422. Tacitis Manibus, i. e. the Lemures, whom (v. 481,) he calls animas Silentum. According to Ovid's account, the Lemures were, what we term, disturbed spirits. Nonius says, they were larvae nocturnae et terrificationes imaginum et bestiarum.
423. See I. 27.
427, 428. It would appear from this, that it was thought that in the time of Romulus, the Feralia, (II. 533,) and the Lemuria, were one, and were celebrated in the third month, which was named a majoribus.
429, 430. Compare IV. 490. Virg. aen. iv. 522, viii. 26. If there is any imitation, I would say that it was Apollonius Rhodius, whom Ovid had in view.—_Praebet, scil. nox. Some MSS. read somnos, or somnum silentia praebent.
431. Ille. He who is, that person who is.
432. Vincula, scil. pedum, calcea, I. 410. It was the custom to bare the feet when going about any magic operation. See Met. vii. 182. Virg. aen. iv. 518. Hor. Sat. I. 8, 23.
433. Signa, etc. Neapolis says, "Est crepitus ille, qui fit nostro aevo in quavis saltatione, sive comica, sive rustica, digito scilicet medio adeo presse juncto cum pollice, ut lapsus in palmam strepitum edat." This explanation is adopted by Gierig, but as he observes from Met. ix. 299, that "digitis pertinatim inter se junctis impediebant aliquid," and the poet here says digitis (not digito) junctis, I think the mode may have been to lock the fingers in one another, by which means the thumbs were joined in the middle, and then to make a noise by bringing the hands smartly together.
436. Nigras, etc. Compare II. 576. For ante, several MSS. read ore, which Heinsius preferred.
437. Aversus jacit, throws them behind him. Compare Virg. Ec. viii. 101.
438. Redimo, etc. That you may no longer haunt my house. Quibus temporibus in sacris fabam jactant noctu ac dicunt se Lemures extra januam ejicere. Varro de Vita Pop. Rom. apud Nonium. Faba Lemuralibus jacitur Larvis, et Parentalibus adhibetur sacrificiis, et in flore ejus luctus litterae apparere videntur. Festus.
439. Novies, like ter, (v. 435,) for numero deus impure gaudet, (Virg. Ec. viii. 75,) was probably of magic efficacy. Compare Met. xiii. 951.
440. This superstition reminds one of that of sowing the hempseed on All-Hallows' Eve. See Burns' Halloween, st. xvi.-xx.
441. Temesaea aera, simply copper. Temesa, called by the Latins Tempsa, was a town in Bruttium. It is supposed to be the Temesa of the Homeric ages, to which (Od. I. 184,) the Greeks resorted to barter iron for copper. See Mythology, p. 232. For the abundance of copper in ancient Italy, see Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I.
450-452. Of its use on the present occasion, we may observe, that Sophron in one of his Mimes, said, [Greek: Kuon bauxas luei ta phasmata, os kai chalkos krotaetheis]. The Scholiast on Theocritus, tells us, that [Greek: O tou chalkou haechos oikeios tois katoichomenois], on which Neapolis says, "Observa illa et respice ad hodiernum modum." He was a Sicilian.
447. Pliade nate, Mercury. All the editions read Pleiade. But see note on IV. 169.—Virga, the well known gestamen of [Greek: Hermaes chrysorrhatis]. Compare Hom. II. xxiv. 43. Od. v. 47. Virg. aen. 242. Hor. Car. I. 10, 17, 24, 15.
448. His office of [Greek: psychopompos] is well-known. He was, therefore, the god who was most likely to be able to tell the origin of the name Lemuria.
450. He does not, as usual, introduce the god himself speaking, but informs the reader of what he had learned from him.
451. Tumulo condidit. Com pare Virg. aen. III. 67.
452. See IV. 841, et seq—Male veloci. Like servata male, I. 559.
456. Utque erat. As they (each of them) were. Two of the best MSS. read sicut erant, but the metre is against this reading.
