Fasti

435. He now enquires into the origin of the name of this god.

437. The statue of Vejovis represented a youthful figure, without any thunderbolts, in his hand. He may, therefore, be Young Jupiter.

443. There was the figure of a she-goat standing beside it; a farther proof, as Jupiter was suckled by the goat, Amalthea.

445. The country-people, called ill-grown corn vegrandia, (Vegrandes et imbecillae oves. Varro, R. II. II.) and vescus with them, was equivalent to parvus. From all this he infers, that Vejovis is Little Jupiter. This is not convincing. See Mythology, p. 468, where it is shewn that Vejovis was probably a god of the under-world.—Colonae. Many of the best MSS. read colono. Eleven have colone (colonae); one colonae, which Heinsius adopted. Gierig follows the MSS. which read coloni, and he is, perhaps, right in so doing.

449, 450. The heliac rising of Pegasus on the Nones. For Pegasus, see Hesiod. Th. 280, et seq. and 325. Met. iv. 784, v. 256. Mythology, pp. 223, 364.—Variabunt. Eight MSS. read vallabunt, which Heinsius adopted.

451. Gravida cervice is rather a curious mode of expression. Medusa was pregnant by Neptune, and when Perseus cut off her head, Pegasus sprang forth (prosiluit, [Greek: exethore] Hes.) with the blood: hence the poet says, gravida crevice. He was named Pegasus, as being born at the springs ([Greek: paegas]) of Ocean.

455. See the story of Bellerophon.

456. The Horse-fount ([Greek: hippoukraenae] Hippocrene) in Aonia (Boeotia), said to have been produced by a stroke of the hoof of Pegasus. —Fodit. Nine of the best MSS. read _fudit. Rutilius (Itin. I. 264,) says, Musarum ut latices ungula fodit equi. Avienus (in Arat. Phaen. Equo.) cornuque excita repente Lympha, Camenalem fudit procul Hippocrenen, I think fudit the more poetic term.

458. The astronomers of the present day reckon eighty-nine stars in Pegasus.

459-516. The Crown of Ariadne rises acronychally on the 8th March, the VIII. Id. For the story of Theseus and Ariadne, see Met. viii. 175—182. Ars Amandi, I. 531—564, Her. x. Hor. Car. II. 19. Catul. lxiv. 52, et seq. Mythology pp. 411, 412.

460. Gnosida Gnosian, as Minos, the father of Ariadne, reigned at Gnosus, in Crete.—Facta dea, Ariadne, not her crown.

461. "Solent poëtae verbo mutare Accusat rei acceptae et Ablat. relictae addere." Gierig. Thus Horace, Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem mutat Lycaeo.—Faunus.

465. Depexus crinibus, his hair neatly and carefully combed out. See VI. 229. Bacchus, whom the Greeks named [Greek: eukomaes (eukomos], is a general epithet of the goddesses) was like Apollo, distinguished for the beauty of his hair. See Met. III. 421 and 555, iv. 13. The common reading was, what appears the most obvious, depexis. Some of the best MSS. read depexos, agreeing with Indos.

466. Some of the best MSS. read venit. For the Indian expedition of Bacchus, see Mythology, P. I. chap. xiv.

476. My case is told or repeated.

480. Dedoluisse, have ended my grief; have died.

493. At puto, etc. Ironically.

495. See Hor. Sat. I. 3, 38.

499. Matrem Pasiphaë. The story is well known.

500. Bacchus was represented horned, in consequence of the identification of him with the Phrygian Sabazius. Mythology, p. 168. Hence he was called [Greek: boukeros, taurokeros].—Me tua, etc. The best and most numerous MSS. read Me juvat et laedit: one, me viat et laedit; another me tua me laedit or laudat: three of the best have the reading of the text, the rest me tua sed laedit. Heinsius gives from conjecture, me tua. At hic laudi est, which Gierig has received.

503. A play on words as usual.

512. Libera. The Italian religion, as I have observed after Niebuhr, (Mythology, p. 455,) delighted in representing the deities presiding over any object in pairs of males and females. Hence, with Liber, the god of wine, was joined a goddess Libera, and when the Greek and Italian religions came to be mingled, she was identified with Proserpine. Ovid alone makes her the same with Ariadne. I forgot to notice this under the head Liber Pater (Mythology, p. 469). I should be inclined to derive Liber from libo, [Greek: leibo], instead of libero.

