CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ENGUSH COLLECTION 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 JAMES MORGAN HART 
 
 PROFESSOR OF F.NGUSH 
 
AMERICAN 
 JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY 
 
 Vol. XXIX, i. Whole No. 113. 
 
 -Yk I.— VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND tHE BRITISH POETS. 
 
 The enthusiasm of the British poets for Virgil begins with 
 "the morning star of song, Dan Chaucer". To Chaucer, how- 
 ever, Virgil is regularly the poet of the Aeneid, and there seems 
 to be no evidence in his writings that he was at all acquainted 
 with the Georgics. The expression " the crow with vois of care ", 
 ' Parlement of Foules ', 363, has been called a mistranslation of 
 Geor. i. 388, "cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce;" but this 
 is at least uncertain. 
 
 Some early echoes of the Georgics may be found in the worthy 
 old poet who " gave rude Scotland Virgil's page", Gawin Douglas, 
 Bishop of Dunkeld. In the 'Prolong of the Twelt Buik of 
 Eneados' (15 13) the passage, 
 
 " Of Eolus north blastis havand no dreyd, 
 The sulye spred hyr braid bosum on breid, 
 Zephyrus confortabill inspiratioun 
 For till ressaue law in hyr barm adoun ", 
 
 is like Geor. ii. 330 fT., 
 
 "parturit almus ager, Zephyrique tepentibus auris 
 laxant arva sinus ...... 
 
 nee metuit surgentes pampinus Austros 
 aut actum caelo magnis Aquilonibus imbrem ", 
 
 and the lines, 
 
 " The spray bysprent with spryngand sprowtis dispers. 
 For callour humour on the dewy nycht, 
 Rendryng sum place the gers pilis thar hycht 
 Als far as catal, the lang symmeris day, 
 Had in thar pastur eyt and knyp away ; 
 And blisfuU blossummis in the blomyt yard 
 Submittis thar hedis In the yong sonnis salfgard", 
 r 
 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 repeat the fancy of Geor. ii. 201-2, 
 
 " et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, 
 exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet", 
 
 and Geor. ii. 332, 
 
 " inque novos soles audent se germina tuto 
 credere". 
 
 In the third prologue Cynthia is called "leman to Pan", accord- 
 ing to a passing hint in Geor. iii. 391-3. In the 'Prolong ol the 
 Fowrt Buik' the four stanzas about the power of love, 
 
 " O Lord, quhat writis myne autor of thi force. 
 In his Georgikis", etc., 
 
 refer to Geor. iii. 209 ff. Compare the lines, 
 
 " quhow thine vndantit mycht 
 Constrenis so sum tyme the stonit hors. 
 That, by the sent of a mere far of sycht. 
 He braidis brayis anon, and takis the flycht ; 
 Na bridle may him dant nor bustius dynt, 
 Nothir bray, hie roche, nor braid fludis stynt", 
 
 with Geor. iii. 250-4, 
 
 " nonne vides, ut tota tremor pertemptet equorum 
 corpora, si tantum notas odor attulit auras ? 
 ac neque eos iam frena virum neque verbera saeva, 
 non scopuli rupesque cavae atque obiecta retardant 
 flumina" 
 
 Douglas mentions also the battle of the bulls, 
 
 " The bustius bullis oft, for the yowng ky. 
 With horn to horn wirkis vther mony ane wound", 
 
 and speaks of the behavior of the "meek harts", and rams, and 
 bears. And, still following Virgil's suggestion, he devotes two 
 stanzas to the story of Leander. In the sixth prologue there are 
 three quotations from the Georgics. In the lines, 
 
 " For all the plesance of the camp Elise, 
 Octavian. in his Georgikis, ye may se. 
 He consalis nevir lordschip in hell desyre", 
 
 the reference is to Geor. i. 36-38. The lines, 
 
 " The warld begouth in veir, baith day and nycht 
 In veir he sais that God als formit man ", 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 3 
 
 refer to Geor. ii. 336. And in the next stanza, 
 
 " Happy wer he that knew the caus of all thingis, 
 And settis on syde all dreid and cuir, quod he, 
 Wndir his feit at treddis and doun thringis 
 Chancis vntretable of fatis and destany. 
 All feir of deid, and elk of hellis see", 
 
 we have a quotation from Geor. ii. 490-92. 
 
 In the Scottish metrical romance 'Lancelot of the Laik' (c. 1490- 
 1500), lines 2483-5, 
 
 "And scilla hie ascending in the ayre. 
 That euery vight may heryng hir declar 
 Of the sessone the passing lustynes ", 
 
 repeat one of Virgil's signs of fair weather, Geor. i. 404-9, 
 
 " appaiet liquido sublimis in aere Nisus, 
 et pro purpureo poenas dat Scylla capillo", etc. 
 
 In Alexander Barclay's fourth 'Egloge' (c. 15 14) there is an 
 allusion to the general subject of the Georgics ", 
 
 " As fame reporteth, such a Shepherde there was. 
 Which that time liued under Mecenas. 
 And Titerus (I trowe) was this shepherdes name, 
 I well remember aliue yet is his fame. 
 /fe songe of fieldes and tilling of the grounde, 
 Of shepe, of oxen, and battayle did he sounde. 
 So shrill he sounded in termes eloquent, 
 I trowe his tunes went to the firmament". 
 
 All this, and much more, is borrowed from Mantuan's fifth 
 eclogue, 'De Consuetudine Divitum erga Poetas', 
 
 " Tityrus (ut fama est) sub Mecoenate vetusto 
 rura, boves et agros, et Martia bella canebat 
 altius, et magno pulsabat sidera cantu ", etc. 
 
 And the same passage of Mantuan explains Spenser's allusion 
 to the Georgics, 'Shepheardes Calender', October, 55-60: 
 
 "Indeede the Romish Tityrus, I heare. 
 Through his Mecaenas left his Oaten reede, 
 Whereon he earst had taught his flocks to feede. 
 And laboured lands to yield t/ie timely eare. 
 And eft did sing of warres and deadly drede. 
 So as the heavens did quake his verse to here." 
 
 Compare Sannazaro's allusion to Virgil, 'Arcadia', Prosa X.: 
 "II quale, poi che, abbandonate le capre, si diede ad ammaes- 
 trare i ruslichi coltivatori dcUa terra; forse con isperanza di 
 
4 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 cantare appresso con piii sonora tromba le arme del Troiano 
 Enea", etc. Toward the close of Barclay's poem there is a 
 specific allusion to Geor. iv. 437-42 : 
 
 " Like as Protheus oft chaunged his stature, 
 
 Mutable of figure oft times in one houre, 
 When Aristeus in bondeshad him sure", etc. 
 
 In the third 'Egloge' the sorrow at the "shepheard's" death, 
 
 " The mighty walles of Ely monastery, 
 The stones, rockes, and towres semblably, 
 The marble pillars and images echeone, 
 Swet all for sorowe", 
 
 reminds one of the death of Caesar, Geor. i, 480, 
 
 "et maestum illacrimat templis ebur aeraque sudant". 
 Compare Milton's ode on the Nativity (1629), xxi, 
 •• And the chill marble seems to sweat, 
 While each peculiar power foregoes his wonted seat". 
 
 In Barnabe Googe's eighth 'Eglog' (1563), 
 
 " Locke how the beastes begin to fling and cast theys heades on hye, 
 
 The Hearonshew mountes aboue the clouds, ye Crowes ech wher do cry: 
 
 All this showes rayn ", 
 
 we have some of the weather signs of the first Georgic : compare 
 375, 
 
 " aut bucula caelum 
 suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras ;" 
 
 364, "altam supra volatardea nubem ;" 388, "comix . . . pluviam 
 vocat ''. The prefatory poem to 'The Zodiake of Life' (1560) 
 shows that Googe was familiar with the works of Aratus; but 
 the behavior of his "hearonshew" agrees rather with the 
 Georgics, a part of which he translated and published, about 
 
 1577- 
 In Brysket's 'Mourning Muse of Thestylis' (1587), various 
 
 portents which, Virgil tells us, attended the death of Julius Caesar 
 
 are rather naively borrowed and made to attend the death of Sir 
 
 Philip Sidney. Compare lines 82-90, 
 
 " The sun his lightsom beames did shrowd, and hide his face 
 For griefe, whereby the earth feard night eternally: 
 
 The mountaines eachwhere shooke 
 
 And grisly ghosts by night were seene, and fierie gleames 
 
 Amid the clouds, 
 
 The birds of ill presage this lucklesse chance foretold. 
 By dernfull noise, and dogs with howling made man deeme 
 Some mischief was at hand " , 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 5 
 
 with Geor. i. 466-88, 
 
 " lUe etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam, 
 cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit, 
 impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. 
 Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et aequora ponti 
 obscenaeque canes importunaeque volucres 
 
 signa dabant 
 
 . . insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes, 
 . . et simulacra modis pallentia miris 
 
 visa sub obscurum noctis 
 
 Non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno 
 fulgura, nee diri totiens arsere cometae." 
 
