Chaonia was a
district
of
Epirus, said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan.
Epirus, said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan.
Ovid - Art of Love
iv.
1.
20, and Book ii.
El.
v.
1.
17,
and the Notes. ]
[Footnote 796: From the side. --Ver. 576. See the Amores, Book i. EL iv.
1. 32. ]
[Footnote 797: Touched with her fingers. --Ver. 577. The ancients are
supposed not to have used at meals any implement such as a knife or
fork, but merely to have used the fingers only, except in eating soups
or other liquids, or jellies, when they employed spoons, which were
denoted by the names 'cochlear' and 'ligula. ' At meals the Greeks wiped
their fingers on pieces of bread; the Romans washed them with water, and
dried them on napkins handed round by the slaves. ]
[Footnote 798: Are drinking by lot. --Ver. 581. The 'modimperator,' or
'master of the banquet,' was often chosen by lot by the guests, and it
was his province to prescribe how much each person should drink. Lots
were also thrown, by means of the dice, to show in what order each
person was to drink. This passage will show the falsity of his plea in
the Second Book of the Tristia, addressed to Augustus, where he says
that it was not his intention to address the married women of Rome, but
only those who did not wear the 'vittae' and the 'instita,' the badges of
chastity. ]
[Footnote 799: Agent attends even too much. --Ver. 587. His meaning seems
to be, that in the same way as the agent does more than attend to the
injunctions of his principal, and puts himself in a position to profit
by his office, so is the inamorato, through the confidence of
the husband reposed in him, to make a profit that has never been
anticipated. ]
[Footnote 801: Eurytion. --Ver. 593. At the nuptials of Pirithous and
Hippoda-mia. See the Metamorphoses, Book xii. 1. 220, where he is called
Eurytus. ]
[Footnote 802: Stealing up. --Ver. 605. This piece of impudence he
professes to practise in the Amores, Book i. El iv. l. 56. ]
[Footnote 803: Bird of Juno. --Ver. 627. This fact, in natural history,
was probably known only to Ovid, or the peacocks of the present day
may be less vain than the Roman ones. See the Metamorphoses, Book i. 1.
723. ]
[Footnote 804: That there should be Gods. --Ver. 637. This was the avowed
opinion of some of the philosophers and atheists of antiquity. We learn
from Tertullian that Diogenes, being asked if the Gods exist, answered
that he did not know anything about it, but that they ought to exist.
The doctrine of the Epicureans was, that the Gods lived a happy and
easy life, were not susceptible of anger, and did not trouble themselves
about men. ]
[Footnote 805: Went to Busiris. --Ver. 649. See the Tristia, Book iii.
El. xi. 1. 39, where the story of Phalaris is also referred to. Thrasius
was the brother of Pygmalion, and was justly punished by Busiris for his
cruel suggestion. ]
[Footnote 806: Phoebe suffered--Ver. 679. See the story of the rape of
Phoebe, by Castor and Pollux, in the Fasti, Book v. 1. 699. ]
[Footnote 807: Work-baskets. --Ver. 693. See the Note to the
seventy-third line of the Ninth Epistle. ]
[Footnote 808: Heroines of olden times. --Ver. 713. Such as Danae, Europa
Seraele, Alcmena, Io, Calisto, Antiope, Maia, Electra, and others. ]
[Footnote 809: Chaplet of Pallas. --Ver. 727. A crown of olive was
presented to the victors in the athletic exercises at the Olympic
games. ]
[Footnote 810: Love for Lyrice. --Ver. 731. If Lyrice here is a female
name, it is not known who she was. ]
[Footnote 811: Daphnis. --Ver. 732. He was a Sicilian, the son of
Mercury; and the inventor of Bucolic poetry. ]
[Footnote 812: Pylades. --Ver. 745: Hermione was the wife of Orestes,
the friend of Pylades. ]
[Footnote 813: With a dart. --Ver. 763. It appears by this, that it
was the custom to take fish by striking them with a javelin Salmon ere
foretimes caught in a similar manner at the present day. ]
FOOTNOTES BOOK TWO
[Footnote 901: Sing, 'Io Pean. '--Ver. 1. This was the usual cry of the
hunters, who thus addressed Apollo, the God of the chase, when the prey
had been captured iu the toils. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 513. ]
[Footnote 902: Amyclae. --Ver. 5. A town of Laconia. See the
Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 219, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 903: Erato. --Ver. 16. He addresses himself to this Muse, as
her name was derived from the Greek 'love. ' It has been suggested that
he had another reason for addressing her, as she was thought to take
pleasure in warfare, a state which sometimes, by way of variety, exists
between lovers. ]
[Footnote 904: A bold path. --Ver. 22. This story is again related in the
Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 905: Like oars. --Ver. 45. He aptly compares the arrangement of
the main feathers of a wing to a row of oars. ]
[Footnote 906: Orion. '--Ver. 56. So in the Metamorphoses, Book v.
