Occupat Apriles Idus cognomine Victor
Jupiter: hac illi sunt data templa die.
Hac quoque, ni fallor, populo dignissima nostro
Atria Libertas coepit habere sua.
Luce secutura tutos pete, navita, portus: 625
Ventus ab occasu grandine mixtus erit.
Scilicet, ut fuerit, tamen hac Mutinensia Caesar
Grandine militia contudit arma sua.
Tertia post Veneris quum lux surrexerit Idus,
Pontifices, forda sacra litate bove. 630
Forda, ferens bos est fecundaque, dicta ferendo:
Hinc etiam fetus nomen habere putant.
Nunc gravidum pecus est: gravidae nunc semine terrae.
Telluri plenae victima plena datur.
Pars cadit arce lovis: ter denas Curia vaccas 635
Accipit, et largo sparsa cruore madet.
Ast ubi visceribus vitulos rapuere ministri,
Sectaque fumosis exta dedere focis;
Igne cremat vitulos, quae natu maxima Virgo est,
Luce Palis populos purget ut ille cinis. 640
Rege Numa, fructu non respondente labori,
Irrita decepti vota colentis erant.
Nam modo siccus erat gelidis Aquilonibus annus,
Nunc ager assidua luxuriabat aqua;
Saepe Ceres primis dominum fallebat in herbis. 645
Et levis obsesso stabat avena solo:
Et pecus ante diem partus edebat acerbos,
Agnaque nascendo saepe necabat ovem.
Silva vetus nullaque diu violata securi
Stabat, Maenalio sacra relicta deo. 650
Ille dabat tacitis animo responsa quieto
Noctibus. Hic geminas rex Numa mactat oves.
Prima cadit Fauno, leni cadit altera Somno.
Sternitur in duro vellus utrumque solo.
Bis caput intonsum fontana spargitur unda, 655
Bis sua faginea tempora fronde tegit.
Usus abest Veneris: nec fas animalia mensis
Ponere, nec digitis annulus ullus inest.
Veste rudi tectus supra nova vellera corpus
Ponit, adorato per sua verba deo. 660
Interea placidam redimita papavere frontem
Nox venit, et secum somnia nigra trahit.
Faunus adest, oviumque premens pede vellera duro,
Edidit a dextro talia dicta toro:
Morte boum tibi, Rex, Tellus placanda duarum: 665
Det sacris animas una necata duas.
Excutitur terrore quies; Numa visa revolvit,
Et secum ambages caecaque jussa refert.
Expedit errantem nemori gratissima conjux,
Et dixit, Gravidae posceris exta bovis. 670
Exta bovis dantur gravidae; felicior annus
Provenit, et fructum terra pecusque ferunt.
Hanc quondam Cytherea diem properantius ire
Jussit, et aetherios praecipitavit equos,
Ut titulum imperii quam primum luce sequenti 675
Augusto juveni prospera bella darent.
Sed jam praeteritas quartus ubi Lucifer Idus
Respicit, hac Hyades Dorida nocte petunt.
Tertia post Hyadas quum lux erit orta remotas,
Carcere partitos Circus habebit equos. 680
Cur igitur missae vinctis ardentia taedis
Terga ferant vulpes, causa docenda mihi.
Frigida Carseolis, nec olivis apta ferendis
Terra, sed ad segetes ingeniosus ager.
Hac ego Pelignos, natalia rura, petebam, 685
Parva, sed assiduis humida semper aquis,
Hospitis antiqui solitas intravimus aedes:
Dempserat emeritis jam juga Phoebus equis.
Is mihi multa quidem, sed et haec, narrare solebat,
Unde meum praesens instrueretur opus: 690
Hoc, ait, in campo—campumque ostendit—habebat
Rus breve cum duro parca colona viro.
Ille suam peragebat humum, sive usus aratri,
Seu curvae falcis, sive bidentis erat.
Haec modo verrebat stantem tibicine villam: 695
Nunc matris plumis ova fovenda dabat;
Aut virides malvas, aut fungos colligit albos,
Aut humilem grato calfacit igne focum.
Et tamen assiduis exercet brachia telis,
Adversusque minas frigoris arma parat. 700
Filius hujus erat primo lascivus in aevo,
Addideratque annos ad duo lustra duos.
Is capit extremi vulpem convalle salicti:
Abstulerat multas illa cohortis aves.
Captivam stipula fenoque involvit, et ignes 705
Admovet. Urentes effugit illa manus.
Qua fugit, incendit vestitos messibus agros:
Damnosis vires ignibus aura dabat.
Factum abiit: monumenta manent; nam vivere captam
Nunc quoque lex vulpem Carseolana vetat. 710
Utque luat poenas gens haec, Cerealibus ardet,
Quoque modo segetes perdidit, ipsa perit.
Postera quum veniet terras visura patentes
Memnonis in roseis lutea mater equis;
De duce lanigeri pecoris, qui prodidit Hellen, 715
Sol abit: egresso victima major adest.
Vacca sit an taurus, non est cognoscere promptum:
Pars prior apparet: posteriora latent.
Seu tamen est taurus, sive est hoc femina signum,
Junone invita munus amoris habet. 720
Nox abiit, oriturque Aurora. Palilia poscor.
Non poscor frustra, si favet alma Pales.
Alma Pales, faveas pastoria sacra canenti,
Prosequor officio si tua festa pio.
Certe ego de vitulo cinerem stipulasque fabales, 725
Saepe tuli plena februa casta manu.
Certe ego transilui positas ter in ordine flammas,
Udaque roratas laurea misit aquas.