 In Samuel Daniel's ' Civile Wars' (1595), iii- 513, 
 
 " O happle man, sayth hee, that lo I see 
 Grazing his cattle in those pleasant fieldes ! 
 If he but knew his good", 
 
 there seems to be an echo of Geor. ii. 458, 
 
 " O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, 
 agricolas!" 
 
 And in ' The Queen's Arcadia', iv. 4, 
 
 " like to the Bee that stinging dies, 
 And in anothers wound left his owne life", 
 
 we are reminded of Geor. iv. 238, "animasque in vulnere ponunt." 
 This comes through Tasso's 'Aminta', iv. i, 
 
 " in guisa d'ape che ferendo muore, 
 E nelle piaghe altrui lascia la vita". 
 
 In Shakespeare's 'King Henry V (1599), i. 2, 192 ff., there is 
 a delightful passage about the work of the honey-bees, which is 
 often quoted to illustrate Geor. iv. 153 ff. The expression "the 
 tent-royal of their emperor ", applied to the royal cell of the hive, 
 is an interesting parallel to Virgil's " praetoria ", Geor. iv. 75, 
 
 " et circa reges ipsa ad praetoria densae 
 miscentur", etc. 
 
 In Ben Jonson's 'Silent Woman' (1609), ii. 2, we have a bit of 
 literary criticism by Sir John Daw : " Homer, an old tedious, 
 prolix ass, talks of curriers, and chines of beef; Virgil of dunging 
 of land and bees; Horace, of I know not what". In the same 
 play, iv. 2, the Lady Haughty's reflection, " The best of our days 
 pass first", seems to be borrowed from Geor. iii. 66, 
 
 " Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi 
 prima fugit", 
 
6 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 and in 'Epigrams', LXX, 
 
 " Each best day of our life escapes us first ", 
 the Virgilian sentiment is even more literally repeated. In ' The 
 Masque of Beauty ' the author's own notes refer to Geor. iv. 
 387-8 and i. 453. 
 
 In George Chapman's 'Eugenia' (1614) there is a long list of 
 " tempestatis praesagia", which suggests an acquaintance not only 
 with the Georgics, but also with Aratus, Lucan and Pliny. In 
 the ' Georgics of Hesiod ' the title is borrowed from Virgil, and 
 the Roman poet's Georgics are mentioned in the introductory 
 note. 
 
 In Fletcher's ' Elder Brother', i. 2, 130 ff., the studious Charles 
 Brisac discourses on the Georgics : 
 
 " For, what concerns Tillage, 
 Who better can deliver it than Virgil 
 In his Georgicks? and to cure your Herds, 
 His Bucolicks' is a Master-piece; but when 
 He does describe the Commonwealth of Bees, 
 Their industry, and knowledge of the herbs 
 From which they gather Honey, with their care 
 To place it with decorum in the Hive ; 
 Their Government among themselves, their order 
 In going forth, and coming loaden home ; 
 Their obedience to their King, and his rewards 
 To such as labour, with his punishments 
 Only inflicted on the slothful Drone ; ' 
 I'm ravished with it", etc. 
 
 Compare Geor. iv. 153 ff. 
 
 ^The name 'Bucolics' is here applied to the third book of the Georgics, 
 and the name ' Georgics ' to the first book in particular. This may be a bit 
 of etymological pedantry on the part of our " mere scholar " ; or it may repre- 
 »ent a common usage of a generation which was careful to call Virgil's pastoral 
 poems ' Aeglogues '. In E. K's note on the ' Shepheardes Calender', x. 58, 
 the name ' Bucolics ' covers even the first book of the Georgics : " In labouring 
 of lands is (meant) hys Bucoliques". 
 
 ' Fletcher must have been reading Lyly, whose king bee is represented as 
 "preferring those that labour to greater authoritie, and punishing those that 
 loyter, with due seueritie" (' Euphues and his England', p. 45 Bond). The 
 error of the ancients in supposing the queen bee to be a king had a long life. 
 Xenophon has a queen bee, Oecon. vii. 38, but it is hard to find another in 
 literature until after 1670, when the Dutch naturalist, Jan Swammerdam, 
 discovered the sex of the royal bee by the aid of the microscope. Before 1524, 
 Giovanni Rucellai examined various queen bees with the aid of a concave 
 mirror, but failed to discover their sex (' Le Api ', 963-1001). 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 7 
 
 In Herrick's 'Hesperides', 664, 
 
 "O happy life ! if that their good 
 The husbandmen but understood! " 
 
 we hear again the words of Geor. ii. 458. 
 
 In George Daniel's ' Pastorall Ode ' part of the praise of a 
 country life, 
 
 " What though I doe not find 
 My Galleries there Lined 
 With Atticke hangings, nor Corinthian Plate ", etc., 
 
 and, again, 
 
 " What though, my Backe, or Thigh, 
 Not Cloathed be with Woole, in Tirian Dye ! " 
 
 is due to Geor. ii. 458 ff. Compare lines 461-4, "si non . . . 
 inlusasque auro vestes Ephyreiaque aera", and 506, "ut gemma 
 bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro". In the lines ' Vpon a Reviewe 
 of Virgil, translated by Mr. Ogilby' (1647), 
 
 " And Hesiod there, who sung of Ceres most. 
 Gave his Corne-Chaplets, Virgil's better boast. 
 When Hee arriv'd", 
 
 there is an allusion to the Georgics. And there is another in 
 ' A Vindication of Poesie ', 
 
 "the Mantuan, 
 As Sweet in feilds, as statelie, in Troies' fire "'. 
 
 The motto prefixed to Henry Vaughan's ' Olor Iscanus ' (1651) 
 is adapted from Geor. ii. 488-9, and the motto set on the title-page 
 was taken from Geor. ii. 486. Among his ' Fragments and Trans- 
 lations ' there are versions of Geor. iv. 125-138, and ii. 58. 
 
 In the preface to the edition of his works in folio (1656) 
 Abraham Cowley quotes Geor. iii. 244. In his ' Essays in Prose 
 and Verse' he quotes from the Georgics five times (i. 514; ii. 
 488-9; ii. 458; iv. 564; ii. 291-2). The first essay refers to the 
 story of Oenomaus, Geor. iii. 7, and the fourth contains a ' Trans- 
 lation out of Virgil ', Geor. ii. 458-540. 
 
 In Milton's ' Paradise Lost' (1667) the phrase " ignoble ease ", 
 ii. 227, is Virgil's "ignobilis oti ", Geor. iv. 564; and at ii. 665 
 the " labouring moon " recalls the " lunaequelabores " of Geor. ii. 
 478. The phrase "smit with the love of sacred song", iii. 29, is 
 often quoted to illustrate Geor. ii. 476, " ingenti percussus amore ". 
 At vii. 631, "thrice happy if they know their happiness ", there 
 is a verbal resemblance to Geor. ii. 458, " fortunatos nimium, sua 
 si bona norint " ; and at ix. 852, " and ambrosial smell diffused ", 
 
8 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 we have the very words of Geor. iv. 415, " et liquidum ambrosiae 
 diffundit odorem " The mention in ' Comus ', 114, of the starry 
 quire who "lead in swift round the months and years", recalls 
 the "clarissima mundi lumina" of Geor. i. 6, " labentem caelo 
 quae ducitis annum ; " and perhaps the expression at 525, " his 
 baneful cup, with many murmurs mixed ", should be compared 
 with Geor. ii. 128-9 '• 
 
 "pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, 
 miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba." 
 
 In Dryden's ' Medal ', 
 
 " Too happy England, if our good we knew ", 
 
 we have another echo of Geor. ii. 458 ; and in ' Alexander's 
 Feast', the "honest face" of Bacchus seems to be the "caput 
 honestum" of Geor. ii. 392. 
 
 In Roscommon's ' Essay on Translated Verse ', 
 
 " Who has not heard how Italy was blest. 
 Above the Medes, above the wealthy East?" 
 
 the reference is to Geor. ii. 136 ff. 
 
