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PAGE 22

The Lovers Assistant, Or, New Art Of Love
by [?]

[Footnote 32: Pasiphae was the Daughter of the Sun, married to Minos King of Crete. The Poets feign that being in love with a Bull, she employed Daedalus, a famous Artist, to make her a wooden Cow, into which she conveyed herself, in order to enjoy her monstrous Desires. From this unnatural Coition sprung the Minotaur, a Monster half Man and half Bull, which was enclosed in a Labyrinth, and afterward destroyed by Theseus.]

[Footnote 33: The Original alludes to the Cretans, who were famous among the Antients for the Vice of lying.]

[Footnote 34: Europa was the Daughter of Agenor King of Cydon, beloved by Jupiter, and by him run away with in the Shape of a Bull.]

[Footnote 35: AErope was the Wife of Atreus. She committed Adultery with her Husband’s Brother Thyestes, by whom she had two Sons, whom Atreus caused to be killed, and served up to his Brother’s Table. To avoid this Sight, the Sun is said to have gone backward.]

[Footnote 36: Scylla the Daughter of Nisus, King of the Megarensians, fell in love with Minos, while he was besieging her Father’s City. She stole away her Father’s Hair, on which the Fate of the City depended, and carried it to Minos; for which Fact she was rewarded by her Lover with Contempt only. She is by some said to have been changed into a Lark: But Ovid, who here seems to confound two Stories together, makes her Transformation to have been into a Rock, which lies between Sicily and Italy; where the dashing of the Waves against the Rock representing the Sound of the Barking of Dogs, gave rise to the Fable which is here hinted at.]

[Footnote 37: Clytemnestra, the Wife of Agamemnon, who in the absence of her Husband committed Adultery with AEgysthus, and with him afterwards murdered Agamemnon, at his Return from Troy.]

[Footnote 38: Creusa was the Daughter of Creon King of Corinth, and second Wife to Jason; to whom Medea, enraged with Jason, who had forsaken her, sent a Casket in which Wild-Fire was inclosed, and by which she was burnt as soon [as] it was opened. This Medea afterwards, on account of the same Anger with Jason, tore to pieces her two Sons which she had bore to him.]

[Footnote 39: This Phoenix having incensed his Father, by lying with a Woman who was beloved by the latter, fled to the Protection of Peleus the Father of Achilles, and was by bim Preceptor of that young Hero.]

[Footnote 40: Hippolytus being beloved by his Stepmother Phaedra, and refusing to gratify her Desires, was by her falsely accused to his Father Theseus; upon which account he was obliged to fly, and the Chariot Horses being frighted by Sea-Calves, dashed the Chariot to-pieces, and him also.]

[Footnote 41: Phineus King of Arcadia, having repudiated his Wife Cleopatra, married Harpalice; by whose Instigation he put out the Eyes of his Sons: for which he was afterwards punished by Divine Vengeance with the Loss of his own.]

[Footnote 42: The Romans paid a Religious Regard to their Birth-Day, as appears from many Passages in their Poets. At this time they used to receive Presents from their Relations and Acquaintance. We have here given the Sense of the Original, only varying the Customs ( Kalendae Martii.) Ovid advises the Lover to abstain from visiting his Mistress in the Kalends of March. At which time the Matronalia were celebrated to Juno Lucina, and the Husbands used to pray to that Goddess to protect the Chastity of their Wives. Horace likewise Lib. III. Ode 8. hints that this was not the proper Season for Batchelors to give a Loose to their Gaieties. ( Sive erit ornatus Circus, etc.) A third Caution Ovid gives, is not to visit on those Days when the Wealth of the Roman Conquests were exposed to the Circus, in admiring which, as Mycellus observes, the Girls were too much taken up, to attend to the Desires of their Lovers. To say the truth, some Custom seems to be alluded to here, which is not sufficiently preserved from the Ruins of Antiquity.]