I did not take lappaeque tribulique to be the genitive cafe, as appears, I think by the comma after fylva. It might indeed have been tranflated more literally thus; A prickly wood arifes, both burrs and caltrops. Ver. 195. Grandior-Catrou places the full ftop at the end of the next verfe, and makes the sense run thus that the legumes may be larger, and bail better with a very little fire. Ver, 211. Sub extremum Virgil cannot poflibly mean the last by extremum, because it would contradict his epithet, intractabilis ; which implies that this feafon is unfit for bufinefs. But as there are two extreams, and extremus is fometimes ufed to fignify the first, as well as the laft; if it can be allowed to have that construction in this place, the fenfe will be very clear and confiftent that the time of fowing barley is from the autumnal Equinox to the first heavy rains of the winter Sol fice, when the inclemency of the weather will put a stop to all works of this kind. Ver. 227. Fafelum-I won't pretend to fay what the Fafelus was: but by these directions I think it can't be the very fame as our Kidney bean. For this is one of the tendereft plants we have in the natural ground; and the leaft able to bear the fevere cold, either when it is young or old. It is therefore fown the latest in the fpring of all legumes and as the feed will be melted in the ground, if much rain falls before it is come up; fo the plant itself will be cut off by the firft fharp froft in April or May, tho' it is ever fo flourishing, or in October, when it is at it's full growth. Ver. 255. Deducere claffes-I think we fhould understand deducere claffes, to bring back the fleets: and thus the fame oppofition will be continued that was in a preceding verse. Hence we learn when to fow, and when to reap: when to venture out to fea, and when to retire into port again. 1 Ver. 268. Quippe etiam-I obferve the Commentators give reafons why fome of these works may be done upon a holiday; but do not take any manner of notice of the reft. Now fince they are only to be juftified by charity or neceffity, all the following paffages must be confidered in that light. So that bufbandmen are allowed, rivos des ducere, to let out the flashes of water which are brought upon the fields by fudden fhowers and land floods : they may, fegeti praetendere fepem, fecure the fences of their corn, when by the cmiffion it would be expofed to immediate damage from trefpaffing cattle: they may, infidias avibus moliri, guard against the feathered robbers, who make no dif tinction of days, but are always pil fering the feeds whenever they can come at them; and they may, gregem fluvio merfare falubri, bathe the flock in the river, if it is required for the health of the fheep. But why they fhould then burn the thorns, which may be conveniently done at any time; or carry oil and fruits to town, for which there were probably other market days; though fo correct a writer as Virgil had undoubtedly his reafons for it, yet I muft own myfelf at a lofs to dif cover. Unless for the latter there might be the fame neceffity, as there is to cry milk and mackret in London upon a Sunday: and if this could be proved, we may eafily fuppofe they might be permitted to return with fome other loading for back-carriage. And if the former appeared to be any thing like our burning of charcoal, this would be a work that might be continued, though not begun, upon a day that was esteemed facred. Georg. II. ver. 97. Amminea was near to Falernus, and Pliny fays, Principatus datur Ammineis propter firmitatem, 1. 14. 2. Expreffions very like these of Virgil. So that thefe three lines may be thus rendered; There are alfo Amminean vines, which yield the best bodied wines: to which the Tmolian, and Phanaean, and smaller Argitis must give the preference; though the two first are reckoned prime wines, and the last none can rival, &c. Or fuppofe the 98th verfe to be in a parenthefis, which would be more poetical, and then the construction will run thus; There are alfo Amminean vines, which yield the best bodied wines, (to which the Tmolian and Phanaean, though reckoned prime wines must give the preference) and there is the fmaller Argitis, which noné, &c. Ver. 206. Tardis-I think the epithet tardis alludes to the largeness of the loads, which occafioned the bullocks to move more flowly. So that the whole verfe gives one a ftrong idea of the quantity of corn both in number and weight of loads, that is produced upon fuch land. Ver 321. Prima-I don't know any paffage more crowded with fine expreffion, than thefe two lines. But in my opinion the beauty of it is greatly tarnished by fuppofing that aeftas means nothing more than heat. The ancient and natural divifion of the year was into fummer and winter: and to which many au thors allude both in profe and verfe But fince between the extremities of heat and cold in thefe feafons, there were intermediate fpaces of moderate weather, the two others of fpring and autumn were added which at their beginning and end generally partake of the qualities of the preceding and following feafon. So that Virgil points out in the most poetical manner the very particular time in autumn that is most proper for this work. For, fays he, one of the best times for planting vineyards is, upon the coming in of the firft cool weather in autumn, before you touch upon winter, and when the fummer is quite gone. Ver. 389, 392. Ofcilla caput Mr Spence in his Polymetis, p. 129,+ hath cleared up thefe paffages by a gem in the great Duke's Collection at Florence, pl. 20. fig. 2. which reprefents a tree with feveral little heads of Bacchus hanging upon it, that turn every way. Georg. III. ver. 10. Before I had read Catrou I was of opinion, and am very glad to be fupported by him in it, that all this following paffage to the 40th verfe is a moft mafterly allegory, whereby the Poet promifes to perfect and publifh the Eneide after his return from Greece. And if we take it in this light, it will greatly heighten the many beauties that are to be found in these lines. The Eneide was the temple: Augustus was the divinity, for whom it was formed, and to whom it was dedicated his ancestors, as they are the principal actors in the one, fo are they reprefented as the capital ftatues to adorn the other; and his victories, like baffo relievos, were to embellish the work. Ver. 37. Invidia-I cannot forbear obferving Virgil's genteel manner of reflecting