514. Vulcanus Veneri. One MS. reads Neptunus Thetidi. I suppose Homer was running in the head of whoever he was that made this improvement.– Tibi. One MS. reads mihi, which Burmann has received.

517-522. On the 14th or Prid. Id. was another Equiria.—Demerserit. Several of the good MSS. read quum deseret or deserit; others quot demserit; some quum demserit; three of the best dimiserit; others demiserit; one totidemque remiserit; another of the best dimerserit, whence Heinsius formed the present reading.

518. Purpureum, bright, see II. 74. Virg. aen. vi. 641, purpureum lumen, scil. Soils.

522. If the Tiber, as was so frequently the case, had overflowed the Campus Martius, the races were run on the Campus Martialis on the Coelian hill.

523-696. On the Ides was the festival of Anna Perenna.—Geniale, i. e. quo genio indulgetur. See v. 58.

524. Between the Milvian bridge and the point of confluence with the Anien.

527. Sub Jove. See II. 299.

529. Ibi. Several MSS. read sibi.

532. Ad numerum. They reckon the cups.

536. Suit the action to the word by making gesticulations.

537. Posito, scil. in honour of the goddess.—Duras, aukward, inelegant.

541, 542. Heinsius and Burmann think with a great deal of probability, that a good many verses are lost after this distich, Burmann supposes that the monks who copied the MSS. left them out, on account of their indelicacy.

543. He now commences his enquiry into the character and history of Anna.—Errat, is uncertain. Six MSS. read errant.

544. Fabula nulla, no legend or tradition.

545. For the whole story of Dido and Aeneas, see the Aeneis I. and IV.– Arserat, the usual play on words.

551-554. See aen. iv. 36, 198, et seq.

556. See Virg. G. iv. 213. 565.

557, 558. Counting the years poetically by the harvests and vintages.

561. Favillae, cineres. Hor. Car. II. 6, 22. They used to pour wine and precious oils on the ashes of the dead.

562. Vertice libatas, cut from the head, and laid as an offering on the tomb. Placemus umbras? Capitis exuvias cape, Laceraeque frontis accipe abcissam comam. Seneca Hyppol. 1181.

565. Comitem is the reading of six of the best MSS. all the rest have comites.—Pede aequo, the pedes are the ropes called braces, by which the yards are moved. This shews that the vessel ran before the wind, vento secundo.

567. Melite. Malta; Cosyra, Gozzo.

570. Battus. Silius Italicus (viii. 51,) says of Battus, Cyrenem molli tum forte fovebat Imperio, and he brings Anna thither. Battus was the founder of the Grecian colony at Cyrene.

581. _Crathidis. The Crathis was a river in Magna Graecia, near Thurii.

582. Parvus. Two MSS. read Purus, which Heinius and Gierig prefer. There are abundant instances of the use of purus in the sense of free from trees.

587. Subducere, to draw up, to furl.

594. Is. Two MSS. read hic,

602. Populos duos. The Trojans and Aborigines, under the common name of Latins. See Livy, I. 2.

613. Italy.

615. Deos comites, the Penatestale, which he had brought with him from Troy, aen. I. 6, xii. 192.—Increpuisse, "signis quibusdam datis," Gierig. Virgil does not mention this. Ovid was, perhaps, thinking of the message brought from Jupiter by Mercury, etc.

617. Morte scil. Didonis.

618. Credibile, than what I believed, or could have believed.

619. Ne refer, tell not the tale.

621, 622. Ratio, your own choice.—Deus, fortune. See Hor. Sat. I. 1, 2.

623. Memores, scil. sumus debere.

627. Paratus, dress. Met vi. 451.

633. Falsum vulnus, causeless wound of jealousy. Virg. aen. I. 36, iv. 67 and 332. Two MSS. read tacitum.

635. Praeter sua lumina, before her eyes. Seven MSS. limina. Heinsius puts a colon after ferri, and a comma after mitti.

637. Exactum. She has not yet determined.

642. Sub verbum as she spoke.

647. Corniger, a usual epithet of rivers, (Virg. G. IV 371. aen. viii. 77.) on account of their roaring or windings. The Numicius was between Larentum and Lavinium.

654. "Si Nympha antea Anna dicta, non opus erat ab amne nomen suum deducere," Gierig. The fact is, the poet here confounds two etymons, an old one from amne perenne, and a later one from Anna the sister of Dido. Was Anna mentioned in the poem of Naevius? or did Virgil first give it vogue? It is a Semitic name, and occurs in Scripture.

