238 Maecenas possibly 



his career; He tells us that he rewarded all the discharged men, 

 either with assignations of land or with sums of money in lieu thereof. 

 The lands were bought by him (not confiscated) and the money- 

 payments also were at his cost (a me dedi). Below he refers to 

 the matter again, and adds that to pay for lands taken and assigned 

 to soldiers was a thing no one had ever done before. That he paid 

 in all cases, and paid the full market value, he does not expressly 

 say ; Mommsen shews cause for doubting it. The only remark I have 

 to make is that in the years between Philippi and A^etium there was 

 plenty of fighting and negotiations. Maecenas was fdr most of the 

 time in a position of great trust, and pretty certainly in touch with all 

 that went on. The fact that a wholesale discharge of soldiers was 

 surely coming, and that the future of agriculture in Italy was doubtful, 

 was perhaps not likely to escape the forecast of so far-sighted a man. 

 Is it just possible that Vergil may have had a hint from him, to stick 

 to generalities and avoid controversial topics ? We are credibly in- 

 formed 1 that Maecenas was well rewarded by his master for his valuable 

 services, and it has been pointed out 2 that his position of authority 

 offered many opportunities of profitable transactions on his own account. 

 There is even an express tradition that he was concerned in the 

 liquidation of one estate. In short, he was one of the land-speculators 

 of the time. To such a man it would seem not untimely to praise the 

 virtues of the rustic Romans of old and to recommend their revival in 

 the coming age ; but to call attention to the uncertainties of the present, 

 involving many awkward problems, would seem imprudent. In sug- 

 gesting, doubtfully, that a patron's restraining hand may have had 

 something to do with the poet's reticence, I may be exaggerating the 

 pressure exercised by the one on the other. But that Maecenas interested 

 himself in the slowly-growing poem is hardly to be doubted. Early 

 in each of the four books he is addressed by name. His haud mollia 

 iussa (ill 41) may imply nothing more than the general difficulty of 

 Vergil's task : but may it not faintly indicate just the least little restive- 

 ness under a guidance that could not be refused openly ? 



To reject the suggestion of actual interference on Maecenas' part 

 is not to say that the Georgics exhibits no deference to his wishes. 

 That many a veiled hint could be given by a patron in conversation 

 is obvious. That Maecenas would be a master of that judicious art, 

 is probable from what we know of his character and career. But, while 

 it is plain that questions of land-tenure would from his point of view 

 be better ignored, how would his likes and dislikes affect the mention 



1 Tacitus ann xiv 53. 



2 Gardthausen Augustus vn 7, pp 768-9. He quotes Schol ad Juvenal v 3 (Maecenas) 

 ad quern sectio bonorum Favoni pertinuerat. 



