Tower eight times planted on the top of tower,
That Belus, nightly to his splendid couch
Descending, there might rest.
(Book iv. ll. 685-687.)
For discussions on the oases and Temple of Jupiter Ammon, see Travels in Africa, Egypt, etc., by W. G. Browne (1792 to 1798), The Journal of Frederick Horneman's Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk (1797-8), Narrative of Operations and Discoveries in Egypt, etc., by G. Balzoni, and note M in Pratt's Quintus Curtius, vol. i.—Ed.
[550] "When a response was sought, it was the custom for the priests to carry the image of the god in a golden ship with many silver paterae hanging from both its sides; while matrons and virgins followed, singing, according to the custom of their country, a certain uncouth hymn, by which they believed they could propitiate the god, and induce him to return an unambiguous answer."
[IV] "Old Cham, the solar Deity," was the same as "the Ammonian Jove." The statue of the god in the Temple was ram-headed and horned, hence the Egyptian veneration for the ram.—Ed.
[IW] Compare Paradise Lost, book xi. ll. 745-747.—Ed.
[IX] "This refers to the triumphal processions along the Via Sacra, in which the fortunate general was decorated with all the insignia of Jupiter. (See Livy, book x. c. 7.) The captive princes, who were conducted in the procession, were put to death in the prison at the ascent of the Capitoline, before the triumphal offerings were made to the gods." (W. A. Heard.)
[IY] "This refers to the Ludi Circenses (Livy, book i. 9), when the gods were conducted to the circus in a magnificent procession, their images carried on a kind of frame, or placed in sacred chariots called 'tensae,' which are alluded to in the next line." (W. A. Heard.)