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195, 196. They (the neighbouring peoples) have the _connubium_, or
intermarry with nations at ever so great a distance, but their women all
looked down on the Romans.

197. _Patriam_, like thy father's, to take by force what was refused to
entreaty.

198. _Tolle preces_, away with entreaties. Thus, _tolle moras_, Met.
xiii. 556. _Tolle querelas_, Hor. Ep. I. 12. 3.

199. 200. _Consus_, etc. In this parenthesis the god addresses the poet.
The readings of the MSS. differ very much here. Most have _Illo festa die
dum s. s. facis_, making it a part of the advice of the god to his son.
Heinsius followed those which read, _Ipso festa die d. s. s. canes_.
_Illo_ or _illa_--_festa_ or _facta_--_canes_, _canas_, _coles_, _facis_,
are the readings of various MSS. The present reading, with _canet_
instead of _canas_, was proposed by Gronovius, and adopted by Gierig. The
Consualia were on the XV. Kal. Sept. It is a pity that the poem does not
go so far, as Ovid might have given us some additional information
respecting Consus. See Mythology, p. 473.

201. Scil. the Caeninenses, the Crustumini, and the Antemnates. See the
story in Livy, I.

202. It is not at all unlikely that, as Donza supposes, he glances here
at the war between Julius Caesar, and his son-in-law, Pompey.

203. The war lasted to the third year.

205. _Dictam_, appointed.

206. _Nurus_, Hersilia, the wife of Romulus.

219. The construction is, _ut (feminae quae erant) passis capillis
tetigere_, etc.

223. Seen for the first time.

224. Taubner thinks that by pinching the babes, they made them cry _Ah!
vae!_ which sounded like _ave!_ Much as Ovid loved to play on words, I can
hardly suspect him of this.

230. _Oebalides_. See I. 260.

231-234. Second cause. Was this the real cause, or is it because Ilia was
a mother by me, that the matrons hold their feast on the Kalends of my
month?

235-244. Third cause. It was fit that in the season of fecundity the
matrons should pray to Juno for offspring. Compare this description of
the spring with that in I. 151, _et seq_. See also Hor. Car. iv. 7.--
_Hiems. adop. gel_. the _glacialis hiems_ of Virgil.--_Victae_. Several
MSS. read _lapsae_; one _maestae_. Heinsius proposes _ictae_, but as
Burmann justly observes, why alter so excellent a reading as _victae_?--
_Detonsae_, some of the older MSS. read _excussae_.--_Virida_. This is
the reading of the best and oldest MSS. and was adopted by Heinsius.
Burmann and Gierig follow those which read _uvida_; some have _humida_.--
_Tenero_. Some MSS. read _gravido_, which is, perhaps, the true reading.
See above, I. 152. One MS. reads _in tumido_.--_Occultas vias_, the
_caeca spiramenta_ of Virgil, G. I. 89.--_Hora_, season, like the Greek
[Greek: horae].

244. Taubner, who is followed by some translators, explains this line
thus: "quarum proles vel militis officio fungatur, vel sacerdotio s.
_votis_ oportet." Its plain meaning is, as given by Gierig: whose service
and vows is childbirth. _Et rudis ad partus et nova miles eram_, says our
poet (Her. xi. 48,) in the person of Canace. See above, II. 9.

245-248. The fourth cause, because the temple of Juno Lucina, on the
Esquiline hill, was first opened for worship on the Kalends of March.

245. _Ubi rex_, etc. Ten MSS. read _ibi rex R_. two _regi R_. which
reading is adopted by Heinsius, and retained by Gierig. The _excubiae_
were held by Romulus on the Esquiline, at the time that he suspected
Titus Tatius of bad faith.--_Agebat_. Several of the best MSS. have
_habebat_.

246. _Esquilias alii scripserunt ab excubiis regis dictas_. Varro, iv. 8.
Ovid seems to follow the same etymology: the true one is from _esculus_.
--_Qui_. This is the reading of all the MSS. Heinsius, Burmann and
Gierig read _qua_.

