family at Rome. He may, perhaps, mean their settlement on the Cremera, v.
207.
201. They went out at the Carmental gate. The Roman gates, as has been
already observed, were double. People went out by one, and came in by the
other. Ever after this day, no one went through the gate by which the
Fabii had passed. The way was named _Via Scelerata_ or _Infelix.--Jano_,
that is, probably, simply the gate through which they passed.
203, 204. These lines are wanting in some of the best MSS. Gierig, though
unsatisfied with them, thinks they are necessary to the narration. It
does not seem so to me. We have only to understand the poet thus: they
went out, etc. v. 199, the way _by which they went_ is next etc. v. 201,
to have a very good sense.
206. _Hibernis_, produced by the melting of the snow. It was now the
spring. See note on v. 390.
214. _Parant_, scil. the Tuscans.
225, 226. The poet, as if present, calls out to them.--_Simplex_,
incautious, unsuspicious of guile.
237. _Herculeae gentis_. It was the tradition of the Fabian family that
they derived their origin from Hercules, by a daughter of Evander.
239. Niebuhr _ut supra_, shews that the Fabius who remained at Rome, must
have been then a grown man. He thinks the cause of his staying behind was
his differing in politics from the rest of the family.
241. The celebrated Fabius Maximas Cunctator, the man who shewed how to
vanquish Hannibal.
243. The day after the Ides these three signs, which lie close together,
rise acronychally.
247. The inferior gods offered sacrifices to the superior. See below, iv.
423. aeschyl. Prom. 526, _et seq_.
254. _Eam_, the tree for the fruit.
255. Figs ripen very fast (Pliny, xv. 19,) so that this is not badly
invented.
260. _Tenuit_ is used here in a double sense.
263. _Lactens_, that is, full of juice. It was peculiarly used of the
fig.
264. _De nullo_, etc. It was an opinion of the ancients, that for sixty
days before the figs ripened, the ravens were affected by a looseness of
bowels, which obliged them to abstain from every thing humid. Pliny, X.
12. aelian. V. Il. II. 5.
267. The Lupercalia were celebrated on the 15th February, the xv. Kal.
Mart. The poet here, according to the custom of the Latin poets,
confounds the ancient Italian deity, Faunus, with the Pan of the
Arcadians. On these occasions, a theory or a legend was always devised to
explain the manner in which the worship had been introduced. For Pan, see
Mythology, p. 198.
272. He most haunts the Arcadian mountains, or, he is most worshiped
there.
273. _Pholoë_, the mountain of that name.
274. This is an error, the Ladom falls into the Alpheus.
277. _Equarum_. Several MSS. read _aquarum_, which reading Burmann
defends, as Pan is called [Greek: aktios] by Theocritus. Idyll. V. 14.
278. Instead of _Pan ovium custos_.
280. That is, there was no town there at the time.
281. The Arcadians were always regarded as of the Pelasgian race.
282. The Flamen Dialis always bore a part in the Lupercalia.
285. The _first_ reason; they imitated the god himself.
289. The _second_; they commemorated the ancient mode of life in Arcadia.
It was said that Jupiter was born in this country. Callim. H. I.
290. See above, I. 469.
291. _Feris_. One MS. reads _ferae_; another _fere_; another _et fere.--
Usus_, occupations.
292. _Erat_. One MS. reads _erant_, which is adopted by Heinsius, Burmann
and Gierig.
299. _Sub Jove_, same as _sub dio_, in the open air.
301. _Detecti_, scil. the _naked_ Luperci.
302. _Opes_, that is, the want of wealth.
303. The _third_ reason for the nudity of the Luperci.--_Faunus_, scil.
Pan.
305. _Dominae_, Omphale, queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules was sold by
Mercury.
310. _Aurato sinu_. Her robe had threads of gold woven into it, or was
embroidered.
311. _Umbracula_, the _skiadia_, the modern umbrella--_Rapidos_. This is
the reading of eleven MSS. the rest have _tepidos_, which is very tame.
_Rapidos_ well expresses the consuming power of fire.