Mota dea est, operique favet. Navalibus exit
Puppis: habent ventos jam mea vela suos. 730
I, pete virginea, populus, suffimen ab ara:
Vesta dabit; Vestae munere purus eris.
Sanguis equi suffimen erit, vitulique favilla.
Tertia res durae culmen inane fabae.
Pastor, oves saturas ad prima crepuscula lustra. 735
Unda prius spargat, virgaque verrat humum.
Frondibus et fixis decorentur ovilla ramis,
Et tegat ornatas longa corona fores.
Caerulei fiant vivo de sulfure fumi;
Tactaque fumanti sulfure balet ovis. 740
Ure maris rores, taedamque, herbasque Sabinas,
Et crepet in mediis laurus adusta focis;
Libaque de milio milii fiscella sequatur:
Rustica praecipue est hoc dea laeta cibo.
Adde dapes mulctramque suas: dapibusque resectis 745
Silvicolam tepido lacte precare Palen.
Consule, dic, pecori pariter pecorisque magistris:
Effugiat stabulis noxa repulsa meis.
Sive sacro pavi, sedive sub arbore sacra,
Pabulaque in bustis inscia carpsit ovis: 750
Seu nemus intravi vetitum, nostrisve fugatae
Sunt oculis Nymphae, semicaperve deus:
Seu mea falx ramo lucum spoliavit opaco,
Unde data est aegrae fiscina frondis ovi;
Da veniam culpae: nec, dum degrandinat, obsit 755
Agresti Fauno supposuisse pecus;
Nec noceat turbasse lacus. Ignoscite, Nymphae,
Mota quod obscuras ungula fecit aquas.
Tu, dea, pro nobis Fontes fontanaque placa
Numina; tu sparsos per nemus omne deos. 760
Nec Dryadas, nec nos videamus labra Dianae
Nec Faunum, medio quum premit arva die.
Pelle procul morbos. Valeant hominesque gregesque;
Et valeant vigiles, provida turba, canes;
Neve minus multas redigam, quam mane fuerunt, 765
Neve gemam referens vellera rapta lupo.
Absit iniqua fames. Herb frondesque supersint,
Quaeque lavent artus, quaeque bibantur, aquae,
Ubera plena premam: referat mihi caseus aera,
Dentque viam liquido vimina rara sero; 770
Sitque salax aries, conceptaque semina conjux
Reddat, et in stabulo multa sit agna meo;
Lanaque proveniat, nullas laesura puellas,
Mollis, et ad teneras quamlibet apta manus.
Quae precor, eveniant: et nos faciamus ad annum 775
Pastorum dominae grandia liba Pali.
His dea placanda est: haec tu conversus ad ortus
Dic ter, et in vivo perlue rore manus.
Tum licet, apposita, veluti cratere, camella,
Lac niveum potes, purpureamque sapam; 780
Moxque per ardentes stipulae crepitantis acervos
Trajicias celeri strenua membra pede.
Expositus mos est. Moris mihi restat origo.
Turba facit dubium, coeptaque nostra tenet.
Omnia purgat edax ignis, vitiumque metallis 785
Excoquit; idcirco cum duce purgat oves.
An, quia cunctarum contraria semina rerum
Sunt duo discordes, ignis et unda, dei;
Junxerunt elementa patres, aptumque putarunt
Ignibus et sparsa tangere corpus aqua? 790
An, quod in his vitae causa est; haec perdidit exsul:
His nova fit conjux: haec duo magna putant?
Vix equidem credo. Sunt qui Phaëthonta referri
Credant, et nimias Deucalionis aquas.
Pars quoque, quum saxis pastores saxa feribant, 795
Scintillam subito prosiluisse ferunt.
Prima quidem periit: stipulis excepta secunda est.
Hoc argumentum flamma Palilis habet.
An magis hunc morem pietas Aeneïa fecit,
Innocuum victo cui dedit ignis iter? 800
Hoc tamen est vero propius, quum condita Roma est,
Transferri jussos in nova tecta Lares,
Mutantesque domum tectis agrestibus ignem
Et cessaturae supposuisse casae;
Per flammas saluisse pecus, saluisse colonos. 805
Quod fit natali nunc quoque, Roma, tuo.
Ipse locus causas vati facit. Urbis origo
Venit. Ades factis, magne Quirine, tuis.
Jam luerat poenas frater Numitoris, et omne
Pastorum gemino sub duce vulgus erat: 810
Contrahere agrestes, et moenia ponere utrique
Convenit. Ambigitur, moenia ponat uter.
Nil opus est, dixit, certamine, Romulus, ullo.
Magna fides avium est: experiamur aves.
Res placet. Alter init nemorosi saxa Palati: 815
Alter Aventinum mane cacumen init.
Sex Remus, hic volucres bis sex videt ordine. Pacto
Statur: et arbitrium Romulus urbis habet.
Apta dies legitur, qua moenia signet aratro.
Sacra Palis suberant: inde movetur opus. 820
Fossa fit ad solidum: fruges jaciuntur in ima,
Et de vicino terra petita solo.
Fossa repletur humo, plenaeque imponitur ara,
Et novus accenso fungitur igne focus.
Inde premens stivam designat moenia sulco; 825
Alba jugum niveo cum bove vacca tulit.
Vox fuit haec regis: Condenti, Jupiter, urbem,
Et genitor Mavors, Vestaque mater ades,
Quosque pium est adhibere deos, advertite cuncti:
Auspicibus vobis hoc mihi surgat opus. 830
Longa sit huic aetas, dominaeque potentia terrae:
Sitque sub hac oriens occiduusqne dies.
