largely in his Pensieri Diversi, L. viii c. 2. of this superstition,
which still existed in his time at Ferrara.
492. "Nam hi sex continuis diebus. Primus, tertius, quintus sacri sunt
Lemuralibus. Hinc capies vetus Kalendarium in quo sic illa notantur:
A. LEM. N.
BC.
C. LEM. N.
D. NP. LVD. MART. IV. CIRC.
E. LEM. N."
Neapolis.
493-544. The second day of the Lemuria fell on the V. Id. on which day
therefore Orion set.--_Boeotum_. Orion was born in Boeotia, according to
most writers. Pindar makes Chios his birth-place. The following narrative
occurs in several writers besides Ovid. See Mythology, p. 415-419.
494. _Falsus eris_, you will be mistaken.
495. _Frater_. Tzetzes on Lyc. Cass. 328, says it was Apollo. As
according to Hesiod, Neptune was the father of Orion, our poet is, I
think, the more orthodox.
497. Compare Virg. Ec. II. 66. Hor. Epod. II. 61. Compare also the whole
narrative with the delightful story of Philemon and Baucis, in the
Metamorphoses, viii. 626. _et seq_.
504. _Parent promissis_, is equivalent to: They accept his invitation.
506. _Ignis_, etc. The same is said of Philemon and Baucis; they had
therefore but the one hot meal a day. This way of keeping in, and blowing
up a fire, is familiar to any one who has been in a country where wood or
peat is the fuel.
509. _Calices_, earthen pots or pipkins to go on the fire. This is rather
an unusual sense of the word.--_Inde_, of them. Compare IV. 171. Virg. G.
III. 308, 490.
510. _Testu suo_, by its lid, I should suppose.--_Fumant_. Several MSS.
read _spumant_ or _spumat_, some have _fumat_, whence Heinsius formed the
present reading.
517. _Puer_, when a young man.--_Diffuderat_, racked off. See Hor. Ep.
I. 5. 4.
518. _Condo_ and _promo_ are appropriate terms, Hor. Car. I. 9. 7. Epod.
2. 47. It was the custom to set the wine jars in a place where the smoke
could have access to them. _Apothecae recte superponentur his locis, unde
pierumque fumus exoritur, quoniam vina celerius vetustescunt, quae fumi
quodam tenore praecocem maturitatem trahunt; propter quod et aliud
tabulatum esss debebit, qua amoveantur, ne rursus nimia suffitione
medicata sint_, Columella, II. R. I. 6.
519. _Lino_, a linen covering.
525. _Prima_, etc. Heinsius, who is followed by the other editors, reads
_primae mihi cura, juventae_, which is the reading of three of the best,
and five other MSS. Two of the best read _prima mihi cura juventa_;
others _cara mihi prima juventa_; one _prima mihi grata juventa_. I
think, with Krebs, that there is force in the repetition of _cara_.
Burmann proposes _flore juventae_.
526. _Cognita_. Seven MSS. have _condita_.
542. _Curva spicula_, its claws.--_Gemelliparae_, an epithet of Latona,
peculiar to our poet.
545-598. On the IV. Id. there were Circensian games in honor of Mars
Ultor. Augustus built (A.U.C. 725,) in his own Forum a temple to this
god, which he had vowed at the time of the battle of Philippi. Suet. Aug.
29.--_Mundo_, the sky. It is often used in this sense by Manilius. Four
MSS. read _caelo_.
546. _Coarctat_, contracts, shortens.
549. _Bellica signa_, i. e. the clash of arms.
555, 556. _Sanxit ut de bellis, triumphisque hic_ (in templo Martis)
_consuleretur senatus, quique victores redissent, huc insignia
triumphorum inferrent_. Suet. Aug. 29.--_Tropaeis_. Some MSS. read
_triumphis_.
557. _Impius_. Rome was under the protection of the gods; Augustus was a
god himself. It was, therefore, impiety to take arms against them.
560. _Ornant signis fictilibus aut aereis inauratis aedium fastigia.
Vitruv. Archit. III. 2. We know not of what gods the statues were on this
temple of Mars.
561. _Diversae figurae_, differing in form from those used by the Romans.
These, and the _arma_ of the next line, were probably carved on the
doors, or piled or suspended at them.
