he wrath of a god that pursues thee. irae: B. 55,4, c; A. & G. 100, c.
141. haud quaquam ob meritum poenas: penalties by no means on account of
thy guilt, i.e. less than thy guilt. 147-149. Rhodope and Pangaeus are
mountains, the Getae a tribe, Hebrus a river,--all in Thrace. Athenian
Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, was carried by Boreas
to Thrace, where she bore Calais and Zetes. As a nymph of the country
she is interested in the fate of the Thracian Orpheus and Eurydice. 153.
Taenarias: a cavern on the promontory of Taenarus in Laconia was fabled
to be the entrance of the infernal regions. 157. Erebi: Greek [Greek:
Erebos], a place of darkness, i.e. the lower world. 159 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_
6. 309-312. 161 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_ 6. 306-308. 165 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_ 6.
438-439. 167, 168. intima Leti Tartara: the inmost prison cells of
death. crinibus: dative. anguis: accusative of specification. 169.
Eumenides: the Furies, deities who punish crime; even they are moved by
Orpheus' song. Cerberus: the three-headed dog at the entrance of Hades
who kept the spirits from escaping. 171. Ixion, for an attempt upon the
chastity of Juno, was bound to an ever-revolving wheel. vento: ablative
of cause. The logic is loose; because of the wind's stopping. 173. pone:
adverb. Cf. _Aeneid_, 2. 208. 177. animi: locative genitive, B. 232, 3;
A. & G. 358. 179. stagnis: ablative of source. 182. natantia: swimming.
188. praeterea vidit: saw him more, praeterea here equalling postea.
192. nabat: was sailing. 194. Strymonis: a river on the borders of
Thrace. 196. agentem: that trees followed the music of Orpheus became
one of the commonplaces of poetry. 197-201. Notice the sweetness of
sound due to the alliteration, especially of the liquids. 202. hymenaei:
nuptials. 203. Hyperboreas: Hyperborean, i.e. northern, lit. beyond the
north wind. Tanaim: now the Don, a river named here, as are the Rhipaei
monies of the following line, because belonging to the cold, distant,
desolate North. 204. numquam viduata: never bereaved, with a thought of
the bereaved Orpheus. The setting corresponds to the situation. The grim
landscape is forever wedded to its desolation as Orpheus to his
bereavement. 206. Ciconum: a Thracian people. munere: tribute to the
dead. The word is used technically of funeral honors. 206-213. Cf.
_Lycidas_, 61-63:

By the rout that made the hideous roar
His gory visage down the stream was sent,
Down the swift Hebrus to the