Ille precabatur: tonitru dedit omina laevo
Jupiter, et laevo fulmina missa polo.
Augurio laeti jaciunt fundamina cives, 835
Et novus exiguo tempore murus erat.
Hoc Celer urget opus, quem Romulus ipse vocarat;
Sintque, Celer, curae, dixerat, ista tuae,
Neve quis aut muros, aut factam vomere fossam
Transeat; audentem talia dede neci. 840
Quod Remus ignorans, humiles contemnere muros
Coepit, et, His populus, dicere, tutus erit?
Nec mora, transiluit. Rutro Celer occupat ausum.
Ille premit duram sanguinolentus humum.
Haec ubi rex didicit, lacrimas introrsus obortas 845
Devorat, et clausum pectore vulnus habet.
Flere palam non vult, exemplaque fortia servat,
Sicque meos muros transeat hostis, ait.
Dat tamen exsequias: nec jam suspendere fletum
Sustinet, et pietas dissimulata patet; 850
Osculaque applicuit posito suprema feretro,
Atque ait, Invito frater adempte, vale!
Arsurosque artus unxit. Fecere, quod ille,
Faustulus, et maestas Acca soluta comas.
Tum juvenem nondum facti flevere Quirites; 855
Ultima plorato subdita flamma rogo est.
Urbs oritur—quis tunc hoc ulli credere posset?—
Victorem terris impositura pedem.
Cuncta regas, et sis magno sub Caesare semper:
Saepe etiam plures nominis hujus habe; 860
Et quoties steteris domito sublimis in orbe,
Omnia sint humeris inferiora tuis.
Dicta Pales nobis. Idem Vinalia dicam.
Una tamen media est inter utramque dies.
Numina vulgares Veneris celebrate puellae. 865
Multa professarum quaestibus apta Venus.
Poscite ture dato formam populique favorem;
Poscite blanditias, dignaque verba joco:
Cumque sua dominae date grata sisymbria myrto,
Textaque composita juncea vincla rosa. 870
Templa frequentari Collinae proxima portae
Nunc decet: a Siculo nomina colle tenent.
Utque Syracusas Arethusidas abstulit armis
Claudius, et bello te quoque cepit, Eryx;
Carmine vivacis Venus est translata Sibyllae, 875
Inque suae stirpis maluit urbe coli.
Cur igitur Veneris festum Vinalia dicant,
Quaeritis, et quare sit Jovis ista dies.
Turnus an aeneas Latiae gener esset Amatae,
Bellum erat. Etruscas Turnus adorat opes. 880
Clarus erat sumptisque ferox Mezentius armis,
Et vel equo magnus, vel pede major erat.
Quem Rutuli Turnusque suis adsciscere tentant
Partibus. Haec contra dux ita Tuscus ait:
Stat mihi non parvo virtus mea. Vulnera testor, 885
Armaque, quae sparsi sanguine saepe meo:
Qui petis auxilium, non grandia divide mecum
Praemia de lacubus proxima musta tuis.
Nulla mora est operae; vestrum dare, vincere nostrum est.
Quam velit aeneas ista negata mihi! 890
Annuerant Rutuli: Mezentius induit arma.
Induit aeneas, alloquiturque Jovem:
Hostica Tyrrheno vota est vindemia regi;
Jupiter, e Latio palmite musta feres.
Vota valent meliora: cadit Mezentius ingens, 895
Atque indignanti pectore plangit humum.
Venerat auctummus, calcatis sordidus uvis:
Redduntur merito debita vina Jovi.
Dicta dies hinc est Vinalia. Jupiter illam
Vindicat, et festis gaudet inesse suis. 900
Sex ubi, quae restant, luces Aprilis habebit;
In medio cursu tempora veris erunt;
Et frustra pecudem quaeres Athamantidos Helles:
Signaque dant imbres: exoriturque Canis.
Hac mihi Nomento Romam quum luce redirem, 905
Obstitit in media candida pompa via.
Flamen in antiquae lucum Robiginis ibat,
Exta canis flammis, exta daturas ovis.
Protinus accessi, ritus ne nescius essem.
Edidit haec Flamen verba, Quirine, tuus: 910
Aspera Robigo, parcas Cerealibus herbis,
Et tremat in summa leve cacumen humo.
Tu sata sideribus coeli nutrita secundis
Crescere, dum fiant falcibus apta, sinas.
Vis tua non levis est. Quae tu frumenta notasti, 915
Maestus in amissis illa colonus habet.
Nec venti tantum Cereri nocuere, nec imbres;
Nec sic marmoreo pallet adusta gelu;
Quantum, si culmos Titan incalfacit udos.
Tum locus est irae, diva timenda, tuae. 920
Parce, precor, scabrasque manus a messibus aufer,
Neve noce cultis: posse nocere sat est;
Neu teneras segetes, sed durum amplectere ferrum,
Quodque potest alios perdere, perde prior.
Utilius gladios et tela nocentia carpes. 925
Nil opus est illis: otia mundus agit.
Sarcula nunc, durusque bidens, et vomer aduncus,
Ruris opes niteant: inquinet arma situs;
Conatusque aliquis vagina ducere ferrum,
Adstrictum longa sentiat esse mora. 930
At tu ne viola Cererem, semperque colonus
Absenti possit solvere vota tibi.
Dixerat:—a dextra villis mantele solutis,
Cumque meri patera turis acerra fuit.—
Tura focis vinumque dedit, fibrasque bidentis, 935
Turpiaque obscenae—vidimus—exta canis.
