Hor. Car. iv. 5, 34. See IV. 954.--_Vici_, the streets.
148-158. The temple of Bona Dea was dedicated on the Kalends of May. It
is disputed who this goddess was. Varro said she was Fatua or Fauna, the
daughter of Faunus, who was so chaste that she never let herself even be
seen by men. Macrobius (I. 12,) tells us, that Corn. Labeo said she was
Maia. v. 79. As she is also said to have been the same with Ops, and a
pregnant sow was the victim offered to her, (Festus, s. v. Damium,) which
was also the victim to Tellus, (Hor. Ep. II. 1, 143.) I think it
extremely probable, that Bona Dea was only one of the names of the
goddess of the earth.
149. _Moles nativa_, a natural rock. It was on the Aventine.
152. Regna. Three of the best MSS. followed by Heinsius and Gierig, give
_signa_.
155, 156. See on IV. 305. It is not certain, however, that it was Claudia
Quinta, "Haec Appia illa Claudia probatae pudicitiae femina." Neapolis.
157, 158. Compare I. 649.
159-182. On the second of May, the wind Argestes began to blow, and the
Hyades rose.--_Hyperionis_. Aurora, the daughter of Hyperion.
161. Argestes, called also Caurus or Corus, was the north-west wind, and
was considered to be very cold.--_Mulcebit_. Five MSS. read _miscebit_,
which Burmann approved, and Gierig adopted.
162. A _Cal. aq_. For vessels sailing from the east coast of Italy to
Greece, the north-west wind, also called by the Greeks Iapyx, was
eminently favourable. Hor. Car. I. 3, 4. Most MSS. read _a capreis_, four
_a campis_, three _a canis_, one _qua canis_. The reading of the text was
given by Neapolis from a MS. of no great authority.
163. The rising of the Hyades acronychally. This, perhaps, is an error,
for Pliny (xviii. 66,) says _VI. Non. Maii Caesari Suculae matutino
oriuntur.
166. There are three derivations of this name, one which the poet follows
from [Greek: huein] to rain; a second from the letter Y, which the
constellation was thought to resemble; a third from [Greek: hus sus],
which is supported by the Latin name _Suculae_. I am disposed to prefer
this last, (Mythology, p. 418) as also are Göttling and Nitzsch, two
distinguished critics of the present day.
171. Atlas was the father of Hyas and the Hyades.
182. _Illa_ scil. _pietas.--Nomina_, etc. "Sed si nauta Graecus Hyadas ab
imbre vocavit, ut vs. 166, recte admonitum est, quid opus erat idem nomen
etiam ex mythis repetere. Ita poëtae sententia secum pugnat." Gierig; who
had already observed, that _grege Hyadum_, v. 164, was an allusion to the
derivation from [Greek: us].
183-378. The poet now returns to the Floralia, which he had briefly
noticed at the end of the preceding book. These games were instituted
according to Pliny, (xviii. 29) A.U.C. 516 _ex oraculis Sibyllae, ut omnia
bene deflorescerent_. Velleius (I. 14) gives A.U.C. 513 as the date;
which is the true one. The Floralia began on the 28th of April, and ended
on the 3d of May.--_Mater florum_. "Matres earum rerum dicuntur Deae
quibus praesunt." Gierig. For the general principle see Mythology, p. 6.
189. _Circus_, that is, the games of the Floral Circus, which were
continued into May. The Circus Florae was in the sixth region of the city.
For these games, see vv. 37l, 372.--_Theatris_, the spectators who
testified their approbation by clapping of hands, etc. _Tota theatra
reclamant_, Cicero Orat III. 50.
190. _Munere. Munus_ was properly used only of gladiatorial shews. The
poet in employing it here, uses a poet's privilege.
195. _Cloris eram_, etc. The name Chloris, is akin to [Greek: chloae]
grass, and [Greek: chloros] green, flourishing; Flora is related in the
same way to Flos. Chloris and Flora are therefore kindred terms, and the
latter is not, as the poet says, derived from the former. I am not
certain that the older Grecian Mythology acknowledged a goddess of
flowers. Lenz infers from the poem of Catullus on Berenice's hair, which
is a translation from Callimachus, that the Greeks had an ancient legend
about Chloris, the wife of Zephyrus, which the Alexandrian poet
transferred to Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and that Ovid
probably derived it from the [Greek: Aitia] of Callimachus. Nonnus, (xi.
