She promis'd (vainly promis'il) to bestow Immortal life, exempt from age and woe. Pose.

Ver. 14. The Greek is, yw-n; einnerinrn, two hundred ages: an age, according to the common computation, is thirty years; thus Mr. P>pe understands the word yin* in the first book of the Iliad, speaking of the a»re of Nestor, Two generations now had pnss'd away, Wife by his rules, and happy by his sway.

Ver. Se^ Idyl. 9. ver. 48. and the note.

Ver. 40. At Megara, a city of Achaia, between Athens and the Isthmus of Corinth, was an annual festival held in the spring, in memory of the Athenian hero Diodes, who died in the defence of a certain youth whom he loved : whence there was a contention at his tomb, wherein a garland was given to the youth who gave the sweetest kiss. J?elter'i Arch. cb. 10.

I.*te, gentle Nictas, of celestial kind,
For us alone, sure never was design'd;
Nor do the charms of beauty only sway
Onr mortal breasts, the beings of a day:
Amphitryon's son was taught his power to feel,
Thottgh arm'd with iron breast and heart of steel,
Who flew the lion fell, lov'd Hylas fair,
Yoang Hylas graceful with his curling hair.
And, as a son by some wise parent taught,
Toe love of virtue in his breast he wrought, 10
By precr-pr, and example was his guide,
A faithful friend, for ever at his side:
Whether the morn rcturn'd from Jove's high hall
On {bow-white steeds, cr noontide mark'd the
wall.

Or night the plaintive chickens warn'd to rest, When careful mothers brood, and stutter o'er the nest:

That, fully form'd and finifh'd to his plan,
Time soon might lead him to a perfect man.
Bet when bold Jason, with the sons of Greece,
Saii'd the fait seas to gam the golden fleece, 20
The valiant chiefs from every ciry came,
Reoown'd for virtue, or heioic fame,
With these assembled for the host's relief,
Alcmena's son, the toil enduring chief,
Firm Ar go bore hint cross the yielding tide
With his loVd friend, young Hylas, at his side;
Between Cyme's rocky ifle» (he past,
New safely fix'd on firm foundations fast,

Thence as an eagle swift with prosperous gales
She flew, and in deep Phafis furl'd her fails. 30

When first the pleasing Pleiades appear, And grafs-green meads pronoune'd the summer near,

Of chiefs a valiant band, the flower of Greece,
Had plann'd the emprise of the golden fleece,
In Argo lodg'd they spread their swelling sails,
And soon pass'd H-llespont with southern gales,
And smooth Propontis, where the land appears
Turn'd in straight furrows by Cyanean steers.
With eve they land; some on the greensward
spread

Their hasty'mcal; some raise the spacious bed 40

With plants and shrubs that in the meadowsgrow,

Sweet-flowering rustics, and cyperus low.

In brazen vase fair Hylas went to bring

Freffi fountain-water from the crystal spring.

For Hercules, and Tclamon his guest;

One board they spread, associates at the feast:

Fast by, in lowly dale, a well he found

Beset with plants, and various herbage round,

Cerulean celandine, bright maiden-hair,

And parsley green, and hiodweed flourilh'd there.

Deep in the flood the dance fair Naiads led, 51

And kept strict vigils to the rustic's dread,

tunica, Malis ftrrm'd the festive ring,

And fair Nychea, bl»oming as the spring:

When to the stream the hapless youth apply'd

His vase capaciuus to receive the tide,

The Naiads seiz'd liis hand with frantic jiiy,
AU were enamour'd of the Grecian boy:
He fell, he funk: as from th' ethereal plain
A darning star falls headlong on the main; 60
The boatswain crys aloud,' Unfurl your fails,
'And spread the canvas" to the rising gales."
In vain the Naiads sooth'd the weeping boy,
And strove to lull him in their laps to joy.
But care and grief had mark'd Alcides' brow,
Fierce as a Scythian chief he grafp'd his bow,
And hi* rough club, which well he could command,
The pride and terror of his red right hand:
On Hylas thrice he call'd with voice profound,
Thrice Hylas hean! the unavailing found; 70

From the deep well soft murmurs tnuch'd his car,
The found seem'd distant, though the voice was

near. As when the hungry lion hears a fawn Distressful bleat un fume far distant lawn,

Theocritus addresses this Idyllium. as he did the eleventh, to his friend Nicias, a Milesian physician.

Ver. I.
Omne adco genus in terris hominum, &c.

