437. The statue of Vejovis represented a youthful figure, without any
thunderbolts, in his hand. He may, therefore, be Young Jupiter.
443. There was the figure of a she-goat standing beside it; a farther
proof, as Jupiter was suckled by the goat, Amalthea.
445. The country-people, called ill-grown corn _vegrandia_, (_Vegrandes
et imbecillae oves_. Varro, R. II. II.) and _vescus_ with them, was
equivalent to _parvus_. From all this he infers, that Vejovis is Little
Jupiter. This is not convincing. See Mythology, p. 468, where it is shewn
that Vejovis was probably a god of the under-world.--_Colonae_. Many of
the best MSS. read _colono_. Eleven have _colone_ (colonae); one _colonae_,
which Heinsius adopted. Gierig follows the MSS. which read _coloni_, and
he is, perhaps, right in so doing.
449, 450. The heliac rising of Pegasus on the Nones. For Pegasus, see
Hesiod. Th. 280, _et seq_. and 325. Met. iv. 784, v. 256. Mythology, pp.
223, 364.--_Variabunt_. Eight MSS. read _vallabunt_, which Heinsius
adopted.
451. _Gravida cervice_ is rather a curious mode of expression. Medusa was
pregnant by Neptune, and when Perseus cut off her head, Pegasus sprang
forth (_prosiluit_, [Greek: exethore] Hes.) with the blood: hence the
poet says, _gravida crevice_. He was named Pegasus, as being born at the
_springs_ ([Greek: paegas]) of Ocean.
455. See the story of Bellerophon.
456. The Horse-fount ([Greek: hippoukraenae] Hippocrene) in Aonia
(Boeotia), said to have been produced by a stroke of the hoof of Pegasus.
--_Fodit_. Nine of the best MSS. read _fudit. Rutilius (Itin. I. 264,)
says, _Musarum ut latices ungula fodit equi_. Avienus (in Arat. Phaen.
Equo.) _cornuque excita repente Lympha, Camenalem fudit procul
Hippocrenen_, I think _fudit_ the more poetic term.
458. The astronomers of the present day reckon eighty-nine stars in
Pegasus.
459-516. The Crown of Ariadne rises acronychally on the 8th March, the
VIII. Id. For the story of Theseus and Ariadne, see Met. viii. 175--182.
Ars Amandi, I. 531--564, Her. x. Hor. Car. II. 19. Catul. lxiv. 52, _et
seq_. Mythology pp. 411, 412.
460. _Gnosida_ Gnosian, as Minos, the father of Ariadne, reigned at
Gnosus, in Crete.--_Facta dea_, Ariadne, not her crown.
461. "Solent poëtae verbo _mutare_ Accusat rei acceptae et Ablat. relictae
addere." Gierig. Thus Horace, _Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem mutat
Lycaeo_.--_Faunus_.
465. _Depexus crinibus_, his hair neatly and carefully combed out. See
VI. 229. Bacchus, whom the Greeks named [Greek: eukomaes (eukomos], is a
general epithet of the goddesses) was like Apollo, distinguished for the
beauty of his hair. See Met. III. 421 and 555, iv. 13. The common reading
was, what appears the most obvious, _depexis_. Some of the best MSS. read
_depexos_, agreeing with _Indos_.
466. Some of the best MSS. read _venit_. For the Indian expedition of
Bacchus, see Mythology, P. I. chap. xiv.
476. My case is told or repeated.
480. _Dedoluisse_, have ended my grief; have died.
493. _At puto_, etc. Ironically.
495. See Hor. Sat. I. 3, 38.
499. _Matrem_ Pasiphaë. The story is well known.
500. Bacchus was represented horned, in consequence of the identification
of him with the Phrygian Sabazius. Mythology, p. 168. Hence he was called
[Greek: boukeros, taurokeros].--_Me tua_, etc. The best and most numerous
MSS. read _Me juvat et laedit_: one, _me viat et laedit_; another _me tua
me laedit_ or _laudat_: three of the best have the reading of the text,
the rest _me tua sed laedit_. Heinsius gives from conjecture, _me tua. At
hic laudi est_, which Gierig has received.
