Improbe amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis! En. iv. 412. Ver. 412. From the Greek word Eps, in the original, Mr. Bryant has taken occasion to give as the following curious account of Cupid and his emblems: Iris, the rainbow, feems to have been expreffed Eiras, by the Egyptians. Out of Eiras the Greeks formed Eros, a god of love; whom they annexed to Venus, and made her fon. And finding that the bow was his fymbol, inftead of the Iris, they gave him a material bow, with the addition of a quiver and arrows. Being furnished with thefe implements of mischief, he was fuppofed to be the bane of the world. Ver. 350. The remorse and concern of Medea are very ftrongly expressed by this fimple action, of turning afide and concealing her face from the fcene of barbarity. Signs are fometimes more fignificant than words, however eloquent and pathetic; and filence is often the fureft indication of heart-felt forrow. Ver. 613. Cadmus fettling in Baotia, married Harmonia, or Hermione, the daughter of Venus by Mars, A confpiracy being formed against him, he was obliged to quit Buotia, and retire with his wife into Illyricum. They are said by the poets to have been transformed into ferpents. Of this transformation, and of the tomb, which the people of Illyricum erected to their memory, Dionyfius thus fpeaks: είδοις περικυδέα τύμβον, Τύμβον ὅν ̔Αρμονίης. Καδμοιό τε φήμις ἐνίσπει. Ver. 649. By Megara, the daughter of Creøn king of Thebes, Hercules had feveral fons, whom he flew in a fit of madness. Soon after this flaughter he left Thebes, and received expiation Μηδομένη δ ̓ ἄνωσιν τοῖν πλέν, ὦσιν αίλλας Juno, anxious for the fafety of her crew, and kuowing they muft vifit Circe's ifle, raised a form for that purpofe; which drove them back, up the Chronian fea, as far as the ifland Electris. By thus changing their direction, the fhortened their voyage, and haftened their approach to the island of Circe. Ver. 727. There are fo many inconfiftent fables among the ancients, refpecting the country and fituation of the Hyperboreans, that modern geographers have not been able to reconcile them. See Gefner de Navigationibus extra columnas Herculis, Prel. 2. Callimachus, in his hymn to Delos, speaks of them as a people of high antiquity, Pindar places them near the Ifles of the Bleit, which were fuppofed to have been oppofite to Mauritania, and celebrates their rites. Sie Olamb, 02, iu. and Pytb. | To cleanfe their fides from copious sweet they toil, Which, trickling down, diftain'd the chalky foil. Ariftocle, as Davpaciov àzwoμáτwv; who afferts, This paffage will receive fome illustration from expedition this was one, rò ixì cõv Júpwv asyénsthat among other monuments of the Argonautic νον, παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ψήφους φασὶν είναι ποικίλες. TavTA, δὲ οἱ Ἕλληνες, οἱ τὴν νῆσον οἰκῶντες, λέγουσι, τὴν χροιὰν λαβῶν ἀπὸ τῶν φλεγγισμάτων, ὧν ἐπιστο ἀλειφόμενοι. Ver. 783. We have the fulleft defcription of Circe and her habitation in the 10th Ody. of Homer: from which book fucceeding poets have been fupplied with ample materials, to aflift them in drefling out this entertaining fiction. It is entertaining to observe, how different poets have written on the fame or fimilar fubjects. And according as they have acquitted thenfelves in working them up, we may form a judgment of their tafle and genius. Ver. 932. Others afcribe this discovery to Prometheus, for which Jupiter promised to release him from his chains. Ver. 946. The story here alluded to, is mentioned by feveral of the ancient mythologists. Medea, when in Elysium, or the Fortunate Inlands, gained the affections of Achilles, who then dwelt in those regions and married her. The ancients are by no means confiftent in their accounts of thefe Elyfian fields. Some affirm them to be in the moon, others in the milky way. But it is more generally fuppofed, that they are fituated in fome fertile and picafant region on earth. Homer's Ody. B. iv. and the note to v. 765 of Pope's Tranf, and Gefner de Infulis Beat. Pral. 2. Ver. 1016. Thus Ceres, when the undertook to bring up Triptolemus, in order to render him immortal, fed him all day with celestial food, and covered him all night with burning embers. His father Elufinus, obferving this, expreffed his fears for his