Audience

Having somewhat embarrassed myself last class with an admission of not being thrilled by the content of the Georgics, I've been thinking quite a bit about who read the Georgics and why. I took a second look at Nobility and Rustication, and while we seemed generally frustrated with the author's conclusion, I think one of his secondary points has much to offer. 

Consider, from the conclusion on consoling former city-dwellers, "Of course, it is all a fantasy, a fiction, and perhaps Vergil's reader understood that it was false. Yet a fiction that is repeated often enough begins to acquire a truth of its own, particularly when poetry adds its spell, and belief in the myth brings relief from pain".  I'm not 100% sold on the idea that the "spell" of poetry or the belief in myth would ease a reader's anxiety, but I am interested in the highlighted sense of "fantasy" and "fiction". 

Not only is real country life very much unlike the ideal and pleasant existence often described, but there are also a number of contradictions running throughout the Eclogues and Georgics. Amor (correct me if I am mistaken) is an urban goddess, and a particularly jealous one at that. The integration of love and the worship of country gods, although often paired together, may not actually be fundamentally compatible. For a more concrete example, at different times and at different places, shade is either a favorable circumstance or a harmful one. The excessive praise of both Caesar and the simple country worker also seem to be at odds. 

What I find most interesting, however, is how smoothly Virgil weaves his contradictions together, adapting whatever model suits his present needs. The fantastical marriages of love and country, pleasure and hard living, etc, create a sort of lullaby. With the reader somewhat lulled into this dreamworld, I wonder if Virgil's political agenda may have a greater effect. 

Internal contradictions are characteristic of a number of Latin authors such as Catullus, Tibullus, Seneca, etc, but I find none of their works as seemingly docile and "kosher" as the Georgics. Virgil's poetry is wrapped in traditional form and content, and it does have a sort of soothing flow. Without getting too deep into Inception-esque conspiracies, might we say that Virgil's poetry "loosens" the reader's tight code of rationality, thus creating a more flexible space for his own agenda? 

On Existential Bees and KR's "Mora"

Patrick Stewart raises major questions about B's, no doubt building on the angst of Monty Python:
Eric the Half a Bee.

Callimachus and a Few Thoughts on Georgics I

Callimachus was a third century author. Originally from Cyrene, he eventually lived in Alexandria as a scholar at the library there. His Aetia is an elegiac poem of four books. Literally, aetia means “causes.” Callimachus’ work focuses on explaining the origins of cities and various customs of interest in the Mediterranean world. He often structures his work so that he asks a question for which he provides an explanation, a pattern similar to the questions Vergil asks in the Georgics.

With the thoughts of Callimachus in mind while translating the selections from the first book of the Georgics, the myths Vergil references and the etiological meanings behind some of them seemed an interesting choice for the opening of the poem, fittingly including beginnings in his beginning.

The end of the book takes a tone similar to the Eclogues, though openly darker. Where the Eclogues hint at the harm war inflicts on the country, the Georgics fully states it. The contrast between the divine country-side at the start of the book and the war-plagued one at the end shows a marked progression through Georgics I.

One specific point of interest for me was lines 126-127. When I thought it was odd to write ne…fas rather than simply using nefas, I noticed that the ne and fas both begin their lines. It shows the same interlinear notion as the acrostic. Although this is not as interesting as the acrostic, it is a another clever arrangement by Vergil.

Our man Vergil seems uncommonly fixated on arboreal reproduction!  Let's be clear about what's going on:

Natural Reproduction
1.  Plants that grow spontaneously. 
V. cites 4 examples.  Two are described as growing in fields.  These are both low-growing, flowering shrubs.
siler  Well, lots of debate about this one!  I'll go with Parker's identification of this as , known in English as staveacre, lice bane, or lousewort. It was said to have been a cure for the very unpleasant disease phthiriasis [φθειρίασις < φθείρ ‘louse’]), a condition in which lice lay their eggs between the eyelashes.  Sulla is said to have suffered from this disease.

Delphinium staphisagria

sparteum iunceum

 genista-- Spanish broom, Sparteum iunceum.







Two are described as living by rivers.  These are both tall trees, familiar to us from the Eclogues:  the poplar (populus) and the willow (salicta).  Whether deliberately or not,  Vergil is telling an untruth here, as these plants come from seeds rather than from spontaneous generation.


2.  Plants that grow from seeds.  Vergil gives two examples here, the chestnut (castanea) and the oak (aesculus), the tree that grows in the groves of Jupiter and that the Greeks believed was oracular (oracle at Dodona).  The nuts of both trees are elements of the Golden Age/ primitive diet.

