Book xiv

. 1. 223]

[Footnote 657: The Cecropian bird.--Ver. 32. He calls Philomela the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, 'Cecropis ales Cc crops having been the first king of Athens. Her story is told in the Sixth Book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 658: A bird, or into gold.--Ver. 33. He alludes to the transformation of Jupiter into a swan, a shower of gold, and a bull; in the cases of Leda, Danaë, and Europa.]

[Footnote 659: The Theban seed.--Ver. 35. He alludes to the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus. See the Third Book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 660: Distil amber tears.--Ver. 37. Reference is made to the transformation of the sisters of Phaeton into poplars that distilled amber. See the Second Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 364.]

[Footnote 661: Who once were ships.--Ver. 38. He alludes to the ships of Æneas, which, when set on fire by Turnus, were changed into sea Nymphs.]

[Footnote 662: The hellish banquet.--Ver. 39. Reference is made to the revenge of Atreus, who killed the children of Thyestes, and set them on table before their father, on which occasion the Sun is said to have hidden his face.]

[Footnote 663: Stonesfollowed the lyre.--Ver. 40. Amphion is said to have raised the walls of Thebes by the sound of his lyre.]

[Footnote 664: Camillus, by thee.--Ver. 2. Marcus Furius Camillus, the Roman general, took the city of Falisci.]

[Footnote 665: The covered paths.--Ver. 12. The pipers, or flute players, led the procession, while the ground was covered with carpets or tapestry.]

[Footnote 666: Snow-white heifers.--Ver. 14. Pliny the Elder, in his Second Book, says, 'The river Clitumnus, in the state of Falisci, makes those cattle white that drink of its waters.']

[Footnote 667: In the lofty woods.--Ver. 20. It is not known to what occasion this refers. Juno is stated to have concealed herself on two occasions; once before her marriage, when she fled from the pursuit of Jupiter, who assumed the form of a cuckoo, that he might deceive her; and again, when, through fear of the giants, the Gods took refuge in Egypt and Libya. Perhaps the former occasion is here referred to.]

[Footnote 668: As a mark.--Ver. 21. This is similar to the alleged origin of the custom of throwing sticks at cocks on Shrove Tuesday. The Saxons being about to rise in rebellion against their Norman oppressors, the conspiracy is said to have been discovered through the inopportune crowing of a cock, in revenge for which the whole race of chanticleers were for centuries submitted to this cruel punishment.]

[Footnote 669: With garments.--Ver. 24. As 'vestis' was a general name for a covering of any kind, it may refer to the carpets which appear to be mentioned in the twelfth line, or it may mean, that the youths and damsels threw their own garments in the path of the procession.]

[Footnote 670: After the Grecian manner.--Ver. 27. Falisci was said to have been a Grecian colony.]

[Footnote 671: Hold religious silence.--Ver. 29. 'Favere linguis' seems here to mean, 'to keep religious silence as to the general meaning of the term, see the Fasti,