Ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum; 420
Ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri:
Inferias tacitis Manibus illa dabunt.
Annus erat brevior, nec adhuc pia Februa norant,
Nec tu dux mensum, Jane biformis, eras.
Jam tamen extincto cineri sua dona ferebant, 425
Compositique nepos busta piabat avi.
Mensis erat Maius, majorum nomine dictus,
Qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet.
Nox ubi jam media est, somnoque silentia praebet,
Et canis et varies conticuistis aves; 430
Ille memor veteris ritus timidusque deorum
Surgit:--habent gemini vincula nulla pedes--
Signaque dat digitis medio cum pollice junctis,
Occurrat tacito ne levis umbra sibi;
Quumque manus puras fontana perluit unda, 435
Vertitur, et nigras accipit ante fabas;
Aversusque jacit; sed dum jacit, Haec ego mitto;
His, inquit, redimo meque meosque fabis.
Hoc novies dicit, nec respicit. Umbra putatur
Colligere, et nullo terga vidente sequi. 440
Rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera,
Et rogat, ut tectis exeat umbra suis.
Quum dixit novies, Manes exite paterni!
Respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat.
Dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis exstet origo, 445
Me fugit. Ex aliquo est invenienda deo.
Pliade nate, mone, virga venerande potenti:
Saepe tibi Stygii regia visa Jovis.
Venit adoratus Caducifer. Accipe causam
Nominis. Ex ipso cognita causa deo est. 450
Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras,
Et male veloci justa soluta Remo;
Faustulus infelix, et passis Acca capillis
Spargebant lacrimis ossa perusta suis.
Inde domum redeunt sub prima crepuscula moesti, 455
Utque erat, in duro procubuere toro.
Umbra cruenta Remi visa est assistere lecto,
Atque haec exiguo murmure verba loqui:
En ego dimidium vestri parsque altera voti
Cernite sim qualis! qui modo qualis eram! 460
Qui modo, si volucres habuissem regna jubentes,
In populo potui maximus esse meo.
Nunc sum elapsa rogi flammis et inanis imago.
Haec est ex illo forma relicta Remo.
Heu! ubi Mars pater est! si vos modo vera locuti, 465
Uberaque expositis ille ferina dedit.
Quem lupa servavit, manus hunc temeraria civis
Perdidit. O quanto mitior illa fuit!
Saeve Celer, crudelem animam per vulnera reddas,
Utque ego, sub terras sanguinolentus eas! 470
Noluit hoc frater. Pietas sequalis in illo est.
Quod potuit, lacrimas in mea fata dedit.
Hunc vos per lacrimas, per vestra alimenta rogate,
Ut celebrem nostro signet honore diem.
Mandantem amplecti cupiunt, et brachia tendunt: 475
Lubrica prensantes effugit umbra manus.
Ut secum fugiens somnos abduxit imago,
Ad regem voces fratris uterque ferunt.
Romulus obsequitur, lucemque Remuria dixit
Illam, qua positis justa feruntur avis. 480
Aspera mutata est in lenem tempore longo
Littera, quae toto nomine prima fuit.
Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum;
Hic verbi sensus, vis ea vocis erat.
Fana tamen veteres illis clausere diebus, 485
Ut nunc ferali tempore operta vides.
Nec viduae taedis eadem, nec virginis apta
Tempora. Quae nupsit, non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait. 490
Sed tamen haec tria sunt sub eodem tempore festa
Inter se nullo continuata die.
Quorum si mediis Boeotum Oriona quaeres;
Falsus eris. Signi causa canenda mihi.
Jupiter, et, lato qui regnat in aequore, frater 495
Carpebant socias, Mercuriusque, vias.
Tempus erat, quo versa jugo referuntur aratra.
Et pronum saturae lac bibit agnus ovis.
Forte senex Hyrieus, angusti cultor agelli,
Hos videt, exiguam stabat ut ante casam. 500
Atque ita, Longa via est nec tempora longa supersunt,
Dixit, et hospitibus janua nostra patet.
Addidit et vultum verbis, iterumque rogavit.
