16 Baca = the olive, the noblest of berries.—Gow.
18 Aulon = (the grapes of) Aulon, a hill and valley near Tarentum.
19 Fertili = who makes the vines fertile.
22-24 ibi tu . . . vatis amici.
‘There when life shall end,
Your tear shall dew my yet warm pyre,
Your bard and friend.’—Conington.
Reference. Polybius, x. 1. In 272 B.C. Milo with his garrison of Epirots marched out of Tarentum with all the honours of war.
Rome now ruled supreme over the whole of Italy from Ariminum in the North to the Sicilian Straits.