upon the factious and difcontented, that were enemies of Auguftus; by reprefenting them under the figure of envy, trembling for fear of the fevereft tortures, that the Poets have allotted to the most enormous offenders. Ver. 81. honefti. I think bonefti relates only to the outward appearance, and that those colours are most graceful and pleafing to the eye; for otherwise it is true as the English proverb fays, A good horfe is never of a bad colour. - Ver. 81, 86. Luxuriat toris pectus-Denfa Juba. It must be remembered that Virgil defcribes the fine horse for the menage to be trained either for war, or the chariot: for an English jockey will never agree with him, that a brawny cheft and a thick main are beauties in a horfe. Ver. 132. Curfu-As Virgil, according to your obfervation, feems to intend thefe precepts for both fpecies, I think curfu quatiunt refers to the exercise proper for the mares, and fole fatigant, &c. for the cows. Ver. 299. Turpefqué podagras., Many farmers, particularly in Warwickshire, call this diftemper, the Fouls: which, confidering the part affected, is a literal translation of Virgil. Ver. 400. Quod furgente I think Virgil, in his fhort manner of hinting a direction, plainly points out to us which milk is beft for cheese, and which for butter. What you milk in the morning and the day time, is to be preffed into cheese at night: and what you milk in the evening and the night, is to be made into butter; and either carried, fub lucem, very early in the morning to market in baskets, before the fun will have power to melt it, or feafoned with a little falt and laid up for use in the winter. This conftruction will render the paffage very clear and expreffive, and remove the difficulties, which have fo much puzzled the Commentators in explaining the meaning of the word, Calathis. Ver. 478. Hic quondam-It appears plain to me that the Poet is fpeaking only of a peftilential diftemper that many years ago invaded the Alpine countries: but in what period of time cannot fairly be collected, neither is it material, notwithstanding the names of Chiron and Melampus are mentioned; for thefe I take to be ufed in general for the most eminent phyficians. And as all raging plagues are attended with many like circumftances, it is no wonder that his relation fhould very much agree with thofe, which Thucydides and Lucretius have given us of the plague at Athens: though probably he might take feveral hints from them to heightenthe defcription. Ver. 500. Incertus fudor That: incertus means it was doubtful whether a fweat was a good or bad fymptom, and that at firft they could could not guess at the event of it, is evident. I think from the words that follow; where he tells us when it comes to be a bad one: for when it grows cold, it is the forerunner of certain death; and confequently till that fatal turn, there might be fome hopes of a recovery. Ver. 553. Inque dies-This representation, of the fury's growing larger every day, is one remarkable inftance, among many others, of the strength of Virgil's imagination: and is intended to point out to us the gradual increase of a peftilential infection till it arrives at the full height. There are two other inftances of growing figures in the Eneide, the one of Fame, lib. 4. ver. 175. and the other of Alecto, lib. 7. ver. 448. Ver. 558. Donec humo-I cannot fuppofe that before this they did not know how to bury any offenfive carcases: but I take the meaning of this paffage to be, that they attempted to make fome profit from them, after they were dead; till they learnt by experience there was nothing for them to do, but to bury them. For, as it follows afterwards, neither the hides, nor the wool, nor the flesh were found to be of any fervice: but on the contrary fome of them produced the moft dreadful effects upon thofe that ventured to make use of them. I cannot conclude this note without making a fhort remark of the great conformity, between the directions of Virgil, and thofe of his Majefty's order in Count cil; and the reasons for, them both. Here is advice to kill and bury, because no remedy was found to have any good effect, and the infected fkins and carcafes proved of fuch fatal confequences. For the immediate killing, fee ver. 468. for the burying, ver. 558. for the infufficiency of medicines, ver. 548. and for the hurtfulness of the infected skins and carcafes, vet. 559. Georg. IV. ver. 153. Solae-I wonder that the commonwealth of ants fhould efcape the observation, or the memory of this accurate writer: for many of these particulars are as juftly applicable to them, as to the monarchy of bees. Ver. 179. Daedala-This word gives one a stronger idea than to be barely rendered, artificial: as it feems to refemble the works of these little animals to the famous labyrinth built by Daedalus in Crete. Ver. 372. Eridanus - All travellers agree that the Po is not a rapid river: neither is it likely that it fhould be fo. For the force of a current is occafioned by it's fall from a chain of mountains, or running down a steep defcent of country: but the Po, very foon after it's fource, flows on through the vale of Piedmont; and afterwards traverfes all the rich vale of Lombardy. These are the pinguia culta which Virgil fpeaks of: and therefore very probably he means that no river, which runs through fo long a tract of fertile plains, is more violent than the Po. So that I think, if Dr Trapp inftead of the, had faid, Thro' fuch fertile fields, v. 444. his tranflation would have come fomething nearer to the spirit of the original. THE IN D E DE Α A. BELE-Tree, fee Poplar. A Acanthus, III. 45. IV. 20. Acrofticks of the Sibyls, IV. 4. Argle, VI. 21. Aequor confidered, IX. 57. Age for bearing offices at Rome, IV. 8. Alcanna, the Cypros of Egypt, II. 18. thought to be Mopfus, V. 1. Alexis fuppofed to be Auguftus, Gallus; or a fervant of Pollio, Caefar, or Maecenas, V. 86. Eclogue fo called, when written, V. 86. Alfenus Varus, VI. 6. Alga, VII. 42. Aliungia, V. 17. X. Ambarvalia, what victims were offered in that facrifice, III. 77.90 Amebean poetry, III. 1. 574 the laws of it, III. 63. Amomum confidered, III. 89. Anaximander, III. 40, 104. Anthony Lucius, the brother of Mark, Mark, his behaviour when Caefar was murdered, IV. 13. imitated Bacchus, IV. Alpheus and Arethula, X. 4. Alternate finging liked by the Mufes,HII 111.59% not the next deity to Jupiter, 63. fond of the river Eurotas, VI. 83. Apples |