dog, or by the tinkling of brass, and we learn from the Scholiast on Theocritus1 that brass was considered a pure metal, possessing many virtues in removing pollutions, on which account it was sounded in eclipses of the moon and in matters relating to the dead. 28. Ovid, in the lines omitted, calls upon Mercury, who in the character of ψυχοπομπὸς or conductor of the dead, might be supposed to be acquainted with all matters appertaining to spirits, to communicate the desired information. Mercury answers the appeal and tells a story how the shade of Remus appeared to his brother and demanded that some honours should be paid to his Manes, in consequence of which a festival was instituted and called Remuria, a term which in process of time was corruped into Lemuria. Krebs quotes Porphyrio on Horat. Ep. II. ii. 209. "Lemures dictos esse putant quasi Remures a Remo, cuius occisi umbram frater Romulus quum placarc vellet Lemuria instituit.”· 33. Compare lines 25-29 of last extract and read the notes. 35. 36. He supposes that the circumstance of the Lemuria being celebrated during May gave rise to the idea that it was unlucky to marry during this month, a superstition, be it remarked, which prevails with full force in Scotland to this hour. 37. 38. The Lemuria, as we have already remarked, were celebrated during three days, but these did not follow in succession (continuata,) being the 9th, the 11th, and the 13th of the month OVID. FASTI. II. 639. INTRODUCTION. THE Terminalia, in honour of Terminus, god of boundaries, was a festival celebrated on VII. Kal. Mart. The origin and the nature of the worship of this deity is described by Dionysius when treating of the institutions of Numa. A. R. II. 74. 1 Eidyll. II. 36. "In order that every one might be contented with his own and not covet what belonged to others, he laid down laws for fixing the boundaries of property. For having ordered each one to draw a line round his own possessions and to set up stones upon the limits, he consecrated these stones to Jupiter Terminalis (ögíov Aròs,) and commanded all, upon a fixed day every year, to meet together1 on the spot where they were erected and offer sacrifices to them, and established the festival of the god of boundaries as one of the most honoured solemnities. This the Romans call Terminalia, the word being borrowed from the Greek with the change of a single letter.2 If any one should conceal or remove the land-marks, it was enacted that the person guilty of such deed should be devoted to the god, so that any one might kill him with impunity as sacrilegious. These institutions were not confined to the possessions of individuals only, but extended also to what belonged to the state, in order that the gods of boundaries might separate the territory of the Romans from that of neighbouring tribes, and public from private property. These ordinances the Romans observe in our own days, both from religious motives and as a memorial of the olden time. For they consider the Termini as gods and offer sacrifices to them; nothing, however, that has life, for it is considered unholy to shed blood on these stones, but cakes of flour and other first fruits of the earth." With regard to the bloodless sacrifices, although such appears to have been the custom in early ages, yet it certainly had fallen into disuse before the time of Dionysius, as we see from line 17, 18 of the present extract, and also from Hor. Epod. II. 59. Vel agna festis cæsa Terminalibus. It would appear also from the above account that Jupiter was the guardian of boundaries with the epithet Terminalis, but that from the practice of offering sacrifices at the stones used for landmarks, these came to be considered in the popular creed as the emblems of a distinct deity. There is a passage in Lactantius also worth quoting, 66 'Quid, qui lapidem colunt informem, atque rudem, cui nomen est Terminus?...... Et huic ergo publice supplicatur, quasi custodi finium Deo: qui non tantum lapis, sed etiam stipes interdum est. Quid de 1 He means, of course, that those who had a common boundary were to meet at this landmark. Termen, an old form of Terminus, (Varro L. L. V. 4) differs by one letter only from the Greek régua. 3 See Plutarch Num. c. 16, and Quæst. Rom. c. xv. 4 De falsa religione I. 20. iis dicam, qui colunt talia? nisi ipsos potissimum lapides, ac stipites esse ?" 3. 4. Compare Tibullus I. i. 11. Nam veneror, seu stipes habet desertus in agris, Seu vetus in trivio florea serta lapis. 4. (Sic quoque.) Even thus, although represented by an emblem so humble, by a stock or a stone, thou dost possess the power of a god. 5. 6. (Te duo,) i.e., the two proprietors of adjoining lands pay homage to thee, each on his own side crowning thee with a garland, each presenting thee with a cake. Bina here, as frequently, even in prose, is equivalent to duo. 6. (Liba.) On the libum see note on Tibull. I. vii. 54. p. 174. 6. Curto testu,) "in a potsherd." The epithet curtus is frequently applied to cracked or broken pottery. e. g. Juvenal. S. III. 270. Respice nunc alia ac diversa pericula noctis, and Martial. III. lxxxii. 