Atque ego contemtus essem patientior hujus, 860 865 870 875 Et Fer opem, Galatea, precor, mihi! Ferte paren tes,' 880 Dixerat 'et vestris periturum admittite regnis!' 885 890 for example, Metam. xii. 93: Est aliquid non esse satum Nereïde.— 868. Viribus, equivalent to ignibus. He seems to feel Aetna with its fire in his breast.-874. Videoque exclamat. Que is here joined to video, a part of the speech, instead of to exclamat, of which we have met with several examples. 875. Veneris vestrae, amoris vestri.877. Debuit, according to the notion which one could form of it with the help of fancy.-878. Sub aequore. The ablative, because she is already in the water, and only plunges under it; had she been on the land, and plunged into the water, we should require the accusative. -886. Vires avitas, the power, nature of his grandfather, the Symaethus; he was changed into a river. -- 890. Fracta dehiscit, a poetical expression for diffringitur. Dehiscit, with the e shortened on account of the following vowel, as in deorsum, dĕhinc. Osque cavum saxi sonat exsultantibus undis; 895 deinde, &c. So praĕacutus, proavus, &c.- 892. Os cavum, caverna, hiatus.--894. Cornua. River-gods are regularly represented with horns, because rivers, near their mouths, part into different arms, sometimes also on account of their windings. -896. Acis in amnem Versus. Acis, a river which rises on Aetna, noted for its impe tuous current. METAMORPH. LIB. XV. AESCULAPIUS. ROME had been ravaged for three years by a plague, and the oracle declared that the city could only be delivered from the pestilence if Aesculapius were brought to Rome. An embassy was therefore sent to Epidaurus, and brought the god in the form of a serpent, on which a temple was built to him in the island of the Tiber, B. C. 291. PANDITE nunc, Musae, praesentia numina vatum,— Insula Romuleae sacris adsciverit urbis. 625 630 635 623. Spatiosa, longum temporis spatium complectens.-624. Coroniden, Aesculapium, Apollinis et Coronidis filium.-625. Adsciverit. The dii adsciti are opposed to dii indigetes or indigenae.-627. Tabo. Tabum, a wasting disease, graphically delineated by the epithet exsangue.-629. Medentum. See Metam. v. 356.-630. Mediamque tenentes Orbis humum Delphos. Delphi was considered by the Greeks as the centre of the earth.-634. Laurus. The last syllable is lengthened by the caesura, as Metam. x. 98: Et bicolor myrtus et baccis caerula tinus.-635. Cortina, the caldron-shaped tripod. Hanc adyto vocem, pavefactaque pectora movit: 640 645 650 655 660 It is here, as it were, personified.-638. Propiore loco; namely, in Epidaurus, where the temple of Aesculapius stood, on the east coast of Argolis. Ovid is here chargeable with a geographical inaccuracy, for Epidaurus is farther from Rome than Delphi. Others refer propiore loco to Rome itself, and suppose the oracle to intimate that the Sibylline books were to be consulted, as, according to one account, they really were. But this would seem to be unnecessary after the oracle had itself directed the Romans to seek the son of Apollo, and there was therefore nothing left for the Sibylline books to reveal except the unimportant particular, to which of the not numerous temples of Aesculapius recourse was to be had. -640. Bonis avibus, bonis auspiciis.-641. Accepere Senatus. As a collective, the subject takes the verb in the plural.-644. Missi, rarer than legati.-645. Concilium, the assembly of the people; patres, the Bova, senatus.-647. Ausoniae, Romanae, Latinae, a general expression for the Tyrrhenian race in Italy, which, however, occurs only in poetry.-651. Seram lucem, the setting sun.-654. Sed qualis. The opposition is not founded on what goes before, but on what is as yet only in the conception of the poet, who is thinking of what is left unexpressed.-655. Baculum. agreste. The form baculum is the more correct; baculus belongs to later Latinity; Ovid has it in one passage (Fast. i. 177).