503. A play on words as usual.
512. _Libera_. The Italian religion, as I have observed after Niebuhr,
(Mythology, p. 455,) delighted in representing the deities presiding over
any object in pairs of males and females. Hence, with Liber, the god of
wine, was joined a goddess Libera, and when the Greek and Italian
religions came to be mingled, she was identified with Proserpine. Ovid
alone makes her the same with Ariadne. I forgot to notice this under the
head Liber Pater (Mythology, p. 469). I should be inclined to derive
Liber from libo, [Greek: leibo], instead of libero.
514. _Vulcanus Veneri_. One MS. reads _Neptunus Thetidi_. I suppose Homer
was running in the head of whoever he was that made this improvement.--
_Tibi_. One MS. reads mihi, which Burmann has received.
517-522. On the 14th or Prid. Id. was another Equiria.--_Demerserit_.
Several of the good MSS. read _quum deseret or deserit_; others _quot
demserit_; some _quum demserit_; three of the best _dimiserit_; others
_demiserit_; one _totidemque remiserit_; another of the best
_dimerserit_, whence Heinsius formed the present reading.
518. _Purpureum_, bright, see II. 74. Virg. aen. vi. 641, _purpureum
lumen_, scil. Soils.
522. If the Tiber, as was so frequently the case, had overflowed the
Campus Martius, the races were run on the Campus Martialis on the Coelian
hill.
523-696. On the Ides was the festival of Anna Perenna.--_Geniale, i. e.
quo genio indulgetur_. See v. 58.
524. Between the Milvian bridge and the point of confluence with the
Anien.
527. _Sub Jove_. See II. 299.
529. _Ibi_. Several MSS. read _sibi_.
532. _Ad numerum_. They reckon the cups.
536. Suit the action to the word by making gesticulations.
537. _Posito_, scil. in honour of the goddess.--_Duras_, aukward,
inelegant.
541, 542. Heinsius and Burmann think with a great deal of probability,
that a good many verses are lost after this distich, Burmann supposes
that the monks who copied the MSS. left them out, on account of their
indelicacy.
543. He now commences his enquiry into the character and history of
_Anna_.--_Errat_, is uncertain. Six MSS. read _errant_.
544. _Fabula nulla_, no legend or tradition.
545. For the whole story of Dido and Aeneas, see the Aeneis I. and IV.--
_Arserat_, the usual play on words.
551-554. See aen. iv. 36, 198, _et seq_.
556. See Virg. G. iv. 213. 565.
557, 558. Counting the years poetically by the harvests and vintages.
561. Favillae, cineres. Hor. Car. II. 6, 22. They used to pour wine and
precious oils on the ashes of the dead.
562. _Vertice libatas_, cut from the head, and laid as an offering on the
tomb. _Placemus umbras? Capitis exuvias cape, Laceraeque frontis accipe
abcissam comam_. Seneca Hyppol. 1181.
565. _Comitem_ is the reading of six of the best MSS. all the rest have
_comites_.--Pede aequo, the _pedes_ are the ropes called braces, by which
the yards are moved. This shews that the vessel ran before the wind,
_vento secundo_.
567. _Melite_. Malta; _Cosyra_, Gozzo.
570. _Battus_. Silius Italicus (viii. 51,) says of Battus, _Cyrenem molli
tum forte fovebat Imperio_, and he brings Anna thither. Battus was the
founder of the Grecian colony at Cyrene.
581. _Crathidis. The Crathis was a river in Magna Graecia, near Thurii.
582. _Parvus_. Two MSS. read _Purus_, which Heinius and Gierig prefer.
There are abundant instances of the use of _purus_ in the sense of free
from trees.
587. _Subducere_, to draw up, to furl.
594. _Is_. Two MSS. read _hic_,
602. _Populos duos_. The Trojans and Aborigines, under the common name of
Latins. See Livy, I. 2.