457. Compare Virg. aen. II. 270.
471. Pietas, etc. His brotherly love is equal to mine.
476. Compare Hom. II. xxiii. 99. Virg. aen. II. 792.
479-484. Lemures dictos esse putant quasi Remures a Remo, cujus occisi umbram frater Romulus quum placare vellet Lemuria instituit. Porphyrio on Hor. Ep. II. 2, 209.
483. Lemures, [Greek: nukterinoi daimones]. Glossae.
486. See II. 557.
487. Plutarch (Q. R. 86,) gives, among other reasons, why the Romans did not marry in May, [Greek: oti polloi Latinon en to maeni touto tois katoichomenois enagizousi]. He elsewhere informs us, that it was only widows who married on holidays.
490. The celebrated Alessandro Tassoni, as Burmann observes, treats largely in his Pensieri Diversi, L. viii c. 2. of this superstition, which still existed in his time at Ferrara.
492. "Nam hi sex continuis diebus. Primus, tertius, quintus sacri sunt
Lemuralibus. Hinc capies vetus Kalendarium in quo sic illa notantur:
A. LEM. N.
BC.
C. LEM. N.
D. NP. LVD. MART. IV. CIRC.
E. LEM. N."
Neapolis.
493-544. The second day of the Lemuria fell on the V. Id. on which day therefore Orion set.—Boeotum. Orion was born in Boeotia, according to most writers. Pindar makes Chios his birth-place. The following narrative occurs in several writers besides Ovid. See Mythology, p. 415-419.
494. Falsus eris, you will be mistaken.
495. Frater. Tzetzes on Lyc. Cass. 328, says it was Apollo. As according to Hesiod, Neptune was the father of Orion, our poet is, I think, the more orthodox.
497. Compare Virg. Ec. II. 66. Hor. Epod. II. 61. Compare also the whole narrative with the delightful story of Philemon and Baucis, in the Metamorphoses, viii. 626. et seq.
504. Parent promissis, is equivalent to: They accept his invitation.
506. Ignis, etc. The same is said of Philemon and Baucis; they had therefore but the one hot meal a day. This way of keeping in, and blowing up a fire, is familiar to any one who has been in a country where wood or peat is the fuel.
509. Calices, earthen pots or pipkins to go on the fire. This is rather an unusual sense of the word.—Inde, of them. Compare IV. 171. Virg. G. III. 308, 490.
510. Testu suo, by its lid, I should suppose.—Fumant. Several MSS. read spumant or spumat, some have fumat, whence Heinsius formed the present reading.
517. Puer, when a young man.—Diffuderat, racked off. See Hor. Ep. I. 5. 4.
518. Condo and promo are appropriate terms, Hor. Car. I. 9. 7. Epod. 2. 47. It was the custom to set the wine jars in a place where the smoke could have access to them. Apothecae recte superponentur his locis, unde pierumque fumus exoritur, quoniam vina celerius vetustescunt, quae fumi quodam tenore praecocem maturitatem trahunt; propter quod et aliud tabulatum esss debebit, qua amoveantur, ne rursus nimia suffitione medicata sint, Columella, II. R. I. 6.
519. Lino, a linen covering.
525. Prima, etc. Heinsius, who is followed by the other editors, reads primae mihi cura, juventae, which is the reading of three of the best, and five other MSS. Two of the best read prima mihi cura juventa; others cara mihi prima juventa; one prima mihi grata juventa. I think, with Krebs, that there is force in the repetition of cara. Burmann proposes flore juventae.
526. Cognita. Seven MSS. have condita.
542. Curva spicula, its claws.—Gemelliparae, an epithet of Latona, peculiar to our poet.
545-598. On the IV. Id. there were Circensian games in honor of Mars Ultor. Augustus built (A.U.C. 725,) in his own Forum a temple to this god, which he had vowed at the time of the battle of Philippi. Suet. Aug. 29.—Mundo, the sky. It is often used in this sense by Manilius. Four MSS. read caelo.
