the blood of Phocus. The too easily persuaded Egeus assisted with ill-deserved aid the Phasian borne on her harnessed dragons through the air. The son of Amphiaraus" said to the Naupactan Achelöus", "absolve me of my guilt." Whereupon he did absolve him of his guilt. Ah! too credulous mortals, who imagine that the guilt of bloodshed can be removed by the waters of the stream. 13 But, however, that thou mayst not be perplexed through ignorance of the ancient arrangement; the month of Janus, as now it is, so formerly it was the first month. The month that follows that of Janus was by name the last 13 of the ancient year; thou also, O Terminus, didst conclude the sacred rites. For the month of Janus is first, because the gate is at the very entrance; the last month was that which is consecrated to the shades of the dead below. In times after, the Decemvirs 14 are thought to have placed in succession, the periods before separated by so long an interval. 10 Egeus.]-Ver. 41. Ægeus was king of Athens, and son of Pandion. Medea having revenged herself upon Jason by the slaughter of his children, fled in a chariot, drawn by dragons, to the court of Ægeus, whose protection she obtained by promising to instruct him how to raise issue. She is called the Phasian,' from Phasis, a river of Colchis, her native country. 11 The son of Amphiaraus.1-Ver. 43. Alcmæon. Amphiaraus, the prophet, concealed himself, in order that he might not accompany the Argive expedition against Thebes, as he knew that he was doomed to perish there. His wife Eriphyle, bribed by Polynices with a golden necklace, betrayed him. On going to the war he charged his son Alcmæon to avenge his death, who, on hearing that his father had fallen, slew his mother, and was purified by Pheggeus in Arcadia, but being still persecuted by the Furies, was purified by the river Achelöus a second time. 12 Achelöus.]-Ver. 43. A river of Acarnania, near Mount Pindus, which falls into the gulf of Corinth. Naupactus, now Lepanto, was a town in Ætolia, which derived its name from ship-building there carried Gower translates the two following lines : on. 'Ah, too, too silly, who imagine water Can wash away that heavy crime of slaughter.' 13 The last.]-Ver. 49. Ovid is the only author that mentions the fact, that when Numa added the two months to the year, he placed January first and February last, or twelfth, and that as being last or lowest of the months, he dedicated it to the shades below. According to him, the Decemviri transposed its place from after December to after January, from twelfth to second, thus joining the periods that before, counting onwards, had been separated by a long interval. 14 The Decemvirs. 1-Ver. 54. Bis quini viri. Literally, the twice five In the beginning of the month, the temple of the Goddess the Preserver, 15 adjoining to that of the Phrygian Mother, is said to have been enriched by new shrines. You ask, where is now the temple consecrated to the Goddess on those calends? it has perished by length of time. The watchful care of our sacred chief has provided that the other temples should not fall down, tottering with similar ruin; under him the temples feel not the ravages of time; it is not enough to grant favours to us mortals, he lays the very Gods under obligations to him. Thou builder of the temples, thou holy restorer of our shrines, may the Deities, I pray, have a reciprocal regard for thee. May the dwellers in heaven grant thee as many years as thou hast bestowed on them, and may they ever be the watchful guardians 16 of thy house. On that day too, the grove of the neighbouring Asylum1 is resorted to by the crowds, where the Tiber from afar rolls onward to the ocean waters. At the abode of Numa, 18 and the quiries having been made by decree of the senate into the nature of the Grecian laws, and the code of Solon, on the return of the commission in the year B.C. 451. Ten men, called the 'Decemviri,' were chosen, with supreme power to draw up a code of laws, all the other magistrates having abdicated their offices. They were appointed the following year, and were discontinued in consequence of their oppressive conduct and the unjust decision of Appius Claudius, which occasioned the death of Virginia by the hand of her father, to save her from prostitution. 15 The Preserver.]