3. Plants that grow from shoots that grow up from the mother trunk:  V. cites the (sour) cherry (cerasa), the bay laurel (Laurus), and the elm (ulmus). 

Agricultural methods of propagation requiring human labor:
1.  Rooting cuttings from the mother plant-- Vergil's language here is surprisingly violent--
hic plantas tenero abscindens de corpore matrum/ deposuit sulcis, cutting the shoots from the mothers' tender bodies, he placed them in furrows.

2. Tip-layering!
That is what these difficult to understand lines are about:
silvarumque aliae pressos propagine arcus
exspectant et viva sua plantaria terra:











 3.  Grafting-- here is a video about grafting We did not read all of the section on grafting, but note that of the 6 grafts Vergil proposes, 2 are possible (i.e., mightproduce fruit) and 4 are impossible.  For a graft to be successful, the stock and scion must be of the same family.  According to Thomas, even the two that are possible are unlikely; grafts are generally between species of the same genus.

Possible:  apple on pear tree (33)
Impossible:  cornel on plum (34)
Impossible:  walnut on arbutus 69
Impossible: plane and apple (70)
Impossible: pear and elm (71-2)
Possible (perhaps); chestnut and beech (71)
 Thomas notes that Vergil "did realize the impossibility of his choices, for he places such grafts in the area of the marvel (thauma) when in Ecl. 8.53-53, in a series of adynata, he writes: nunc ut ovis ultro fugiat lupus, aurea durae/ mala ferant quercus, narcisso floreat alnus."

Again, Thomas:  "The discussion of impracticable or impossible grafts constitutes the first of a number of deliberate falsehoods in Georgics 2...the ultimate effect of these falsehoods is to pose certain questions about the 'success' which is generally perceived in this book."

Mythological References in Eclogue 10

Arethusa (yay!) (10.1):
Only mentioned here (no other eclogues).  A marked example of unrequited love- an important subject i this poem.
Myth (according to Williams):  the river Alpheus fell in love with her, but she wanted to maintain her chastity for Diana.  He chased her, and Diana changed her into a spring.  Diana opened the earth, and her waters fled to Ortygia (in Sicily), but Alpheus continued to pursue her, and mixed his waters with hers.  
Theocritus (1.117): χαῖρ᾽ ᾿Αρέθοισα,/ καὶ ποταμοί, τοὶ χεῖτε καλὸν κατὰ Θύμβριδος ὕδωρ, "Farewell Arethusa, and you rivers, which pour beautiful water along the Tiber."

Doris (10.5):
Also, only mentioned in this eclogue.  Daughter of Ocean, mother of Arethusa.  Nothing too special to mention here, as she seems to metonymically represent the sea.  I may add more after consulting Clausen, so check back later. 

Naides (10.10); Nymphis (10.55):
Specifically nymphs of the water, and thus applicable for the opening's Arethusa (as Williams mentions), and a particularly Greek choice.  
2 and 6 (Aegle); nymphae in 2, 3, 5 (x3), 6 (x2), 7, and 9.

Lycaei (10.15):
As Williams notes, these are mountains in Arcadia.  Here, Virgil paves the way for subsequent portrayals of an imaginary, idyllic Arcadia.  Pan and Jupiter were apparently worshipped here, and thus is a common epithet of Pan (see below). 

Adonis (10.18):
Beautiful youth that Venus loved, but Mars (or Diana?) out of jealousy, sicked a wild boar on him.  He was torn to shreds, but Venus transformed him into a flower (the anemone or the adonium?).  Here, the narrator encourages Gallus to be content with pastoralism, as Adonis himself was.  
Theocritean parallels: 1.109 and 3.47

Apollo (10.21):
Of course, applicable here as a (if not the) god of poetry and shepherds.  Here, he talks directly to Gallus (an honor in and of itself) and offers council, specifically referencing the fact that Lycoris has left with Antony: a Olympian god, involving himself in a mortal (and contemporary) love-triangle.  
Named in 3, 4 (x2), 5, and 6.
Side note: this is my favorite god (along with Bacchus/Dionysus).    

Silvanus (10.24):
Country god.  As Williams states, largely the Roman equivalent of Pan.  
Only mentioned in this eclogue.  More to add later, I'm sure. 

Pan (10.26):
2 (x3), 4 (x2)
A compliment to the goatherd in Theocritus (1.3): μετὰ Πᾶνα τὸ δεύτερον ἆθλον ἀποισῇ, "after Pan, you will take away the second prize."
Cautious response from the goatherd, who refuses to play during the day out of fear of Pan (1.16): τὸν Πᾶνα δεδοίκαμες.  Seeing Pan, according to Williams, was apparently associated with some sort of danger.   