563. _Proximum a diis immortalibus honorem memoriae ducum praestitit.
Itaque et opera cujusque, manentibus titulis, restituit, et statuas
omnium triumphali effigie in utraque Fori sui porticu dedicavit_. Suet.
Aug. 3l.--_Hinc_, then, or from the temple.--_Caro_. Heinsius and Gierig
read after two of the best MSS. _sacro_.
565. Romulus, the son of Ilia, bearing the _spolia opima_ of Acron. Liv.
1. 10.
566. The titles and deeds of the great men were inscribed on the bases of
their statues.
567. The name of Augustus was, according to custom, inscribed on the
temple.
573. See III. 699.
575. The [Greek: aimati asai Araea talaurinon polemistaen] of Homer, was,
perhaps, in Ovid's mind.
580. To whom is unknown the fate of Crassus, and the recovery of the
captured ensigns of Rome by Augustus, the theme of every Augustan poet's
praise? Krebs.
595. _Bis ulto_. Some MSS. read _ultum_. The greater number Bisultor,
"Nomen _Bisultoris_ ejus que templum in Capitolio lepidum est commentum
librariorum et archaeologorum aliquot, quod neque scriptori scujusquam nec
nummorum auctoritate confirmatur." Krebs.
598. Compare v. 347.
599. The following day, the third and last of the Lemuria, the Pleiades
rise heliacally, and summer begins. _VI. Idus Maias Vergiliae totae
apparent; pridie aestatis initium_. Columella, R. R. xi. 2.
603-620. On the 14th May, Prid. Id. the head of the Bull rises
cosmically. The poet now inquires into its origin. See IV. 7l7-720,--
_Prior_, scil. _dies. Idibus_ is a dative.
605. For the story of Europa, see Met. II. 833, _et seq_. Hor. Car. III.
27. Mythology p. 408. It is also most beautifully told by the Greek poet
Moschus, in his second Idyll.
607. _Jubam_. It is rather unusual to speak of the _juba_, (mane) of a
bull. Ovid however does so elsewhere. Am. III. 5. 24. This description
was, perhaps as Gierig observes, taken from some painting, but that in
Moschus (v. 122) is similar, [Greek: Tae men echen tauron dolichon keras,
en cheri d' allae Eirue porphyreas kolpou ptychas ... ... ... Kolpothae
d' omoisi peplos bathys Europeiaes, Istion oia te naeos, elaphrizeske de
kouraen]. And in Lucian's Dialogue of Zephyrus and Notes, it is said,
[Greek: hae de tae laie men eicheto tou keratos, os mae apolisthanoi, tae
hetera de haemeno menon ton peplon xyneiche]. Compare III. 869.
613, 614. How truly Ovidian this is!--_Prudens_, on purpose, This word is
a contraction of _providens_.
619. _Phariam juvencam_. Io or Isis. II. 454. Met. I. 583, _et seq_.
621-662. On the Ides of May, after having performed the sacrifices
appointed by the law, the Pontifices, the Vestal Virgins, the Praetors,
and such other of the citizens as were legally qualified, proceeded to
the Sublician or ancient wooden bridge, and threw from it into the Tiber
thirty images of men formed of bullrushes. These figures were called
_Argei_. See Dionysius I. 19 and 38. _Argei fiunt e scirpeis virgultis:
simulacra sunt hominum triginta_ (in the old MSS. xxiv.): _et quotannis a
ponte Sublicio a sacerdotibus publice jaci solent in Tiberim_. Varro, L.
L. VI. _Argeos vocabant scirpeas effigies, quae per virgines Vestales
minis singulis jaciebantur in Tiberim_. Festus. I have departed from the
usual division in this place, and made a separate section of 621-662, as
the Argei were thrown on the Ides, and Taurus rose Prid. Idus.--_Virgo_,
scil. _Vestalis_, one, as is so frequently the case, put for the whole.
See preceding part of this note.--_Pris. vir_. This is explained by what
follows.
622. _Roboreo_, i. e. _Sublicio_ so called _a sublicis_, the piles on
which it was built, hence Plutarch calls it [Greek: xylinaen gephuran].