1. 206, he says to his son Icarus, 'Fly between both: and I bid thee
neither to look at Bootes, nor Helice, nor the drawn sword of Orion. ']
[Footnote 907: Is angling. --Ver. 77. There is a similar passage in the
Metamorphoses, 1. 216. ]
[Footnote 908: The Clarian God. --Ver. 80. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 20,
and the Note. ]
[Footnote 909: And Calymne. --Ver. 81. These peaces are mentioned in the
corresponding passages in the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 222. ]
[Footnote 910: Astypalaea. . --Ver. 82. This was an isle in the group of
the Sporades, between Crete and the Cyclades. It contained but one city,
and was long and narrow, and of rugged appearance. ]
[Footnote 911: The young horse. --Ver. 100. See the Amoves. Book i. El.
viii 1. 8, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 912: The Marsian spells. --Ver. 102. The 'naenia' was a
mournful dirge or chaunt uttered by the sorcerer in his incantations. On
the Marsi, see the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 142, and the Note to the
passage. ]
[Footnote 913: Causing paleness. --Ver. 105. Philtres were noxious
potions, made of venomous or stimulating ingredients, prescribed as
a means of gaining the affections of the person to whom they were
administered. ]
[Footnote 914: Nireus. --Ver. 109. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep.
xiii. 1. 16, and the Note to the passage. ]
[Footnote 915: Charming Hylas. --Ver. 110. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. ]
[Footnote 916: Ocean Goddesses. --Ver. 124. Calypso was really the only
sea Goddess that was enamoured of Ulysses. Circe was not a sea Goddess. ]
[Footnote 917: Blood of Dolon. '--Ver. 135. See the Metamorphoses, Book
xiii. line 244. ]
[Footnote 918: Hjemontan horses--Ver. 136. The steeds of Achilles. ]
[Footnote 919: The Chaonian bird. --Ver. 150.
Chaonia was a district of
Epirus, said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan. Dodona was in
Epirus, and in its forests were said to be doves that had the gift of
prophecy. See the Translation of the Metamorphoses pp. 467-8. ]
[Footnote 920: Resort to law. --Ver. 151. He means to say 'let man and
wife be always thinking about resorting to law to procure a divorce. ']
[Footnote 921: 1 gave verses. --Ver. 166. He intends a pun here. 'Verba
dare' is 'to deceive,' but literally it means 'to give words. ' See the
Amores, book i. El. viii. 1. 57. ]
[Footnote 922: Atalanta of Nonacris. --Ver. 185. See the Amores, Book
iii. El. ii. 29, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 923: Bow of Hylceus. --Ver. 191. Hylaeus and Rhaecus were
Centaurs, who were pierced by Atalanta with her arrows, for making an
attempt on her chastity. He alludes to the bow of Cupid in the next
line. ]
[Footnote 924: The ivory cubes. '--Ver. 203. He alludes to throws of the
'tali' and 'tessera,' which were different kinds of dice. See the Note
to 1. Footnote 471: of the Second Book of the Tristia. In this line he
seems to mean the 'tessera,' which were similar to our dice, while the
'tali,' which he next mentions, had only four flat surfaces, being
made in imitation of the knuckle-bones of animals, and having two
sides uneven and rounded. The dice were thrown on a table, made for
the purpose, with an elevated rim. Some throws, like our doublets, are
supposed to have counted for more than the number turned up. The most
fortunate throw was called 'Venus. ' or 'Venereus jactus'; it is thought
to have consisted of a combination, making fourteen, the dice presenting
different numbers. Games with dice were only sanctioned by law as a
pastime during meals. ]
[Footnote 925: Make bad moves. --Ver. 204. 'Dare jacta' means 'to move
the throws,' in allusion to the game of 'duodecim scripta,' or 'twelve
points,' which was played with counters moved according to the throws
