I. _Cumae_ was the most ancient Greek colony in Campania. The tradition was that it had been founded by immigrants from Cyme and Aeolis and from Chaleis in Euboea. Hence its name, and the epithet Virgil applies to it. II. The 'Sibyl' here mentioned was the most famous of the prophetesses of antiquity. She was directly inspired by Apollo (the Delian seer), and dwelt in a cavern near his temple. _Trivia_ is an epithet of Hecate. See note on Book IV. stanza lxvi. III. Daedalus, who built the labyrinth for Minos, incurred the wrath of the latter and escaped from Crete with his son Icarus, by making wings. He fastened them on with wax, and Icarus flying too near the sun, his wings melted and he fell into the Aegean. Daedalus, however, reached Cumae in safety. IV. On the gate were carvings representing various Cretan stories. Androgeos was the son of Minos, king of Crete. He won all the contests at the Panathenaic festival at Athens, whose king, Aegeus, slew him out of jealousy. In revenge, Minos made war on the Athenians, and forced them to pay a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens, who were devoured by the Minotaur. This monster was the offspring of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, and a bull sent by Neptune, and it lived in the labyrinth built by Daedalus. The tribute continued to be paid until Theseus, son of Aegeus, went to Crete as one of the seven. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with him, and helped him to slay the monster. XIV. _Xanthus_ and _Simois_ were two rivers which flowed through the plain before Troy. The new Achilles is of course Turnus, king of the Rutuli. XV. The Grecian town is Pallanteum, the chief city of Evander's kingdom. See Book VIII. stanza vii. XVI. Acheron was the fabled river of the lower world. Virgil probably had in his mind the real _Acherusia palus_, a gloomy marsh near Naples. XVIII. There was a volcanic lake near Cumae called _Avernus_, whose waters gave out sulphureous vapours. It was connected by tradition with the lower world. Orpheus, the mythical poet, so charmed the gods of the nether world by his harp-playing, that he was allowed to take back to the upper world his dead wife Eurydice. Castor was mortal, but his brother Pollux was immortal; so when the former was slain in fight Pollux obtained from Jupiter permission that each should spend half their time in heaven, half in Hades. Theseus descended into Hades in order to carry off Proserpine. He was kept a prisoner there until he was rescued by Hercules (Alcides), who came down to carry off Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the entrance (see stanza lvi.). XXXII. Virgil alludes to the promontory of Misenum on the north side of the bay of Naples. The legend is a purely local one. There is no mention of Misenus in Homer. XXXIII. 'Aornos' is a Greek word--'where no bird can come.' XXXV. 'The Furies' mother and her sister' were Night and Earth. XXXVII. 'Phlegethon' was the 'burning' river of the lower world.