251. The fifth cause. Juno, the mother of Mars, loves married women, who,
in return, honor me. The Grecian Hera, by the way, was the mother of
Ares; but the same was not the case with the Italian Juno and Mars. See
Mythology.--_Matrum_. Heinsius adopts _matris_ on conjecture, which
reading is received by Burmann and Gierig. Some MSS. have _matres_.

254. _Cingite caput_, of the statue of the goddess, says Gierig, perhaps
of the worshipper.

259. As the Salii bore the sacred _ancilia_ through the city on the
Kalends of March, the poet now proceeds to enquire into the origin of
this institution. See Livy, I. 20.

261. _Nympha_, scil. Egeria.--_Nemori_, etc. See v. 263--275.--
_Operata_. Seven MSS. read _adoperta_.

262. _Facta_. Some MSS. read _festa_, others _sacra_.

263. Met. xv. 479, _et seq_. Virg. aen. vii. 761, _et seq_. This account
of the grove of Aricia is a complete digression in this place. Aricia,
and its grove, lay at the foot of the Mons Albanus.

265. An _Indiges_, named Virbius, was worshiped here, who was identified
with Hippolytus.

267, 268. This practice may be witnessed at the present day, in every
country where the Roman Catholic religion prevails.--_Longas sepes_. The
wall, says Neapolis, surrounding the sacred grove.

269, 270. It was the custom for women, whose prayers to this goddess had
been heard, to carry lighted torches from the city to the grove of
Aricia. See Propert, II. 23, 39.

271, 272. The priest of Diana, in this grove, called Rex Nemorensis, was
always a runaway slave, who had slain his predecessor in office. He
always went armed, to protect himself from aspirants to his dignity.
Strabo calls this a barbarous and Scythian custom, and it led to the idea
of the Arician Diana, being one with the Tauric Artemis.

273--275. See Juvenal's account of this fountain. Sat. III.

274. _Bibi_. The other editions, following some MSS. read _bibes_.

277-284. See Livy, Dionysius and Plutarch.

283. _Vertitur_, is changed.

285. This legend was related in the same manner by the historian Valerius
Antias, from whom Ovid probably took it. As Livy, I. 20, relates the
matter differently, it probably was not in the Annals of Ennius. It was
evidently founded on the adventure of Menelaus with Proteus. Hom. Od. iv.
See also Virg. G. iv. 387, _et seq_.

291. _Picus Faunusque_. Old Italian deities. See Heyne Excursus, V. to
aen. vii. Mythology, p. 477.

292. _Prodere_. Many MSS. read _edere_, others _tradere_.--_Romani_, etc.
Each a god of Roman ground, i.e. a Roman rural deity.

296. Dark shady groves were, from a very natural feeling, regarded with
awe as the abode of deities. See Seneca. Epist. 41.

300. _Fonti_. To the deity or spirit of the fount.

301. _Dis ponit_. This is the conjecture of Heinsius; the MSS. read
_disponit_.

312. _Quatiens cornua_. To indicate the difficulty of the matter.

313. _Monitu_. This word is used to indicate information divinely given.

314. _Numina_, divine power.

317. _Deducere_, a magic term, the [Greek: katagein] of the Greeks.
_Lunam deducere tentas_ Tibullus, [Greek: Ai pharmakides katagousi taen
selaenaen]. Interp. Apollonii.

321. _Sum. ded. ab arce_. The reading of the best MSS. is _Valida
perductus ab arce_: some of the best have _val. veniet ded. ab arce_ or
_arte_; some _nostra perd. ab arte_.

322. _Nubila_, etc. He mixes, according to custom, the Greek and Italian
mythologies: the oath, by Styx, was peculiar to the former. See Hom. Od.
v. l85--_Nubila_, as the Styx, was supposed to exhale a dense vapour.