child. Ceres, difpleafed with the beha viour, struck bim dead, but conferred immortality on his fon. Ver. 1047. The Syrens were Cuthite and Ca naanitifh priests, who had founded temples, which were rendered more than ordinary famous on acWith their count of the women, who officiated. music they enticed ftrangers into the purlieus of The their temples, and then put them to death female part of their choirs were maintained for a twofold purpose; both on account of their voices and their beauty. They were faid to be the children of the mufe Terpsichore; by which is meant only, that they were the daughters of harmony Bryant. Orpheus, in the Argonautics afcribed to him, has not only mentioned these fyrens, but given us the fong, alluded to by Apollonius, which was fo efficacious as to prevent the ill effects of the fyrens' mufic. We have the most particular defcription of these enchantreffes in the 12th book of Homer's Odyssey. Ver. 1054. Among others, whom Ceres fent in search of her daughter Proferpine, were the fyShe is faid to have given them wings, to enable them to explore the country with greater cafe and expedition. rens. Ver. 1086. These flaming billows, must have been very alarming to the failors, who were ignorant of the cause of them. The poet has therefore, in his defcription of Scylla and Charybdis, with great judgment felected these remarkable appearances, which could not fail to excite terror and astonishment. Ver. 1991. Virgil, in his 1st Æneid, has made ufe of the aflistance of the fea-nymphs on a fimilar оссабоп. Cymothoe fimul et Triton adnixus, acuto And Camoens, who seems to have been particularly pleafed with this defcription, has, in imitation of it, fummoned together a vast number of fea-nymphs to rescue the navy from deftruction. | See B. ii. p. 48. Ver. 1151. One would not expect to find in fo grave a writer as Hefiod any thing like that low kind of wit, which the double fenfe of words gives rile to. The taste of the ancients, it has been faid, was too good for these fooleries. Yet his learned annotator is of opinion, that Heliod has availed himfelf of the ambiguity of the word dos. He thus difcuffes this curious fubject in a note on ver. 180 in Theog. Omninò exiftimo Hefiodum, et qui eum hac in re antecefferunt, aut fequuti funt, lufiffe in ambiguo. Voxos duo fignificabat, pudenda et confilium, cumque audiffent Saturnum patri &oriμSTV undes, datâ operâ i rem acceperunt, quafi narraretur ei pudenda refecuiffe, ut rigaroλoyiais, quas hac de re habent, locus daretur, quamvis probè fcirent confilium feu confiliarios intelligi, quorum fuafu Theffaliâ excedere coactus fuerat Saturnus. Hofce confiliarios fugavit, et navibus in Afiam redire coegit. Ver. 1281. Thus Pycleus.] (Note, it ought to be Nydeus). Antiope, the daughter of Nycteus, was deflowered by Jupiter in the form of a fatyr. To TRANS. II, avoid the anger of her father, fhe fled to Sicyon, a city in Peloponnefus: where he was protected by Epops. Nycteus at his death requested his brother Lycus to lay fiege to Sicyon, but to fhow no compaffion to Antiope. He, willing to comply with the request of Ny&teus, befieged the city, killed Epops, and took Antiope prifoner. The Ver. 1283 Danaë was the daughter of Acri, fius. Having been informed by the oracle, that his grandfon should bereave him of his life and But crown, he shut her up in a tower of brafs. Jupiter, according to the fable, made his way through the roof in a fhower of gold. meaning of which fable is; Pretus, who was furnamed Jupiter, bribed the keepers, and having thus gained access to the prisoner, made her the mother of Perfeus. Acrifius being apprized of this illicit commerce, and the fruits of it, ordered the mother and her fon to be locked up in a cheft, and thrown into the fea. Ver. 1338. Jupiter being in love with Semele, Juno concerted the following fcheme for the deAtruction of her rival She appeared to Semele in the shape of Beroë, a nurse, and infinuated to her, that if her lover were really Jupiter, he would not disguise himself like a mortal: and that the certainty of his divinity could no otherwife be afcertained, than by his appearing before her with the fame majefty, which he affumed when he vifited Juno. Semele followed her advice; and Jupiter having fworn by Styx to grant her