Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love: Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious NotesOvid
General
Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love: Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes
Ovid
Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Latin poetry -- Translations into English
[Footnote 1039: And the little patch.--Ver. 202. 'Aluta' means 'skin
made soft by means of alum.' It is difficult to discover what it means
here, whether 'a patch' made of a substance like gold-beater's skin,
somewhat similar to those used in the days of the Spectator; or a
liquid cosmetic, such as Pliny calls 'calliblepharum,' 'an aid to the
eye-brows.' He seems to use the word 'sinceras' in its primitive sense,
'without wax'; which recommendation certainly would contradict the
common reading, 'cera,' in the 199th line.]
[Footnote 1040: To mark the eyes.--Ver. 203. To heighten the colour
of the eyelashes, ashes (and probably charcoal) were u»ed by the
Roman women. Saffron also was used. A black paint, made of pulverized
antimony, is used by the women in the East, at the present day, to paint
their eyebrows black. It is called 'surme,' and was also used at ancient
Rome. Cydnus was a river of Cilicia.]
[Footnote 1041: A little treatise.--Ver. 205. He alludes to his book,
'On the care of the Complexion,' of which a fragment remains.]
[Footnote 1042: Of the cesypum.--Ver. 213. The filthy cosmetic called
'cesypum,']
was prepared from the wool of those parts of the body where the sheep
perspired most; it was much used for embellishing the complexion. Pliny
mentions the sheep of Athens as producing the best. It had a strong rank
smell. The red colour, which was used by the Roman ladies for giving a
bloom to the skin, was prepared from a moss called 'fucus'; from which,
in time, all kinds of paint received the name of 'fucus.']
[Footnote 1043: Of the deer.--Ver. 215. Pliny speaks highly of the
virtues of stag's marrow. It probably occupied much the same position in
estimation, that bear's grease does at the present day.]
[Footnote 1044: Myron.--Ver. 219. There were two sculptors of this name:
one a native of Lycia, the other of Eleuthera.]
[Footnote 1045: Beautiful statue.--Ver. 223. He alludes to that of Venus
Anadyomene, or rising from the sea, which was made by Praxiteles, and
was often copied by the sculptors of Greece and Rome.]
[Footnote 1046: Pierces her arms.--Ver. 240. See a similar passage in
the Amores. Book i. El. xiv. 1. 16.]
[Footnote 1047: Toilet in the temple.--Ver. 244. He tells those who have
not fine heads of hair, to be as careful in admitting any men to see
their toilet, as the devotees of Bona Dea were to keep away all males
from her solemnities.]
[Footnote 1048: Sidonian fair.--Ver. 252. Europa was a Phoenician by
birth.]
[Footnote 1049: With the clothes.--Ver. 226. See the Amores, Book i. El.
iv. 1.48, and the Note.]
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