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Tum via tuta maris: ventos custodit et arcet
Aeolus egressu, praestatque nepotibus aequor.

According to the old fabulous account, the kingfisher builds his nest on the surface of the sea; in reality, it builds its nest on the cliffs and in the holes of the rocks. But the nest is often washed away by the waves, and hence the fable.-747. Tum via tuta maris. During the brooding-time of this bird a calm reigns, especially in the Mediterranean Sea, off Sicily. Hence this period was called the Alcyon (Halcyon) days.-748. Praestatque, praebetque, tutum praestat a periculis, conceditque ut ibi nidos faciant.

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METAMORPH. LIB. XII.

CYCNUS ET ACHILLES.

ORBE locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque
Coelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi,
Unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,
Inspicitur, penetratque cavas vox omnis ad aures:
Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce,
Innumerosque aditus ac mille foramina tectis
Addidit, et nullis inclusit limina portis;
Nocte dieque patent. Tota est ex aere sonanti,
Tota fremit vocesque refert, iteratque quod audit.
Nulla quies intus, nullaque silentia parte;

Nec tamen est clamor, sed parvae murmura vocis,
Qualia de pelagi, si quis procul audiat, undis
Esse solent, qualemve sonum, cum Jupiter atras
Increpuit nubes, extrema tonitrua reddunt.
Atria turba tenet; veniunt leve vulgus euntque,

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39. The delineation of the goddess Fama is a favourite subject with the ancient poets, and has been handled by many of them in longer or shorter descriptions: that of Virgil in the fourth book of the Aeneid is a celebrated one. We have, however, no reason to suppose that Ovid had any of these passages in his eye; his own poetic vein was rich enough to furnish him with all the features in this picture.-40. Triplicis confinia mundi. In these words the poet sums up what he has just said: the threefold world is therefore heaven, earth, and sea.-41. Regionibus is ablative of reference; quamvis for quantumvis; hence quantumvis regionibus absit, at however great a distance it may be with reference to the localities in which it takes place.-43. Summa in arce. Arx, height, elevation.-46. Patent, sc. limina. Tota est, sc. domus. -49. Parvae murmura vocis. Parvae, submissae, low; for rumour comes softly, like a secret.-52. Increpuit. Increpare, to cause to sound; a rare, only poetic, use of the word. Extrema tonitrua, the thunder dying away. We have already called attention to this use of extremus, above, ii. 117: Extrema Luna.-53. Leve vulgus, credulum vulgus. Agreeably to the

Mixtaque cum veris passim commenta vagantur
Milia rumorum, confusaque verba volutant.
E quibus hi vacuas implent sermonibus aures,
Hi narrata ferunt alio, mensuraque ficti
Crescit, et auditis aliquid novus adjicit auctor.
Illic Credulitas, illic temerarius Error,
Vanaque Laetitia est, consternatique Timores
Seditioque repens dubioque auctore Susurri.
Ipsa, quid in coelo rerum pelagoque geratur
Et tellure, videt, totumque inquirit in orbem.
Fecerat haec notum Graias cum milite forti
Adventare rates, neque inexpectatus in armis
Hostis adest: prohibent aditus litusque tuentur
Troës, et Hectorea primus fataliter hasta,
Protesilaë, cadis; commissaque proelia magno
Stant Danais, fortisque animae nece cognitus Hector.
Nec Phryges exiguo, quid Achaia dextera posset,
Sanguine senserunt. Et jam Sigea rubebant
Litora; jam leto proles Neptunia, Cygnus,
Mille viros dederat; jam curru stabat Achilles,
Troaque Peliacae sternebat cuspidis ictu

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Agmina, perque acies aut Cygnum aut Hectora quaerens 75 Congreditur Cygno: decimum dilatus in annum

sense, the verb follows in the plural.-54. Commenta Milia rumorum, mille rumores commenticii.-56. Hi-Hi, alii-alii, as above, xi. 539.— 58. Novus auctor. The same story has therefore many authors, each person being the author of that part which he adds.-59. All the phenomena connected with rumour, either as causes or effects, are here personified as surrounding Fama.-61. Repens, sudden, suddenly breaking out; not to be connected with repere. Susurri, whispers, of which no one knows, or admits that he knows, the raiser.-62. Rerum, to be joined with quid.-63. Totumque inquirit in orbem. So i. 148: Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos. Inquirere in aliquid is not uncommon also in law-prose.-65. Neque, ideoque non. In armis Hostis for hostis armatus. So in toga for togatus.-67. Fataliter, according to the oracle; for it had been announced to the Greeks, that he who first touched the hostile shore should die.-68. Commissaque proelia, here in the original sense: the beginning of the battle. Magno Stant Danais, cost the Greeks dear; namely, by the death of Protesilaus.-69. Cognitus, spectatus, cognitus qualis esset. Fortis animae, still referring to Protesilaus.-71. Senserunt, perceived to their hurt. Sigea Litora, from Sigeum, a promontory of Troas.-72. Cygnus, son of Neptune, king of Coronis in Troas. The name is of frequent occurrence in the Greek mythology.-76. Decimum dilatus in annum Hector erat;