Tum mihi, Cur detur sacris nova victima, quaeris;
—Quaesieram—causam percipe, Flamen ait:
Est Canis—Icarium dicunt—quo sidere moto
Tosta sitit tellus, praecipiturque seges. 940
Pro cane sidereo canis hic imponitur arae,
Et, quare pereat, nil nisi nomen habet.
Quum Phrygis Assaraci Titania fratre relicto
Sustulit immenso ter jubar orbe suum,
Mille venit variis florum dea nexa coronis: 945
Scena joci morem liberioris habet.
Exit et in Maias sacrum Morale Kalendas.
Tunc repetam: nunc me grandius urget opus.
Aufert Vesta diem: cognati Vesta recepta est
Limine. Sic justi constituere senes. 950
Phoebus habet partem; Vestas pars altera cessit:
Quod superest illis, tertius ipse tenet.
State Palatinae laurus, praetextaque quercu
Stet domus. Aeternos tres habet una deos.
NOTES:
1. The poet, when about to commence the month of April, invokes Venus, to whom that month was sacred.—Dlxi. Four MSS. followed by Heinsius and Gierig, read vati, which is, I think, more Ovidian.—Gem. Amor. It is doubtful who these two Loves were, whether the [Greek: Eros] and [Greek: Imeros] of Hesiod (Th. 20l.) i.e. the Cupido and Jocus of Horace, (Car. I. 2. 33.) or the celestial and terrestrial Loves of Plato, or the Eros and Anteros of Cicero, (N. D. iii. 23.) See Mythology, p. 112.
4. Alluding to his Amores, etc. See II. 5.
5. Risit, etc. Compare Virg. aen. I. 225.
7. The poets of the Augustan age were fond of comparing love to military service, and employed the terms of Roman discipline when speaking of it.
9. Love was suitable and becoming to youth. Compare Hor. Ep. I. 14, 36.
10. See II. 360. Pulsanda est magnis area major equis. Amor. III. 15, 18, alluding to the races in the Circus.
11, 12. Repeated from I. 1, 2, 7.
15. The myrtle was the favourite plant of Venus. Dixit (Venus) et a myrto (myrto nam cincta capillos Constiterat) folium granaque pauca dedit. Sensimus acceptis numen quoque, purior aether Fulsit, et a toto pectore cessit onus. A. A. III. 53. Compare Burns' Vision, last stanza.
18. While I have the inspiration of Venus.
20. Caesar, Germanicus.-Tenearis. You (i. e. your attention) may be detained. See Trist. iv. 10, 49. Hor. Ep. I. 1, 81.
21, 22. The waxen figures (imagines) of all their ancestors, stood in the halls of the noble Romans, and they had all a stemma, or genealogy of their family, which descended from the first author of it. Venus, as mother of aeneas, was at the head of the stemma of the Julii, into which family Germanicus was entered by adoption, I. 3, 10, notes.
23. Pat. Il. Romulus, the son of Ilia.—Scriberet, i. e. describeret in menses.
24. Auct. suos. Mars and Venus.
27. There were all the Alban kings between aeneas and Romulus.
29, 30. He traced his lineage up to the gods.
31. Nesciret, i.e. Quis nesciret?
32. Scilicet is usually joined with the preceding line, and a semicolon placed after it; but see I. 29, II. 241, IV. 627. For this genealogy, see Hom. II. xx. 215, et seq. Virg. G. III. 35. Mythology, p. 435.
37, 38. See I. 527. Virg. aen. III. 148.
39. Aliquando, at length.
40. See Livy, I. 3. Virg. aen. I. 268.—Teucros. This name of the Trojans does not occur in Homer and the older Greek poets, and but rarely in the later. Like Graecus, Graius, it is constantly employed by the Latin poets.
41-56. Ovid has also given the series of Alban kings, in Met. xiv. 609, et seq. but somewhat differently. This list differs from that in Livy only by omitting aeneas, after Silvius, and by giving Epytos for Atis, and Calpetus for Capetus. The list in Dionysius differs but little. This writer adds Silvius to the names of all, after the grandson of aeneas. For these Alban kings, whose names are, beyond doubt, a fiction of later times, to fill up the space which the chronology of the Greeks gave between the fall of Troy and the building of Rome, see Livy, I. 3. Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I. 202. Compare the equally veracious poetic genealogy of the British kings in Spenser's Faerie Queene, B. II. c. x.
46. Calpete. The reading of several MSS. is Capete, but the metre requires Calpete, which Neapolis gave from Dionysius and Eusebius.
48. Tuscae aquae, of the Albula, II. 389.
61. The ancients gave two etymons of the name April, one Greek, quasi Aphrilis, from, [Greek: Aphroditae], the name of Venus, and its supposed root, [Greek: aphros]: the other Latin, from aperio. Ovid, to gratify the Julian family, adopts and defends the former, which is by far the less probable. _Secundus mensis, ut Fulvius Flaccus scribit et Junius Gracchus, a Venere, quod ea sit [Greek: Aphroditae]. Varro, L. L. V.
63. He tries to obviate the objection, that an ancient Roman name could not have been derived from the Greek.
64. The south of Italy, as being filled with Grecian colonies, and larger than Greece Proper, was named Magna Graecia. 65-68. See I. 471, 543, V. 643.
69. Dux Neritius. Ulysses, from the hill Neritus, in Ithaca, Hom. Od. ix. 2l.—Laestrygones. Od. x. 120. This tribe of cannibals was placed by some of the localisers of the Homeric fables at Formiae, in Campania.
