[39] Thrasymene. Lake Trasimenus (modern Lake of Perugia). It is only about twenty feet deep.
[40] holy maidens. The vestal virgins, whose duty it was to keep the fire burning on the altar in the temple of Vesta. Vesta was the goddess of the home, and the vestal virgins were bound by oath never to marry.
[41] Ramnian. The Ramnes were one of the three tribes of which the Roman people were mainly comprised; the Tities were a second of these tribes; Horatius himself belonged to the Luceres, the third tribe, so that in the defence of the bridge all three tribes were represented.
[42] The story is supposed to be told by one of the plebeians, or common people in Rome, about 120 years after the event took place.
[43] The speaker voices the grievances of the Plebeians against the Patricians.
[44] Tribunes. The officers appointed to defend the rights of the Plebeians against the encroachments of the Patricians.
[45] beard. openly defy.
[46] harness. armour.
[47] Tifernum. A town on the river Tiber.
[48] Ilva. Elba, an island in the Mediterranean, on the coast of Italy.