[Footnote III.8: _To my own misfortune_)--Ver. 40. He evidently alludes to some misfortune which has befallen him in consequence of having alluded in his work to the events of his own times. It has been suggested that he fell under the displeasure of Tiberius and his minister Sejanus, in consequence of the covert allusions made to them in Fables II and VI in the First Book. This question is, however, involved in impenetrable obscurity.] [Footnote III.9: _Than Sejanus_)--Ver. 41. He means that Ælius Sejanus had acted against him as both informer, witness, and judge; but that had an honest man condemned him to the sufferings he then experienced, he should not have complained. The nature of the punishment here alluded to is not known.] [Footnote III.10: _Anacharsis of Scythia_)--Ver. 52. A Scythian philosopher, and supposed contemporary of Æsop. He came to Athens in pursuit of knowledge while Solon was the lawgiver of that city. He is said to have written works on legislation and the art of war.] FABLE I. THE OLD WOMAN AND THE CASK. An Old Woman espied a Cask,[12] which had been drained to the dregs, lying on the ground, {and} which still spread forth from its ennobled shell a delightful smell of the Falernian lees.[13] After she had greedily snuffed it up her nostrils with all her might; “O delicious fragrance,[14]” said she, “how good I should say were your former contents, when the remains of them are such!” What this refers to let him say who knows me.[15] [Footnote III.11: _Nearer to learned Greece_)--Ver. 54. Alluding to Pieria, the place of his birth. The people of Pieria were supposed to have been of Thracian origin.] [Footnote III.12: _A cask_)--Ver. 1. “Amphoram.” Properly, the “amphora,” or earthen vessel with two handles, in which wine was usually kept.] [Footnote III.13: _Falernian Lees_)--Ver. 2. The Falernian wine held the second rank in estimation among the Romans. The territory where it was grown commenced at the “Pons Campanus,” and extended from the Massic Hills to the river Vulturnus. Pliny mentions three kinds, the rough, the sweet, and the thin. It is supposed to have been of an amber colour, and of considerable strength. It was the custom to write the age of the wine and the vintage on the “amphora,” or cask.] [Footnote III.14: _O, delicious fragrance_)--Ver. 5. “Anima,” most probably applies to the savour or smell of the wine; though some Commentators have thought that she addresses the cask as “anima,” meaning “O dear soul;” others, that she speaks of the wine as being the soul of life; while Walchius seems to think that she is addressing her own soul, which is quite cheered by the fumes.]