503. _Semelae Stimulae_. The latter, or something like it, was, I have no
doubt, the original name, and its resemblance to Semele, gave occasion to
the change. _Saera Bacchanalia condemnata sunt, quum probatum esset
Senatui, honestissimas feminas ad Stimulae lucum faede adulterari_.
Schol. Juven. II. 3. Augustine also mentions a goddess, Stimula. In Liv.
xxxix. 12, it is _lucus Similae_. Neapolis and Heinsius think that it is
the grove of Fauna Fatua, or the Bona Dea, which Ovid means, as Macrobius
(I. 12,) when speaking of Maia, or the Bona Dea, says, _Boeoti Semelam
credunt, nec non eandem Fauni filiam dicunt.
507. _Dissim. deam_, by assuming the form of some particular woman.--
_Saturnia_, Juno.
508. _Instimulat_, alluding, perhaps, to the _Stimula_ of v. 503.
509. _Captae_. See on v. 204.
511. The ancients were very solicitous to keep the knowledge of their
sacred rites from strangers, fearing that their gods might be induced to
withdraw their protection from them. See Mythology, p. 142.
512. _Pignus_, scil. her child.
518. _Oetaeus_, proleptically. Hercules burned himself on Mt. Oeta.
524. _Numen_. Juno.
526. _Continet_, restrains, prevents her from telling.--_In scelus_, by
attempting to destroy herself and her child. See v. 497.
528. Compare Virg. aen. iv. 174.
532-534. The cause of cakes being offered at the Matralia. _Libum, quod
libaretur, ut erat, priusquam esset coctum. Testuatium quod in testu
caldo coquelatur, ut etiam nunc Matralibus id faciunt matronae_. Varro,
L. L. IV.
537-540. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 47.
547. _Ut Portunus a portu, sic Neptunus a nando_, Cic. N. D. II. 26.
549. _Annuerant_. They granted her request.--_Promissa_, i. e. _promissa
est_.--_Fides_, Faithful performance.
550. _Hic deus, etc. We may now enquire who Mater Matuta and Portunus
were, and how they came to be identified with the Leucothea and Palaemon
of the Greeks. Mater Matuta was worshiped, as we see, at Rome by the
matrons: she was also adored at Satricum, a town of the Volscians (Liv.
vi. 33. vii. 27. xxviii. 2.) perhaps the goddess, whose rich temple near
Caere was, according to Diodorus (xv. 14.), plundered by Dionysius of
Syracuse, was Mater Matuta. From all that we can learn of her, there
appears no reason whatever for regarding her as a marine deity. On the
other hand, Lucretius, (v. 655.) says, _Tempore item certo roseam Matuta
per oras Aetheris Auroram defert et lumina pandit_; and I think those
critics are right who take _Aurora_ in this place, like _aura_, Virg. aen.
vi. 204, for a common substantive, the dawning light, and Matuta for the
goddess who brings it forth, and spreads it over heaven. Matuta would
then exactly correspond with the [Greek: Haeos] of the Greeks. Her name,
also, leads to this conclusion. _Manum dixere clarum, unde etiam mane
post tenebras diei prima pars; inde Matuta quae Graecis Leucothea_.
Nonius. _Matuta significat Auroram. Matutinum tempus inde dici vix
monendum est_. Priscian, II. p. 591. IF Matuta is thus the _Clara Dea_,
how easy was the identification of her with the Leucothea (_White
Goddess_) of the Greeks, at a time when the Romans had lost the true
sense of their ancient religion, and wished to derive all their manners
and institutions from Greece! The worship by the Roman matrons of Mater
Matuta, the dispenser of light, was as natural as that of Juno Lucina;
and it is probable, (see on v. 559,) that originally they prayed to her
for the preservation of their children. A slight resemblance of name, and
a similarity of office, may also have produced the identification of
Palaemon and Portunus or Portumnus. I need hardly repeat that the old
Italian religion did not recognise the marriages and births of deities,
or the deification of mortals. Before I quit this subject, I will attempt
to elucidate a passage of Milton's Paradise Lost. In B. xi. v. 133, we
read, "Meanwhile, To resalute the world with sacred light Leucothea
wakes." As Eos is never called by this name, I was long of opinion that
this was a slip of the poet's memory; but I now think that he may have
derived it from the passage of Nonius quoted above, or have deduced it
from those verses of Lucretius.
