Note 129 — IDYL XVII

Reading, after Fritzsche, ρωγάδος εκ πέτρας. We should have expected the accursed ashes (like those of Wyclif) to be thrown into the river; cf. Virgil, Ecl. viii. 101, ‘Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras, rivoque fluenti transque caput lace nec respexeris.’ Virgil’s knowledge of these observances was not inferior to that of Theocritus.