323. _Carmina_, magic verses.

325. _Scire nefas homini_. Is not for man to know. _Quid crastina
volveret aetas Scire nefas homini_. Stat. Theb. III. 562. See Hor. Car. I.
11. 1.

327-330. Some modern writers suppose that the ancient Etruscans possessed
the art of conducting the lightning which Franklin discovered, or,
according to them, re-discovered, and that it is exhibited in this poetic
narrative. Their conjecture is, they think, confirmed by the fate of
Tullus Hostilius, which they attribute to his ignorance of the proper
mode of conducting the electric fluid.--_Minores_, posterity.

337. _Ambage remota_. As this seems not by any means to accord with what
follows, Gierig renders _ambage_ circumlocution, as opposed to the
brevity with which the god speaks. One MS. reads _remissa_. The dialogue
of Jupiter and Numa will be easily understood.

342. _Piscis_. According to Plutarch, the _maena_. See above, II. 578,
_note_.

346. _Pignora certa_, the _ancile_. Celestial gifts of this kind, on
which the safety of the state were supposed to depend, were common in
antiquity.

347. _Aethera, motum. Vidisti motu sonitus procurrere caelo_. Profert,
II. 16.

352. _Crastina_, scil. _crastinas res_, what will happen to-morrow.

357. Virg. Ec. viii. l4.--_Rorataque_. Many MSS. read _rorata_.

359. _Acerno_. Five MSS. read _eburno_, but see Met. iv. 486. Virg. aen.
viii. 178.

363. It was the custom of the Romans to cover their heads when praying,
or performing any other religious rite, lest any thing of ill omen should
present itself to their view. See Virg. aen. iii. 405.

367 _Evolverat_. This is the reading of five of the best MSS. two read
_emerserat_, which Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig have received, and which
I should prefer. See v. 517. Most read _emoverat_; one _commoverat_,
another _ostenderat_.

369. _Sine nube_. It was therefore supernatural. Compare Hor. Car. I. 34.
6. Virg. aen. vii. 141.

371. Two of the best MSS. read, _A media subito coelum discedere visum
est_, which Heinsius prefers. Virgil (aen. ix. 20,) has _medium video
discedere coelum_, and if this last be, as I am inclined to think it is,
the true reading, it is not unlikely that Ovid imitated this line of the
aeneis: if it is not, the line is the work of some grammarian, and formed
from the Virgilian verse.

372. _Submisere_. One MS. has _surrexere manus_, which Burmann prefers.
For this sense of _sub_, see Virg. Ec. vi. 38. x. 74, _submittere
cornua_. Petron. 126, 18, 3. _Submissas tendunt alta ad Capitolia
dextras_. Silius, xii. 640.

377. _Ancile. Ancile vocatum quia ex utroque latere erat recisum, ut
summum infimumque latus pateret_, Festus. _Ancilia dicta ab ancisu, quod
ea arma, ab utraque parte, ut peltae Thracum, incisa. Ancisia Saturnio in
carmine_. Varro, L. L. iv. Ovid evidently follows the same etymology.
According to Juba, whom Plutarch copies, it is derived from [Greek:
ankylon] curved, and should be spelt _ancyle_. It is, however, certainly
an old Latin word, and is by all Latin writers properly spelt with an
_i_. It is well known that _y_ is no Latin letter, yet we constantly meet
_Sylla_ for _Sulla_. From Plutarch's description of the _ancile_, we may
collect that it was of an oval form.

381. _Caelata_, i.e. _sculpta_, or simply, made.

383. His morals were as perfect as his skill.

384. _Clausit opus_, simply, completed the work.--_Ulli_, some MSS. read
_illi_; one _illud_, which Heinsius and Gierig have adopted.

387. The Salii, clad in brazen armour, and striking the _ancilia_ with
their daggers as they sang the old verses ascribed to Numa, went through
the city dancing to the sound of pipes.

