plain that Virgil does not reprefent him in any

A

burna cupreffi.

For the wayfaring-tree is a fow fhrub; but the cyprefs is a tall, "and ftately tree." SERVIUS.

26. Lenta viburna.] The Viburnum or Wayfaring-tree is a hrub with bending, tough branches, which are therefore much ufed in binding faggots. The name is deived a viendo, which fignifies to bind. The ancient writers feem to have called any fhrub, that was fit for this purpofe, viburnum: but the more modern authors have reftrained that name to exprefs only our Wayfaring tree.

27. Et quae tanta, &t.] Tityrus having mentioned Rome, Meliboeus immediately afks him what was the occafion of his going thither to which he anfwers, that it was Liberty, which he did not enjoy till he was grown old, when Galatea forfook him, and he gave himfelf up to Amaryllis.

of flocks and herds; and has a farm of his own; tua rura manebunt. The Poet therefore muft mean by Liberty, either the reftitution of the lands of Tityrus, or his releasement from the bondage of his paffion for Galatea. It feems to be the latter 3 because we are told he had no hopes of liberty, fo long as Galatea retained poffeffion of him. It will be objected perhaps, that Tityrus could have no occafion to go to Rome, to obtain a difmiffion from his affection to a miftrefs; and therefore this cannot be the liberty here mentioned. But to this it may be anfwered, that his having obtained his liberty, by fhaking off the yoke of Galatea, was the caufe of his going to Rome: for during his paffion for her, he neglected his affairs, and lived expenfively, fending great quantities of cattle and cheefe to market, and yet not being the richer for it.

29. Can

29. Candidior poftquam, &c.] The Commentators, who generally affirm that Virgil defcribes himfelf under the name of Tityrus, are much confounded with this mention of his beard being grey, Virgil he ing but twenty-eight years old, when he wrote this Eclogue. Ser vius queftions, whether it may not be a changing of the perfon, putting an old peafant in this place instead of Virgil; but he does not feem perfectly fatisfied with this folution, and rather thinks, that the pointing fhould be altered, reading the paff age thus ;

Libertas, quae fera tamen refpexit inertem

Candidior; poftquam tondenti bar ba cadebat.

Thus candidior does not agree with barba, but with libertas; and the fenfe, fuch as it is, will be Liberty, which, though I was flothful, looked more favourably at last, after my beard fell from the barber. But then the mention of the beard at all is fuperfluous, unless we fuppofe that they did not use the barber till they were near thirty years old, which is not probable. Befides, if we fhould comply with Servius here in altering the pointing, we fhall never be able to prove Tityrus to be a young man, fince he is twice called exprefsly fe nex, which cannot be trained to fignify any thing but an old man. The fame objection will be in force against Pomponius alfo, who will

1

the barber:

have the candidior barba to mean the first down on the chin. Befides, this will make Tityrus too young to represent a person of Virgil's age. La Cerda is of opinion, that as Virgil had reprefented himself under the character of a flave, he was obliged to fuppofe himself old too; because it was not ufual to enfranchife their flaves, till they were old. I have thewn already, that Tityrus is not reprefented as a flave: therefore I need not give any anfwer to the latter part of the argument; though it would be eafy to produce many inftances of flaves being fet at liberty before they were old. Ruaeus thinks, that the allegory is not every where obferved, and concludes with Probus, that the Poet only takes the fame liberty in reprefenting himself as an old man, that he does in making himfelf a fhepherd, or in affuming the feigned name of Tityrus. Catrou has found out a new folution of these difficulties. He has difcovered that Virgil's father was yet alive, and tells us it was he that obtained the reftitution of his lands, and therefore is reprefented with propriety as an old man, though I muft confefs, that I can hardly be perfuaded to believe, that fo decent a writer as Virgil, would have made his father call himfelf fool, as he does in two or three places of this Eclogue. To conclude, the Commentators feem to think it ne ceffary, that fome one perfon fhould be reprefented under the name of Tityrus, and thereby lay themfelves

1.

under