Upon this exhortation, as each of them is affectionate, she becomes especially undutiful, and that she may not be wicked, she commits wickedness. Yet not one is able to look upon her own blow; and they turn away their eyes, and turning away their faces, they deal chance blows with their cruel right hands. He, streaming with gore, yet raises his limbs on his elbows, and, half-mangled, attempts to rise from the couch; and in the midst of so many swords stretching forth his pale arms, he says, "What are you doing, my daughters? What arms you against the life of your parent?" Their courage and their hands fail {them}. As he is about to say more, the Colchian severs his throat, together with his words, and plunges him, {thus} mangled, in the boiling cauldron.

[Footnote 20: Of the triple form.—Ver. 177. Hecate, the Goddess of enchantment.]

[Footnote 21: With bare feet.—Ver. 183. To have the feet bare was esteemed requisite for the due performance of magic rites, though sometimes on such occasions, and probably in the present instance, only one foot was left unshod. In times of drought, according to Tertullian, a procession and ceremonial, called 'nudipedalia,' were resorted to, with a view to propitiate the Gods by this token of grief and humiliation.]

[Footnote 22: Three-faced Hecate.—Ver. 194. Though Hecate and the Moon are here mentioned as distinct, they are frequently considered to have been the same Deity, with different attributes. The three heads with which Hecate was represented were those of a horse, a dog, and a pig, or sometimes, in the place of the latter, a human head.]

[Footnote 23: Temesaean.—Ver. 207. Temesa was a town of the Brutii, on the coast of Etruria, famous for its copper mines. It was also sometimes called Tempsa. There was also another Temesa, a city of Cyprus, also famous for its copper.]

[Footnote 24: Chalky regions.—Ver. 223. Such was the characteristic of the mountainous country of Thessaly, where she now alighted.]

[Footnote 25: Brazen sickle.—Ver. 227. We learn from Macrobius and Caelius Rhodiginus that copper was preferred to iron in cutting herbs for the purposes of enchantment, in exorcising spirits, and in aiding the moon in eclipses against the supposed charms of the witches, because it was supposed to be a purer metal.]

[Footnote 26: Apidanus.—Ver. 228. This and Amphrysus were rivers of Thessaly.]

[Footnote 27: Shores of Boebe.—Ver. 231. Strabo makes mention of lake Boebeis, near the town of Boebe, in Thessaly. It was not far from the mouth of the river Peneus.]

[Footnote 28: Anthedon.—Ver. 232. This was a town of Boeotia, opposite to Euboea, being situated on the Euripus, now called the straits of Negropont.]

[Footnote 29: Glaucus.—Ver. 233. He was a fisherman, who was changed into a sea God, on tasting a certain herb. His story is related at the end of the 13th Book.]

[Footnote 30: Ninth day.—Ver. 234. The numbers three and nine seem to have been deemed of especial virtue in incantations.]

[Footnote 31: One to youth.—Ver. 241. This goddess was also called Hebe, from the Greek word signifying youth. She was the daughter of Juno, and the wife of Hercules. She was also the cup-bearer of the Gods, until she was supplanted by Ganymede.]

[Footnote 32: Goblets.—Ver. 246. 'Carchesia.' The 'carchesium' was a kind of drinking cup, used by the Greeks from very early times. It was slightly contracted in the middle, and its two handles extended from the top to the bottom. It was employed in the worship of the Deities, and was used for libations of blood, wine, milk, and honey. Macrobius says that it was only used by the Greeks. Virgil makes mention of it as used to hold wine.]

[Footnote 33: King of the shades.—Ver. 249. Pluto and Proserpine. Clarke translates this line and the next, 'And prays to the king of shades with his kidnapped wife, that they would not be too forward to deprive the limbs of the old gentleman of life.']

[Footnote 34: Thrice does she.—Ver. 261. Clarke thus renders this and the two following lines: 'And purifies the old gentleman three times with flame, three times with water, and three times with sulphur. In the meantime the strong medicine boils, and bounces about in a brazen kettle set on the fire.']

[Footnote 35: The potent mixture.—Ver. 262. This reminds us of the line of Shakespeare in Macbeth, 'Make the hell-broth thick and slab.']

[Footnote 36: A screech owl.—Ver. 269. 'Strigis.' The 'strix' is supposed to have been the screech owl, and was a favorite bird with the enchanters, who were supposed to have the power of assuming that form. From the description given of the 'striges' in the Sixth Book of the Fasti, it would almost appear that the qualities of the vampyre bat were attributed to them.]

[Footnote 37: Water snake.—Ver. 272. The 'chelydrus' was a venomous water-snake of a powerful and offensive smell. The Delphin Commentator seems to think that a kind of turtle is here meant.]

[Footnote 38: Long-lived stag.—Ver. 273. The stag was said to live four times, and the crow nine times, as long as man.]

[Footnote 39: Opened the throat.—Ver. 285-6. Clarke translates the words 'quod simul ac vidit, stricto Medea recludit Ense senis jugulum,' 'which as soon as Medea saw, she opens the throat of the old gentleman with a drawn sword.']

[Footnote 40: And his hair.—Ver. 288. Medea is thought by some writers not only to have discovered a dye for giving a dark color to grey hair, but to have found out the invigorating properties of the warm bath.]

[Footnote 41: To his nurses.—Ver. 295. These (in Book iii. l. 314.) he calls by the name of Nyseides; but in the Fifth Book of the Fasti they are styled Hyades, and are placed in the number of the Constellations. A commentator on Homer, quoting from Pherecydes, calls them 'Dodonides.']

[Footnote 42: Daughter of AEetes.—Ver. 296. The reading in most of the MSS. here is Tetheia, or 'Thetide;' but Burmann has replaced it by AEetide, 'the daughter of AEetes.' It has been justly remarked, why should Bacchus apply to Tethys to have the age of the Nymphs, who had nursed him, renewed, when he had just beheld Medea, and not Tethys, do it in favor of AEson?]

[Footnote 43: That her arts.—Ver. 297. 'Neve doli cessent' is translated by Clarke, 'and that her tricks might not cease.']

[Footnote 44: Pelias.—Ver. 298. He was the brother of AEson, and had dethroned him, and usurped his kingdom.]

[Footnote 45: The Iberian sea.—Ver. 324. The Atlantic, or Western Ocean, is thus called from Iberia, the ancient name of Spain; which country, perhaps, was so called from the river Iberus, or Ebro, flowing through it.]

EXPLANATION.

The authors who have endeavored to explain the true meaning and origin of the story of the restitution of AEson to youth, are much divided in their opinions concerning it. Some think it refers to the mystery of reviving the decrepit and aged by the transfusion of youthful blood. It is, however, not improbable, that Medea obtained the reputation of being a sorceress, only because she had been taught by her mother the virtues of various plants: and that she administered a potion to AEson, which furnished him with new spirits and strength.

The daughters of Pelias being desirous to obtain the same favor of Medea for their father, she, to revenge the evils which he had brought upon her husband and his family, may possibly have mixed some venomous herbs in his drink, which immediately killed him.

FABLE III. [VII.350-401]

Medea, after having killed Pelias, goes through several countries to Corinth, where, finding that Jason, in her absence, has married the daughter of king Creon, she sets fire to the palace, whereby the princess and her father are consumed. She then murders the two children which she had by Jason, before his face, and takes to flight.

And unless she had mounted into the air with winged dragons, she would not have been exempt from punishment; she flies aloft, over both shady Pelion, the lofty habitation[46] of the son of Phillyra, and over Othrys, and the places noted for the fate of the ancient Cerambus.[47] He, by the aid of Nymphs, being lifted on wings into the air, when the ponderous earth was covered by the sea pouring over it, not being overwhelmed, escaped the flood of Deucalion. On the left side, she leaves the AEolian Pitane,[48] and the image of the long Dragon[49] made out of stone, and the wood of Ida,[50] in which Bacchus hid a stolen bullock beneath the appearance of a fictitious stag; {the spot} too, where the father of Corythus[51] lies buried beneath a little sand, and the fields which Maera[52] alarmed by her unusual barking.

The city, too, of Eurypylus,[53] in which the Coan matrons[54] wore horns, at the time when the herd of Hercules[55] departed {thence}; Phoebean Rhodes[56] also, and the Ialysian Telchines,[57] whose eyes[58] corrupting all things by the very looking upon them, Jupiter utterly hating, thrust beneath the waves of his brother. She passed, too, over the Cartheian walls of ancient Cea,[59] where her father Alcidamas[60] was destined to wonder that a gentle dove could arise from the body of his daughter.

After that, she beholds the lakes of Hyrie,[61] and Cycneian Tempe,[62] which the swan that had suddenly become such, frequented. For there Phyllius, at the request of the boy, had given him birds, and a fierce lion tamed; being ordered, too, to subdue a bull, he had subdued him; and being angry at his despising his love so often, he denied him, {when} begging the bull as his last reward. The other, indignant, said, "Thou shalt wish that thou hadst given it;" and {then} leaped from a high rock. All imagined he had fallen; but, transformed into a swan, he hovered in the air on snow-white wings. But his mother, Hyrie, not knowing that he was saved, dissolved in tears, and formed a lake {called} after her own name.

Adjacent to these {places} is Pleuron;[63] in which Combe,[64] the daughter of Ophis, escaped the wounds of her sons with trembling wings. After that, she sees the fields of Calaurea,[65] sacred to Latona, conscious of the transformation of their king, together with his wife, into birds. Cyllene is on the right hand, on which Menephron[66] was {one day} to lie with his mother, after the manner of savage beasts. Far hence she beholds Cephisus,[67] lamenting the fate of his grandson, changed by Apollo into a bloated sea-calf; and the house of Eumelus,[68] lamenting his son in the air.

At length, borne on the wings of her dragons, she reached the Pirenian Ephyre.[69] Here, those of ancient times promulgated that in the early ages mortal bodies were produced from mushrooms springing from rain. But after the new-made bride was consumed, through the Colchian drugs, and both seas beheld the king's house on fire, her wicked sword was bathed in the blood of her sons; and the mother, having {thus} barbarously revenged herself, fled from the arms of Jason. Being borne hence by her Titanian dragons,[70] she entered the city of Pallas, which saw thee, most righteous Phineus,[71] and thee, aged Periphas,[72] flying together, and the granddaughter of Polypemon[73] resting upon new-formed wings.

[Footnote 46: Lofty habitation.—Ver. 352. The mountains of Thessaly are so called, because Chiron, the son of the Nymph Phillyra, lived there.]