393. It was not considered lucky to marry on the Kalends of March, as the
ancilia were carried on that day. This day was also considered
inauspicious for commencing a journey. Suet. Otho. 8. Livy, xxxvii. 33.

396. _Condita_, laid up in the temple.

397, 398. The Flamen Dialis wore a peculiar kind of white hat, called
_apex_, without which he never went out; his wife wore a flame-coloured
robe, named _venenatum_, and a peculiar kind of band about her head,
called _rica_. (See Gellius, N. A. x. 15,) hence the poet says, _cincta_.
_Cincta Flaminica veste velata_ Festus. Some MSS. have _sancta_; others
_capitis distincta_, one _apicatis cura_. It was enjoined by law on the
Flaminia, not to cut her nails, comb her hair, etc. on certain days.

399-402. One of the Fishes set acronychally on the 3d March, the V. Non.

403. _Rorare genis_. Five MSS. read _rutilare_; two _comis_.

405. The poet commits an error here. Arctophylax _rises_ acronychally,
instead of setting on the 5th March.

407. _Vindemitor_, [Greek: protrygaetaer], a star in the right shoulder
of the Virgin, which now rises acronychally.

409. The story of Ampelos is told differently by Nonnus, in his
Dionysiacs. See Mythology, p. l74.--_Intonsum_, denotes youth and beauty;
it is therefore an epithet of Apollo, [Greek: akersekomaes].--_Satyris_,
to denote the lewdness of the Nymph, says Burmann. It may, however, mean
merely one of the Satyrs. Some MSS. read _Satyro_.

411, 412. These two lines were suspected by Heinsius. They are certainly
very indifferent, but without them the narrative seems imperfect. Ovid
would hardly have omitted an allusion to the name of Ampelos.

414. _Vehit_. This is the reading of five of the best MSS. all the rest
have _tulit_.

415-428. On the 6th of the month, Prid. Non. A.U.C. 741. Augustus was
made Pontifex Maximus. The P.M. presided over the Vestals.

417. _Quisquis ades_ etc. The Vestals, as it would appear, who alone
could enter the temple.--_Canae_. This is the reading of two of the best
MSS.; the rest have _castae_, one _gratae_. See Virg. aen. ix. 259.

422. _Vides_. All the older MSS. have _videt_ or _vident_; one _Vesta
videt_.--_Pignora juncta_, the pledges of empire, in the temple of Vesta,
were the Eternal Fire, and the Palladium (Livy, v. 52, xxvi. 27,) to
these now was joined.--Augustus. The force of flattery could no farther
go.

423. This is the reading of three of the best MSS. and adopted by
Heinsius, and the succeeding editors: the other MSS. have _Di v. T. d. p.
ferenti_.--_Dignissima praeda_, Vesta.

424. _Gravis_, i. e. _gravatus_, laden. See Virg. aen. II. 296. Three MSS.
read _pius_.

425. The Julian house into which Augustus had been adopted, derived their
lineage from aeneas. I do not, however, see the relationship to Vesta,
unless it be through Kronus, (Saturn) who was her father, and whose
grand-daughter Venus, was the mother of aeneas.

428. _Dux_, Augustus. This was probably written before the poet left
Rome, and he did not alter it.

429-448. An account of Vejovis, whose temple was dedicated by Romulus, on
the Nones of March.

429. The reading of the older MSS. was _Una nota est Marti: Nonis
sacra_.--_Una nota_, the Nones of March were distinguished by one mark in
the Fasti, one event had taken place on them.

430. The space between the Arx and the Capitol, in which the Asylum and
the temple of Vejovis were, was called _Inter duos lucos_. Livy, 1.8,
[Greek: to methorion duoin drumon]. Dionysius, II. 15.

435. He now enquires into the origin of the name of this god.

437. The statue of Vejovis represented a youthful figure, without any
thunderbolts, in his hand. He may, therefore, be Young Jupiter.

