Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love Literally Translated...

903 (return) [ Erato.—Ver. 16. He addresses himself to this Muse, as her name was derived from the Greek 'love.' It has been suggested that he had another reason for addressing her, as she was thought to take pleasure in warfare, a state which sometimes, by way of variety, exists between lovers.]

919 (return) [ The Chaonian bird.—Ver. 150. Chaonia was a district of Epirus, said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan. Dodona was in Epirus, and in its forests were said to be doves that had the gift of prophecy. See the Translation of the Metamorphoses pp. 467-8.]

924 (return) [ The ivory cubes.'—Ver. 203. He alludes to throws of the 'tali' and 'tessera,' which were different kinds of dice. See the Note to 1. Footnote 471: of the Second Book of the Tristia. In this line he seems to mean the 'tessera,' which were similar to our dice, while the 'tali,' which he next mentions, had only four flat surfaces, being made in imitation of the knuckle-bones of animals, and having two sides uneven and rounded. The dice were thrown on a table, made for the purpose, with an elevated rim. Some throws, like our doublets, are supposed to have counted for more than the number turned up. The most fortunate throw was called 'Venus.' or 'Venereus jactus'; it is thought to have consisted of a combination, making fourteen, the dice presenting different numbers. Games with dice were only sanctioned by law as a pastime during meals.]

925 (return) [ Make bad moves.—Ver. 204. 'Dare jacta' means 'to move the throws,' in allusion to the game of 'duodecim scripta,' or 'twelve points,' which was played with counters moved according to the throws of the dice, probably in a manner not unlike our game of backgammon. The hoard was marked with twelve lines, on which the pieces moved.]

927 (return) [ The game that imitates.—Ver. 207. He here alludes to the 'ludus latrunculorum,' literally 'the game of theft,' which is supposed to have been somewhat similar to our chess. He refers to its name in the words, 'latrocinii sub imagine.' The game was supposed to imitate the furtive stratagems of warfare: hence the men, which were usually styled 'calculi,' were also called by the name of 'latrones,' 'latrunculi,' 'milites,' 'bella-tores,' 'thieves,' 'little thieves,' 'soldiers,' 'warriors.' As we see by the next line, they were usually made of glass, though sometimes more costly materials were employed. The skill of this game consisted either in taking the pieces of the adversary, or rendering them unable to move. The first was done when the adversary's piece was brought by the other between two of his own. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1.477. The second took place when the pieces were 'ligati,' or 'ad incitas redacti,' brought upon the last line and unable to move. White and red are supposed to have been the colour of the men. This game was much played by the Roman ladies and nobles.]

928 (return) [ Hold the screen.—Ver. 209. The ancients used 'umbracula,' or screens against the weather (resembling our umbrellas), which the Greeks called ————. They were used generally for the same purposes as our parasols, a protection against the heat of the sun. They seem not to have been in general carried by the ladies themselves, but by female slaves, who held them over their mistresses. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 209. These screens, or umbrellas, were much used by the Roman ladies in the amphitheatre, to protect them from sun and rain, when the 'velarium,' or awning, was not extended.]

932 (return) [ As though a servant.—Ver. 228. He is to be ready, if his mistress goes to a party, to act the part of the slave, who was called 'adversitor,' whose duty it was to escort his master home in the evening, if it was dark, with a lighted torch.]

935 (return) [ Through the open roof.—Ver. 245. He gives a somewhat hazardous piece of advice here; as he instructs him to obtain admission by climbing up the wall, and getting in at the skylight, which extended over the 'atrium,' or 'court,' a room which occupied the middle of the house. The Roman houses had, in general, but one story over the ground-floor.]

937 (return) [ Day on which.—Ver. 257. He alluded to a festival celebrated by the servants, on the Caprotine Nones, the seventh of July, when they sacrificed to 'Juno Caprotina.' Macrobius says that the servants sacrificed to Juno under a wild fig-tree (called 'caprificus'), in memory of the service done by the female slaves, in exposing themselves to the lust ot the enemy, for the public welfare. The Gauls being driven from the city, the neighbouring nations chose the Dictator of the Fidenates for their chief, and, marching to Rome, demanded of the Senate, that if they would save their city, they should send out to them their wives and daughters The Senate, knowing their own weakness, were much perplexed, when a handmaid, named 'Tutela,' or 'Philotis,' offered, with some others, to go out to the enemy in disguise. Being, accordingly, dressed like free women, they repaired in tears to the camp of the enemy. They soon induced their new acquaintances to drink, on the pretence that they were bound to consider the day as a festival; and when intoxicated, a signal was giver, from a fig tree near, that the Romans should fall on them. The camp of the enemy was assailed, and most of them were slain. In return for their service, the female, slaves were made free, and received marriage portion? at the public expense. Another account, agreeing with the present passage, says, that the Gauls were the enemy who made the demand, and that Retana was the name of the female slave.]

940 (return) [ Amaryllis was so fond of.—Ver. 267. He alludes to a line of Virgil, which, doubtless, was then well known to all persons of education. It occurs in the Eclogues: 'Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat.' 'Chesnuts, too, which my Amaryllis was so fond of.' In the next line, he hints that the damsels of his day were too greedy to be satisfied with chesnuts only.]