NOTES TO BOOK ONE
[I.] 'The Lavinian shore,' the coast of Italy near Lavinium, an old town in Latium. See also [stanzas xxxv. and xxxvi.]
[III.] Carthage was a Phoenician colony, and Tyre was the leading Phoenician city.
Samos was an island in the Archipelago near the coast of Asia Minor. There was a famous temple on it, dedicated to Juno, who was supposed to take a special interest in the island.
[V.] 'The choice of Paris' refers to the Greek story that once when the gods were feasting, 'Discord' threw a golden apple on the table as a prize for the fairest. Juno, Minerva and Venus each claimed it, but the Trojan prince Paris, who was made judge, gave it to Venus. Ganymede was a beautiful Trojan boy who was carried off to Olympus to be Jove's cup-bearer.
[VI.] Ajax, son of Oileus, desecrated Minerva's temple at Troy. (Cf. [Book II. stanza liv.])
[XIV.] The 'son of Tydeus' is Diomedes, one of the foremost Greek warriors in the war with Troy. Aeneas narrowly escaped being slain by him.
For Sarpedon see [Book IX. stanza lxxxix.] and for Simois note on [Book VI. stanza xiv.]
[XXVI.] Acestes was king of Eryx in Sicily, which was called 'Trinacria' from its three promontories. See [Book V. stanzas iv.] and following.
[XXVII.] See note on [Book III. stanzas lv.] and following.
[XXXII.] The legend was that Antenor escaped from Troy and established a colony of Trojans at the northern end of the Adriatic. The Timavus was a small river near where Trieste now is.
[XXXIII.] Patavium. The modern Padua.
[XXXV.] Ascanius or Iulus is the son of Aeneas.
[XXXVI.] The legend was that Rhea Silvia, a priestess of Mars, bore the twins Romulus and Remus. The two children were exposed and left to die, but were found and nursed by a she-wolf.
[XXXVIII.] This prophecy refers not to C. Julius Caesar but to his nephew Augustus, as is shown by the references to the east (the battle of Actium) and to the closing of the 'gates of Janus.' For an account of the latter, see [Book VII. stanza xxiv.]
[XL.] The 'son of Maia' is Mercury.
[XLII.] Harpalyce was the daughter of a Thracian king and a famous huntress.
[XLIX.] Byrsa. This word, originally the Semitic word for 'citadel,' was thought by the Greeks to be their own word Byrsa meaning 'a bull's hide.' This mistake was probably the cause of the legend given by Virgil.
[LV.] Paphos in Cyprus was one of the chief centres of the worship of Venus.
[LX.] Priam was the king of Troy, and the Atridae were Agamemnon and Menelaus. Achilles is described as fierce to both, because he quarrelled with Agamemnon about a captive. It is with this quarrel that the Iliad opens.
[LXII.] Rhesus, king of Thrace, had come to help the Trojans. It had been prophesied that if his horses ate Trojan grass or drank the water of the river, Troy could never be taken. Diomedes (Tydides) prevented this by capturing the horses.
[LXIII.] Troilus: a son of Priam slain by Achilles.
[LXIV.] Memnon, son of Aurora, the dawn-goddess, and Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, came to Troy as allies. They were both slain by Achilles.
[LXV.] The Eurotas was a river in Laconia, and Cynthus was a mountain of Delos. Both places were supposed to be favourite haunts of the goddess Diana. Oreads: mountain-nymphs. Latona was the mother of Diana and Apollo.
[LXX.] Hesperia, 'the western land,' means Italy.
The Oenotrian folk were an old Italian race settled in the south of the peninsula, in Lucania. Italus is an eponymous hero and was probably invented to account for the name Italia. Probably Italia means 'the cattle land.'
[LXXXII.] This Teucer, who was a Greek, must be carefully distinguished from the founder of the Trojans. He was a son of the king of Salamis, and on his return from the Trojan war was exiled by his father. He fled to Dido's father Belus, and with the help of the latter founded a new kingdom in Cyprus.
[XCVII.] Bacchus was the god of wine and feasting.