443. There was the figure of a she-goat standing beside it; a farther
proof, as Jupiter was suckled by the goat, Amalthea.

445. The country-people, called ill-grown corn _vegrandia_, (_Vegrandes
et imbecillae oves_. Varro, R. II. II.) and _vescus_ with them, was
equivalent to _parvus_. From all this he infers, that Vejovis is Little
Jupiter. This is not convincing. See Mythology, p. 468, where it is shewn
that Vejovis was probably a god of the under-world.--_Colonae_. Many of
the best MSS. read _colono_. Eleven have _colone_ (colonae); one _colonae_,
which Heinsius adopted. Gierig follows the MSS. which read _coloni_, and
he is, perhaps, right in so doing.

449, 450. The heliac rising of Pegasus on the Nones. For Pegasus, see
Hesiod. Th. 280, _et seq_. and 325. Met. iv. 784, v. 256. Mythology, pp.
223, 364.--_Variabunt_. Eight MSS. read _vallabunt_, which Heinsius
adopted.

451. _Gravida cervice_ is rather a curious mode of expression. Medusa was
pregnant by Neptune, and when Perseus cut off her head, Pegasus sprang
forth (_prosiluit_, [Greek: exethore] Hes.) with the blood: hence the
poet says, _gravida crevice_. He was named Pegasus, as being born at the
_springs_ ([Greek: paegas]) of Ocean.

455. See the story of Bellerophon.

456. The Horse-fount ([Greek: hippoukraenae] Hippocrene) in Aonia
(Boeotia), said to have been produced by a stroke of the hoof of Pegasus.
--_Fodit_. Nine of the best MSS. read _fudit. Rutilius (Itin. I. 264,)
says, _Musarum ut latices ungula fodit equi_. Avienus (in Arat. Phaen.
Equo.) _cornuque excita repente Lympha, Camenalem fudit procul
Hippocrenen_, I think _fudit_ the more poetic term.

458. The astronomers of the present day reckon eighty-nine stars in
Pegasus.

459-516. The Crown of Ariadne rises acronychally on the 8th March, the
VIII. Id. For the story of Theseus and Ariadne, see Met. viii. 175--182.
Ars Amandi, I. 531--564, Her. x. Hor. Car. II. 19. Catul. lxiv. 52, _et
seq_. Mythology pp. 411, 412.

460. _Gnosida_ Gnosian, as Minos, the father of Ariadne, reigned at
Gnosus, in Crete.--_Facta dea_, Ariadne, not her crown.

461. "Solent poëtae verbo _mutare_ Accusat rei acceptae et Ablat. relictae
addere." Gierig. Thus Horace, _Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem mutat
Lycaeo_.--_Faunus_.

465. _Depexus crinibus_, his hair neatly and carefully combed out. See
VI. 229. Bacchus, whom the Greeks named [Greek: eukomaes (eukomos], is a
general epithet of the goddesses) was like Apollo, distinguished for the
beauty of his hair. See Met. III. 421 and 555, iv. 13. The common reading
was, what appears the most obvious, _depexis_. Some of the best MSS. read
_depexos_, agreeing with _Indos_.

466. Some of the best MSS. read _venit_. For the Indian expedition of
Bacchus, see Mythology, P. I. chap. xiv.

476. My case is told or repeated.

480. _Dedoluisse_, have ended my grief; have died.

493. _At puto_, etc. Ironically.

495. See Hor. Sat. I. 3, 38.

499. _Matrem_ Pasiphaë. The story is well known.

500. Bacchus was represented horned, in consequence of the identification
of him with the Phrygian Sabazius. Mythology, p. 168. Hence he was called
[Greek: boukeros, taurokeros].--_Me tua_, etc. The best and most numerous
MSS. read _Me juvat et laedit_: one, _me viat et laedit_; another _me tua
me laedit_ or _laudat_: three of the best have the reading of the text,
the rest _me tua sed laedit_. Heinsius gives from conjecture, _me tua. At
hic laudi est_, which Gierig has received.