551. He here gives a trifling explanation of the custom of not admitting
female slaves into the temple of Matuta. Plutarch however tells us, (Q.
R. 16.) that one was always brought in and well cuffed by the matrons. As
according to the same writer, the same kind of exclusion was practised at
the temple of Leucothea in Chaeronea, the custom may have come from
Greece to Rome.
559. Plutarch (Q. R. 17.) asks [Greek: Dia ti pura tae theo tautae tois
men idiois teknois houk euchontai t' agatha, tois de ton adelphon]; He
gives the same reason with Ovid. I rather think they _did_ originally
pray for their own children, but a change was made when Matuta became
Leucothea.
563. On the day of the Matralia, A.U.C. 664, in the Marsian or Social
war, the consul P. Rutilius Lupus fell in battle. Tradition, it would
seem, related that the voice of the goddess Matuta had predicted to him
his fate.
565. _Flumen Toleni_, like _amnis Eridani, amnis Cocyti_. The Tolenus,
now the _Turano_, flows from the Marsian into the Sabine country, and
enters the Velinus near Reate.
566. _Purpureum_. This is the reading of all the MSS. but one, which has
_purpureo_, the reading of all the editions since that of Heinsius, who
introduced it into the text. Krebs, has, I think, shewn his taste, by
bringing back _purpureum_, and joining it with the verb, and not with
_flumen_. The verse thus strikingly reminds one of these lines of Milton:
"While smooth Adonis from his native rock _Ran purple_ to the sea,
supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded."
567. According to Appian, T. Didius was one of the Praetors in the
Marsian war, but we have no account of his death. We learn from the
epitome of Livy 75, and from Velleius, that Porcius was slain the
following year, and the Fasti inform us, that he was consul for that
year. Burmann would therefore read _Porcius_, but there is no necessity
for a change. Ovid had access to authorities which are lost to us, and
none that we have contradict him.--_Pallantide_. Pallantis, like
Pallantias is a name of Aurora, See IV. 373.
569-636. On the same day with the temple of Mater Matuta; by the same
person (Servius Tullius); in the same place (the Forum Boarium) the
temple of Fortune was dedicated. Servius raised two temples to this
goddess, viz. that of which Ovid now speaks, and another on the banks of
the Tiber. The former, as it would appear to Bona or Virgo Fortuna, the
latter to Fors Fortuna, or Fortuna Virilis. Dionys. IV. 27. See below on
v, 776.
570. _Auctor est M. Varro factam a Tanaquile togam regiam undulatam in
aede Fortunae, qua, Servius Tullius fuerat usus.--Servii praetextae,
quibus signum Fortunae ab eo dicatae coopertum erat, duravere ad Sejani
exitum_. Plin. H. N. viii. 48. 74. Varro himself, (de Vit. Pop. Rom.
_apud_ Nonium) says, evidently speaking of this statue, _Et a quibusdam
dicitur esse Virginis Fortunae, ab eo quod duabus undulatis togis est
opertum, proinde ut tum reges nostri undulatas et praetextatas togas
soliti sunt habere_. Varro, therefore, regarded the covered statue as
that of the goddess. Ovid asserts that it was Servius. This statue was of
gilt wood.
575. This amour of Fortuna with Servius Tullius, is also noticed by
Plutarch de Fort. Rom. 10. Qu. Rom. 26. It is one of the many adaptations
of Grecian ideas to Roman story.
577, 578. Plutarch (de Fort. Rom. 10) says, [Greek: oste kai suneinai
dokein auto taen Tychaen dia tinos thuridos katabainousa eis to domation,
ho nun phenestellan pulaen kalousi]. I have not met with any thing more
respecting the Porta Fenestellae. Onuph. Panvinius (De Rep. Rom. p. 60.)
thinks it was a gate of the Palatium not of the city. Some MSS. read
_Fenestratae_, others _Fenestrile_, _Fenestrale_, _Fenestralis_, etc.
581. A second reason for the statue being covered.
585. A third cause. See Liv. I. 46, 47. For the history of Servius
Tullius, and a critical examination of it, see Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. 358--
365, 373--377.
590. _Pia vita_, scil. _erga Servium_.
593. _Caput_, scil, _parentis_. How much superior here, as in the
Regifugium, is the historian to the poet!
609. _Sceleratus_. [Greek: Ootos o stenopos, Olbios kaloumenos proteron,
ex ekeinou tou deinou kai musarou pathous Asebaes hypo Romaion kaleitai].