G">rg. 3. 44a.
Thus man and beast, the tenants of the flood,
The herds that graze the plain, the feathery brood,
Rush into love, and feel the genial flame,
1 For love is lord of all, and is in all the fame.'

PVartm.

Ver. 6. Thus Horace, "Till robur et xs triplex Circa pectus erat." B 1. 0 j.

"And Moschus, in his poem intituled Megara, speaking of Hercules,

Tlcr^e ty i^vy tett, fjl ribr.ea

Kaprtow •» frthfjt.

His heart, like iron or a rock, Unmov'd, and still superior to the sliock.

Ver. 7. I lylas was the son of Theodamuj, whom Hercules flew, because he denied him a supply of provision.

Ve-.o.

Insucvit pater optimm hoc me, &c.

Her. B. I. Sal. A.

Ver. 14. The Greek is ),i«»iT«c Dr. Spence very justly observes that the poets are very inconsistent in their descriptions of Aurora, particularly in the colour of her horses; here they are whist, whereas Virgil represents them rc/i lumrrtl, " nfih Aurora quadrigis." Ærf. 6. 53s. »nd B. 7. 16. "Aurora in ro/A, fulgebat lutea bigis." The best critics have ever thought, that consistency is required in the most unbounded fiction*: if I mistake not, Homer is more regular in this, as in all •th«r fictions. SJsay » tbt OJyJej.

Ver. 69.

Ot littus, Hyla, Hyla, omne sonaret. Ec. 6 44,

And Spenser,

And every wood, and every valley wide, 1 He fill" J with Hyla's name, the Nymphs eke Hylas cride. Fjery '^jjetn, B. 3 c. 12.

Antoninus has given us an cxplanati'n of the circumP.ance of Hyla** name being so often repeated, which is s" particularly insisted on by the poets: " Hercule«," fays he, " having made the hills and forest' tremble, by calling so mightily on the name Hylas: the Nymphs who had snatched him away, fearing lest the enraged lover should ac last discover Hylas in their fountain, tiansformcd him into Echo, which answered Hylas to every call of Hcrcuhs," Wartant Ol'ervations,

Ver. 73. Thi= simile seems to have pleased Apoll'iiiius so well, that writing on the same subject, the Rape of Hylas, he ha? imitated it twice; see hock x. ver. 1^43, &c. Ovid also hid it in view;

Tigris ut, auditis diver<"3 valle duorum Extiniulata fame mugitibus arrnen-o-iim, &c.

Met. B. $. 164.

Ver. 79.

Ah, virgo infelix, tu nunc in moritibus crra«!

Ec. 6. SiVer. 87. Horace fays, Sic Jovis interest

Optatis epulis impiger Hercules. B. 4. OJi 8.

This K«Ti««/uwif, or fate of Hyla«, as Heinfius observes, with which the poet concludes this charming poem, is extremely elegant and agreeable;

Ovro situ xakXaisro; TXect fjtaxagor xet$fiuratt

Thus the beautiful Hylas is numbered amor:g the blessed.

He would not fay. Oarer 0 TXorr nfir.za, " thus Hylas died;" but, "thus he is numbered with the blessed." See his notes.

A poor Pythag'rist late 1 chanc'd to meet,
Pale he'd, like you, and naked were his feet;
He came from learned Athens, as he said,
And was in love too—with a loaf of bread. lo

Æscbinei.
You jest: hut proud Cynifca makes me fad;
Nay, I'm within a hair-breadth raving mad.

Tbywicbvj.
Such is your temper, so perverse you grow,
You hope all smooth : but what affects you now?

Æscb'me;, I and Cleunicm and the Greek agreed With Apis skill'r! Thessalian colts to bleed, In my green court, with wine 10 cheer our souls: A lucking pig 1 dress'd, and brace cf fowls: And fragrant wine produe'd, four summers old, Phœnicia's generous wine that makes u« bold : 10 Onions and shell fish last the table crown'd, And gaily went the cheering cup arouml; Then healths were drank,and each r blig'd to name The lovely mistress 'hat inlpir'd his flame. Cynifca i^stie was by) then charm'd my foul, And to her health 1 drain'd the framing bowl: She pledg'd me not, nor deign'd a kind reply: Think how my rage, inslam'd with wine, ran

high. 'What, are you mute?' I said—a waggilh guest, • Perhaps she's seen a Wolf,' rejoin'd in jest: 30 At this her cheeks to scarlet turn'd apace; Sure you might light a candle at her lace. Now Wolf I- La'na's son, whom most men call A comely spark, is handsome, young, and tall. Tor him she sigh d; arid this by chance 1 heard; Yet touk no note, and vail ly nurst my beard. We four, now warm, and mellow with the wine, Arch Apis, with a milchievous design, N.ini'd Wolf, and sung encomiums cf the boy, Which made Cynifca fairly weep for joy, 40