Dionysius III. says of it [Greek: haen achri ton pyrontos
diaphylattousin, hieran einai nomizontes ei de ti ponaeseien autaes
meros, oi hierophantai (Pontifices) therapeuousi, thusias tinas
epitelountes ama tae kataskeuae patrious]. The Sublician was the ancient
original bridge of Rome, and a superstitious reverence frequently
attaches to things of this nature. I need scarcely observe, that we have
here the origin of the word _Pontifex_.
623. The first opinion respecting the origin of this custom: the ancient
Romans used to throw their old men, when they were arrived at the age of
sixty, into the Tiber, and drown them. This the poet very properly seems
disposed to reject, and whatever may have been the case with a tribe of
the ancient Indians, (see Herod. III. 38,) or with the Battas of modern
times, there is no ground for suspecting the people of ancient Latium of
such barbarity.
625. A second opinion: it commemorated the time when human sacrifices
were offered at Home. I have, in various parts of my Mythology, hinted my
opinion, that human sacrifices were totally unknown in the heroic ages of
Greece, and that all legends relating to such are comparatively late
fictions. I now extend this theory to Italy, and assert that there are no
testimonies, on which we can rely, of such a practice having prevailed in
it in those times, when the poet says it was called _Saturnia terra_. The
opinion, of which the poet now speaks, evidently arose from the
confounding of Saturnus, the Italian god of husbandry, with 'Moloch,
horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents'
tears,' the 'grim idol' of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
626. According to Dionysius, the oracle given by the god at Dodona to the
Pelasgians was as follows; [Greek: Steichete maiomenoi Sikelon Satournian
aian Haed' Aborigeneon Kotulaen, ou nasos ocheitai. Ois anamichthentes
dekataen ekpempsate Phoibo kai kephalas Adae, kai to patri pempate
phota]. Arnobibus (adv. G. II. p. 91,) says, _Cum ex_ Apollinis _monitit
patri Diti ac Saturno humanis capitibus supplicaretur_. I need hardly
observe, that the aforesaid oracle cannot be older than the Alexandrian
period of Grecian literature.
630. _Leucadio_. Leucas, now _Santa Maura_, on the coast of
Acarnania, was originally a peninsula. It has long been an island. The
celebrated Lover's Leap was there. Strabo (x. 2.) says, [Greek: Haen de
kai patrion tois Laukadiois kat' eniauton en tae thysia tou Apollonos apo
tes skopaes], (the Lover's Leap,) [Greek: ripteistha tina ton en aitiois
outon apotrhopes charin]. He adds, that birds, and a kind of wings, were
attached to these criminals to break the fall, and that there was a
number of persons below in small boats to save them, and to put them
beyond the bounds of the country.
631. Macrobius (Sat. I. 7,) says, that he persuaded the people _ut
faustis sacrificiis infausta mutarent, inferences Diti, non hominum
capita, sed oscilla ad humanam effigiem arte simulata, et aras Saturnias,
non mactando viros, sed accensis luminibus excolentes, quia non solum
virum sed et lumina [Greek: phota] (see the oracle,) _significant_. The
following note of Burmann's is too curious to be omitted, "Similem fere
ritum Lipsiae a meretricibus celebratum scribit Pfeiffer Rerum
Lipsiensium, L. III. § 18, illas scilicet solitas olim primis jejunii
quadragenarii (_Lent_) diebus imaginem stramineam deformis viri, longa
pertica suffixam, sequente omni meretricum agmine, tulisse ad Pardam
flumen, ibique, cum carminibus in pallidam mortem, praecipitasse;
dicentes se lustrare urbem, ut sequenti anno a pestilentia esset
immunis."--_Ilium. Fama vetus_, (v. 625,) is understood.--_Quirites_,
proleptically, as there were no Quirites as yet.
633. A third opinion: which appears to have arisen from the
misunderstanding of a proverb, _Cum in quintum gradum pervenerant, atque
habebant sexaginta annos, tum denique erant a publicis negotiis liberi
atque expediti et otiosi: ideo in proverbium quidam putant venisse,
sexagenarios de ponte dejici oportere, id est quod suffragium non ferant,
quod per pontem ferebant_. Nonius. _Exploratissimum illud causae est quo
tempore primum per pontem coeperunt comitiis suffragia ferre, juniores
conclamavere, ut de ponte dejicerentur sexagenarii: quia nullo pidilico
munere fungerentur; ut ipsi potius sibi quam illis deligerent imperium_,
Festus.
