106 
tors 5 yef in various inffances IT could not 
acquieice in his jdeas of :he fenfe of parti- 
cular pailages. I made a prattice of 
writing dawn my objections as they cc- 
curred, and I rake the liberty to. offer 
them to your Miiceilany, in the hope 
that they mey afford fome arnufing fpe- 
culation to your.c!sflical readers, and, per- 
haps, elvcit fome further cb{ervations of 
moie value than they are. 
Your’s, &c. Je Yaw 
OBSERVATIONS - on the NOFES _ to 
HEYNE’S VIRGIL. — 
¥. The Eclogues. 
Libertas, quz fera tamen refpexit inertem. 
Ones A 
Though it be dificult to difcover what 
is here meant by diderty, yet, I think, if 
Virgil be underftood to mean himfelf un- 
der the name of Tityrus, it cannot be, as 
Heyne explains it, that Tityrus, athep- 
herd of fervile condition, having faved 
encugh from his peculiuzz to purchafe his 
ireedem, went to Rome literally for that 
purpofe; for how does this fuit Virgil, 
who certainly was no flave? Befides, 
where he reports the anfwer made to his 
petition, he fays nothing of being made 
free, but that he was bid to feed his herds 
and cultivate his land as before. And 
Melibzeus’s congratulation on theevent is, 
$¢ Ergo tua rura manebunt.” This Jooks 
more like a redemption of his paternal 
eflate from. forfeiture, or freeing bimlelf 
from fome ‘annuitant or landlord placed 
upon him. 
Non infueta graves tentabunt pabula fetas. 
e T.' 30. 
I canrot aequiefte in the interpretation 
that Heyne adopts of fetas, for ewes that 
have brought forth, and graves for fick or 
faint, for Viegil, in the Georgicks, cer- 
tainly means pregnant by fetas ;-and I 
can find no authority (unlefs this be one) 
of gravis bemg vied for fick, - though it 
frequently is for the caxje of ficknefs, or 
wnwholefome. Why may not the moft 
fimple and obvious meaning be taken >— 
** No unacevfiomed pattures fhall imjure 
feauie to cait their young) the pregoant 
ewes.” , 
Poft aliquot, mea regna videns, mirabor 
ariftas. I. 7c. 
Though the vfual interpretation of ari/- 
tas by years, be rendersd fomewhat dith- 
cult by the preceding ‘“* patrios longo poft 
tempore jimes,”” yet it appears to me much 
more harth to undeftand, with Heyne, 
“« paft, mirabor aliquot ariftas, mea regna 
widens —='* Soa I hereafter, feeing my 
Objfsrvations on the Netes 10 Heyne’s Virgil. 
(March 4, 
farm, wonder at the few ears of corn 
growing upon it.” 
Lenta quibus toro facili fuperaddita vitis 
Diffufos edera veftit pallente corymboe. 
Hl, 38..- 
In the firft place, whether it be proper 
or not for Vigil to reprefent Alcimedon 
as working with aturning-lathe, I cannot 
doubt that he dees fo reprefent him, and 
does not mean, as Heyne thinks, nothing 
more than a kaife by toraus. The epi- 
thet facilis would be as improper for the 
knife ufed for carving a figure, as it is 
fuitable to the turning inframent. Then, 
as to the meaning of witis, edera, and - 
corymbus, which are very variotfly ex-. 
plated, my opinion ts, that witis is not 
here a vine properly {peaking, but, like 
vimet, a general term for a cuiling, 
winding foray, analogous to its derivation, 
and to the frequent ufe of wme in. our 
own and other languages. Here it means 
an zuy-branch, which with its pale leaves 
(edera) clothes the corymbus, or clufter- 
No other explanation feems fa isfaétory.; 
for who can conceive of a wine-branch 
being made to cover clufters of ivy over- 
{pread with ¢vy-leaves, as Heyne would 
have it? Whata perplexed defign would 
this be? 
Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta. 
IV. 28. 
It is wonderful that any one who ever 
faw a field of barley in ear fhould doubt 
of the propriety of the term mollis; for 
though the beard, with refpect to each 
fingle ear, be hard and briftiy, yet no- 
thing can have a fofter and more filky ap- 
pearance than the whole field waving in 
the breeze, and difplaying the A/very hue - 
of its Ipikes, 
TI, Georgics. 
Poculaque inventis Acheioia mifcuit uvis. 
I. 9. 
Pocula Acheloia put for water is one 
of the numerous initances in which Virgil 
makes ufe of a particular example for a 
general idea. Heyne exclaims upon it, 
“quam fplendide !’? yet 1 cannot but 
think it a piece of very falfe taite: for 
whatever ideas the mention of the river 
Achelous would excite, they muft be fo- 
reion tothe prefent purpo’e, and only 
tend to diftraé the mind. If either the 
waters of Achelous had been remarkably 
pure and preferred for drinking, or if the 
ule of wine had been firft known on its 
banks, the alluficn to it would have been 
proper. Inthe preceding line, the epi- 
thet Chaonian given to the acorz has a 
in 
