153 nexuque . . . revinxit = and has linked far places in a bond of love.—Jebb.
156 Thulen: cf. Vergil’s ultima Thule, of the northernmost island known, variously identified with the Shetlands, Iceland, or Norway.
158 Orontem: the largest river of Syria, whence Juvenal, iii. 62, uses it of the Syrian people—
Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes.
159 Quod cuncti . . . sumus = that the whole earth is one people.
164 moderamina = the reins of power; lit. a means of managing.
168 hanc tota . . . velat = she it is above whom Pallas spreads the whole shadow of the aegis (tota Gorgone). Cf. Verg. Aen. viii. 435-8:
Aegidaque horriferam, turbatae Palladis arma,
Certatim squamis serpentum auroque polibant,
Connexosque angues ipsamque in pectore divae