[Footnote 82: _Laughed at them._--Ver. 612. The Centaurs, from one of whom Pirithoüs was sprung, were famed for their contempt of, and enmity to, the Gods.]
[Footnote 83: _By a low wall._--Ver. 620. As a memorial of the wonderful events here related by Lelex.]
[Footnote 84: _Thatched with straw._--Ver. 630. It was the custom with the ancients, when reaping, to take off only the heads of the corn, and to leave the stubble to be reaped at another time. From this passage, we see that straw was used for the purpose of thatching.]
[Footnote 85: _Lifts down._--Ver. 647. The lifting down the flitch of bacon might induce us to believe that the account of this story was written yesterday, and not nearly two thousand years since. So true is it, that there is nothing new under the sun.]
[Footnote 86: _Feet and frame._--Ver. 659. 'Sponda.' This was the frame of the bedstead, and more especially the sides of it. In the case of a bed used for two persons, the two sides were distinguished by different names; the side at which they entered was open, and was called 'sponda:' the other side, which was protected by a board, was called 'pluteus.' The two sides were also called 'torus exterior,' or 'sponda exterior,' and 'torus interior,' or 'sponda interior.']
[Footnote 87: _Double-tinted berries._--Ver. 664. Green on one side, and swarthy on the other.]
[Footnote 88: _A short pause._--Ver. 671. This was the second course. The Roman 'coena,' or chief meal, consisted of three stages. First, the 'promulsis,' 'antecoena,' or 'gustatio,' when they ate such things as served to stimulate the appetite. Then came the first course, which formed the substantial part of the meal; and next the second course, at which the 'bellaria,' consisting of pastry and fruits, such as are now used at dessert, were served.]
[Footnote 89: _Immortals forbade it._--Ver. 688. This act of humanity reflects credit on the two Deities, and contrasts favourably with their usual cruel and revengeful disposition, in common with their fellow Divinities of the heathen Mythology.]
[Footnote 90: _Of Tyana._--Ver. 719. This was a city of Cappadocia, in Asia Minor.]
The story of Baucis and Philemon, which is here so beautifully related by the Poet, is a moral tale, which shows the merit of hospitality, and how, in some cases at least, virtue speedily brings its own reward. If the story is based upon any actual facts, the history of its origin is entirely unknown. Huet, the theologian, indeed, supposes that it is founded on the history of the reception of the Angels by Abraham. This is a bold surmise, but entirely in accordance with his position, that the greatest part of the fictions of the heathen mythology were mere glosses or perversions of the histories of the Old Testament. If derived from Scripture, the story is just as likely to be founded on the hospitable reception of the Prophet Elijah by the woman of Zarephath; and the miraculous increase of the wine in the goblet, calls to mind 'the barrel of meal that wasted not, and the cruse of oil that did not fail.' The story of the wretched fate of the inhospitable neighbours of Baucis and Philemon is thought, by some modern writers, to be founded upon the Scriptural account of the destruction of the wicked cities of the plain.