290. Quid meruit frater?: what has your brother Neptune deserved ?'

296. Axem: 'the heavens;' which the mountain Atlas was supposed to support.

299. Rerum summæ : 'the safety of the universe.'

302. Manibus: to the shades,' i. e. the departed spirits in the regions of Pluto.

303. Superos testatus: 'having called the gods to witness.' Jupiter wished to justify his conduct in destroying the youth, and especially to Apollo.

304. Dederat: sc. Phaethonti: had given up to Phaëton.'

312. Ignibus: i. e. fulminis.

313. In contraria: in a direction opposite' to that, in which they were previously going.

321. Etsi: quæ is understood before etsi.

322. Quem Phaëton.—Orbe : 'part of the earth.'

324. Hesperia: of Hesperia;' a Greek name of Italy, and a Latin name of Spain, derived from Hesper or Vesper, the setting sun, and applied to these countries, because the one was situated to the west of Greece, and the other to the west of Rome.-Trifidá flammâ: 'from the forked lightning.'

329. Credimus: we may credit the tradition.'

338. Aperto : ' naked.'

339. Heliades: the daughters of Phoebus and Clymĕne;' the sisters of Phaeton; their names were Phaëthusa, Lampetie, and Phœbe.

340. Casa pectora: sc. secundum: 'beating their

breasts.'

343. Luna. orbem: the moon had four times appeared quite round, as a full moon;' i e. four months had passed.

344. Morem fecerat: had made their lamentations ha

bitual.'

348. Subitâ 'suddenly growing from her feet.'

350. Tertia: the third sister,' Phoebe.

352. Impetus: 'frenzy.'

361. Electra: 'amber;' which was supposed to be a gum exuding from certain trees; its origin, however, is uncertain; it is by some considered as a mineral production.

INVIDIE DOMUS. Mercury having fallen in love with Herse, the most beautiful of the daughters of Cecrops, king of Athens, hired her sister Aglauros, for a large sum of money, to aid his suit. Minerva, indignant at the mercenary disposition of Aglauros, inspired her with envy at the good fortune of her sister; and thus induced her to prevent Mercury from seeing Herse. Mercury in revenge converted Aglauros into a stone. The description of the abode of Envy, to whom Minerva repairs, is highly poetical. 364. Petit: Minerva is understood.- Vallibus : cesses.'

6 re

366. Ignavi: sluggish;' having a tendency to make men dispirited and listless.

368. Virago Pallas or Minerva. This deity was the daughter of Jupiter, and is said to have sprung from his brain arrayed in complete armour. Hence she was considered as the goddess of war; though the superior wisdom which she manifested in the councils of the gods, and the various kinds of knowledge which she communicated to mankind, caused her to be regarded also as the goddess of wisdom and of all the liberal arts and sciences.

370. Extrema cuspide: with the end of her spear.'

377. Vultum ... duxit: the construction is, que ad vultum Minervæ duxit ima suspiria. Envy was troubled at seeing the lovely countenance of the goddess.

379. Nusquam recta acies: 'she never looks direct upon one.' Envy always sees things awry.

381. Quem: the smile which.'

383. Ingratos: sibi, is understood.

384. Carpit und she torments and is tormented

at the same time.'

386. Tritonia: a name applied to Minerva from Tritonis, a river of Africa, near which she had a temple.

387. Cecropis: 'of Cecrops;' a native of Egypt, who settled in` Attica about 1556 years before the Christian era, where he founded Athens, and formed the savage tribes of Cecropia into a civilized state. He is said to have introduced the worship of the pagan deities into Greece. Cecrops at his decease left three daughters, Aglauros, Herse, and Pandrosos.

389. Et impressá ... hastá: 'and pushed her spear against the ground,' i. e. in order to show her disgust, and to hasten her flight.

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391.-Successurum: the success:' this participle may agree with mandatum, or some other word understood. She was obliged to obey Minerva.

arcem the citadel of Athens dedi

BOOK III.

Ju

CADMUS was the son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. piter, having transformed himself into a bull, prevailed on Europa, the sister of this prince, to get on his back, and immediately plunging into the sea, he carried her across it into Crete. Agenor, ignorant of the fate of his daughter and disconsolate at her loss, ordered Cadmus to go in search of Europa; with a command not to return to PhœInicia till he had found her. The pursuit of Cadmus was fruitless. He could hear no tidings of his sister, and not daring to return to his native land without her, he resolved to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, that he might know in what part of the earth to fix his abode.