Parent promissis, dissimulantque deos.
Tecta senis subeunt, nigro deformia fumo. 505
Ignis in hesterno stipite parvus erat;
Ipse genu nixus flammas exsuscitat aura,
Et promit quassas comminuitque faces.
Stant calices. Minor inde fabas, olus alter habebat,
Et fumant testu pressus uterque suo. 510
Dumque mora est, tremula dat vina rubentia dextra.
Accipit aequoreus pocula prima deus.
Quae simul exhausit, Da, nunc bibat ordine, dixit,
Jupitur. Audito palluit ille Jove.
Ut rediit animus, cultorem pauperis agri 515
Immolat, et magno torret in igne bovem;
Quaeque puer quondam primis diffuderat annis,
Promit fumoso condita vina cado.
Nec mora: flumineam lino celantibus ulvam,
Sic quoque non altis, incubuere toris. 520
Nunc dape, nunc posito mensae nituere Lyaeo.
Terra rubens crater, pocula fagus erant.
Verba fuere Jovis: Si quid fert impetus, opta:
Omne feres. Placidi verba fuere senis:
Cara fuit conjux, prima mihi cara juventa 525
Cognita. Nunc ubi sit, quaeritis: urna tegit.
Huic ego juratus, vobis in verba vocatis,
Conjugio dixi sola fruere meo.
Et dixi, et servo, sed enim diversa voluntas
Est mihi: nec conjux, sed pater esse volo. 530
Annuerant omnes: omnes ad terga juvenci
Constiterant. Pudor est ulteriora loqui.
Tum superinjecta texere madentia terra.
Jamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.
Hunc Hyrieus, quia sic genitus, vocat Uriona. 535
Perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum.
Creverat immensum: comitem sibi Delia sumpsit.
Ille deae custos, ille satelles erat.
Verba movent iras non circumspecta deorum.
Quam nequeam, dixit, vincere, nulla fera est. 540
Scorpion immisit Tellus. Fuit impetus illi
Curva gemelliparae spicula ferre deae.
Obstitit Orion. Latona nitentibus astris
Addidit, et, Meriti praemia, dixit, habe.
Sed quid et Orion, et cetera sidera mundo 545
Cedere festinant, noxque coarctat iter?
Quid solito citius liquido jubar aequore tollit
Candida, Lucifero praeveniente, dies?
Fallor? an arma sonant? Non fallimur: arma sonabant;
Mars venit, et veniens bellica signa dedit. 550
Ultor ad ipse suos coelo descendit honores,
Templaque in Augusto conspicienda Foro.
Et deus est ingens, et opus. Debebat in urbe
Non aliter nati Mars habitare sui.
Digna Giganteis haec sunt delubra tropaeis: 555
Hinc fera Gradivum bella movere decet:
Sen quis ab Eoo nos impius orbe lacesset;
Seu quis ab occiduo sole domandus erit.
Prospicit armipotens operis fastigia summi,
Et probat invictos summa tenere deos. 560
Prospicit in foribus diversae tela figurae,
Armaque terrarum milite victa suo.
Hinc videt aenean oneratum pondere caro,
Et tot Iuleae nobilitatis avos.
Hinc videt Iliaden humeris ducis arma ferentem, 565
Claraque dispositis acta subesse viris.
Spectat et Augusto praetextum nomine templum;
Et visum, lecto Caesare, majus opus.
Voverat hoc juvenis tunc, quum pia sustulit arma,
A tantis Princeps incipiendus erat. 570
Ille manus tendens, hinc stanti milite justo,
Hinc conjuratis, talia dicta dedit;
Si mihi bellandi pater est, Vestaeque sacerdos
Auctor, et ulcisci numen utrumque paro:
Mars, ades, et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum: 575
Stetque favor causa pro meliore tuus.
Templa feres, et me victore vocaberis Ultor.
Voverat; et fuso laetus ab hoste redit.
Nec satis est meruisse semel cognomina Marti:
Persequitur Parthi signa retenta manu. 580
Gens fuit et campis, et equis, et tuta sagittis,
Et circumfusis invia fluminibus.
