Page:The Aeneid of Virgil JOHN CONINGTON 1917 V2.pdf/371

 Beneath the Ortygian shore:— Like spirits that lie In the azure sky Where they love but live no more."

BOOK IV

This portion of the Æneid was written when the memory of Antony and Cleopatra was still fresh, and many traits of royal, imperious Dido seem suggestive of the Egyptian queen. Cf. Shakespeare's Cleopatra, and Chaucer's Legend of Good Women.

74:8. Dawn-goddess. Aurora, with Phœbus' torch. Apollo is constantly identified with the sun-god.

75:3. Erebus. God of darkness, son of Chaos and brother of Night. Synonymous with darkness, especially that of the underworld.

76:5. Lyæus. Bacchus. As the god that makes men unbend and frees them from care, he is called Father Lyæus.

78:9. Hymen. God of marriage.

79:24. Fame. Cf. Bacon, Fragment of an Essay of Fame. "The poets make Fame a monster. They describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and sententiously. They say, look how many feathers she hath, so many eyes she hath underneath; so many tongues; so many voices; she pricks up so many ears. This is a flourish; there follow excellent parables; as that she gathereth strength in going; that she goeth upon the ground, and yet hideth her head in the clouds, that in the day-time she sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most by night; that she mingleth things done