''Eclogue'' 4, also known as the Fourth ''Eclogue'', is a Latin poem by the Roman poet

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. The poem is dated to 40 BC by its mention of the consulship of Virgil's patron Gaius Asinius Pollio. The work predicts the birth of a boy, a supposed savior, who—once he is of age—will become divine and eventually rule over the world. The exact meaning of the poem is still debated. Earlier interpretations argued that the child was the hoped-for offspring of

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

and Octavia the Younger. Some commentators shy away from imagining the child as a specific person. Edwin Floyd, for example, argued that the child could be seen metaphorically as Virgil's poetry. Another possibility, argued by Francis Cairns, is that the child is the expected offspring of Virgil's patron Gaius Asinius Pollio, to whom the poem is dedicated. In late antiquity and the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the poem was reinterpreted by

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

to be about the birth of

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. Medieval scholars thus claimed that Virgil had predicted Christ prior to his birth, and therefore must have been a pre-Christian

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

. Notable individuals such as

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

, St. Augustine, Dante Alighieri, and Alexander Pope believed in this interpretation of the eclogue. Modern scholars by and large shy away from this interpretation, although Floyd does note that the poem contains elements of religious and mythological themes, and R. G. M. Nisbet concluded that it is likely that Virgil was indirectly inspired by the Hebrew Scriptures via Eastern oracles.

Overview

Background

The biographical tradition asserts that Virgil began the hexameter '' Eclogues'' (or ''Bucolics'') in 42 BC and it is thought that the collection was published around 39–38 BC, although this is controversial.Fowler 1996, p. 1602. The ''Eclogues'' (from the Greek word for "selections") are a group of ten poems roughly modeled on the bucolic hexameters ("pastoral poetry") of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus. The fourth of these ''Eclogues'' can be dated to around 41 to 40 BC, during a time "when the clouds of civil war seemed to be lifting".

Synopsis

The 63-line poem (the shortest of the ''Eclogues'') begins with an address to the

Muses In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

. The first few lines have been referred to as the "apology" of the poem; the work, much like ''Eclogue'' 6, is not so much concerned with pastoral themes, as it is with cosmological concepts, and lines 1–3 defend this change of pace.Steenkamp 2011, p. 101. In line 4, the speaker refers to the Cumaean Sibyl as the source for his unfolding prophecy concerning the ''magnus ordo saeclorum'', or "great order of the ages". The following lines (ll. 5–10) introduce a cluster of ideas: Hesiod's Ages of Man; the concept of a ''magnus annus'', or the "Great Year" that begins a great "golden" age; the Italian idea of ''saecula'';

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's idea that there is a periodic rule of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

; and finally "eastern messianic" views similar to those found in the '' Sibylline Oracles'', a collection of supposed oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state.Miller 2009, p. 255. Line 10 concludes with a reference to the god

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, a deity who would be elevated to a special place in the Roman pantheon during the rule of Augustus: ''tuus iam regnat Apollo'' ("Your Apollo now is ruling"). John Miller cautions, however, that this mention of Apollo—while the god's first "saecular appearance" in Latin literature—should not be read unequivocally as an allusion to Octavian, because 40 BC, both Octavian and

were associated with the god, and that the former did not, at the time, enjoy "a monopoly on Apolline symbolism."Miller 2009, pp. 254–255. R. G. M. Nisbet argued that the rule of Apollo (''regnat Apollo'') mentioned in line 10 should not be seen as contradicting the rule of Saturn (''Saturnia regna'') mentioned in line 6; they are merely expressing the same general idea using two different cosmological outlooks. The former is adhering to a newer, non-Hesiodic model, whereas the latter is referring to the older, Hesiodic version. Both lines 11 and 13–14 mention Gaius Asinius Pollio's leadership, but line 11 refers to his consulship at the time of the poem's writing, whereas lines 13–14 seem to refer to a time when Pollio will "still be alive and prominent in the State when the child is well-grown" and when the Golden Age will have arrived. Lines 15–17 reveal that the child will become divine and eventually rule over the world.Rose 1924, p. 114. Lines 18–45 provide coverage of the boy's growth.Arnold 1994, p. 144. At first, the child, in the cradle, will be allowed to enjoy ''munuscula'', or little gifts. Importantly, the boy will grow skilled in reading, learning of the deeds of both heroes and his father. At this point in his life, the Golden Age will not have arrived in full; there will still be both sailing and walled towns, and thus, still war. Jenny Strauss Clay noted that the poem implies that the whole Heroic Age will have to be replayed; a new band of Argonauts will travel the seas, and a new Trojan War will occur. Given time, the need for sailing will dissipate. Then, the ground will grow more fertile: grapes will grow from brambles, oak trees will produce honey, corn will emerge from the ground by itself, poisonous plants and animals will disappear, and useful animals will be improved.Rose 1924, p. 115. Only when the need for agriculture ends will the Golden Age begin.Clay 2009, p. 13. Lines 53–57 feature the image of a singing poet, which is reminiscent of how the eclogue began. The poet himself will compete in a rustic environment against Orpheus and Linus, and Pan will be the judge. Virgil's reference to Linus in this section symbolizes "the symbiosis of Hesiodic song culture and erudite, 'bookish' poetics of the so-called Alexandrian poets", resulting in a "uniquely Virgilian pastoral aesthetic." Once the Golden Age will have arrived, the need for arms and soldiers will be obviated, and the competitive drive that—in the past—had fueled war will now fuel "harmless oeticcompetition for rustic prizes." In lines 60–63 Virgil addresses the child directly, urging him to smile at his mother, who has endured a long pregnancy. The final lines have proven throughout the ages to be a "fascinating problem", and there is no clear consensus as to what exactly they mean. Nisbet claims that the final line ("neither a god is worthy of his table, nor a goddess of his bed") is most likely a reference to a story about Hercules, who dined with Jupiter and took Juventas as his wife, although he noted it could also be a reference to a general Roman nursery saying.

