of Mercury and a nymph, for whom see Obs. on Ec. v.— 27. si nunquam, etc. i. e. if the image given by reflection from water may be relied on. 28–39. After another pause Corydon passes to another subject. Elated, it would seem, with the idea of his wealth, musical skill and beauty, he now ventures to hope that Alexis will come and live with him.-O tantum, etc. O would you only, etc. Tibi is to be joined with libeat, and not, as Servius says, with sordida.-sordida rura, the rude country (i. e. the hills where he pastured his flocks), as opposed to the elegance of the town or possibly of the villa.-29. casas. The casa or hut was formed of forked pillars which supported a sloping roof of sedge or straw; its sides were woven with rods and daubed with clay. See Sen. Ep. 90. It differed little from the tugurium, but was perhaps of a slighter structure.—figere cervos, shoot the deer. Cf. Geor. i. 308. Aen. v. 516. Servius notices and rejects another interpretation, namely, build the huts, the posts which supported them being named cervi, as being forked like antlers.-30. compellere hybisco, to drive the goats to the hybiscus, on which they were to feed. The dat. is often thus used for the acc. with ad or in, as, it clamor caelo. Aen. v. 451. Cf. v. 5. viii. 101. It is thus Servius, who is generally followed, interprets it. La Cerda, Trapp and Martyn take hybisco in the abl., and suppose the shepherd to have a rod of it in his hand; but that seems contrary to the Voss observes that comCf. Hor. C. i. 24, 18.-31. nature of this plant. See Flora, s. v. pellere always signifies to drive to. canendo, in playing on the fistula, of which, he tells us in the next verse, Pan was the inventor. See the well-known mythe of Syrinx. Ov. Met. i. 689 seq. Mythology, p. 232.—33. ovium magistros, i. q. pastores. Cf. iii. 101. Geor. ii. 529.-34. Nec te, etc., nor should you disdain, think it beneath you.―trivisse V. 28. Ποιμαίνεν δ ̓ ἐθέλοις σὺν ἐμίν, ἅμα καὶ γάλ' ἀμέλγεν, V. 30. Τυρίσδεν δ ̓ ὡς οὔτις ἐπίσταμαι ὧδε Κυκλώπων, labellum. Because, as is well known, in playing the fistula or Pandean pipes the under-lip is rubbed backwards and forwards against the reeds. Trivisse is, we think, i. q. terere, for the Latin poets seem to have tried to imitate the varieties of the Greek inf. Cf. i. 17, viii. 69. Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 71; A.P. 325, 326. Propert. i. 1, 15; ii. 23, 78. Labellum, a dim., your tender little lip.-35. Haec eadem, sc. carmina, which I play in imitation of Pan. Cf. v. 23. The anteced. is contained in canendo, v. 31.—quid non faciebat, i. e. he laboured hard. Amyntas and Corydon seem to have been fellow-pupils in learning to play on the fistula from Damoetas.-36. Est mihi, etc. I have a fistula which belonged to my master Damoetas, and which he gave me on his death-bed as being his ablest pupil, and which I will give you. Cf. v. 42. The oúpy or fistula was σύριγξ what we call the Pandean pipes. It was made of pipes of different lengths, gradually diminishing. Their number was from seven to one-and-twenty. Count Stolberg says he heard at Terni, the ancient Interamna in Umbria, one of twenty-six pipes. Ovid (Met.xiii. 784), by a pleasing exaggeration, gives his Cyclops one of one hundred pipes. The ancients joined the pipes together with wax; but wax alone, we should think, would not suffice to keep them together.-cicutis, hemlockstalks. It is here used for calamis.—38. secundum, sc. dominum.-39. stultus, as thinking himself equal to Corydon. 40-44. After another pause, Corydon, having thought on what other present he could make Alexis, mentions two young roes, which he had found one day, and which he was rearing on one of his ewes.-nec tuta valle. "Commendat à difficultate," says Servius, as if it had been hazardous for Corydon to venture into it. It would perhaps be better to understand it as unsafe for the roes, as being, when in it, exposed to their enemy the wolf.-41. Capreoli, the kids of the caprea or wild V. 40 seq. Η μάν τοι λευκὰν διδυματόκον αἶγα φυλάσσω, Τάν Theoc. xi. 40. με καὶ ὁ Μέρμνωνος Εριθακὶς ἁ μελανόχρως goat, roes.-sparsis, etc. Servius tells us, and Wunderlich says that the truth of the observation is confirmed by hunters at the present day, that young roes have white spots on their skins for the first six months, which then disappear. By etiam nunc Corydon then would intimate that they were not yet six months old.-42. Bina die, etc. Voss understands by this that each of them consumed the milk of two ewes, but this is contrary to experience, for if their own mother could have reared two of them, one ewe might surely do the same. When we consider Virgil's practice with respect to the adj. (see on v. 26) we are inclined to think that bina refers to the two kids (ambo), or rather to the two times of feeding them, viz. morning and evening (bis). See Varro, R. R. ii. 2.—siccant, i. e. sugunt. Distenta siccant ubera, Hor. Epod. 2, 46.— ubera. It is difficult to distinguish between uber and mamma. Gellius (xii. 1) says, Puer ubera mammarum insomnis lactantia quaerit, whence it might appear that uber was the nipple or teat, mamma the breast. But Cicero (N. D. ii. 51) says, Quae multiplices fetus procreant, ut sues, ut canes, his mammarum data est multitudo, where mamma is the dug or teat. -43. Thestylis. See v. 10.