9) Over whom Marius triumphed.
(20) Phoreus and Ceto were the parents of the Gorgons -- Stheno,
Euryale. and Medusa, of whom the latter alone was mortal,
(Hesiod. "Theogony", 276.) Phorcus was a son of Pontus and
Gaia (sea and land), ibid, 287.
(21) The scimitar lent by Hermes (or Mercury) to Perseus for the
purpose; with which had been slain Argus the guardian of Io
(Conf. "Prometheus vinctus", 579.) Hermes was born in a
cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
(22) The idea seems to be that the earth, bulging at the equator,
casts its shadow highest on the sky: and that the moon
becomes eclipsed by it whenever she follows a straight path
instead of an oblique one, which may happen from her
forgetfulness (Mr. Haskins' note).
(23) This catalogue of snakes is alluded to in Dante's "Inferno",
24.
"I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous that remembrance in my veins
Yet shrinks the vital current. Of her sands
Let Libya vaunt no more: if Jaculus,
Pareas, and Chelyder be her brood,
Cenchris and Amphisbaena, plagues so dire
Or in such numbers swarming ne'er she showed."
-- Carey.
(See also Milton's "Paradise Lost", Book X., 520-530.)
(24) The Egyptian Thebes.
(25) "... All my being
Like him whom the Numidian Seps did thaw
Into a dew with poison, is dissolved,
Sinking through its foundations."
--Shelley, "Prometheus Unbound", Act iii, Scene 1.
(26) The glance of the eye of the basilisk or cockatrice, was
supposed to be deadly. (See "King Richard III", Act i.,
Scene 2: --
Gloucester: Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected
mine.
Anne: Would they were basilisks, to strike
thee dead!)
The word is also used for a big cannon. ("1 King Henry IV",
Act ii., Scene 3.)
(27) See Book III., 706.
(28) According to one story Orion, for his assault on Diana, was
killed by the Scorpion, who received his reward by being
made into a constellation.
(29) A sort of venomous ant.
(30) No other author gives any details of this march; and those
given by Lucan are unreliable. The temple of Hammon is far
from any possible line of route taken from the Lesser Syrtes
to Lep