Interpretation

Grammarian and ancient Virgilian commentator, Maurus Servius Honoratus was one of the first to publish an interpretation of the poem, arguing that the entire work is a political allegory referring to the rule of the '' Princeps'', although Miller points out that this is unlikely since the poem was written in 40 BC, prior to Octavian becoming Augustus. For many years, a popular method in interpreting the poem was to see it as a cypher: many scholars attempted to deduce who exactly the child and his parents were. Some have proposed that the boy was supposed to be one of the sons of Pollio. A politician and patron of Virgil, Pollio was the father of two boys around the time of the Fourth ''Eclogue''. The former died while in infancy, whereas the latter, Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus, died under the rule of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

. Other scholars, however, felt that the child was more likely intended to be the male offspring of Mark Antony and Octavia the Younger.Morwood 2008, p. 11. Wendell Clausen, for instance, posited that the word ''pacatum'' in line 17 is a reference to Hercules, a deity from whom Mark Antony claimed descent; this word, therefore, was used by Clausen as evidence that the poem was talking about a child of Antonian (and therefore, Herculean) descent. Interpreting the poem in this manner, however, has largely started to fall out of favor with modern scholars because, according to Bruce Arnold, "such interpretations usually rely either on broad considerations of genre or an analysis of small bits". The poem has also been interpreted in more metaphorical ways. Some modern scholars believe that the poem celebrates the Treaty of Brundisium, which gave rise to the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.Miller 2009, p. 254. Floyd, on the other hand, proposed that the ''puer'' mentioned throughout the poem is not an actual child, but rather Virgilian poetry itself. He noted that the word ''puer'' is elsewhere used by Virgil in the ''Eclogues'' to refer to shepherds, individuals who are closely associated with the art of poetry. Furthermore, he points out that the verb ''incipere'', which is used three times in ''Eclogue'' 4, is itself associated with "poetic performances" in other Virgilian poems, like in ''Eclogue'' 3.58. Finally, Floyd—who subscribes to the theory that ''cui non risere parentes'' is what Virgil wrote—proposed that line 62 refers to a boy whose parents will smile, only "after due consideration", meaning that the child must earn its parents' smiles.Floyd 1997, p. 4.Floyd 1997, pp. 3–4. Floyd goes on to argue that it makes sense for the parents to either be Virgil or the

, individuals whose smiles must be earned; the Muses are critical of those whom they inspire, whereas Virgil—as a meticulous artist—was critical of himself.Floyd 1997, p. 3–5. Line 22, which mentions that "the cattle will not fear huge lions", has been compared to both Isaiah 11:6 from the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Rose proposed that, because Virgil was highly educated and had "a great taste for philosophic and quasi-philosophic studies", it is possible that he combined dozens of mystical and religious ideas in the poem, "joining Sibylline formulae to age-old beliefs about divine kings, taking hints from many doctrines of original sin … with astrological speculations of recent date, and coloring the whole with the theanthropic, or Messianic, expectations." Due to this synthesis of ideas, Rose points out that it is possible that Virgil used the Hebrew Scriptures for part of the poem's inspiration. Cyrus H. Gordon later noted that the ''Eclogues'', along with the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', "reflect

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian, Semitic, and Anatolian, as well as Greek, antecedents". Nisbet pointed out that the poem can be analyzed according to two different schools of thought: the "Easterners" (promoted notably by Eduard Norden) argue that the eclogue had to have been influenced by religions of the East, most notably Jewish messianism, whereas the "Westerners" (furthered by the work of Günther Jachmann) argue that the work was influenced largely by concepts familiar to the Greco-Roman West. Nisbet outlined reasons why certain sections, most notably the seemingly Isaian section in and around line 22, are best explained through the Easterners' method of interpretation. Other sections, however, such as lines 26–36—which Nisbet argued were written in a style akin to Greco-Roman prophecies (and whose wording suggests "the ideals of Virgil's own society")—should be viewed through the Westerners' lens. Ultimately, Nisbet concluded that Virgil was not interested in Jewish eschatology "for its own sake"; however, he probably appropriated elements from Jewish prophecy via Eastern oracles, and adapted them towards Western (which is to say, Roman) modes of thought.

