Ver. 57. This is furely a new and noble thought, to compare the protuberant muscles of a giant to the rocky fhelves under water, that are worn smooth and round by the transparent stream. Ver. 61. Diomed is thus array'd II. B. 10. This faid, the hero o'er his fhoulder flung A lion's spoils, that to his ancles hung. Pope. Ver. 95. Before trumpets were invented, conchs were used to found the signal for battle. Virgil fays of Mifenus, Sed tum forte cavâ dum perfonat æquora conchâ. En. B. 5. Improv'd in spirit to the fight he came. Ver. 1 39. 454. Pitt. Multa viri nequicquam inter fe vulnera jactant, Multa cavo lateri ingeminant, et pectore vaitos Dant fonitus. 433 II. B. 23. 688. And painfulfweat from all their membersflows.Pope. Ver. 150. These addreffes to the mufes are fre quent in the best poets. Pandite nunc Helicona, Deæ, &c. En. 7. 641. Erulit: ille ictum venientem a vertice velox Pravidit, celerique elapfus corpore ceffit. Ver. 163. ed, and fubmitted to the difcretion of the victor En. B. 5. 443 Vicifti, et victum tendere palmas Aufonii vidêre. Erra:que aures et tempora circum Crebra manus: duro crepitant fab vulnere malæ. 435. With swift repeated words their hands fly round Their heads and cheeks; their crackling jaws refound. Pitt. Pitt. I fhall finish my obfervations on this Idyllium, with a tranflation of a Greek opinion of Lucillius, fhowing that the confequences of thefe kind of bat Ver. 162. The Greek verfe confifts of feventeen tles were fometimes very terrible, though the comfyllabies, Σε τι χείη μέλαν αίμα ένας κράβοιο χανοντας, and was certainly intended to image the trickling of the blood, which I have endeavoured to preferve in an Alexandrine. Ver. 169. It was cuftomary in the ancient combats for the vanquished perfon to ftretch out his hands to the conqueror, fignifying that he declin. ed the battle, acknowledged that he was conquer batants might efcape with their lives and linibs. On a Conqueror in the Cæftus, Antbol. B. 2. This victor, glorious in his olive wreathe, Had once eyes, eye-brows, nofe and ears, and teeth; But turning cæftus champion, to his coft, Thefe and still worfe! his heritage he lost; For by his brother fu'd, difown'd at last, Confronted with his picture he was caft. IDYLLIUM XXII. PART II. THE ARGUMENT. CASTOR and Pollux had carried off Phoebe and Talaira, the daughters of Leucippus, brother of the deceased Aphareus, who were betrothed to Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus; the husbands purfued the ravishers, and claimed their wives; on this a battle enfued, in which Caftor kills Lynceus and Idas is flain by lightning. Ovid relates the event of this combat very differently. See the Note. Oft, though ungrac'd with eloquence and art, Thus have I fpoke the language of my heart :' "Princes, my friends, fhould not on any score "Solicit maids that are efpous'd before: Sparta for virgins, Elis for fwift fteeds "Are fam'd, large flocks and herds Arcadia breeds; "Meffene, Argos numerous natives boast, 31 "And fair looks Corinth on the fea-beat coaft: "There nymphs unnumber'd bloom, a lovely race, Acknowledg'd beauties both of mind and face: There ye may gain the dames your fancies choofe; "No parents will the rich and brave refuse. "For you the love of noble deeds infpires; "Ye are the fons of honourable fires. "Let us our nuptials undifturb'd pursue, "And we'll unite to find fit brides for you." 40 My words ne'er mov'd your unrelenting minds, The waves receiv'd them from the driving winds. Yet now, ev'n now your deeds let juftice guide; We both are coufins by the father's fide. But if mad rage impe's you not to yield, And arms mutt fix the fortune of the field; Let Idas and brave Pollux both refrain From the fell combat on the lifted plain: And only I and Caitor prove our might, By birth the youngeft in decifive fight. Why should we give our parents cause to grieve, And their fond arms of all their fons bereave: Let fome furvive our drooping friends to cheer, And mate the virgins whom they held fo dear, The wife with prudence their diffenfions state, And leffer ills conclude the great debate.' 60 Thus he, nor thus in vain; for on the ground Pollux and Idas plac'd their arms around. Lynceus first march'd undaunted to the field, And shook his fpear beneath his ample fhield. Caftor to war his brandish'd lance addreft; And on each helmet wav'd the nodding creft. First with their spears began the dreadful ftrife, Each chief explor'd the avenues of life. But thus unhurt the battle they maintain'd, Broke in their fhields the fpears fharp points remain'd: [drew, Then from their sheaths their fhining fwords they And fierce to fight the raging heroes flew : On Lyncens' buckler Caftor boldly prest, And his bright heimet with the triple creft; Lynceus, sharp-fighted, kept his foe at bay, And truck his helmet's purple plume away; Who quick retreating all his art difplay'd, And-top the hand that held the glittering blade: Down drept the fword; to his fire's romb he flew, Where Idas fat the fatal fight to view: Clofe follow'd Caftor, all his force apply'd, And furious drove the faulchion in his fide, Outguth'd his bowels through the gaping wound, And vanquish'd Lynceus preft the gory ground; 70 In dim, dark mifts the fhades of death arife, For he, vindictive of fall'n Lynceus' doom, Brave of themselves, and fprung from chiefs renown'd. Hail, Leda's valiant fons! my mufe inspire, Your praife, O kings, the Chian mufe recites 100 NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXII. Ver. 5. Ovid's account of this battle begins at verfe 700 of the 5th book of his Fafti; "Abftu. lerant raptas Phœben," &c. The fons of Tyndarus, with conqueft crown'd, The brother-twins might well escape by speed, On him preft Idas, but Jove's flaming brand F. F. PART II. An. 12. 