423. Arethusa, the nymph of the fount in the island at Syracuse.
436. "Gremium et sinus, ut Grammatici docent, ita differunt ut sinus sit inter pectoris et brachorium, gremium inter femorum complexum." Gierig.
439. Amarante. Two of the best MSS. read Narcisse.
440. _Rorem, scil. marinum, rosemary, Virg. Ec. II. 49, G. II. 213. Two of the best MMS. read casiam, which Heinsius and Gierig have received; one violas, three rosas, several rores most rorem.—Meliloton, also called Sertula Campana, grows abundantly in Campania. It resembles the saffron in colour and in smell.
445. Patruus. Pluto, the brother of Jupiter and Ceres.
466. Sues. "Melius poëta omississet in hac narratione," Gierig. It is probable that this was a reason given for swine being offered to Ceres. See v. 414.
467-480. See all these places on the map, and compare Virg. aen. iii. 687, et seq. The poet, we may observe, follows no regular topographical order in enumerating them.
470. The Gelas, at whose mouth Gela was built, was a very rapid eddying stream.
470. Megara or Megaris, formerly called Hybla, was near Syracuse. Pangie or Pantagiae, was a small stream near Leontini.
473. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 418.
474. Messana, was anciently called Zancle, which, in the Sicilian language, signified a sickle, which the place resembled in form. Thuc. vi. 4.
477. Heloria tempe. The Helorus entered the sea near Pachynus. The Greeks called all those long narrow wooded glens, through which a river ran, [Greek: tempea] or [Greek: tempae].
482. See the story of Progne and Tereus. Met. vi. 620. et seq. Mythology, p. 341.
491. See Mythology, p. 239.
495. "Pumex, omnis lapis aut rupes excavata," Gierig.
497. Ceres, therefore, kept her 'dragon yoke' in this cavern.
499, 500. Ovid, in this place, agrees with Virgil and Apollonius Rhodius, in placing Scylla on the Italian, Charybdis on the Sicilian side of the strait. In the Metamorphoses, xiv. he reverses the positions. Here too, like Virgil, Ec. vi. 74, he confounds this Scylla with the daughter of Nisus.
504. Triste, [Greek: agelastos petra], was the Greek name.
507. Eleusin. This is the reading of the best MSS.
521. Neq. lac. deor. est. [Greek: Horo kat osson d' ou themis balein dakru], says Diana, Eurip. Hip. 1396; for Apollo see Met. II. 621.
527. Qua cogere posses, scil. by mentioning her daughter, v. 525.
535, 536. This circumstance of the legend was invented to account for the mystae, or persons just initiated, not taking food till the evening. [Greek: Oi ta mystaeria paralambanontes legontai en archae men mustai met eniauton de epoptai kai ephoroi]. Suidas.
550. Triptolemum. He is called Demophoon in the Homeridian hymn. I would recommend the reader to compare that hymn, or the analysis of it in my Mythology, with this narrative of Ovid.
563. The poet here sets out on another excursion with the goddess, in which he is as negligent of order as ever. For example, coming from Eleusis, she must have passed the Piraeus, on her way to Sunion.
567. Ionium rapax. The Ionian sea was to the west of Greece. As I cannot suspect the poet of making such wilful confusion, I assent to those who suppose he meant by it the sea on the coast of Ionia in Asia.
569. Turilegos Arabas. Tura praeter Arabiam nullis ac ne Arabiae quidem universae; pagus Sabaeorum regio turifera. Pliny, H. N. xii. 14.
571. Hesperios, scil_.fluvios_. The Nile was in the poet's mind.
580. Helice. See on III. 108.
593. Victore Gyge, scil. in the Giant-war. Gyges was one of the Hundred-handed, the allies of Jupiter in the Titan-war. Hes. Th. 149.
600. Inane Chaos. Chaos, with the usual confusion of the later poets, is here put for Erebus, the proper name for Pluto's realm.
620. On this account, in seasons of public mourning, the Cerealia were not celebrated, as the mourning matrons could not appear at them.
620-624. A.U.C. 457. Q. Fabius Maximus, when advancing against the camp of the Samnites, Liv. x. 29. The temple of Liberty was dedicated on Mt. Aventine, vowed a temple to Jupiter Victor, in the time of the second Punic war, by the father of Tiberius Gracchus. Liv. xxiv. 16. The Atrium Libertatis was repaired A.U.C. 559, by the censors Paetus and Cornelius Cethegus.
625. Luce secutura. The XVIII. Kal. Maii. There was frequently hail and rain at this time. Columella, xi. 2.
627. Scilicet, ut fuerit, be this as it may. This reading was formed by Heinsius. Eight MSS. read scilicet et fuerit, eleven sit licet ut fuerit, the remainder have sit licet et fuerit, which Gierig prefers, and explains thus: "Sit ita, ut eo die interdum grando cadat, et fuerit ita et olim."—Mutinensia arma. The battle of Mutina was fought A.U.C. 710, against Antony, by the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, and the propraetor, Octavianus Caesar. One of the consuls was severely wounded, and the other slain in the action; and as Octavianus either would not, or knew not how to use the victory, Antony escaped to Liguria. The flattery of the poet, therefore, goes a little too far.
629. Veneris, scil. mensis Veneris.
630. The Fordicidia were on the 15th April. Fordicidia a fordis bubus. Bos forda quae fert in ventre; quod eo die publice immolantur boves praegnantes in curiis complures. A fordis caedendis Fordicidia dicta, Varro, L. L. V. He also (R. R. II. 5, 6,) names the festival Hordicidia and Hordicalia, and the adjective Hordus, which was the Sabine word.
635. Curia. The singular for the plural. See last note and II. 527.
637. Ministri, the popae, or Victimarii.
639. Virgo. The eldest of the Vestals. The ashes were reserved to purify the people on the Palilia at the end of the month.
641. Now comes a legend as usual, to explain the origin of this practice.
649. Compare Virg. aen. vii. 81, et seq. Faunus is, as before, confounded with Pan.
651. This divining sleep was called by the Latins, incubatio; by the Greeks, [Greek: enkoimaesis]. Incubare dicuntur proprie hi, qui dormiunt ad accipienda responsa, Servius on Virg. 1. c.
655. Intonsum, II. 30. All the following practices were usual, on occasions of consulting the gods in this way. The reason of them is apparent.
662. Somnia nigra. Compare V. 547. Tibull. II. 1, 89, [Greek: Melanopterygon mater Honeiron], Eurip. Hec. 71.
669. Errantem, IV. 261. I should here, on account of nemori, be inclined to take this word in its primitive sense.—Conjux, Egeria.
673-676. On the 15th April, A.U.C. 724, Augustus was saluted Imperator.—Cyth. diem. prop. ire. He appears here to have had Homer in view, who gives this power to Juno, [Greek: Helion d' akamanta boopis potnia Hrae Hempsen ep Okeanoio roas haekonta neesthai]. II. xviii. 239.
677, 678. The XV. Kal. Maias, the Hyades, called by the Latins, Suculae, a cluster of stars in the head of the Bull set acronychally. See below, V. 163, et seq—Ubi.. Some MSS. read tibi.—Dorida. Doris, the daughter of Oceanus, wife of Nercus, and mother of the Nereïdes, is like her daughter Amphitrite, frequently put for the sea.
679, 680. The Cerealia still continued. On the XIII. Kal. Maias, there were horse-races in the Circus.—Carcere. The carceres were the place in which the horses stood, with a cord stretched before them, on the dropping of which they started; the starting-place.—Partitos, started.
681, 682. "Addebatur his ludis, hoc eodem die combustio vulpium ob vetus damnum," Neapolis. "Die. 19, Apr. vulpes in Circensibus comburuntur." Gierig; from which I think we are to infer that these critics, and those who transcribe them, consider the burning of the foxes to have formed a part of the celebration of the Cerealia in the Circus at Rome. I do not find in any of the old Calendars that such was the case, and the narrative of the poet would, as appears to me, restrict this practice to the district of Carseoli. See particularly vv. 709, 7l0.—Missae, scil. at Carseoli?—Vinctis. This is the reading of one MS. only, but that one of the best; it has been received by Heinsius and Gierig; almost all the rest have junctis; three cinctis; one victis. Five give the line thus: Cur. ig. taedis unctis ardentia missae.
683. Carseolis, at Carseoli. One of the best MSS. reads pars coli, from which Heinsius made, and received into the text, Carseoli. This town was on the Valerian road, leading from Rome to the country of the Pelignians.
684. Ingeniosus. Ingenium is used speaking of soil and plants. Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis, Virg. G. II. 177. Arbores silvestres sui cujusque ingenii poma gerunt, Columella, R. R. III. 1.
685. 686. Ovid (v. 81,) was a native of Sulmo, the chief place of this country. Compare Amorr. II. 16, I,—Humida. One MS. gives as a different reading uvida; several have obvia.
687. Solitas. Twelve MSS. read fidas.
689, 690. It appears from this and other passages that Ovid, besides consulting the Fasti and other books, was diligent in the collection of such oral traditions, as might aid him in explaining old customs and religious rites.
692. Duro, hardy, like duri messores, juvenci, humeri, etc. The following is a very pleasing description of an industrious peasant and his wife of ancient times. It would apply, without any alteration, to many a rustic couple in modern Italy.
693. Peragebat humum. "Mi hi non satis placet; Codd tamen nihil varietatis suppeditant." Gierig.
694. Curves falcis. "Falcis usus erat etiam ad premendas umbras ruris opaci. Virg. G. I. 155, et seq. Unde apparet describi hic diligentissimum colonum,"—Gierig. As the poet is speaking of a small farm in a plain, I would here restrict the meaning of falcis, which is placed immediately after the plough, to sickle. For curvae, eleven MSS. followed by Heinsius and Gierig, read cavae. One of the best has sive citruae.
695. Tibicine. The tibicen was a prop set against the wall of a house, to keep it from falling out.
703. Extrem. conval. Sal. In the end of a valley planted with sallows, that is, among the sallows which grew at the end of the valley. Two of the best MSS. read sub valle, which is the reading given by Heinsius and Gierig.
704. Cohortis. Duo erant oviaria sive cohortes; una in plano, in qua pascebantur gallinae; altera sublimis, in qua erant columbae in turribus aut summa villa. Varro, R. R. III. 3, 6. The cohort was the Greek [Greek: chortos]. It was round, as the following passage of Cato (Orig. iv.) shews, Mapalia vocantur ubi habitant; ea quasi cohortes rotunda sunt.—Aves, like the Greek [Greek: ornithes]. See on I. 455.
709-712. These lines, I think, prove the custom to have been peculiar to Carseoli. Compare the account given in the book of Judges of Sampson making use of foxes to set fire to the corn of the Philistines.
713. On the 20th April, the Sun enters Taurus.
714. A periphrasis of Aurora. Compare Met. xiii. 579. See Virg. aen. vii. 25. Homer calls Eos [Greek: krokopeplos], to which the lutea of the Latin poets corresponds. The lutum was a plant, whose juice dyed yellow. The Greek poet also styles this goddess [Greek: rododaktylos] and [Greek: rodopaechus], but as far as I know, no Greek poet gives her rose-hued horses or chariot.
715. Duce, etc. the Ram.
716. Victima major, scil, the Bull—a bad periphrasis!
717-720. In the ancient, as in the modern representations of the stellar heaven, only the forepart of Taurus was drawn. Hence, it could not be said whether it was a bull or a cow. Some, therefore, said, that it was the heifer into which Io had been changed; others, the bull which had carried Europa. In either case, it was an object of aversion to Juno.
721. On the XI. Kal. Maias, was the festival of Pales, the goddess of shepherds, named the Palilia, and celebrated by the Romans as the birthday of Rome, ([Greek: genethlian taes patridos]), the day of the foundation of the city. The poet, therefore, dwells on this important day at considerable length.—Abiit. The last syllable is long, on account of the following pause. Two MSS. give obit, exoriturque.—Palilia. Some MSS. read Parilias. Palilia dicta a Pale, quod feriae ei deae fiunt, Varro, L. L. V. Pales dea pastoralis est, cujus dies festus Palilia dicuntur, nisi quod quidam a partu Iliae Parilia dicere maluerunt, Carisius Inst. Gram. I. p. 55. Solinus, c. 1, and the Scholiast on Persius, Sat. I. also mention this derivation. This last quotes from Cicero's Philippics the following passage, which is not now to be found in them: Palilia, quae nunc Parilia mutatis literis dicimus. Parilia is also the term used by all the Greek writers, except Plutarch. There is certainly, no doubt, but that both Palilia and Parilia were in use in the time of Ovid, and that, perhaps, many regarded the latter, which would appear to come so naturally from pario, to be the true name of a festival of spring, when every herb and tree brings forth, and beast and bird produce their young. But still, as the name of the goddess was always Pales, we may be quite sure that Palilia was the original name of the festival.—Poscor, scil. ad Palilia. Poscimur Aonides. Met. v. 333. Poscimur. Hor. Car. I. 32. 1, to his lyre.
722. Pales. Pales dea est pabuli, quam alii Vestam, alii Matrem Deûm volunt. Hanc Virgilius genere feminino (Magna Pales) appellat, alii, inter quos Varro, masculino genere. Servius on Virg. G. III. 1. This male deity was viewed as the servant and bailiff, as it were, of Jupiter. Serv. on Ec. v. 35. Arnobius adv. Gentes, III. p. 123. Perhaps, according to the principle stated above, on III. 512, there was, after the usual manner, a deity of each sex united in office.
725. De vitulo cinerem. See v. 637, et seq.
726. Februa. See II. 19.
727. Palilia tam publica quam privata sunt. Et est genus hilaritatis et lusus apud rusticos, ut congestis cum foeno stipulis ignem magnum transiliant his Palilibus, se expiari credentes, Varro. See also Tibull. II. 5. Propert. iv. 1. The simple origin of this ceremony lay in the belief of the purifying nature of fire, (see v. 785) and something similar was practised by the people of the North of Europe in their heathen state; as also nearly down to the present day among the Celtic population of Ireland and Scotland. But the Romans must assign a historical cause for this, as for all their other customs; so we are told by Dionysius, that when Romulus was building the city, he had fires kindled before all the tents, and made the people jump through the flames to expiate themselves.
729. Navalibus. The usual comparison of a poem to a ship, and the progress of composing it to a voyage, II. 863. Modern poetry will also furnish instances. See, for example, Spenser's Faerie Queene, B. II. c. xii. st. 42. "Now strike your sailes yee iolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode," etc.
731. See v. 639.
733. Sanguis equii, etc. This would seem to contradict the following assertion of Solinus. Et observatum deinceps, ne qua hostia Parilibus caederetur, ut dies iste a sanguine purus esset. Plutarch also says, [Greek: En archae d' os phasin, ouden empsuchon ethyon]. But, like the calf, whose ashes were used, this horse was not sacrificed on the Palilia. October equus appellabatur, qui in Campo Martio mense Octobri Marti immolabatur, cujus cauda, ut ex ea sanguis in forum distillaret, magna celeritate perferebatur in regiam, Festus. The Regia here spoken of, must have been the Atrium Vestae, see on II. 69. The blood of the horse's tail was preserved here, along with the ashes of the calf, (v. 639,) to be used on the Palilia.
734. Culmen is here the same as culmo.—Inane, as the beans had been taken out.
735. Ad. prim. crep. [Greek: Y po nukta]. This was always done in the evening.—Lustra. Several good MSS. read lustrat, others lustret.
736. The ground on these occasions was swept clean and sprinkled with water.
739. Caerulei fumi. This is to be understood of the bluish smoke-like vapour which rises from sulphur when burning.—_Viv. sulf. Vivum, quod Graeci apyron vocant, nascitur solidum, hoc est gleba, Pliny, H. N. xxxv. 15, 50. Sulphur was of great use in purification, see above, on II. 37. Ipseque ter circulus travi sulfure puro. Tibull. I. 5, 11.
741. _Maris rores, [Greek: libanotis], rosemary. This is the reading of two of the best and ten other MSS.; some have maris rorem, the rest give mares oleas, which Heinsius and Gierig prefer. "Lectio doctior (says the latter,) quam ut a librario proficisci potuerit." Olives were used in purification, Virg. aen. vi. 230, and the trees were divided into male and female. Plin. H. N. xvi. 19. On the other hand, the ros marinus, and the herba Sabina, are mentioned together in Virg. Culex. 402.—Taedam, Sextum genus (pinus) est taeda proprie dicta, abundantior succo quam reliqua, liquidior quam picea, flammis et lumini sacrorum etiam grata. Plin. H. N. xvi. 10. See Virg. aen. vii. 71, and above, II. 25.—Herb. Sab. Sec I. 343.
743. Lib. de mil. The people of Italy made a sweet kind of bread and cakes of millet. Plin. H. N. xviii. 10.—Fiscella, or fiscina, a basket made of rushes or willow twigs, Virg. G. I. 266. A basket of millet was part of the offerings on the Palilia.
745. Daps apud antiquos dicebatur res divina, quae fiebat aut hiberna semente aut verna, Festus. Hence, Heinsius would read dapi. Gierig thinks the dapes was the feast of the rustics themselves, of which a pail of milk formed a part, see v. 780. Compare II. 657, and Tibull. II. 5, 99.—Resectis. The MSS. differ greatly, giving relictis, paratis, remotis, refectis.
749. Here follows a catalogue of the transgressions, by which the superstition of antiquity thought that the anger of the rural gods might be provoked.—Sacro, scil, in loco. Many MSS. read sacra, scil. loca.
755. Degrandinat, says Gierig, may be for the simple grandinat, like depluere for pluere. The word occurs scarcely anywhere else. Burmann would read dum degrandinet, till the hail is over—a reading which I would willingly adopt.
759. Fontana. One MS. reads montana.
761. _Labra Dianae, the lavacra or bathing places of Diana and her nymphs, alluding to the fate of Actaeon. See Met. III. 161, et seq.
762. [Greek: Ou themis, ho poiman to mesambrinon, ou themis ammin Syrisden ton Pana dedoikames hae gar ap' agras Tanika kekmakus amptanetai enti ge pikros]. Theoc. Idyll. I. 15.
769. Referat, etc. Compare Virg. Ec. I. 35.
770. When making cheese. Compare Tibull. II. 3. 15.
778. Rore. Bos, like the Greek [Greek: drosos], was used for the simple aqua. See Met. III. 164, and Valken on Eur. Hipp. 121. Lenz renders in vivo rore in this place, by, In the fresh dew of evening! A proof of the liability of translators and commentators to mistake the meaning of even plain passages.
779. Camella. This was a kind of wooden vessel used by country-people.
780. Sapa. Sapam appellabant, quod de musto ad medium partem decoxerant, Varro de vita pop. Rom. p. 240. Sapa fit musto usque ad tertiam partem mensurae decocto. Plin. H. N. xiv. 9.
781, 782. See on v. 727.
783. Turba, scil. causarum.
785. Vitium, etc. Compare Virg. G. I. 89. Omne per ignem excoquitur vitium.
786. Duce. The dux ovium in this place is evidently the shepherd, who, as we have seen, used to leap through the straw-fires. In the South of Europe, the shepherds generally walk at the head of their sheep.
787-790. [Greek: To pur kathairei, to udor agnizei]. Plutarch, Q. R. 1.
791. Aqua et igni interdici solet damnatis, quam accipiunt nuptae; videlicet quia haec duae res humanam vitam maxime continent, Festus. Ad facienda foedera aqua et ignis adhibentur; unde contra quos arcere volumus e nostro consortio ei aqua et igni interdicimus, id est rebus quibus consortio copulamur, Servius on aen. vii. Banishment, we may observe, was unknown to the Roman law; the Interdictio aqua et igni, which had the effect of obliging a man to quit his country, was all that was pronounced against him. See Niebuhr's Roman History, II. 62-64.
792. Nova conjux. The bride and bridegroom used to touch fire and water.
793. Referri, to be represented, called to mind.
800. Innocuum, safe; when he was escaping from the flames of Troy. Virg. aen. II. 632.
801. Hoc. Several MSS. read nunc from which Heinsius made num. The reading of the text, besides resting on the authority of the greater number of MSS. is much to be preferred.
807. Ipse locus, etc. This very part of the poem, this very mention of the birth-day of Rome, gives me the occasion, calls on me to relate the origin of the city.
Gierig refers causas to the enquiry which the poet had been on, and understands it thus: "Quid ego altius causas illius ritus acccsso, cum ipse locus, quem incolimus, aut, si ita mavis, in quo tractando jam versor, eas mihi suppeditat?" The reading of most MSS. is ipse locum casus vati which Marsus interprets: By chance as it were, we are come to this place, where we must treat of the origin of the city.
808. Factis. This is the reading of all the MSS. Heinsius conjectured festis, which be introduced, most unwarrantably, into the text.
809. See III. 67.
812. Ambigitur, etc. See Liv. I.6, 7. Certabant urbem Romam Remoranme vocarent, Ennius.
817. Volucres. They were vultures, to which, as they injure neither cattle nor corn, the Romans gave great authority in augury.
821. All that follows was done in accordance with the ritual-books of the Etruscans. A deep (ad solidum) round pit was dug in the future Comitium. This pit was called Mundus. Into it was thrown a portion of all necessary natural productions, and each person cast into it a little of the earth of his native country. From this as a centre, the circuit of the city was described, Plutarch Rom. 11.
824. Fungitur. Most of the old MSS. read finditur, which Gierig has received. The meaning would be, the altar was cleft with the heat of the fire, like ground with that of the sun.
825. When the mundus had been made, the founder yoked a bull and a cow to a plough which had a brazen share, and made a deep furrow, to mark the line of the walls, those who followed him taking care to turn all the clods inwards; when he came to the place where a gate (porta) was to be, he lifted the plough and passed over it, (portavit).
830. Vobis. Twelve MSS. read bonis.
831. Dominae, "Domina, quae habet imperium in omnes. V. vs. 859."
Gierig. Surely it was Rome, not the earth that was to be the mistress.
Two of the best MSS. read domitae, which I think gives a better sense.
See v. 861.
833. Tonitru laevo. Laeva fulmina prospera existimantur, quoniam laeva parte mundi ortus est, Plin. H. N. ii. 53.55. Elsewhere he says, Fulmina laeva prospera, quia sacrificantis vel precantis latus laewum dextrum est ejus qui postulata largitur.
837. Celer. According to Dionysius and Plutarch, Celer was one of the companions of Romulus, and overseer of the building of the walls. In reality he was only a personification of the Equites, who were called Celeres. See Niebuhr, Roman History, Vol. i. 325.
843. Rutro. The rutrum was a kind of spade, rutrum, ut ruitrum, a ruendo, Varro, L. L. iv. Rutro, in the text, is the conjecture of Heinsius; the greater part of the MSS. read retro; some rastro, six ultro, one ristro. There can be little doubt of rutro being the true reading, as it is the term used by other writers.—Occupat. See I. 575, and Met. xii. 343.
853. Compare Hom. II. xxiv. 582, and Virg. aen. xi. 219.
855. The Romans were not called Quirites till after their union with the Sabines. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 776.
856. Remus, a tradition said, was buried on the Remaran hill, a little way from Rome.
860. Nominis hujus, i. e. Caesaris.
863-900. On the IX. Kal. Maias, was celebrated the festival, named Vinalia, in honour of Jupiter, or, as some said, of Venus. Masurius apud Macrob. (Sat. I. 4,) says, Vinaliorum dies Jovi sacer est, non, ut quidam putant, Veneri. And Varro (L. L. V.) Vinalia dicta a vino. Hic dies Jovis non Veneris. Hujus rei cura, non levis in Latio; nam aliquot locis vindemiae primum a sacerdotibus publica fiebant, ut Romae etiam nunc; nam Flamen Dialis auspicatur vindemiam, et, ut jussit vinum legere, agna Jovi facit, inter cujus exta caesa et porrecta flamen prorsus vinum legit. According to Festus and an old Kalendar, there was another Vinalia, called rustica, on the 19th August, and it is evidently of this last that Varro speaks. Ovid seems to have confounded the two, which Pliny (H. N. xviii. 29,) accurately distinguishes. Perhaps, both were sacred to Jupiter, and the circumstance of a festival of Venus falling on the vernal Vinalia, may have led to the supposition of its being sacred to her. Plutarch (Q. R. 45,) calls it Veneralia.
