translated by Clarke, 'and worshipping our
Goddessships.']

[Footnote 31: _Some saluting them._--Ver. 295. That is, crying out
+chaire, chaire+, the usual salutation among the Greeks,
equivalent to our 'How d'ye do?' From two lines of Persius, it
seems to have been a common thing to teach parrots and magpies to
repeat these words.]

[Footnote 32: _Lands of Pella._--Ver. 302. Pella was a city of
Macedonia, in that part of it which was called Emathia. It was
famed for being the birthplace of Philip, and Alexander the
Great.]

[Footnote 33: _Paeonian._--Ver. 303. Paeonia was a mountainous
region of Macedonia, adjacent to Emathia.]

[Footnote 34: _Evippe._--Ver. 303. Evippe was the wife of Pierus,
and the mother of the Pierides.]

[Footnote 35: _Achaia._--Ver. 306. The Achaia here mentioned was
the Haemonian, or Thessalian Achaia. The other parts of Thessaly
were Phthiotis and Pelasgiotis.]

[Footnote 36: _Aganippe._--Ver. 312. Aganippe was the name of a
fountain in Boeotia, near Helicon, sacred to the Muses. It is
called Hyantean, from the ancient name of the inhabitants of the
country.]

[Footnote 37: _Venus as a fish._--Ver. 331. The story of the
transformation of Venus into a fish, to escape the fury of the
Giants, is told, at length, in the second Book of the Fasti.]

[Footnote 38: _Wings of an Ibis._--Ver. 331. The Ibis was a bird
of Egypt, much resembling a crane, or stork. It was said to be of
peculiarly unclean habits, and to subsist upon serpents.]

[Footnote 39: _We of Aonia._--Ver. 333. The Muses obtained the
name of Aonides from Aonia, a mountainous district of Boeotia.]

EXPLANATION.

According to Plutarch, the adventure of the Muses with Pyreneus, and
of their asking wings of the Gods to save themselves, is a metaphor,
which shows that he, when reigning in Phocis, was no friend to
learning. As he had caused all the institutions in which it was taught
to be destroyed, it was currently reported, that he had offered
violence to the Muses, and that he lost his life in pursuing them.
Ovid is the only writer that mentions him by name.

The challenge given by the Pierides to the Muses is not mentioned by
any writer before the time of Ovid. By way of explaining it, it is
said, that Pierus was a very bad poet, whose works were full of
stories injurious to the cred