Part 30 (1/2)
[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 Parna.s.sus, 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 none. 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 G.o.ddess, 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 pa.s.sage.]
[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: _Phbean 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 Euba. 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 Iulis, 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 Botia.]
[Footnote 63: _Pleuron._--Ver. 382. This was a city of aetolia, near Mount Curius. It was far distant from Botia and Lake Hyrie.
Some commentators, therefore, suggest that the reading should be Brauron, a village of Attica, near the confines of Botia.]
[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 circ.u.mstance. 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 Botia, 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: _t.i.tanian dragons._--Ver. 398. Her dragons are so called, either because, as Pindar says, they had sprung from the blood of the t.i.tans, 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 t.i.tan.]
[Footnote 71: _Phineus._--Ver. 399. Any further particulars of the person here named are unknown. Some commentators suggest 'Phini,'