Why were the Ambarvalia instituted?

Repeat the lines from Virgil in which these sacrifices are de scribed.

CHAPTER IX.

SEC. THE MUSES. THEIR IMAGE, NAMES, AND NUMBER.

THE muses are nine virgins, crowned with palms; their dress is decent and becoming. They sit together in the shade of a laurel arbour. Some of them play on the harp, some upon the cithern, some upon the pipe, some upon the cymbal, and some harmoniously sing and play at once. Methinks I hear them with united minds, voices, and hands, make an agreeable concord arise from their different instrumeuts, governing their several voices in such a manner as to produce the most noble harmony.

They are the mistresses of all the sciences, the presidents of the musicians and poets, and the governors of the feasts and solemnities of the gods, They are the daughters of Jupiter and the nymph Mnemosyne, and were born on the mountain Pierius. Some affirm that they had other parents, and ancient writers say, that they lived before Jupiter, and were the daughters of Coelum. They are called the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (which in Greek signifies "memory,") because all students and scholars ought not only to have great ingenuity, but ready memories.

The Musa were formerly called Mose, and were so named from a *Greek word that signifies "to inquire," because men, by inquiring of them

• 'Aro 78 μwoxi, id est, ab inquirendo. Plato in Cratylo.

learn the things of which they were before ignorant. But others say, they had their name from *their resemblance, because there is a similitude, and an affinity and relation between all the sciences; in which they agree, and are united with one another. Wherefore the Muses are often painted with their hands joined, dancing in a ring; in the middle of them sits Apollo, their commander and prince. The pencil of nature described them in that manner upon the agate which Pyrrhus, who made war against the Romans, wore in a ring; for in it was a representation of the nine Muses, and Apollo holding a harp : and these figures were not delineated by art, but by the spontaneous handywork of nature: and the veins of the stone were formed so regularly, that every Muse had her particular distinction.

They had each a name derived from some particular accomplishment of their minds or bodies.

The first, Calliope, was so called from the sweetness of her voice; she presides over rhetoric, and is esteemed the most excellent of all the nine.

The second, Clio, is so named from glory. For she is the historical Muse, and takes her name from the excellence of the things she records.

The third, Erato, has her name from love, because she sings of amours, or because learned men are beloved and praised by others. She is also called Saltatrix; for she first invented the art of dancing, over which she presided. She was also the inventress of poetry.

*

The fourth, Thalia, from her gayety, briskness,

Mera, quasi quoiovox, id est similes. Cassiodor.

† Απο της καλης οπης a suavitate vocis.

Ap. 1.

'Awo ru xλɛ85, a gloria sc. rerum gestarum quas memo. Schol.

( Απο το ερωτος, ab more. Ovid Art. Am. 2.

|| 'ATO TE Daddy, id est, virere, germinare; et florere, Procl in Hesiod.

and pleasantry. Some ascribe to her the invention of comedy, others of geometry.

The fifth, Melpomene, from the excellency of her song and the melody she makes when she sings. She is supposed to have presided over tragedy, and to have invented sonnets.

The sixth, Terpsichore,† has her name from the pleasure she takes in dancing, because she delights in balls. Some call her Citharistria.

The seventh, Euterpe, or Euterpia, from the sweetness of her singing. Some call her Tibicina, because, according to them, she presides over the pipes and some say logic was invented by her.

The eighth, Polyhymnia, or Polymnia, or Polymenia, from her excellent memory: and therefore the invention of writing history is attributed to her, which requires a good memory. It was owing to her, that the songsters add to the verses that they sing, hands and fingers which speak more than the tongue; an expressive silence; a language without words; in short, gesture and action.

The ninth, Urania, was so called either because she sings of divine things; or because, through her assistance, men are praised to the skies, or because, by the sciences, they become conversant in the contemplation of celestial things.

Bahusius, a modern poet, has comprised the names of all the Muses in a distich; that is, he has made the nine Muses to stand, which is something strange, but upon eleven feet. Perhaps you will remember

Η μελπομαι canto et modulor, vel απο το μελος ποιείν concentum facere.

Η Απο τέρπειν τοις χοροις quod choreis delectetur.

Ab surpans, jucunda nempe in concentu.

Απολὺς multus et μνεια memoria.

Quod carminibus additæ sint orchestrarum loquacissimæ manus, linquosi digiti, silentium clamosum, expositio tacita, uno verbo gestus et actio.

Η Απο τ8 8 αν8, a colo.

their names better, when they are thus joined to gether in two verses:

"Calliope, Polymneia, Erato, Clio, atque Thalia, Melpomene, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Urania." 1. 4. ep. 1.

The most remarkable of the names which are common to them all are:

Heliconides, or Heliconiades, from the mountain Helicon, in Boeotia.

Parnassides, from the mountain Parnassus, in Phocis, which has two heads, where, if any person slept, he presently became a poet. It was anciently called Larnassus, from Larnace, the ark of Deucalion, which rested here, and was named Parnassus after the flood, from an inhabitant of this mountain, so called.

Citherides, or Citheriades, from the mountain Citheron, where they dwelt.

Aonides, from the country Aonia.

Pierides, or Pieriæ, fom the mountain Pierus, or Pieria, in Thrace; or from the daughters of Pierius and Anippe, who, daring to contend with the Muses, were changed into pies.

Pegasides and Hippocrenides, from the famous fountain Helicon, which by the Greeks is called *Hippocrene, and by the Latins, †Caballinus, both which words signify the horse's fountain: it was also named Pegaseius, from Pegasus, the winged horse, which by striking a stone in this place with his foot, opened the fountain, and the waters became vocal.

Aganippides, or Aganippeæ, from the fountai Aganippe.

Castalides, from the fountain Castalius, at the foot of Parnassus.