4. Alluding to his Amores, etc. See II. 5.
5. Risit, etc. Compare Virg. aen. I. 225.
7. The poets of the Augustan age were fond of comparing love to military service, and employed the terms of Roman discipline when speaking of it.
9. Love was suitable and becoming to youth. Compare Hor. Ep. I. 14, 36.
10. See II. 360. Pulsanda est magnis area major equis. Amor. III. 15, 18, alluding to the races in the Circus.
11, 12. Repeated from I. 1, 2, 7.
15. The myrtle was the favourite plant of Venus. Dixit (Venus) et a myrto (myrto nam cincta capillos Constiterat) folium granaque pauca dedit. Sensimus acceptis numen quoque, purior aether Fulsit, et a toto pectore cessit onus. A. A. III. 53. Compare Burns' Vision, last stanza.
18. While I have the inspiration of Venus.
20. Caesar, Germanicus.-Tenearis. You (i. e. your attention) may be detained. See Trist. iv. 10, 49. Hor. Ep. I. 1, 81.
21, 22. The waxen figures (imagines) of all their ancestors, stood in the halls of the noble Romans, and they had all a stemma, or genealogy of their family, which descended from the first author of it. Venus, as mother of aeneas, was at the head of the stemma of the Julii, into which family Germanicus was entered by adoption, I. 3, 10, notes.
23. Pat. Il. Romulus, the son of Ilia.—Scriberet, i. e. describeret in menses.
24. Auct. suos. Mars and Venus.
27. There were all the Alban kings between aeneas and Romulus.
29, 30. He traced his lineage up to the gods.
31. Nesciret, i.e. Quis nesciret?
32. Scilicet is usually joined with the preceding line, and a semicolon placed after it; but see I. 29, II. 241, IV. 627. For this genealogy, see Hom. II. xx. 215, et seq. Virg. G. III. 35. Mythology, p. 435.
37, 38. See I. 527. Virg. aen. III. 148.
39. Aliquando, at length.
40. See Livy, I. 3. Virg. aen. I. 268.—Teucros. This name of the Trojans does not occur in Homer and the older Greek poets, and but rarely in the later. Like Graecus, Graius, it is constantly employed by the Latin poets.
41-56. Ovid has also given the series of Alban kings, in Met. xiv. 609, et seq. but somewhat differently. This list differs from that in Livy only by omitting aeneas, after Silvius, and by giving Epytos for Atis, and Calpetus for Capetus. The list in Dionysius differs but little. This writer adds Silvius to the names of all, after the grandson of aeneas. For these Alban kings, whose names are, beyond doubt, a fiction of later times, to fill up the space which the chronology of the Greeks gave between the fall of Troy and the building of Rome, see Livy, I. 3. Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I. 202. Compare the equally veracious poetic genealogy of the British kings in Spenser's Faerie Queene, B. II. c. x.
46. Calpete. The reading of several MSS. is Capete, but the metre requires Calpete, which Neapolis gave from Dionysius and Eusebius.
48. Tuscae aquae, of the Albula, II. 389.
61. The ancients gave two etymons of the name April, one Greek, quasi Aphrilis, from, [Greek: Aphroditae], the name of Venus, and its supposed root, [Greek: aphros]: the other Latin, from aperio. Ovid, to gratify the Julian family, adopts and defends the former, which is by far the less probable. _Secundus mensis, ut Fulvius Flaccus scribit et Junius Gracchus, a Venere, quod ea sit [Greek: Aphroditae]. Varro, L. L. V.
63. He tries to obviate the objection, that an ancient Roman name could not have been derived from the Greek.
64. The south of Italy, as being filled with Grecian colonies, and larger than Greece Proper, was named Magna Graecia. 65-68. See I. 471, 543, V. 643.
69. Dux Neritius. Ulysses, from the hill Neritus, in Ithaca, Hom. Od. ix. 2l.—Laestrygones. Od. x. 120. This tribe of cannibals was placed by some of the localisers of the Homeric fables at Formiae, in Campania.
