^{page 58 notes 1} In his Eclogues Virgil does not draw the occasion for writing from a Theocritean idyll; but the occasion is given by outside circumstances (e.g. Gallus' condition suggests Eclogue X.), though it would be true to say that he would not select an occasion which did not lend itself to pastoral treatment. From Theocritean sources he borrows phrases and ideas and structural props which will fit in with a general plan independently formed in his own mind, working them into his plan. Of course, this practice leads to modification of his own original conception; but it is not at all the same thing, nor has the same final results as simple imitation. There must, therefore, always be a reason why he is attracted to this rather than that Theocritean piece. That reason is often a similarity between what his own characters and those of Theocritus do, say, suffer, etc.

^{page 58 notes 2} Suetonius, , Diuus Iulius 25Google Scholar : ‘Gessit autem nouem annis, quibus in imperio fuit, haec fere….’ 26. ‘Eodem temporis spatio matrem primo, deinde filiam, nec multo post nepotem amisit.’

^{page 58 notes 3} I was myself brought to the same conclusion from Bion I. alone before noticing that Servius' ‘multi’ had anticipated. I doubt whether their opinion was influenced by Bion.

^{page 58 notes 4} Bion I. 40–44:

ὡς ἴδεν, ὡς νησεν Ἀδώνιδος ἅσχετον ἕλκος,

ὡς ἴȏε ϕονιον αἶμα μαραινομνῳ περἰ μηρῷ,

πχεας μπετσασα κινρετο ‘μεῖνον Ἄδωνι,

δσποτμε μεῖνον Ἄδωνι, πανστατον ὥς σε κιχεω,

ὥς σε περιπτξω καἰ χελεα χελεσι μεξω.’

^{page 59 notes 1} Virgil, , Georg. I. 500:Google Scholar

hunc saltem euerso iuuenem succurrere saeclo

501: ne prohibete!…

503: iam pridem nobis caeli te regia, Caesar,

504: inuidet.

^{page 59 notes 2} Georg. I. 464 and 466: ille etiam … ille etiam.

Ecl. X. (lament for dying Gallus) 13–14:

ilium etiam lauri …

pinifer illum etiam …

Georg. I. 466–467:

ille etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam cum caput …

Ecl. V. 20: extinctum Nymphae crudeli funere Daphmm.

21: flebant …

22: cum complexa.

The similarity between the passages than one of words. There seems to me a distinct attempt to reproduce in Georg. I. 466 something of the sound of the final two feet of Ecl. V. 20. Both lines have the spondaic fourth foot without caesura. In both passages the structure, depending on ‘cum,’ is similar in feature.

Georg. I. 469–471:

tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et aequora ponti

obscaenaeque canes importunaeque uolucres signa dabant.

Ecl. V. 24–25:

non ulli pastos illis egere diebus

frigida, Daphni, boues ad flumina …

Both in Georgics I. and in Eclogue V. Virgil follows the ‘announcement’ of the death with a list of portents, occurring ‘at that time,’ proper to the poetic genre—in Eclogue V. the regular Sicilian features of mourning nature, in Georgics I. sterner stuff from the state archives.

^{page 60 notes 1} Daphnis in Theocritus I. is musician and neatherd (vers. 120–121, 128–130): he is τν Μοσαις ϕλον ἅνδρα, τν οὐ Νμϕαισιν πεχθ (ver. 141).

Adonis in Bion I. is καλς, the darling of Cypris, the friend of Graces and Muses.

Bion in Moschus III. is servant of song and love:

κεῖνος δ' οὐ πολμους οὐ δκρυα, Πνα δ' ἔμελπε,

κα βοτας λγαινε κα εδων νμευε,

κα σριγγας ἔτευχε κα δα πρτιν ἄμελγε,

κα παδων δδασκε ϕιλματα κα τν Ἔνωτα

ἔτρεϕεν ν κλποισι κxα ἤπεθε τν Ἀϕροδταν. (Vers. 80–84.)

^{page 60 notes 2} Possibly Antony did no more than follow his master's example l'outrance. Plutarch speaks of Caesar's soldiers ‘βακχεοντες ν τν δν’ after finding wine at Gomphi. They were drunk; but their indiscipline went further.

^{page 60 notes 3} Pliny, , N.H. VIII. 4 (discussing elephants)Google Scholar : ‘Romae iuncti primum subiere currum Pompei Magni Africo triumpho, quod prius India uicta triumphante Libero patre memoratur; Procilius negat potuisse Pompei triumpho iunctos egredi porta.’

^{page 60 notes 4} pliny, , N.H., VIII. 4Google Scholar , does not decide whether Pompey was successful in his attempt to compass an elephantine triumph. Plutarch says definitely that he was not successful: ‘He designed to have his triumphal chariot drawn with four elephants (having brought over several which belonged to African kings), but the gates of the city being too narrow, he was forced to desist from that project and be content with horses’ (Life of Pompey, XIV., Clough's translation).

