118. subpositos, sc. tauros.

123. prætincta agrees with semina.

132. Hæmonii, Thessalian.

138. auxiliare, in aid of her former incantations. 140. a se depulsum, tnrned away from himself. 142. Achivi, another ancient name for the Greeks. 144. barbara, i. e. Medea.

147. adfectu, transport.

148. horum, i. e. the incantations.

152. Lethæi, possessing the property of the water of Lethe, – to cause forgetfulness.

154. concita, raging.

155. sibi relates to somnus= = eyes that were unacquainted with it.

157. spolia, in apposition with auctorem (Medea).

158. Iolciacos: Iolcos was a sea-coast upon the Pagasæan Gulf, from which the Argo had sailed.

161. cornibus, dat. following inducta

aurum, § 240. c, R; G. 332, R2.

162. son, father of Jason.

=

168. deme, sc. annos.- meis, fated to me.

with gilded horns. -—

170. dissimilem [her mind], unlike his. Beta relictus, the image of the deserted Æeta [Æetes]; see § 291. a; G. 687, R2. 171. affectus, emotions.

173. transcribere, a term used by money-dealers, to describe the written bill or draft by which money was transferred.

174. æqua, a reasonable request.—isto (sc. munere) follows majus.

177. annis tuis, abl. of means.

179. ut, i e. until the time that: it was three nights from full moon, when magic rites could be best practised. -— tota, wholly. 183. nudos, unbound.

191. solvit, opened.

193. aurea, predicate, agreeing with astra.

195. magorum: the magi were a priestly class among the Medes, whose religion consisted in the worship of the evil principle, embodied in the serpent Afrasiab; it is represented by that of the Devil-worshippers of the present day. As was natural, their worship was associated with necromantic arts, and the word magic is derived from their name. · cantusque artesque (acc.). governed by instruis: another object (of the person) is magos. 196. herbis, ablative of means.

VII. 118-261.] IX. The Enchantments of Medea.

200.

227

concussa agrees with freta, being contrasted with stantia; sisto and concutio are also contrasted: she checks them when in motion, and excites them when at rest.

204. sua convulsă terrā, torn up from the earth in which they grew.

207. traho: it was believed that eclipses were caused by magic arts. — Temesæa, an epithet probably derived from Tamassus, in Cyprus, where were copper mines. On the occasion of an eclipse of the moon, they beat brazen vessels, in order to dispel the magic by the noise. — labores, eclipse.

209. avi, i. e. the Sun-god, father of Eetes.

210. vos refers to the objects addressed, vv. 192–196.

213. rudem, unacquainted with, construed with somni. aurum, i. e. the golden fleece.

214. vindice, its guardian, the dragon.

219. aderat, i. e. sent by her grandfather, the Sun.

223. Threces under this name was comprised, in early times, Macedonia, lying north of Thessaly.

226. placitas, sc. herbas, those that she selects. The mountains and rivers here mentioned are all in Thessaly.

231. Bobes: Bobe is in Thessaly, Anthedon in Boeotia; the latter lying on the Euripus, opposite Euboea.

233. Glauci: Glaucus was a fisherman who, by tasting these herbs, was impelled to leap into the water, where he was changed into a sea-god (see xiii. 917).

237. posuere : that the serpents, from the mere odor of the herbs had sloughed their skins and become young, was an indication of their magic power.

242. verbenis, sprigs of various plants, used in sacred rites. 243. scrobibus, sc. e, construed with egesta.

244. velleris atri = a black-fleeced sheep.

246. bacchi, wine.

249. conjuge, i. e. Proserpine.

250. ne properent, i. e. during the performance of the magic rites.

253. plenos, sound.

258. bacchantum: in the rites of Bacchus (Dionysus), celebrated by women, the votaries unbound their hair and were possessed for a time with a religious frenzy.

259. multifidas faces, light-wood split fine.

261. lustrat: this word here describes the circling about the old man, as well as the purifying rites.

265. acres, rank.

267. refluum describes the motion of the tides, which did not occur in the Mediterranean: the tides of the Ocean.

=

268. pernocte, full, when it shines through the night.

269. strigis: the strix is a bird often mentioned in magic, but, says Pliny, quæ sit avium constare non arbitror. It is usually

identified with the screech-owl.

271. prosecta, the parts set off for an offering. — lupi: the were-wolf, here described, was rather a man who could assume the form of a wolf, than a wolf who could turn into a man.

273. vivacis, long-lived: the stag, as well as the crow, was believed to live to a great age.

274. passæ, that had passed or lived.

276. munus (the magic gift) is subject, and Tartara (death) object of remorari.

