6 He subjoins to this, that as Rhegium and Locri are separated by a small river, though the distance from bank to bank was not, at most, above an acre's breadth, these TεThyes never fly over (8 diaπetovlai) to the opposite bank. Pausanias, Hλaxwv ii. (who gives us the name of this river, Caecinus'), puts a different turn upon the story of these memorable TETYES, that those on the side of Locri were as shrill as any whatever, but that none of those within the territories of Rhegium were ever vocal. So much for grasshoppers. I thought what is mentioned by our poet, concerning the sweetness of their voice, and their perching on trees, might make this note necessary. Ver. 284. The scholiast tells us, this wine took its name from a country in Thrace abounding with fine wines. Armenidas is of the same opinion; and Epicharmus says it is so called from the Byblian hills. This is mentioned in the catalogue of wines which Philinus gives us; viz. the Lesbian, Chian, Thasian, Byblian, and Mendæan. Theocritus, in his fourteenth Idyllium, calls it the fine flavoured Byblian. Le Clerc. Ver. 285. The Greeks never accustomed themselves to drink their wine unmixed. When Ulysses parted from Calypso, Homer tells us, he took with him 6 one vessel of wine, and another large one of water. Menander says, τρεις υδατος, οινε δ' ενα ovov, 'three of water, and but one of wine.' Barnes's Homer. In the fourth book of the Iliad we find Agamemnon complimenting Idomeneus in this mannerThough all the rest with stated rules we bound, Unmix'd, unmeasured, are thy goblets crown'd. POPE. Ver. 292. This at first seems absurd, to advise to sweep up the chaff after they had thrashed it in a place where the wind blowed it away; but we are to take notice, that the time for thrashing is when a soft gale blows, sufficient only to separate the chaff from the corn. Ver. 302. As the business of agriculture is to be minded from the rising and setting of the Pleïades, that of the vintage is from the appearance of Arcturus; when it appears in the evening the vines are to be pruned, and when in the morning the grapes are to be gathered. This, according to the scholiast, is some time after the ninth of August. Ver. 312. Here the poet ends the labours of the year, so far as it relates to the harvest and the vintage; concluding with his first instruction founded on the setting of the Pleiades. For the story of Orion, who was changed into a constellation, and the Pleïades, look on the note to the first line of this book. Ver. 316. The directions for the management of the vessels, to haul them on shore, to block them round with stones, to keep them steady, to drain the keel, &c. and the particular instructions for the voyage, show their ships not to have been very large, nor their commerce very extensive. The largest man of war, mentioned by Homer, in the Grecian fleet, carrying but one hundred and twenty men. Ver. 336. The Eolian isles took their name from Æolus their king, who was a great mathematician for his time, and skilful in marine affairs, for which he was afterwards called 'God of the Winds.' Tzetz. It is not unlikely that Hesiod used this epithet Æolian, to distinguish this city where his father lived, from Cuma in Italy, famous for the birth of the sibyl of that name. Ver. 339. Ascra is mountainous and windy, where the snow that is on the mountains often melts, and overflows the country. Tzetz. Ver. 356. When we consider this positive declaration of his travels, which seems (as I observed before) as if he designed to prevent mistakes, and that K Boeotia and Euboea are both islands, we cannot in the least dispute his being a Boeotian born. Ver. 365. The honour here paid to poetry is very great; for we find the tripod the reward only of great and considerable actions. Agamemnon, in the eighth book of the Iliad, seeing the gallant and wonderful exploits of Teucer, promises, if they take Troy, to give him a tripod as the meed of his valour; and, among other things, the tripod is offered to Achilles, to regain his friendship, when he had left the field. Pausanias, book v. gives us an account of the funeral games in honour of Pelias; viz. the chariot race, the quoiting, the discus, the boxing with the cæstus, &c. where Jason, Peleus, and other heroes of the age, contended, and the victor in each had a tripod for his reward. Tripods were for various uses; some were consecrated to the service of religion; some used as seats, some as tables, and some as ornaments; they were supported on three feet, with handles to their sides. Ver. 383. Neptune is called 'Earthshaker,' because water, according to the opinion of the ancients, is the cause of earthquakes. Tzetz. Here the names of Jupiter and Neptune can be used with no other but a physical meaning, that is, for the air and the sea; so that the ends of mariners are justly said to be in the hands of Jupiter and Neptune. Ver. 419. The reason the Spartan lawgiver gave for advising men not to marry till such an age, was, because the children should be strong and vigorous. Hesiod's advice, both for the age of the man and the woman, seems to be reasonably grounded. A man at thirty is certainly as strong in his understanding as ever he can be; so far at least as will serve him to conduct his family affairs. A maid of fifteen comes fresh from the care of her parents, without any tincture of the temper of another man; a prudent husband, therefore, may form her mind according to his own: for this reason he would have her a virgin; knowing likewise that the impression a woman receives from a first love is not easily erased. Ver. 474. Hector uses almost the same words in which the precept is laid down: Χερσι δ' ανιπίοισι Διϊ λειξειν αίθοπα οίνον 'I am afraid to pour libations of black wine to Jove with unwashed hands.' I quote this, as I have other passages with the same view, only to show that the same custom was held sacred in the time of the Trojan wars, according to Homer, as in the days of Hesiod. Ver. 480. Some of the commentators, and Tzetzes among the rest, would persuade us, that the poet had a secret meaning in each of these superstitious precepts, and that they are not to be took literally, but are so many allegories. In answer to them, we may as well imagine all the Talmud and Levitical laws to be the same. They might as well have said, that the poet would not have us piss towards the sun, for fear we should hurt our eyes. know not whether these and the following precepts savour most of the age of the poet, or of the poet's old age. Ver. 492. This doubtless is a part of the superstition of the age, though the scholiast would give us a physical reason for abstinence at that time; which is, lest the melancholy of the mind should affect the fruit of the enjoyment. Indeed, the next lines seem to favour this conjecture; and perhaps the poet endeavoured, while he was laying down a religious precept, to strengthen it by philosophy. Ver. 530. These verses are rejected by Plutarch, whose authority Proclus makes use of, as not of our poet. Guietus. BOOK III'. The Argument. The poet bere distinguishes holidays from others, and what are propitious, and what not, for different works; and concludes with a short recommendation of religion and morality. YOUR servants to a just observance train 1 The precepts laid down in this book, concerning the difference of days, from the motion of the moon, seem to be founded partly on nature, and partly on the superstition of the times in which they were writ. The whole is but a sort of an almanack in verse, and affords little room for poetry. Our author, I think, has jumbled his days too negligently together; which confusion, Valla, in his translation, has prevented by ranging the days in proper succession; a liberty I was fearful to take, as a translator, because almost every line must have been transposed from the original disposition. I have, therefore, at the end of the notes, drawn a table of Days in their successive order. |