613. Italy.
615. _Deos comites_, the Penatestale, which he had brought with him from
Troy, aen. I. 6, xii. 192.--_Increpuisse_, "signis quibusdam datis,"
Gierig. Virgil does not mention this. Ovid was, perhaps, thinking of the
message brought from Jupiter by Mercury, etc.
617. _Morte scil. Didonis_.
618. _Credibile_, than what I believed, or could have believed.
619. _Ne refer_, tell not the tale.
621, 622. _Ratio_, your own choice.--_Deus_, fortune. See Hor. Sat.
I. 1, 2.
623. _Memores, scil. sumus debere_.
627. _Paratus_, dress. Met vi. 451.
633. _Falsum vulnus_, causeless wound of jealousy. Virg. aen. I. 36, iv.
67 and 332. Two MSS. read _tacitum_.
635. _Praeter sua lumina_, before her eyes. Seven MSS. _limina_. Heinsius
puts a colon after _ferri_, and a comma after _mitti_.
637. _Exactum_. She has not yet determined.
642. _Sub verbum_ as she spoke.
647. _Corniger_, a usual epithet of rivers, (Virg. G. IV 371. aen. viii.
77.) on account of their roaring or windings. The Numicius was between
Larentum and Lavinium.
654. "Si Nympha antea _Anna_ dicta, non opus erat ab _amne_ nomen suum
deducere," Gierig. The fact is, the poet here confounds two etymons, an
old one from _amne perenne_, and a later one from Anna the sister of
Dido. Was Anna mentioned in the poem of Naevius? or did Virgil first give
it vogue? It is a Semitic name, and occurs in Scripture.
657. A second opinion, Anna is the Moon.
658. A third, she is Themis; a fouth Io or Isis.
659. 660. A fifth, made her a daughter of Atlas, and one of the Nymphs
who reared Jupiter. These however are said to have been the two daughters
of Melissa, or simply the nymph Amalthea. There is however another
tradition which commits the rearing of the infant deity to the Hyades,
who were the daughters of Atlas.
661. A sixth theory, derived Anua from _anus_, and devised the folloing
legend which the poet thinks is not unlike the truth.
663. The famous secession of the Plebs. A.U.C. 260. to the hill beyound
the Anien, three miles from Rome, afterwards named the Mons Sacer.
667. Bovillae or Bovilla was a Latin town mot far from Rome, on the
Appian Way.--_Suburbanis_ does not mean close to the city, for Horace
(Ep, I, 7, 77.) calls his Sabine country-seat _suburbana rura_.
673. Can any thing be more silly than this account of the origin of an
ancient Italian deity? I have elsewhere (Mythology p. 479) observed, what
little taste and elegance of imagination, and I add sense, the Romans
displayed in the origins which they invented for their gods. The real
etymon of Anna Perenna is, I think, _annus_, as the poet himself would
appear to have seen: see vv. 145, 146. Perhaps, according to the
principle noticed above on, v. 512, she was a female corresponding to a
god Annus. It is curious to observe the resemblance which has been traced
out between her and the Indian Anna Purna in the Asiatic Researches.
675. He now undertakes to explain by a legend, why at the festival of
Anna Perenna indecorous verse were sung by young women. The mystics would
here, of course, talk to us of the symbolic wisdom of ancient priests and
sages, but the more probable reason is to be found in the rude simplicity
of an agricultural race, like the ancient Latins, and other peoples of
Italy, which also gave origin to the Fescinnine verses. On occasions like
this, however, one should always bear in mind these words of Johnson,
"The oringinal of ancient customs is commonly unknown; for the practice
often continues after the cause has ceased; and concerning superstitious
ceremonies it is vain to conjecture, reson cannot explain," Rasselas,
Chap. 48.
696. _Verba dedisse_, to have deceived.
697. Julius Caesar was slain on the Ides of March, A.U.C. 709. The senate
directed, that in future this day should be called _Parricidium_, and
that no senate should ever sit on it. Suet. Caes. 88.
