they also had a month called after Mars.
91, 92. The people of Aricia and of Tusculum follow the same rule as the
Albans, making March the third month. According to Krebs, the
construction is, _Inter Ar. et Alb. et Teleg. manu facta moenia celsa
constant tempora_. It is harsh taken any way.
94. First after three months, that is, the fourth.
95, 96. March was the fourth month also to the Pelignians, and their
Sabine ancestors. For the best account of all these peoples of ancient
Italy, see Niebuhr's Roman History.
97, 98. In reality he only followed the Alban, or rather general Latin
calendar, in which March was the third month.
101, 102. Compare Hor. Epist. II. 1, 156. Virg. aen. vi. 850.--_Male
forte_, same as _non forte_, _imbelle_.
103, 104. War was the science of the Romans.--_Pugnabat_. Three MSS. read
_pugnarat_.
105. The Hyades and Pleiades are always spoken of together by the poets,
as being near each other in position.--_Pliadas Atlanteas_. See IV. 169,
[Greek: Plaeiadon Atlageneon epitellomenaon]. Hesiod. See Mythology, p.
52 and 418.
106. The Arctic and Antarctic poles.
107, 108. Cynosure ([Greek: kynos oura]) was a name of the Lesser Bear:
Helice ([Greek: helikae]) from its revolving round the pole, a name of
the Greater Bear. _Omnes qui Peloponnesum incolunt priore utuntur Arcto;
Phoenices autem, quam a suo inventore_ (Thalete) _acceperunt, observant
Cynosuram; et hanc studiosius perspiciendo diligentius navigare
existimantur_. Hygin. Poët. Astron. II. 2.
111. _Libera_, as being unobserved, left to themselves, as it were;
subjected to no laws.
112. _Constabat_, &c. Burmann and Gierig take the meaning to be: they
believed the stars to be divinities. May it not be: nevertheless, though
ignorant of astronomy, they believed in the gods? A stroke at the learned
infidelity of the poet's own days, like Gray's, "No very great wit, he
believed in a god."
113, 114. A play on words as usual. _Movere signa coelestia_ seems rather
harsh, but it is not without example. _Numeri movent astra_, Lucan, I.
640. _Carmina quîs ignes movimus aërios_, Cinna in Anthol. Lat. T. I. p.
441. _Movebant_ is the reading of seven MSS. six read _notabant_; all the
rest _tenebant_.--_Quae magnum_, etc. See Livy, II. 59. One of the best
MSS. reads _prodere_, which Heinsius and Bentley (on Hor. Ep. I. 67,)
prefer.
115, 116. A bundle of hay tied on a pole, is said to have been the
standard used by the Romans in their early days.--_Tuas_, of Germanicus.
118. _Maniplaris_. The soldiers belonging to one company, that is one
_manipulus_, or standard, were called _manipulares_.
119-122. See Introduction, § 2.
119. _Indociles_, untaught. This passive sense is not unusual.--
_Ratione_, science scil. astronomy.
120. The Lustres or periods of five years, were smaller by ten months,
two for each year, at that time when there were but ten months in the
year. Gierig's note is _"Lustra quinquennalia tum nondum condebantur a
Romanis."_ This looks as if he did not understand the passage, though
Neapolis had briefly, but clearly explained it.
124. See above, I. 33.
126. _Spatiis novis_, the decades.
127. _Pares_. This is the reading of the best MSS. and editions; the
greater number of the MSS. read _patres_. It is difficult to ascertain
the meaning of the poet here. Scaliger, Lipsius and Dan. Heinsius think
he means the members of the senate, who were equals in age or in
property, See Livy I. 8 and 17, and, as Niebuhr has shown, it is highly
probable that the Roman senate originally consisted of one hundred
members divided into ten decuries. On the other hand Neapolis who is
followed by Gierig, understands it of the army, as in each legion the
soldiers equal in age and strength, were divided into ten centuries,
(_centum denos orbes_) of each of the three ranks, viz. Hastati,
Principes and Pilani or Triarii. The passage is exceedingly obscure, and
I cannot satisfy myself respecting it; I however rather incline to the
opinion of the first named critics, and the circumstance of _patres_
being the reading of so many MSS. proves that it has generally been so
understood. In this case we should place a colon after _Romulus_, and a
comma or semicolon after _decem_.