657. A second opinion, Anna is the Moon.

658. A third, she is Themis; a fouth Io or Isis.

659. 660. A fifth, made her a daughter of Atlas, and one of the Nymphs who reared Jupiter. These however are said to have been the two daughters of Melissa, or simply the nymph Amalthea. There is however another tradition which commits the rearing of the infant deity to the Hyades, who were the daughters of Atlas.

661. A sixth theory, derived Anua from anus, and devised the folloing legend which the poet thinks is not unlike the truth.

663. The famous secession of the Plebs. A.U.C. 260. to the hill beyound the Anien, three miles from Rome, afterwards named the Mons Sacer.

667. Bovillae or Bovilla was a Latin town mot far from Rome, on the Appian Way.—Suburbanis does not mean close to the city, for Horace (Ep, I, 7, 77.) calls his Sabine country-seat suburbana rura.

673. Can any thing be more silly than this account of the origin of an ancient Italian deity? I have elsewhere (Mythology p. 479) observed, what little taste and elegance of imagination, and I add sense, the Romans displayed in the origins which they invented for their gods. The real etymon of Anna Perenna is, I think, annus, as the poet himself would appear to have seen: see vv. 145, 146. Perhaps, according to the principle noticed above on, v. 512, she was a female corresponding to a god Annus. It is curious to observe the resemblance which has been traced out between her and the Indian Anna Purna in the Asiatic Researches.

675. He now undertakes to explain by a legend, why at the festival of Anna Perenna indecorous verse were sung by young women. The mystics would here, of course, talk to us of the symbolic wisdom of ancient priests and sages, but the more probable reason is to be found in the rude simplicity of an agricultural race, like the ancient Latins, and other peoples of Italy, which also gave origin to the Fescinnine verses. On occasions like this, however, one should always bear in mind these words of Johnson, "The oringinal of ancient customs is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues after the cause has ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture, reson cannot explain," Rasselas, Chap. 48.

696. Verba dedisse, to have deceived.

697. Julius Caesar was slain on the Ides of March, A.U.C. 709. The senate directed, that in future this day should be called Parricidium, and that no senate should ever sit on it. Suet. Caes. 88.

698. Locuta, scil. to the poet.

699. Sacerdos, as being Pontifex Maximus. [Greek: All' outos ho pataer, outos ho archiereus, ho asulos, ho aeros, ho theos, tethnaeken], are the words of Antonius over him in Dion. Cass. xliv. 49.

703. Vidit. Two MS. read servat. Compare Virg. Ec. v. 56.

704. A temple was raised to Caesar. A.U.C 712. three years after his death.

707. It was observed by the historians that all the murderers of Caesar perished within three years after him.

710. Caesaris. Augustus.

711, 712. On the XVII. Kal. April is the cosmic rising of the middle of the Scorpion.

713-790. On the following day were the Liberalia, which the poet now sings.

716. Parvus inermis erat, scil. Jupiter. Most MSS. read eras, applying it to Bacchus. Gierig is not satisfied with either reading, and he thinks the passage corrupt.

7l8. Expletum completed, brought to maturity.—Onus, most MSS. opus.

719. The expedition of Bacchus.

721. Pentheus. See Met. iii. 511. et seq.

722. Met. iv. 22.

723. Met. iii. 597, et seq.

726. Vilis anus, a mean, or common old woman. Seven MSS. three of which are of the best, read Vitisator, but the correctness of the present text is proved by the following passage of Varro L. L. V. Liberalia dicta, quod per totum oppidum eo die sedent sacerdotes Liberi, hedera coronatae anus, cum libis et foculo pro emptore sacrificantes.

728. Gelidis focis, cold altars, as no fire was kindled on them.

730. Seposuisse. The greater number of MSS. have supposuisse.

733. "Mira etymologia!" Gierig. See above v. 512. The libum was a kind of cake, [Greek: plakous ek galaktos, itrion te kai melitos, on Romaioi libon kalousi]. Athenaeus III. p. 125.

739. Florida. Most MSS. read flumina: the present, which is far preferable, is that of three of the best and four other MSS.

741-744. Compare Virgil G. IV. 64, et seq. The practice is too well known among ourselves to require any elucidation.

