structor of Peleus, Achilles,
and others. He was killed by one of the poisoned arrows of
Hercules, but placed by Zeus among the stars as the Archer,
from which position he appears to be aiming at the Scorpion.
His constellation appears in winter.
(26) The teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus; though this took
place in Boeotia.
(27) Poseidon and Athena disputed as to which of them should name
the capital of Attica. The gods gave the reward to that one
of them who should produce the thing most useful to man;
whereupon Athena produced an olive tree, and Poseidon a
horse. Homer also places the scene of this event in
Thessaly. ("Iliad", xxiii., 247.)
(28) The Argo. Conf. Book III., 223.
(29) See Book VII., 1022.
(30) Son of Pelasgus. From him was derived the ancient name of
Thessaly, Haemonia.
(31) Medea.
(32) It was supposed that there was on the forehead of the new-
born foal an excrescence, which was bitten off and eaten by
the mother. If she did not do this she had no affection for
the foal. (Virgil, "Aeneid", iv., 515.)
(33) "When the boisterous sea,
Without a breath of wind, hath knocked the sky."
-- Ben Jonson, "Masque of Queens".
(34) The sky was supposed to move round, but to be restrained in
its course by the planets. (See Book X., line 244.)
(35) "Coatus audire silentum." To be present at the meetings of
the dead and hear their voices. So, in the sixth Aeneid,
the dead Greek warriors in feeble tones endeavour to express
their fright at the appearance of the Trojan hero (lines
492, 493).
(36) "As if that piece were sweeter which the wolf had bitten."
Note to "The Masque of Queens", in which the first hag says:
"I have been all day, looking after
A raven feeding on a quarter,
And soon as she turned her beak to the south
I snatched this morsel out of her mouth."
--Ben Jonson, "Masque of Queens".
But more probably the meaning is that the wolf's bite gave
the flesh magical efficacy.
(37) Confusing Pharsalia with Philippi. (See line 684.)
(38) One of the miraculous stories to be found in Pliny's
"Natural History". See Lecky's "Augustus to Charlemagne",
vol. i., p. 370.
(39) The mysterious goddess Hecate was identified with Luna in
heaven, Diana on earth, and Proserpine in the lower regions.