Ver. 20. Anusa; fee Martyn's note on Geor. B. 4. 123.

Ver. 22. Horace has a paffage fimilar to this,

-Meus eft amor huic fimilis, nam Tranfvolat in medio pofita, et fugientia captat. B. 1. Sat. 2.

Ver. 29. Polyphemus, in the 9th Book of Homer's Odyffey, gives an account of Telemus, which I beg leave to lay before the reader in Mr. Pope's tranflation, ver. 593.

Th' aftonifh'd favage with a roar replies:
Oh heav'ns! oh faith of ancient prophecies!
This Telemus Eurymedes foretold,

(The mighty feer, who on thefe hills grew old;
Skill'd the dark fate of mortals to declare,
And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air)
Long fince he menac'd, fuch was fate's command;
And nam'd Ulyffes as the deftin'd hand.

Ovid alfo imitates this paffage in his Metam B. 13. ver. 840.

Certé ego me novi, liquidæque in imagine vidi Nuper aquæ placuitque mihi mea forma videnti. Ver. 50. Horace has,

-Glyceræ nitor

Splendentis Pario marmore purius. B. 1. Od. 19.

Ver. 52. The ancients imagined that spitting in their bofoms three times (which was a facred number, fee note on Idyl. II. ver. 51.) would prevent fafcination.

Ver. 53. The Greek is a YERIA XOTUTTAQIs, which all the interpreters have taken for a proper name, whereas it undoubtedly fignifies an enchantrefs or forcerefs; for Horace calls the magical arts, which Canidia makes ufc of, Cotyttia. See Canidia's anfwer.

Inultus ut tu riferis Cotyttia
Vulgata, facrum liberi Cupidinis?
Safely fhalt thou Cotytto's rites
Divulge, and lawless love's delights?

Duncombe

20

Near it tall elms their amorous arms enwove
With poplars pale, and form'd a fhady grove.
Searce had we meafar'd half our deftin'd way,
Nor could the tomb of Brafilus furvey;
When travelling on the road we chanc'd to meet
The tuneful goatherd, Lycidas of Crete;
His very looks confeft his trade; you'd fwear
The man a goatherd by his gait and air :
His fhoulders broad a goatfkin white array'd,
Shaggy and rough, which fmelt as newly flay'd;
A threadbare mantle wrapt his breaft around,
Which with a wide-wove furcingle he bound:
In his right hand, of rough wild olive made,
A ruftic crook his fteps fecurely ftay'd;
A fmile ferenely cheer'd his gentle look,
And thus with pleasure in his eye he spoke :
Whither, Simichidas, fo faft away,

Now when meridian beams inflame the day? 30 Now when green lizards on the hedges lie, And crested larks forfake the fervid fky. Say, does the proffer'd feaft your hafte excite, 'Or to the wine-prefs fome old friend invite? For fuch your speed, the pebbles on the ground, Dafh'd by your clogs, at every step refound!' Then I; "Dear Lycidas, fo fweet your firains, "You fhame the reapers and the fhepherd fwains; "Your pipe's fam'd numbers, though they pleafe 66 me well,

40

"Hope fpurs me on to rival, or excel: "We go great Ceres' festival to share; "Our honour'd friends the facred rites prepare: "To her they bring the first fruit of their flore, "For with abundance fhe has bleft their floor. "But fince, my friend, we fteer one common way, "And share the common bleffings of the day, "Let us as thus we gently pace along, "Divert the journey with bucolic fong. "Me the fond fwains have honour'd from my "youth,

"And call the mufes' moft melodious mouth; 50 They ftrive my ears incredulous to catch "With praise in vain; for I, who ne'er can match "Sicelidas, or fweet Philetas' fong. "Croak like a frog the grafhopper's among."

Thus with alluring words I footh'd the man, And thus the goatherd with a file began:

Accept this crook, fmall token of my love, For fure you draw your origin from Jove! I fcorn the builder, who, to fhow his skill, Rears walls to match Oromedon's proud hill; 60 Nor do thofe poets merit more regard Who dare to emulate the Chian bard. Since fongs are grateful to the fhepherd fwain, Let each rehearíe fome sweet bucolic ftrain; I'll fing thofe lays (and may the numbers pleafe) • Which late last spring I labour'd at my ease.' "Oh may Agenax, with profperous gale, To Mitylene, the pride of Lefbos, fail! Though now the fouth winds the vext ocean fweep, And stern Orion walks upon the deep; So will he footh thofe love confuming pains That burn my breast and glow within my veins. May Halcyons smooth the waves, and calm the feas,

And the rough fouth-east fink into a breeze;