743. Levis senex, Silenus, who was bald. Most MSS. read lenis.

748. Dissimulat, conceals his discovery.

753 It was therefore a hornet's nest he had got.

763 See v. 726.—Praestet, "exhibeat praetereuntibus." Gierig.

769. Nysiades. There was a Nysa in Boeotia, in Thrace, in India, in Arabia. It was probably the Boeotian that the poet meant. See Met. III. 3l3.—Noverca, Juno.

771. On the Liberalia, the youths who had attained the age of sixteen laid aside the praetexta, which they had hitherto worn and assumed, the toga virilis, pura, recta, or libera, as it was variously, called. The poet gives four reasons for its being done on the Liberalia.

773. First reason, Bacchus, like Apollo, was ever young, See Met. iv. 17.

775. Second reason, because he was a father, (Liber Pater.) The Romans however called all their gods patres. ex. gr. Jupiter, (Jovis pater Zeus [Greek: pataer]), Dispiter, Mars-piter, Janus pater, Pater Neptunus, Pater Silvanus. (Hor. Epod. ii. 21.) etc.

777. Third reason, and perhaps the true one, because his name Liber coincided with the adjective liber.

779. Fourth reason, because as the people used to come from the country into Rome on the Liberalia to see the plays, it was deemed a good opportunity for giving a youth the toga virilis, when all his friends and relations were present.

781. Alluding to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, ille dictator ab aratro, Flor. I. 11.

782. Alluding, perhaps, to the story of Scipio, who, on shaking the hand of a country voter, as he canvassed him, said, Prythee, friend, dost walk on thy hands? and thereby lost his election. I, however, rather think that the poet had only in view the effeminacy of his own days.

784. Studiis, scil_. musices et poeseos_, taste.

786. Taedifera dea, Ceres.

787. Tironem. The youth who took the manly gown was named a tiro, and the day, dies tirocinii. He was accompanied from the Capitol to the Forum, and thence home by a great number of his relatives, friends and clients.—Celeb. freq. Frequentia me usque ad Capitolium celebravit. Cic. Att. vi. 1.

791, 792. See V. 621, Livy, I. 22. Reliqua urbis loca olim discreta, ut Argeorum sacraria in septem et viginti partes urbis sunt disposita. Argeos dictos putant a principibus, qui cum Hercule Argivo venerunt Romam et in Saturnia subsederunt. Varro, L. L. iv. J. B. Fontejus (De Prisca Caesiorum Gente, L. I. c. 7,) supposes that the Argei were the reputed burial-places of some of these noble Argives.—Sua Pagina, its own part of the Fasti. He means, perhaps, V. 621, et seq.

793, 794. On the same day (XVI. Kal. April.) the Kite rises acronychally.—Proclinis is the reading of two of the best MSS.; five of the best read proclivis, some have declivis; the greater number declinis.—Miluus, a trisyllable (like Iason, Iulus, Iambus, silua, Suevos, etc.) is the reading of the best MSS.: the rest have Milvius. The constellation of the Kite, Krebs says, is not mentioned by any Greek writer on astronomy, before the time of Ovid. It is quite uncertain where he got the following legend.

798. That is to slay the monster about to be described.

801. Compare Virg. aen. vi. 549.

803, 804. This reminds one strongly of the sacrifice of the horse of Hindoo Mythology. See Southey's Curse of Kehama, viii.

805. Briareus. See Hom. Il. I. 402. According to Homer and Hesiod, Briareus was one of the Hundred-handed, and the ally of Jupiter. Ovid appears to make him a Titan.—Adamante. The adamas of the poets is iron, or rather steel. Adamas lapis durissimus, qui nec ferro cedere dicitur. Pliny, H. N. xxvii. 4.

809-850. On the XIV. Kal. April, began the festival of Minerva, named the Quinquatrus, Quinquatres, or Quinquatria.

810. Nomina quae. Several MSS. have numinaque adjunctis. Quinquatrus: hic dies unus a nominis errore observatur, proinde ut sint quinque dies, dictus ab Tusculanis; post diem sextum Idus similiter vocatus Sexatrus, et post diem septimum Septimatrus; sic hic, quod erat post diem quintum Idus, Quinquatrus, Varro, L. L. V. Festus gives the same derivation. It is in favour of Ovid that the festival lasted exactly five days, but this may have been the effect, and not the cause of the name.