363, xxxi. 106. 110,) is the only Greek poet, who, to my knowledge,
notices this story of Chloris. From his late age he is of little
authority, and the Italian Fauns are actors in his heterogenious poem.
According to Varro, (L. L. V.) Flora was an ancient Sabine deity, whose
worship was brought to Rome by Tatius, and when we consider the rural
character of the ancient Italian religion in general, there can be but
little doubt of its having always recognised a patroness of the flowers.
The silly, tasteless fiction, transmitted to us by Plutarch, (Q. R. 35,)
and the Fathers of the Church, of Flora having been a courtizan, who left
her wealth to the Roman people, on condition of their celebrating games
in her honour, and of the Senate having, out of shame, feigned that she
was the goddess of flowers--is utterly undeserving of notice.
197. _Campi felicis_. The _Campus Felix_ of Ovid was, I think, the
[Greek: aelysion pedion] of Homer, (Od. iv. 564,) rather than the [Greek:
makaron naesous] of Hesiod, ([Greek: Erga], 170). See Mythology, pp. 36
and 229. Compare Hor. Epod. xvi. 41. The localisers of the fictions of
the poets make the Canary Isles to be this blissful region.
203. For this Athenian legend of Boreas carrying off Orithyia, the
daughter of Erechtheus, as she was dancing in a choir of maidens on the
banks of the Ilissus, see Met. vi. 677. Herod, vii. 189, Mythology, pp.
227, 346. Orithya, I may observe, signifies _mountain-rusher_, ([Greek:
Orei thyousa]) and was, therefore, a good name for the spouse of the
North-wind. Athenian vanity made her a mortal, and daughter of an Attic
king.
211. _Generoso_, of the finest kinds. _Pruna generosa_, Met. xiii. 818,
_generosa uva_, Rem. Am. 567. _generosum pecus_. Virg. G. III. 75.
216. _Comae_, the flowers, IV. 38.
217. The Horae are the goddesses of the Seasons. They were the daughters
of Jupiter and Themis. Hesiod. Theog. 900.--_Incinctae_, i.e. _succinctae_.
See II. 634. _Pictis vestibus_, [Greek: peplous ennymenai droserous
anthon polyterpon], says the Orphic Hymn (xlii. 6,) of them. For
_vestibus_, three MSS. read _florihus_.
219. The Charites or Graces were also the children of Jupiter; they
presided over social enjoyments, and were the bestowers of all grace and
elegance. The occupation of the Charites and Horae among the flowers is
thus beautifully described by the author of the lost poem, named the
Cypria, [Greek: Heimata men chroias tote ai Charites te kai Aurai
Poiaesan kai ebapsan en anthesin eiarinoisin, Oia phorous Orai, en te
kroko en th' uakintho, En t' io thalethonti, rodon t' eni anthei kalo,
Haedei, nektareo, en t' ambrosiais kalukessin Anthesi Narkissou
kallichoróou]. For the Horse and Charites, see Mythology, p. 150-153.
221. It is not unlikely that the poet, who does not say where the garden
of Flora was, placed it mentally on the western margin of the earth,
where so many of the wonders of ancient Grecian fable lay. See vv. 233,
234.
223. Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth, beloved by Apollo, and turned into a
flower of his own name. Met. x. 162. Therapnae was a town of Laconia.
225. See Met. III. 407, _et seq_.
226. _Alter et alter_, scil. that he and his shadow were not different
persons.
227. Crocus, Met. iv. 283. Attis above, IV. 223. In the Met. (x. 103,)
Cybele changes him into a pine-tree, but Arnobius (v. p. 181,) says,
_Fluore de sanguinis viola flos nascitur, et redimitur ex hac arbos_
(pinus). Adonis, the son of Cinyras, was turned into an anemone. Met. x.
728. See Mythology, pp. 109, 110.
229. In Homer, Hesiod, and Apollodorus, and the Greek poets and
mythographers in general, Ares, the god corresponding to the Italian
Mars, is the son of Jupiter and Juno. The present legend I regard as the
fiction of some Italian, or, perhaps, of a Greek who was desirous of
ministering to the vanity of the Romans. I think that many legends were
invented in this way. Such, for example, is the tale of Faunus and
Hercules (above, II. 305, _et seq_.) devised to explain a custom of the
Roman Luperci. They are wrong who think that the taste and talent for
devising mythes ceased, when real history began. The present legend is
only to be found in Ovid; but Festus evidently alludes to it, for,
treating of the etymon of Gradivus, he says, _Vel, ut alii dicunt, quia_
gramine _sit natus_.
