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que urbem, condidere,' "midway between Corinth and Athens."

19. premerem] scil. pede. This line is quoted in proof of the slight regard evinced by the Romans for the magnificent scenery of "those palaces of Nature," the Alps. Humboldt says: "No description of the eternal snows of the Alps, when tinged in the morning or evening with a rosy hue, of the beauty of the blue glacier ice, or of any part of the grandeur of the scenery of Switzerland, have reached us from the ancients, altho' statesmen and generals, with men of letters in their train, were constantly passing through Helvetia into Gaul. All these travellers think only of complaining of the difficulties of the way; the romantic character of the scenery never seems to have engaged their attention.

Silius

Italicus, who lived under Trajan, when Switzerland was already in a great measure cultivated, describes the district of the Alps merely as an awful and barren wilderness; altho' he elsewhere loves to dwell in verse on the rocky ravines of Italy, and the woodfringed banks of the Liris." Cosmos, vol. II. p. 24.

25. Draining and artificial irrigation were well understood in ancient Italy. See Nieb. R. H. vol. I. p. 131.

29. virides] Because they painted themselves with woad, as Cæsar (Bell. G. v. 14) says: 'Omnes se Brit. anni vitro inficiunt, quod cæruleum efficit colorem, atque hoc horridiore sunt in pugnâ adspectu.' Propert. (Eleg. II. 14) calls them 'infecti,' in allusion to this custom.

30. The rocks of Caucasus, where the eagle feasted on the liver of Prometheus.

31. The vine was often trained to the elm, as its support. Catullus (62, 49) draws a pretty comparison between the vine,without the elm's support, and a maiden, without a husband's support. 40. admissas] See note on Ovid, 10, 2.

21. ON THE DEATH OF A PARROT.

2. occidit] present perfect : "is dead."

exsequias] in prose we should have had ad exsequias.' frequenter] "in flocks." 5. horrida] "stiff," i. e. neglected through grief.

pro] "instead of mourning locks :" which it was customary for women to cut off, and throw on the funeral pile. lanietur] "The third person singular and plural and first plural of the present subjunctive are given in the grammars as parts of the imperative mood. They belong only to the subjunctive. The use of this mood as an imperative is due to an ellipsis of another verb." Key's Lat. Gram.

1167. 'Lanietur' is equivalent to jubeo lanietur,' "I bid that it be torn."

6. tuba] This instrument was used at Roman funerals.

7. Ismarii] i. e. Thracian, from Mt. Ismărus in Thrace. See note on Ovid, 2, 5.

tyranni] scil. Tereus.

8. "That complaint of yours has filled up the measure of its years:" i. e. Philomela has complained long enough of the crime of Tereus, and should now go and mourn at the parrot's funeral. 'Iste' is compounded of 'is' and 'tu,' and means "that of yours:" it is the demonstrative pronoun of the 2nd person. Macleane.

10. antiqui] "antiquated," "obsolete. " 'Divertite' is addressed to Procne and Philomela, the swallow and the nightingale.

12. The turtle-dove has been reared with the parrot.

15. Phoceus] Pylades, the son of Strophius, king of Phocis.

17. quid] sub. juvit? rari coloris] is the descriptive genitive, or genitive of quality.

19. ut datus es] "since you were presented."

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puellæ] Corinna, Ovid's mistress.

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21. smaragdos] The final e in 'hebetare' is shortened by poetic license; this license is more tolerable in a Greek word, like smaragdus,' or a proper name, as in Virgil's 'nemorosa Zacynthus.' Ovid perpetrates a more daring license in the line, Her. V. 26, 'Est in quâ nostri literă scripta memor.'

24. bene] "prettily:" in a more literal sense, bene' would contradict 'blæso sono,'" lisping accents."

25. invidia] "through envy" of your happy lot.

28. inde] "for that reason:" i. e. from their very pugnaciousness.

"to

29. Ora] is the accusative of reference after 'vacare:' lit. it means, have leisure as to your palate:" idiomatically: "nor could your mouth find leisure for much food, owing to your love of talking." See L. E. p. 26, Rule XI.; Kenn. Lat. Gram. p. 93, § 117. 33. aëra] the Greek accusative, ἀέρα.

34. auctor] nuntius, "the herald:" Burmann. Compare "lucis prænuntius ales," Fast. II. 767. Horace calls the crow "Imbrium divina avis imminentum," Od. III. 17, 12; and aquæ augur," III. 27, 10.

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35. cornix invisa Minervæ] The crow forfeited Minerva's favour in the following manner: the goddess had shut up Erichthonius, a son of Vulcan, in a chest, and delivered it to the three daughters of Cecrops to keep, with orders not to open it. This, however, they did: and the crow, who saw them, told Minerva: when the goddess, instead of rewarding the bird, cast her off for her officiousness. Ovid, Met. II. 551, seqq. Macleane.

37. imago] "the echo:" as in Horace, Od. I. 20: "redderet laudes tibi Vaticani Montis imago," the sportive echo of the Vatican hill."