70-72. aeaea, the isle of Circe, was supposed to be the promontary, Circeii.—Circeii, insula quondam immense mari circumdata, at nunc planitio, Pliny, H. N. iii. 5, 9. Tusculum was said to have been founded by Telegonus, her son by Ulysses. For the Laestrygones and Circe, see Mythology, pp. 241, 242. Tibur was said to owe its origin to Tiburnus, Catillus and Coras, three brothers, who led thither a colony from Argos. Hor. Car. II. 6, 5. Virg. aen. vii. 670.—Udi, on account of the Anien, and the rivulets and springs about it. See Hor. Car. III. 29, 6; also I. 7, 13.
73. Halesus. See Amor. III. 13, 31. Virg. aen. vii. 723. Halesus was said to have been a son or grandson of Atreus, who, on the murder of Agamemnon, fled to Italy, where he founded Falerii, and introduced the worship of Juno. The worship of Juno, both in Argos and Falerii, probably gave occasion to the legend, and the name Halesus was formed from Falisci. F. and H. are commutable. See on v. 630.
75. See Hom. Il. vii. 348, et seq. Hor. Ep. I. 2, 9. The tradition was that, being allowed to depart from Troy by the Greeks, he came into Italy at the head of a colony of Paphlagonian Heneti, and founded Patavium, now Padua. See Livy, I. 1. Virg. aen. i. 242.
76. Diomedes, grandson of Oeneus, king of aetolia, came, after his return from Troy, to Apulia, where Daunus, the king of the country, gave him his daughter in marriage, and a share of his dominions. Met. xiv. Virg. aen. xi. 246. There were in Apulia the Diomedis campi, and, on the coast, the Diomedea insula.
77. Serus. According to Virgil, the wanderings of aeneas lasted seven years.
79, 80. Why should not the gelidus Sulmo in the Appenines, the chief town of the Sabellian Pelignians, and the birth-place of our poet have a foreign origin, as well as Rome and Patavium? The reader needs scarcely to be told, that accidental similarities of names are the source of all these tales. The city of Tours in France, I have read, was founded by Turnus, the rival of aeneas, and his tomb was long to be seen there! See Selden's notes on Drayton's Poly-Olbion, Song I.
82. The natural regret of an exile at the recollection of his country.
85-89. A second and much more likely etymon of April. Hujus mensis nomen ego magis puto dictum, quod ver omnia aperit. Varro, L. L. V. Cincius also, a name of great authority, was of the same opinion, as we are informed by Macrobius, Sat. 1. 12. His reasons were: there was no festal day, and no remarkable sacrifice to Venus appointed by the ancients in this month, and the name of Venus was not mentioned with those of the other gods in the Salian hymns. Varro also says, that neither the Latin nor the Greek name of Venus was known in the time of the kings. For the difference between Aphrodite and Venus, see Mythology, pp. 105 and 464.
90. Injecta manu. Manus injectio quotiens, nulla judicis auctoritate expectata, rem nobis debitam vindicamus. Servius, on aen. x. 419.
91-116. He argues, in defence of Venus, from her dignity and power. Compare Lucret. I. i, et seq.
93. Natalibus, from which she herself was born.
95. Creavit. All the deities worshiped in Greece, as we may see in the Theogony of Hesiod, were born like mankind, Venus excepted, and even she in Homer, has a father and a mother.
103. Compare Virg. G. III. 209, et seq. aen. xii. 715. p. 76.
117-124. He now argues from the claims which Venus had on the gratitude of the Romans.
120. See Hom. II. v. 335 et seq.
121. See Hom. II. xxiv. 27, et seq. Virg. aen. I. 27. Mythology, p. 76.
125-132. He argues from the beauty of spring, as being suited to Venus. Compare III. 235. Virg. Ec. III. 55. G. II. 334, et seq.
