Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/138

126 with which stalls, sheep, and shepherds were purified. In the evening, after the lustration, bonfires were lighted, through the smoke of which the flocks were driven with their shepherds thrice; a second purification, to which succeeded an open-air feasting on turf benches. To this festival, which is fully described by Ovid in his 'Fasti' (iv. 731, &c.), allusion is made also in the Elegies of Propertius (v. iv. 75. Paley). The picture as given by Tibullus may be here represented, with a note or two, from the version of Mr Cranstoun:—

The italicised epithets have been inserted as more literal, and the italicised lines as needing illustration.