866. Multa agrees with apta, and is equivalent to valde. Some MSS. read culta, which Heinsius prefers.—Professarum. When a woman at Rome wished to become a meretrix, she went before the aediles and professed, that is, informed them of her intention. She was then entered among the togatae, (v. 134) See Suet. Tib. 35. Tac. Ann. II. 85. The same mutatis nominibus is the case at the present day at Rome, Paris, and other cities on the continent.—Quaestibus. Alexis, in his comedy, called [Greek: Isostasios], says of them, [Greek: Proton men gar es to kerdos kai to sulan tous pelas, talla autais parerga ginetai].
869. Sisymbria. The sisymbrium, also called thymbraeum, was an odoriferous plant growing in dry places.
870. The garlands of roses were bound with rushes.
871. A temple was dedicated to Venus Erycina at the Colline gate, A.U.C. 571, Liv. xl. 34. There was another temple of this goddess on the Capitoline hill, built by the direction of the Sibylline books, and dedicated A.U.C. 537. Syracuse was taken A.U.C. 540. Ovid, as Neapolis observed, appears to have committed two errors here; one, in confounding the two temples of Venus Erycina at Rome; the other, in making the building of a temple depend on an event which did not happen till after it had been built. Gierig defends him in the former case by saying, that v. 873-875, are merely a passing notice of the second temple: in the latter, his defence is, "Fortasse tamen Noster, more poëtarum, a parte bellum Punicum secundum indicare voluit." Greater poets, however, than Ovid, have fallen into as great errors.
874. Eryx. This mountain was near Drepanum, on the west side of Sicily. There was on it a magnificent temple of Venus, the erection of which was ascribed to aeneas and the Trojans. Virg. aen. v. 759. It is, I apprehend, far more probable, that the Venus Erycina was the Astarte or Moon-goddess of the Phoenicians, who was identified with Aphrodite and Venus, and that the founders of the temple were the Carthaginians.
877, 878. The poet would here seem to intimate, that though the festival of Venus and the Vinalia fell on the same day, they were different. See v. 899.—Quaeritis. See on V. I.
879. See the last six books of the aeneis.
880. Adorat. One MS. has adoptat, which Heinsius and Gierig follow.
882. Equo vel pede. In horse and foot.
887. Cato in primo libro Originum ait, Mezentium Rutulis imperasse, ut sibi offerrent quas diis primitias offerebant, et Latinos omnes similis imperii metu ita vocasse: Jupiter, si tibi magis cordi est nos ea tibi dare potius quam Mezentio, uti nos victores facias, Macrob. Sat. III. 5.
888. Lacubus. The lacus or vat, was the vessel placed under the wine-press, to receive the liquor that ran out.
894. Feres. One of the best MS. reads feras, which Heinsius and Gierig receive, as it is a vow. The meaning is, that as the Rutulians had vowed or promised the produce of the following vintage to Mezentius, aeneas promises it, in case of victory, to Jupiter.
897. Venerat, etc. On account of the custom of treading out the grapes. Met. II. 21, Virg. G. II. 8. I doubt if it was good taste to personify Autumn in this place. Quum satur Auctumnus quassans sua tempora ponmis, Sordidus et musto spumantes exprimit uvas, Columella, R. R. x. 43.— Sordidus. Five MSS. read horridus.
898. Vina. Five MSS. read vota.
901-904. On the VII. Kal. Maias, six days from the end of the month, was the middle of spring; the acronych setting of the Ram, rain, and the rising of the Dog, also fell on this day.
904. Signa dant imbres. The rains shew themselves. Signa dare is the Greek [Greek: episaemainein]. Were it not that the meaning of this expression is so incontrovertibly shewn by I. 315, 316, one might be disposed to understand it with Taubner, of the constellations portending rain.—Exoriturque Canis. Here is a tremendous error of our poet, for, according to Columella, Pliny, Ptolemy, and to the actual fact, the Dog sets instead of rising at this time. Thus also, Virgil, (G. I. 217,) Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum Taurus, et averso cedens Canis occidit astro. One of the best MSS. reads occidit atque Canis, but I fear this is only the emendation of some one who saw the error into which the poet had fallen.
904. Nomento. Nomentum was a town of the Sabine country; a road named the Via Nomentana led to it from the Viminal gate at Rome. On the following narrative, Gierig observes, "Similia figmenta, vv. 685 et III. 541." I do not see the necessity of supposing these to be fictions. What was more natural than for the poet, when about to write a poem on the Fasti, to direct his attention to things which he had not hitherto heeded, and to inquire into the meaning of what appeared to him deserving of notice.
906. Candida pompa. The persons who formed this pomp or procession were clad in white, that is, their togae were either new, or had been scoured for the occasion. Pompa is the reading of ten MSS. all the rest have turba.
907. Flamen, scil. Quirinalis, v. 910.—Antiquae Robiginis. The festival of this goddess was called the Robigalia, and was said to have been instituted by Numa, (Plin. xviii. 69, 3,) hence the poet says, antiquae. Robigalia dicta ab Robigo. Secundum segetes huic deo sacrificatur, ne rubigo occupet segetes, Varro, L. L. V. Robigalia dies festus VII. Kal. Maias, quo Robigo deo suo, quem putabant rubiginem avertere, sacrificabant, Festus. Feriae Robigo via Claudia ad milliarium quintum, ne robigo frumentis noceat; sacrificiun et ludi cursoribus majoribus et minoribus fiunt, Verrius Flaccus in Fastis. Inde et Robigus deus et sacra ejus VII. Kal. Maias Robigalia appellantur, Servius on Geor. I. 151. In all these places, we may see, as also in Gellius, (v. 12,) it is a god Robigus that is spoken of; on the other hand, in this place, of Ovid and in Lactantius, (De Fal. Rel. I.) and Columella, it is a goddess Robigo. May we not thence infer, that as in so many other cases (see above on III. 512. IV. 722,) so in this the dualistic principle of Roman theology may be discovered? Finally, the names Robigo, Robigus, Robigalia, were frequently written Rubigo, etc.
908. Catularia porta Romae dicta est, quia non longe ab ea ad placandum Caniculae sidus frugibus inimicum rufae canes immolabantur, ut fruges flavescentes ad maturitatem perducerentur, Festus. It would appear as if there was some slight mistake here, as it was, as Festus himself tells us, (see preceding note) the god Robigus, and not the Canicula, to whom the sacrifice was made. This is also proved by the word rufae, for robus, a word of the same origin was equivalent to [Greek: xanthos], whence (Fest. s. v.) the peasants said robos boves. The Canicula however was the cause of the dog being sacrificed. Columella (R. II. x. 342). also notices this rite. Hinc mala, Rubigo virides ne torreat herbas Sanguine lactentis catuli placatur et extis. Ovid alone mentions the sheep.
910. Edidit, etc. that is prayed to this effect.
911. Aspera. The Robigo, [Greek: erusibae, miltos], or mildew, i. e. meal-dew, (It is mehlthau in German,) is a red glutinous powder, which ate into or consumed the stalks of the growing corn, and made them asperi, scabri.
913. Secundis, several MSS. read secundi.
919. Titan. So the Latin poets named the Sun, either as being the same with Hyperion the Titan or his son, Hes. Th. Mildew was thought to be produced by the rays of the sun acting on the moisture left on the stalks by dew or fog. Plin. xviii. 28.
923. Robigo signifies rust as well as mildew.
933. At the right hand of the Flamen was a woolen towel, (mantele) with the fringes, or rather nap on it, (villis solutis) for him to wipe his hands with. The finer kind of towels were without this appendage. Tonsis mantilla villis. Virg. G. III. 377.
936. Obscenae, of ill omen on account of the howling.
939. The Canicula was said to be Maera, the dog of Erigone the daughter of Icarus an Athenian, to whom Bacchus gave wine, which he shared with his workmen, who thinking he had poisoned them, put him to death. Erigone, by means of the dog discovered his body, and Bacchus touched by her grief, raised them all three to the skies, making Icarus Bootes, Erigone the Virgin, and Maera the Canicula or Procyon.
940. Praecipitur, scil. aestu, is burnt up.
941. Pro, instead of.
942. The true cause of many superstitious practices, in which the mystics find such deep meaning.
943. Phr. Ass. fratre a periphrasis of Tithonus, Ovid appears to make a mistake here and to confound Tithonus with Ganymedes, as according to most writers, Tithonus was the son of Laomedon, the son of Ilus the brother of Assaracus, whose grand-nephew therefore Tithonus was.— Titania. This is the reading of only two MSS. and was first admitted into the text by Burmann. Heinsius however had approved of it. All the rest give Tithonia, which Heinsius shews to have been frequently employed by Statius and by Valerius Flaccus but thinks that in all these places it should be changed into Titania. Aurora is called Titania, for the same reason as Diana (Luna) is called so, (Met. III. 173,) and their brother, Sol Titan; see on v. 919.
945. The Floralia began on the IV. Kal. Maias.
946. See V. 183, et seq.
949. As it was requisite that the Pontifex Maximus should reside in a public building, near the temple of Vesta, Augustus, when raised to this dignity, assigned a part of his Palatium to the public service, and removed thither the sacred fire of Vesta—Aufert, claims.—Cognati. See III. 425. Some MSS. read cognato.
950. Justi senes. Some editions read jussi, instead of justi. I know not on what authority. Patres for senes, is the reading of several MSS.
951. The temple of the Palatine Apollo formed another part of the Palatium. Suet. Aug. 29. Propert. II. 23.
952. Ipse, Augustus.
953. See I. 614.
Quaeritis, unde putem Maio data nomina mensi.
Non satis est liquido cognita causa mihi.
Ut stat, et incertus qua sit sibi nescit cundum,
Quum videt ex omni parte viator iter:
Sic, quia posse datur diversas reddere causas, 5
Qua ferar, ignoro, copiaque ipsa nocet.
Dicite, quae fontes Aganippidos Hippocrenes
Grata Medussei signa tenetis equi.
Dissensere deae. Quarum Polyhymnia coepit
Prima—Silent aliae, dictaque mente notant.— 10
Post chaos, ut primum data sunt tria corpora mundo,
Inque novas species omne recessit opus;
Pondere terra suo subsedit, et sequora traxit:
At coelum levitas in loca summa tulit.
Sol quoque cum stellis nulla gravitate retentus, 15
Et vos Lunares exsiluistis equi.
Sed neque Terra diu Coelo, nec cetera Phoebo
Sidera cedebant: par erat omnis honos.
Saepe aliquis solio quod tu, Saturne, tenebas,
Ausus de media plebe sedere deus; 20
Et latus Oceano quisquam deus advena junxit,
Tethys et extremo saepe recepta loco est;
Donec Honos, placidoque decens Reverentia vultu
Corpora legitimis imposuere toris.
Hinc sata Majestas, quae mundum temperat omnem, 25
Quaque die partu est edita, magna fuit.
Nec mora: consedit medio sublimis Olympo,
Aurea, purpureo conspicienda sinu.
Consedere simul Pudor et Metus. Omne videres
Numen ad hanc vultus composuisse suos. 30
Protinus intravit mentes suspectus honorum.
Fit pretium dignis, nec sibi quisque placet.
Hic status in coelo multos permansit in annos:
Dum senior fatis excidit arce deus.
Terra feros partus, immania monstra, Gigantas 35
Edidit, ausuros in Jovis ire domum.
Mille manus illis dedit, et pro cruribus angues:
Atque ait, In magnos arma movete deos.
Exstruere hi montes ad sidera summa parabant,
Et magnum bello sollicitare Jovem. 40
Fulmina de coeli jaculatus Jupiter arce
Vertit in auctores pondera vasta suos.
His bene Majestas armis defensa deorum
Restat: et ex illo tempore firma manet.
Assidet illa Jovi: Jovis est fidissima custos, 45
Et praestat sine vi sceptra tenenda Jovi.
Venit et in terras: coluerunt Romulus illam,
Et Numa: mox alii, tempore quisque suo.
Illa patres in honore pio matresque tuetur:
Illa comes pueris virginibusque venit. 50
Ilia datos fasces commendat, eburque curule:
Illa coronatis alta triumphat equis.
Finierat voces Polyhymnia: dicta probarunt
Clioque, et curvae scita Thalia lyrae.
Excipit Uranie: fecere silentia cunctae, 55
Et vox audiri nulla, nisi illa, potest,
Magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani,
Inque suo pretio ruga senilis erat.
Martis opus juvenes animosaque bella gerebant,
Et pro dîs aderant in statione suis. 60
Viribus illa minor, nec habendis utilis armis,
Consilio patriae saepe ferebat opem.
Nec nisi post annos patuit tunc Curia seros,
Nomen et aetatis mite Senatus erat.
Jura dabat populo senior: finitaque certis 65
Legibus est aetas, unde petatur honos.
Et medius juvenum, non indignantibus ipsis,
Ibat, et interior, si comes unus erat.
Verba quis auderet coram sene digna rubore
Dicere; censuram longa senecta dabat. 70
Romulus hoc vidit, selectaque pectora Patres
Dixit. Ad hos urbis summa relata novae.
Hinc sua majores posuisse vocabula Maio
Tangor, et aetati consuluisse suae.
Et Numitor dixisse potest, Da, Romule, mensem 75
Hunc senibus! nec avum sustinuisse nepos.
Nec leve praepositi pignus successor honoris
Junius, a juvenum nomine dictus, adest.
Tum sic, neglectos hedera redimita capillos,
Prima sui coepit Calliopea chori: 80
Duxerat Oceanus quondam Titanida Tethyn,
Qui terram liquidis, qua patet, ambit aquis.
Hinc sata Pleïone cum coelifero Atlante
Jungitur, ut fama est, Pleïadasque parit.
Quarum Maia suas forma superasse sorores 85
Traditur, et summo concubuisse Jovi.
Haec enixa jugo cupressiferae Cyllenes,
Aetherium volucri qui pede carpit iter.
Arcades hunc, Ladonque rapax, et Maenalon ingens
Rite colunt, Luna credita terra prior. 90
Exsul ab Arcadia Latios Evander in agros
Venerat, impositos attuleratque deos.
Hic, ubi nunc Roma est orbis caput, arbor et herbae,
Et paucae pecudes, et casa rara fuit.
Quo postquam ventum, Consistite! praescia mater, 95
Nam locus imperii rus erit istud, ait.
Et matri et vati paret Nonacrius heros,
Inque peregrina constitit hospes humo.
Sacraque multa quidem, sed Fauni prima bicornis
Has docuit gentes, alipedisque dei. 100
Semicaper, coleris cinctutis, Faune, Lupercis,
Quum lustrant celebres vellera secta vias.
At tu materno donasti nomine mensem,
Inventor curvae, furibus apte, fidis.
Nec pietas haec prima tua est: septena putaris, 105
Pleïadum numerum, fila dedisse lyrae.
Haec quoque desierat; laudata est voce sororum,
Quid faciam? turbae pars habet omnis idem.
Gratia Pieridum nobis aequaliter adsit,
Nullaque laudetur plusve minusve mihi. 110
Ab Jove surgat opus, Prima mihi nocte videnda
Stella est in cunas officiosa Jovis.
Nascitur Oleniae signum pluviale Capellae:
Illa dati coelum praemia lactis habet.
Naïs Amalthea, Cretaea nobilis Ida, 115
Dicitur in silvis occuluisse Jovem.
Huic fuit haedorum mater formosa duorum,
Inter Dictaeos conspicienda greges,
Cornibus aëriis atque in sua terga recurvis,
Ubere, quod nutrix posset habere Jovis. 120
Lac dabat illa deo. Sed fregit in arbore cornu:
Truncaque dimidia parte decor is erat.
Sustulit hoc Nymphe, cinxitque recentibus herbis,
Et plenum pomis ad Jovis ora tulit.
Ille, ubi res coeli tenuit, solioque paterno 125
Sedit, et invicto nil Jove majus erat,
Sidera nutricem, nutricis fertile cornu
Fecit; quod dominae nunc quoque nomen habet.
Praestitibus Maiae Laribus videre Kalendae
Aram constitui, signaque parva deûm. 130
Voverat illa quidem Curius: sed multa vetustas
Destruit, et saxo longa senecta nocet.
Causa tamen positi fuerat cognominis illis,
Quod praestant oculis omnia tuta suis.
Stant quoque pro nobis, et praesunt moenibus urbis, 135
Et sunt praesentes, auxiliumque ferunt.
At canis ante pedes, saxo fabricatus eodem,
Stabat. Quae standi cum Lare causa fuit?
Servat uterque domum, domino quoque fidus uterque.
Compita grata deo: compita grata cani. 140
Exagitant et Lar, et turba Diania, fures:
Pervigilantque Lares, pervigilantque canes.
Bina gemellorum quaerebam signa deorum,
Viribus annosse facta caduca morae:
Mille Lares, Geniumque ducis, qui tradidit illos, 145
Urbs habet: et vici numina trina colunt.
Quo feror? Augustus mensis mihi carminis hujus
Jus dabit. Interea Diva canenda Bona est.
Est moles nativa: loco res nomina fecit.
Appellant saxum: pars bona mentis ea est. 150
Huic Remus institerat frustra, quo tempore fratri
Prima Palatinae regna dedistis aves.
Templa Patres illic, oculos exosa viriles,
Leniter acclivi constituere jugo.
Dedicat haec veteris Clausorum nominis heres, 155
Virgineo nullum corpore passa virum.
Livia restituit, ne non imitata maritum
Esset, et ex omni parte secuta virum.
Postera quum roseam pulsis Hyperionis astris
In matutinis lampada tollit equis, 160
Frigidus Argestes summas mulcebit aristas,
Candidaque a Calabris vela dabuntur aquis.
At simul inducunt obscura crepuscula noctem,
Pars Hyadum toto de grege nulla latet.
Ora micant Tauri septem radiantia flammis, 165
Navita quas Hyadas Graius ab imbre vocat.
Pars Bacchum nutrisse putat: pars credidit esse
Tethyos has neptes, Oceanique senis.
Nondum stabat Atlas humeros oneratus Olympo,
Quum satus est forma conspiciendus Hyas. 170
Hunc stirps Oceani maturis nisibus aethra
Edidit, et Nymphas: sed prior ortus Hyas.
Dum nova lanugo, pavidos formidine cervos
Terret: et est illi praeda benigna lepus.
At postquam virtus annis adolevit, in apros 175
Audet et hirsutas cominus ire feras.
Dumque petit latebras fetae catulosque leaenae,
Ipse fuit Libycae praeda cruenta ferae.
Mater Hyan, et Hyan moestae flevere sorores,
Cervicemque polo suppositurus Atlas. 180
Victus uterque parens tamen est pietate sororum.
Illa dedit coelum: nomina fecit Hyas.
Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda jocosis:
Distuleram partes mense priore tuas.
Incipis Aprili: transis in tempora Maii. 185
Alter te fugiens, quum venit alter, habet.
Quum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum,
Convenit in laudes ille vel iste tuas.
Circus in hunc exit, clamataque palma theatris:
Hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat. 190
Ipsa doce, quae sis. Hominum sententia fallax,
Optima tu proprii nominis auctor eris.
Sic ego. Sic nostris respondit diva rogatis:
—Dum loquitur, vernas efflat ab ore rosas—
Chloris eram, quae Flora vocor. Corrupta Latino 195
Nominis est nostri littera Graeca sono.
Chloris eram Nymphe campi felicis, ubi audis
Rem fortunatis ante fuisse viris.
Quae fuerit mihi forma, grave est narrare modestae:
Sed generum matri repperit illa deum. 200
Ver erat: errabam: Zephyrus conspexit. Abibam:
Insequitur; fugio. Fortior ille fuit.
Et dederat fratri Boreas jus omne rapinae,
Ausus Erechthea praemia ferre domo.
Vim tamen emendat dando mihi nomina nuptae: 205
Inque meo non est ulla querela toro.
Vere fruor semper: semper nitidissimus annus.
Arbor habet frondes, pabula semper humus.
Est mihi fecundus dotalibus hortus in agris.
Aura fovet; liquidae fonte rigatur aquae. 210
Hunc meus implevit generoso flore maritus:
Atque ait, Arbitrium tu, dea, floris habe.
Saepe ego digestos volui numerare colores;
Nec potui; numero copia major erat.
Roscida quum primum foliis excussa pruina est, 215
Et variae radiis intepuere comae;
Conveniunt pictis incinctae vestibus Horae,
Inque leves calathos munera nostra legunt.
Protinus accedunt Charites, nectuntque coronas,
Sertaque coelestes implicitura comas. 220
Prima per immensas sparsi nova semina gentes.
Unius tellus ante coloris erat.
Prima Therapnaeo feci de sanguine florem:
Et manet in folio scripta querela suo.
Tu quoque nomen habes cultos, Narcisse, per hortos: 225
Infelix, quod non alter et alter eras!
Quid Crocon, aut Attin referam, Cinyraque creatum,
De quorum per me vulnere surgit honor?
Mars quoque, si nescis, per nostras editus artes.
Jupiter hoc ut adhuc nesciat, usque precor. 230
Sancta Jovem Juno, nata sine matre Minerva,
Officio doluit non eguisse suo.
Ibat, ut Oceano quereretur facta mariti:
Restitit ad nostras fessa labore fores.
Quam simul adspexi, Quid te, Saturnia, dixi, 235
Attulit? Exponit, quem petat illa locum.
Addidit et causam. Verbis solabar amicis.
Non, inquit, verbis cura levanda mea est.
Si pater est factus neglecto conjugis usu
Jupiter, et solus nomen utrumque tenet; 240
Cur ego desperem fieri sine conjuge mater,
Et parere intacto, dummodo casta, viro?
Omnia tentabo latis medicamina terris,
Et freta Tartareos excutiamque sinus.
Vox erat in cursu: vultum dubitantis haebebam. 245
Nescio quid, Nymphe, posse videris, ait.
Ter volui promittere opem, ter lingua retenta est:
Ira Jovis magni causa timoris erat.
Fer, precor, auxilium, dixit; celabitur auctor:
Et Stygiae numen testificatur aquae. 250
Quod petis, Oleniis, inquam, mihi missus ab arvis
Flos dabit. Est hortis unicus ille meis.
Qui dabat, Hoc, dixit, sterilem quoque tange juvencam;
Mater erit. Tetigi; nec mora, mater erat.
Protinus haerentem decerpsi pollice florem. 255
Tangitur; et tacto concipit illa sinu.
Jamque gravis Thracen et laeva Propontidos intrat,
Fitque potens voti; Marsque creatus erat;
Qui memor accepti per me natalis, Habeto
Tu quoque Romulea, dixit, in urbe locum. 260
Forsitan in teneris tantum mea regna coronis
Esse putes; tangit numen et arva meum.
Si bene floruerint segetes, erit area dives:
Si bene floruerit vinea, Bacchus erit.
Si bene floruerint oleae, nitidissimus annus, 265
Pomaque proventum temporis hujus habent.
Flore semel laeso pereunt viciaeque fabaeque,
Et pereunt lentes, advena Nile, tuae.
Vina quoque in magnis operose condita cellis
Florent, et nebulae dolia summa tegunt. 270
Mella meum munus. Volucres ego mella daturas
Ad violam, et cytisos, et thyma cana voco.
Nos quoque idem facimus tunc, quum juvenilibus annis
Luxuriant animi, corporaque ipsa vigent.
Talia dicentem tacitus mirabar. At illa, 275
Jus tibi discendi, si qua requiris, ait.
Dic, dea, ludorum, respondi, quae sit origo.
Vix bene desieram; rettulit illa mihi.
Cetera luxurise nondum instrumenta vigebant:
Aut pecus, aut latam dives habebat humum. 280
Hinc etiam locuples, hinc ipsa pecunia dicta est.
Sed jam de vetito quisque parabat opes.
Venerat in morem populi depascere saltus:
Idque diu licuit, poenaque nulla fuit.
Vindice servabat nullo sua publica vulgus: 285
Jamque in privato pascere inertis erat.
Plebis ad aediles perducta licentia talis
Publicios; animus defuit ante viris.
