V.

1. Mæandros, toties qui terris errat in îsdem, 2. Qui lapsas in se sæpe retorquet aquas, 3. Vidit in Herculeo suspensa monilia collo ;

4. Illo, cui cœlum sarcina parva fuit. 5. Non puduit fortes auro cohibere lacertos, 6. Et solidis gemmas apposuisse toris.

EXPLANATIONS.

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1. Meandros-a very wide river, our English word meander comes from this. The Meander, which so often winds about in the same lands and recasts its gliding waters back to itself.'

3. In these lines Deianira refers either to the ornaments which Iŏle had really given to Hercules to wear, or to the shackles with which love might be said to have bound him.

5. Non puduit, 'it did not shame you,' or 'you have not been ashamed.' Cohibere, to confine.'

6. Apposuisse, from appono.

VI.

1. Nempe sub his animam pestis Nemeæa lacertis 2. Edidit; unde humerus tegmina lævus habet. 30 3. Ausus es hirsūtos mitrâ redimire capillos; 4. Aptior Hercules populus alba comæ.

5. Nec te Mæoniâ, lascivæ more puellæ, 6. Incingi zonâ dedecuisse putas?

EXPLANATIONS.

1. Animam edidit, 'expired.' Pestis Nemeca. It was the first of the twelve labours of Hercules to kill the celebrated Nemæan lion-and finding that his arrows and club were useless against him, he seized him in his arms, squeezed him to death, and then clothed himself in his skin.

2. Deianira means that it were a shame in Hercules to wear these womanly ornaments on the arm that bore the skin of the famous lion.

3. Instead of a crown on the head, how much more fitting the wreath of the white poplar, which he is said to have worn when he went down to Hades!

4. After populus alba understand est-'the silver poplar would have been more becoming.'

5. Nec putas (line 6), ' and do you not think it was unbecoming for you,' &c. Nec, put for et non. Mæonia zona-referring to some other love affair of Hercules.

VII.

1. Non tibi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago,
2. Effĕrus humanâ qui dape pavit equas?

3. Si te vidisset cultu Busiris in isto,

4. Huic victor victo nempe pudendus eras. 5. Detrǎhat Antæus duro redimicŭla collo, 6. Ne pigeat molli succubuisse viro.

EXPLANATIONS.

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1. Diomedis imago. Diomedes was king of Thrace, and it was one of the labours of Hercules to kill him. Diomedes is said to have fed his mares on human flesh, so Hercules gave him to be devoured by his own horses. When you are thus dressed out (after the manner of a wanton girl), does not the image of Diomedes occur to you? 3. Busīris, king of Egypt, who sacrificed all foreigners to Jupiter. When Hercules visited Egypt, Busīris bound him hand and foot; but he soon disengaged himself, and offered up the tyrant and his son on the altar. If Busiris had seen you in that dress, and decked out in those ornaments, he would have been ashamed to have been conquered by you.

5. Antæus, a giant of Libya, son of Neptune and Terra (the earth). He was so strong and successful in wrestling that he made a boast that he would erect a temple to his father with the skulls of his conquered antagonists. Hercules wrestled with him, and finding that whenever he was thrown to the ground he received fresh strength from his mother (Terra), he lifted him up in the air and squeezed him to death. Deianira says that Antæus would have torn off,' &c.

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6. 'That he might not be mortified at having submitted to so effeminate

a man.'

VIII.

1. Inter Ioniăcas calǎthum tenuisse puellas
2. Dicĕris; et dominæ pertimuisse minas.
8. Non fugis, Alcide, victricem mille labōrum
4. Rasilibus calăthis imposuisse manum ?
5. Crassaque robusto deducis pollice fila,

6. Equaque formōsæ pensa rependis heræ ?

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EXPLANATIONS.

