Suidas says, that
Stesichorus composed thirty, six books of Poems.
Stesichorus composed thirty, six books of Poems.
Ovid - Art of Love
He was much venerated by the
warlike Thracians. ]
[Footnote 972: Paphos. --Ver. 588. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. 1.
298. ]
[Footnote 973: Fire and water render. --Ver. 598. Among the Romans, when
the bride reached her husband's house, he received her with fire and
water, which it was the custom for her to touch. This is, by some,
supposed to have been symbolical of purification; or it was an
expression of welcome, as the interdiction of fire and water was the
formula for banishment. ]
[Footnote 974: My sallies. --Ver. 600. See Book L 1. 31, and the Note.
See also the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 866, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 975: The rites of Ceres. --Ver. 601. He alludes to the
mysterious rites of Ceres, in the island of Samothrace. ]
[Footnote 976: Not enclosed in chests. --Ver. 609. Certain chests were
carried in the procession at the festival of Ceres, the contents of
which, if there were any, was a mystery to the uninitiated. ]
[Footnote 977: The left hand. --Ver. 614. This is the attitude of the
Venus de Medicis. ]
[Footnote 978: At a heavy price. --Ver. 626. Men spend their money on
debauchery, only for the pleasure of talking of it. ]
[Footnote 979: Waving wings. --Ver. 644. He refers to Perseus admiring
the swarthy Andromeda. ]
[Footnote 980: Of larger stature. --Ver. 645. She was remarkable for her
height. ]
[Footnote 981: Green bark. --Ver. 639. He speaks of the slip engrafted in
the stock. ]
[Footnote 982: What Consulship. --Ver. 663. The age of persons was
reckoned by naming the Consulship in which they were born; the period
of which was Known by reference to the 'Fasti Consulares. ' See the
Introduction to the Fasti. ]
[Footnote 983: Rigid Censor. --Ver. 664. It was the duty of the Censor to
make enquiries into the age of all individuals. ]
[Footnote 984: Best years. --Ver. 666. Even in those days, it was
considered ungallant to make too scrutinizing enquiries into the years
of ladies of 'a certain age. ']
[Footnote 985: Kind of warfare. --Ver. 674. See the Amores, Book i. El.
ix. 1. 1. ]
[Footnote 986: Besides in these. --Ver. 675. In reference to females of a
more advanced age. ]
[Footnote 987: Seven times five years. --Ver. 694. He probably means,
in this passage, a lustrum of five years. Burmann justly observes, that
'cito,' 'quickly,' or 'soon,' can hardly be the proper reading, as it
seems to contradict the meaning of the context. He suggests 'nisi,'
meaning 'but,' or 'only. ' See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 166, and the Note.
Also the Tristia, Book iv. El. xvi. 1. 78. ]
[Footnote 988: Stored up in the times. --Ver. 696. He uses this
metaphorical expression to signify that he admires females when of
a ripe and mature age See the Amores, Book ii. El. v. 1. 54, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 989: The shooting grass. --Ver. 698. In Nisard's translation,
the words 'prata novella' are rendered 'l'herbe nouvellement coupee,'
'the grass newly cut. ' This is not the meaning of the passage. He
intends to say that the grass just shooting up is apt to cut or prick
the naked foot. ]
[Footnote 990: Hermione. --Ver. 699. She was the daughter of Helen and
Menelaus. ]
[Footnote 991: Gorge. --Ver. 700. She was the daughter of Altnea, and
sister of Meleager. She married Andraemon. ]
[Footnote 992: Podalirius. --Ver. 735. The brother of Machaon. See the
Tristia Book v. El. xiii. 1. 32. ]
[Footnote 993: Calchas. --Ver. 737. See the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 994: Automeden. --Ver. 738. The son of Diores. He was the
charioted of Achilles. ]
[Footnote 995: Upon his spoil--Ver. 744. It was the custom to write
inscriptions on the spoil. See the Notes to the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 663. ]
FOOTNOTES OF BOOK THE THIRD
[Footnote 1001: Penthesilea. '--Ver. 2. See the 21st Epistle, 1. 118, and
the Note. ]
[Footnote 1002: Dione. --Ver. 3. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 461, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 1003: Son of Atreus. --Ver. 11. 'Helen was unfaithful to
Menelaus, while Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon. ]
[Footnote 1004: Son of Oeclus. --Ver. 13. See the Metamorphoses, Book
viii. 1. 317, ind the Note. ]
[Footnote 1005: From Phylace. --Ver. 17. See the Epistle of Laodamia to
Protesilaius. ]
[Footnote 1006: Son of Pheres. --Ver. 19. See the Pontic Epistles, Book
iii. El. i. L 106, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1007: And in place of--Ver. 20. See the 111th line of the same
Elegy, and the Note. Also the Tristia, Book v. El. xiv. 1. 38. ]
[Footnote 1008: My skiff. --Ver. 26. 'Cymba. ' See the Amores, Book iii.