130. There were three hundred Equites in each legion, each mounted on a
horse supported by the state, hence called _legitimus_. They were divided
into ten _turmae_ or troops.
131, 132. The three divisions of the Roman Patricians: the Ramnes were
the original Romans, the Titiensis the Sabines; the origin of the Luceres
is a mere conjecture. See Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. Vol. 291--293.
134. See above, I. 35.
136. _Signa_, proofs or arguments. He goes on with farther proofs of
March having been the first month of the ancient Roman year.
137--142. The laurels were changed in the month of March, at the houses
of the Flamens, and of the Rex Sacrorum, the temple of Vesta, and the
_Curia Prisca_, by which last, Neapolis understands the four ancient
_Curiae_, (See above II. 527,) which still, as Festus tells us, remained
in Rome, the singular being employed for the plural.--_Vesta quoque_,
etc. Does he speak of a statue of Vesta? See above on v. 45. The
following passages are of importance. _Romani initio annum decem mensibus
computabant, a Martio auspicantes; adeo ut ejus die prima de_ (_in?_)
_aris Vestalibus ignem accenderent; mutarent viridibus veteres laureas;
Senatus et populus Comitia agerent; matronae servis suis caenas ponerent,
sicut Saturnalibus domini: illae ut per honores promptius obsequium
provocarent, hi quasi gratiam repensarent perfecti laboris_. Solinus, c.
3. _Eodem quoque ingrediente mense in regia, curiisque atque Flaminum
domibus laureae veteres novis laureis mutabantur_, Macrobius, Sat. I.12.
142. _Il. focis_. See above.
143, 144. _Hujus etiam mensis prima die ignem novum Vestae aris
accendebant ut, incipiente anno, cura denuo servandi novati ignis
inciperet_. Macrob. _ut supra_.--_Arcana_ and _Dicitur_, because none but
the Vestals dare enter the temple.
145, 146. A second proof is, the festival of Anna Perenna being in this
month. See below, v. 523, _et seq_.--_Fides_, proof, ground of belief.
147, 148. A third argument; previous to the second Punic war, the
magistrates, that is, the consuls, as it would appear, used to enter on
their offices in March. The poet is not quite correct in this assertion:
the Regifugium (see above, II. 685,) was at the end of February; hence,
of course, the first consuls entered on their office in March; but A.U.C.
291, the day was the Kal. Sext. A.U.C. 304, the Ides of May, and from
A.U.C. 600, the time of the Hannibalian war, the Kal. Jan. It is probable
that the poet, knowing that this last change was made A.U.C. 600,
inferred from the Regifugium, that previously the consuls had begun to
exercise their magistracy in March. There is no proof that he studied the
Annals with a critical eye.--_Perfide Poene_. Hannibal, with the usual
Roman calumny of the greatest man of antiquity.
149. A fourth and incontrovertible argument.
151. _Oliviferis_. The Sabine land was famous for olives. Columella, v.
8, 5. Mutusca, in that country, is called by Virgil (aen. vii. 711,)
_olivifera_.--_Deductus_, the proper term to denote his being brought
with pomp and ceremony to Rome. One MS. reads _devectus_.
153. _Samio_, Pythagoras, who was erroneously supposed to have been the
instructor of Numa.--_Qui posse_, etc. a periphrasis of the
Metempsychosis, which doctrine he taught. See Met. xv. 157.
154. _Egeria_. See below, v. 261, _et seq_.
155. In consequence of the imperfect nature of the Roman year, and the
arbitrary manner in which the Pontifices, for party and political
purposes, made the intercalations, it had fallen into such sad confusion,
that the festivals fell at the wrong parts of the year. Accordingly,
Julius Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus, with the aid of M. Flavius and of
Sosigenes, made it correspond with the course of the sun, after the
manner of the Egyptian year. For this purpose, he had to add no less than
sixty-seven days to the year 708. These he inserted between November and
December, and, as the intercalary month also fell in this year, it
consisted of fifteen months.
157-160. Caesar was not yet a god, but the poet could not let pass an
occasion of displaying his wit, and flattering the imperial family.
