Book ii
. 1. 30. The 'vitta,' or 'fillet,' was worn solely by women of pure character.]
[Footnote 703: The tawny Indians.--Ver. 53. Herodotus considers the Æthiopians to be Indians. According to some, the father of Andromeda was king of Ethiopia; but she is more frequently represented as a native of Joppa, on the coast of Syria.]
[Footnote 704: As many stars as.--Ver. 59. Heinsius considers this and the next line to be spurious.]
[Footnote 705: Wish a riper fair.--Ver. 63. 'Juvenis,' applied to a female, would mean something more than a mere girl. 'Juventus' was that age in which a person was in his best years, from about twenty to forty.]
[Footnote 706: Pompey's Portico.--Ver. 67. He alludes to the Portico which had been erected by Pompey at Rome, and was shaded by plane trees and refreshed by fountains. The Porticos were walks covered with roofs, supported by columns. They were sometimes attached to other buildings, and sometimes were independent of any other edifice. They were much resorted to by those who wished to take exercise without exposure to the heat of the sun. The Porticos of the temples were originally intended for the resort of persons who took part in the rites performed there. Lawsuits were sometimes conducted in the Porticos of Rome, and goods were sold there.]
[Footnote 707: The lion of Hercules.il--Ver. 68. The Nemean lion; which formed the Constellation Leo in the Zodiac.]
[Footnote 708: Where the mother.--Ver. 69. He alludes to the Theatre and Portico which Augustus built; the former of which received the name of his nephew Marcellus, the latter of his sister Octavia, the mother of Marcellus. After the death of Marcellus, Octavia added a public library to this Portico at her own expense. Here there were valuable paintings of Minerva, Philip and Alexander, and Hercules on Mount Aeta. Some suppose that the temple of Concord, built by Livia, and mentioned in the Fasti, is here referred to.]
[Footnote 709: The Portico of Livia.--Ver. 72. The Portico of Livia was near the street called Suburra. This Portico is also mentioned in the Fasti. We learn from Strabo that it was near the Via Sacra, or Sacred Street.]
[Footnote 710: Granddaughters of Belus.--Ver. 73. This was the Portico of the Danaides, in the temple of Apollo. It is referred to in the Second Elegy of the Second Book of the Amores.]
[Footnote 711: Bewailed by Venus.--Ver. 75. He alludes to the temple of Venus, at Rome, which, according to Juvenal, was notorious as the scene of intrigues and disgraceful irregularities. It was a custom of the Romans, borrowed from the Assyrians, to lament Adonis in the temple of Venus. See the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. This worship of the Assyrians is mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiel, chap. viii. ver. 13, 'women weeping for Thatnmuz.']
[Footnote 712: The Jew of Syria.--Ver. 76. He alludes to the rites performed in the Synagogues of the Jews of Rome, on the Sabbath, to which numbers or females were attracted, probably by the music. There were great numbers of Jews at Rome in the reign of Augustus, who were allowed to follow their own worship, according to the law of Moses. The Roman females visiting the Synagogues, assignations and gross irregularities became the consequence. Tiberius withdrew this privilege from the Jews, and ordered the priests' vestments and ornaments to be burnt. This line is thus rendered in Dryden's version:]
'Nor shun the Jewish walk, where the foul drove,]
On Sabbaths rest from everything but love.']
This wretched paraphrase is excused by the following very illiberal note,]
'If this version seems to bear a little hard on the ancient Jews, it does not at all wrong the modern.']
[Footnote 713: Many a woman.--Ver. 78. Io, or Isis, was debauched by Jupiter. Martial and Juvenal speak of the irregularities practised on these occasions.]
[Footnote 714: Where the erection.--Ver. 81. He refers to the Forum of Cæsar and the temple of Venus, which was built by Julius Cæsar after the battle of Pharsalia.]
[Footnote 715: Of Appius.--Ver. 82. He alludes to the aqueduct which had been constructed by the Censor Appius. This passed into the City, through the Latin gate, and discharged itself near the spot where the temple of Venus was built.]
[Footnote 716: Shooting stream.--Ver. 82; He alludes to the violence with which the water was discharged by the pipes of the aqueduct into the reservoir.]
[Footnote 717: Which is adjoining.--Ver. 87. The temple of Venus was near the Forum.]
[Footnote 718: Ravished Sabine fair.--Ver. 102. See the Fasti,