Book iii

. 1. 704.]

[Footnote 609: With regard to me.--Ver. 63. He says that because he is poor she makes excuses, and pretends that she is afraid of her husband and those whom he has set to watch her.]

[Footnote 610: Of thy own inspiration.--Ver. 5. Burmann remarks, that the word 'opus' is especially applied to the sacred rites of the Gods; literally 'the priest of thy rites.']

[Footnote 611: The erected pile--Ver. 6. Among the Romans the corpse was burnt on a pile of wood, which was called 'pyra,' or 'rogus.' According to Servius, it was called by the former name before, and hy the latter after, it was lighted, but this distinction is not observed by the Latin writers.]

It was in the form of an altar with four equal sides, but it varied in height and the mode of decoration, according to the circumstances of the deceased. On the pile the body was placed with the couch on which it had been carried; and frankincense, ointments, locks of hair, and garlands, were thrown upon it. Even ornaments, clothes, and dishes of food were sometimes used for the same purpose. This was done not only by the family of the deceased, but by such persons as joined the funeral procession.]

[Footnote 612: The cruel boar.--Ver. 16. He alludes to the death of Adonis, by the tusk of a boar, which pierced his thigh. See the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses, l. 716.]

[Footnote 613: We possess inspiration.--Ver. 17. In the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 6, he says. 'There is a Deity within us (Poets): under his guidance we glow with inspiration; this poetic fervour contains the impregnating. particles of the mind of the Divinity.']

[Footnote 614: She lays her.--Ver. 20. It must be remembered that, whereas we personify Death as of the masculine gender; the Romans represented the grim tyrant as being a female. It is a curious fact that we find Death very rarely represented as a skeleton on the Roman monuments. The skeleton of a child has, in one instance, been found represented on one of the tombs of Pompeii. The head of a horse was one of the most common modes of representing death, as it signified departure.]

[Footnote 615: Ismarian Orpheus.--Ver. 21. Apollo and the Muse Calliope were the parents of Orpheus, who met with a cruel death. See the beginning of the Eleventh Book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 616: Linus! Alas!--Ver. 23. 'Ælinon' was said to have been the exclamation of Apollo, on the death of his son, the poet Linus. The word is derived from the Greek, 'di Aivôç,' 'Alas! Linus.' A certain poetic measure was called by this name; but we learn from Athenaeus, that it was not always confined to pathetic subjects. There appear to have been two persons of the name of Linus. One was a Theban, the son of Apollo, and the instructor of Orpheus and Hercules, while the other was the son of an Argive princess, by Apollo, who, according to Statius, was torn to pieces in his infancy by dogs.]

[Footnote 617: The son of Mæon. --Ver. 25. See the Note to the ninth line of the Fifteenth Elegy of the First Book of the Amores.]

[Footnote 618: Slow web woven.--Ver. 30. The web of Penelope.]

[Footnote 619: Nemesis, so Delia.--Ver. 31. Nemesis and Delia were the names of damsels whose charms were celebrated by Tibullus.]

[Footnote 620: Sacrifice avail thee.--Ver. 33. He alludes to two lines in the]

First Elegy of Tibullus.]

'Quid tua nunc Isis mihi Delia? quid mihi prosunt]

Ilia tuâ toties sera repuisa manu.']

What have I now to do, Delia, with your Isis? what avail me those sistra so often shaken by your hand?']

[Footnote 621: What lying apart.--Ver. 34. During the festival of Isis, all intercourse with men was forbidden to the female devotees.]

[Footnote 622: The yawning tomb.--Ver. 38. The place where a person was burnt was called 'bustum,' if he was afterwards buried on the same spot, and 'ustrina,' or 'ustrinum,' if he was buried at a different place. See the Notes to the Fasti, B. ii. 1. 531.]

[Footnote 623: The towers of Eryx--Ver. 45. He alludes to Venus, who had a splendid temple on Mount Eryx, in Sicily.]

[Footnote 624: The Phæacian land.--Ver. 47. The Phæacians were the ancient people of Corcyra, now the isle of Corfu. Tibullus had attended Messala thither, and falling ill, was unable to accompany his patron on his return to Rome, on which he addressed to him the First Elegy of his Third Book, in which he expressed a hope that he might not die among the Phæacians. To this Elegy Ovid here refers. Tibullus afterwards recovered, and died at Rome. When he penned this line, Ovid little thought that his own bones would one day rest in a much more ignoble spot than Corcyra, and one much more repulsive to the habits of civilization.]

[Footnote 625: Here.--Ver. 49. 1 Hie'here seems to be the preferable reading; alluding to Rome, in contradistinction to Corcyra.]

[Footnote 626: His tearful eyes.--Ver. 49. He alludes to the custom of the nearest relative closing the eyes of the dying person.]

[Footnote 627: The last gifts.--Ver. 50. The perfumes and other offerings which were thrown on the burning pile, are here alluded to. Tibullus says, in the same Elegy--]

'Non soror Assyrios cineri quæ dedat odores,]

Et Heat effusis ante sepulchra comis']

'No sister have I here to present to my ashes the Assyrian perfumes, and to weep before my tomb with dishevelled locks.' To this passage Ovid makes reference in the next two lines.]

[Footnote 628: Thy first love.--Ver. 53. 'Prior;' his former love was Delia, who was forsaken by him for Nemesis. They are both represented here as attending his obsequies. Tibullus says, in the First Elegy of the First Book, addressing Delia:--]

1 Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,]

Te teneam moriens, déficiente manu.]

Flebis et arsuro positum me, Delia, lecto,]

Tristibus et lacrymis oscula mista dabis.']

May I look upon you when my last hour comes, when dying, may I hold you with my failing hand. Delia, you will lament me, too, when placed on my bier, doomed to the pile, and will give me kisses mingled with the tears of grief.' To these lines Ovid evidently here refers. It would appear from the present passage, that it was the custom to give the last kiss when the body was laid on the funeral pile.]

[Footnote 629: With his failing hand.--Ver. 58. Nemesis here alludes to the above line, and tells Delia, that she, herself, alone engaged his affection, as it was she alone who held his hand when he died.]

[Footnote 630: Learned Catullus.--Ver. 62. Catullus was a Roman poet, a native of Verona. Calvus was also a Roman poet of great merit. The poems of Catullus and Calvus were set to music by Hermogenes, Tigellius, and Demetrius, who were famous composers. See the Tristia,