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40. "Inferior things fill up the number of their days;" i. e. live out their full time.

41. Phylacide] Protesilaus, of Phylace, in Thessaly.

45. septima] the seventh day since the parrot fell sick.

46. vacuâ] All the thread of the parrot's life had been spun out.

51. si qua fides dubiis] "if we may trust such doubtful tales." 52. obscœnæ] "of ill-omen." Cf. Virg. Æn. III. 241, 262.

55. Junonia] the peacock.

58. "Attracts the birds to its own accents:" i. e. causes them to admire itself.

59. pro corpore] "in proportion to his body."

60. par sibi] "as short as itself;" i. e. as the stone.

62. plus ave] "beyond a bird." The usual prose construction is 'plus quam avis.'

22. THE CAPTURE OF GABII BY
TREACHERY.

"This story of Sextus Tarquinius and the people of Gabii, a city twelve miles from Rome, with whom it had long been engaged in war," says Niebuhr, Vol. I. p. 512, "is patched up from two well-known ones in Herodotus, III. 154, V. 92, without any novel invention." It is also related by Livy, I. 53.

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1. gentis] depends on regna: "Tarquin was enjoying the last reign over the Roman people."

namque] This explains the 'turpis ars.' Sextus, the youngest son of L. Tarquinius Superbus, is called 'proles manifesta,' because he showed by his deeds, viz. by this affair of the capture of Gabii, and the subsequent tragedy of Lucretia, that he was one 'nomine quem simili vita superba notat,' himself a second Superbus. Paley. 7. nudârant] "had drawn."

8. hoc cupiant] Virgil (En. II. 104) puts a parallel expression into the mouth of Sinon, who facilitates the capture of Troy by the Greeks through a similar piece of treachery: "Hoc Ith

acus velit et magno mercentur Atrida." | The cradle in which the children were

13. tueatur] "that he would undertake the war in concert with them." Paley.

14. ignaris] "ignorant" of his treachery.

15. potens] when invested with power. Livy (I. 54) says: "tantâ caritate erat, ut non pater Tarquinius potentior Romæ, quam filius Gabiis esset."

16. He asks what plan for betraying Gabii his father has to propose to him. 17. suberat] "was close by." 18. sectus humum] the accus. of reference: see note on 21, 29: "having the ground divided."

19. latentia] conveyed by the friend without his being aware of their true import. Paley.

20. lilia summa] "the tops of the lilies:" intending under this image the leading men of Gabii.

24. nuda, etc.]" deprived of their

own rightful rulers."

23. THE DREAM OF ILIA:

THE

BIRTH OF ROMULUS AND REMUS. The legend which forms the subject of these lines may be stated as follows: At Alba Longa a succession of kings had reigned: one of the last of whom left two sons, Numitor and Amulius. The latter deprived Numitor of the kingdom, but allowed him to live on his private means. Fearful, however, that Numitor's heirs would not submit so quietly to his usurpation, he caused his only son to be murdered, and made his daughter, Silvia, also called Ilia, one of the Vestal Virgins. As Silvia one day went into the sacred grove, to draw water for the service of the goddess, a wolf met her, and she fled into a cave for safety; there Mars overpowered her, and consoled her with the promise that she should become the mother of heroic children. She gave birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. Amulius doomed the guilty Vestal and her babes to be drowned in the river.

came ashore, when a she-wolf carried them into her den and suckled them, and the woodpecker [picus], a bird sacred to Mars, brought them food.

1. inde moveri] "to start from this point."

2. sacra] "the sacred vessels," which it was the duty of the Vestals to cleanse in the river Numicus.

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4. Then, as now, women carried their earthen pitchers [fictiles urnæ] on their heads. Speaking of Amymōne, Ovid uses the expression, "Cum premeret summi verticis urna commas," Amor. I. 10, 6

12. fefellit] "concealed." 13. gravis]" pregnant." 14. viscera] "her womb." 17. imagine somni] "a vision in sleep," i. e. a dream. Thus, in Horace, Europa asks, 'An vitiis carentem Ludit imago Vana,' "a mocking vision?" 18. somno clarius] "too distinct for sleep."

19. Iliacis] The Vestal fire was brought from Troy by Eneas: Virg. En. II. 296.

aderam] "I was attending to:" she, as a vestal, had the custody of the sacred fire.

20. decidit] This was ominous : as the sacred fillet was removed by the pontifex from the head of a vestal condemned for a breach of her vow. Paley appositely quotes Tibullus II. 5, 53: "Te quoque jam video, Marti placitura sacerdos,

Ilia, Vestales deseruisse focos; Concubitusque tuos furtin, vittasque jacentes."

21, 22. inde] probably means "from the ground," on which the fillet had fallen.

palmæ] emblems of triumph representing Romulus and Remus

the larger palm [major] of course typified Romulus.

24. coma] a poetical equivalent for 'fronde.' So Sophocles represents a storm as πᾶσαν αἰκίζων φόβην ὕλης Tediados, "tearing all the tresses of the foliage on the plain," Antig. 417. 25. patruus] Amulius.