 We learn from Dryden's Dedication of the Aeneis (1697) that 
 Lord Mulgrave had made a version of ' Orpheus and Eurydice ' 
 which was " eminently good ". And the Postscript to the Reader 
 speaks in terms of praise of a recent anonymous translation of 
 part of the third Georgic, called ' The Power of Love.' 
 
 The motto of Samuel Garth's 'Claremont' is Geor. iii. 40-41. 
 
 The motto of Addison's ' Letter from Italy, 1701 ', is Geor. ii. 
 I73~5' In this poem, " Eridanus the king of floods" is the 
 "fluviorum rex Eridanus " of Geor. i. 482. The poetical works 
 of Addison include ' A Translation of all Virgil's Fourth Georgic, 
 except the story of Aristaeus '. 
 
 The motto prefixed to Pope's 'Pastorals' (1704) was taken 
 from Geor. ii. 485-6. The ' Ode on St. Cecilia's Day ', 53-107, 
 contains a paraphrase of part of Virgil's story of Orpheus and 
 Eurydice, Geor. iv. 481-527. And perhaps the lines, in 'Satires 
 and Epistles of Horace Imitated', Bk. ii. Sat. i, 
 
 " And he, whose lightning pierced the Iberian lines, 
 Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines", 
 
 refer to Virgil's precept that vines should be set out in the order 
 of the quincunx, Geor. ii. 277-81. 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. Q 
 
 In John Philips' 'Cyder' (1706) we have the first of a series of 
 eighteenth century didactic poems which are manifestly modeled 
 on the Georgics.^ The opening lines of the first book, 
 
 " What soil the apple loves, what care is due 
 To orchats, timeliest when to press the fruits, 
 Thy gift, Pomona, in Miltonian verse 
 Adventurous I presume to sing", 
 
 remind one of the opening lines of the first Georgic, "quid 
 faciat laetas segetes . . . hinc canere incipiam ". The subtle 
 juice, at line 65, 
 
 " which, in revolving years, may try 
 Thy feeble feet, and bind thy faltering tongue ", 
 
 is like the "tenuis Lageos" of Geor. ii. 94, 
 
 " temptatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam." 
 
 The turn of the phrase, at 116, " yet who would doubt to plant 
 somewhat", is perhaps due to Geor. iv. 242, "at suffire thymo 
 . . . quis dubitet ? " The memorials of the ancient city of 
 Ariconium, 
 
 " huge unwieldy bones, lasting remains 
 Of that gigantic race ; which, as he breaks 
 The clotted glebe, the ploughman haply finds, 
 Appall'd ", 
 
 remind one of Geor. i. 493-7, 
 
 " Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis 
 agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro 
 exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila, 
 aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes 
 grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris." 
 
 'Other members of the series are, TickeU's 'Fragment of a. Poem on 
 Hunting'; Somerville's 'Chase' (1735); Armstrong's 'Art of Preserving 
 Health' (1744); Akenside's 'Pleasures of the Imagination' (1744); Smart's 
 ' Hop-Garden '(1752); Dodsley's 'Agriculture ' (l 754) I Dyer's ' Fleece ' (l 757) ; 
 Grainger's 'Sugar-Cane' (1763); Mason's 'English Garden' (1772-82); and 
 (about 1785) Cowper's 'Task' — especially the third part, entitled 'The 
 Garden'. In all these poems the model followed is professedly, or at least 
 manifestly, Virgil ; and throughout the series there is <t careful imitation of 
 the Georgics in structure and tone, and in many a fancy and precept and 
 phrase. Two of the favorite subjects for imitation are Virgil's episode in 
 praise of Italy and his rhapsody in praise of the farmer's life. Perhaps we 
 should mention here 'The Secrets of Angling', by John Dennys, written 
 before 1613 (Arber's ' English Garner', i. 147 ff.). The beginning of the first 
 book, in its statement of the subject and its invocation of the Nymphs, is 
 sufficiently like the beginning of the first Georgic. 
 
lO AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 The description of the process of grafting, "force a way into the 
 crabstock's close-wrought grain by wedges", is naturally like 
 Geor. ii. 79, "et alte finditur in solidum cuneis via". The 
 passage, 
 
 " So Maro's Muse, 
 Thrice sacred Muse ! commodious precepts gives 
 Instructive to the swains, not wholly bent 
 On what is gainful : sometimes she diverts 
 From solid counsels, shows the force of love 
 In savage beasts ; how virgin face divine 
 Attracts the helpless youth through storms and warei, 
 Alone, in deep of night : then she describes 
 The Scythian winter, nor disdains to sing 
 How under ground the rude Riphaean race 
 Mimic brisk Cyder with the brake's product wild ; 
 Sloes pounded, Hips, and Servis' harshest juice '', 
 
 refers to various passages in the third Georgic : 245 ff., 258 ff., 
 352 ff., 376 ff. The mention of spring as the season " when the 
 stork, sworn foe of snakes, returns " is due to Geor. ii. 320, 
 
 " Candida venit avis longis invisa colubris." 
 
 The mention of the Rhodian and Lesbian vines, and of "Phaneus 
 self", is due to Geor. ii. 90-102, and the expression, "and shall 
 we doubt to improve our vegetable wealth ", comes from Geor. ii. 
 433, "et dubitant homines serere", etc. The meadows "with 
 battening ooze enrich'd" recall the "felicem limum" of Virgil's 
 mountain valley, Geor. ii. 188. The long passage towards the 
 close of the first book, 
 
 " Some loose the bands 
 Of ancient friendship, cancel Nature's laws 
 For pageantry, and tawdry gewgaws . . . 
 If no retinue with observant eyes 
 Attend him, if he can't with purple stain 
 Of cumbrous vestments, labor'd o'er with gold. 
 Dazzle the crowd, and set them all agape ; 
 Yet clad in homely weeds, from Envy's darts 
 Remote he lives", etc., 
 
 is suggested by Virgil's praises of a country life, at the close of 
 the second Georgic: cp. 461 ff., 
 
 " Si non ingentem foribus domus alta superbis 
 mane salutantura totis vomit aedibus undam, 
 nee varios inhiant pulchra testudine postes, 
 
 inlusasque auro vestes 
 
 at secura quies", etc.. 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. II 
 
 and 505 ff., 
 
 " hie petit excidiis urbem miserosque Penates, 
 ut gemma bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro ", etc. 
 
 At the beginning of Philips' second book, 
 
 " Thus far of trees : the pleasing task remains, 
 To sing of wines, and Autumn's blest increase", 
 
 we are reminded of the opening lines of the second Georgic : 
 
 " Hactenus arvorum cultus et sidera caeli ; 
 nunc te, Bacche, canam", etc. 
 
 At line 62, 
 
 " The well-rang'd files of trees, whose fuU-ag'd store 
 Diffuse ambrosial steams", 
 
 we have a Virgilian phrase, "liquidum ambrosiae diffundit 
 odorem", Geor. iv. 415. The precept, 
 
 " The hoarded store, 
 And the harsh draught, must twice endure the Sun's 
 Kind strengthening heat, twice Winter's purging cold ", 
 
 borrows Virgil's phrase, "bis quae solem bis frigora sensit", 
 Geor. i. 48, and the expression, 
 
 " with vehement suns 
 When dusty summer bakes the crumbling clods ", 
 
 repeats Geor. i. 65-6, 
 
 " glaebasque iacentes 
 pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus aestas." 
 
 In 17 10, Swift wrote 'A Description of a City-Shower, in 
 Imitation of Virgil's Georgics '. This has its own list of " sure 
 prognostics", to match Virgil's " certis signis", Geor. i. 351. 
 And, at the close, it has its own picture of the effect of the storm, 
 
 " Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, 
 And bear their trophies with them ", etc., 
 
 to match Virgil's picture, Geor. i. 325, 
 
 " et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores 
 diluit ; implentur fossae ", etc. 
 
 In the first canto of John Gay's ' Rural Sports. A Georgic ' 
 (1713) we have a list of the subjects in "the Mantuan's Georgic 
 strains". In 'Trivia', i. 122 ff., a cheap imitation of Swift's 
 ' City-Shower ', we have a list of " sure prognostics " and 
 
12 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 " certain signs " of the weather, hke Virgil's " certis signis ", Geor. 
 i. 351 ff. Virgil's lines, 415-6, 
 
 "baud equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis 
 ingenium aut rerum fato prudentia maior", 
 
 are applied to the city sparrows, 
 
 ' Not that their minds with greater skill are fraught, 
 Endued by instinct or by reason taught." 
 