313. _Tenebat_, scil. Omphale, thus _subit_, v. 315. Some MSS. read
_tenebant_.
314. Hesperus is beautifully styled _roscidus_, as the dews of evening
accompany his appearance in the summer-season. The poet gives him a
dark-coloured horse, as the sky is then becoming every moment darker;
for the opposite reason, a white horse is given to Lucifer. "Hesperus,
that led The starry host, _rode_ brightest." Milton.
321. _Vincla_, either the wrists or the arm-holes of the tunic, which
would appear to have had running-strings in them.
324. _Scindebant_. Seven MSS. read _stringebant_.
326. _Tela minora_, the arrows opposed to the club.
329. Previous to a sacrifice, _à Venere abstinebant.--Pia sacra_, like
_pia tura, pium far_.
337. _Captata_, felt by groping, One MS. reads _tractata_.
359. A _fourth_ reason for this custom.--_Peregrinis causas Latinas_.
Three MSS. read peregrinae; two read _causam_. Perhaps the best reading
would be _peregrinis causam Latinam_.
360. _Suo pulvere_, in his own common (i.e. Italian) course.
361. Scil. at the Lupercalia.
363. _Transsuta_, Others read _transfixa, transita_, or _trajecta_.
367, 368. These lines are wanting in three MSS. and are probably
spurious.--_Caestibus_. Six MSS. read _vectibus_, which Heinius prefers,
as the caestus was unknown to the old Romans, and pitching bar(_vectis_)
was a common exercise of the Roman soldiery. The poets, however, troubled
themselves little about minutiae of this kind. Some MMS. have _vestibus_.
375-378. Fabius, says the legend, was over the comrades of Remus, and
Quinctilius over those of Romulus; and those under them were named from
them. The truth is, the Fabian family were of the Sabine, the
Quinctilian, of the Roman part of the nation.
380. _Quod bene cessit_. Several of the best MSS. read _gessit_. Some
_qui lene gesset_.
381. He now proceeds to inquire into the origin of the names _Lupercal_
and _Lupercalia_, and takes this occasion of relating the early history
of the founders of Rome.
383. _Ilia_. Most MSS. read _Silvia_.
385. _Pueros_. The reading of most MSS. is _parvos_. Burmann observes,
that the ancients did not use _parvos_ without a substantive for
children.
387. _Recusantes_, unwillingly; refusing as far as they dared. Burmann
proposes _reluctantes_ or _repugnantes_.
389. _Albula_. This was an ancient name of the Tiber. The Romans, aping
the Greeks in this, as in every thing else, deduced the name Tiber, from
that of a fabled king.
390. _Hibernis_. Neapolis would infer from this, that Romulus and Remus
were born in the winter. This is pressing poetic language too close; the
Latin poets used _Hiems_, and its kindred adjectives, as the Greeks did
[Greek: cheimon], and the terms derived from it. The meaning is, the
river was swoln by the rains which had lately fallen. If we wished
regularly to confute Neapolis, we might refer him to v. 413, as the wolf
does not bring forth in winter.
391, 392. The different Fora or markets at Rome, were in the valleys
between the hills. The Circus Maximus was three stadia and a half long,
and one broad. It is probably to express its magnitude that he uses
_valles_ in the plural, as the measure imposed no necessity.
393. According to the account given by Dionysius from Fabius Pictor, they
came down with the babes from the summit of the Palatine hill, and laid
them in the water, which now washed its foot.
394. _Et_. Two MSS. read _an_, which Heinsius adopts and justifies by a
number of examples, and which is certainly the more elegant.
396. _Iste_, scil. Romulus.
398. _Esse_, scil: _patrem_. This ellipsis well expresses the doubt and
hesitation of the speaker.--_Suspicor_. Three MSS. read _suspicer_.
400. _Praecipiti_, critical, dangerous.
401. _Si non etc_. The ancients believed that a god could not, any more
than a man, be in more places than one at the same time. Hence the jest
that Diana could not save her temple at Ephesus from the flames, as she
was aiding the birth of Alexander the Great, in Macedonia.