of the dice, probably in a manner not unlike our game of backgammon. The
hoard was marked with twelve lines, on which the pieces moved. ]
[Footnote 926: Or if you are throwing. --Ver. 205. By the use of the word
'seu, or,' we must suppose that he has, under the word 'numeri,' alluded
to the game with the 'tesserae,' or six-sided dice. ]
[Footnote 927: The game that imitates. --Ver. 207. He here alludes to the
'ludus latrunculorum,' literally 'the game of theft,' which is supposed
to have been somewhat similar to our chess. He refers to its name in the
words, 'latrocinii sub imagine. ' The game was supposed to imitate the
furtive stratagems of warfare: hence the men, which were usually styled
'calculi,' were also called by the name of 'latrones,' 'latrunculi,'
'milites,' 'bella-tores,' 'thieves,' 'little thieves,' 'soldiers,'
'warriors. ' As we see by the next line, they were usually made of glass,
though sometimes more costly materials were employed. The skill of
this game consisted either in taking the pieces of the adversary, or
rendering them unable to move. The first was done when the adversary's
piece was brought by the other between two of his own. See the Tristia,
Book ii. 1. 477. The second took place when the pieces were 'ligati,'
or 'ad incitas redacti,' brought upon the last line and unable to move.
White and red are supposed to have been the colour of the men. This game
was much played by the Roman ladies and nobles. ]
[Footnote 928: Hold the screen. --Ver. 209. The ancients used
'umbracula,' or screens against the weather (resembling our umbrellas),
which the Greeks called --------. They were used generally for the
same purposes as our parasols, a protection against the heat of the sun.
They seem not to have been in general carried by the ladies themselves,
but by female slaves, who held them over their mistresses. See the
Fasti, Book ii. 1. 209. These screens, or umbrellas, were much used by
the Roman ladies in the amphitheatre, to protect them from sun and rain,
when the 'velarium,' or awning, was not extended. ]
[Footnote 929: Tasteful couch. '--Ver. 211. This was probably the
'triclinium' on which they reposed at meals. The shoes were taken off
before reclining on it. Female slaves did this office for the ladies,
and males for the men. ]
[Footnote 930: Looking-glass. --Ver. 216. These were generally held by
female slaves, when used by their mistresses. See the Metamorphoses,
Book iv. 1. 349. and the Note. ]
[Footnote 931: Held the work-basket. --Ver. 219. Hercules, who Wiled the
serpents sent by Juno, is reproached for doing this, by Deianira in her
Epistle. ]
[Footnote 932: As though a servant. --Ver. 228. He is to be ready, if his
mistress goes to a party, to act the part of the slave, who was called
'adversitor,' whose duty it was to escort his master home in the
evening, if it was dark, with a lighted torch. ]
[Footnote 933: A vehicle. --Ver. 230. 'Rota,' a wheel, is, by Synecdoche,
used to signify 'a vehicle. ']
[Footnote 934: Cynthius. --Ver. 240. See the Note to line 51, of the
Epistle from Aenone to Paris. ]
[Footnote 935: Through the open roof. --Ver. 245. He gives a somewhat
hazardous piece of advice here; as he instructs him to obtain admission
by climbing up the wall, and getting in at the skylight, which extended
over the 'atrium,' or 'court,' a room which occupied the middle of
the house. The Roman houses had, in general, but one story over the
ground-floor. ]
[Footnote 936: The high window. --Ver. 246. This passage may be
illustrated by the Note to 1. 752: of Book xiv. of the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 937: Day on which. --Ver. 257. He alluded to a festival
celebrated by the servants, on the Caprotine Nones, the seventh of
July, when they sacrificed to 'Juno Caprotina. ' Macrobius says that the
servants sacrificed to Juno under a wild fig-tree (called 'caprificus'),
