'Tibi qualum Cythereae Puer ales, tibi telas, operosaeque Minervae Studium aufert, Neobule, Liparaei nitor Hebri.' 11. Stantes...telas. The threads of the warp ('stamen') were suspended vertically, according to the Roman usage, not placed horizontally, as among us. 'Radius' is the shuttle which runs through (percurrit') the warp with the threads of the woof ('subtemen'). 12. Pecten is the 'lay' by which the threads of the woof, loose and at a distance from each other ('rarum opus'), are driven home and compacted. Denset. Observe the old form 'denseo,' instead of 'denso.' It occurs in Horace also, Od. 1. 28, 19 'Mixta senum ac iuvenum densentur funera; nullum or 13. Qui maculas, &c., the 'fullones,' the scourers renovators, the importance of whose occupation will be easily understood when we remember that the Romans, until a very late period, wore woollen garments exclusively. 14. Velleribus quisquis, &c., the 'infectores' or 'tinctores,' the dyers. Ahenum is the brazen caldron in which the wool was boiled along with the dye. Compare the Epigram of Martial on a cloak made of Andalusian wool, which was naturally of a golden yellow colour, 14. 133 'Non est lana mihi mendax, nec mutor aheno, Sic placeant Tyriae-me mea texit ovis.' and again 10. 16, 7 'Quidquid Agenoreo Tyros improba cogit aheno.' In like manner, the poets apply the ephithets 'Tyrium,' 'Assyrium,' 'Sidonium,' 'Gaetulum,' &c. to 'ahenum,' to express a purple dye. 15. Vincula plantae. The 'vincula,' strickly speaking, would be the straps ('amenta') which bound on the sandals ('soleae') or shoes ('calcei'). 16. Tychio. This is the name given by Homer to the artist who fabricated the sevenfold shield of Ajax, being, it is said, a native of Hyle, and σкνтотóμшv öx' äpuoros, 'far the first of leather cutters '.' Pliny 2, when enumerating the inventors of the different arts and sciences, says briefly, Sutrinam Boethius,' for which we ought probably to read Boeotius,' for Hyle was in Boeotia. 17. Manibus collatus, 'compared in handicraft.' Epeus constructed the Trojan horse. Ulysses in Odyss. 8. 492, thus addresses Demodocus: 'Haste then, the structure of the wooden horse Epeius formed'............... and Virgil, enumerating the warriors who issued from its womb, Ae. 2. 264 'Et Menelaus et ipse doli fabricator Epeus.' Pliny endeavours to rationalize the tale, and to make out that this contrivance was nothing more than a battering ram, H. N. 7. 56 'Equum, qui nunc Aries appellatur, in muralibus machinis Epeum ad Troiam (sc. invenisse dicunt).' 19. Phoebea...arte. Medicine. Apollo with the epithet Paeon,' (i. e. soother, assuager,) was the patron of the healing art, and the father of Aesculapius. In Homer Paeon (Пanov) is the physician of the gods, Aesculapius ('Aσkλniós) a mortal skilled in medicine, but they have no connection with each other, nor with Apollo. 20. De vestris, sc. 'muneribus.' A portion of the gifts you receive. 21. It will be seen from the various readings, that the text of this line is doubtful. Under any form it will allude to the inadequate remuneration received by the Roman schoolmasters, a theme upon which Juvenal enlarges with great bitterness in his seventh Satire. Minerva being the patroness of learning, the fee for instruction was called 'Minerval,' and it appears from Macrobius (S. 1. 11) that it was paid during this month. 22. Discipulos attrahit illa novos. Compare Juv. S. 10. 114 'Eloquium et famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis 1 II. 7. 221, Strabo 9. § 20. 2 H. N. 7. 56. 23. Moves caelum. This expression admits of a double interpretation, according to the meaning which we assign to 'caelum.' If we suppose it to signify 'the heaven,' then movere caelum' will refer to the artificial spheres employed by astronomers. If, on the other hand, we suppose it to signify 'a burin,' or 'engraver's tool,' whence 'caelare,' 'caelator,' 'caelatura,' then the persons addressed will be workers in gems and the precious metals, who would be appropriately classed along with painters and sculptors. 24. Tabulam coloribus uris. Painters in encaustic, an art now lost. The 'loci classici' are in Pliny H. N. 35. 