El. vi. 1. 4, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1009: Another bride. --Ver. 34. Jason deserted Medea for
Creusa. ]
[Footnote 1010: Nine journies. --Ver. 37. See the Epistle of Phyllis to
Demophoon. ]
[Footnote 1011: Two treatises. --Ver. 47. His former books on the Art of
Love. ]
[Footnote 1012: Who before had uttered. --Ver. 49. He alludes to the Poet
Stesichorus, on whose lips a nightingale was said to have perched
and sung, when he was a child. Pliny relates that he wrote a poem,
inveighing bitterly against Helen, in which he called her the firebrand
of Troy, on which he was visited with blindness by her brothers, Castor
and Pollux, and did not recover his sight till he had recanted in
his Palinodia, which he composed in her praise.
Suidas says, that
Stesichorus composed thirty, six books of Poems. Helen was born at
Therapnae, a town of Laconia. ]
[Footnote 1013: Your own privileges. --Ver. 58. 'Sua' seems to mean the
privileges sanctioned and conceded by the law, probably to those females
who were in the number of the 'professae. ']
[Footnote 1014: No door. --Ver. 71. So Horace says, in his address to
Lydia, Book i. Ode i. 25; 'Less frequently do the wanton youths shake
your joined windows with many a blow, and no longer deprive thee of
sleep, and the door adheres to its threshold. ']
[Footnote 1015: Bestrewed with roses. --Ver. 72. See line 528: in the
last Book Lucretius speaks of the admirers of damsels anointing their
doors with M ointment made of sweet marjoram. ]
[Footnote 1016: Hermione. --Ver. 86. According to Hesiod, Venus was the
mother of three children by Mars, of whom Hermione was one. ]
[Footnote 1017: May take up again. --Ver. 96. This is not the proper
translation, of the passage; but the real meaning cannot be presented
with a due regard to decorum. ]
[Footnote 1018: I begin with dress. --Ver. 101. He plays upon the
different meanings of the word 'cultus'; which means either 'dress,' or
'cultivation,' according as it is applied, to persons or land. ]
[Footnote 1019: A great part. --Ver. 104. This is a more ungallant remark
than we should have expected Ovid to make. ]
[Footnote 1020: Of Phoebus. --Ver. 119. He alludes to the temple of
Apollo, on the Palatine Hill, where Augustus and Tiberius resided. ]
[Footnote 1021: And choice shells. --Ver. 124. He alludes to pearls which
grow in the shell of the pearl oyster, and are found in the Persian Gulf
and the Indian Ocean. ]
[Footnote 1022: By the moles. --Ver. 126. He alludes to the stupendous
moles which the Romans fabricated, as breakwaters, at their various
bathing-places on the coast of Italy. See the Odes of Horace, Book iii.
ode 1. ]
[Footnote 1023: Round features. --Ver. 139. See the Pontic Epistles, Book
iii Ep. iii. 1. 15, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1024: Figure of the tortoise. --Ver. 147. Salmasius thinks that
the 'galerus,' or 'wig of false hair,' is alluded to in this passage.