-656. Deducere, to stroke.-660. Usque, with In quantum verti coelestia corpora debent.' Extemplo cum voce deus, cum voce deoque 665 Incerti, quid agant, proceres ad templa petiti Evinctus vitta crines albente, sacerdos. En deus est, deus est! Linguisque animisque favete, Quisquis ades!' dixit. 'Sis, o pulcherrime, visus 670 675 680 685 Assuetasque domos habitataque templa salutat. Inde per injectis adopertam floribus ingens Serpit humum flectitque sinus, mediamque per urbem 690 out ceasing, for some time.-667. Operosa, magno cum labore, apparatu et sumtu exstructa.-668. Coelestibus, divinis, non fallentibus.669. Aureus. The snakes kept in Epidaurus in the temple of Aesculapius were of a golden colour. The serpent is typical of vigilance and prudence, and therefore fitly associated with the god of medicine. 670. In serpente deus, in corpore serpentis deus. Praenuntia, sc. adventus sui.-672. Movit, shook, as v. 636 at the appearance of a god, or even at the sound of his voice, everything trembles (intremuere).-675. Castus. The priest is bound above all others to be distinguished by purity.-677. Linguisque animisque favete, a stated form used on the entrance of the sacred into the common world, or, conversely, of the profane into the sanctuary. Favere animis refers to purity of thought, favere linguis to the refraining from all unhallowed words.-679. Utiliter, in commodum nostrum. — 680. Jussum veneratur numen, quod jussus est venerari. See Metam. vi. 163.-681. Verba geminata referunt, repetunt.-682. Aeneadae, Romani, as descendants of Aeneas. Praestant et mente et voce favorem, referring back to linguisque animisque favete.-683. Rata pignora, in apposition to sibila, a valid pledge for the fulfil Restitit hic, agmenque suum turbaeque sequentis Corpus in Ausonia posuit rate. Numinis illa 695 700 705 ment of his promise.―691. Turbaeque sequentis Officium, turbam quae officii causa abeuntem prosequitur. -695. Caesoque in litore tauro. In setting out on a journey a sacrifice is offered to the god of the country, or to him on whose assistance the issue of the journey is supposed especially to depend. - 696. Coronatae, in sign of joy at a fortunate event.-700. Zephyris, for ventis in general, for on the voyage from Epidaurus to Rome the west wind is unfavourable. Pallantidos, Aurorae, so called from Pallas, a Titan or giant, to whom she was related. According to some, her father Hyperion was the uncle of Pallas.-701. Italiam tenuit. See Metam. iii. 691. Lacinia templa, the temple of Juno Lacinia in the neighbourhood of Croton, held sacred by all the surrounding nations.-702. Scylaceaque litora, Scylaceum in Magna Graecia, on the Ionian Sea, built by an Athenian colony. -703. The following passage is full of difficulties, which our knowledge of ancient geography is not sufficient to solve. Iapygiam. Iapygia is a common name for Apulia, but here it appears to refer rather to the Iapygian promontory at the south of ancient Calabria. Amphyssia Saxa. Amphissa is a town of the Ozolian Locri in Greece; it is possible that the name was transferred to some Greek colony in Magna Graecia, but we are not acquainted with it. -704. Celennia is unknown, likewise Romechium, v. 705. We may assume with safety that the reading is faulty, but it is not easy to emend it.-705. Caulon, an Achaean colony on the east coast of Bruttium. Narycia, a town of the Locri, called after a town of the same name in the country of the Opuntian Locri, on the Euboean Sea. -706. Evincit, overcomes with difficulty, on account of the danger of the passage. Pelori, the northeastern promontory of Sicily.-707. Hippotadaeque domos regis, the Aeolian islands. Temes esquo metalla. Temesa, a town in Bruttium, famous for its copper-mines.-708. Leucosiam, a trisyllable, Acuκwoía in Greek. It is a small island in the Gulf of Paestum. Paesti, formerly Posidonia in Lucania, famed for its beautiful climate, and |