408. Scil: the fate of Rome.
409. _Appulsus_. Eight MSS. read _impulsus_, which Lenz prefers, as
expressing the force with which the water drove them, but they were not
in the current of a stream, and the motion of the retiring water must
have been very gentle.
412. _Rumina_, from _rumis_ or _ruma_, the same as _mamma_. This must
have been the original name; the derivation from Romulus is futile. In
the time of Varro, as he informs us, (De L. L. iv.) a new _ficus
ruminalis_ was planted in the Comitium, which was standing when the poet
wrote. It withered in the reign of Nero. Pliny, xv. 18.
413. _Feta_, i. e. _enixa_, as the context shews.
416. _Perdere_. Two MSS. read _prodere_._--Cog. manus_. scil: the hands of
Amulius.
417. She shews her affection for the babes by the motion of her tail.
419. They might be known to be the offspring of Mars by the wolf, his
sacred animal, coming to feed them, and by their shewing no signs of
fear.
420. _Promissi_, i. e. destined by nature.
423. Another cause, a Grecian origin, from Mt. Lycaeum, in Arcadia.
424. _Faunus_, scil. Pan,--_Lycaeo_. Pausanius, who mentions [Greek: Zeus
lukaios], does not give this epithet to Pan. He speaks, however, of his
temple on Mt. Lycaeum. In an epigram of Leonidas, we meet [Greek:
lagobola Pani Lukaio].
425. Barren women placed themselves in the way of Luperci, as they ran
about striking people with their goat-skin thongs, as the contact of the
sacred lash was supposed to produce fecundity.--_Herbis_, etc. the usual
modes of obtaining the power of bearing children.
428. _Optatum_. One MS. which is followed by Heinsius and Gierig, has
_optati_.
433. Instead of increasing the number and strength of his people by their
having offspring, he had only brought on himself and them the war with
the Sabines.
435, 436. The grove of Juno Lucina. Varro, L. L. iv.
440. _Mira_, wonderful things.
441. _Italidas_. Several of the best MSS. read _Italias_.--_Sacer hircus_.
Four MSS. read _caper hirtus_, in favour of which, it is urged, that as
the _caper_ was a gelt _hircus_, the wonder was the greater; and v. 445,
a _caper_ is sacrificed. I should feel disposed to adopt this reading,
which is that of Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig.
443. His name has not come down to us.
444. Etruria was renowned for augury.
449, 450. Two derivations of Lucina; one from _lucus_, as if she was so
named from being worshiped in a grove; a second from _lux_, as the light
proceeded from her. This last might identify Juno Lucina with the moon,
and with the Eilcithyia of the Greeks. See Mythology, p. 154.
451. _Facilis_ seems to answer to [Greek: praumaetis], an epithet of
Eilcithyia.
453-458. On the day of the Lupercalia, the sun entered Pisces, and winds
began to blow, which continued for six days.
461. _Dione_, Venus. In Homer, this goddess is the daughter of Dione.
Ovid confounds them, as he does the Hyperion and Helius (_Sol_) of Homer.
462. In the Giant-war. See Mythology, p. 238.
471. Others say, the goddess and her son turned themselves into fishes at
the approach of Typhon.
473, 474. He confounds, in the usual manner, the Aphrodite of the Greeks,
and Venus of the Latins, with the Atergatis or Derceto of the Syrians.--
_Timidi_, scil. _Deorum_, pious.
475. There was no festival, and nothing remarkable on the XIV. Kal. Mart.
The Quirinalia were on the following day. He takes this occasion of
relating the end of Romulus and his apotheosis. See Livy, I. 13. It
occurred on the Nones of Quinctilis.
477-480. Three derivations of the name Quirinus. The first is the true
one. See Mythology, p. 472.
484. _Officio_. The care and labour of Romulus.
487. This is a line of Ennius. It also occurs, Met. xiv. 814.--The poet,
in this account of the Assumption of Romulus, evidently keeps close to
the Annals of the old poet.
491. The _Palus Caprea_, or _Capreae_, was in the Campus Martius.--
_Capreae_. Some MSS. read _Caprae_; one _Capream_, which is adopted by
Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig. The Greeks called it [Greek: aigos hae
zorkos helos].