126. Nitent. Some MSS. read virent.
131. From the III. Id. Nov. to the VI. Id. Mart. the sea was said to be closed, and the ships were laid up on shore. In spring they were launched anew. See Hor. Car. I. 4, 3.
134. Et vos, etc. A periphrasis of the meretrices, who wore a toga instead of the stola (longa vestis) worn by women of character. Scripsimus haec illis, quarum nec vitta pudicas Attingit crines, nec stola longa pedes. Ep. ex. Pont. III. 3, 54.
135. These washings of the statues of the gods were common among the Greeks and Romans, There is a hymn of Callimachus on the washing of that of Pallas. See Spanheim's notes on it.—Redimicula, the strings or ribbons which tied on the cap or bonnet. Virg. aen. ix. 616.
139. Sub myrto. That is crowned with myrtle, as is manifest from Plutarch Numa, 19, and Laur. Lydus de Mens, p. 19.
145. The temple of Fortuna Virilis or Fors Fortuna, was built by Servius Tullius outside of the city on the banks of the Tiber, Dionys. iv. 27. Varro L. L. V.
146. See v. l39.—Calida. This is the reading of fifteen MSS. the rest have gelida.
151. None of the commentators make any remark on this custom. The poet accounts for it in the usual way by a legend.
157-160. A.U.C. 639, as a Roman knight named Elvius was returning to Apulia from the plays at Rome with his daughter Elvia, the maiden who was on horseback was struck with lightning in such a manner, that her clothes were thrown up, and her tongue forced out, the trappings of the horse were also scattered. The Vates being consulted, declared that it portended infamy to the Vestals and to the knights. Enquiry was made, and three Vestals, Aemilia, Licinia and Martia, were found to have been carrying on an illicit intercourse with some of the knights. The Sibylline books directed that two Greeks and two Gauls should be buried alive, to appease some strange gods, and a statue raised to Venus Verticordia, that she might turn the hearts of the women from iniquity. The statue was dedicated by Sulpicia, the wife of Fulvius Flaccus, as she bore the highest character for chastity and purity of manners. See Plutarch Quaest. Rom. Plin. H. N. viii. 35. Val. Max. viii. 15. Jul. Obsequens, c. 97.
163. The Scorpion set cosmically on the Kalends of April.—Elatae, etc. An accurate description of the Scorpion.
165. The IV. Non. the Pleiades (called by the Romans Vergiliae,) set heliacally according to Neapolis, acronychally according to Taubner, who maintains that the heliac setting was not till three days afterwards. See Introd. § 1.
166. Queruntur. Queror is used of the song of birds. See Hor. Epod. 2. 20. Lucretius (iv. 588.) and Horace (Car. in. 7. 30.) employ it to express the soft and sweet tones of the pipe.
167. See II. 500. Met. i. 493.
169. Pliades. It is thus spelt here and elsewhere in all the MSS.– Humeros, etc. The Pleiades or seven stars in the back of the Bull, were said to be the daughters of Atlas who supported the heavens, consequently when they set, their father's shoulders were eased of a portion of their burden. When a constellation is added to heaven, the weight is encreased. Met. ix. 273.
171-179. Reasons why, though the Pleiades were seven, but six could be seen.
179-372. On the 4th of the month, Prid. Non. began the great festival of the Megalensia or Megalesia, celebrated in honor of the mother of the gods, the Phrygian Cybele, whose worship was introduced into Rome, A.U.C. 547. See Livy xxix. 14, (where it is pridie Idus) Lucret. ii. 598-623. Virg. aen. in. 104. vi. 785. x. 252, Mythology, p. 191.