70

8a

Halcyons, of all the bird, that haunt the main,
Moft lov'd and honour'd by the Nereid train.
May all things fmile propitious while he fails!
To the with'd port convey him fafe, ye gales!
Then shall my brows with violets be crown'd,
Or dill sweet smelling, or with rofes bound:
Before the hearth I'il quaff the Ptelean bowl; {
Parch'd beans fhall ftimulate my thirty foul:
High as my arms the flowery couch fhall fwell'
Of fleabane, parfley, and sweet afphodel.
Mindful of dear Ageanax, l'il drink,
Till to the lees the rofy bowl I fink.
Two fhepherds fweetly on the pipe shall play,
And Tityrus exalt the vocal lay:

Shall fing how Daphnis the coy damfel lov'd,
And, her pursuing, o'er the mountains rov'd; ge
How the rough oaks bewail'd his fate, that grow
Where Himera's meandring waters flow;
While he ftill urg'd o'er Rhodope his flight,
O'er Hæmus, Caucafus, or Atho's height,
And, like the fnow that on their tops appears
Diffolv'd in love, as that diffolves in tears.
Next he shall sing the much enduring hind
By his harsh lord in cedar cheft confia'd;
And how the honey bees, from rofeat bowers,
Suftain'd him with the quinteffence of flowers;
For on his lips the mufe her balm diftill'd,
And his sweet mouth with sweetest nectar fill'd.
O bleft Comatas! nobly haft thou fped,
Confin'd all fpring, to be with honey fed!
O had'st thou liv'd in thefe aufpicious days!
I'd drive thy goats on breezy hills to graze,
While thou fhould ft under oaken fhades recline,
Or fweetly chant beneath the verdant pine."

ΤΟΣ

He fung-and thus ! answer'd: Friendly swain, 'Far other numbers me the wood-nymph train 110 Taught, when my herds along the hills I drove, Whofe fame, perchance, has reach'd the throne

' of Jove.

'Yet, for thy fake, the choiceft will I choose; 'Then lend an ear, thou darling of the mufe!"

"On me bland Cupids fnetz'd, who Myrto love Dearly, as kids the fpring-embellifh'd grove: Aratus too, whofe friendship is my joy, Aratus fondly loves the beauteous boy : And well Ariflis, to the mufes dear, Whofe lyre Apollo would vouchsafe to hear, 140 And well Ariftis knows, renown'd for truth, How fond Aratus loves the blooming youth. O Pan! whofe Omole's fair mountain charins, Place him, uncall'd, in dear Aratus' arms! Whether Philinus, or fome fofter name; Then may Arcadian youths no longer maim, With fcaly fquills, thy fhoulders or thy fide, When in the chafe no venifon is fupply'd. But may'ft thou, if thou dar'ft my boon deny, Torn by fell claws, on beds of nettles lie, All the cold winter freeze beneath the pole Where Hebrus' waves down Edon's mountains In fummer, glow in Ethiopia's fires, {roll; Where under Blemyan rocks fcorch'd Nile retires. Leave, O ye loves, whose cheeks out-blush the role! The meads where Hyetis and Byblis flows, To fair Dione's facred hill remove, And bid the coy Philipus glow with love.

130

140

Though as a pear he's ripe, the women say,
Thy bloom, alas! Philinus, fades away!
No more, Aratus, let us watch fo late,
Nor nightly ferenade before his gate :
But in this school let fome unmeaning fot [his lot.
Toil when the first cock crows, and hanging be
Reft be our portion! and, with potent charm,
May fome enchantress keep us free from harm!"
fung: he view'd me with a smiling look;
And for my fong prefented me his crook :
Then to the left he turn'd, through flowery meads,
The winding path-way that to Pyxa leads; 150
While with my friends I took the right-hand road
Where Phrafidamus makes his fweet abode;
Who courteous bade us on foft beds recline
Of lentifk, and young branches of the vine;
Poplars and elms above, their foliage fpread,
Lent a cool fhade, and wav'd the breezy head;
Below, a ftream, from the nymphs facred cave,
In free meanders led its murmuring wave:
In the warm fun-beams, verdant fhrubs among,
Shrill grafhoppers renew'd their plaintive fong: 160
At diftance far, conceal'd in fhades, alone,
Sweet Philomela pour'd her tuneful moan :

The lark, the goldfinch warbled lays of love,
And fweetly penfive coo'd the turtle dove:
While honey bees, for ever on the wing, [fpring.
Humm'd round the flowers, or fipt the filver
The rich, ripe feafon gratify d the fenfe
With fummer's fweets, and autumn's redolence.
Apples and pears lay ftrew'd in heaps around,
And the plum's loaded branches kifs'd the ground.
Wine flow'd abundant from capacious tuns, 171
Matur'd divinely by four fummers funs,
Say, nymphs of Caftaly for ye can tell,
Who on the fummit of Parnaffus dwell,
Did Chiron e'er to Hercules produce
In Pholus' cave fuch bowls of generous juice?
Did Polypheme, who from the mountain's steep
Hurl'd rocks at veffels failing on the deep,
E'er drain the goblet with fuch nectar crown'd,
Nectar that nimbly made the Cyclops bound, 18☛
As then, ye nymphs! at Ceres' holy fhrine
Ye mix'd the milk, the honey, and the wine.
O may I prove once more that happy man
in her large heaps to fix the purging fan!
And may the goddess fmile ferene and bland,
While ears of corn, and poppies grace her hand.

