m, a mountain which divided it from Argolis;
there was also, according to Pliny the Elder, a town of the same
name in Arcadia.]

[Footnote 21: _Gold of Thermodon._--Ver. 189. The Thermodon was a
river of Scythia, near which the Amazons were said to dwell.
Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring to him the belt of Hippolyta,
the queen of the Amazons.]

[Footnote 22: _Support the heavens._--Ver. 198. Atlas, king of
Mauritania, was said to support the heavens on his shoulders, of
which burden Hercules relieved him for a time, when he partook of
his hospitality. It has been suggested that the meaning of this
story is, that Hercules learned the study of astronomy from
Atlas.]

[Footnote 23: _Wife of Jupiter._--Ver. 199. Juno gave her commands
to Hercules through Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus, king of
Mycenae, who imposed upon him his various labours.]

[Footnote 24: _Many a hailstone._--Ver. 222. Ovid here seems to
think that snow is an intermediate state between rain and hail,
and that hail is formed by the rapid motion of the snow as it
falls.]

[Footnote 25: _The son of Poeas._--Ver. 233. Philoctetes was the
son of Poeas.]

[Footnote 26: _Again to visit._--Ver. 232. It was decreed by the
destinies that Troy should not be taken, unless the bow and arrows
of Hercules were present; for which reason it was necessary to
send for Philoctetes, who was the possessor of them. Troy had
already seen them, when Hercules punished Laomedon, its king, for
his perfidious conduct.]

[Footnote 27: _Roared._--Ver. 239. 'Diffusa sonabat--flamma' is
translated by Clarke, 'The flame, being diffused on all sides,
rattled.']

[Footnote 28: _Protector of the earth._--Ver. 241. Hercules
merited this character, for having cleared the earth of monsters,
robbers, and tyrants.]

EXPLANATION.

Hercules, leaving the court of Calydon with his wife, proceeded on
the road to the city of Trachyn, in Thessaly, to atone for the
accidental death of Eunomus, and to be absolved from it by Ceyx, who
was the king of that territory. Being obliged to cross the river
Evenus, which had overflowed its banks, the adventure happened with
the Centaur Nessus, which the Poet has here related. We learn from
other writers, that after Nessus had expired, he was buried on Mount
Taphiusa; and Strabo informs us, that