Rem populus recipit: mulctam subiere nocentes.
Vindicibus laudi publica cura fuit. 290
Mulcta data est ex parte mihi: magnoque favore
Victores ludos instituere novos.
Parte locant clivum, qui tune erat ardua rupes.
Utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.
Annua credideram spectacula facta; negavit: 295
Addidit et dictis altera verba suis.
Nos quoque tangit honos, festis gaudemus et aris:
Turbaque coelestes ambitiosa sumus.
Saepe deos aliquis peccando fecit iniquos:
Et pro delictis hostia blanda fuit. 300
Saepe Jovem vidi, quum jam sua mittere vellet
Fulmina, ture dato sustinuisse manum.
At si negligimur, magnis injuria poenis
Solvitur, et justum praeterit ira modum.
Respice Thestiaden; flammis absentibus arsit. 305
Causa est, quod Phoebes ara sine igne fuit.
Respice Tantaliden: eadem dea vela tenebat.
Virgo est, et spretos his tamen ulta focos.
Hippolyte infelix, velles coluisse Dionen,
Quum consternatis deripereris equis. 310
Longa referre mora est correcta oblivia damnis.
Me quoque Romani praeteriere Patres.
Quid facerem? per quod fierem manifesta doloris?
Exigerem nostrae qualia damna notae?
Excidit officium tristi mihi. Nulla tuebar 315
Rura, nec in pretio fertilis hortus erat.
Lilia deciderant: violas arere videres,
Filaque punicei languida facta croci.
Saepe mihi Zephyrus, Dotes corrumpere noli
Ipsa tuas, dixit. Dos mihi vilis erat. 320
Florebant oleae; venti nocuere protervi.
Florebant segetes; grandine laesa Ceres.
In spe vitis erat: coelum nigrescit ab Austris,
Et subita frondes decutiuntur aqua.
Nec volui fieri, nec sum crudelis in ira: 325
Cura repellendi sed mihi nulla fuit.
Convenere Patres, et, si bene floreat annus,
Numinibus nostris annua festa vovent.
Annuimus voto. Consul cum Consule ludos
Postumio Laenas persoluere mihi. 330
Quaerere conabar, quare lascivia major
His foret in ludis, liberiorque jocus:
Sed mihi succurrit, numen non esse severum,
Aptaque deliciis munera ferre deam.
Tempora sutilibus cinguntur tota coronis, 335
Et latet injecta splendida mensa rosa.
Ebrius incinctis philyra conviva capillis
Saltat, et imprudens vertitur arte meri.
Ebrius ad durum formosse limen amicae
Cantat. Habent unctae mollia serta comae. 340
Nulla coronata peraguntur seria fronte;
Nec liquidae vinctis flore bibuntur aquae.
Donec eras mixtus nullis, Acheloë, racemis,
Gratia sumendae non erat ulla rosae.
Bacchus amat flores: Baccho placuisse coronam, 345
Ex Ariadnaeo sidere nosse potes.
Scena levis decet hanc: non est, mihi credite, non est
Illa cothurnatas inter habenda deas.
Turba quidem cur hos celebret meretricia ludos,
Non ex difficili causa petita subest. 350
Non est de tetricis, nori est de magna professis:
Vult sua plebeio sacra patere choro:
Et monet setatis specie, dum floreat, uti:
Contemni spinam, quum cecidere rosae.
Cur tamen, ut dantur vestes Cerealibus albae, 355
Sic est haec cultu versicolore decens?
An quia maturis albescit messis aristis,
Et color et species floribus omnis inest?
Annuit; et motis flores cecidere capillis,
Accidere in mensas ut rosa missa solet. 360
Lumina restabant; quorum me causa latebat,
Quum sic errores abstulit illa meos:
Vel quia purpureis collucent floribus agri;
Lumina sunt nostros visa decere dies:
Vel quia nec flos est hebeti, nec flamma, colore; 365
Atque oculos in se splendor uterque trahit;
Vel quia deliciis nocturna licentia nostris
Convenit. A vero tertia causa venit.
Est breve praeterea, de quo mihi quaerere restat,
Si liceat, dixi. Dixit et illa, Licet. 370
Cur tibi pro Libycis clauduntur rete leaenis
Imbelles capreae, sollicitusque lepus?
Non sibi, respondit, silvas cessisse, sed hortos,
Arvaque pugnaci non adeunda ferae.
Omnia finierat: tenues secessit in auras. 375
Mansit odor: posses scire fuisse deam.
Floreat ut toto carmen Nasonis in aevo,
Sparge, precor, donis pectora nostra tuis.
Nocte minus quarta promet sua sidera Chiron
Semivir, et flavi corpore mixtus equi. 380
Pelion Haemoniae mons est obversus in Austros:
Summa virent pinu: cetera quercus habet.
Phillyrides tenuit. Saxo stant antra vetusto,
Quae justum memorant incoluisse senem.
Ille manus, olim missuras Hectora leto, 385
Creditur in lyricis detinuisse modis.
Venerat Alcides exhausta parta laborum,
Jussaque restabant ultima paene viro.
Stare simul casu Trojae duo fata videres:
Hinc puer aeacides, hinc Jove natus erat. 390
Excipit hospitio juvenem Philyreïus heros:
Et causam adventus hic rogat: ille docet.
Perspicit interea clavam spoliumque leonis,
Virque, ait, his armis, armaque digna viro!
Nec se, quin horrens auderent tangere setis 395
Vellus, Achilleae continuere manus.
Dumque senex tractat squalentia tela venenis,
Excidit, et laevo fixa sagitta pede est.
Ingemuit Chiron, traxitque e vulnere ferrum:
Et gemit Alcides, Haemoniusque puer. 400
Ipse tamen lectas Pagasaeis collibus herbas
Temperat, et varia vulnera mulcet ope.
Virus edax superabat opem, penitusque recepta
Ossibus et toto corpore pestis erat.
Sanguine Centauri Lernaeae sanguis Echidnae 405
Mixtus ad auxilium tempora nulla dabat.
Stabat, ut ante patrem, lacrimis perfusus Achilles:
Sic flendus Peleus, si moreretur, erat.
Saepe manus aegras manibus fingebat amicis:
Morum, quos fecit, praemia doctor habet. 410
Oscula saepe dedit; dixit quoque saepe jacenti:
Vive, precor; nec me care relinque pater!
Nona dies aderat, quum tu, justissime Chiron,
Bis septem stellis corpora cinctus eras.
Hunc Lyra curva sequi cuperet; sed idonea nondum 415
Est via. Nox aptum tertia tempus erit.
Scorpios in coelo, quum eras lucescere Nonas
Dicimus, a media parte notandus erit.
Hinc ubi protulerit Formosa ter Hesperus ora,
Ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum; 420
Ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri:
Inferias tacitis Manibus illa dabunt.
Annus erat brevior, nec adhuc pia Februa norant,
Nec tu dux mensum, Jane biformis, eras.
Jam tamen extincto cineri sua dona ferebant, 425
Compositique nepos busta piabat avi.
Mensis erat Maius, majorum nomine dictus,
Qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet.
Nox ubi jam media est, somnoque silentia praebet,
Et canis et varies conticuistis aves; 430
Ille memor veteris ritus timidusque deorum
Surgit:—habent gemini vincula nulla pedes—
Signaque dat digitis medio cum pollice junctis,
Occurrat tacito ne levis umbra sibi;
Quumque manus puras fontana perluit unda, 435
Vertitur, et nigras accipit ante fabas;
Aversusque jacit; sed dum jacit, Haec ego mitto;
His, inquit, redimo meque meosque fabis.
Hoc novies dicit, nec respicit. Umbra putatur
Colligere, et nullo terga vidente sequi. 440
Rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera,
Et rogat, ut tectis exeat umbra suis.
Quum dixit novies, Manes exite paterni!
Respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat.
Dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis exstet origo, 445
Me fugit. Ex aliquo est invenienda deo.
Pliade nate, mone, virga venerande potenti:
Saepe tibi Stygii regia visa Jovis.
Venit adoratus Caducifer. Accipe causam
Nominis. Ex ipso cognita causa deo est. 450
Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras,
Et male veloci justa soluta Remo;
Faustulus infelix, et passis Acca capillis
Spargebant lacrimis ossa perusta suis.
Inde domum redeunt sub prima crepuscula moesti, 455
Utque erat, in duro procubuere toro.
Umbra cruenta Remi visa est assistere lecto,
Atque haec exiguo murmure verba loqui:
En ego dimidium vestri parsque altera voti
Cernite sim qualis! qui modo qualis eram! 460
Qui modo, si volucres habuissem regna jubentes,
In populo potui maximus esse meo.
Nunc sum elapsa rogi flammis et inanis imago.
Haec est ex illo forma relicta Remo.
Heu! ubi Mars pater est! si vos modo vera locuti, 465
Uberaque expositis ille ferina dedit.
Quem lupa servavit, manus hunc temeraria civis
Perdidit. O quanto mitior illa fuit!
Saeve Celer, crudelem animam per vulnera reddas,
Utque ego, sub terras sanguinolentus eas! 470
Noluit hoc frater. Pietas sequalis in illo est.
Quod potuit, lacrimas in mea fata dedit.
Hunc vos per lacrimas, per vestra alimenta rogate,
Ut celebrem nostro signet honore diem.
Mandantem amplecti cupiunt, et brachia tendunt: 475
Lubrica prensantes effugit umbra manus.
Ut secum fugiens somnos abduxit imago,
Ad regem voces fratris uterque ferunt.
Romulus obsequitur, lucemque Remuria dixit
Illam, qua positis justa feruntur avis. 480
Aspera mutata est in lenem tempore longo
Littera, quae toto nomine prima fuit.
Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum;
Hic verbi sensus, vis ea vocis erat.
Fana tamen veteres illis clausere diebus, 485
Ut nunc ferali tempore operta vides.
Nec viduae taedis eadem, nec virginis apta
Tempora. Quae nupsit, non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait. 490
Sed tamen haec tria sunt sub eodem tempore festa
Inter se nullo continuata die.
Quorum si mediis Boeotum Oriona quaeres;
Falsus eris. Signi causa canenda mihi.
Jupiter, et, lato qui regnat in aequore, frater 495
Carpebant socias, Mercuriusque, vias.
Tempus erat, quo versa jugo referuntur aratra.
Et pronum saturae lac bibit agnus ovis.
Forte senex Hyrieus, angusti cultor agelli,
Hos videt, exiguam stabat ut ante casam. 500
Atque ita, Longa via est nec tempora longa supersunt,
Dixit, et hospitibus janua nostra patet.
Addidit et vultum verbis, iterumque rogavit.
Parent promissis, dissimulantque deos.
Tecta senis subeunt, nigro deformia fumo. 505
Ignis in hesterno stipite parvus erat;
Ipse genu nixus flammas exsuscitat aura,
Et promit quassas comminuitque faces.
Stant calices. Minor inde fabas, olus alter habebat,
Et fumant testu pressus uterque suo. 510
Dumque mora est, tremula dat vina rubentia dextra.
Accipit aequoreus pocula prima deus.
Quae simul exhausit, Da, nunc bibat ordine, dixit,
Jupitur. Audito palluit ille Jove.
Ut rediit animus, cultorem pauperis agri 515
Immolat, et magno torret in igne bovem;
Quaeque puer quondam primis diffuderat annis,
Promit fumoso condita vina cado.
Nec mora: flumineam lino celantibus ulvam,
Sic quoque non altis, incubuere toris. 520
Nunc dape, nunc posito mensae nituere Lyaeo.
Terra rubens crater, pocula fagus erant.
Verba fuere Jovis: Si quid fert impetus, opta:
Omne feres. Placidi verba fuere senis:
Cara fuit conjux, prima mihi cara juventa 525
Cognita. Nunc ubi sit, quaeritis: urna tegit.
Huic ego juratus, vobis in verba vocatis,
Conjugio dixi sola fruere meo.
Et dixi, et servo, sed enim diversa voluntas
Est mihi: nec conjux, sed pater esse volo. 530
Annuerant omnes: omnes ad terga juvenci
Constiterant. Pudor est ulteriora loqui.
Tum superinjecta texere madentia terra.
Jamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.
Hunc Hyrieus, quia sic genitus, vocat Uriona. 535
Perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum.
Creverat immensum: comitem sibi Delia sumpsit.
Ille deae custos, ille satelles erat.
Verba movent iras non circumspecta deorum.
Quam nequeam, dixit, vincere, nulla fera est. 540
Scorpion immisit Tellus. Fuit impetus illi
Curva gemelliparae spicula ferre deae.
Obstitit Orion. Latona nitentibus astris
Addidit, et, Meriti praemia, dixit, habe.
Sed quid et Orion, et cetera sidera mundo 545
Cedere festinant, noxque coarctat iter?
Quid solito citius liquido jubar aequore tollit
Candida, Lucifero praeveniente, dies?
Fallor? an arma sonant? Non fallimur: arma sonabant;
Mars venit, et veniens bellica signa dedit. 550
Ultor ad ipse suos coelo descendit honores,
Templaque in Augusto conspicienda Foro.
Et deus est ingens, et opus. Debebat in urbe
Non aliter nati Mars habitare sui.
Digna Giganteis haec sunt delubra tropaeis: 555
Hinc fera Gradivum bella movere decet:
Sen quis ab Eoo nos impius orbe lacesset;
Seu quis ab occiduo sole domandus erit.
Prospicit armipotens operis fastigia summi,
Et probat invictos summa tenere deos. 560
Prospicit in foribus diversae tela figurae,
Armaque terrarum milite victa suo.
Hinc videt aenean oneratum pondere caro,
Et tot Iuleae nobilitatis avos.
Hinc videt Iliaden humeris ducis arma ferentem, 565
Claraque dispositis acta subesse viris.
Spectat et Augusto praetextum nomine templum;
Et visum, lecto Caesare, majus opus.
Voverat hoc juvenis tunc, quum pia sustulit arma,
A tantis Princeps incipiendus erat. 570
Ille manus tendens, hinc stanti milite justo,
Hinc conjuratis, talia dicta dedit;
Si mihi bellandi pater est, Vestaeque sacerdos
Auctor, et ulcisci numen utrumque paro:
Mars, ades, et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum: 575
Stetque favor causa pro meliore tuus.
Templa feres, et me victore vocaberis Ultor.
Voverat; et fuso laetus ab hoste redit.
Nec satis est meruisse semel cognomina Marti:
Persequitur Parthi signa retenta manu. 580
Gens fuit et campis, et equis, et tuta sagittis,
Et circumfusis invia fluminibus.
Addiderant animos Crassorum funera genti,
Quum periit miles, signaque, duxque simul.
Signa, decus belli, Parthus Romana tenebat, 585
Romanaeque aquilae signifer hostis erat.
Isque pudor mansisset adhuc, nisi fortibus armis
Caesaris Ausoniae protegerentur opes.
Ille notas veteres, et longi dedecus aevi
Sustulit. Agnorunt signa recepta suos. 590
Quid tibi nunc solitas mitti post terga sagittae,
Quid loca, quid rapidi profuit usus equi?
Parthe, refers aquilas: victos quoque porrigis arcus.
Pignora jam nostri nulla pudoris habes.
Rite deo templumque datum nomenque bis ulto, 595
Et meritus votis debita solvit honos.
Sollemnes ludos Circo celebrate, Quirites:
Non visa est fortem scena decere deum.
Pliadas adspicies omnes, totumque sororum
Agmen, ubi ante Idus nox erit una super 600
Tum mihi non dubiis auctoribus incipit aestas,
Et tepidi finem tempora veris habent.
Idibus ora prior stellantia tollere Taurum
Indicat: huic signo fabula nota subest.
Praebuit, ut taurus, Tyriae sua terga puellae 605
Jupiter, et falsa cornua fronte tulit;
Illa jubam dextra, laeva retinebat amictus;
Et timor ipse novi causa decoris erat.
Aura sinus implet: flavos movet aura capillos.
Sidoni, sic fueras aspicienda Jovi 610
Saepe puellares subduxit ab aequore plantas,
Et metuit tactus assilientis aquae:
Saepe deus prudens tergum demittit in undas,
Haereat ut collo fortius illa suo.
Litoribus tactis stabat sine cornibus ullis 615
Jupiter, inque deum de bove versus erat.
Taurus init coelum: te, Sidoni, Jupiter implet,
Parsque tuum terras tertia nomen habet.
Hoc alii signum Phariam dixere juvencam,
Quae bos ex homine est, ex bove facta dea. 620
Tum quoque priscorum virgo simulacra virorum
Mittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet.
Corpora post decies senos qui credidit annos
Missa neci, sceleris crimine damnat avos.
Fama vetus: tum quum Saturnia terra vocata est, 625
Talia fatidici dicta fuere dei:
Falcifero libata seni duo corpora, gentes,
Mittite, quae Tuscis excipiantur aquis.
Donec in haec venit Tirynthius arva, quotannis
Tristia Leucadio sacra peracta modo; 630
Illum stramineos in aquam misisse Quirites.
Herculis exemplo corpora falsa jaci.
Pars putat, ut ferrent juvenes suffragia soli,
Pontibus infirmos praecipitasse senes.
Tibri, doce verum: tua ripa vetustior urbe. 635
Principium ritus tu bene nosse potes.
Tibris arundiferum medio caput extulit alveo,
Raucaque dimovit talibus ora sonis:
Haec loca desertas vidi sine moenibus herbas:
Pascebat sparsos utraque ripa boves. 640
Et quem nunc gentes Tiberin noruntque timentque,
Tunc etiam pecori despiciendus eram.
Arcadis Evandri nomen tibi saepe refertur:
Ille meas remis advena torsit aquas.
Venit et Alcides, turba comitatus Achiva. 645
Albula, si memini, tunc mihi nomen erat.
Excipit hospitio juvenem Pallantius heros:
Et tandem Caco debita poena venit.
Victor abit, secumque boves, Erytheïda praedam,
Abstrahit. At comites longius ire negant: 650
Magnaque pars horum desertis venerat Argis.
Montibus his ponunt spemque Laremque suum.
Saepe tamen patriae dulci tanguntur amore;
Atque aliquis moriens hoc breve mandat opus:
Mittite me in Tiberin, Tiberinis vectus ut undis 655
Litus ad Inachium pulvis inanis eam.
Displicet heredi mandati cura sepulcri:
Mortuus Ausonia conditur hospes humo.
Scirpea pro domino in Tiberin jactatur imago,
Ut repetat Graias per freta longa domos. 660
Hactenus. Ut vivo subiit rorantia saxo
Antra, leves cursum sustinuistis aquae.
Clare nepos Atlantis, ades! quem montibus olim
Edidit Arcadiis Pleïas una Jovi.
Pacis et armorum superis imisque deorum 665
Arbiter, alato qui pede carpis iter:
Laete lyrae pulsu, nitida quoque laete palaestra,
Quo didicit culte lingua favente loqui.
Templa tibi posuere Patres spectantia Circum
Idibus. Ex illo est haec tibi festa dies. 670
Te, quicumque suas profitentur vendere merces,
Ture dato, tribuas ut sibi lucra, rogant.
Est aqua Mercurii portae vicina Capenae:
Si juvat expertis credere, numen habet.
Huc venit incinctus tunicas mercator, et urna 675
Purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.
Uda fit hinc laurus: lauro sparguntur ab uda
Omnia, quae dominos sunt habitura novos.
Spargit et ipse suos lauro rorante capillos,
Et peragit solita fallere voce preces. 680
Ablue praeteriti perjuria temporis, inquit,
Ablue praeterita perfida verba die.
Sive ego te feci testem, falsove citavi
Non audituri numina magna Jovis;
Sive deum prudens alium divamve fefelli, 685
Abstulerint celeres improba dicta Noti.
Et pereant veniente die perjuria nobis,
Nec curent superi, si qua locutus ero.
Da modo lucra mihi, da facto gaudia lucro,
Et face, ut emptori verba dedisse juvet. 690
Talia Mercurius poscentem ridet ab alto,
Se memor Ortygias surripuisse boves.
At mihi pande, precor, tanto meliora petenti,
In Geminos ex quo tempore Phoebus eat.
Quum totidem de mense dies superesse videbis: 695
Quot sunt Herculei facta laboris, ait.
Die, ego respondi, causam mihi sideris hujus.
Causam facundo reddidit ore deus.
Abstulerant raptas Phoeben Phoebesque sororem
Tyndaridae fratres, hic eques, ille pugil. 700
Bella parant, repetuntque suas et frater et Idas,
Leucippo fieri pactus uterque gener.
His amor, ut repetant, illis, ut reddere nolint,
Suadet, et ex causa pugnat uterque pari.
Effugere Oebalidae cursu potuere sequentes: 705
Sed visum celeri vincere turpe fuga.
Liber ab arboribus locus est, apta area pugnae.
Constiterant illic: nomen Aphidna loco.
Pectora trajectus Lynceo Castor ab ense
Non exspectato vulnere pressit humum. 710
Ultor adest Pollux, et Lyncea perforat hasta,
Qua cervix humeros continuata premit.
Ibat in hunc Idas, vixque est Jovis igne repulsus:
Tela tamen dextrae fulmine rapta negant.
Jamque tibi coelum, Pollux, sublime patebat, 715
Quum, Mea, dixisti, percipe verba, Pater.
Quod mihi das uni coelum, partire duobus:
Dimidium toto munere majus erit.
Dixit, et alterna fratrem statione redemit:
Utile sollicitae sidus uterque rati. 720
Ad Janum redeat, qui quaerit, Agonia quid sint:
Quae tamen in fastis hoc quoque tempus habent.
Nocte sequente diem canis Erigoneïus exit;
Est alio signi reddita causa loco.
Proxima Vulcani lux est, Tubilustria dicunt. 725
Lustrantur purae, quas facit ille, tubae.
Quattuor inde notis locus est; quibus ordine lectis
Vel mos sacrorum, vel Fuga Regis inest.
Nec te praetereo, populi Fortuna potentis
Publica, cui templum luce sequente datum. 730
Hanc ubi dives aquis acceperit Amphitrite,
Grata Jovi fulvae rostra videbis avis.
Auferet ex oculis veniens Aurora Booten,
Continuaque die sidus Hyantis erit.
1-110. The poet here enters into a long inquiry on the subject of the origin of the name of May. To free the discussion from dryness, and to give it a dramatic air, he introduces the Muses disputing on this subject.—Quaeritis. See iv. 878. He addresses his readers in general, and not Germanicus alone, as elsewhere.
7. The poet would appear in this place to confound the springs of Aganippe and Hippocrene, which, though both on Mt. Helicon, were distinct in situation. But he had already (Met. v. 312,) distinguished them, so that we must regard the present as a slip of his memory. Aganippis, like Ausonis, Maenalis, etc. is evidently an adjective.
8. Med. equi, Pegasus. See III. 544.
9. Polyhymnia. The name of this Muse in all the Greek writers, from Hesiod down, is [Greek: Polymnia]; by Ovid and by Horace, (Car. I. 1, 33,) she is called Polyhymnia, a name which could not be written in Greek.
11-54. The first opinion. Maius derived its name from Majestas, the daughter of Honos and Reverentia. Sunt qui hunc mensem ad nostros Fastos transisse commemorant, apud quos nunc quoque vocatur Deus Maius, qui est Jupiter, a magnitudine et majestate dictus. Macrobius, Sat. I. 12.
10. Mente notant, mark in their mind or commit to memory.
11. Compare I. 103. Met I. 1. et seq. xv. 239. In these places he speaks of four elements, here of but three, regarding the air and the aether as one.
12. Omne opus. The whole mass. Some MSS. read onus. See on I. 564.
16. I doubt if it was judicious to personify here.
19. It was in the reign of Saturn that this confusion prevailed, hence no gods are spoken of but Titans, the children of Heaven and Earth; such were Oceanus and Tethys. It would be pressing the poet too closely to ask who the Dei advenae could be in the reign of Saturn.
24. Lenz, who thinks that it is the banquets of the gods of which the poet speaks, in the language of the Roman triclinium, understands by legitimis toris the couches in such being properly arranged, and the guests placed according to their rank. Gierig rightly understands it of the marriage of Honour and Reverence.