635. _Tibri_, etc. The reader will call to mind Gray's "Say father
Thames," etc. in his Ode on the Distant Prospect of Eton College, and I
hope, at the same time, recollect with contempt the tasteless criticism
of Johnson, who, curious enough, had put an exactly similar apostrophe to
the Nile into the mouth of the princess Nekayah, in his own Rasselas. Was
this passage of Ovid in the mind of that maker of beautiful poetic
mosaics?
637. _Aurundiferum_. The rivergods were usually represented crowned with
reeds. Met. ix. 3. Virg. aen. viii. 34.
638. _Rauca ora_. As he uses the verb _dimovet, ora_, in this place, must
signify _lips_, and _hoarse lips_ is rather a hardy expression. Heinsius
proposed _glauca_. A hoarse voice is very naturally ascribed to a
river-god. Compare Virg. aen. ix. 124.
639. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 360.
643. See I. 471, IV. 65.
646. See II. 389, IV. 48. Liv. I. 3.
647. _Pallantius_, from his native town Pallantium, in Arcadia. He calls
him _Nonacrius heros_, v. 97.
660. The only foundation of this legend is the accidental resemblance
between _Argei_ and [Greek: _Argeioi_]. Of the origin of the word
_Argei_, I can offer no conjecture; the ceremony seems to me to have been
symbolical. Perhaps, like the Leucadian rite, (see on v. 630) it had some
analogy with that of letting go the Scape-goat under the Mosaic law. In
the number of the images (thirty) I discern a relation to the thirty
curies into which the original Romans were divided: or, perhaps, a more
general one, to the political number of Latium. See Niebuhr, Rom. Hist.
II. 18, _et seq_.
661. _Hactenus_, scil. _locutus est Tiberis_.
663-692. A temple was dedicated to Mercury on the Ides of May, A.U.C.
258. Liv. II. 21, 27.--_Clare_, etc. Compare Hor. Car. I. 10. which ode
Ovid, very possibly had before him.
665. _Pacis_, etc. "Mercurius pacis et armorum arbiter propter
eloquentiam et prudentiam qua excellit." Gierig. I rather think it was as
being _Caducifer_, the herald of the gods.
671. _Te_. etc. The name of the Roman Mercurius comes evidently from
_Merx_, and there can be little doubt of his having been originally
merely the god presiding over commerce. When he was identified with the
Greek Hermes, he acquired the offices above mentioned. For Hermes, see
Mythology, p. 124.
673. _Est aqua_, etc. "Hoc solum testimonio probant viri docti extra
portam Capenam, via Appia, aquam fuisse ita nuncupatam; qua populus, qui
negotio et quaestui operam dabat, his Idibus lustrari solitus." Neapolis.
674. _Numen habet_, it has a divine efficacy.
675. _Incinctus tunicas_. "Cingulo; e quo marsupium auri monetalis
propendebat. Hic vetus mercatorum habitus." Neapolis. The MSS. in general
read _tunica_.
676. _Purus_, scil. _ipse.--Suffita_ scil. _sulfure_. Most MSS. read
_suffusa_.
678. _Omnia_, etc. his goods, all the things that he had to sell. He, of
course, as v. 676 shews, had brought the holy water home for this pious
use.
680. _Solita fallere_. The characier of the trader was in bad odour in
ancient Rome for honesty; for trade was considered an illiberal
employment, and no man of respectability engaged in it.
684. _Non andituri_, who should not hear, whom I did not wish to hear.
692. _Ortygias boves_, the oxen of Apollo. For the story, see Met. II.
685, _et seq_. the Homeridian hymn to Hermes, or my analysis of it.
(Mythology, p. 126-128.) See also Hor. Car. I. 10. 9. Ortygian, is used
by the poet as equivalent to Delian, as Ortygia was one of the names
given to Delos. For the true situation of Ortygia, and the way in which
it was confounded with Delos, see Mythology, pp. 99 and 254.
693-720. On the XIII. Kal. Jun. the sun enters the Twins. Columella, who
is followed by Neapolis, has XV. Kal. Jun.--_Precor_ scil. te Mercuri!--
Mel. pet_. scil. than the merchant.
