BOOK THE FOURTEENTH.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Ovid and Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)
Source notes
41.The hidden statue.]—Ver. 337. This was the Palladium, or statue of Minerva, which was destined to be the guardian of the safety of Troy, so long as it was in the possession of the Trojans.
42.By thy looks.]—Ver. 350. We are to suppose, that here Ajax is nodding at, or pointing towards Diomedes, as having helped Ulysses on all the occasions which he names, he having been his constant companion in his exploits.
43.Eurypilus.]—Ver. 357. He was the son of Evæmon, and came with forty ships to aid the Greeks. He was from Ormenius, a city of Thessaly.
44.Andremon.]—Ver. 357. Thoas, the son of Andremon, was the leader of the Ætolians; he came with forty ships to the Trojan war.
45.Idomeneus.]—Ver. 358. He was the son of Deucalion, king of Crete. After the siege of Troy, he settled at Salentinum, a promontory of Calabria, in Italy.
46.Meriones.]—Ver. 359. He was the nephew and charioteer of Idomeneus.
47.To the name.]—Ver. 398. See note to Book x., line 207.
48.Country of Hypsipyle.]—Ver. 399. The island of Lemnos is here called the country of Hypsipyle, who saved the life of her father Thoas, when the other women of the island slew the males.
49.A foreign air.]—Ver. 406. Namely, Thrace, which was far away from her native country.
50.Priestess of Apollo.]—Ver. 410. Cassandra was the priestess of Apollo. Being ravished by Ajax Oïleus, she became the captive of Agamemnon, and was slain by Clytemnestra.
51.Astyanax.]—Ver. 415. He was the only child of Hector and Andromache. Ulysses threw him from the top of a high tower, that none of the royal blood might survive.
52.Forsooth.]—460. Clarke translates ‘scilicet,’ ‘I warrant ye.’
53.And children.]—Ver. 509. Hyginus names fifty-four children of Priam, of whom seventeen were by Hecuba.
54.She beheld.]—Ver. 536. Euripides represents, in his tragedy of Hecuba, that a female servant, sent by Hecuba to bring water from the sea shore for the purpose of washing the body of Polyxena, was the first to see the corpse of Polydorus.
55.Derives its name.]—Ver. 569. Strabo places it near Sestos, in the Thracian Chersonesus, and calls it κυνὸς σῆμα, ‘The bitches’ tomb.’
56.Of their parent.]—Ver. 619. He perhaps alludes to the fights of the Gladiators, on the occasion of the funerals of the Roman patricians. ‘Parentali perituræ Marte,’ is rendered by Clarke, ‘to fall in the fight of parentation.’
57.Antandros.]—Ver. 628. This was a city of Phrygia, at the foot of Mount Ida, where the fleet of Æneas was built.
58.Trees once grasped.]—Ver. 635. These were a palm and an olive tree, which were pointed out by the people of Delos, as having been held by Latona, when in the pangs of labour.
59.Of slain oxen.]—Ver. 637. This, however, was contrary to the usual practice; for if we credit Macrobius, no victim was slain on the altars of Apollo, in the island of Delos.
60.Of thy consort.]—Ver. 673. It must be remembered, that he is addressing Anchises, who was said to have enjoyed the favour of Venus; to which Goddess the dove was consecrated.
61.In place of.]—Ver. 686. For the seven gates, would at once lead to the conclusion that it represented the city of Thebes, in Bœotia. Myla, before referred to, was a town of Sicily.
62.Calls ‘Coronæ’.]—Ver. 698. The word ‘Coronas’ is here employed as the plural of a female name ‘Corona;’ in Greek Κώρωνις.
63.Of that place.]—Ver. 707. Æneas and his followers founded in Crete the city of Pergamea; but the pestilence which raged there, and a continued drought, combined with the density of the atmosphere, obliged them to leave the island.
64.The Strophades.]—Ver. 709. These were two islands in the Ionian Sea, on the western side of Peloponnesus. They received their name from the Greek word στροφὴ, ‘a return,’ because Calais and Zethes pursued the Harpies, which persecuted Phineus so far, and then returned home by the command of Jupiter.
65.Same.]—Ver. 711. This island was also called Cephalenia. It was in the Ionian Sea, and formed part of the kingdom of Ulysses.
66.Ambracia.]—Ver. 714. This was a famous city of Epirus, which gave its name to the gulf of Ambracia.
67.Actian Apollo.]—Ver. 715. Augustus built a temple to Apollo, at Actium, in Epirus, near which he had defeated the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra. He also instituted games, to be celebrated there every fifth year in honour of his victory.
68.The Phæacians.]—Ver. 719. The Phæacians were the people of the Island of Corcyra (now Corfu), who were so called from Phæax, the son of Neptune. This island was famous for the gardens of Alcinoüs, which are mentioned in the Odyssey. The Corcyrans were the originators of the disastrous Peloponnesian war.
69.Buthrotos.]—Ver. 721. This was a city of Epirus, not far from Corcyra. It received its name from its founder.
70.Galatea.]—Ver. 738. She was a sea Nymph, the daughter of Nereus and Doris.
71.Daughter of Cratæis.]—Ver. 749. Cratæis was a river of Calabria, in Italy. Symæthis was a stream of Sicily, opposite to Calabria.
72.The pine tree.]—Ver. 782. By way of corroborating this assertion, Boccaccio tells us, that the body of Polyphemus was found in Sicily, his left hand grasping a walking-stick longer than the mast of a ship.
73.Fairer than.]—Ver. 789. This song of Polyphemus is, in some measure, imitated from that of the Cyclop, in the Eleventh Idyll of Theocritus.
74.Snow-white privet.]—Ver. 789. Hesiod says, that Galatea had her name from her extreme fairness; γάλα being the Greek word for milk. To this the Poet here alludes.
75.Arbute tree.]—Ver. 820. The fruit of the arbutus, or strawberry tree, were so extremely sour, that they were called, as Pliny the Elder tells us, ‘unedones;’ because people could not eat more than one. The tree itself was valued for the beauty and pleasing shade of its foliage.
76.My figure.]—Ver. 841. Virgil and Theocritus also represent Polyphemus as boasting of his good looks.
77.Ceases.]—Ver. 898. ‘Desierat Galatea loqui,’ is translated by Clarke, ‘Galatea gave over talking.’
78.Anthedon.]—Ver. 905. Anthedon was a maritime city of Bœotia, only separated from the Island of Eubœa, by the narrow strait of the Euripus.