Amor (10.28-9; 69 (x2):
Love, of course, is all over the eclogues (except 4).  Here, qualified as crudelis, and unsatiated from tears.  In 69, we get the age-old saying omnia vicit Amor- it certainly does seem to have dominated the eclogues, at any rate.  

Martis (10.44):
Interesting before this, and juxtaposition with Amor: We have all these mythological references in the beginning of the poem, then Amor, a gap of these references in the exact middle, and then the start of these references again with Love's exact opposite, War.  
This juxtaposition is further emphasized by the dual role of Martis as potentially dependent on amor AND armis.  
God of war and battle (though more brute strength than tactical warfare like that of Minerva/Athena).  Marked too if Mars was the one to have sicked the boar on Adonis.  

Hamadryades (10.62):
Only mentioned in this eclogue. 
The second specification of nymphs in this poem.  These are specifically wood nymphs, whereas the Naiads are specifically water nymphs.  What is more, these are not just dryads, the nymphs of trees, but hamadryads.  These are more specific types of dryads that apparently were bound to the life of a specific tree, or were even the tree itself.  Whereas dryads seem to have been just protectors or spirits of trees, hamadryads seem to have been the essence of the tree itself.  Once again, the specification is rooted in the Greek language.   
Side note:  I first learned this word when I read the Chronicles of Narnia.  :)  

Cancri (10.68):
During Herakles' twelve labors, apparently Hera sent the crab (καρκίνος/cancer) to aid the hydra.  It was nipping at Herakles' heels, so he squashed it with his foot.  Hera then turned cancer into a constellation.  
Outside of that, I know it's a water sign (which probably has little to do with this situation), and the constellation is "behind" the sun in the summer (hence Cancers are born in July-August).  So here, Gallus is talking about driving Ethiopian sheep in the (Ethiopian?) summer sun.  He's lamenting his condition and realizing that Love will conquer him whether he's shepherding in the wintry north, or in the blistering south.  
Side note:  I have a book, The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, if you ever want to amuse yourself.  

Pierides (10.72):
Greek Muses, either in reference to the spring at Pieris.  Ovid tells a myth of the nine daughters of Pierus being changed into magpies because their father challenged the nine Muses.  
3, 6, 8, and 9.  

Hesperus (10.77):
The evening star.  A fitting reference for the end of the poem and the collection.  I'll look up more on him too. 
Also referenced in 8.  We saw Vesper and Hesperidum...mala in 6.
Compare this last line with 1.74: ite meae, quondam felix pecus, ite capellae AND 7.44: ite domum pasti, si quis pudor, ite iuvenci.  

Perhaps I misremembering, but this poem seems to be especially full of mythological allusions in comparison to the other eclogues- in particular ones that I have not been referenced before.  If so, I would say that this abundance, in addition to tying in previous eclogues, also firmly positions the eclogues in the pastoral/idyllic tradition.  It would also seem to add a level of seriousness/weightiness to the subject matter, as these mythological references also invoke the epic tradition, thus situating the eclogues in the broader corpus of Latin/Greek Literature in general.  

Silenus in Eclogue VI

Silenus is one of the most prominent figures in the band of Bacchus. Often he is considered a silens -- a bipedal half-horse, half human creature which  has been merged with satyrs by classical Greece (Jeanmaire, 1951). Other times, Silenus is fully human in appearance, often riding a donkey.  His human appearance is particularly consistent, as his mere name comes to mean a balding, pug-nosed, pot-bellied, probably drunk old man. Lucian’s Lecture on Dionysus paints this description pointedly.

Silenus is typically known as the tutor of Bacchus. However, in Lucian, as well as in some of the Dionysian myths discussed by Diodorus, Silenus is, in fact, a general of the Dionysian troupe. The role of tutor, while seeming to be the more canonical version of the myth, also relates to the myth which Aristotle (through Plutarch)* tells, the myth of Silenus and Midas. Midas captures Silenus and asks him for some words of wisdom. Here we see further evidence for the wise persona of Silenus, who, though drunk, seems fully capable of teaching the young Bacchus.

This notion of capture and subsequent wisdom is similar to the role of Silenus in Vergil’s Eclogue VI. Vergil describes how the old man is captured in sleep by a group of nymphs, and Silenus returns this act not wit wisdom, but with a song, though an especially enlightened and intellectual song of creation and myth. It is certainly to be seen as a wise song, particularly do to the comparison with the wisdom the captured Silenus offered King Midas.

