Novo latte.] See the note on ver. 22. of the fecond Eclogue.

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68. Crateras.] "Crater, a « Greek word, κρατήρ, from κεράνσε νυμι mifceo, and that from κέρας 66 a horn: because the Ancients « made ufe of horns, or cups in "the fhape of horns, and mixed "wine and water in them." RUAEUS. Duos.] Heinfius reads duo, as it is found in fome of the ancient manufcripts.

69. Et multo imprimis, &c.] This is plainly an imitation of a paflage, in the feventh Idyllium of Theocritus ;

Κἠγὼ τῆνο κατ' αμαρ' ἀνήθινον ἢ ο δίεντα

Ἤ και λευκοίων στέφανον περὶ κρατὶ φυλάσσων,

Τὸν Πτελεαζικὸν οἶνον ἀπὸ κρητῆρος ἀφυξῶ,

Παρ πυρὶ κακλιμενος : κύαμον δὲ τις ἐν πυρὶ φρυξεῖ.

γ' & στιβὰς ἐσσεῖται πεπυκασμένα ἔστ' ἐπὶ πᾶχυν Κούζα τ', ἀσφοδέλῳ τε, πολυγνάμπ

τῳ τε σελίνῳ·

Καὶ πίομαι μαλακῶς, μεμναμένος Αγεάνακος,

Αυταῖσιν κυλίκεσσι καὶ ἐς τρύγα χεῖλος ἐρείδων.

Αὐλησεῦντι δὲ μοι δύο ποιμένες· εἷς

..

66 -

and enlivening the feaft chiefly with plenty of wine,

Then fhall my head be σε crown'd

With dill, or wall-flow'rs, or

6 with rofes bound "Whilft in full bowls the chear"ful wine goes round

6. Before the hearth : there one fhall " parch my beans :

"Whilft on a couch of flow'rs my "elbow leans:

"Sunk in a bed of fragrant herbs "I'll rowl,

"And Cuddy dance the round a"midft the ring, "And Hobbinol his antick gamσε bols play.

"To thee thefe honours yearly « will we pay, "When we our fhearing feaft and "harvest keep,

« Το fpeed the plough, and blefs "our thriving fheep." 70. Ante

cups Arvifian wines, a new nectar.

It

70. Ante focum, &c.] It is plain, that Virgil alludes to two different facrifices; one in winter and the other in fummer. Hence many have thought, that he means the Compitalitia, which were facrifices offered to the Manes, in two different seasons of the year. appears however, from ver. 75. that the Poet meant a facrifice to the Nymphs in winter, and the Ambarvalia, a folemn facrifice to Ceres in fummer. He promises to commemorate Daphnis twice in every year, that is, at each of the folemnities.

See

71. Calathis.] Calathus is moft commonly used for a Basket. the note on ver. 46. of the fecond Eclogue. In this place it certainly fignifies a drinking veffel. The calathus feems to have been narrower at the bottom, and broader at the top. Martial ufes calathus for a drinking cup, in the fixtieth Epigram of the ninth book;

Ariufia.] So Pierius found it in the most ancient manufcripts. This word. is variously written, Arvifia, Arufia, Areufia, Arethufia, &c. St. But the printed copies generally have either Ariufia or Arvifia. It is Arvifia in the old London edition by Pynfon, in the Milan edition 1481 fol. Venice, 1561 fol. Paris 1600 fol. 1540 and 1541 4to. and in the Antwerp edit. 1543, 8vo. Robert Stephens, Guellius, La Cerda, and Ruaeus, have Arvifia alfo; and yet Guellius, in his note on this word quotes a paffage from Plutarch, in which he reads oivou aprovσion. Aldus, Pulman, both Daniel and Nicholas Heinfius, Mafvicius, Cuningam, and Burman, read Ariufia. This Ariufian wine was brought from the ifland Chios, now Scio, and was esteemed the beft of all the Greek

̓Αριουσία χώρα, τραwines; EIS''Aprovσía xúpa, &paχεῖα καὶ αλίμενος σταδίων ὅσον τριακασίων, οἶνον ἄριστον φέρουσα τῶν Ἑλλη

