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[ Forsooth to you.—Ver. 17. He says that surely it was enough for the Gods to punish Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, for the sins of her mother, without making him to suffer misery for the perjury of his mistress. Cassiope, the mother of Andromeda, having dared to compare her own beauty with that of the Nereids, her daughter was, by the command of Jupiter, exposed to a sea-monster, which was afterwards slain by Perseus. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 670.]
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[ Hurls at the groves.—Ver. 35. A place which had been struck by lightning was called 'bidental,' and was held sacred ever afterwards. The same veneration was also paid to a place where any person who had been killed by lightning was buried. Priests collected the earth that had been torn up by lightning, and everything that had been scorched, and buried it in the ground with lamentations. The spot was then consecrated by sacrificing a two-year-old sheep, which being called 'bidens,' gave its name to the place. An altar was also erected there, and it was not allowable thenceforth to tread on the spot, or to touch it, or even look at it. When the altar had fallen to decay, it might be renovated, but to remove its boundaries was deemed sacrilege. Madness was supposed to ensue on committing such an offence; and Seneca mentions a belief, that wine which had been struck by lightning, would produce death or madness in those who drank it.]
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[ Unfortunate Semele.—Ver. 37. See the fate of Semele, related in the Third Book of the Metamorphoses.]