* Aristotle, Eudemus (354 BCE), surviving fragment quoted in Plutarch, Moralia, Consolatio ad Apollonium, sec. xxvii (1st century CE) – according to Wikipedia’s quotation of the passage. I had trouble finding a better citation for this text at the moment.

Flora in Eclogue 9

Flora in Eclogue 9, as compared to Eclogue 1 and Theocritus Idyll 7

line 9: veteres fagos (iam fracta cacumina)

    These old and broken beech trees reflect the mood of the poem. 

    cf "patulae fagi" in Eclogue 1.1

line 15: cava ilice

    Hollow oak tree

    cf "quercus" (oak tree) in Eclogue 1.17 and "ilice" in Eclogue 1.18 (some versions)

line 19: florentibus herbis

    Flowering herbs (general)

    Does not appear in Eclogue 1

line 30: Cyrneas taxos 

    Corsican honey from these yew trees was notoriously bad

    Does not appear in Eclogue 1

    Compare to Theocritus Idyll 7.80, where the bees make honey from sweet cedar trees and the mood is happy

 

line 31: cytiso

    Clover

    cf "florentum cytisum" in Eclogue 1.78-79

    (also compare parallels in Theocritus Idylls 5.128 and 10.30)

lines 40-41: varios flores

    General flowers

    I don't recognize a specific parallel in Eclogue 1

line 41: candida populus

    (Bright) white poplar

    Does not appear in Eclogue 1

line 42: lentae vites

     Twining grapevines

     cf "vitis" in Eclogue 1.74, which is similar, and "lentus" in Eclogue 1.4 which has a very different sense 

line 42: umbracula

     Shade-bearing trees (near the tomb of Brasilas)

     This word is found only here in the Eclogues

     Compare to Theocritus Idyll 7.7-8, where similar shady branches cover the tomb of Brasilas

     (also compare Idyll 11.19, 42-49, where we see a similar set of imagery)

line 49: uva

    Grape

    Does not appear specifically in Eclogue1

line 50: piros

    Pear

    cf "piros" Eclogue 1.74

    Compare to Theocritus Idyll 7.145 where pears roll abundantly on the ground, rather than being harvested

line 50: poma

    Fruit (of the fleshy kind with a center)

    cf "poma" in Eclogue 1.38 and Eclogue 1.81

   Compare to Theocritus Idyll 7.145 where apples roll abundantly on the ground rather than being harvested

lines 60-61: densas frondas

    Dense leafy branches (general)

    cf. "fronde" in Eclogue 1.81

    Compare to Theocritus Idyll 7.10-11, the scene at the tomb of Brasilas

   

 

Fauna in Eclogue 9

hos illi (quod nec vertat bene) mittimus haedos, "We are sending these kids for him (may it not turn out well)" (9.6).

A specific reference to the land appropriation, and a specific example of the kinds of things one who has been dispossessed may have had to do with his own former property.  We have, of course, seen haedos before (1, 2, 3, 5, 7), and they are appropriate for a pastoral setting.


Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas, "[As much as] they say Chaonian doves with an eagle coming" (9.13).

Songs have no real power over weapons, a poignant point, especially for a bucolic poem.   As Williams says (1996: 127 n. 11-13): "Doves are called Chaonian from the famous oak groves of Dodona in Chaonia (Epirus) which were haunted by doves."
According to a Perseus word search, this is the only eclogue in which Vergil uses aquila and columba.  Noteworthy in and of itself, as most other animals have had some (and often many) other references.
I couldn't help but be reminded of one of Horace's odes when I saw the eagle and dove together.  4.4 is an ode to Drusus, Augustus's stepson, in honor of his miltary accomplishments over the Vindelici.  He compares Drusus to an eagle (first recounting the myth of Ganymede and the eagle's connection to Zeus), and at one point says neque inbellem feroces/ progenerant aquilae columbam, "Nor do savage eagles beget unwarlike doves" (4.4.31-2)
μελανάετος/ ἀετός in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson: 1-): sharp sight, never thirsty, tends to its young, long-lived, can eat grass, constellation (see swan section), thunder-bearer of Zeus/Jupiter.  


novas incidere lites/ ante sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix, "To cut short the recent quarrels,/ [if] a crow on the left from a hollow oak had [not] warned me beforehand" (9.15).