66 qua fuerunt

wine, as being in high esteem ; "In fumma gloria poft Homerica "illa, de quibus fupra diximus, "fuere Thafium, Chiumque: ex

Chio quod Ariufium vocant." Vibius Sequefter fays this wine comes from Arvis, a mountain of Scio; "Arvis in infula Chio, unde "vinum Arvifium." I believe Vibius is mistaken in calling it a mountain; for Strabo feems to fpeak of it as a region or province. He fays

indeed,

indeed, that the Ariufian region is craggy and rough, and void of ports;

but then the whole ifland is known to be mountainous and rugged. He would hardly have called it a craggy and rough country, if it had been one fingle mountain, as Vibius reprefents it. Befides, according to Strabo, the Ariufian coaft makes a third part of the circumference of the whole ifland; being three hundred ftadia, whereas the whole is nine hundred. Η δὲ Χιος τὸν μὲν περίπλουν ἐστὶ σταδίων ἐννακοσίων παρὰ γῆν φερομένῳ. . . . Αριουσία χώρα . Madiwr oσov Teianoσíwv. The ifland is to this day famous for wine, of which great quantities are exported to the neighbouring iflands: and the vineyards even now most in efteem are thofe of Mefta, the chief town of the ancient Ariufia. They dry their grapes in the fun for feven or eight days before they prefs them. There are medals of Scio, with bunches of grapes impreffed

on them.

Nectar.]

This word is commonly used for the drink of the gods, and for any thing that is remarkably fweet and pleafant. The Ariufian wine was particularly fo called and we are informed by the famous Tournefort, that the prefent inhabitants of Scio give the name of Nectar to a particular fort of wine, which is made in the an cient Ariufia.

Damoetas, and Lydian Aegon fball fing to me: Alphefiboeus fhall imitate the dancing fatyrs

ing and dancing were parts of religious worship among the Ancients. Lytius.] Lycus was a city of Crete, whence Idomeneus is alfo called Lyctius, in the third Aeneid; "Et Salentinos obfedit milite campos

66

"Lyctius Idomeneus."

73. Saltantes fatyros imitabitur.] The Satyrs were a fort of demigods, that attended upon Bacchus. They are reprefented as having horns on their heads, crooked hands, fhaggy bodies, long tails, and the legs and feet of goats. They were imagined to dance in all forts of uncouth and lafcivious poftures; which were imitated in the fatyrical dances, which made a part of the heathen worship. It seems probable, that fome large fort of monkey or baboon, that had been feen in the woods, gave the firft occafion to feign the exiftence of thefe half-deities. Pliny moft evidently means fome fort of monkey, under the name of Satyr. In Lib. 7. cap. 2. He fays Satyrs are found in fome mountains of India, that they are very nimble, run fometimes on all four, fometimes erect like men, and are fo fwift, that it is difficult to take them, except they are either old or fick; "Sunt et Satyri fubfolanis Indorum "montibus, Cartadulorum dicitur "regio, perniciffimum animal : "tum quadrupedes, tum recte cur"rentes humana effigie, propter "velocitatem

"velocitatem nifi fenes aut aegri, "non capiuntur." In Lib. 8. cap. 54. he plainly ranges them amongst the fpecies of Monkeys and Apes, and fays they are more mild and tra&table than other forts; « Simi“ arum quoque genera hominis fgurae proxima, caudis inter fe "diftinguuntur. ... Efferatior Cynocephalis natura, ficut mi"tiffima Satyris et Sphingibus.' In Lib. II. cap. 72. he fpeaks of their having bags in their jaws, in which they lay up their food, and take it out again with their hands to eat, which is known to be true of monkies; "Condit in thefauros "maxillarum cibum Sphingiorum "et Satyrorum genus: mox inde "fenfim ad mandendum manibus "expromit." Strabo, fpeaking of the country between the rivers Hydafpes and Acefines, which was under the dominion of Porus, whom Alexander the Great overcame, relates a remarkable ftory concerning the monkies of thofe parts. Thefe animals being naturally fond of imitation, had learned, it feems, to mimick the difcipline of the armies in their neighbourhood. A great multitude of them stood upon an open hill in order of battle: and the Macedonians, taking them for an army of enemies, drew up in order to attack them; but being informed by Taxilus, who happened to be with Alexander, what fort of an enemy it was, that they were going to engage with, they defifted

