1805.) 
kind of propriety, fince the oak-woods of 
Dodona in Chaonia were peculiarly: fa- 
mous. But referring fo univerfal a pro- 
duct as water to a particular fource of it, 
requires fome extraordinary reafon. 
Et fegnem patiere fitu durefcere campum. 
I. 73. 
If fome critics find out mere meaning in 
their author than he himfelf had, Heyne 
is apt to allow /e/s, from flowing too 
clofely the principle of poetical licence in 
the variation of language. Thus he fup- 
poles durefcere to mean nothing more 
than requiefcere; whereas it is certain 
that ground untilled’ becomes really 
harder and more compact. 
Aut tenuis fetus viciz. 
i: 7%. 
Heyne refers the epithet tenuis to the 
fmalinefs of the feeds.. I think it applies 
better to the flalk of the vetch, which ts 
flenderer and weaker than that of fome 
other leguminous plants, and therefore 
trails on the ground. 
eeeee. Deu pulvere victa fatifcat. I. 180. 
I think this does not mean, as Heyne 
fuppofes, “ left turning into duff, it 
fhould become full of chicks ;°’ fer this 
. would rather happen were it to fhrink in 
drying, but ftill remain hard. I take ic 
to be, ** left it fhould fall into duff, either 
fpontaneoufly, or by beating upon it ;”” 
an obvious danger to a ¢hre/bing-floor. 
e+ eee rerum fato prudentia major, I. 416. 
- There is no appropriate fenfe, nor in- 
deed {carcely any fenfe atall, in interpret- 
ing this ‘a greater degree of knowledge 
than fates” for how can the knowledge ‘of 
a future event be put in comparifon with 
the determination of fate about it? Ee- 
fides that here an event in the natural 
courfe of things predifed by certain 
figns, is only fpoken of. Tt muft doubs- 
lefs be, “ {uperior knowledge piven them 
by fate’’—aniwering to the imgeninm diwi- 
nitus of the preceding line. 
Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aétnam, 
Flammarumgue. globos liquefactaque volycre 
faxa. I. 472. 
Heyne does not feern to take thefe lines 
literally. enough, in referring undantem 
to waves of flame, and lquefatiia faxa 
to the ftate of the lava when cogled again; 
whereas a volcano in an eruption really, 
boils over withfuid matter, which is fotm. 
ed of the fonesand minerais,liquijied. 
Rura. gelu tum claudit hiems, nec feminejaéto 
Goncretam paticur radisem adfigere terra. 
; AL. 337, 
Oifervations on the Notes to Heyne’s Virgil. 
ta the veterans in a civil, war 
105 
This paflage may ferve as an inftance 
of Virgil's very great abufe of language in 
fearch of poetical novelty of expreilion.— 
He cannot be underltood, by fexine jae, 
to mean any thing But plantine ibe flips of 
the wine. Now, though /emen may be al- 
lowable for any thing which coataine the: 
principle of anew production, yet the ad- 
junct jaum can only apply to feed 
thrown, or fcattered by the hand, as it ia 
abi{clutely foreign to the idea of fetting er 
planting. Again, in forbidding this ope- 
ration to be performed when the earth is 
bound by froft, he muf mean to. fay, 
that the root of ie plant cannot fix itfelf 
in the frozen foil; whereas by transferring 
the epithet concretam to the reot, he has 
confounded the readers ic¢ess, and led 
the critics into forced explanatio: s, by 
which they might jultizy his apparent, 
though not real, intention. 
soesee Vere tubenti. 
Gee ereeonrve se oe240 
Il. 319. 
Though Virgil, in imitation of the 
Grecks, frequently ules purpureun 
merely for bright or fplendid, yet I think 
emuit have a more approprite meaning 
o rubens. I Cuppote he alluded to the 
blufo of the bloffoms in foring. 
sss welely alates cles ve COMUaqm@e AbTOls 
Halitus. ; Il. 349. 
Halitus is rather vapour than wind.— 
A draught of air could not be produced 
by the porofity of the fi! ; bura warze 
and fubtie vapour might penetrate throug’, 
it. 
oe seee es et pandas ratibus pofuere carinas. 
Hl. 445, 
ey ne would not have faid that pofuers 
was put fimply for faciant, had he bees 
acquainted with the common phrate or 
laying a keel forva thip. 
Mo or Gaudent perfuft fanguine fratrumy. 
Exilioque dem@s et dulcia limina:mutant, 
Atque allio patriam quzrent fab fole jacene 
tem. IL. 510. 
_ Heyne, interpreting the fi: ft line ta relate 
» makes the 
exilinim, Wthe fecand, to be the colonies 
in which they were fettled. But. furely 
this is.a very (trained explanation. The 
domos and dulcia liming is an expreffion of 
too; much fofthels. to {uit -fach> ferocious 
charvaGers,. whe-haidly acknowledged. any 
other Same than their camp; and theline 
is much better connested with the third, 
relating. to. thefe: who travel to foreign 
counitics either for gain or curivicy.  ~ 
ex! 
