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[ Honour the shades.—Ver. 4. 'Parento' means 'to celebrate the funeral obsequies of one's parents.' Both the Romans and the Greeks were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain times, and to offer sacrifices, called 'inferiæ,' or 'parentalia.' The souls of the departed were regarded by the Romans as Gods, and the oblations to them consisted of milk, wine, victims, or wreaths of flowers. The Poet here refers to the birds which arose from the funeral pile of Memnon, and wera said to revisit it annually. See the Thirteenth Book of the Metamorphoses.]
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[ Moisture is cooling.—Ver. 7. 'Humor' seems to mean the dew, or the dampness of the night, which would tend, in a hot climate, to modify the sultriness of the atmosphere. One Commentator thinks that the word means the humours of the brain.]
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[ To their masters.—Ver. 17. The schools at Rome were mostly kept by manumitted slaves; and we learn from the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 829, that people were not very particular about paying them.]