Others think that a coif or fillet of net-work is alluded to. He
probably means a mode of dressing the hair in the shape of a lyre, with
horns on each side projecting outwards. Mercury, the inventor of the
lyre, was born on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia. ]
[Footnote 1025: The waves. --Ver. 148. Juvenal mentions a mode of
dressing the hair to a great height by rows of false curls. ]
[Footnote 1026: The herbs from Germany. --Ver. 163. He alludes, probably,
to herbs brought from Germany, which were burnt for the purpose of
making a soap used in turning the hair of a blonde colour. See the
Amores, Book i. El. xiv. 1. 1, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1027: For money--Ver. 166. See 1. 45 of the above Elegy. ]
[Footnote 1028: The eyes of Hercules. --Ver. 168. He means that the
wig-makers']
shops were in the neighbourhood of the Temple of Hercules Musagetes, in
the Flaminian Circus. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 801. ]
[Footnote 1029: Gold flounces. --Ver. 169. 'Segmenta' are probably broad
flounces to the dresses inlaid with plates of gold, or gold threads
embroidered on them. ]
[Footnote 1030: On one's person. --Ver. 127. Like our expression, 'To
carry a fortune on one's back. ']
[Footnote 1031: That art said. --Ver. 175. He refers to the colour of
the Ram with the Golden Fleece, that bore Helle and Phryxus over the
Hellespont. ]
[Footnote 1032: Resembles the waves. --Ver. 177. He evidently alluded
to dresses which resemble the surface of the waves, and which we term
'watered'; and which the Romans called 'undulatae,' from 'unda,' a
'wave. ' Varro makes mention of 'undulatae togae. ' Some Commentators,
however, fancy that he alludes here to colour, meaning 'glaucus,' or
'sea-green,' which Lucretius also calls ' thalassinus. ']
[Footnote 1033: Amaryllis. --Ver. 183. See the last Book, 1. 267, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 1034: And wax. --Ver. 184. Plautus mentions the 'Carinarii,'
who dyed garments of a waxen, or yellow colour]
[Footnote 1035: Seriphos. --Ver. 192. See the Metamorphoses, Book v. 1.
242, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1036: Shocking goat. --Ver. 193. See the Note to 1. 522: of
the First Book. ]
[Footnote 1037: Application of wax. --Ver. 199. Wax is certainly used as
a cosmetic, but 'creta' seems to be a preferable reading, as chalk in
a powdered state was much used for adding to the fairness of the
complexion. Ovid would hardly recommend a cosmetic of so highly
injurious a tendency as melted wax. ]
[Footnote 1038: The eye-brows. --Ver. 201. We learn from Juvenal, that
the colour of them was heightened by punctures with a needle being
filled with soot. ]
[Footnote 1039: And the little patch. --Ver. 202. 'Aluta' means 'skin
made soft by means of alum. ' It is difficult to discover what it means
here, whether 'a patch' made of a substance like gold-beater's skin,
somewhat similar to those used in the days of the Spectator; or a
liquid cosmetic, such as Pliny calls 'calliblepharum,' 'an aid to the
eye-brows. ' He seems to use the word 'sinceras' in its primitive sense,
'without wax'; which recommendation certainly would contradict the
common reading, 'cera,' in the 199th line. ]
[Footnote 1040: To mark the eyes. --Ver. 203. To heighten the colour
of the eyelashes, ashes (and probably charcoal) were u>>ed by the
Roman women. Saffron also was used. A black paint, made of pulverized
antimony, is used by the women in the East, at the present day, to paint
their eyebrows black. It is called 'surme,' and was also used at ancient
Rome. Cydnus was a river of Cilicia. ]
[Footnote 1041: A little treatise. --Ver. 205. He alludes to his book,
'On the care of the Complexion,' of which a fragment remains. ]
[Footnote 1042: Of the cesypum. --Ver. 213. The filthy cosmetic called
'cesypum,']
was prepared from the wool of those parts of the body where the sheep
perspired most; it was much used for embellishing the complexion. Pliny
mentions the sheep of Athens as producing the best. It had a strong rank
smell. The red colour, which was used by the Roman ladies for giving a
bloom to the skin, was prepared from a moss called 'fucus'; from which,