233. Compare Hom. II. xiv. 301. Met. II. 509.--_Facta_. Heinsius, on the
authority of one MS. reads _furta_.
243, 244. Somewhat like her declaration in Virgil, _Flectere si nequeo
Superos Acherunta movebo_, which may have been in Ovid's mind.
245. _Vox erat in cursu_. This may refer either to Juno or to Flora; but
it is evident that the poet is speaking of Juno, and means that as she
proceeded in her complaint, she marked the change in the countenance of
her auditress. Taubner's interpretation is curious; he supposes the
meaning to be: Juno spoke as she ran! Compare VI. 362, and Met xiii. 508.
251. _Oleniis_. Olenus was a town of Achaea. There was another of this
name in Boeotia.
253. _Qui dabat_. Probably Zephyrus.
257. Thrace, on the left of the Propontis, was regarded as the
birth-place and favourite abode of Mars, on account of the martial
character of the people.
259. This strengthens what I said above respecting the late age of the
fiction.
261. _Coronis_. He calls the flowers crowns or garlands, not as being the
crown of the plant, for that is true of all that follow, but as being
used for making them. He goes on to say that Flora presided over
_blossoms_, as well as flowers.
265, 266. This is said no where else of the olive. Of the almond, we
read, [Greek: Ora taen amygdalaen to karpo brithomenaen toigaroun
euetaerias tekmaerion megiston]. Theophil. Probl. nat. 17. See also Virg.
G. I. 187.
267. Compare Virgil, G. I. 228.
268. See II. 68.
269. The poet could not abstain from taking advantage of a figurative
employment of the word _flos_, and, ascribing to Flora, what did not
belong to her. "Quae de _vino_ sequuntur, ea melius abessent." Gierig. The
_flos_ and _nebula_ of vine, are the light scum which comes upon its
surface when new. _Si vinum florere incipiet, saepius curare oportebit, ne
flos ejus pessun eat et saporem vitiet_. Columella, R. R. xii. 30. _Flos
vini candidus probatur; rubens triste signum est, si non is vini color
sit--Quod celeriter florere caeperit, odoremque trahere, non exit
diutinum_. Plin. H. N. xiv, 21.
273, 274. The flower of youth--another figurative employment of the
word.
277. He now proceeds to relate the historic origin of the Floral games.
279. Compare Sallust, Cat. 25, _Docta psallere, saltare et multa alia,
quae instrumenta luxuriae sunt_.
281. _Hinc et locupletes dicebant loci, hoc est agri, plenos. Pecunia
ipsa a pecore appellabatur_. Plin. xviii. 3.
283. The subject of the Roman public land, and the Agrarian law, has been
treated and explained in a most masterly manner by the illustrious
Niebuhr, but it would be impossible to do justice to his views in the
compass of a note. I must, therefore, refer the reader to his Roman
History, Vol. II. p. 129, _et seq_. (Hare and Thirlwall's translation,)
or Vol. II. p. 353, et seq. (Walter's translation). A sufficiently full
account of these matters will be found in Nos. xv. and xxii. of the
Foreign Quarterly Review. In my Outlines of History, (p. 72,) I have
given a brief account of them_.-_Populi saltus_. These were the _pascua_,
the public pastures, for the liberty of grazing which a rent was to be
paid to the state, but of which the payment was frequently eluded by
favour or power. _Etiam nunc in tabulis Censoriis pascua dicuntur omnia,
ex quibus populus reditus habet, quia diu hoc solum vectigal fuerat_.
Pliny, _ut supra_.
287, 288. L. and M. Publicii Malleoli, were aediles Plebis, A.U.C. 513.
The poet here, as elsewhere, shews his superficial knowledge of the
history of his country, for A.U.C. 457, _ab aedilibus Pl. L. aelio. Poeta,
et C. Fulvio Curvo ex mullaticia pecunia, quam exegerunt pecuariis
damnatis, ludi facti, pateraeque aureae ad Cereris positae. Liv. x. 23, and
a road was made A.U.C. 462, by the Curule aediles, out of similar fines.
