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VII. THE WANDERING of Ceres.

CERES, in the Greek myth, is the Earth-Mother (Anμýïnp), type of the productive power of the soil, who seeks her child Proserpina (Persephone, called also Kopn, the maiden), stolen from her sight by the king of the lower world, and only restored to her by Jupiter for six months of each year. By this parable the ancients understood the annual sowing of the grain-harvest, by which the corn is hidden in the ground through the winter months, but restored in spring to sunlight, and ripening to the harvest, in which the yearly festival of Ceres is celebrated with religious rites.

V. 341. unco aratro: the ancient plough, still sometimes seen in Italy, was a rude wooden instrument which broke the soil with its hooked extremity.

343. dedit leges: because agriculture first led men to an orderly life, she was called Ceres legifera (Anμýtnp Deσμoþópos).

346. membris (dat. after ingesta), heaped on the giant limbs (Typhoeus, see Introd.). Typhoeus was not reckoned one of the giants, but represented the violent powers of nature, especially in the earthquake: hence he is placed for punishment under the volcano Etna.

347. Trinacris, "the three headlands," is the ancient name describing the triangular form of Sicily, which, on a rude map, might suggest the notion of a buried giant. — subjectum and ausum agree with Typhoea; molibus depends on subjectum, and sperare on ausum; sedes is object of sperare.

350. Peloro, etc., Pelorus is the headland nearest Italy; Pachynus, the S. E. extremity of the island; Libybæum, the western. - Ausonio, Italian (an old name of Southern Italy). 352. resupinus, flat on his back.

354. remoliri, to cast off (with effort).

356. rex silentum, king of the silent realms, Pluto.

361. ambibat, surveyed, going his rounds, like a watchman. 363. Erycina, Venus, who had a famous temple on Mt. Eryx, in the western part of Sicily, apparently of Phoenician origin. Eryx was fabled to be her son, killed by Hercules in a boxingmatch, and buried on this mountain (see Virgil, Æn. v. 392-420).

364. natum volucrem, her winged son, Cupido (="Epws) or Desire, son of Venus: the modern Cupid, whose attributes of bow and arrows, with wings, have come down from ancient works of art.

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V. 341-407.] VII. The Wandering of Ceres.

365. arma, etc., vocative.

217

366. illa tela, those shafts, pointed with gold or lead, according as they were to stir love or hate.

368. triplicis . . . regni, the last lot fell of the threefold realm: Jupiter having taken by lot the empire of the heavens and Neptune that of the waters.

370. regit qui—qui regit. — ipsum, Neptune.

371. Tartara, etc., why does Tartarus haid aloof?

372. agitur, is at stake 11.

373. quæ ...est, such is our endurance.

375. Pallada, etc.: Pallas (Minerva) and Artemis (Diana) were virgins, and patrons of chastity.

376. filia, Proserpine. virgo, predicate.

378. pro socio regão, for a united realm.

379. patruo: the patruus is the father's brother; the avunculus the mother's. Proserpine was daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. 382. magis audiat, is more obedient.

383. opposito genu (abl. abs.), bracing his knee against it. 384. hamata, barbed. — arundine, reed, of which the arrow was made.

385. altæ aquæ, of deep water.

386. illo, than he [does]; a construction rare in Latin, but common in Greek. — Caystros, see ii. 258. The Cayster was famous for its swans, which the ancients made a melodious bird.

389. ut velo, as by a veil (referring to the awning which sheltered the Roman amphitheatre from the sun).

390. Tyrios, purple.

391. quo luco (loc. abl.), in this grove.

Proserpina (pro-serpo)

was the name of a native Italian goddess who presided over the growth of plants, identified with the Greek Пepσeþóvn.

394. æquales, comrades.

395. simul, at one moment.

396. usque adeo, to such a degree.

398. summā ab orā, at its upper edge.

406. ferventia, agreeing with stagna: boiling up through the broken earth. Palicorum: these were two brothers, who presided over some bubbling sulphurous springs near Palike, in Sicily.

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407. qua . portus, i. e. the site of Syracuse, between the outer (lesser) and inner (greater) harbors. — bimari, a common epithet of Corinth, on the isthmus "between two seas. "-Bacchiadæ, the leading family of Corinth, claiming descent from Hercules. Syracuse was a Corinthian colony.

409. medium. . . æquor, a sea between Cyane and Arethusa. The fountain Arethusa, on the peninsula (Ortygia) which made the old city of Syracuse, offered the strange phenomenon of fresh water springing up, apparently, from the midst of salt. Hence the fable related below (vv. 577-641). Cyane was a spring whose waters flowed into the Great Harbor.

410. angustis cornibus, narrow points of land. The " (æquor) is the Great, Harbor.

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413. summā tenus alvo as far as the waist.

420. Saturnius, son of Saturn.

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425. fontis jura: fountains were held to have a sacred character, on which Cyane had presumed too far.

428. modo, but now.

