[69.] Buthrotos.]—Ver. 721. This was a city of Epirus, not far from Corcyra. It received its name from its founder.
[70.] Galatea.]—Ver. 738. She was a sea Nymph, the daughter of Nereus and Doris.
[71.] Daughter of Cratæis.]—Ver. 749. Cratæis was a river of Calabria, in Italy. Symæthis was a stream of Sicily, opposite to Calabria.
[72.] The pine tree.]—Ver. 782. By way of corroborating this assertion, Boccaccio tells us, that the body of Polyphemus was found in Sicily, his left hand grasping a walking-stick longer than the mast of a ship.
[73.] Fairer than.]—Ver. 789. This song of Polyphemus is, in some measure, imitated from that of the Cyclop, in the Eleventh Idyll of Theocritus.
[74.] Snow-white privet.]—Ver. 789. Hesiod says, that Galatea had her name from her extreme fairness; γάλα being the Greek word for milk. To this the Poet here alludes.
[75.] Arbute tree.]—Ver. 820. The fruit of the arbutus, or strawberry tree, were so extremely sour, that they were called, as Pliny the Elder tells us, ‘unedones;’ because people could not eat more than one. The tree itself was valued for the beauty and pleasing shade of its foliage.
[76.] My figure.]—Ver. 841. Virgil and Theocritus also represent Polyphemus as boasting of his good looks.
[77.] Ceases.]—Ver. 898. ‘Desierat Galatea loqui,’ is translated by Clarke, ‘Galatea gave over talking.’
[78.] Anthedon.]—Ver. 905. Anthedon was a maritime city of Bœotia, only separated from the Island of Eubœa, by the narrow strait of the Euripus.