That is, of course, the very beginning of his own _Eclogues_. When he
published them he placed at the very beginning the well-known line that
recalled Messalla's own line:
Tityre, tu _patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi_.
What can this mean but a graceful reminder to Messalla that it was he who
had inspired the new effort?[3]
[Footnote 3: Roman writers frequently observed the graceful custom of
acknowledging their source of inspiration by weaving in a recognizable
phrase or line from the master into the very first sentence of a new
work: cf. _Arma virumque cano_--[Greek: Andra moi ennepe] (Lundstroem,
_Eranos_, 1915, p. 4). Shelley responding to the same impulse paraphrased
Bion's opening lines in "I weep for Adonais--he is dead."]
We may conclude then that Vergil's use of that line as the title of his
_Eclogues_ is a recognition of Messalla's influence. Conversely it is
proof, if proof were needed, that the ninth _Catalepton_ is Vergil's. We
may then interpret line thirteen of the ninth _Catalepton:_
pauca tua in nostras venerunt carmina chartas,
as a statement that in the autumn of 42, Vergil had already written some
of his _Eclogues_, and that these early ones--presumably at least numbers
II, III, and VII--contain suggestions from Messalla.
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