[E] Three lines omitted in the Ms.: “Then on Mount Eryx, towering to the stars, is reared a temple to Idalian Venus, and for Anchises’ tomb a priest appointed, with dedication of broad-acred grove.”—[E. S. S.] [F] For the omitted lines Conington’s verses are inserted.—[E. S. S.] NOTES BOOK I [1] 1:1. =Arms and the man I sing.= Compare the following opening lines of great epics:— “O goddess, sing the wrath of Peleus’ son, Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought Woes numberless upon the Greeks.” —_Iliad_, Bryant’s Trans. “Tell me, O muse, of that sagacious man Who, having overthrown the sacred town Of Ilium, wandered far and visited The capitals of many nations, learned The customs of their dwellers, and endured Great sufferings on the deep.” —HOMER, _Odyssey_. “Of love and ladies, knights and arms, I sing, Of courtesies and many a daring feat.” —ARIOSTO, _Orlando Furioso_. “I sing the pious arms and chief, who freed The Sepulchre of Christ from thrall profane; Much did he toil in thought and much in deed, Much in the glorious enterprise sustain.” —TASSO, _Jerusalem Delivered_. “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, ... Sing, heavenly muse.” —MILTON, _Paradise Lost_. “I, who erewhile the happy garden sung, By one man’s disobedience lost, now sing Recovered Paradise to all mankind, By one man’s firm obedience.” —MILTON, _Paradise Regained_. [2] 1:1. =Troy.= A city in northwest Asia Minor where the famous Trojan war took place. [3] 1:3. =Latian.= The broad plain near the mouth of the Tiber, in Italy. [4] 1:5. =Juno.= Queen of the gods; wife and sister of Jupiter. [5] 1:5. =Much.= “Much there he suffered, And many perilles past in forreine landes, To save his people sad from victours vengefull handes,” —SPENSER, _Faerie Queene_. [6] 1:8. =Alba.= Alba Longa, a long ridge some fifteen miles southeast of Rome. The successors of Æneas reigned there until the founding of Rome. [7] 1:10. =Muse.= One of the nine Muses. Greek and Latin poets often profess to be merely the mouthpiece of the Muses. [8] 1:14. =Hate.= “And in soft bosoms dwell such mighty rage?” —POPE, _Rape of the Lock_. “In heavenly spirits could such perverseness dwell?” —MILTON, _Paradise Lost_. [9] 1:17. =Tyre.= Carthage was sprung from Tyre, an old and prosperous city on the coast of Phœnicia. The founders of Carthage and their descendants are termed indifferently by Virgil Phœnicians, Sidonians, Pœni, or Tyrians. [10] 1:19. =War’s.= “An old and haughty nation proud in arms.”