25. Quae, etc. Three of the best MSS. read hos est dea censa parentes, which Heinsius and Gierig adopt. Compare Hor. Car. I. 12. 15.
26. Magna fuit, scil. Majestas, like Minerva.
28. Aurea, i. e. adorned with gold.—Sinu, robe; part for the whole. Compare II. 310.
29. Pudor et Metus. The [Greek: Aidos] and [Greek: Nemesis] of Hesiod, ([Greek: Erga] 200).
30. Vultus. One MS. reads cultus; either reading gives a good sense.
31. Suspectus, a regard, respect for.
34. Dum senior. See IV. 197.
35. For the Giant-war, see Met. I. 151. et seq. Virg. G. I. 278. Hor. Car. III. 4. 49. Mythology. p. 238.
52. Illa coronatis, etc. She accompanies the conquering generals in their triumphs, giving dignity to them. I know not where the poet got this beautiful fiction of the birth and power of Majesty. It has, I think, a Roman rather than a Grecian air, "Haud dubie poetae antiquiori debet." Gierig.
54. The poet appears to intimate that each opinion was maintained by three of the Muses. For the names, characters, and attributes of these goddesses, see Mythology, p. 146.
55. The second opinion. Maius and Junius came from Majores and Juniores. Fulvius Nobilior in Fastis, quos in aede Herculis Musarum posuit, Romulum dicit postquam populos in majores minoresque divisit, ut altera pars consilio, altera armis rempublicam tueretur, in honorem utriusque partis hunc Maium sequentum mensem Junium vocasse. Macrobius, I. 12.
57. [Greek: Aideisthai poliokrotaphous, eikein de gerousin Edraes kai geraon panton], Phocyl. 207. Cicero (Sen. 18.) praises the Lacedaemonians highly for their respect for old age, on the advantages of which he makes his Cato dilate, but properly adds non cani, non repente auctoritatem accipere possunt, as this depended on a well-spent life, and, as Menander says, [Greek: Ouch ai triches poiousin ai leukai phronein, All' ho tropos enion esti tae phusei Geron].
59. [Greek: Palaios ainos Erga men neoteron, Boulai d' echousi ton geraiteron kratos]. Eurip. frag. Melan.
60. Same as Pugnabant pro aris et focis.
64. This derivation of Senatus is also given by Cicero (Sen. 6.). Dionysius (II. 12.) doubts whether the corresponding Greek term [Greek: gerousia] came from age or from honour ([Greek: geras]).—Mite a very appropriate term, "Juventus est fervida, senectus mitis." Gierig.
66. In the early times of Rome, the maturity of years was much regarded in the appointments to office. When Corn. Scipio was looking for the aedileship (A.U.C. 539) the tribunes opposed him because he had not attained the lawful age, Liv. xxv. 2. By the Lex Villia Annalis passed A.U.C. 574 the age for the Quaestorship was made 3l, for the aedileship 37, the Praetorship 40, and the Consulship 43 years.
67. Compare Sall. Jug. 11.
68. See Horace Sat. II. 5. 17.
70. Censuram, the right of reprimanding.
71. Patres. See Liv. I. 8. Sall. Cat. 6. Vell. Paterc. I. 8.— Pectora. Several MSS. read corpora.
74. Tangor, I am led to believe.
75. It was probably said that this was done by Romulus at the request of Numitor.
76. Sustinuisse. "Non sustinet alterum qui non potest non satisfacere ejus precibus," Gierig. Compare Met. xiv. 788. Liv. xxxi. 13.
77. 78. June, the poet thinks, being named a juvenum nomine, is no slight proof of the correctness of the foregoing etymology. But the origin of June itself is to be proved.—Praep. hon. Six MSS. proposito honori, some have propositum, five give the present reading, the rest propositi. Heinsius proposes praeposito honori, which Krebs adopts.
79-110. The third opinion. The month derived its name from the Pleias Maia. Cincius mensem nominatum putat a Maia, quam Vulcani dicit uxorem, argumentoque utitur quod flamen Vulcanalis, Kal. Maiis huic deae rem divinam facit. Macrob. Sat. I. 12. Again Contendunt alii Maiam Mercurii Matrem, mensi nomen dedisse.—There is a festival of Mercury in this month which is in favour of the Pleias; but, on the other side, Maia seems to be an old Italian deity, the female, perhaps, of Maius, (see on v. 11,) and is justly regarded as the Earth, (see on v. 148,) who, under the name of Bona Dea, was worshiped on the Kalends. The marriage of Vulcan and Maia accords with Grecian, not with Italian theology. See on III. 512.
79. Hedera, the ornament of learned brows, and therefore suited to the Muse of the Epos.
80. Prima sui chori, Calliope is placed by Hesiod and all succeeding writers at the head of the list of the Muses. Perhaps in this place the chorus may be those of her sisters, who thought as she did on this subject.
81. Oceanus and Tethys were two of the Titans, the children of Heaven and Earth.
82. [Greek: Mnaesomai Okeanoio bathurrhoou en gar ekeino Pasa chthon, ate naesos apeiritos, estephanotai]. Dionys. Perieg. 3. For proof that the ancient poets represented the Ocean as a huge river which flowed round the earth, see Mythology, pp. 35, 228.
89-90. The country, its rivers and mountains put for the people. For the ante-lunar origin of the Arcadians, see I. 469.
91. See I. 499. et seq.
92. Impositos scil. navi suae.
93. Compare I. 5d5, II. 280, III. 71. Virg. aen. viii. 98.
99. Sec II. 267-449.
101. Cinctutis, same as succinctis, which is the reading of several MSS. The Luperci were so called, because they ran, [Greek: en perizomasi], cincti subligaculis.
102. Celebres vias, the crowded streets.—Vellera secta, the goat-skin thongs. Several MSS. read verbera.
103. This is the way in which Evander chiefly testified his veneration for Mercury, by naming a month after the god's mother. As to the fact of his being his son, see above I. 471. According to Macrobius, (ut supra) traders sacrificed in this month to Maia and Mercury.
104. Compare Hor. Car. I. 10, 6. For the mythology of Mercury, see my Mythology, pp. 124 and 460.
105. Pietas, i. e. dutiful regard to his aunts, the Pleiades. The lyre, or phorminx, of which the invention was ascribed to Hermes, had seven strings. [Greek: Hepta de symphonous oion etanusseto chordas]. Homer, H. Merc, 25.
108. See on v. 64.
111-128. On the Kalends of May, the star named Capella ([Greek: aix]) which is in the right shoulder of the Heniochus or Charioteer, a constellation on the north side of the Milky Way—rises heliacally, according to Neapolis; cosmically, according to Taubner. Is it not acronychally, according to Ovid? Pliny (xviii. 26,) makes it take place the VIII. Id Maias.—Ab Jove, etc. [Greek: Ek Dios archometha], Aratus Phaen. 1, Virg. Ec. III. 60.
113, 114. According to Eratosthenes (Catast. 13,) Musaeus said, that when Jupiter was born, Rhea gave him to Themis, by whom he was committed to Amalthea, who had him suckled by her goat. Amalthea, we are told by Theon, (ad Arat. 64,) was the daughter of Olenus. Others say, that Amalthea was the name of the goat, and that she had two kids, which were raised with herself to the skies by her grateful nursling. There is no part of Grecian mythology more obscure than the early history of Jupiter.—Nascitur, i.e. oritur.—Pluviale. Compare Met. III. 594, Virg. aen. ix. 668, on which Servius says, Supra Tauri cornua est signum, cui Auriga nomen est. Retinet autem stellas duas in manu, quae Haedi vocantur et Capram—quorum et ortus et occasus gravissimas tempestates faciunt.
115. Naïs, for Nympha, the species for the genus.
119. Aëriis, lofty, tall, rising into the air.
123. Cinxit. One of the best MSS. which is followed by Heinsius and Gierig, reads cinctum.—Recentibus, the MSS. also read decoribus, decentibus, virentibus.
129-147. The altar of the Guardian (Praestites) Lares was erected on the Kalends of May.
130. Curius. Manius Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of the Sabines and of Pyrrhus. There is an apparent difficulty here, as, according to Varro, T. Tatius, the Sabine king built a temple to the Lares, and Dionysius (iv. 14) tells us, that the Compitalia were instituted in their honour by Servius Tullius. The history of Tatius, however, is so purely mythic, that little stress can be laid on the above circumstance, and the fact of the previous worship of the Lares at Rome, does not militate against that of the erection of an altar to them by Curius. The present reading Vov … … … Cur, was given by Ciofanus, from one MS. of the highest authority; that of the other MSS. and the previous editions, is Ara erat quidem illa Curibus, and it is a matter of great doubt which is the genuine one. One MS. for voverat, reads struxerat.
137. Stabat, scil. at the altar erected by Curius.
140. Grata, agreeable. Compitalia dies attributus. Laribus; ideo ubi viae competunt tum in competis sacrificatur; quotannis is dies concipitur. Varro, L. L. V. There were 265 compita Larium at Rome, Pliny, III. 9.
143, 144. See vv. 129, 130.
145. Mille, a definite for an indefinite number.—Qui. trad. etc. Compitales Lares ornari his anno constituit vernis floribus et aestivis. Suet. Aug. 31.
146. Numina trina, scil. the two Lares, and the Genius of Augustus. Hor. Car. iv. 5, 34. See IV. 954.—Vici, the streets.
148-158. The temple of Bona Dea was dedicated on the Kalends of May. It is disputed who this goddess was. Varro said she was Fatua or Fauna, the daughter of Faunus, who was so chaste that she never let herself even be seen by men. Macrobius (I. 12,) tells us, that Corn. Labeo said she was Maia. v. 79. As she is also said to have been the same with Ops, and a pregnant sow was the victim offered to her, (Festus, s. v. Damium,) which was also the victim to Tellus, (Hor. Ep. II. 1, 143.) I think it extremely probable, that Bona Dea was only one of the names of the goddess of the earth.
149. Moles nativa, a natural rock. It was on the Aventine.
152. Regna. Three of the best MSS. followed by Heinsius and Gierig, give signa.
155, 156. See on IV. 305. It is not certain, however, that it was Claudia Quinta, "Haec Appia illa Claudia probatae pudicitiae femina." Neapolis.
157, 158. Compare I. 649.
159-182. On the second of May, the wind Argestes began to blow, and the Hyades rose.—Hyperionis. Aurora, the daughter of Hyperion.
161. Argestes, called also Caurus or Corus, was the north-west wind, and was considered to be very cold.—Mulcebit. Five MSS. read miscebit, which Burmann approved, and Gierig adopted.
162. A Cal. aq. For vessels sailing from the east coast of Italy to Greece, the north-west wind, also called by the Greeks Iapyx, was eminently favourable. Hor. Car. I. 3, 4. Most MSS. read a capreis, four a campis, three a canis, one qua canis. The reading of the text was given by Neapolis from a MS. of no great authority.
163. The rising of the Hyades acronychally. This, perhaps, is an error, for Pliny (xviii. 66,) says _VI. Non. Maii Caesari Suculae matutino oriuntur.
166. There are three derivations of this name, one which the poet follows from [Greek: huein] to rain; a second from the letter Y, which the constellation was thought to resemble; a third from [Greek: hus sus], which is supported by the Latin name Suculae. I am disposed to prefer this last, (Mythology, p. 418) as also are Göttling and Nitzsch, two distinguished critics of the present day.
171. Atlas was the father of Hyas and the Hyades.
182. Illa scil. pietas.—Nomina, etc. "Sed si nauta Graecus Hyadas ab imbre vocavit, ut vs. 166, recte admonitum est, quid opus erat idem nomen etiam ex mythis repetere. Ita poëtae sententia secum pugnat." Gierig; who had already observed, that grege Hyadum, v. 164, was an allusion to the derivation from [Greek: us].
183-378. The poet now returns to the Floralia, which he had briefly noticed at the end of the preceding book. These games were instituted according to Pliny, (xviii. 29) A.U.C. 516 ex oraculis Sibyllae, ut omnia bene deflorescerent. Velleius (I. 14) gives A.U.C. 513 as the date; which is the true one. The Floralia began on the 28th of April, and ended on the 3d of May.—Mater florum. "Matres earum rerum dicuntur Deae quibus praesunt." Gierig. For the general principle see Mythology, p. 6.
189. Circus, that is, the games of the Floral Circus, which were continued into May. The Circus Florae was in the sixth region of the city. For these games, see vv. 37l, 372.—Theatris, the spectators who testified their approbation by clapping of hands, etc. Tota theatra reclamant, Cicero Orat III. 50.
190. Munere. Munus was properly used only of gladiatorial shews. The poet in employing it here, uses a poet's privilege.
195. Cloris eram, etc. The name Chloris, is akin to [Greek: chloae] grass, and [Greek: chloros] green, flourishing; Flora is related in the same way to Flos. Chloris and Flora are therefore kindred terms, and the latter is not, as the poet says, derived from the former. I am not certain that the older Grecian Mythology acknowledged a goddess of flowers. Lenz infers from the poem of Catullus on Berenice's hair, which is a translation from Callimachus, that the Greeks had an ancient legend about Chloris, the wife of Zephyrus, which the Alexandrian poet transferred to Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and that Ovid probably derived it from the [Greek: Aitia] of Callimachus. Nonnus, (xi. 363, xxxi. 106. 110,) is the only Greek poet, who, to my knowledge, notices this story of Chloris. From his late age he is of little authority, and the Italian Fauns are actors in his heterogenious poem. According to Varro, (L. L. V.) Flora was an ancient Sabine deity, whose worship was brought to Rome by Tatius, and when we consider the rural character of the ancient Italian religion in general, there can be but little doubt of its having always recognised a patroness of the flowers. The silly, tasteless fiction, transmitted to us by Plutarch, (Q. R. 35,) and the Fathers of the Church, of Flora having been a courtizan, who left her wealth to the Roman people, on condition of their celebrating games in her honour, and of the Senate having, out of shame, feigned that she was the goddess of flowers—is utterly undeserving of notice.
197. Campi felicis. The Campus Felix of Ovid was, I think, the [Greek: aelysion pedion] of Homer, (Od. iv. 564,) rather than the [Greek: makaron naesous] of Hesiod, ([Greek: Erga], 170). See Mythology, pp. 36 and 229. Compare Hor. Epod. xvi. 41. The localisers of the fictions of the poets make the Canary Isles to be this blissful region.
203. For this Athenian legend of Boreas carrying off Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, as she was dancing in a choir of maidens on the banks of the Ilissus, see Met. vi. 677. Herod, vii. 189, Mythology, pp. 227, 346. Orithya, I may observe, signifies mountain-rusher, ([Greek: Orei thyousa]) and was, therefore, a good name for the spouse of the North-wind. Athenian vanity made her a mortal, and daughter of an Attic king.
211. Generoso, of the finest kinds. Pruna generosa, Met. xiii. 818, generosa uva, Rem. Am. 567. generosum pecus. Virg. G. III. 75.
216. Comae, the flowers, IV. 38.
217. The Horae are the goddesses of the Seasons. They were the daughters of Jupiter and Themis. Hesiod. Theog. 900.—Incinctae, i.e. succinctae. See II. 634. Pictis vestibus, [Greek: peplous ennymenai droserous anthon polyterpon], says the Orphic Hymn (xlii. 6,) of them. For vestibus, three MSS. read florihus.
219. The Charites or Graces were also the children of Jupiter; they presided over social enjoyments, and were the bestowers of all grace and elegance. The occupation of the Charites and Horae among the flowers is thus beautifully described by the author of the lost poem, named the Cypria, [Greek: Heimata men chroias tote ai Charites te kai Aurai Poiaesan kai ebapsan en anthesin eiarinoisin, Oia phorous Orai, en te kroko en th' uakintho, En t' io thalethonti, rodon t' eni anthei kalo, Haedei, nektareo, en t' ambrosiais kalukessin Anthesi Narkissou kallichoróou]. For the Horse and Charites, see Mythology, p. 150-153.
221. It is not unlikely that the poet, who does not say where the garden of Flora was, placed it mentally on the western margin of the earth, where so many of the wonders of ancient Grecian fable lay. See vv. 233, 234.
223. Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth, beloved by Apollo, and turned into a flower of his own name. Met. x. 162. Therapnae was a town of Laconia.
225. See Met. III. 407, et seq.
226. Alter et alter, scil. that he and his shadow were not different persons.
227. Crocus, Met. iv. 283. Attis above, IV. 223. In the Met. (x. 103,) Cybele changes him into a pine-tree, but Arnobius (v. p. 181,) says, Fluore de sanguinis viola flos nascitur, et redimitur ex hac arbos (pinus). Adonis, the son of Cinyras, was turned into an anemone. Met. x. 728. See Mythology, pp. 109, 110.
229. In Homer, Hesiod, and Apollodorus, and the Greek poets and mythographers in general, Ares, the god corresponding to the Italian Mars, is the son of Jupiter and Juno. The present legend I regard as the fiction of some Italian, or, perhaps, of a Greek who was desirous of ministering to the vanity of the Romans. I think that many legends were invented in this way. Such, for example, is the tale of Faunus and Hercules (above, II. 305, et seq.) devised to explain a custom of the Roman Luperci. They are wrong who think that the taste and talent for devising mythes ceased, when real history began. The present legend is only to be found in Ovid; but Festus evidently alludes to it, for, treating of the etymon of Gradivus, he says, Vel, ut alii dicunt, quia gramine sit natus.
233. Compare Hom. II. xiv. 301. Met. II. 509.—Facta. Heinsius, on the authority of one MS. reads furta.
243, 244. Somewhat like her declaration in Virgil, Flectere si nequeo Superos Acherunta movebo, which may have been in Ovid's mind.
245. Vox erat in cursu. This may refer either to Juno or to Flora; but it is evident that the poet is speaking of Juno, and means that as she proceeded in her complaint, she marked the change in the countenance of her auditress. Taubner's interpretation is curious; he supposes the meaning to be: Juno spoke as she ran! Compare VI. 362, and Met xiii. 508.
251. Oleniis. Olenus was a town of Achaea. There was another of this name in Boeotia.
253. Qui dabat. Probably Zephyrus.
257. Thrace, on the left of the Propontis, was regarded as the birth-place and favourite abode of Mars, on account of the martial character of the people.
259. This strengthens what I said above respecting the late age of the fiction.
261. Coronis. He calls the flowers crowns or garlands, not as being the crown of the plant, for that is true of all that follow, but as being used for making them. He goes on to say that Flora presided over blossoms, as well as flowers.
265, 266. This is said no where else of the olive. Of the almond, we read, [Greek: Ora taen amygdalaen to karpo brithomenaen toigaroun euetaerias tekmaerion megiston]. Theophil. Probl. nat. 17. See also Virg. G. I. 187.
267. Compare Virgil, G. I. 228.
268. See II. 68.
269. The poet could not abstain from taking advantage of a figurative employment of the word flos, and, ascribing to Flora, what did not belong to her. "Quae de vino sequuntur, ea melius abessent." Gierig. The flos and nebula of vine, are the light scum which comes upon its surface when new. Si vinum florere incipiet, saepius curare oportebit, ne flos ejus pessun eat et saporem vitiet. Columella, R. R. xii. 30. Flos vini candidus probatur; rubens triste signum est, si non is vini color sit—Quod celeriter florere caeperit, odoremque trahere, non exit diutinum. Plin. H. N. xiv, 21.
273, 274. The flower of youth—another figurative employment of the word.
277. He now proceeds to relate the historic origin of the Floral games.
279. Compare Sallust, Cat. 25, Docta psallere, saltare et multa alia, quae instrumenta luxuriae sunt.
281. Hinc et locupletes dicebant loci, hoc est agri, plenos. Pecunia ipsa a pecore appellabatur. Plin. xviii. 3.
283. The subject of the Roman public land, and the Agrarian law, has been treated and explained in a most masterly manner by the illustrious Niebuhr, but it would be impossible to do justice to his views in the compass of a note. I must, therefore, refer the reader to his Roman History, Vol. II. p. 129, et seq. (Hare and Thirlwall's translation,) or Vol. II. p. 353, et seq. (Walter's translation). A sufficiently full account of these matters will be found in Nos. xv. and xxii. of the Foreign Quarterly Review. In my Outlines of History, (p. 72,) I have given a brief account of them_.-Populi saltus. These were the pascua, the public pastures, for the liberty of grazing which a rent was to be paid to the state, but of which the payment was frequently eluded by favour or power. Etiam nunc in tabulis Censoriis pascua dicuntur omnia, ex quibus populus reditus habet, quia diu hoc solum vectigal fuerat. Pliny, ut supra.
287, 288. L. and M. Publicii Malleoli, were aediles Plebis, A.U.C. 513. The poet here, as elsewhere, shews his superficial knowledge of the history of his country, for A.U.C. 457, _ab aedilibus Pl. L. aelio. Poeta, et C. Fulvio Curvo ex mullaticia pecunia, quam exegerunt pecuariis damnatis, ludi facti, pateraeque aureae ad Cereris positae. Liv. x. 23, and a road was made A.U.C. 462, by the Curule aediles, out of similar fines. Liv. x. 47. As by the Licinian law, no one was allowed to put more than 100 head of black, or 500 head of small cattle on the public pastures, these fines were probably imposed on those who had exceeded that number.
291. Besides the institution of the Floral games, a temple, of which the poet does not speak, was built to Flora out of that money, which was repaired by Tiberius, A.U.C. 773. Tacit. An. II. 49.
292. Victores, scil. the aediles.
293. Clivus Publicius ab aedilibus plebei Publiciis, qui eum publice aedificarunt. Varro, L. L. iv. Festus, who gives a similar account, adds, munierunt, ut in Aventinum vehicula Velia venire possent. A clivus, was a carriageway up a hill.
298. Turba, etc. This low idea of their gods, was one of the greatest blemishes of the theology of the Greeks and Romans. It pervades all their mythology. See above, on I. 445. Hom. II. ix. 497. Similar notions still prevail in modern Italy, and in many other countries.
299. Iniquos, that is, incensed or unfavourable, the contrary of aequos.
305. Thestiaden, Meleager. See Met. 270, et seq. Hom. II. ix. 527, et seq. Mythology, p. 287.
307. Tantaliden. Agamemnon, descended from Pelops, the son of Tantalus. The Grecian fleet, as is well-known, was detained at Aulis by the anger of Diana.—Vela, Neapolis read tela, and thought of Niobe.
308. Virgo est, from whom, therefore, more mildness was to be expected.
309. See above, III. 265—Dionen. Venus. See II. 461.
311. Oblivia, forgetfulness; or rather neglect.
312. Praeteriere, i. e. neglected to celebrate the Floral games.
329. In the consulate of L. Postumius Albinus, and M. Popilius Laenas, A.U.C. 581, it was directed that the Floral games should be celebrated every year.
331. The Floralia were of an exceedingly lascivious character. The utmost license of language prevailed, and, at the sound of trumpets, lewd women came forth and ran and danced naked before the spectators. The Fathers of the Church, Arnobius and Lactantius, are unsparing in their censure of them. When Cato once appeared at them, the people were so awed at his presence, that they would not call on the women to strip. Val. Max. II. 10. This practice probably gave occasion to the legend already noticed, see on v. 195, of Flora having been herself a meretrix. Ovid views matters here with a more lenient eye.
335. Tempora, etc. He is not now narrating what took place at the Floralia, but showing how the gifts of Flora ministered to joy and pleasure.—Sut. cor. crowns made of rose-petals sewed together. There were also pactiles coronae, or crowns made of various flowers, Jam tunc corona deorum honos erant, et Larium publicorum privatorumque, ac sepulchrorum et Manium, summaque auctoritas pactili coronae. Sutiles Saliorum sacris invenimus et sollemnes coenis. Transiere deinde ad rosaria, eoque luxuria processit, ut non esset gratia nisi mero folio. Plin. H. N. xxi. 3, 8.
336. It was the custom at banquets to shower down roses on the guests and the tables. See. v. 369.
337. Dancing was looked upon by the Romans as highly indecorous and unbecoming in a respectable person. See Corn. Nep. Epam. I. Corte on Sall. Cat. 25. 2. None danced but those who were drunk.—Philyra, the interior bark of the linden or lime-tree. It was much used for making these festive crowns. Plin. H. N. xvi. 14. xxi. 3. Hor. Car. I. 38. 2.— Incinct. capil. Incinctus seems here to be used for the simple cinctus; elsewhere (II. 635, V. 217. 675,) it is equivalent to succinctus.
