VIII. Paphos, Amathus, and Idalium were towns in Cyprus. Cythera is
an island off the southern coast of Greece. All four were celebrated
in antiquity as centres of the worship of Venus.
XIV. The robber was Paris, who carried off Helen.
XXI. _Ismarus_ was a prince from Lydia, a district in Asia Minor,
called Maeonia in ancient times. The Pactolus was a river in Maeonia,
famous on account of the quantity of gold it washed down. The 'Capuan
town' is Capua.
XXIII. The lions are there because Cybele the Phrygian goddess,
worshipped by the Trojans on Mount Ida, was drawn in her chariot by
two lions. The figure-head of Aeneas' ship was probably an image of
a goddess, personifying the mountain.
XXIV. Mount Helicon is in Boeotia, and was sacred to Apollo and the
Muses. _Clusium_ and _Cosae_ were Etruscan cities.
XXV. _Populonia:_ a town on the coast of Etruria. _Ilva_ (the modern
Elba): an island off the coast of Etruria near Populonia.
XXVII. Cinyras and Cupavo were sons of Cycnus. The legend tells us
that Phaethon rashly attempted to drive the chariot of the sun, and
was killed by a thunderbolt from Jupiter, while so doing. Cycnus,
who was devotedly attached to him, was changed into a swan while
lamenting his death.
XXVIII. Mantua was Virgil's birthplace. Hence probably the insertion
of this tradition as to its origin. Mincius, mentioned in the next
stanza, is a Lombard river, the Mincio, and flows out from Lake
Benacus (Lago di Garda).
XXXVII. Sirius, the dog-star, whose rising was supposed to coincide
with the hot weather, is always spoken of as bringing pestilence and
trouble. The connection between Sirius and the hot weather was one
of the conventions of poetry which the Augustan writers had borrowed
from the Greeks.
LXVII. The story referred to is that of the fifty daughters of Danaus,
who were married to the fifty sons of Aegyptus, their cousins. Danaus
ordered his daughters to murder their husbands on their wedding night,
and they all obeyed except Hypermnestra, who loved her husband
Lynceus, and so saved his life.
LXXIII. Trivia here refers to Diana. Gradivus is an archaic Latin
name for Mars.
LXXVII. 'Mute Amyclae' was probably so called because the
inhabitants had been forbidden, owing to false alarms, to speak of
the approach of an enemy. But if Virgil is referring, not to the
Amyclae near Naples, but to the original Amyclae in Laconia, then
the proverbial taciturnity of those inhabiting the latter country
offers sufficient explanation. _Aegeon_ was a monster with 100 arms
and 50 heads. He is more often called Briareus.
LXXIX. In the _Iliad_ Aeneas had been rescued from Diomedes and
Achilles. Liger is taunting him with this.
NOTES TO BOOK ELEVEN
XXXI. _Iapygia_, a Greek name for the southern part of Apulia.
_Garganus:_ name of a mountain in Apulia.
See also note on Book X. stanza iv.
XXXIII. The references in this stanza are (1) to the storm which
Minerva (Pallas) raised when the Greeks set sail from Troy. (2) To
the story of Nauplius, king of Euboea, who hung false lights over
the headland of Caphareus, and so caused the wreck of the Greek fleet.
XXXIV. 'Proteus' Pillars' means Egypt, and the stories of Menelaus,
as also the adventures of Ulysses with the Cyclops, will be found
in the _Odyssey_. For _Pyrrhus_ see note on Book III. stanza xliii.
For _Idomeneus_, that on Book III. stanza xvii. Agamemnon was killed
by his wife and her lover, when he returned home at the end of the
Trojan war.
XXXV. Calydon was the ancient home of Diomedes in Aetolia.
LII. The Myrmidons were the followers of Achilles--Tydides is
Diomedes. The _Aufidus_ is a river of Apulia.
LXIX. Opis was a nymph of Diana (Latonia).
LXXXIV. Virgil is comparing Camilla to the two famous Amazons,
Hippolyte who was married to Theseus, and Penthesilea who fought for
Troy and was slain by Achilles.
CVIII. [Transcriber's note: The rhyme, the meter, and the sense of the
phrase require a word here that is missing from the published text.
Possibly "flight" or "sight" was intended by the translator.]
NOTES TO BOOK TWELVE
XI. Orithyia was the wife of Boreas the North Wind, who according
to legend was the father of the royal horses of Troy.
XXV. The two children of Latona were Apollo and Diana.
XXIX. Camers was king of Amyclae. See note on Book X. stanza lxxvii.
XLV. The story of Dolon is taken from the _Iliad_. He offered to spy
upon the movements of the Greeks if Hector would give him the chariot
and horses of Achilles. He was however captured and slain by Diomedes
(Tydides).
LII. 'Paeon': a name used of Apollo as the Healer.
LXIX. 'Cupencus' was the name given by the Sabines to the priests
of Hercules.
XCI. _Athos:_ the mountain at the extreme end of the peninsula
between Thrace and Thessaly. Mount Eryx is in the north-west of
Sicily.
XCIII. _Taburnus:_ a mountain in Samnium.
_Sila:_ a range of mountains in the extreme south of Italy.
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