Liv. x. 47. As by the Licinian law, no one was allowed to put more than
100 head of black, or 500 head of small cattle on the public pastures,
these fines were probably imposed on those who had exceeded that number.
291. Besides the institution of the Floral games, a temple, of which the
poet does not speak, was built to Flora out of that money, which was
repaired by Tiberius, A.U.C. 773. Tacit. An. II. 49.
292. _Victores_, scil. the aediles.
293. _Clivus Publicius ab aedilibus plebei Publiciis, qui eum publice
aedificarunt_. Varro, L. L. iv. Festus, who gives a similar account, adds,
_munierunt, ut in Aventinum vehicula Velia venire possent_. A _clivus_,
was a carriageway up a hill.
298. _Turba_, etc. This low idea of their gods, was one of the greatest
blemishes of the theology of the Greeks and Romans. It pervades all their
mythology. See above, on I. 445. Hom. II. ix. 497. Similar notions still
prevail in modern Italy, and in many other countries.
299. _Iniquos_, that is, incensed or unfavourable, the contrary of aequos.
305. _Thestiaden_, Meleager. See Met. 270, _et seq_. Hom. II. ix. 527, et
seq. Mythology, p. 287.
307. _Tantaliden_. Agamemnon, descended from Pelops, the son of Tantalus.
The Grecian fleet, as is well-known, was detained at Aulis by the anger
of Diana.--_Vela_, Neapolis read _tela_, and thought of Niobe.
308. _Virgo est_, from whom, therefore, more mildness was to be expected.
309. See above, III. 265--_Dionen_. Venus. See II. 461.
311. _Oblivia_, forgetfulness; or rather neglect.
312. _Praeteriere_, i. e. neglected to celebrate the Floral games.
329. In the consulate of L. Postumius Albinus, and M. Popilius Laenas,
A.U.C. 581, it was directed that the Floral games should be celebrated
every year.
331. The Floralia were of an exceedingly lascivious character. The utmost
license of language prevailed, and, at the sound of trumpets, lewd women
came forth and ran and danced naked before the spectators. The Fathers of
the Church, Arnobius and Lactantius, are unsparing in their censure of
them. When Cato once appeared at them, the people were so awed at his
presence, that they would not call on the women to strip. Val. Max. II.
10. This practice probably gave occasion to the legend already noticed,
see on v. 195, of Flora having been herself a _meretrix_. Ovid views
matters here with a more lenient eye.
335. _Tempora_, etc. He is not now narrating what took place at the
Floralia, but showing how the gifts of Flora ministered to joy and
pleasure.--_Sut. cor_. crowns made of rose-petals sewed together. There
were also _pactiles coronae_, or crowns made of various flowers, _Jam
tunc corona deorum honos erant, et Larium publicorum privatorumque, ac
sepulchrorum et Manium, summaque auctoritas pactili coronae. Sutiles
Saliorum sacris invenimus et sollemnes coenis. Transiere deinde ad
rosaria, eoque luxuria processit, ut non esset gratia nisi mero folio_.
Plin. H. N. xxi. 3, 8.
336. It was the custom at banquets to shower down roses on the guests and
the tables. See. v. 369.
337. Dancing was looked upon by the Romans as highly indecorous and
unbecoming in a respectable person. See Corn. Nep. Epam. I. Corte on
Sall. Cat. 25. 2. None danced but those who were drunk.--_Philyra_, the
interior bark of the linden or lime-tree. It was much used for making
these festive crowns. Plin. H. N. xvi. 14. xxi. 3. Hor. Car. I. 38. 2.--
_Incinct. capil. Incinctus_ seems here to be used for the simple
_cinctus_; elsewhere (II. 635, V. 217. 675,) it is equivalent to
_succinctus_.
338. _Imprudens_, etc. Scarcely knowing what he is doing, he is whirled
about by the art taught by wine, i. e. he dances. _Ille liquor docuit
voces inflectere cantu, Movit et ad certos nescia membra modos_, Tibull.
I. 2. 37. For _vertitur_ some MSS. read _utitur_, which is perhaps the
better reading.
339, 340. This custom of lovers among the ancients is well known. See.
IV. 110. _At lacrumans exclusus amator limina saepe, Floribus et sertis
operit, postesque superbus Unguit amaricino_, Lucret. iv. 171. Hence
Heinsius would read _serta fores_, than which emendation Gierig thinks
nothing can be more certain.
