Pan, etc. See on i. 138.-495. populi fasces, the consulate at Rome.-purpura regum, the purple robes of kings, in Parthia and the countries not subject to Rome.--Flexit, i. e. flectit, i. q. movet. Aen. vii. 252. All the verbs from v. 490 are aorists.-et, i. q. aut.- -infidos agitans, etc. The allusion is said to be to the contest for the Parthian throne between Phraates and Tiridates (see Hor. C. i. 26, 3 seq.; Justin, xlii. 5); but these were not brothers. It is therefore probably merely a general one to the contests between brothers and cousins for the thrones of the East, which continue down to our own days.-Aut conjurato, etc. The part. properly belongs to Dacus. The Dacians dwelt in the mountains of Transylvania beyond the Danube or Hister; hence probably they are said to descend. At this time they were beginning to make incursions into some of the frontier Roman provinces. -Nec res Romanae, etc. Nor does he concern himself about the public affairs of Rome, or those of kingdoms destined to fall by her arms or by those of each other. This is pure Epicurean philosophy; but we must recollect that it is of the agricola in general, and not of the Italian in particular, that he is speaking.-perituraque. Here the que is probably i. q. ve.499. Aut doluit miserans, etc. Because, living in the country, where all is abundance, there is no distress to cause him pain; and having enough, and not witnessing any great display of wealth, he feels no envy.-habenti, i. e. diviti, a frequent meaning of habere.-ferrea jura, iron laws, on account of their rigour.-Insanum forum. On account of the violent contests both in public and private affairs of which it was so often the scene.-tabularia, i. q. tabularium. The Tabularium was the place in which the archives of the state were kept. As the contracts with the Publicans, or farmers of the revenue, were among these, the critics think the meaning of this place is that the agricola does not farm taxes. 503-512. The pursuits of ambition and avarice.-503. Sollicitant...regum. Voss and Heyne, as it would appear, understood here three modes of obtaining wealth, viz. trade, war, and the favour of the great; Wagner thinks the whole refers to one subject, namely foreign war, as opposed to civil war, v. 505. This latter is perhaps the better mode of interpretation, ut gemma bibant, etc. being understood from v. 506 after regum.-503. caeca, dark, dangerous, as being full of shoals and sunken rocks.-ruunt in ferrum, rush to battle.—penetrant, etc., storm cities and plunder the palaces which they contain; or merely enter palaces as courtiers.-aulas et limina is a hendyadis.-petit excidiis, attacks in order to destroy, like petere bello.-urbem, sc. Ro.nanam, Rome.-miseros Penates, the houses of his unhappy fellow-citizens; or perhaps the Penates or guardian gods of Rome.-Ut gemma, etc. The reason why men engage in foreign and civil wars is that they may acquire wealth, so as to possess costly drinking-cups made of single gems, such as onyx, or set with others of greater value, as was the custom at Rome, and have purple couch-covers: see v. 464.-Sarrano, Tyrian; from Sarra, a name of Tyre (formed like it from the Phoenician name Tsor), as Poenus Sarra oriundus in Ennius.-Condit opes, etc. Another, instead of spending his wealth in luxury, stores it up and broods over it. Cf. Aen. vi. 610.—508. Hic stupet, etc. Another is lost in admiration of popular eloquence, as poured forth by a Cicero or other great orator from the Rostra in the Forum, and longs to acquire the same power.-hunc plausus hiantem. Another, hearing the repeated shouting and clapping of hands of people of all ranks in the theatre at the presence of a Pompeius, a Cicero, a Maecenas (Hor. C. ii. 17, 25), is ambitious of the same applause. Cf. Lucan, i. 133.—cuneos. In the ancient theatres and amphitheatres, as the part where the spectators sat was an arc of a circle, the rows of seats also formed arcs, which increased in compass as they receded from the front. Passages for the spectators to enter and reach their seats ran from back to front, intersecting the rows, and thus dividing them into separate portions, which, as they were broad above and narrow below, were named cunei or wedges. Each spectator's tessera designated the cuneus and row in which he was to sit. The amphitheatre at Verona and the theatre at Pompeii exhibit the cunei clearly.-enim, i. q. sane, utique, dŋ. Cf. Aen. ii. 100; viii. 84. See on iii. 70. This power of enim appears very plainly in enimvero and sed enim. Voss and Jahn 66 agree with those who make a parenthesis of geminatus enim.— 509. patrumque....gaudent perfusi, etc. His mind reverting to the evils of civil commotions, he represents the victors as rejoicing, though, as was so often the case, sprinkled with the blood of their own near relations. Fratres, we must recollect, included cousins. Gaudent perfusi is a Græcism: cf. Aen. ii. 377; x. 426, 500; xii. 6, 702.—Exsilioque, etc. Others, i. e. the vanquished (que, i. q. aut), quit their country and seek foreign lands: exsilio, the place of exile.