 At i. 204, 
 
 " So fierce Alecto's snaky tresses fell, 
 When Orpheus charm'd the rigorous powers of Hell", 
 
 we have a reference to the " caeruleos implexae crinibus angues 
 Eumenides" of Geor. iv. 482. And at ii. 393-8, we have an 
 allusion to the death of Orpheus, Geor. iv. 523 ff., 
 
 " His sever'd head floats down the silver tide, 
 His yet warm tongue for his lost consort cry'd", etc. 
 
 In the poems of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, 
 we have ' Part of the Story of Orpheus. Being a Translation out 
 of the fourth Book of Virgil's Georgic '. The part translated 
 is iv. 453-527. 
 
 The mottoes of twenty-five of the essays in the ' Spectator ' 
 (from 1710 on) are taken from the Georgics. The motto of 
 John Hughes' ' Ecstasy ' is Geor. ii. 475-6. The motto of 
 William Congreve's ' Tears of Amaryllis for Amyntas ' is Geor. 
 iv. 511-15. The motto of the first book of Edward Young's 
 ' Last Day ' is Geor. i. 328-31. The motto of Night the Third of 
 Young's 'Complaint' is Geor. iv. 489. The motto of his 'Epistle 
 to Lord Lansdowne' is Geor. ii. 18-19. 
 
 In Colley Gibber's 'Refusal' (1720), v. 2, there is a quotation 
 (slightly modified) from Dryden's version of the Georgics, 
 
 " Hear how the British Virgil sings his sway: 
 ' Thus every creature, and of every kind. 
 The secret joys of mutual passion find ; 
 Not only man's imperial race, but they 
 That wing the liquid air, or swim the sea, 
 Or haunt the desert, rush into the flame ; 
 For love is lord of all, and is in all the same ' "- 
 
 See Geor. iii. 242-4. 
 
 In the second canto of Soame Jenyns' 'Art of Dancing' (1730) 
 there is a foot-note reference to Geor. i. 514, "nee audit currus 
 habenas". 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 13 
 
 In 'A Fragment of a Poem on Hunting', by Thomas Tickell, 
 the "thousand families of hounds " — 
 
 " First count the sands, the drops where oceans flow" — 
 
 are as numerous as Virgil's varieties of trees and vines, ii. 105-8. 
 The passage about spring as the season of Venus comes from 
 Geor. ii. 325 ff., iii. 242 ff. The fragment breaks off with 
 a reference to the foiirth and third Georgics: 
 
 " Hence bees in state, and foaming coursers come", etc. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking case of the careful study and imita- 
 tion of the Georgics is that of James Thomson, the author of 
 the ' Seasons '. Indeed, one may apply to his use of Virgil what 
 was said of Spenser's use of his models in the 'Shepheardes 
 Calender: ' " whose foting this author every where followeth : yet 
 so as few, but they be wel sented, can trace him out". We hear 
 a great deal about Thomson's enthusiasm, his passion, for Nature; 
 but it ought to be more widely known that in much of his 
 imaginative interpretation of the physical world he was avowedly 
 following Virgil. Many of his "nature" passages were written 
 with Virgil definitely in mind, or with the page of Virgil literally 
 open before him. Even the prayer to Nature — which is some- 
 times quoted as giving Thomson's poetical profession of faith — 
 is a close imitation of a passage in the Georgics. A similar 
 prayer, in a similar context, may be found at the close of 
 Somerville's 'Chase*. 
 
 In ' Spring ', 27, the mention of the season when the " bright 
 Bull" receives the bounteous sun is suggested by Geor. i. 217, 
 
 " candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum 
 Taurus." 
 
 Compare Milton, P. L. i. 769, " In spring-time when the sun with 
 Taurus rides". Lines 32-33, 
 
 " Forth fly the tepid Airs; and unconfined. 
 Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays ", 
 
 are due to Geor. ii. 330-1 : 
 
 " Zephyrique tepentibus auris 
 laxant arva sinus ; superat tener omnibus umor." 
 
 And the expression, in line 46, " the faithful bosom of the ground " 
 
14 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 is very like Virgil's " iustissima tellus ", Geor. ii. 460. At line 55 
 we have a direct mention of Virgil : 
 
 "Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 
 To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height 
 Of elegance and taste, by Greece refined." 
 
 At line 455 we have another reference to the Georgics : 
 
 "Through rural scenes; such as the Mantuan swain 
 Paints in the matchless harmony of song." 
 
 The description, at 717, of the nightingale who finds her nest 
 robbed " by the hard hand of unrelenting clowns", and, retiring 
 to the poplar shade, 
 
 *' sings 
 Her sorrows through the night; and, on the bough 
 Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall 
 Takes up again her lamentable strain 
 Of winding woe, till, wide around, the woods 
 Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound", 
 
 is borrowed from Geor. iv. 511, 
 
 "qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra 
 amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator 
 observans nido implumes detraxit ; at ilia 
 flet noctem ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 
 integrat et maestis late loca questibus implet." 
 
 Lines 791-807, 
 
 " Through all his lusty veins 
 The bull, deep-scorched, the raging passion feels. 
 Of pasture sick, and negligent of food, 
 
 and, idly-butting, feigns 
 
 His rival gored in every knotty trunk. 
 
 to the hollowed earth. 
 
 Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds", etc., 
 
 recall the passage in the third Georgic, 215 ff.: 
 
 "Carpit enim vires paulatim uritque videndo 
 femina, nee nemorum patitur meminisse nee herbae 
 
 duleibus ilia quidem illecebris 
 
 et tentat sese, atque irasci in cornua diseit 
 arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque laeessit 
 ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena." 
 
 And lines 808-19, 
 
 " The trembling steed, 
 With this hot impulse seized in every nerve. 
 Nor hears the rein, nor heeds the sounding thong ", etc.. 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. IS 
 
 are a paraphrase of Geor. iii. 250-4 : 
 
 "Nonne vides, ut tola tremor pertemptet equorum 
 corpora, si tantum notas odor attulit auras ? 
 Ac neque eos iam frena virum neque verbera saeva, 
 non scopuli rupesque cavae atque obiecta retardant 
 flumina correptosque undajtorquentia monies." 
 
 In 'Summer', 11 16 ff., the signs of the rising storm : 
 
 "A boding silence reigns, 
 Dread through the dun expanse ; save the dull sound 
 That from the mountain, previous to the storm. 
 Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, 
 And shakes the forest-leaf virithout a breath. 
 Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes 
 
 Descend 
 
 In rueful gaze 
 
 The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens 
 Cast a deploring eye", 
 
 are borrowed from Geor. i. 356 ff.: 
 
 " Continue ventis surgentibus aut freta ponti 
 incipiunt agitata tumescere et aridus altis 
 montibus audiri fragor, aut resonantia longe 
 litora misceri et nemorum increbescere murmur. 
 . . . . aut ilium surgentem vallibus imis 
 aeriae fugere grues, aut bucula caelum 
 suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras." 
 
 And the effect of the storm on Carnarvon's mountains, 1163: 
 
 " from the rude rocks 
 Of Penmanmaur heaped hideous to the sky. 
 Tumble the smitten cliffs", 
 
 recalls Geor. i. 331-3 : 
 
 " ille flagranti 
 aut Athon aut Rhodopen aut alta Ceraunia telo 
 deiicit." 
 
 The panegyric on Britain, 1442 ff., and the list of her "sons of 
 glory", 1479 ff., were probably suggested by the episode in 
 praise of Italy, Geor. ii. 136-76. And the concluding passage 
 in praise of philosophy, 1730 ff., has its parallel near the close of 
 the second Georgic, 475-82. 
 
 The expression in 'Autumn ', 7, " whate'er . . . Summer suns 
 concocted strong ", is probably due to Geor. i. 66, 
 
 " glaebasque iacentes 
 pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus aestas." 
 
l6 AMERICAN JOURNAL OP PHILOLOGY. 
 
 And the same Virgilian passage is paraphrased at 408, 
 
 " The fallow ground laid open to the sun, 
 Concoctive." 
 
 Line 24, 
 
 "And Libra weighs in equal scales the year", 
 
 may be compared with Geor. i. 208, 
 
 " Libra die somnique pares ubi fecerit horas." 
 