[Footnote 47: Cerambus.—Ver. 353. Antoninus Liberalis, quoting from Nicander, calls him Terambus, and says that he lived at the foot of Mount Pelion; he incurred the resentment of the Nymphs, who changed him into a scarabaeus, or winged beetle. Flying to the heights of Parnassus, at the time of the flood of Deucalion, he thereby made his escape. Some writers say that he was changed into a bird.]

[Footnote 48: Pitane.—Ver. 357. This was a town of AEtolia, in Asia Minor, near the mouth of the river Caicus.]

[Footnote 49: The long dragon.—Ver. 358. He alludes, most probably, to the story of the Lesbian changed into a dragon or serpent, which is mentioned in the Eleventh book, line 58.]

[Footnote 50: Wood of Ida.—Ver. 359. This was the grove of Ida, in Phrygia. It is supposed that he refers to the story of Thyoneus, the son of Bacchus, who, having stolen an ox from some Phrygian shepherds, was pursued by them; on which Bacchus, to screen his son, changed the ox into a stag, and invested Thyoneus with the garb of a hunter.]

[Footnote 51: Father of Corythus.—Ver. 361. Paris was the father of Corythus, by Oenone. He was said to have been buried at Cebrena, a little town of Phrygia, near Troy.]

[Footnote 52: Maera.—Ver. 362. This was the name of the dog of Icarius, the father of Erigone, who discovered the murder of his master by the shepherds of Attica, and was made a Constellation, under the name of the Dog-star. As, however, the flight of Medea was now far distant from Attica, it is more likely that the Poet refers to the transformation of some female, named Maera, into a dog, whose story has not come down to us; indeed, Lactantius expresses this as his opinion. Burmann thinks that it refers to the transformation of Hecuba, mentioned in the 13th book, line 406; and that 'Maera' is a corruption for some other name of Hecuba.]

[Footnote 53: Eurypylus.—Ver. 363. He was a former king of the Isle of Cos, in the AEgean Sea, and was much famed for his skill as an augur.]

[Footnote 54: The Coan matrons.—Ver. 363. Lactantius says that the women of Cos, extolling their own beauty as superior to that of Venus, incurred the resentment of that Goddess, and were changed by her into cows. Another version of the story is, that these women, being offended at Hercules for driving the oxen of AEgeon through their island, were very abusive, on which Juno transformed them into cows: to this latter version reference is made in the present passage.]

[Footnote 55: Hercules.—Ver. 364. He besieged and took the chief city of the island, which was also called Cos; and having slain Eurypylus, carried off his daughter Chalciope.]

[Footnote 56: Phoebean Rhodes.—Ver. 365. The island of Rhodes, in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Asia Minor, was sacred to the Sun, and was said never to be deserted by his rays.]

[Footnote 57: Ialysian Telchines.—Ver. 365. Ialysus was one of the three most ancient cities of Rhodes, and was said to have been founded by Ialysus, whose parent was the Sun. The Telchines, or Thelchines, were a race supposed to have migrated thither from Crete. They were persons of great artistic skill, on which account they may, possibly, have obtained the character of being magicians; such was the belief of Strabo.]

[Footnote 58: Whose eyes.—Ver. 366. The evil eye was supposed by the ancients not only to have certain fascinating powers, but to be able to destroy the beauty of any object on which it was turned.]

[Footnote 59: Cea.—Ver. 368. This island, now Zia, is in the AEgean sea, near Euboea. Carthaea was a city there, the ruins of which are still in existence.]

[Footnote 60: Alcidamas.—Ver. 369. Antoninus Liberalis says, that Alcidamas lived not at Carthaea, but at Iuelis, another city in the Isle of Cea.]

[Footnote 61: Lakes of Hyrie.—Ver. 371. Hyrie was the mother of Cycnus; and pining away with grief on the transformation of her son, she was changed into a lake, called by her name.]

[Footnote 62: Cycneian Tempe.—Ver. 371. This was not Thessalian Tempe, but a valley of Teumesia, or Teumesus, a mountain of Boeotia.]

[Footnote 63: Pleuron.—Ver. 382. This was a city of AEtolia, near Mount Curius. It was far distant from Boeotia and Lake Hyrie. Some commentators, therefore, suggest that the reading should be Brauron, a village of Attica, near the confines of Boeotia.]

[Footnote 64: Combe.—Ver. 383. She was the mother of the Curetes of AEtolia, who, perhaps, received that name from Mount Curius. There was another Combe, the daughter of Asopus, who discovered the use of brazen arms, and was called Chalcis, from that circumstance. She was said to have borne a hundred daughters to her husband.]

[Footnote 65: Calaurea.—Ver. 384. This was an island between Crete and the Peloponnesus, in the Saronic gulf, which was sacred to Apollo. Latona resided there, having given Delos to Neptune in exchange for it. Demosthenes died there.]

[Footnote 66: Menephron.—Ver. 386. Hyginus says, that he committed incest both with his mother Blias, and with Cyllene, his daughter.]

[Footnote 67: Cephisus.—Ver. 388. The river Cephisus, in Boeotia, had a daughter, Praxithea. She was the wife of Erectheus, and bore him eight sons, the fate of one of whom is perhaps here referred to.]

[Footnote 68: Eumelus.—Ver. 390. He was the king of Patrae, on the sea-coast of Achaia. Triptolemus visited him with his winged chariot; on which, Antheas, the son of Eumelus, ascended it while his father was sleeping, and falling from it, he was killed. He is, probably, here referred to; and the reading should be 'natum,' and not 'natam.' Some writers, however, suppose that his daughter was changed into a bird.]

[Footnote 69: Pirenian Ephyre.—Ver. 391. Corinth was so called from Ephyre, the daughter of Neptune, who was said to have lived there. Its inhabitants were fabled to have sprung from mushrooms.]

[Footnote 70: Titanian dragons.—Ver. 398. Her dragons are so called, either because, as Pindar says, they had sprung from the blood of the Titans, or because, according to the Greek tradition, the chariot and winged dragons had been sent to Medea by the Sun, one of whose names was Titan.]

[Footnote 71: Phineus.—Ver. 399. Any further particulars of the person here named are unknown. Some commentators suggest 'Phini,' and that some female of the name of Phinis is alluded to, making the adjective 'justissime' of the feminine gender.]

[Footnote 72: Periphas.—Ver. 400. He was a very ancient king of Attica, before the time of Cecrops, and was said to have been changed into an eagle by Jupiter, while his wife was transformed into an osprey.]

[Footnote 73: Polypemon.—Ver. 401. This was a name of the robber Procrustes, who was slain by Theseus. Halcyone, the daughter of his son Scyron, having been guilty of incontinence, was thrown into the sea by her father, on which she was changed into a kingfisher, which bore her name.]

EXPLANATION.

Jason being reconciled to the children of Pelias, gave the crown to his son Acastus. Becoming tired of Medea, he married Glauce, or Creuesa, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea, hastening to that place, left her two sons in the temple of Juno, and set fire to Creon's palace, where he and his daughter were consumed to ashes, after which she killed her own children. Euripides, in his tragedy of Medea, makes a chorus of Corinthian women say, that the Corinthians themselves committed the murder, and that the Gods sent a plague on the city, as a punishment for the deed. Pausanias also says, that the tomb of Medea's children, whom the Corinthians stoned to death, was still to be seen in his time; and that the Corinthians offered sacrifices there every year, to appease their ghosts, as the oracle had commanded them.

Apollodorus relates this story in a different manner. He says, that Medea sent her rival a crown, dipped in a sort of gum of a combustible nature; and that when Glauce had put it on her head, it began to burn so furiously, that the young princess perished in the greatest misery. Medea afterwards retired to Thebes, where Hercules engaged to give her assistance against Jason, which promise, however, he failed to perform. Going thence to Athens, she married AEgeus.

The story of her winged dragons may, perhaps, be based on the fact, that her ship was called 'the Dragon.' In recounting the particulars of her flight, Ovid makes allusion to several stories by the way, the most of which are entirely unknown to us. With regard to these fictions, it may not be out of place to remark here, as affording a key to many of them, that where a person escaped from any imminent danger, it was published that he had been changed into a bird. If, to avoid pursuit, a person hid himself in a cave, he was said to be transformed into a serpent; and if he burst into tears, from excess of grief, he was reported to have changed into a fountain; while, if a damsel lost herself in a wood, she became a Nymph, or a Dryad. The resemblance of names, also, gave rise to several fictions: thus, Alopis was changed into a fox; Cygnus into a swan; Coronis into a crow; and Cerambus into a horned beetle. As some few of the stories here alluded to by Ovid, refer to historical events, it may be remarked, that the account of the women of Cos being changed into cows, is thought by some to have been founded on the cruel act of the companions of Hercules, who sacrificed some of them to the Gods of the country. The inhabitants of the Isle of Rhodes were said to have been changed into rocks, because they perished in an inundation, which laid a part of that island under water, and particularly the town of Ialysus. The fruitfulness of the daughter of Alcidamas occasioned it to be said, that she was changed into a dove. The rage of Maera is shown by her transformation into a bitch; and Arne was changed into a daw, because, having sold her country, her avarice was well depicted under the symbol of that bird, which, according to the popular opinion, is fond of money. Phillyra, the mother of the Centaur Chiron, was said to be changed into a linden-tree, probably because she happened to bear the name of that tree, which in the Greek language is called philura.

FABLE IV. [VII.402-468]

Hercules chains the dog Cerberus, the guardian of the gates of the Infernal Regions. Theseus, after his exploits at Corinth, arrives at Athens, where Medea prepares a cup of poison for him. The king, however, recognizing his son, just as he is about to drink, snatches away the cup from him, while Medea flies in her chariot. AEgeus then makes a festival, to celebrate the arrival and preservation of Theseus. In the mean time, Minos, the king of Crete, solicits several princes to assist him in a war against Athens, to revenge the death of his son Androgeus, who had been murdered there.

AEgeus, to be blamed for this deed alone, shelters her; and hospitality is not enough, he also joins her {to himself} by the ties of marriage. And now was Theseus, his son, arrived, unknown to his father, who, by his valor, had established peace in the Isthmus between the two seas. For his destruction Medea mingles the wolfsbane, which she once brought with her from the shores of Scythia. This, they say, sprang from the teeth of the Echidnean dog. There is a gloomy cave,[74] with a dark entrance, {wherein} there is a descending path, along which the Tirynthian hero dragged away Cerberus resisting, and turning his eyes sideways from the day and the shining rays {of the Sun}, in chains formed of adamant; he, filled with furious rage, filled the air with triple barkings at the same moment, and sprinkled the verdant fields with white foam. This, they suppose, grew solid, and, receiving the nourishment of a fruitful and productive soil, acquired the power of being noxious. Because, full of life, it springs up on the hard rock, the rustics call it aconite.[75]

This, by the contrivance of his wife, the father AEgeus himself presented to his son,[76] as though to an enemy. Theseus had received the presented cup with unsuspecting right hand, when his father perceived upon the ivory hilt of his sword the tokens of his race,[77] and struck the guilty {draught} from his mouth. She escaped death, having raised clouds by her enchantments.