180. Titan, the Sun, who is frequently so called by the Latin poets. See on IV. 919. Ovid also calls the Moon, Titania.
181. Berecynthia, i. e. Phrygian, from Mt. Berecynthus.
181. Idaeae. Cybele, was so named, from Mt. Ida.
183. Semimares. The Galli, or priests of Cybele.—Tympana, tambourins.
184. Aera, etc. cymbals.
185. The statue of the goddess was carried through the streets by a Phrygian man and woman.
187. Stage-plays were always performed at the Megalesia, Livy, ut supra, and xxxvi. 36. See also the inscriptions of Terence's comedies.
188. The days of the Megalesia were Nefasti. See Introd. § 3.
190. Lotos. The wood of the Lybian lotos was chiefly employed for the manufacture of pipes.—Theophr. Hist, plant, iv. 3. Plin. H.N. xiii. 17, 32.
191. Cyleleïa. Cybelean, from Mt. Cybele.—Neptes, grand-daughters, the Muses. As the Greeks identified the Phrygian Mother of the Gods, with their Rhea, the spouse of Kronus, and mother of the Kronides or Olympians, Cybele, of course, became the grandmother of the Muses. The Ops of the Italians, with whom the Romans identified her, resembled Cybele much more nearly than Rhea did, who appears to have been an allegorical personnage. See Mythology, p. 50.
195. Erato. Our poet invokes this muse for the same reason, A. A. II. 16. Apollonius Rhodius calls on Erato, when about to relate the loves of Jason and Medea, and Virgil (aen. vii. 37,) addresses her when he is going to tell of the war between Turnus and aeneas, for the sake of Lavinia, whom the former hero loved.
197. Reddita, etc. scil. by Heaven and Earth. The whole story is told by Hesiod Theog. 464, et seq. Mythology, p. 42.
204. Parce, forbear.—Fidem, the tradition, as the cause of belief.
205. Gutture. One of the best MSS. reads viscere, which is followed by Heinsius and Gierig. Three have gurgite.
208. Ardua Ide, would seem here to be the Phrygian Ida, but Hesiod, and the general tradition, made the Cretan Ida to be the scene of the infancy of the god.—Jamdudum, forth with. Virg. aen. II. 103.
209, Rudibus. Most MSS. read manibus; two of the best rudibus, four of the best sudibus, which is also the reading of Lactantius, in his quotation of this verse. Inst. I. 21. In the Greek narratives, the word is [Greek: encheiridia, ziphea], and [Greek: dorata], with which the rudes, foils or blunt swords, best agree. Lobeck proposes tudibus.
210. The Curetes are those who, in the Cretan legend, danced their [Greek: pyrrhichaen] or armed dance, about the cradle of Jupiter; the Corybantes were regarded as the attendants of the Mother of the Gods. The poet here evidently alludes to the resemblance between their name and [Greek: korus], a helmet.
215-218. See her figure. Mythology, Plate ix. 1.
219. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 785. Lucret. II. 607.
220. The poet and the muse are not quite right here. Cybele, as the symbol of the earth, was very naturally crowned with towers. Quod autem turritam gestat coronam, ostendit superpositas esse terrae civitates, quas insignitas turribus constat. Servius on aen. iii. 113. But the fact is, Ovid was entangled in the Euhemeric or anthropomorphising system, which prevailed so much in his time. See Mythology, pp. 19, 20, 442.
221. Secandi, scil. by the Galli.
223. For the story of Attis, as told somewhat differently by Diodorus, see Mythology, p. 192; see also Catullus, LXIII. and the notes of Doering.
225. Tueri, to be the aedituus of her temple.
226. Puer esse, to be a virgin, if the term may be used.
231. Ovid frequently uses Naïs as synonymous with Nympha. He is peculiarly incorrect here, for the nymph in question, as the daughter of the god of the river Sagaris, must have been a real Naïs, and yet he makes her a Hamadryad. For the Nymphs, see Mythology, p. 206.
