seu pluris calor ille vias et caeca relaxat 90 Multum adeo, rastris glaebas qui frangit inertes 90. 'Spiramenta,' IV 39. So 'spiracula' Lucr. VI 493, 'spiramina' Lucan x 247. 'Qua' follows 'viis' similarly A. v 590. 91. The object of 'durat' seems to be the land itself rather than the pores, ' venas hiantis.' The explanations given are apparently intended to vary according to the different kinds of soil. 92. Tenues,' subtle, penetrating. 'Tenuisque subibit Halitus,' II 349. 'Pluviae' is grammatically constructed with adurant, supplied from 'adurat,' which however belongs to it in sense only so far as it contains the general notion of injuring. See on A. II 780. 'Rapidi,' E. 11 10. 93. Penetrabile: penetrale frigus,' Lucr. I 494. ['Penetrabilis' = penetrating. Adjectives in-bilis' are properly passive, but instances occur with active meaning (as here) throughout literary Latin from Lucr. onwards: a few exx. from Plautus, etc., are disputed (Munro Lucr. 11; Hanssen, Philologus, 1889, 274). This use of penetrabilis' recurs A. x 48, and is imitated by Ovid, Martial, Silius, etc.] 'Adurat:' cold is said to burn both by poets (e.g. Ov. M. XIV 763, frigus adurat Poma') and by prose writers, as Tac. A. XIII 35, ambusti multorum artus vi frigoris.' Cerda quotes Aristot. Meteor. IV 5, κάειν λέγεται καὶ θερμαίνειν τὸ ψυχρόν, οὐχ ὡς τὸ θερμόν, ἀλλὰ τῷ συνάγειν ἢ ἀντιπεριστάναι τὸ θερμόν. So ἀποκαίεσθαι is used in Theophr. and the Geoponica. 94-99. Harrowing is useful, and so is cross-ploughing.' 94. Our way, after breaking a field, is to tear it up with a heavy harrow with iron teeth, drawn by two or more horses. The ancients, who were unacquainted with this harrow . . . used to break the clods by manual labour with an implement called a "rastrum," or a "sarculum:" and then, to pulverize it, the men, or perhaps oxen, drew over it bush-harrows (crates), nearly the same as now in use,' Keightley, who explains 'rastrum' to be a heavy rake, with iron teeth, probably four in number (Cato x). 'Inertes,' helpless, denotes the state of the clods when left to themselves, not unlike segnem campum,' v. 72. 95. 'Crates,' v. 166. 96. Flava Ceres,' 'rubicunda Ceres, v. 316, Hom.'s Eavon Anμnτnp, the epithet here seemingly indicating the nature of the reward. 'Neque-nequiquam,' A. vI 117. Ceres does not regard him vainly, as if she were an idle spectator, or unable to help. So 'respicere' of divine aid E. 1 27. Virg. may have thought of Hes. Works 299. 97. Virg. means merely to distinguish the processes of harrowing and crossploughing, though he expresses himself as if both were not carried on by the same individual, or applied to the same land. He seems to be enumerating the different parts of cultivation without regard to order, forgetting that he has already recommended cross-ploughing, v. 48. 'Proscindere' is the technical term for the first ploughing, the second being expressed by 'offringere,' the third by 'lirare.' 'Suscitat' is illustrated by 'inertes,' v. 94, and also by suspendere, v. 68. Though in the present tense, it must not be understood as implying that ploughing was to be immediately followed by crossploughing, as the two took place at different times; it merely denotes the husbandman's practice. The 'clods which he turns up he afterwards breaks across.' 'Terga,' of the surface presented by the clods, II 236. 98. [Oblicum' Pal., ‘obliquom' Med. Gud.-H. N.] 100 exercetque frequens tellurem, atque imperat arvis. 99. Exercet :''paterna rura bobus exercet suis,' Hor. Epod. 11 3. ['Frequens,' at his post, a military expression, like 'exercet' and 'imperat.' Cp. Donatus on Ter. Andr. (1 i 80) frequens: ut miles apud signa,' Cic. Verr. v. 33; Sall. Cat. 18; Paul ex Fest. p. 112 'infrequens: miles qui abest afuitve a signis.-H. N.] 'Imperat arvis: ut fertilibus agris non est imperandum, cito enim exhauriet illos non intermissa fecunditas, ita animorum inpetus adsiduus labor frangit,' Sen. de Tranq. 15, which however refers to constant sowing (comp. imperare vitibus,' to task vines by making them bear, 'imperare voci,' to task the voice by exerting it), rather than as here to constant breaking up the ground. Cic. De Sen. xv 51 says of the earth 'quae nunquam recusat imperium,' and so the author of the lines prefixed to the Aeneid, ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono.' Comp. the use of 'subigere' (11 50 note). 100-117. 'Dry winters and wet summers are best for the land. It is well to irrigate the field after sowing; well, too, to let the cattle eat down the young corn, if too luxuriant, and to drain off water when the land is too moist.' 