503. A play on words as usual.

512. _Libera_. The Italian religion, as I have observed after Niebuhr,
(Mythology, p. 455,) delighted in representing the deities presiding over
any object in pairs of males and females. Hence, with Liber, the god of
wine, was joined a goddess Libera, and when the Greek and Italian
religions came to be mingled, she was identified with Proserpine. Ovid
alone makes her the same with Ariadne. I forgot to notice this under the
head Liber Pater (Mythology, p. 469). I should be inclined to derive
Liber from libo, [Greek: leibo], instead of libero.

514. _Vulcanus Veneri_. One MS. reads _Neptunus Thetidi_. I suppose Homer
was running in the head of whoever he was that made this improvement.--
_Tibi_. One MS. reads mihi, which Burmann has received.

517-522. On the 14th or Prid. Id. was another Equiria.--_Demerserit_.
Several of the good MSS. read _quum deseret or deserit_; others _quot
demserit_; some _quum demserit_; three of the best _dimiserit_; others
_demiserit_; one _totidemque remiserit_; another of the best
_dimerserit_, whence Heinsius formed the present reading.

518. _Purpureum_, bright, see II. 74. Virg. aen. vi. 641, _purpureum
lumen_, scil. Soils.

522. If the Tiber, as was so frequently the case, had overflowed the
Campus Martius, the races were run on the Campus Martialis on the Coelian
hill.

523-696. On the Ides was the festival of Anna Perenna.--_Geniale, i. e.
quo genio indulgetur_. See v. 58.

524. Between the Milvian bridge and the point of confluence with the
Anien.

527. _Sub Jove_. See II. 299.

529. _Ibi_. Several MSS. read _sibi_.

532. _Ad numerum_. They reckon the cups.

536. Suit the action to the word by making gesticulations.

537. _Posito_, scil. in honour of the goddess.--_Duras_, aukward,
inelegant.

541, 542. Heinsius and Burmann think with a great deal of probability,
that a good many verses are lost after this distich, Burmann supposes
that the monks who copied the MSS. left them out, on account of their
indelicacy.

543. He now commences his enquiry into the character and history of
_Anna_.--_Errat_, is uncertain. Six MSS. read _errant_.

544. _Fabula nulla_, no legend or tradition.

545. For the whole story of Dido and Aeneas, see the Aeneis I. and IV.--
_Arserat_, the usual play on words.

551-554. See aen. iv. 36, 198, _et seq_.

556. See Virg. G. iv. 213. 565.

557, 558. Counting the years poetically by the harvests and vintages.

561. Favillae, cineres. Hor. Car. II. 6, 22. They used to pour wine and
precious oils on the ashes of the dead.

562. _Vertice libatas_, cut from the head, and laid as an offering on the
tomb. _Placemus umbras? Capitis exuvias cape, Laceraeque frontis accipe
abcissam comam_. Seneca Hyppol. 1181.

565. _Comitem_ is the reading of six of the best MSS. all the rest have
_comites_.--Pede aequo, the _pedes_ are the ropes called braces, by which
the yards are moved. This shews that the vessel ran before the wind,
_vento secundo_.

567. _Melite_. Malta; _Cosyra_, Gozzo.

570. _Battus_. Silius Italicus (viii. 51,) says of Battus, _Cyrenem molli
tum forte fovebat Imperio_, and he brings Anna thither. Battus was the
founder of the Grecian colony at Cyrene.

581. _Crathidis. The Crathis was a river in Magna Graecia, near Thurii.

582. _Parvus_. Two MSS. read _Purus_, which Heinius and Gierig prefer.
There are abundant instances of the use of _purus_ in the sense of free
from trees.

587. _Subducere_, to draw up, to furl.

