GEORGIC THE FIRST. VER. 1-5. "QUID faciat laetas segetes: quo † sidere terram + Virgil proposes the Stars as part of his subject here; and says elsewhere: 66 Tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis Hoedorumque dies servandi, et lucidus Anguis; Ver. 207. country Ovid, who wrote his Fasti chiefly for the use of the men and farmers, mentions them also in his proposition to that poem: 66 Lapsaque sub terras, ortaque signa canam." VER. 5-9. - Vos, ô clarissima mundi "Lumina, labentem coelo quae ducitis annum: * It cannot, I think, be doubted, notwithstanding what Commentators say, but that Virgil means the Sun and Moon by"Vos, ô clarissima," etc. Varro, in the beginning of his Agriculture, invokes twelve Gods, whom he calls" duodecim Deos Consentes;" 'tis probable that Virgil invokes the same remarkable number, which cannot be made out without reckoning the Sun and Moon. And though all Virgil's twelve Gods are not the same as Varro's, yet they both agree in invoking principally the Sun and Moon, Ceres and Bacchus; and both give the same reasons for their invocations. It cannot indeed well be imagined, when the Poet employs so much of his first book on the influences of the Sun and Moon, that he should omit to invoke them. The objection, from the want of a copulative, is of little force, the conjunction being frequently omitted by the best Authors, particularly by Virgil himself within ten verses "Ipse nemus linquens," etc.. VER. 18-20. Adsis, ô Tegeaee favens: oleaeque Minerva "Inventrix, uncique puer monstrator aratri : "Et teneram ab radice ferens, Sylvane, cupressum." *In a medal of Caracalla; the reverse represents Triptolemus drawn by dragons; and sowing, as Buonarroti supposes. See his Medaglioni, p. 423. Ovid, lib. III. de Trist. El. viii. describes Triptolemus in this attitude: "Nunc ego Triptolemi cuperem conscendere currus, ઃઃ VER. 21-23. Diique Deaeque omnes, studium quibus arva tueri; Quique satis largum caelo demittitis imbrem." *Non ullo" must certainly be the true reading;-for hereby are only meant Plants which grow of themselves without our trouble of sowing them, "nullis hominum cogentibus," as he expresses it at the beginning of the 24 book. These he distinguishes from the Satis, in the following verse. 66 1 Tuque adeo †, quem mox quae sint habitura Deorum "Consilia, incertum est; urbisne invisere, * Caesar, "Terrarumque velis curam; et te maximus orbis "Auctorem frugum, tempestatumque potentem "Accipiat, cingens maternâ tempora myrto: "An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae "Numina sola colant: tibi serviat ultima * Thule, "Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis." 2 + This was not so strain'd a compliment in those times, as it may appear now. It might not be much more than what we say of every good man at his death, "That he is gone to Heaven." May not this be the meaning of what Columella says of Virgil himself? "Siderei vatis referens praecepta Maronis." De Cult. 434. Siderei, now in Heaven; i. e. among the Constellations. At least it grew to be a common compliment to the Emperors afterwards. See Lucan's Bombast on Nero, in the beginning of his Pharsalia; where he begs him to get into the chariot of e. the Sun.-Val. Flaccus talks of Vespasian's getting up among the Constellations too, in the entrance of his Argonautics. Statius says as much of Domitian, whilst living; and would fain place him in the chariot of the Sun too, in another part of his works. (Sylv. iv. 1. 3.—ib. iii.138.) Heroes (such as Hercules, Perseus, etc.) were supposed by the Heathens to be actually become Constellations. They might therefore as well say of an Emperor, that he would be a Star, as that he was a great Hero. Horace ridicules this compliment, when given to bad or mean persons: "Sive mendaci lyrâ "Voles sonari: Tu pudica, Tu proba, Epod. xvii. 41. of the infamous Canidia. *After invoking twelve sorts of Deities, Virgil annexes Augustus to them.-Freinshemius, in his Supplement to Q. Curt. tells us, that, in the Theatre where Philip celebrated public shews just before he was murdered, there were the effigies of twelve Deities exquisitely wrought; and that there was a thirteenth, which represented Philip in nothing inferior to the rest. And then adds, that this contempt of his mortal condition was quickly revenged. See book Ist, just preceding Philip's Death. Was not this call'd the Tpioxidexalos eos?-OTAY · και τον Ελες εσθησαντο βωμον, ὡς Τρισκαιδεκατε Θε8. Philostratus, Epist. lxx. Ed. Lips. 1709. **As Virgil is here complimenting Augustus with dominions as God of the Sea, we must suppose that he means by his Thule, "ultima pars orbis mari adeunda."-Where this was, according to the opinion of the Antients, is not agreed upon by Geographers. But it is most probable that it meant Iceland. Strabo tells us of an author who mentions a country in that part of the world, though the knowledge of it was again lost in his time. His account is as follows; lib. i. speaking of the Description of the Earth by Eratosthenes, he says: "Latitudinem terrae de"finiens à Meroes μɛonμbgive usque ad Alexandrinum, pronunciat σε esse μυριος, ενθεν δε εις τον Ελλεσποντον περι οκλακισχιλιες ἑκατον σε σαδίες, είτ' εις Βορυσθένη πεντακισχιλιες, ειτ' εις τον κύκλον τον δια 46 Θέλης (ἣν φησι Πύθεας απο μεν της Βρεταννικης ἓξ ἡμερων πλεν απέχειν προς Αρκτον, εγίυς δ' ειναι της πεπηγειας θαλατής) αλλος σε ὡς μυρίες χιλιες πεντακοσιος.” 