Page images
PDF
EPUB

We find in Silius Italicus, 13. 326, a very minute and lively description of Pan, when he was despatched by Jove to save Capua from the vengeance of the Romans.

7. Pholoe (Mauro bouni) is a mountain on the N. W. of Arcadia, and together with the lofty range of Erymanthus (Olonos) of which it is a continuation, forms the boundary between Arcadia and Elis.

The city Stymphalus (Kiona) and the Stymphalis Palus (Zaracca) were situated at the N. E. corner of Arcadia. The lake was the scene of one of the labours of Hercules, who was required to dislodge and drive away the countless multitudes of birds which thronged its thickly wooded banks'.

The Ladon which rises in the north of Arcadia, and, after a considerable course, falls into the Alpheus above Olympia, is in many respects remarkable. We are told2 that it was the most beautiful of all the Grecian streams, that its banks were the scene of the adventures of Daphne, that one of its tributaries, the Arvanius, produced fishes which sung like blackbirds3, and that near the town of Clitor, situated on another tributary of the same name, there was a fountain which inspired all who drank of its waters with a distaste for wine, Ov. Met. 15. 322

'Clitorio quicumque sitim de fonte levarit,

Vina fugit, gaudetque meris abstemius undis.'

The Ladon is mentioned again in the Fasti 5. 89

'Arcades hunc, Ladonque rapax, et Maenalos ingens
Rite colunt, Luna credita terra prior,'

and again when narrating the transformation of Syrinx, Met. I. 702.

Nonacris (Naukria) was an ancient city near the sources of the Ladon; it was chiefly celebrated for the rivulet of Styx, which fell drop by drop from a precipitous rock above the town. This water was said to possess many marvellous properties; it was a deadly poison to all living creatures; vessels of glass, china, or earthenware were broken by its force; those of horn, bone, and ordinary metals were

1 Apollod. 2. 5, 5, Pausan, 8. 22, Ov. Met. 9. 186. 2 Pausan. 8. 20. 3 Pausanias tells us gravely, however, that although he saw the fish caught, and waited until sunset, when they were said to be most vocal, he heard them utter no sound. Other authors assign this property to the fish of the Ladon itself, others to those of the Clitor. See Athenaeus 8. 3.

dissolved, even gold itself became corroded: the only substance which resisted its power was a horse's hoof, and consequently, cups made of this were alone capable of containing it'. Ovid tells us that the Naiad Syrinx was

'Inter Hamadryadas celeberrima Nonacrinas,'

and gives the epithet of 'Nonacrina' to the Arcadian heroines Atalanta and Callisto.

Cyllene (Zyria) which rises immediately above Stymphalus, is the loftiest of the Arcadian mountains, and was the birthplace of Hermes 2 (Mercury), so Virg. Ae. 138

'Vobis Mercurius pater est, quem candida Maia
Cyllenes gelido conceptum vertice fudit.'

Hence Cyllenius 3' and 'Cyllenia proles 4' for Mercury, 'Cyllenius ignis5' for the star of Mercury; and Ovid gives the name of 'Cyllenea testudo' to a particular manner of dressing the hair so as to resemble a lyre, which was the instrument invented by Mercury.

The 'Parrhasii' we have had before. See note on 12. 10.

6

II. It will be seen from the various readings that many MSS. have aquarum' instead of 'equarum.' If we prefer the former, we may understand either the fountains and streams of the Arcadian Highlands, or the waters of the deep; for Pan loved to wander on the sea-shore, and is hence termed ἁλίπλαγκτος by Sophocles, ἄκτιος by Theocritus, while Aeschylus thus describes Psyttaleia9,

'An isle there is in front of Salamis

Of narrow bounds, to ships inhospitable,

Along whose sea-wash'd beach dance-loving Pan
Is wont to stalk'..

....

13. Evander. See Introduction to 12.

15. Pelasgis. By the 'Pelasgi' we are to understand in general that ancient and widely-diffused tribe which was the common parent of the Greeks and of the earliest civilized inhabitants of Italy. All authors agree in representing Arcadia as one of their principal seats, where they long remained pure and undisturbed.

4

16. Flamen was the name given to a priest devoted to the

1 Pausan. 8. 17, 18. 2 Homer. Hymn. in Merc. 3 Virg. Ae. 4. 252. 258. 5 G. I. 337. 6 A. A. 3. 147. 8 7 Aj. 695. Idyll. 5. 14. 9 Pers. 454. See Bloomfield's note.

service of some one god; although, as appears from this passage and from the account of the Robigalia, p. 90, that they occasionally performed certain sacrifices in honour of other divinities. The most important were the Flamen Dialis, who had a seat in the senate in virtue of his office, the Flamen Martialis, and the Flamen Quirinalis. The derivation of the word is altogether uncertain. Varro and Festus agree in connecting it with 'filum (quasi filamen),' supposing it to refer to a thread or band worn round the head. Thus the former, L. L. 3. 15

'Flamines quod in Latio capite velato erant semper ac caput cinctum habebant filo, Flamines dicti !.'

Aulus Gellius has a whole chapter (10. 15) on the Flamen Dialis, his duties and privileges.

19. Discurrere, 'to run to and fro,' 'to separate and run in different directions.' The word is frequently used of soldiers dispersing to plunder, thus Livy 25. 25 'Inde, signo dato, milites discurrerunt;' and again cap. 31 'in tanto tumultu, quantum capta urbs in discursu diripientium militum ciere poterat.' Virgil employs it to denote the division of the Nile into several branches

'Et diversa ruens septem discurrit in ora' G. 4. 292. 20. Subitas...feras, 'the startled wild beasts;' 'the wild beasts springing suddenly from their lairs.'