THIS idyllium is called AATEIA, EAPINH DAOITOPIA, which has always been tranflated Thaiyfia; or, the Vernal Journey, but certainly very abfurdly, as it implies a contradiction, the Thalyfia being celebreted in autumn. Heinfius has proved, that odoogia fignifies o, a navigation or voyage, this poem, therefore, may be ftyled the Vernal Voyage of Ageanax. It is well known that the ancients undertook no voyages but in the spring or autumn; the vernal navigation was called gin, and the other 9, Lycidas, therefore, the preceding fpring, had compofed a poem on the vernal voyage of his friend, which, as they are travelling on the road, he repeats: It contains the moft ardent withes and vows for his fafety, and feems to have given Horace the hint for his third Ode of the first book, on Virgil's voyage.

Ver. 10. The Scholiaft fays, that Clytia was the daughter of Merops, and married to Eurypi. Jus, king of the Coans, who was contemporary with Hercules; he was the mother of Chalcon. Homer mentions Eurypilus as king of Cos; Cos, where Eurypilus poffeft the fway Till great Alcides made the realms obey. Pope's II. B. 1.

Ver. 13.

ic candida populos antro Imminet, et lentæ texunt umbracula vites.

Ecl. 9. 41. Here, o'er the grotto, the pale poplar weaves With blushing vines, a canopy of leaves. Warton.

Ver. 15.

Hinc adeo media eft nobis via: namque fepulchrum
Incipit apparere Bianorist
El. y. 59.

Ω, τόδε τυφλοφόρων έρατον

Παμα Παρί, θιτο Σιμιχίδας

Ψυχαν. Cui (Pani) bunc peras-portantium amabilem thefaurum Paris pofuit Simichidas animo ; where, in a myftical manner, he confeffes Simichidas and Theocritus to be the fame perfon: Paris and heocritus are the fame; for Paris, when he was made judge of the beauty of the three goddeffes, was Theocritus, that is, Otwv Keirns : Thus Paris metaleptically is taken for Theocritus. Heinfius.

Ver. 31. The green lizard is very common in Italy, it is larger than our common eft, or fwift : this circumftance ftrongly marks the time of the day. Virgil imitates the paffage, Nunc virides etiam occultant fpineta lacertos. Ecl. 2. 8.

Ver. 36. The Greek is αρβυλίδεσσιν : αρβύλη Was

a kind of wooden fhoe arnied with iron nails, peculiar to the Baotians, with which they used to tread the grapes in the wine-prefs

Ver. 52. Virgil follows very close; Nam neque adhuc Varo videor, nec dicere Cinnâ Digna, fed argutos inter ftrepere anter olores. Ecl. 9. 35. Ver. 53. That is, Afclepiades, the fon of Sicefidas; the father's name is put for the fon's: he was a Samian poet, a writer of epigrams. Philetas was of Cos. Both thefe are mentioned in that beautiful Idyllium which Mofchus wrote on the death of Bion; indeed this mention is in the fix verfes which were wanting in the ancient editions of that poet, and which are supposed to have been fupplied by Marcus Mufurus of Crete; though Scaliger affirms that they were written by Mofchus: Sicelidas, the Samian fhepherd fweet, And Lycidas, the blitheft bard of Crete, Whofe fprightly looks erft fpoke their hearts elate, Now forrowing mourn thy fad untimely fate; Mourns too, Philetas' elegiac muse.

Ver. 57.

At tu fume pedum..

F. F.

Ecl. 5. 88.

Ver. 69. This was the name of a mountain in the island of Cos, which feems to have taken its appellation from a giant who was flain and buried there. Propertius mentions Oromedon as one of the giants who waged war against the gods;

-Canam cœloque minantem

Ver. 66. The Greek is you, in a mountain; inftead of which, Heinfius rightly reads sy wen, in the fpring; for wga fometimes fignifies to sag, the. spring.

Ver. 79.

Quam magnus Orion,

Cum pedes incedit medii per maxima Nerei Stagna, viam fcindens, humero fupereminet unda En. 10. 763.

So through mid-ocean when Orion strides, His bulk enormous tow'rs above the tides. Pitt. Mr. Warton obferves, that Virgil has not bor- ́ rowed this thought from Homer: but he does not feem to have taken it from Theocritus.