Addiderant animos Crassorum funera genti,
Quum periit miles, signaque, duxque simul.
Signa, decus belli, Parthus Romana tenebat, 585
Romanaeque aquilae signifer hostis erat.
Isque pudor mansisset adhuc, nisi fortibus armis
Caesaris Ausoniae protegerentur opes.
Ille notas veteres, et longi dedecus aevi
Sustulit. Agnorunt signa recepta suos. 590
Quid tibi nunc solitas mitti post terga sagittae,
Quid loca, quid rapidi profuit usus equi?
Parthe, refers aquilas: victos quoque porrigis arcus.
Pignora jam nostri nulla pudoris habes.
Rite deo templumque datum nomenque bis ulto, 595
Et meritus votis debita solvit honos.
Sollemnes ludos Circo celebrate, Quirites:
Non visa est fortem scena decere deum.
Pliadas adspicies omnes, totumque sororum
Agmen, ubi ante Idus nox erit una super 600
Tum mihi non dubiis auctoribus incipit aestas,
Et tepidi finem tempora veris habent.
Idibus ora prior stellantia tollere Taurum
Indicat: huic signo fabula nota subest.
Praebuit, ut taurus, Tyriae sua terga puellae 605
Jupiter, et falsa cornua fronte tulit;
Illa jubam dextra, laeva retinebat amictus;
Et timor ipse novi causa decoris erat.
Aura sinus implet: flavos movet aura capillos.
Sidoni, sic fueras aspicienda Jovi 610
Saepe puellares subduxit ab aequore plantas,
Et metuit tactus assilientis aquae:
Saepe deus prudens tergum demittit in undas,
Haereat ut collo fortius illa suo.
Litoribus tactis stabat sine cornibus ullis 615
Jupiter, inque deum de bove versus erat.
Taurus init coelum: te, Sidoni, Jupiter implet,
Parsque tuum terras tertia nomen habet.
Hoc alii signum Phariam dixere juvencam,
Quae bos ex homine est, ex bove facta dea. 620
Tum quoque priscorum virgo simulacra virorum
Mittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet.
Corpora post decies senos qui credidit annos
Missa neci, sceleris crimine damnat avos.
Fama vetus: tum quum Saturnia terra vocata est, 625
Talia fatidici dicta fuere dei:
Falcifero libata seni duo corpora, gentes,
Mittite, quae Tuscis excipiantur aquis.
Donec in haec venit Tirynthius arva, quotannis
Tristia Leucadio sacra peracta modo; 630
Illum stramineos in aquam misisse Quirites.
Herculis exemplo corpora falsa jaci.
Pars putat, ut ferrent juvenes suffragia soli,
Pontibus infirmos praecipitasse senes.
Tibri, doce verum: tua ripa vetustior urbe. 635
Principium ritus tu bene nosse potes.
Tibris arundiferum medio caput extulit alveo,
Raucaque dimovit talibus ora sonis:
Haec loca desertas vidi sine moenibus herbas:
Pascebat sparsos utraque ripa boves. 640
Et quem nunc gentes Tiberin noruntque timentque,
Tunc etiam pecori despiciendus eram.
Arcadis Evandri nomen tibi saepe refertur:
Ille meas remis advena torsit aquas.
Venit et Alcides, turba comitatus Achiva. 645
Albula, si memini, tunc mihi nomen erat.
Excipit hospitio juvenem Pallantius heros:
Et tandem Caco debita poena venit.
Victor abit, secumque boves, Erytheïda praedam,
Abstrahit. At comites longius ire negant: 650
Magnaque pars horum desertis venerat Argis.
Montibus his ponunt spemque Laremque suum.
Saepe tamen patriae dulci tanguntur amore;
Atque aliquis moriens hoc breve mandat opus:
Mittite me in Tiberin, Tiberinis vectus ut undis 655
Litus ad Inachium pulvis inanis eam.
Displicet heredi mandati cura sepulcri:
Mortuus Ausonia conditur hospes humo.
