accursed hands.
Admonished by such examples, the Ismenian matrons frequent the new
worship, and offer frankincense, and reverence the sacred altars.

[Footnote 78: _Cities of Achaia._--Ver. 511. Achaia was properly
the name of a part of Peloponnesus, on the gulf of Corinth; but
the name is very frequently applied to the whole of Greece.]

[Footnote 79: _Pentheus._--Ver. 513. He was the son of Echion and
Agave, the daughter of Cadmus.]

[Footnote 80: _Warlike men._--Ver. 531. 'Mavortia.' Mavors was a
name of Mars, frequently used by the poets. The Thebans were
'proles Mavortia,' as being sprung from the teeth of the dragon,
who was said to be a son of Mars.]

[Footnote 81: _Tambourines._--Ver. 537. 'Tympana.' These
instruments, among the ancients, were of various kinds. Some
resembled the modern tambourine; while others presented a flat
circular disk on the upper surface, and swelled out beneath, like
the kettle-drum of the present day. They were covered with the
hides of oxen, or of asses, and were beaten either with a stick or
the hand. They were especially used in the rites of Bacchus, and
of Cybele.]

[Footnote 82: _The thyrsus._--Ver. 542. The thyrsus was a long
staff, carried by Bacchus, and by the Satyrs and Bacchanalians
engaged in the worship of the God of the grape. It was sometimes
terminated by the apple of the pine, or fir-cone, the fir-tree
being esteemed sacred to Bacchus, from the turpentine flowing
therefrom and its apples being used in making wine. It is,
however, frequently represented as terminating in a knot of ivy,
or vine leaves, with grapes or berries arranged in a conical form.
Sometimes, also, a white fillet was tied to the pole just below
the head. We learn from Diodorus Siculus, and Macrobius, that
Bacchus converted the thyrsi carried by himself and his followers
into weapons, by concealing an iron point in the head of leaves.
A wound with its point was supposed to produce madness.]

[Footnote 83: _Engines of war._--Ver. 549. 'Tormenta.' These were
the larger engines of destruction used in ancient warfare. They
were so called from the verb 'torqueo,' 'to twist,' from their
being formed by the twisting of hair, fibre, or strips of leather.
The different sorts were called 'balistae' and 'catapultae.' The
former were used to impel stones; the latt