492. _Jura dabas_. According to most accounts he was reviewing the army.
The poet may, however, have used these words only in a general sense, to
denote any exercise of his authority. The assembly of the Roman people on
the Campus Martius was always regarded as an _exercitus_. See Niebuhr on
the Centuries. Rom. Hist. Vol. I.
493. _Sol. fugit_, in consequence of the darkness. It is not necessary,
with Dionysius and others, to suppose an eclipse.
496. See Hor. Car. III. 3, 15. This circumstance was evidently in the
Annals of Ennius, from which both poets derived it.--_Fit fuga_, hence
this day was also called the _Populifugiun_.
498. _Fides_, belief or opinion.
500. _Luna fulgebat_, consequently there could not have been an eclipse
of the sun. Livy says, that Romulus appeared _prima luce_, at the dawn of
day. Several MSS. read _surgebat_. I prefer the common reading, as the
poet, by saying that Proculus carried no torch, evidently means to
express bright moon-light.
501. _Sinistrae_, the lucky side, according to Etrurian augury.--_Nubes
crepuere_. Several MSS. read _Sepes tremuere_, or _sonuere_.
503. The usual signs of divinity.--_Trabea_. See above, I. 37. Plutarch
says, that Romulus appeared [Greek: huplois lamprois kai phlegousi
kekosmaemenos]. As the poet here uses the word _trabea_, I would take
_jura dabas_ above, v. 492, in its simple sense.
510. _Populos_, the Romans and Sabines, or probably as above, I. 38, for
_cives_. Many MSS. read _patres_.
511. _Collis_, the Quirinal. Festus, with much greater probability,
supposes it to have derived its name from the Sabines from Cures having
settled on it. Niebuhr thinks there was a town on it named Quirium,
whence came the name Quirites, at first peculiar to the Sabine portion of
the Roman people.
512. The Quirinalia were _stativa_. See note on I. 657.
513. Another name for the Quirinalia was the Stultorurn Feriae, because
those who from ignorance, or from having been on a journey, or from want
of time, or any other just cause, had not sacrificed with the rest of the
people on the Fornicalia, which was an indictive festival, (see preceding
note) did so on the Quirinalia. The poet takes this occasion of relating
the supposed origin of the Fornicalia.
519. _Jaciebant_, cast, i. e. sowed.
526. _Temperet_, that is, keep from burning.
527. _Curio_. Romulus, we are told, divided the people into 30 _curiae_,
over each of which was a _curio_. The Curio Maximus presided over the 30
Curiones.--_Leg. verb_. ex gr. _Lavatio Deum Matris est hodie. Jovis
epulum eras est. Aesculapii geritur celebraturque vindemia. Lectisternium
Cereris erit Idibus proximis_. Arnobius, L. vii.
529. _Multa tabella_. On which was inscribed in what Curia each part of
the people was to worship.
533. The Feralia, in honour of the dead, were celebrated on the 19th of
February, as this was formerly the last month of the year. Festus derives
Feralia, _à ferendis epulis vel a feriendis pecudibus_.--Varro, _ab
inferis et ferendo epulas_. The derivation from _inferis_ is nearest the
truth.
537. _Porrectis_. One MS. which is followed by Heinsius, and the other
editors, reads _projectis_.
542. _Sua verba_, suitable words.
545. See Virg aen. v. 94, _et seq_.
548. _Par. dies_, the days on which the Parentalia were celebrated.--
_Deseruere_, neglected.
554. _Deformes_, scil, _simulacra modis pallentia miris_, or, as Lenz
understands it, having no certain form.
557. _Viduae puellae_, either widows, or, if _viduae_ is taken in its
general sense, simply unmarried women. Two MSS. read _avidae_.
558. _Puros dies_, days not devoted to gloomy or melancholy matters, like
the Feralia.
559, 560. _Quae_ etc. opposed, it would appear, to the _viduae_ of v.
557.--_Hasta_. It was the custom to divide the hair of a virgin-bride
with the point of a small spear.
