secular games, these having been celebrated by Claudius and afterwards by Domitian after an interval of forty years only— 'Bis mea Romano spectata est vita Terento.' Statius also, Silv. 4. 1, 37, alludes to the same circumstancemecum altera secula condes Et tibi longaevi revocabitur ara Terenti.' and again Silv. 1. 4, 17 'Nec tantum induerint fatis nova secula crimen, Festus has the following notice 'Terentum locus in Campo Martio dictus, quod eo loco ara Ditis patris in terra occultaretur.' There is another allusion to the same subject under the word 'Saeculares,' but the passage is so mutilated that no conclusion can be drawn from it. The 'locus classicus' is to be found in Valerius Maximus, 2. 4, 4, and 5. 35. Immissis, 'dishevelled,' 'flowing over her face and shoulders,' after the manner of inspired women. See note on 1. 114. 38. Pinea texta, i. e. 'the planks of the ship.' Compare Ov. Met. 14. 530 Texta faces'. 'Fert ecce avidas in pinea Turnus 42. Novos deos, i. e. Romulus and the Caesars. 45. Bonis avibus, i. e. 'happy omens,' so Horace Epod. IO. I 'Mala soluta navis exit alite Ferens olentem Maevium.' 48. Iura...petet. 'Petere iura est subiecti populi, ut dare iura imperantis ' G, who compares Virg. G. 4. 561 ... 'victorque volentes Per populos dat iura, viamque affectat Olympo,' and Hor. Od. 3. 3, 43 .. 'triumphatisque possit = Roma ferox dare iura Medis.' 50. Tantum fati, 'loco destinatam esse a fato tantam dignitatem' G. 51-60. She now proceeds to prophesy the arrival of Aeneas, the war between Aeneas and Turnus on account of Lavinia, and the death of Pallas son of Evander, the events which form the theme of the last six books of the Aeneid. 57. Neptunia Pergama, so called because the walls were said to have been reared by Neptune and Apollo, so also Virg. Aen. 2. 624 'Tum vero omne mihi visum considere in ignes Ilium, et ex imo verti Neptunia Troia.' 58. Num minus, &c. 'Nihilo tamen minus ex illo cinere imperium orietur, totum terrarum orbem occupans' G. Minus.... altior. We find a similar construction in Florus 4. 2, 47 ‘Sed nec minus admirabilior illius exitus belli,' and in like manner 'magis' and 'potius' are sometimes joined with adjectives in the comparative degree, and with 'malo,' 'praeopto,' and the like. Thus Livy 9. 7 'Obsessos primum audierunt: tristior deinde ignominiosae pacis magis, quam periculi, nuncius fuit;' and again in Praef., 'Cum bonis potius ominibus votisque ac precationibus.. libentius inciperemus.' So also Nepos, Conon 5 Neque tamen ea non pia et probanda fuerunt, quod potius patriae opes augeri, quam regis, maluit,' and Terent. Hec. 4. 1, 17 'Adeon' pervicaci esse animo, ut puerum praeoptares perire, Ex quo firmiorem inter nos fore amicitiam posthac scires, Potius quam adversum animi tui lubidinem esset cum illo nupta?' 59, 60. In reference to Aeneas who bore away his father on his shoulders from the flames of Troy, and at the same time rescued the Penates and other sacred things which were transported by him to Italy. Hector, as seen by Aeneas in a vision on the night when Troy was captured, thus speaks, Ae. 2. 293 'Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia Penates: Sic ait, et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem Aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.' And afterwards, line 717, after they had escaped from the city, Aeneas thus addresses his sire, 'Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque Penates.' And again, Ae. 3. 148 'Effigies sacrae divum Phrygiique Penates Quos mecum a Troia mediisque ex ignibus urbis Extuleram, visi ante oculos adstare iacentis,' &c. With regard to these Penates, see on Vesta, notes to 31. 61, 62. Both Julius Caesar and Augustus held the office of Pontifex Maximus, and as such exercised supreme jurisdiction over all things sacred. 65. Nepos. These lines must have been inserted after the accession of Tiberius, which took place A. D. 14, about three years before the death of Ovid. Tiberius was the adopted son of Augustus, who was the adopted son of Julius, and hence Tiberius is called the 'nepos' of the latter. 65. Licet ipse recuset. This refers to the farce played off by the arch dissembler, in order that the senate might be compelled to force the empire on his acceptance. It is admirably described by Tacitus. See especially Ann. 1. 2 and 12. 68. According to the last will of Augustus, 'Livia in familiam Iuliam nomenque Augustae adsumebatur 1. Tiberius refused to allow any additional distinction to his mother (Tac. Ann. 1. 14), but her grandson Claudius granted her divine honours. Aviae Liviae divinos honores, et Circensi pompa currum elephantorum Augusteo similem decernendum curavit 2.' 72. Felix, &c. The poet in this exclamation refers by contrast to his own dreary place of banishment. 