ote 46: _Lycian._--Ver. 296. Lycia was a province of Asia
Minor, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Caria was another
province, adjoining to Lycia.]

[Footnote 47: _Citorian boxwood._--Ver. 311. Citorus, or Cythorus,
was a mountain of Paphlagonia, famous for the excellence of the
wood of the box trees that grow there. The Greeks and Romans made
their combs of it. The Egyptians used them made of ivory and wood,
and toothed on one side only; those of the Greeks had teeth on
both sides. Great care was usually taken of the hair; to go with
it uncombed was a sign of affliction.]

[Footnote 48: _The aiding cymbals._--Ver. 333. The witches and
magicians, in ancient times, and especially those of Thessaly,
professed to be able, with their charms and incantations, to bring
the moon down from heaven. The truth of these assertions being
commonly believed, at the period of an eclipse it was supposed by
the multitude that the moon was being subjected to the spells of
these magicians, and that she was struggling (laborabat) against
them, on which the sound of drums, trumpets, and cymbals was
resorted to, to distract the attention of the moon, and to drown
the charms repeated by the enchanters, for which reason, the
instruments employed for the purpose were styled 'auxiliares.']

[Footnote 49: _As when the Sun._--Ver. 349. Bailey gives this
explanation of the passage,-- 'The eyes of the Nymph seemed to
sparkle and shine, just as the rays of the sun in a clear sky when
a looking-glass is placed against them, for then they seem most
splendid, and contract the fire.' From the mention of the eyes of
the Nymph burning 'flagrant,' we might be almost justified in
concluding that 'speculum' means here not a mirror, but a
burning-glass. The 'specula,' or looking-glasses, of the ancients
were usually made of metal, either a composition of tin and
copper, or silver; but in later times, alloy was mixed with the
silver. Pliny mentions the obsidian stone, or, as it is now
called, the Icelandic agate, as being used for this purpose. Nero
is said to have used emeralds for mirrors. Pliny the Elder says
that mirrors were made in the glass-houses of Sidon, which
consisted of glass plates, with leaves of metal at the back; they
were probably of an inferior character. Those of copper and tin
were made