338. Imprudens, etc. Scarcely knowing what he is doing, he is whirled about by the art taught by wine, i. e. he dances. Ille liquor docuit voces inflectere cantu, Movit et ad certos nescia membra modos, Tibull. I. 2. 37. For vertitur some MSS. read utitur, which is perhaps the better reading.
339, 340. This custom of lovers among the ancients is well known. See. IV. 110. At lacrumans exclusus amator limina saepe, Floribus et sertis operit, postesque superbus Unguit amaricino, Lucret. iv. 171. Hence Heinsius would read serta fores, than which emendation Gierig thinks nothing can be more certain.
343. Acheloë. The name of this river is here as in Virgil (G. I. 9,) used for water in general.
343. See III. 513.
347. Scena levis, etc. the light, the comic, the farcical opposed to the grave, tragic scene.—Cothurn. deas, is either the grave, stately goddesses, or, what is nearly the same thing, those who used to be introduced on the cothurned, or tragic stage, such as Diana and Minerva.
351. Here Flora is again opposed to the serious, respectable goddesses.— Tetricis, grave, severe. Tetrica et tristis Sabinorum disciplina, Liv. l. l8.—De magna. Ten MSS. read dea magna.
352. Plebeio choro, scil. the Meretrices, who were of course of low birth.
353. Specie, the beauty of youth.
355. See IV. 619. The poet's reasons are good.
361. Lumina, the torches which were used at the Floralia.
362. Errores. See IV. 669. VI. 255.
363. Pur. flor. Purpureus is used of any bright splendid colour.
371. These animals were hunted in the Circus Florae, at the time of the Floralia. Floralicias lasset arena feras. Martial, viii. 66. 4.
375. Tenues, etc. Compare Virg. aen. ii. 791. ix. 657.
376. Compare Virg. aen. I. 403.
379-414. On the V. Non, the third day of the month, (_nocte minus quarta) the Centaur rises, Chiron was the offspring of the Oceanide Phillyra, by Saturn, who had taken the form of a horse, and he was half-man half-horse. Virg. G. III. 92. Mythology, pp. 49, 283.
381. Haemonia was a name of Thessaly.
384. Justum senem. Chiron is called by Homer, (II. xi. 832,) [Greek: dikaiotatos].
385. Achilles was committed to the care of Chiron.—Miss. leto. Compare Hom. II. I. 3.
388. According to Apollodorus, it was when Hercules was on his fourth task, that the following accident happened to Chiron. See Mythology, p. 316.
389. Duo fata. Because Troy suffered from both, being taken by one, and reduced to extremity by the other.
403. According to Pliny, (H. N. xxv. 6,) he recovered. Centaurio curatus dicitur Chiron, quum Herculis excepti hospitio pertractanti arma sagitta cecidisset in pedem.
410. Heinsius regarded this line as spurious, and, as the work of some grammarian or pedagogue, and even as semi-barbarous Latin. It has been defended by Heinz and Krebs. In Euripides, (Iph. Aul. 926,) Achilles says of himself. [Greek: Ego d' en andros eusebestatou trapheis Cheironos emathon tous tropous haplous echein].
415, 416. Lyra rises acronychally the III. Non.
417, 418. One part of the Scorpion sets cosmically the day before the Nones. Pridie Nonas Maias Nepa medius occidet. Columella, R. R. xi. 2. Nepa is used for Scorpio, by Manilius and others, as well as Columella.
419-492. The Lemuria began on the VII. Id. and lasted for three days, but not continuously, as appears from v. 491, and an ancient Calendar. The Mundus (See on IV. 821,) was regarded as the door of the under world, and was believed to be open three days in the year for the spirits of the departed to revisit the earth. Festus v. Mundus. There may be some relation between these three days and those of the Lemuria.— Protulerit. See III. 345. Trist. III. 10, 9. Hor. Sat. I. 8, 21. Fourteen MSS. read sustulerit, one praetulerit, others pertulerit or propulevit.—Formosa ova. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 589, et seq.
422. Tacitis Manibus, i. e. the Lemures, whom (v. 481,) he calls animas Silentum. According to Ovid's account, the Lemures were, what we term, disturbed spirits. Nonius says, they were larvae nocturnae et terrificationes imaginum et bestiarum.
423. See I. 27.
427, 428. It would appear from this, that it was thought that in the time of Romulus, the Feralia, (II. 533,) and the Lemuria, were one, and were celebrated in the third month, which was named a majoribus.
429, 430. Compare IV. 490. Virg. aen. iv. 522, viii. 26. If there is any imitation, I would say that it was Apollonius Rhodius, whom Ovid had in view.—_Praebet, scil. nox. Some MSS. read somnos, or somnum silentia praebent.
431. Ille. He who is, that person who is.
432. Vincula, scil. pedum, calcea, I. 410. It was the custom to bare the feet when going about any magic operation. See Met. vii. 182. Virg. aen. iv. 518. Hor. Sat. I. 8, 23.
433. Signa, etc. Neapolis says, "Est crepitus ille, qui fit nostro aevo in quavis saltatione, sive comica, sive rustica, digito scilicet medio adeo presse juncto cum pollice, ut lapsus in palmam strepitum edat." This explanation is adopted by Gierig, but as he observes from Met. ix. 299, that "digitis pertinatim inter se junctis impediebant aliquid," and the poet here says digitis (not digito) junctis, I think the mode may have been to lock the fingers in one another, by which means the thumbs were joined in the middle, and then to make a noise by bringing the hands smartly together.
436. Nigras, etc. Compare II. 576. For ante, several MSS. read ore, which Heinsius preferred.
437. Aversus jacit, throws them behind him. Compare Virg. Ec. viii. 101.
438. Redimo, etc. That you may no longer haunt my house. Quibus temporibus in sacris fabam jactant noctu ac dicunt se Lemures extra januam ejicere. Varro de Vita Pop. Rom. apud Nonium. Faba Lemuralibus jacitur Larvis, et Parentalibus adhibetur sacrificiis, et in flore ejus luctus litterae apparere videntur. Festus.
439. Novies, like ter, (v. 435,) for numero deus impure gaudet, (Virg. Ec. viii. 75,) was probably of magic efficacy. Compare Met. xiii. 951.
440. This superstition reminds one of that of sowing the hempseed on All-Hallows' Eve. See Burns' Halloween, st. xvi.-xx.
441. Temesaea aera, simply copper. Temesa, called by the Latins Tempsa, was a town in Bruttium. It is supposed to be the Temesa of the Homeric ages, to which (Od. I. 184,) the Greeks resorted to barter iron for copper. See Mythology, p. 232. For the abundance of copper in ancient Italy, see Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I.
450-452. Of its use on the present occasion, we may observe, that Sophron in one of his Mimes, said, [Greek: Kuon bauxas luei ta phasmata, os kai chalkos krotaetheis]. The Scholiast on Theocritus, tells us, that [Greek: O tou chalkou haechos oikeios tois katoichomenois], on which Neapolis says, "Observa illa et respice ad hodiernum modum." He was a Sicilian.
447. Pliade nate, Mercury. All the editions read Pleiade. But see note on IV. 169.—Virga, the well known gestamen of [Greek: Hermaes chrysorrhatis]. Compare Hom. II. xxiv. 43. Od. v. 47. Virg. aen. 242. Hor. Car. I. 10, 17, 24, 15.
448. His office of [Greek: psychopompos] is well-known. He was, therefore, the god who was most likely to be able to tell the origin of the name Lemuria.
450. He does not, as usual, introduce the god himself speaking, but informs the reader of what he had learned from him.
451. Tumulo condidit. Com pare Virg. aen. III. 67.
452. See IV. 841, et seq—Male veloci. Like servata male, I. 559.
456. Utque erat. As they (each of them) were. Two of the best MSS. read sicut erant, but the metre is against this reading.
457. Compare Virg. aen. II. 270.
471. Pietas, etc. His brotherly love is equal to mine.
476. Compare Hom. II. xxiii. 99. Virg. aen. II. 792.
479-484. Lemures dictos esse putant quasi Remures a Remo, cujus occisi umbram frater Romulus quum placare vellet Lemuria instituit. Porphyrio on Hor. Ep. II. 2, 209.
483. Lemures, [Greek: nukterinoi daimones]. Glossae.
486. See II. 557.
487. Plutarch (Q. R. 86,) gives, among other reasons, why the Romans did not marry in May, [Greek: oti polloi Latinon en to maeni touto tois katoichomenois enagizousi]. He elsewhere informs us, that it was only widows who married on holidays.
490. The celebrated Alessandro Tassoni, as Burmann observes, treats largely in his Pensieri Diversi, L. viii c. 2. of this superstition, which still existed in his time at Ferrara.
492. "Nam hi sex continuis diebus. Primus, tertius, quintus sacri sunt
Lemuralibus. Hinc capies vetus Kalendarium in quo sic illa notantur:
A. LEM. N.
BC.
C. LEM. N.
D. NP. LVD. MART. IV. CIRC.
E. LEM. N."
Neapolis.
493-544. The second day of the Lemuria fell on the V. Id. on which day therefore Orion set.—Boeotum. Orion was born in Boeotia, according to most writers. Pindar makes Chios his birth-place. The following narrative occurs in several writers besides Ovid. See Mythology, p. 415-419.
494. Falsus eris, you will be mistaken.
495. Frater. Tzetzes on Lyc. Cass. 328, says it was Apollo. As according to Hesiod, Neptune was the father of Orion, our poet is, I think, the more orthodox.
497. Compare Virg. Ec. II. 66. Hor. Epod. II. 61. Compare also the whole narrative with the delightful story of Philemon and Baucis, in the Metamorphoses, viii. 626. et seq.
504. Parent promissis, is equivalent to: They accept his invitation.
506. Ignis, etc. The same is said of Philemon and Baucis; they had therefore but the one hot meal a day. This way of keeping in, and blowing up a fire, is familiar to any one who has been in a country where wood or peat is the fuel.
509. Calices, earthen pots or pipkins to go on the fire. This is rather an unusual sense of the word.—Inde, of them. Compare IV. 171. Virg. G. III. 308, 490.
510. Testu suo, by its lid, I should suppose.—Fumant. Several MSS. read spumant or spumat, some have fumat, whence Heinsius formed the present reading.
517. Puer, when a young man.—Diffuderat, racked off. See Hor. Ep. I. 5. 4.
518. Condo and promo are appropriate terms, Hor. Car. I. 9. 7. Epod. 2. 47. It was the custom to set the wine jars in a place where the smoke could have access to them. Apothecae recte superponentur his locis, unde pierumque fumus exoritur, quoniam vina celerius vetustescunt, quae fumi quodam tenore praecocem maturitatem trahunt; propter quod et aliud tabulatum esss debebit, qua amoveantur, ne rursus nimia suffitione medicata sint, Columella, II. R. I. 6.
519. Lino, a linen covering.
525. Prima, etc. Heinsius, who is followed by the other editors, reads primae mihi cura, juventae, which is the reading of three of the best, and five other MSS. Two of the best read prima mihi cura juventa; others cara mihi prima juventa; one prima mihi grata juventa. I think, with Krebs, that there is force in the repetition of cara. Burmann proposes flore juventae.
526. Cognita. Seven MSS. have condita.
542. Curva spicula, its claws.—Gemelliparae, an epithet of Latona, peculiar to our poet.
545-598. On the IV. Id. there were Circensian games in honor of Mars Ultor. Augustus built (A.U.C. 725,) in his own Forum a temple to this god, which he had vowed at the time of the battle of Philippi. Suet. Aug. 29.—Mundo, the sky. It is often used in this sense by Manilius. Four MSS. read caelo.
546. Coarctat, contracts, shortens.
549. Bellica signa, i. e. the clash of arms.
555, 556. Sanxit ut de bellis, triumphisque hic (in templo Martis) consuleretur senatus, quique victores redissent, huc insignia triumphorum inferrent. Suet. Aug. 29.—Tropaeis. Some MSS. read triumphis.
557. Impius. Rome was under the protection of the gods; Augustus was a god himself. It was, therefore, impiety to take arms against them.
560. _Ornant signis fictilibus aut aereis inauratis aedium fastigia. Vitruv. Archit. III. 2. We know not of what gods the statues were on this temple of Mars.
561. Diversae figurae, differing in form from those used by the Romans. These, and the arma of the next line, were probably carved on the doors, or piled or suspended at them.
563. Proximum a diis immortalibus honorem memoriae ducum praestitit. Itaque et opera cujusque, manentibus titulis, restituit, et statuas omnium triumphali effigie in utraque Fori sui porticu dedicavit. Suet. Aug. 3l.—Hinc, then, or from the temple.—Caro. Heinsius and Gierig read after two of the best MSS. sacro.
565. Romulus, the son of Ilia, bearing the spolia opima of Acron. Liv. 1. 10.
566. The titles and deeds of the great men were inscribed on the bases of their statues.
567. The name of Augustus was, according to custom, inscribed on the temple.
573. See III. 699.
575. The [Greek: aimati asai Araea talaurinon polemistaen] of Homer, was, perhaps, in Ovid's mind.
580. To whom is unknown the fate of Crassus, and the recovery of the captured ensigns of Rome by Augustus, the theme of every Augustan poet's praise? Krebs.
595. Bis ulto. Some MSS. read ultum. The greater number Bisultor, "Nomen Bisultoris ejus que templum in Capitolio lepidum est commentum librariorum et archaeologorum aliquot, quod neque scriptori scujusquam nec nummorum auctoritate confirmatur." Krebs.
598. Compare v. 347.
599. The following day, the third and last of the Lemuria, the Pleiades rise heliacally, and summer begins. VI. Idus Maias Vergiliae totae apparent; pridie aestatis initium. Columella, R. R. xi. 2.
603-620. On the 14th May, Prid. Id. the head of the Bull rises cosmically. The poet now inquires into its origin. See IV. 7l7-720,— Prior, scil. dies. Idibus is a dative.
605. For the story of Europa, see Met. II. 833, et seq. Hor. Car. III. 27. Mythology p. 408. It is also most beautifully told by the Greek poet Moschus, in his second Idyll.
607. Jubam. It is rather unusual to speak of the juba, (mane) of a bull. Ovid however does so elsewhere. Am. III. 5. 24. This description was, perhaps as Gierig observes, taken from some painting, but that in Moschus (v. 122) is similar, [Greek: Tae men echen tauron dolichon keras, en cheri d' allae Eirue porphyreas kolpou ptychas … … … Kolpothae d' omoisi peplos bathys Europeiaes, Istion oia te naeos, elaphrizeske de kouraen]. And in Lucian's Dialogue of Zephyrus and Notes, it is said, [Greek: hae de tae laie men eicheto tou keratos, os mae apolisthanoi, tae hetera de haemeno menon ton peplon xyneiche]. Compare III. 869.
613, 614. How truly Ovidian this is!—Prudens, on purpose, This word is a contraction of providens.
619. Phariam juvencam. Io or Isis. II. 454. Met. I. 583, et seq.
621-662. On the Ides of May, after having performed the sacrifices appointed by the law, the Pontifices, the Vestal Virgins, the Praetors, and such other of the citizens as were legally qualified, proceeded to the Sublician or ancient wooden bridge, and threw from it into the Tiber thirty images of men formed of bullrushes. These figures were called Argei. See Dionysius I. 19 and 38. Argei fiunt e scirpeis virgultis: simulacra sunt hominum triginta (in the old MSS. xxiv.): et quotannis a ponte Sublicio a sacerdotibus publice jaci solent in Tiberim. Varro, L. L. VI. Argeos vocabant scirpeas effigies, quae per virgines Vestales minis singulis jaciebantur in Tiberim. Festus. I have departed from the usual division in this place, and made a separate section of 621-662, as the Argei were thrown on the Ides, and Taurus rose Prid. Idus.—Virgo, scil. Vestalis, one, as is so frequently the case, put for the whole. See preceding part of this note.—Pris. vir. This is explained by what follows.
622. Roboreo, i. e. Sublicio so called a sublicis, the piles on which it was built, hence Plutarch calls it [Greek: xylinaen gephuran]. Dionysius III. says of it [Greek: haen achri ton pyrontos diaphylattousin, hieran einai nomizontes ei de ti ponaeseien autaes meros, oi hierophantai (Pontifices) therapeuousi, thusias tinas epitelountes ama tae kataskeuae patrious]. The Sublician was the ancient original bridge of Rome, and a superstitious reverence frequently attaches to things of this nature. I need scarcely observe, that we have here the origin of the word Pontifex.
623. The first opinion respecting the origin of this custom: the ancient Romans used to throw their old men, when they were arrived at the age of sixty, into the Tiber, and drown them. This the poet very properly seems disposed to reject, and whatever may have been the case with a tribe of the ancient Indians, (see Herod. III. 38,) or with the Battas of modern times, there is no ground for suspecting the people of ancient Latium of such barbarity.
625. A second opinion: it commemorated the time when human sacrifices were offered at Home. I have, in various parts of my Mythology, hinted my opinion, that human sacrifices were totally unknown in the heroic ages of Greece, and that all legends relating to such are comparatively late fictions. I now extend this theory to Italy, and assert that there are no testimonies, on which we can rely, of such a practice having prevailed in it in those times, when the poet says it was called Saturnia terra. The opinion, of which the poet now speaks, evidently arose from the confounding of Saturnus, the Italian god of husbandry, with 'Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears,' the 'grim idol' of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
626. According to Dionysius, the oracle given by the god at Dodona to the Pelasgians was as follows; [Greek: Steichete maiomenoi Sikelon Satournian aian Haed' Aborigeneon Kotulaen, ou nasos ocheitai. Ois anamichthentes dekataen ekpempsate Phoibo kai kephalas Adae, kai to patri pempate phota]. Arnobibus (adv. G. II. p. 91,) says, Cum ex Apollinis monitit patri Diti ac Saturno humanis capitibus supplicaretur. I need hardly observe, that the aforesaid oracle cannot be older than the Alexandrian period of Grecian literature.
630. Leucadio. Leucas, now Santa Maura, on the coast of Acarnania, was originally a peninsula. It has long been an island. The celebrated Lover's Leap was there. Strabo (x. 2.) says, [Greek: Haen de kai patrion tois Laukadiois kat' eniauton en tae thysia tou Apollonos apo tes skopaes], (the Lover's Leap,) [Greek: ripteistha tina ton en aitiois outon apotrhopes charin]. He adds, that birds, and a kind of wings, were attached to these criminals to break the fall, and that there was a number of persons below in small boats to save them, and to put them beyond the bounds of the country.
631. Macrobius (Sat. I. 7,) says, that he persuaded the people _ut faustis sacrificiis infausta mutarent, inferences Diti, non hominum capita, sed oscilla ad humanam effigiem arte simulata, et aras Saturnias, non mactando viros, sed accensis luminibus excolentes, quia non solum virum sed et lumina [Greek: phota] (see the oracle,) significant. The following note of Burmann's is too curious to be omitted, "Similem fere ritum Lipsiae a meretricibus celebratum scribit Pfeiffer Rerum Lipsiensium, L. III. § 18, illas scilicet solitas olim primis jejunii quadragenarii (Lent) diebus imaginem stramineam deformis viri, longa pertica suffixam, sequente omni meretricum agmine, tulisse ad Pardam flumen, ibique, cum carminibus in pallidam mortem, praecipitasse; dicentes se lustrare urbem, ut sequenti anno a pestilentia esset immunis."—Ilium. Fama vetus, (v. 625,) is understood.—Quirites, proleptically, as there were no Quirites as yet.
633. A third opinion: which appears to have arisen from the misunderstanding of a proverb, Cum in quintum gradum pervenerant, atque habebant sexaginta annos, tum denique erant a publicis negotiis liberi atque expediti et otiosi: ideo in proverbium quidam putant venisse, sexagenarios de ponte dejici oportere, id est quod suffragium non ferant, quod per pontem ferebant. Nonius. Exploratissimum illud causae est quo tempore primum per pontem coeperunt comitiis suffragia ferre, juniores conclamavere, ut de ponte dejicerentur sexagenarii: quia nullo pidilico munere fungerentur; ut ipsi potius sibi quam illis deligerent imperium, Festus.
635. Tibri, etc. The reader will call to mind Gray's "Say father Thames," etc. in his Ode on the Distant Prospect of Eton College, and I hope, at the same time, recollect with contempt the tasteless criticism of Johnson, who, curious enough, had put an exactly similar apostrophe to the Nile into the mouth of the princess Nekayah, in his own Rasselas. Was this passage of Ovid in the mind of that maker of beautiful poetic mosaics?
637. Aurundiferum. The rivergods were usually represented crowned with reeds. Met. ix. 3. Virg. aen. viii. 34.
638. Rauca ora. As he uses the verb dimovet, ora, in this place, must signify lips, and hoarse lips is rather a hardy expression. Heinsius proposed glauca. A hoarse voice is very naturally ascribed to a river-god. Compare Virg. aen. ix. 124.
639. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 360.
643. See I. 471, IV. 65.
646. See II. 389, IV. 48. Liv. I. 3.
647. Pallantius, from his native town Pallantium, in Arcadia. He calls him Nonacrius heros, v. 97.
660. The only foundation of this legend is the accidental resemblance between Argei and [Greek: Argeioi]. Of the origin of the word Argei, I can offer no conjecture; the ceremony seems to me to have been symbolical. Perhaps, like the Leucadian rite, (see on v. 630) it had some analogy with that of letting go the Scape-goat under the Mosaic law. In the number of the images (thirty) I discern a relation to the thirty curies into which the original Romans were divided: or, perhaps, a more general one, to the political number of Latium. See Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. II. 18, et seq.
661. Hactenus, scil. locutus est Tiberis.
663-692. A temple was dedicated to Mercury on the Ides of May, A.U.C. 258. Liv. II. 21, 27.—Clare, etc. Compare Hor. Car. I. 10. which ode Ovid, very possibly had before him.
665. Pacis, etc. "Mercurius pacis et armorum arbiter propter eloquentiam et prudentiam qua excellit." Gierig. I rather think it was as being Caducifer, the herald of the gods.
671. Te. etc. The name of the Roman Mercurius comes evidently from Merx, and there can be little doubt of his having been originally merely the god presiding over commerce. When he was identified with the Greek Hermes, he acquired the offices above mentioned. For Hermes, see Mythology, p. 124.
673. Est aqua, etc. "Hoc solum testimonio probant viri docti extra portam Capenam, via Appia, aquam fuisse ita nuncupatam; qua populus, qui negotio et quaestui operam dabat, his Idibus lustrari solitus." Neapolis.
674. Numen habet, it has a divine efficacy.
675. Incinctus tunicas. "Cingulo; e quo marsupium auri monetalis propendebat. Hic vetus mercatorum habitus." Neapolis. The MSS. in general read tunica.
676. Purus, scil. ipse.—Suffita scil. sulfure. Most MSS. read suffusa.
678. Omnia, etc. his goods, all the things that he had to sell. He, of course, as v. 676 shews, had brought the holy water home for this pious use.
680. Solita fallere. The characier of the trader was in bad odour in ancient Rome for honesty; for trade was considered an illiberal employment, and no man of respectability engaged in it.
684. Non andituri, who should not hear, whom I did not wish to hear.
692. Ortygias boves, the oxen of Apollo. For the story, see Met. II. 685, et seq. the Homeridian hymn to Hermes, or my analysis of it. (Mythology, p. 126-128.) See also Hor. Car. I. 10. 9. Ortygian, is used by the poet as equivalent to Delian, as Ortygia was one of the names given to Delos. For the true situation of Ortygia, and the way in which it was confounded with Delos, see Mythology, pp. 99 and 254.
693-720. On the XIII. Kal. Jun. the sun enters the Twins. Columella, who is followed by Neapolis, has XV. Kal. Jun.—Precor scil. te Mercuri!— Mel. pet_. scil. than the merchant.
