Vergil, Eclogue IV, 4-10

4–10  The Golden Age is returning. A glorious child is born.

4  Ultima … aetās: the remainder of the eclogue describes this “final age” – a revival of the Golden Age described by poets such as Hesiod in Works and Days (109–26). The chiastic structure creates a “golden line” pattern, which Coleman observes, “with ultima … aetas [nom.] enclosing Cumaei … carminis [gen.] and vēnit iam in central position, suggests the cyclic symmetry of the ages.”

4  Cūmaeī … carminis: a prophecy from the Sibyl of Cumae, a female prophet consulted during times of national crisis. This reference signals that the ensuing prophecy pertains to the well-being of the state and comes from a prophetic tradition deeply ingrained in Rome’s past.

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The three volumes of versified prophecies, known as the Sibylline Books, and carefully preserved at Rome to be consulted in periods of stress and danger, foretold a succession of ages commencing with the golden, to be followed by those of silver, bronze, and iron, each of them less happy than its predecessor. Vergil says that the age of iron, characterized by bloodshed and civil war, is now concluded, and is to be succeeded by a new golden age. The Sybil or prophetess who compiled the books dwelled in a cavern at Cumae near Naples (Gould).

4  vēnit iam: scansion reveals vēnit is present perfect ("has come"), not present; the repetition of iam together with the present tense verbs at verses 6, 7, 10 creates a sense of immediacy.

5  māgnus ab integrō saeculōrum nascitur ordō: 

5  ab integrō: “anew, afresh,” ab in place of the more common dē integrō or ex integrō for metrical reasons.

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Line 5 is the second verse in a row to employ hyperbaton where the adjective-noun subject frames the line (see also verses 4, 5, 17, 21, 28, 47). While in verse 4 the Golden Age is a culminating moment in the progression of time, here the Golden Age is a reborn age within a repeating cycle of time. The metaphor of birth introduced here will link the age to the anticipated birth of the boy in verse 8.

6  redit et … redeunt: repeated verb is emphatic.

6  Virgō: the maiden goddess Justice whose return heralds the returning Golden Age.

6  Sāturnia rēgna: in Roman mythology, when Jupiter takes over Olympus, Saturn flees to Italy, specifically Latium, where he oversees a Golden Age.

7  nova prōgeniēs: refers to gēns aurea in verse 9 (Page).

7  caelō … altō: ablative used with demittitur to show motion away from a place (AG 428b).

8–10  tū modo nāscentī puerō … / … /casta favē Lūcīna: tū modo is the subject of the imperative verb favē in verse 10; the adverb modo (“now”) “adds a note of urgency to an imperative” (Coleman);  tu refers to casta … Lūcīna, the goddess of childbirth, addressed directly in verse 10; nāscentī puerō is the dative object of favē.

8  quō: “because of whom”; ablative of cause (AG 404); nāscentī puerō is the antecedent.

8  ferrea: understand gēns from the parallel clause ac tōtō surget gēns aurea mundō in verse 9.

8  prīmum: “initially”; the Golden Age will unfold in stages as the child grows into an adult. The linear structure of the poem reflects his life cycle: first stage is his infancy (verses 18–25); the second his youth (verses 26–36); the third and final his adulthood (verses 37–45) (Page).

9  tōtō … mundō: ablative of place with surget; the hyperbaton suggests a vast expanse.

10  casta … Lucina: vocative; an epithet of Diana in her role as goddess of childbirth.