1. Begin with diceris (line 2), 'you are said.'

2. And (like them) to have feared,' &c. Tenuisse and pertimuisse, the infin. mood after diceris.

3. Non fugis? do you not shrink from?' &c. Alcide, Hercules,' so called from his grandfather Alcæus.

5. Deducisque? &c., ' are you (really) drawing out?

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6. Equa, the same quantity as had been given him for spinning.' Rependere pensa, to return the wool weighed out.'

IX.

1. Ah! quoties, digitis dum torques stamina duris, 2. Prævalidæ fusos comminuēre manus! 3. (Credĕris, infelix, scuticæ tremefactus habēnis, 4. Ante pedes dominæ pertimuisse minas) 5. Eximias pompas, præconia summa triumphi, 6. Factăque narrābas dissimulanda tibi.

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EXPLANATIONS.

1. Ah! quoties prævalidæ manus comminuere, &c., 'ah! how often have your very strong hands broken in pieces,' &c.

3.

'You are even believed, unhappy man, trembling at the thongs of the lash, to have feared the threats of your mistress (while sitting or falling) at her feet.'

5. Hercules is represented as relating his wonderful exploits, which, however, under the circumstances-lying vanquished at the feet of Iŏle-he had better have left untold.

6. Tibi, dat. case after the part. in dus-dissimulanda.

X.

1. Scilicet immanes, elisis faucibus, hydros
2. Infantem cunis involuisse manum!
3. Ut Tegeæus aper cupressifero Erymantho

4. Incubet, et vasto pondere lædat humum!

5. Non tibi Threïciis affixa Penatibus ora,

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6. Non hominum pingues cæde tacentur equæ !

EXPLANATIONS.

1. Some of the exploits of Hercules are here repeated-as being the things related by him to Iole as he sat at her feet. Scilicet, 'namely. Infantem manum, 'that your infant hand,' &c., acc. case before involuisse.

3. (You were telling) 'how the Arcadian boar,' &c. This boar (called Tegeaus, from Tegeæa, a city of Arcadia) Hercules had brought alive to Eurystheus. Erymanthus-the mountain in Arcadia where the boar was captured.

5. Non must go with tacentur, understood-The heads were fixed by you to the Thracian gates.' Non tacentur, are not left unmentioned.' Ora, 'the heads of those whom he killed and placed on the gates of Diomedes.'

6. Equæ pingues, 'the mares made fat.' Non tacentur, 'are not left unmentioned.'

OVID'S EPISTLES.

DEIANIRA TO HERCULES.

ARGUMENT.

DEIANIRA was the daughter of Eneus, king of Calydon in Ætolia, and the wife of Hercules.

Hercules is said to have been the son of Jupiter and Alcmēna, and this made Juno, the wife of Jupiter, jealous of him; and when he was only eight months old she sent two dreadful serpents to kill him in his cradle. But the babe boldly seized them in his hands and squeezed them to death.

Afterwards Juno persuaded Eurystheus, king of Mycena, to persecute him, and try to kill him by making him undergo twelve famous labours. He was therefore, by the will of Jupiter, made subject to Eurystheus for twelve years, with the promise that, after he had performed all that was required of him, he should be reckoned among the gods.

Hercules, for his twelve labours, was well and perfectly equipped by the favour of the gods. Minerva gave him a coat of arms and a helmet ; Mercury, a sword; Neptune, a horse; Jupiter, a shield; Apollo, a bow and arrows; and Vulcan, a golden cuirass and brazen buskins, with a celebrated club; and with this help he performed all that was required of him. When, however, he had taken Echalia, a city of the island of Euboea, he fell in love with Iŏle, daughter of King Eurytus.

His faithlessness soon reached the ears of his wife, Deianira, who wrote this letter to him, reproaching him for his cruelty in deserting her, and pointing out the dishonour he was bringing on himself.

But whilst she was writing, a messenger came to tell her that Hercules was dead (line 109), having been killed by wearing a charmed shirt which Deianira herself had sent him.