546. Coarctat, contracts, shortens.
549. Bellica signa, i. e. the clash of arms.
555, 556. Sanxit ut de bellis, triumphisque hic (in templo Martis) consuleretur senatus, quique victores redissent, huc insignia triumphorum inferrent. Suet. Aug. 29.—Tropaeis. Some MSS. read triumphis.
557. Impius. Rome was under the protection of the gods; Augustus was a god himself. It was, therefore, impiety to take arms against them.
560. _Ornant signis fictilibus aut aereis inauratis aedium fastigia. Vitruv. Archit. III. 2. We know not of what gods the statues were on this temple of Mars.
561. Diversae figurae, differing in form from those used by the Romans. These, and the arma of the next line, were probably carved on the doors, or piled or suspended at them.
563. Proximum a diis immortalibus honorem memoriae ducum praestitit. Itaque et opera cujusque, manentibus titulis, restituit, et statuas omnium triumphali effigie in utraque Fori sui porticu dedicavit. Suet. Aug. 3l.—Hinc, then, or from the temple.—Caro. Heinsius and Gierig read after two of the best MSS. sacro.
565. Romulus, the son of Ilia, bearing the spolia opima of Acron. Liv. 1. 10.
566. The titles and deeds of the great men were inscribed on the bases of their statues.
567. The name of Augustus was, according to custom, inscribed on the temple.
573. See III. 699.
575. The [Greek: aimati asai Araea talaurinon polemistaen] of Homer, was, perhaps, in Ovid's mind.
580. To whom is unknown the fate of Crassus, and the recovery of the captured ensigns of Rome by Augustus, the theme of every Augustan poet's praise? Krebs.
595. Bis ulto. Some MSS. read ultum. The greater number Bisultor, "Nomen Bisultoris ejus que templum in Capitolio lepidum est commentum librariorum et archaeologorum aliquot, quod neque scriptori scujusquam nec nummorum auctoritate confirmatur." Krebs.
598. Compare v. 347.
599. The following day, the third and last of the Lemuria, the Pleiades rise heliacally, and summer begins. VI. Idus Maias Vergiliae totae apparent; pridie aestatis initium. Columella, R. R. xi. 2.
603-620. On the 14th May, Prid. Id. the head of the Bull rises cosmically. The poet now inquires into its origin. See IV. 7l7-720,– Prior, scil. dies. Idibus is a dative.
605. For the story of Europa, see Met. II. 833, et seq. Hor. Car. III. 27. Mythology p. 408. It is also most beautifully told by the Greek poet Moschus, in his second Idyll.
607. Jubam. It is rather unusual to speak of the juba, (mane) of a bull. Ovid however does so elsewhere. Am. III. 5. 24. This description was, perhaps as Gierig observes, taken from some painting, but that in Moschus (v. 122) is similar, [Greek: Tae men echen tauron dolichon keras, en cheri d' allae Eirue porphyreas kolpou ptychas … … … Kolpothae d' omoisi peplos bathys Europeiaes, Istion oia te naeos, elaphrizeske de kouraen]. And in Lucian's Dialogue of Zephyrus and Notes, it is said, [Greek: hae de tae laie men eicheto tou keratos, os mae apolisthanoi, tae hetera de haemeno menon ton peplon xyneiche]. Compare III. 869.
613, 614. How truly Ovidian this is!—Prudens, on purpose, This word is a contraction of providens.