698. _Locuta_, scil. to the poet.
699. _Sacerdos_, as being Pontifex Maximus. [Greek: All' outos ho pataer,
outos ho archiereus, ho asulos, ho aeros, ho theos, tethnaeken], are the
words of Antonius over him in Dion. Cass. xliv. 49.
703. _Vidit_. Two MS. read _servat_. Compare Virg. Ec. v. 56.
704. A temple was raised to Caesar. A.U.C 712. three years after his
death.
707. It was observed by the historians that all the murderers of Caesar
perished within three years after him.
710. _Caesaris_. Augustus.
711, 712. On the XVII. Kal. April is the cosmic rising of the middle of
the Scorpion.
713-790. On the following day were the Liberalia, which the poet now
sings.
716. _Parvus inermis erat_, scil. Jupiter. Most MSS. read _eras_,
applying it to Bacchus. Gierig is not satisfied with either reading, and
he thinks the passage corrupt.
7l8. _Expletum_ completed, brought to maturity.--_Onus_, most MSS.
_opus_.
719. The expedition of Bacchus.
721. Pentheus. See Met. iii. 511. _et seq_.
722. Met. iv. 22.
723. Met. iii. 597, _et seq_.
726. _Vilis anus_, a mean, or common old woman. Seven MSS. three of which
are of the best, read _Vitisator_, but the correctness of the present
text is proved by the following passage of Varro L. L. V. _Liberalia
dicta, quod per totum oppidum eo die sedent sacerdotes Liberi, hedera
coronatae anus, cum libis et foculo pro emptore sacrificantes_.
728. _Gelidis focis_, cold altars, as no fire was kindled on them.
730. _Seposuisse_. The greater number of MSS. have _supposuisse_.
733. "Mira etymologia!" Gierig. See above v. 512. The _libum_ was a kind
of cake, [Greek: plakous ek galaktos, itrion te kai melitos, on Romaioi
libon kalousi]. Athenaeus III. p. 125.
739. _Florida_. Most MSS. read _flumina_: the present, which is far
preferable, is that of three of the best and four other MSS.
741-744. Compare Virgil G. IV. 64, _et seq_. The practice is too well
known among ourselves to require any elucidation.
743. _Levis senex_, Silenus, who was bald. Most MSS. read _lenis_.
748. _Dissimulat_, conceals his discovery.
753 It was therefore a hornet's nest he had got.
763 See v. 726.--_Praestet_, "exhibeat praetereuntibus." Gierig.
769. _Nysiades_. There was a Nysa in Boeotia, in Thrace, in India, in
Arabia. It was probably the Boeotian that the poet meant. See Met. III.
3l3.--_Noverca_, Juno.
771. On the Liberalia, the youths who had attained the age of sixteen
laid aside the _praetexta_, which they had hitherto worn and assumed, the
_toga virilis_, _pura_, _recta_, or _libera_, as it was variously,
called. The poet gives four reasons for its being done on the Liberalia.
773. First reason, Bacchus, like Apollo, was ever young, See Met. iv. 17.
775. Second reason, because he was a father, (_Liber Pater_.) The Romans
however called all their gods _patres_. ex. gr. Jupiter, (Jovis pater
Zeus [Greek: pataer]), Dispiter, Mars-piter, Janus pater, Pater Neptunus,
Pater Silvanus. (Hor. Epod. ii. 21.) etc.
777. Third reason, and perhaps the true one, because his name Liber
coincided with the adjective _liber_.
779. Fourth reason, because as the people used to come from the country
into Rome on the Liberalia to see the plays, it was deemed a good
opportunity for giving a youth the _toga virilis_, when all his friends
and relations were present.
781. Alluding to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, _ille dictator ab aratro_,
Flor. I. 11.
782. Alluding, perhaps, to the story of Scipio, who, on shaking the hand
of a country voter, as he canvassed him, said, _Prythee, friend, dost
walk on thy hands?_ and thereby lost his election. I, however, rather
think that the poet had only in view the effeminacy of his own days.