697. Quot sunt. etc. i. e. twelve.
699. Phoebe and her sister Elaïra, Ilaïra or Hilaïra, as it is variously written, the two daughters of Leucippus were promised in marriage to their two cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus. The Tyndaridae, Castor and Pollux, who were also cousins, carried off the maidens by force, and matters proceeded as is related in the text. See Theoc. Idyll, xxii. Pindar. Nem. x. Mythology, p. 391.
705. Oebalides, either as being the grandsons of Oebalus, Pans. III. 1, or because they were Laconians. See on I. 260.
708. Aphidna. The best known Aphidna is the Attic deme of that name. According to Steph. Byz, (sub. voc.) there was an Aphidna in Laconia.
719. See Hom. Od. xi. 301. Virg. aen. vi. 121.
720. Utile, etc. They were [Greek: arogonautai daimones]. See Hor. Car. II. 3, and 12, 27.
721. Ad Janum, etc. "XII. Kal. Jun. Agonalia Urbs interabat. Hoc die notantur haec festa in veteri Kalendario; nam illud hoc quoque tempus habet, quod induxit interpretes ut dicerent XIV. Kal. intelligendum quod etiam mense Maio denuo fiant." Neapolis. The poet refers those anxious for information to the first book. See I. 317, et seq.
723. Canicula rises (it should be sets, Plin. xviii. 27,) on the XI Kal. Jun. See on IV. 936.
725. The Tubilustria were on the X. Kal. Tubilustrium appellatur, quod eo die in atrio sutorio sacrorum tubae lustrantur. Varro, L. L. V. See III. 849.
726. Purae, as being sacred, or as being now cleaned or purified.
727. Inde, then, in the place of the next day, IX. Kal. in the Calendar. "In Calendario antiquo legebantur notae hae Q. R. C. F. quae dupliciter legi poterant, vel: quando rex comitiavit fas, vel: quando rex comitio fugit," Gierig. The king is, of course, the Rex Sacrorum. _Dies, qui vocatur sic, Quando rex comitiavit fas, dictus ab eo, quod eo die rex sacrificulus dicat ad comitium, ad quod tempus est nefas, ab eo fas. Varro L. L. V. [Greek: Esti goun tis en agora thusia pros to legomeno Komaetio patrios, haen thusas ho basileus kata tachos apeisi pheugon ex agoras]. Plutarch, Q. R. 63.
730. On the VIII. Kal. Jun. the temple of Fortuna Publica had been dedicated. This is probably the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, of which Plutarch speaks, de For. Rom. 10. [Greek: Serbios Tullios idrusato Tychaes ieron Kapitolio to taes Primigeneias legomenaes]. See IV. 375. It is not unlikely that, as Gesenius conjectures, Ovid read the PR. in his Calendar pop. Rom. i. e. pop. pot. of the text, instead of Primigenia. On the same day Aquila rises in the evening.
733. The following day VII. Kal. Bootes sets heliacally, and on the VI. Kal. the Hyades rise in the same manner.
Hic mensis habet dubias in nomine causas:
Quae placeant, positis omnibus, ipse leges.
Facta canam; sed erunt, qui me finxisse loquantur:
Nullaque mortali numina visa putent.
Est Deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo. 5
Impetus hic sacrae semina mentis habet.
Fas mihi praecipue vultus vidisse Deorum:
Vel quia sum vates; vel quia sacra cano.
Est nemus arboribus densum, secretus ab omni
Voce locus, si non obstreperetur aquis. 10
Hic ego quaerebam, coepti quae mensis origo
Esset, et in cura nominis hujus eram.
Ecce deas vidi: non quas praeceptor arandi
Viderat, Ascraeas quum sequeretur oves;
Nec quas Priamides in aquosae vallibus Idae 15
Contulit; ex illis sed tamen una fuit.
Ex illis fuit una, sui germana mariti.
Haec erat,—agnovi,—quae stat in arce Jovis.
Horrueram tacitoque animum pallore fatebar;
Quum dea, quos fecit, sustulit ipsa metus: 20
Namque, ait, O vates, Romani conditor anni,
Ause per exiguos magna referre modos,
Jus tibi fecisti numen coeleste videndi,
Quum placuit numeris condere festa tuis.
Ne tamen ignores, vulgique errore traharis, 25
Junius a nostro nomine nomen habet.
Est aliquid nupsisse Jovi, Jovis esse sororem.
Fratre magis, dubito, glorier, anne viro.
Si genus adspicitur, Saturnum prima parentem
Feci; Saturni sors ego prima fui. 30
A patre dicta meo quondam Saturnia Roma est:
Haec illi a coelo proxima terra fuit.
Si torus in pretio est, dicor matrona Tonantis,
Junctaque Tarpeio sunt mea templa Jovi.
An potuit Maio pellex dare nomina mensi, 35
Hic honor in nobis invidiosus erit?
Cur igitur regina vocor, princepsque dearum?
Aurea cur dextrae sceptra dedere meae?
An faciant mensem luces, Lucinaque ab illis
Dicar, et a nullo nomina mense traham? 40
Tum me poeniteat posuisse fideliter iras
In genus Electrae Dardaniamque domum.
Causa duplex irae. Rapto Ganymede dolebam:
Forma quoque Idaeo judice victa mea est.
Poeniteat, quod non foveo Carthaginis arces, 45
Quum mea sint illo currus et arma loco.
Poeniteat Sparten, Argosque, measque Mycenas,
Et veterem Latio supposuisse Samon.
Adde senem Tatium, Junonicolasque Faliscos,
Quos ego Romanis succubuisse tuli. 50
Sed neque poeniteat, nec gens mihi carior ulla est.
Hic colar, hic teneam cum Jove templa meo.
Ipse mihi Mavors, Commendo maenia, dixit,
Haec tibi: tu pollens urbe nepotis eris.
Dicta fides sequitur. Centum celebramur in aris: 55
Nec levior quovis est mihi mensis honor.
Nec tamen hunc nobis tantummodo praestat honorem
Roma: suburbani dant mihi munus idem.
Inspice, quos habeat nemoralis Aricia fastos,
Et populus Laurens, Lanuviumque meum: 60
Est illic mensis Junonius. Inspice Tibur,
Et Praenestinae moenia sacra deae;
Junonale leges tempus. Nec Romulus illas
Condidit: at nostri Roma nepotis erat.
Finierat Juno. Respeximus. Herculis uxor 65
Stabat, et in vultu signa dolentis erant.
Non ego, si toto mater me cedere coelo
Jusserit, invita matre morabor, ait.
Nunc quoque non luctor de nomine temporis hujus:
Blandior, et partes paene rogantis ago; 70
Remque mei juris malim tenuisse precando;
Et faveas causae forsitan ipse meae.
Aurea possedit posito Capitolia templo
Mater, et ut debet, cum Jove summa tenet.
At decus omne mihi contingit origine mensis. 75
Unicus est, de quo sollicitamur, honor.
Quid grave, si titulum mensis, Romane dedisti,
Herculis uxori, posteritasque memor?
Haec quoque terra aliquid debet mihi nomine magni
Conjugis. Huc captas appulit ille boves, 80
Hic male defensus flammis et dote paterna
Cacus Aventinam sanguine tinxit humum.
Ad propiora vocor. Populum digessit ab annis
Romulus, in partes distribuitque duas.
Haec dare consilium, pugnare paratior illa est: 85
Haec aetas bellum suadet, at illa gerit.
Sic statuit, mensesque nota secrevit eadem.
Junius est juvenum; qui fuit ante, senum.
Dixit: et in litem studio certaminis issent,
Atque ira pietas dissimulata foret; 90
Venit Apollinea longas Concordia lauro
Nexa comas, placidi numen opusque ducis.
Haec ubi narravit Tatium, fortemque Quirinum,
Binaque cum populis regna coisse suis,
Et Lare communi soceros generosque receptos; 95
His nomen junctis Junius, inquit, habet.
Dicta triplex causa est. At vos ignoscite, divae:
Res est arbitrio non dirimenda meo.
Ite pares a me. Perierunt judice formae
Pergama: plus laedunt, quam juvet una, duae. 100
Prima dies tibi, Carna, datur. Dea cardinis haec est;
Numine clausa aperit, claudit aperta suo.
Unde datas habeat vires, obscurior aevo
Fama; sed e nostro carmine certus eris.
Adjacet antiquus Tiberino lucus Helerni: 105
Pontifices illuc nunc quoque sacra ferunt.
Inde sata est Nymphe,—Cranen dixere priores,—
Nequidquam multis saepe petita procis.
Rura sequi jaculisque feras agitare solebat,
Nodosasque cava tendere valle plagas. 110
Non habuit pharetram: Phoebi tamen esse sororem
Credebant; nec erat, Phoebe, pudenda tibi.
Huic aliquis juvenum dixisset amantia verba,
Reddebat tales protinus illa sonos:
Haec loca lucis habent nimis, et cum luce pudoris. 115
Si secreta magis ducis in antra, sequor.
Credulus ante subit. Frutices haec nacta resistit,
Et latet, et nullo est invenienda loco.
Viderat hanc Janus, visseque cupidine captus
Ad duram verbis mollibus usus erat: 120
Nympha jubet quaeri de more remotius antrum:
Utque comes sequitur, destituitque ducem.
Stulta! videt Janus, quae post sua terga gerantur;
Nil agis, en! latebras respicit ille tuas.
Nil agis, en! dixi. Nam te sub rupe latentem 125
Occupat amplexu; speque potitus ait:
Jus pro concubitu nostro tibi cardinis esto;
Hoc pretium positae virginitatis habe.
Sic fatus, virgam, qua tristes pellere posset
A foribus noxas,—haec erat alba—dedit. 130
Sunt avidae volucres; non quae Phineïa mensis
Guttura fraudabant: sed genus inde trahunt.
Grande caput: stantes oculi: rostra apta rapinae;
Canities pennis, unguibus hamus inest.
Nocte volant, puerosque petunt nutricis egentes, 135
Et vitiant cunis corpora rapta suis.
Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris;
Et plenum poto sanguine guttur habent.
Est illis strigibus nomen: sed nominis hujus
Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte solent. 140
Sive igitur nascuntur aves, seu carmine fiunt,
Neniaque in volucres Marsa figurat anus;
In thalamos venere Procae. Proca natus in illis
Praeda recens avium quinque diebus erat;
Pectoraque exsorbent avidis infantia linguis. 145
At puer infelix vagit opemque petit.
Territa voce sui nutrix accurrit alumni,
Et rigido sectas invenit ungue genas.
Quid faceret? color oris erat, qui frondibus olim
Esse solet seris, quas nova laesit hiems. 150
Pervenit ad Cranen, et rem docet. Illa, Timorem
Pone! tuus sospes, dixit, alumnus erit.
Venerat ad cunas: flebant materque paterque:
Sistite vos lacrimas! ipsa medebor, ait.
Protinus arbutea postes ter in ordine tangit 155
Fronde: ter arbutea limina fronde notat.
Spargit aquis aditus, et quae medicamen habebant:
Extaque de porca cruda bimestre tenet.
Atque ita, Noctis aves, extis puerilibus, inquit,
Parcite! pro parvo victima parva cadit. 160
Cor pro corde, precor, pro fibris sumite fibras.
Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus.
Sic ubi libavit, prosecta sub aethere ponit:
Quique sacris adsunt, respicere illa vetat.
Virgaque Janalis de spina ponitur alba, 165
Qua lumen thalamis parva fenestra dabat.
Post illud nec aves cunas violasse feruntur,
Et rediit puero, qui fuit ante, color.
Pinguia cur illis gustentur larda Kalendis,
Mixtaque cum calido sit faba farre, rogas. 170
Prisca dea est, aliturque cibis, quibus ante solebat,
Nec petit adscitas luxuriosa dapes.
Piscis adhuc illi populo sine fraude natabat;
Ostreaque in conchis tuta fuere suis:
Nec Latium norat, quam praebet Ionia dives, 175
Nec, quae Pygmaeo sanguine gaudet, avem;
Et praeter pennas nihil in pavone placebat:
Nec tellus captas miserat ante feras.
Sus erat in pretio: caesa sue festa colebant.
Terra fabas tantum duraque farra dabat. 180
Quae duo mixta simul sextis quicumque Kalendis
Ederit, huic laedi viscera posse negant.
Arce quoque in summa Junoni templa Monetae
Ex voto memorant facta, Camille, tuo.
Ante domus Manli fuerant, qui Gallica quondam 185
A Capitolino reppulit arma Jove.
Quam bene—Di magni!—pugna cecidisset in illa
Defensor solii, Jupiter alte, tui!
Vixit, ut occideret damnatus crimine regni.
Hunc illi titulum longa senecta dabat. 190
Lux eadem Marti festa est; quem prospicit extra
Appositum Tectae porta Capena viae.
Te quoque, Tempestas, meritam delubra fatemur;
Quum paene est Corsis obruta classis aquis.
Haec hominum monumenta patent. Si quaeritis astra, 195
Tunc oritur magni praepes adunca Jovis.
Postera lux Hyades, Taurinae cornua frontis,
Evocat: et multa terra madescit aqua.
Mane ubi bis fuerit, Phoebusque iteraverit ortus,
Factaque erit posito rore bis uda seges; 200
Hac sacrata die Tusco Bellona duello
Dicitur: et Latio prospera semper adest.
Appius est auctor: Pyrrho qui pace negata
Multum animo vidit; lumine captus erat.
Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum. 205
Est ibi non parvae parva columna notae.
Hinc solet hasta manu, belli praenuntia, mitti,
In regem et gentes quum placet arma capi.
Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est:
Quod deus Euboico carmine munus habet. 210
Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est.
Si titulos quaeris, Sulla probavit opus.
Quaerebam, Nonas Sanco Fidione referrem,
An tibi, Semo pater: quum mihi Sancus ait:
Cuicumque ex illis dederis, ego munus habebo. 215
Nomina trina fero: sic voluere Cures.
Hunc igitur veteres donarunt aede Sabini:
Inque Quirinali constituere jugo.
Est mihi, sitque, precor, nostris diuturnior annis,
Filia, qua felix sospite semper ero. 220
Hanc ego quum vellem genero dare, tempora taedis
Apta requirebam, quaeque cavenda forent.
Tum mihi post sacras monstratur Junius Idus
Utilis et nuptis, utilis esse viris;
Primaque pars hujus thalamis aliena reperta est, 225
Nam mihi, sic conjux sancta Dialis ait:
Donec ab Iliaca placidus purgamina Vesta
Detulerit flavis in mare Tibris aquis,
Non mihi detonsos crines depectere buxo,
Non ungues ferro subsecuisse licet: 230
Non tetigisse virum; quamvis Jovis ille sacerdos,
Quamvis perpetua sit mihi lege datus.
Tu quoque ne propera: melius tua filia nubet,
Ignea quum pura Vesta nitebit humo.
Tertia post Nonas removere Lycaona Phoebe 235
Fertur: et a tergo non habet Ursa metum.
Tunc ego me memini Ludos in gramine Campi
Adspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos.
Festa dies illis, qui lina madentia ducunt,
Quique tegunt parvis aera recurva cibis. 240
Mens quoque numen habet. Menti delubra videmus
Vota metu belli, perfide Poene, tui.
Poene, rebellaras: et leto Consulis omnes
Attoniti Mauras pertimuere manus.
Spem metus expulerat, quum Menti vota Senatus 245
Suscipit; et melior protinus illa venit.
Adspicit instantes mediis sex lucibus Idus
Illa dies, qua sunt vota soluta deae.
Vesta, fave! tibi nunc operata resolvimus ora,
Ad tua si nobis sacra venire licet. 250
In prece totus eram; coelestia numina sensi,
Laetaque purpurea luce refulsit humus.
Non equidem vidi—valeant mendacia vatum—
Te, dea; nec fueras adspicienda viro.
Sed quae nescieram, quorumque errore tenebar, 255
Cognita sunt nullo praecipiente mihi.
Dena quater memorant habuisse Palilia Romam,
Quum flammae custos aede recepta sua est.
Regis opus placidi, quo non metuentius ullum
Numinis ingenium terra Sabina tulit. 260
Quae nunc aere vides, stipula tunc tecta videres,
Et paries lento vimine textus erat.
Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestae,
Tunc erat intonsi regia magna Numae.
Forma tamen templi, quae nunc manet, ante fuisse 265
Dicitur: et formae causa probanda subest.
Vesta eadem est, et Terra: subest vigil ignis utrique,
Significant sedem terra focusque suam.
Terra pilae similis, nullo fulcimine nixa,
Aëre subjecto tam grave pendet onus. 270
[Ipsa volubilitas libratum sustinet orbem:
Quique premat partes, angulus omnis abest.
Quumque sit in media rerum regione locata,
Et tangat nullum plusve minusve latus;
Ni convexa foret, parti vicinior esset, 275
Nec medium terram mundus haberet onus.]
Arce Syracosia suspensus in aëre clauso
Stat globus, immensi parva figura poli;
Et quantum a summis, tantum secessit ab imis
Terra. Quod ut fiat, forma rotunda facit. 280
Par facies templi: nullus procurrit in illo
Angulus. A pluvio vindicat imbre tholus.
Cur sit virgineis, quaeris, dea culta ministris.
Inveniam causas hac quoque parte suas.
Ex Ope Junonem memorant Cereremque creatas 285
Semine Saturni: tertia Vesta fuit.
Utraqe nupserunt: ambae peperisse feruntur:
De tribus impatiens restitit una viri.
Quid mirum, virgo si virgine laeta ministra
Admittet castas in sua sacra manus? 290
Nec tu aliud Vestam, quam vivam intellige flammam;
Nataque de flamma corpora nulla vides.
Jure igitur virgo est, quae semina nulla remittit,
Nec capit: et comites virginitatis habet.
Esse diu stultus Vestae simulacra putavi: 295
Mox didici curvo nulla subesse tholo.
Ignis inexstinctus templo celatur in illo;
Effigiem nullam Vesta, nec ignis, habent.
Stat vi terra sua: vi stando Vesta vocatur;
Causaque par Graii nominis esse potest. 300
At focus a flammis, et quod fovet omnia, dictus:
Qui tamen in primis aedibus ante fuit.
Hinc quoque vestibulum dici reor: inde precando
Affamur Vestam, Quae loca prima tenes.
Ante focos olim longis considere scamnis 305
Mos erat, et mensae credere adesse deos.
Nunc quoque, quum fiunt antiquae sacra Vacunae,
Ante Vacunales stantque sedentque focos.
Venit in hos annos aliquid de more vetusto:
Fert missos Vestae pura patella cibos. 310
Ecce, coronatis panis dependet asellis,
Et velant scabras florea serta molas.
Sola prius furnis torrebant farra coloni;
Et Fornacali sunt sua sacra deae.
Suppositum cineri panem focus ipse parabat, 315
Strataque erat tepido tegula quassa solo.
Inde focum servat pistor, dominamque focorum,
Et quea pumiceas versat asella molas.
Praeteream, referamne tuum, rubicunde Priape,
Dedecus? est multi fabula parva joci. 320
Turrigera frontem Cybele redimita corona
Convocat aeternos ad sua festa deos.
Convocat et Satyros, et, rustica numina, Nymphas.
Silenus, quamvis nemo vocarat, adest.
Nec licet, et longum est epulas narrare deorum: 325
In multo nox est pervigilata mero.
Hi temere errabant in opacae vallibus Idae:
Pars jacet, et molli gramine membra levat.
Hi ludunt, hos somnus habet; pars brachia nectit,
Et viridem celeri ter pede pulsat humum. 330
Vesta jacet, placidamque capit secura quietem,
Sicut erat positum cespite fulta caput.
At ruber hortorum custos Nymphasque deasque
Captat, et errantes fertque refertque pedes.
Adspicit et Vestam; dubium, Nymphamne putarit, 335
An scierit Vestam: scisse sed ipse negat.
Spem capit obscenam, furtimque accedere tentat,
Et fert suspensos, corde micante, gradus.
Forte senex, quo vectus erat, Silenus asellum
Liquerat ad ripas lene sonantis aquae. 340
Ibat, ut inciperet, longi deus Hellesponti,
Intempestivo quum rudit ille sono.
Territa voce gravi surgit dea. Convolat omnis
Turba; per infestas effugit ille manus.
[Lampsacos hoc animal solita est mactare Priapo: 345
Apta asini flammis indicis exta damus.]
Quem tu, diva memor, de pane monilibus ornas.
Cessat opus: vacuae conticuere molae.
Nomine, quam pretio celebratior, arce Tonantis,
Dicam, Pistoris quid velit ara Jovis. 350
Cincta premebantur trucibus Capitolia Gallis:
Fecerat obsidio jam diuturna famem.
Jupiter, ad solium Superis regale vocatis,
Incipe, ait Marti. Protinus ille refert:
Scilicet, ignotum est, quae sit fortuna meorum; 355
Et dolor hic animi voce querentis eget?
Si tamen, ut referam breviter mala juncta pudori,
Exigis: Alpino Roma sub hoste jacet.
Haec est, cui fuerat promissa potentia rerum,
Jupiter? hanc terris impositurus eras? 360
Jamque suburbanos Etruscaque contudit arma.
Spes erat in cursu; nunc Lare pulsa suo est.
Vidimus ornatos serata per atria picta
Veste triumphales occubuisse senes;
Vidimus Iliacae transferri pignora Vestae 365
Sede. Putant aliquos scilicet esse deos.
At si respicerent, qua vos habitatis in arce,
Totque domos vestras obsidione premi:
Nil opis in cura scirent superesse deorum,
Et data sollicita tura perire manu. 370
Atque utinam pugnae pateat locus! arma capessant;
Et, si non poterunt exsuperare, cadant.
Nunc inopes victus, ignavaque fata timentes,
Monte suo clauses barbara turba premit.
Tum Venus, et lituo pulcher trabeaque Quirinus, 375
Vestaque pro Latio multa locuta suo.
Publica, respondit, cura est pro moenibus istis,
Jupiter, et poenas Gallia victa dabit.
Tu modo, quae desunt fruges, superesse putentur,
Effice, nec sedes desere Vesta, tuas. 380
Quodcumque est Cereris solidae cava machina frangat,
Mollitamque manu duret in igne focus.
Jusserat: et fratris virgo Saturnia jussis
Annuit: et mediae tempora noctis erant.
Jam ducibus somnum dederat labor. Increpat illos 385
Jupiter, et sacro, quid velit, ore docet:
Surgite, et in medios de summis arcibus hostes
Mittite, quam minime tradere vultis, opem.
Somnus abit, quaeruntque novis ambagibus acti,
Tradere quam nolint et jubeantur, opem. 390
Ecce, Ceres visa est. Jaciunt Cerealia dona.
Jacta super galeas scutaque longa sonant.
Posse fame vinci spes excidit. Hoste repulso
Candida Pistori ponitur ara Jovi.—
Forte revertebar festis Vestalibus illac, 395
Qua Nova Romano nunc via juncta Foro est.
Huc pede matronam vidi descendere nudo:
Obstupui, tacitus sustinuique gradum.
Sensit anus vicina loci, jussumque sedere
Alloquitur, quatiens voce tremente caput. 400
Hoc, ubi nunc fora sunt, udae tenuere paludes:
Amno redundatis fossa madebat aquis.
Curtius ille lacus, siccas qui sustinet aras,
Nunc solida est tellus, sed lacus ante fuit.
Qua Velabra solent in Circum ducere pompas, 405
Nil praeter salices crassaque canna fuit.
Saepe suburbanas rediens conviva per undas
Cantat, et ad nautas ebria verba jacit.
Nondum conveniens diversis iste figuris
Nomen ab averso ceperat amne deus. 410
Hic quoque lucus erat juncis et arundine densus,
Et pede velato non adeunda palus.
Stagna recesserunt, et aquas sua ripa coërcet:
Siccaque nunc tellus. Mos tamen ille manet.
Reddiderat causam; Valeas, anus optima! dixi: 415
Quod superest aevi, molle sit omne, tui!
Cetera jam pridem didici puerilibus annis;
Non tamen idcirco praetereunda mihi.
Moenia Dardanides nuper nova fecerat Ilus:
Ilus adhuc Asiae dives habebat opes. 420
Creditur armiferae signum coeleste Minervae
Urbis in Iliacae desiluisse juga.