Like a fond girl, whom live maternal warms, That longs to wanton in her mother's aims. 1 swell'd with rage, and, in revengeful pique, 3Wy hand dHcharg'd my passion on her cheek: "Since thee," I cry'd, " my love no more cn

"dears, "Go court some other with those tender tears." She rose, and gathering in a knot her vest, Flew swiftly; as the swallow from her nest,

[ with various apartments; therefore it probably means the inner court. Ver. ac The Greek is, fa/iXmr own, which , B. X. chap. 28. allows to be Phœnician

Ver. 28.

QjiJ mihi tune animi credis, germane, fuisse?

Ovid. Eftst. Can. le Mmcar.

Ver. 30 That is, Acwy, " Wolf," her sweetheart.

L»pi Mcerim videre priores. Ec. 9. ,54.

On which Dr. Martyn observes, ' that a notion obtained among the ancient Italians, that isa wolf saw any man first, it deprived him of his voice for the present; but, fays he, Theocritus gives this story a crxtrary turn; as if the feeing a wolf, infield of being seen by him, made a person mute.' Tie dosSor, and likewise Mr. Warton, did riot our author's double meaning, viz. that r signified not only a wolf, but was likewise the : of Cynisca's lover. Ver. 36. M«« ut ati/a youut," quod de iis dicebafv, quorum conjuges impune cum aliis solebast; quiqnc haoc contumeliam leni et pacato icimo fere bant." Hclnjiiu.

Ver. 47.

Kodoquc sinus collecta fluentes. Æn. 1. 314. CUc, in a knot, her flowing robes she drew. Pitt.

Ver. 48. Virgil has plainly borrowed this simile ten aar author, though Mr. Warton fays he is oiliged to Apollonius for it: it is not improbable eat Virgil's may be the copy of the copier.

Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis ædes
Persolat, et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo,
Pabula parva legens, nidisque loquacibus efcas,
Et husc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circum

1 sonat. Æn. B. 12. 473.

As the black swallow, that in quest'of prey,
Round the proud palace wings her wanton way,
When for ber children she provides the feast,
To fiiil the elamours of the craving nest;
Now wild excursions round the cloyster takes;
New sportive winds, or slrims along the lakes.

rut.

Virgil has spun this simile into more than four imo, whereas Theocritus comprehends it in two. Ver. 54. A proverb signifying that he will not

■ Ver. 55. The literal interpretation is, " And now twenty and eight, and nine, and ten days are past, to-day is the eleventh, add two more, and there will be two months." A similar but more perplexing method of numeration we meet with iu the 17th Idyl. ver. 95.

Ver."62. The Megareans entertaining a vain conceit that they were the most valiant of the Grecians, inquired of the oracle if any nation excelled them ■■ the conclusion of the answer was,

Ot/rt %uu9ixcLr«i, UT »y t.oyot, ur ly OLcttfMf.

Nor in the third, nor in the fourth, Megareans call, Nor in the twelfth, nor any rank at all.

Ver. 65. The Greek is, ut /tvi ytfciia *i?mt >' like a mouse 1 have tasted pitch."

Ver 71.

ribi Di, quæcunque preceris, Commoda dent.

Hor. B. ». Sat. 8.

Ver. 82. To this noble encomium of Ptolemy by the Sicilian poet, I (hall briefly show the favourable side os his character, as it is given by the historians. He was a prince of great learning, and a zealous promoter and encourager of it in others, an industrious collector of books, and a generous patron to all those who were eminent in any branch of literature. The fame of his generosity drew seven celebrated poets to hi- court, who, from their number, were called Pleiades 1 these were Aratus, Theocritus, Callimachus, Lycophron, Apollonius, Nicander, and Philicus. To him we are indebted for the Greek translation of the scripture, called the Septuagint. Notwithstanding his peculiar taste for the sciences, yet he applied himself with indefatigable industry to business, studying all possible methods to render his subjects happy, and raise his dominions to a flourishing condition. Athenæus called him the richest of all the princes of his age; and Appian fays, that he was the most magnificent and generous of all kings in laying out his money, so he was of all the most skilful and industrious in raising it. He built an incredible number of cities, and left so many other public monuments of his magnificence, that all works of an extravagant taste and grandeur, were proverbially called Philadelphian works. Univir. Hist.

Ver. gt).
Dumque virent genus.