Book iv

. EL ii. 1. 24.]

[Footnote 742: The Euphrates.--Ver. 223. The rivers were generally personified by the ancients as being crowned with reeds.]

[Footnote 743: The one whose.--Ver. 224. The young man is supposed to be addressing the damsel in these words.]

[Footnote 744: From Danaë.--Ver. 225. He means, that Persia was so called from Perses, the son of Andromeda, by Perseus, the son of Danaë. It is more generally thought to have been so called from a word signifying; a horse.' Achæmenes was one of the ancient kings of Persia.]

[Footnote 745: Still it is fatal.--Ver. 236. 'Solet,' 'is wont,' is certainly a pre-narrative reading here to 'nocet.']

[Footnote 746: Deceiving lamp.--Ver. 245. This is as much as to remind him of the adage that women and linen look best by candle-light.]

[Footnote 747: Why mention Baiæ.--Ver. 255. Baiæ was a town on the sea-shore, near Naples, famous for its hot baths. It was delightfully situate, and here Pompey, Caesar, and many of the wealthy Romans, had country seats: Seneca and Propertius refer to it as famous for its debaucheries, and it was much frequented by persons of loose character. It was the custom at Baiæ, in the summer-time, for both sexes to cruise about the shore in boats of various colours, both in the day-time and at night, with sumptuous feasts and bands of music on board.]

[Footnote 748: Hostile hand.--Ver. 260. See the Fasti,