23° -RIADINO AFTER ACTIUM, ‘viewpoints and problems of contemporary Rome for the conalderation of the ‘rinceps. Vergil represents the multfariousness of Octavian as both a wonder- fal flexibility and a sinister formlesiness. In politics, as in everything else, ‘Vergil force his audience to consider carefully the disparate hues produced by the prism, Whatever clarity Octavian may have expected did not exist in ‘Vergi’ world, and the poet's anticipation of Octavian’s conflicted reception. should be seen not as subversion or propaganda but as brilliant political pro- ‘treptic. As far as Octavian is concemed, the didaxis of the Georgcs works by showing that his own sel-fashioning must necessarily trigger reciprocal Octa- -vians in the minds of his contemporaries. The innovative tendency of mid- to ate-first-cenniry Rome could be practiced cn, as well as by, the powerful (Chapter One KINGS OF GODS AND MEN oe if nope (11-42) of the Georges isdivided into three parts: brief state- ‘ment of purpose, an invocation of various traditional and mythological divinities, and, as a surprising continuation of this invocation, a remarkable invocation of Octavian alone. The statement of purpose provides the reader with a syllabus Quid faciar lnetas segetes, quo sidere terram Uuertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adiungere vitis conueniat, quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo sic pecor, apibus quanta experientia parcis, hhine canere incipiam, (x15) {What makes crops fare well? Under what star should one turn up the earth, ‘Maecenas, or join the vines to elms? What care does the herd need? What caltivation is necessary for maintaining the flock? What store of experience is needed forthe thrifty bees? Prom these topics wil I begin my song.) ‘These verses have long been seen as providing a book by book summary of the poem, but they also suggest several ofits larger thematic concerns.* For in- stance, the poet’ first (indirect) question has to do with making crops laetas, a word that connotes both biological fertility and emotional happiness. Thus, the first four words of the poem already suggest that the farm is analogous to ‘a human being and that manipulation of the farm, and thus of humanity, may 314 KUADING AFTER ACTIUM change its condition.* Furthermore, the poet is concerned with cua, cultus, and experientia—all words that have an agricultural dimension but can apply cqually to human beings and the human condition. It is thus apparent imme- diately that Vergil will concer himself with the agricultural world in terms that also allow him to carry on a discussion about human life and human ex perience.? From the beginning, farm and farmer are one and the same. ‘The transition from the frst four lines to the following invocation, how- ever, needs filler exploration than it has generally received. Translators, com- rmentatots, and critics usually understand the phrase hinc cane incipiam to rmean “of these things will Ising,” that is, “these willbe the topics of the Geor- fics.” This interpretation, while accurate is incomplete, since it requires us to abandon the most fundamental usage of the word hinc, “from this point." 1 ‘would suggest that Vergil has used this transitional phrase to orient the reader to a structural, and ideally an interpretive, principle that will hold true of the ‘overarching structure of the Georgics but also of each book or sequence within it the agricultural basis of the poct’s precepts serves asa point of departure for ‘poem that will ultimately encompass all aspects of the hurman world. Thus, hhave translated hinc canere incpiam as “from these topics will I begin my song.” ‘On one level, che agricultural material forms the point of departure for the remarkable myth with which the pocm ends, but the same principle can be seen to be operative throughout the Geonscs. Agricultural subject matter gives way, sometimes quite suddenly, to passages that contain the poet’ med- inations on art, polities, history, religion, and philosophy. Earlier criticism of the Georgi saw many of these passages as digressions, ornamental interludes, that lightened the reader's burden. More recent scholars have seen these pas- sages as fundamental to the poet's program, sometimes converting the agricul- ‘tural material itself into interruptions of deeper, and more beautiful, rumina- tions. I prefer to see such passages neither as digressions nor as the poem's true core. Rather, they follow from the mundane didactic material that precedes, and they prepare us for what is to follows. Hine canereincipiam, says the poet, and the reader’ fist task is to find the logic that leads hien from a simple syl- Iabus on farming to chose other aspects of life thatthe poem constantly shifis to encompass. Before moving ahead, we must consider briefly the poem’s frst addressee. Maceenas, the poet's patron and senior adviser to Octavian, is addressed with ‘no particular emphasis or laudation.5 One might see in this a faint acknow!- cedgment that Maecenas’ importance derives from that of Octavian, but there isa mote immediate effect as well. At the very opening of the poem, Macce- nas takes second place to the world being described by the poem; he is called cn only to observe the poet’ treatment of his subject matter. Thus, Maecenas ings of Gs and Men a5 is positioned as the auience of the pocin a literary artifiey; he isto observe the poet’ activities is creative artist This will be his role throughout the poem, and he is thus, perhaps, a foil to Lucretius’ Memmius in that he is not obviously a student trying co learn or a soul in need of philosophical help. Having alerted the reader (and Maecenas) to agricultural concerns, the poet invokes a surprising array of gods. 05,0 clarissima mundi lumina, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum; Liber et alma Ceres, uestro si munere tellus CChaoniam pingui glandem mutauit arista, poculaque inuentis Acheloia miscuit wuis; €€ vos, agresturn priesentia numina, Foun (ferce simul Faunique pedem Dryadesque puellae: ‘munera uestra cane); tuque o, ui prima frementem fudit equum magno tellus percussatridenti, "Neptune; et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Ceae ter centum nivel tondent dumesa iuuenci, ipse nemus linquens patrium saltusque Lycaei Pan, ouium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, adsis, 0 Tegeaee, faxens, oleaeque Minerua inuentrix, uncique puer monstrator arate, et teneram ab radice ferens, Siluane, cupressum: dique deaeque omres, studium quibus arua tueri, quique nouas alitis non ullo semine fruges