233. Credens, etc. His madness thus commenced.
236. Palaestinas deas. As the whips and torches are mentioned, there can be no doubt that these were the Furies, but why they were thus called, none of the commentators can say. Marsus shews, from an old MS. of Caesar's Commentaries, that Palaestae was a town of Epirus, in which country the Furies had a temple. This, though bad, is the only explanation we have. One MS. reads Palestrinas, another Palatinas.
247. Now comes the narrative of the introduction of the worship of the Magna Mater into Rome, A.U.C. 547. See Livy, xxix. 10, 11, l4. xxxvi. 36. Valer. Max. viii. 15, 3. Silius. Ital. xvii. init. Compare Met. xv. 622-744.
249, 250. Dindymon, etc. Mountains of Phrygia.—Amoen. font [Greek: polypidax] Homer,—H. op. Troy.
252. Sacriferas, as bearing the Penates and the Eternal Fire.—Paene secuta, I think there is an allusion here to the legend in Virg. aen. ix. 120.
257. Carminis, etc. The Sibylline books.
265. Proceres, scil. Valerius Laevinus, a consular; M. Caecilius Metellus, a former praetor; Sulpicius Galba, who had been an aedile, and two who had served the office of quaestor.
266. Negat. This was not the case according to Livy.
272. Rome derived her origin from Phrygia.
276. From the following description of it, given by Arnobius, (Adv. Gen. vii. p. 285,) it is quite evident that this symbol of the Mother of the Gods was an aërolithe. Ex Phrygia nihil quidem aliud scribitur missum rege ab Attalo, nisi lapis quidem non magnus ferri manu hominis sine ulla impressione qui posset, coloris furvi atque atri, angellis prominentibus inaequalis. A more accurate description of the external appearance of an aërolithe could not easily be given.
277. Nati, Neptune. Let the reader trace this voyage on the map.
280. Vet. Eët. op. Thebes, near Adramyttium, the residence of Eëtion, the father of Andromache, See Hom. II. I. 366, vi. 395, xxii. 480.
282. The coast of Euboea.
283, 284. See Met. viii. 195, et seq.—Lapsas. Most MSS. read lassas.
292. Dividit, spreads itself: perhaps simply divides, as the Tiber had two mouths.
294. Obvius, to meet it.
300. The river was shallow in consequence of the drought.
301. Plus quam pro parte, beyond his strength.
302. Just as sailors and others do at the present day in all countries.
305. The Eponymus, or reputed head of the Claudian family, was a hero named Clausus. Virg. aen. vii. 706. Attus Clausus was the name of the Sabine chief, who, with his gens and their clients, came to Rome, where they were received among the Patricians, and became famous in Roman story under the name of Claudii. Livy, II. 16. This Claudia Quinta was the grand-daughter of Appius Claudius Caecus.
308. Acta rea, was charged with. A law term.
310. Ad rigidos. "Apud severos," Gierig. I think he is wrong, and that the meaning is, she was too free of her tongue against the old men, perhaps ridiculing them, and despising their admonitions.—Senes. Several MSS. read sonos.
312. As true of the present day as of the time of Ovid.
326. Was there a play acted at the Megalesia, of which this was the subject?
329, 330. This would appear to indicate the spot where the river divided. See on v. 292.
335. Coronatam. The custom of adorning the poops of vessels with garlands, must be familiar to every reader of the classics. See Virg. G. I. 304, aen. iv. 418.
339. Canus sacerdos, the Archigallus, or chief priest of Cybele, as Neapolis thinks.
340. It was the custom to wash the image of the goddess and her chariot every year in the Almo. Qui lotam parvo revocant (renovant) Almone Cybeben. Lucan. I. 600.
346. Boves. The car of Cybele was drawn by heifers.
347. The sacred stone was committed to the care of P. Corn. Scipio Nasica, the son of Cneius, who had fallen in Spain, as being the most virtuous man in Rome, It was brought into the temple of Victory, which was on the Palatium. The temple was not finished until thirteen years after, and the stage-plays acted on that occasion were, according to Valerius Antias, the first ever performed at Rome.—Non perstitit. This is the reading of six of the best and of other MSS. and of the old editions; four of the best, and three others have tunc extitit, which is the reading adopted by Heinsius and Gierig. I think the present reading gives the more Ovidian sense, scil. the name of the author did not remain unchanged; it was Metellus, it is Augustus. See v. 351.
