Book i

. El. iv. 1.48, and the Note.]

[Footnote 1050: With purple stripes.'--Ver. 269. Commentators are at a loss to know what 'tingere virgis' means; some suggest, 'to wear garments with red 'virgæ,' or 'stripes,'while others think that it means 'to tint the skin with fine lines of a purple colour.' It is thought by some that vermilion is here alluded to, while others suppose that the juice of the red flowers, or berries of the 'vaccinium,' is meant.]

[Footnote 1051: The Pharian fish.--Ver. 270. The intestines and dung of the crocodile, 'the Pharian' or 'Egyptian fish,' are here referred to. We learn from Pliny that these substances were used by the females at Rome as a cosmetic, to add to the fairness of the complexion, and to take away freckles from the skin.]

[Footnote 1052: Small pads are suitable.--Ver. 273 'Analectides,' or 'Analectrides,' (the correct reading is doubtful) were pads, or stuffings, of flock, used in cases of high shoulders or prominent shoulder-blades.]

[Footnote 1053: And let the girth.--Ver. 274. He alludes to the 'strophium,' which distantly resembled the stays of the present day, and was a girdle, or belt, worn by women round the breast and over the interior tunic or chemise. From an Epigram of Martial, it seems to have been usually made of leather. Becker thinks that there was a difference between the 'fascia' and the 'strophium.']

[Footnote 1054: At a distance.--Ver. 278. One of the very wisest of his suggestions.]

[Footnote 1055: Umbrian.--Ver. 303. The Umbrians were a people of the Marsi, in the north of Italy. They were noted for their courage, and the rusticity of their manners.]

[Footnote 1056: The son of Sisyphus.--Ver. 313. He here alludes to a scandalous story among the ancients, that Ulysses was the son of Anticlea, by Sisyphus the robber, who had carried her off, and not by Laertes, her husband.]

[Footnote 1057: The wax.--Ver. 314. By the advice of Circe, Ulysses filled the ears of his companions with melted wax, that they might not hear the songs of the Sirens.]

[Footnote 1058: The measures of the Nile.--Ver. 318. These airs were sung by Egyptian girls, with voluptuous attitudes, and were much esteemed by the dissolute Romans. These Egyptian singers were, no doubt, the forerunners of the 'Alme' of Egypt at the present day. The Nautch girls and Bayaderes of the East Indies are a kindred race.]

[Footnote 1059: Plectrum.--Ver. 319. See the Metamorphoses,