Williams notes the crow on the left was considered a positive omen for his intended action.
κορώνη in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson: 97-100):  frequented cities, not a migrant; monogamous, thus invoked a weddings; proverbial long-life; owl is arch enemy; weather prophet;  crow on the left is unlucky?  So perhaps the crow warned him while the arguing was going on, and he stopped because it was a bad omen?; a crow never enters the acropolis at Athens.  


pasce capellas,/ et potum pastas age, "Pasture the she-goats,/ and, having eaten, led them to drink" (9.23-4).

Lines within Menalcas's quoted song.
capellae have been in every Eclogue except 5 and 6.
As Williams says (127 n. 23-5): "These lines are very closely modelled on Theocr. Id. 3.3-5."  Same exact set up (3.3-4):
Τίτυρ᾽ ἐμὶν τὸ καλὸν πεφιλαμένε, βόσκε τὰς αἶγας,
καὶ ποτὶ τὰν κράναν ἄγε Τίτυρε, 

5

occursare capro (cornu ferit ille) caveto (9.25)

capri have been in 3,  7, and 9
Theocritus Id. 3.4-5:
                                                       καὶ τὸν ἐνόρχαν 
τὸν Λιβυκὸν κνάκωνα φυλάσσεο, μή τι κορύψῃ.  



cantantes [tuum nomen] sublime ferent ad sidera cycni (9.29)

cycni were in 7 and 8, but we didn't look at those.
κύκνος in Greek.  I'll give some blurbs from Greek Birds (Thompson: 104-7): associated with the myth of Leda and the swan (Zeus); attacked by and subsequent victor of the eagle (constellation explanation/related to Leda and Swan myth); swan song could be considered portent of death; Common Swan cannot sing, so probably referring to Hooper or Whistling Swan, which only migrated to the local area in the winter months; applied as an epithet to a poet, esp. an old one.   
I found this for Whistling Swans on youtube.  Sound like a mixture of seagulls and geese to me. 


sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos,/ sic cystio pastae distendant ubera vaccae, "So may your (bee) swarms flee Cyrnean yew trees, so may the udders of your cows, having fed on clover, swell" (9.30-1).

Prayer-like formula wishing Moeris abundance and good luck, seemingly despite his present misfortune.  Lycidas is trying his best to butter Moeris up for a song.
Yew sap is poisonous, not just to bees.
examina were in 7.  apes were in 1, 5, and 6, and will be in 10.


sed argutos inter strepere anser olores, "But [I seem] a goose honking among melodious swans" (9.36).

Note the definitive Roman name for swan with olor instead of the cycni from a few lines previous.
Goose is χήν in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson 193-): goose of the Capitol, sacred to Juno; sacred to Venus in Cyprus; sacred to Priapus; erotic- obsessed with a boy, gift for a lover, term of endearment; kept, but not eaten, by Celts of Britain; goose-fat/flesh in medicine: damaging to crops; weather prophet; killed by laurel.
As Williams notes, the idea behind this line is familiar to one of Theocritus's (7.41) in which the person cannot be compared with good singers any more than a frog with grasshoppers:
βάτραχος δὲ ποτ᾽ ἀκρίδας ὥς τις ἐρίσδω


Here there is a rather large gap without animals.  We have plants and inanimate objects that are characteristic of pastoral life, but no animos.


hic haedos depone, tamen veniemus in urbem, "Put the kids here, we will still come to the city" (9.62).

The final (and first) reference to animals in this Eclogue, tying it back to the issue of dispossession.  Lycidas perhaps tries to take Moeris's mind off his troubles- he attempts to convince Moeris that they have the occasion to sing, an action which will reaffirm their pastoral identities and will also delay the inevitable selling of "Moeris's" kids.  

Scylla

In Eclogue 6, we have (74-7):
quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi quam fama secuta est
candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris
Dulichias vexasse rates et gurgite in alto,
a, timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis

As Williams notes, Virgil seems to be conflating the two Scyllas, which happens in several other authors (1996: 118, n 75f).
Lucretius says (5.892-3): aut rapidis canibus succintas semimarinis/ corporibus Scyllas et cetera de genere horum, "or Scyllas girded with fierce dogs on semimarine/ bodies and others from the type of these."

Propertius says the following (4.4.39-40): quid mirum in patrios Scyllam saevisse capillos,/ candidaque in saevos inguina versa canis, "What marvel (is it) for Scylla to have raved over her father's hair,/ her dazzling groin turned into savage dogs?"

Ovid in his Fasti writes (4.500):  et vos, Nisaei, naufraga monstra, canes, "and [she fled] you, Nisaean dogs, shipwrecking monsters."