560. Torches were used at funerals and at the _Parentalia_, as well as at
weddings.
563. During this time, the temples of the gods were closed, and no sacred
rites performed.
566. That the souls of the dead loved to partake of food, is an opinion
as old as the time of Homer. See the [Greek: nekuia] in the Odyssey.
567, 568. The Feralia, or last day for appeasing the Manes, was the XII.
Kal. Mart, from which, to the end of the month, there were exactly
eleven; that is, six and five days. Some have thought that the poet meant
six feet only, and that therefore the Feralia were the VI. Kal. Mart,
but this is contradicted by v. 684, and by an ancient calendar which
places them on the XII. Kal. Mart.
569. See note on v. 533.
571. He now relates the rites performed on this day to the goddess Muta
or Tacita, to bind the tongues of detractors. Neapolis thinks that the
reason of uniting them with the Parentalia, may have been to give effect
to the maxim, _de mortuis nil nisi bonum.--Annosa_, Heinsius would read
_vinosa_ or _pannosa_.
574. _Brevis_, i. e. _parvus_.
575. _Plumbo_. Black lead was employed in magic. One or two MSS. read
_rhombo_, which is adopted by Heinsius and Gierig, and which I should
also feel disposed to adopt. The _rhombus_ or spindle, and the black or
party-coloured threads were of great use in magic. See Virg. Ecl. viii.
75.
576. Seven, like three, was a magic number.
578. _Maenae_. The _maena_ was a small fish of little value, which was
salted and eaten by the poorer sort of people. It was used on this
occasion symbolically, and was an appropriate offering to the goddess of
Silence. This, which is the reading of only two MSS. has been adopted by
all the editors: the MSS. in general read _menta_ or _mintha_.
581. _Vinximus_. _Vincire_ was the appropriate word to express the
hindrance of any action by magic art.
583. This legend must have been invented long after the Romans had become
acquainted with Grecian Mythology, as their ancient religion knew nothing
of choirs of nymphs, or of amours of the gods. See Mythology, p. 450.
585. _Indomita_, [Greek: adamasto]. Many MSS. read _immodico_, and
_victus_ for _captus_.
598. The nymphs of the Anien, the god of which, according to our poet
(Am. III. 6, 45,) espoused the mother of Romulus. Horace (Car. I. 2, 17,)
unites her to the god of the Tiber.
600. That is, her name was 615. The Romans had both Lala, from _lalia_.
601. He makes her the daughter of the god of the river Almo.
605. _Nuptam_ scil. Junonem. The common reading of the MSS. is _nuptas_;
some have _nymphae_ or _nympnam. It is evident that the poet wished to
express the busy meddling loquacity of Lara, as it would have sufficed to
set Juturna on her guard.
615. The Romans had both public and private Lares. The word Las is
Etruscan and signified _Lord_. See V. 1238, _et seq_. and Mythology, pp.
481.482.
617--638. On the XI. Kal. Mart. was held the domestic feast, named the
Caristia, from _carus_. "Convivium etiam solemne majores instituerunt,
idque Caristia appellaverunt, cui praeter cognatos et affines nemo
interponebatur; ut si qua inter necessarios querela esset orta, apud
sacra mensae et inter hilaritatem animorum, fautoribus concordiae
adhibitis, tolleretur." Valer. Max. II. 1.
619. He gives the reason why the Caristia followed immediately after the
Feralia, that the dead might visit their friends, and have their share of
the feast. See above note on v. 566.
625. Who thinks his father or mother lives too long.
628. Ino. For all the persons mentioned here, see my Mythology, under
their names.
631. The Genii, and all the domestic gods, were called _Di boni_, [Greek:
agathoi daimones]. The Lares or Penates are meant here.
633. _Libate dapes_. Place a portion of the food (_dapes_) on a _patella_
to be set before the gods, i. e. the _Lares_. _Libare, dapes, patella_
and _honor_, are all the appropriate terms.
634. _Incinctos_, that is, _succinctos_. See V. 2l7. 675. Persius Sat.
V.3l.