619. Phariam juvencam. Io or Isis. II. 454. Met. I. 583, et seq.
621-662. On the Ides of May, after having performed the sacrifices appointed by the law, the Pontifices, the Vestal Virgins, the Praetors, and such other of the citizens as were legally qualified, proceeded to the Sublician or ancient wooden bridge, and threw from it into the Tiber thirty images of men formed of bullrushes. These figures were called Argei. See Dionysius I. 19 and 38. Argei fiunt e scirpeis virgultis: simulacra sunt hominum triginta (in the old MSS. xxiv.): et quotannis a ponte Sublicio a sacerdotibus publice jaci solent in Tiberim. Varro, L. L. VI. Argeos vocabant scirpeas effigies, quae per virgines Vestales minis singulis jaciebantur in Tiberim. Festus. I have departed from the usual division in this place, and made a separate section of 621-662, as the Argei were thrown on the Ides, and Taurus rose Prid. Idus.—Virgo, scil. Vestalis, one, as is so frequently the case, put for the whole. See preceding part of this note.—Pris. vir. This is explained by what follows.
622. Roboreo, i. e. Sublicio so called a sublicis, the piles on which it was built, hence Plutarch calls it [Greek: xylinaen gephuran]. Dionysius III. says of it [Greek: haen achri ton pyrontos diaphylattousin, hieran einai nomizontes ei de ti ponaeseien autaes meros, oi hierophantai (Pontifices) therapeuousi, thusias tinas epitelountes ama tae kataskeuae patrious]. The Sublician was the ancient original bridge of Rome, and a superstitious reverence frequently attaches to things of this nature. I need scarcely observe, that we have here the origin of the word Pontifex.
623. The first opinion respecting the origin of this custom: the ancient Romans used to throw their old men, when they were arrived at the age of sixty, into the Tiber, and drown them. This the poet very properly seems disposed to reject, and whatever may have been the case with a tribe of the ancient Indians, (see Herod. III. 38,) or with the Battas of modern times, there is no ground for suspecting the people of ancient Latium of such barbarity.
625. A second opinion: it commemorated the time when human sacrifices were offered at Home. I have, in various parts of my Mythology, hinted my opinion, that human sacrifices were totally unknown in the heroic ages of Greece, and that all legends relating to such are comparatively late fictions. I now extend this theory to Italy, and assert that there are no testimonies, on which we can rely, of such a practice having prevailed in it in those times, when the poet says it was called Saturnia terra. The opinion, of which the poet now speaks, evidently arose from the confounding of Saturnus, the Italian god of husbandry, with 'Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears,' the 'grim idol' of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
626. According to Dionysius, the oracle given by the god at Dodona to the Pelasgians was as follows; [Greek: Steichete maiomenoi Sikelon Satournian aian Haed' Aborigeneon Kotulaen, ou nasos ocheitai. Ois anamichthentes dekataen ekpempsate Phoibo kai kephalas Adae, kai to patri pempate phota]. Arnobibus (adv. G. II. p. 91,) says, Cum ex Apollinis monitit patri Diti ac Saturno humanis capitibus supplicaretur. I need hardly observe, that the aforesaid oracle cannot be older than the Alexandrian period of Grecian literature.
630. Leucadio. Leucas, now Santa Maura, on the coast of Acarnania, was originally a peninsula. It has long been an island. The celebrated Lover's Leap was there. Strabo (x. 2.) says, [Greek: Haen de kai patrion tois Laukadiois kat' eniauton en tae thysia tou Apollonos apo tes skopaes], (the Lover's Leap,) [Greek: ripteistha tina ton en aitiois outon apotrhopes charin]. He adds, that birds, and a kind of wings, were attached to these criminals to break the fall, and that there was a number of persons below in small boats to save them, and to put them beyond the bounds of the country.
631. Macrobius (Sat. I. 7,) says, that he persuaded the people _ut faustis sacrificiis infausta mutarent, inferences Diti, non hominum capita, sed oscilla ad humanam effigiem arte simulata, et aras Saturnias, non mactando viros, sed accensis luminibus excolentes, quia non solum virum sed et lumina [Greek: phota] (see the oracle,) significant. The following note of Burmann's is too curious to be omitted, "Similem fere ritum Lipsiae a meretricibus celebratum scribit Pfeiffer Rerum Lipsiensium, L. III. § 18, illas scilicet solitas olim primis jejunii quadragenarii (Lent) diebus imaginem stramineam deformis viri, longa pertica suffixam, sequente omni meretricum agmine, tulisse ad Pardam flumen, ibique, cum carminibus in pallidam mortem, praecipitasse; dicentes se lustrare urbem, ut sequenti anno a pestilentia esset immunis."—Ilium. Fama vetus, (v. 625,) is understood.—Quirites, proleptically, as there were no Quirites as yet.