in memory of the service done by the female slaves, in exposing
themselves to the lust ot the enemy, for the public welfare. The Gauls
being driven from the city, the neighbouring nations chose the Dictator
of the Fidenates for their chief, and, marching to Rome, demanded of the
Senate, that if they would save their city, they should send out to them
their wives and daughters The Senate, knowing their own weakness, were
much perplexed, when a handmaid, named 'Tutela,' or 'Philotis,'
offered, with some others, to go out to the enemy in disguise. Being,
accordingly, dressed like free women, they repaired in tears to the camp
of the enemy. They soon induced their new acquaintances to drink, on
the pretence that they were bound to consider the day as a festival;
and when intoxicated, a signal was giver, from a fig tree near, that the
Romans should fall on them. The camp of the enemy was assailed, and most
of them were slain. In return for their service, the female, slaves were
made free, and received marriage portion? at the public expense. Another
account, agreeing with the present passage, says, that the Gauls were
the enemy who made the demand, and that Retana was the name of the
female slave. ]
[Footnote 938: The lower classes. --Ver. 259. Witness his own appeals in
the Amores to Nape, Cypassis. Bagous, and the porter. ]
[Footnote 939: In the Sacred Street. '--Ver. 266. Presents of game and
trout very often follow a similar devolution at the present day. ]
[Footnote 940: Amaryllis was so fond of. --Ver. 267. He alludes to a
line of Virgil, which, doubtless, was then well known to all persons
of education. It occurs in the Eclogues: 'Castaneasque nuces, mea quas
Amaryllis amabat. ' 'Chesnuts, too, which my Amaryllis was so fond of. '
In the next line, he hints that the damsels of his day were too greedy
to be satisfied with chesnuts only. ]
[Footnote 941: Thrush and a pigeon. --Ver. 269. Probably live birds of
the kind are here alluded to; Pliny tells us that they were trained to
imitate the human voice. Thrushes were much esteemed as a delicacy for
the table. They were sold tied up in clusters, in the shape of a crown. ]
[Footnote 942: By these means. --Ver. 271. He alludes to those who
continued to slip into dead men's shoes, by making trifling presents of
niceties. Juvenal inveighs against this practice. ]
[Footnote 943: Poetry does not. --Ver. 274. See the remarks of Dipsas in
the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 57. ]
[Footnote 944: Only rich. --Ver. 276. See the Amores, Book iii. El. ii. ]
[Footnote 945: Tyrian hue. --Ver. 297. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 107,
and the Note. ]
[Footnote 946: Of Cos--Ver. 298. See the Epistles of Sabinus, Ep. iii.
1. 45, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 947: A dress of felt. --Ver. 300. 'Gausape,' 'gausapa,' or
'gausapum,' was a kind of thick woolly cloth, which had a long nap on
one side. It was used to cover tables and beds, and as a protection
against wind and rain. It was worn both by males and females, and came
into use among the Romans about the time of Augustus. ]
[Footnote 948: You are setting me on fire. --Ver. 301. Burmanu deservedly
censures the explanation of 'moves incendia,' given by Crispinus,
the Delphin Editor, 'Vous mourrez de chaud,' 'You will die of heat,'
applying the observation to the lady, and not, figuratively, to the
feelings of her lover. ]
[Footnote 949: Her very embraces. --Ver. 308. The common reading of this
line is clearly corrupt; probably the reading is the one here adopted,
'Et un dat, gaudia, voce proba. ']
[Footnote 950: What advice--Ver. 368. These attempts at argument are
exhausted by Paris, in his Epistle to Helen. ]
[Footnote 952: Stinging-nettle. --Ver.
and the Notes. ]
[Footnote 796: From the side. --Ver. 576. See the Amores, Book i. EL iv.