784. _Studiis_, scil_. musices et poeseos_, taste.
786. _Taedifera dea_, Ceres.
787. _Tironem_. The youth who took the manly gown was named a _tiro_, and
the day, _dies tirocinii_. He was accompanied from the Capitol to the
Forum, and thence home by a great number of his relatives, friends and
clients.--_Celeb. freq. Frequentia me usque ad Capitolium celebravit_.
Cic. Att. vi. 1.
791, 792. See V. 621, Livy, I. 22. _Reliqua urbis loca olim discreta, ut
Argeorum sacraria in septem et viginti partes urbis sunt disposita.
Argeos dictos putant a principibus, qui cum Hercule Argivo venerunt Romam
et in Saturnia subsederunt_. Varro, L. L. iv. J. B. Fontejus (_De Prisca
Caesiorum Gente_, L. I. c. 7,) supposes that the Argei were the reputed
burial-places of some of these noble Argives.--_Sua Pagina_, its own part
of the Fasti. He means, perhaps, V. 621, _et seq_.
793, 794. On the same day (XVI. Kal. April.) the Kite rises
acronychally.--_Proclinis_ is the reading of two of the best MSS.; five
of the best read _proclivis_, some have _declivis_; the greater number
_declinis_.--_Miluus_, a trisyllable (like _Iason_, _Iulus_, _Iambus_,
_silua_, _Suevos_, etc.) is the reading of the best MSS.: the rest have
_Milvius_. The constellation of the Kite, Krebs says, is not mentioned by
any Greek writer on astronomy, before the time of Ovid. It is quite
uncertain where he got the following legend.
798. That is to slay the monster about to be described.
801. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 549.
803, 804. This reminds one strongly of the sacrifice of the horse of
Hindoo Mythology. See Southey's Curse of Kehama, viii.
805. Briareus. See Hom. Il. I. 402. According to Homer and Hesiod,
Briareus was one of the Hundred-handed, and the ally of Jupiter. Ovid
appears to make him a Titan.--_Adamante_. The _adamas_ of the poets is
iron, or rather steel. _Adamas lapis durissimus, qui nec ferro cedere
dicitur_. Pliny, H. N. xxvii. 4.
809-850. On the XIV. Kal. April, began the festival of Minerva, named the
Quinquatrus, Quinquatres, or Quinquatria.
810. _Nomina quae_. Several MSS. have _numinaque adjunctis_. _Quinquatrus:
hic dies unus a nominis errore observatur, proinde ut sint quinque dies,
dictus ab Tusculanis; post diem sextum Idus similiter vocatus Sexatrus,
et post diem septimum Septimatrus; sic hic, quod erat post diem quintum
Idus, Quinquatrus_, Varro, L. L. V. Festus gives the same derivation. It
is in favour of Ovid that the festival lasted exactly five days, but this
may have been the effect, and not the cause of the name.
811. The gladiatorial combats with which the festival of Minerva, as the
goddess of war, were celebrated, did not begin till the second day. As
the Minerva of the Romans was certainly no war-goddess, till she was
identified with the Pallas Athena of Greece, I am inclined to think that
the origin of this mode of worshiping her will be found in the account
given by Herodotus, (iv. 180, 189) of the worship of the Lybian goddess,
whom he makes to be the prototype of Pallas Athena. To shew how modes of
worship were transferred; the Athenians had, in the time of the empire,
combats of gladiators in a theatre on their Acropolis, in honour of their
patron-goddess. See Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, L. iv. c. 7. For
Pallas Athena and Minerva, see Mythology, pp. 119 and 462.
812. _Illa nata die_. "Illa die _nata Minerva_, quatenus ei templum in
Aventino dedicatum, quod notat Verrius. Etiam Calend. Vindob. _N.
Minervae_." Gierig.
815. See Juvenal. Sat. x. 118.--_Ornate_, scil. with garlands.
816. _Doctus_, skilful.
817. 818. Spinning.
