NOTES TO BOOK FIVE
[IV.] Eryx was the son of Venus and Butes, Aeneas son of Venus and Anchises, hence they are called brothers here. Eryx is the legendary founder of the town of that name on the west coast of Sicily, near Mount Eryx.
[VI.] The story was that Acestes was the son of the Sicilian river-god Crimisus and Egesta, a Trojan maiden.
[XI.] The myrtle was sacred to Venus. Helymus was the supposed founder of the Elymi, a Sicilian tribe. He was a Trojan who had migrated to Sicily from Troy.
[XVI.-XVII.] The gens Memmia and the gens Sergia were two distinguished Roman families who traced their descent from Trojans. The only member of the family of Cluentius we know much about is the disreputable person on whose behalf Cicero made a well-known speech.
[XXVI.] Cape Malea is the most southerly point of Laconia in the Peloponnesus, renowned for its storms.
[XXXII.] Panopea was one of the Nereids or sea-nymphs. Portunus was an ancient Roman sea-god. Originally he was, as his name implies, a god of harbourage.
[XXXIII.] Meliboea was a town at the foot of Mount Ossa in Thessaly.
[LVI.] Alcides, a common name for Hercules, who was descended from Alcaeus. Hercules slew Eryx in the boxing-match referred to.
[LXVIII.] This refers to an incident mentioned in the Iliad. A truce had been concluded by the Greek and Trojans but it was broken by Pandarus, who shot an arrow at Menelaus.
[LXXII.] The meaning of this passage is very obscure. For we are not told what the portent signified either in this or the succeeding books. The old interpretation was that it referred to the burning of the ships ([lxxxii.] and following), but it is more probable that Virgil was thinking of the wars between Rome and Sicily.
[LXXVII.] The mother of Augustus was a member of the Atian family, and this passage was evidently inserted by Virgil with the special idea of pleasing Augustus.
[LXXX.] For Crete and the Labyrinth, see note on [Book VI. stanza iv.]
[CIII.] The temple of Venus on Mount Eryx was very celebrated in antiquity. Venus is called 'Idalian' from Idalium in Cyprus.
[CXII.] All the names that occur in this stanza are those of sea-gods or sea-nymphs.
[CXVIII.] The Roman poets placed the Sirens on some rocks in the southern part of the bay of Naples.