 The expression, at 122, "Thames . . . king of floods", recalls 
 Virgil's " fluviorum rex Eridanus ", Geor. i. 482. The descrip- 
 tion of the autumn storm, 31 1 ff., is a paraphrase of Geor. i. 316 ff. 
 Compare lines 330 ff., 
 
 "And sometimes too a burst of rain, 
 Swept from the black horizon, broad, descends 
 In one continuous flood. Still overhead 
 The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and still 
 The deluge deepens; till the fields around 
 Lie sunk and flatted, in the sordid wave. 
 Sudden the ditches swell; the meadows swim. 
 Red from the hills, innumerable streams 
 
 Tumultuous roar ; 
 
 . . . his drowning ox at once 
 Descending, with his labours scattered round. 
 He sees", etc., 
 
 with i. 322 ff., 
 
 " Saepe etiam immensum caelo venit agmen aquarum, 
 et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris 
 coUectae ex alto nubes ; ruit arduus aether, 
 et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores 
 diluit ; implentur fossae et cava flumina crescunt 
 cum sonitu ", etc. 
 
 The picture of the vintage, 700, 
 
 " the country floats. 
 And foams unbounded with the mashy flood", 
 
 recalls Geor. ii. 6, 
 
 "tibi pampineo gravidus auturano 
 floret ager, spumat plenis vindemia labris;" 
 
 and the lines, at 1072, 
 
 " What pity, Cobham ! thou thy verdant files 
 Of ordered trees shouldst here inglorious range. 
 Instead of squadrons flaming o'er the field. 
 And long embattled hosts ! " 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. I? 
 remind one of Geor. ii. 277 ff., 
 
 " nee setius omnis in unguem 
 arboribus positis secto via limite quadret. 
 Ut saepe ingenti bello cum longa cohortes 
 explicuit legio, et campo stetit agmen aperto, 
 directaeque acies ", etc. 
 
 Lines 1233-4, 
 
 "their annual toil 
 Begins again the never-ceasing round ", 
 
 are an echo of Geor. ii. 401-2 : 
 
 " Redit agricolis labor actus in oibem, 
 atque in se sua per vestigia volvilur annus." 
 
 The long passage — too long to quote — 1235-1351, 
 
 "Oh ! knew he but his happiness, of men 
 The happiest he ; who far from public rage 
 Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired, 
 Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life", etc., 
 
 is a close imitation of Geor. ii. 458-540. Compare 1235-77 w*'l* 
 ii. 458-74; 1278-98 with ii. 503-12; 1299-1310 with ii. 495- 
 502; 1327-51 with ii. 519-40. The address to Nature, 1352-73, 
 is modeled on ii. 475-86. Compare the lines, 
 
 " But if to that unequal ; if the blood. 
 In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid 
 That best ambition ; under closing shades, 
 Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook ", etc., 
 
 with ii. 483-6, 
 
 " Sin has ne possim naturae accedere partes, 
 frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis, 
 rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes, 
 flumina amem silvasque inglorius." 
 
 The line in ' Winter ', 228, 
 
 " And the sky saddens with the gathered storm " , 
 has its counterpart in Geor. iii. 279, 
 
 " unde nigerrimus Auster 
 nascitur et pluvio contristat frigore caelum.' 
 
 Compare Tennyson, ' The Daisy ', 
 
 " The gloom that saddens Heaven and Earth." 
 
i8 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 At 530 we have an indication of Thomson's reverence for Virgil: 
 
 " Behold, who yonder comes ! in sober state, 
 Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun — 
 'Tis Phoebus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain ! " 
 
 The signs of the rising storm, 118-52, are largely borrowed from 
 Virgil. Compare 126-31 with Geor.i. 365-9; 132-7 with i. 375-6 
 and 390-2; 139-41 with i. 381-2; 143-4 with '■ 4031 ^44-6 with 
 i. 361-4; and 148-52, 
 
 " Ocean, unequal pressed, with broken tide 
 And blind commotion heaves ; while from the shore. 
 Ate into caverns by the restless wave, 
 And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice. 
 That solemn-sounding bids the world prepare", 
 
 with i. 356-9, 
 
 " Continue ventis surgentibus aut freta ponti 
 incipiunt agitata tumescere et aridus altis 
 montibus audiri fragor, aut resonantia longe 
 litora misceri et nemorum increbescere murmur." 
 
 Lines 182-3, 
 
 " Low waves the rooted forest, vexed, and sheds 
 What of its tarnished honours yet remain ", 
 
 may be compared with Geor. ii. 404, 
 
 " frigidus et silvis Aquilo decussit honorem.'' 
 
 The picture of the frigid zone, 816-26, 
 
 " There, warm together pressed, the trooping deer 
 Sleep on the new-fallen snows ; and, scarce his head 
 Raised o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk 
 Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. 
 The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils. 
 Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives 
 The fearful, flying race ; with ponderous clubs. 
 As, weak, against the mountain-heaps they push 
 Their beating breast in vain, and, piteous, bray, 
 He lays them quivering on the ensanguined snows. 
 And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home ", 
 
 is borrowed from Geor. iii. 368-75, 
 
 " confertoque agmine cervi 
 torpent mole nova et summis vix cornibus exstant. 
 Hos non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis 
 puniceaeve agitant pavidos formidine pennae, 
 sed frustra oppositum trudentes pectore montem 
 comminus obtruncant ferro, graviterque rudentes 
 caedunt, et magno laeti clamore reportant." 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 19 
 And at 941 ff., the lines, 
 
 "Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves, 
 Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer. 
 They waste the tedious gloom ", 
 
 remind one of Geor. iii. 376 ff., 
 
 " Ipsi in defossis specubus secura sub alta 
 otia agunt terra", etc. 
 
 In ' Liberty ', i. 159, " yellow Ceres " is Virgil's " flava Ceres ", 
 Geor. i. 96; and at iii. 512, "the deep vales of gelid Haemus", 
 we have the " gelidis convallibus Haemi " of Geor. ii. 488. At 
 the beginning of Part v, the long passage on the happiness and 
 grandeur of Great Britain, 8-85, is modeled on the episode in 
 praise of Italy, Geor. ii. 136-76. Compare, for example, lines 81-5, 
 
 " Great nurse of fruits, of flocks, of commerce, she ! 
 Great nurse of men ! by thee, O Goddess, taught. 
 Her old renown I trace, disclose her source 
 Of wealth, of grandeur, and to Britons sing 
 A strain the Mttses never touched before ", 
 
 with ii. 173-6, 
 
 "Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, 
 magna virum : tibi res antiquae laudis et artis 
 ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes, 
 Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen." 
 
 Virgil's description of the Lago di Garda, ii. 160, 
 
 "fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens, Benace, marino", 
 
 is applied to the Severn, 
 
 " And thee, thou Severn, whose prodigious swell 
 And waves, resounding, imitate the main ; " 
 
 and even the line about the Italian climate, ii. 149, 
 
 " hie ver adsiduum atque alienis mensibus aestas ", 
 
 is resolutely applied to the climate of Great Britain, 
 
 " Eternal verdure crowns 
 Her meads; her gardens smile eternal spring." 
 
 In ' The Castle of Indolence ', ii. 55, the stanza about the toiling 
 swain, " perhaps the happiest of the sons of men ", free from 
 
20 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 avarice and "rich in nature's wealth ", owes something to Geor. 
 ii. 458 flF. And in stanza 78 the picture of the " saddened country ", 
 
 " Where nought but putrid streams and noisome fogs 
 For ever hung on drizzly Auster's beard; 
 Or else the ground, by piercing Caurus seared, 
 Was jagged with frost, or heaped with glazed snow'', 
 
 may be compared with Geor. iii. 279, 
 
 "unde nigerrimus Auster 
 nascitur et pluvio contristat frigore caelum", 
 
 and iii. 354-6, 
 
 " sed iacet aggeribus niveis informis et alto 
 terra gelu late septemque adsurgit in ulnas ; 
 semper hiemps, semper spirantes frigora Cauri." 
 
 The motto of Somerville's 'Chase' (1735) is Geor. iii. 404. 
 The motto of ' Hobbinol ' is Geor. iii. 289-93. The motto of 
 Fable xiii is Geor. iii. 97-101. The author's model in the 'Chase' 
 is professedly Virgil ; in his preface he says, " I have intermixed 
 the preceptive parts with so many descriptions and digressions in 
 the Georgic manner, that I hope they will not be tedious". The 
 conclusion, like that of Thomson's ' Autumn ', is modeled on the 
 conclusion of the second Georgic : 
 
 "O happy! if ye knew your happy state. 
 Ye rangers of the fields ; . . . . 
 
 What, if no heroes frown 
 
 From marble pedestals; .... 
 
 Give me to know wise Nature's hidden depths. 
 
 Trace each mysterious cause, . . . 
 
 But if my soul, 
 
 To this gross clay confined, flutters on Earth 
 
 With less ambitious wing; .... 
 
 Grant me, propitious, an inglorious life ", etc. 
 