Dionys. iv. 39. In Livy, it is called the _Virbius Clivus_; by Solinus,
the _Clivus Olbius_; and Festus mentions the _Vicus Orbius_. Were it not
for these Latin testimonies, one might almost suspect that Dionysius
meant to intimate that it was at first called the _Vicus Felix_.
612. _Sub. imag. Tul_. which represented Tullius.
619. _Ore_, etc. "_Pudor_ intel, quo tenebantur Romani propter Servium
impie et nefarie interfectum, qui retinebat eos, ne os ejus revelarent.
Si revelassent, patuisset pudorem illum ab iis esse positum." Gierig. The
address to the _matronae_, in the following line, would lead me rather to
think that the meaning is: Female modesty (with an allusion to Tullia,)
will begin to be departed from at Rome, the day that the face of Tullius
is uncovered.
624. _Rex septimus_. That is reckoning Titus Tatius. Several MSS. read
_sextus in_.
625. This is also related by Dionysius, (iv. 40,) and by Valerius Maximus
(I. 8. 11).
627. Dionysius (iv. 2.) relates this legend also, and says, that he had
found it in several of the Roman histories. See Liv. I. 39.
629. _Peractis_. Two MSS. of the first order read _paratis_, which
Heinsius and Gierig have received, Of the common reading, Heinsius says,
"Quomodo peracta sacra si vinum foco post affunderetur?" and Gierig,
"Vulgo _peractis_ quod ferri non potest." In its defence, Krebs says,
"Hostia mactata in epulis sacris iterum libabatur."
630. _Ornatum focum_. The sacred hearth or altar was adorned and dressed,
preparatory to a sacrifice.
633. _Loco fovet_. The old reading was _foco sedet_. Burmann gave the
present one from six MSS. "Locus pars illa dici solet, quae feminae sexum
indicat." Gierig.
636. _Contigit_, he (Vulcan) touched. See Liv. I, 39, Compare Virg. aen.
II. 682.
637. See I. 639.--_Dedicat_. "_Dedicantur_ non modo templa, sed Dii
quoque, qui inter deos recipiuntur, positis in eorum honore templis, aut,
quibus jam receptis nova tantum appellatione nova aedes instituitur. V.
Mitscherl ad Hor. I. Od. 31. I." Gierig.
640. Vedius Pollio, a man of great luxury, left, by will, to Augustus,
his house, which covered a great extent of ground. Augustus, under
pretext of its being too large, threw it down, and built the Porticus
Liviae on its site.
641, Compare Sall. Cat. I2.
643. _Sub crim. reg_. Alluding perhaps to the case of Valerius Poplicola,
(Liv. II. 7.) or of Sp. Cassius, or M. Manlius.
650. On the Ides of June a temple had been dedicated to Jupiter, and the
Lesser Quinquatrus were celebrated.--_Invicto_. As no temple of Jupiter
Invictus is spoken of by any ancient writer, Neapolis properly considered
_invicto_ here to be an _epithet_, and not a _cognomen_. He therefore,
following an ancient MS. printed it as a common adjective. Heinsius and
Burmann did the same. Gierig and Krebs print it as an epithet.
651. For the Quinquatrus Majores see III. 809. Of these Varro, L. L. V.
says, _Quinquatrus minusculae dictae Juniae Eidus ab similititdine
majorum, quod tibicines tum feriati per urbem vagantur et conveniunt ad
aedem Minervae_. The notice in Festus is to the same effect. See also
below on v. 657.
653-692. This story is told also in the same way by Plutarch, Quaest.
Rom. 55. and somewhat differently by Livy ix. 30. and by Valer. Max. II.
5.
654. _Stola_, This is the reading of six MSS. all the rest have _toga_,
but it is manifest from Plutarch, that the present is the right reading,
for he says of the musicians, [Greek: en esthaesin anthinais kai
gynaikeiais ontes].
656. _Possem utinam_. One MS. reads _pace velim_, which is the reading
given by Heinsius and Gierig.
657. _Musica nisi grata esset diis, profecto ludi scenici placandor.
deor. causa instituti non essent, nec tibicen omnibus supplicationibus in
sacris aedibus adhiberetur, nec cum tibicine triumphus ageretur; non
Apolline cithara, non Musis tibiae ceteraque id genus essent attributa;
non tibicinibus, per quos numina placantur esset permissum aut ludos
publice facere, aut vesci in Capitolio, aut Quinquat. minusc. id est
Eidibus Juniis urbem vestitu, quo velint, personatis temulentisque
pervagari_. Censorinus de Die Natali, 12.
