her
of his estates and consequently the poet of his income. There seems to be
no way of deciding which is the earlier. Ancient commentators, following
the order of precedence, interpreted the ninth as an indication of a
second eviction, but there seems to be no sound reason for agreeing with
them, since they are entirely too literal in their inferences. Conington
sanely decides that only one eviction took place, and he places the ninth
before the first in order of time. He may be right. The two poems at any
rate belong to the early months of 41.

The obsequious scholiasts of the Empire have nowhere so thoroughly
exposed their own mode of thought as in their interpretations of these
two _Eclogues_. Knowing and caring little for the actual course of
events, having no comprehension of the institutions of an earlier day,
concerned only with extracting what is to them a dramatic story from
the _Eclogues_, they put all the historical characters into impossible
situations. The one thing of which they feel comfortably sure is that
every _Eclogue_ that mentions Pollio, Gallus and Alfenus Varus must have
been a "bread and butter" poem written in gratitude for value received.
Of the close literary associations of the time they seem to be unaware.
To suit such purposes Pollio[1] is at times made governor of Cisalpine
Gaul, and at times placed on the commission to colonize Cremona, Alfenus
is made Pollio's "successor" in a province that does not exist, and
Gallus is also made a colonial commissioner. If, however, we examine
these statements in the light of facts provided by independent sources we
shall find that the whole structure based upon the subjective inferences
of the scholiasts falls to the ground.

[Footnote 1: See Diehl, _Vitae Vergilianae_, pp. 51 ff.]

We must first follow Pollio's career through this period. When the
triumvirate was formed in 43, Pollio was made Antony's _legatus_ in
Cisalpine Gaul and promised the consulship for the year 40.[2] After
Philippi, however, in the autumn of 42, Cisalpine Gaul was declared
a part of Italy and, therefore, fell out of Pollio's control.[3]
Nevertheless, he was not deprived of a command for the year remaining
before his consulship (41 B.C.), but was permitted to withdraw to the
upper end of the Adriatic with his army of seven legions.[4] His duty was
doubtless to guard the low Venetian coast against the remnants of the
republican forces still on the high seas, and, if he had t