from their enterprize and returned into the camp; E de TY XEX DELON N, Hai To TWU XEрHoπidnxwv dinγοῦνται πλῆθος ὑπερβάλλον, καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ὁμοίως· ὥς τε τοὺς Μακεδόνας ποτε ἰδονίας ἐν τίσιν ακρολοφίαις ψιλικῖς ἑστῶτας ἐν τάξει κατὰ μέτωπον πολλους, καὶ γὰρ ἀνθρωπονούστατον εἶναι τὸ ζῶον, οὐχ ἦτον τῶν ἐλεφάντων, στρατοπέδου λάβειν φαντασίαν, καὶ ὁρμῆσαι μὲν ἐπ ̓ αὐτοὺς ὡς πολεμίους μαθόντας δὲ παρὰ Ταξίλου, συνόντος τότε τῷ βασιλεῖ, την αλήθειαν, παί cacaodai. Several authors of credit make mention of Satyrs having been seen in various places; but we may venture to affirm, that these Satyrs, if really feen, were only great monkies.

Επ

Dancing was much ufed in religious folemnities, not only by the idolatrous nations, but by the Jews alfo. We read, in Exodus, that after the paffage of the Ifraelites through the Red Sea, "Miriam the "prophetefs, the fifter of Aaron, "took a timbrel in her hand, and "all the women went out after

her, with timbrels and with dances, And Miriam answered "them, Sing ye to the Lord, for

he hath triumphed gloriously; "the horfe and his rider hath he "thrown into the fea." In the fecond book of Samuel we find, that, David "danced before the "Lord." The Royal Pfalmift calls upon the people to praise the Lord

So long as the boar shall love the woods, fo long as the fifh fhall love the fireams,

75. Nymphis.] It does not appear, that the Romans offered any facrifices to the Nymphs, in their

houfes.

The two facrifices here fpoken of were one in the fields, and the other before the hearth. The Ambarvalia were celebrated in the open fields; and therefore that to the Nymphs must have been within doors, ante focum. This has occafioned much trouble to the Commentators; but the beft folution of the difficulty, feems to be found by a quotation from Athenaeus, which Guellius has given us. That author tells us, that, according to Timaeus, one Damocles was a flatterer of the younger Dionyfius. It being the custom in Sicily, to facri fice to the Nymphs within doors, and to dance round them, this Damocles flighted the Nymphs, and danced before Dionyfius, faying it was not fit to dance before inani

mated deities; Tiparos No Ev TY JEUτέρα καὶ εικοστῇ τῶν ἱστοριῶν Δημοκλέα φησὶ τον Διονυσίου τοῦ νεωτέρου τὸν κόλακα, ἔθους οὗτος κατὰ Σικελίαν θυσίας ποιεῖσθαι κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας ταῖς Νύμφαις, καὶ περὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα πανυχίζειν μεθυσκομένους ὀρχεῖσθαι τε περὶ τὰς θεάς, ὁ Δημοκλῆς ἐάσας τὰς Νύμφας, καὶ εἰπὼν οὐ δεῖν προσέχειν αψύχοις θεοῖς, ὠρχεῖτο πρὸς TOV ALOVÚGIOV. It is plain from this paffage, that it was a cuftom in Sicily, to worship the Nymphs within doors, and to dance round their

Διονύσιον.

་

images. Therefore, as Daphnis is fuppofed to be a Sicilian shepherd,

we must understand the Poet to allude to this Sicilian facrifice.

Cum luftrabimus agros.] This plainly alludes to the Ambarvalia, a facrifice to Ceres, which he defcribes. in the firft Georgick, ver. 338. In this folemnity, he tells us himself, that they fung, and danced fatyrical

dances.