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.