-Ver. 57. It is not known when, or by whom, this temple to Juno' Sospita,' or the Preserver,' was built. It must have stood on the Palatine Hill, as the temple of Cybele, the Phrygian mother was there. 6 Sospita' comes from sospes,' 'safe,' and that word is derived from 'oww,'' to save.' Maneant in statione,' literally, 17 Asylum.]-Ver. 67. Romulus constituted an asylum in a grove near the Tiber, as a place of refuge from punishment for guilty persons. He also opened it to the criminals of other states, that he might thereby augment the number of his own citizens. In later times it was walled in. It seems from this passage that it skirted the Capitolium, running down to the banks of the Tiber. 18 Abode of Numa.]-Ver. 69. 'Penetrale' is literally the courtyard' or 'hall.' Ovid tells us, in the sixth book, 1. 264, that Numa resided in the temple of Vesta. But other writers, with more accuracy, tell us that he only lived near her Temple. It stood opposite the Capitolium. The temple of Jupiter Tonans, the Thunderer,' stood on the lowest ridge of the Capitoline Hill, and was built by Augustus. This E temple of the Thunderer, on the Capitoline Hill, and on the loftiest height of Jove, a sheep of two years old is slain. Ofttimes the south wind enwrapped in clouds simmons together the heavy rains, or the earth is hidden beneath the fallen snow. When the next day's sun, about to retire into the western waves, removes the jewelled collars from his purple steeds, on the same night many a one, raising his face to the stars, shall say, where, I wonder, is to-day the constellation of the Lyre, which was shining yesterday? and while he is seeking for the Lyre, he shall observe the back of the Lion as far as his middle20 suddenly plunged into the flowing waters. The Dolphin, whom of late you were in the habit of seeing bespangled with stars, on the following night shall pass from our sight. He either was a successful spokesman in loves concealed, 21 or it was he that bore the Lesbian Lyre with its master. What sea has not known, what land does not know of Arion? He with his song used to detain the running streams. Often has the wolf been stayed by his voice, as he was chasing the lamb; oft has the lamb, when fleeing from the ravenous wolf, stopped short in her flight; oft have the hounds and the hare reclined beneath the same shade; and the hind has stood still on the mountain crag close to the lioness; without strife the chattering crow has sat in company with the bird of Pallas,23 and the pigeon has been must not be confounded with the 'Capitolium,' or more ancient temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The temple of the Thunderer on the Capitoline Hill' seems to be the last, and the loftiest height of Jove' appears to refer to the former. 19 The Lyre.]-Ver. 76. The cosmical setting of the Lyre on the night of the second of February. 20 As far as his middle.]-Ver. 77. This must be the hindmost half, as the foremost had already set, Book 1, line 591. 21 Loves concealed.]—Ver. 81. The secret love of Neptune for Amphitrite; though, according to some accounts, the god was far too pressing in his attentions to make a favourable impression on the goddess. 22 Lesbian.]-Ver. 82. Arion was a native of Methymna, a town in Lesbos. The Dolphin is said to have landed him on the promontory of Tænarus. 23 The bird of Pallas.]—Ver. 89. The solemn and taciturn owl, which was not likely in general to form any intimate acquaintanceship with the garrulous crow. coupled with the hawk. Tuneful Arion! Cynthia" is said oft-times to have been spell-bound by thy strains as though by those of her brother Apollo. The name of Arion had filled the cities of Sicily, and the coast of Ausonia had been charmed by the tones of his lyre. Returning homeward thence Arion embarked, and was bringing with him the treasures thus acquired by his skill. Perchance, hapless one, thou wast in fear of the winds 25 and the waves, but yet did the ocean prove more safe to thee than thy own vessel. For now the helmsman stood by him with sword unsheathed, and the rest of the crew conspiring with arms in their hands. What hast thou to do with that sword? Sailor, guide the veering bark. These are not the implements that should be grasped by thy fingers. And now, guessing their purpose, struck with terror, he says, "I deprecate not death, but let me take my lyre and recall but a few notes." They give him leave, but laugh at this pretext for delay. He takes a chaplet which, Phoebus, might grace even thy tresses; he was arrayed too in a mantle twice steeped in Tyrian purple. Struck by his thumb the chord returned its usual notes; just as the swan when pierced in his grey temples27 by the cruel feathered shaft, sings in mournful numbers. Instantly, in his bright array, he leaps forth into the midst of the waves; the azure bark is 26 24 Cynthia.]