ith the introduction of the same
imagery. Suppose, then, the scene to be in _remoto gramine_ at Tiber,
our modern Tivoli; where, as I presume, the water was always, as now,
though not in exactly the same way, turned off from the Anio into _cut
channels_; and such I take to be the meaning generally of rivers, a
_channel_, not a river. And the Lympha here is appropriate; not the
_body_ of the stream, but a portion of its water. In this case,
"obliquo" may express a new direction, and some obstacle in the _turn_
the river takes, where the water would for a moment seem to _labour_,
"laborare fugax," expressing its desire to escape. May not, therefore,
the first evident meaning be allowed to "trepidare," to tremble, or
_undulate_, showing the motion a rivulet assumes, just after it has
turned the angle of its obstruction. "Obliquo," may, too, mean the
slope, such as would be in a garden at Tivoli, on the verge of the
precipice. Possibly Horace generally uses "rivus" in this sense, "Purae
rivus aquae."--Then, again, describing the character of Tibur or Tivoli,
he does not say the Anio; but "aquae," as in the other instance "Lympha."

"Sed quae Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt,"

--"fertile," being the effect of the _irrigation_, the purpose for which
the aquae are turned from the river; and this agrees well with the word
_praefluunt_, as applied to irrigated gardens. Pliny thus uses the
adjective praefluus: "Hortos esse habendos _irriguos praefluo amne_." But
there is one passage in Horace where this meaning is so distinctly given
to rivers, and which is so characteristic of the very scene of Tibur,
that to me it is conclusive.

"et uda
_Mobilibus_ pomarea rivis."

Evidently channels, _moveable_ and diverse at pleasure, for
_irrigation_.

Nor would Horace use Lympha for a river, or be amenable to a charge of
such tautology as this:--

"Labuntur _altis interim ripis aquae_,
Quaeruntur in sylvis aves,
_Fontesque Lymphis_ obstrepunt manantibus,
Somnos quod inortet leves."

CURATE.--I fancy I now see the garden, where somewhat artificial
planting had put together the "Pinus ingens albaque Populus," to
consociate, and form the shady arbour, where the wine and unguents are
to be brought, and through which the _rivus_ passes angularly, and
doubtless with a view to the garden-beauty. It is a sketch from nature
of some particular and favourite spot.

Quo Pinus ingens albaque Populus
Umbram _