161. _Moras Solis_. The time the son spends in the signs of the Zodiac.
162. _Exactis_, certain.
163-166. The Julian year of 365 days 6 hours; the day, which the hours of
four years made, being added at the end of the lustre.--_Junxit_. Two
MSS. read _auxit_.--_Quarta_. Many MSS. read _quinta_.--_Consummatur_,
to complete, to make up of parts. Some MSS. have _consumatur_, which
Heinsius preferred.
167. The poet now begins to inquire of the god why the Matronalia, a
festival on which the matrons sacrificed to Juno, and sent presents to
each other, and received them from their husbands, should be on the
Kalends of the month sacred to the god of war. The deity assigns five
causes.
168. Witness Homer's invocations to the Muses.
169. "Cum a viris soleas coli," Gierig. When you preside over manly
occupations, is the interpretation of Lenz. May it not be, Since thine
occupations are all of a manly character?
173, 174. I, a god whose chief value is in arms, am now, for the first
time, called to the pursuits of peace. By the poet or by the matrons?
_Gressus_, etc. alluding, perhaps, to his name Gradivus, v. 169.
177. See above, I. 101.
179. First cause, the rape of the Sabines.
180. _Hujus_, scil. _Romae_. Some MSS. read _urbis_.
184. The straw-roofed cottage, said to have been the abode of Romulus,
was still standing on the Palatine, in the time of the poet.
195, 196. They (the neighbouring peoples) have the _connubium_, or
intermarry with nations at ever so great a distance, but their women all
looked down on the Romans.
197. _Patriam_, like thy father's, to take by force what was refused to
entreaty.
198. _Tolle preces_, away with entreaties. Thus, _tolle moras_, Met.
xiii. 556. _Tolle querelas_, Hor. Ep. I. 12. 3.
199. 200. _Consus_, etc. In this parenthesis the god addresses the poet.
The readings of the MSS. differ very much here. Most have _Illo festa die
dum s. s. facis_, making it a part of the advice of the god to his son.
Heinsius followed those which read, _Ipso festa die d. s. s. canes_.
_Illo_ or _illa_--_festa_ or _facta_--_canes_, _canas_, _coles_, _facis_,
are the readings of various MSS. The present reading, with _canet_
instead of _canas_, was proposed by Gronovius, and adopted by Gierig. The
Consualia were on the XV. Kal. Sept. It is a pity that the poem does not
go so far, as Ovid might have given us some additional information
respecting Consus. See Mythology, p. 473.
201. Scil. the Caeninenses, the Crustumini, and the Antemnates. See the
story in Livy, I.
202. It is not at all unlikely that, as Donza supposes, he glances here
at the war between Julius Caesar, and his son-in-law, Pompey.
203. The war lasted to the third year.
205. _Dictam_, appointed.
206. _Nurus_, Hersilia, the wife of Romulus.
219. The construction is, _ut (feminae quae erant) passis capillis
tetigere_, etc.
223. Seen for the first time.
224. Taubner thinks that by pinching the babes, they made them cry _Ah!
vae!_ which sounded like _ave!_ Much as Ovid loved to play on words, I can
hardly suspect him of this.
230. _Oebalides_. See I. 260.
231-234. Second cause. Was this the real cause, or is it because Ilia was
a mother by me, that the matrons hold their feast on the Kalends of my
month?
235-244. Third cause. It was fit that in the season of fecundity the
matrons should pray to Juno for offspring. Compare this description of
the spring with that in I. 151, _et seq_. See also Hor. Car. iv. 7.--
_Hiems. adop. gel_. the _glacialis hiems_ of Virgil.--_Victae_. Several
MSS. read _lapsae_; one _maestae_. Heinsius proposes _ictae_, but as
Burmann justly observes, why alter so excellent a reading as _victae_?--
_Detonsae_, some of the older MSS. read _excussae_.--_Virida_. This is
the reading of the best and oldest MSS. and was adopted by Heinsius.
Burmann and Gierig follow those which read _uvida_; some have _humida_.--
_Tenero_. Some MSS. read _gravido_, which is, perhaps, the true reading.
See above, I. 152. One MS. reads _in tumido_.--_Occultas vias_, the
_caeca spiramenta_ of Virgil, G. I. 89.--_Hora_, season, like the Greek
[Greek: horae].
