CHAPTER II.
[1] See Sellar's Virgil, p. 107.
[2] Pagus does not mean merely the village, but rather the village with its surroundings as defined by the government survey, something like our parish.
[3] Mantua vae miseras nimium vicina Cremonae, Ecl. 9. 27.
[4] In the celebrated passage Felix qui potuit, &c.
[5] Horace certainly did, and that in a more thorough manner than Virgil. See his remark at the end of the Iter ad Brundisium, and other well- known passages.
[6] Contrast the way in which he speaks of poetical studies, G. iv. 564, me dulcis alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti, with the language of his letter to Augustus (Macrob. i. 24, 11), cum alia quoque studia ad id opus multoque potiora (i.e. philosophy) impertiar.
[7] This is alluded to in a little poem (Catal. 10): "Villula quae Sironis eras et peuper agelle, Verum illi domino tu quoque divitiae: Me tibi, et hos una mecum et quos semper amavi…. Commendo, in primisque patrem; tu nunc eris illi Mantua quod fuerat, quodque Cremona prius." We observe the growing peculiarities of Virgil's style.
[8] See Hor. S. i. 5 and 10.
[9] Macrob. i. 24. See note, p. 5.
[10] As Horace. Od. I. iii. 4: "Animae dimidium meae." Cf. S. i. 5, 40.
[11] "Namque pila lippis inimicum et ludere crudis." Hor. S. i. v. 49.
[12] "A penitissima Graecorum doctrina." Macr. v. 22, 15.
[13] "Gallo cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in horas
Quantum vere novo viridis se subiicit alnus."
—Ecl. x. 73.
[14] The Ciris and Aetna formerly attributed to him are obviously spurious.
[15] vi. and x.
[16] iii. iv.
[17] viii. ix.
[18] v. vii.
[19] Macrob. Sat. iii. 98, 19, calls Suevius vir doctissimus.
[20] "The original motive of the poem can only have been the idea that the gnat could not rest in Hades, and therefore asked the shepherd whose life it had saved, for a decent burial. But this very motive, without which the whole poem loses its consistency, is wanting in the extant Culex."— Teuffel, R. L. § 225, 1, 4.
[21] Its being edited separately from Virgil's works is thought by Teuffel to indicate spuriousness. But there is good evidence for believing that the poem accepted as Virgil's by Statius and Martial was our present Culex. Teuffel thinks they were mistaken, but that is a bold conjecture.
[22] The missing the gist of the story, of which Teuffel complains, does not seem to us worse than the glaring inconsistency at the end of the sixth book of the Aeneid, where Aeneas is dismissed by the gate of the false visions. That incident, whether ironical or not, is unquestionably an artistic blunder, since it destroys the impression of truth on which the justification of the book depends.
[23] For instance, v. 291, Sed tu crudelis, crudelis tu magis Orpheu looks more like an imperfect anticipation than an imitation of Improbus ille puer crudelis tu quoque mater. Again, v. 293, parvum si Tartara possent peccatum ignovisse, is surely a feeble effort to say scirent si ignoscere Manes, not a reproduction of it; v. 201, Erebo cit equos Nox could hardly have been written after ruit Oceano nox. From an examination of the similarities of diction, I should incline to regard them as in nearly every case admitting naturally of this explanation. The portraits of Tisiphone, the Heliades, Orpheus, and the tedious list of heroes, Greek, Trojan, and Roman, who dwell in the shades, are difficult to pronounce upon. They might be extremely bad copies, but it is simpler to regard them as crude studies, unless indeed we suppose the versifier to have introduced them with the express design of making the Culex a good imitation of a juvenile poem. Minute points which make for an early date are meritus (v. 209), cf. fultus hyacintho (Ecl. 6); the rhythms cognitus utilitate manet (v. 65), implacabilis ira nimis, (v. 237); the form videreque (v. 304); the use of the pass. part. with acc. (v. ii. 175); of alliteration (v. 122, 188); asyndeton (v. 178, 190); juxtapositions like revolubile volvens (v. 168); compounds like inevectus (v. 100, 340); all which are paralleled in Lucr. and Virg. but hardly known in later poets. The chief feature which makes the other way is the extreme rarity of elisions, which, as a rule, are frequent in Virg. Here we have as many as twenty-two lines without elision. But we know that Virgil became more archaic in his style as he grew older.
[24] Molle atque facetum Virgilio annuerunt guadentes rure camenae.— Sat. i. x. 40.
[25] E.g. tutthon d' osson apothen becomes procul tantum; panta d' enalla genoito becomes omnia vel medium fiant mare, &c.
[26] Virgil as yet claims but a moderate degree of inspiration. Me quoque dicunt Vatem pastores: sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario videor nec dicere Cinna Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. Ec. ix. 33.
[27] Ec. v. 45.
[28] In his preface to the Eclogues.
[29] Page 248. Cf. also tua Maecenas haud mollia iussa, G. iii. 41.
[30] Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen, G. ii. 176.
[31] The words Ille ludere quae vellum calamo permisit agresti (Ecl. i. 10), might seem to contradict this, but the Eclogues were of a lighter cast. He never speaks of the Georg. or Aen. as lusus. So Hor. (Ep. i. 1, 10), versus et cetera ludicra pono; referring to his odes.
[32] Hor. A. P. 218.
[33] See G. i. 500, sqq. where Augustus is regarded as the saviour of the age.
[34] We have observed that except Lucretius all the great poets were from the municipia or provinces.
[35] The tenth; imitated in Milton's Lycidas.
[36] In its form it reminds us of those Epyllia which were such favourite subjects with Callimachus, of which the Peleus and Thetis is a specimen.
[37] Said to have been uttered by Cicero on hearing the Eclogues read; the rima spes Romae being of course the orator himself. But the story, however pretty, cannot be true, as Cicero died before the Eclogues were composed.
