[Footnote 309: Linen-clad Isis.--Ver. 25. Seethe 74th line of the
Eighth Elegy of the preceding Book, and the Note to the passage; and the
Pontic Epistles, Book i. line 51, and the Note. The temple of Isis,
at Rome, was in the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, near the sheep
market. It was noted for the intrigues and assignations of which it was
the scene.]
[Footnote 310: He turns the house.--Ver. 29. As the Delphin Editor
says, 'Il peut renverser la maison,' 'he can turn the house upside
down.']
[Footnote 311: The masters approve..--Ver. 30. He means to say that the
eunuch and his mistress will be able to do just as they please.]
[Footnote 312: An executioner.--Ver. 36. To blind the husband, by
pretending harshness on the part of Bagous.]
[Footnote 313: Of the truth.--Ver. 38 This line is corrupt, and there
are about ten various readings. The meaning, however, is clear; he is,
by making false charges, to lead the husband away from a suspicion of
the truth; and to put him, as we say, in common parlance, on the wrong
scent.]
[Footnote 314: Your limited savings.--Ver. 39. 'Peculium,' here means
the stock of money which a slave, with the consent of his master, laid
up for his own, 'his savings.' The slaves of the Romans being not only
employed in domestic offices and the labours of the field, but as agents
or factors for their masters, in the management of business, and as
mechanics and artisans in various trades, great profits were made
through them. As they were often entrusted with a large amount of
property, and considerable temptations were presented to their honesty,
it became the practice to allow the slave to consider a part of
his gains, perhaps a per centage, as his own; this was termed his
'peculium.' According to the strict letter of the law, the 'peculium'
was the property of the master, but, by usage, it was looked upon as the
property of the slave. It was sometimes agreed upon between the
master and slave, that the latter should purchase his liberty with
his 'peculium,' when it amounted to a certain sum. If the slave was
manumitted by the owner in his lifetime, his 'peculium' was considered
to be given him, with his liberty, unless it was expressly retained.]
[Footnote 315: Necks of informers.--Ver. 41. He probably alludes to
informers who have given false evidence. He warns Bagous of their fate,
intending to imply that both his mistress and himself will deny all, if
he should attempt to criminate them.]
[Footnote 325: Tongue caused this.--Ver. 44. According to one account,
his punishment was inflicted for revealing the secrets of the Gods.]
[Footnote 326: Appointed by Juno.--Ver. 45. This was Argus, whose fate
is related at the end of the First Book of the Metamorphoses.]
[Footnote 327: Alas! that.--Ver. 1. He is again addressing Bagous, and
begins in a strain of sympathy, since his last letter has proved of no
avail with the obdurate eunuch.]
[Footnote 328: Mutilate Joys --Ver. 3. According to most accounts,
Semiramis was the first who put in practice this abominable custom.]
[Footnote 329: Standard be borne.--Ver. 10. He means, that he is bound,
with his mistress to follow the standard of Cupid, and not of Mars.]
[Footnote 330: Favours to advantage.--Ver. 13. 'Ponere' here means,
literally, 'to put out at interest.' He tells the eunuch that he has
now the opportunity of conferring obligations, which will bring him in à
good interest by way of return.]
[Footnote 332: Sabine dames.--Ver. 15. Juvenal, in his Tenth Satire, 1.
293, mentions the Sabine women as examples of prudence and chastity.]
[Footnote 333: In her stateliness.--Ver. 16. Burmann would have 'ex
alto' to mean 'ex alto pectore,' 'from the depths of her breast.' In
such case the phrase will correspond with our expression, 'to dissemble
deeply,' 'to be a deep dissembler.']
[Footnote 334: Modulates her voice.--Ver. 25. Perhaps 'flectere vocem'
means what we technically call, in the musical art, 'to quaver.']
[Footnote 335: Her arms to time.--Ver. 29. Dancing was, in general,
discouraged among the Romans. That here referred to was probably the
pantomimic dance, in which, while all parts of the body were called into
action, the gestures of the arms and hands were especially used, whence
the expressions 'manus loquacissimi,' 'digiti clamosi,' 'expressive
hands,' or 'fingers.' During the Republic, and the earlier periods of
the Empire, women never appeared on the stage, but they frequently acted
at the parties of the great. As it was deemed disgraceful for a free man
to dance, the practice at Rome was probably confined to slaves, and the
lowest class of the citizens. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 536, and the
Note to the passage.]
