ven, the number here adopted by Ovid.]

[Footnote 57: _Floating on the sea._--Ver. 746. The male of the
kingfisher was said by the ancients to be so constant to his mate,
that on her death he refused to couple with any other, for which
reason the poets considered that bird as the emblem of conjugal
affection. The sea was supposed to be always calm when the female
was sitting; from which time of serenity, our proverb, which
speaks of 'Halcyon days,' takes its rise.]

EXPLANATION.

According to the testimony of several of the ancient writers, Ceyx
was the king of Trachyn, and was a prince of great knowledge and
experience; and many had recourse to him to atone for the murders
which they had committed, whether through imprudence or otherwise.
Pausanias says that Eurystheus having summoned Ceyx to deliver up to
him the children of Hercules, that prince, who was not able to
maintain a war against so powerful a king, sent the youths to
Theseus, who took them into his protection.

To recover from the melancholy consequent upon the death of his
brother Daedalion and his niece Chione, he went to Claros to consult
the oracle of Apollo, and was shipwrecked on his return; on which,
his wife, Halcyone, was so afflicted, that she died of grief, or
else threw herself into the sea, as Hyginus informs us. It was said
that they were changed into the birds which we call kingfishers,
a story which, probably, has no other foundation than the name of
Halcyone, which signifies that bird; which by the ancients was
considered to be the symbol of conjugal affection.

Apollodorus, however, does not give us so favourable an idea of the
virtue of these persons as Ovid has done. According to him, it was
their pride which proved the cause of their destruction. Jupiter
enraged at Ceyx, because he had assumed his name as Halcyone had
done that of Juno, changed them both into birds, he becoming a
cormorant, and she a kingfisher. This story is remarkable for the
beautiful and affecting manner in which it is told.

FABLE VIII. [XI.749-795]

The Nymph Hesperia flying from AEsacus, who is enamoured of her,
is bitten by a serpent, and instantly dies from the effects of the
wound. He is so afflicted at her death, that he throws himself into
the sea, and is transformed into a didapper.

Some old man[58] observes them as they fly over the widely extended
seas, and