244. Taubner, who is followed by some translators, explains this line
thus: "quarum proles vel militis officio fungatur, vel sacerdotio s.
_votis_ oportet." Its plain meaning is, as given by Gierig: whose service
and vows is childbirth. _Et rudis ad partus et nova miles eram_, says our
poet (Her. xi. 48,) in the person of Canace. See above, II. 9.
245-248. The fourth cause, because the temple of Juno Lucina, on the
Esquiline hill, was first opened for worship on the Kalends of March.
245. _Ubi rex_, etc. Ten MSS. read _ibi rex R_. two _regi R_. which
reading is adopted by Heinsius, and retained by Gierig. The _excubiae_
were held by Romulus on the Esquiline, at the time that he suspected
Titus Tatius of bad faith.--_Agebat_. Several of the best MSS. have
_habebat_.
246. _Esquilias alii scripserunt ab excubiis regis dictas_. Varro, iv. 8.
Ovid seems to follow the same etymology: the true one is from _esculus_.
--_Qui_. This is the reading of all the MSS. Heinsius, Burmann and
Gierig read _qua_.
251. The fifth cause. Juno, the mother of Mars, loves married women, who,
in return, honor me. The Grecian Hera, by the way, was the mother of
Ares; but the same was not the case with the Italian Juno and Mars. See
Mythology.--_Matrum_. Heinsius adopts _matris_ on conjecture, which
reading is received by Burmann and Gierig. Some MSS. have _matres_.
254. _Cingite caput_, of the statue of the goddess, says Gierig, perhaps
of the worshipper.
259. As the Salii bore the sacred _ancilia_ through the city on the
Kalends of March, the poet now proceeds to enquire into the origin of
this institution. See Livy, I. 20.
261. _Nympha_, scil. Egeria.--_Nemori_, etc. See v. 263--275.--
_Operata_. Seven MSS. read _adoperta_.
262. _Facta_. Some MSS. read _festa_, others _sacra_.
263. Met. xv. 479, _et seq_. Virg. aen. vii. 761, _et seq_. This account
of the grove of Aricia is a complete digression in this place. Aricia,
and its grove, lay at the foot of the Mons Albanus.
265. An _Indiges_, named Virbius, was worshiped here, who was identified
with Hippolytus.
267, 268. This practice may be witnessed at the present day, in every
country where the Roman Catholic religion prevails.--_Longas sepes_. The
wall, says Neapolis, surrounding the sacred grove.
269, 270. It was the custom for women, whose prayers to this goddess had
been heard, to carry lighted torches from the city to the grove of
Aricia. See Propert, II. 23, 39.
271, 272. The priest of Diana, in this grove, called Rex Nemorensis, was
always a runaway slave, who had slain his predecessor in office. He
always went armed, to protect himself from aspirants to his dignity.
Strabo calls this a barbarous and Scythian custom, and it led to the idea
of the Arician Diana, being one with the Tauric Artemis.
273--275. See Juvenal's account of this fountain. Sat. III.
274. _Bibi_. The other editions, following some MSS. read _bibes_.
277-284. See Livy, Dionysius and Plutarch.
283. _Vertitur_, is changed.
285. This legend was related in the same manner by the historian Valerius
Antias, from whom Ovid probably took it. As Livy, I. 20, relates the
matter differently, it probably was not in the Annals of Ennius. It was
evidently founded on the adventure of Menelaus with Proteus. Hom. Od. iv.
See also Virg. G. iv. 387, _et seq_.
291. _Picus Faunusque_. Old Italian deities. See Heyne Excursus, V. to
aen. vii. Mythology, p. 477.
292. _Prodere_. Many MSS. read _edere_, others _tradere_.--_Romani_, etc.
Each a god of Roman ground, i.e. a Roman rural deity.
296. Dark shady groves were, from a very natural feeling, regarded with
awe as the abode of deities. See Seneca. Epist. 41.
300. _Fonti_. To the deity or spirit of the fount.
301. _Dis ponit_. This is the conjecture of Heinsius; the MSS. read
_disponit_.
312. _Quatiens cornua_. To indicate the difficulty of the matter.