1. 32. ]
[Footnote 797: Touched with her fingers. --Ver. 577. The ancients are
supposed not to have used at meals any implement such as a knife or
fork, but merely to have used the fingers only, except in eating soups
or other liquids, or jellies, when they employed spoons, which were
denoted by the names 'cochlear' and 'ligula. ' At meals the Greeks wiped
their fingers on pieces of bread; the Romans washed them with water, and
dried them on napkins handed round by the slaves. ]
[Footnote 798: Are drinking by lot. --Ver. 581. The 'modimperator,' or
'master of the banquet,' was often chosen by lot by the guests, and it
was his province to prescribe how much each person should drink. Lots
were also thrown, by means of the dice, to show in what order each
person was to drink. This passage will show the falsity of his plea in
the Second Book of the Tristia, addressed to Augustus, where he says
that it was not his intention to address the married women of Rome, but
only those who did not wear the 'vittae' and the 'instita,' the badges of
chastity. ]
[Footnote 799: Agent attends even too much. --Ver. 587. His meaning seems
to be, that in the same way as the agent does more than attend to the
injunctions of his principal, and puts himself in a position to profit
by his office, so is the inamorato, through the confidence of
the husband reposed in him, to make a profit that has never been
anticipated. ]
[Footnote 801: Eurytion. --Ver. 593. At the nuptials of Pirithous and
Hippoda-mia. See the Metamorphoses, Book xii. 1. 220, where he is called
Eurytus. ]
[Footnote 802: Stealing up. --Ver. 605. This piece of impudence he
professes to practise in the Amores, Book i. El iv. l. 56. ]
[Footnote 803: Bird of Juno. --Ver. 627. This fact, in natural history,
was probably known only to Ovid, or the peacocks of the present day
may be less vain than the Roman ones. See the Metamorphoses, Book i. 1.
723. ]
[Footnote 804: That there should be Gods. --Ver. 637. This was the avowed
opinion of some of the philosophers and atheists of antiquity. We learn
from Tertullian that Diogenes, being asked if the Gods exist, answered
that he did not know anything about it, but that they ought to exist.
The doctrine of the Epicureans was, that the Gods lived a happy and
easy life, were not susceptible of anger, and did not trouble themselves
about men. ]
[Footnote 805: Went to Busiris. --Ver. 649. See the Tristia, Book iii.
El. xi. 1. 39, where the story of Phalaris is also referred to. Thrasius
was the brother of Pygmalion, and was justly punished by Busiris for his
cruel suggestion. ]
[Footnote 806: Phoebe suffered--Ver. 679. See the story of the rape of
Phoebe, by Castor and Pollux, in the Fasti, Book v. 1. 699. ]
[Footnote 807: Work-baskets. --Ver. 693. See the Note to the
seventy-third line of the Ninth Epistle. ]
[Footnote 808: Heroines of olden times. --Ver. 713. Such as Danae, Europa
Seraele, Alcmena, Io, Calisto, Antiope, Maia, Electra, and others. ]
[Footnote 809: Chaplet of Pallas. --Ver. 727. A crown of olive was
presented to the victors in the athletic exercises at the Olympic
games. ]
[Footnote 810: Love for Lyrice. --Ver. 731. If Lyrice here is a female
name, it is not known who she was. ]
[Footnote 811: Daphnis. --Ver. 732. He was a Sicilian, the son of
Mercury; and the inventor of Bucolic poetry. ]
[Footnote 812: Pylades. --Ver. 745: Hermione was the wife of Orestes,
the friend of Pylades. ]
[Footnote 813: With a dart. --Ver. 763. It appears by this, that it
was the custom to take fish by striking them with a javelin Salmon ere
foretimes caught in a similar manner at the present day. ]
FOOTNOTES BOOK TWO
[Footnote 901: Sing, 'Io Pean. '--Ver. 1. This was the usual cry of the
hunters, who thus addressed Apollo, the God of the chase, when the prey
had been captured iu the toils. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 513. ]
[Footnote 902: Amyclae. --Ver. 5. A town of Laconia. See the
Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 219, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 903: Erato. --Ver. 16. He addresses himself to this Muse, as
her name was derived from the Greek 'love. ' It has been suggested that
he had another reason for addressing her, as she was thought to take
pleasure in warfare, a state which sometimes, by way of variety, exists
between lovers. ]
[Footnote 904: A bold path. --Ver. 22. This story is again related in the
Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 905: Like oars. --Ver. 45. He aptly compares the arrangement of
the main feathers of a wing to a row of oars. ]
[Footnote 906: Orion. '--Ver. 56. So in the Metamorphoses, Book v.