13. HERCVLES ET CACVS. FAS. I. 543. IN the traditions and poetry belonging to the half-civilized state of nations, we generally find that a conspicuous place is occupied by champions endowed with superhuman strength and valour, who distinguished themselves as the benefactors of mankind, destroying savage beasts and monsters of every description, redressing wrongs, avenging tyranny, and maintaining the cause of the virtuous and feeble against the wicked and powerful. Such individuals are sometimes represented as incarnations of divinity, sometimes as sons of a god, sometimes as mere men favoured by heaven, who open up for 2 Suet. Claud. II. 1 Tacit. Ann. I. 8. themselves a path to immortality. Examples of beings belonging to one or other of these classes will be found in the Rama of the Hindoos, the Roostum of the Persians, the Antar of the Bedoueens, the Odin of the Scandinavians, the Melcart of the Phoenicians, and the Hercules of the Greeks. But to our surprise we search the classics in vain for some notice of an Italian national hero, and hence we are naturally led to enquire whether their ancient records may not have recognised a personage of this description, whose fame was hidden in later times under a foreign title. On examining the history of the son of Zeus and Alcmena, we shall soon discover that the Greeks, as their geographical knowledge became extended, attributed without hesitation to their own Hercules the exploits and adventures of the mighty ones of other lands. There can be little doubt that the story of the servitude to Omphale arose from his being identified with the Lydian god Sandon, and in like manner it is certain that Hylas was invoked by the Bithynians at their fountains, during the noontide heat of summer, long before Greek colonies were planted on the shores of the Pontus 1. The Phoenician Melcart, a wanderer and a conqueror, had a temple at Gadeira, and thither in the course of time Erytheia, Geryon, and his herds were transplanted 2; while Phoenician and Greek traditions were mixed up and woven together into a complicated tissue. When it was once settled that Hercules had marched through Spain, nothing could be more natural than that he should return home by way of Italy and visit his countryman Evander, while at the same time it was little likely that he could perform so long a journey without an adventure. Accordingly, the local legend of the destruction of the robber Cacus, the fire-breathing son of Vulcan, who dwelt in a cavern on 1 See Müller's Dorians, vol. I. p. 457. Engl. Trans., and his essay in the Rheinisches Museum, vol. 4. p. 22. 2 Geryon and Erytheia seem originally to have belonged to Epirus. See Müller, vol. 1. p. 435. Engl. Trans. the Aventine, was seized upon and appropriated without opposition, it would appear, from those to whom it belonged. We must remark, however, that it was the practice of the Romans when they became acquainted with a foreign god, to identify him with some divinity of their own, whose name was retained while he was invested with the attributes of the stranger. Thus Jupiter, Juno, Diana, Venus, Mars, Neptunus, Mercurius, and Vulcanus, received, in addition to their own native honours, the homage paid by the Greeks to Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Poseidon, Hermes, and Hephaestus. Sometimes both titles were used indifferently, as in the case of Pallas and Minerva, Bacchus and Liber pater, Pan and Faunus, Persephone and Libera. But when a foreign appellation alone was employed, such as Apollo, Priapus, Cybele, Isis, Serapis, and the like, it must be taken as a proof that no homesprung deity could be found exactly analogous. Hence we might have been disposed to conclude that this held good of Hercules, especially since we know that he was worshipped after the Grecian fashion; but two fragments preserved by late writers, onc of Cassius Hemina, an early Roman annalist, the other of Verrius Flaccus, the celebrated grammarian, whose work was abridged by Festus, go far to prove that the destruction of Cacus was achieved by an indigenous hero, a Latin Hercules, called 'Garanus' or 'Recaranus,' whose place was so successfully usurped by the Theban champion, that but few even of his own countrymen in after ages had heard the name. When we examine closely into the worship of Hercules among the Romans, we discover several very marked peculiarities, from which we may draw some inferences with regard to the nature and character of this Recaranus. The subject has been discussed with great ingenuity by Hartung in his work 'Die Religion der Römer,' but the investigation is too intricate, and the results too uncertain, to be introduced here. The student will do well to compare this extract with the |