Vergil, Eclogue IV, 1-3

1–3  If the Muses allow, I will sing a slightly grander song worthy of a consul.

1  Sīcelidēs Mūsae: the Muses, goddesses of the arts, are called Sicilian here because Sicily is the home of Vergil’s pastoral predecessor and model, the Hellenistic poet Theocritus.

1  paulō maiōra canāmus: maiōra n. acc. pl. subst. adj. (AG 288); modified by ablative of degree of difference paulō (“somewhat”) (AG 414); canāmus is hortatory subjunctive (AG 439).

2  omnīs: masc. pl. substantive adj; third declension accusative plural ending -īs in place of -ēs (AG 65–67), common in Vergil.

2  arbusta … humilēsque myrīcae: subjects of iuvant; these plants symbolize the traditional subject matter of pastoral, which Vergil contrasts in these opening lines to the subject matter of this Eclogue.

Tamarisks form part of Theocritus's scenery (1. 13, 5.101). Here they are emblems of the lower strain of rural
poetry, the species of which silvae symbolizes the genus (Conington). 

3  sī canimus silvās, silvae sint cōnsule dignae: the alliteration of s sounds, the polyptoton of silvās, silvae, and the chiasmus of VERB-silvās – silvae-VERB draw attention to the rustic landscape, integral to pastoral poetry.

3  sint: hortatory subjunctive; the poet urges the woods to be worthy of the elevated subject matter.

3  cōnsule: ablative with dignus to explain what something is worthy of (AG 418b); a consul held the highest elected office in Republican Rome. This consul is Pollio, revealed as the poem’s addressee in verse 12, who was consul in 40 BCE and played a key role in bringing about the Treaty of Brundisium.