661, 662. The labour was sweetened by the reward, i.e. the honour of
eating in the temple of Jupiter, but (so _que_ must be understood,) a
time came which broke the work of Grecian art, i. e. pipe-music, as the
invention of the pipe was ascribed (see v. 697) to the Grecian goddess
Pallas Athena.--_Graiae_. This is the reading of four of the best MSS.
and of some others. The rest have _gratae_, which I should prefer, if I
were sure that Ovid knew that the _cithara_ was the ancient and national
instrument of Greece, in opposition to the _tibia_ of Asia and Italy. The
_time_ of which the poet speaks here, was according to Livy, A.U.C. 442,
when they were prohibited by the censors Ap. Claudius and C. Plautius,
from eating in the Capitoline temple.
663. _aedilis_. It is uncertain who this aedile was. Pighius conjectures
Ap. Claudius who he says was Curule aedile, A.U.C. 440. In the xii. Tables
(A.U.C. 305.) was the following law respecting funerals, _Tria si volet
ricinia et vincula purpurae at decem tibicines adhibito. Hoc plus ne
facito_. It would appear that this law which had fallen into neglect, was
put in force by the aedile, of whom the poet speaks.
665. _Exilium_ was not _banishment_; it was, to use the words of Niebuhr,
"nothing but the act, whereby a man renounced the freedom of his own
city, by taking up his municipal franchise--in a city which had a sworn
treaty of isopolity with Rome." See on IV. 791. I am not however sure
that Ovid uses it here in its proper sense. See on v. 685.
666. Compare Ep. ex Pont. I. 3. 81.
669. _Servierat_, He was a freedman. According to Livy it was the
government of Tibur who had recourse to the following stratagem, when
envoys had been sent to them from Rome.
671. _Dapes_, probably a sacrifice. See on IV. 745.
671. _Auctor vindictae_, your patron or former master. The _vindicta_
used here for _liberty_, was the rod which the lictor laid on the head of
the slave who was about to be manumitted.
680. _Sirpea lata_. Several MSS. read _scirpea_ "Lego _sirpea lata fuit.
Sirpare_ veteribus pro colligare, Graecis [Greek: plekein]. Ergo
_sirpea_, colligatum, [Greek: to plegma]. Tegiticula igitur quaedam e
vimine contexta circa plaustrum erat, sudibus munita ut expanderetur ne
aliquid decideret." Neapolis. _Quae jumenta ducunt sirpea_ (Al.
_scirpea_), quae virgis sirpatur_ (scirpatur), _id est colligando
implicatur, in qua stercus aliudve quid evehitur_. Varro, L. L. IV. The
same writer makes the difference between a _plaustrum_ and a _scirpea,
tragula, vehiculum_ or _arcerra_, as it was variously called, to consist
in this, that the former was open, the latter closed. Plutarch, on this
occasion, calls them [Greek: amaxas derrhesi kuklo perikaluptomenas]. The
simple meaning is, they were sent in covered carts to Rome.
685. _Plaudits_. This is the conjecture of Pighius; almost all the MSS.
read _Callidus_, two of the best give _Claudius_, as a various reading,
some have _cautius_. There must be a proper name, and, if we are to
follow Livy, it can be no other than Plautius. This is confirmed by a
medal of the Plautian family (Eckhel, Vol. v.) bearing on one side a
female mask, with the inscription _L. Plautius_: on the other, a winged
Aurora driving four horses, with _Plancus_ inscribed. This medal
evidently commemorates the act and the time of day. Ovid, perhaps,
followed a peculiar version of the story, and it would not in the least
surprise me, if in it the musicians had been ordered by the senate to
quit Rome, and go to Tibur, for, if this trick had been played by the
desire of the senate, why seek thus to deceive them? If the musicians had
not been ordered to leave Rome, what is the meaning of vv. 689, 690? In
this case, Ovid will have used _exilium_, v. 665, in its later sense of
banishment to a certain place, He was himself _relegated_ to Tomi, and,
in his Tristia, he frequently calls himself an _exul_.
687. _Tibicina_, a sing. for a plural.
696. _Haec turba_, the _tibicines_. For the following story of Marsyas,
see Met. vi. 383. Mythology, pp. 95, 123.