70-72. aeaea, the isle of Circe, was supposed to be the promontary, Circeii.—Circeii, insula quondam immense mari circumdata, at nunc planitio, Pliny, H. N. iii. 5, 9. Tusculum was said to have been founded by Telegonus, her son by Ulysses. For the Laestrygones and Circe, see Mythology, pp. 241, 242. Tibur was said to owe its origin to Tiburnus, Catillus and Coras, three brothers, who led thither a colony from Argos. Hor. Car. II. 6, 5. Virg. aen. vii. 670.—Udi, on account of the Anien, and the rivulets and springs about it. See Hor. Car. III. 29, 6; also I. 7, 13.
73. Halesus. See Amor. III. 13, 31. Virg. aen. vii. 723. Halesus was said to have been a son or grandson of Atreus, who, on the murder of Agamemnon, fled to Italy, where he founded Falerii, and introduced the worship of Juno. The worship of Juno, both in Argos and Falerii, probably gave occasion to the legend, and the name Halesus was formed from Falisci. F. and H. are commutable. See on v. 630.
75. See Hom. Il. vii. 348, et seq. Hor. Ep. I. 2, 9. The tradition was that, being allowed to depart from Troy by the Greeks, he came into Italy at the head of a colony of Paphlagonian Heneti, and founded Patavium, now Padua. See Livy, I. 1. Virg. aen. i. 242.
76. Diomedes, grandson of Oeneus, king of aetolia, came, after his return from Troy, to Apulia, where Daunus, the king of the country, gave him his daughter in marriage, and a share of his dominions. Met. xiv. Virg. aen. xi. 246. There were in Apulia the Diomedis campi, and, on the coast, the Diomedea insula.
77. Serus. According to Virgil, the wanderings of aeneas lasted seven years.
79, 80. Why should not the gelidus Sulmo in the Appenines, the chief town of the Sabellian Pelignians, and the birth-place of our poet have a foreign origin, as well as Rome and Patavium? The reader needs scarcely to be told, that accidental similarities of names are the source of all these tales. The city of Tours in France, I have read, was founded by Turnus, the rival of aeneas, and his tomb was long to be seen there! See Selden's notes on Drayton's Poly-Olbion, Song I.
82. The natural regret of an exile at the recollection of his country.
85-89. A second and much more likely etymon of April. Hujus mensis nomen ego magis puto dictum, quod ver omnia aperit. Varro, L. L. V. Cincius also, a name of great authority, was of the same opinion, as we are informed by Macrobius, Sat. 1. 12. His reasons were: there was no festal day, and no remarkable sacrifice to Venus appointed by the ancients in this month, and the name of Venus was not mentioned with those of the other gods in the Salian hymns. Varro also says, that neither the Latin nor the Greek name of Venus was known in the time of the kings. For the difference between Aphrodite and Venus, see Mythology, pp. 105 and 464.
90. Injecta manu. Manus injectio quotiens, nulla judicis auctoritate expectata, rem nobis debitam vindicamus. Servius, on aen. x. 419.
91-116. He argues, in defence of Venus, from her dignity and power. Compare Lucret. I. i, et seq.
93. Natalibus, from which she herself was born.
95. Creavit. All the deities worshiped in Greece, as we may see in the Theogony of Hesiod, were born like mankind, Venus excepted, and even she in Homer, has a father and a mother.
103. Compare Virg. G. III. 209, et seq. aen. xii. 715. p. 76.
117-124. He now argues from the claims which Venus had on the gratitude of the Romans.
120. See Hom. II. v. 335 et seq.
121. See Hom. II. xxiv. 27, et seq. Virg. aen. I. 27. Mythology, p. 76.
125-132. He argues from the beauty of spring, as being suited to Venus. Compare III. 235. Virg. Ec. III. 55. G. II. 334, et seq.
126. Nitent. Some MSS. read virent.
131. From the III. Id. Nov. to the VI. Id. Mart. the sea was said to be closed, and the ships were laid up on shore. In spring they were launched anew. See Hor. Car. I. 4, 3.
134. Et vos, etc. A periphrasis of the meretrices, who wore a toga instead of the stola (longa vestis) worn by women of character. Scripsimus haec illis, quarum nec vitta pudicas Attingit crines, nec stola longa pedes. Ep. ex. Pont. III. 3, 54.
135. These washings of the statues of the gods were common among the Greeks and Romans, There is a hymn of Callimachus on the washing of that of Pallas. See Spanheim's notes on it.—Redimicula, the strings or ribbons which tied on the cap or bonnet. Virg. aen. ix. 616.
139. Sub myrto. That is crowned with myrtle, as is manifest from Plutarch Numa, 19, and Laur. Lydus de Mens, p. 19.
145. The temple of Fortuna Virilis or Fors Fortuna, was built by Servius Tullius outside of the city on the banks of the Tiber, Dionys. iv. 27. Varro L. L. V.
146. See v. l39.—Calida. This is the reading of fifteen MSS. the rest have gelida.
151. None of the commentators make any remark on this custom. The poet accounts for it in the usual way by a legend.
157-160. A.U.C. 639, as a Roman knight named Elvius was returning to Apulia from the plays at Rome with his daughter Elvia, the maiden who was on horseback was struck with lightning in such a manner, that her clothes were thrown up, and her tongue forced out, the trappings of the horse were also scattered. The Vates being consulted, declared that it portended infamy to the Vestals and to the knights. Enquiry was made, and three Vestals, Aemilia, Licinia and Martia, were found to have been carrying on an illicit intercourse with some of the knights. The Sibylline books directed that two Greeks and two Gauls should be buried alive, to appease some strange gods, and a statue raised to Venus Verticordia, that she might turn the hearts of the women from iniquity. The statue was dedicated by Sulpicia, the wife of Fulvius Flaccus, as she bore the highest character for chastity and purity of manners. See Plutarch Quaest. Rom. Plin. H. N. viii. 35. Val. Max. viii. 15. Jul. Obsequens, c. 97.
