[11.] What mountains.]—Ver. 63. These were the Cyanean rocks, or Symplegades, at the mouth of the Euxine sea.
[12.] Hecate.]—Ver. 74. Ancient writers seem to have been much divided in opinion who Hecate was. Ovid here follows the account which made her to be the daughter of Perses, who, according to Diodorus Siculus, was the son of Phœbus, and the brother of Æetes. Marrying her uncle Æetes, she is said to have been the mother of Circe, Medea, and Absyrtus. By some writers she is confounded with the Moon and with Proserpine; as identical with the Moon, she has the epithets ‘Triceps’ and ‘Triformis,’ often given to her by the poets, because the Moon sometimes is full, sometimes disappears, and often shows but part of her disk.
[13.] And by the sire.]—Ver. 96. Allusion is made to the Sun, who was said to be the father of Æetes, the destined father-in-law of Jason.
[14.] Breathe forth flames.]—Ver. 104. The name of the God of fire is here used to signify that element. Apollodorus says, that Medea gave Jason a drug (φάρμακον) to rub over himself and his armor.
[15.] Or when flints.]—Ver. 107. It is difficult to determine whether ‘silices’ here means ‘flint-stones,’ or ‘lime-stone;’ probably the latter, from the mention of water sprinkled over them. If the meaning is ‘flint-stones,’ the passage may refer to the manufacture of glass, with the art of making which the ancients were perfectly acquainted.
[16.] Unused to it.]—Ver. 119. Because, being sacred to Mars, it was not permitted to be ploughed.
[17.] Dragon’s teeth.]—Ver. 122. These were a portion of the teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus, which Mars and Minerva had sent to Æetes.
[18.] Lethæan juice.]—Ver. 152. Lethe was a river of the infernal regions, whose waters were said to produce sleep and forgetfulness.
[19.] Port of Iolcos.]—Ver. 158. Iolcos was a city of Thessaly, of which country Jason was a native.
[20.] Of the triple form.]—Ver. 177. Hecate, the Goddess of enchantment.