711. On the XVII. Kal. Jul. the Hyades rise acronychally.--_Dodoni
Thyene_. Some MSS. read _Dodoni Dione_, and Dione was worshiped at Dodona
(Mythology, p. 105.); but Pherecydes says that the seven Hyades who
nursed Bacchus, were also called Dodonides, and Thyene is, in him, one of
them. See Hygin. Astr. Il. 21.
712. _Agen. bov_. See on III. 658. IV. 717.
713. _Purg. Vestae_. Sec v. 227.
715. On the XVI. Kal. Favonius begins to blow.
717. On the same day (XVI. Kal.) the upper part of Orion rises
acronychally. How Neapolis blunders here! "Eadem luce cum Sole Orion
simul emergit; nec est cur ambigas an agat de ortu cosmico."
718. None of the commentators makes any remark on this line, which is not
devoid of difficulty. Is _stella serena_ the sun, which, when in the
horizon, is on the verge of the two hemispheres? Is it Orion, of which
Hyginus (Astr. III. 33.) says, _Orionem a zona et reliquo corpore
aequinoctialis circulus dividit_? Or, finally, is _stella_ for _stellae_,
as IV. 390? But what then is meant by _geminos polos_? After this line
most MSS. insert III. vv. 401, 402.
719. _Prol. Hyr_. See V. 493, _et seq_.
720. The following night (XV. Kal.) the Dolphin rises.--_Continua_. See
V. 734.
721. A.U.C. 323, the dictator, A. Postumius Tubertus, triumphed after his
defeat of the Volscians and Aequians, on the Algidus. For the importance
of this victory, see Niebuhr, (II. 449--452.) who, referring to this
place of Ovid, says, that it was gained A. D. XIII. Kal. Quinctil. or
18th June, the day of Collin and Waterloo.
723. _Suburb. triump_. As the Algidus was between Tusculum and the Alban
Mount. See on III. 667.
725. On the XIII. Kal. Jul. the sun enters Cancer. Columella (R. R. xi.
2.49.) gives the same day. A temple was dedicated on this day to Minerva
on the Aventine.
729. On the XII. Kal. Jul. in the time of Pyrrhus, a temple was dedicated
to a god named Summanus. Pyrrhus entered Italy A.U.C. 473.--_Nurus_.
Aurora, who was married to his son, Tithonus.
731. _Summano_. The poet, we may observe, is not certain who this god is.
The following passages may help to remove the doubt: _Pluto qui etiam
Summanus dicitur, quasi Summus Manium_. Mart. Capella, II. p. 40. _Pluto
Summanus_, appears in Inscriptions. _Romani fulmina diurna attribuunt
Jovi, nocturna Summano_. Plin. H. N. II. 52. _Quum Summanus in fastigio
Jovis Opt. Max.--e coelo ictus esset_. Cic. Div. I. 10. P. Victor (Reg.
XI.) places in the Circus Maximus the _Aedes Ditis patris_, and a
fragment of an old Calendar has on this day _Summan. ad. Circ. Max_.
Varro, (L. L. IV.) joins Summanus with Vulcan, and says, that Tatius
built a temple to him. It is thus, I think, tolerably certain, that this
god was the same with Dis and Orcus, and with the Hades or Pluto of the
Greeks. See Mythology, p. 468.
733-762. On the evening of the same day, Ophiuchus rises.--_Patriis_,
Galatea was one of the Nereïdes.
733. _Juvenis_, Aesculapius.--_Avitis_, of his grandfather Jupiter.
736. As being Ophiuchus, i.e. the Serpent-holder.
737. See the Hippolytus of Euripides. Mythology, p. 356.
746. _Coronides_. Aesculapius, the son of Coronis.
750. See Hygin. Ast. II. 14. Mythology, pp. 385, 411.
751, 752. Heinsius, I think justly, suspected these lines.
755. Sec III. 203. Virg. aen. vii. 774.
757. _Clymenus_, Pluto. Thus Lasus (_ap_. Athen. x.) [Greek Daemaetra
melpo, Korante Klumenoio alochon].
762. _Quod vetat_, seil, to raise the dead.
763-768. On the IX. Kal. Jul. A.U.C. 537, the consul, C. Flaminius, in
opposition to the auspices, gave battle to Hannibal at the Trasimene
lake.--_Vincere_. To fight and to conquer were with Germanicus the same,
according to the poet.