Hector erat. Tum colla jugo candentia pressos
Exhortatus equos, currum direxit in hostem,
Concutiensque suis vibrantia tela lacertis
'Quisquis es, o juvenis, solatia mortis habeto,'
Dixit 'ab Haemonio quod sis jugulatus Achille !'
Hactenus Aeacides; vocem gravis hasta secuta est.
Sed quanquam certa nullus fuit error in hasta,
Nil tamen emissi profecit acumine ferri.
Utque hebeti pectus tantummodo contudit ictu,
Nate dea-nam te fama praenovimus '-inquit
Ille 'quid a nobis vulnus miraris abesse ?'
Mirabatur enim-' Non haec, quam cernis, equinis
Fulva jubis cassis, neque onus cava parma sinistrae
Auxilio mihi sunt; decor est quaesitus ab istis.
Mars quoque ob hoc capere arma solet. Removebitur

omne

Tegminis officium; tamen indestrictus abibo.
Est aliquid, non esse satum Nereide, sed qui
Nereaque et natas et totum temperat aequor.'
Dixit, et haesurum clypei curvamine telum
Misit in Aeaciden, quod et aes et proxima rupit
Terga novena boum, decimo tamen orbe moratum est.

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that is, Hectoris mors a fato dilata erat.-77. Tum-equos, a somewhat awkward expression. Join: tum exhortatus equos pressos jugo (qui jugo pressi erant) colla candentia. So guttura pressus, Metam. ix. 78. For jugo premi, compare i. 124: pressique jugo gemuere juvenci.79. Vibrantia tela. Vibrare is here intransitive, as Metam. iii. 34: Tresque vibrant linguae.-81. Haemonio, Thessalo, because Phthiotis, the home of Achilles, was a part of Thessaly.-82. Aeacides, grandson of Aeacus, son of Peleus.-83. Error, the turning aside from the mark. Nullus fuit error in hasta, an unusual expression, as if missing the mark were a property contained in other lances, but not in this one. We may translate fuit, was possible.-85. Hebeti ictu. The epithet is transferred from the weapon to the stroke, by a metonymy frequent in all languages.-92. Tegminis officium, omne quod officium tegendi praestat; hence omne tegmen. The stress is laid on a property of the object, to denote the object itself. Similarly Metam. i. 744: Officioque pedum Nymphe contenta duorum Erigitur. Indestrictus, ne leviter quidem vulneratus. Compare v. 101.-93. Est aliquid, with great emphasis: it is an incalculable advantage. Metam. xiii. 241: Est aliquid de tot Graiorum milibus unum A Diomede legi. Sed qui, sed ab eo qui. Such an omission is unusual, and would not occur in simple prose.-95. Haesurum, destined to stick. Clypei curvamine, curvo clypeo, a similar case to that explained v. 92.-97. Novena-decimo. According to Homer there were only five. Terga, coria. Orbe, as the shield

Excutit hoc heros, rursusque trementia forti
Tela manu torsit; rursus sine vulnere corpus
Sincerumque fuit. Nec tertia cuspis apertum
Et se praebentem valuit destringere Cygnum.
Haud secus exarsit, quam circo taurus aperto,
Cum sua terribili petit irritamina cornu,
Puniceas vestes, elusaque vulnera sentit.
Num tamen exciderit ferrum considerat hastae;
Haerebat ligno. 'Manus est mea debilis ergo,
Quasque' aitante habuit vires, effudit in uno ?
Nam certe valuit, vel cum Lyrnesia primum
Moenia disjeci, vel cum Tenedonque suoque
Eëtioneas implevi sanguine Thebas,
Vel cum purpureus populari caede Caïcus
Fluxit, opusque meae bis sensit Telephus hastae.
Hic quoque tot caesis, quorum per litus acervos
Et feci et video, valuit mea dextra valetque.'
Dixit et, ante actis veluti male crederet, hastam
Misit in adversum Lycia de plebe Menoeten,

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was round, so also the skin with which it was covered.-100. Sincerum, uninjured, as Metam. i. 101: ne pars sincera trahatur. Apertum, equivalent to: se praebentem, in allusion to v. 91, Removebitur omne Tegminis officium.-103. Sua irritamina is sufficiently explained by puniceas vestes. It was usual, before the fight, to rouse the bulls into fury by all kinds of red objects.-104. Elusaque vulnera sentit, he perceives that the wounds, which he thought to inflict on the object held before him, are eluded. Eludere, to evade, of the gladiator, with the collateral notion that, by evading, he mocks his opponent, makes him ridiculous.-107. Effudit in uno, in the case of one, in fighting with one. In unum would denote that the power passed over to another.108. Lyrnesia Moenia. Lyrnesus or Lyrnessus, a city in Mysia. It was there that Briseïs was born, about whom the strife arose between Agamemnon and Achilles (in the beginning of the Iliad).-109. Tenedon. The island of that name, on the Trojan coast.-110. Eetioneas Thebas. A town on the coast of Mysia, belonging to Troas, where Eëtion, the father of Andromache, was king.-111. Caïcus. A river in Mysia, purpureus with blood (populari caede). Those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the river are its countrymen (populares).-112. Telephus, likewise a Mysian king, son of Hercules and Auge. He was wounded by Achilles, and the oracle declared that the wound could only be healed by the same weapon that had caused it. He therefore applied to Achilles, and received from him some rust scraped from his spear; with this he was cured. Metam. xiii. 171: Ego Telephon hasta Pugnantem domui, victum orantemque refeci.-13. Per litus, over the whole shore. 115. Male crederet, non fidem haberet. Male, not enough, too little.-116. In adversum, in front, facing him, in opposi

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