163. The Scorpion set cosmically on the Kalends of April.—Elatae, etc. An accurate description of the Scorpion.
165. The IV. Non. the Pleiades (called by the Romans Vergiliae,) set heliacally according to Neapolis, acronychally according to Taubner, who maintains that the heliac setting was not till three days afterwards. See Introd. § 1.
166. Queruntur. Queror is used of the song of birds. See Hor. Epod. 2. 20. Lucretius (iv. 588.) and Horace (Car. in. 7. 30.) employ it to express the soft and sweet tones of the pipe.
167. See II. 500. Met. i. 493.
169. Pliades. It is thus spelt here and elsewhere in all the MSS.— Humeros, etc. The Pleiades or seven stars in the back of the Bull, were said to be the daughters of Atlas who supported the heavens, consequently when they set, their father's shoulders were eased of a portion of their burden. When a constellation is added to heaven, the weight is encreased. Met. ix. 273.
171-179. Reasons why, though the Pleiades were seven, but six could be seen.
179-372. On the 4th of the month, Prid. Non. began the great festival of the Megalensia or Megalesia, celebrated in honor of the mother of the gods, the Phrygian Cybele, whose worship was introduced into Rome, A.U.C. 547. See Livy xxix. 14, (where it is pridie Idus) Lucret. ii. 598-623. Virg. aen. in. 104. vi. 785. x. 252, Mythology, p. 191.
180. Titan, the Sun, who is frequently so called by the Latin poets. See on IV. 919. Ovid also calls the Moon, Titania.
181. Berecynthia, i. e. Phrygian, from Mt. Berecynthus.
181. Idaeae. Cybele, was so named, from Mt. Ida.
183. Semimares. The Galli, or priests of Cybele.—Tympana, tambourins.
184. Aera, etc. cymbals.
185. The statue of the goddess was carried through the streets by a Phrygian man and woman.
187. Stage-plays were always performed at the Megalesia, Livy, ut supra, and xxxvi. 36. See also the inscriptions of Terence's comedies.
188. The days of the Megalesia were Nefasti. See Introd. § 3.
190. Lotos. The wood of the Lybian lotos was chiefly employed for the manufacture of pipes.—Theophr. Hist, plant, iv. 3. Plin. H.N. xiii. 17, 32.
191. Cyleleïa. Cybelean, from Mt. Cybele.—Neptes, grand-daughters, the Muses. As the Greeks identified the Phrygian Mother of the Gods, with their Rhea, the spouse of Kronus, and mother of the Kronides or Olympians, Cybele, of course, became the grandmother of the Muses. The Ops of the Italians, with whom the Romans identified her, resembled Cybele much more nearly than Rhea did, who appears to have been an allegorical personnage. See Mythology, p. 50.
195. Erato. Our poet invokes this muse for the same reason, A. A. II. 16. Apollonius Rhodius calls on Erato, when about to relate the loves of Jason and Medea, and Virgil (aen. vii. 37,) addresses her when he is going to tell of the war between Turnus and aeneas, for the sake of Lavinia, whom the former hero loved.
197. Reddita, etc. scil. by Heaven and Earth. The whole story is told by Hesiod Theog. 464, et seq. Mythology, p. 42.
204. Parce, forbear.—Fidem, the tradition, as the cause of belief.
205. Gutture. One of the best MSS. reads viscere, which is followed by Heinsius and Gierig. Three have gurgite.
208. Ardua Ide, would seem here to be the Phrygian Ida, but Hesiod, and the general tradition, made the Cretan Ida to be the scene of the infancy of the god.—Jamdudum, forth with. Virg. aen. II. 103.
209, Rudibus. Most MSS. read manibus; two of the best rudibus, four of the best sudibus, which is also the reading of Lactantius, in his quotation of this verse. Inst. I. 21. In the Greek narratives, the word is [Greek: encheiridia, ziphea], and [Greek: dorata], with which the rudes, foils or blunt swords, best agree. Lobeck proposes tudibus.
210. The Curetes are those who, in the Cretan legend, danced their [Greek: pyrrhichaen] or armed dance, about the cradle of Jupiter; the Corybantes were regarded as the attendants of the Mother of the Gods. The poet here evidently alludes to the resemblance between their name and [Greek: korus], a helmet.
215-218. See her figure. Mythology, Plate ix. 1.
219. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 785. Lucret. II. 607.
220. The poet and the muse are not quite right here. Cybele, as the symbol of the earth, was very naturally crowned with towers. Quod autem turritam gestat coronam, ostendit superpositas esse terrae civitates, quas insignitas turribus constat. Servius on aen. iii. 113. But the fact is, Ovid was entangled in the Euhemeric or anthropomorphising system, which prevailed so much in his time. See Mythology, pp. 19, 20, 442.
221. Secandi, scil. by the Galli.
223. For the story of Attis, as told somewhat differently by Diodorus, see Mythology, p. 192; see also Catullus, LXIII. and the notes of Doering.
225. Tueri, to be the aedituus of her temple.
226. Puer esse, to be a virgin, if the term may be used.
231. Ovid frequently uses Naïs as synonymous with Nympha. He is peculiarly incorrect here, for the nymph in question, as the daughter of the god of the river Sagaris, must have been a real Naïs, and yet he makes her a Hamadryad. For the Nymphs, see Mythology, p. 206.