Scirpea pro domino in Tiberin jactatur imago,
Ut repetat Graias per freta longa domos. 660
Hactenus. Ut vivo subiit rorantia saxo
Antra, leves cursum sustinuistis aquae.
Clare nepos Atlantis, ades! quem montibus olim
Edidit Arcadiis Pleïas una Jovi.
Pacis et armorum superis imisque deorum 665
Arbiter, alato qui pede carpis iter:
Laete lyrae pulsu, nitida quoque laete palaestra,
Quo didicit culte lingua favente loqui.
Templa tibi posuere Patres spectantia Circum
Idibus. Ex illo est haec tibi festa dies. 670
Te, quicumque suas profitentur vendere merces,
Ture dato, tribuas ut sibi lucra, rogant.
Est aqua Mercurii portae vicina Capenae:
Si juvat expertis credere, numen habet.
Huc venit incinctus tunicas mercator, et urna 675
Purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.
Uda fit hinc laurus: lauro sparguntur ab uda
Omnia, quae dominos sunt habitura novos.
Spargit et ipse suos lauro rorante capillos,
Et peragit solita fallere voce preces. 680
Ablue praeteriti perjuria temporis, inquit,
Ablue praeterita perfida verba die.
Sive ego te feci testem, falsove citavi
Non audituri numina magna Jovis;
Sive deum prudens alium divamve fefelli, 685
Abstulerint celeres improba dicta Noti.
Et pereant veniente die perjuria nobis,
Nec curent superi, si qua locutus ero.
Da modo lucra mihi, da facto gaudia lucro,
Et face, ut emptori verba dedisse juvet. 690
Talia Mercurius poscentem ridet ab alto,
Se memor Ortygias surripuisse boves.
At mihi pande, precor, tanto meliora petenti,
In Geminos ex quo tempore Phoebus eat.
Quum totidem de mense dies superesse videbis: 695
Quot sunt Herculei facta laboris, ait.
Die, ego respondi, causam mihi sideris hujus.
Causam facundo reddidit ore deus.
Abstulerant raptas Phoeben Phoebesque sororem
Tyndaridae fratres, hic eques, ille pugil. 700
Bella parant, repetuntque suas et frater et Idas,
Leucippo fieri pactus uterque gener.
His amor, ut repetant, illis, ut reddere nolint,
Suadet, et ex causa pugnat uterque pari.
Effugere Oebalidae cursu potuere sequentes: 705
Sed visum celeri vincere turpe fuga.
Liber ab arboribus locus est, apta area pugnae.
Constiterant illic: nomen Aphidna loco.
Pectora trajectus Lynceo Castor ab ense
Non exspectato vulnere pressit humum. 710
Ultor adest Pollux, et Lyncea perforat hasta,
Qua cervix humeros continuata premit.
Ibat in hunc Idas, vixque est Jovis igne repulsus:
Tela tamen dextrae fulmine rapta negant.
Jamque tibi coelum, Pollux, sublime patebat, 715
Quum, Mea, dixisti, percipe verba, Pater.
Quod mihi das uni coelum, partire duobus:
Dimidium toto munere majus erit.
Dixit, et alterna fratrem statione redemit:
Utile sollicitae sidus uterque rati. 720
Ad Janum redeat, qui quaerit, Agonia quid sint:
Quae tamen in fastis hoc quoque tempus habent.
Nocte sequente diem canis Erigoneïus exit;
Est alio signi reddita causa loco.
Proxima Vulcani lux est, Tubilustria dicunt. 725
Lustrantur purae, quas facit ille, tubae.
Quattuor inde notis locus est; quibus ordine lectis
Vel mos sacrorum, vel Fuga Regis inest.
Nec te praetereo, populi Fortuna potentis
Publica, cui templum luce sequente datum. 730
Hanc ubi dives aquis acceperit Amphitrite,
Grata Jovi fulvae rostra videbis avis.
Auferet ex oculis veniens Aurora Booten,
Continuaque die sidus Hyantis erit.