697. _Quot sunt_. etc. i. e. twelve.
699. Phoebe and her sister Elaïra, Ilaïra or Hilaïra, as it is variously
written, the two daughters of Leucippus were promised in marriage to
their two cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus. The Tyndaridae,
Castor and Pollux, who were also cousins, carried off the maidens by
force, and matters proceeded as is related in the text. See Theoc. Idyll,
xxii. Pindar. Nem. x. Mythology, p. 391.
705. _Oebalides_, either as being the grandsons of Oebalus, Pans. III. 1,
or because they were Laconians. See on I. 260.
708. _Aphidna_. The best known Aphidna is the Attic deme of that name.
According to Steph. Byz, (_sub. voc_.) there was an Aphidna in Laconia.
719. See Hom. Od. xi. 301. Virg. aen. vi. 121.
720. _Utile_, etc. They were [Greek: arogonautai daimones]. See Hor. Car.
II. 3, and 12, 27.
721. _Ad Janum_, etc. "XII. Kal. Jun. Agonalia Urbs interabat. Hoc die
notantur haec festa in veteri Kalendario; nam illud _hoc quoque tempus
habet_, quod induxit interpretes ut dicerent XIV. Kal. intelligendum quod
etiam mense Maio denuo fiant." Neapolis. The poet refers those anxious
for information to the first book. See I. 317, _et seq_.
723. _Canicula_ rises (it should be _sets_, Plin. xviii. 27,) on the XI
Kal. Jun. See on IV. 936.
725. The Tubilustria were on the X. Kal. _Tubilustrium appellatur, quod
eo die in atrio sutorio sacrorum tubae lustrantur_. Varro, L. L. V. See
III. 849.
726. _Purae_, as being sacred, or as being now cleaned or purified.
727. _Inde_, then, in the place of the next day, IX. Kal. in the
Calendar. "In Calendario antiquo legebantur notae hae Q. R. C. F. quae
dupliciter legi poterant, vel: quando rex comitiavit fas, vel: quando rex
comitio fugit," Gierig. The king is, of course, the Rex Sacrorum. _Dies,
qui vocatur sic, Quando rex comitiavit fas, dictus ab eo, quod eo die rex
sacrificulus dicat ad comitium, ad quod tempus est nefas, ab eo fas.
Varro L. L. V. [Greek: Esti goun tis en agora thusia pros to legomeno
Komaetio patrios, haen thusas ho basileus kata tachos apeisi pheugon ex
agoras]. Plutarch, Q. R. 63.
730. On the VIII. Kal. Jun. the temple of Fortuna Publica had been
dedicated. This is probably the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, of which
Plutarch speaks, de For. Rom. 10. [Greek: Serbios Tullios idrusato
Tychaes ieron Kapitolio to taes Primigeneias legomenaes]. See IV. 375. It
is not unlikely that, as Gesenius conjectures, Ovid read the PR. in his
Calendar _pop. Rom_. i. e. _pop. pot_. of the text, instead of
_Primigenia_. On the same day Aquila rises in the evening.
733. The following day VII. Kal. Bootes sets heliacally, and on the VI.
Kal. the Hyades rise in the same manner.
LIBER VI.
Hic mensis habet dubias in nomine causas:
Quae placeant, positis omnibus, ipse leges.
Facta canam; sed erunt, qui me finxisse loquantur:
Nullaque mortali numina visa putent.
Est Deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo. 5
Impetus hic sacrae semina mentis habet.
Fas mihi praecipue vultus vidisse Deorum:
Vel quia sum vates; vel quia sacra cano.
Est nemus arboribus densum, secretus ab omni
Voce locus, si non obstreperetur aquis. 10
Hic ego quaerebam, coepti quae mensis origo
Esset, et in cura nominis hujus eram.
Ecce deas vidi: non quas praeceptor arandi
Viderat, Ascraeas quum sequeretur oves;
Nec quas Priamides in aquosae vallibus Idae 15
Contulit; ex illis sed tamen una fuit.
Ex illis fuit una, sui germana mariti.
Haec erat,--agnovi,--quae stat in arce Jovis.
