e stag was said to
live four times, and the crow nine times, as long as man.]

[Footnote 39: _Opened the throat._--Ver. 285-6. Clarke translates
the words 'quod simul ac vidit, stricto Medea recludit Ense senis
jugulum,' 'which as soon as Medea saw, she opens the throat of the
old gentleman with a drawn sword.']

[Footnote 40: _And his hair._--Ver. 288. Medea is thought by some
writers not only to have discovered a dye for giving a dark color
to grey hair, but to have found out the invigorating properties of
the warm bath.]

[Footnote 41: _To his nurses._--Ver. 295. These (in Book iii.
l. 314.) he calls by the name of Nyseides; but in the Fifth Book
of the Fasti they are styled Hyades, and are placed in the number
of the Constellations. A commentator on Homer, quoting from
Pherecydes, calls them 'Dodonides.']

[Footnote 42: _Daughter of AEetes._--Ver. 296. The reading in most
of the MSS. here is Tetheia, or 'Thetide;' but Burmann has
replaced it by AEetide, 'the daughter of AEetes.' It has been justly
remarked, why should Bacchus apply to Tethys to have the age of
the Nymphs, who had nursed him, renewed, when he had just beheld
Medea, and not Tethys, do it in favor of AEson?]

[Footnote 43: _That her arts._--Ver. 297. 'Neve doli cessent' is
translated by Clarke, 'and that her tricks might not cease.']

[Footnote 44: _Pelias._--Ver. 298. He was the brother of AEson, and
had dethroned him, and usurped his kingdom.]

[Footnote 45: _The Iberian sea._--Ver. 324. The Atlantic, or
Western Ocean, is thus called from Iberia, the ancient name of
Spain; which country, perhaps, was so called from the river
Iberus, or Ebro, flowing through it.]

EXPLANATION.

The authors who have endeavored to explain the true meaning and origin
of the story of the restitution of AEson to youth, are much divided in
their opinions concerning it. Some think it refers to the mystery of
reviving the decrepit and aged by the transfusion of youthful blood.
It is, however, not improbable, that Medea obtained the reputation of
being a sorceress, only because she had been taught by her mother the
virtues of various plants: and that she administered a potion to AEson,
which furnished him with new spirits and strength.

The daughters of Pelias being desirous to obtain the same favor of
Medea for their father, she, to