594. _Is_. Two MSS. read _hic_,

602. _Populos duos_. The Trojans and Aborigines, under the common name of
Latins. See Livy, I. 2.

613. Italy.

615. _Deos comites_, the Penatestale, which he had brought with him from
Troy, aen. I. 6, xii. 192.--_Increpuisse_, "signis quibusdam datis,"
Gierig. Virgil does not mention this. Ovid was, perhaps, thinking of the
message brought from Jupiter by Mercury, etc.

617. _Morte scil. Didonis_.

618. _Credibile_, than what I believed, or could have believed.

619. _Ne refer_, tell not the tale.

621, 622. _Ratio_, your own choice.--_Deus_, fortune. See Hor. Sat.
I. 1, 2.

623. _Memores, scil. sumus debere_.

627. _Paratus_, dress. Met vi. 451.

633. _Falsum vulnus_, causeless wound of jealousy. Virg. aen. I. 36, iv.
67 and 332. Two MSS. read _tacitum_.

635. _Praeter sua lumina_, before her eyes. Seven MSS. _limina_. Heinsius
puts a colon after _ferri_, and a comma after _mitti_.

637. _Exactum_. She has not yet determined.

642. _Sub verbum_ as she spoke.

647. _Corniger_, a usual epithet of rivers, (Virg. G. IV 371. aen. viii.
77.) on account of their roaring or windings. The Numicius was between
Larentum and Lavinium.

654. "Si Nympha antea _Anna_ dicta, non opus erat ab _amne_ nomen suum
deducere," Gierig. The fact is, the poet here confounds two etymons, an
old one from _amne perenne_, and a later one from Anna the sister of
Dido. Was Anna mentioned in the poem of Naevius? or did Virgil first give
it vogue? It is a Semitic name, and occurs in Scripture.

657. A second opinion, Anna is the Moon.

658. A third, she is Themis; a fouth Io or Isis.

659. 660. A fifth, made her a daughter of Atlas, and one of the Nymphs
who reared Jupiter. These however are said to have been the two daughters
of Melissa, or simply the nymph Amalthea. There is however another
tradition which commits the rearing of the infant deity to the Hyades,
who were the daughters of Atlas.

661. A sixth theory, derived Anua from _anus_, and devised the folloing
legend which the poet thinks is not unlike the truth.

663. The famous secession of the Plebs. A.U.C. 260. to the hill beyound
the Anien, three miles from Rome, afterwards named the Mons Sacer.

667. Bovillae or Bovilla was a Latin town mot far from Rome, on the
Appian Way.--_Suburbanis_ does not mean close to the city, for Horace
(Ep, I, 7, 77.) calls his Sabine country-seat _suburbana rura_.

673. Can any thing be more silly than this account of the origin of an
ancient Italian deity? I have elsewhere (Mythology p. 479) observed, what
little taste and elegance of imagination, and I add sense, the Romans
displayed in the origins which they invented for their gods. The real
etymon of Anna Perenna is, I think, _annus_, as the poet himself would
appear to have seen: see vv. 145, 146. Perhaps, according to the
principle noticed above on, v. 512, she was a female corresponding to a
god Annus. It is curious to observe the resemblance which has been traced
out between her and the Indian Anna Purna in the Asiatic Researches.

675. He now undertakes to explain by a legend, why at the festival of
Anna Perenna indecorous verse were sung by young women. The mystics would
here, of course, talk to us of the symbolic wisdom of ancient priests and
sages, but the more probable reason is to be found in the rude simplicity
of an agricultural race, like the ancient Latins, and other peoples of
Italy, which also gave origin to the Fescinnine verses. On occasions like
this, however, one should always bear in mind these words of Johnson,
"The oringinal of ancient customs is commonly unknown; for the practice
often continues after the cause has ceased; and concerning superstitious
ceremonies it is vain to conjecture, reson cannot explain," Rasselas,
Chap. 48.

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