78. The celebrated ballad called Chevy Chace, has the fame thought; Let thou and I the battle try, And let our men afide, &c. Ver. 51. Thus Nifus addreffes Euryalus in the fame fenfe, Neu matri miferæ tanti fim caufa doloris. Æn. 9. 216. Ver. 16. Quo, quo fcelefti, ruitis? aut cur dexteris Aptantur enfes conditi? Ver. 63. In almost all heroic duels, the combatants first threw their spears, and then made ufe of their fwords. Thus Hector and Achilles, Iliad, B. 20. and 22. Menelaus and Paris, B. 3. and the reft of the heroes attack one another. Ver. 64. Partes rimatur apertas, Quà vulnus lethale ferat. Ver. 69. Vaginaque cavâ fulgentem diripit enfem. Potter. Caftor and Pollux, firft in martial force, Virg. En. B. 11. 748. One bold on foot, and one renown'd for horfe: En. B. 10. And from the fheath the shining faulchion drew. Pitt. Ver. 71. Horace fays, Non polis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus. B. 1. Ep. 1. Hence the proverb of Lyncean eyes: Pindar tells us, Lynceus could difcover Caftor and Pollux hid in the trunk of a tree from the top of mount Taygerus: nay, he had fo piercing a fight, that if we believe the poets, he could fee what was doing in heaven and hell: the ground of the fable was, that he underflood the fecret powers of nature. Though it may admit of a doubt, whether this is the harp-fighted Lynceus that attended the Argonautic expedition; from the poet's words, Axpres separi Avyzsus, I think it manifeft that he Ver. 72. Sammafq, excuffit vertice criftas. Æn. 12. 492. Ver. 74 Strymonio dextram fulgenti diripit enfe. The faulchion lops his hand. Ver. 81. 1 Pitt. En. B. 10. 414. So fpoke the fair, nor knew her brother's doom, As Theocritus both here and in the 7th Idyllium, flyles Homer the Chian Bard, Xio Acider, we have reafon to conjecture, that Chios has the honour of being the place of his nativity: Simonides in his Epigram on Human Life, calls him the Man of Chios; for quoting a verfe of Homer, he fays, Ev de to na22,1509 X103 stiev ang. The Chians pleaded thefe ancient authorities for Homer's being born among them: they mention a race they had, called the Homerida, whom they accounted his pofterity; they caft medals of him; they fhow to this day an Homerium, or temple of Homer, near Boliffus; and clole their arguments with a quotation from the hymn to Apollo (which is acknowledged for Homer's by Thucydides), where he calls himself, "The blind man that inhabits Chios." One cannot avoid being furprised at the prodigious veneration for his character, which could engage mankind with fuch eagerness O dura quies oculos, et ferreus urget in a point fo little effential; that kings fhould fend Sominus; in æternum clauduntur lumira noctem. to oracles for the inquiry of his birth-place; that En. 10. 745. cities fhould be in ftrife about it; that whole lives of learned men fhould be employed upon it; that Hor. B. 4. Ode 4 feme fhould write treatifes, others call up fpirits about it: that thus, in fhort, heaven, earth and hell, fhould be fought to, for the decifion of a queftion which terminates in curiofity only. Thus far Mr. Pope, in his Effay on Homer. Yet, though this point is not effential, and only matter of curiofity, we may observe, that these inquiries, difputes, and contentions, plead strongly in favour of the mufes, and fet the character of a poet in the most eminent and exalted station. As unhappy lover, defpairing to gain the affections of his miftrefs, by whom he is defpifed, makes away with himfelf: the cruel fair is foon after killed by the image of Cupid, that fell upon her as The was bathing. AN amorous thepherd lov'd a cruel fair; She loth'd the fwain, nor aught her breast could Nor knew the puiffance of his bow and darts, Nor e'er the words of fweet compaffion fpoke: IC With favage pleasure views the hunter train; 20 She look'd her foul; her face was pal'd with ire; • burn In fcorching flames, yet meet no kind return. 30 | 60 'Or rather add, "My deareft lover's dead." 66 70 31 NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXIII. THE argument of this Idyllium is fimilar to the Formofum paftor Corydon ardebat Alexim. Young Corydon with hopeless love ador'd tem. Ver. 16. The Greek is, Exey avazzav, or, as Heinfius more plaufibly reads, Eider avaynav, "The fooked neceffity," that is, death or fate; thus Horace has, Semotique prius tarda neceffitas B. 1. 0.3. And, Te femper anteit fæva neceffitas. B. 1 0.35. Which elegant ufe of the word effitas he has taken from the Grecians: Pindar has, aga avayxx and Euripides, dan avayxn, which is exactly the dira neceffitas of Horace, B. 3. O. 24. Ver. 21. Thus Ovid, fpeaking of Iphis, Non tulit impatiens longi tormenta doloris Iphis, et ante fores hæc verba noviffima dixit. Met. B. 14. Ver. 30. Virgil fays of fouls that endure tranfmigration, Lethæi ad fluminis undam |