in time, all kinds of paint received the name of 'fucus. ']
[Footnote 1043: Of the deer. --Ver. 215. Pliny speaks highly of the
virtues of stag's marrow. It probably occupied much the same position in
estimation, that bear's grease does at the present day. ]
[Footnote 1044: Myron. --Ver. 219. There were two sculptors of this name:
one a native of Lycia, the other of Eleuthera. ]
[Footnote 1045: Beautiful statue. --Ver. 223. He alludes to that of Venus
Anadyomene, or rising from the sea, which was made by Praxiteles, and
was often copied by the sculptors of Greece and Rome. ]
[Footnote 1046: Pierces her arms. --Ver. 240. See a similar passage in
the Amores. Book i. El. xiv. 1. 16. ]
[Footnote 1047: Toilet in the temple. --Ver. 244. He tells those who have
not fine heads of hair, to be as careful in admitting any men to see
their toilet, as the devotees of Bona Dea were to keep away all males
from her solemnities. ]
[Footnote 1048: Sidonian fair. --Ver. 252. Europa was a Phoenician by
birth. ]
[Footnote 1049: With the clothes. --Ver. 226. See the Amores, Book i. El.
iv. 1. 48, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1050: With purple stripes. '--Ver. 269. Commentators are at
a loss to know what 'tingere virgis' means; some suggest, 'to wear
garments with red 'virgae,' or 'stripes,'while others think that it means
'to tint the skin with fine lines of a purple colour. ' It is thought by
some that vermilion is here alluded to, while others suppose that the
juice of the red flowers, or berries of the 'vaccinium,' is meant. ]
[Footnote 1051: The Pharian fish. --Ver. 270. The intestines and dung of
the crocodile, 'the Pharian' or 'Egyptian fish,' are here referred to.
warlike Thracians. ]
[Footnote 972: Paphos. --Ver. 588. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. 1.
298. ]
[Footnote 973: Fire and water render. --Ver. 598. Among the Romans, when
the bride reached her husband's house, he received her with fire and
water, which it was the custom for her to touch. This is, by some,
supposed to have been symbolical of purification; or it was an
expression of welcome, as the interdiction of fire and water was the
formula for banishment. ]
[Footnote 974: My sallies. --Ver. 600. See Book L 1. 31, and the Note.
See also the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 866, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 975: The rites of Ceres. --Ver. 601. He alludes to the
mysterious rites of Ceres, in the island of Samothrace. ]
[Footnote 976: Not enclosed in chests. --Ver. 609. Certain chests were
carried in the procession at the festival of Ceres, the contents of
which, if there were any, was a mystery to the uninitiated. ]
[Footnote 977: The left hand. --Ver. 614. This is the attitude of the
Venus de Medicis. ]
[Footnote 978: At a heavy price. --Ver. 626. Men spend their money on
debauchery, only for the pleasure of talking of it. ]
[Footnote 979: Waving wings. --Ver. 644. He refers to Perseus admiring
the swarthy Andromeda. ]
[Footnote 980: Of larger stature. --Ver. 645. She was remarkable for her
height. ]
[Footnote 981: Green bark. --Ver. 639. He speaks of the slip engrafted in
the stock. ]
[Footnote 982: What Consulship. --Ver. 663. The age of persons was
reckoned by naming the Consulship in which they were born; the period
of which was Known by reference to the 'Fasti Consulares. ' See the
Introduction to the Fasti. ]
[Footnote 983: Rigid Censor. --Ver. 664. It was the duty of the Censor to
make enquiries into the age of all individuals. ]
[Footnote 984: Best years. --Ver. 666. Even in those days, it was
considered ungallant to make too scrutinizing enquiries into the years
of ladies of 'a certain age. ']
[Footnote 985: Kind of warfare. --Ver. 674. See the Amores, Book i. El.
ix. 1. 1. ]
[Footnote 986: Besides in these. --Ver. 675. In reference to females of a
more advanced age. ]
[Footnote 987: Seven times five years. --Ver. 694. He probably means,
in this passage, a lustrum of five years. Burmann justly observes, that
'cito,' 'quickly,' or 'soon,' can hardly be the proper reading, as it
seems to contradict the meaning of the context. He suggests 'nisi,'
meaning 'but,' or 'only. ' See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 166, and the Note.