[38] Hist. Lat. Lit. vol. iii.
[39] The most powerful are perhaps the description of a storm (G. i. 316, sqq.). of the cold winter of Scythia (G. iii. 339, sqq.), and in a slightly different way, of the old man of Cerycia (G. iv. 125, sqq.).
[40] The latis otia fundis so much coveted by Romans. These remarks are scarcely true of Horace.
[41] Naples, Baiae, Pozzuoli, Pompeii, were the Brightons and Scarboroughs of Rome. Luxurious ease was attainable there, but the country was only given in a very artificial setting. It was almost like an artist painting landscapes in his studio.
[42] G. ii. 486. The literary reminiscences with which Virgil associated the most common realities have often been noted. Cranes are for him Strymonian because Homer so describes them. Dogs are Amyclean, because the Laco was a breed celebrated in Greek poetry. Italian warriors bend Cretan bows, &c.
[43] Cum canerem reges et praelia Cynthius aurem Vellit, et admomuit Pastorem Tityre, pingues Pascere oportet oves, deductum dicere carmen. (E. vi. 3).
[44] En erit unquam Ille dies tua cum liceat mihi dicere facta. (E. viii. 7).
[45] Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris, &c. (G. iii. 46). The Caesar is of course Augustus.
[46] This eagerness to have their exploits celebrated, though common to all men, is, in its extreme development, peculiarly Roman. Witness the importunity of Cicero to his friends, his epic on himself; and the ill- concealed vanity of Augustus. We know not to how many poets he applied to undertake a task which, after all, was never performed (except partially by Varius).
[47] Except perhaps by Plato, who, with Sophocles, is the Greek writer that most resembles Virgil.
[48] Virgil, like Milton, possesses the power of calling out beautiful associations from proper names. The lists of sounding names in the seventh and tenth Aeneids are striking instances of this faculty.
[49] It is true this law is represented as divine, not human; but the principle is the same.
[50] Niebuhr, Lecture, 106.
[51] For example, Sallust at the commencement of his Catiline regards it as authoritative.
[52] Cf. Geor. ii. 140-176. Aen. i. 283-5; vi. 847-853; also ii. 291, 2; 432-4; vi. 837; xi. 281-292.
[53] Loc. cit.
[54] Observe the care with which he has recorded the history and origin of the Greek colonies in Italy. He seems to claim a right in them.
[55] This word, as Mr. Nettleship has shown in his Introduction to the Study of Virgil, is used only of Turnus.
[56] xi. 336, sqq. But the character bears no resemblance to Cicero's.
[57] There are no doubt constant rapports between Augustus and Aeneas, between the unwillingness of Turnus to give up Lavinia, and that of Antony to give up Cleopatra, &c. But it is a childish criticism which founds a theory upon these.
[58] ton katholon estin, Arist. De Poet.
[59] "Urbis orbis."
[60] Suggestions Introductory to the Study of the Aeneid.
[61] The Greek heroic epithets dios, kalos, agathos, &c. primarily significant of personal beauty, were transferred to the moral sphere. The epithet pius is altogether moral and religious, and has no physical basis.
[62] Pater ipse colendi; haud facilem esse viam voluit, and often. The name of Jupiter is in that poem reserved for the physical manifestations of the great Power.
[63] The questions suggested by Venus's speech to Jupiter (Aen. 1, 229, sqq.) as compared with that of Jupiter himself (Aen. x. 104), are too large to be discussed here. But the student is recommended to study them carefully.
[64] Like Dante, he was held to be Theologus nullius dogmatis expers. See Boissier, Religion des Romains, vol. i ch. iii. p. 260.
[65] Aen. xii. 882.
[66] Ib. xii. 192.
[67] See Macr. Sat. i. 24, 11.
[68] Boissier, from whom this is taken, adduces other instances. I quote an interesting note of his (Rel. Rom. p. 261): "Cependant, quelques difficiles trouvaient que Virgile s'était quelquefois trompé. On lui reprochait d'avoir fait immoler par Enée un taureau à Jupiter quand il s'arrête dans la Thrace et y fonde une ville, et selon Ateius Capito et Labéon, les lumières du droit pontifical, c'était presqu'un sacrilège. Voilà donc, dit-on, votre pontife qui ignore ce que savent même les sacristains! Mais on peut répondre que précisément le sacrifice en question n'est pas acceptable des dieux, et qu'ils forcent bientôt Énée par de présages redoutables, à s'éloigner de ce pays. Ainsi en supposant que la science pontificale d'Enée soit en défaut, la réputation de Virgile reste sans tache."
[69] Aen. x. 288.
[70] "Fièrement dessiné." The expression is Chateaubriand's.
[71] xii. 468.
[72] The reader is referred to a book by M. de Bury, "Les femmes du temps d'Auguste," where there are vivid sketches of Cleopatra, Livia, and Julia.
[73] Aen. i. 402; ii. 589.
[74] A list of passages imitated from Latin poets is given in Macrob. Sat. vi., which should be read.
[75] Such as Latium from latere, (Aen. viii. 322), and others, some of which may be from Varro or other philologians.
[76] A few instances are, the origin of Ara Maxima (viii. 270), the custom of veiled sacrifices (iii. 405), the Troia sacra (v. 600), &c.
[77] The pledging of Aeneas by Dido (i. 729), the god Fortunus (v. 241).
[78] E.g. the allusion to the legendary origin of his narrative by the preface Dicitur, fertur (iv. 205; ix. 600).
[79] E.g. olli, limus, porgite, pictai, &c.: mentem aminumque, teque … tuo cum flumine sancto; again, calido sanguine, geminas acies, and a thousand others. His alliteration and assonance have been noticed in a former appendix.