811. The gladiatorial combats with which the festival of Minerva, as the goddess of war, were celebrated, did not begin till the second day. As the Minerva of the Romans was certainly no war-goddess, till she was identified with the Pallas Athena of Greece, I am inclined to think that the origin of this mode of worshiping her will be found in the account given by Herodotus, (iv. 180, 189) of the worship of the Lybian goddess, whom he makes to be the prototype of Pallas Athena. To shew how modes of worship were transferred; the Athenians had, in the time of the empire, combats of gladiators in a theatre on their Acropolis, in honour of their patron-goddess. See Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, L. iv. c. 7. For Pallas Athena and Minerva, see Mythology, pp. 119 and 462.

812. Illa nata die. "Illa die nata Minerva, quatenus ei templum in Aventino dedicatum, quod notat Verrius. Etiam Calend. Vindob. N. Minervae." Gierig.

815. See Juvenal. Sat. x. 118.—Ornate, scil. with garlands.

816. Doctus, skilful.

817. 818. Spinning.

819, 820. Weaving.—Stantes telas, the stamina or warp.

821-826. The fuller, the dyer, the shoemaker and the carpenter. For Tychius, see Hom. II. vii. 221, for Epeus. Id. Od. viii. 492, Virg. aen. II. 264.

827, 828. The Physicians. There is an inscription in Gruter Minervae Medicae. The reader needs not to be reminded of the medical character of Phoebus Apollo.

829. This is a sadly perplexing line. Seven MSS. read censu fraudante; others sensu fraudante; four sensus fraudata; one of the best censu fraudata; two of the best sensu fraudare; one of the best turba ferae sensus fraudare; two verba feri; three deam, censu fraudata, which Burmann and Gierig have adopted. The present reading is the common one, with a slight change of feri, which gives no good sense, to fere. Matthiae conjectured, and gave the same reading. I think the poet meant the bad payment and bad treatment which the school-masters so frequently met with at Rome.

831, 832. The sculptors, painters and statuaries.—Tabulam, etc. The Encaustae, as they were called, who burned-in wax, spread over the place to be painted.—Mollia, smooth or soft, as it were, to the eye.

835. There was a small temple of Minerva Capta on the rise of the Coelian hill, of which name the poet now tries, but in vain, to discover the origin.—Captae, Six MSS. capitae; others castae. This shews the negligence and temerity of the transcribers.

838. See on v. 812.

843. It was the custom when a town was taken, to bring its gods to the abode of the conquerors.—Falerii was captured by Camillus, A.U.C. 361. See Livy, v. 24.

844. Littera prisca, the old name of the goddess, or the old books, the Annals.

845, 846. This passage is difficult. For ex illo most MSS. have exilio; many for reperta, read recepta. It is the fures, and not the furta, which should be punished. Capitalis lucus, ubi si quid violatum est, capite violatoris, (two MSS. vigilatoris) expiatur. Festus.

849, 850. On the last day of the Quinquatrus, the Kal. Apr. was the Tubilustrum. According to Varro and Festus, the trumpets were purified in the Atrium Sutorium. On the X. Kal. Jun. there was a Tubilustrum to Vulcan. For deae in this place, three of the best MSS. read deo, which Heinsius adopts, and understands it of Mars. Gesenius also prefers this reading. In Verrius, we find Feriae Martis, and Laur. Lydus (de Mensibus, p. 85,) says, [Greek: tae pro deka kalandon Aprillion katharmos salpingos kai kinaesis ton oplon, kai timai Areos kai Nerinaes, haen aexioun einai taen Athaenan nerinae gar (en tae Sabinon glossae) hae andria esti]. This Nerine-Minerva was probably the fortis dea.

851-876. The sun enters the Ram, and the poet takes the occasion of telling the story of Phrixus and Helle. See Mythology, p. 296.—Nunc, on the last day of the Quinquatrus, as it was the day after the XI. Kal. Apr. which last was that of the entrance of the sun into the Ram. See the Kalendarium.

863. Pependerat. Their mother was Nephele, cloud. See also v. 805.

865. Thebes was built by the Sparti (Sown) who sprang from the serpent's teeth.

870. The Hellespont, Helle's-sea.

874. Caeruleo deo. Neptune.

877. The vernal equinox on the VII. Kal. Apr.—Eos, Aurora.

879. Four days after the VII. Kal. Apr. was a festival of Janus, Concord, Health and Peace. Augustus raised statues to these three last-named deities.

883, 884. Servius Tullius built a temple to Diana on the Aventine, Livy, I. 45. Tac. An. xv. 41. Ovid, like the other poets, makes Diana and Luna, as they really were, identical. See Mythology, p. 463.