Pharsalia [67]
Sea nearly opposite to Ithaca. At its mouth the sea has
been largely silted up.
(20) The god of this river fought with Hercules for the hand of
Deianira. After Hercules had been married to Deianira, and
when they were on a journey, they came to the River Evenus.
Here Nessus, a Centaur, acted as ferryman, and Hercules bade
him carry Deianira across. In doing so he insulted her, and
Hercules shot him with an arrow.
(21) Admetus was King of Pherae in Thessaly, and sued for
Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, who promised her to him if
he should come in a chariot drawn by lions and boars. With
the assistance of Apollo, Admetus performed this. Apollo,
for the slaughter of the Cyclops, was condemned to serve a
mortal, and accordingly he tended the flocks of Admetus for
nine years. The River Amphrysos is marked as flowing into
the Pagasaean Gulf at a short distance below Pherae.
(22) Anaurus was a small river passing into the Pagasaean Gulf
past Iolcos. In this river Jason is said to have lost one
of his slippers.
(23) The River Peneus flowed into the sea through the pass of
Tempe, cloven by Hercules between Olympus and Ossa (see line
406); and carried with it Asopus, Phoenix, Melas, Enipeus,
Apidanus, and Titaresus (or Eurotas). The Styx is generally
placed in Arcadia, but Lucan says that Eurotas rises from
the Stygian pools, and that, mindful of this mysterious
source, he refuses to mingle his streams with that of
Peneus, in order that the gods may still fear to break an
oath sworn upon his waters.
(24) See on line 429.
(25) Chiron, the aged Centaur, instructor of Peleus, Achilles,
and others. He was killed by one of the poisoned arrows of
Hercules, but placed by Zeus among the stars as the Archer,
from which position he appears to be aiming at the Scorpion.
His constellation appears in winter.
(26) The teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus; though this took
place in Boeotia.
(27) Poseidon and Athena disputed as to which of them should name
the capital of Attica. The gods gave the reward to that one
of them who should produce the thing most useful to man;
whereupon Athena produced an olive tree, and Poseidon a
horse. Homer also places the scene of this event in
Thessaly. ("Iliad", xxiii., 247.)
(28) The Argo. Conf. Book III., 223.
(29) See Book VII., 1022.
(30) Son of Pelasgus. From him was derived the ancient name of
Thessaly, Haemonia.
(31) Medea.
(32) It was supposed that there was on the forehead of the new-
born foal an excrescence, which was bitten off and eaten by
the mother. If she did not do this she had no affection for
the foal. (Virgil, "Aeneid", iv., 515.)
(33) "When the boisterous sea,
Without a breath of wind, hath knocked the sky."
-- Ben Jonson, "Masque of Queens".
(34) The sky was supposed to move round, but to be restrained in
its course by the planets. (See Book X., line 244.)
(35) "Coatus audire silentum." To be present at the meetings of
the dead and hear their voices. So, in the sixth Aeneid,
the dead Greek warriors in feeble tones endeavour to express
their fright at the appearance of the Trojan hero (lines
492, 493).
(36) "As if that piece were sweeter which the wolf had bitten."
Note to "The Masque of Queens", in which the first hag says:
"I have been all day, looking after
A raven feeding on a quarter,
And soon as she turned her beak to the south
I snatched this morsel out of her mouth."
--Ben Jonson, "Masque of Queens".
But more probably the meaning is that the wolf's bite gave
the flesh magical efficacy.
(37) Confusing Pharsalia with Philippi. (See line 684.)
(38) One of the miraculous stories to be found in Pliny's
"Natural History". See Lecky's "Augustus to Charlemagne",
vol. i., p. 370.
(39)