"And, re

(vinitor) is, in fact, meant.-Et curvo Saturni dente, &c. moving the useless roots, pursues with the curved hook of Saturn the vine now stripped of fruit and leaves, and forms it by pruning." Attondens means cutting off the roots which grow near the surface of the ground, or day roots, an operation which the Romans termed ablaqueatio.-Curvo Saturni dente. Saturn was represented holding a pruning-hook, for the form of which, consult note on verse 421.

408-411. Primus humum fodito. "Be the first to dig the ground (of the vineyard)." The poet here lays down certain precepts somewhat in the manner of Hesiod and Cato. The substance of his advice is, be the first of your neighbours to enter on the work of the vineyard, be the last to gather in the produce.-Devecta cremato sarmenta. "To bear away and burn the shoots that have been cut off."-Vallos. Those of the stakes that are no longer needed as props for the vines are to be carried away and put under cover, lest the rains rot them. (Varro, R. R., i., 8, 6.)-Postremus metito. "Be the last to gather in the produce of your vines." The grapes are better the longer time they have to ripen. Meto and its derivatives are used to denote the gathering in of any kind of produce. Virgil applies messis in the fourth Georgic (v. 231) to the taking of the honey.

Bis vitibus ingruit umbra. The vines are twice overloaded with leaves, and therefore must be pruned twice a year. One of these periods is what is termed the summer dressing, when the young shoots are to be nipped with the fingers; the other is the autumnal pruning.-Bis segetem densis, &c. "Twice do weeds overspread the ground with thick bushes." Observe here the employment of segetem for arvum, i. e., vineam. There are two periods for weeding the vineyard, as there are two for pruning.

412-415. Laudato ingentia rura, &c. "Praise a large vineyard, cultivate a small one." Virgil here imitates the sententious tone of Hesiod (Op. et D., 643), where the latter says, vñ' óλíynv aiveīv, μeɣáhŋ d'évì popтía véolaι, “Praise a small ship, but place your lading in a large one." In the present instance, where the rule appears reversed, the meaning is, that, in consequence of the care and trouble attendant upon the management of a vineyard, it is better to cultivate a small than a large one. The term laudato, therefore, is to be regarded as a species of euphemism, when we decline a thing courteously, or, in other words, praise while we reject it. Admire, then, the splendour of a large vineyard, but do not wish to be the owner of one, since the possessor cannot extend his care

over a very large spot of ground. (Compare the explanation of Heyne: "laudato, valere jube, aliis relinque, habeant illi sibi." Consult, also, Columella, i., 3, 8; iv., 3, 4.)

Nec non etiam. The poet now, in order to show what constant care the vineyard requires, proceeds to mention other things still that must be performed by the cultivator.-Aspera rusci vimina. "The rough twigs of butcher's broom." Martyn supposes that this plant was used in Virgil's time to bind the vines.-Per silvam. The plant in question grows in woods and bushy places.-Fluvialis. "That loves the rivers."—Inculti salicti. "Of the uncultivated willow," i. e., that springs up without the fostering care of man. Observe, again, the use of salictum for salix. The twigs of the willow would be needed to bind the vines, and serve as materials for hedges.

410-419. Jam vinctæ vites. He concludes this passage with showing that the labour of cultivating vineyards is perpetual. He has already mentioned a frequent digging of the ground; the summer and autumn pruning; and the tying of the vines. Now he observes, that, when all this is performed, and the labour might seem to be ended with the vintage, yet the ground is still to be stirred and broken to dust; and that storms are to be feared, even when the grapes are ripe. - Jam falcem arbusta reponunt. "Now the (vine-clad) trees no longer require the pruning-hook;" literally, "lay aside the pruning-hook," i. e., cause it to be laid aside, and no longer needed. Arbusta may either mean here the trees along which the vines are trained, or the vines themselves.

Jam canit extremos, &c. "Now the worn-out vine-dresser sings of farthest rows," i. e., sings of labours ended by his having reached the last rows in the vineyard, or expresses in song his joy at having reached the last rows. The reading here is extremely doubtful. We have adhered to the ordinary text, with considerable hesitation, however, on account of the meaning required to be given to effœtus. Wagner, on the other hand, reads Jam canit effœtos extremus vinitor antes; but here, again, extremus, in the sense of qui ad finem laborum pervenit, is still harsher than effoetus vinitor.-Sollicitanda. Equivalent to fodienda.-Movendus. "To be stirred up." This operation was termed pulveratio, and was thought to assist in ripening the grape. (Plin., H. N., xvii., 9, 5, and 22, 35.) In the Geoponica (iii., 10, seq.) it is likewise stated, that the dust of July and August ripens the grape, and makes it large of size.-Jupiter. The lord of the air, and, therefore, the parent of storms.

420-421. Contra, non ulla, &c. "On the other hand, there is no

culture (required) for the olives." Having shown the great labour which attends the care of the vineyard, he now opposes the olive to this, which requires hardly any culture. He says the same of the fruit-trees, &c., which are produced abundantly; and thence he infers that, if nature affords us so many useful plants, we ought not to be backward in turning our attention unto the culture of these.-Procurvam falcem. "The pruning-hook curved in front." The lower figure in the annexed wood-cut is taken from the MSS. of Columella, and represents the pruning-hook of the vine-dresser. The curvature in the fore part of the blade is expressed by Virgil in the phrase procurva falx.

sa.

422-425. Aurasque tulerunt.

