ing became red hot in its course, from the
swiftness of its motion.]

[Footnote 85: _Adjusts his mantle._--Ver. 733. 'Chlamydemque ut
pendeat apte, Collocat,' etc., is translated by Clarke--'And he
places his coat that it might hang agreeably, that the border and
all its gold might appear.']

[Footnote 86: _That his wings._--Ver. 736. Clarke renders 'ut
tersis niteant talaria plantis,' 'that his wings shine upon his
spruce feet.']

[Footnote 87: _God who inhabits Lemnos._--Ver. 757. Being
precipitated from heaven for his deformity, Vulcan fell upon the
Isle of Lemnos, in the AEgean Sea, where he exercised the craft of
a blacksmith, according to the mythologists. The birth of
Ericthonius, by the aid of Minerva, is here referred to.]

EXPLANATION.

Cicero tells us, that there were several persons in ancient times
named Mercury. The probability is, that one of them fell in love with
Herse, one of the daughters of Cecrops, king of Athens; and that
Aglauros becoming jealous of her, this tradition was built upon facts
of so ordinary a nature.

FABLE XIII. [II.765-832]

Pallas commands Envy to make Aglauros jealous of her sister Herse.
Envy obeys the request of the Goddess; and Aglauros, stung with that
passion, continues obstinate in opposing Mercury's passage to her
sister's apartment, for which the God changes her into a statue.

When the female warrior, to be dreaded in battle, came hither, she stood
before the abode (for she did not consider it lawful to go under the
roof), and she struck the door-posts with the end of the spear. The
doors, being shaken, flew open; she sees Envy within, eating the flesh
of vipers, the nutriment of her own bad propensities; and when she sees
her, she turns away her eyes. But the other rises sluggishly from the
ground, and leaves the bodies of the serpents half devoured, and stalks
along with sullen pace. And when she sees the Goddess graced with beauty
and with {splendid} arms, she groans, and fetches a deep sigh at her
appearance. A paleness rests on her face, {and} leanness in all her
body; she never looks direct on you; her teeth are black with rust; her
breast is green with gall; her tongue is dripping with venom. Smiles
there are none, except such as the sight of grief has excited. Nor does
she enjoy sleep, being kept awake with watchful cares; but sees with
sorrow the successes of men, and pines away