has not lost its
colour; {but} her shape is different from her former one. Because she
had assisted me in labour by a lying mouth, she brings forth from the
mouth,[35] and, just as before, she frequents my house."

[Footnote 29: _Atlas was sensible._--Ver. 273. By reason of his
supporting the heavens, to the inhabitants of which Hercules was
now added.]

[Footnote 30: _Ilithyia._--Ver. 283. This Goddess is said by some
to have been the daughter of Jupiter and Juno, while other writers
consider her to have been the same either with Diana, or Juno
Lucina.]

[Footnote 31: _The two Nixi._--Ver. 294. Festus says, 'the three
statues in the Capitol, before the shrine of Minerva, were called
the Gods Nixii.' Nothing whatever is known of these Gods, who
appear to have been obstetrical Divinities. It has been suggested,
as there were three of them, that the reading should be, not
'Nixosque pares,' but 'Nixosque Lares,' 'and the Lares the Nixi.']

[Footnote 32: _Form of a comb._--Ver. 299. This charm probably was
suggestive of difficult or impeded parturition, the bones of the
pelvis being firmly knit together in manner somewhat resembling
the fingers when inserted one between the other, instead of
yielding for the passage of the infant. Pliny the Elder informs us
how parturition may be impeded by the use of charms.]

[Footnote 33: _Something unusual._--Ver. 309. 'Nescio quid.' This
very indefinite phrase is repeatedly used by Ovid; and in such
cases, it expresses either actual doubt or uncertainty, as in the
present instance; or it is used to denote something remarkable or
indescribable, or to show that a thing is insignificant, mean, and
contemptible.]

[Footnote 34: _Goddess who presides._--Ver. 315. This was
Ilithyia, or Lucina, who was acting as the emissary of Juno.]

[Footnote 35: _From the mouth._--Ver. 323. This notion is supposed
to have been grounded on the fact of the weasel (like many other
animals) carrying her young in her mouth from place to place.]

EXPLANATION.

According to Diodorus Siculus and Apollodorus, Amphitryon was the
son of Alceus, the son of Perseus, and his wife, Alcmena, was the
daughter of Electryon, also the son of Perseus; and thus they were
cousins. When their marriage was about to take place, an unforeseen
accident prevented it. Electryon, who was king o