100, 101. Macrobius (Sat. v 20) says that Virg. has followed an old rusticum canticum,' hiberno pulvere, verno luto, grandia farra, Camille, metes.' Ribbeck imagines that this and the three following lines contain an after-thought of Virg., not harmonized with the context. But it is obvious that the poet, wishing to speak of irrigation and drainage, might naturally begin by speaking of the amount of wet and dry desirable at different seasons: and the form into which he has thrown his remarks is simply due to the liveliness of his fancy. [Plin. XVII 13 refers to the lines without giving Virgil's name, but this hardly proves, as has been suggested, that they are interpolated.] 'Solstitium,' properly of either solstice; when used alone, restricted to the sum mer. 'Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia,' Juv. IV 92. · 102. Moesia' (Pal. corr.) is the reading of the older editions: Mysia' (Med., Rom., Pal.) is required by the context, being the region of which Gargarus, the highest summit of the range of Ida, forms a part. Both readings are mentioned by Serv. [and the Berne scholia.] The fertility of Gargarus (or of the lands about it) was proverbial. 'Gargara quot segetes, quot habet Methymna racemos,' Ov. A. A. I 57. The sense then seems to be, as Heyne takes it, Mysia is never so much in its pride, and Gargarus never so marvellously fertile, as in a dry winter,' as if he had said Mysia et Gargara se iactant.' 'Cultu' then is not to be pressed, the meaning being merely 'Mysian farming is never so successful,' etc. Wagn. and others adopt another interpretation suggested by Macrobius, No Mysian cultivation can equal an ordinary field in a dry winter but then ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messis' would be very awkwardly expressed. A third way, as Mr. Blackburn suggests, would be to press 'cultu; ' Mysia and Gargarus owe their fertility to such seasons far more than to cultivation. 103. Comp. II 82. Probus reads 'iactet-mirentur;' [so Serv. A. 1 140.— H. N.] 104. Quid dicam,' a form of enumeration, v. 311. Qui,' antecedent omitted, as in E. 11 71, etc. 'Iacto,' II 317. The metaphor, as Keightley has seen, is from a soldier throwing his lance, and then coming to close quarters sword in hand. 105. Ruit,' levels, whereas 'ruam acervos,' Hor. S. II v 22, means to heap up. So Sol ruit,' A. III 508, means goes down; 'ruebat dies,' A. x 256, was coming up. The notion of the word seems to be that of violent movement: the direction of the movement depends on the context. ['Ruere harenam 'seems to deinde satis fluvium inducit rivosque recentis, have been the ordinary phrase for 'to level' 'Cumulos' seems rightly understood by Dickson (i 518) of the earth at the tops of the ridges, which is brought down by rakes or hurdles on the seed, comparing Col. II 4, § 8, 'inter duos latius distantis sulcos medius cumulus siccam sedem frumentis praebeat.' Med. corr. has 'tumulos.' 'Male pinguis,non pinguis,' like 'male sanus' for 'insanus,' Serv. interpretation gives 'harenae ' its ordinary sense, and agrees better, as Wagn. remarks, with what follows, where dry ground requiring irrigation is spoken of. Mr. Long however rendered 'male pinguis' too stiff (comp. 11 248), remarking that a very light soil would not have 'cumuli.' This 106. "Satis," segetibus, agris satis, id est, seminatis: nam participium est,' Serv. ['Recentis.' The MSS. have 'sequentis' (and so Serv.), except Rom. 'fluentes.' Probably sequentis' is a misreading of ' recentis' and 'fluentes' a gloss upon that word: Serv. A. vI 635 'recens: semper fluens.-H. N.] 107. Herbis' must mean the blades of corn, not the grass, which would not be growing in a corn-field. With the language comp. E. VII 57, Aret ager: vitio moriens sitit aëris herba.' 108. Clivosi tramitis,' i.e. 'clivi per quem unda tramitem facit,' 'trames' being used proleptically. 'Ecce' at once gives the picture and expresses the unexpected relief to the soil. 'And when the scorched land is in a glow, and the corn-blades dying-O joy! from the brow of the channelled slope he entices the flood: see! down it tumbles, waking hoarse murmurs among the smooth stones, and allaying the sunstruck ground as it bubbles on.' 109. Elices' is the technical word for drains, and aquilices' for men employed to discover water (Serv. and Festus). [Both words are perhaps derived from lacio: Stolz Hist. Gramm. 414-416.] Illa cadens: τοῦ μέν τε προρέοντος ὑπὸ ψηφῖδες ἅπασαι Οχλεῦνται· τὸ δέ τ' ὦκα καταειβόμενον κελαρύζει, 11. XXI 260. 110. Temperat:' 'frigidus aëra vesper Temperat,'III 337. Contrast Hor. Od. III xix 6, 'quis aquam temperet ignibus?' where it is the cold that is mitigated. III. Quid, qui' is explained by dicam,' v. 104; otherwise the construction might be the same as E. IX 44 (note). Gravidis-aristis:' Cerda comp. Hes. Works 473, wde Kεv àôpoσvvy σTaxes vɛvoev ¿pale. ་ 112. [Cic. De Or. II 23, 'ut in herbis rustici solent dicere, in summa ubertate inest luxuries quaedem, quae stilo depascenda est.'