Also the Tristia, Book iv. El. xvi. 1. 78. ]
[Footnote 988: Stored up in the times. --Ver. 696. He uses this
metaphorical expression to signify that he admires females when of
a ripe and mature age See the Amores, Book ii. El. v. 1. 54, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 989: The shooting grass. --Ver. 698. In Nisard's translation,
the words 'prata novella' are rendered 'l'herbe nouvellement coupee,'
'the grass newly cut. ' This is not the meaning of the passage. He
intends to say that the grass just shooting up is apt to cut or prick
the naked foot. ]
[Footnote 990: Hermione. --Ver. 699. She was the daughter of Helen and
Menelaus. ]
[Footnote 991: Gorge. --Ver. 700. She was the daughter of Altnea, and
sister of Meleager. She married Andraemon. ]
[Footnote 992: Podalirius. --Ver. 735. The brother of Machaon. See the
Tristia Book v. El. xiii. 1. 32. ]
[Footnote 993: Calchas. --Ver. 737. See the Metamorphoses. ]
[Footnote 994: Automeden. --Ver. 738. The son of Diores. He was the
charioted of Achilles. ]
[Footnote 995: Upon his spoil--Ver. 744. It was the custom to write
inscriptions on the spoil. See the Notes to the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 663. ]
FOOTNOTES OF BOOK THE THIRD
[Footnote 1001: Penthesilea. '--Ver. 2. See the 21st Epistle, 1. 118, and
the Note. ]
[Footnote 1002: Dione. --Ver. 3. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 461, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 1003: Son of Atreus. --Ver. 11. 'Helen was unfaithful to
Menelaus, while Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon. ]
[Footnote 1004: Son of Oeclus. --Ver. 13. See the Metamorphoses, Book
viii. 1. 317, ind the Note. ]
[Footnote 1005: From Phylace. --Ver. 17. See the Epistle of Laodamia to
Protesilaius. ]
[Footnote 1006: Son of Pheres. --Ver. 19. See the Pontic Epistles, Book
iii. El. i. L 106, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1007: And in place of--Ver. 20. See the 111th line of the same
Elegy, and the Note. Also the Tristia, Book v. El. xiv. 1. 38. ]
[Footnote 1008: My skiff. --Ver. 26. 'Cymba. ' See the Amores, Book iii.
El. vi. 1. 4, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1009: Another bride. --Ver. 34. Jason deserted Medea for
Creusa. ]
[Footnote 1010: Nine journies. --Ver. 37. See the Epistle of Phyllis to
Demophoon. ]
[Footnote 1011: Two treatises. --Ver. 47. His former books on the Art of
Love. ]
[Footnote 1012: Who before had uttered. --Ver. 49. He alludes to the Poet
Stesichorus, on whose lips a nightingale was said to have perched
and sung, when he was a child. Pliny relates that he wrote a poem,
inveighing bitterly against Helen, in which he called her the firebrand
of Troy, on which he was visited with blindness by her brothers, Castor
and Pollux, and did not recover his sight till he had recanted in
his Palinodia, which he composed in her praise.
