What have I now to do, Delia, with your Isis? what avail me those sistra
so often shaken by your hand?']
[Footnote 621: What lying apart.--Ver. 34. During the festival of Isis,
all intercourse with men was forbidden to the female devotees.]
[Footnote 622: The yawning tomb.--Ver. 38. The place where a person was
burnt was called 'bustum,' if he was afterwards buried on the same spot,
and 'ustrina,' or 'ustrinum,' if he was buried at a different place. See
the Notes to the Fasti, B. ii. 1. 531.]
[Footnote 623: The towers of Eryx--Ver. 45. He alludes to Venus, who
had a splendid temple on Mount Eryx, in Sicily.]
[Footnote 624: The Phæacian land.--Ver. 47. The Phæacians were the
ancient people of Corcyra, now the isle of Corfu. Tibullus had attended
Messala thither, and falling ill, was unable to accompany his patron on
his return to Rome, on which he addressed to him the First Elegy of his
Third Book, in which he expressed a hope that he might not die among
the Phæacians. To this Elegy Ovid here refers. Tibullus afterwards
recovered, and died at Rome. When he penned this line, Ovid little
thought that his own bones would one day rest in a much more ignoble
spot than Corcyra, and one much more repulsive to the habits of
civilization.]
[Footnote 625: Here.--Ver. 49. 1 Hie'here seems to be the preferable
reading; alluding to Rome, in contradistinction to Corcyra.]
[Footnote 626: His tearful eyes.--Ver. 49. He alludes to the custom of
the nearest relative closing the eyes of the dying person.]
[Footnote 627: The last gifts.--Ver. 50. The perfumes and other
offerings which were thrown on the burning pile, are here alluded to.
Tibullus says, in the same Elegy--]
'Non soror Assyrios cineri quæ dedat odores,]