R. 73. (Sacram...Iden.) Sacra dicitur, quod Cybeles sacra in hoc monte celebrabantur, quæ inde etiam matris Idææ nomen habet. Compare Ov. Fast. IV, 249. Dindymon, et Cybelen, et amœnam fontibus Iden 74. (Mea saxa.) "The rocky cave which formed my abode." 75. (Desertaque coniuge,) sc. a coniuge. omitted in like manner in Her. XII. 161. The preposition is Deseror (amissis regno, patriaque, domoque) 77, 78. If we read sequuntur and destituunt, it will make quæ refer to Helen alone, while the subjunctive renders the proposition general, "such as are ready to follow," and this seems more appropriate. 78. (Legitimos toros,) i. e. legitimos viros. Torus poetice dicitur et de viro et de uxore. R. Thus Ov. Her. VIII. 25. Sic quoque eram repetenda tamen: nec turpe marito and lectus in Prop. II. vi. 23. Felix Admeti çoniux et lectus Ulyssis. 81. (Miror opes.) Mirari interdum est, ita suspicere aliquid et magnum putare, ut ejus particeps fieri cupias. R. In illustration of which, we find Seu quis, Olympiacæ miratus præmia palmæ, 82. (Tot.) Fifty. Priam when speaking of his sons in his most touching address to Achilles, says— πεντήκοντά μοι ἦσαν ὅτ' ἢλυθον υἷες ̓Αχαιών 83. (Non tamen.) "It must not be supposed however." Tamen is used to qualify an expression, to prevent it from being misunderstood, or taken up too strongly. The pride of none here takes alarm lest her language should be supposed to imply a feeling of unworthiness or unfitness for so high a station, Thus Prop. II. XIX. 19. Incipiam captare feras, et reddere pennis and Virg. Æ. XII. 811. Iuturnam misero, fateor, succurrere fratri 84. (Dissimulanda.) "Disowned." 85. Matrona is always a title of respect," the wedded wife,” the mother of the family,—the mistress of the house. 86. (Quas possint.) Quæ possint is also a legitimate construction. capit ille coronam Quæ possit crines, Phoebe, decere tuos. Ov. Fast. II. 106. Quas possint decere is much the same as quas deceant, and this not being understood, gave rise to conjectural emendations on the part of the transcribers, and hence the variations in the text. 91. Fugitivus is the technical term for a runaway slave. 93. (Si.) Si is used for num, an usage sanctioned even by prose writers. Thus Cæs. B. G. I. 8. Sæpius noctu, si perrumpere possent, conati. We have the same idiom in English. 94. (Deiphobo.) Deiphobus, after Hector, was the best and bravest of all the sons of Priam and Hecuba. We are told in the Odyssey, (VIII. 517,) that his house was stormed at the capture of Troy by Ulysses and Menelaus, and later writers represented him as having wedded Helen after the death of Paris. This account was followed by Virgil, and the student will do well to read the description of the interview between Æneas and the shade of Deiphobus, in the realms below. En. VI. 494. (Polydamanta.) Polydamas, son of Panthoos a Delphian who had settled at Troy and wedded the niece of Priam, is repeatedly introduced in the Iliad, and represented as one of the wisest, as well as the most valiant, in the Trojan host. With regard to the orthography "Græce dicitur Пouλúdaμas sed Latinum Polydamas priori syllaba longa formatum est ex Æolico Пwλúdauas." R. Hence it is quite unnecessary to write the name Pulydamas, as some desire. 95. (Antenor.) Antenor, husband of Theano, the sister of Hecuba, is characterised by Homer as an aged, wise, and eloquent counsellor, holding the same position among the Trojans which Nestor occupied among the Greeks. Tradition told, that having escaped from the sack of his native city, he led a band of exiles, who wandered to the head of the Adriatic and founded the city of Patavium. So Virgil, Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis, Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus Troia, nunc placida compostus pace quiescit. Æ. I. 242. Of these three, Antenor alone is expressly said, by Homer, to have urged the propriety of ending the war by the surrender of Helen. Il. VII. 351. Δεῦτ ̓ ἄγετ' Αργείην Ελένην καὶ κτήμαθ ̓ ἅμ ̓ αὐτῇ Whence Horace, Ep. I. ii. 9. Antenor censet belli præcidere causam. Quintus Calaber makes Polydamas recommend the same policy. 95. (Censeat.) Censeat, taken in conjunction with consule, accords better than suadeat with the ordinary technical phraseology of the Roman Senate, although both verbs are used. 97. (Rudimentum.) Proprie est, primum rudium tironum in armis exercitium, deinde cuiusvis rei quam aggredimur initium. R. 98. Caussa locutio est forensis, significans vπóðɛσ sive negotium de quo in iudicio disceptatur per litem adversariorum. Oudendorp. 