—abducere orat, i. e. orat ut liceat abducere. A very unusual construction.-44. Et faciet. And she will do so, it will come to that, though I do not wish it, in consequence of your contempt of me.-sordent, are dirty (i. e. of no value) in your eyes. Cunctane prae Campo et Tiberino flumine sordent? Hor. Ep. i. 11, 4. 45-55. He now thinks on further presents, and he represents the very Nymphs themselves, struck with Alexis' beauty, as bringing him baskets full of flowers.-46. calathis. The calathus was a round basket, of the shape of the calyx or cup of the lily. "Calathus Graecum est, nam Latine quasillum dicitur," SERVIUS.—candida, fair, of a dazzling white. The idea of lustre is always included in this participial.-47. Pallentes i. q. pallidas. This word is used of yellow and green as well as white. Saxum quoque palluit auro. Ov. Met. xi. 100. Pallens Cytorus (sc. buxo), Val. Flac. v. 106. Gemma e viridi pallens, Plin. xxxvii. 8. Martyn justly observes, that the paleness of the swarthy inhabitants of the South is rather a yellow than a white, and he notices the derivation of the yellow substance ochre (xpa) from @xpos. We may add that the Greeks had two compound adjectives, xpóλevкos and ¿xpóμexas.-summa papavera, the poppy-tops or flowers.48. jungit. While other Nymphs are bringing baskets full of lilies, one of them is twining a garland for him of various flowers: : see next verse.—50. pingit, sets off or adorns, its yellow contrasting with the dark colour of the vaccinia.-51. Ipse ego, etc. While the Nymphs are bringing you flowers, I will gather downy mala (see Flora v. malum) and other fruits for you.-52. Amaryllis. See v. 14. This however would seem to be a different person of the same name. Cf. Theocr. iv. 38.-53. Cerea, waxen, i. e. of a pale yellow colour. The a in pruna is not elided on account of the stop after it.pomo. See on i. 81. He does not mention what kind of fruit it was. It will be honoured by being selected on this occasion. -54. proxima, placed next the bays. 56-59. He now recollects himself, and awaking from his dream of bliss cries, "You are a mere clown, Corydon, Alexis cares not for your country-presents," etc.-57. concedat, would vield.-Iollas. "Vel ditior amator vel ejus dominus," SERVIUS. The critics appear to be unanimous in adopting the latter sense, but they seem not to be aware that Corydon is a slave, and therefore could never dream of putting himself in competition with his master. We adopt the former without hesitation. 58. Heu, heu, etc. Alas, what am I about? I am destroying myself with this foolish passion. As we say in the country, I have let the south wind get at the flowers and the wild boars at the springs. The Scirocco, or south-west wind, which blows in Italy, is most depressing to the spirits of man, and it destroys the buds and blossoms of the plants; the boars, by wallowing in the springs, make them foul and muddy.59. Perditus, sc. amore. 60-68. His better thoughts now leave him and he returns to his passion. He is not to be despised because he passes his days in the woods. The gods (i. e. Apollo when serving Admetus) and Paris have dwelt in the woods.-61. Dardanius Paris. This son of Priam, king of Troy, was exposed when a babe, and he was found and reared by herdsmen, among whom he spent his early days. He is probably mentioned here because he was chosen as judge of beauty among the goddesses Juno, Pallas and Venus.-Pallas, etc. The mention of Paris bringing this goddess to his mind, he says, "Let her frequent the towns which she founded, I will prefer the woods." Pallas-Athene was named Toλiòs and Toλtouxos, but chiefly in reference to her own city of Athens. In her mythology she is nowhere spoken of as the founder of towns and citadels. -62. Ipsa. She herself, not I; with a kind of contempt for them.-colat, i. q. incolat. It was a common practice of the Latin poets to use the simple in the sense of the compound verb, but never, we believe, the reverse.—nobis, me; perhaps us, i. e. himself and Alexis. Everything, he goes on to say, has its favourite object, She likes the town, I the country, the lioness follows the wolf, the wolf the goat, and so forth.-63. Torva leaena, the stern lioness. We should rather have expected leo, but perhaps here, as in Geor. iv. 408, the metre was in fault. We may here observe, by the way, that whether the scene is in Italy or Sicily, there were no lions in either country. The poet had, however, the authority of Theocritus, i. 72. We are also not aware that the lion hunts the wolf.65. Alexi. For the prosody see on v. 53. 66-68. While Corydon is thus telling his woes to the woods, the ẞovλvròs, or time for unyoking the oxen from the plough in the evening, arrives.-Adspice, sc. o Corydon !aratra, etc. The plough, it would seem, instead of being left in the field at night, as is now the custom in Italy as well as in this country, was brought home every evening. Videre fessos vomerem inversum boves Collo trahentes languido, Hor. Epod. 2, 63.-suspensa, attached to. It suggests the idea of the lightness of the draught. The plough was not inverted, or turned over, it was merely inclined on one side, so that the point of the share should not touch the ground. Our ploughmen do the same thing when moving their ploughs from one V. 63. Α αἲξ τὸν κύτισον, ὁ λύκος τὰν αἶγα διώκει, ̔Α γέρανος τὤροτρον· ἐγὼ δ ̓ ἐπὶ τὶν μεμάνημαι.—Theoc. x. 30. |