But the father, although he rejoices at his son's being safe, astonished that so great a wickedness can be committed with so narrow an escape from death, heats the altars with fires, and loads the Gods with gifts; and the axes strike the muscular necks of the oxen having their horns bound with wreaths. No day is said {ever} to have shone upon the people of Erectheus more famous than that—the senators and the common people keep up the festivity; songs, too, they sing, wine inspiring wit. "Thee, greatest Theseus," said they, "Marathon[78] admired for {shedding} the blood of the Cretan bull; and that the husbandman ploughs Cromyon[79] in safety from the boar, is thy procurement and thy work. By thy means the country of Epidaurus saw the club-bearing son of Vulcan[80] fall; {and} the banks of the river Cephisus[81] saw the cruel Procrustes {fall by thee}. Eleusis, sacred to Ceres, beheld the death of Cercyon.[82] Sinnis[83] fell too, who barbarously used his great powers; who was able to bend {huge} beams, and used to pull pine trees from aloft to the earth, destined to scatter {human} bodies far and wide. The road to Alcathoe,[84] the Lelegeian city, is now open in safety, Scyron[85] being laid low {in death}: {and} the earth denies a resting-place, the water, {too}, denies a resting-place to the bones of the robber scattered piecemeal; these, long tossed about, length of time is reported to have hardened into rocks. To {these} rocks the name of Scyron adheres. If we should reckon up thy glorious deeds, and thy years, thy actions would exceed thy years {in number}. For thee, bravest {hero}, we make public vows: in thy honor do we quaff the draughts of wine." The palace rings with the acclamations of the populace, and the prayers of those applauding; and there is no place sorrowing throughout the whole city.

And yet (so surely is the pleasure of no one unalloyed, and some anxiety is {ever} interposing amid joyous circumstances), AEgeus does not have his joy undisturbed, on receiving back his son. Minos prepares for war; who, though he is strong in soldiers, strong in shipping, is still strongest of all in the resentment of a parent, and, with retributive arms, avenges the death of {his son} Androgeus. Yet, before the war, he obtains auxiliary forces, and crosses the sea with a swift fleet, in which he is accounted strong. On the one side, he joins Anaphe[86] to himself; and the realms of Astypale; Anaphe by treaty, the realms of Astypale by conquest; on the other side, the low Myconos, and the chalky lands of Cimolus,[87] and the flourishing Cythnos, Scyros, and the level Seriphos;[88] Paros, too, abounding in marble, and {the island} wherein the treacherous Sithonian[89] betrayed the citadel, on receiving the gold, which, in her covetousness, she had demanded. She was changed into a bird, which even now has a passion for gold, the jackdaw {namely}, black-footed, and covered with black feathers.

[Footnote 74: A gloomy cave.—Ver. 409. This cavern was called Acherusia. It was situate in the country of the Mariandyni, near the city of Heraclea, in Pontus, and was said to be the entrance of the Infernal Regions. Cerberus was said to have been dragged from Tartarus by Hercules, through this cave, which circumstance was supposed to account for the quantity of aconite, or wolfsbane, that grew there.]

[Footnote 75: Call it aconite.—Ver. 419. From the Greek akone, 'a whetstone.']

[Footnote 76: Presented to his son.—Ver. 420. Medea was anxious to secure the succession to the throne of Athens to her son Medus, and was therefore desirous to remove Theseus out of the way.]

[Footnote 77: Tokens of his race.—Ver. 423. AEgeus, leaving AEthra at Troezen, in a state of pregnancy, charged her, if she bore a son, to rear him, but to tell no one whose son he was. He placed his own sword and shoes under a large stone, and directed her to send his son to him when he was able to lift the stone, and to take them from under it; and he then returned to Athens, where he married Medea. When Theseus had grown to the proper age, his mother led him to the stone under which his father had deposited his sword and shoes, which he raised with ease, and took them out. It was, probably, by means of this sword that AEgeus recognized his son in the manner mentioned in the text.]

[Footnote 78: Marathon.—Ver. 434. This was a town of Attica, adjoining a plain of the same name, where the Athenians, under the command of Miltiades, overthrew the Persians with immense slaughter. The bull which Theseus slew there was presented by Neptune to Minos. Being brought into Attica by Hercules, it laid waste that territory until it was slain by Theseus.]

[Footnote 79: Cromyon.—Ver. 435. This was a village of the Corinthian territory, which was infested by a wild boar of enormous size, that slew both men and animals. It was put to death by Theseus.]

[Footnote 80: Vulcan.—Ver. 437. By Antilia, Vulcan was the father of Periphetes, a robber who infested Epidaurus, in the Peloponnesus. He was so formidable with his club, that he was called Corynetas, from korune, the Greek for 'a club.']

[Footnote 81: Cephisus.—Ver. 438. Procrustes was a robber of such extreme cruelty that he used to stretch out, or lop off, the extremities of his captives, according as they were shorter or longer than his bedstead. He infested the neighborhood of Eleusis, in Attica, which was watered by the Cephisus. He was put to death by Theseus.]

[Footnote 82: Cercyon.—Ver. 439. It was his custom to challenge travellers to wrestle, and to kill them, if they declined the contest, or were beaten in it. Theseus accepted his challenge; and having overcome him, put him to death. Eleusis was especially dedicated to Ceres; there the famous Eleusinian mysteries of that Goddess were held.]

[Footnote 83: Sinnis.—Ver. 440. He was a robber of Attica, to whom reference is made in the Ibis, line 409.]

[Footnote 84: Alcathoe.—Ver. 443. Megara, or Alcathoe, which was founded by Lelex, was almost destroyed by Minos, and was rebuilt by Alcathoues, the son of Pelops. He, flying from his father, on being accused of the murder of his brother Chrysippus, retired to the city of Megara, where, having slain a lion which was then laying waste that territory, he was held in the highest veneration by the inhabitants.]

[Footnote 85: Scyron.—Ver. 443. This robber haunted the rocks in the neighborhood of Megara, and used to insist on those who became his guests washing his feet. This being done upon the rocks, Scyron used to kick the strangers into the sea while so occupied, where a tortoise lay ready to devour the bodies. Theseus killed him, and threw his body down the same rocks, which derived their name of Saronic, or Scyronic, from this robber.]

[Footnote 86: Anaphe.—Ver. 461. This, and the other islands here named, were near the isle of Crete, and perhaps in those times were subject to the sway of Minos.]

[Footnote 87: Cimolus.—Ver. 463. Pliny the Elder tells us, that this island was famous for producing a clay which seems to have had much the properties of soap. It was of a grayish white color, and was also employed for medicinal purposes.]

[Footnote 88: Seriphos.—Ver. 464. Commentators are at a loss to know why Seriphos should here have the epithet 'plana,' 'level,' inasmuch as it was a very craggy island. It is probably a corrupt reading.]

[Footnote 89: Sithonian.—Ver. 466. This was Arne, whose story is referred to in the Explanation, p. 242 / p. 270.]

EXPLANATION.

If it is the fact, as many antiquarians suppose, that much of the Grecian mythology was derived from that of the Egyptians, there can be but little doubt that their system of the Elysian Fields and the Infernal Regions was derived from the Egyptian notions on the future state of man. The story too, of Cerberus is, perhaps, based upon the custom of the Egyptians, who kept dogs to guard the fields or caverns in which they kept their mummies.

It is, however, very possible that the story of Cerberus may have been founded upon a fact, or what was believed to be such. There was a serpent which haunted the cavern of Taenarus, in Laconia, and ravaged the districts adjacent to that promontory. This cave, being generally considered to be one of the avenues to the kingdom of Pluto, the poets thence derived the notion that this serpent was the guardian of its portals. Pausanias observes, that Homer was the first who said that Cerberus was a dog; though, in reality, he was a serpent, whose name in the Greek language signified 'one that devours flesh.' The story that Cerberus, with his foam, poisoned the herbs that grew in Thessaly, and that the aconite and other poisonous plants were ever after common there, is probably based on the simple fact, that those herbs were found in great quantities in that region.

Women, using these herbs in their pretended enchantments, gave ground for the stories of the witches of Thessaly, and of their ability to bring the moon down to the earth by their spells and incantations; which latter notion was probably based on the circumstance, that these women used to invoke the Night and the Moon as witnesses of their magical operations.

FABLE V. [VII.469-613]

Minos, having engaged several powers in his interest, and having been refused by others, goes to the island of AEgina, where AEacus reigns, to endeavor to secure an alliance with that prince; but without success. Upon his departure, Cephalus arrives, as ambassador, from Athens, and obtains succors from the king; who gives him an account of the desolation which a pestilence had formerly made in his country, and of the surprising manner in which it had been re-peopled.

But Oliaros,[90] and Didyme, and Tenos,[91] and Andros,[92] and Gyaros,[93] and Peparethos, fruitful in the smooth olive,[94] do not aid the Gnossian ships. Then Minos makes for Oenopia,[95] the kingdom of AEacus, lying to the left. The ancients called it Oenopia, but AEacus himself called it AEgina, from the name of his mother. The multitude rushes forth, and desires greatly to know a man of so great celebrity. Both Telamon,[96] and Peleus, younger than Telamon, and Phocus, the {king's} third son, go to meet him. AEacus himself, too, {though} slow through the infirmity of old age, goes forth, and asks him what is the reason of his coming? The ruler of a hundred cities, being put in mind of his fatherly sorrow {for his son}, sighs, and gives him this answer: "I beg thee to assist arms taken up on account of my son; and be a party in a war of affection. For his shades do I demand satisfaction." To him the grandson of Asopus says, "Thou askest in vain, and for a thing not to be done by my city; for, indeed, there is no land more closely allied to the people of Cecropia. Such are {the terms of} our compact." {Minos} goes away in sadness, and says, "This compact of thine will cost thee a dear price;" and he thinks it more expedient to threaten war than to wage it, and to waste his forces there prematurely.

