CARMENTA AND EVANDER, HERCULES AND CACUS, THE ARA MAXIMA. THE plan of the Fasti is to take the holidays as they occur in the calendar, and to introduce the stories about the particular divinities who were worshipped on them. In the following verses Ovid speaks of the 11th January (III. Id. Jan.), on which the Carmentalia were celebrated, and takes occasion to tell of Carmenta and her son Evander. PROXIMA prospiciet Tithono Aurora relicto Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, aede recepit Unde petam causas horum moremque sacrorum?. Ipsa mone, quae nomen habes a carmine ductum, Orta prior luna, de se si creditur ipsi, Hic fuit Evander. Qui quamquam clarus utroque Dixerat haec nato motus instare sibique, Multaque praeterea. Tempore nacta fidem. Nam juvenis nimium vera cum matre fugatus 465 470 475 461. Proxima Aurora, proximo die Aurora. Tithonus was the husband of Aurora; she leaves him to bring in the day to the earth.-462. Arcadiae deae, Carmentae. Sacrum pontificale, a sacrifice at which the pontifices officiate.-463. A short episode. Turni soror is Juturna, nymph of a river and lake in Latium, near the Alban Mount, the waters of which were supposed to possess a healing power (a juvando). Aede recepit. Lutatius Catulus built a temple to her in the Campus Martius in a time of drought. -464. Virginea aqua, usually called aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed by Agrippa, which conveyed water from the Collis Hortulorum. 467. Quae nomen habes a carmine ductum, Carmenta. The name is identified by the ancients themselves with Camena; the Greeks identify Carmenta with their Themis.-469. Orta prior luna. The Arcadians maintained that they were autochthones, and that they had inhabited their country even before the existence of the moon; hence they are called porλnvoi. Fast. ii. 289: Ante Jovem genitum terras habuisse feruntur Arcades, et Luna gens prior illa fuit.470. Arcas was the son of Jupiter and Callisto.-471. Quamquam clarus utroque. The father of Evander was, according to some, Mercury; according to others, Echemus.-475. Motus, a change of Deserit Arcadiam Parrhasiumque larem. passus : 480 485 Passus idem est, Tyriis qui quondam pulsus ab oris 490 Passus idem Tydeus, et idem Pagasaeus Iason, Omne solum forti patria est. Ut piscibus aequor, Nec fera tempestas toto tamen horret in anno: Jamque ratem doctae monitu Carmentis in amnem Fluminis illa latus, cui sunt vada juncta Tarenti, 495 500 abode.-478. Parrhasiumque larem. The Parrhasians were an Ar cadian tribe, but the intention of the poet is not to give a definite account of the home of Evander; he uses Parrhasius simply for Arcadius. Similarly, v, 618: Parrhasia dea; 545: domus Tegeaea; 627: Tegeaeae parenti; 634: Maenali diva. Larem, a Roman divinity, quite admissible in speaking of Evander, the founder of the Roman worship. 481. Nec te tua culpa fugavit. As Ovid wrote this poem in his exile, we may suppose that these words contain an allusion to his own fate.-482. Urbe. The city of Evander in Arcadia is called Pallanteum. -484. Est aliquid, it is worth something. Compare Metam. xii. 93.-486. Spemque metumque, in reference to the consequences which its course of action will have.-488. Procella, as v. 495, tempestas, for calamitas. Ver forms the antithesis to this, v. 496, by the same figure.-490. Cadmus. See Metam. iii. at the beginning. Aonia, Boeotia.-491. Tydeus had killed his brother Melanippus in the chase, and was therefore banished from Aetolia by his father Oeneus. He was received by Adrastus in Argos. Pagasaeus Iason. Jason belonged to Pagasae, a city of Thessaly. He was compelled to flee to Corinth for having killed his uncle Pelias.-498. Hesperiamque tenet. So Metam. iii. 690: Diamque tene. See the note there.-499. Doctae, epithet of soothsayers. So Metam. iii. 322: doctus Tiresias.500. Tuscis aquis. The Tiber flows from Etruria. Obvius ibat, he sailed up the stream.-501. Vada Tarenti. Tarentum, or, as it is elsewhere called, Terentum, was a place in the Campus Martius near the Aspicit et sparsas per loca sola casas. Et procul in dextram tendens sua brachia ripam 505 Neve daret saltum properans insistere terrae, 'Dique petitorum,' dixit, 'salvete locorum, Tuque novos coelo terra datura deos, 510 Fluminaque et fontes, quibus utitur hospita tellus, Et nemorum silvae naïadumque chori! 515 520 Urite victrices Neptunia Pergama flammae: 525 Tiber, where there was an altar to Pluto and Proserpina, under ground, which was only laid open at the secular games.-503. Immissis capillis, more vaticinantium. Puppim ante; the preposition placed after the noun by a poetic usage. In prose this occurs principally with the relative pronoun.-504. Torva, to paint the appearance of the inspired seeress, furore divino concita. Regentis iter, gubernatoris.-506. Non sano, insano, pavouέvo. Pinea texta, navem, as being made of planks of fir-wood crossing one another.-507. Daret saltum, saliret. See the note on Metam. iii. 599: Doque leves saltus.