Textual criticism

Epithalamium-like nature

Clausen argued that the poem, were one to remove lines 1–3 and 58–9, would read much like an epithalamium, or a poem written specifically for a

bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed. When marrying, if the bride's future spouse is a man, he is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, ...

on the way to her marital chamber. However, the addition of the aforementioned lines changes the sense of the poem, making it pastoral. Thus, Clausen claims that Virgil himself added these new lines to tweak the poem and make it suitable for inclusion in the ''Eclogues''.

Smiling baby

A major textual problem is in line 62, where all the manuscripts read (). Most editors, however, have changed the text to () or (). One strong argument for making this change is that Virgil here seems to be imitating Catullus 61.219, where a baby is encouraged to smile sweetly at its father (). Another argument is that where

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

9.3.8 quotes the line, even though the manuscripts there also have , it seems certain from the point he is making about singular pronouns referring to plural antecedents that his text actually had . Some commentators, such as Floyd (1997), have defended the manuscript reading. However, most scholars disagree with Floyd. Nisbet, for instance, writes, "It is clear from the structure and sense of the passage that the baby is doing the laughing and not the parents (that is to say, the of Virgil's manuscripts is impossible against the implied by Quintilian 9.3.8)."Nisbet 1978, p. 70. He instead contends that the baby not laughing at his parents is a hint to the reader that "the infant is out of the ordinary." A related question is whether line 60 () means 'begin, little boy, to recognise your mother by her smile' or 'begin, little boy, to recognise your mother by your smile'. It is generally argued that the latter makes much better sense, not only from the context, but especially in view of the Catullus verse noted above.

Acrostics and word play

According to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, Sibylline oracles were traditionally accompanied by an acrostic, generally the so called "gamma acrostic" where the same word or phrase can be read across and down. Scholars looking for acrostics in Eclogue 4 have found two, or possibly three, acrostics. In 2017 Leah Kronenberg found a double-letter acrostic in the syllables ''DE CA TE'' which begin lines 9, 10, and 11, forming the Greek word () . The same word can be read horizontally both backwards and forwards in line 11 ( 'this glory of the age will enter with you (Pollio) as consul'). It is thought that here is short for () , a phrase which is in fact used in connection with the Sibylline prophecies by Phlegon of Tralles. The number ten was associated with the Sibyl. There were said to be ten sibyls, and, before

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

changed it to 15, the college of priests who guarded the Sibylline Books was originally ten in number. The number ten occurs again in this eclogue in the "ten months" of the mother's gestation (line 61) and it is implied in the beginning of the prophecy in the words "the last (i.e. tenth) age of Cumaean song has come" (line 4). The names of Lucina (goddess of childbirth) and

(god of prophecy) are both placed in the 10th line of the poem. The second acrostic, found in 2019, is also a double-letter one using a transliterated Greek word: AS TER AS (lines 50–52), forming the Greek word ; the acrostic is confirmed by a horizontal AS TRA (i.e. , also meaning 'stars', hidden in line 51, as well as the word in the same line. The acrostic begins and ends with the word in lines 50 and 52; thus is can be read as 'behold the stars'. The discoverer of this acrostic, Jerzy Danielewicz, points out that it is also possible to read the word AS TER ( ) three times in the acrostic, downwards, upwards, and right to left. Another apparent acrostic, the Latin word , has long been observed in lines 47–52, but it is disputed by scholars whether it is intentional or an "embarrassing accident".

Later Christian interpretation

By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD, Virgil had gained a reputation as a virtuous pagan, a term referring to pagans who were never evangelized and consequently during their lifetime had no opportunity to recognize Christ, but nevertheless led virtuous lives, so that it seemed objectionable to consider them damned. Eventually, some Christians sought to reconcile Virgil's works, especially the ''Eclogues'', with the supposed Christianity present in them. For instance, during the

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

and beyond, many assumed that the ''puer'' referenced in the Fourth ''Eclogue'' was actually Jesus Christ.Conte 1999, p. 267. Many noted individuals, such as

, St. Augustine, Dante Alighieri and Alexander Pope believed in this interpretation of the eclogue.Bourne 1916, pp. 390–400.

References

Bibliography

* * * * Cairns, F. (2008)
C. Asinius Pollio and the ''Eclogues''"
''The Cambridge Classical Journal'', Vol. 54 (2008), pp. 49–79. * * * * * * *Kronenberg, L. (2017)
"The tenth of age of Apollo and a new acrostic in Eclogue 4"
''Philologus'', 161(2), 337–339. * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* *
Full Latin text of ''Eclogue'' 4
courtesy of the Perseus Project. {{Virgil Poetry by Virgil Mark Antony Octavia the Younger