XXXIX. The beast of Lerna is the Lernean Hydra, slain by Hercules; the others are terrible monsters slain by various heroes. XLI. Charon was the ferryman of the dead. LIV. Apollo was called Amphrysian because he tended the herds of Admetus near the river Amphrysus in Thessaly. Here the epithet is strangely transferred to Apollo's servant. LVII. Minos, king of Crete, became one of the judges of the dead, in the under-world. His brother Rhadamanthus was the other. See stanza lxxv. LIX. For Phaedra, see note on Book VII. stanza ciii. Procris was accidentally slain by her husband, Eriphyle was killed by her son Alcmaeon, Evadne threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre, and Laodamia also died with her husband. For Pasiphae, see note on stanza iv. LXIII. Tydeus, Parthenopaeus, and Adrastus were three of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes. The other names are taken from the _Iliad_. LXXVII. The two sons of Aloeus were Otus and Ephialtes, who threatened to assail the Immortals by piling Pelion on Ossa and Ossa on Olympus. Salmoneus of Elis was punished for having presumptuously claimed divine honours. LXXX. Ixion was king of the Lapithae, and being taken to heaven by Jupiter, made love to Juno, for which he was eternally punished. Pirithous was his son, and was guilty of having, with Theseus, attempted to carry off Proserpine. XCIII. _Lethe_ was the river of forgetfulness, and those who drank of it forgot their former life and were ready for a new one. C.-CI. The kings mentioned in these two stanzas are the earliest mythical rulers of Alba Longa. Numitor was the father of Rhea Silvia (Ilia), the mother of Romulus and Remus. CV. The Emperor Augustus was the nephew and adopted son of C. Julius Caesar, who claimed to trace his descent back to Iulus, and so through Aeneas to Venus herself. CVIII. The first king referred to is Numa Pompilius, who was a Sabine born at Cures. Tullus and Ancus were the third and fourth kings of Rome. They can none of them be considered historical figures. CIX. This Brutus expelled Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. His sons tried to restore the monarchy and he ordered them to be executed. CX. The Decii, father and son, both died in battle, and the family of the Drusi had many distinguished members. Manlius Torquatus was celebrated for killing his son for disobeying orders. Camillus was the great Roman hero of the fourth century B.C. He was five times dictator and saved Rome from the Gauls. CXI. Virgil is referring to Caesar and Pompey. CXII. L. Mummius captured Corinth, and so ended the war with Greece, in 146 B.C., and is clearly referred to here. By 'the man who lofty Argos shall o'erthrow,' Virgil probably means Aemilius Paullus, who won the battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. against a king of Macedonia who called himself a descendant of Achilles.