Even yet may the Lyctian[97] fleet be beheld from the Oenopian walls, when an Attic ship, speeding onward with full sail, appears, and enters the friendly harbor, which is carrying Cephalus, and together {with him} the request of his native country. The youthful sons of AEacus recognize Cephalus, although seen but after a long period, and give their right hands, and lead him into the house of their father. The graceful hero, even still retaining some traces of his former beauty, enters; and, holding a branch of his country's olive, being the elder, he has on his right and left hand the two younger in age, Clytus and Butes, the sons of Pallas.[98] After their first meeting has had words suitable {thereto}, Cephalus relates the request of the people of Cecrops, and begs assistance, and recounts the treaties and alliances of their forefathers; and he adds, that the subjection of the whole of Achaia is aimed at. After the eloquence {of Cephalus} has thus promoted the cause entrusted to him, AEacus, leaning with his left hand on the handle of his sceptre, says—

"Ask not for assistance, O Athens, but take it, and consider, beyond doubt, the resources which this island possesses, as thy own, and let all the forces of my kingdom go {along with thee}. Strength is not wanting. I have soldiers enough both for my defence, and for {opposing} the enemy. Thanks to the Gods; this is a prosperous time, and one that can excuse no refusal of mine." "Yes, {and} be it so," says Cephalus:[99] "and I pray that thy power may increase along with thy citizens. Indeed, as I came along just now, I received {much} pleasure, when a number of youths, so comely and so equal in their ages, came forward to meet me. Yet I miss many from among them, whom I once saw when I was formerly entertained in this city." AEacus heaves a sigh, and thus he says, with mournful voice: "A better fortune will be following a lamentable beginning; I {only} wish I could relate this to you. I will now tell it you without any order, that I may not be detaining you by any long preamble.[100] They are {now} lying as bones and ashes, for whom thou art inquiring with tenacious memory. And how great a part were they of my resources that perished! A dreadful pestilence fell upon my people, through the anger of the vengeful Juno, who hated a country named[101] from her rival. While the calamity seemed natural, and the baneful cause of so great destruction was unknown, it was opposed by the resources of medicine. {But} the havoc exceeded {all} help, which {now} lay baffled. At first the heaven encompassed the earth with a thick darkness, and enclosed within its clouds a drowsy heat. And while the Moon was four times filling her orb by joining her horns, {and}, four times decreasing, was diminishing her full orb, the hot South winds were blowing with their deadly blasts. It is known for a fact that the infection came even into fountains and lakes, and that many thousands of serpents were wandering over the uncultivated fields, and were tainting the rivers with their venom. The violence of this sudden distemper was first discovered by the destruction of dogs, and birds, and sheep, and oxen, and among the wild beasts. The unfortunate ploughman wonders that strong oxen fall down at their work, and lie stretched in the middle of the furrow. {And} while the wool-bearing flocks utter weakly bleatings, both their wool falls off spontaneously, and their bodies pine away. The horse, once of high mettle, and of great fame on the course, degenerates for the {purposes of} victory; and, forgetting his ancient honors, he groans at the manger, doomed to perish by an inglorious distemper. The boar remembers not to be angry, nor the hind to trust to her speed, nor the bears to rush upon the powerful herds.

"A faintness seizes all {animals}; both in the woods, in the fields, and in the roads, loathsome carcases lie strewed. The air is corrupted with the smell {of them}. I am relating strange events. The dogs, and the ravenous birds, and the hoary wolves, touch them not; falling away, they rot, and, by their exhalations, produce baneful effects, and spread the contagion far and wide. With more dreadful destruction the pestilence reaches the wretched husbandmen, and riots within the walls of the extensive city. At first, the bowels are scorched,[102] and a redness, and the breath drawn with difficulty, is a sign of the latent flame. The tongue, {grown} rough, swells; and the parched mouth gapes, with its throbbing veins; the noxious air, too, is inhaled by the breathing. {The infected} cannot endure a bed, or any coverings; but they lay their hardened breasts upon the earth, and their bodies are not made cool by the ground, but the ground is made hot by their bodies. There is no physician at hand; the cruel malady breaks out upon even those who administer remedies; and {their own} arts become an injury to their owners. The nearer at hand any one is, and the more faithfully he attends on the sick, the sooner does he come in for his share of the fatality. And when the hope of recovery is departed, and they see the end of their malady {only} in death, they indulge their humors, and there is no concern as to what is to their advantage; for, {indeed}, nothing is to their advantage. All sense, too, of shame being banished, they lie {promiscuously} close to the fountains and rivers, and deep wells; and their thirst is not extinguished by drinking, before their life {is}. Many, overpowered {with the disease}, are unable to arise thence, and die amid the very water; and yet another even drinks that {water}. So great, too, is the irksomeness for the wretched {creatures} of their hated beds, {that} they leap out, or, if their strength forbids them standing, they roll their bodies upon the ground, and every man flies from his own dwelling; each one's house seems fatal to him: and since the cause of the calamity is unknown, the place that is known is blamed. You might see persons, half dead, wandering about the roads, as long as they were able to stand; others, weeping and lying about on the ground, and rolling their wearied eyes with the dying movement. They stretch, too, their limbs towards the stars of the overhanging heavens, breathing forth their lives here and there, where death has overtaken them.

"What were my feelings then? Were they not such as they ought to be, to hate life, and to desire to be a sharer with my people? On whichever side my eyes were turned, there was the multitude strewed {on the earth}, just as when rotten apples fall from the moved branches, and acorns from the shaken holm-oak. Thou seest[103] a lofty temple, opposite {thee}, raised on high with long steps: Jupiter has it {as his own}. Who did not offer incense at those altars in vain? how often did the husband, while he was uttering words of entreaty for his wife, {or} the father for his son, end his life at the altars without prevailing? in his hand, too, was part of the frankincense found unconsumed! How often did the bulls, when brought to the temples, while the priest was making his supplications, and pouring the pure wine between their horns, fall without waiting for the wound! While I myself was offering sacrifice to Jupiter, for myself, and my country, and my three sons, the victim sent forth dismal lowings, and suddenly falling down without any blow, stained the knives thrust into it, with its scanty blood; the diseased entrails, too, had lost {all} marks of truth, and the warnings of the Gods. The baneful malady penetrated to the entrails. I have seen the carcases lying, thrown out before the sacred doors; before the very altars, {too}, that death might become more odious[104] {to the Gods}. Some finish their lives with the halter, and by death dispel the apprehension of death, and voluntarily invite approaching fate. The bodies of the dead are not borne out with any funeral rites, according to the custom; for the {city} gates cannot receive {the multitude of} the processions. Either unburied they lie upon the ground, or they are laid on the lofty pyres without the usual honors. And now there is no distinction, and they struggle for the piles; and they are burnt on fires that belong to others. They who should weep are wanting; and the souls of sons, and of husbands, of old and of young, wander about unlamented: there is not room sufficient for the tombs, nor trees for the fires."

[Footnote 90: Oliaros.—Ver. 469. This was one of the Cyclades, in the AEgean sea; it was colonized by the Sidonians.]

[Footnote 91: Tenos.—Ver. 469. This island was famous for a temple there, sacred to Neptune.]

[Footnote 92: Andros.—Ver. 469. This was an island in the AEgean Sea, near Euboea. It received its name from Andros, the son of Anius. The Andrian slave, who gives his name to one of the comedies of Terence, was supposed to be a native of this island.]

[Footnote 93: Gyaros.—Ver. 470. This was a sterile island among the Cyclades; in later times, the Romans made it a penal settlement for their criminals. The mice of this island were said to be able to gnaw iron; perhaps, because they were starved by reason of its unfruitfulness.]

[Footnote 94: Smooth olive.—Ver. 470. Clarke translates 'nitidae olivae' 'the neat olive.' 'Nitidus' here means 'smooth and shining.']

[Footnote 95: Oenopia.—Ver. 473. This was the ancient name of the isle of AEgina, in the Saronic Gulf, famous as being the native place of the family of the AEacidae. It obtained its later name from AEgina, the daughter of Asopus, and the mother of AEacus, whom Jupiter carried thither.]

[Footnote 96: Telamon.—Ver. 476. Telamon, Peleus, and Phocus, were the three sons of AEacus.]

[Footnote 97: Lyctian.—Ver. 490. Lyctus was the name of one of the cities of Crete.]

[Footnote 98: Pallas.—Ver. 500. This was either Pallas the son of Pandion, king of Athens, or of Neleus, the brother of Theseus. This Pallas, together with his sons, was afterwards slain by Theseus.]

[Footnote 99: Cephalus.—Ver. 512. He was the son of Deioneus, or according to some writers, of Mercury and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops.]

[Footnote 100: Long preamble.—Ver. 520. Clarke translates 'neu longa ambage morer vos,' 'that I may not detain you with a long-winded detail of it.']

[Footnote 101: Country named.—Ver. 524. This was the island of AEgina, so called from the Nymph who was carried thither by Jupiter.]

[Footnote 102: Bowels are scorched.—Ver. 554. Clarke quaintly renders the words 'viscera torrentur primo.' 'first people's bowels are searched;' perhaps, however, the latter word is a misprint for 'scorched.']

[Footnote 103: Thou seest.—Ver. 587. As AEacus says this, he must be supposed to point with his finger towards the temple.]

[Footnote 104: More odious.—Ver. 603. Dead bodies were supposed to be particularly offensive to the Gods.]

EXPLANATION.

Minos (most probably the second prince that bore that name), upon his accession to the throne, after the death of his father, Lycastus, made several conquests in the islands adjoining Crete, where he reigned, and, at last, became master of those seas. The strength of his fleet is particularly remarked by Thucydides, Apollodorus, and Diodorus Siculus.

The Feast of the Panathenaea being celebrated at Athens, Minos sent his son Androgeus to it, who joined as a combatant in the games, and was sufficiently skilful to win all the prizes. The glory which he thereby acquired, combined with his polished manners, obtained him the friendship of the sons of Pallas, the brother of AEgeus. This circumstance caused AEgeus to entertain jealous feelings, the more especially as he knew that his nephews were conspiring against him. Being informed that Androgeus was about to take a journey to Thebes, he caused him to be assassinated near Oenoe, a town on the confines of Attica. Apollodorus, indeed, says that he was killed by the Bull of Marathon, which was then making great ravages in Greece; but it is very possible that the Athenians encouraged this belief, with the view of screening their king from the infamy of an action so inhuman and unjust. Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch agree in stating that AEgeus himself caused Androgeus to be murdered.