 In Gray's ' Ode on the Spring ' (written 1742) the lines, 
 
 " The insect youth are on the wing. 
 Eager to taste the honied spring, 
 And float amid the liquid noon", 
 
 are referred, in the author's own note to Geor. iv. 59, " nare per 
 aestatem liquidam.'' 
 
 The motto of William Collins' 'Persian Eclogues' (1742) is 
 taken from Geor. i. 250. 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 21 
 In Akenside's ' Pleasures of the Imagination ' (1744), i. 599-604, 
 
 " I unlock 
 The springs of ancient Wisdom .... 
 And tune to Attic themes the British lyre", 
 
 we have an echo of Geor. ii. 174-6, 
 
 " tibi res antiquae laudis et artis 
 ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes, 
 Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen.'' 
 
 And the conclusion of the third book, 568 ff., " Oh ! blest of 
 Heaven! . . . what though not all . . . yet Nature's 
 care ", etc., is modeled on the conclusion of the second Georgic, 
 
 458 ff- 
 
 In Armstrong's 'Art of Preserving Heahh' (1744), we have 
 another didactic poem whose model is doubtless Virgil. The lines 
 in the first book, 
 
 " Harder in clear and animated song 
 Dry philosophic precepts to convey. 
 Yet with thy aid the secret wilds I trace 
 Of Nature, and with daring steps proceed 
 Thro' paths the Muses never trod before", 
 
 may be compared with Geor. iii. 289-93, 
 
 " Nee sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere magnum 
 
 quam sit 
 
 sed me Parnasi deserta per ardua dulcis 
 raptat amor; iuvat ire iugis, qua nulla priorum 
 Castaliam moUi devertitur orbita clivo." 
 
 Compare, also, Lucretius, i. 922-30. The third book has a passage 
 in praise of country life which recalls the close of the second 
 Georgic ; and the close of the third book, like the close of the 
 third Georgic, gives a description of a terrible pestilence. The 
 close of the fourth book, like the close of the fourth Georgic, has 
 an allusion to the story of Orpheus, 
 
 " Sooth'd even the inexorable powers of Hell, 
 And half redeem'd his lost Eurydice". 
 
 Compare the close of Milton's 'L'Allegro', 
 
 "Such strains as would have won the ear 
 Of Pluto, to have quite set free 
 His half regained Eurydice." 
 
22 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 In the second book of William Thompson's ' Sickness' (i745) 
 there is an allusion to Geor. iv. 271 : " amello, blooming still in 
 Virgil's rural page ". And the passage, 
 
 " Through dreary paths, and haunts, by mortal foot 
 Rare visited", 
 
 is referred to Geor. iii. 291-3. 
 
 In Francis Fawkes' ' Bramham Park' Ci745)i 
 
 " Oft, as with shining share he ploughs the field, 
 The swain astonish'd finds the massy shield, 
 On whose broad boss, sad source of various woes. 
 He views engrav'd the long disputed rose. 
 Huge human bones the fruitful furrows hide 
 Of once-fam'd heroes that in battle died", 
 
 the reference to the civil war is modeled on Geor. i. 493-7. 
 
 The motto of George Lyttelton's ' Monody. A. d. 1747 ' is Geor. 
 iv. 464-6. 
 
 The motto of John Cunningham's ' Landscape ' is a misquota- 
 tion of Geor. ii. 485. 
 
 The title of one of John Byrom's poems, ' Dulces ante omnia 
 Musae ', is taken from Geor. ii. 475. 
 
 In Walter Harte's ' Episode of Orpheus and Eurydice ' we 
 have a translation of Geor. iv. 460-527. In ' Contentment, In- 
 dustry, and Acquiescense under the Divine Will ' (1749), we have 
 the lines about " December's Boreas", 
 
 " Destruction withers up the ground. 
 Like parchment into embers cast", 
 
 with a foot-note reference to Virgil, "inamabile frigus aduret ". 
 This is a misquotation of Geor. i. 93, " aut Boreae penetrabile 
 frigus adurat ". In ' The Enchanted Region ', 
 
 " In vain the Mantuan poet try'd 
 To paint Amellus' starry pride", 
 
 we have an allusion to Geor. iv. 271. And in ' Macarius ; or, The 
 Confessor', 
 
 "Age seldom boasts so prodigal remains ", 
 
 there is a foot-note reference to Geor. ii. 99-100, 
 
 "cui vix certaverit ulla 
 aut tantum fluere, aut totidem durare per annos." 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 23 
 
 Smart's ' Hop-Garden ' (1752) is a professed imitation of Virgil. 
 The sub-title is ' A Georgic. In two Books ', and the motto of the 
 second book is Geor. i. 167-8. The opening lines may be com- 
 pared with lines 1-2 and 47 of the first Georgic. The statement 
 " I teach in verse Miltonian " recalls the beginning of John 
 Philips' ' Cyder '. The author's own notes indicate various 
 borrowings from Virgil: Geor. ii. 485-6; ii. 173-6; ii. 82; 
 i' 373~9i (a long passage on the signs of a rising storm). 
 
 In Richard Cambridge's ' Scribbleriad', Bk. i, 
 
 " The fierce Bisaltae milk the nursing mare. 
 Mix her rich blood, and swill the luscious fare ", 
 
 we have a statement borrowed from Geor. iii. 463, 
 
 " et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino." 
 
 In William Hamilton's ' Corycian Swain ' we have a translatioa 
 of Geor. iv. 116-48. 
 
 The first canto of Dodsley's ' Agriculture' (1754) has its echo 
 of Geor. ii. 458, 
 
 " O happy he ! happiest of mortal men ! 
 Who far remov'd from slavery as from pride ", etc. 
 
 In the second canto, 
 
 " Why should I tell of him whose obvious art 
 
 Draws its collected moisture from the glebe? 
 
 Or why of him, who 
 
 Calls from the neighbouring hills obsequious springs ", etc., 
 
 we have a paraphrase of Geor. i. 104-114. In the third canto, at 
 the mention of the battle of the rival rams, there is an allusion 
 to Virgil's battle of the bulls, Geor. iii. 220 flf., 
 
 " But as deterr'd by the superior bard, 
 Whose steps, at awful distance, I revere, 
 Nor dare to tread ; so by the thundering strife 
 Of his majestic fathers of the herd, 
 My feebler combatants, appall'd, retreat" 
 
 The motto prefixed to the poems of Gilbert West is Geor. 
 ii. 174-5. 
 
 The opening lines of Dyer's 'Fleece' (1757) — with their 
 announcement of the subject and their invocation — are like the 
 
24 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 beginning of the first Georgic. The lines in praise of " noble 
 Albion ", 
 
 " Such noble warlike steeds, such herds of kine, 
 So sleek, so vast ; such spacious flocks of sheep, 
 Like flakes of gold illumining the green, 
 What other Paradise adorn but thine, 
 Britannia? happy, if thy sons would know 
 Their happiness. To these thy naval streams. 
 Thy frequent towns superb of busy trade. 
 And ports magnific add ", etc., 
 
 may be compared with Geor. ii. 145-161, and ii. 458. The men- 
 tion of the Lappian shepherd, in the " Hyperborean tracts ", who 
 "burrows deep beneath the snowy world", is due to Geor. iii. 
 376-81, " Ipsi in defossis specubus", etc. 
 
 The motto of William Shenstone's 'Elegy' XVIII, is Geor. iii. 
 318-20. The motto of 'The Dying Kid' is Geor. iii. 66-67. 
 The motto of ' Love and Honour ' is adapted from Geor. ii. 136-g. 
 
 Grainger's 'Sugar-Cane' (1763) is called in the Preface "a 
 West India Georgic ". The opening lines, 
 
 " What soil the cane affects ; what care demands ; 
 Beneath what signs to plant ", etc., 
 
 follow the model provided by Geor. i. i, 
 
 " Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sidere terram 
 vertere ", etc.; 
 
 and the author definitely mentions Virgil among his predecessors 
 in didactic verse. At i. 223, 
 
 " Never, ah never, be ashamed to tread 
 Thy dung-heaps", 
 
 we have the precept of Geor. i. 80, " ne saturare fimo pingui 
 pudeat sola ". At i. 170, the list of plagues that annoy the planter 
 reminds one of Geor. i. 181 ff. The list of "signs of future rain", 
 at i. 312, begins with an allusion to Geor. i. 351 ff., 
 
 " The signs of rain, the Mantuan bard hath sung 
 In loftiest numbers." 
 