1. 206, he says to his son Icarus, 'Fly between both: and I bid thee
neither to look at Bootes, nor Helice, nor the drawn sword of Orion. ']
[Footnote 907: Is angling. --Ver. 77. There is a similar passage in the
Metamorphoses, 1. 216. ]
[Footnote 908: The Clarian God. --Ver. 80. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 20,
and the Note. ]
[Footnote 909: And Calymne. --Ver. 81. These peaces are mentioned in the
corresponding passages in the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 222. ]
[Footnote 910: Astypalaea. . --Ver. 82. This was an isle in the group of
the Sporades, between Crete and the Cyclades. It contained but one city,
and was long and narrow, and of rugged appearance. ]
[Footnote 911: The young horse. --Ver. 100. See the Amoves. Book i. El.
viii 1. 8, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 912: The Marsian spells. --Ver. 102. The 'naenia' was a
mournful dirge or chaunt uttered by the sorcerer in his incantations. On
the Marsi, see the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 142, and the Note to the
passage. ]
[Footnote 913: Causing paleness. --Ver. 105. Philtres were noxious
potions, made of venomous or stimulating ingredients, prescribed as
a means of gaining the affections of the person to whom they were
administered. ]
[Footnote 914: Nireus. --Ver. 109. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep.
xiii. 1. 16, and the Note to the passage. ]
[Footnote 915: Charming Hylas. --Ver. 110. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. ]
[Footnote 916: Ocean Goddesses. --Ver. 124. Calypso was really the only
sea Goddess that was enamoured of Ulysses. Circe was not a sea Goddess. ]
[Footnote 917: Blood of Dolon. '--Ver. 135. See the Metamorphoses, Book
xiii. line 244. ]
[Footnote 918: Hjemontan horses--Ver. 136. The steeds of Achilles. ]
[Footnote 919: The Chaonian bird. --Ver. 150.
Chaonia was a district of
Epirus, said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan. Dodona was in
Epirus, and in its forests were said to be doves that had the gift of
prophecy. See the Translation of the Metamorphoses pp. 467-8. ]
[Footnote 920: Resort to law. --Ver. 151. He means to say 'let man and
wife be always thinking about resorting to law to procure a divorce. ']
[Footnote 921: 1 gave verses. --Ver. 166. He intends a pun here. 'Verba
dare' is 'to deceive,' but literally it means 'to give words. ' See the
Amores, book i. El. viii. 1. 57. ]
[Footnote 922: Atalanta of Nonacris. --Ver. 185. See the Amores, Book
iii. El. ii. 29, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 923: Bow of Hylceus. --Ver. 191. Hylaeus and Rhaecus were
Centaurs, who were pierced by Atalanta with her arrows, for making an
attempt on her chastity. He alludes to the bow of Cupid in the next
line. ]
[Footnote 924: The ivory cubes. '--Ver. 203. He alludes to throws of the
'tali' and 'tessera,' which were different kinds of dice. See the Note
to 1. Footnote 471: of the Second Book of the Tristia. In this line he
seems to mean the 'tessera,' which were similar to our dice, while the
'tali,' which he next mentions, had only four flat surfaces, being
made in imitation of the knuckle-bones of animals, and having two
sides uneven and rounded. The dice were thrown on a table, made for
the purpose, with an elevated rim. Some throws, like our doublets, are
supposed to have counted for more than the number turned up. The most
fortunate throw was called 'Venus. ' or 'Venereus jactus'; it is thought
to have consisted of a combination, making fourteen, the dice presenting
different numbers. Games with dice were only sanctioned by law as a
pastime during meals. ]
[Footnote 925: Make bad moves. --Ver. 204. 'Dare jacta' means 'to move
the throws,' in allusion to the game of 'duodecim scripta,' or 'twelve
points,' which was played with counters moved according to the throws