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, we see a similar description of Scylla, neatly wrapped up in the story of Galatea and Polyphemus.  You will recall that this story was in Theocritus and alluded to in previous Eclogues.  Ovid's initially says Scylla latus dextrum [infestat], "Scylla injures the coast on the right" (13.730), setting up a parallel with Charybdid laevum.  He then describes Scylla:
illa feris atram canibus succingitur alvum,
virginis ora gerens, et, si non omnia vates
ficta reliquerunt aliquo quoque tempore virgo.
Hanc multi petiere proci

That one is girded with wild dogs as to her dark paunch,
bearing the face of a maiden, and, if the poets have not left
all fictions, also, at some time, was a maiden
Many suitors sought her

Ovid goes on to say that Scylla rejected the suitors, and bragged to her nymph friends about her elusiveness.  Hence, Galatea shares her story.

After this, Glaucus's metamorphosis is woven into Scylla's story.  He, a once mortal recently turned sea god, chases Scylla.  When she pauses, he tells her his lengthy story, and in the middle of it, she gets up and leaves.  Angered and annoyed, he goes to Circe for seemingly a love potion (if I read that correctly).  She, however, expresses her desire for him.  Glaucus, unfortunately, maintains his love for Scylla, and Circe, since she still loved Glaucus, decided to harm Scylla instead.  Circe uses her potion/drug/magic juices to pollute the area where Scylla is, and the following transformation occurs (14.59-67):
Scylla venit mediaque tenus descenderat alvo,
cum sua foedari latrantibus inguina monstris
adspicit ac primo credens non corporis illas
esse sui partes refugitque abigitque timetque
ora proterva canum, sed quos fugit, attrahit una
et corpus quarens femorum crurumque pedumque
Cerbereos rictus pro partibus invenit illis:
statque canum rabie subiectaque terga ferarum
inguinibus truncis utero exstante coercet.

(I'm just going to give you the Persus translation of this one, rather than translate it myself)
Scylla came there and waded in waist deep,
then saw her loins defiled with barking shapes.
Believing they could be no part of her,
she ran and tried to drive them back and feared
the boisterous canine jaws. But what she fled
she carried with her. And, feeling for her thighs,
her legs, and feet, she found Cerberian jaws
instead. She rises from a rage of dogs,
and shaggy backs encircle her shortened loins.

Book 8 of the Metamorphoses tells the story of Nisus and Scylla, as does the story, Ciris, which I couldn't find.  

Varus in Eclogue 6

Varus, to whom Eclogue 6 is addressed:

P. Alfenus Varus was a leading statesman and army officer. Born in Cremona, he was the first Cisalpine to gain a consulship in 39 BC. In 41, Varus and his companions habitually confiscated land and money in northern Italy for distribution to veterans. He may have even aided Virgil in regaining his land. Having studied law under Ser. Sulpicius Rufus, Varus was a successful jurist and composed 40 books of "digesta", or ordered legal abstracts.

Since the exploits of Alfenus Varus were, according to Clausen, hardly a fit subject for epic celebration, late antique readers often identified Varus as P. Quinctilius Varus (consul in 13 BC with many political ties to Augustus. He was then legate of Syria, then of the Rhine army, where in 9 AD his army was defeated and he took his own life).

Eclogue V parallels

Since Konnor has already compiled notes from Williams, I will compile the notes of Clausen (in addition to my own observations).

Themes/Characters/Imagery from previous eclogues:

The very idea of a singing competition recalls Eclogue 3.

Calamos, line 2: This noun appears in Eclogue 1.10; 2.32 and 2.34; and 3.13

Daphnis, the subject of most of this eclogue, has appeared in both Eclogue 2 and Eclogue 3.

The cave laced with wild ivy recalls the cups of Eclogue wreathed with ivy at the lip.

Lines 60-61 (the inversions of natural order) recall the Golden Age discussed in Eclogue 4.

Lines 86-87 partially quote the first lines of Eclogues 2 and 3 (the “identifying” lines).

Cicuta, line 85: hemlock appears in Eclogue 2.36

For more specific vocabulary comparisons, check out the “max” hyperlink on each Lewis & Short entry online to see other places the word is used in the corpus.

Adaptations from Theocritus Idyll I:

Virgil reworks the idea of a sing-off lamenting the death of Daphnis and taking account of nature’s grief. Specifically:

Compare Ec. 5.5-6 with Id. 1.12-14 – the appropriate place for making music is under a beech tree.

Compare Ec. 5.27 with Id. 1. 71-72 – In both passages lions mourn the death of Daphnis.

Compare Ec. 5.43-44 with Id. 1.120-121 – Both two-line epitaphs of Daphnis, specifically mentioning Daphnis as the guardian of a flock.