3. Curtaque Ledæ sobrius bibat testa. The form testu from the nominative testus, is found here and elsewhere in the best MSS., and is recognised by the old grammarians. Nonius Marcellus notices also testum in the neuter gender. 9. (Minuit.) Cuts down the wood into small billets. 10. (Et solida, &c.) He forces stakes into the ground to serve as support for the pile which he is building up. Pugnat expresses the effort required to thrust them firmly into the hard (solida) earth. 11. (Irritat,) "stimulates." He endeavours to kindle the heap into a blaze with fragments of dry bark. Compare Met. VIII. 641. Inde foco tepidum cinerem dimovit, et ignes 12. Canistra or Canistri (these words are not found in the singular,) signify baskets either for domestic purposes or for containing the sacred utensils used in sacrifices. e. g. Juv. S. V. 74. Vin' tu consuetis, audax conviva, canistris where bread-baskets are meant. 13. 14. Compare this couplet with Tibullus I. x. 23. Atque aliquis voti compos liba ipse ferebat, 15. (Libantur.) See note on Tibull. I. i. 14. p. 132. 16. (Candida turba.) Clothed in pure white raiment, such as was worn on holidays, or by those engaged in the service of the gods. (Linguis favent.) Observe a solemn silence. The priest before commencing a sacrifice, commanded the crowd to be silent, that no ill-omened sound might fall upon his ear and disturb the holy rite. Compare Hor. C. III. 1. Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo:=Favete linguis; carmina non “Quotiens mentio sacra literarum intervenerit, favete linguis. Hoc verbum non, ut plerique existimant, a favore trahitur: sed imperatur silentium, ut rite peragi possit sacrum, nulla voce mala obstrepente." The corresponding Greek expression was εὐφημεῖτε. 23. Ambitio, from ambire, properly signifies the act of going round a constituency to solicit their votes, and hence all the feelings which stimulate a candidate, and all the artifices he or his friends employ to gain the end. Hence it is used in the sense of partizanship, undue favour, partiality, as in the passage before us and also in Tacit. Hist. I. i. "Sed ambitionem scriptoris facile adverseris: obtrectatio et livor pronis auribus audiuntur." 25. 28. The story here alluded to is to be found in Herodotus. "The Lacedæmonians were at that time1 engaged in a quarrel with the Argives, relative to a place called Thyrea, of which, though it 1 At the time when Croesus was investing Sardis. stood within the territory of the Argives, the Lacedæmonians had taken possession. The Argives advancing to defend their possessions, were met by the Lacedæmonians, when a conference took place, and it was agreed-That three hundred men on both sides should fight, and that the place in question should be adjudged to the victors; the rest of both armies retiring to their homes that they might afford no aid to the combatants. This being arranged they severally retired; leaving the selected number to engage. An equal fight was maintained, until three only of the six hundred remained-two Argives, named Alcenor and Chromius, and of the Lacedæmonians, Othryades. When night came on the two Argives returned to Argos; while Othryades, plundering the bodies of the Argives, removed their arms to his camp, and remained upon the field. The next day, when the result was known, the two armies approach, and both claim the victory; the Argives, because more of their party than the other survived; the Lacedæmonians, because the surviving Argives had fled, while their man stood his ground, and took the spoil of the enemy. At length they flew to arms, and after many had fallen on both sides, the Lacedæmonians prevailed. Since that time, the Argives, who before wore their hair long, kept it short; having solemnly vowed that no Argive should let his hair grow, nor any woman wear gold, till Thyrea should be recovered. The Lacedæmonians, on the contrary, who before cut their hair short, ordained that it should be suffered to grow. It is said that Othryades, the sole survivor of the three hundred, ashamed to return to Sparta, killed himself at Thyrea." 27. (Lectus.) If this be the true reading, it refers to a circumstance not noticed by Herodotus. "Nimirum Othryades, Lacedæmoniorum dux, de Argivis victor, sed letalem in modum vulneratus, priusquam animam exhalaret, tropaeo clypei hostilis inscripsit, digitis cruore oblitis, κατὰ ̓Αργείων ̓Οθρυάδης καὶ Δακεδαιμόνιοι. Rem narrant plurimi ex antiquis, Herodotus, Plutarchus, Strabo, Pausanias, Maximus Tyrius, Stobæus, Suidas, Valerius Maximus, alii." Heinsius. 29...32. Livy I. 55. will serve as a commentary upon these lines. “Inde ad negotia urbana animum convertit, (sc. Tarquinius Superbus,) quorum erat primum, ut Iovis templum in monte Tarpeio, monumentum regni sui nominisque, relinqueret: Tarquinios reges ambos, patrem vovisse, filium perfecisse. et ut libera a ceteris religionibus area esset tota Iovis templique eius, quod inædificaretur, exaugurare fana sacellaque statuit; quæ aliquot ibi a Tatio rege, primum in ipso discrimine adversus Romulum pugnæ vota, consecrata inaugurataque 1 Herod. 1. 82. Taylor's Translation. |