635. _Nox ultima_, the latter part of the night towards morning, Most
MSS. read _humida_.
636. _Larga_. One or two MSS. read parca, which Heinsius and Gierig adopt
without hesitation,--_Precaturi manu_. Heinsius conjectures _precaturae
manus_, which reading is adopted by Gierig. In their editions the line
runs thus: _Parca precaturae sumite vina manus_.
637. It was considered highly culpable not to join the name of the prince
in their supplications on occasions like this. Hence we seem to have
derived the custom of drinking the king's health.
639. On the VIII. Kal. Mart. was the festival of the Terminalia,
instituted, as was said, by Numa.
640. The Terminus or boundary, which also represented the god, was either
a stone or a post of wood placed in the ground.
643. He here gives a minute description of the mode of worshiping the god
of boundaries.--_Duo domini_, the owners of the ground on both sides.
644. _Bina_, same as _duo_.
645. _Curto testu_, a small earthen vessel. Heinsius has proved by
abundant examples, that this was a usual sense of _curtus_.
648. _Rami_. These were driven into the ground, or rather into the
sod-built altar, to keep the wood which was piled up from tumbling about.
650. _Canistra_, the basket in which were the corn, &c. to be used.
654. _Candida_, clad in white.
659. This is the hymn of the poet, rather than of the rustics.
663. The well-known story of the combat between three hundred
Lacedaemonians and as many Argives, for the possession of Thyrea. See
Herod. I. 82. Lucian, Charon, Valerius Maximus, &c.
665. _Lectus_, read; for when the three surviving Argives had run home
with the news of their victory, thinking all the enemies dead, he got up,
piled a trophy, and inscribed it with his blood. All the MSS. read
_tectus_; _lectus_ is the conjecture of Barthius, as Statius, Theb. iv.
47, says, _Et Lacedaemonium Thyre lectura cruorem_. It is almost certain
that it is the true reading; the exclamation in the following line
appears to confirm it.
667. See the story in Livy, I. 55.
669. _Inventus_. Five MSS. read _conventus_, which Heinsius and Gierig
have adopted. Gierig interprets it _cum ad eum convenissent augures_. I
must doubt if _conventus_ ever occurs in this passive sense. Burmann
proposes _tunc lentus_.
670. _Unde in Capitolio superna pars tecti patet quae lapidem ipsum
Termini spectat, nam Termino non nisi, sub divo sacrificabatur_. Servius
on aen. ixx. 448.
680. It is well known that aeneas landed in this part of the country. See
Virgil, Livy, &c.
682. The boundary of the Roman dominion was at one time between the fifth
and sixth milestone on the Laurentine way.--How it was enlarged in the
days of the poet! A sacrifice to Terminus was still offered on that spot.
684. A play on words.
685. The _Regifugium_, or banishment of the Tarquins, is placed by the
poet on the 24th February, the VIII. Kal. Mart. One very ancient MS.
reads _quintus_, which reading is adopted by Neapolis and by Petavius,
who accuses Ovid of gross negligence. One MS. reads _Septimus extremo_.
687. See the whole history in Livy, I. Niebuhr (Rom. Hist, I. 486,)
justly gives the palm to the narrative of the historian over that of our
poet. The modern historian's criticism of the whole story is exceedingly
well worthy of perusal.
690. Livy, I. 53. It is the story of Zopyrus, transferred from Herodotus
(III. 154,) to the Roman history.
694. _Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridae_. Virg.
703. This also is taken from Herodotus, (v. 92) who tells us that
Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, employed the same mode of giving
counsel to Periander.
704. _Sectus_. Most MSS. read _septus_. The former is much to be
preferred. _Seco_ is frequently used of rivers.
706. In the ordinary narrative they are poppies.
713. The poet in his haste or negligence confounds matters here, for this
response was given to their question, of who should be king of Rome. See
Livy.
716. _Turba_. There were but two sons of Tarquin sent to consult the
oracle.
729. _Torus socialis_, i.e. _uxor_.--_In officio_, faithful. _Fundanos
in officio esse_. Liv. viii. 19.