233. Credens, etc. His madness thus commenced.
236. Palaestinas deas. As the whips and torches are mentioned, there can be no doubt that these were the Furies, but why they were thus called, none of the commentators can say. Marsus shews, from an old MS. of Caesar's Commentaries, that Palaestae was a town of Epirus, in which country the Furies had a temple. This, though bad, is the only explanation we have. One MS. reads Palestrinas, another Palatinas.
247. Now comes the narrative of the introduction of the worship of the Magna Mater into Rome, A.U.C. 547. See Livy, xxix. 10, 11, l4. xxxvi. 36. Valer. Max. viii. 15, 3. Silius. Ital. xvii. init. Compare Met. xv. 622-744.
249, 250. Dindymon, etc. Mountains of Phrygia.—Amoen. font [Greek: polypidax] Homer,—H. op. Troy.
252. Sacriferas, as bearing the Penates and the Eternal Fire.—Paene secuta, I think there is an allusion here to the legend in Virg. aen. ix. 120.
257. Carminis, etc. The Sibylline books.
265. Proceres, scil. Valerius Laevinus, a consular; M. Caecilius Metellus, a former praetor; Sulpicius Galba, who had been an aedile, and two who had served the office of quaestor.
266. Negat. This was not the case according to Livy.
272. Rome derived her origin from Phrygia.
276. From the following description of it, given by Arnobius, (Adv. Gen. vii. p. 285,) it is quite evident that this symbol of the Mother of the Gods was an aërolithe. Ex Phrygia nihil quidem aliud scribitur missum rege ab Attalo, nisi lapis quidem non magnus ferri manu hominis sine ulla impressione qui posset, coloris furvi atque atri, angellis prominentibus inaequalis. A more accurate description of the external appearance of an aërolithe could not easily be given.
277. Nati, Neptune. Let the reader trace this voyage on the map.
280. Vet. Eët. op. Thebes, near Adramyttium, the residence of Eëtion, the father of Andromache, See Hom. II. I. 366, vi. 395, xxii. 480.
282. The coast of Euboea.
283, 284. See Met. viii. 195, et seq.—Lapsas. Most MSS. read lassas.
292. Dividit, spreads itself: perhaps simply divides, as the Tiber had two mouths.
294. Obvius, to meet it.
300. The river was shallow in consequence of the drought.
301. Plus quam pro parte, beyond his strength.
302. Just as sailors and others do at the present day in all countries.
305. The Eponymus, or reputed head of the Claudian family, was a hero named Clausus. Virg. aen. vii. 706. Attus Clausus was the name of the Sabine chief, who, with his gens and their clients, came to Rome, where they were received among the Patricians, and became famous in Roman story under the name of Claudii. Livy, II. 16. This Claudia Quinta was the grand-daughter of Appius Claudius Caecus.
308. Acta rea, was charged with. A law term.
310. Ad rigidos. "Apud severos," Gierig. I think he is wrong, and that the meaning is, she was too free of her tongue against the old men, perhaps ridiculing them, and despising their admonitions.—Senes. Several MSS. read sonos.
312. As true of the present day as of the time of Ovid.
326. Was there a play acted at the Megalesia, of which this was the subject?
329, 330. This would appear to indicate the spot where the river divided. See on v. 292.
335. Coronatam. The custom of adorning the poops of vessels with garlands, must be familiar to every reader of the classics. See Virg. G. I. 304, aen. iv. 418.
339. Canus sacerdos, the Archigallus, or chief priest of Cybele, as Neapolis thinks.
340. It was the custom to wash the image of the goddess and her chariot every year in the Almo. Qui lotam parvo revocant (renovant) Almone Cybeben. Lucan. I. 600.
346. Boves. The car of Cybele was drawn by heifers.
347. The sacred stone was committed to the care of P. Corn. Scipio Nasica, the son of Cneius, who had fallen in Spain, as being the most virtuous man in Rome, It was brought into the temple of Victory, which was on the Palatium. The temple was not finished until thirteen years after, and the stage-plays acted on that occasion were, according to Valerius Antias, the first ever performed at Rome.—Non perstitit. This is the reading of six of the best and of other MSS. and of the old editions; four of the best, and three others have tunc extitit, which is the reading adopted by Heinsius and Gierig. I think the present reading gives the more Ovidian sense, scil. the name of the author did not remain unchanged; it was Metellus, it is Augustus. See v. 351.
350. The Phrygian man and woman who carried the goddess about, collected small pieces of money. This, by the Greeks, was called [Greek: maetragyrtein]. The poet gives a cause, and a wrong one for it.
353. It was the custom for the principal persons at Rome to give mutual entertainments, at the time of the Megalesia. This was called mutitare. Quam ob causam Patricii Megalensibus mutitare soliti sint, Plebs Cerealibus? Gellius, xviii. 2.
354. Indictas. "Proprie de non vocatis, sed qui sponte veniunt ad epulas. Suet. Ner. 27. Vitell. 13. Male interpretes a sacerdotibus indictas capiunt." Burmann.
355. Bene mutarit. Having exchanged her obscure Phrygian abode for the capital of the world. This reason is too trifling to be noticed.
357. Institeram. "Institueram, quaerere volebam," Gierig.—Primi. See on v. 347, or is it first in point of dignity, or first in order in the year?
359. See Virg. aen. vi. 787.
361. Qui se, etc. The Galli or priests of Cybele were voluntary eunuchs.
363. Vir. Cyb. Cybele was a mountain of Phrygia.—Alt. Cel. Celaenae, a mountain and town, at one time the chief place in Phrygia; the river Maeander rose on its summit, and the Marsyas not far from it.