313. _Monitu_. This word is used to indicate information divinely given.
314. _Numina_, divine power.
317. _Deducere_, a magic term, the [Greek: katagein] of the Greeks.
_Lunam deducere tentas_ Tibullus, [Greek: Ai pharmakides katagousi taen
selaenaen]. Interp. Apollonii.
321. _Sum. ded. ab arce_. The reading of the best MSS. is _Valida
perductus ab arce_: some of the best have _val. veniet ded. ab arce_ or
_arte_; some _nostra perd. ab arte_.
322. _Nubila_, etc. He mixes, according to custom, the Greek and Italian
mythologies: the oath, by Styx, was peculiar to the former. See Hom. Od.
v. l85--_Nubila_, as the Styx, was supposed to exhale a dense vapour.
323. _Carmina_, magic verses.
325. _Scire nefas homini_. Is not for man to know. _Quid crastina
volveret aetas Scire nefas homini_. Stat. Theb. III. 562. See Hor. Car. I.
11. 1.
327-330. Some modern writers suppose that the ancient Etruscans possessed
the art of conducting the lightning which Franklin discovered, or,
according to them, re-discovered, and that it is exhibited in this poetic
narrative. Their conjecture is, they think, confirmed by the fate of
Tullus Hostilius, which they attribute to his ignorance of the proper
mode of conducting the electric fluid.--_Minores_, posterity.
337. _Ambage remota_. As this seems not by any means to accord with what
follows, Gierig renders _ambage_ circumlocution, as opposed to the
brevity with which the god speaks. One MS. reads _remissa_. The dialogue
of Jupiter and Numa will be easily understood.
342. _Piscis_. According to Plutarch, the _maena_. See above, II. 578,
_note_.
346. _Pignora certa_, the _ancile_. Celestial gifts of this kind, on
which the safety of the state were supposed to depend, were common in
antiquity.
347. _Aethera, motum. Vidisti motu sonitus procurrere caelo_. Profert,
II. 16.
352. _Crastina_, scil. _crastinas res_, what will happen to-morrow.
357. Virg. Ec. viii. l4.--_Rorataque_. Many MSS. read _rorata_.
359. _Acerno_. Five MSS. read _eburno_, but see Met. iv. 486. Virg. aen.
viii. 178.
363. It was the custom of the Romans to cover their heads when praying,
or performing any other religious rite, lest any thing of ill omen should
present itself to their view. See Virg. aen. iii. 405.
367 _Evolverat_. This is the reading of five of the best MSS. two read
_emerserat_, which Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig have received, and which
I should prefer. See v. 517. Most read _emoverat_; one _commoverat_,
another _ostenderat_.
369. _Sine nube_. It was therefore supernatural. Compare Hor. Car. I. 34.
6. Virg. aen. vii. 141.
371. Two of the best MSS. read, _A media subito coelum discedere visum
est_, which Heinsius prefers. Virgil (aen. ix. 20,) has _medium video
discedere coelum_, and if this last be, as I am inclined to think it is,
the true reading, it is not unlikely that Ovid imitated this line of the
aeneis: if it is not, the line is the work of some grammarian, and formed
from the Virgilian verse.
372. _Submisere_. One MS. has _surrexere manus_, which Burmann prefers.
For this sense of _sub_, see Virg. Ec. vi. 38. x. 74, _submittere
cornua_. Petron. 126, 18, 3. _Submissas tendunt alta ad Capitolia
dextras_. Silius, xii. 640.
377. _Ancile. Ancile vocatum quia ex utroque latere erat recisum, ut
summum infimumque latus pateret_, Festus. _Ancilia dicta ab ancisu, quod
ea arma, ab utraque parte, ut peltae Thracum, incisa. Ancisia Saturnio in
carmine_. Varro, L. L. iv. Ovid evidently follows the same etymology.
According to Juba, whom Plutarch copies, it is derived from [Greek:
ankylon] curved, and should be spelt _ancyle_. It is, however, certainly
an old Latin word, and is by all Latin writers properly spelt with an
_i_. It is well known that _y_ is no Latin letter, yet we constantly meet
_Sylla_ for _Sulla_. From Plutarch's description of the _ancile_, we may
collect that it was of an oval form.