-512. Nemorum silvae. Nemus is a sacred grove, and nemorum is here a kind of attribute to silvae, as if it were sacrae silvae.-513. Bonis avibus, bonis auspiciis.-519. Dardaniae pinus. A prophecy of the arrival of Aeneas in Italy.-520. Femina, Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus. Aeneas married her after she had been betrothed to Turnus, king of the Rutuli, and hence arose war (novus Mars). -521. Palla. Pallas was the son of Evander, and fought on the side of Aeneas against Turnus. He was killed by the latter, and Aeneas revenged his death by killing Turnus in return (non humilis vindex). The vocative in a, in words of Greek derivation in -as, -antis, is not according to the Greek form, which would require an, but nevertheless occurs repeatedly: so Atla, Metam. iv. 644; Peripha, viii. 400; Drya, xii. 296.-525. Neptunic Pergama, the walls of which were built by Neptune.-526. Num Jam pius Aeneas sacra et sacra altera, patrem Et penes Augustos patriae tutela manebit: Nec mora longa fuit. Stabant nova tecta, nec alter Ecce boves illuc Erytheidas applicat heros Emensus longi claviger orbis iter. 530 535 540 Dumque huic hospitium domus est Tegeaea vagantur 545 Incustoditae lata per arva boves. minus, is therefore the less; that is, is not for all that.-527. Sacra, Penates.-528. Vesta. The Trojan Penates were kept near the temple of Vesta.-529. Tuebitur idem, referring to Julius Caesar as Pontifex Maximus.-530. Ipso colente deo, referring to the deification of Julius Caesar, which took place after his death.-531. Augustos, Caesar Augustus and his family.-533. Nepos natusque dei, Tiberius, grandson of Julius Caesar, and son of Augustus, although he was in reality only the adopted son. Licet ipse recuset. It is well known that, after the death of Augustus, Tiberius hesitated for some time, in appearance, to undertake the government (pondera paterna feret). It is evident that this and the following verse must have been inserted by Ovid after his banishment, since they could not have been written before the accession of Tiberius. The name Julia Augusta also was not given to Livia till after the death of Augustus. Her deification is here the work of the poet's own fancy; it did not take place in reality till the reign of the Emperor Claudius.-538. Substitit in medios sonos, a somewhat rare construction of subsisto, after the analogy of desinere in aliquam rem.-540. Felix-fuit. This verse also seems to contain an allusion to the poet's own exile, and must therefore also have been inserted in revising the poem.-541. Nova tecta. The old city of Evander on the Palatine Hill is called Pallanteum. He is said to have given it this name in memory of his native city in Arcadia. ·542. Montibus Ausoniis. Ausonius stands here, as frequently with the Roman poets, for Latinus.-543. Story of Hercules and Cacus. Hercules was entertained by Evander on his return from Erythea (afterwards called Gades; according to others, an island belonging to Gades), from which he drove off the cattle of the three-bodied Geryon.-544. Claviger, from clava, a club, and gerere. In another passage, Janus is called claviger, the keybearer, from clavis and gerere.-545. Domus Tegeaea. See v. 478. Mane erat. Excussus somno Tirynthius hospes Traxerat aversos Cacus in antra boves: Grande, pater monstri Mulciber hujus erat: 550 555 560 Nititur hic humeris. Coelum quoque sederat illis: 565 Et vastum motu collabefactat onus. Quod simul eversum est, fragor aethera terruit ipsum Ictaque subsedit pondere molis humus. Prima movet Cacus collata proelia dextra, Remque ferox saxis stipitibusque gerit. 570 Quis ubi nil agitur, patrias male fortis ad artes Quas quotiens proflat, spirare Typhoëa credas, Ter quater adversi sedit in ore viri. 575 547. Excussus somno, experrectus. Excitus somno is the expression used by Livy in the same narrative. Tirynthius hospes. Hercules is so called because he was born in Tiryns, a town of Argolis.551. Aventinae silvae. The Aventine is south-west of the other hills of Rome. - 552. Malum may perhaps contain an allusion to the derivation of Cacus from κakós, but it is to be observed that the a of Cacus is always long. -554. Mulciber, Vulcanus. See Metam. ii. 5.-559. Servata male, non servata, non recuperata. Abibas, jam abiturus eras. Jove natus, the nominative for the vocative. So Fast. iv. 731 I, pete virginea, populus, suffimen ab ara.- 563. Objice fracti montis, fragmine montis objecto.-571. Male, not sufficiently. Patrias artes. His father was Vulcan.-573. Typhoëa. Typhoëus, son of Gaea and Tartarus, made war on the gods, and was buried by Jupiter under Aetna. Here he still breathes forth flames. Fast. iv. 491: Alta jacet vasti super ora Typhoëos Aetne, Cujus anhelatis ignibus ardet humus. 575. Occupat, anticipates him, attacks him before he can injure him with the flames.-576. Sedit; he struck him with such force as to make, as it were, a fixed seat for |