[Footnote 336: Hippolytus.--Ver. 32. Hippolytus was an example of
chastity, while Priapus was the very ideal of lustfulness.]
[Footnote 337: Heroines of old.--Ver. 33. He supposes the women of
the Heroic ages to have been of extremely tall stature. Andromache was
remarkable for her height.]
[Footnote 338: The brunette.--Ver. 39. 'Flava,' when coupled with
a female name, generally signifies 'having the hair of a flaxen,' or
'golden colour'; here, however, it seems to allude to the complexion,
though it would be difficult to say what tint is meant. Perhaps an
American would have no difficulty in translating it 'a yellow girl.' In
the 43rd line, he makes reference to the hair of a 'flaxen,' or 'golden
colour.']
[Footnote 339: Tablets rubbed out.--Ver. 5. If 'deletæ' is the correct
reading here, it must mean 'no tablets from which in a hurry you 'have
rubbed off the writing.' 'Non interceptæ' has been suggested, and it
would certainly better suit the sense. 'No intercepted tablets have,
&c.']
[Footnote 342: The wine on table.--Ver. 14. The wine was probably on
this occasion placed on the table, after the 'coena,' or dinner. The
Poet, his mistress, and his acquaintance, were, probably, reclining
on their respective couches; he probably, pretended to fall asleep to
watch, their conduct, which may have previously excited his suspicions.]
[Footnote 343: Moving your eyebrows.--Ver. 15. See the Note to the 19th
line of the Fourth Elegy of the preceding Book.]
[Footnote 344: Were not silent.--Ver. 17. See the Note to the 20th line
of the same Elegy.]
[Footnote 345: Traced over with wine.--Ver. 18. See the 22nd and 26th
lines of the same Elegy.]
[Footnote 346: Your discourse.--Ver. 19. He seems to mean that they
were pretending to be talking on a different subject from that about
which they were really discoursing, but that he understood their hidden
meaning. See a similar instance mentioned in the Epistle of Paris to
Helen, 1. 241.]
[Footnote 347: Hand of a master.--Ver. 30. He asserts the same right
over her favours, that the master (dominus) does over the services of
the slave.]
[Footnote 348: New-made husband.--Ter. 36. Perhaps this refers to
the moment of taking off the bridal veil, or 'flammeum,' when she has
entered her husband's house.]
[Footnote 349: Of her steeds.--Ver. 38. When the moon appeared red,
probably through a fog, it was supposed that she was being subjected to
the spells of witches and enchanters.]
[Footnote 350: Assyrian ivory.--Ver. 40. As Assyria adjoined India,
the word 'Assyrium' is here used by poetical licence, as really meaning
'Indian.']
[Footnote 351: Woman has stained.--Ver. 40. From this we learn that it
was the custom of the Lydians to tint ivory of a pink colour, that it
might not turn yellow with age.]
[Footnote 352: Of this quality.--Ver. 54. 'Nota,' here mentioned, is
literally the mark which was put upon the 'amphorae,' or 'cadi,' the
'casks' of the ancients, to denote the kind, age, or quality of the
wine. Hence the word figuratively means, as in the present instance,
'sort,' or 'quality.' Our word 'brand' has a similar meaning. The finer
kinds of wine were drawn off from the 'dolia,' or large vessels, in
which they were kept into the 'amphoræ,' which were made of earthenware
or glass, and the mouth of the vessel was stopped tight by a plug of
wood or cork, which was made impervious to the atmosphere by being
rubbed over with pitch, clay, or a composition of gypsum. On the
outside, the title of the wine was painted, the date of the vintage
being denoted by the names of the Consuls then in office: and when the
vessels were of glass, small tickets, called 'pittacia,' were suspended
from them, stating to a similar effect. For a full account of
the ancient wines, see Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities.]