On hearing the news of his son's death, Minos resolved on revenge. He ordered a strong fleet to be fitted out, and went in person to several courts, to contract alliances, and engage other powers to assist him; and this, with the history of the plague at AEgina, forms the subject of the present narrative.

FABLE VI. [VII.614-660]

Jupiter, at the prayer of his son AEacus, transforms the ants that are in the hollow of an old oak into men; these, from the Greek name of those insects, are called Myrmidons.

"Stupefied by so great an outburst of misery, I said, 'O Jupiter! if stories do not falsely say that thou didst come into the embraces of AEgina, the daughter of Asopus, and thou art not ashamed, great Father, to be the parent of myself; either restore my people to me, or else bury me, as well, in the sepulchre.' He gave a signal by lightnings, and by propitious thunders. I accepted {the omen}, and I said, 'I pray that these may be happy signs of thy intentions: the omen which thou givest me, I accept as a pledge.' By chance there was close by, an oak sacred to Jupiter, of seed from Dodona,[105] but thinly covered with wide-spreading boughs. Here we beheld some ants, the gatherers of corn, in a long train, carrying a heavy burden in their little mouths, and keeping their track in the wrinkled bark. While I was wondering at their numbers, I said, 'Do thou, most gracious Father, give me citizens as many in number, and replenish my empty walls.' The lofty oak trembled, and made a noise in its boughs, moving without a breeze. My limbs quivered, with trembling fear, and my hair stood on an end; yet I gave kisses to the earth and to the oak, nor did I confess that I had any hopes; {and} yet I did hope, and I cherished my own wishes in my mind. Night came on, and sleep seized my body wearied with anxiety. Before my eyes the same oak seemed to be present, and to bear as many branches, and as many animals in its branches, and to be trembling with a similar motion, and to be scattering the grain-bearing troop on the fields below. These suddenly grew, and seemed greater and greater, and raised themselves from the ground, and stood with their bodies upright; and laid aside their leanness, and the {former} number of their feet, and their sable hue, and assumed in their limbs the human shape.

"Sleep departs. When {now} awake, I censured the vision, and complained that there was no help for me from the Gods above. But within my palace there was a great murmur, and I seemed to be hearing the voices of men, to which I had now become unaccustomed. While I was supposing that these, too, were {a part} of my dream, lo! Telamon came in haste, and, opening the door, said, 'Father, thou wilt see things beyond thy hopes or expectations. Do come out.' I did go out, and I beheld and recognized such men, each in his turn, as I had seemed to behold in the vision of my sleep. They approached, and saluted me as their king. I offered up vows to Jupiter, and divided the city and the lands void of their former tillers, among this new-made people, and I called them Myrmidons,[106] and did not deprive their name {of the marks} of their origin. Thou hast beheld their persons. Even still do they retain the manners which they formerly had; and they are a thrifty race, patient of toil, tenacious of what they get, and what they get they lay up. These, alike in years and in courage, will attend thee to the war, as soon as the East wind, which brought thee prosperously hither (for the East wind had brought him), shall have changed to the South."

[Footnote 105: From Dodona.—Ver. 623. Dodona was a town of Chaonia, in Epirus, so called from Dodone, the daughter of Jupiter and Europa. Near it was a temple and a wood sacred to Jupiter, which was famous for the number and magnitude of its oaks. Doves were said to give oracular responses there, probably from the circumstance that the female soothsayers of Thessaly were called peleiadai. Some writers, however, say that the oaks had the gift of speech, combined with that of prophesying.]

[Footnote 106: Myrmidons.—Ver. 654. From the Greek word murmex, 'an ant;' according to this version of the story.]

EXPLANATION.

This fable, perhaps, has no other foundation than the retreat of the subjects of AEacus into woods and caverns, whence they returned, when the contagion had ceased with which their country had been afflicted, and when he had nearly lost all hopes of seeing them again. It is probable that the old men were carried off by the plague, while the young, who had more strength, resisted its power, which circumstance would fully account for the active habits of the remaining subjects of AEacus. Some writers, however, suppose that the Myrmidons were a barbarous, but industrious people of Thessaly, who usually dwelt in caves, and who were brought thence by AEacus to people his island, which had been made desolate by a pestilence. The similarity of their name to the Greek word murmex, signifying 'an ant,' most probably gave occasion to the report that Jupiter had changed ants into men.

FABLE VII. [VII.661-793]

Cephalus, having resisted the advances of Aurora, who has become enamoured of him while hunting, returns in disguise to his wife, Procris, to try if her affection for him is sincere. She, discovering his suspicions, flies to the woods, and becomes a huntress, with the determination not to see him again. Afterwards, on becoming reconciled to him, she bestows on him a dog and a dart, which Diana had once given her. The dog is turned into stone, while hunting a wild beast, which Themis has sent to ravage the territories of Thebes, after the interpretation of the riddle of the Sphinx, by Oedipus.

In these and other narratives they passed the day. The last part of the day was spent in feasting, and the night in sleep. The golden Sun had {now} shed his beams, {when} the East wind was still blowing, and detained the sails about to return. The sons of Pallas repair to Cephalus, who was stricken in years. Cephalus and the sons of Pallas, together {with him}, {come} to the king; but a sound sleep still possessed the monarch. Phocus, the son of AEacus, received them at the threshold; for Telamon and his brother were levying men for the war. Phocus conducted the citizens of Cecrops into an inner room, and a handsome apartment. Soon as he had sat down with them, he observed that the grandson of AEolus[107] was holding in his hand a javelin made of an unknown wood, the point of which was of gold.

Having first spoken a few words in promiscuous conversation, he said, "I am fond of the forests, and of the chase of wild beasts; still, from what wood the shaft of the javelin, which thou art holding, is cut, I have been for some time in doubt; certainly, if it were of wild ash, it would be of brown color; if of cornel-wood, there would be knots in it. Whence it comes I am ignorant, but my eyes have not looked upon a weapon used for a javelin, more beautiful than this." One of the Athenian brothers replied, and said, "In it, thou wilt admire its utility, {even} more than its beauty. Whatever it is aimed at, it strikes; chance does not guide it when thrown, and it flies back stained with blood, no one returning it." Then, indeed, does the Nereian youth[108] inquire into all particulars, why it was given, and whence {it came}? who was the author of a present of so great value? What he asks, {Cephalus} tells him; but as to what he is ashamed to tell, {and} on what condition he received it, he is silent; and, being touched with sorrow for the loss of his wife, he thus speaks, with tears bursting forth: "Son of a Goddess, this weapon (who could have believed it?) makes me weep, and long will make me do so, if the Fates shall grant me long to live. 'Twas this that proved the destruction of me and of my dear wife. Would that I had ever been without this present! Procris was (if perchance {the fame of} Orithyia[109] may have more probably reached thy ears) the sister of Orithyia, the victim of violence. If you should choose to compare the face and the manners of the two, she was the more worthy to be carried off. Her father Erectheus united her to me; love, {too}, united her to me. I was pronounced happy, and {so} I was. Not thus did it seem {good} to the Gods; or even now, perhaps, I should be {so}. The second month was now passing, after the marriage rites, when the saffron-colored Aurora, dispelling the darkness in the morn, beheld me, as I was planting nets for the horned deer, from the highest summit of the ever-blooming Hymettus,[110] and carried me off against my will. By the permission of the Goddess, let me relate what is true; though she is comely with her rosy face, {and} though she possesses the confines of light, and possesses {the confines} of darkness, though she is nourished with the draughts of nectar, {still} I loved Procris; Procris was {ever} in my thoughts, Procris was ever on my lips. I alleged the sacred ties of marriage, our late embraces, and our recent union, and the prior engagements of my forsaken bed. The Goddess was provoked, and said, 'Cease thy complaints, ungrateful man; keep thy Procris; but, if my mind is gifted with foresight, thou wilt wish that thou hadst not had her;'" and {thus}, in anger, she sent me back to her.

"While I was returning, and was revolving the sayings of the Goddess within myself, there began to be apprehensions that my wife had not duly observed the laws of wedlock. Both her beauty and her age bade me be apprehensive of her infidelity; {yet} her virtue forbade me to believe it. But yet, I had been absent; and besides, she, from whom I was {just} returning, was an example of {such} criminality: but we that are in love, apprehend all {mishaps}. I {then} endeavored to discover that, by reason of which I must feel anguish, and by bribes to make attempts[111] upon her chaste constancy. Aurora encouraged this apprehension, and changed my shape, {as} I seemed {then} to perceive. I entered Athens, the city of Pallas, unknown {to any one}, and I went into my own house. The house itself was without fault, and gave indications of chastity, and was in concern for the carrying off of its master.

"Having, with difficulty, made my way to the daughter of Erectheus by means of a thousand artifices, soon as I beheld her, I was amazed, and was nearly abandoning my projected trial of her constancy; with difficulty did I restrain myself from telling the truth, with difficulty from giving her the kisses which I ought. She was in sorrow; but yet no one could be more beautiful than she, {even} in her sadness; and she was consuming with regret for her husband, torn from her. {Only} think, Phocus, how great was the beauty of her, whom even sorrow did so much become. Why should I tell how often her chaste manners repulsed {all} my attempts? How often she said, 'I am reserved for {but} one, wherever he is; for that one do I reserve my joys.' For whom, in his senses, would not that trial of her fidelity have been sufficiently great? {Yet} I was not content; and I strove to wound myself, while I was promising to give vast sums for {but one} night, and forced her at last to waver, by increasing the reward. {On this} I cried out, 'Lo! I, the gallant in disguise, to my sorrow, {and} lavish in promises, to my misery, am thy real husband; thou treacherous woman! thou art caught, {and} I the witness.' She said nothing: only, overwhelmed with silent shame, she fled from the house of treachery, together with her wicked husband; and from her resentment against me, abhorring the whole race of men, she used to wander[112] on the mountains, employed in the pursuits of Diana. Then, a more violent flame penetrated to my bones, thus deserted. I begged forgiveness, and owned myself in fault; and that I too might have yielded to a similar fault, on presents being made; if presents so large had been offered. Upon my confessing this, having first revenged her offended modesty, she was restored to me, and passed the pleasant years in harmony with me. She gave me, besides, as though in herself she had given me but a small present, a dog as a gift, which when her own Cynthia had presented to her, she had said, 'He will excel all dogs in running.' She gave her, too, a javelin, which, as thou seest, I am carrying in my hand.