364. Am. nom. Gal. Gallus in Phrygia, unde qui bibit insanit more fanatico, Vibius Sequester de Flumin. Pliny, (H. N. xxxi. 2. 5,) following Callimachus, enumerates the Gallus among those whose waters were good for persons afflicted with the stone, and adds, Sed ibi in potando necessarius modus, ne lymphatos agat. As, however, no river ever had this quality, we may be allowed to doubt the correctness of this etymology.
367. Herbosum moretum. The moretum called by the Greeks [Greek: muttonton] or [Greek: trimma] was a mess composed of garlic, parsley, rue, coriander, onions, cheese, oil and vinegar pounded up together. See the description of the mode of making it in the poem called Moretum, ascribed to Virgil.—Herbosum, an account of the parsley, etc.
371. Elisae, bruised or pounded, the part, of elido; most MSS. read elixae.
373-376. The temple of Fortuna Publica on the Quirinal hill, was dedicated on the Nones of April—Motis scil. amotis.—Pallantias, Aurora, as being daughter to the Titan Pallas. This genealogy, as far as my knowledge extends, is peculiar to the Latin poets. In Hesiod, Eos or Aurora is the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and niece to Pallas— Levarit. "Jugo solverit," Gierig.—Niv. eq. Such were suited to the candida Luna. In an epigram ascribed to Ovid, her car is drawn niveis juvencis. The fiction was caused by the horned moon. Nonnus and Claudian gives her the same.—Fort. Pub. This temple was vowed, A.U.C. 549, by the consul Sempronius on the eve of a battle with Hannibal. It was dedicated ten years afterwards by Q. Martius, Ralla created Decemvir for the purpose.
377. Tertia lux, scil. Megalesium, the day after the Nones.—Ludis. The plays were acted on this day.
380. Perfida. After the usual fashion of the Romans, to call rebels and traitors all who opposed them, or the victorious party among them. It was thus that Napoleon used to style the Spaniards rebels and insurgents. I need hardly observe that Juba king of Mauritania was most faithful to the cause of Pompey and the republic. He and Scipio put an end to their lives after their defeat by Caesar, hence the poet applies to him the term magnanimus, which denotes courage, as the Romans greatly approved of those who escaped from disgrace and insult by voluntary death. Compare Hor. Car. I. 37. 21. The victory was gained, A.U.C. 708. See Hirtius Bell. Afric. 94. Florus iv. 2. 69.—Contudit. Virg. aen. I. 264.
381. Meruisse, to have served.
383, 384. Sedem, scil. in the orchestra, where Ovid sat, as having been a Decemvir; not the fourteen rows where he might have sat of right, as belonging to the equestrian order, but to a seat on which the tribune could have no claim. The Vigintiviratus was an office, through which men rose to the senate. Of the Vigintiviri, three had charge of the execution of capital punishments, three of the mint, four of the roads, ten (the Decemvirs) of assembling the Centumvirs, and presiding when they sat for the trial of causes.
385. Imbre. The Roman theatres were not roofed. There was usually an awning drawn across to keep off the sun. See Lucret. IV. 73.
386. Pendula Libra. On the day after the Nones, the VIII. Id. Libra was in the sky all through the night, and was usually attended by rain. Pendula is a very appropriate term for Libra.
388. Ensifer. The better MSS. read ensiger.
389. The following day (IV. Idus.) began the Ludi Circenses or Cereales, in honour of Ceres. Tac. An. xv. 53, 74.—Inspexerit, looked down on.
391. On the first day of the festival, a pomp or procession, led by the principal men of the state, moved from the Capitol through the Forum to the Circus. The procession vas closed by the images of several gods carried on men's shoulders. This pomp is described by our poet. Am. III. 2. 43, and by Dionysius, vii. 72. Some critics maintain that the Cereales were but a part of the Ludi Circenses, which last were a festival of all the gods. See Suet. Jul. 76. Tacitus certainly, in the passage first referred to above, says, Circensium ludorum die, qui Cereri celebratur, but Ovid seems to make no distinction.
392. Ventosis, swift as the wind, [Greek: theiein anemoisin homoioi], Hom. II. x. 437, of the horses of Rhesus, [Greek: podaenemos], is an epithet of Iris.
395. According to the Epicurean system of philosophy, in vogue in his days, the poet regards the original condition of man, as similar to that of the beasts that graze.
398. Ten. fron. cac. "Tenerae frondes arborum," Gierig. The shoot or tender bough, with its fresh juicy leaves.—Erant. Most MSS. erat.
401. Compare Amor. III. 10. Met. v. 342. Virg. G. I. 147. Lucret. v. 937.
405. [Greek: Chalko d' ergazonto melas d' ouk eske sidaeros]. Hesiod. [Greek: Erga], l50.—Chalybeïa massa, iron, from the Chalybes who manufactured it.
406-408. This longing for the continuance of peace, and aversion to war, is to be found in all the poets of the Augustan age. It may have been partly flattery to Augustus, but I rather think it arose from the previous state of war which had lasted so long, and caused so much ruin and misery. Something of the same kind may be observed in Europe at the present moment.
412. Casta, pure, offered with a pure mind.
414. See I. 349.
417. He had already related this tale at considerable length, Met. V. Compare Claudian de Rap. Pros, and the Homeridian hymn to Demeter. See Mythology, p. 133.
422. Henna or Enna, was an elevated valley-plain, nearly in the centre of Sicily. Cicero, Verr. iv. 48.
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.