11 'Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere qui primus excogitaverit non constat. Quidam Aristidis inventum putant, postea consummatum a Praxitele. Sed aliquanto vetustiores encaustae picturae exstitere, ut Polygnoti et Nicanoris et Arcesilai Pariorum. Lysippus quoque Aeginae picturae suae inscripsit évékavσev, quod profecto non fecisset nisi encaustica inventa,' and 'Encausto pingendi duo fuisse antiquitus genera constat, cera, et in ebore, cestro, id est, viriculo, donec classes pingi coepere. Hoc tertium accessit, resolutis igni ceris penicillo utendi, quae pictura in navibus nec sole, nec sale, nec vento corrumpitur.' 31. 24. Mollia saxa. Compare Virg. Ae. 6. 849 'Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera Credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus.' PALLADIVM A METELLO SERVATVM. FAS. VI. 419. IN order that this Extract may be more easily understood, we shall offer some preliminary illustrations. I. In the first place, it will be useful to give the genealogy of the Trojan line, according to Apollodorus 3. 12, I 'Iasion and DARDANUS were born of Jove and Electra, daughter of Atlas. Iasion having insolently attempted to gain the love of Demeter, was struck dead by lightning for his presumption, upon which Dardanus left Samothrace in sorrow, and passed over to the opposite continent, which was ruled by Teucrus, son of the river Scamander and an Idaean Nymph. Dardanus being hospitably received by the king, who gave him his daughter Bateia in marriage, founded the city Dardanus, on the skirts of Ida, and after the death of Teucrus, called the whole country Dardania. 'Ilus and ERICTHONIUS were the sons of Dardanus and Bateia, of whom the former died childless, but Ericthonius having wedded Asyoche, daughter of the river Simois, became the father of 'TROS, who called the country after himself, Troia, and having married Kallirrhoe, daughter of Scamander, had by her three sons, 'ILUS, ASSARACUS, GANYMEDES, and a daughter, Cleopatra. Of these, Ganymedes was borne to heaven by the eagle of Zeus to be the celestial cup-bearer. Assaracus, by Hieromneme, daughter of Simois, was the father of Capys, and Capys by Themis, daughter of Ilus, was father of Anchises, the favoured lover of Aphrodite, who bore him Aeneas and Lyrus, of whom the latter died childless. 'ILUS founded Ilium lower down in the plain than the city of Dardanus, and married Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus. By her he had 'LAOMEDON, who married Strymo, daughter of Scamander, or, according to others, Plakia, daughter of Atreus (or Leucippus). His children were 'Tithonus, Lampon, Klytius, Hiketaon, and Podarkes, otherwise called PRIAMOS, while his daughters were Hesione, Killa, and Astyoche. By the Nymph Kalybe he had Boukolion.' This genealogy is nearly the same as that given in the Iliad, (20. 215-240,) but Homer omits the females entirely, does not mention Teucrus, never applies the appellation 'Teucri' to the Trojans, and takes no notice of Dardanus having passed over from Samothrace. There are numerous additions and variations in other writers, which are of no importance for our present purpose. The student may consult Ov. Fast. 4. 31, Dionys. Hal. 1. 62, Heyne Excursus 6. on Virg. Ae. 3. To exhibit the whole at one view, according to Homer, we have Tithonus, Priamus, Lampon, Klytion, Hicetaon, Anchises, Hector, &c. Aeneas. II. When Ilus was founding the city of Ilium, he prayed to Zeus to grant him some token of his favour. On the following day he found lying before his tent the PALLADIUM, which had fallen from heaven. This was a statue of Pallas, in height three cubits, with the feet close together, holding in the right hand a spear erect, in the left a distaff and spindle 1. Tradition told that Aeneas bore the hallowed image from Troy along with the Phrygian Penates, and the Romans believed that it was treasured up in their city in the sanctuary of Vesta's temple 2, a pledge granted by fate, on whose preservation depended their existence as a nation. Thus, when the Campanians were accused of having attempted to set fire to Rome, Fulvius urged, Livy 26, 27 'Vestae aedem petitam, et aeternos ignes, et conditum in penetrali fatale pignus imperii Romani.' And again 5. 52 'Quid de aeternis Vestae ignibus, signoque, quod imperii pignus custodia eius templi tenetur, loquar?' According to another tradition, followed by Virgil (Ae. 1 So Apollodorus 3. 12, 3. 2 See Dionys. Hal. 1. 68; 2. 66, Plutarch. Vit. Num. et. Vit. Camill. |