The oracle directed him to follow a heifer, which was described to him, and wherever she should lie down, there to build a city, and to call the country Bootia. Cadmus soon found the heifer, and put himself under her guidance; she at length lay down near the banks of the river Cephīsus, where he prepared to commence the city according to the directions of the oracle. Here the present account begins. The spot is a little north of Attica. Cadmus is supposed to have come into Greece A. C. 1493; and to have brought with him the use of letters, and the worship of many of the Egyptian and Phoenician divinities.

1. Agit grates: Cadmus gives thanks to Apollo for the successful commencement of his enterprise; and sends his attendants to bring pure water that he may offer a libation.

5. Violata: 'profaned;' the wood being sacred to Mars. 9. Martius: dedicated to Mars.'-Auro: with scales shining like gold.

12. Tyria... profecti: 'the Phoenicians.' Tyre was city of Phoenicia.

20 Ac... erectus: sc. sui corporis; and being elevated more than half his length into the air.'

22. Totum: sc. serpentem; i. e. the constellation of the Serpent, which is between the two Bears.

29. Vestigat: 'seeks by their tracks.'

36. Molarem: a stone as big as a millstone.'

40. Lorica

modo: as with a coat of mail.'

43. Lenta: 'flexible.'

49. Solitas . . recens:

added the recent wound.'

'to his usual fierceness was

55. Rectior exit: 'he unfolds himself straighter.' 57. Proturbat: bears down.'

65. Dabat retro: he drew back.'-Plagam

arce

bat: 'and prevented the stroke from piercing very deeply by shrinking from it.'

68. Eunti, sc. serpenti: the serpent retreating.'

71. Sua robora: that its trunk.'

72. Dum... hostis: whilst the victor is contemplating the vast size of his vanquished foe.'

73. Promptum: 'easy.'

74. Unde: whence' it proceeded.

75. Spectabere serpens: Cadmus was afterwards changed into a serpent, together with his wife Hermione.

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79. Mota: ploughed.'

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80. Vipereos of the serpent he had slain.'

81. Presso: 'held down.'

82. Mortalia : ' of men.'

83. Fide majus: a wonder beyond belief.'

84. Primaque .. hasta and first appeared from the furrows the points of the spears.'

85. Tegmina capitum:helmets.'

When

88. Tolluntur: ' are lifted up.' In the Roman theatres the curtain before the stage was not drawn up at the commencement of a performance, according to the present practice; but the stage was laid open to the view of the audience by letting the curtain fall down on it. therefore it was again drawn up, at the conclusion of an act, the heads of the figures painted on it became visible first, and the other parts of the paintings were gradually raised and exhibited to view. See Virgil, Geor. III. 25. Purpurea intexti tollant aulæa Britanni.

91. Imo margine: 'the edge of the stage.'

96. Jaculo cadit: the one who had just advised Cadmus not to fight, having smitten one of his newborn brothers, falls himself by a dart thrown from a distance.

99. Suo Marte: in fight with each other.'

102. Matrem: the earth.

103. Quinque superstitibus: the ablative absolute. 105. Fidem a promise.'

106. Sidonius hospes: Cadmus, the Sidonian stranger.' Sidon was the capital of Phœnicia.

107. Urbem: Thebes; the capital of Boeotia.

109. Soceri tibi: 'your father and mother in law.' Cadmus, after he settled in Greece, married Hermione, who was said to be the daughter of Mars and Venus. Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was worshipped by the Romans and in some parts of Greece, as the god of armies and war. Venus was the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and love, and the most beautiful of all the goddesses. Venus is said to have sprung from the froth of the sea, near the island of Cyprus. Having displeased Jupiter soon after she was carried to heaven, he offered her in marriage to the ugly and deformed Vulcan, whom she was compelled to marry. Cupid and Hymen were her children, as well as the Graces and the hero Æneas. The history of Venus, like that of the heathen deities in general, is little more than a disgusting history of licentiousness and crimes; yet her worship was once universally established in the Greek and Roman empires. The places, in which she was most particularly honored, were Amathus, Cythera, and Paphos.

112. Hos quoque jam juvenes and these too now grown up.'-Sed, scilicet, . . . debet: this sentence appears to be a translation of a celebrated saying of the philosopher Solon to Crœsus, a powerful and opulent monarch of Lydia. This prince, boasting before Solon of his prosperity and happiness, was reminded by him, that the instability of human affairs was such, that no man could properly be called happy before the day of his death. Soon after his interview with the philosopher, Croesus was taken captive by Cyrus, king of Persia, and condemned to be burnt. When placed on the pile, the unfortunate prince remembered the words of Solon, and with a piercing cry thrice repeated his name. This involuntary exclamation saved his life. Cyrus ordered him to be taken from the pile, and having heard the history of his conversation with Solon, set him at liberty, and made him one of his most intimate friends.