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Chapter 35
Miss Thorne's Fête Champêtre

Sub dio
Sub dio is a Latin phrase meaning "under the open sky".  Here it is used to describe how the banquet at Ullathorne was being prepared.  The lower classes were placed outside the main house.  They were fed sub dio.
OED  [TH]

Mark Antony
Mark Antony was a military commander under Julius Caesar.  He was promoted until finally reaching the rank of consul.  After Julius Caesar was assassinated by the Roman senate Mark Antony, still consul, used claimed the authority of Caesar's final papers to increase his own power and rally the people against Caesar's assassins.  Soon Octavian, Julius Caesar's adopted son, became a rival of Mark Antony.  Octavian's forces defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium, and Mark Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide thereafter.  It is somewhat humorous to see Mr. Thorne's horse being given this name. Perhaps it is an example of how classics can be a plaything for the elite of Trollope's time.
The Encyclopedia Britannica  [TH]

Chapter 36
Ullathorne Sports--Act I

Quid pro quo
Literally "something for something" in the Latin.  Here Trollope is discussing the laborious effort that people go through in the name of "entertaining."  He suggests that the venture is somewhat useless as neither party (the host and the guest) seems to enjoy the entertainment, so rather than quid pro quo in this case, there seems to be great effort for nothing.  [JC]

An elysium of servants
Elysium is the special section of the underworld (Hades) set aside for the especially fortunate people.  Many heroes and other mortals beloved of the gods are sent to rest here.  Trollope uses this word somewhat satirically here, making the possession of livery servants into something much greater than it is.  [JC]

Augustus Lookaloft
The Lookalofts are part of the tenantry of Ullathorne who, as their name suggests, think themselves of much higher status than the rest of the tenantry.  It is fitting then, that they would name their eldest son after one of the great Roman emperors.  [JC]

Toxophilites
Although never an actual word in ancient Greek, "toxophilites" comes from the Greek toxo meaning "bow" and philos meaning "lover," thus a "lover of the bow" or an archer.  The OED cites the creator of this word as Ascham, who made up the proper name Toxophilus, a follower of whom would be a "toxophilite."  The amusing history of this concocted word makes Trollope's use of it even more comedic than it is in itself.  He uses it in a playful manner, describing the young girls who Miss Thorne enlists to play at archery at her party.  [JC]

Daughters of Diana
Diana (the Greek Artemis) is the goddess of the hunt and her special weapon is the bow and arrow.  "Daughters of Diana" would then be devotees of hers who would also be skilled at archery.  Trollope is still being playful here in his depiction of the girls who grudgingly accede to Miss Thorne's urgings to take part in the sports she's prepared for her guests.  [JC]

Chapter 37
The Signora Neroni, The Countess De Courcy, and Mrs. Proudie Meet Each Other at Ullathorne

The mother of the last of the Neros
This phrase refers to Madeline Stanhope, whose child (she says) is the last survivor of the ancient blood-line of the Neros. The most famous member of  the Nero family was the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, who came to be known more commonly as Nero, and who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 CE. Nero's reign started off well for the first few years, but he is notorious for chaotic events during the last few years of his reign. After a fire which devastated much of Rome, as well as multiple governing failures on Nero's part, several Roman generals defected and Nero was forced to flee Rome. He was finally forced to commit suicide and had no known legitimate heir. The claim that Madeline Stanhope is still connected to the Nero family is, of course, ridiculous, and might be a humorous reference to the fact that several Nero imposters showed up in the Greek provinces within twenty years of Nero's suicide, all claiming to be the man himself.
OED  [MD]

The last of the Neros
See above.  [MD]

Like a Hercules, still climbing trees in the Hesperides  
This is a reference to Hercules' labor to retrieve the golden apples of the Hesperides, which is said to have been one of his most difficult feats. Love is compared here to Hercules on this adventure, particularly in respect to his undying spirit to succeed and capture that which he truly wants. This is a line from Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost, Act 4, scene 3, lines 330-7.
http://www.bartleby.com/181/191.html  [MD]

Aetat.
This is an abbreviation of the Latin word aetatis, which literally means "of age." It is cited by the OED as occurring in the abbreviated form in English as early as 1681.  [MD]

Nata  
See commentary for Barchester Towers Chapter 9.

Mr. Slope as Charybdis, Bertie Stanhope as Scylla
This is an analogy between Slope, Bertie, and Eleanor and several of the dangers which we see in Homer's Odyssey. In the Odyssey Book 12, Odysseus encounters two monsters each of which occupies one side of the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and Italy, and both of which present very bad options. One of the monsters was Charybdis, which created a whirlpool three times a day which would suck water, ships, and everything else nearby down into the ocean. The other creature was Scylla, which was hideous with twelve feet, six heads, and other monsters comprising its lower body. In this allusion, Charybdis is likened to Mr. Slope, Scylla is Bertie Stanhope, and Odysseus, his crew, and his ship is Eleanor Harding. In the Odyssey, Odysseus sails quickly past Scylla, losing six crew members in the process, but continuing on his journey; he avoids Charybdis altogether. This is also what happens to Eleanor in Barchester Towers, in a manner of speaking. She avoids Mr. Slope entirely as far as the topic of marriage is concerned and stays well away from him; he tries to make her ship crash and to stay in one place with him, but he fails. However, she is at least forced to discuss the topic of marriage with Bertie Stanhope, who is a better option than Mr. Slope. In the Odyssey, Scylla is a better option, as is Bertie, and although she still gets hurt by him (Odysseus loses 6 men), she does not lose him completely as a friend and still manages to escape (Odysseus continues on his journey home and doesn't wreck).  [MD]

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