350. The Phrygian man and woman who carried the goddess about, collected small pieces of money. This, by the Greeks, was called [Greek: maetragyrtein]. The poet gives a cause, and a wrong one for it.
353. It was the custom for the principal persons at Rome to give mutual entertainments, at the time of the Megalesia. This was called mutitare. Quam ob causam Patricii Megalensibus mutitare soliti sint, Plebs Cerealibus? Gellius, xviii. 2.
354. Indictas. "Proprie de non vocatis, sed qui sponte veniunt ad epulas. Suet. Ner. 27. Vitell. 13. Male interpretes a sacerdotibus indictas capiunt." Burmann.
355. Bene mutarit. Having exchanged her obscure Phrygian abode for the capital of the world. This reason is too trifling to be noticed.
357. Institeram. "Institueram, quaerere volebam," Gierig.—Primi. See on v. 347, or is it first in point of dignity, or first in order in the year?
359. See Virg. aen. vi. 787.
361. Qui se, etc. The Galli or priests of Cybele were voluntary eunuchs.
363. Vir. Cyb. Cybele was a mountain of Phrygia.—Alt. Cel. Celaenae, a mountain and town, at one time the chief place in Phrygia; the river Maeander rose on its summit, and the Marsyas not far from it.
364. Am. nom. Gal. Gallus in Phrygia, unde qui bibit insanit more fanatico, Vibius Sequester de Flumin. Pliny, (H. N. xxxi. 2. 5,) following Callimachus, enumerates the Gallus among those whose waters were good for persons afflicted with the stone, and adds, Sed ibi in potando necessarius modus, ne lymphatos agat. As, however, no river ever had this quality, we may be allowed to doubt the correctness of this etymology.
367. Herbosum moretum. The moretum called by the Greeks [Greek: muttonton] or [Greek: trimma] was a mess composed of garlic, parsley, rue, coriander, onions, cheese, oil and vinegar pounded up together. See the description of the mode of making it in the poem called Moretum, ascribed to Virgil.—Herbosum, an account of the parsley, etc.
371. Elisae, bruised or pounded, the part, of elido; most MSS. read elixae.
373-376. The temple of Fortuna Publica on the Quirinal hill, was dedicated on the Nones of April—Motis scil. amotis.—Pallantias, Aurora, as being daughter to the Titan Pallas. This genealogy, as far as my knowledge extends, is peculiar to the Latin poets. In Hesiod, Eos or Aurora is the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and niece to Pallas— Levarit. "Jugo solverit," Gierig.—Niv. eq. Such were suited to the candida Luna. In an epigram ascribed to Ovid, her car is drawn niveis juvencis. The fiction was caused by the horned moon. Nonnus and Claudian gives her the same.—Fort. Pub. This temple was vowed, A.U.C. 549, by the consul Sempronius on the eve of a battle with Hannibal. It was dedicated ten years afterwards by Q. Martius, Ralla created Decemvir for the purpose.
377. Tertia lux, scil. Megalesium, the day after the Nones.—Ludis. The plays were acted on this day.
380. Perfida. After the usual fashion of the Romans, to call rebels and traitors all who opposed them, or the victorious party among them. It was thus that Napoleon used to style the Spaniards rebels and insurgents. I need hardly observe that Juba king of Mauritania was most faithful to the cause of Pompey and the republic. He and Scipio put an end to their lives after their defeat by Caesar, hence the poet applies to him the term magnanimus, which denotes courage, as the Romans greatly approved of those who escaped from disgrace and insult by voluntary death. Compare Hor. Car. I. 37. 21. The victory was gained, A.U.C. 708. See Hirtius Bell. Afric. 94. Florus iv. 2. 69.—Contudit. Virg. aen. I. 264.
