Book iv

. 1. 670.]

[Footnote 555: Hurls at the groves.--Ver. 35. A place which had been struck by lightning was called 'bidental,' and was held sacred ever afterwards. The same veneration was also paid to a place where any person who had been killed by lightning was buried. Priests collected the earth that had been torn up by lightning, and everything that had been scorched, and buried it in the ground with lamentations. The spot was then consecrated by sacrificing a two-year-old sheep, which being called 'bidens,' gave its name to the place. An altar was also erected there, and it was not allowable thenceforth to tread on the spot, or to touch it, or even look at it. When the altar had fallen to decay, it might be renovated, but to remove its boundaries was deemed sacrilege. Madness was supposed to ensue on committing such an offence; and Seneca mentions a belief, that wine which had been struck by lightning, would produce death or madness in those who drank it.]

[Footnote 556: Unfortunate Semele.--Ver. 37. See the fate of Semele, related in the Third Book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 557: Have some regard.--Ver. 49. Or, in other words. 'Don't sweat any more by my eyes.']

[Footnote 558: Because she cannot, stilt sews.--Ver. 4. It is not a little singular that a heathen poet should enunciate the moral doctrine of the New Testament, that it is the thought, and not the action, that of necessity constitutes the sin.]

[Footnote 559: A hundred in his neck.--Ver. 18. In the First Book of the Metamorphoses, he assigns to Argus only one hundred eyes; here, however, he uses a poet's license, prohably for the sake of filling up the line.]

[Footnote 560: Its stone and its iron.--Ver. 21. From Pausanias and Lucian we learn that the chamber of Danaë was under ground, and was lined with copper and iron.]

[Footnote 561: Nor yet is it legal.--Ver. 33. He tells him that he ought not to inflict loss of liberty on a free-born woman, a punishment that was only suited to a slave.]

[Footnote 562: Those two qualities.--Ver. 42. He says, the wish being probably the father to the thought, that beauty and chastity cannot possibly exist together.]

[Footnote 563: Many a thing at home.--Ver. 48. He tells him that he will grow quite rich with the presents which his wife will then receive from her admirers.]

[Footnote 564: Its bubbling foam..--Ver. 13. He alludes to the noise which the milk makes at the moment when it touches that in the pail.]

[Footnote 565: Ewe when milked.--Ver. 14. Probably the milk of ewes was used for making cheese, as is sometimes the case in this country.]

[Footnote 566: Hag of a procuress.--Ver. 40. We have been already introduced to one amiable specimen of this class in the Eighth Elegy of the First Book.]

[Footnote 567: River that hast.--Ver. 1. Ciofanus has this interesting Note:--'This river is that which flows near the walls of Sulmo, and, which, at the present day we call 'Vella.' In the early spring, when the snows melt, and sometimes, at the beginning of autumn, it swells to a wonderful degree with the rains, so that it becomes quite impassable. Ovid lived not far from the Fountain of Love, at the foot of the Moronian hill, and had a house there, of which considerable vestiges still remain, and are called 'la botteghe d'Ovidio.' Wishing to go thence to the town of Sulmo, where his mistress was living, this river was an obstruction to his passage.']

[Footnote 568: A hollow boat.--Ver. 4. 'Cymba' was a name given to small boats used on rivers or lakes. He here alludes to a ferry-boat, which was not rowed over; but a chain or rope extending from one side of the stream to the other, the boatman passed across by running his hands along the rope.]

[Footnote 569: The opposite mountain.--Ver. 7. The mountain of Soracte was near the Flaminian way, in the territory of the Falisci, and may possibly be the one here alluded to. Ciofanus says that its name is now 'Majella,-and that it is equal in height to the loftiest mountains of Italy, and capped with eternal snow. *All one with the day.--Ver. 10. He means to say that he has risen early in the morning for the purpose of proceeding on his journey.]

[Footnote 570: The son of Danaë.--Ver. 13. Mercury was said to have lent to Perseus his winged shoes, 'talaria,' when he slew Medusa with her viperous locks.]

[Footnote 571: Wish for the chariot.--Ver. 15. Ceres was said to have sent Trip-tolemus in her chariot, drawn by winged dragons, to introduce agriculture among mankind. See the Fourth Book of the Fasti, 1. 558.]

[Footnote 572: Inachus.--Ver. 25. Inachus was a river of Argolis, in Peloponnesus.]

[Footnote 573: Love for Melie.--Ver. 25. Melie was a Nymph beloved by Neptune, to whom she bore Amycus, king of Bebrycia, or Bithynia, in Asia Minor, whence her present appellation.]

[Footnote 574: Alpheus.--Ver 29. See the story of Alpheus and Arethusa, in the Fifth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 576.]

[Footnote 575: Creüsa.--Ver. 31. Creüsa was a Naïad, the mother of Hypseas, king of the Lapithae, by Peneus, a river of Thessaly. Xanthus was a rivulet near Troy. Of Creüsa being promised to Xanthus nothing whatever is known.]

[Footnote 576: The be beloved by Mars.--Ver. 33. Pindar, in his Sixth Olympic Ode, says that Metope, the daughter of Ladon, was the mother of live daughters, by Asopus, a river of Boeotia. Their names were Corcyra, Ægina, Salamis, Thebe, and Harpinna. Ovid, in calling her Thebe, probably follows some other writer. She is called 'Martia,' because she was beloved by Mars, to whom she bore Evadne.]

[Footnote 577: Hand of Hercules.--Ver. 36. For the contest of Hercules and Achelous for the hand of Deianira, see the beginning of the Ninth Book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 578: Calydon.--Ver. 37. Aeneus, the father of Meleager and Dei'anira, reigned over Ætolia, of which Calydon was the chief city.]