Ver. 73. The fable of Ceyx and his wife Halcyone being turned into birds, is beautifully related in the eleventh book of Ovid's Metamorph. The mutual love of thefe perfons fubfiited after their change; in honour of which the gods are faid to have ordained, that while they fit on their neft, which floats on the fea, there fhould be no ftorm; -Alcyone comprest,

Seven days fits brooding on her floating neft,
A wintery queen: her fire at length is kind,
Calms every storm, and hufhes every wind;
Prepares his empire for his daughter's cafe,
And for his hatching nephews fmoothes the feas.
Dryden

Ver. 81.

Ver. 84. See note on Idyl. 4. 34. Afphodel; or

Oromedon on Phlegra's heights I'll fing,
And Cous threatening heaven's eternal king.

Ver. 61. The literal fenfe of the original, is, as Heinfius obferves: " And thofe birds, or cocks of the mufes (poets), that pretend to rival the Chian cock or bard (Homer), ftrive to no purpose:" for the words and aoides means the fame thing: Theocritus calls Homer the Chian bard or cock, in the same manner as Horace styles Varius the cock of the Mæonian fong, or the prince of Epic poetry:

Scriberis Vario fortis, & hoftium
Victor Mæonii carminis alite.

B. 1. Ode 6.

planted near burying places, in order to fupply the manes of the dead with nourishment.

By thofe happy fouls who dwell In yellow meads of afphodel.

Johnson's Dict.

Pope's St. Cecilia. Ver. 86. At entertainments, when they drank healths, it was ufual to drain the veffel they drank out of as far as the sediment: thus Horace, B. 3. Ode 15, addreffing himself to an ancient lady, fays, it did not become her to empty the vessel of wine to the lees; nec poti vetulam fæce tenus cadi. Ver. 87.

Cantabunt mihi Damætas, & Lyctius Ægon.
Ecl. 5.72.

Ver. 89. The Greek is, Einar, and commonly understood as a proper naute, but Heinfius obferves, that it is here only appellative, and fignifies a certain damfel; as žives Alavio, is Athenienfis quidam, a certain Athenian: the mistress of Daphnis was named Echenais. See note on Idyl. I. 107., Ver. 91.

Illum etiam lauri, illum ctiam flevere myricæ.

Ect. 10.

Ver. 115. Some fneezes were reckoned profitable, others prejudicial: Caufabon obferves, that fneezing was a disease, or at least a fymptom of fome infirmity: and therefore, when any one fneezed, it was ufual to say, Zrli, May you live; or Zu owoor, God bless you. See Potter's Antiq. ch. 17. Ver. 117. Suppofed to be the author of the Phænomena.

Ver. 123. A mountain of Theffaly, near Othrys, the feat of the Centaurs. See Virg. Æn. B. 7. 674.

Ver. 126. It was ufual for the ancient heathens to treat the images of their gods well or ill, jast as they fancied they had been used by them: in like manner the modern Indians chaftife their idols with fcourges whenever any calamity befals them. There is a paffage in Anacreon, Ode 10. where a ruftic thus addreffes a little waxen image of Cupid:

This inftant, love, my breaft infpire,
There kindle all thy gentle fire;
But, if thou fail'ft to favour me,

I fwear I'll make a fire of thee.

F. F.

Ver. 150. This is supposed to be a city in the inland of Cos.

Ver. 154. See Idyl. 5. 138.

Ver. 160. I am aware, that the Greek word, TITT, and the Latin sicadia, means a different infect from our grafhopper; for it has a rounder and shorter body, is of a dark green colour, fits upon trees, and makes a noife five times louder than our grafhopper: it begins its fong as foon as the fun grows hot, and continues finging till it fets its wings are beautiful, being ftreaked with filver, and marked with brown spots; the outer wings are twice as long as the inner, and more variegated; yet, after the example of Mr. Pope, (fee Iliad 3. ver. 200.) I retain the usual term.

Here all the riches of thy reign abound;
Each field replete with blufhing autumn glows,
And in deep tides for thee the foaming vintage
flows.
Warton.

Ver. 172. Horace has, "quadrimum merum.'

B. 1. Ode 9.

Ver. 15. Two centaurs: Chiron is faid to have taught Æfculapius phyfic, Apollo music, and Hercules aftronomy, and was tutor to Achilles.

Ver. 178.

A larger rock then heaving from the plain,
He whirl'd it round; it fung across the main;
It fell and brush'd the ftern; the billows roar,
Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.
Pope's Ody. B. 9.
Ver. 180. Horace feems to allude to this,
Paftorem faltaret uti Cyclopa rogabat.

Ver. 182.

B. 1. Sat. 5.

Cui tu lacte favos, et miti dilue Baccho.

Geor. B. I. 344.

Mix honey sweet, with milk and mellow winę... } aitar,