277. jampridem qualifies arenti.

fruit transferred to the tree.

mitis, the quality of the

290. situs, long tarrying in one place, and so the rust and dirt resulting from such tarrying; here, the decay of age.

293. hunc, sc. fuisse, of this aspect.

In the story of Jason, a national hero of Thessaly, and Medea, "the wise one," we have the simple creation of the Grecian mind complicated with the unholy magical rites of the East. This is a myth, therefore, which records not only the early converse with far Asia, but the far more important mental intercourse which helped burden the Greek theology with superstition and fanaticism.

X. THE FLIGHT OF DEDALUS.

VIII. 152. vota, votive offerings, i. e. for his victory over Athens and Megara: it is in apposition with corpora.

153. ut, as soon as.

Curetida: the Curetes were priests of Zeus in Crete; they celebrated his worship with strange, wild rites, dancing, and beating their spears upon their shields.

155. opprobrium: the Minotaur, half man and half bull, the offspring of Pasiphaë, daughter of the Sun, and wife of Minos. 138. multiplici domo, the labyrinth.

159. ingenio fabræ artis, talent in the art of building.

VIII. 208.]

The Flight of Dadalus.

229

160. opus, i. e. multiplex domus. — nõtas, marks, by which the passages could be remembered. — lumina, eyes. - flexum agrees with errorem.

162. Mæandros: this river was famed for its winding course, and its name has passed into the English language with this signification meander.

166. incertas, undecided.

=

169. quo 170. Actao

in quem.

=

Attic: the Athenians were obliged, by the conditions of peace, to send every nine years seven boys and seven girls to be devoured by the Minotaur: these were selected by lot. 171. sors, i. e. those who composed the third lot, and especially its voluntary leader, Theseus, son of king Ægeus.

172. iterata, reached again. — nullis (dat.), by none of those before.

173. filo, thread. Ariadne, daughter of Minos, gave Theseus a clew of thread, by the aid of which he traced his way back through the labyrinth.

174. Diam, an ancient name of the island Naxos. This island was sacred to Dionysus (Bacchus), who found Ariadne here after her abandonment by Theseus; henceforth she is associated with his worship.

177. amplexus, acc. plural. —Liber, a Roman god, identified with the Greek Dionysus.

178. de fronte, i. e. Ariadne's.

179. illa, i. e. corona.

182. nixi (nitor) genu, the kneeler; Anguem tenentis, the snake-holder; two constellations. See, on a celestial map or globe, the position of this beautiful constellation, "the Northern Crown."

184. loci natalis, Athens.

186. obstruat, i. e. Minos.

189. novat, sc. sibi, makes for himself a new nature.

191. clivo, i. e. the tops of trees growing on a slope overlap one another.

192. fistula, an instrument consisting of a row of pipes, like a child's harmonicon: these pipes were of different lengths, so as to give different tones.

205. ignis, sc. solis.

206. Booten, the constellation Arctophylax, near Helice (the Great Bear).

208. pariter, at the same time.

212. non repetenda, destined never to be repeated. 217. arundine, fishing-rod.

219. -que connects obstupuit and credidit.

220. Junonia: Samos was sacred to Hera (Juno).

221. relicta: they had flown north, over the Cyclades (Delos, etc.), and then easterly, leaving Samos upon the north.

225. rapidi (rapio), burning.

226. odoratas, i. e. from the melting.

230. nomen: the waters west and south of Samos were called the Icarian sea.

231. nec jam, no longer.—237. elice trench.

235. tellus, the island Icaria, west of Samos.

239. unica, only one of its kind.

242. germana, i. e. of Dædalus.

243. bis senis, § 95. c. — puerum, in appos. with progeniem. — animi, genitive of quality.

245. traxit in exemplum, took as a model.

246. perpetuos, a row of.

248. æquali spatio, at an equal distance. — illis, abl. absolute. 249. duceret orbem, drew a circle.

250. arce Minerva, the Acropolis of Athens.

251. lapsum, sc. esse eum.

253. reddidit, turned him into.

259. antiqui, agrees with casus.

XI. THE CALYDONIAN HUNT.

VIII. 260. tellus Ætnæa: Sicily, where Dædalus found a refuge with king Cocalus; his native land, Athens, not being safe for him.

265. sanguine, i. e. of victims.

267. Argolicas, Achaia: both names are used as equivalent to the whole land of Greece.

268. Theseŏs, genitive.

274. Lyæo, an epithet of Bacchus.

272. infestæ, offended.

275. Palladios latices, olive oil, sacred to Pallas (Minerva). 278. Latoïdos, the daughter of Lato (Latona).

280. quæque, etc. et nos, quæ inhonoratæ dicimur, non, etc. : the person speaking is Latona, who speaks of herself in the plural by a common license.