633. A third opinion: which appears to have arisen from the misunderstanding of a proverb, Cum in quintum gradum pervenerant, atque habebant sexaginta annos, tum denique erant a publicis negotiis liberi atque expediti et otiosi: ideo in proverbium quidam putant venisse, sexagenarios de ponte dejici oportere, id est quod suffragium non ferant, quod per pontem ferebant. Nonius. Exploratissimum illud causae est quo tempore primum per pontem coeperunt comitiis suffragia ferre, juniores conclamavere, ut de ponte dejicerentur sexagenarii: quia nullo pidilico munere fungerentur; ut ipsi potius sibi quam illis deligerent imperium, Festus.
635. Tibri, etc. The reader will call to mind Gray's "Say father Thames," etc. in his Ode on the Distant Prospect of Eton College, and I hope, at the same time, recollect with contempt the tasteless criticism of Johnson, who, curious enough, had put an exactly similar apostrophe to the Nile into the mouth of the princess Nekayah, in his own Rasselas. Was this passage of Ovid in the mind of that maker of beautiful poetic mosaics?
637. Aurundiferum. The rivergods were usually represented crowned with reeds. Met. ix. 3. Virg. aen. viii. 34.
638. Rauca ora. As he uses the verb dimovet, ora, in this place, must signify lips, and hoarse lips is rather a hardy expression. Heinsius proposed glauca. A hoarse voice is very naturally ascribed to a river-god. Compare Virg. aen. ix. 124.
639. Compare Virg. aen. viii. 360.
643. See I. 471, IV. 65.
646. See II. 389, IV. 48. Liv. I. 3.
647. Pallantius, from his native town Pallantium, in Arcadia. He calls him Nonacrius heros, v. 97.
660. The only foundation of this legend is the accidental resemblance between Argei and [Greek: Argeioi]. Of the origin of the word Argei, I can offer no conjecture; the ceremony seems to me to have been symbolical. Perhaps, like the Leucadian rite, (see on v. 630) it had some analogy with that of letting go the Scape-goat under the Mosaic law. In the number of the images (thirty) I discern a relation to the thirty curies into which the original Romans were divided: or, perhaps, a more general one, to the political number of Latium. See Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. II. 18, et seq.
661. Hactenus, scil. locutus est Tiberis.
663-692. A temple was dedicated to Mercury on the Ides of May, A.U.C. 258. Liv. II. 21, 27.—Clare, etc. Compare Hor. Car. I. 10. which ode Ovid, very possibly had before him.
665. Pacis, etc. "Mercurius pacis et armorum arbiter propter eloquentiam et prudentiam qua excellit." Gierig. I rather think it was as being Caducifer, the herald of the gods.
671. Te. etc. The name of the Roman Mercurius comes evidently from Merx, and there can be little doubt of his having been originally merely the god presiding over commerce. When he was identified with the Greek Hermes, he acquired the offices above mentioned. For Hermes, see Mythology, p. 124.
673. Est aqua, etc. "Hoc solum testimonio probant viri docti extra portam Capenam, via Appia, aquam fuisse ita nuncupatam; qua populus, qui negotio et quaestui operam dabat, his Idibus lustrari solitus." Neapolis.
674. Numen habet, it has a divine efficacy.
675. Incinctus tunicas. "Cingulo; e quo marsupium auri monetalis propendebat. Hic vetus mercatorum habitus." Neapolis. The MSS. in general read tunica.
676. Purus, scil. ipse.—Suffita scil. sulfure. Most MSS. read suffusa.
678. Omnia, etc. his goods, all the things that he had to sell. He, of course, as v. 676 shews, had brought the holy water home for this pious use.
