Vergil, Eclogue I 46-58

M.: You are lucky, old man. You will be able to keep your land. Even if all the pastures are strewn with rocks and covered with swampy patches, at least being in their accustomed area will be better for the animals, and you will delight in your home territory, with its familiar streams, sights, and sounds.

46–48  Fortūnāte senex: each repetition, here and at verse 51, announces a new theme: (1) Tityrus’s land will support his livelihood, his flock; (2) through the physical sensations of coolness and soothing sounds, it will provide the locus amoenus, the natural setting for leisure and inspiration for song.

46  tua rūra manēbunt: tua is a predicate adjective: “the lands will remain yours” (AG 272, 283–85).

47  tibi māgna satis: supply the appropriate form of sum (AG 319.b).

47  quamvīs lapis omnia nūdus / līmōsōque palūs obdūcat pascua iuncō: lapis … nūdus and palūs are the subjects of obdūcat, omnia … / … pascua the direct object, and līmōsō … iuncō ablative of means. Although rocky and swampy, these lands are more than Meliboeus can ever hope for and they are good enough for Tityrus.

49  gravīs … fētās: gravīs (accusative) indicates current pregnancy, fētus the capability to give birth: “breeding ewes.”

51–52  The alliteration of the f sound (fortūnāte … flūmina … fontīs … frīgus) and the slow lilting rhythm help create this idea of the locus amoenus.

53–55  hinc tibi, quae semper, vīcīnō ab līmite saepēs / Hyblaeīs apibus flōrem dēpāsta salictī / saepe levī somnum suādēbit inīre susurrō: the word order and hyperbaton make this sentence challenging. Take as: hinc saepēs dēpāsta Hyblaeīs apibus flōrem salictī ab vīcīnō līmite saepe suādēbit tibi inīre somnum levī susurrō, (eadem saepes) quae semper (tibi suadēbat). Vergil’s order emphasizes the contrast between Tityrus and Meliboes (tibi) and the continuity of Tityrus’s holdings (quae semper) and allows for alliterative onomatopoeia in line 55.

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The placement of tibi so early in the clause and near the beginning of the verse emphasizes that all that follows belongs to Tityrus and echoes Tityrus’s hic mihi at the beginning of verse 44, connecting Tityrus’s statement that he received permission to continue to pasture his flock on the same lands with idyllic landscape that Meliboeus describes in detail in the following verses.

53  hinc: “on this side” answered by hinc in verse 56, “on that side.” Both refer to vīcīnō ab līmite, “at the neighbor’s boundary wall.” Ab can indicate position where (AG 429.4b).

53  tibi: dative after the main verb, suadēbit (“will induce you”), as normal with suadeō.

53  quae semper: saepēs is the antecedent; supply suādēbat from suādēbit in verse 55; relative clauses often come before their antecedents, as is the case here (AG 599e).

54  Hyblaeīs apibus flōrem dēpāsta salictī: “(the hedge) having been fed upon by the Hyblaean bees on the flower of the willow-grove.” Dēpāsta is the perfect passive participle, “having been fed upon,” referring to the hedge, saepēs in verse 53. Hyblaeīs apibus is ablative of means with dēpāsta. Flōrem is a Greek accusative (AG 397b), “with respect to the flower of the willow grove.” Coleman translates, “the hedge on whose willow blossom the bees feed their fill.” Hyblaeis suggests that Tityrus’s bees are like those found around Hybla on the slopes of Mt. Etna in Sicily, an area famous for the quality of its honey.

55   somnum suādēbit inīre: suadēbit takes the infinitive phrase inīre somnum instead of the expected ut clause (poetic; AG 563 note); somnum is the direct object of inīre.

57  raucae, tua cūra, palumbēs: tua cūra in apposition to raucae … palumbēs; whereas Meliboeus’s primary concern is his lost livelihood, Tityrus’s primary concern is his doves, sacred to Venus, and thus symbolizing the theme of Tityrus’s song: his love for Amaryllis (Cucchiarelli).

tua cūra: "your delight" (Conington).