21. This is the first explanation of the ceremonies of the Lupercalia. The Luperci ran naked through the streets in imitation of their patron god, who found that clothes were an incumbrance in his rambles among the hills. The second cause assigned is, that the practice was intended to represent the rude habits of the primitive Arcadians, who were strangers to all the arts and usages of civilized life, who appeased their hunger with herbs and roots, quenched their thirst by drinking the waters of the spring out of the hollow palm of their hands, and lived beneath the canopy of heaven without houses and without garments. The third reason is contained in a ridiculous story connected with the amours of Pan, and the poet having thus exhausted his foreign lore, concludes with a home-sprung legend, which he offers as a fourth solution of the problem.

31. Caestibus. The 'caestus' was a sort of gauntlet or boxing-glove made of numerous strips of hide, which were

1 See also Fest. in verb., Serv. Virg. Aen. 8. 664.

bound round and round the hands and half way up the arms, and loaded with lead to render the blow more crushing. Every one is familiar with the match between Dares and Entellus (Virg. Ae. 5. 362), and descriptions of similar contests will be found in Valerius Flaccus 4. 261, and Statius Theb. 6. 760. The 'caestus' does not appear to have been ever used by the Romans, and hence many believe this couplet, which is omitted in some MSS., to be spurious.

Missi pondere saxi. This is manifestly the same with our own national game of ‘putting the stone.'

39. Fabii. See the Introductions to this Extract and the preceding one.

16.

LVPERCAL.

FAS. II. 381.

THE origin of the ceremonies practised at the Lupercalia having been discussed, the poet proceeds to investigate the etymology of the word 'Lupercal.'

2. Diem tali nomine, &c., i. e. what circumstance gave the name 'Lupercalia' to this festival.

3. Ilia. The mother of Romulus is known by the names of 'Ilia,' or 'Rhea,' or 'Silvia,' and frequently the two last are joined into 'Rhea Silvia.'

3, 4. Partu ediderat. Simply, 'hath brought forth.' 7. Recusantes, 'reluctant.'

9. The same tradition with regard to the Tiber has been preserved by Livy also, 1. 3, 'Pax ita convenerat ut Etruscis Latinisque fluvius Albula, quem nunc Tiberim vocant, finis esset,' and again he enumerates among the kings of Alba, 'Tiberinus qui in traiectu Albulae amnis submersus celebre ad posteros nomen flumini dedit.'

12. Valles. The hollow between the Palatine and the Aventine in which the Circus Maximus was formed, was called the 'Vallis Murtia,' thus Claud. 1. Consul. Stilich. 2. 404 'Ad caelum quoties vallis tibi Murtia ducet Nomen, Aventino Pallanteoque recessu.'

15. At nunc est vox admirantis.' Plane sic Met. 10. 632 'At quam virgineus puerili vultus in ore!' G.

20. Praecipiti tempore, 'dangerous,' 'hazardous.'

25. Vagierunt.

'Vagire' and 'vagitus' are the 'voces

signatae' for the wailing cry of an infant. Thus Cicero Senect. sub fin.

Quod siquis deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac aetate repuerascam, et in cunis vagiam,' and Plin. H. N. Praef. Lib. 7 "Natura hominem nudum natali die abiicit ad vagitus statim et ploratum,' to which add Varro, quoted by Aulus Gellius, 16. 17, 'Vagire dicitur, exprimente verbo sonum vocis recentis.'

With regard to the quantity of the penultimate in ‘vagiěrunt,' see Manual of Latin Prosody, p. 102.

27. Alveus. The prevailing idea in the words ‘alvus,' 'alveus,' 'alveare,' is hollowness.' Hence the first signifies the hollow portion of the body, the belly; the second is used to denote the channel of a river hollowed out by the current, the hollow or hold of a ship; and, in the line before us, ‘a trough or hollow vessel of wood.'

28. Tabella. 'Tabula' signifies properly 'a plank,' and hence is applied to anything constructed of boards, or in the formation of which boards were originally employed.

31, 32. Ovid here attempts to show that 'Rumina ficus' was a corruption of 'Romula ficus,' and so Livy 1. 4 'Ita velut defuncti regis imperio, in proxima alluvie, ubi nunc ficus Ruminalis est (Romularem vocatam ferunt) pueros exponunt.' The true meaning of the word has been preserved in Festus':

'Ruminalis dicta est ficus, quod sub ea arbore lupa mammam dedit Remo et Romulo: mamma autem rumis (al. rumus) dicitur: unde et rustici appellant haedos subrummos qui adhuc sub mammis habentur.' Compare Plin. 15. 18

'Colitur ficus arbor in foro ipso ac comitio Romae nata sacra fulguribus ibi conditis: magisque ob memoriam eius, quae nutrix fuit Romuli ac Remi conditoris appellata: quoniam sub ea inventa est lupa infantibus praebens rumen (ita vocabant mammam) miraculo ex aere iuxta dicato.' See a'so Tacitus Ann. 13.58

'Eodem anno 2 Ruminalem arborem in comitio, quae super octingentos et quadraginta ante annos Remi Romulique infantiam texerat, mortuis ramalibus et arescente trunco

1 Festus, or rather Paulus Diaconus in verb. 'Ruminalis.' This meaning of Ruminalis' is mentioned by Plutarch also in his Quaestiones Romanae.

2 A. D. 59.

« PreviousContinue »