[Footnote 579: The native spot.--Ver. 40; He alludes to the fact of the source or native country of the Nile being then, as it probably still is, quite unknown.]

[Footnote 580: Daughter of Asopus.--Ver. 41. Evadne is called 'Asopide,' from her mother being the wife of Asopus. See the Note on line 33 above.]

[Footnote 581: Enipeus dried up.--Ver. 43. Probably the true reading here is 'fictus,' 'the false Enipeus.' Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus, king of Pisa, in Elis. She being much enamoured of the river Enipeus, Neptune is said to have assumed his form, and to have been, by her, the father of Pelias and Neleus.']

[Footnote 582: Argive Tibur,--Ver. 46. Tibur was a town beautifully situate in the neighbourhood of Home; it was said to have been founded by three Argive brothers, Tyburtus, Catillus, and Coras.]

[Footnote 583: Whom Ilia.--Ver. 47. Ilia was said to have been buried alive, by the orders of Amulius, on the banks of the river Tiber; or, according to some, to have been thrown into that river, on which she is said to have become the wife of the river, and was deified. Acron, an ancient historian, wrote to the effect that her ashes were interred on the banks of the Anio; and that river overflowing, carried them to the bed of the Tiber, whence arose the story of her nuptials with the latter. According to one account, she was not put to death, but was imprisoned, having been spared by Amulius at the entreaty of his daughter, who was of the same age as herself, and at length regained her liberty.]

[Footnote 584: Descendant of Laomedon.--Ver. 54. She was supposed to be descended from Laomedon, through Ascanius, the son of Creüsa, the granddaughter of Laomedon.]

[Footnote 585: No white fillet.--Ver. 56. The fillet with which the Vestals bound their hair.]

[Footnote 586: Am I courted.--Ver. 75. The Vestais were released from their duties, and were allowed to marry if they chose, after they had served for thirty years. The first ten years were passed in learning their duties, the next ten in performing them, and the last ten in instructing the novices.]

[Footnote 587: Did she throw herself.--Ver. 80. The Poet follows the account which represented her as drowning herself.]

[Footnote 588: To some fixed rule.--Ver. 89. 'Legitimum' means 'according to fixed laws so that it might be depended upon, 'in a steady manner.']

[Footnote 589: Injurious to the flocks.--Ver. 99. It would be 'damnosus' in many ways, especially from its sweeping away the cattle and the produce of the land. Its waters, too, being turbid, would be unpalatable to the thirsty traveller, and unwholesome from the melted snow, which would be likely to produce goitre, or swellings in the throat.]

[Footnote 590: Could I speak of the rivers.--Ver. 103. He apologizes to the Acheloüs, Inachus, and Nile, for presuming to mention their names, in addressing such a turbid, contemptible stream.]

[Footnote 591: After my poems.--Ver. 5. He refers to his lighter works; such, perhaps, as the previous books of his Amores. This explains the nature of the 'libelli,' which he refers to in his address to his mistress, in the Second Book of the Amores, El. xi. 1. 31.]

[Footnote 592: His wealth acquired.--Ver. 9. 'Censu.' For the explanation of this word, see the Fasti, B. i. 1. 217, and the Note to the passage.]

[Footnote 593: Through his wounds.--Ver. 9. In battle, either by giving wounds, or receiving them.]

[Footnote 594: Which thus late.--Ver. 15. By 4 serum,'he means that his position, as a man of respectable station, has only been recently acquired, and has not descended to him through a long line of ancestors.]

[Footnote 595: Was it acquired.--Ver. 20. This was really much to the merit of his rival; but most of the higher classes of the Romans affected to despise anything like gain by means of bodily exertion; and the Poet has extended this feeling even to the rewards of merit as a soldier.]

[Footnote 596: Hold sway over.--Ver. 27. He here plays upon the two meanings of the word 'deducere.' 'Deducere carmen' is 'to compose poetry'; 'deducere primum pilum' means 'to form' or 'command the first troop of the Triarii.' These were the veteran soldiers of the Roman army, and the 'Primipilus' (which office is here alluded to) being the first Centurion of the first maniple of them, was the chief Centurion of the legion, holding an office somewhat similar to our senior captains. Under the Empire this office was very lucrative. See the Note to the 49th line of the Seventh Epistle, in the-Fourth Book of the Pontic Epistles.]

[Footnote 597: The ravished damsel.--Ver. 30. He alludes to Danaë.]

[Footnote 598: Resorted to presents.--Ver. 33. He seems to allude to the real meaning of the story of Danaë, which, no doubt, had reference to the corrupting influence of money.]

[Footnote 599: With no boundaries.--Ver. 42. The 'limes' was a line or boundary, between pieces of land belonging to different persons, and consisted of a path, or ditch, or a row of stones. The 'ager limitatus' was the public land marked out by 'limites,' for the purposes of allotment to the citizens. On apportioning the land, a line, which was called 'limes,' was drawn through a given point from East to West, which was called 'decumanus,' and another line was drawn from North to South. The distance at which the 'limites' were to be drawn depended on the magnitude of the squares or 'centuriæ,' as they were called, into which it was purposed to divide the tract.]

[Footnote 601: Then was the shore.--Ver. 44. Because they had not as yet learnt the art of navigation.]

[Footnote 602: Turreted fortifications.--Ver. 47. Among the ancients the fortifications of cities were strengthened by towers, which were placed at intervals on the walls; they were also generally used at the gates of towns.]

[Footnote 603: Why not seek the heavens.--Ver. 50. With what indignation would he not have spoken of a balloon, as being nothing less than a downright attempt to scale the 'tertia régna!']

[Footnote 604: Ciesar but recently.--Ver. 52. See the end of the Fifteenth Book of the Metamorphoses, and the Fasti,