4.559–566

Vergil briefly revisits the subject matter of the Georgics.  

Vergil ends Book 4—and the Georgics—by reiterating the topics he has sung about in this work: the cultivation of fields, flocks, and trees. He contrasts this labor with that of Augustus, who was waging war in the East, while Vergil was in Naples writing poetry at his leisure. 

560: super: “about,” “concerning,” + abl. (OLD super 1). The cultivation of fields, trees and flocks are the subjects of Georgics 1, 2 and 3. This kind of final statement of authorship is known as a sphragis, “seal,” and was first common among Alexandrian poets.

560  Caesar dum…Olympō: Vergil was composing the Georgics while Augustus Caesar was campaigning in the East after the Battle of Actium. Thomas observes that this is the first known use of fulminō with a subject other than Jupiter. 

560  ad altum…Euphrātēn: “along the deep Euphrates.” Euphrates River is deeper than most European rivers, though it is much shallower than giants like the Amazon, Congo, and Yangtze. It runs from eastern Turkey, through Syria, Iraq, into the Persian Gulf. In this context it stands for the East generally. The form Euphrātēn is a Greek accusative (AG 82).

561–562  volentēs / per populōs: “throughout (the territories of) willing (subject) peoples.” Vergil flatters Augustus that the peoples of the East consent to be governed by him.

562  dat iūra:  “administers justice,” OLD ius 4.

562  Olympō: the dative to express place to which, as is common in poetry (AG 428h).  Suggesting that Augustus, like a god, is on his way to Olympus offers another bit of flattery.

563-564  illō…ōtī = illo tempore dulcis Parthenopē alēbat mē, Vergilium, flōrentem studiīs ignōbilis oti. 

563  illō tempore: an ablative of time when (AG 423).

564  Parthenopē: the original name of Naples when it was a Greek colony; Vergil at one time lived in or near Naples, according to the late antique “Life of Vergil” by the grammarian Aelius Donatus (sections 11–13). 

564  studiīs florentem ignōblis ōtī: studiīs is best taken as an ablative of cause (AG 404). ignōbilis is genitive singular, modifying ōtī. Take both with studiīs. Vergil’s pursuits are frivolous compared to governing the Roman empire. By describing himself as flōrentem, Vergil is much like the agricultural life he describes in the Georgics.

565  quī: the antecedent is mē, “I who…” lūsī and cecinī are verbs in the relative clause. 

565  iuventā: an ablative of specification with audāx (AG 418).

566  Tītyre: Tityrus is the name of a shepherd in Vergil’s first Eclogue, and, as the first word of the collection, a shorthand title for the work. Thus, Vergil here names himself as the author of the Eclogues, a work about the playful activities of shepherds and youths, as well as the Georgics. This line is a near quotation of the first line of Eclogue 1. 

566  fāgī: the European beech, Fagus sylvatica, a common European forest tree. All trees in Latin are grammatically feminine, which is why this is patula fāgus.