"Dost thou inquire what was the fortune of the other present—hear {then}. Thou wilt be astonished at the novelty of the wondrous fact. The son of Laius[113] had solved the verses not understood by the wit of others before him; and the mysterious propounder lay precipitated, forgetful of her riddle. But the genial Themis,[114] forsooth, did not leave such things unrevenged. Immediately another plague was sent forth against Aonian Thebes; and many of the peasants fed the savage monster, both by the destruction of their cattle, and their own as well. We, the neighboring youth, came together, and enclosed the extensive fields with toils. With a light bound it leaped over the nets, and passed over the topmost barriers of the toils that were set. The couples were taken off the dogs, from which, as they followed, it fled, and eluded them, no otherwise than as a winged bird. I myself, too, was requested, with eager demands, for my {dog} Laelaps [{Tempest}]; that was the name of {my wife's} present. For some time already had he been struggling to get free from the couples, and strained them with his neck, as they detained him. Scarce was he well let loose; and {yet} we could not now tell where he was; the warm dust had the prints of his feet, {but} he himself was snatched from our eyes. A spear does not fly swifter than he {did}, nor pellets whirled from the twisted sling, nor the light arrow from the Gortynian bow.[115] The top of a hill, {standing} in the middle, looks down upon the plains below. Thither I mount, and I enjoy the sight of an unusual chase; wherein the wild beast[116] one while seemed to be caught, at another to elude his very bite; and it does not fly in a direct course, and straight onward, but deceives his mouth, as he pursues it, and returns in circles, that its enemy may not have his full career against it. He keeps close to it, and pursues it, a match for him; and {though} like as if he has caught it, {still} he fails to catch it, and vainly snaps at the air. I was {now} turning to the resources of my javelin; while my right hand was poising it, {and} while I was attempting to insert my fingers in the thongs {of it}, I turned away my eyes; and again I had directed them, recalled to the same spot, when, {most} wondrous, I beheld two marble statues in the middle of the plain; you would think the one was flying, the other barking {in pursuit}. Some God undoubtedly, if any God {really} did attend to them, desired them both to remain unconquered in this contest of speed."

[Footnote 107: AEolus.—Ver. 672. Apollodorus reckons Deioneus, the parent of Cephalus, among the children of Apollo.]

[Footnote 108: Nereian youth.—Ver. 685. Phocus, who was the son of AEacus, by Psamathe, the daughter of Nereus.]

[Footnote 109: Orithyia.—Ver. 695. She was the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, and was carried off by Boreas, as already stated.]

[Footnote 110: Hymettus.—Ver. 702. This was a mountain of Attica, famous for its honey and its marble.]

[Footnote 111: To make attempts.—Ver. 721. Tzetzes informs us that she was found by her husband in company with a young man named Pteleon, who had made her a present of a golden wreath. Antoninus Liberalis says, that her husband tried her fidelity by offering her a bribe, through the medium of a slave.]

[Footnote 112: Used to wander.—Ver. 746. Some writers say that she fled to Crete, on which, Diana, who was aware of the attachment of Aurora for her husband, made her a present of a javelin, which no person could escape; and gave her the dog Laelaps, which no wild beast could outrun. Such is the version given by Hyginus. But Apollodorus and Antoninus Liberalis say, that she fled to Minos, who, prevailing over her virtue, made her a present of the dog and the javelin. Afterwards, presenting herself before her husband, disguised as a huntress, she gave him proofs of the efficacy of them; and upon his requesting her to give them to him, she exacted, as a condition, what must, apparently, have resulted in a breach of the laws of conjugal fidelity. On his assenting to the proposal, she discovered herself, and afterwards made him the presents which he desired.]

[Footnote 113: The son of Laius.—Ver. 759. Oedipus was the son of Laius, king of Thebes. The Sphinx was a monster, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which haunted a mountain near Thebes. Oedipus solved the riddle which it proposed for solution, on which the monster precipitated itself from a rock. It had the face of a woman, the wings of a bird, and the extremities of a lion.]

[Footnote 114: Genial Themis.—Ver. 762. Themis had a very ancient oracle in Boeotia.]

[Footnote 115: Gortynian bow.—Ver. 778. Crete was called Gortynian, from Gortys or Gortyna, one of its cities, which was famous for the skill of its inhabitants in archery.]

[Footnote 116: The wild beast.—Ver. 782. Antoninus Liberalis and Apollodorus say that this was a fox, which was called 'the Teumesian,' from Teumesus, a mountain of Boeotia, and that the Thebans, to appease its voracity, were wont to give it a child to devour every month. Palaephatus says that it was not a wild beast, but a man called Alopis.]

EXPLANATION.

There were two princes of the name of Cephalus; one, the son of Mercury and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops; the other, the son of Deioneus, king of Phocis, and Diomeda, the daughter of Xuthus. The first was carried off by Aurora, and went to live with her in Syria; the second married Procris, the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens. Though Apollodorus seems, in the first instance, to follow this genealogy, in his third book he confounds the actions of those two princes. Ovid and other writers have spoken only of the son of Deioneus, who was carried off by Aurora, and having left her, according to them, returned to Procris.

FABLE VIII. [VII.794-865]

Procris, jealous of Cephalus, in her turn, goes to the forest, which she supposes to be the scene of his infidelity, to surprise him. Hearing the rustling noise which she makes in the thicket, where she lies concealed, he imagines it is a wild beast, and, hurling the javelin, which she has formerly given to him, he kills her.

Thus far {did he speak}; and {then} he was silent. "But," said Phocus, "what fault is there in that javelin?" {whereupon} he thus informed him of the demerits of the javelin. "Let my joys, Phocus, be the first portion of my sorrowful story. These will I first relate. O son of AEacus, I delight to remember the happy time, during which, for the first years {after my marriage}, I was completely blessed in my wife, {and} she was happy in her husband. A mutual kindness and social love possessed us both. Neither would she have preferred the bed of Jupiter before my love; nor was there any woman that could have captivated me, not {even} if Venus herself had come. Equal flames fired the breasts {of us both}. The Sun striking the tops of the mountains with his early rays, I was wont generally to go with youthful ardor into the woods, to hunt; but I neither suffered my servants, nor my horses, nor my quick-scented hounds to go {with me}, nor the knotty nets to attend me; I was safe with my javelin. But when my right hand was satiated with the slaughter of wild beasts, I betook myself to the cool spots and the shade, and the breeze which was breathing forth from the cool valleys. The gentle breeze was sought by me, in the midst of the heat. For the breeze was I awaiting; that was a refreshment after my toils: 'Come, breeze,' I was wont to sing, for I remember it {full well}, 'and, most grateful, refresh me, and enter my breast; and, as thou art wont, be willing to assuage the heat with which I am parched.' Perhaps I may have added ({for} so my destiny prompted me) many words of endearment, and I may have been accustomed to say, 'Thou art my great delight; thou dost refresh and cherish me; thou makest me to love the woods and lonely haunts, and thy breath is ever courted by my face.' I was not aware that some one was giving an ear, deceived by these ambiguous words; and thinking the name of the breeze, so often called upon by me, to be that of a Nymph, he believed some Nymph was beloved by me.

"The rash informer of an imaginary crime immediately went to Procris, and with his whispering tongue related what he had heard. Love is a credulous thing. When it was told her, she fell down fainting, with sudden grief; and coming to, after a long time, she declared that she was wretched, and {born} to a cruel destiny; and she complained about my constancy. Excited by a groundless charge,[117] she dreads that which, {indeed}, is nothing; {and} fears a name without a body; and, in her wretchedness, grieves as though about a real rival. Yet she is often in doubt, and, in her extreme wretchedness, hopes she may be deceived, and denies credit to the information; and unless she beholds it herself, will not pass sentence upon the criminality of her husband. The following light of the morning had banished the night, when I sallied forth, and sought the woods; and being victorious in the fields, I said, 'Come, breeze, and relieve my pain;' and suddenly I seemed to hear I know not what groans in the midst of my words; yet I said, 'Come hither, most delightful {breeze}.' Again, the falling leaves making a gentle noise, I thought it was a wild beast, and I discharged my flying weapon. It was Procris; and receiving the wound in the middle of her breast, she cried out, 'Ah, wretched me!' When the voice of my attached wife was heard, headlong and distracted, I ran towards {that} voice. I found her dying, and staining her scattered vestments with blood, and drawing her own present (ah, wretched me!) from out of her wound; I lifted up her body, dearer to me than my own, in my guilty arms, and I bound up her cruel wounds with the garments torn from my bosom; and I endeavored to stanch the blood, and besought her that she would not forsake me, {thus} criminal, by her death. She, wanting strength, and now expiring, forced herself to utter these few words:

"'I suppliantly beseech thee, by the ties of our marriage, and by the Gods above, and my own Gods, and if I have deserved anything well of thee, by that {as well}, and by the cause of my death, my love even now enduring, while I am perishing, do not allow the Nymph Aura [{breeze}] to share with thee my marriage ties.' She {thus} spoke; and then, at last, I perceived the mistake of the name, and informed her of it. But what avails informing her? She sinks; and her little strength flies, together with her blood. And so long as she can look on anything, she gazes on me, and breathes out upon me, on my face,[118] her unhappy life; but she seems to die free from care, and with a more contented look."

In tears, the hero is relating these things to them, as they weep, and, lo! AEacus enters, with his two sons,[119] and his soldiers newly levied; which Cephalus received, {furnished} with valorous arms.

[Footnote 117: Groundless charge.—Ver. 829. Possibly, Ovid may intend to imply that her jealousy received an additional stimulus from the similarity of the name 'Aura' to that of her former rival, Aurora.]

[Footnote 118: On my face.—Ver. 861. He alludes to the prevalent custom of catching the breath of the dying person in the mouth.]

[Footnote 119: His two sons.—Ver. 864. These were Telamon and Peleus, who had levied these troops.]

EXPLANATION.

The love which Cephalus, the son of Deioneus, bore for the chase, causing him to rise early in the morning for the enjoyment of his sport, was the origin of the story of his love for Aurora. His wife, Procris, as Apollodorus tells us, carried on an amour with Pteleon, and, probably, caused that report to be spread abroad, to divert attention from her own intrigue. Cephalus, suspecting his wife's infidelity, she fled to the court of the second Minos, king of Crete, who fell in love with her. Having, thereby, incurred the resentment of Pasiphae, who adopted several methods to destroy her rival, and, among others, spread poison in her bed, she left Crete, and returned to Thoricus, the place of her former residence, where she was reconciled to Cephalus, and gave him the celebrated dog and javelin mentioned by Ovid.