-Ver. 91. Diana was thus called from Cynthus, a mountain of Delos, which overshadowed that island, the birth-place of Apollo and Diana. The poet here speaks of her as the moon. 25 In fear of the winds.]-Ver. 97. Implying that he had no suspicion of the quarter in which his danger lay; but Herodotus, who, in his History, book i. cap. 23, gives the story, says that he was apprehensive of danger, and purposely hired a Corinthian vessel. 26 Tyrian purple.]-Ver. 107. Vests twice dyed were called dibapha,' from the Greek dig, 'twice,' and ẞánтw, 'to dip.' The purple dye, for which Tyre was so famous, was obtained from the murex,' a kind of shell-fish. Garments dyed therewith were very costly. 27 Pierced in his grey temples.]-Ver. 110. Gower thus translates this and the following lines He sings in mournful numbers like a swan, Whose hardened quills have pierced his aged brain-pan, The battered billows all bedash the ship.' As Travesty nothing could be more successful than this. He seems here. by his translation of 'penna,' to adopt the idea that swans were supposed by the ancients, in their old age, to have their brain pierced by theu own feathers. It seems rather to mean the feathered arrow.' 31 29 splashed by the spray of the water. Then too wondrous for belief-they tell how the dolphin, with curving back, placed himself beneath his unusual burden. He, as he sits, holds the lyre, and sings in requital for his conveyance, and calms by his strains the ocean waters. The Gods are witnesses of this act of kindness; Jupiter admitted the Dolphin among the Constellations, and desired him to become the owner of nine stars. Now could I wish that I had a thousand voices, and thy genius, O Mæonian bard,28 by which Achilles 2 has been celebrated. While I am singing in alternating verse3 those sacred nones, the greatest honour of all is heaped upon my Calendar; my genius fails me, and a subject too great for my strength quite overpowers me. This day must be sung by me in a distinguished strain. Why in my infatuation did I wish to impose on elegiac strains a burden so vast as this? This indeed were a proper subject for heroic metre. Sacred Father of thy country! on thee the people, on thee the senate conferred this title. This too we of equestrian rank 32 conferred upon thee. But reality conferred this title long previously; and late indeed was it that thou didst receive thy true appellation; long since wast thou the father of the whole world. Thou bearest throughout the earth the name that Jupiter bears in the lofty heavens; thou art the father of men, he of the gods. Romulus, thou must give way, for 'tis he who makes thy walls great by defending them; while thou hadst left them so low as to be overleapt by Remus. Thee indeed, Tatius felt, 28 Mæonian bard.]-Ver. 120. Homer was so called from Mæonia, a mountain in Lydia, at the foot of Mount Tmolus, where he is said to have. been born. Others suppose the epithet to have been derived from Mæon, which is said to have been the name of his father. 29 Achilles.]-Ver. 119. It is difficult to say whether Achilles or Hector is the hero of the Iliad, in which they are both celebrated. The latter, at least, is represented as a man of better morals, and of less ungovernable temper, than his antagonist. 30 Alternating verse.]-Ver. 121. His lines are the heroic hexameter, or six-feet line, alternating with the elegiac pentameter, or five-feet line. 1 Greatest honour.]—Ver. 122. Augustus having on this day received the title of Pater Patriæ,' or 'Father of his Country,' A.U.c. 758, seven years after his 13th consulate. 32 We of equestrian rank ]—Ver. 128. Ovid was of the rank of 'equites,' or knights. The patricians, knights, and plebeians, formed the three classes of the Roman people who were freemen. Tatius.]-Ver. 135. He was the king of the Sabines. Cures and |