NOTES:
1-110. The poet here enters into a long inquiry on the subject of the
origin of the name of May. To free the discussion from dryness, and to
give it a dramatic air, he introduces the Muses disputing on this
subject.--_Quaeritis_. See iv. 878. He addresses his readers in general,
and not Germanicus alone, as elsewhere.
7. The poet would appear in this place to confound the springs of
Aganippe and Hippocrene, which, though both on Mt. Helicon, were distinct
in situation. But he had already (Met. v. 312,) distinguished them, so
that we must regard the present as a slip of his memory. _Aganippis_,
like _Ausonis, Maenalis_, etc. is evidently an adjective.
8. _Med. equi_, Pegasus. See III. 544.
9. _Polyhymnia_. The name of this Muse in all the Greek writers, from
Hesiod down, is [Greek: Polymnia]; by Ovid and by Horace, (Car. I. 1,
33,) she is called Polyhymnia, a name which could not be written in
Greek.
11-54. The _first_ opinion. Maius derived its name from Majestas, the
daughter of Honos and Reverentia. _Sunt qui hunc mensem ad nostros Fastos
transisse commemorant, apud quos nunc quoque vocatur Deus Maius, qui est
Jupiter, a magnitudine et majestate dictus_. Macrobius, Sat. I. 12.
10. _Mente notant_, mark in their mind or commit to memory.
11. Compare I. 103. Met I. 1. _et seq_. xv. 239. In these places he
speaks of four elements, here of but three, regarding the air and the
aether as one.
12. _Omne opus_. The whole mass. Some MSS. read _onus_. See on I. 564.
16. I doubt if it was judicious to personify here.
19. It was in the reign of Saturn that this confusion prevailed, hence no
gods are spoken of but Titans, the children of Heaven and Earth; such
were Oceanus and Tethys. It would be pressing the poet too closely to ask
who the _Dei advenae_ could be in the reign of Saturn.
24. Lenz, who thinks that it is the banquets of the gods of which the
poet speaks, in the language of the Roman _triclinium_, understands by
_legitimis toris_ the couches in such being properly arranged, and the
guests placed according to their rank. Gierig rightly understands it of
the marriage of Honour and Reverence.
25. _Quae_, etc. Three of the best MSS. read _hos est dea censa parentes_,
which Heinsius and Gierig adopt. Compare Hor. Car. I. 12. 15.
26. _Magna fuit_, scil. Majestas, like Minerva.
28. _Aurea_, i. e. adorned with gold.--_Sinu_, robe; part for the whole.
Compare II. 310.
29. _Pudor et Metus_. The [Greek: Aidos] and [Greek: Nemesis] of Hesiod,
([Greek: Erga] 200).
30. _Vultus_. One MS. reads _cultus_; either reading gives a good sense.
31. _Suspectus_, a regard, respect for.
34. _Dum senior_. See IV. 197.
35. For the Giant-war, see Met. I. 151. _et seq_. Virg. G. I. 278. Hor.
Car. III. 4. 49. Mythology. p. 238.
52. _Illa coronatis_, etc. She accompanies the conquering generals in
their triumphs, giving dignity to them. I know not where the poet got
this beautiful fiction of the birth and power of Majesty. It has, I
think, a Roman rather than a Grecian air, "Haud dubie poetae antiquiori
debet." Gierig.
54. The poet appears to intimate that each opinion was maintained by
three of the Muses. For the names, characters, and attributes of these
goddesses, see Mythology, p. 146.
55. The second opinion. Maius and Junius came from _Majores_ and
_Juniores. Fulvius Nobilior in Fastis, quos in aede Herculis Musarum
posuit, Romulum dicit postquam populos in majores minoresque divisit, ut
altera pars consilio, altera armis rempublicam tueretur, in honorem
utriusque partis hunc Maium sequentum mensem Junium vocasse_. Macrobius,
I. 12.
57. [Greek: Aideisthai poliokrotaphous, eikein de gerousin Edraes kai
geraon panton], Phocyl. 207. Cicero (Sen. 18.) praises the Lacedaemonians
highly for their respect for old age, on the advantages of which he makes
his Cato dilate, but properly adds _non cani, non repente auctoritatem
accipere possunt_, as this depended on a well-spent life, and, as
Menander says, [Greek: Ouch ai triches poiousin ai leukai phronein, All'
ho tropos enion esti tae phusei Geron].