680. Solita fallere. The characier of the trader was in bad odour in ancient Rome for honesty; for trade was considered an illiberal employment, and no man of respectability engaged in it.
684. Non andituri, who should not hear, whom I did not wish to hear.
692. Ortygias boves, the oxen of Apollo. For the story, see Met. II. 685, et seq. the Homeridian hymn to Hermes, or my analysis of it. (Mythology, p. 126-128.) See also Hor. Car. I. 10. 9. Ortygian, is used by the poet as equivalent to Delian, as Ortygia was one of the names given to Delos. For the true situation of Ortygia, and the way in which it was confounded with Delos, see Mythology, pp. 99 and 254.
693-720. On the XIII. Kal. Jun. the sun enters the Twins. Columella, who is followed by Neapolis, has XV. Kal. Jun.—Precor scil. te Mercuri!– Mel. pet_. scil. than the merchant.
697. Quot sunt. etc. i. e. twelve.
699. Phoebe and her sister Elaïra, Ilaïra or Hilaïra, as it is variously written, the two daughters of Leucippus were promised in marriage to their two cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus. The Tyndaridae, Castor and Pollux, who were also cousins, carried off the maidens by force, and matters proceeded as is related in the text. See Theoc. Idyll, xxii. Pindar. Nem. x. Mythology, p. 391.
705. Oebalides, either as being the grandsons of Oebalus, Pans. III. 1, or because they were Laconians. See on I. 260.
708. Aphidna. The best known Aphidna is the Attic deme of that name. According to Steph. Byz, (sub. voc.) there was an Aphidna in Laconia.
719. See Hom. Od. xi. 301. Virg. aen. vi. 121.
720. Utile, etc. They were [Greek: arogonautai daimones]. See Hor. Car. II. 3, and 12, 27.
721. Ad Janum, etc. "XII. Kal. Jun. Agonalia Urbs interabat. Hoc die notantur haec festa in veteri Kalendario; nam illud hoc quoque tempus habet, quod induxit interpretes ut dicerent XIV. Kal. intelligendum quod etiam mense Maio denuo fiant." Neapolis. The poet refers those anxious for information to the first book. See I. 317, et seq.
723. Canicula rises (it should be sets, Plin. xviii. 27,) on the XI Kal. Jun. See on IV. 936.
725. The Tubilustria were on the X. Kal. Tubilustrium appellatur, quod eo die in atrio sutorio sacrorum tubae lustrantur. Varro, L. L. V. See III. 849.
726. Purae, as being sacred, or as being now cleaned or purified.
727. Inde, then, in the place of the next day, IX. Kal. in the Calendar. "In Calendario antiquo legebantur notae hae Q. R. C. F. quae dupliciter legi poterant, vel: quando rex comitiavit fas, vel: quando rex comitio fugit," Gierig. The king is, of course, the Rex Sacrorum. _Dies, qui vocatur sic, Quando rex comitiavit fas, dictus ab eo, quod eo die rex sacrificulus dicat ad comitium, ad quod tempus est nefas, ab eo fas. Varro L. L. V. [Greek: Esti goun tis en agora thusia pros to legomeno Komaetio patrios, haen thusas ho basileus kata tachos apeisi pheugon ex agoras]. Plutarch, Q. R. 63.
730. On the VIII. Kal. Jun. the temple of Fortuna Publica had been dedicated. This is probably the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, of which Plutarch speaks, de For. Rom. 10. [Greek: Serbios Tullios idrusato Tychaes ieron Kapitolio to taes Primigeneias legomenaes]. See IV. 375. It is not unlikely that, as Gesenius conjectures, Ovid read the PR. in his Calendar pop. Rom. i. e. pop. pot. of the text, instead of Primigenia. On the same day Aquila rises in the evening.
733. The following day VII. Kal. Bootes sets heliacally, and on the VI. Kal. the Hyades rise in the same manner.