343. _Acheloë_. The name of this river is here as in Virgil (G. I. 9,)
used for water in general.
343. See III. 513.
347. _Scena levis_, etc. the light, the comic, the farcical opposed to
the grave, tragic scene.--_Cothurn. deas_, is either the grave, stately
goddesses, or, what is nearly the same thing, those who used to be
introduced on the cothurned, or tragic stage, such as Diana and Minerva.
351. Here Flora is again opposed to the serious, respectable goddesses.--
_Tetricis_, grave, severe. _Tetrica et tristis Sabinorum disciplina_,
Liv. l. l8.--_De magna_. Ten MSS. read _dea magna_.
352. _Plebeio choro_, scil. the _Meretrices_, who were of course of low
birth.
353. _Specie_, the beauty of youth.
355. See IV. 619. The poet's reasons are good.
361. _Lumina_, the torches which were used at the Floralia.
362. _Errores_. See IV. 669. VI. 255.
363. _Pur. flor. Purpureus_ is used of any bright splendid colour.
371. These animals were hunted in the Circus Florae, at the time of the
Floralia. _Floralicias lasset arena feras_. Martial, viii. 66. 4.
375. _Tenues_, etc. Compare Virg. aen. ii. 791. ix. 657.
376. Compare Virg. aen. I. 403.
379-414. On the V. Non, the third day of the month, (_nocte minus quarta)
the Centaur rises, Chiron was the offspring of the Oceanide Phillyra,
by Saturn, who had taken the form of a horse, and he was half-man
half-horse. Virg. G. III. 92. Mythology, pp. 49, 283.
381. _Haemonia_ was a name of Thessaly.
384. _Justum senem_. Chiron is called by Homer, (II. xi. 832,) [Greek:
dikaiotatos].
385. Achilles was committed to the care of Chiron.--_Miss. leto_. Compare
Hom. II. I. 3.
388. According to Apollodorus, it was when Hercules was on his fourth
task, that the following accident happened to Chiron. See Mythology, p.
316.
389. _Duo fata_. Because Troy suffered from both, being taken by one, and
reduced to extremity by the other.
403. According to Pliny, (H. N. xxv. 6,) he recovered. _Centaurio curatus
dicitur Chiron, quum Herculis excepti hospitio pertractanti arma sagitta
cecidisset in pedem_.
410. Heinsius regarded this line as spurious, and, as the work of some
grammarian or pedagogue, and even as semi-barbarous Latin. It has been
defended by Heinz and Krebs. In Euripides, (Iph. Aul. 926,) Achilles says
of himself. [Greek: Ego d' en andros eusebestatou trapheis Cheironos
emathon tous tropous haplous echein].
415, 416. Lyra rises acronychally the III. Non.
417, 418. One part of the Scorpion sets cosmically the day before the
Nones. _Pridie Nonas Maias Nepa medius occidet_. Columella, R. R. xi. 2.
_Nepa_ is used for _Scorpio_, by Manilius and others, as well as
Columella.
419-492. The Lemuria began on the VII. Id. and lasted for three days, but
not continuously, as appears from v. 491, and an ancient Calendar. The
_Mundus_ (See on IV. 821,) was regarded as the door of the under world,
and was believed to be open three days in the year for the spirits of the
departed to revisit the earth. Festus v. Mundus. There may be some
relation between these three days and those of the Lemuria.--
_Protulerit_. See III. 345. Trist. III. 10, 9. Hor. Sat. I. 8, 21.
Fourteen MSS. read _sustulerit_, one _praetulerit_, others _pertulerit_ or
_propulevit.--Formosa ova_. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 589, _et seq_.
422. _Tacitis Manibus_, i. e. the Lemures, whom (v. 481,) he calls
_animas Silentum_. According to Ovid's account, the Lemures were, what we
term, disturbed spirits. Nonius says, they were _larvae nocturnae et
terrificationes imaginum et bestiarum_.
423. See I. 27.
427, 428. It would appear from this, that it was thought that in the time
of Romulus, the Feralia, (II. 533,) and the Lemuria, were one, and were
celebrated in the third month, which was named _a majoribus_.
