The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII

38.Lycormas.]—Ver. 245. This was a rapid river of Ætolia, which was afterwards known by the name of Evenus.

39.Mæander.]—Ver. 246. This was a river of Phrygia, flowing between Lydia and Caria; it was said to have 600 windings in its course.

40.Melas.]—Ver. 247. This name was given to many rivers of Thrace, Thessaly, and Asia, on account of the darkness of the color of their waters; the name was derived from the Greek word μέλας, ‘black.’

41.Tænarian Eurotas.]—Ver. 247. The Eurotas was a river of Laconia, which flowed under the walls of the city of Sparta, and discharged itself into the sea near the promontory of Tænarus, now called Cape Matapan. The Eurotas is now called ‘Basilipotamo,’ or ‘king of streams.’

42.Orontes.]—Ver. 248. The Orontes was a river of Asia Minor, which flowed near Antioch.

43.Thermodon.]—Ver. 249. This was a river of Cappadocia, near which the Amazons were said to dwell.

44.Ganges.]—Ver. 249. This is one of the largest rivers in Asia, and discharges itself into the Persian Gulf; and not, as Gierig says, in his note on this passage, in the Red Sea.

45.Phasis.]—Ver. 249. This was a river of Colchis, falling into the Euxine Sea.

46.Ister.]—Ver. 249. The Danube had that name from its source to the confines of Germany; and thence, in its course through Scythia to the sea, it was called by the name of ‘Ister.’

47.Alpheus.]—Ver. 250. It was a river of Arcadia, in Peloponnesus.

48.Tagus.]—Ver. 251. This was a river of Spain, which was said to bring down from the mountains great quantities of golden sand. The Poet here feigns this to be melted by the heat of the sun, and in that manner to be carried along by the current of the river.

49.Mæonian.]—Ver. 252. Mæonia was so called from the river Mæon, and was another name of Lydia. The Caÿster, famous for its swans, flowed through Lydia.

50.Strymon.]—Ver. 257. The Hebrus and the Strymon were rivers of Thrace. Ismarus was a mountain of that country, famous for its vines.

51.Hesperian.]—Ver. 258. Hesperia, or ‘the western country,’ was a general name of not only Spain and Gaul, but even Italy. The Rhine is a river of France and Germany, the Rhone of France. The Padus, or Po, and the Tiber, are rivers of Italy.

52.Cyclades.]—Ver. 264. The Cyclades were a cluster of islands in the Ægean Sea, surrounding Delos as though with a circle, whence their name.

53.Her all-productive face.]—Ver. 275. The earth was similarly called by the Greeks παμμήτωρ, ‘the mother of all things.’ So Virgil calls it ‘omniparens.’

54.Atlas.]—Ver. 296. This was a mountain of Mauritania, which, by reason of its height, was said to support the heavens.

55.We are thrown.]—Ver. 299. Clarke translates, ‘In chaos antiquum confundimur,’ ‘We are then jumbled into the old chaos again.’

56.The Hesperian Naiads.]—Ver. 325. These were the Naiads of Italy. They were by name Phaëthusa, Lampetie, and Phœbe.

57.Passed without the sun.]—Ver. 331. There is, perhaps, in this line some faint reference to a tradition of the sun having, in the language of Scripture, ‘stood still upon Gibeon, in his course, by the command of Joshua, when dispensing the divine vengeance upon the Amorites,’ Joshua, x. 13. Or of the time when ‘the shadow returned ten degrees backward’, by the sun-dial of Ahaz, 2 Kings, xx.11.

58.Sthenelus.]—Ver. 367. He was a king of Liguria. Commentators have justly remarked that it was not very likely that a king of Liguria should be related to Clymene, a queen of the Ethiopians, as Ovid, in the next line, says was the case. This story was probably invented by some writer, who fancied that there were two persons of the name of Phaëton; one the subject of eastern tradition, and the other a personage of the Latin mythology.

59.The Ligurians.]—Ver. 370. These were a people situate on the eastern side of Etruria, between the rivers Var and Macra. The Grecian writers were in the habit of styling the whole of the north of Italy Liguria.

60.Trivia.]—Ver. 416. This was an epithet of Diana, as presiding over and worshipped in the places where three roads met, which were called ‘trivia.’ Being known as Diana on earth, the Moon in the heavens, and Proserpine in the infernal regions, she was represented at these places with three faces; those of a horse, a dog, and a female; the latter being in the middle.

61.Dictynna.]—Ver. 441. Diana was so called from the Greek word δικτὺς, ‘a net,’ which was used by her for the purposes of hunting.

62.There was no deceit.]—Ver. 446. Clarke translates ‘sensit abesse dolos,’ ‘she was convinced there was no roguery in the case.’

63.She of Parrhasia.]—Ver. 460. Calisto is so called from Parrhasia, a region of Arcadia. Parrhasius was the name of a mountain, a grove, and a city of that country and was derived from the name of Parrhasus, a son of Lycaon.

64.Thou, mischievous one.]—Ver. 475. Clarke, rather too familiarly, renders ‘importuna,’ ‘plaguy baggage.’

65.In front by the hair.]—Ver. 476. ‘Adversâ prensis a fronte capillis,’ is rendered by Clarke, ‘seizing her fore-top.’ Had he been describing the combats of two fish-wives, such a version would have been, perhaps, more appropriate than in the present instance.

66.With black hair.]—Ver. 478. To the explanation given at the end of the story, we may here add the curious one offered by Palæphatus. He says that Calisto was a huntress who entered the den of a bear, by which she was devoured; and that the bear coming out, and Calisto being no more seen, it was reported that she had been transformed into a bear.

67.Erymanthian forests.]—Ver. 499. Erymanthus was a mountain of Arcadia, which was afterwards famous for the slaughter there, by Hercules, of the wild boar, which made it his haunt.

68.Graceful chariot.]—Ver. 531. Clarke translates ‘habili curru,’ ‘her neat chariot.’

69.Larissæan.]—Ver. 542. Larissa was the chief city of Thessaly, and was situate on the river Peneus.

70.Her infidelity.]—Ver. 545. ‘Sed ales sensit adulterium Phœbeius,’ is translated by Clarke, ‘but the Phœban bird found out her pranks.’

71.Two-shaped.]—Ver. 555. Cecrops is here so called, and in the Greek, διφυὴς from the fact of his having been born in Egypt, and having settled in Greece, and was thus to be reckoned both as an Egyptian, and in the number of the Greeks.

72.Lesbos.]—Ver. 591. This was an island in the Ægean sea, lying to the south of Troy.

73.Plectrum.]—Ver. 601. This was a little rod, or staff, with which the player used to strike the strings of the lyre, or cithara, on which he was playing.

74.Chariclo.]—Ver. 636. She was the daughter of Apollo, or of Oceanus, but is supposed not to have been the same person that is mentioned by Apollodorus as the mother of the prophet Tiresias.

75.A baneful serpent.]—Ver. 652. This happened when one of the arrows of Hercules, dipped in the poison of the Lernæan Hydra, pierced the foot of Chiron while he was examining it.

76.The three Goddesses.]—Ver. 654. Namely, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, the ‘Parcæ,’ or ‘Destinies.’

77.Philyrean.]—Ver. 676. Chiron was the son of Philyra, by Saturn.