-H. N.] Heyne comp. Pliny XVIII 161, Luxuria segetum castigatur dente pecoris in herba dumtaxat : et depastae quidem vel saepius nullam in spica iniuriam sentiunt.' This luxuriance was occasionally corrected by harrowing, 'pectinatio,' Id. ib. 186. 113. Sulcos' here are the ridges between the furrows (Dickson i 517 note). -Pal. has or had ' 'palude.' 114. 'Deducere,'draw off water, v. 269. 'Bibula harena' might be referred with Keightley [and most editors], to the soil from which (local abl.) the water is drawn, called harena' with reference to the water. But the scope of the passage seems to require that it should be taken instrumentally, so that it would refer to the drains, which Col. II 2 and others recommend to have half filled with smail stones or gravel. Heyne refers to Dickto show that sand is sometimes son praesertim incertis si mensibus amnis abundans. unde cavae tepido sudant umore lacunae ? 115 Nec tamen, haec cum sint hominumque boumque versando terram experti, nihil improbus anser mixed with soil in order to absorb mois- · 115. Incertis mensibus' is explained of the months when the weather is uncertain, i.e. spring and autumn (comp. vv. 311 foll., Lucr. vI 357-378); here the spring. Forb. comp. Lucan IV 49, 'incertus aër.' The words themselves would more naturally mean 'at uncertain seasons.'-Probus, Inst. I x 4, mentions a reading 'certis." 116. Exit' of a river, A. II 496. 117. 'Sudant umore, Lucr. VI 943. 'Whence if the water is not drawn off before the sun begins to act on it, it might rot the plants' (Keightley). 118-146. Besides all this, the farmer has many enemies to fight with, birds, weeds, and shade. Such is Jove's ordinance; it was he that introduced labour. Before him men had every thing to their hands, and property was not: he brought in dangers and difficulties, to sharpen human wit and so inventions and discoveries multiplied, under pressure of want.' 118. Boumque labores,' v. 325, 'hominumque urbisque labores,' A. 11 284. 119. Versare' like 'vertere,' v. 2, with a further notion of frequency. 'Improbus : ' 'probus' is frequently coupled with pudicus' (note on v. 80), expressing the civic virtue of moderation and respect for the rights of others. 'Improbus' denotes the absence of such moderation, and is applied to the wanton malice of a persecuting power, E. VIII 51, to the unscrupulous rapacity of noxious 120 animals, III 431, A. II 356, etc., 120. Strymoniae:' see on E. 1 55. No other writer seems to speak of cranes as enemies to the farmer. 'Intiba' chicory or succory would be injurious, as Turnebus (Advers. XXVII 25) explains, both directly, as a weed, and indirectly, as attracting geese, which are fond of it (Col. VIII 14), Amaris fibris' would point to the direct effect; but the words may be ornamental. 121. 'Umbra,' v. 157. E. x 76, 'nocent et frugibus umbrae.' 'Pater ipse comp. generally Hes. Works 42 foll., where the difficulties introduced by Zeus are attributed to resentment against Prometheus. 'Ipse' added to the name of a god seems to express dignity, as Wagn. remarks, the great Father himself,' though this does not always exhaust its meaning. See on v. 328. 122. Per artem,' A. x 135. 123. 'Movit,' 11 316. Comp. the use of 'suscito' (v. 97), 'agito,' and note on v. 72. 'Corda,' in older Latin, the intellect. Aliis cor ipsum animus videtur, ex quo excordes, vecordes, concordesque dicuntur, et Nasica ille prudens, bis consul, corculum, et Egregie cordatus homo catus Æliu' Sextus,' Cic. Tusc. 1 9; 'hebeti cognoscere corde,' Lucr. IV 53 (44). [So 'mens,' the intellect, sometimes denotes the emotions, in early and in Augustan Latin.] nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno. 125 130 'Ater' frequently occurs as an epithet of serpents, when it would not be easy to say whether it is to be construed in its primitive sense of black, or its derivative meaning of deadly. In IV 407, where it is applied to a tiger, it means the latter. 130. Moveri,' deponent, to swell. To understand it of sailing would anticipate v. 136, as Heyne remarks. Forb. comp. Lucr. v 999 foll., where the sea is described as rising and falling idly so long as there were no ships for it to threaten. But the two passages are contrasted as well as parallel; what is the second stage with Virg. answers to the normal state with Lucr. 131. Mella' see E. IV 30, note. Ignemque removit: κρύψε δὲ πῦρ, Hes. Works 50, who goes on to tell how Prometheus defeated the purposes of Zeus by stealing fire. · 132. Flumina iam lactis, iam flumina nectaris ibant, Ov. M. 1 111. 'Passim' goes with currentia.' 133. Usus:' see II 22. It is virtually personified, whence 'meditando.' Extunderet artis,' IV 315, where 'experientia,' v. 316, answers to usus' here. Cerda comp. Hom. Hymn to Hermes, 508, ooping irμáoσaro réxvnv. Pal. corr. has extruderet,' [and Gud. 'extuderet,' i.e. excuderet.'-H. N.] |