819, 820. Weaving.--_Stantes telas_, the _stamina_ or warp.
821-826. The fuller, the dyer, the shoemaker and the carpenter. For
Tychius, see Hom. II. vii. 221, for Epeus. Id. Od. viii. 492, Virg. aen.
II. 264.
827, 828. The Physicians. There is an inscription in Gruter _Minervae
Medicae_. The reader needs not to be reminded of the medical character of
Phoebus Apollo.
829. This is a sadly perplexing line. Seven MSS. read _censu fraudante_;
others _sensu fraudante_; four _sensus fraudata_; one of the best _censu
fraudata_; two of the best _sensu fraudare_; one of the best _turba ferae
sensus fraudare_; two _verba feri_; three _deam, censu fraudata_, which
Burmann and Gierig have adopted. The present reading is the common one,
with a slight change of _feri_, which gives no good sense, to _fere_.
Matthiae conjectured, and gave the same reading. I think the poet meant
the bad payment and bad treatment which the school-masters so frequently
met with at Rome.
831, 832. The sculptors, painters and statuaries.--_Tabulam_, etc. The
Encaustae, as they were called, who burned-in wax, spread over the place
to be painted.--_Mollia_, smooth or soft, as it were, to the eye.
835. There was a small temple of Minerva Capta on the rise of the Coelian
hill, of which name the poet now tries, but in vain, to discover the
origin.--_Captae_, Six MSS. _capitae_; others _castae_. This shews the
negligence and temerity of the transcribers.
838. See on v. 812.
843. It was the custom when a town was taken, to bring its gods to the
abode of the conquerors.--Falerii was captured by Camillus, A.U.C. 361.
See Livy, v. 24.
844. _Littera prisca_, the old name of the goddess, or the old books, the
Annals.
845, 846. This passage is difficult. For _ex illo_ most MSS. have
_exilio_; many for _reperta_, read _recepta_. It is the _fures_, and not
the _furta_, which should be punished. _Capitalis lucus, ubi si quid
violatum est, capite violatoris_, (two MSS. _vigilatoris_) _expiatur_.
Festus.
849, 850. On the last day of the Quinquatrus, the Kal. Apr. was the
_Tubilustrum_. According to Varro and Festus, the trumpets were purified
in the Atrium Sutorium. On the X. Kal. Jun. there was a Tubilustrum to
Vulcan. For _deae_ in this place, three of the best MSS. read _deo_, which
Heinsius adopts, and understands it of Mars. Gesenius also prefers this
reading. In Verrius, we find _Feriae Martis_, and Laur. Lydus (de
Mensibus, p. 85,) says, [Greek: tae pro deka kalandon Aprillion katharmos
salpingos kai kinaesis ton oplon, kai timai Areos kai Nerinaes, haen
aexioun einai taen Athaenan nerinae gar (en tae Sabinon glossae) hae
andria esti]. This Nerine-Minerva was probably the _fortis dea_.
851-876. The sun enters the Ram, and the poet takes the occasion of
telling the story of Phrixus and Helle. See Mythology, p. 296.--_Nunc_,
on the last day of the Quinquatrus, as it was the day after the XI. Kal.
Apr. which last was that of the entrance of the sun into the Ram. See the
Kalendarium.
863. _Pependerat_. Their mother was Nephele, cloud. See also v. 805.
865. Thebes was built by the Sparti (_Sown_) who sprang from the
serpent's teeth.
870. The Hellespont, Helle's-sea.
874. _Caeruleo deo_. Neptune.
877. The vernal equinox on the VII. Kal. Apr.--_Eos_, Aurora.
879. Four days after the VII. Kal. Apr. was a festival of Janus, Concord,
Health and Peace. Augustus raised statues to these three last-named
deities.
883, 884. Servius Tullius built a temple to Diana on the Aventine, Livy,
I. 45. Tac. An. xv. 41. Ovid, like the other poets, makes Diana and Luna,
as they really were, identical. See Mythology, p. 463.
LIBER IV.