 In ii. 131 ff., 
 
 " Not the blest apple Median climes produce, 
 Though lofty Maro (whose immortal Muse 
 Distant I follow, and, submiss, adore) 
 Hath sung its properties, to counteract 
 Dire spells, slow-mutter'd o'er the baneful bowl. 
 Where cruel stepdames pois'nous drugs have brew'd", etc., 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 25 
 
 we have an allusion to Geor. ii. 126-30. The description of the 
 hurricane, ii. 286 ff., when " all the armies of the winds engage ", 
 and "rushes the headlong sky", recalls Virgil's storm, Geor. 
 i. 318, " omnia ventorum concurrere proelia", and i. 324, "ruit 
 arduus aether ". The statement, at iii. 46, 
 
 " The planter's labour in a round revolves ; 
 Ends with the year, and with the year begins ", 
 
 is adapted from Geor. ii. 401-2 : 
 
 " Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem, 
 atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus." 
 
 And at iii. 102, 
 
 " So from no field, shall slow-pac'd oxen draw 
 More frequent loaded wains ", 
 
 we have an echo of Geor. ii. 205-6, 
 
 "non ullo ex aequore cernes 
 plura domum tardis decedere plaustra iuvencis." 
 
 The line in Charles Churchill's ' Independence ', 356, 
 
 " E'en Virgil to Maecenas paid his court", 
 
 refers to the circumstances under which the Georgics were written. 
 
 The motto of Richard Jago's 'Edge-Hill' (1767) is Geor. ii. 
 173-5. Toward the close of the third book, the author has 
 indicated three allusions to the Georgics (i. 419; i. 143; ii. 103-4.) 
 And in the fourth book, his foot-notes refer to four other passages 
 of the Georgics (i. 322-26; iii. 494-5; iii. 470-3; '• 493-7)- 
 
 The motto of John Langhorne's 'Fables of Flora' (1771) is 
 from Geor. iii. 40. 
 
 In Mason's ' English Garden' (1772-82) we have still another 
 didactic poem which is modeled upon Virgil. The third book 
 contains a pleasant reference to the Georgics, especially iv. 1 16-49 : 
 
 " That force of ancient phrase which, speaking, paints. 
 And is the thing it sings. Ah, Virgil, why, 
 By thee neglected, was this loveliest theme 
 Left to the grating voice of modern reed ? 
 Why not array it in the splendid robe 
 Of thy rich diction'', etc. 
 
 The fourth book contains a long tale, of Alcander and Nerina, 
 to correspond to the story of Aristaeus in the fourth Georgic 
 
26 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 In Cowper's 'Task' (c. 1785), i. 6, 
 
 " The theme though humble, yet august and proua 
 The occasion", 
 
 we have a parallel to Geor. iv. 6, " In tenui labor ; at tenuis non 
 gloria ", etc. The opening lines of book ii, 
 
 " Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
 Some boundless contiguity of shade. 
 Where rumour of oppression and deceit. 
 Of unsuccessful or successful war, 
 Might never reach me more I " 
 
 may be compared with Geor. ii. 488-9, 
 
 " O qui me gelidis convallibus Haemi 
 sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra", 
 
 and ii. 497-8, 
 
 "aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro, 
 non res Romanae perituraque regna ", etc. 
 
 In iii. 413, 
 
 " No meaner hand may discipline the shoots, 
 None but his steel approach them", 
 
 we have the tone of Geor. ii. 369-70, 
 
 "ante reformidant ferrum ; turn denique dura 
 exerce imperia et ramos compesce fluentes." 
 
 At iii. 429, 
 
 " With blushing fruits, and plenty not his own", 
 
 the author added, in a foot-note, a misquotation of Geor. ii. 82, 
 
 " miraturque novw fructus et non sua poma." 
 
 At iii. 625, 
 
 " the employs of rural life. 
 Reiterated as the wheel of time 
 Runs round ", 
 
 we have an echo of Geor. ii. 401, 
 
 " Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem 
 atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus." 
 
 The expression, at iii. 650, 
 
 " ere he gives 
 The beds the trusted treasure of their seeds ", 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 27 
 
 may be compared with Geor. i. 223, "debita quam sulcis committas 
 semina ". At iii. 657, 
 
 " Few self-supported flowers endure the wind 
 Uninjured, but expect the upholding aid 
 Of the smooth shaven prop, and neatly tied", etc., 
 
 we are reminded of Virgil's precept, Geor. ii. 358-61, 
 
 " turn leves calamos et rasae hastilia virgae 
 fraxineasque aptare sudes furcasque valentes, 
 viribus eniti quarum et contemnere ventos 
 assuescant", etc. 
 
 The conclusion of the third book, 
 
 " O blest seclusion from a jarring world. 
 Which he, thus occupied, enjoys!" etc., 
 
 with its thesis that the country is " preferable to the town ", recalls 
 the conclusion of the second Georgic, 458 ff. In v. 135-7, 
 
 "In such a palace Aristaeus found 
 Cyrene, when he bore the plaintive tale 
 Of his lost bees to her maternal ear", 
 
 the allusion is to Geor. iv. 374, 
 
 " Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta 
 perventum", etc. 
 
 The motto of ' Retirement ', " studiis florens ignobilis oti ", is 
 from Geor. iv. 564, and there is an echo of the same Latin passage 
 at the close of the English poem : "Me poetry employs . . . fast 
 by the banks of the slow-winding Ouse", etc. In the lines 'On 
 the Death of Mrs. Throckmorton's Bulfinch', there is an allusion 
 to Virgil's story of the death of Orpheus, Geor. iv. 523 flF. The 
 motto of the 'Yearly Bill of Mortality ', 1792, is Geor. ii. 490-2. 
 
 In 1794, W. S. Landor wrote a verse translation of Geor. iv. 
 464-515. And in ' Pericles and Aspasia ', the song to Hesperus, 
 vol. v, p. 451, he hints at an antique bit of scandal about Pan and 
 Luna (Geor. iii. 391-3). 
 
 The first dialogue of Mathias' ' Pursuits of Literature ' (1794) 
 alludes to Geor. iv. 398, and a note on the second quotes, or 
 adapts, Geor. ii. 173. 
 
 The line in Coleridge's ' Dejection ' (1802) vi, 
 
 "And fruits, and foliage, not my own, seemed mine", 
 
 may be an echo of Geor. ii. 82, 
 
 "miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma." 
 
28 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 And the passage in Wordsworth's ' Prelude ', viii, 
 
 " Smooth life had herdsman, and his snow-white herd 
 To triumphs and to sacrificial rites 
 Devoted, on the inviolable stream 
 Of rich Clitumnus", 
 
 may be due to Geor. ii. 146-8, 
 
 " hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus 
 victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, 
 Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos." 
 
 In the preface to 'Hours of Idleness' (1807) Byron quotes 
 Geor. iii. 9, "' virum volitare per ora ". In ' Hints from Horace ', 
 the phrase " fluent as an Orpheus head " is explained by a foot- 
 note reference to Geor. iv. 523-7. 
 
 In 1809, James Grahame published a belated didactic poem, 
 entitled ' British Georgics '. 
 
 The motto of Thomas Moore's ' Fables for the Holy Alliance' 
 is Geor. iv. 106. The motto of ' Hat versus Wig ' is Geor. 
 ii. 491-2. In ' Evenings in Greece', Second Evening, 
 
 " 'Tis Maina's land — her ancient hills 
 The abode of nymphs ", 
 
 the author adds a foot-note reference to Geor. ii. 487, " virginibus 
 bacchata Lacaenis Taygeta." 
 
 In Samuel Rogers' ' Italy ', xix, we have an allusion to the 
 "biferique rosaria Paesti " of Geor. iv. 119: 
 
 " And now a Virgil, now an Ovid sung 
 Paestum's twice-blowing roses." 
 
 Compare Ovid, Met. xv. 708; Propertius, v. 5. 61. And the motto 
 of the lines ' To an Old Oak ' is taken from Geor. ii. 294-5. 
 In Macaulay's ' Horatius', vii, 
 
 " Unwatched along Clitumnus 
 
 Grazes the milk-white steer ", 
 
 we have the " hinc albi, Clitumne, greges " of Geor. ii. 146. And 
 in the next stanza, 
 
 " This year, young boys in Umbro 
 
 Shall plunge the struggling sheep ; 
 And in the vats of Luna, 
 
 This year, the must shall foam 
 Round the white feet of laughing girls, 
 
 Whose sires have marched to Rome ", 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 29 
 
 may be compared with Geor. i. 272, 
 
 "balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri", 
 and Geor. ii. 6-8 : 
 
 " spumat plenis vindemia labris ; 
 hue, pater o Lenaee, veni, nudataque musto 
 tingue novo mecum dereptis crura cothurnis." 
 