Suidas says, that
Stesichorus composed thirty, six books of Poems. Helen was born at
Therapnae, a town of Laconia. ]
[Footnote 1013: Your own privileges. --Ver. 58. 'Sua' seems to mean the
privileges sanctioned and conceded by the law, probably to those females
who were in the number of the 'professae. ']
[Footnote 1014: No door. --Ver. 71. So Horace says, in his address to
Lydia, Book i. Ode i. 25; 'Less frequently do the wanton youths shake
your joined windows with many a blow, and no longer deprive thee of
sleep, and the door adheres to its threshold. ']
[Footnote 1015: Bestrewed with roses. --Ver. 72. See line 528: in the
last Book Lucretius speaks of the admirers of damsels anointing their
doors with M ointment made of sweet marjoram. ]
[Footnote 1016: Hermione. --Ver. 86. According to Hesiod, Venus was the
mother of three children by Mars, of whom Hermione was one. ]
[Footnote 1017: May take up again. --Ver. 96. This is not the proper
translation, of the passage; but the real meaning cannot be presented
with a due regard to decorum. ]
[Footnote 1018: I begin with dress. --Ver. 101. He plays upon the
different meanings of the word 'cultus'; which means either 'dress,' or
'cultivation,' according as it is applied, to persons or land. ]
[Footnote 1019: A great part. --Ver. 104. This is a more ungallant remark
than we should have expected Ovid to make. ]
[Footnote 1020: Of Phoebus. --Ver. 119. He alludes to the temple of
Apollo, on the Palatine Hill, where Augustus and Tiberius resided. ]
[Footnote 1021: And choice shells. --Ver. 124. He alludes to pearls which
grow in the shell of the pearl oyster, and are found in the Persian Gulf
and the Indian Ocean. ]
[Footnote 1022: By the moles. --Ver. 126. He alludes to the stupendous
moles which the Romans fabricated, as breakwaters, at their various
bathing-places on the coast of Italy. See the Odes of Horace, Book iii.
ode 1. ]
[Footnote 1023: Round features. --Ver. 139. See the Pontic Epistles, Book
iii Ep. iii. 1. 15, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1024: Figure of the tortoise. --Ver. 147. Salmasius thinks that
the 'galerus,' or 'wig of false hair,' is alluded to in this passage.
Others think that a coif or fillet of net-work is alluded to. He
probably means a mode of dressing the hair in the shape of a lyre, with
horns on each side projecting outwards. Mercury, the inventor of the
lyre, was born on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia. ]
[Footnote 1025: The waves. --Ver. 148. Juvenal mentions a mode of
dressing the hair to a great height by rows of false curls. ]
[Footnote 1026: The herbs from Germany. --Ver. 163. He alludes, probably,
to herbs brought from Germany, which were burnt for the purpose of
making a soap used in turning the hair of a blonde colour. See the
Amores, Book i. El. xiv. 1. 1, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1027: For money--Ver. 166. See 1. 45 of the above Elegy. ]
[Footnote 1028: The eyes of Hercules. --Ver. 168. He means that the
wig-makers']
shops were in the neighbourhood of the Temple of Hercules Musagetes, in
the Flaminian Circus. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 801. ]
[Footnote 1029: Gold flounces. --Ver. 169. 'Segmenta' are probably broad
flounces to the dresses inlaid with plates of gold, or gold threads
embroidered on them. ]
[Footnote 1030: On one's person. --Ver. 127. Like our expression, 'To
carry a fortune on one's back. ']
[Footnote 1031: That art said. --Ver. 175. He refers to the colour of
the Ram with the Golden Fleece, that bore Helle and Phryxus over the
Hellespont. ]
[Footnote 1032: Resembles the waves. --Ver. 177. He evidently alluded
to dresses which resemble the surface of the waves, and which we term
'watered'; and which the Romans called 'undulatae,' from 'unda,' a
'wave. ' Varro makes mention of 'undulatae togae. ' Some Commentators,
however, fancy that he alludes here to colour, meaning 'glaucus,' or
'sea-green,' which Lucretius also calls ' thalassinus. ']
[Footnote 1033: Amaryllis. --Ver. 183. See the last Book, 1. 267, and the
Note. ]
[Footnote 1034: And wax. --Ver. 184. Plautus mentions the 'Carinarii,'
who dyed garments of a waxen, or yellow colour]
[Footnote 1035: Seriphos. --Ver. 192. See the Metamorphoses, Book v. 1.
242, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1036: Shocking goat. --Ver. 193. See the Note to 1. 522: of
the First Book. ]
[Footnote 1037: Application of wax. --Ver. 199. Wax is certainly used as
a cosmetic, but 'creta' seems to be a preferable reading, as chalk in
a powdered state was much used for adding to the fairness of the
complexion. Ovid would hardly recommend a cosmetic of so highly
injurious a tendency as melted wax. ]
[Footnote 1038: The eye-brows. --Ver. 201. We learn from Juvenal, that
the colour of them was heightened by punctures with a needle being
filled with soot. ]
[Footnote 1039: And the little patch. --Ver. 202. 'Aluta' means 'skin
made soft by means of alum. ' It is difficult to discover what it means
here, whether 'a patch' made of a substance like gold-beater's skin,
somewhat similar to those used in the days of the Spectator; or a
liquid cosmetic, such as Pliny calls 'calliblepharum,' 'an aid to the
eye-brows. ' He seems to use the word 'sinceras' in its primitive sense,
'without wax'; which recommendation certainly would contradict the
common reading, 'cera,' in the 199th line. ]
[Footnote 1040: To mark the eyes. --Ver. 203. To heighten the colour
of the eyelashes, ashes (and probably charcoal) were u>>ed by the
Roman women. Saffron also was used. A black paint, made of pulverized
antimony, is used by the women in the East, at the present day, to paint
their eyebrows black. It is called 'surme,' and was also used at ancient
Rome. Cydnus was a river of Cilicia. ]
[Footnote 1041: A little treatise. --Ver. 205. He alludes to his book,
'On the care of the Complexion,' of which a fragment remains. ]
[Footnote 1042: Of the cesypum. --Ver. 213. The filthy cosmetic called
'cesypum,']
was prepared from the wool of those parts of the body where the sheep
perspired most; it was much used for embellishing the complexion. Pliny
mentions the sheep of Athens as producing the best. It had a strong rank
smell. The red colour, which was used by the Roman ladies for giving a
bloom to the skin, was prepared from a moss called 'fucus'; from which,
in time, all kinds of paint received the name of 'fucus. ']
[Footnote 1043: Of the deer. --Ver. 215. Pliny speaks highly of the
virtues of stag's marrow. It probably occupied much the same position in
estimation, that bear's grease does at the present day. ]
[Footnote 1044: Myron. --Ver. 219. There were two sculptors of this name:
one a native of Lycia, the other of Eleuthera. ]
[Footnote 1045: Beautiful statue. --Ver. 223. He alludes to that of Venus
Anadyomene, or rising from the sea, which was made by Praxiteles, and
was often copied by the sculptors of Greece and Rome. ]
[Footnote 1046: Pierces her arms. --Ver. 240. See a similar passage in
the Amores. Book i. El. xiv. 1. 16. ]
[Footnote 1047: Toilet in the temple. --Ver. 244. He tells those who have
not fine heads of hair, to be as careful in admitting any men to see
their toilet, as the devotees of Bona Dea were to keep away all males
from her solemnities. ]
[Footnote 1048: Sidonian fair. --Ver. 252. Europa was a Phoenician by
birth. ]
[Footnote 1049: With the clothes. --Ver. 226. See the Amores, Book i. El.
iv. 1. 48, and the Note. ]
[Footnote 1050: With purple stripes. '--Ver. 269. Commentators are at
a loss to know what 'tingere virgis' means; some suggest, 'to wear
garments with red 'virgae,' or 'stripes,'while others think that it means
'to tint the skin with fine lines of a purple colour. ' It is thought by
some that vermilion is here alluded to, while others suppose that the
juice of the red flowers, or berries of the 'vaccinium,' is meant. ]
[Footnote 1051: The Pharian fish. --Ver. 270. The intestines and dung of
the crocodile, 'the Pharian' or 'Egyptian fish,' are here referred to.
