"Et qui cornipedes in pocula vulnerat audax "Massagetes.' Claudian, lib. I. 311. in Rufinum. "Sarmatarum quoque gentes aluntur crudâ farinâ, equino "lacte vel sanguine è cruris venis admixto." Plin. lib. XVIII, C. X. "Venit et epoto Sarmata pastus equo." Martial, De Spectac. Ep, iii. "Laetum equino sanguine Concanum." Hor. lib. III. Od. iv. * Ovid, speaking of the Getae (near neighbours to the place of his banishment, but on the north side of the Danube) says, that their chief security against the Romans was: "Arcus plenaeque pharetrae, "Quamque licet longis cursibus aptus equus: "Quodque sitim didicere diu tolerare, famemque, Quodque sequens nullas hostis habebit aquas.' De Ponto, lib. I. Epist. iii. Which account agrees perfectly well with the description of the country by Motraye. **See Beauplan's account of people's eating the blood of horses, in his description of Ukraine.-See likewise an account of the Nagayans and Tartars eating horses' flesh and drinking mares' milk. Ant. Jenkenson's Travels, in Hackluyt's Voyages. 66 66 Solitosque cruentum "Lac potare Getas ac pocula tingere venis." Sid. Apoll. Carm. VII. de Getis. Ιππο Αιμαλι μίσγονίες λευκὸν γάλα δαῖτα τίθενται. Dionys. Perieg. And Pliny: "Sarmatarum gentes hâc maxime pulte (scil. è milio) aluntur, et crudâ etiam farinâ, equino lacte vel san"guine è cruris venis admisto." Lib. XVIII. c. x. Nouades καλέμενοι ζῶντες ἀπὸ θρεμμάτων γάλακτος, καὶ τυρᾶς, καὶ μάλισα izzas, Strabo. And, likewise, Hesiod: Motraye, in his Travels, tells us, that the people of Akerman Tartary, between the Neister and the Danube, formerly the Desert of the Getes, and likewise several other herds of the Tartars, live still in the same manner. He likewise informs us that the Tartars lead commonly two or three spare horses, to transport their plunder, or remount themselves in case that those they ride should die.———He likewise tells a story that one of his guides, after having rambled a long time in one of these deserts, let his horse blood, and drank the blood.-He likewise tells us that they drink their mares' milk fermented, Vol. II. c. ii. at the latter end. Ver. 470–473. "Non tam * creber, agens hiemem, ruit aequore turbo ; "Quàm multae pecudum pestes: nec singula morbi 66 66 Corpora corripiunt; sed tota aestiva repente Spemque gregemque simul, cunctamque ab origine gentem.” * I take creber in this place to signify quick, and that the meaning of the passage is, that a hurricane does not come on with more violence, than distempers or plagues incident to cattle, which is the reason of the advice just before given, ver. 468, 469. to kill any sheep on the first suspicion of any contagious distemper, to prevent its spreading. And this agrees with what follows; "nec singula," etc. VER. 474-477. "Tum sciat aërias Alpes, et Norica si quis * Isiodorus says: "Virgilius Alpes dicendo aërias verbum "expressit à verbo, nam Gallorum linguâ Alpes, montes alti "vocantur." Origin. Lib. XIV. c. viii. Origin. Lib. XIV. c. viii. And Servius on the tenth Aeneid observes the same. And it is true that, according to this etymology of the word, other high mountains were likewise called Alpes: as the Pyrenean, as appears from Procopius, lib. I. Rer. Goth. and Silius, lib. II. who calls the Alpes and Pyrenean, Geminas Alpeis: likewise the Carpathian mountains, to the north of Dacia, are called in the Tabula Itineraria, Basternicae Alpes. But others of the antients derived the name "Alpes ab albo," as we are expressly told by Festus: " Alpes à candore nivium dictae sunt, quia perpetuis "fere nivibus albescunt: Sabini enim alpum dixere, quod postea Latini album; unde Alpium nomen." And Strabo, Eustathius in Dionys. and Mela, all testify that these mountains were called indifferently Albia, as well as Alpia juga. 66 ** This word seems to signify properly, not only a hillock, as commonly, but such part of a hill or mountain as rose to a head, or point, above the body. So, likewise, in the twelfth Aeneid, Virgil calls the summit or point of the mountain above "Albano, Albanus tumulus;" now, Monte Cavo. The Greeks called the Tumuli, hópa. See Appian, where he speaks of Metulum, in Iapygia, taken by Augustus: the same country as Virgil is here speaking of. 1 VER. 478-485. "Hic quondam morbo caeli miseranda coorta est "Et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum, "Nec via mortis erat simplex: sed ubi ignea venis * Virgil, in this description of the plague amongst the cattle, had undoubtedly some view to the celebrated plague of Athens, described by Thucydides and Lucretius; and several of his observations and expressions are copied from thence: but it is not reasonable to conclude (as some have done) that he