The poets tell us, that this dog was made by Vulcan, and presented by him to Jupiter, who gave him to Europa; and that coming to the hands of her son Minos, he presented it to Procris. The wild beast, which ravaged the country, and was pursued by the dog of Procris, and which some writers tell us was a monstrous fox, was probably a pirate or sea robber; and being, perhaps, pursued by some Cretan officer of Minos, who escorted Procris back to her country, on their vessels being shipwrecked near some rocks, it gave occasion to the story that the dog and the monster had been changed into stone. Indeed, Tzetzes says distinctly, that the dog was called Cyon, and the monster, or fox, Alopis; and he also says that Cyon was the captain who brought Procris back from Crete. It being believed that resentment had some share in causing the death of Procris, the court of the Areiopagus condemned Cephalus to perpetual banishment. The island of Cephalenia, which received its name from him, having been given to him by Amphitryon, he retired to it, where his son Celeus afterwards succeeded him.



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* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Transcriber's Note on the Text:

Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Henry Thomas Riley (1816-1878, B.A. 1840, M.A. 1859), was originally published in 1851 as part of Bohn's Classical Library. This e-text, covering Books I-VII, uses material from two reprints:

George Bell (London, 1893, one volume). This edition is described on its title page as "reprinted from the stereotype plates". These may have been the original 1851 plates, since the entire Classical Library had been sold by Bohn to Bell & Daldy, later George Bell.

David McKay (Philadelphia, 1899, two volumes), with introduction by Edward Brooks. The introductory material from the Bell/Bohn edition is absent. This edition was freshly typeset, correcting a few errors in the Bell/Bohn edition but also introducing a number of new errors.

The McKay edition was the "base" of the e-text. The scanned, proofread text was computer-checked against the text of the Bell edition, and differences were in turn checked against page images of the printed books. Where appropriate, the text was checked against one or more versions of the Latin original. Most differences are trivial. McKay uses American spelling such as "honor" for "honour", and compound forms such as "northwest" for "north-west"; punctuation is often changed, though some apparent variations may be due to the quality of printing and reproduction. Non-trivial differences are listed in the Errata, below.

Note that the title page of the Bell edition lists the translator as "Henry T. Riley, B.A.", while the McKay edition has "M.A." The sequence of dates— original publication 1851, Riley M.A. 1859, reprint 1893— supports the idea that the Bell edition is a strict facsimile.

* * * * * * * * *

Errors and Anomalies noted by transcriber

Errors are grouped thematically: significant errors and inconsistencies; variant spellings, including name forms; Greek; punctuation; line and footnote numbering. Abbreviations in the form "II.XIV Exp" mean "Book II, Fable XIV, Explanation" (appended to most Fables); "Syn" means Synopsis (prefaced to each Fable).

Shared errors and irregularities (present in both McKay and Bell editions), with original text in brackets []

I.XII: the light breeze spread behind her her careless locks read as "spread her careless locks behind her" in McKay, "her her" is printed at a line break and can easily be mistaken for an error I.XII Footnote 82, Pope quotation McKay reads "trembling dove" and "reached her"; other modernizations in spelling are shared by both editions I.V: the dreadful carcasses anomalous spelling: both editions normally use "carcase(s)" II.I and Footnote 16: Haemus [Hoemus] II.I Exp: Herse, the daughter of Cecrops (Hersa) II.III Footnote 57: 2 Kings, xx. 11 [xx. 7] II.XIV Exp: which Hesychius calls ... [Hesychus] III.IV Footnote 62: ... AEneid (l. 620) [l. 260] IV.I Footnote 3: Alcathoe, Leucippe, and Aristippe text unchanged; may be error for "Alcithoe" IV.II Footnote 39: 'Virgo victa nitore Dei.' [uitore] V.V Footnote 60: The zone, or girdle ... was much worn Bell has "was much wore"; McKay has "were much worn" V.VI Footnote 75: adjoining to the Elean territory [Eleon] VI.I: the sley separates the warp this technical term is missing from many dictionaries VI.III Footnote 47: 'brekekekekex koaex koaex.' text unchanged (one syllable too many) VII.IV Footnote 89: the Explanation, p. 242 / p. 270 final paragraph of the Explanation of Fable VII.III VII.V Footnote 92: The Andrian slave, who gives his name [its name]

Errors or variations introduced by McKay, with original text in brackets []. Unless otherwise noted, the Bell version was treated as the correct form. Italics in the translation (here shown in braces {}) are considered non-trivial because they indicate text added by the translator, not present in the Latin original.

I.II Footnote 19: she was supposed to have her habitation [habitations] I.II Footnote 22: Ver. 64. [34] I.III Exp: the ground became unfruitful [become] —: as they really happened [happen] I. VI Footnote 38: Di majorum gentium [Di imajorum] intended text may have been "Dii majorum" I.VIII Exp: ... that the sea joined its waters [... the sea joined in its waters] —: the tradition here followed by Ovid [that tradition] I.IX: {to endure} these sorrows [to {endure}] I.X Exp: where he built a temple to Jupiter [when] I.XII Footnotes 83, 84: Clarke [Clark] I.XII: Thou, the same, shalt stand [shall] I.XIII Footnote 92: mount AEta [AEtna] the reference is to the Greek mountain now spelled "Eta" I.XIII Footnote 96: Pliny the Elder (Book iii. ch. 23) ... Aous [Aeus] editions of Pliny vary; the cited passage may also be found as iii.58 or iii.145 I.XIII: the wild beasts alone [beast] I.XVI Exp: Argus was the son of Arestor [Argos] I.XVII: Thou ... believest thy mother in all things [believes] I.XVII Footnote 115: He was king of Ethiopia [Ethiopa]

II.I: Ignorant what to do, he is stupefied McKay reads "stupei/fied" at page break Bell has "stupified" here, "stupefied" elsewhere II.I Footnote 13: Thessaly [Thessalis] II.I Footnote 18: This was a mountain [A mountain] II.I Footnote 24: Cithaeron. [Cithoeron] II.I Footnote 41: Cape Matapan [Metapan] II.I Exp: the Greek form of it [from] II.II: a long tract through the air [track] Latin: longo ... tractu II.VII: Larissaean[69] Coronis [Larissaen] II.IX: the womb of his mother [the wound] II.XI: The son of Atlas laughed [sun] II.XIII Syn: her sister's apartment [apartments] both editions consistently use "apartment" II.XIV: which thou seest [seeest] this spelling is normal in Bell, but McKay uses "seest" elsewhere II.XIV Exp: Palaephatus and Tzetzes suggest [suggests]

III.I Footnote 1: 'Thebe,' which signified 'an ox.' [signifies] III.II: the victorious enemy of immense size [in immense size] III.II Exp: sows the teeth [their] III.III Footnote 24: Phyale. [Phyule] III.III: Now thou mayst tell [mayest] III.III Footnote 39: Poemenis. [Parmenis] III.III: Leucon,[46] with snow-white hair [Luecon] —: her Cyprian brother, Harpalus,[52] [Harpaulus] —: Lachne,[54] with a wire-haired body [white-haired] Bell text was substituted, but Latin simply has "hirsuta" —: and Hylactor,[57] [Hylector] III.III, Footnote 56: Ver. 224. [254] III.V: become a woman from a man [became] participle: "having become" III.VI: with the nearer flame did she burn word "did" illegible III.VII: grief is taking away [has taken] reading "has taken" would require a metrically impossible Latin "ademit" (long "e") for "adimit" (short "i") III.VIII, Footnote 89: placed in the number of the Constellations [the number of Constellations] III.VIII: 'Lo! we are here,' says Opheltes, my chief mate [Ophletes] —: this Alcimedon approved of [Alcemedon] —: now confessing that he has offended [had offended] III.VIII Exp: ... tore him in pieces. Pausanias, however ... [to pieces, Pausanius] —: The story ... is supposed by Bochart [Bochart]

IV.I Footnote 1: ... Pausanias says that the Boeotians [Pausanius] IV.I Footnote 8: Thyoneus. [Phyoneus] IV.I: the grass wet with rime [went] —: they determine, in the silent night [determined] —: The arrangement suits them [arrangements] —: the most unhappy cause and companion [anhappy] IV.I Footnote 22: The lead decaying. footnote marker missing IV.II Syn: the intrigue between Mars and Venus [betwen] IV.II: nor {yet} Clytie [not] IV.II Footnote 37: Abas, Acrisius, Danae, Perseus [Danae, Persus] IV.II: with her twirling spindle [with twirling spindle] IV.V Footnote 48: (laborabat) ... 'auxiliares.' [(laborat) ... 'auxiliaries.'] IV.VII: And what madness can do [what madness man can do] "madness" is the grammatical subject: "quidque furor valeat" IV.VII Footnote 57: These were the Furies [furies] IV.VII Footnote 63: Tisiphone importuna [importune] IV.VII Exp: by whom he had Helle and Phryxus [Phrysus] IV.VIII Exp: Bochart says [Bochard] last letter of "Bochart" illegible in Bell IV.X: Soon as the descendant of Abas beheld her [So soon as] Bell wording adopted for consistency —: When he has lighted {on the ground} "on the ground" not italicized IV.X Footnote 84: praepetes [praeptes] IV.X: on the silent plain [on the salient plain] "salient" is clearly wrong, but "silent plain" is also an odd translation of "vacuo ... arvo" IV.X Exp: more common than it had been before [more common that]

V.I: both by his merits and his words [its merits] V.I Footnote 7: Syene. ... (Book i. Ep. 5, l. 79) text reads "Book i. Ep. i. 79"; in the Bell printing the letter "l" is damaged and could be misread as "i" V.I: thou, both her uncle and her betrothed [though, both] V.I Footnote 8: a swingeing bowl [swinging] V.I: the middle of the neck {of Pettalus} [Pattalus] V.II Footnote 32: Ver. 302. [303] V.III Footnote 43: pressed down by Lilyboeum [Lilybaeum] V.IV: both her mother and her companions,[48] [and companions] V.IV Footnote 50: The Palici. [Palaci] V.IV Footnote 51: Dionysus [Dionysius] the names "Bacchius" and "Bacchus" in the same footnote are each correct as printed V.IV Footnote 57: Cinnus [Cinus] V.IV Footnote 61: tunc denique raptam Scisset [raptum] Bell also has "tum" for "tunc"; both words are valid V.IV Exp: the Isis of the Egyptians [the Isis of Egyptians] —: the following circumstance: [circumstances:] V.V Syn: Ceres proceeds in a fruitless search [the fruitless] —: The Sirens have wings [rings] V.V: it is {a mark of} affection [a {mark of}] V.V: Footnote 67: The Greek name of a lizard being askalabos [a lizard askalabos] V.VI: Erymanthus and Elis [Eyramanthus] —: Ho, Arethusa! Ho, Arethusa! text reads "Ho, Arethusa! Ho, Ar-/thusa!" at line break V.VI Exp: the oracle of Delphi [at Delphi] V.VII: entrusted {to him} [to {him}] V.VII Exp: which signified either 'a winged dragon,' or 'a ship fastened with iron nails or bolts.' [signifies ... nails and bolts] —: explainer of the mysteries of Eleusis [Eleusi]

