Virgil’s Eclogue Explained

A deathless life he will lead, and he will be

Seen by heroes, and heroes he will see;

meaning, clearly, the righteous.

The warring nations he will bind in peace,

And rule mankind with his father’s virtues.

Unasked, the earth will bring her earliest fruits,

And fragrant herbs, to greet her infant king.

This truly wise and accomplished man knew the cruel character of the times very well. He goes on:

The goats, uncalled, will bring full udders home;

The lowing herds will fear fierce lions no more.

Truly said, for faith will not stand in awe of the mighty in the imperial palace.

His cradle will be crowned with springing flowers;

The serpent’s brood will die; the sacred ground

Will refuse to bear weeds and poisonous plants;

Each common bush will wear the Assyrian spice.

Nothing could be said that is truer, or more fitting to the Savior’s excellence, than this. For the power of the divine Spirit presents the very cradle of God, like fragrant flowers, to the newborn race. The serpent, too, perishes, and that serpent’s venom: the one who in the beginning deceived our first parents and drew their thoughts away from their native innocence to the enjoyment of pleasures, so that they might come to experience the death they had been warned of. For before the Savior’s coming, the serpent’s power showed itself in overthrowing the souls of those who were held up by no well-grounded hope and knew nothing of the immortality that awaits the righteous. But after he had suffered, and had been separated for a time from the body he had taken, the power of the resurrection was revealed to men through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and whatever stain of human guilt might still remain was removed by the washing of sacred cleansings. Then indeed the Savior could tell his followers to take heart and, remembering his glorious resurrection, worthy of all worship, to expect the same for themselves. Truly, then, the poisonous brood may be said to be extinct. Death himself is extinct, and the truth of the resurrection is sealed. Again, the Assyrian race is gone, which first led the way to faith in God. But when he speaks of amomum growing everywhere, he alludes to the multitude of the true worshipers of God. For it is as though a multitude of branches, crowned with fragrant flowers and well watered, sprang from one and the same root. Most rightly said, Maro, wisest of poets! And everything that follows agrees with it:

But when he hears of heroes’ worth in youth,

And learns to revere his father’s virtues,

By the praises of heroes he means the works of righteous men. By the virtues of his Father he means the creation and the everlasting structure of the world, and perhaps also the laws by which God’s beloved church is guided and ordered in a course of righteousness and virtue. Admirable, again, is the advance to higher things of that state of life which lies, as it were, between good and evil, and which seldom allows a sudden change:

Harvests no one labored for will adorn the fields,

that is, the fruit of the divine law springs up for the service of men.

And clustered grapes will blush on every thorn.

It has been very different in the corrupt and lawless age of human life.

The knotted oaks will weep showers of honey.

Here he describes the folly and stubbornness of the people of that age. And perhaps he also hints that those who suffer hardship in the cause of God will reap the sweet fruits of their own endurance.

Yet some traces of the old deceit will remain:

The merchant still will plow the sea for gain;

Great cities will be ringed around with walls,

And sharpened plowshares wound the fruitful ground;

Another Tiphys will explore new seas,

Another Argo land the chiefs upon the Iberian shore;

Another Helen will stir up other wars,

And great Achilles drive on Troy’s fate.

Well said, wisest of poets! You have carried a poet’s freedom exactly as far as it should go. For it was not your purpose to take on the work of a prophet, to which you had no claim. I suppose, too, that he was held back by a sense of the danger that threatened anyone who attacked the standing of the ancient religious practice. So, cautiously and as safely as he could, he presents the truth to those who have the ability to understand it. And while he condemns the fortifications and conflicts of war, which indeed are still found in the course of human life, he describes our Savior as setting out for the war against Troy, meaning by Troy the world itself. And he did indeed carry on the struggle against the opposing powers of evil, sent on that mission both by the purpose of his own providence and by the command of his almighty Father. How, then, does the poet go on?

But when he has grown to ripened manhood,

that is, when, having reached the age of manhood, he will completely remove the evils that surround the path of human life and calm the world with the blessings of peace:

The greedy sailor will give up the seas;

No keel will cut the waves for foreign wares,

For every soil will bear every crop.

The laboring farmhand will unyoke his oxen;

No plow will hurt the soil, no pruning hook the vine;

No wool will shine in borrowed colors,

But the rich ram, the father of the flock,

With purple of his own, and gold not borrowed,

Will sweat proudly beneath his splendid fleece;

And in Tyrian robes the lamb will bleat.

Grown in years, go on to the honors waiting for you,

O child of heavenly seed, O foster son of Jove!

See, nature in her labor calls on you to hold up

The swaying frame of heaven, and earth, and sea!

See earth, seas, and air restored to their foundations,

And joyful ages, coming on behind, appear in crowding ranks.

If heaven would lengthen my breath to sing your praise,

And breathe into me a spirit worthy of such a song,

Not Thracian Orpheus would surpass my songs,

Nor Linus, crowned with never-fading laurel,

Though each had his heavenly parent to inspire him,

The Muse to teach the voice, and Phoebus to tune the lyre.

If Pan should compete in song, with you as my theme,

The judges of Arcadia would condemn their own god.

See, he says, how the mighty world and the elements together show their joy.