[Footnote 353: The imitative bird.--Ver. 1. Statius, in his Second
Book, calls the parrot 'Humanæ sollers imitator linguæ,' 'the clever
imitator of the human voice.']
[Footnote 354: The long trumpet.--Ver. 6. We learn from Aulus Gellius,
that the trumpeters at funerals were called 'siticines.' They headed
the funeral procession, playing mournful strains on the long trumpet,
'tuba,' here mentioned. These were probably in addition to the
'tibicines,' or 'pipers,' whose number was limited to ten by Appius
Claudius, the Censor. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 653.]
[Footnote 360: Affectionate turtle-dove.--Ver. 12. This turtle-dove and
the parrot had been brought up in the same cage together. He probably
refers to these birds in the thirty-eighth line of the Epistle of Sappho
to Phaon where he mentions the turtle-dove as being black. This Elegy is
remarkable for its simplicity and pathetic beauty, and can hardly fail
to remind the reader of Cowper's Elegies, on the death of the bullfinch,
and that of his pet hare.]
[Footnote 361: The Phocian youth.--Ver. 15. He alludes to the
friendship of Orestes and Pylades the Phocian, the son of Strophius.]
[Footnote 362: So prettily.--Ver. 24. 'Bene' means here, 'prettily,' or
'cleverly,' rather than 'distinctly,' which would be inconsistent with
the signification of blæsus.]
[Footnote 363: All their battles --Ver. 27. Aristotle, in the Eighth
Chapter of the Ninth Book of his History of Animals, describes quails
or ortolans, and partridges, as being of quarrelsome habits, and much at
war among themselves.]
[Footnote 364: The foreboder.--Ver. 34. Festus Avienus, in his
Prognostics, mentions the jackdaw as foreboding rain by its chattering.]
[Footnote 366: Armed Minerva.--Ver. 35. See the story of the Nymph
Coronis, in the Second Book of the Metamorphoses.]
[Footnote 367: After nine ages.--Ver. 36. Pliny makes the life of the
crow to last for a period of three hundred years.]
[Footnote 368: Destined numbers.--Ver. 40. 'Numeri' means here, the
similar. parts of one whole: 'the allotted portions of human life.']
[Footnote 369: Seventh day was come.--Ver. 45. Hippocrates, in his
Aphorisms, mentions the seventh, fourteenth, and twentieth, as the
critical days in a malady. Ovid may here possibly allude to the seventh
day of fasting, which was supposed to terminate the existence of the
person so doing.]
[Footnote 370: Corinna, farewell.--Ver. 48. It may have said 'Corinna;'
but Ovid must excuse us if we decline to believe that it said 'vale,'
'farewell,' also; unless, indeed, it had been in the habit of saying so
before; this, perhaps, may have been the case, as it had probably often
heard the Poet say 'vale' to his mistress.]
[Footnote 371: The Elysian hill.--Ver. 49. He kindly imagines a place
for the souls of the birds that are blessed.]
[Footnote 372: By his words.--Ver. 58. His calling around him, in
human accents, the other birds in the Elysian fields, is ingeniously and
beautifully imagined.]
[Footnote 377: This very tomb.--Ver. 61. This and the following line
are considered by Heinsius to be spurious, and, indeed, the next line
hardly looks like the composition of Ovid.]
[Footnote 378: Am I then.--Ver. 1. 'Ergo' here is very expressive. 'Am
I always then to be made the subject of fresh charges?']
[Footnote 379: Long-eared ass.--Ver. 15. Perhaps the only holiday that
the patient ass got throughout the year, was in the month of June,
when the festival of Vesta was celebrated, and to which Goddess he had
rendered an important service. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 311,
et seq.]
[Footnote 380: Skilled at tiring.--Ver. 17. She was the 'ornatrix,'
or 'tiring woman' of Corinna. As slaves very often received their names
from articles of dress, Cypassis was probably so called from the
garment called 'cypassis,' which was worn by women and men of effeminate
character, and extended downwards to the ancles.]
[Footnote 387: With the whip.--Ver. 22. From this we see that the whip
was applied to the female slaves, as well as the males.]
[Footnote 388: Carpathian ocean..--Ver. 20. See the Metamorphoses, Book
xi.]