Cura videre fuit: vidi templumque locumque.
Hoc superest illi: Pallada Roma tenet.
Consulitur Smintheus: lucoque obscurus opaco 425
Hos non mentito reddidit ore sonos:
Aetheriam servate deam: servabitis urbem:
Imperium secum transferet illa loci.
Servat et inclusam summa tenet Ilus in arce:
Curaque ad heredem Laomedonta venit. 430
Sub Priamo servata parum. Sic ipsa volebat,
Ex quo judicio forma revicta sua est.
Seu genus Adrasti, seu furtis aptus Ulixes,
Seu pius aeneas eripuisse datur;
Auctor in incerto. Res est Romana: tuetur 435
Vesta, quod assiduo lumine cuncta videt.
Heu quantum timuere Patres, quo tempore Vesta
Arsit, et est tectis obruta paene suis!
Flagrabant sancti sceleratis ignibus ignes,
Mixtaque erat flamniae flammae profana piae. 440
Attonitae flebant, demisso crine, ministra:
Abstulerat vires corporis ipse timor.
Provolat in medium, et magna, Succurrite! voce,
Non est auxilium flere, Metellus ait.
Pignora virgineis fatalia tollite palmis! 445
Non ea sunt voto, sed rapienda manu.
Me miserum! dubitatis? ait—Dubitare videbat,
Et pavidas posito procubuisse genu.—
Haurit aquas, tollensque manus, Ignoscite, dixit,
Sacra! vir intrabo non adeunda viro. 450
Si scelus est, in me commissi poena redundet;
Sit capitis damno Roma soluta mei.
Dixit et irrupit. Factum dea rapta probavit,
Pontificisque sui munere tuta fuit.
Nunc bene lucetis sacrae sub Caesare flammae: 455
Ignis in Iliacis nunc erit, estque, focis;
Nullaque dicetur vittas temerasse sacerdos
Hoc duce, nec viva defodietur humo.
Sic incesta perit: quia, quam violavit, in illam
Conditur: et Tellus Vestaque numen idem est. 460
Tum sibi Callaïco Brutus cognomen ab hoste
Fecit, et Hispanam sanguine tinxit humum.
Scilicit, interdum miscentur tristia laetis,
Ne populum toto pectore festa juvent.
Crassus ad Euphraten aquilas, natumque, suosque 465
Perdidit, et leto est ultimus ipse datus.
Parthe, quid exsultas? dixit dea. Signa remittes:
Quique necem Crassi vindicet, ultor erit.
At simul auritis violae demuntur asellis,
Et Cereris fruges aspera saxa terunt; 470
Navita puppe sedens, Delphina videbimus, inquit,
Humida quum pulso nox erit orta die.
Jam, Phryx, a nupta quereris, Tithone, relinqui,
Et vigil Eois Lucifer exit aquis.
Ite, bonae matres,—vestrum Matralia festum— 475
Flavaque Thebanae reddite liba deae.
Pontibus et magno juncta est celeberrima Circo
Area, quae posito de bove nomen habet.
Hac ibi luce ferunt Matutae sacra parenti
Sceptriferas Servi templa dedisse manus. 480
Quae dea sit: quare famulas a limine templi
Arceat,—arcet enim—libaque tosta petat;
Bacche, racemiferos hedera redimite capillos,
Si domus illa tua est, dirige vatis opus.
Arserat obsequio Semele Jovis: accipit Ino 485
Te, puer, et summa sedula nutrit ope.
Intumuit Juno, raptum quod pellice natum
Educet. At sanguis ille sororis erat.
Hinc agitur furiis Athamas, et imagine falsa:
Tuque cadis patria, parve Learche, manu. 490
Maesta Learcheas mater tumulaverat umbras,
Et dederat miseris omnia justa rogis:
Haec quoque, funestos ut erat laniata capillos,
Prosilit, et cunis te, Melicerta, rapit.
Est spatio contracta brevi, freta bina repellit, 495
Unaque pulsatur terra duabus aquis.
Huc venit insanis natum complexa lacertis,
Et secum e celso mittit in alta jugo.
Excipit illaesos Panope centumque sorores,
Et placido lapsu per sua regna ferunt. 500
Nondum Lencotheë, nondum puer ille Palaemon
Vorticibus densis Tibridis ora tenent.
Lucus erat: dubium Semelae Stimulaene vocetur;
Maenadas Ausonias incoluisse ferunt.
Quaerit ab his Ino, quae gens foret. Arcadas esse 505
Audit, et Evandrum sceptra tenere loci.
Dissimulata deam Latias Saturnia Bacchas
Instimulat fictis insidiosa sonis:
O nimium faciles! O toto pectore captae!
Non venit haec nostris hospes amica choris. 510
Fraude petit, sacrique parat cognoscere ritum;
Quo possit poenas pendere, pignus habet.
Vix bene desierat; complent ululatibus auras
Thyades effusis per sua colla comis:
Iniiciuntque manus, puerumque revellere pugnant. 515
Quos ignorat adhuc, invocat illa deos:
Dique, virique loci, miserae succurrite matri.
Clamor Aventini saxa propinqua ferit.
Appulerat ripae vaccas Oetaeus Iberas:
Audit, et ad vocem concitus urget iter. 520
Herculis adventu, quae vim modo ferre parabant,
Turpia femineae terga dedere fugae.
Quid petis hinc,—cognorat enim—matertera Bacchi?
An numen, quod me, te quoque vexat, ait?
Illa docet partim, partim praesentia nati 525
Continet, et Furiis in scelus isse pudet.
Rumor—ut est velox—agitatis pervolat alis:
Estque frequens, Ino, nomen in ore tuum.
Hospita Carmentis fidos intrasse penates
Diceris, et longam deposuisse famem. 530
Liba sua properata manu Tegeaea sacerdos
Traditur in subito cocta dedisse foco.
Nunc quoque liba juvant festis Matralibus illam;
Rustica sedulitas gratior arte fuit.
Nunc, ait, O vates, venientia fata resigna, 535
Qua licet: hospitiis hoc, precor, adde meis.
Parva mora est: coelum vates ac numina sumit,
Fitque sui toto pectore plena dei.
Vix illam subito posses cognoscere; tanto
Sanctior, et tanto, quam modo, major erat. 540
Laeta canam; gaude, defuncta laboribus, Ino!
Dixit, et huic populo prospera semper ades!
Numen eris pelagi: natum quoque pontus habebit.
In nostris aliud sumite nomen aquis.
Leucotheë Graiis, Matuta vocabere nostris; 545
In portus nato jus erit omne tuo.
Quem nos Portunum, sua lingua Palaemona dicet.
Ite, precor, nostris aequus uterque locis!
Annuerant: promissa fides: posuere labores;
Nomina mutarunt: hic deus, illa dea est. 550
Cur vetet ancillas accedere, quaeritis. Odit,
Principiumque odii, si sinat ipsa, canam.
Una ministrarum solita est, Cadmeï, tuarum
Saepe sub amplexus coujugis ire tui.
Improbus hanc Athamas furtim dilexit: ab illa 555
Comperit agricolis semina tosta dari.
Ipsa quidem fecisse negat, sed fama recepit.
Hoc est, cur odio sit tibi serva manus.
Non tamen hanc pro stirpe sua pia mater adoret:
Ipsa parum felix visa fuisse parens. 560
Alterius prolem melius mandabitis illi;
Utilior Baccho quam fuit ipsa suis.
Hanc tibi, Quo properas, memorant dixisso, Rutili?
Luce mea Marso Consul ab hoste cades.
Exitus accessit verbis: flumenque Toleni 565
Purpureum mixtis sanguine fluxit aquis.
Proximus annus erat: Pallantide caesus eadem
Didius hostiles ingeminavit opes.
Lux eadem, Fortuna, tua est, auctorque, locusque.
Sed superinjectis quis latet aede togis? 570
Servius est: hoc constat enim. Sed causa latendi
Discrepat, et dubium me quoque mentis habet.
Dum dea furtivos timide profitetur amores,
Coelestemque homini concubuisse pudet;
—Arsit enim magna correpta cupidine regis, 575
Caecaque in hoc uno non fuit illa viro—
Nocte domum parva solita est intrare fenestra:
Unde Fenestellae nomina porta tenet.
Nunc pudet, et vultus velamine celat amatos,
Oraque sunt multa regia tecta toga. 580
An magis est verum, post Tulli funera plebem
Confusam placidi morte fuisse ducis?
Nec modus ullus erat: crescebat imagine luctus,
Donec eam positis occuluere togis.
Tertia causa mihi spatio majore canenda est: 585
Nos tamen adductos intus agemus equos.
Tullia, conjugio sceleris mercede peracto,
His solita est dictis exstimulare virum:
Quid juvat esse pares, te nostrae caede sororis,
Meque tui fratris, si pia vita placet? 590
Vivere debuerant et vir meus, et tua conjux,
Si nullum ausuri majus eramus opus.
Et caput et regnum facio dotale parentis.
Si vir es, i, dictas exige dotis opes!
Regia res scelus est. Socero cape regna necato, 595
Et nostras patrio sanguine tinge manus.
Talibus instinctus solio privatus in alto
Sederat: attonitum vulgus ad arma ruit.
Hinc cruor, hinc caedes: infirmaque vincitur aetas.
Sceptra gener socero rapta Superbus habet. 600
Ipse sub Esquiliis, ubi erat sua regia, caesus
Concidit in dura sanguinolentus humo.
Filia carpento patrios initura Penates
Ibat per medias alta feroxque vias.
Corpus ut adspexit, lacrimis auriga profusis 605
Restitit. Hunc tali corripit illa sono:
Vadis? an exspectas pretium pietatis amarum?
Duc, inquam, invitas ipsa per ora rotas!
Certa fides facti, dictus Sceleratus ab illa
Vicus, et aeterna res ea pressa nota. 610
Post tamen hoc ausa est templum, monumenta parentis,
Tangere: mira quidem, sed tamen acta loquar.
Signum erat in solio residens sub imagine Tulli:
Dicitur hoc oculis opposuisse manum.
Et vox audita est, Vultus abscondite nostros, 615
Ne natae videant ora nefanda meae.
Veste data tegitur: vetat hanc Fortuna moveri:
Et sic e templo est ipsa locuta suo:
Ore revelato qua primum luce patebit
Servius haec positi prima pudoris erit. 620
Parcite, matronae, vetitas attingere vestes:
Sollemni satis est voce movere preces:
Sitque caput semper Romano tectus amictu,
Qui rex in nostra septimus urbe fuit.
Arserat hoc templum: signo tamen ille pepercit 625
Ignis: opem nato Mulciber ipse tulit.
Namque pater Tulli Vulcanus, Ocresia mater,
Praesignis facie, Corniculana fuit.
Hanc secum Tanaquil, sacris de more peractis,
Jussit in ornatum fundere vina focum. 630
Hic inter cineres obsceni forma virilis
Aut fuit, aut visa est: sed fuit illa magis.
Jussa loco captiva fovet, Conceptus ab illa
Servius a coelo semina gentis habet.
Signa dedit genitor, tum quum caput igne corusco 635
Contigit, inque coma flammeus arsit apex.
Te quoque magnifica, Concordia, dedicat aede
Livia, quam caro praestitit illa viro.
Disce tamen, veniens aetas, ubi Livia nunc est
Porticus, immensae tecta fuisse domus. 640
Urbis opus domus una fuit: spatimque tenebat,
Quo brevius muris oppida multa tenent.
Haec aequata solo est, nullo sub crimine regni,
Sed quia luxuria visa nocere sua.
Sustinuit tantas operum subvertere moles 645
645
Totque suas heres perdere Caesar opes.
Sic agitur censura, et sic exempla parantur;
Quum vindex, alios quod monet, ipse facit.
Nulla nota est veniente die, quam dicere possim.
Idibus Invicto sunt data templa Jovi. 650
Et jam Quinquatrus jubeor narrare minores.
Nunc ades o coeptis, flava Minerva, meis.
Cur vagus incedit tota tibicen in urbe?
Quid sibi personae, quid stola longa, volant?
Sic ego. Sic posita Tritonia cuspide dixit: 655
—Possem utinam doctae verba referre deae!—
Temporibus veterum tibicinis usus avorum
Magnus et in magno semper honore fuit.
Cantabat fanis, cantabat tibia ludis:
Cantabat maestis tibia funeribus. 660
Dulcis erat mercede labor: tempusque secutum,
Quod subito Graiae frangeret artis opus.
Adde quod aedilis, pompam qui funeris irent,
Artifices solos jusserat esse decem.
Exilio mutant urbem, Tiburque recedunt: 665
—Exilium quodam tempore Tibur erat.—
Quaeritur in scena cava tibia, quaeritur aris,
Ducit supremos nenia nulla toros.
Servierat quidam, quantolibet ordine dignus,
Tiburo, sed longo tempore liber erat. 670
Rure dapes parat ille suo, turbamque canoram
Convocat. Ad festas convenit illa dapes.
Nox erat, et vinis oculique animique natabant,
Quum praecomposito nuntius ore venit:
Atque ita, Quid cessas convivia solvere? dixit: 675
Auctor vindictae jam venit, ecce, tuae!
Nec mora; convivae valido titubantia vino
Membra movent: dubii stantque labantque pedes.
At dominus, Discedite, ait; plaustroque morantes
Sustulit. In plaustro sirpea lata fuit. 680
Alliciunt somnos tempus, motusque, merumque,
Potaque se Tibur turba redire putat.
Jamque per Esquilias Romanam intraverat urbem;
Et mane in medio plaustra fuere foro.
Plautius, ut posset specie numeroque Senatum 685
Fallere, personis imperat ora tegi.
Admiscetque alios, et, ut hunc tibicina coetum
Augeat, in longis vestibus ire jubet.
Sic reduces bene posse tegi, ne forte notentur
Contra collegae jussa redisse sui. 690
Res placuit: cultuque novo licet Idibus uti,
Et canere ad veteres verba jocosa modos.
Haec ubi perdocuit, Superest mihi discere, dixi,
Cur sit Quinquatrus illa vocata dies.
Martius, inquit, agit tali mea nomine festa, 695
Estque sub inventis haec quoque turba meis.
Prima terebrato per rara foramina buxo,
Ut daret, effeci, tibia longa sonos.
Vox placuit: liquidis faciem referentibus undis
Vidi virgineas intumuisse genas. 700
Ars mihi non tanti est; valeas, mea tibia! dixi.
Excipit abjectam cespite ripa suo.
Inventam Satyrus primum miratur, et usum
Nescit; at inflatam sentit habere sonum;
Et modo dimittit digitis, modo concipit auras. 705
Jamque inter Nymphas arte superbus erat:
Provocat et Phoebum; Phoebo superante pependit:
Caesa recesserunt a cute membra sua.
Sum tamen inventrix auctorque ego carminis hujus.
Hoc est, cur nostros ars colat ista dies. 710
Tertia lux veniet, qua tu, Dodoni Thyene,
Stabis Agenorei fronte videnda bovis.
Haec est illa dies, qua tu purgamina Vestae,
Tibri, per Etruscas in mare mittis aquas.
Si qua fides ventis, Zephyro date carbasa, nautae: 715
Cras veniet vestris ille secundus aquis.
At pater Heliadum radios ubi tinxerit undis,
Et cinget geminos stella serena polos;
Tollet humo validos proles Hyriea lacertos.
Continua Delphin nocte videndus erit. 720
Scilicet hic olim Volscos Aequosque fugatos
Viderat in campis, Algida terra, tuis.
Unde suburban o clarus, Tuberte, triumpho
Vectus es in niveis, Postume, victor equis.
Jam sex et totidem luces de mense supersunt: 725
Huic unum numero tu tamen adde diem;
Sol abit e Geminis, et Cancri signa rubescunt:
Coepit Aventina Pallas in arce coli.
Jam tua, Laomedon, oritur nurus, ortaque noctem
Pellit, et e pratis uda pruina fugit; 730
Reddita, quisquis is est, Summano templa feruntur,
Tum, quum Romanis, Pyrrhe, timendus eras.
Hanc quoque quuin patriis Galatea receperit undis,
Plenaque securae terra quietis erit;
Surgit humo juvenis, telis afflatus avitis; 735
Et gemino nexas porrigit angue manus.
Notus amor Phaedrae, nota est injuria Thesei:
Devovit natum credulus ille suum.
Non impune plus juvenis Troezena petebat:
Dividit obstantes pectore taurus aquas. 740
Solliciti terrentur equi, frustraque retenti
Per scopulos dominum duraque saxa trahunt.
Exciderat curru, lorisque morantibus artus
Hippolytus lacero corpore raptus erat:
Reddideratque animam, multum indignante Diana. 745
Nulla, Coronides, causa doloris, ait,
Namque pio juveni vitam sine vulnere reddam;
Et cedent arti tristia fata meae.
Gramina continuo loculis depromit eburnis:
Profuerant Glauci Manibus illa prius: 750
Tunc, quum observatas augur descendit in herbas,
Usus et auxilio est anguis ab angue dato.
Pectora ter tetigit, ter verba salubria dixit:
Depositum terra sustulit ille caput.
Lucus eum, nemorisque sui Dictynna recessu 755
Celat: Aricino Virbius ille lacu.
At Clymenus Clothoque dolent, haec, fila reneri,
Hic, fieri regni jura minora sui.
Jupiter exemplum veritus direxit in ilium
Fulmina, qui nimiae moverat artis opem. 760
Phoebe, querebaris. Deus est; placare parenti;
Propter te, fieri quod vetat, ipse facit.
Non ego te, quamvis properabis vincere Caesar,
Si vetet auspicium, signa movere velim.
Sint tibi Flaminius Thrasimenaque litora testes, 765
Per volucres aequos multa monere deos.
Tempora si veteris quaeris temeraria damni,
Quartus ab extremo mense bis ille dies.
Postera lux melior. Superat Masinissa Syphacem;
Et cecidit telis Hasdrubal ipse suis. 770
Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis,
Et fugiunt, freno non remorante, dies.
Quam cito venerunt Fortunae Fortis honores!
Post septem luces Junius actus erit.
Ite, deam laeti Fortem celebrate. Quirites: 775
In Tiberis ripa munera regis habet.
Pars pede, pars etiam celeri decurrite cymba;
Nec pudeat potos inde redire domum.
Ferte coronatae juvenum convivia lintres,
Multaque per medias vina bibantur aquas. 780
Plebs colit hanc, quia, qui posuit, de plebe fuisse
Fertur, et ex humili sceptra tulisse loco.
Convenit et servis, serva quia Tullius ortus
Constituit dubiae templa propinqua deae.
Ecce suburbana rediens male sobrius aede 785
Ad stellas aliquis talia verba jacit:
Zona latet tua nunc, et eras fortasse latebit.
Dehinc erit, Orion, adspicienda mihi.
At si non esset potus, dixisset eadem
Venturum tempus solstitiale die. 790
Lucifero subeunte Lares delubra tulerunt,
Hic, ubi fit docta multa corona manu.
Tempus idem Stator aedis habet, quara Romulus olim
Ante Palatini condidit ora jugi.
Tot restant de mense dies, quot nomina Parcis, 795
Quum data sunt trabeae templa, Quirine, tuae.
Tempus Iuleis cras est natale Kalendis:
Pierides, coeptis addite summa meis.
Dicite, Pierides, quis vos adjunxerit isti,
Cui dedit invitas victa noverca manus. 800
Sic ego. Sic Clio, Clari monumenta Philippi
Adspicis, unde trahit Marcia casta genus;
Marcia, sacrifico deductum nomen ab Anco,
In qua par facies nobilitate sua.
Par animo quoque forma suo respondet in illa; 805
Et genus, et facies ingeniumque simul.
Nec, quod laudamus formam, tam turpe putaris;
Laudamus magnas hac quoque parte deas.
Nupta fuit quondam matertera Caesaris illi.
O decus, o sacra femina digna domo! 810
Sic cecinit Clio: doctae assensere sorores.
Annuit Alcides, increpuitque lyram.
1-100. The poet, as he had done in the preceding months, commences June, by a discussion of its name. The gods, as usual, appear on the scene, and, as there were three etymons of the name of the month, three deities are introduced.
2. Quae placeant, etc. You shall chuse for yourself.
3, 4. Alluding, perhaps, to the Epicurean spirit of the age.
5. Est Deus, etc. He expresses the same sentiment elsewhere. See A. A. III. 549. Pont. Ill, 4, 93. [Greek: Kouphon chraema poiaetaes esti kai ptaenon kai ieron, kai ou proteron oios te poiein prin an entheos te genaetai, kai ekphron kai ho nous maeketi en auto enae]. Plato Ion. Ego non puto poetam grave plenumque carmen sine coelesti aliquo mentis instinctu fundere. Cicero, Tusc. I. 26. Poeta quasi divino quodam spiritu inflatur. Id. Arch. 8.—What is rare is the subject of admiration, and nothing is rarer than poetic genius in a high degree; hence the ancients looked on it as something divine, or, as proceeding from the favour, and even the immediate inspiration of the gods. Nothing is more true than poeta nascitur non fit, but it is equally true of other things, the musician and the painter, nay, I might add, the carpenter and the tailor, are born, not made. But of some species, the supply is much larger than of others.
6. Impetus hic, the _furor poeticus 13. Praeceptor arandi. Hesiod, the author of the oldest agricultural poem, his Works and Days. He lived at Ascra, a village of Boeotia, at the foot of Mt. Helicon. In v. 22, of his Theogony, it is said of the Muses, [Greek: ai nu pot' Haesiodon kalaen edidaxan aoidaen Arnas poimainonth' Elikonos upo zatheoio]. See A. A. I. 27. Propert II. 10. 25, 34. 79. Virg. Ec. II. 70. G. II. 176.
15. The well-known fatal Judgment of Paris—_Aquosae, [Greek: polypidax], Homer.
17. See v. 27. Virg. aen. I. 46.
18. See v. 34.
22. Exlg. mod. The pentameter measure. See II. 3, 4.
26. Junius, aut ex parte populi nominatus, aut, ut Cincius arbitratur, quod Junonius apud Latinos olim vocitatus, diuque apud Aricinos, Praenestinosque hoc appellatione in fastos relatus sit; adeo ut, sicut Nisus in commentariis fastorum dicit, apud majores quoque nostros haec appellatio mensis diu manserit, sed post, detritis quibusdam litteris, ex Junonio Junius dictus sit; nam et aedes Junoni Monetae Cal. Jun. dedicata est. Macrob. Sat. I. 12. This leaves, I think, little doubt respecting the true origin of the name.
29. See Hom. II. iv. 59. According to Hesiod, Th. 454, and the Homeridian hymn to Venus, v. 22, Hestia (Vesta) was the first-born of Kronus and Rhea. Ovid evidently followed Homer, without perfectly understanding him.
31. Hunc (Capitolinum) antea montem Saturnium appellatum prodiderunt, et ab eo late Saturniam terram. Antiquum oppidum in hoc fuisse Saturniam scribitur. Ejus vestigia etiam nunc manent tria; quod Saturni fanum in faucibus: quod Saturnia, porta quam nunc vacant Pandanam: quod post aedem Saturni in aedificiorum legibus parietes postici muri sunt scripti_. Varro, L. L. IV.
32. See I. 233. A Caesare proximus Caesar. Ep. ex Pont. II. 8, 37. Proximus a domina—sedeto, A. A. I. 139. Tu nunc eris alter ab illo. Virg. Ec. v. 49.
34. In the Capitoline temple, Juno and Minerva had chapels on each side of that of Jupiter. The left-hand one was Juno's. The custom of uniting these three deities was derived from the Etruscans. See Mythology, p. 453.
35. Pellex, the Pleias Maia, see V. 85. Compare Virg. aen. i. 39.
37. Regina. The Juno Regina of the Romans, was the Queen Kupra of the Etruscans, whose statue was brought to Rome by Camillus, when Veii was taken A.U.C. 359. Liv. v. 21.
39. For the origin of the name Lucina, see on II. 449. For faciant mensem luces, one of the best MSS. reads faciam pueris lucem, alluding to another cause of the name.
40. This is aukwardly expressed, for she wants to shew that the month was named from her, and not she from the month. Taubner supposes a hypallage. It is possible that nomina may be used here in the sense of fame, renown. See III. 66.
