[72.] Erectheus.]—Ver. 677. This personage really was king of Athens before Pandion, the father of Progne and Philomela, and not after him, as Ovid here states; at least, such is the account given by Pausanias and Eusebius: the order of succession being Actæus, Cecrops, Cranaüs, Amphictyon, Erecthonius, Pandion, Erectheus, Cecrops II., Pandion II., Ægeus, Theseus.
[73.] Cephalus.]—Ver. 681. He was the son of Deioneus, and the grandson of Æolus. According to some writers, he was the son of Mercury; and in the Art of Love (Book iii. l. 725) he is called ‘Cyllenia proles.’ Strabo says that he was the son-in-law of Deioneus. His story is related at length in the next Book.
[74.] The Ciconians.]—Ver. 710. The Cicones were a people of Thrace, living near Mount Ismarus, and the Bistonian lake.
[75.] They sought.]—Ver. 720. This was the fleece of the ram that carried Phryxus along the Hellespont to Colchis, which is mentioned again in the next Book.
[76.] Before unmoved.]—Ver. 721. This passage may mean that that part of the sea had not been navigated before; though many of the poets assert that the Argo was the first ship that was ever built. It is more probable that it was the first vessel that was ever fitted out as a ship of war.
Supplementary Notes (added by transcriber)
[A.] the stranger answered me in such words; ‘Young man... This embedded single quote was apparently abandoned by the editor; each double quote for the remainder of the Fable should be accompanied by a single quote.
[B.] after he had drawn his clothes from his shoulder towards his breast. Ovid VI.404-405 “... umeroque suas a pectore [or: ad pectora] postquam / deduxit [or: diduxit] vestes ebur ostendisse sinistro”. It is possible to construct a Latin variation that would translate as “from his shoulders”, but editorial or typographic error is a much likelier explanation.