VI.I Footnote 3: the purple [purples] VI.I Exp: unless we should prefer [he] —: St. Augustine [Augustin] —: calling their attention to agricultural pursuits [agricultual] —: had himself taken the figure text has "the // the" at page break —: numerous in the interior of Africa [is the] VI.II: what {I wish} may fall upon herself [what I {wish}] —: their wonted exercise {of riding} [of {riding}] VI.III: her suckling breasts [sucking] VI.IV: after he had drawn his clothes from his shoulder towards his breast [shoulders] The Latin reads "... umeroque suas a pectore [or: ad pectora] postquam / deduxit [or: diduxit] vestes ebur ostendisse sinistro". It is possible to construct a Latin variation that would translate as "from his shoulders", but editorial or typographic error is a much likelier explanation. VI.IV Exp: Livy and Quintus Curtius [Quintius] —: Marsyas may have been rash enough [Maryas] VI.V: beyond what is becoming [his] VI.VI: forced {from her} [{from} her] —: from excess of affection [from the excess] VI.VII Footnote 73: and in the Art of Love [and the Art ...]

VII.I: {is wont} to increase [is {wont}] VII.II: a counterfeited quarrel [counterfeit] —: the guards together with their king [with the king] Latin "rege suo" —: they turn away their eyes [they, turning away their eyes] Latin "oculosque reflectunt" VII.III Footnote 62: ... This was not Thessalian Tempe "w" in "was" invisible VII.III Footnote 69: who was said to have lived there [who was to have] VII.III Exp: the young princess perished in the greatest misery text has "in / in" at line break —: the account of the women of Cos being changed [accounts] VII.IV Footnote 75: dragged from Tartarus by Hercules [Herculea] VII.IV Footnote 86: Anaphe [Anophe] VII.V Syn: the island of AEgina [islands] VII.V: the grandson of Asopus says, "Thou askest in vain [asketh] —: the souls of sons, and of husbands [the souls of the sons] VII.VI Exp: gave occasion to the report [of the report] VII.VII Syn: discovering his suspicions [suspicion] VII.VII: {standing} in the middle [{standiny}] VII.VIII Exp: as Apollodorus tells us [tell]

Corrections made by McKay, with Bell/Bohn text shown in brackets

III.VI Exp: phenomenon (two occurrences) Bell spells "phoenomenon" (error for "phaenomenon") IV.IV Exp: beloved by Smilax [Simlax] IV.V heading: Bell misprints "Fable IV" IV.VII Exp: Learchus and Melicerta [Melacerta] V.I Footnote 17: Now deceived. [How deceived] footnote marker missing in Bell VI.II Exp: Valerius Flaccus relates the sorrow of Clytie [Clyte] VI.VI Exp: the ancients thereby portrayed [pourtrayed] VI.VII Footnote 74: The Ciconians. footnote marker missing in Bell VII.II Footnote 40: And his hair. footnote marker missing in Bell

Variations

The readings listed here are "wrong" in the sense that they are different from what is found in the Bell/Bohn text, but they are acceptable translations of the Latin. The Bell text is shown in brackets.

III.II: The Earth, too, scraped with the scales [his scales] —: nor engage thyself in civil war [a civil war] —: the youths ... beat with throbbing breast [breasts] III.III: to bathe her virgin limbs in clear water [the clear water] III.VIII: in vain try to restrain him [strive] —: I made observations with my eyes [observation] IV.I: the Sun, with its rays [his rays] IV.VII: foam formed in the hollowed deep [hallowed] The Latin has at least three variant readings: "in medio ... profundo", "immenso ... profundo" and "dio profundo". Riley's translation must have been based on the "dio" (long "i" reading. IV.X: the name both of her country and herself [... of the country and of herself] V.IV: grasp {in your hand} [{in your hands}] the Latin has only the verb "prendere" (grasp) V.VI: thy darts enclosed in a quiver [the quiver] VI.III: oft to sit on the bank of the pool [often] VI.V: delay will be tedious to me, and [to me. And] VI.VI: she prepared for a horrible deed [horrid] VII.II: to go far thence [afar]

Unusual or Inconsistent Spellings and Name Forms

Dieresis is unpredictable in both editions; forms such as "Phaeton", "Ocyrrhoee" and "Danaee" are common, and have been silently corrected. Since the ligatures "ae" and "oe" are used consistently, dieresis can be assumed even when not explicitly indicated.

Unless otherwise noted, comments apply to both texts.

III.VIII Footnote 92: the buccanier Morgan IV.VIII Exp: they beheld stedfastly V.II, VI.V: villany

Caeus, Calisto, Lilyboeus, Phyale, Phryxus, Progne _these forms are used consistently; the original forms are Coeus (Koios), Callisto (Kallisto), Lilybaeus (Lilubaios), Phiale (Phiale), Phrixus (Phrixos), Procne (Prokne). Note that in the main text, the name "Callisto" is never used, probably on metrical grounds._ Damasicthon, Erectheus _and similar_ _spellings in "-cth-" used consistently in place of "-chth-"). Achaea/Achaia; Ethiopia/AEthiopia; Phocea/Phocaea; Proserpine/Proserpina _both forms occur, with McKay text following Bell in all cases_

Greek

Most errors in Greek words can be attributed to a typesetter who did not know Greek. Errors and omissions in diacritical marks have been silently corrected; only the more significant errors are listed.

I.VII Footnote 47: en te era naiein [hira naiein (McKay)] II.XII Footnote 84: dexai [dezai (McKay)] II.XIV Exp: Hellotis both texts read Ellotis with smooth breathing III.III Footnote 50: thoos both texts read thous III.IV Exp: Panbasileia [Panbasigeia (McKay)] III.VI Footnote 68: Leirion [Leioion (McKay)] III.VIII Footnote 86: akoites McKay reads hakoites with rough breathing; both have misplaced accent III.VIII Footnote 87: olenai both texts read olenai; McKay has initial accent for breathing mark IV.I Footnote 5: Euoi Bakche, o Iakche, Io Bakche, Ouoi saboi text given as printed; exact form (with consistent capitalization) is probably Euoi Bakche, O Iakche, Io Bakche, Ouoi sabai IV.I Footnote 6: luein [kuei (McKay)] V.II Footnote 31: chaire, chaire [chaire, chsire (McKay)] VII.VI Footnote 105: peleiadai text unchanged, but intended form is probably peleiades VII.VI Exp: murmex [murmes (McKay)]

Punctuation

The McKay (Philadelphia) edition sometimes uses double quotes where the Bell (London) edition used single quotes. These are not individually noted; neither is variation between colons and semicolons, and random use of commas. Invisible punctuation at line-end has been supplied from Bell.

Shared errors and irregularities in punctuation

IV.VII Footnote 69: Guiltless granddaughter. both print "grand-daughter" with anomalous hyphen VI.III: 'Young man, there is no mountain Divinity for this altar.... This embedded single quote was apparently abandoned by the editor; each double quote for the remainder of the Fable should be accompanied by a single quote.

I.XII Footnote 80: quod amor non est / medicabilis herbis.' IV.I: our words to our loving ears.' IV.IV: I will entertain your minds with a pleasing novelty." IV.X: {if} preserved by my valor." IV.X: those snakes which she {thus} produced." V.II: oft have the Gods above entered more humble cottages.' V.II: Let the Nymphs decide the contest." close quote missing in all

Punctuation errors introduced in McKay edition

[Verso of title page] Sherman & Co., Philadelphia period invisible [General Introduction] about, ninety miles from Rome here and elsewhere, commas are as in the original I.VI Exp: for it repenteth me that I have made them.'" [made them'] Bell omits quotes for Biblical citation III.III: Thoues,[50] [Thoues,[50],] IV.II: and he, no longer delaying [and, he,] —: 'I am he .... thou art pleasing to me.' ['I am .... to me."] IV.VII: with newly formed wings? [wings!] V.VI: Why art thou, Arethusa, a sacred spring?' missing close quote V.VI Exp: a mere fable; [fable!] VI.II: she says, "What madness is this missing open quote —: exult and triumph, my victorious enemy. But why victorious? [enemy, But why v'ctorious?] VI.III: hold out their little arms from my bosom' missing close quote VII.IV Exp: Egyptian notions on the future state of man. [of man,] VII.V Syn: the surprising manner in which it had been re-peopled. invisible hyphen VII.V: says Cephalus:[99] "and I pray missing open quote —: not room sufficient for the tombs, nor trees for the fires." missing close quote VII.VI: shall have changed to the South." missing close quote

Footnote Numbers

Errors in McKay edition

Bk. I, ll. 516-531 (Fable I.XII) Footnotes on this page were printed as 66-69 instead of 76-79 (e-text note numbers 78-81); other pages were not affected. Bk. IV, note 17*. The footnote tag was numbered as a second 17; the note itself was numbered the first of two 18.

Adjustments

In the original text— both editions— footnote numbers began from 1 in each Book, and started over when the count passed 99. Almost all Books had duplications in the sequence, usually in the form "17*". In this e-text, footnotes have been renumbered consecutively within each Book, without duplication; Books I and VII continue past 100.

Interpolations: Bk. I: 51*, 67* Bk. II: 4*, 71* Bk. III: 72*, 88* Bk. IV: 17*, 37*, 77* Bk. V: 46*, 76* Bk. VI: (no change from original sequence) Bk. VII: 4*, 73*, 2* (second series)

Line Numbers (printed as page headers)

Line numbers in the McKay edition were generally correct, although different from those in Bell due to changes in pagination. Some book numbers in the McKay edition were misprinted:

[II. 550-564] printed as Bk. XV [II. 605-632] printed as Bk. XV [II. 632-651] printed as Bk. XIV [II. 652-675] printed as Bk. XV [II. 676-693] printed as Bk. XV [IV. 233-237] printed as Bk. I [V. 95-123] printed as Bk. IV [V. 123-151] printed as Bk. IV [V. 350-373] printed as Bk. IV

THE END