 In the ' Battle of the Lake Regillus ', ii, the picture of " wild 
 Parthenius tossing in waves of pine", recalls Geor. ii. 437, 
 " undantem buxo spectare Cytorum." 
 
 In Matthew Arnold's ' Memorial Verses. April, 1850', 
 
 •' And he was happy, if to know 
 Causes of things, and far below 
 His feet to see the lurid flow 
 Of terror, and insane distress, 
 And headlong fate, be happiness", 
 
 we have an echo of Geor. ii. 490, 
 
 " felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, 
 atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum 
 subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari." 
 
 In the sonnets of Charles Tennyson Turner, ccvii, ' The Steam 
 Threshing-Machine ', there is a pleasant allusion to Virgil, 
 
 " him. who set his stately seal 
 Of Roman words on all the forms he saw 
 Of old-world husbandry." 
 
 And in Sonnet ccviii, 
 
 " it might be 
 Some poet-husbandman, some lord of verse. 
 Old Hesiod, or the wizard Mantuan 
 Who catalogued in rich hexameters 
 The Kake, the Roller, and the mystic Van ", 
 
 we have an allusion to Geor. i. 164-6. In Sonnet ccxxxviii, 
 ' Free Greece ', 
 
 "And spread our sails about thee lovingly", 
 we have a foot-note reference by the author to Geor. iii. 285, 
 " singula dum capti circumvectamur amore.'' 
 In Robert Browning's ' Ring and the Book ', viii, 
 
 " Ah, fortunate (the poet's word reversed) 
 Inasmuch as we know our happiness! " 
 
30 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 the reference is to Geor. ii. 458, 
 
 " O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, 
 agricolas." 
 
 In part ix, the lines, 
 
 " Like the strange favor Maro memorized 
 As granted Aristaeus when his hive 
 Lay empty of the swarm ? . . . . 
 And lo, a new birth filled the air with joy, 
 Sprung from the bowels of the generous steer", 
 
 allude to Geor. iv. 555 ff. The poem ' Pan and Luna ' is de- 
 veloped, as its motto might suggest, from Virgil's brief hint, 
 Geor. iii. 391-3, 
 
 " Munere sic niveo lanae, si credere dignum est. 
 Pan deus Arcadiae captam te, Luna, fefellit 
 in nemora alta vocans ; nee tu aspernata vocantem." 
 
 The Latin passage is paraphrased at the close of the English poem : 
 
 " Ha, Virgil ? Tell the rest, you ! ' To the deep 
 Of his domain the wildwood. Pan forthwith 
 Called her, and so she followed ' — in her sleep. 
 Surely? — ' by no means spurning him.' " 
 
 The lines, 
 
 " If one forefather ram, though pure as chalk 
 From tinge on fleece, should still display a tongue 
 Black 'neath the beast's moist palate, prompt men balk 
 The propagating plague", 
 
 give " the fact as learned Virgil gives it ", Geor. iii. 387-9. The 
 passage in ' The Ring and the Book ', ix, 
 
 " Darnel for wheat and thistle-beards for grain, 
 Infelix lolium, carduus horridtu", 
 
 may be compared with Geor. i. 151-4, " horreret carduus . . . 
 infelix lolium." 
 
 In Tennyson's ode ' To Virgil ' there is a very fine allusion to 
 the Georgics : 
 
 " Landscape-lover, lord of language 
 
 more than he that sang the Works and Days, 
 All the chosen coin of fancy 
 
 flashing out from many a golden phrase ; 
 
 Thou that singest wheat and woodland, 
 
 tilth and vineyard, hive and horse and herd ; 
 
 All the charm of all the Muses 
 
 often flowering in a lonely word.' 
 
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS AND THE BRITISH POETS. 3 1 
 The passage in 'The Daisy', 
 
 " The rich Virgilian rustic measure 
 Of Lari Maxume", 
 
 refers to Geor. ii. 159, "anne lacus tantos; te, Lari Maxume", 
 etc. And the allusion in 'Queen Mary', iii. i, 
 
 " Well, the tree in Virgil, sir. 
 That bears not its own apples ", 
 
 is to Geor. ii. 82, 
 
 " miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma." 
 
 The opening line of 'Love and Death', 
 
 " What time the mighty moon was gathering light", 
 
 has been aptly compared with Geor. i. 427, 
 
 " Luna, revertentes cum primum coUigit ignes." 
 
 The earliest complete translation of the Georgics into English 
 verse seems to have been published by Abraham Fleming in 1589, 
 though a "wytty translation" of a good part of the poem had 
 already been printed by Master Barnabe Googe. Later versions 
 are those of May (1628), Ogilby (c. 1647), Lord Lauderdale 
 (1694-1737), Dryden (1696), Trapp (1731), Warton (1753), 
 Andrews (1766), Sotheby (1800), Sewell (1846), Singleton (1855), 
 Kennedy (1861), Blackmore C1871), Rhoades (1881), Lord 
 Burghclere (1904). Other translators of parts of the poem are: 
 Cowley (ii. 458-540), Henry Vaughan (iv. 125-38), Lord Mul- 
 grave ('Orpheus and Eurydice'), Addison fbook iv. except the 
 story of Aristaeus), Sheffield (iv. 453-527), Benson (books i-ii), 
 Hamilton (iv. 116-48), Landor (iv. 464-515), Trench (iv. 452-516), 
 C. S. Calverley (iii. 515-30). 
 
 To this long list of poetical tributes to the Georgics we may add 
 a few other "testimonia" in prose. The aged Tennyson, during 
 a serious illness, "often looked at his Virgil, more than ever 
 delighting in what he called 'that splendid end of the second 
 Georgic'" (Memoir, ii. 348). The youthful Addison remarked, 
 in his essay on the Georgics, that Virgil "delivers the meanest of 
 his precepts with a kind of grandeur; he breaks the clods and tosses 
 the dung about with an air of gracefulness". In the dedication 
 of his translation of the Georgics, Dryden boldly calls them "the 
 best poem of the best poet". And, in the preface to his 'Sylvae', 
 he speaks of them as "those four books, which, in my opinion, 
 
32 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. 
 
 are more perfect in their kind than even his divine Aeneids". In 
 Cowley's fourth essay, 'Of Agriculture', we are told that the first 
 wish of Virgil was to be a good philosopher; the second, a good 
 husbandman: "and God . . . made him one of the best philoso- 
 phers, and best husbandmen; and, to adorn and communicate 
 both those faculties, the best poet". In Sir John Harington's 
 ' Briefe Apologie of Poetrie' (1591) there is a pleasant comment 
 on the triumph of Virgil's style over an uninviting subject : 
 "for myne owne part I was neuer yet so good a husband to take 
 any delight to heare one of my ploughmen tell how an acre of 
 wheat must be fallowd and twyfallowed, and how cold land 
 should be burned, and how fruitful land must be well harrowed ; 
 but when I heare one read Virgill, where he saith, 
 
 Saepe etiam steriles incendere profuiVagros, 
 Atque leuem stifulam crepitantibus vrire flammis. 
 Siue inde occultas vires et pabula terrae 
 Pinguia concipiunt : siue illis omne per ignem 
 Excoquitur vitium^ atque exsudai inuiilis humor ^ etc., 
 
 and after. 
 
 Mulum adeo^ raitris glebas qui frangit inertes^ 
 Vimineasque trahit crates iuuat arua ; 
 
 with many other lessons of homly husbandrie, but deliuered in 
 so good Verse that me thinkes all that while I could find in my 
 Hart to driue the plough". And in Sir Thomas Elyot's 'Gov- 
 ernour' (1531) the works of Virgil are recommended for their 
 utility as well as for their beauty: "In his Georgikes lorde 
 what pleasant varietie there is : the diuers graynes, herbes, and 
 flowres that be there described, that, reding therin, hit semeth to 
 a man to be in a delectable gardeine or paradise. What ploughe 
 man knoweth so moche of husbandry as there is expressed ? who, 
 delitynge in good horsis, shall nat be therto more enflamed, 
 reding there of the bredyng, chesinge, and kepyng of them? In 
 the declaration whereof Virgile leaueth farre behynde hym 
 all breders, hakneymen, and skosers", etc. (i. 10). 
 
 Wilfred P. Mustard. 
 
 Johns Hopkins University. 
 
PR 508. V4M99 ""'""'""•"'"'>' 
 
 ^i'ii?,"«2,!,'ilK!?..?r.?..».f'.e British poets. 
 
 3 1924 013 265 693