“her Antinous …” a favorite of the Roman Emperor Hadrian; like Apollo, the Greek god of sun and of music, Antinous was a figure of male beauty.
Atalanta’s race Atalanta was a Grecian huntress who refused to marry any suitor who could not outrun her; the penalty for those who lost was death.
deprecated expressed disapproval of; depreciated; belittled.
antiquity the quality of being ancient or old.
“Temple of the Winds” also known as the “tower of the winds,” a temple in Athens used for telling time.
Trilithon a monument consisting of two upright megaliths with a third stone serving as the lintel.
taciturnity the condition of being silent or uncommunicative.
integument a natural outer covering of the body or of a plant, including skin, shell, hide, husk, or rind.
“Giotto’s ‘Two Apostles’” Hardy probably had in mind the fresco in the National Gallery in London that is now attributed to Spinello Aretino (active 1371–1410).
wicket a small door or gate, esp. one set in or near a larger door or gate.
Aeschylean phrase “President of the Immortals” translates a phrase from Prometheus Bound (1.169), by Aeschylus; Hardy finishes the novel by suggesting that the highest power in the universe uses human beings for “sport.”