whatever the might ask, approached her in the full blaze of his glory, and Semele was confumed by his lightning. Jupiter being defirous to preferve the infant Bacchus, of whom Semele had been for fome time pregnant, commiffioned Mercury to deliver him from the flames, by taking him out of her womb, and conveying him to Euboea. Here he was committed to the care of Macris. But Juno's refentment being not yet fufided, the forbade her favourite ifland Euboea to give protection to the nurse of Bacchus; who now fled for refuge to Phæacia. Ver. 1505." The principal image, (fays Pope, II. xiv. in a note on v. 457.) is more strongly impreffed on the mind by a multitude of fimiles, which are the natural product of an imagination labouring to exprefs fomething very fast: but find. ing no fingle idea fufficient to anfwer its conception, it endeavours, by redoubling the comparifons, to fupply this defect" Since then the heaping together of fimiles, when occafion requires, is confidered as a proof of true poetical enthusiasm, it must be allowed that our poet, in this instance, as well as in many others, has fhown himfelf capable of rifing above that uniform mediocrity, which has, perhaps too haftily, been afcribed to For we have here an accumulation of comhim. parifons the most elegant and appofite. The defpondent heroes are likened to fpe&res and statues diftilling drops of blood. Medea's fair attendants, lamenting their misfortunes, are compared to fwallows bereaved of their nefts, and screaming for their mother; and, immediately after, to the plaintive notes of dying fwans. X This fimile of the fwallow is copied by Virgil, An. xii. 473. Ver. 1649. In Africa, where, according to Virgil, Atlas reigns: Ultimus Æthiopum locus eft, ubi maximus Atlas Ver. 1817. Virgil takes occafion to mention Ex. xi. Ver. 1651. They were the daughters of Hefperus, the brother of Atlas, and thepherdeffes. Hering this obfcure paffage, if, inftead of 199;, we Ver. 1870. It would contribute towards clearcules carried off their sheep (which, for their exquifite beauty, were called golden), and flew the thepherd, whofe name was Draco. The Greek word which fignifies apples as well as sheep, is fuppofed to have given rife to the fiction. Some are of opinion, that the fable of the ferpent who guarded the golden apples, and was faid to have been flain by Hercules, derives its origin from the Mofaic account of the fall. Ver. 1749. Tranflated by Virgil, Æn. vi. 453. qualem primo qui furgere menfe Aut videt aut vidiffe putat per nubila lunam. Ver. 1791. It has been already remarked, that Danac was enclosed in a cheft by the command of her father Acrifius, and thrown into the fea. This cheft was caft upon the island Seripus, one of the Cyclades in the Ægæan fea. It was found by a fisherman, who brought it to Polydectes, king of the island. He received the mother and child read rig. This conjecture may the more readily be admitted, as we meet with the fame expreffion, yvos rig weúxovros, at v. 1626. Ver. 1943. The following is Broome's note, prefixed to his tranflation of the ftory of Talus. The following verfes from Apollonius will appear very extravagant, unless we have recourse to their allegorical meaning. Plato in his Minos writes thus: Talus and Rhadamanthus were the affiftants of Minos in the execution of his laws. It was the office of Talus to vifit all parts of Crete thrice verity. The poet alludes to this custom in these every year, to enforce them with the utmoft fe words: Fierce guard of Crete who thrice each year explores The trembling ifle, and ftrides from shores to fhores. Talus is fabled to be formed of brafs, because the laws, which he carried with him in his circuit, were engraven upon brazen tables. It is not improbable but the fable of the bursting the vein above the ankle of Talus, by which he died, arofe from the manner of punishment practifed by him; which was, by the opening of a vein above the ankles of criminals, by which they bled to death. Ver. 2093. See on this subject Pindar's Pyth. Od. iv. towards the beginning. Ver. 2096. The Sintians were originally Thra cians; but fettled afterwards at Lemnos. Ver. 2118 It was cuftomary with the Greeks, not only to fing hymns, but to recite heroic poems in honour of the gods and heroes at their feftive meetings. |