"And have stood the blasts."-Ip

Satis.

"Of itself." Equivalent to sponte suâ.· "Unto the young plants." Not the adverb, but the dative plural (sata, -orum), and referring to the young olive plants, the verb sero referring as well to planting as to sowing. (Compare verses 275, 299.)—Dente unco. "By the crooked tooth of the drag."—Et gravidas, cum vomere, fruges. "And (yields) a heavy crop of olives when (it is opened) by the share." With cum supply recluditur from the previous clause. According to Columella (v., 9, 12), the olive grounds required ploughing twice a year.-Hoc nutritor. "On this account, nurture." Nutritor is said to be an old form for nutri. Thus, Priscian remarks that the early Romans used bellor for bello, comperior for comperio, copulor for copulo, &c., and so, also, nutrior for nutrio (viii, 5, 26; p. 798, Putsch.). It is more than probable, however,

that these are all to be regarded as instances of the existence one time of a middle voice in Latin. Hence nutritor will proper signify "nurture for thyself."-Placitam Paci. Dear to Peace The olive was the emblem of peace, whence its epithet of pacifer (Æn., viii., 116.) Observe that Paci is written with a capital letter! because a personification.

426-428. Poma. "Fruit-trees." The reference is to fruit-trees in general. Observe, also, that the fruit, pomum, is here put for the tree itself, pomus. Columella, in his chapter "de arboribus pe miferis” (v., 10), speaks of figs, pomegranates, apples, pears, m berries, and several other sorts of fruit. (Martyn, ad loc.) So, again, Pomona, as already remarked, was the goddess of fruits i general (pomorum).-Ut primum truncos, &c. "As soon as they have felt their trunks to be vigorous." There is no reference to grafting here, as some suppose. The words of the text are equiv alent merely to "ubi semel adoleverunt."-Habuere. "Have ac quired."-Raptim nituntur. "Shoot upward."

429-432. Nec minus interea, &c. Here he speaks of wild trees, which grow in the woods.-Fœtu. "With its (wild) fruits;" literally, "with produce."-- Inculta aviaria. "And the uncultivated haunts of birds." Aviarium is here used in a different sense from its ordinary one. (Compare Servius: "Aviaria; secreta nemorum quæ aves frequentant.”)—Cytisi. The cytisus has been already referred to. (Consult note on Eclog., i., 79.) Goats are said to be very fond of it. Columella also speaks of it as an excellent fodder, causing abundance of milk, and as being useful also to hens and bees. Tadas. Torches were made of any combustible wood. Pliny mentions a sort of pine or fir, under the name of tada, which was chiefly made use of at sacrifices. (Compare Eclog., vii., 49.)

433-436. Serere, atque impendere curam? "To plant (such as these), and to bestow care (upon them also)?" As regards the meaning of serere here, consult note on verse 299.—Quid majora sequar? &c. "Why need I go on and treat of greater things? the willows and the humble broom, these afford," &c. Observe the force imparted to the sentence by the insertion of illa, which thus renders salices and genista nominatives absolute. The meaning intended to be conveyed by the whole passage is this: Why go on and relate the advantages to be derived from the larger kind of trees, when even willows and the broom are not without their utility?— Aut illæ. Servius states that many were accustomed to read et tilia, thus bringing in the "lindens" as a third instance.

437-439. Et juvat undantem, &c. "It is delightful, too, to behold

Cytorus waving with the box." Cytorus was a mountain of Paphlagonia, on the coast, famous for its groves of box, and hence the language of Catullus in alluding to it, "Cytore buxifer." (iv., 13.) Near it stood a city of the same name, but also called Cytorum.Naryciaque picis lucos. "And the groves of Narycian pitch." Naryx, or Narycium, was a city of the Locri Opuntii, in Greece, and the birthplace of Ajax, the son of Oileus. A colony sent out from this place migrated to Italy, and founded the city of Locri, near the promontory of Zephyrium, and in the lower extremity of Bruttium. In the vicinity of this latter city stood the great forest of Sila, consisting chiefly of fir-trees, and celebrated for the quantity of pitch which it yielded. It is to this woody region that Virgil refers in the text, and the pitch-trees, or firs, are called "Narycian," in allusion to the Narycian origin of the adjacent city of Locri.-Arva. "Productive fields."-Obnoxia. "Indebted."

440-445. Steriles. "Though barren of aught that may nurture." Observe here the force of sterilis, meaning merely devoid of edible fruit, or, as Heyne expresses it, sine fructu eduli. The steriles silva, therefore, are opposed to the arbores frugiferæ.-Silva. "Foresttrees."-Feruntque. "And bear away," i. e., upon the blast.-Dant alios aliæ fœtus. "Yield each their different produce."-Cedrumque. "And the Juniper." The tree here meant is not what we know by the name of cedar, but a species of juniper, the Juniperus oxycedrus of Parkinson. (Consult Martyn, ad loc.)

Hinc radios trivere rotis, &c. "From trees such as these the husbandmen have rounded spokes for wheels, from these (they have formed) solid wheels for wagons, and have laid the bending keels for ships." Observe that hinc contains a reference to forest-trees generally, the lighter kind being used for one purpose, the heavier for another. There is no immediate connexion, therefore, between cupressosque and Hinc radios trivere, &c., since Servius expressly states that spokes were not made out of cypress wood. Tympana. By tympanum is meant a solid wheel, without spokes, as appears in the following wood-cut, taken from a bas-relief at Rome.