II. _For the Georgics, Poems on Husbandry._ (The passage for translation is taken from _Georgic II._ lines 490-499.) See--
(i.) _Student’s Companion to Latin Authors_, pp. 157-8. (ii.) Nettleship’s _Vergil_, pp. 37-45. (iii.) Sellar’s _Vergil_, pp. 174-198.
Notice especially the _political purpose_ of the _Georgics_--to help the policy of Augustus, which aimed at checking the depopulation of the country districts. Compare the alarming migration from the country to the towns in England at the present day.
III. _Relation of Lucretius to the Georgics._
(ii.) Munro’s _Lucretius_, Notes on Book i. line 78, and Book iii. line 449.
Notice in this connection the opening lines of the passage, +Felix qui potuit ... Acherontis avari+, which may be summarised as follows: ‘Happy he who knows the laws of Nature, and has therefore ceased to fear natural phenomena and has learnt to despise the fabled terrors of Hades.’ Munro says: ‘I feel that by his +Felix qui+ Vergil does mean a poet-philosopher, who can only be Lucretius.’
Cf. also _Lucretius_, iii. 1-30. His address to Epicurus.
For the thought, cf. Wordsworth’s _Happy Warrior_--
‘He therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state.’
(a) Archimedis ego quaestor ignoratum ab Syracusanis, cum esse omnino negarent, saeptum undique et vestitum vepribus et dumetis, indagavi sepulcrum. |II| Tenebam enim quosdam senariolos, quos in eius monumento esse inscriptos acceperam: qui declarabant in summo sepulcro sphaeram esse positam cum cylindro. |III| Ego autem, cum omnia collustrarem oculis--est enim ad portas Agragantinas magna frequentia sepulcrorum--animadverti columellam non multum e dumis eminentem, in qua inerat sphaerae figura et cylindri. |IV| Atque ego statim Syracusanis--erant autem principes mecum--dixi me illud ipsum arbitrari esse quod quaererem. |V| Immissi cum falcibus multi purgarunt locum. |VI| Quo cum patefactus esset aditus, accessimus: |VII| apparebat in sepulcro epigramma, exesis posterioribus partibus versiculorum, dimidiatis fere. ||
(b) { I} Archimedis +ego quaestor+ ignoratum ab Syracusanis, [cum esse omnino negarent,] saeptum undique et vestitum vepribus et dumetis, +indagavi sepulcrum+. { II} +Tenebam+ enim quosdam +senariolos+, [quos in eius monumento esse inscriptos acceperam]: [qui declarabant in summo sepulcro sphaeram esse positam cum cylindro.] { III} +Ego+ autem, [cum omnia collustrarem oculis]--est enim ad portas Agragantinas magna frequentia sepulcrorum--+animadverti columellam+ non multum e dumis eminentem, [in qua inerat sphaerae figura et cylindri]. { IV} Atque +ego+ statim Syracusanis--erant autem principes mecum--+dixi+ me illud ipsum arbitrari esse [quod quaererem]. { V} +Immissi+ cum falcibus multi +purgarunt locum+. { VI} [Quo cum patefactus esset aditus], +accessimus+: { VII} +apparebat+ in sepulcro +epigramma+, exesis posterioribus partibus versiculorum, dimidiatis fere.