431. tenuissima quæque, all the slenderest parts.

436. vitiatas, impaired.

438. matri, dat. of agent, with quæsita est.

439. profundo, deep =sea.

443. inrequieta, never resting.

450. dulce, a sweet drink which she had first strewn with parched barley. The plural dulcia is often used for sweetmeats. 453. neque the negative qualifies epota.

458. parvā lacertā: the stellio, or spotted lizard, is one of the smallest species.

463. defuit orbis, the world did not suffice (no part of it was left unsearched).

464. Sicaniam, Sicily.

467. quo, with which.

471. simul [atque], as soon as.

raptam, sc. eam esse.

473. repetita, again and again struck. 474. sit, i. e. Proserpine.

475. nec= et non.

477. sævā manu, with cruel hand.

478. parili agrees with leto.

480. depositum, sc. semen.

481. vulgato, famed: Sicily was in old times "the granary of Rome."

482. falsa, disappointing.— primis in herbis, in the young blade. 484. sideraque: the -que is made long by cæsura. que. ... que, both ... and: the constellations were thought to have an influence upon the crops.

487. Eleis, [waves] of Elis (a district of Greece); Alpheiǎs, loved by Alpheus.

V. 409-552.] VII. The Wandering of Ceres.

217

493. nec sum, etc., i. e. it is not affection for my native land, &c. 495. penates, household gods = home.

500. curāque ... et vultus melioris, relieved from care, and of more cheerful aspect.

502. cavernas, i. e. of the sea.

503. desueta, i. e. from the long dark journey.

504. labor, I glide.

509. ceu saxea, as if turned to marble.

510. ut . . . amentia, when her grievous frenzy was dispelled

by grievous pain.

511. pulsa, banished.

513. invidiosa = full of bitter thoughts.

515. matris, objective gen.

516. cura vilior, a less precious charge.

517. illius, i. e. Proserpine.

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vocas, if you call it finding, to know where

520. quod rapta [est], that she is stolen.

525. injuria, amor, predicate.

526. pudori, dat. of service.

527. tu modo velis, if only thou consent.

cessive), though, &c.; § 313; G. 606.

ut desint (con

528. quid, quod, etc., what [do you say to this] that, &c. —

cetera, other grounds.

529. nisi sorte, except by lot.

531. lege, condition.

532. cautum est, it was provided.

533. certum est, her mind is made up.

537. de cortice: the seeds of the pomegranate are wrapped each in its separate pulpy sheath. This fruit is often used as a symbol of the lower world.

540. Avernales: the name Avernus was applied to the sulphurous waters whose fumes were thought to kill the birds that flew over.

541. suo, her kindred.

543. profanam, of evil omen.

546. sibi ablatus, deprived of himself (his own identity).

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547. in caput crescit = his head enlarges. - ungues, bends

back long claws, i. e. receives long hooked claws.

548. natas, which had grown.

552. Acheloides, daughters of Achelous (a river of central Greece). — unde, sc. sunt.

Οι συ 5.

doctæ, skilled (in singing). The Sirens had the faces of s and bodies of birds, and were endowed with the gift

557. ut, etc., that the waters as well as the land might experience, &c.

559. faciles, good-natured.

564. medius, between.

571. victis, i. e. after conquering them.

576. fluminis Elēi, i. e. the Alpheus.

578. saltus legit, scoured the glades (in the chase). ·

Greece.

583. rustica, choosing the field.

Achaide,

Orchomenos and Psophis

585. Stymphalide: Stymphalus was a district of Arcadia. 587. sine vertice, without an eddy. 590. nutrita undā, fed by the wave. 607. Cyllenenque : a spondaic verse. are cities, Cyllene, Mænalus, and Erymanthus are mountains, of Arcadia. The course here described is an almost impossible one; nor, for the matter of that, does the Alpheus flow near Stymphalos. 609. me, ablative.

615. umbram, i e. of Alpheus.

619. Dictynna, a name of Diana, from a mountain in Crete.

622. tectam, sc. me.

625. Io: the final vowel of interjections is not elided.

633. cæruleæ, i. e. the color proper to water deities: she was already turning to a fountain.

634. lacus, pool.

636. sed enim: the ellipsis is something as follows, — but [I was not yet safe] for, &c.

637. posito, laying aside. ore, countenance.

639. Delia, an epithet of Diana from the island of Delos, which was sacred to her.

640. cognomine meæ, welcome by the name of my protecting divinity: Ortygia (named from "prug, a quail) was sacred to Diana, and is one of her titles.

642. angues, dragons, or winged serpents. — fertilis fertility. The chariot of Ceres was drawn by serpents.

of

645. Tritonida in urbem, into the city of Pallas (Athens). 646. rudi humo, virgin soil. Triptolemo: Triptolemus was a son of Celeus, king of Eleusis, with whom Ceres had found shelter during her wanderings. She undertook to make the boy immortal by laying him in the hot ashes; and when this was pre

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