from the
Infernal Regions, a certain man, through fear of Hercules, hid
himself in a cave; and that on peeping out, and beholding
Cerberus, he was changed into a stone by his fright. Suidas says,
that in his time the stone was still to be seen, and that the
story gave rise to a proverb.]

[Footnote 5: _Olenus._--Ver. 69. Olenus, who was supposed to be
the son of Vulcan, had a beautiful wife, whose name was Lethaea.
When about to be punished for comparing her own beauty to that of
the Goddesses, Olenus offered to submit to the penalty in her
stead, on which they were both changed into stones.]

[Footnote 6: _In squalid guise._--Ver. 74. 'Squallidus in
ripa--sedit,' is rendered by Clarke, 'He sat in a sorry pickle on
the bank.']

[Footnote 7: _Erebus._--Ver. 76. Erebus was the son of Chaos and
Darkness; but his name is often used to signify the Infernal
Regions.]

[Footnote 8: _Haemus._--Ver. 77. This was a mountain of Thrace,
which was much exposed to the North winds.]

[Footnote 9: _Fishes of the ocean._--Ver. 78. 'Pisces,' 'the
Fishes,' being the last sign of the Zodiac, when the sun has
passed through it, the year is completed.]

EXPLANATION.

Though Ovid has separated the adventures of Orpheus, whose death he
does not relate till the beginning of the eleventh Book, we will
here shortly enter upon an examination of some of the more important
points of his history.

As, in his time, Poetry and Music were in a very low state of
perfection, and as he excelled in both of those arts, it was said
that he was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope; and it was
added, that he charmed lions and tigers, and made even the trees
sensible of the melodious tones of his lyre. These were mere
hyperbolical expressions, which signified the wondrous charms of his
eloquence and of his music combined, which he employed in
cultivating the genius of a savage and uncouth people. Some
conjecture that this personage originally came from Asia into
Thrace, and suppose that he, together with Linus and Eumolpus,
brought poetry and music into Greece, the use of which, till then,
was unknown in that country; and that they introduced, at the same
time, the worship of Ceres, Mars, and the orgies of Bacchus, which,
from him who instituted them, received their name of 'Orphica.'
Orpheus, too, is supposed to have united