means the same plague. He places his in a different country; and, besides, the plague of Athens infected both man and beast, whereas in this of Virgil, though all other animals are infected, man only escapes. Dr. Martyn supposes, from the names Chiron and Melampus, that this pestilence happened in their time, five hundred years before that of Athens; but, with submission, I think there is no necessity of going so far back. ** I think Dr. Trapp gives these words their plain and true meaning. "With all the fire of Autumn burn'd." * I take this to signify, that Death did not appear in one single shape. The Poet explains himself by immediately adding two different symptoms of the same distemper, which seemed directly contrary one to the other. The cattle were parched with such heat and drought as to contract their limbs, and again were swelled with humours as if dropsical.-This explanation answers exactly to the observations of Dr. Bertrand, one of the physicians of Marseilles in the time of their late plague. His words are as follow: "Il seroit difficile de "determiner la nature de ce venin à la maniere dont il agit "dans le sang: accoutumés à tout raporter à nos idées, et ne " connoissant que deux manieres dont le sang peut être altéré "et se corrompre, on demandera d'abord si ce venin dissout le sang; ou bien, s'il le fige et le coagule. La bizarrerie des "symptomes a fait qu'on n'a pû s'assurer précisément ni de "l'un ni de l'autre, et que même on a crû voir ces deux états "du sang se succéder souvent dans le même malade; on n'a 66 K 66 pas pû fonder aucun jugement solide sur la vûe du sang dans la palette, ayant paru dans les uns d'une consistance natu "relle, dans les autres peu lié et plus liquide, et dans d'autres "tout-à-fait coüeneux et inflammatoire; dans les uns tout-à"fait figé, en sorte qu'il n'en sortoit pas une goute par l'ou"verture de la veine; dans les autres, entierement dissous et "fondu." See Observations sur la maladie contagieuse de Marseilles, printed at the end of Relation Historique de la Peste de Marseilles en 1720. Silius, speaking in Hannibal's march of the beasts falling in the snow, and leaving their legs behind them, expresses himself by a foolish imitation of Virgil: "Nec pestis lapsus simplex." Lib. III. VER. 486-488. "Saepe in honore Deûm medio stans hostia ad aram, "Lanea dum niveâ circumdatur * infula vittâ, "Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros." *A broad woollen swathe fastened to the head of the victim, and likewise of the priest, being interlaced with a Vitta or smaller fillet: “Infula cui sacrâ redimibat tempora vittâ." Aen. X. 538. The ends of the fillets probably hung down. See Lucretius, lib. I. 87. Lucan, describing the dress of the priestess of Delphi, gives different uses to the Infula and Vitta: "Torta priores "Stringit vitta comas, crinesque in terga solutos VER. 531-533. Lib. V. 142. "Tempore non alio dicunt regionibus illis "Quaesitas ad sacra boves Junonis, et * uris 66 Imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus." *The wild bull, or cow; of which there were probably great numbers in the forests of Germany, as there still are several towards the north parts: and called in German, Urox; which, it is not unlikely, was the antient name, softened by the Latin termination into Urus. It is written, as I am informed, in high Dutch, Urrocks. 66 66 VER. 548-550. "Nec jam mutari pabula refert, Quaesitaeque nocent artes: cessere magistri, * Columella, enumerating such as were most celebrated in their way in several sciences, reckons "in pecoris cultu, doctrinam Chironis ac Melampodis." Pref. VER. 559, 560.. "Nam neque erat coriis usus: nec viscera quisquam "Aut * undis abolere potest, aut vincere flammâ." * The two great purifiers are fire and water. Virgil in his purgatory supposes the spots of souls cleansed, some by fire, and some by water: "Sub gurgite vasto "Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni.' ور Aen. VI. 742. GEORGIC THE FOURTH. VER. 1-7. "PROTINUS aërii mellis caelestia dona Exequar: hanc etiam, Maecenas, aspice partem. * Spectacula here is very pretty; this book being, as it were, the representation of the affairs of a busy kingdom in minia ture. 66 VER. 8-12. Principio *1 sedes apibus statioque petenda, "Quo neque sit ventis aditus (nam pabula venti "Ferre domum prohibent), neque oves haedique petulci "Floribus insultent; aut errans bucula campo "Decutiat rorem, et surgentes atterat herbas. *Sedes apibus collocanda est, procul a tumultu, ac coetu, "hominum ac pecudum; nec calído loco, nec frigido. Si "villae situs ita competit, non est dubitandum, quin aedificio junctum apiarium maceriâ circumdemus; sed in eâ parte, |