Horrueram tacitoque animum pallore fatebar;
Quum dea, quos fecit, sustulit ipsa metus: 20
Namque, ait, O vates, Romani conditor anni,
Ause per exiguos magna referre modos,
Jus tibi fecisti numen coeleste videndi,
Quum placuit numeris condere festa tuis.
Ne tamen ignores, vulgique errore traharis, 25
Junius a nostro nomine nomen habet.
Est aliquid nupsisse Jovi, Jovis esse sororem.
Fratre magis, dubito, glorier, anne viro.
Si genus adspicitur, Saturnum prima parentem
Feci; Saturni sors ego prima fui. 30
A patre dicta meo quondam Saturnia Roma est:
Haec illi a coelo proxima terra fuit.
Si torus in pretio est, dicor matrona Tonantis,
Junctaque Tarpeio sunt mea templa Jovi.
An potuit Maio pellex dare nomina mensi, 35
Hic honor in nobis invidiosus erit?
Cur igitur regina vocor, princepsque dearum?
Aurea cur dextrae sceptra dedere meae?
An faciant mensem luces, Lucinaque ab illis
Dicar, et a nullo nomina mense traham? 40
Tum me poeniteat posuisse fideliter iras
In genus Electrae Dardaniamque domum.
Causa duplex irae. Rapto Ganymede dolebam:
Forma quoque Idaeo judice victa mea est.
Poeniteat, quod non foveo Carthaginis arces, 45
Quum mea sint illo currus et arma loco.
Poeniteat Sparten, Argosque, measque Mycenas,
Et veterem Latio supposuisse Samon.
Adde senem Tatium, Junonicolasque Faliscos,
Quos ego Romanis succubuisse tuli. 50
Sed neque poeniteat, nec gens mihi carior ulla est.
Hic colar, hic teneam cum Jove templa meo.
Ipse mihi Mavors, Commendo maenia, dixit,
Haec tibi: tu pollens urbe nepotis eris.
Dicta fides sequitur. Centum celebramur in aris: 55
Nec levior quovis est mihi mensis honor.
Nec tamen hunc nobis tantummodo praestat honorem
Roma: suburbani dant mihi munus idem.
Inspice, quos habeat nemoralis Aricia fastos,
Et populus Laurens, Lanuviumque meum: 60
Est illic mensis Junonius. Inspice Tibur,
Et Praenestinae moenia sacra deae;
Junonale leges tempus. Nec Romulus illas
Condidit: at nostri Roma nepotis erat.
Finierat Juno. Respeximus. Herculis uxor 65
Stabat, et in vultu signa dolentis erant.
Non ego, si toto mater me cedere coelo
Jusserit, invita matre morabor, ait.
Nunc quoque non luctor de nomine temporis hujus:
Blandior, et partes paene rogantis ago; 70
Remque mei juris malim tenuisse precando;
Et faveas causae forsitan ipse meae.
Aurea possedit posito Capitolia templo
Mater, et ut debet, cum Jove summa tenet.
At decus omne mihi contingit origine mensis. 75
Unicus est, de quo sollicitamur, honor.
Quid grave, si titulum mensis, Romane dedisti,
Herculis uxori, posteritasque memor?
Haec quoque terra aliquid debet mihi nomine magni
Conjugis. Huc captas appulit ille boves, 80
Hic male defensus flammis et dote paterna
Cacus Aventinam sanguine tinxit humum.
Ad propiora vocor. Populum digessit ab annis
Romulus, in partes distribuitque duas.
Haec dare consilium, pugnare paratior illa est: 85
Haec aetas bellum suadet, at illa gerit.
Sic statuit, mensesque nota secrevit eadem.
Junius est juvenum; qui fuit ante, senum.
Dixit: et in litem studio certaminis issent,
Atque ira pietas dissimulata foret; 90
Venit Apollinea longas Concordia lauro
Nexa comas, placidi numen opusque ducis.
Haec ubi narravit Tatium, fortemque Quirinum,
Binaque cum populis regna coisse suis,
Et Lare communi soceros generosque receptos; 95
His nomen junctis Junius, inquit, habet.
Dicta triplex causa est. At vos ignoscite, divae:
Res est arbitrio non dirimenda meo.
Ite pares a me. Perierunt judice formae
Pergama: plus laedunt, quam juvet una, duae. 100