ecial idea
of pleasing Augustus.

LXXX. For Crete and the Labyrinth, see note on Book VI. stanza iv.

CIII. The temple of Venus on Mount Eryx was very celebrated in
antiquity. Venus is called 'Idalian' from Idalium in Cyprus.

CXII. All the names that occur in this stanza are those of sea-gods
or sea-nymphs.

CXVIII. The Roman poets placed the Sirens on some rocks in the
southern part of the bay of Naples.

NOTES TO BOOK SIX

I. _Cumae_ was the most ancient Greek colony in Campania. The
tradition was that it had been founded by immigrants from Cyme and
Aeolis and from Chaleis in Euboea. Hence its name, and the epithet
Virgil applies to it.

II. The 'Sibyl' here mentioned was the most famous of the
prophetesses of antiquity. She was directly inspired by Apollo (the
Delian seer), and dwelt in a cavern near his temple. _Trivia_ is an
epithet of Hecate. See note on Book IV. stanza lxvi.

III. Daedalus, who built the labyrinth for Minos, incurred the wrath
of the latter and escaped from Crete with his son Icarus, by making
wings. He fastened them on with wax, and Icarus flying too near the
sun, his wings melted and he fell into the Aegean. Daedalus, however,
reached Cumae in safety.

IV. On the gate were carvings representing various Cretan stories.
Androgeos was the son of Minos, king of Crete. He won all the contests
at the Panathenaic festival at Athens, whose king, Aegeus, slew him
out of jealousy. In revenge, Minos made war on the Athenians, and
forced them to pay a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens,
who were devoured by the Minotaur. This monster was the offspring
of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, and a bull sent by Neptune, and it lived
in the labyrinth built by Daedalus. The tribute continued to be paid
until Theseus, son of Aegeus, went to Crete as one of the seven.
Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with him, and helped
him to slay the monster.

XIV. _Xanthus_ and _Simois_ were two rivers which flowed through the
plain before Troy. The new Achilles is of course Turnus, king of the
Rutuli.

XV. The Grecian town is Pallanteum, the chief city of Evander's
kingdom. See Book VIII. stanza vii.

XVI. Acheron was the fabled river of the lower world. Virgil probably
had in his mind the real _Acherusia palus_, a gloomy marsh near
Naples.

XVIII. There was a volcanic lake near Cumae called _Avernus_, whose
waters gave out sulphureous vapours. It was connected by tradition
with th