of the dice, probably in a manner not unlike our game of backgammon. The
hoard was marked with twelve lines, on which the pieces moved. ]
[Footnote 926: Or if you are throwing. --Ver. 205. By the use of the word
'seu, or,' we must suppose that he has, under the word 'numeri,' alluded
to the game with the 'tesserae,' or six-sided dice. ]
[Footnote 927: The game that imitates. --Ver. 207. He here alludes to the
'ludus latrunculorum,' literally 'the game of theft,' which is supposed
to have been somewhat similar to our chess. He refers to its name in the
words, 'latrocinii sub imagine. ' The game was supposed to imitate the
furtive stratagems of warfare: hence the men, which were usually styled
'calculi,' were also called by the name of 'latrones,' 'latrunculi,'
'milites,' 'bella-tores,' 'thieves,' 'little thieves,' 'soldiers,'
'warriors. ' As we see by the next line, they were usually made of glass,
though sometimes more costly materials were employed. The skill of
this game consisted either in taking the pieces of the adversary, or
rendering them unable to move. The first was done when the adversary's
piece was brought by the other between two of his own. See the Tristia,
Book ii. 1. 477. The second took place when the pieces were 'ligati,'
or 'ad incitas redacti,' brought upon the last line and unable to move.
White and red are supposed to have been the colour of the men. This game
was much played by the Roman ladies and nobles. ]
[Footnote 928: Hold the screen. --Ver. 209. The ancients used
'umbracula,' or screens against the weather (resembling our umbrellas),
which the Greeks called --------. They were used generally for the
same purposes as our parasols, a protection against the heat of the sun.
They seem not to have been in general carried by the ladies themselves,
but by female slaves, who held them over their mistresses. See the
Fasti, Book ii. 1. 209. These screens, or umbrellas, were much used by
the Roman ladies in the amphitheatre, to protect them from sun and rain,
when the 'velarium,' or awning, was not extended. ]
[Footnote 929: Tasteful couch. '--Ver. 211. This was probably the
'triclinium' on which they reposed at meals. The shoes were taken off
before reclining on it. Female slaves did this office for the ladies,
and males for the men. ]
[Footnote 930: Looking-glass. --Ver. 216. These were generally held by
female slaves, when used by their mistresses. See the Metamorphoses,
Book iv. 1. 349. and the Note. ]
[Footnote 931: Held the work-basket. --Ver. 219. Hercules, who Wiled the
serpents sent by Juno, is reproached for doing this, by Deianira in her
Epistle. ]
[Footnote 932: As though a servant. --Ver. 228. He is to be ready, if his
mistress goes to a party, to act the part of the slave, who was called
'adversitor,' whose duty it was to escort his master home in the
evening, if it was dark, with a lighted torch. ]
[Footnote 933: A vehicle. --Ver. 230. 'Rota,' a wheel, is, by Synecdoche,
used to signify 'a vehicle. ']
[Footnote 934: Cynthius. --Ver. 240. See the Note to line 51, of the
Epistle from Aenone to Paris. ]
[Footnote 935: Through the open roof. --Ver. 245. He gives a somewhat
hazardous piece of advice here; as he instructs him to obtain admission
by climbing up the wall, and getting in at the skylight, which extended
over the 'atrium,' or 'court,' a room which occupied the middle of
the house. The Roman houses had, in general, but one story over the
ground-floor. ]
[Footnote 936: The high window. --Ver. 246. This passage may be
illustrated by the Note to 1. 752: of Book xiv. of the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 937: Day on which. --Ver. 257. He alluded to a festival
celebrated by the servants, on the Caprotine Nones, the seventh of
July, when they sacrificed to 'Juno Caprotina. ' Macrobius says that the