429, 430. Compare IV. 490. Virg. aen. iv. 522, viii. 26. If there is any
imitation, I would say that it was Apollonius Rhodius, whom Ovid had in
view.--_Praebet, scil. _nox_. Some MSS. read _somnos_, or _somnum silentia
praebent_.
431. _Ille_. He who is, that person who is.
432. _Vincula_, scil. _pedum_, calcea, I. 410. It was the custom to bare
the feet when going about any magic operation. See Met. vii. 182. Virg.
aen. iv. 518. Hor. Sat. I. 8, 23.
433. _Signa_, etc. Neapolis says, "Est crepitus ille, qui fit nostro aevo
in quavis saltatione, sive comica, sive rustica, digito scilicet medio
adeo presse juncto cum pollice, ut lapsus in palmam strepitum edat." This
explanation is adopted by Gierig, but as he observes from Met. ix. 299,
that "digitis pertinatim inter se junctis impediebant aliquid," and the
poet here says _digitis_ (not _digito_) _junctis_, I think the mode may
have been to lock the fingers in one another, by which means the thumbs
were joined in the middle, and then to make a noise by bringing the hands
smartly together.
436. _Nigras_, etc. Compare II. 576. For _ante_, several MSS. read _ore_,
which Heinsius preferred.
437. _Aversus jacit_, throws them behind him. Compare Virg. Ec. viii.
101.
438. _Redimo_, etc. That you may no longer haunt my house. _Quibus
temporibus in sacris fabam jactant noctu ac dicunt se Lemures extra
januam ejicere_. Varro de Vita Pop. Rom. _apud_ Nonium. _Faba Lemuralibus
jacitur Larvis, et Parentalibus adhibetur sacrificiis, et in flore ejus
luctus litterae apparere videntur_. Festus.
439. _Novies_, like _ter_, (v. 435,) for _numero deus impure gaudet_,
(Virg. Ec. viii. 75,) was probably of magic efficacy. Compare Met. xiii.
951.
440. This superstition reminds one of that of sowing the hempseed on
All-Hallows' Eve. See Burns' Halloween, st. xvi.-xx.
441. _Temesaea aera_, simply copper. Temesa, called by the Latins Tempsa,
was a town in Bruttium. It is supposed to be the Temesa of the Homeric
ages, to which (Od. I. 184,) the Greeks resorted to barter iron for
copper. See Mythology, p. 232. For the abundance of copper in ancient
Italy, see Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I.
450-452. Of its use on the present occasion, we may observe, that Sophron
in one of his Mimes, said, [Greek: Kuon bauxas luei ta phasmata, os kai
chalkos krotaetheis]. The Scholiast on Theocritus, tells us, that [Greek:
O tou chalkou haechos oikeios tois katoichomenois], on which Neapolis
says, "Observa illa et respice ad hodiernum modum." He was a Sicilian.
447. _Pliade nate_, Mercury. All the editions read _Pleiade_. But see
note on IV. 169.--_Virga_, the well known _gestamen_ of [Greek: Hermaes
chrysorrhatis]. Compare Hom. II. xxiv. 43. Od. v. 47. Virg. aen. 242. Hor.
Car. I. 10, 17, 24, 15.
448. His office of [Greek: psychopompos] is well-known. He was,
therefore, the god who was most likely to be able to tell the origin of
the name Lemuria.
450. He does not, as usual, introduce the god himself speaking, but
informs the reader of what he had learned from him.
451. _Tumulo condidit_. Com pare Virg. aen. III. 67.
452. See IV. 841, _et seq--Male veloci_. Like _servata male_, I. 559.
456. _Utque erat_. As they (each of them) were. Two of the best MSS. read
_sicut erant_, but the metre is against this reading.
457. Compare Virg. aen. II. 270.
471. _Pietas_, etc. His brotherly love is equal to mine.
476. Compare Hom. II. xxiii. 99. Virg. aen. II. 792.
479-484. _Lemures dictos esse putant quasi Remures a Remo, cujus occisi
umbram frater Romulus quum placare vellet Lemuria instituit_. Porphyrio
on Hor. Ep. II. 2, 209.
483. Lemures, [Greek: nukterinoi daimones]. _Glossae_.
486. See II. 557.
487. Plutarch (Q. R. 86,) gives, among other reasons, why the Romans did
not marry in May, [Greek: oti polloi Latinon en to maeni touto tois
katoichomenois enagizousi]. He elsewhere informs us, that it was only
widows who married on holidays.