Neptune was the father of Megareus, or Macareus, as the Scholiast
of Sophocles calls him. Neptune being the father of Onchestius,
Hippomenes was the fourth from Neptune, inclusively. Onchestius
founded a city of that name in Boeotia, in honour of Neptune, who
had a temple there; in the time of Pausanias the place was in
ruins. That author tells us that Megareus aided Nisus against
Minos, and was slain in that war.]

[Footnote 58: _A feminine look._--Ver. 631. Clarke renders this
line-- 'But what a lady-like countenance there is in his boyish
face!']

[Footnote 59: _Tamasenian field._--Ver. 644. Tamasis, or Tamaseus,
is mentioned by Pliny as a city of Cyprus.]

[Footnote 60: _The theatres ring._--Ver. 668. 'Spectacula' may
mean either the seats, or benches, on which the spectators sat,
or an amphitheatre. The former is most probably the meaning in the
present instance.]

[Footnote 61: _Crowned with turrets._--Ver. 696. Cybele, the
Goddess of the Earth, was usually represented as crowned with
turrets, and drawn in a chariot by lions.]

[Footnote 62: _Are made fore-legs._--Ver. 700. 'Armus' is
generally the shoulder of a brute; while 'humerus' is that of a
man. 'Armus' is sometimes used to signify the human shoulder.]

[Footnote 63: _By their tails._--Ver. 701. Pliny the Elder remarks
that the temper of the lion is signified by his tail, in the same
way as that of the horse by his ears. When in motion, it shows
that he is angry; when quiet, that he is in a good temper.]

EXPLANATION.

The Atalanta who is mentioned in this story was the daughter of
Schoeneus, and the granddaughter of Athamas, whose misfortunes
obliged him to retire into Boeotia, where he built a little town,
which was called after his name, as we learn from Pausanias and
Eustathius. Ovid omits to say that it was one of the conditions of
the agreement, that the lover was to have the start in the race.
According to some writers, the golden apples were from the gardens
of the Hesperides; while, according to others, they were plucked by
Venus in the isle of Cyprus. The story seems to be founded merely on
the fact, that Hippomenes contrived by means of bribes to find the
way to the favour of his mistress.

Apollodorus, however, relates the story in a different manner;
he says that the father of Atalanta desiring to have sons,