381. Meruisse, to have served.
383, 384. Sedem, scil. in the orchestra, where Ovid sat, as having been a Decemvir; not the fourteen rows where he might have sat of right, as belonging to the equestrian order, but to a seat on which the tribune could have no claim. The Vigintiviratus was an office, through which men rose to the senate. Of the Vigintiviri, three had charge of the execution of capital punishments, three of the mint, four of the roads, ten (the Decemvirs) of assembling the Centumvirs, and presiding when they sat for the trial of causes.
385. Imbre. The Roman theatres were not roofed. There was usually an awning drawn across to keep off the sun. See Lucret. IV. 73.
386. Pendula Libra. On the day after the Nones, the VIII. Id. Libra was in the sky all through the night, and was usually attended by rain. Pendula is a very appropriate term for Libra.
388. Ensifer. The better MSS. read ensiger.
389. The following day (IV. Idus.) began the Ludi Circenses or Cereales, in honour of Ceres. Tac. An. xv. 53, 74.—Inspexerit, looked down on.
391. On the first day of the festival, a pomp or procession, led by the principal men of the state, moved from the Capitol through the Forum to the Circus. The procession vas closed by the images of several gods carried on men's shoulders. This pomp is described by our poet. Am. III. 2. 43, and by Dionysius, vii. 72. Some critics maintain that the Cereales were but a part of the Ludi Circenses, which last were a festival of all the gods. See Suet. Jul. 76. Tacitus certainly, in the passage first referred to above, says, Circensium ludorum die, qui Cereri celebratur, but Ovid seems to make no distinction.
392. Ventosis, swift as the wind, [Greek: theiein anemoisin homoioi], Hom. II. x. 437, of the horses of Rhesus, [Greek: podaenemos], is an epithet of Iris.
395. According to the Epicurean system of philosophy, in vogue in his days, the poet regards the original condition of man, as similar to that of the beasts that graze.
398. Ten. fron. cac. "Tenerae frondes arborum," Gierig. The shoot or tender bough, with its fresh juicy leaves.—Erant. Most MSS. erat.
401. Compare Amor. III. 10. Met. v. 342. Virg. G. I. 147. Lucret. v. 937.
405. [Greek: Chalko d' ergazonto melas d' ouk eske sidaeros]. Hesiod. [Greek: Erga], l50.—Chalybeïa massa, iron, from the Chalybes who manufactured it.
406-408. This longing for the continuance of peace, and aversion to war, is to be found in all the poets of the Augustan age. It may have been partly flattery to Augustus, but I rather think it arose from the previous state of war which had lasted so long, and caused so much ruin and misery. Something of the same kind may be observed in Europe at the present moment.
412. Casta, pure, offered with a pure mind.
414. See I. 349.
417. He had already related this tale at considerable length, Met. V. Compare Claudian de Rap. Pros, and the Homeridian hymn to Demeter. See Mythology, p. 133.
422. Henna or Enna, was an elevated valley-plain, nearly in the centre of Sicily. Cicero, Verr. iv. 48.
423. Arethusa, the nymph of the fount in the island at Syracuse.
436. "Gremium et sinus, ut Grammatici docent, ita differunt ut sinus sit inter pectoris et brachorium, gremium inter femorum complexum." Gierig.
439. Amarante. Two of the best MSS. read Narcisse.
440. _Rorem, scil. marinum, rosemary, Virg. Ec. II. 49, G. II. 213. Two of the best MMS. read casiam, which Heinsius and Gierig have received; one violas, three rosas, several rores most rorem.—Meliloton, also called Sertula Campana, grows abundantly in Campania. It resembles the saffron in colour and in smell.
