his was a river of Colchis,
falling into the Euxine Sea.]

[Footnote 46: _Ister._--Ver. 249. The Danube had that name from
its source to the confines of Germany; and thence, in its course
through Scythia to the sea, it was called by the name of 'Ister.']

[Footnote 47: _Alpheus._--Ver. 250. It was a river of Arcadia, in
Peloponnesus.]

[Footnote 48: _Tagus._--Ver. 251. This was a river of Spain, which
was said to bring down from the mountains great quantities of
golden sand. The Poet here feigns this to be melted by the heat of
the sun, and in that manner to be carried along by the current of
the river.]

[Footnote 49: _Maeonian._--Ver. 252. Maeonia was so called from the
river Maeon, and was another name of Lydia. The Cayster, famous for
its swans, flowed through Lydia.]

[Footnote 50: _Strymon._--Ver. 257. The Hebrus and the Strymon
were rivers of Thrace. Ismarus was a mountain of that country,
famous for its vines.]

[Footnote 51: _Hesperian._--Ver. 258. Hesperia, or 'the western
country,' was a general name of not only Spain and Gaul, but even
Italy. The Rhine is a river of France and Germany, the Rhone of
France. The Padus, or Po, and the Tiber, are rivers of Italy.]

[Footnote 52: _Cyclades._--Ver. 264. The Cyclades were a cluster
of islands in the AEgean Sea, surrounding Delos as though with a
circle, whence their name.]

[Footnote 53: _Her all-productive face._--Ver. 275. The earth was
similarly called by the Greeks +pammetor+, 'the mother of all
things.' So Virgil calls it 'omniparens.']

[Footnote 54: _Atlas._--Ver. 296. This was a mountain of
Mauritania, which, by reason of its height, was said to support
the heavens.]

[Footnote 55: _We are thrown._--Ver. 299. Clarke translates, 'In
chaos antiquum confundimur,' 'We are then jumbled into the old
chaos again.']

EXPLANATION.

If we were to regard this fable solely as an allegory intended to
convey a moral, we should at once perceive that the adventure of
Phaeton represents the wilful folly of a rash young man, who consults
his own inclination, rather than the dictates of wisdom and prudence.
Some ancient writers tell us that Phaeton was the son of Phoebus and
Clymene, while others make the nymph Rhoda to have been his mother.
Apollodorus, following Hesiod, says that Herse, the daughter of
Cecrops