59. [Greek: Palaios ainos Erga men neoteron, Boulai d' echousi ton
geraiteron kratos]. Eurip. frag. Melan.
60. Same as _Pugnabant pro aris et focis_.
64. This derivation of Senatus is also given by Cicero (Sen. 6.).
Dionysius (II. 12.) doubts whether the corresponding Greek term [Greek:
gerousia] came from age or from honour ([Greek: geras]).--_Mite_ a very
appropriate term, "Juventus est _fervida_, senectus _mitis_." Gierig.
66. In the early times of Rome, the maturity of years was much regarded
in the appointments to office. When Corn. Scipio was looking for the
aedileship (A.U.C. 539) the tribunes opposed him because he had not
attained the lawful age, Liv. xxv. 2. By the Lex Villia Annalis passed
A.U.C. 574 the age for the Quaestorship was made 3l, for the aedileship
37, the Praetorship 40, and the Consulship 43 years.
67. Compare Sall. Jug. 11.
68. See Horace Sat. II. 5. 17.
70. _Censuram_, the right of reprimanding.
71. _Patres_. See Liv. I. 8. Sall. Cat. 6. Vell. Paterc. I. 8.--
_Pectora_. Several MSS. read _corpora_.
74. _Tangor_, I am led to believe.
75. It was probably said that this was done by Romulus at the request of
Numitor.
76. _Sustinuisse. "Non sustinet alterum qui non potest non satisfacere
ejus precibus_," Gierig. Compare Met. xiv. 788. Liv. xxxi. 13.
77. 78. June, the poet thinks, being named a _juvenum nomine_, is no
slight proof of the correctness of the foregoing etymology. But the
origin of June itself is to be proved.--_Praep. hon_. Six MSS. _proposito
honori_, some have _propositum_, five give the present reading, the rest
_propositi_. Heinsius proposes _praeposito honori_, which Krebs adopts.
79-110. The third opinion. The month derived its name from the Pleias
Maia. _Cincius mensem nominatum putat a Maia, quam Vulcani dicit uxorem,
argumentoque utitur quod flamen Vulcanalis, Kal. Maiis huic deae rem
divinam facit_. Macrob. Sat. I. 12. Again _Contendunt alii Maiam Mercurii
Matrem, mensi nomen dedisse_.--There is a festival of Mercury in this
month which is in favour of the Pleias; but, on the other side, Maia
seems to be an old Italian deity, the female, perhaps, of Maius, (see on
v. 11,) and is justly regarded as the Earth, (see on v. 148,) who, under
the name of Bona Dea, was worshiped on the Kalends. The marriage of
Vulcan and Maia accords with Grecian, not with Italian theology. See on
III. 512.
79. _Hedera_, the ornament of learned brows, and therefore suited to the
Muse of the Epos.
80. _Prima sui chori_, Calliope is placed by Hesiod and all succeeding
writers at the head of the list of the Muses. Perhaps in this place the
chorus may be those of her sisters, who thought as she did on this
subject.
81. Oceanus and Tethys were two of the Titans, the children of Heaven and
Earth.
82. [Greek: Mnaesomai Okeanoio bathurrhoou en gar ekeino Pasa chthon, ate
naesos apeiritos, estephanotai]. Dionys. Perieg. 3. For proof that the
ancient poets represented the Ocean as a huge river which flowed round
the earth, see Mythology, pp. 35, 228.
89-90. The country, its rivers and mountains put for the people. For the
ante-lunar origin of the Arcadians, see I. 469.
91. See I. 499. _et seq_.
92. _Impositos_ scil. _navi suae_.
93. Compare I. 5d5, II. 280, III. 71. Virg. aen. viii. 98.
99. Sec II. 267-449.
101. _Cinctutis_, same as _succinctis_, which is the reading of several
MSS. The Luperci were so called, because they ran, [Greek: en
perizomasi], _cincti subligaculis_.