^{page 60 notes 5} Suetonius, , Diu. Iul. 37Google Scholar : ‘Gallici triumphi die Velabrum praeteruehens paene curru excussus est axe diffracto ascenditque Capitolium ad lumina quadraginta elephantis dextra sinistraque lychnuchos gestantibus.’

page 61 notes 1 Lucr. V. 1:

Quis potis est dignum pollenti pectore carmen

2: condere pro rerum maiestate hisque repertis?

3: quisue ualet uerbis tantum qui fingere laudes

4: pro meritis eius possit qui talia nobis

5: pectore parta suo quaesitaque praemia liquit?

Cf. Ecl. V. 81.

7: nam si, ut ipsa petit maiestas cognita rerum,

8: dicendum est, deus ille fuit, deus, inclute Memmi …

Cf Ecl. V. 64.

13: confer enim diuina aliorum antiqua reperta.

14: namque Ceres fertur fruges Liberque liquoris

Cf. Ecl. V. 79.

15: uitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse, …

Cf. Ecl. V. 30.

^{page 61 notes 2} ‘hastas’ (ver. 31) may have a double signification.

^{page 61 notes 3} At ver. 20 Servius reports: ‘multi accipiunt … per leones et tigres populos quos subegit.’ This, I think, is nearly true, but misleading to an interpretation of the lines. But it might be true that ‘Armenias’ is intended to recall the Pontic triumph, nevertheless.

^{page 62 notes 1} It is interesting to compare how Virgil has departed here from his models.

In Theocritus I. Daphnis cries:

Νν δ' ἴα μν ⁸οροιτε βτοι, ϕοροιτε δ' ἄκ ανθαι,

δ καλ νρκισσος π' ρκεθοισι κομσαι

πντα δ' ἔναλλα γνοιτο, κα πτυς χνας νεκοι,

Δϕνις πε θνσκει, … (vers. 132–135).

Very different is this from Virgd's ‘mandauimus hordea sulcis’; and yet he is following this Theocritean suggestion deliberately in Eclogue V. 38.39. Here, as elsewhere, he shields the incongruous with the conventional.

Again, in Moschus III. it is the fruits of wild nature, not of civilized agriculture, which express grief and longing for the dead:

σῷ δ' π' λθρῳ

δνδρεα καρπν ἔριψε, τ δ' ἄνθεα πντ' ἔμαρνθη

μλων οὐκ ἔρρευσε καλν γλγος, οὐ μλι σμβλω

κτθανε δ' ν κηρῷ λυπεμενον οὐκτι γρ δεῖ

τ μλιτος τ σ τεθνακτος αὐτ τργσδοι.

(Vers. 31–35.)

^{page 62 notes 2} Plutarch, Julius Caesar LXIX.:λον γρ κεῖνον τν νιαυτν ὠχρς μν κκλος κο μαρμαρυ γς οὐκ ἔχων ντελλεν, δρνς δ κο λεπτν π' αὐτο κατῄει τ θερμν ὥστε τν μν ρα δνοϕερν κα βαρὺν σθενεᾳ τς διακρινοσης αὐτν λας κϕρεσθαι, τοὺς δ καρποὺς μιππτους κο τελεῖς πανθσαι κοἰ παρακμσαι δι τν ψυχρτητα το περιχοντος.

^{page 62 notes 3} Theocr. XXIII. 46–48, which possibly is the poetic source of, ‘sueraddite carmen,' is not at all in similar context. Instead of the legendary Daphnis of a mystic countryside, Theocritus’ dying hero is simply a townsman over-fond of a young man who prefers the gymnasium.

^{page 63 notes 1} Theocr. I. 120–121:

Δϕνις γὼν ὅδε τνος τς βας ὧδε νομεων,

Δϕνις τὼς ταρως κο πρτιας ὧδε ποτσδων.

^{page 63 notes 2} Suetonius, Diu. Iul. 85: Plebs statim a funere ad domum Bruti et Cassi cum facibustetendit. … postea solidam columnam prope uiginti pedum lapidis Numidici in foro statuit inscripsitque Parenti Patriae.

^{page 63 notes 3} C.I.L. I. pp. 376, 396: Feri(ae) quod eo die C. Caesar est natus.

^{page 64 notes 1} But the regular official worship would be enough to suggest everything of the kind.

^{page 64 notes 2} The whole Eclogue readily squares with itself if we understand Menalcas to represent Antony, Mopsus Octavian, the former (‘iam pridem’) old in this kind of Daphnis worship, the latter young (‘nuper’). ‘Tu maior, tibi me est aequum parere, Menalca,’ says the junior partner. ‘Fortunate puer, tu nunc eris alter ab illo,’ says the senior to the young man who steps into his uncle's shoes. Nor does the reference to Virgil's Eclogues II. and III. weaken the theory in the least.

The date cannot be discussed here; but what more appropriate, more likely to evoke practical return of gratitude, than a song written for the first Julian festival at which Antony and Octavian were present together in amity, with the two speaking characters representing the two co-heads of the Caesarian party?