101. (Minor Atrides.) Menelaus, the younger brother of Aga meninon. 105. (Semel.) "Once, and once for all." 107. Certus maritus is a true and faithful husband opposed to incerta nuptia, which we find in Ter. And. V. i. 11, in the sense of unstable. 112. (Solibus,) soles poetæ dicunt plurali numero pro vehementi solis calore. R, who quotes Ov. Met. I. 434. Ergo ubi diluvio tellus lutulenta recenti and Hor. Ep. I. xx. 24, where the poet describes himself as Corporis exigui, præcanum, solibus aptum. 113. (Recolo,) i. e., in memoriam revoco, animo repeto. Sic. Cic. Phil. XIII. 20. Quæ si tecum ipse recolis, æquiore animo et maiore consolatione moriere. R. The word being somewhat uncommon, gave rise to a multitude of glosses which have crept into the text of different MSS. See various readings. (Germana.) Cassandra, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, who received from Apollo the gift of prophecy, to which was added the curse that her predictions should never be believed.1 On the partition of the spoil of Troy, she fell to the lot of Agamemnon, and, on his return home, shared his fate, being murdered by Clytemnestra and her paramour Ægisthus. She plays a prominent part in the noblest production of the Grecian drama, the Agamemnon of Æschylus. The story of her prophetic powers is unnoticed by Homer. 2 114. (Diffusis...comis.) Quod est furentis; nam in furorem rapiuntur vates, si vaticinantur. The best commentary is the description given by Virgil of the Sibyl when possessed by the God. Æ. VI. 45. Ventum erat ad limen, quum virgo, Poscere fata 115. (Litora...aras.) A proverbial expression applied to those who waste their toil in endeavouring to effect what can never be accomplished. So Ov. T. V. iv. 47. Plena tot ac tantis referetur gratia factis ; Nec sinet ille tuos litus arare boves. and Juvenal, speaking of the perseverance of unrewarded men of letters, Nos tamen hoc agimus, tenuique in pulvere sulcos, 1 Apollodor. III. 12. 5. 2 Hom, Od. xi. 405. 117. (Venit,) i. e., veniet. This is peculiarly the style of prophets who behold, as it were, the events they describe actually passing before their eyes as they pour forth the prediction. So the oracular response of Faunus O mea progenies, thalamis neu crede paratis, Graia iuvenca is the type under which Cassandra shadows forth Helen in the dark language of prophecy. 119. (Obscænam puppim.) The true meaning of obscænus is illomened, and it seems certain that it is connected with scavus, i. e. sinister (oxads), thus Virg. G. I. 470, describing the prodigies which preceded and followed the death of Cæsar. Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et æquora ponti, Signa dabant. and in Æ. XII. 876. Juturna exclaims, on seeing the Dira in the shape of a bird, which Jupiter had sent "inque omen Iuturnæ occurrere iussit," Iam, iam linquo acies, ne me terrete timentem hence, it sometimes means simply loathsome, and in that sense is applied twice in Æ. III. 241, 262, to the Harpies. 121. (In cursu,) i. e., in medio cursu, in ipso furoris impetu, "while her frenzy was in mid career. Imperaverat Priamus, ut quoties Cassandra solveret os in oracula, toties eam famulæ coercerent ut insanam. Meminit Lycophron et eius interpres. Parrhasius. If we read incursu, it will mean tendants rushing in" or, "rushing upon her." 126. (Socios...deos.) Deos coniugales intelligit. Heins. 128. (Nescio quis Theseus.) "the at Enone, ut mulier peregrina, fingit, se non satis nosse Theseum. R. The story, as narrated by Apollodorus, is simply this. The fame of Helen's beauty being bruited abroad over Greece, Theseus, assisted by Pirithous, bore her away by force and transported her to Athens. He then descended to the infernal regions for the purpose of aiding his friend to carry off Proserpine.— Meanwhile Castor and Pollux made war against Athens, captured the city, recovered their sister, and, in retaliation, led prisoner to Sparta Ethra, the mother of Theseus. The details are given at length in Diodorus2 and Plutarch. Herodotus also refers to the invasion of 1 Lib. III. 10, 7. Lib. IV. Ixiii. In his life of Theseus. 4 Lib. IX. lxxiii. |