[Footnote 20: _A silver ball._--Ver. 114. The 'bulla' was a ball of metal, so called from its resemblance in shape to a bubble of water. These were especially worn by the Roman children, suspended from the neck, and were mostly made of thin plates of gold, being of about the size of a walnut. The use of these ornaments was derived from the people of Etruria; and though originally worn only by the children of the Patricians, they were subsequently used by all of free birth. The children of the Libertini, or 'freedmen,' indeed wore 'bullæ,' but they were only made of leather. The 'bulla' was laid aside at the same time as the 'toga prætexta,' and was on that occasion consecrated to the Lares. The bulls of the Popes of Rome, received their names from this word; the ornament which was pendent from the rescript or decree being used to signify the document itself.]
[Footnote 21: _Pendants of brass._--Ver. 116. The ear-ring was called among the Greeks +enôtion+, and by the Romans 'inauris.' The Greeks also called it +ellobion+, from its being inserted in the lobe of the ear. Earrings were worn by both sexes among the Lydians, Persians, Libyans, Carthaginians, and other nations. Among the Greeks and Romans, the females alone were in the habit of wearing them. As with us, the ear-ring consisted of a ring and drop, the ring being generally of gold, though bronze was sometimes used by the common people. Pearls, especially those of elongated form, which were called 'elenchi,' were very much valued for pendants.]
[Footnote 22: _Nation of Cea._--Ver. 120. Cea was one of the Cyclades, and Carthæa was one of its four cities.]
[Footnote 23: _Who are sorrowing._--Ver. 142. The Poet in this manner accounts for the Roman custom of placing branches of Cypress before the doors of houses in which a dead body lay. Pliny the Elder says, that the Cypress was sacred to Pluto, and that for that reason it was used at funerals, and was placed upon the pile. Varro says, that it was used for the purpose of removing, by its own strong scent, the bad smell of the spot where the bodies were burnt, and also of the bodies themselves. It was also said to be so used, because, when once its bark is cut, it withers, and is consequently emblematical of the frail tenure of human life.]