445. Patruus. Pluto, the brother of Jupiter and Ceres.
466. Sues. "Melius poëta omississet in hac narratione," Gierig. It is probable that this was a reason given for swine being offered to Ceres. See v. 414.
467-480. See all these places on the map, and compare Virg. aen. iii. 687, et seq. The poet, we may observe, follows no regular topographical order in enumerating them.
470. The Gelas, at whose mouth Gela was built, was a very rapid eddying stream.
470. Megara or Megaris, formerly called Hybla, was near Syracuse. Pangie or Pantagiae, was a small stream near Leontini.
473. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 418.
474. Messana, was anciently called Zancle, which, in the Sicilian language, signified a sickle, which the place resembled in form. Thuc. vi. 4.
477. Heloria tempe. The Helorus entered the sea near Pachynus. The Greeks called all those long narrow wooded glens, through which a river ran, [Greek: tempea] or [Greek: tempae].
482. See the story of Progne and Tereus. Met. vi. 620. et seq. Mythology, p. 341.
491. See Mythology, p. 239.
495. "Pumex, omnis lapis aut rupes excavata," Gierig.
497. Ceres, therefore, kept her 'dragon yoke' in this cavern.
499, 500. Ovid, in this place, agrees with Virgil and Apollonius Rhodius, in placing Scylla on the Italian, Charybdis on the Sicilian side of the strait. In the Metamorphoses, xiv. he reverses the positions. Here too, like Virgil, Ec. vi. 74, he confounds this Scylla with the daughter of Nisus.
504. Triste, [Greek: agelastos petra], was the Greek name.
507. Eleusin. This is the reading of the best MSS.
521. Neq. lac. deor. est. [Greek: Horo kat osson d' ou themis balein dakru], says Diana, Eurip. Hip. 1396; for Apollo see Met. II. 621.
527. Qua cogere posses, scil. by mentioning her daughter, v. 525.
535, 536. This circumstance of the legend was invented to account for the mystae, or persons just initiated, not taking food till the evening. [Greek: Oi ta mystaeria paralambanontes legontai en archae men mustai met eniauton de epoptai kai ephoroi]. Suidas.
550. Triptolemum. He is called Demophoon in the Homeridian hymn. I would recommend the reader to compare that hymn, or the analysis of it in my Mythology, with this narrative of Ovid.
563. The poet here sets out on another excursion with the goddess, in which he is as negligent of order as ever. For example, coming from Eleusis, she must have passed the Piraeus, on her way to Sunion.
567. Ionium rapax. The Ionian sea was to the west of Greece. As I cannot suspect the poet of making such wilful confusion, I assent to those who suppose he meant by it the sea on the coast of Ionia in Asia.
569. Turilegos Arabas. Tura praeter Arabiam nullis ac ne Arabiae quidem universae; pagus Sabaeorum regio turifera. Pliny, H. N. xii. 14.
571. Hesperios, scil_.fluvios_. The Nile was in the poet's mind.
580. Helice. See on III. 108.
593. Victore Gyge, scil. in the Giant-war. Gyges was one of the Hundred-handed, the allies of Jupiter in the Titan-war. Hes. Th. 149.
600. Inane Chaos. Chaos, with the usual confusion of the later poets, is here put for Erebus, the proper name for Pluto's realm.
620. On this account, in seasons of public mourning, the Cerealia were not celebrated, as the mourning matrons could not appear at them.
620-624. A.U.C. 457. Q. Fabius Maximus, when advancing against the camp of the Samnites, Liv. x. 29. The temple of Liberty was dedicated on Mt. Aventine, vowed a temple to Jupiter Victor, in the time of the second Punic war, by the father of Tiberius Gracchus. Liv. xxiv. 16. The Atrium Libertatis was repaired A.U.C. 559, by the censors Paetus and Cornelius Cethegus.
625. Luce secutura. The XVIII. Kal. Maii. There was frequently hail and rain at this time. Columella, xi. 2.