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[ Waging it.—Ver. 165. He might have gone to Troy, and taken part in that war; unless, indeed, as Ovid hints in another passage, his intrigue did not commence with Clyteinnestra till after Troy had fallen, and Cassandra had become the captive of Agememnon.]
1215 ([return])
[ Fly from the yew trees.—Ver. 185. 'Fumos,' 'smoke,' is a better reading here than 'taxos,' 'yews,' inasmuch as the swarm of bees would be driven away by smoke, but not by the yew, which was not noxious to the swarm, though it was thought to make the honey of a poisonous nature, or bitter, according to Pliny. See the Amores, B. i. El. xii. 1. 10, and the Note.]
1216 ([return])
[ Bending osiers.—Ver. 186. The beehives, if stationary, were made of brick, or baked cow dung; if moveable, they were made from a hollow block of wood, cork, bark, earthenware, and, as in the present instance, wicker-work, or osier. Those of cork were deemed the best, and those of earthenware the worst, as being most susceptible to the variations of the temperature.]