41. Tum me poeniteat, then shall I repent.
42. See IV. 31. Virg. aen i. 26.
43. See Hom. Il. xx. 232.
45. See Virg. aen. i. 15.
47. See Hom. Il. iv. 51.
49. [Greek: En apasais tais kourias Haera trapezas etheto] (Tatius) [Greek: Kouritia legomenae, ai kai eis tode chronou keintai]. Dion. Hal. II. 50.—Junon. Fal. See IV. 73.
55. Centum, numerous,—a definite for an indefinite. Compare Virg. aen. I. 415. iv. 199.
55. Quovis, scil. altero honore.—Honor mensis IV. 85. like honor coeli, honor templorum.
58. Suburbani. See on III. 688. Places which were not very remote from Rome, were called suburban. A triumph over the Volscians is (v. 723) named a suburban triumph. All the following towns were in Latium.
59. Nemoral. Aric. See III. 263. Met. xv. 488. Aricia lay at the foot of the Alban Mount, on the Appian Way, 13 miles from Rome.
60. Pop. Laurens. Laurentum, near the Tiber, between Rome and the sea, was said to have been the residence of king Latinus.—Lanuvium meum. This was another town of the Latins, in which there was a grove and temple of Juno Sospita, common to them and the Romans. Liv. viii. 14. For Lanuvium, most MSS. read Lavinium, but this offends the metre.
61. Tibur Argeo positum colono. Hor. Car. II. 6, 5. See on IV. 71. Tibur, now Tivoli, was on the Anien.
62. Praenest. deae, scil. Fortunae. Fortunae apud Praenesten aedem pulcherrimam ferunt fuisse. Schol. Juven. xiv. 90.
65. Hebe, called by the Romans Juventas, advances as the advocate of a second opinion. Fulvius Nobilior in Fastis Romulum dicit, postquam populum in majores minoresque divisit, ut altera armit rempublicam tueretur, in honorem utriusque partis hunc Maium, sequentem Junium vocasse. Macrob. Sat. I. 12. For the marriage of Hebe, the daughter of Jupiter and Juno, with Hercules, see Homer, Od. xi. 604. Hes. Th. 950.
75. Origine mensis. There is the same kind of ambiguity here, and in v. 77, as above, v. 40. It is plainly (see v. 88,) the intention of the poet to shew that the month derived its name from the juvenes, and not from the goddess Juventas.
77. Titulum, the honour. See IV. 115.
79. Nomine, on account of.
80. See I. 543, et seq.
83. Ab annis, i. e. ab aetate.
90. Dissimulata, concealed, hidden, it would have been no longer visible.
91, 92. Concordia, the advocate of a third opinion, from jungo, is here introduced in a very timely and appropriate manner. For the reparation of the temple of Concord by Tiberius, see I. 637.—Apol. lauro. See III. 139, The laurel is mentioned on account of the victories of Tiberius.— Placidi, etc. Concordia, he means, was the inspiring deity of the peace-loving prince, and concord was his work.
99. Ite pares. As I give not the preference to any, having the fate of Paris before my eyes.
101-182. On the Kalends of June was the festival of an ancient Roman deity, named by our poet and Macrobius, Carna or Carnea; by Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine, Carda or Cardea. Non-nulli putaverunt, Junium mensem a Junio Bruto, qui primus Romae consul factus est, nominatum, quod hoc mense id est Kal. Jun. pulso Tarquinio sacrum Carnae deae in Coelio monte voti reus fecerit. Hanc deam vitalibus humanis praeesse credunt, ab ea denique petitur ut jecinora et corda, quaeque sunt intrinsecus viscera conservet. Et quia, cordis beneficio, cujus dissimulatione Brutus habebatur, idoneus emendationi publici status exstitit, hanc deam, quae vitalibus praeest, templo sacravit. Cui pulte fabacia, et larido sacrificatur, quod his maxime rebus vires corporis roborentur; nam et Calendae Juniae fabariae vulgo vocantur, quod hoc mense adultae fabae divinis rebus adhibentur. Macrob. Sat. I. 12. The name is here evidently derived a carne. The Fathers of the Church, on the other hand, as they join their Cardea or Carda with deities, named Forculus and Limininus, (from fores and limen) deduced her name from Cardo, to which origin Ovid also plainly alludes.
103, 104. This confirms what I have said above on V. 229, respecting the Roman origin, and the late date of several legends. Though the personages in this are Italian, the manners are Grecian.—Vires, her power.
105. Antiques. Three of the best MSS. read antiqui. They are followed by Heinsius and Gierig. I think it the better reading. Compare Hom. II. xi. 166. Virg. aen. xi. 851.—Tiberino. See IV. 291. One MS. reads Tiberini, three Tiberinae Hilernae.—Helerni, Hilerni and Hylerni, are various readings. Who or what Helernus was is totally unknown. Heinsius thinks that the lucus Helerni might have been the same with the lucus Asyli, (II. 67,) but this last was on the Capitoline hill, and Ovid evidently assigns some place a little way from Rome as the situation of the former.
106. Sacra ferunt. Both the offerer (Virg. aen. III, 19,) and the priest (Id. G. III, 446,) are said sacra ferre. For ferunt, one MS. reads canunt.
107. Cranen. Two MSS. read Granen, which has been received into the text by Heinsius and Gierig. Two have Gramen, one Grangen.— Priores, the ancients. See I. 329, IV. 329.
113. Dixisset. Si. is understood. The copyists stumbled at this ellipse, for four MSS. read Huic si quis, one si dixit, another quum dixit. There are, however, examples of it. Dedisses huic animo par corpus. Plin. Ep. I. 2, 8. Dares hanc vim M. Crasso; in foro, crede mihi, saltaret, Cic. Off. III. 19. Compare Hor. Sat. I. 3, 15.
117. Resistit, stops. II. 86.
126. Occupat amplexu, embraces, seizes in his arms. See on I. 575. De Jano non mihi facile quidquam occurrit, quod ad probrum pertinent; et forte talis fuit ut innocentius vixerit et a facinoribus et flagitiis remotius. Augustinus de Civ. Dei. vii. This tale must have escaped the knowledge or the memory of the zealous Father. But does not what he here says of this ancient Italian deity offer a strong confirmation of what has been already observed respecting the purity of the old Italian religion?
129. Virgam. Heinsius, without having the authority of any MS. reads spinam.
130. Alba, scil. spina. See v. 165. The same power is ascribed to the [Greek: ramnos], which is the same as the Alba Spina (whitethorn), by Dioscorydes, I. 119. [Greek: Legetai de kai klonas autaes thurais prostethentas apokrouein tas ton pharmakon kakourgias]. The same is said of the aquifolium by Pliny.
131. Quae, etc. the Harpies. See Apoll. Rh. Arg. II. 187. Virg. aen. III. 212. Mythology, pp. 225, 422.
139. Est illis, etc. [Greek: Strix a strizein] stridere, the night-owl, Strix aluco of Linnaeus. Fabulosum arbitror de strigibus, ubera eas infantium labris immulgere. Esse in maledictis jam antiquis strigem convenit; sed quae sit avium constare non arbitror. Plin. H. N. xi. 39, 95. A very different account of this bird is given by Isidore, (Orig. xii. 7.) _Strix nocturna avis, habens nomen de sono vocis; quando enim elumat stridet. Vulgo Amma dicitur ub amando parvulos, unde et lac praebere dicitur nascentibus.
141, 142. Ovid says elsewhere, (Am. I. 8. 13.) Hanc ego nocturnas vivam volitare per umbras Suspicor et pluma corpus anile tegi. And Festus says, Striges maleficis mulieribus nomen inditum est, quas volaticas etiam vacant, alluding to the same opinion. The belief of the power of witches to transform themselves into animals, is not yet totally extinct among the vulgar in our own country. For the power of magic-verses, carmina, see Virg. Ec. viii. 69.—Nenia, i. e. carmen magicum. Hor. Epod. 17, 28. The Marsians were famous for their magic skill. The construction here is Nen. Mars. fig. anus.
143. Proca. See IV. 52.
155. We do not read anywhere else of the Arbutus being used for this purpose. Perhaps, it was on account of its being ever green like the laurel. Diogenes Laertius (iv. 7, 10,) tells us, that when Bion was sick, [Greek: grai doken eumaros trachaelon eis epodaen, ramnon te kai kladon daphnaes uper thuraen ethaeken].
167. Garlic was also thought to be efficacious for this purpose; it was also good to fasten to each arm of the child an eye taken out of a live hyaena. Ignorant people always love cruel and barbarous remedies; we have instances enough among ourselves.
169. See above on v. 101.
173. Compare Hor. Epod. 2. 48. Sat. II. 2. 49.
175. Scil, the Attagen.
176. The Crane. See Hom. Il. III. 5.
181 Sextis Kalendis, scil. Junii, the sixth month.
183. See I. 638. Liv. vii. 28.
185. See Liv. v. 47.
187-190. Compare Juv. Sat. x. 276, et seq. Read carefully the admirable account of this transaction in Niebuhr's Roman History, II. 602. et seq.
191. See Liv. vii. 23. x. 23.
192. Tectae viae. The commentators confess their inability to explain this. Donatus conjectures, that it may have been arched over, or have had porticos along it. Some MSS. read rectae, one dextrae. The Appian road began at the Capene gate, and it is uncertain, whether this temple of Mars was on it, or had a separate road leading to it.
193. This temple was built A.U.C. 495, by L. Scipio the son of Barbatus, who conquered Corsica. It was outside of the Capene gate, where a stone was dug up, bearing the inscription, which may be seen in Reines. Inscr. vi. 34. p. 410, or in Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I. 254.
196. Aquila rises in the evening.
197. On the IV. Non. the Hyades rise heliacally, accompanied by rain.
199. The temple of Bellona vowed by Appius Claudius, in the midst of a battle, in the Etruscan war, A.U.C. 458, (Liv. x. 19.) was dedicated on the III. Non. Jun. Pliny, (H. N. xxxv. 2. 3.) says, App. Claudius posuit in Bellonae aede majores suos placuitque in excelso spectari et titulos honorum legi. Just what one might expect from one of the proud Claudii!
201. Duello the same as bello. Duellum is a word of frequent occurrence in Livy.
203. Pyrrho, etc. This was A.U.C. 474. Val. Max. viii. 12. Ad App. Claudii senectutem accedebat etiam ut caecus esset; tamen is quum sententia senatus inclinaret ad pacem et foedus faciendum cum Pyrrho non dubitavit dicere illa, quae versibus persecutus est Ennius: Quo vobis mentes recte quae stare solebant Antehac, dementes sese flexere viai?
204. "Captus qui uti aliqua re non potest, Liv. ii. 36: omnibus membris captus. xxii. 2: captus oculis, ubi vid. Duker," Gierig. Upwards of Twenty MSS. read caecus, two cassus, compare Virg. aen. II. 85.
205. Before the temple of Bellona was a small area, or open place, which reached to the upper part of the Circus Flaminius. In the area before the temple, stood the celebrated pillar. It was in the temple of Bellona that the senate gave audience to such foreign ambassadors as they would not admit into the city, here also they received the generals who were returned from war. See Livy, passim. Bellona dicitur dea bellorum; ante cujus templum erat columella, quae bellica vocabatur, supra quam hastam jaciebant quum bellum indicebatur. Festus. Circus Flaminius.— Aedes Bellonae versus portam Carmentalem. Ante hanc aedem columna index belli inferendi. P. Victor de region, urb. Reg. ix. Livy (I. 32.) describes the ceremony of throwing the spear. Originally, when the Roman territory was small, and the hostile states were close at hand, the Fetial used to cast the spear into the enemy's country; afterwards the practice of merely casting it over the pillar of Bellona was introduced. —Templo is the reading of two MSS. of high character, all the rest read tergo.
209. At the other end of the Circus Flaminius was the temple of Hercules Custos. Neapolis thinks there were two temples of Hercules in this Circus, one built by order of the Senate in compliance with the directions of the Sibyllian verses; the other erected by Fulvius Nobilior, and repaired by Philippus. See v. 802.—Eub. car. See IV. 257.—Titulos, scil. the inscription.—Probavit. "Censorum proprie est probare_." Heinsius. [Greek: Apothuon de taes ousias apasaes ho Sullas to Haeraklei dekataen]. Plut. Sulla, 35.
213—218. On the Nones was the anniversary of the dedication of the temple of the ancient Sabine deity, named Sancus, Dius (Deus) Fidius and Semo. Of these names, we may observe, that Sancus is also written Sangus and Sanctus, which last is manifestly a corruption; that from the second was formed an ordinary oath of the Romans, Medius fidius, equivalent to Mehercle (The Greeks who rendered Fidius by [Greek: pistios], made him the same with Hercules); that Semo, which is, perhaps, a contraction of Semihomo, is equivalent to Indiges, and, therefore, corresponds pretty exactly with the [Greek: haeros] of the Greeks, in its later sense. (Mythology, p. 273). For Pater Semo, see on III. 775. Most MSS. read Semi-pater, some Semicaper, but inscriptions prove the correctness of the present reading.—Aelius Gallus Dius Fidius dicebat Diovis (Jovis) filius, ut Graeci [Greek: Dioskouron] Castorem, et putabat hunc esse Sanctum ab Sabina lingua, et Herculem ab Graeca. Varro, L. L. IV. Saint Augustine, (De Civ. Dei. xviii.) in accordance with the system which represented the gods of ancient Greece and Italy, as having been nothing but deified mortals, says, Sabini regem suum primum Sancum, seu, ut alii, Sanctum, retulerunt in Deos. Cato, in his Origines, says, Nomen (scil. Sabinorum) esse impositum ex Sabo Divi Sanci Gentilis filio. And Silius Italicus (viii. 422,) says, Ibant et laeti; pars Sanctum voce canebant Auctorem gentis; pars laudes ore ferebant, Sabe, tuas; qui de patrio cognomine primus Dixisti populos magna ditione Sabinos. The pater Sabinus of Virgil (aen. vii. 178,) would appear to be the same with Sabus. Before I quit this deity, I must notice the curious mistake into which Justin Martyr and Tertullian fell, in consequence of the resemblance between Semoni and Simoni. They gravely assert, that, seduced by his magic arts, the Romans erected a statue to Simon Magus, and adored him as a god!
217. I think Ovid intimates very plainly here his belief that the Sabines, when they settled at Rome, raised a temple on the Quirinal to their ancient god, Sancus. History, however, makes no mention of it, and Sancus is not among the deities to whom, according to Varro, L. L. IV. Tatius erected temples. Dionysius, (iv. 58,) speaking of the treaty made by Tarquinius Superbus, with the Gabines, says, [Greek: touton esti ton orkion mnaemeion en Pomae keimenon en hiero Dios Pistiou on Romaioi Sankton kalousin]; which temple, he tells us (ix. 60,) stood on the Quirinal ([Greek: epi tou Henualiou lophou,]) was begun by Tarquinius, and dedicated by the consul, Spurius Postumius, on the Nones of June, A.U.C. 288.
219. Est mihi, etc. Ovid speaks of his daughter also in his Tristia (iv. 10, 75,) Filia me mea bis prima fecunda juventa, Sed non ex uno conjuge fecit avum. Her name is not known, but it would appear that she was married to a senator, for Seneca (de Con. Sap. 17,) says, In senatu flentem vidimus Fidum Cornelium, Nasonis generum.
225. Hujus, scil, mensis. It was not lucky to marry in June before the Ides; all the rest of the month was favourable to matrimony. See II. 557, III. 393.
227. Stercus ex aede Vestae XVII. Kal. Jul. defertur in angiportum medium fere clivi Capitolini, qui locus clauditur porta stercoraria. Tantae sanctitatis majores nostri esse judicaverunt. Festus. _Dies qui vocatur, Quando stercus delatum, fas: ab eo appellatus, quod eo die ex aede Vestae stercus everritur et per Capitolinum clivum in locum defertur certum. Varro L. L. V. Ovid, we may observe differs from these writers. Their testimony is, I think, to be preferred.
228. Flav. aq. Compare Virg, aen. vii. 30. Hor. Car. I. 2. 13.
229—231. See III. 398.—Detonsos. The readings of the MSS. differ greatly, some have detonso, two detenso, three detonsum, one detonsa, another dentoso, two give the present reading. Detonsi crines does not signify hair that is cut close, but what is merely clipt at the ends, which we are to suppose was the case with that of the Flaminia.—Buxo. The Roman combs, like some of our own, were made of box-wood.—Depectere. See III. 465.
232. Matrimonium Flaminis nisi morte dirimi non jus. Gellius, N. A. x. 15. Certe Flaminica non nisi univira est, quae et Flaminis lex est. Tertull. Ex. ad Cast. 13.
234. Ignea Vesta, "templum Vestae in quo ignis alitur perpetuus," Gierig. Veste nitebit humus is the reading of all the MSS. but two, which have humo. The present reading, of the correctness of which no one can doubt, was formed by Scaliger.
235. On the VII. Id. Arctophylax or Boötes, sets in the morning.— Lycaona, Areas, the grandson of Lycaon, II. 153. et seq. If this is not an oversight of the poet, Lycaon is put for Lycaonides, just as it is supposed, that even Homer uses Hyperion for Hyperionides. See above I. 385. "Ita [Greek: Amphitryon] pro [Greek: Amphitryonidaes], Pindar Nem. IV. 32. ubi vid. Schol. et Olymp. x. 42. [Greek: Moliones] pro [Greek: Molionidai] ubi vid. Schmid." Burmann.—Phoebe. One would rather have expected Phoebus. He probably meant an allusion to Diana, who had transformed Callisto. Phoebe seems to be put for night.
237. Gram. Campi. Compare Hor. Car III. 7. 26. iv. 1. 39. A. P. 162.
239. Piscatorii ludi vocantur, qui quotannis mense Junio trans Tiberim fieri solent a Praetore urbano pro piscatoribus Tiberinis: quorum quaestus non in macellum pervenit sed fere in aream Volcani; quod id genus pisciculorwm vivorum datur ei deo pro animis humanis. Festus.
241-248. After the defeat of the Roman army by Hannibal at the Trasimene lake, in which the consul C. Flaminius was slain, A.U.C. 537, the Sibylline books were consulted, according to custom, and by their direction, Ludi magni were vowed to Jupiter, and temples to Venus Erycina, and to Mars. Liv. xxii. 9. Does not this tend to confirm what I have observed above (see on IV. 874.) respecting the Phoenician origin of Venus Erycina? Every one knows the Roman custom of endeavouring to gain over the deities of their enemies.
247. Adspicit, etc. "Inter illam diem, qua vota soluta sunt, et Idus interjacent sex luces. Falso Neap. putabat Ovidiam hoc disticho, VI. Id. exprimere voluisse." Gierig. I think however Neapolis is right, for the setting of Arctophylax was on the VII. Id. unless we suppose that the temple of Mens was dedicated on that day, and in that case, where was the necessity for vv. 247, 248?
249-460. On the V. Id. were the Vestalia. The poet goes at great length into this subject. See I. 528. III. 417, et seq. 697. et seq. IV. 949.
253. Non vidi. Perhaps he means to intimate, that Vesta as the principle of fire, had no visible anthropomorphic form, like the other deities. Compare v. 298.—Valeant, etc. away with, adieu to. Compare Hor. Ep. II. 1. 80. Ter. Andr. iv. 2. 13. The Greeks used their [Greek: chairo], in the same sense.-Mendacia, fictions. See Hor. A. P. 151.
257. Dena quater, etc. The temple of Vesta was built by Numa, [Greek: Autos protos hieron idrusamenos Romaiois Hestias, kai parthenous apodeixas autae Ouaepolous]. Dionys. II. 65. See also Plut. Num. 9 and 11. Liv. I. 20.—Palilia. See on IV. 721.
258. Flammae custos, scil. Vesta, Vell. Paterc. II. 131. The deities were called the guardians (custodes) of the objects over which they presided. Compare II. 277.
259. Meluentius, etc. Compare Met. I. 322.
261. Quae nunc, etc. Compare I. 199, et seq. III. 183, A. A. III. 118.
263. Hic locus, etc. [Greek: Edeimato plaesion tou taes Hestias hierou taen kaloumenaen Rhaegian oion te basileion oikaema]. Plut. Num. 14. Habitabat propter aedem Vestae. Solin. 2. As Lipsius justly observed, Ovid confounds the Regia and the Atrium Vestae. The Vestals dwelt in the Atrium. Virgines quum vi morbi Atrio Vestae coguntur excedere, matronarum curae custodiaeque mandantur. Plin. Ep. vii. 19, 2. Correct by this the note on II. 69.
264. Intonsi. See on II. 30.—Magna, scil, for those times.
265. The temple of Vesta was round, [Greek: hieron enkuklion— apomimoumenos to schaema tou sympantos kosmou] Plut. Num. 14. Rotundam aedem Vestae Numa consecravit, quod eandem esse terram credebat, eamque pilae forma esse, ut sui simili templo dea coleretur. Festus. "Neque Noster sibi constat; namque hic et vs. 460, Vestam facit terram, vs. 291, vivam flammam." Gierig.
267. [Greek: Kai Gaia maeter Hestian de s' oi sophoi Broton kalousin, haemenaen en aitheri]. Eurip. Frag. 178.—Et Terra. Three MSS. read quae Terra.
268. Focus, ignis.
269. 270. Compare Met. I. 12.
271-276. These six verses are wanting in all the MSS. but seven, only one of which is of the first order. In one they come after v. 280. "Videntur mihi spurii esse, namque l. quo referes vs. 273, locata? Ad terram, vs. 269? At alia subjecta interposita sunt, volubilitas et angulus. Non ita negligenter Ovidius scribit. 2. Sententia inest inepta; cum in medio mundo sit, non esset in medio, nisi convexa foret. 3. Eadem sententia sed melius expressa legitur, vs. 279, et seq." Gierig. I think he is right, and that these lines should be rejected.—Ipsa volubilitas, etc. The orbis rotundus is evidently the world, (mundus) and not the earth. Mundi volubilitas, quae nisi in globosa forma esse non potest. Cic. N. D. II. 19. Yet, from the connexion, it is of the volubility of the earth that the poet speaks, and he would thus appear to inculcate the Pythagorean or Copernican system, which he surely did not hold.—Qui, etc. it (scil. the earth) has no saliant angles to press the matter (partes) external to it, i. e. the air.
277. The celebrated sphere of Archimedes, which represented the motions of the sun, moon, and five planets around the earth. It was enclosed in a glass-case, hence he says, aëre clauso, and it appears from this passage of Ovid, and from Cicero, Rep. I. 14, and Athen. v. 11, that it was preserved at Syracuse in their time. See Cic. Tusc. I. 25, Claudian. Epigr. 68.—Arce, is the reading of three MSS. all the rest have arte.—Syracosio. All the MSS. read Syracusio, which is repugnant to the metre. Heinsius corrected it. The Greeks used [Greek: Syrakosios], as well as [Greek: Syrakousios]. Compare Virg. Ec. vi. 1.
282. Tholus, a dome, round roof. "Tholi forma est [Greek: ouranoeides]." Neapolis.
285. [Greek: Reia—Krono teke phaidima tekna, Istiaen, Daemaetra kai Haeraen chrosopedilon]. Hes. Th. 453. Observe how all the names are changed into Latin ones!
288. Impatiens viri, unmarried. Compare Met. I. 478. See Mythology, p. 72. Ovid assigns two reasons for her having virgin-priestesses. 1. Because she was a virgin herself. 2. Because she was the principle of fire, which produces nothing. Cicero (Leg. II. 12.) gives two more. Vestae colendae virgines praesunt, ut advigiletur facilius ad custodiam ignis, et sentiant mulieres in natura feminarum omnem castitatem pati.
299, 300. Vesta a vi stando! Well might Gierig say, "mira est haec etymologia." The Greeks derived [Greek: Hestia] from [Greek: histaemi]. Terram nonnulli Vestam esse pronuntiant, quod in mundo stet sola, caeteris ejus partibus mobilitate perpetua constitutis. Arnob. adv. Gen. III. p. 119. [Greek: Menei Hestia en theon oiko monae]. Plat. Phaedrus.