381. _Caelata_, i.e. _sculpta_, or simply, made.
383. His morals were as perfect as his skill.
384. _Clausit opus_, simply, completed the work.--_Ulli_, some MSS. read
_illi_; one _illud_, which Heinsius and Gierig have adopted.
387. The Salii, clad in brazen armour, and striking the _ancilia_ with
their daggers as they sang the old verses ascribed to Numa, went through
the city dancing to the sound of pipes.
393. It was not considered lucky to marry on the Kalends of March, as the
ancilia were carried on that day. This day was also considered
inauspicious for commencing a journey. Suet. Otho. 8. Livy, xxxvii. 33.
396. _Condita_, laid up in the temple.
397, 398. The Flamen Dialis wore a peculiar kind of white hat, called
_apex_, without which he never went out; his wife wore a flame-coloured
robe, named _venenatum_, and a peculiar kind of band about her head,
called _rica_. (See Gellius, N. A. x. 15,) hence the poet says, _cincta_.
_Cincta Flaminica veste velata_ Festus. Some MSS. have _sancta_; others
_capitis distincta_, one _apicatis cura_. It was enjoined by law on the
Flaminia, not to cut her nails, comb her hair, etc. on certain days.
399-402. One of the Fishes set acronychally on the 3d March, the V. Non.
403. _Rorare genis_. Five MSS. read _rutilare_; two _comis_.
405. The poet commits an error here. Arctophylax _rises_ acronychally,
instead of setting on the 5th March.
407. _Vindemitor_, [Greek: protrygaetaer], a star in the right shoulder
of the Virgin, which now rises acronychally.
409. The story of Ampelos is told differently by Nonnus, in his
Dionysiacs. See Mythology, p. l74.--_Intonsum_, denotes youth and beauty;
it is therefore an epithet of Apollo, [Greek: akersekomaes].--_Satyris_,
to denote the lewdness of the Nymph, says Burmann. It may, however, mean
merely one of the Satyrs. Some MSS. read _Satyro_.
411, 412. These two lines were suspected by Heinsius. They are certainly
very indifferent, but without them the narrative seems imperfect. Ovid
would hardly have omitted an allusion to the name of Ampelos.
414. _Vehit_. This is the reading of five of the best MSS. all the rest
have _tulit_.
415-428. On the 6th of the month, Prid. Non. A.U.C. 741. Augustus was
made Pontifex Maximus. The P.M. presided over the Vestals.
417. _Quisquis ades_ etc. The Vestals, as it would appear, who alone
could enter the temple.--_Canae_. This is the reading of two of the best
MSS.; the rest have _castae_, one _gratae_. See Virg. aen. ix. 259.
422. _Vides_. All the older MSS. have _videt_ or _vident_; one _Vesta
videt_.--_Pignora juncta_, the pledges of empire, in the temple of Vesta,
were the Eternal Fire, and the Palladium (Livy, v. 52, xxvi. 27,) to
these now was joined.--Augustus. The force of flattery could no farther
go.
423. This is the reading of three of the best MSS. and adopted by
Heinsius, and the succeeding editors: the other MSS. have _Di v. T. d. p.
ferenti_.--_Dignissima praeda_, Vesta.
424. _Gravis_, i. e. _gravatus_, laden. See Virg. aen. II. 296. Three MSS.
read _pius_.
425. The Julian house into which Augustus had been adopted, derived their
lineage from aeneas. I do not, however, see the relationship to Vesta,
unless it be through Kronus, (Saturn) who was her father, and whose
grand-daughter Venus, was the mother of aeneas.
428. _Dux_, Augustus. This was probably written before the poet left
Rome, and he did not alter it.
429-448. An account of Vejovis, whose temple was dedicated by Romulus, on
the Nones of March.
429. The reading of the older MSS. was _Una nota est Marti: Nonis
sacra_.--_Una nota_, the Nones of March were distinguished by one mark in
the Fasti, one event had taken place on them.
430. The space between the Arx and the Capitol, in which the Asylum and
the temple of Vejovis were, was called _Inter duos lucos_. Livy, 1.8,
[Greek: to methorion duoin drumon]. Dionysius, II. 15.