Pulsa gravi gravis est amentia, curribus auras Scire ubi sit reperire vocas. Quod rapta, feremus; Ore cibos: nam sic Parcarum foedere cautum est.' 515 520 525 530 535 -512. Nubila-invidiosa, two adjectives referring to one substantive; in prose they would have been connected by et; here they are placed at a sufficient distance from each other.-513. Invidiosa, here in active sense filled with hatred, invidiae plena.-519. Amittere certius. Formerly she could still hope to recover her daughter; now her loss is certain.-523. Pignus, sc. amoris, a common pledge; that is, a pledge of mutual love. Onusque, a common burthen; that is, we have both to care for her in equal measure.-527. Ut desint cetera, suppose that the rest were wanting. Ut in concessive meaning, when we may supply concedo, finge, or some such word. Gram. § 351.-530. Discidii, from discindere, to tear asunder, separate; not dissidii (from dissidere, to be at variance).-532. Parcarum foedere. Foedus, law, regulation; especially an unalterable arrangement. Metam. ix. 500: Quid ad coelestia ritus Exigere humanos diversaque foedera tento!-533. Certum est, decretum est, stat sententia. Probably this certum is derived from the old cernere, which appears in decernere, and has there assumed another form of conjugation (as, for example, is the case with ambire).-535. Simplex, without any idea of the consequences.— Sumtaque pallenti septem de cortice grana Presserat ore suo, 357. Pallenti de cortice, referring to the gold-coloured rind of the pomegranate. In memory of this event, the pomegranate was forbidden to be tasted at the Eleusinian mysteries, which were held in honour of Ceres and Proserpina. ASCALAPHUS. SOLUSQUE ex omnibus illud Ascalaphus vidit-quem quondam dicitur Orphne, 540 Ex Acheronte suo furvis peperisse sub antris— Vidit et indicio reditum crudelis ademit. Ingemuit regina Erebi, testemque profanam Fecit avem, sparsumque caput Phlegethontide lympha 545 In rostrum et plumas et grandia lumina vertit. 550 539. Orphne, "Ogon, darkness. — 540. Inter Avernales — Nymphas, among the Nymphs of the lower world. Avernalis, from the Lake of Avernus in Campania, not far from Baiae: all living things flee from it on account of its unhealthy exhalations; hence it was supposed to be an entrance into the infernal regions.-541. Acheron, a river of the infernal regions; here husband of Orphne. Furvis, the colour of the lower world. So furva Proserpina, in Horace.-543. Profanam avem. Profanus; properly, pro fano, outside of the temple, what is not permitted to enter the temple; hence: unhallowed, fatal.-544. Phlegethontide lympha. The Phlegethon also, or Pyriphlegthon (flaming) belongs to the rivers of the infernal regions. The sprinkling with water from it here leads to the transformation.-546. Ille sibi ablatus; literally: carried off from himself; that is, deprived of his own form. Abalis, the preposition instead of the simple ablative; a rare construction.547. Inque caput crescit, he grows to the head; that is, the greater part of his previous body is changed into a deformed head. Metam. ii. 478: Brachia coeperunt-aduncos crescere in ungues; xv. 508: Cumulus immanis aquarum in montis speciem curvare et crescere visus.-547. Longosque reflectitur ungues; equivalent to longos reflexosque ungues accipit. Metam. ii. 820: Partes, quascunque sedendo flectimur. Gram. § 259.-548. Per, all over.-550. Bubo, àσnúλapos; hence the fable may plainly be traced to a Greek source. Dirum mortalibus omen. The owl was considered by the ancients, and is still here and there considered, as a bird of ill omen. SIRENES. Hic tamen indicio poenam linguaque videri 555 560 551. Tamen, concessive: but at least.-552. Acheloides, the Sirens, daughters of Achelous and one of the Muses, whose name, however, is differently given by different authors. The Homeric representation of the Sirens is well known; they seek, by their sweet songs, to allure Odysseus and his companions to their destruction.-555. In comitum numero mixtae, for comitum immixtae numero. So Metam. iii. 423: In niveo mixtum candore ruborem.-558. Alarum remis; the comparison of wings to oars, and conversely, is of frequent occurrence with the poets.-559. Faciles, vota vestra audientes.-561. Natus, fitted; as Metam. ii. 223: natusque ad sacra Cithaeron. CERES ET PROSERPINA. AT medius fratrisque sui maestaeque sororis Nunc dea, regnorum numen commune duorum, Cum matre est totidem totidem cum conjuge menses. 565 564. Medius fratrisque sui maestaeque sororis, standing between brother and sister, equally favourable to both. Here medius with the genitive; compare Metam. x. 233: si quid medium mortisque fugaeque, and above, v. 409. Also in prose; Caesar, B. G. iv. 19: medium regionum earum.-565. Ex aequo, aequaliter. Volventem annum, sc. se.--568. Facies mentis, the face, appearance of the mind; that is, the outward Nam, modo quae poterat Diti quoque maesta videri, 570 expression, manifestation of the state of mind.-569. Diti quoque. Dis, as god of the infernal regions, is here the personification of gloomy sadness. The fable of the Rape of Proserpine, and her half-yearly residence in the infernal regions, was explained even by the ancients with reference to the seed which is put into the earth, and after remaining there for a time, comes again to light. METAMORPH. LIB. VI. NIOBE. ARACHNE, elated by her skill in weaving, had boasted herself superior to Minerva, and had been changed by the latter into a spider. LYDIA tota fremit, Phrygiaeque per oppida facti Multa dabant animos: sed enim nec conjugis artes 146. Fremit, shudders with terror at the punishment of Arachne, who was a native of Lydia.-147. Rumor it, the report spreads even beyond her native country.-148. Ante suos thalamos, before her marriage. So thalamus often by metonymy for marriage.-149. Maeoniam. Maeonia, the ancient name for Lydia and Phrygia. Tantalus is usually called king of Phrygia; we must therefore take Maeonia in the widest sense: in later times it is generally applied to Lydia only. The Maeonians are the ancient part of the population, related to the Greeks (not Greek). Sipylum, neuter, chief city of Phrygia, formerly Tantalis; afterwards swallowed up by an earthquake. Que has here only an explicative force.-151. Verbisque minoribus uti, sc. quam quibus revera utebatur; that is, submissioribus, modestioribus. The opposite is magna verba. So Metam. ix. 31: Magna loqui.-152. Multa dabant animos; that is, superbiam. In the same way spiritus is used elsewhere: altos spiritus gerere. Sed enim, frequent with Ovid; the sed expresses a rise or heightening of the thought, and enim gives the ground of it; but it was not so much this (but something much greater), for-. Conjugis artes, the art of Amphion, her husband, at the sound of whose lyre the stones formed themselves into the walls of Thebes. See below, v. 178-179.-153. Nec genus amborum; see v. 172, foll. 154. Quamvis ea cuncta placerent. Quamvis, according to the regular construction, takes the subjunctive; in Cicero always. The indicative |