66 'Tis true that Strabo ridicules this account given of Thule by Pytheas, and denies that there was any such place as Thule, because they had no knowledge of it in his time. His words are these, as in the translation: "Quis autem mentis compos "intervallum quod a Borysthene ad Thulen ponit pro vero judicabit? Cum et Pytheas, qui Thules historiam retulit, homo mendacissimus sit inventus: Et qui Iberniam Britanni 66 10 66 "cam viderunt nihil de Thule dicant, sed alias quasdam parvas "circa Britanniam insulas commemorent."-Immediately afterwards, he says: "Qui è Britanniâ mediâ non amplius IV "stadiorum progressus millia terram inveniat cujus diversa sit "habitationis ratio, nempe ad Hiberniam; ut ulteriora ista in quae ille (Pytheas) Thulen rejecit, non jam habitari possint." Again, lib. ii. Strabo repeats the account of Thule given by Pytheas." Pytheas Massiliensis circa Thulen Britannicarum "Insularum Septentrionalissimam ultima ait esse, ubi Tropicus "aestivus Arctici Circuli vicem gerit. De reliquis nihil nar"rat, neque quod insula sit Thule, neque utrum eò usque ha"bitationes pertingant, ubi Tropicus pro Arctico est. Ego "autem illum septentrionalem finem multo propius meridiem 66 versus existimo. Qui enim hodie terras perlustrant ultra "Hiberniam nihil possunt referre, quae non longe versus Sep"tentrionem ante Britanniam jacet, planè ferorum hominum "domicilium, et propter frigus malè incolentium, ibi ergo "finem constituendum censeo. Again Strabo, lib. iv. at the latter end of his account of Britain, says: Circa Britanniam sunt cum aliae parvae insu"lae; tum magna, Hibernia; versus Septentrionem juxta Bri"tanniam porrecta, latior quam longior. De hac nihil certi "habeo quod dicam, nisi quod incolae ejus Britannis sunt "magis agrestes," etc. Then he adds: "Magis etiam obscura "est Thules historia ob tam longinquum situm, omnium enim " quarum ferantur no mina maximè versus Septentrionem esse "hanc dissitam aiunt." From these several passages it appears, that neither the North part of Scotland (as Sir Robert Sibbald would have it), nor Ireland, nor any of the smaller Islands round Britain, could be the Thule, of the Antients: but that they reckon'd it much farther North. 'Tis not surprising that Strabo should have no knowledge of it, when he had so little information even of Ireland, as appears from his situation and description of it. And when he tells us that, " ulteriora ista, in quae Pytheas Thulen rejicit, "non habitari possint." But he confesses, lib. ii. that he never travelled that way, not even so far as into Gaul, and what he relates was only upon hearsay; and upon so bad authority, that he declares in his account of Ireland: Ταυτα δ' ούτω λεγομεν ὡς εκ έχονίες αξιοπιστες μαρτυρας. lib. iv. Pytheas, being a Marsilian, might have opportunities of being better inform'd: and that he was rightly inform'd is now manifest. Strabo himself, when he is condemning Pytheas, owns at the same time that his account was very judicious; and that, supposing there was such a country as Thule, they must probably live in the manner as Pytheas .describes. Quod ad caeli rationem et mathematicam attinet " contemplationem videtur non ineptè eorum locorum descrip "sisse proprietatem; quae frigidae appropinquant plagae," etc. lib. iv. All the Poets and other Authors, who mention Thulè, speak of it as the uttermost part of the world towards the North; and as Britain in Virgil's time was esteemed part of the Roman dominions, and as Augustus received tribute from thence, Virgil in this compliment must extend his view further. And as he subjects Maximum Orbem to him, as God of the Earth; so he gives him the utmost bounds of the Sea, as a God of that Element. VER. 32-35. "Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, + With how great propriety Virgil has chosen this place for Augustus among the Constellations; see Pol. D. ii. N. 51. and that part of the Text, which the Note relates to. 66 66 VER. 36-40. "Quicquid eris; (nam te nec sperent Tartara regem, "Nec tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido: "Quamvis Elysios miretur Graecia campos, "Nec repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem) "Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus annue coeptis." †The connexion of the sense seems to be thus- "Whether you will be a God on Earth, on the Seas, or of Heaven, (for any part of Hades is too severe a Post of Honour for so mild a Prince, tho', if we believe the Greek Poets, the place has "its charms too,) grant me your Patronage," etc. 66 66 VER. 43-46. "Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor Ingemere, et sulco attritus splendescere vomer." *The beginning of Spring, according to the Roman Kalendar, was vII. id. Feb. but, not to confine the beginning of ploughing precisely to a day, Virgil proceeds to explain his " Ver novum" to mean, as soon as the severity of Winter begins to abate. "Gelidus canis cum montibus humor Liquitur," etc. Columella understands this passage in this manner, Lib. XI. c. ii. where, alluding to this verse Vere novo," "Vere novo," he says, |