769. On the VIII. Kal. Jul. A.U.C. 551, Syphax was overcome by the Roman
and Masinissa. Liv. xxx. 3-13.
770. _Hasdrubal_. It is uncertain what Hasdrubal is meant. Perhaps he
who was overcome and slain at the Metaurus, A.U.C. 547. Liv. xxvii. 49.
771. _Tacitis annis_. Compare I. 65.
773. _Honores_, the festival.
776-784. The same day was the anniversary of the dedication of the temple
of Fors Fortuna. _Dies Fortis Fortunae appellatus ab Servio Tullio rege,
quod is fanum Fortis Fortunae secundum Tiberim extra urbem Romam
dedicavit Junio mense_. Varro, L. L. V. There was another temple of this
goddess in the same place, built A.U.C. 459. _Carvilius consul de reliquo
aere aedem Fortis Fortunae de manubiis faciendam locavit prope aedem ejus
dece ab rege Serv. Tullio dedicatam_. Liv. x. 46 Fors Fortuna is
evidently the same with the Fortuna Virilis of IV. 145, and this last
name appears to have originated in a mistake, for the true name of the
goddess is Fors, not Fortis, Fortuna. _Fors Fortuna, in quo incerti casus
significantur magis_. Cic. Leg. II. 11. 28. _Aliud Fortuna est, aliud
Fors Fortuna; nam Fors Fortuna est cujus diem festum colunt qui sine arte
aliqua vivunt: hujus aedes trans Tiberim est_. Donat. Ter. Phorm. v. 6.
1. Dionysius (iv. 27.) and Plutarch (De Fort. Rom.) render it in Greek,
[Greek: Tuchae andreia], or [Greek: ischura] or [Greek: aristeutikae].
Ovid in this place agrees with them, but Cicero could hardly, I think,
have made a mistake.
776. _In Tib. rip_. It is disputed on which side of the river the temple
was. Donatus (see preceding note,) places it on the further side.
"Templum sitiun in Transtiberina regione vel ex eo patet quod Naso
subdit, vel ponte vel navicula illud adeundum." Neapolis. But, with this
critic's leave, Ovid says no such thing, he merely says that they might
go by land or by water, and, if the temple was the other side of the
river, "transmisissent flumen non _decurrissent_," as Gierig justly
observes.
781. Compare on v. 627.
784. _Templa propinqua_. Did Ovid ascribe the foundation of the two
adjoining temples to Servius?
785. _Suburb. aede_, i. e. of Fors Fortuna.
787. As this was the VIII. Kal. the belt of Orion rose heliacally on the
VI. Kal. [Greek: Maeni to auto ke] (xxv.) [Greek: Orion eoos archetai
anatellein eisi de tropai therinai]. Aëtius.
790. _Eadem die_, i. e. the VI. Kal. Pliny (xviii. 28.) says on the VIII.
Kal. Columella (R. R. xi. 2.) _VIII. et VII. et VI. Kal. Jul. Solstitium,
Favonius et calor_. Perhaps, as Neapolis says, he was here only giving
the various statements of the _Parapegmata_.
791. On the V. Kal. the temple of the Lares in the Forum, (P. Victor,
Reg. VIII.) and that of Jupiter Stator, vowed by Romulus, (Liv. I. 12.)
were dedicated.
792. _Hic_, etc. "In ejus vicinia taberna coronariae cujusdam doctae
fuisse videtur." Krebs.
795. IV. Kal. Jul. was the dedication of the temple built to Romulus,
under the name of Quirinus, on the Quirinal hill. See II. 511. It was
repaired and dedicated anew by Augustus.
796. _Trabeae_. Compare I. 37, II. 503. _Trab. Quir. tuae_. is equivalent
to _tibi trabeate Quirine_! It is a harsh mode of expression.
797. _Tempus_, etc. is equivalent to: This is the last day of June.
799. A.U.C. 575, M. Fulvius Nobilior built a temple to Hercules in the
Flaminian Circus, in which he placed the statues of the Muses which he
had brought from Ambracia. Plin. xxxv. 30. Eumenius, in Or. pro rest.
Sch. c. 7, says, that Fulvius had learned in Greece that Hercules was
Musagetes, or leader of the Muses. Heyne (Opusc. Acad. II. p. 305.)
doubts greatly of this, and I have met with nothing to confirm it. This
temple was repaired A.U.C. 767, by Marcius Philippus, the uncle by
marriage (v. 809.) of Augustus. Suet. Aug. 29.