servants sacrificed to Juno under a wild fig-tree (called 'caprificus'),
in memory of the service done by the female slaves, in exposing
themselves to the lust ot the enemy, for the public welfare. The Gauls
being driven from the city, the neighbouring nations chose the Dictator
of the Fidenates for their chief, and, marching to Rome, demanded of the
Senate, that if they would save their city, they should send out to them
their wives and daughters The Senate, knowing their own weakness, were
much perplexed, when a handmaid, named 'Tutela,' or 'Philotis,'
offered, with some others, to go out to the enemy in disguise. Being,
accordingly, dressed like free women, they repaired in tears to the camp
of the enemy. They soon induced their new acquaintances to drink, on
the pretence that they were bound to consider the day as a festival;
and when intoxicated, a signal was giver, from a fig tree near, that the
Romans should fall on them. The camp of the enemy was assailed, and most
of them were slain. In return for their service, the female, slaves were
made free, and received marriage portion? at the public expense. Another
account, agreeing with the present passage, says, that the Gauls were
the enemy who made the demand, and that Retana was the name of the
female slave. ]
[Footnote 938: The lower classes. --Ver. 259. Witness his own appeals in
the Amores to Nape, Cypassis. Bagous, and the porter. ]
[Footnote 939: In the Sacred Street. '--Ver. 266. Presents of game and
trout very often follow a similar devolution at the present day. ]
[Footnote 940: Amaryllis was so fond of. --Ver. 267. He alludes to a
line of Virgil, which, doubtless, was then well known to all persons
of education. It occurs in the Eclogues: 'Castaneasque nuces, mea quas
Amaryllis amabat. ' 'Chesnuts, too, which my Amaryllis was so fond of. '
In the next line, he hints that the damsels of his day were too greedy
to be satisfied with chesnuts only. ]
[Footnote 941: Thrush and a pigeon. --Ver. 269. Probably live birds of
the kind are here alluded to; Pliny tells us that they were trained to
imitate the human voice. Thrushes were much esteemed as a delicacy for
the table. They were sold tied up in clusters, in the shape of a crown. ]
[Footnote 942: By these means. --Ver. 271. He alludes to those who
continued to slip into dead men's shoes, by making trifling presents of
niceties. Juvenal inveighs against this practice. ]
[Footnote 943: Poetry does not. --Ver. 274. See the remarks of Dipsas in
the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 57. ]
[Footnote 944: Only rich. --Ver. 276. See the Amores, Book iii. El. ii. ]
[Footnote 945: Tyrian hue. --Ver. 297. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 107,
and the Note. ]
[Footnote 946: Of Cos--Ver. 298. See the Epistles of Sabinus, Ep. iii.
1. 45, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 947: A dress of felt. --Ver. 300. 'Gausape,' 'gausapa,' or
'gausapum,' was a kind of thick woolly cloth, which had a long nap on
one side. It was used to cover tables and beds, and as a protection
against wind and rain. It was worn both by males and females, and came
into use among the Romans about the time of Augustus. ]
[Footnote 948: You are setting me on fire. --Ver. 301. Burmanu deservedly
censures the explanation of 'moves incendia,' given by Crispinus,
the Delphin Editor, 'Vous mourrez de chaud,' 'You will die of heat,'
applying the observation to the lady, and not, figuratively, to the
feelings of her lover. ]
[Footnote 949: Her very embraces. --Ver. 308. The common reading of this
line is clearly corrupt; probably the reading is the one here adopted,
'Et un dat, gaudia, voce proba. ']
[Footnote 950: What advice--Ver. 368. These attempts at argument are
exhausted by Paris, in his Epistle to Helen. ]
[Footnote 952: Stinging-nettle. --Ver.