26. micat] "palpitates," "beats." 27. gemino stipite] A poetical variation of utraque palma' in the next line.

pugnat] the woodpecker brought food to the infants, and the wolf suckled them; hence they appeared to "fight"| for the twins whom Amulius wished to destroy.

30. refert] See note on Phædr. X.9. 34. subiit] 66 crept beneath." Nothing terrified the Romans more than the extinction of the Vestal fire; it was to them a sign, says Dionysius, τοῦ ἀφανισμοῦ τῆς πόλεως.

36. opes] scil. regnum.

24. THE RAPE OF THE SABINES.

"The people of Romulus wanted wives, and the nations round about would not give them their daughters in marriage. So Romulus gave out that he was going to keep a great festival, and there were to be sports and games to draw a multitude together, The neighbours, including a great multitude of the Sabines, came to see the show, with their wives and daughters; when, as they were looking at the games, the people of Romulus rushed out upon them, and carried off the women to be their wives." Arnold (R. H. vol. I. p. 7; Livy, I. 10) recounts the legend.

1. viduos] "unmarried."

3. vela] "awnings:" to keep off the heat; first introduced by Lentulus Spinther.

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5, 6. A heap of leaves formed a natural, 'sine arte,' stage in those days: leaves gathered from the woody Palatine. Cf. the parallel picture in Virg. Æn. VIII. 347, seqq.

8. hirsutas] Hairdressers first appeared in Rome 300 B.C.

9. respiciunt] i. e. the Romans. 10. movent] Cf.Virg. Æn. III. 34: "Multa movens animo."

11. Tusco] Stage-players originally came from Etruria to Rome: Liv. VII. 2.

14. rex] Romulus.

signa prædæ petenda] The signal to seize on their booty [the Sabine women], which they had been told to look out for; Anglicè, "the appointed signal."

15. animum] "their intent."

constitit] A term often applied to colour: as in Livy, 39, 34: "adeo perturbavit regem, ut non color, non vultus ei constaret."

26. "Their modesty alone [ipse] might have graced many of them." Or the infinitive present [decere] after 'potuit:' see L. E. p. 159, Rule IV.; Key's Lat. Gram., § 1257; and the note on Ovid, 38, 5, below.

27. The construction is: 'negabat [se] comitem [fore].'

32. dederis] On this idiomatic use of the future, where in English we prefer the present, see note on Ovid, 14, 8.

25. FLORA.

1. Chloris] "the name Chloris is akin to χλωρός, σε green;' Flora is related in the same way to Flos. Chloris and Flora are therefore kindred terms: but the latter is not, as the poet says, actually derived from the former."

4. croco] Saffron, mingled with water and wine, was employed to diffuse a fragrant odour, in theatres and other places. Horace alludes to the custom, Epist. II. 1, 79: "Recte necne | Keightley.

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Cuncta coloribus egregiis etodoribus opplet."

7. dotalibus] "dotal:" i. e. the domains given her as her dowry.

9. generoso flore] "the finest flowers." Cf. 'generosa uva,' Ovid, R. A. 567; generosa pruna,' Met. XIII. 818. Paley remarks that this line is full of peculiar beauty, as the Zephyr -Flora's husband-was popularly supposed to wake the flowers. Flore' is used for floribus,' poetically, like 'innumera ovis,' "countless flocks of sheep," Tibull. II. 2, 42.

11. digestos numerare] "to arrange and count." See L. E. p. 172, Rule II. 2.

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native of the principal sentence. Arnold.

21. Therapnæ o] i. e. from the blood of Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth, beloved, and accidentally slain by Apollo, and turned into the flower of his own name: Metamorph. X. 162. Therapna was a town in Laconia, near Sparta.

22. querela] On the petals of the hyacinth* it was supposed that the wordaiai,'"alas," could be traced.

24. alter et alter] i. e. that he and his shadow were not different persons. See Mythol. Dict. and Ovid, 41, below.

25. Crocon] Ovid elsewhere says Crocus was metamorphosed into the saffron flower which bears his name, by Hermes. In Metamorph. X. 103, Cyběle changes Attis into a pine-tree. Adonis, the son of Cinyras, was turned into an anemone: Metamorph. X. 728.

27. coronis] The Romans used flowers chiefly for making festive garlands; and they do not seem to have appreciated them, as we do, as beautiful objects, or to have cultivated them much in gardens. Paley.

29-33. Burmann has misunderstood this passage. Flora says she is the goddess of agriculture as well as of horticulture: for the quality of the wheat crop depends on the budding [flowering] of the plant; the quality of the vintage on the blossoming [flowering] of the vine; and so of olives and apples.

eventum habent] "experience the result of this season:" i. e. prove by the amount of the crop whether the blossoms have duly set in spring. Paley, who compares Virg. G. IV. 142: "Quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis

arbos

Induerat, totidem auctumno matura ferebat."

34. advena]" foreign:" its source not being in Egypt.

*Not our hyacinth, but the Martagon, or Turk's-cap Lily, the petals of which are pencilled by small black strokes.

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