Compare Ec. 5.45-47 with Id. 1.7-8 – Images of song being sweeter than fresh spring-water.

Ec. 5.36-39 – an interesting twist on the inverted plant life in Idyll 1.132-137. In Eclogue 5 the prickly and undesirable plants are growing in place of the good crops, but in Idyll 1 flowers and fruit grow on weeds.

Landscape Features in Eclogue IV

Below is a list of landscape features in Eclogue IV. On the whole, there are notably a lot of words which describe landscapes, as in boundaries or expanses or simply the land itself, rather than landscape features. These terms are perhaps more the language of epic than that of pastoral poetry.

arbusta (2), orchards

silvas (3), woods

silvae (3), woods

caelo alto (7), high/lofty heavens

toto mundo (9), the whole world

terras (14), lands

pacatum orbem (17), peaceful world

tellus (19), the land

domum (21), home

campus (28), field

muris (32), walls

oppida (33), towns

telluri (33), the land

sulcos (33), furrows

mari (38), the sea

omnis… tellus (39), the whole earth

humus (40), ground

pratis (43), meadows

convexo nutantem pondere mundum (50), the world swaying with arched/convex weight

terras (46), lands

tractus maris (46), tracts of sea

caelum profundum (46), depth of the heavens

Landscape Features in Eclogue III

The following is a list of the landscape features in Eclogue III. I list the Latin word, the line, the English meaning, and the character who mentions the word. There is no immediately obvious conclusion to be drawn between the features mentioned by Damoetas as opposed to those mentioned by Menalcas (although I have an impression that Damoetas’ features of a more concrete and physical nature than Menalcas’, but that may simply be due to bias from their respective characterization). It is notable, however, that Palaemon names a significant number of landscape features for his relatively small presence in the poem (in terms of numbers of lines, at least), and his features – grass, field, woods, streams, meadows – are far more easily classed as landscape features which one would expect in a pastoral poem than most of those used by Damoetas and Menalcas. It is further interesting that this excellent descriptor of the pastoral landscape is a sea deity – perhaps making his particular presence in the poem even a little more puzzling.

Strictly landscape and lands:

sacello (9), little sanctuary, Damoetas

arbustum (10), orchard, Menalcas

triviis (26), crossroads, Menalcas

totum orbem (61), whole world (not just a landscape feature, but the entire landscape), Menalcas

herba (55), grass, Palaemon

ager (56), field, Palaemon

silvae (57), woods, Palaemon

terras (61), lands (again, the landscape itself), Damoetas

locum, aeriae quo congessere palumbes (69) place where airy doves build their nests (a landscape feature by merit of the term locum, though the description of the place is a little more specific than a general “feature”), Damoetas

stabulis (80), enclosures or sheepfolds, Damoetas

arenam (87), sand, Menalcas

humi (92), ground, Damoetas

ripae (94), banks (implying a river, but not actually mentioning it), Menalcas

flumine (96), river, Damoetas

fonte (97), spring, Damoetas

quibus terris… / tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas (104-105), in what lands the space of the heavens lies not more than three “elbows” (whether this is an actual landscape – and what sort of landscape it is, for that matter -- or a description of something else in terms of a landscape is not clear), Damoetas

quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum / nascantur flores (106-107), in what lands flowers grow inscribed with the names of kings (although it is a description of a land, the flowers are not precisely landscape features, as the description of the expanse of sky acts in Damoetas’ riddle), Menalcas

rivos (111), streams, Palaemon

prata (111), meadows, Palaemon

The following are climate and weather words, which in some respect embody the nature of a landscape:

venti (73), winds, Damoetas

imbres (80), rains, Damoetas

venti (81), winds, Damoetas

aestus (98), heat, Menalcas

Music/Song in Eclogue 4

People/Divinities
Apollo (4.10, 67); Calliopea (4.67); Sicelides Musae (4.1); concordes...Parcae (4.47); Cumaei, i.e. the Sibyl (4.4); Pan (4.58-9)
All, of course, hold their own significance for music and song.  Apollo would seem to be at the top of the pack.  Calliope is the muse of epic poetry, but her role as mother of Orpheus and Linus seems to play the more important role here.
Interestingly, Sicelides, Parcae, and Cumaei all firmly situate these divinities (if you want to consider the Sibyl a deity), in the Roman tradition.

Sibylline Prophecies
Apparently given a healthy description in the Aeneid.
  