102. _Celebres vias_, the crowded streets.--_Vellera secta_, the
goat-skin thongs. Several MSS. read _verbera_.
103. This is the way in which Evander chiefly testified his veneration
for Mercury, by naming a month after the god's mother. As to the fact of
his being his son, see above I. 471. According to Macrobius, (_ut supra_)
traders sacrificed in this month to Maia and Mercury.
104. Compare Hor. Car. I. 10, 6. For the mythology of Mercury, see my
Mythology, pp. 124 and 460.
105. _Pietas_, i. e. dutiful regard to his aunts, the Pleiades. The lyre,
or _phorminx_, of which the invention was ascribed to Hermes, had seven
strings. [Greek: Hepta de symphonous oion etanusseto chordas]. Homer, H.
Merc, 25.
108. See on v. 64.
111-128. On the Kalends of May, the star named Capella ([Greek: aix])
which is in the right shoulder of the Heniochus or Charioteer, a
constellation on the north side of the Milky Way--rises heliacally,
according to Neapolis; cosmically, according to Taubner. Is it not
acronychally, according to Ovid? Pliny (xviii. 26,) makes it take place
the VIII. Id Maias.--_Ab Jove_, etc. [Greek: Ek Dios archometha], Aratus
Phaen. 1, Virg. Ec. III. 60.
113, 114. According to Eratosthenes (Catast. 13,) Musaeus said, that when
Jupiter was born, Rhea gave him to Themis, by whom he was committed to
Amalthea, who had him suckled by her goat. Amalthea, we are told by
Theon, (ad Arat. 64,) was the daughter of Olenus. Others say, that
Amalthea was the name of the goat, and that she had two kids, which were
raised with herself to the skies by her grateful nursling. There is no
part of Grecian mythology more obscure than the early history of
Jupiter.--_Nascitur_, i.e. _oritur_.--_Pluviale_. Compare Met. III. 594,
Virg. aen. ix. 668, on which Servius says, _Supra Tauri cornua est signum,
cui Auriga nomen est. Retinet autem stellas duas in manu, quae Haedi
vocantur et Capram--quorum et ortus et occasus gravissimas tempestates
faciunt_.
115. _Naïs_, for _Nympha_, the species for the genus.
119. _Aëriis_, lofty, tall, rising into the air.
123. _Cinxit_. One of the best MSS. which is followed by Heinsius and
Gierig, reads _cinctum_.--_Recentibus_, the MSS. also read _decoribus_,
_decentibus_, _virentibus_.
129-147. The altar of the Guardian (Praestites) Lares was erected on the
Kalends of May.
130. _Curius_. Manius Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of the Sabines and
of Pyrrhus. There is an apparent difficulty here, as, according to Varro,
T. Tatius, the Sabine king built a temple to the Lares, and Dionysius
(iv. 14) tells us, that the Compitalia were instituted in their honour by
Servius Tullius. The history of Tatius, however, is so purely mythic,
that little stress can be laid on the above circumstance, and the fact of
the previous worship of the Lares at Rome, does not militate against that
of the erection of an altar to them by Curius. The present reading _Vov
... ... ... Cur_, was given by Ciofanus, from one MS. of the highest
authority; that of the other MSS. and the previous editions, is _Ara erat
quidem illa Curibus_, and it is a matter of great doubt which is the
genuine one. One MS. for _voverat_, reads _struxerat_.
137. _Stabat_, scil. at the altar erected by Curius.
140. _Grata_, agreeable. _Compitalia dies attributus. Laribus; ideo ubi
viae competunt tum in competis sacrificatur; quotannis is dies
concipitur_. Varro, L. L. V. There were 265 _compita Larium_ at Rome,
Pliny, III. 9.
143, 144. See vv. 129, 130.
145. _Mille_, a definite for an indefinite number.--_Qui. trad_. etc.
_Compitales Lares ornari his anno constituit vernis floribus et aestivis_.
Suet. Aug. 31.