Vide Notes [93], [126]. When circumstances would not allow the father of an infant to take it up from the ground himself, if he intended to preserve it, he commissioned some friend to perform the ceremony for him. This is the meaning of jussit tolli in this passage. Vide Pitis Dict., Art. Expositio, and Athenæ. B. 10.
Simo.—O Jupiter! what do I hear? it is all over if what she says be truth!—is he so mad? a foreigner too!
I imagine that in this passage, Terence meant Simo to call Glycera a foreigner merely, and not a woman of light character, which peregrina sometimes means, (vide [Note 82].) Madame Dacier translates the words ex peregrina by “quoi d’une étrangère? c’est à dire d’une courtisane, car comme je l’ai remarqué ailleurs, on donnoit le nom d’étrangères à toutes les femmes debauchées: et je crois qu’ils avoient pris cela des Orientaux; car on trouve étrangère en ce sens là dans les livres du Vieux Testament.” But peregrina will hardly bear this interpretation in this particular passage, because we must suppose that Simo had not that opinion of Glycera’s character; for he himself (Act I. Scene I.) says, that her appearance was “so modest and so charming, that nothing could surpass it.” Simo, however, had sufficient reason for exclamation; supposing that he considered Glycera merely as a person who was not a native of Athens. The Athenian laws were rigorously strict in prohibiting a citizen from contracting a marriage with any woman who was not a citizen: if such a marriage was contracted, and the parties impeached and convicted, the husband was fined very heavily, in proportion to his property; the wife sold for a slave; and any person who was proved to have used any species of deceit to induce the Athenian to form this forbidden connexion, was punished with the worst kind of infamy, which included the loss of his liberty and of his estate. The first of these punishments was called ζημία, the second δουλεία, and the third ἀτιμία. If Simo, therefore, supposed that Glycera was not a citizen, and believed Pamphilus to be her husband, his apprehensions appear very natural.
[NOTE 143.]
Glycera.—O Juno, Lucina, help! save me, I beseech thee.
Though Juno was sometimes called Lucina, Diana is the goddess here called Juno Lucina. Diana received the appellation of Juno, (as I apprehend,) because she was considered by the ancients as presiding over women in child-birth: and might, therefore, very properly be termed Juno, the guardian genius of women; as Junones was the usual name for those spirits who were supposed to be the protectors of women, as the genii were thought to be the guardians of men: (vide [Note 106.]) Catullus addressing Diana, calls her expressly by the names Juno Lucina:
“Tu Lucina dolentibus
Juno dicta puerperis.”
And thou, Juno Lucina called
By women who implore thy aid.