—Atque alio, etc. Horace says (C. ii. 16, 18), Quid terras alio calentes sole mutamus?— 513. Agricola, etc. The opposite advantages of the country. ―anni labor, the toil of the year, i. e. the produce of that toil. -meritos, deserving of their support, as having merited it by ploughing. Nec requies. There is no cessation of production. —exuberet, abounds. This verb seems to be only another form of exsupero, exupero, and not to be derived from uber.—mergite. Manipulos spicarum mergites dicimus." SERVIUS. The word only occurs in this place in this sense. The mergis seems to have been a heap of corn collected with the mergae or pitchforks.-oneret sulcos, i. e. when growing or when cut.— atque horrea vincat, i. e. when carried: see i. 49.-519. Venit hiems; teritur, etc., i. e. cum venit, etc. In the winter the olives, for which Sicyon was famous, were pressed. Trapetus, trapetum, pl. trapetes (τраπητès à тρаπéw, calco), the olivepress.-Glande sues laeti. The construction is sues laeti glande. Laeti is here perhaps sleek, fattened.-Et varios, etc. Autumn too yields its produce. He goes back, we may see, to another season.-ponit, i. q. deponit, lays down, yields.-et alte, etc. The grapes ripen on the rocky hills.-523. oscula, i. e. ora or labra: Aen. i. 256.—Custa pudicitiam, etc., i. e. pudica est mulier.-ubera, etc., they let down their milky udders,' i. e. their udders are large and full.-agitat, freq. of ago.—Ignis, i. e. ara.—cratera coronant. It was the custom V. 510. Sanguine civili rem conflant, divitiasque Conduplicant, avidi, caedem caedi accumulantes. Et consanguineum mensas odere timentque.-Lucr. iii. 70. to bind the craters with wreaths of flowers: see Aen. i. 726; iii. 525.- -pecoris magistris, the herdsmen: see Ec. ii. 33. certamina, i. e. â0λa, the prizes of the contest: see Aen. v.66. Wagner however thinks that certamen ponere can only signify cert. instituere, åyŵva πρorilévai; but this will ill accord with in ulmo, unless we suppose that they were to cast their darts at a mark on the elm.--nudant, sc. pecoris magistri. The common reading is nudat.--agresti palaestrae, for the rustic ring, as we may say. - 532-540. This was the mode of life in the good old times of Italy.-fortis Etruria crevit, Etruria grew powerful. In the early days of Rome the Tuscans were powerful both by sea and land. Scilicet, sane, di. We would, with Forbiger, join this word with what precedes, and place a comma after it. —rerum pulcherrima, greatest and most illustrious of states, χρῆμα κάλλιστον. The word res is inclusive of persons singly or collectively, as well as of things; thus pulcherrime rerum is said of a man: Ov. Met. viii. 89; Her. iv. 125. Pulcher t the sense of flourishing occurs in Florus ii. 19, pulcherrimusf populus, and iv. 1, pulcherrimum imperium.-Septem archan the seven hills.—una muro, that of Servius Tullius. Ai. q. etiam, etc. This also was the life of the men of the goldenage.-Dictaei regis, of Jupiter, who was said to have been, reared in a cavern of Mount Dicte in Crete.-Impia. . This word is to be taken rather in the sense of unkind, ungrateful, than of impious; for there does not appear to be any impiety in eating animal food, while to slaughter the labouring ox, the companion of the husbandman's toil, was regarded as an unfeeling, cruel act.-Aureus, as ruling over the golden race of men.-classica, sc. signa, the charge, which was given with trumpets and horns.—enses, i. e. the iron from which they were to be formed. 541, 542. It is time to conclude this book. The metaphor is taken from travelling.-spatiis, in stages: see i. 512. V. 537. Οἱ πρῶτοι κακόεργον ἐχαλκεύσαντο μάχαιραν Arat. Phaen. 131. aequor, a plain: see i. 50-fumantia. Some good MSS. read spumantia; but that will not agree with colla. BOOK III. ARGUMENT. INVOCATION, 1, 2. Novelty of the subject and triumph of the poet, 3-39. Call and breeding, 49-71. continued, 95–122. mothers, 138-156. to Maecenas, 40-48. Choice of cows Choice of a stallion, 72-94. Subject Care of the sire, 123–137. Care of the Care of the calves, 157-178. Care of foals, 179–203. Effects of desire in bulls, 204-241. In other tanimals, 242-285. Care of sheep and goats, 286–294. In pite winter, 295–321. In the summer, 322-338. The African atqrdsman, 339–348. The Scythian winter, 349-383. Of hieool choice of a ram, 384-393. Of milk, 394-403. Of oblogs, 404-413. Warnings against serpents, 414-439. Diseases of sheep and their remedies, 440-463. Directions to avert contagion, 464-477. Description of a pestilence among cattle, 478 to end. NOTES. 1-9. The present book being devoted to the subject of cattle, he commences with the mention of the principal deities presiding over them.-magna Pales: see on i. 339. For Pales, see Mythology, p. 538.—pastor ab Amphryso, sc. Apollo Nomios, who fed the flocks of Admetus on the banks of the Amphrysus in Thessaly. Ab Amphryso, 'Aμppúon@ev. Pastores a Pergamide, Varro, R. R. ii. 2.—silvae, etc. The haunts of Pan are here put for that deity himself.-Cetera, etc., all other subjects of poetry have been repeated even to satiety. —vacuas mentes, unoccupied, idle minds.--carmine. Many |