Similarities and Differences with Virgil's poetry (needs elaboration):
Divinely inspired
Distinct purposes

Thracius Orpheus (4.55); Orphei (4.57); Linus (4.56); Lino (4.57)
Half-brothers, Calliope is their mother and Apollo is Linus's father.  Linus was also Orpheus's teacher.  The quintessential poets/singer/songwriters.  Linus is also a character (Hercules' teacher) in Theocritus's 24th Idyll, in which Theocritus, through Tiresias, prophesies Hercules' life to Alcmena.  I wasn't able to take a look at this Idyll, but it sounds similar to the prophetic tone of Eclogue 4.

Pollio (4.12)
We have the statesmen again, whose consulship will seem to usher in the dawn of a new age.  Also, reportedly (Eclogue 3), a poet himself.

Music/Song words:
canamus (4.1); canimus (4.3); Cumaei...carminis (4.4); carminibus (4.55)
paulo maiora canamus in the first line would seem to place this song outside of the typical context for his Eclogues (as Professor Malamud and Ebbeler (2010) have noted).

ridenti (4.20); risu (4.60) risere (4.62)
I have the idea of a sing-song quality to laughter, perhaps associated with the Nymphs or maybe the Muses themselves?

It's a strange juxtaposition of prophetic tone, epic grandeur, and bucolic thematics.  19-30 is probably the most pastoral of this poem, but even this is slightly off-putting because the farmers/ploughmen/herders are rendered useless by nature fulfilling these roles of its/her own accord.  The words themselves are indicative of pastoral life, but the message of the prophetic song is suggestive of ending the pastoral world as contemporary life knows it.
Does it elevate bucolic poetry or destroy it?

Fauna in Eclogue II

Fauna in Eclogue II:

viridis lacertos (ln9)......... green lizards

cicadis raucis (ln13).........noisy cicadas

"canto quae solitus, si quando armenta vocabat,

Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracimtho"

….I sing, alone, as when Amphion of Dirce called the cattle in Attic Aracynthus

From : http://www.maicar.com/GML/Amphion1.html

“Amphion ₁ and his twin brother Zethus were exposed as infants, but survived. Having met their mother when they were grown up, they avenged her (who had been kept as a slave), and took power in Thebes by force, killing the ruler of the city and his wife [Dirce]. Amphion ₁ became then king of Thebes, and since he was a musical genius, the stones followed his lyre when he fortified the city. However, his wife provoked the wrath of Apollo and Artemis, and his house was utterly destroyed….

Musical genius
Amphion ₁'s extraordinary musical talent made him famous in the whole world. And as his father-in-law was Tantalus ₁, who reigned in Asia Minor, he learned from the Lydians what is called in music the "Lydian mode" (which today is equivalent of the white notes on a piano from C to C), and himself added three strings to the four old ones. Some have said that Amphion ₁ was the first to set up an altar to Hermes, and that for this reason he received lessons in music from the god, being able later to draw beasts and stones after him, when he played. Yet some have thought Amphion ₁ to be a clever magician that caused the stones to build themselves into a wall, just like Orpheus, through enchantments, made animals come to him when he played. They also say that he gave something to his brother-in-law Pelops ₁, which the latter buried in an appropriate place, so that it would frighten the horses of cruel Oenomaus ₁, when they had their chariot-race.  ”

Corydon claims he can also draw animals to him with his singing.  American Idol, eat your heart out.

From: http://latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2004093

“Aracynthus, i, m., = Ἀράκυνθος. A mountain in Aetolia (acc. to some, in Acarnania), now Zygos, Plin. 4, 2, 3, § 6.

— A mountain between Baeotia and Attica, Prop. 4, 14, 42; Stat. Th. 2, 239; with the epithet Actaeus (Attic), Verg. E. 2, 24.”

 

figere cervos (ln 29)…….. shooting deer

caproeli (ln 41)…………… wild goats or roe deer……….. dim. for caprea, capreae (d)- wild she-goat

Looks like this?

  Or 

apros (ln59)……… wild boar

The cycle:

Torva leaena lupum sequitur; lupus ipse capellam;

Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella.  (ln 63-64)

torva leaena…… fierce lioness        (never mess with the ladies…)

         

follows the lupum……. Wolf

Just kidding….  I meant this one.

The lupum follows the capellam……..the she-goat

And she-goat is described as “lasciva”…… wanton, playful.

If you ask me, that is lascivissima she-goat I’ve EVER seen.  HAHAHA.

Lastly, the she-goat chases the florentem cytisum…….. blooming clovers.

(Corydon follows Alexis parallel)

iuvenci (ln66)……. bullock     with the aratra……. plough